A/N: I loved this movie from the second I saw the trailer a few years ago. When I saw that it was finally available in America, I just had to watch it...I ended up watching it twice in one day. Once in English, and once in French with English subtitles. I think I prefer it in French though. I'm just fond of watching movies in their original language.
Anyways, one thing I figure I should get out of the way before getting into the actual story is that, for the sake of this story, there is the world of dreams, which is accessed through the Temple of the Moon and where Mune got a new moon. And then there is a dreamworld, which is where the 2D scene between Mune and Necross takes place. In my mind, it's kinda like a mindscape.
Useless.
Loser.
The moron who lost the sun.
Sohone took in a shuddering breath as he tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind, where they belonged. He tried to think of something else, anything else, that wasn't related to the reason why he was sitting on a cliff, waiting for the Temple of the Moon to come by.
It was a little difficult to not think about how much of a failure he was even while he watched the Temple of the Sun, the place that he was supposed to be protecting, walk off into the west without him. With every step that the giant stone temple took, Sohone felt more and more anxious. He had to keep on telling himself that everything was going to be fine. The sun wasn't going to be stolen for the short time that he wasn't there to guard it. He had learned his lesson from the first time.
Sohone hadn't left the sun and the temple completely unprotected. He had informed Krrrack where he was going, why (though not the whole reason why), and when he would be back. The old rock hadn't been very happy with him, but with some persuading he had agreed to let Sohone go. Sohone knew that Krrrack couldn't protect the temple by himself, so he had asked Leeyoon and Glim to make sure that things went well at the temple. They had both graciously agreed, even though neither of them had an obligation to. Glim was a being from dawn and dusk, and Leeyoon was from the night. Keeping the Temple of the Sun on track wasn't either of their responsibilities, but they had taken on the temporary job anyways.
Sohone didn't necessarily want to leave the temple in anybody else's hands, no matter how capable that somebody may be. It had only been a few short months since Necross had stolen and almost destroyed the sun, and Sohone didn't feel completely comfortable letting the sun out of his sights. Things had gone disastrously wrong before, and they could very well happen again.
But Sohone didn't really have much of a choice. He needed Mune's help with something, and he didn't think he would be able to wait until the next eclipse when the sun and moon temples would align. Sohone actually thought that he had put off talking to Mune for too long now, and he couldn't afford to wait much longer.
Sohone knew this, but that didn't make it any easier. As he watched the Temple of the Sun walk closer and closer to the horizon he felt the air get colder as the light and warmth became less and less until finally, as the temple dragged the sun beneath the horizon, it was like it left all together. Sohone felt like his heart stopped and the world suddenly felt much colder and darker than he was used to it being.
Everything just felt so wrong.
Sohone tried to convince himself to calm down. It was completely natural for the sun to set. It would be back before he knew it. And it wasn't as though it was completely dark. Sohone could see the Temple of the Moon far off into the distance towards the east. The moon may not be as bright as the sun, but it still shone a light into the darkness. A light that he had always taken for granted and thought of as weak.
A light that had saved him from the darkness.
Sohone felt a dark, cold feeling come over him that he was pretty sure had nothing to do with the sun's absence. For years, ever since he had become a disciple for the sun, he had considered himself untouchable. He was destined to become the Guardian of the Sun, and he was positive that he would become the best guardian in the world.
How could he have known how wrong he was?
If he really was a good Guardian of the Sun, let alone the greatest, then he wouldn't have let himself be corrupted so easily. But those...those snakes. They had taunted him with words that still wouldn't leave him alone. No matter how hard Sohone tried, he couldn't get the words of those serpents out of his head. It was driving him crazy...it had driven him crazy.
Sohone could still remember the ugly feeling that had built up inside of him. He could remember the anger, the hatred...the fear. He didn't doubt for a single second that he would still be filled with those dark feelings if it weren't for Phospho.
That old Guardian of the Moon, he had saved Sohone from giving in to the snake's darkness...he had saved Sohone from giving in to the darkness within himself.
The darkness that he wasn't entirely sure was completely gone.
Sohone didn't consider himself the smartest being, but wasn't an idiot either. He knew that darkness was only caused by an absence of light. For him to be corrupted by the darkness, it would have to mean that there had been an absence of light within him, and the thought terrified Sohone. After all, what kind of a Guardian of the Sun didn't have light within them?
Sohone knew that he wasn't corrupted in the same way that Necross had been, but he was almost worried that his situation was even worse. The only reason that Sohone wasn't filled with darkness was because somebody else had sacrificed their light for him. If Phospho hadn't done that, what would have happened? Would Sohone have ended up just like Necross? Would he have ended up worse than Necross?
