So. This movie sure as hell made an impact on my psyche. Thinking this might be another series of oneshots, but given that I've been having a very, very busy time IRL, it might be a bit before I can update.

Can be considered part of the futureset Friendly Globetrotter plots (If you don't know what that is, check the Aladdin story I'm working on.), but overall it's pretty standalone. Of course, I don't own any of the movie-related characters, OCs are mine, hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a review!

Distraction:

Ordinarily, the scene of a quiet, dark room might have invoked feelings of calm, perhaps even a sense of relief at the notion of a day finished. But for Orion, the climes produced a strange blend of emotions. There were some that he was familiar with, that old sense of nerves and lurking fear that something might be there in the shadows where it could not be readily seen, but while there was still a stash of nightlights tucked away in a drawer, he left them where they were.

He wanted to prove he could get through the night without them, and he'd been able to do so for almost a week. He just had to keep doing it, and his hope was that the longer he was able the less terrifying the dark would feel.

Dark deserved that much, at least.

The thought of his, friend? Yes, definitely a friend, drew up a new array of emotions relating to night and the darkness. Even if the idea of a twenty-four-hour trip had been a little ill-conceived at first, Orion couldn't help admitting that it had had its benefits. He'd gotten to see the inner workings of the night itself, following along with the entities that made it happen, including Dark, the entity that actually embodied the darkness that came with nighttime.

…And, apart from the hiccups at the beginning, it hadn't been scary. It eventually turned into a sort of game, Orion finding ways to add to the various duties the other night entities had.

But, it had also nearly destabilized the whole day/night thing, when he'd accidentally convinced the other entities that Dark's role, actually bringing the darkness night was known for, was causing them to miss out on 'better things'. And they'd decided to leave. Dark, as he realized he'd be going through the process of creating night entirely by himself, decided that putting himself directly in daylight, and going away entirely, was preferable to being alone.

And he hadn't been alone until Orion had gotten involved. He'd felt unappreciated, maybe even hated, but not alone. Which was the crux of why Orion was doing this now, forcing himself to be in darkness throughout the night. He had to show that it hadn't been in vain, that he'd actually been able to…be better. The darkness still unsettled him, but Dark himself was far from scary. He just had to remember that.

He just had to remember Dark, who Dark was, that had been what had saved them before, when Dark had been…gone for a bit.

Even so, Orion found his eyes darting around the room, picking out the occasional odd shape and having a moment of tension before what it was became clear. That was definitely his desk, the computer was just making a weird shadow, same with the bookcase, he needed to arrange that better, and…and…

Orion finally gave up on looking around, pulling the covers over his head and curling up. While it felt like hiding the act was something of a relief, it provided him with an actual reason to not see anything and not be scared.

Then again, it really only was a solution for all of a minute. The longer Orion stayed under the blankets, the warmer and stuffier the space became. Eventually it became too hard to breathe. Not quite withdrawing from his cocoon Orion uncovered his face, getting a fresh lungful of air…and unfortunately re-realizing just how dark it currently was in his room.

Something also chose that moment to let out a creak, ordinarily not a significant noise, but in the dead silence of somewhere past midnight, it was deafening. Immediately Orion stiffened, even as his mind rationalized that it was probably Unexplained Noises.

…But why had it sounded like the creak had come from inside the house?

Despite the fact that there could've been a hundred and one more rational explanations, Orion's mind couldn't help leaping to the worst possible conclusions.

Especially when it seemed danger might've been so imminent. Before Orion knew it his breathing was speeding up, his heart thundering in his ears. Perhaps the culprit was a monster, or maybe some rabid squirrel had gotten into his room and would bite him, or maybe it was the house falling apart, or maybe—

"Hey, Orion."

The voice was so out of nowhere, shattering the tense quiet in such a way that Orion couldn't help a startled gasp. Though he quickly placed who's voice it was, the realization sending him rocketing up out of the blankets to look at the space in front of his bed…

…And see a very familiar, towering figure there, nearly invisible if it weren't for the glowing blue eyes and a somewhat sheepish smile. There was a flicker of motion, a wave?, though Orion didn't do more than register it. He was already moving, throwing the blankets aside and spinning to look at Dark more fully.

