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Belladonna shines like the sun down in the darkness of the Neath. There is a brightness to them that you never thought you’d get to see again and part of it reminds you of the person you were on the Surface. Even the yellow they wear is similar to what your favourite colour once was and you find yourself drawn to them like a moth to a flame.
You trust them with your death. You trust them with your life. And, eventually, you trust them with your name.
“My dear friend,” you call them, for there seem to be no words to describe what they are to you. There is little more you want than to protect them from the Neath’s grey. You do not want the gloom to dull their shine.
(Part of you wonders, sometimes, if you’re trying to protect Belladonna because you care about them, or if it is simply that you do not want to lose their light. You wonder if that is why you have chosen to live with them as well.)
The Neath’s reach is unavoidable. You have known that all along, but part of you still hopes that you can shield Belladonna from it. Perhaps your proximity to each other as roommates will draw the darkness to you and away from them. Perhaps their light will simply outshine it.
They are your last source of hope, it feels. Kiel is a kindred spirit, one who feels the full weight of the Neath and bears it just as you do. You share your fears and comforts with each other, speak of the true darkness you hope to hide from Belladonna, but there is little reprieve, for you both stand in the shadows.
(You think that if Belladonna’s light were ever to dim, your little Temple would be shadowed in gloom forever. They are the one to keep you and Kiel balanced, after all.)
Even as you all grow accustomed to the Neath’s horrors, you find yourself hiding the worst of your nightmares from Belladonna. It is hard to avoid waking them in the Temple, but on the days you do manage it, you seek out Kiel’s company instead. He is used to your fears, after all; the grey has seeped into both of your bones by now.
But somehow, even after months in the Neath, Belladonna shines just as brightly as before and it only makes you more desperate to protect them. If their light can survive this long, after all, then perhaps with enough shielding, it will be eternal.
(Sometimes you wonder if this is how your brother felt when he kept secrets from you before his death. You try not to dwell on the thought, lest the Temple replace your old home in your nightmares.)
They told you, once, that perhaps you could create your own sunlight down here. You think they do not realize that they have become your sun. They have not yet realized how the Neath has failed to taint them. How you intend to keep it that way forever.