Darker than Necross. Sohone could still remember the way that the serpents had hissed those words in his ears. He didn't want to believe that the words were true, but...what if they were? What if he really was darker than Necross. A demon. Somebody who definitely wasn't worthy of the honor of being the Guardian of the Sun.
Maybe it would have been best for everybody if Phospho had left him to his fate and somebody else took over as the Guardian of the Sun.
"-hone? Sohone!" The distressed guardian felt a furry hand grab his arm. Sohone opened his eyes, even though he hadn't even realized that he had closed them in the first place, and was surprised and relieved to see his fellow guardian in front of him.
Sohone could only think of one time where he had felt more relieved to see the furry little guy. "What are you doing here?"
Mune tilted his head. "I was about to ask you that. Shouldn't you be with your temple? Is something wrong?"
"Everything's fine." Sohone was quick to assure him. "I just needed to talk to you about something."
Mune's expression softened. "Is this about the nightmares you've been getting?"
Sohone felt his breath catch in his throat. He tensed and clenched his fists. Sohone pulled away from Mune and stared at him with wide, almost desperate eyes. "I...no...who told you? Was it Glim?" To Sohone's knowledge, the wax girl didn't know what was going on either, but she was so bookish and smart, she somehow always seemed to know everything.
"No, no." Mune backed away slightly and held up his hands defensively. "Nobody told me. I'm just familiar with dreams and nightmares. I know how people look when they're having a nightmare, and just barely you looked like that, except you were awake."
Sohone clenched his teeth and glared at the ground, though he was more frustrated with himself than he was with Mune. Had it really been that obvious? Than again, Mune was kinda the self-proclaimed master of dreams. If anybody could be able to recognize when somebody had been having nightmares, it would be him.
It was still frustrating though.
"Yeah, fine, I've been having nightmares." Sohone didn't get why it was so hard for him to admit when it was the whole reason why he had come to talk to Mune in the first place. "Can you fix it or not?"
"I...can." Mune said hesitantly. His ears twitched slightly. "The thing is, what I can do is banish nightmares or replace them with good dreams, but if you've been getting nightmares for a reason, they'll just come back until you tackle the root of the problem."
"And how do I do that?" Sohone didn't understand dreams that much. If he had known that he could just get rid of the nightmares on his own, he wouldn't have come to Mune in the first place. "I don't even know what's causing them." That was kinda true. He knew that all of his nightmares, every single one of them, revolved around those damn snakes, but he didn't know why they wouldn't leave him alone. He had never had problems with nightmares before, so he didn't really know how to handle it.
"I can help you with that." Mune smiled kindly, which reassured Sohone, though also annoyed him a little bit. "I can do what I did with Necross and send us both to your dreamworld, and there I can help you figure out what's going on with your nightmares." Mune sounded pretty confident about this idea, but Sohone didn't like the sounds of it. He didn't like the thought of Mune doing the same thing for him as he had done for Necross. It would also be a little difficult for Sohone to keep what was going on in his head private if Mune was there right along with him.
"Sohone," The Guardian of the Sun tensed when he felt that furry hand right back on his arm again. He looked down and met Mune's wide, understanding eyes. "It'll be okay. You can trust me." Sohone didn't understand how the little faun could be so reassuring, but it was a little hard to not trust the young guardian after what they had been through together.
"...Alright." Sohone relented. He waited for a moment before continuing. "So how does this work anyways?"
Mune grinned excitedly and somewhat mischievously. "Like this." Mune took a step back and drew his arm close to his chest. Before Sohone could ask what he was doing Mune swung his arm out and sent some blue dust right towards Sohone's face. All of a sudden the Guardian of the Sun found himself feeling really tired, and he couldn't even keep his eyes open.
It felt like just a few seconds had passed, but when Sohone was able to open his eyes again they widened in shock when he saw where he was, or, rather, where he wasn't.
The world was...blank. That was about the best way that Sohone could describe it. Was this really what the dreamworld looked like? Sohone had expected something more than this endless plainless. Then again, even though Sohone wasn't a master of dreams like Mune was, he knew that dreams, and nightmares, were prone to change in an instant, so he was careful to not let his guard down.
"This is so weird." Sohone muttered to himself.
"You get used to it." Sohone jumped slightly when he heard Mune's voice. He had almost forgotten that his fellow guardian was in there with him. Sohone didn't know whether it had something to do with Mune being from night, but he couldn't imagine himself ever getting used to this dreamworld. Sohone just couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Judged.