"Dark?!"

And before he was fully processing what he was doing, Orion scrambled to his feet, practically leaping into Dark who easily caught him with a chuckle.

"Hey, there, glad to see you too." The words came through a rumbling laugh, Dark hugging the smaller child's frame close before setting Orion back down on the bed.

"Wh-What're you doing here, I thought—?"

That Dark wasn't going to come back. That had been the implication anyway, when the personification of the dark had said his goodbyes. Not that Orion was going to complain much about Dark visiting now, though a part of him was, confused, perhaps also fairly curious.

Not that Dark seemed entirely willing to explain it, given how his gaze skirted away to the left as he spoke, an arm coming up to fold behind his head even through the black robe he was wearing.

"Yeah, well, was in the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by for a bit, catch up. It's been, like, what, a week?"

"Yeah…" Orion replied, though a question immediately leapt to his tongue. "How's everyone doing?"

"Oh, they're good. Everyone's fine." Again, it didn't seem like Dark wanted to go too much into that, eyes slipping away again before they reaffixed themselves on Orion's face, a smaller but present smile forming there.

"…So, you hiding under the covers just because, or is there something going on I oughta know about?"

It wasn't like the entity was saying it with any real heat, venom, or even any sense of knowing. Just a wry sort of humor, but given the reason for the hiding, Orion was less than enthusiastic about replying.

"O-Oh, you saw that, well…"

Especially what had happened the last time he'd divulged a still-present fear of the dark, no need to repeat that…

"I've been trying to get better about, y'know, being in the dark, and I'm getting a lot better! I don't need to go to my parents, and, well, I fall asleep eventually, so, you know, everything's okay!" You don't need to get upset, or worry, had been the intended message, though Orion couldn't help noticing how Dark's smile fell a bit, growing edged in something that could really only be described as upset or worry.

"Hey, Orion, it's—"

Whatever Dark was going to say, the boy wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. Remembering how things had gone…before they'd gotten better, he didn't want Dark to think that the whole thing had been for nothing.

"I-It's a bit of a work in progress, but if I just keep up with it I'm sure it'll be okay."

And, Dark seemed to accept that. It was a little hard to read his expression given that most of his face was in, well, darkness, but Orion could see some of the more worried furrows around his eyes soften a bit.

"Alright, if you say so…" Dark let the final syllable drag for a moment, a somewhat playful glint appearing in his eyes as he went on. "Doesn't seem like you're doing much sleeping now though."

"Well, like I said it's a work in progress. I'll probably fall asleep eventually."

And, well, it was how things had been going for the better part of a week, so, nothing he couldn't handle. He'd already been handling it well enough. Though Dark's next words completely stopped Orion's mulling cold.

"…Well, maybe I could help you with that."

Given how Dark's 'help' had gone last time, Orion couldn't help pausing, turning a somewhat wary look up at Dark's grinning face as he questioned, "How? I-I can't go on another trip; I have school in the morning."

To his credit Dark was immediately waving off the notion, continuing on.

"No, no, wasn't about to do that. But…" Suddenly he paused looking almost a weird cross between perturbed and confused before he went on. "Wait, humans do still tell stories before they go to sleep, right? That's still a thing?"

"Yeah, it is." Orion replied, though he did spot one problem with this idea, especially as his eyes turned to the shadowy books sitting on his bookshelf. "But wouldn't we need to turn on the light in order to read?"

"Don't need those. Got a story of my own." Dark proclaimed, sitting down next to the bed, probably to be more level with where Orion himself was, and rapidly beginning his tale. "Alright, now this was a long, long, long time ago. Back when the whole planet looked like the deserts you still see around. But that was all there was, desert and ocean. No plants, no trees. And, well, there was me and Light, but not much else apart from that. Nothin' had come out of the water yet, y'know?"

It sounded like what Dark was describing was when the planet was made, which was more than a little mind-boggling for Orion to consider. But then again, hadn't Dark said that he was five, million or billion years old? So, probably could've been the case that he'd remember that far back. Yanking his thoughts away from a query regarding just when living things on earth would have developed proper eyes and would have been able to register darkness and light, Orion turned his attention back to Dark, asking a somewhat stilted yet no less amazed question.

