14AmyChan: I have been challenged with a summer themed writing challenge

Blitz: For Archipelago!

Raven: 14AmyChan does not own these characters

14AmyChan: Yup, they belong to Hannah/TheSilverTopHat~! *^_^*

Claire: Read it and like it, okay? Benjamin and me will see you at the end of this one!

Prompt 1: Sun

Anthony Solair lay on the couch of his home, dying a slow and agonizing death. Nothing was wrong with him physically, but his heart was in disarray. Shredded and torn, it had been two years since his heart was completely broken by the cruel forces of mother nature. On this horrible rock and this horrible cold castle he had tried to provide for Chesska, his love.

He had loved her so much. He had thrown everything away for her. He had always thought of her as his own personal ball of warmth. Though she was only half-dragon, she had been absolutely perfect in his eyes. Beautiful.

And then… he had killed her. His baby had killed her. Snuffed out her life like a mere match to be put out. His sun had gone from him, and all that remained behind was the ragged husk of Anthony Solair.

He had seen the child from a distance, from his place on the couch. Daffy was doing a great job and caring for her, as well as the other Serenath. Even Spindle had been doing his part to keep up with the old place and the child.

The child… This was Anthony's child, and he did not even know the name. He could not bear to look at the child for long, so the only thing he truly knew was that the child had her hair. Chesska's hair.

A slight scuffling in his room came to his attention. Sloppy little footsteps creeping inside. It reminded Anthony of the children that Chesska used to teach. She really did bring light to everyone she touched… and then he killed her…

A small noise eerily close to his ear alerted him to a person's close proximity. He would have ignored it, as he had with unusual noises for the passed two years, but something deep within him stated that whoever was disturbing him was worth at least a glance. With much effort, he turned his head, and almost could not believe his eyes.

The child was a girl. Her bright orange eyes were a duplicate of her mother's, brimming with curiosity and an undeniable urge to make everything right. Her dragoness ears—also courtesy of her mother—were perked up in curiosity. She was two years old, and she was the spitting image of her mother.

Eagerly, she attempted to climb up the couch to reach him, though he made little move to help her. In fact, watching her attempt reminded him so much of Chesska, the good memories where she would stubbornly persist at any given task until she had completed it. They had been alike in that way.

Suddenly, the child's hand slipped, and she was about to tumble to the ground. Panic welled up inside Anthony and—for the first time in two years—he moved into action. He caught the child's head before it could collide with the rocky floor of the castle. Struggling to right himself entirely, the man sat up. As he did so, the little girl's energy pushed her to climb all over this strange inhabitant of the castle.

She messed with his hair, which he had carelessly allowed to grow passed his shoulders. Looking at himself now as his daughter explored his features, he could see he was a mess. He could see himself clearly now, and he could see what lay around him.

The castle was falling apart. He was falling apart. And yet, in the middle of it all, was this child, extruding the light that Chesska had said she would.

"There you are!" a voice stated from the doorway. Anthony cast his eyes upward towards the owner of the voice. Chesska's best friend and most loyal servant, Cassandra—or Cassie—stood at the entryway of the door, looking flustered and her eyes trained on the child who had been interrupted in the midst of investigating Anthony's dragon teeth.

"Cassie, what's her name?" Anthony asked, his voice hoarse from having not used it in two years. The blue-skin girl blinked for a moment before shaking her head.

"We… we were waiting for you to name her," she admitted. Anthony narrowed his eyes and turned back to the child, whose curiosity had once again propelled her towards more exploration. She was now occupied with the folds of his jacket, which he did not even remember changing into.

That needed to stop.

He needed to act.

He needed to do something.

Something for this child that had begun to bring a bit of light back into his life. If not for her, then for Chesska, who had seemingly known that the house would become much brighter with this child. Almost as though the child had brought a sun in with her.

"Claire," he stated, nodding to himself. 'Bright' was an apt description of this child. "Chesska would have wanted to name her Claire."

Cassie nodded, a smile coming over her despite herself. Perhaps now the castle would turn around. Mister Solair looked in her direction, a new fire in his eyes.

"Cassie, I am going to entrust this castle and Claire to you. I am going to find a job and get us out of this disrepair," he vowed, though the blue-skinned girl knew better. He was not vowing towards her. He was vowing for Chesska.

And that was just fine with her.

For the week, Anthony became stronger again, he got himself coherent enough to make orders again. While he was still wounded terribly in the heart, and while the castle in which he resided still echoed painful memories within his soul, he knew he had to continue. To press on.

When he left the castle to make a small fortune, he did not look back, though he knew that little Claire was waving him off. And yet, he refused to tell her goodbye.

He would never truly leave nor forget his personal sun again.

14AmyChan: And that's how Claire got her name, in my opinion. XD

Claire: He didn't move for a long time!

Benjamin: Yes, but what happens next is the start of the Archipelago comic

Claire: Yeah, you're right.

14AmyChan: Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed what I did with the "sun" prompt. I couldn't help it, even though it's supposed to be summer-y, I thought of this scene. It's too good to pass up. *^_^*

Next—"Heat"