"Sohone, are you okay?" Mune asked, which Sohone thought was a useless question. The whole reason they were doing this was because he wasn't okay. But if Mune could pretend that everything was just fine, then why couldn't Sohone?
"I'm fine." Sohone growled as he cast his eyes around somewhat nervously. "I just want to get this over with and get out of here." Sohone wished that he had one of his harpoons. He would feel much better if he had some way of defending himself in case something happened.
Mune looked around curiously, though he didn't seem anywhere near as concerned as Sohone felt. "Well, there's not much we can do now except wait." It made sense, Sohone knew that it made sense. That didn't mean that he was happy about it.
"I don't want to wait!" Sohone growled and clenched his fists in frustration. He was sick of these nightmares, and he just wanted them gone. Why should he have to wait for another nightmare to sneak up on him before he could get rid of them?
"Impatient fool." An amused, cruel, and all too familiar voice hissed from behind them. Sohone tensed and anxiously turned towards the voice, but there was nobody there. "Are you so quick to forget, oh Guardian of the Sun, what happened the last time you acted hastily?" Of course he hadn't forgotten. He had let the sun get stolen. How could he forget when these voices always made sure to remind him at every possible moment?
"No," Sohone muttered to himself, because he just didn't want to believe the voice he was hearing. He hadn't forgotten the sound of those venomous hisses from those corrupting snakes these past few months, but in his own mind the voices hadn't been as clear as they were now. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"
Mune looked concerned, but not scared. "Sohone, what's going on?"
"They're back." Sohone nervously cast his eyes around. He sharply turned his head in hopes of catching sight of source of the voice, but there was nothing there. "They're back."
Mune frowned determinedly. "I don't know who 'they' are, but I'm not going to let them hurt you." As if Sohone didn't feel pathetic enough as it was, now Mune was trying to protect him.
"Hiding behind another Guardian of the Moon?" The hiss taunted from behind them again.
"Shut up!" Sohone wildly turned around, but he still saw nothing. He and Mune were still the only ones there. How was he supposed to fight an enemy that wasn't even there? "Shut up before I tear you apart!"
The cruel voice chuckled, and the sound sent shivers down Sohone's spine. "Such a temper." The voice teased, and it almost sounded like it was coming from above them. "You should be more careful, Guardian of the Sun. You don't want to lose your light again, do you?" Sohone felt a chill come over him. When the disembodied voice continued, it was as though it was whispering it's words right into Sohone's ear.
"The light that you stole."
Sohone shut his eyes tight and put his hands over his ears, as though by doing so he could ignore the voice altogether, even though he knew that wasn't going to happen. Sohone felt his gut clench and he felt like he was going to be sick. He wanted to argue against the voice. He wanted to face it head-on and prove that it wasn't getting to him, but he couldn't, because he knew that it was right.
The inner light within Sohone, it wasn't even his, it was Phospho's. The light didn't belong to him, and Sohone knew that he didn't deserve it.
"That's it." Mune said, though Sohone could barely understand him. His voice sounded muffled. "We're going to have to think of something else, because this isn't going to work." Sohone heard his words, but they didn't completely register to him. The snake voice's words were all that he could think about. Sohone was vaguely aware of Mune moving around near him, but he didn't bother to look at what he was doing. A moment later he felt a tingling sensation on his back, not in a spine chilling way, but in a comforting, calm way. It didn't get rid of his nervousness and fear completely, but it certainly helped to calm him down enough to actually be aware of what was going on.
Sohone was still tense and on edge. When he felt the smallest little breeze he couldn't help but stiffen and growl slightly.
"Sohone, it's okay." The Guardian of the Sun flinched when he felt Mune stroke the hair on his back. Maybe this was something that the creatures at night did, because most of them were all furry and soft, but it felt really weird to Sohone. "It's okay. We're not there anymore. We're awake again."
Sohone slowly opened his eyes to see Mune standing in front of him. The faun's eyes were filled with concern and guilt.
"I'm so sorry." Mune said. "I didn't know that your nightmares would be anything like that."
"I-I could have told you that before." Sohone shook his head. "It's fine."
"No, Sohone, this isn't fine." Mune frowned. "What was that voice? What did it mean when it said that you stole light?"
Sohone let out a stuttered breath. He didn't want to think about it, but it wasn't exactly something he could forget about. He would know, he had tried. Sohone couldn't deal with this on his own anymore. The guilt was tearing him apart. As much as he hated it, he had to tell Mune what was going on.
And he did.