"So, you guys were the first things ever?"

"Not ever. The planet came first. Sturdy thing, ain't it?" Dark punctuated his question with a gentle thump against the floor and a beaming grin that Orion was unable to keep from mimicking. "But yeah, was just us. Back then…

"Back then things were a little bit, looser. Dunno if it was because things were, I dunno, simpler, up top? But Light and I, we could be pretty close to each other without me…" Getting wiped off the face of the earth was what Dark had wanted to say, but he easily spotted the furrow of upset in Orion's face at the reminder. So, pretending he didn't notice, the entity simply carried on.

"Yeah, not sure what changed, but then, we could even touch if we wanted. I guess it kinda helped that it was just us, at least for a bit. Then we found two others, Twilight, and Shadow. They were kinda like us, looked like they were made at the same time, and they were also kind of, of the same stuff? Y'know, dark and light. They were just more of a mix."

"Mix of, what?" Orion spoke up, head tilted curiously as he tried to picture what Dark was talking about.

"Well, Twilight handles the dawn and dusk, right? So, the in-betweens, y'know?" Dark replied, gesturing circularly as he did, Orion nodding cautiously at the moniker of 'in-between'. In a way it kind of made sense though a part of him was worried that he was still misunderstanding something, hurrying to follow as Dark went on. "Shadow's got the shadows, which is a little different, but it's still kinda that in-between state between light and dark."

If anything, it was somewhat gratifying that Dark didn't sound like there was anything overly complicated about it, the entity settling against the side of Orion's bed as he turned his attention to the wall. The boy settled in, recognizing the signs of some extra flair to the storytelling. And it wasn't like it was all that much of a surprise, Dark had done the same thing when they'd first met.

"And this is kinda how we found each other." The entity's voice was a little soft, the shadows swirling the real focus for the moment. Orion watched as a scene formed on his bedroom wall, that of an open landscape with a few low-sloping mountains, and a pair standing firmly in the middle. One was entirely black, Dark, and the other was completely absent of all shadow, Light. It also struck Orion that Dark seemed to have actual legs in this…flashback, and Light didn't. Instead, the other entity had a wispy sort of tail, though before Orion could do more than notice that Dark cleared his throat and went on.

"Alright, so, this is not all that long after Light and me came to be, and there's really nothin' around for miles. Sure, there's the ocean, but all the living stuff was generally under the water."

The scene shifted, showing a slightly closer look at the Dark and Light shadow puppets, this time staring at what looked like a shoreline. Even as a smile formed on his face at the sight of the pair skirting the gently rolling waves, Orion couldn't help asking another question.

"Couldn't you swim?"

The question did make Dark pause though the entity didn't seem to mind the interruption, even giving the thought a softer chuckle as he went on.

"Yeah, sorta, but most of my whole thing was on the land, right? Did I ever take you down into the ocean?"

"No?"

"Exactly. We didn't need to." Dark's more cavalier tone shifted, the entity turning back to the story itself. "But, yeah, the fact that nothing had really come up on land yet meant that everything was kinda, well, boring. No trees, nothin' really all that interesting except rocks and really, really small…not exactly plants, they were kinda like early, early versions?"

A new range of shadows appeared on the wall, Orion's brow furrowing at the sight of Past-Dark looking at something on the ground, the perspective shifting to a more close-up view of what almost looked like mushrooms.

Or, well, almost. Mushrooms tended to have more of a top. These things were little bulbs on stalks, which were weird to look at. Past-Dark seemed to think so too, head tilting to the side as he looked at them and plucked one up for a closer look. He then opened his mouth and started to lift the weird plant to his face, which didn't seem at all like a good idea. But thankfully for Orion's nerves Light's hands quickly reached out from the side of the image, one forcing the plant away from Dark's mouth and the other actually covering Dark's mouth.

Past-Light then quickly snatched the plant out of Past-Dark's hand, the embodiment of night's shadow self looking more than a little affronted at that. But before it could get to the point of Past-Dark attempting to wrestle the plant back, the embodiment of day's face turned shocked, pointing at something off to the side. Immediately distracted, Past-Dark spun to see what was there, and missed how Past-Light hurled the odd little plant away. By the time Past-Dark had looked back, the plant was long gone, Past-Light shrugging at his 'brother's confusion.

