Chapter Text
She sat upright, breathless. A drop of sweat dripped down the left side of her face.
another nightmare.
Closing her eyes, she let herself fall back on her back. Immediately the feeling of multiple stacked up blankets as it all make contact of her exposed skin. She must have fallen asleep on the floor, again. A small sliver of sun ray peaked through the small crack of her blackout curtains. The dusty smell of her floor flooded her nose.
A sigh escapes her lips, stretching her limbs as she lets sleep leave her body, she felt something flimsy right above her head, she glanced upwards.
a polaroid.
Gently picking up the polaroid off the floor, as if it was some fragile glass shoe. She examined it, it looked almost faded. Almost unrecognizable as what or who was in the picture.
But then her heart sank as she realised what was on it... or who was on it.
This must have been forever ago. Yet the memory, still fresh in the back of her mind.
She looked so happy.
Happier than she could ever feel these days, and the only time she can ever reach this peak of happiness is when she was with him .
Staring at the polaroid, felt like she was in it all over again.
It was a good thing Aether had an obsession with taking pictures for a while. He uses the excuse to make memories.
The only downside is that in every picture she was in, she was with him.
A tear dropped on her palm, making the bracelet she was wearing wet.
She looks at it fazed, she was sure she already hid this bracelet and made sure to hide the polaroids a long time ago.
But must it be a coincidence? How she missed one polaroid, and this one out of all pictures? It just had to be their first polaroid together.
She flipped the picture. She found a small note on the back. It was his handwriting and a date was written.
I love you, more than you know. - S
02.23.2019
Tears streamed down her face, she didn't even realize she was crying. She held the pilaroid tight in her hands, and ran to her closet. Trying to find that little yellow box he had given to her, months before the accident.
She made sure not to throw it away during spring cleaning and even went as far into dumpster diving for it when Aether accidentally threw it away. She can never and will never let go of that box. It was all she had left of him.
Moving away a couple of shoe boxes on the bottom of her closet, she finally found the little box. She pulled it out, placing the box gently on her bed. Taking a deep breath, her hands hovered by the box.
It's already been 3 years.
It's about time, right?
She sat down on her bed, the bed dipping from her weight. Placing the small yellow box on her lap. The same way he would rest his mop of blue hair on.
Deep breath, Lumine. Deep breath.
Undoing the ribbon, she finally opened the box. The dust meeting her as soon as she pulled the lid off. Blowing away the dust, she can see the first and only item in the box.
a yellow usb.
She giggled, this was so him.
Taking the usb out the box, she went and looked for her laptop. Walking around her apartment, she spots her laptop by the counter, opened, as if it was waiting for her there. Aether must have used it before leaving.
She approached it, hopping on one of the tall stool chairs, and inserted the usb into her computer.
A single folder added unto her homescreen.
“our own core moments” Lumine read aloud, the name of the file doesnt feel like him, yet it does for some reason.
It was ironic how he can be so romantic and act so aloof and sassy, all at the same time. It was very Scaramouche.
She clicked on the folder. Countless. No. Dozens of pictures came flooding through her screen. Numbers labelled on each file that seemed to read as dates. Scrolling down, they all started in february. A familiar date of a file caught her eyes, she immediately clicked on it… It was a video.
She pressed play. It started with her right on the screen, she was on the very same counter she was currently sitting on. But in the video, she was eating some dumplings, and she wasn't alone.
“So, how are they? Were they poisoned?” His voice was on the speakers of her laptop.
It felt like he was right in front of her.
She rolled her eyes in the video, staring at the man behind the camera, “Haha. So funny, Scara”
“You never know! Good thing I let you taste it first or else i might've died" He laughed. Lumine's heart wrenched as she heard his laughter.
In the video, she glared at the person behind the camera and continued eating the dumplings on the plate.
Lumine closed the video tab and continued scrolling through the files. Stopping by one,
“02.23.2019.mov”
She stared at it. She hesitantly clicked on the file.
“Come on! Just smile for me, Scara!” Aether yelled from behind the camera this time, which Scaramouche responded with a glare. “Fine…" Aether sounded defeated "Do it for Lumine then?”
Scaramouche stared at her brother for a second and glanced down at the blonde girl beside him, it was amazing how Aether was able to capture the way he looked at her with so much love. It was a shame how she wasn't able to see it at that time.
When will she ever be able to see those eyes again?
Tears started welling up in her eyes again.
He sighed in defeat, a brighter smile formed on his lips, his hand snaking right by her waist. Lumine, in the video, was taken aback by his hand that slid by her waist. She glanced to see that Scaramouche was smiling. It was her first time seeing Scara smile like this, ever since they started going out.
“There!” screamed Aether in excitement and immediately took a picture
She slammed the laptop shut. At this point, she didn't even act that she wasn't crying anymore.
This is all normal, right? Maybe she just misses him way too much. Not just the memories, not just the moment, not just the feeling.
She misses him. She misses making memories with him, she misses being with him.
“Lumine?” A voice echoed in the living room.
She didn't even pay attention to whoever was calling her, let alone recognize the owner's voice. Footsteps approached her and the person sat beside her, and wrapped their arms around her.
“He’ll be fine, Lumine. He will be fine” Her brother’s comforting voice was right by her ear as he hugged her tight. No matter how much he will say that he'll be alright. She can't seem to convince herself that.
She knows that he will never wake up at this point. He's been in a coma for three years for fucks sake...