"I'm so sorry that I have to be the bearer of bad news, Haley. I'm just as disgruntled about his death as you are. Everyone in Aurora and Mudpot is." Fale, the supplier of the Aurora guards, disdainfully took up the job of trekking out into Archer's Pass to tell Haley and her brother, Matti, what had happened to Dust. Haley stood there wide-eyed and silent. The words she was trying to find were as hard to find as the classic needle in a haystack.
"N…no…No! He can't be gone! He just can't! He….he can't!" The pink-haired rabbit girl exclaimed, which caught the attention of Matti who was tinkering with a prototype armor he and his sister were working on.
"Even though Dust is gone, we have Gaius's death and the collapse of his army to counteract that. Dust died for a noble cause that saved the entirety of Falana. He's a true hero." Fale looked at the sky as Haley took a seat on a nearby stump, trying to process the information she just received. Fale looked back at her.
"Well, I have some important business to get to. Try not to feel down about Dust. I'm sure he wouldn't like to see you all down like this." With that, Fale hopped off the ledge leading to the path back to Aurora Village. The news was really beginning to hit Haley in the head like a hammer that's becoming increasingly powerful with each swing to the head. Fresh, hot tears began to well up in her eyes as he really realized that she would never see him again. Matti quickly rushed over to his big sister to console her the best he could. He didn't really care much for Dust, but there is never a time that he's not concerned about the well-being of his big sister. Haley placed her gloved paws over her eyes as the waterworks went into full flow now. Droplets of the sorrowful water gathered in her gloves more and more until they began to soak and seep through. The truth was when Haley first heard those Blomb explosions in her attic, she thought she was in for a heap of trouble, but when she saw the figure that dropped down from the attic, The Life Thread must've made contact with her because Haley felt a feeling that she had never experienced before. That feeling was telling her that he is the one. He is the one she should be with, that one special person she has been looking for. It was true love at first sight. She secretly loved him from the deepest recesses of her heart since that day, and now, she would never get the chance to tell him. She pulled her paws away from her eyes and looked at Matti. Her hazel eyes were bloodshot with grief and the fur around those eyes matted.
"H-h-he…*sniff*…I'll never get to t-tell him…" Before Haley could finish, Matti pulled her into a hug as she hugged back, sobbing even harder than before.
A couple of hours have passed since the arrival of the awful news. Haley had stopped crying, but she had a difficult time trying to push the whole "Dust is dead" thing out of her head, and every time a small bit of the thought entered her mind, she began to choke up, but she'd be strong about it and just push the thought right back out. She and Matti were silently working on the prototype armor they were working on before. Not one of them had said a peep of a word since a few hours ago, and the clouds that were shielding the sun from them didn't help the melancholy mood either. Suddenly, she heard footsteps above her in the attic, rhythmically thumping closer and closer towards the opening down to her level. She placed down the tool she was using and sighed. She was expecting one of the guards to come and inspect the prototype armor sometime soon. Her back was still facing the opening from the attic as whatever was coming from the attic jumped down and landed smoothly on the ground. With her back still to the figure, she spoke up in the most dull and dreary voice she's ever spoken.
"The armor is still being worked on. I'll be done with it in the next couple of days." Haley finished. Haley expected to hear the aged and veteran voice of one of Aurora's guards, but her ears were greeted to the sound of a smooth, young voice.
"Is that a new kind of armor, Haley? Your favorite customer here might've had some use for that when he was defeating Gaius." Haley froze like an icicle and slowly turned around to face the voice. It was the most familiar voice she knew. She remembered who the owner of the voice was, but there was no way it was who she thought it was. Her hazel eyes came into the line of sight of the figure. That figure removed its large hat and let it drop to the ground, revealing his eyes. He had teal eyes. Teal eyes that she fell for on that day. His clothes looked singed, but his fur was fine. His fur. She remembered how it matched his eyes. She couldn't breathe because of who was standing in front of her. He was smiling the warmest and most reassuring smile she had ever seen.
Dust.