Meanwhile Orion, who had watched this whole shadow puppet show from start to finish, turned to look at said embodiment of night with a confused air.

"So, why did you try to…?"

To Dark's credit, he did look a little sheepish, though the embarrassment was quickly covered by a wave of defensive, if not slightly barbed, humor.

"Hey, I was new, I didn't exactly know any better. And Light will never let me forget that one, heard about it even years later, hey, Dark, remember that time you tried eating the world's first plants?" Even the comical tone didn't quite soften the apparent emotions behind the words, Dark's expression furrowing as he turned away. Orion, who had never known any sort of squabbles given that he was an only child, watched with a mix of confusion and conversational ineptitude. Thankfully for the boy's nerves, the embodiment of night quickly moved on, though perhaps his tone was a fair bit more flippant than it ought to be. "Anyway, there's probably a better way to describe 'em, but that's the best I got. And, either way, they weren't all that interesting after a while. Just kinda sat there."

There was a hesitant moment in the conversation, Orion somewhat unsure of what precisely to say and ending up going with the first thing on his mind. Admittedly, he couldn't help wondering if he might've just put his foot in his mouth, given that it involved the one other person that Dark really, really didn't seem to like talking about.

"And it was just you and Light? U-Until the others showed up?" The second question had been thrown in once Orion belatedly realized that simply asking the first probably wouldn't sit well. And, to be fair to his more paranoid thoughts, the mention of Light seemed to provoke a sort of downturn in Dark's mood.

Or, well, kind of one. It was a little hard to really read. On one front, Orion could've called the slumped posture and hiding-his-face-in-his-hood thing that Dark was doing a sign of upset, or maybe even anger, but…it also could have been more sad-upset, not angry-upset.

What also sort of further muddied the waters was how Dark's voice dragged even as he began to answer. The mood was hurriedly left behind as he continued to talk, Orion quickly growing caught up in the words themselves.

"…Yep, just us. That went on for a pretty long while, but one day I'm hanging around and he's about to come through, and we see something zipping around in between us. Two somethings. One's up in the air, and one's closer to the ground. The one up in the air is, almost painting, right? But I didn't know what that was then so it just looked like the coolest thing in the world to me."

And as Dark spoke, the scene was being reenacted in the shadows themselves, Orion watching with curious wonder as he witnessed the same thing Past-Light and Past-Dark did. Two smaller, leaner figures, zipping over the middle ground between night and day. One did precisely as Dark said, moving almost like she was skating through the air, whorls of gray emanating from her hands. But perhaps, in the story itself, it might have been actual color.

"So, like, painting a sunrise?" Orion asked, somewhat relieved to see Dark's wide grin as he turned to look at the eleven-year-old human. At least he wasn't upset anymore…

"Yep, exactly! And the one on the ground was creating the shadows, you ever see how they get longer, and lighter or darker depending on the time of day? I've seen people do this with stuff like charcoal, but he was doing it on the landscape itself! It was awesome!"

Orion could see that one too, smaller, it almost seemed to remind him a little like a cat in its silhouette, there were, larger ears, a sort of lean body with a tail. Though the form was shifting and changing much like shadows themselves did, mirroring the swirling outlines being smeared over the "ground".

It was pretty fantastical, though even with his wonder, Orion couldn't help remembering that, well, with his journey with Dark, shouldn't he have seen these guys around? Though, perhaps it wasn't a good time to ask. After all, Dark and Light weren't on good terms with each other now. Maybe something similar had happened here…

Though in lieu of not saying anything at all, Orion opted to ask, more of a story-relevant question. After all, Dark had left things on a bit of a cliffhanger here.

"What happened then? Did you talk to them then, or wait, or…?"

Orion was at first a little worried to see Dark's elation fade like it did, though it didn't seem like this was a becoming upset again kind of thing. More of a…getting embarrassed kind of thing?

"We-ell, me and Light, we were both kinda excited to see someone new, so, we, ah…" At this Dark stalled, a hand coming up to more rest on the back of his head in a kind of half-there nervous tic before he went on, words coming out in a rush. "…Both kinda rushed in to say hi and might've startled them a bit?"

