The Moon Rises | Inspired by a song of the same title.
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Fate has been cruel and order unkind.
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The wind is cold. It blows through her hair and down her back. She should be shivering. Yet, Leona continues her ascent up the mountain and pretends not to notice the heaviness of her armor, the clanking of her sword, the glow of her headdress. There is no turning back as she reaches beyond and rocks give way to a trodden pathway. She follows, ignoring the defaced and smashed effigies of shadows past, and wonders if the wind could carry her sorrows away.
The wind blows harder in response but nothing else gives way; the harmony's silent today.
Far above, the moon and sun continue their endless cycle.
Snow crunches in the distance and Leona finally looks up from the ground into the eyes of someone familiar and distant, all at once. Her chest sinks and doesn't rise until Diana breaks away from the whiteness around her; it suits her and the startling contrast of the once sable haired girl's own armor is stark.
Silence prevails for one beat, two, until Diana says, "You shouldn't be here," in a tight voice.
Diana's face is flat, eerie, different than when Leona had first seen her across the hall when the sable haired girl had stood defiant and alone against the sun. Her gaze does not waver and it makes the sun kissed woman think that something has changed in the moment the girl's brown hair became white. But perhaps the change is within Leona herself ever since the day the sun dripped knowledge with a single ray.
The wind continues its course and through hair and snow, Leona marvels at how close yet far the two of them had gone on their way out of the ideals indoctrinated in them.
The moment is broken when the moon loved woman narrows her eyes and steps forward as slowly and surely as the sun sets in the west. Leona mirrors her movement until they are face to face among the ice.
"Am I so wrong to wish that the others would see things like I do?" whispers Diana and the words curdle in Leona's ears; suddenly, there is no snow, no mountain, no coldness in the air but solid rock and sunlight and the elders' signing judgement upon the woman before her.
The sun burns. The moon calms. The mirage fades. And Leona is left to marvel at what the heavens had done.
The air is sharp and it should chill her to the bones but she has been numb to everything but the sun since it has blessed (cursed?) her all those years ago. She wonders if the girl before her is also as numb as her.
If she is as twisted by fate as she was when she blinked and saw light among dark.
She wonders what Diana had seen when the moon whispered secrets into her head as the once sabled haired girl whispered again.
"And am I so wrong to think that they may love me too? Why shouldn't they adore me? Is it not within my right?"
Diana is as unbent and frigid as the tension lying in the mere breath between them and Leona mourns with the power of a thousand falling stars because there is nothing she can say now that can mend both their hearts from what is to come.
So she says what must be said. "You know this must end."
In the distance, so near yet so far, the sun and moon shine above them. If they say something, Leona does not hear.
A smile seems to slip on Diana's face. It looks unnatural as those lips part and release steam. "I'll not be overshadowed. Mine is not the lesser light."
"So this is where we stand," Leona murmurs and for a beat, there is something indescribable that crawls on Diana's face.
She thinks it's heartbreak.
Then, there is no time to think as she feels sharp sharp pain right where her own heart is. And the last thing she sees, the last thing she hears, is Diana. Beautiful fallen Diana who is trying so hard to rewrite the stars.
Beautiful fallen Diana who says in a dark dark voice, "I've waited long enough. The night time begins now."
The sun sets. The moon rises. Darkness approaches.
- I really love Diana and Leona's lore and how they are reflective of each other, essentially two sides of the same coin. This is a dark story regarding Leona's resignation of her role as the Sun and Diana's thirst for recognition as the Moon.
- The setting is Mount Targon.
- Hope you enjoy and reviews are much appreciated! (๑•́ ω •̀๑)