Sohone struggled at first to tell Mune what had happened, but once he got started he found himself spilling everything. He told Mune about the snakes. He told him about how he had almost let himself be corrupted. He told Mune about...about Phospho. By the time he was finished Mune looked upset by his story, but not all that surprised.
"Those snakes corrupted Necross." Mune said in a quiet tone. "I had no idea they had given you trouble too." Mune's expression turned somewhat serious as he looked at Sohone, though it wasn't in a judgmental way. "Why didn't you tell anybody about this sooner?"
Sohone felt anger build up inside of him without warning. "Because I-" Just as quickly as the anger had come he found that it seeped out of him just as quickly. "...I was ashamed."
Mune tilted his head slightly. "Why would you be ashamed? None of this was your fault. We know that these snakes can corrupt even the purest of souls."
"It doesn't matter." Sohone growled tensely. Leeyoon had told him that a pair of shakes had gotten to him too, but not in the same way as they had gotten to Sohone. The snakes had just convinced Leeyoon that the wrong thing to do was actually what was right and fair. He had still been himself though. Not like Sohone, who had almost entirely lost himself because of just a few low insults. And his experience wasn't quite like Necross' either, because from what Mune had told him, it sounded like the old Guardian of the Sun had literally had one of those snakes inside of him. Sohone could completely understand how somebody could become corrupted with one of those monsters inside of them. He didn't have that excuse though. Sohone had just been weak.
"...I have darkness inside of me." It was the only explanation that made sense to him.
Mune was quiet for a moment. "...I think we all do. I think it just affects you more because-"
"Because I have more darkness in me than normal?" Sohone guessed.
"Because you shine so much brighter than most do." Mune said. "Shadows always stand out more when it's brighter, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there's any more of it."
Sohone frowned. "Why does everybody keep on saying that?"
"Because it's true." Mune said. "You have a strong light in you. It's why you were chosen as the Guardian of the Sun."
"It's not my light!" Sohone shouted. He sighed and looked at the ground. "Not anymore."
"I don't believe that, and I don't think you do either." Mune said. "That's not how inner light works."
"Phospho still gave his life to save mine." Sohone said.
Mune tilted his head curiously. "Is that really such a bad thing?"
Sohone lifted his head and looked at Mune as though he was crazy. "What are you talking about?"
Mune grinned. "I have something that I think you need to see." Mune took Sohone's hand and pulled him towards the Temple of the Moon, which was resting just beyond the cliff. Sohone didn't know what the faun was talking about, but he didn't have it in him to fight him about it.
pSohone had only been in the Temple of the Moon once before, and he hadn't bothered to take the time to appreciate the beauty of the place back then. It looked pretty incredible. Completely different from the Temple of the Sun. Sohone didn't have the same feeling of reverence in this place as he did in the Temple of the Sun, but he still appreciated it.
Mune led Sohone to where he guessed the main room was. This was where the steering of the temple happened. Sohone had no idea how Mune controlled this temple, but it looked much more complicated than it was for the Temple of the Sun. It also looked like it took much less physical strength to control, so Sohone supposed that Mune had that going for him.
"Over here." Mune let go of Sohone's hand and went towards one of the walls where there was a stack of books. Mune grabbed one of the books and opened it up. "Come look at this."
Sohone groaned. He wasn't much of a reader, and he had told Glim as much months ago. He didn't know what Mune could have possibly found in one of this books that could possibly make Sohone feel better about what had happened. "Where did you get these?"
"Oh, Glim let me borrow some." Mune said. "I figured that if I'm going to be the Guardian of the Moon, I should at least have an idea of the history behind these temples and their guardians." It sounded pretty boring to Sohone, but even he couldn't deny that the information would probably come in handy someday.
"Anyways, this is what I wanted to show you." Mune pushed the book towards Sohone, who reluctantly look at it. Mune was pointing to one phrase in particular, but Sohone had no idea what it said. It wasn't because he couldn't read, but because it wasn't written in a language that he even recognized.
"Les gardiens peuvent seulement mourir quand ils sont en paix." Mune said. "It's written in the old language. It means 'the guardians can only die when they are at peace."
Sohone looked at Mune dubiously. "You just made that up."
"No, it's all right here." Mune insisted. He pointed out a picture that showed some previous Guardians. "Every single one of these Guardians, no matter how old they were or how long they had been serving, none of them moved on until they felt okay about it."
Sohone frowned. "Why would anybody ever be okay with dying?" It made absolutely no sense to him.
Mune shrugged. He looked as confused by the idea as Sohone felt. "Maybe it's something we'll only know when we experience it ourselves. All I know is that it matches what I saw happen to Yule. He told me what he felt I needed to know, and then he just...passed on."