The shadows on the wall re-enacted the moment, even as Dark spoke. Orion could pick out the smaller figures, one with longer hair, the other looking somewhat feline-like with bigger ears, lanky frame, and a flicking tail. Both were engrossed in their respective tasks, shades of shadow painting themselves over the image, almost peaceful before Light and Dark rushed in from both sides. The pair were clearly excited, though Twilight and Shadow had apparently been less-than-happy to be startled given how they jumped, and in the case of the figure with the longer hair, Twilight, zipped down to latch onto her counterpart on the ground, Shadow.

And immediately jet off to parts unknown, leaving Dark and Light's shadow-puppet selves standing and hovering there looking completely confused at the reversal in events.

"Yeah, that was when we found out that Twilight's probably got us all outmatched as far as speed goes. Didn't help that both her and Shadow are smaller than me and Light so, they could kinda get into places we couldn't. Especially in my case, given that it was morning. Not a lotta dark to hop around in." Dark went on, tone floating somewhere between sheepish and explanatory. Orion could say he was of two minds regarding the whole thing; his thought being that, well, yeah, it probably had been a big moment for Light and Dark to actually see someone, two someones, that were entirely new, he also probably wouldn't want two random people rushing up to him to say hi.

Though, Orion also couldn't help noticing something from both the shadow-puppets and Dark's description, and in the lull he let slip with a question.

"Wait, when you say smaller…?"

"Ah, okay," Dark said, getting to his feet and standing at his full height. "So you see how big I am, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Twilight and Shadow are here."

Here turned out to be at about Dark's midsection, almost to his chest. Which honestly felt like an accomplishment to Orion, he barely came up to Dark's knees.

"…That's still pretty big."

The observation made Dark pause before a faint chuckle broke free, the embodiment of darkness and night retaking his seat next to Orion's bed as he answered.

"Yeah, fair enough, though for me and Light that was small. Especially since, again, these were the only two other things we'd seen on the land so far."

"So, you try to talk to them, and they ran away…"

"Eugh, yeah, Light and I definitely had some thinking to do before we tried approaching them again." Which drew them neatly back to the story, though there was one detail that was striking Orion as…odd. Dark and Light knowing each other was one thing, though, wait…

"So, you guys were…working together? I thought you were nemesis-es, or something?"

"…Uh, no. Who gave you that idea?" There was a smile on Dark's face, but Orion couldn't help the feeling that the question had maybe made him a little more uncomfortable than he was willing to admit. Not that Orion felt like he was on stable footing himself, his voice trembling a bit as he continued in an effort to explain himself.

"I-Insomnia said that, when you guys were arguing…?"

The expression that flitted over Dark's face was definitely not a happy one, at least from what Orion could see in the half-instant before he turned his head away. Though judging from how Dark's large hands clenched over his knees, the upset was definitely a more long-standing emotion. Though before Orion could work up the nerve to either back down or attempt to work around what felt like an odd obstacle — Dark seemed almost, mad at Insomnia, why? — Dark started to talk again, letting out a deep sigh.

"…Well, uh. Insomnia doesn't have that right. Light is…I guess my brother, or twin? We were made pretty much around the same time, like, maybe a second or two off in terms of the when. Pretty much the first thing we saw, was each other…" The shadows on the wall were shifting again, Orion's eyes turning to them as they swirled into an image of an empty, alien landscape. The world seemed split between night and day, Dark standing on one side, and Light standing on the other. The pair seemed to have just come to be, both turning just enough that they could see each other. Funnily enough, Dark had the biggest reaction, jumping and drawing back a few steps. Light flinched, but held his ground, a bit of an odd sight given the almost spectral tail he had rather than a proper pair of legs.

But for all of his surprise, the past version of Dark quickly gave in to his own curiosity, scooting closer and closer until he was practically within an arm's length of Light, who stared plainly back. Briefly the sight stirred a sense of… of heavy nerves in Orion, a part of his mind flitting to the sensation of a familiar, solid frame and robe turning to shadowy mist under his fingers…

Though, nothing of the sort happened here. If anything, Dark was the one to make the first move, reaching out and curiously grasping at Light's face, the scene moving close enough that Orion could see the look of stunned surprise flitting over the glowing features. However, Light recovered quickly, tilting his head to the side like a bird as his hands reached up to reciprocate the gesture. Dark also jolted, though after a moment he sort of relaxed into Light's touch, a clear smile on his face. Light grinned at the reaction, his fingers kneading over Dark's face and over his head.