Haley quickly regained her senses and another batch of fresh, hot tears began to form from her eyes, but this water wasn't the sorrowful liquid she experienced a few hours ago, it was joyous water. More joyous than anything she ever felt in her life. Like a lightning bolt, Haley sprinted towards Dust with tears fully streaming from her eyes now and tackled Dust to the ground, tightly wrapping her arms around him in the process. She didn't want to let go of him at all. She felt like she would lose him again if she let go. Haley's face was buried deeply in Dust's chest, bawling her heart out from sheer happiness. Dust wrapped one arm around her back and placed his other paw on the back of her head, gingerly stroking it.
"It's okay, Haley. I'm here. Everything's alright now." Dust reassured Haley as her crying began to subside to sniffing. Haley looked up at Dust. Like before, her eyes were bloodshot and the fur around her eyes were matted. Dust smiled and tenderly wiped her tears away.
"B-but…I was told that you were…" Haley couldn't finish her sentence. She was still in too much shock. Dust smiled again.
"Let's go sit down and I'll tell you everything." Dust replied, continuing that smile that Haley adored. He helped her up and dusted themselves off. Before they reached the seats, Haley stopped and looked around.
"Where's Fidget and Ahrah?" Haley asked confusedly.
"I told them I wanted to talk to you alone…" He turned to Matti, who had watched everything- wide-eyed and in complete and total shock that Dust was actually alive. "Well, almost alone." Both of them chuckled. They both took their seat near the furnace.
"I did in fact defeat Gaius. He perished by falling into the lava at Everdawn Basin…but I found myself also perishing in the lava as well…" Haley could see a tiny sliver of distress in Dust's face, showing that wasn't an easy thing to remember. "Everything went black. For a minute or so, it was like that. Then, I found myself back in the Everdawn Basin, but I couldn't feel my body. It was obvious I wasn't in a physical form. I could feel this form rushing me towards Aurora. While that was happening, I felt like I could feel every living creature in all of Falana; their thoughts, their pasts, their feelings. But, one feeling in particular got my attention. It was an intense feeling of sorrow and despair that seemed to be coming from Archer's Pass…I could sense this feeling was directed towards my death." Dust paused and looked at Haley, showing he knew who owned that severe sadness. "But beyond that grief, I could also see the same person's deep feelings. I could feel a deep, tender feeling. A feeling that nothing else can overcome." Dust paused again, but this time looked into Haley's eyes and smiled sweetly as Haley began to blush furiously. Was he aware of how she felt about him? Dust stood up and sat down right next to Haley. Her heart began to quicken in pace, generating even more heat in her face. Dust softly held her paw as they gazed into each other's eyes. "I felt the exact same feeling you felt when I first saw you, Haley. I truly felt you were the one that was meant to be for me. The Life Thread was telling me that our Life Threads were to be interlocked." Dust placed a paw on her cheek.
"I love you so much, Haley."
Dust pressed his lips against Haley's, causing the pink rabbit girl to emit a muffled squeak in shock. She couldn't believe it at all. The one she loved was actually kissing her. For her, it was much more than a dream come true. Haley couldn't help but start pouring more tears of joy from her eyes as they both shut their eyes in bliss, slowly and tenderly caressing their lips. If this was a dream, both of them didn't want to wake up. Ever. Dust used his thumb to gently stroke Haley's cheek, wiping her matted fur in the process. In the background, Matti made a gagging gesture, but the kissing couple didn't care. They wanted to stay focused on their own little world right now. After what seemed like hours, they pulled away, locking eyes while doing so.
"Oh, Dust, I love you too! Ever since you first dropped out of my attic, I couldn't stop thinking of you. I knew it had to be love at first sight!" Haley rested her head in Dust's neck, wrapping her arms around the Sen-Mithrarin. Dust did the same with Haley while they both took in the bliss of the moment. "I don't want to lose you again, Dust. You mean too much too me." Haley said softly. Dust kissed her head, running his fingers through her lush, wavy pink hair.
"I promise that won't happen again. I won't die again. I don't want to lose you either." Haley looked up at Dust.
"Promise?"
"Promise." Dust smiled and nodded, pulling her into another deep kiss. They never wanted to let go of each other. They were destined to always be together. Even through thick and thin, they would still keep their bond strong.