It sounded a little weird to Sohone, but when he stopped to think about it he realized that the same thing had pretty much happened with Xolal. His advice hadn't necessarily been all that useful, but the old Guardian had seemed perfectly content when he had turned completely to stone.
"And even though their cases were...different, I think that both Necross and Phospho were the same as any other Guardian." Mune said.
"Phospho didn't really seem all that at peace when I saw him." Sohone said under his breath.
"Think about it." Mune said. "Necross couldn't find peace with those snakes corrupting him. Once I was able to get rid of the snake in him, he turned back to normal and was able to move on."
"What does that have to do with Phospho?" Sohone asked.
"I was getting to that." Mune said. "When Phospho told us what happened to Necross, did you sense pain from him?"
"Of course." Sohone said. It didn't take a very perceptive person to recognize the clear regret that the old eel had been dealing with. Not that Sohone could blame him. He imagined that if Mune had gotten corrupted somehow, and Sohone didn't do anything to stop him, he would probably feel the same way.
"Sohone," Mune's voice was quiet and calm, though also serious. It was a strange tone for him, but it suited him somehow. It was very Guardian of the Moon-esque. "Phospho made a mistake when he was younger, and he lived with the regret for the rest of his life. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."
"...Neither do I." Sohone admitted.
"So stop holding on to this so tightly." Mune said simply. "Phospho wasn't at peace before because he was carrying the guilt of letting the darkness overcome his fellow Guardian, his brother."
"Are you saying that saving me somehow gave him peace?" Sohone didn't understand that. Why would somebody feel peace from giving up their own life to save a stranger's?
"I think he found peace because he felt that he had made up for his mistake by not letting what had happened to Necross happen to you." Mune said. "And he was willing to let go and move on because he knew that we could save Necross from himself."
"How do you know all this?" It sounded to Sohone that Mune actually knew all of this for a fact. He wasn't just making guesses or saying things to make him feel better.
"I can...sense it somehow." Mune said as he looked up towards the hole in the ceiling at the moon. Sohone sighed. Of course Mune could get a sense on the feelings of the previous Guardians of the Moon. Mune already had dream powers, why was it that he got even more abilities and Sohone didn't even know of one of his?
Unsure of how he would even respond to Mune's words, Sohone just look at the books. Language that he didn't understand or not, he took a sense of comfort from looking at the pictures. All of those guardians had gone down in history as legends. For years, ever since Sohone had been chosen as the sun's disciple, he had dreamed of becoming just like they were.
"I don't know if I can be like these guys." Sohone said without even realizing it.
"I don't think you should try to be." Mune smiled. "The sun chose you because of who you are."
"Well, what if the sun had made a mistake?" Sohone expressed a concern that he hadn't even realized he had, but somehow he knew that it had been lingering in the back of his mind since he had first been chosen as a disciple.
"We both thought that the moon made a mistake with me." Mune reminded him. "The sun and moon don't make mistakes with their guardians."
Mune probably would have given him even more guardian wisdom, but some yipping little puffballs started to yell at the faun. Sohone had no idea what they were or what they wanted, but Mune seemed to understand them okay.
"Alright, I'm coming." Mune sighed and gave Sohone an apologetic look. "These guys aren't happy that the temple's been stable for so long."
"Guess I'd better let you get back to work then." Sohone said. There were still some things that he didn't feel comfortable about, things that he wanted to talk to Mune about, but the little guy had a job to do.
"Do you want to stay here for a bit longer?" Mune asked. "We could give you a lift somewhere."
"It'll probably be better if I just wait around here for the sun to rise." Sohone said. Mune didn't look convinced with his plan. "Look, buddy, I'll be fine."
"...If you say so." Mune still looked concerned, but he didn't say anything to try to convince him to stay, which Sohone appreciated. Mune put his books away and lead Sohone back outside onto the cliff.
"Don't wait so long next time you have a problem." Mune said. "We're brothers now, don't forget that."
"I won't." Sohone promised. "I'll let you know if anything changes." Mune smiled appreciatively at him and made his way back towards the temple. A few minutes later the temple began to shamble along towards the west, just like the sun had done a few hours before. Sohone was right back where he had been before, though he had no idea if he felt better or worse than he did then.
Sohone knew only one thing for sure. He didn't know if it was because of his conversation with Mune, or if it was the new revelation about Phospho, but that night as he watched the temple walk through the night, Sohone didn't think he had ever seen anything as beautiful as the moon.