It was, actually kind of interesting to see for a few reasons, given that it looked like Dark hadn't decided to wear the robe yet. His — hair, was that hair? — had a similar sort of wispish look, like a trail of black, though it seemed to behave similarly to hair. Enough that Light was able to dig his fingers into it, his sunglasses-less face grinning, though Dark hardly seemed to mind.

There was almost something, nice about the image. A sense of balance and duality that warmed the soul. Even if Orion didn't quite understand why, the scene made him happy, perhaps for both Light and Dark. It was nice to see them in a position of not fighting, not sniping at each other, though as Orion glanced over, he couldn't help growing a little worried again.

Dark had apparently been watching the whole thing play out as well, though his reaction had been a little less happy and a little more, almost sad. The entity was staring at the last image, shoulders hunching a bit as his hands fiddled around in front of him.

"Dark?" Orion finally asked, growing just a little too off-put by the odd quiet, the embodiment of night jumping at the sound of his name and looking over with a strained smile.

"So, yeah, back to the actual story…" Dark waved a hand, the image of him and Light hurriedly blotting itself out, returning to the more open scene of him and Light standing, staring after a retreating flicker of motion. "We were trying to think of what to do next, I mean, it wasn't like we'd ever had to deal with anyone new before."

It was a pretty sudden switch, though while a part of Orion wanted to ask if Dark was actually okay, the fact that he was trying to move things on, and well, he was smiling now, definitely didn't look upset, teased a different question from the boy.

"So, what did you do?"

"I'm getting to that, kid, trying to build up the scene here." Dark replied through a chuckle, reaching over to ruffle Orion's hair before carrying on. "Though, it definitely took longer than we liked. Now that they'd seen us, Twilight and Shadow, well, they were making themselves scarce. But Light figured that if we kept hanging around the transitional …areas? Y'know, dawn and dusk, we'd eventually spot 'em. And we did."

Dark's focus returned to the shadows being projected onto the wall, Orion watching as they carried on into a brand-new scene, that of Dark and Light in their usual pattern when a flicker of motion slipped between them. Dark stopped, Light slowed down, the pair realizing that they'd apparently found another chance to make contact. Though Dark was the one to make the first move, reversing course and drifting closer to where Twilight was hovering. The smaller entity was just finishing the dawn before she realized she had an audience, longer 'hair' floating around her frame as she froze.

Her hands also pulled closer to her body, Orion immediately recognizing the more wide-eyed, afraid posture and feeling a sympathetic frown settle in. The past version of Dark had equally stalled out for a moment, before he extended his hands and proffered something to the smaller, younger entity. Twilight shrank back at first, though as Dark jerked his outstretched hands in her direction, she grew brave enough to inch closer and get a good look at what he had. Whatever it was, Orion had a difficult time actually seeing, though apparently it was something interesting given how Twilight's more nervous stare grew wondering. The younger entity tentatively leaned closer, shying back for a moment as Dark moved again.

But it was only to signal to the younger entity that she could take what was in his hands, Twilight carefully grasping at the object and lifting it away. Orion leaned forward a bit, squinting as he tried to puzzle out the smaller, strangely jagged-looking lump that he was seeing. It looked, almost like a rock, but light glinted off its surface as Twilight held it up.

Whatever type of stone it was, the younger entity was fascinated, spinning in the air to make light swirl across it as she grinned, looking to Dark, and then at something happening below. The scene dropped to show that Light had been the one to approach Shadow, the younger entity a bit bolder than Twilight had been though Light hadn't offered anything, instead sitting there and giving Shadow the freedom to come closer or move away if he wanted. The lankier entity was simply pawing at Light's hands, even patting his face in a sort of exploratory kind of way. Though Shadow's attention moved to the gathering above seemingly at the same time, the lankier, feline frame springing into the air with Light following behind.

Once Shadow and Light came to be level with Dark and Twilight, Twilight was quick to show off her apparent gift to Shadow, practically holding it in front of the other entity's face with a wide smile. Shadow, for his part, curiously poked at the stone, ending up holding it as Twilight proffered it to him, and turned back to Dark. It was a brief, much more friendly version of a stare down, Dark managing to restrain himself for all of three minutes before he reached out and grasped at Twilight's face in the same way he'd done before with Light. The touch made Twilight's eyes go wide before she settled in, darting forward and throwing her arms around Dark's neck in a hug.

The contact had Dark's little shadow-self freezing, eyes blowing to saucers as he registered what was happening. However, his surprise didn't take long to become elation, Dark's arms sweeping up not only Twilight, but also Shadow and Light, eager to more or less share the experience he'd just had. The quartet swirled through the air, silently laughing, it looked like, before breaking apart and moving in a much more together march onward, disappearing over the horizon.

That heralded the shadows turning back to their more 'normal' state, Orion looking from the wall to Dark.

"They stayed with you?"

"Yeah, seemed like the thing to do. It was just us, at least to start off."

"When did the other night entities come around?" Orion asked, settling in a bit more comfortably against his pillow.

"Think it might've been…Quiet or Sleep first?" Dark replied, scratching his chin as he thought. "I definitely remember seeing Quiet first, but Sleep could've been around for a while and, y'know, no one knew. Sleep's pretty lowkey when it comes to doing her job, y'know? Gets in and gets out. After that, think it was Unexplained Noises, then Insomnia and Sweet Dreams might've been…around the same time as each other. There were forests and stuff then."

Huh, so, much later. Though now that Dark was putting things on a timeline like that…

"Are Twilight and Shadow still around?"

"Of course they are! You still see their work here and there, don'tcha?" Dark replied, grinning widely as he turned to look Orion's way, gesturing as he went on. "They're kinda around doing their own thing now, but we still see each other, every now and again."

Though the words seemed to make Dark realize something else, the embodiment of night's gaze drooping a bit as he thought aloud.

"I mean, it's…definitely been a while, but they're doing okay! Got their own things going on. You still see Twilight's work, she's still kicking. Shady—Shadow's, he's a little more subtle, but he's generally around too."

"When was the last time you saw them?"

"Uhh…probably back around…think it migh've been last, year, maybe, or was it more than one…?" The last words Dark muttered to himself as he tried to think of specifics. Given that there wasn't any noise in the room, it was easy enough for Orion to overhear. When the entity re-realized that he had an audience, he jolted with a nervous grin as he hastened to explain. "Gets kinda hard to keep track sometimes. I'll see them in the in-between spots, y'know, every now and then, but we don't always get to talk."

Which was fair enough, it was a big enough planet. Though Orion couldn't help thinking back to the story he'd just heard, doing his best to inject a bit of hope into the moment. Who knew, if Dark had other people to talk to, maybe it would help him?

"Well, if you found them before, you might be able to again. And then, you can talk to them. They're probably missing you too."

"Yeah, maybe." Dark's reply was a little soft, though not at all lacking in heartfelt warmth as he grinned. "Not a bad idea, kiddo."

There was a silence that carried for a moment or two, Dark more or less sitting with the quiet and his thoughts as he mulled over what exactly he would be doing once he left. Though, probably about a minute and a half in, the embodiment of night couldn't help remembering something.

"Oh, wait, forgot to ask, how did your field trip go—?"

Though as Dark turned back, he immediately noticed how Orion's frame had gone utterly limp under the blankets, the boy's eyes closed and mouth slightly open as he lay there more or less out like a light. As the entity stared, a faint snore slipped out before Orion settled in a bit more securely and slumbered on.

"Ori—" Dark started, incredulousness breaking off into a snigger as he spoke up again in a sing-song tone, waggling a hand in front of the boy's face. "Or-rion…"

There was no response, the eleven-year-old was pretty much dead to the world. Dark let a fonder smile slip across his face as he gently adjusted the blankets.

"G'night, Orion. Sleep well, okay?"

There was a softer whooshing of air, but the entity barely left a sign of his presence. Perhaps the one clear thing was the quiet smile that flitted over Orion's face in his sleep, though given the quiet darkness of his room the calm was to be expected.