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Komorebi: Chapter 5 - “Warmth”

To be written.

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Komorebi: Chapter 4 - “Struggle”

The two words rang violently across Caleb’s cloudy mind, and he drawn out a small, but high pitched whine. He raised both of his hands over to his temples and firmly pressed against them, as a helpless attempt to get rid of them, though the headache he had before he heard the cry reached to more of a discomfort to handle only in the end, and more tears ran rapidly down on his cheeks in pain and frustration of not knowing what was going on at the moment.

His own world was still rotating around his awareness, and the God couldn't focus on the reality he was in, unable to find a grip to his whole senses. Who knew how long does it take for him to finally had the strength, little he had gather, but regardless, it was thankfully well enough to mentally push himself through the trouble he had to face through and grabbed the name of his friend’s that was bouncing all over his mind, before he used it to switch his said friend’s attention from the cry for help, possibly, to him and his current struggles.

"V-Val….." weakly called Caleb, and he knew he would lose his whole bits of strength he had managed to gather inside of him, resulting of him being unable to find his voice to speak once more afterwards, at least for a while. He sniffed loudly, so the mess of his snot wouldn't get to his mouth and tried to keep in inside his nose as long as he could, while his sight was now blurry, seeing only the white of snows surrounding him, from the tears welling up in his eyes, even after a mad process of it rolling once his cheeks, it still hasn't end yet. He couldn't tell if his hands were moving then to get rid of his snot and tears when, much to his fear, his whole body was fully numb. His consciousness was dipped into a heavy confusion coated awareness that his body wasn't shivering anymore and felt it only hanging in Valerius’ arms. Several seconds past by, bleeding time and his consciousness, as it seemed, the Sagittarian thought he heard words close to his ears, and believing it was coming from Valerius who finally responded to his call, he attempted to listen closely, despite how easily distracted he was from his current conditions. His ears were burning from the frigid weather, and he bit the inside of his lower lip in a heated mixture of frustration and annoyance when he wasn't able to grasp most of the words Valerius has said to him in the end, only hearing muffled words instead, except what he did hear was, “it'll be okay.” Although Caleb was honestly uncertain if anything will ever be for him. If only he had a voice at the moment, and he had known the answer to it already, he would ask him a question on how close they were to their destination and what was happening, a cause of that cry, but instead, he remained silent and clung on to hope that it was only couple of feet away before they would make it through the unpleasant scenario… and whatever reason that person needed help for… it wasn't something too frightening he couldn’t witness properly to know the answer for himself. Then there was sounds rapidly approaching near to where he was with Valerius out of sudden, and his body reacted with a twitch. He twisted his head over to where it was coming from, even though his sight was lacking greatly by his poor health conditions, and if he would tell by the sensation, he was pushing himself closer against the Satyr, releasing another loud whine until it became an unpleasant, trembling line of heavy pants inside his breathing, uneven, and he coughed few times by the pressure inside of his chest. He blinked his eyes couple of times by the time a black blob reached to his view and each blink made it formed into a figure, still he couldn't tell what their appearance look like, exactly, but he would assume, anyway, it was them who was crying out to anyone for help, but why exactly, thought the God. Caleb gulped. A weight of anticipation was slowly growing inside of his body, feeling crushed in a disheartening belief that the moment he was in right now, it wouldn't end lovely. There was words being exchanged out from one to another, assuming it was Valerius and the stranger speaking ( who else? ). But unfortunately, he was still unable to grasp any of what they said at the meantime, and without realizing, he dug his dull nails into his friend’s skin to release his frustration that was burning wildly inside of his system. The voice, belonging to Valerius, cut short, and before he knew it, his own hands was being tightly held on to with a hand, being pulled away from the reddened skin area where his nails was inserted before he left crescent-like marks against them. He whimpered loudly at the feared belief it was Valerius, and shrunk himself into his arms. He didn't dare shake the discomforting grip off of his hands and huffed loudly. He chewed the bottom of his lip then, and few seconds later through silence, he mentally shook his head and pathetically whined in uncertainty. He couldn't search for any reasons as to why his hands was being gripped on as if he did something wrong. He was only struggling. But he froze when he heard a high pitched screech echoing across the area, even was it powerful enough to notice the ground was quivering beneath him, and his breath instantly caught his throat. What… was that? One second passed, two, and three, before he was thrown away from his friend’s whole grip and fell to the snowy ground by his whole back of his body. The rough landing onto the surface knocked his head from behind and he choked out a cry. Pain immediately took over the numbness around him, and he didn't have any bits of energy to make a sincle inch of movement. The drowsiness was becoming overwhelming to take while black dots was appearing in his visions. Once again, there was a familiar name pacing itself through his mind to get their attention, though he could no longer hold the desires to do anything, but to simply let his own reality slip away from him and have him be left in an unconscious state from whatever was happening right now. Although it eventually changed by the time he noticed under his sight, there was something black and massive through the white blur, shifting and moving at a rather slow pace, until he could see what was resembled to a mouth, with overly long and sharp teeth revealing, opening wide and was coming near him, his entire body reacted with an intense twitch as part of his mind was running madly to the point he would remember the name, and the celestial God’s throat was torn apart through a terrified scream, before his mind does the same, when they told him —- he was coming to get him. "GET THE F҉̨͢Ų͘͢C͏̵̢K͟ AWAY FROM M͏̢͏͏̨É̵̛͡!!!" His voice suddenly ḑ͝ì͝s̀t͜or̴͠t҉̀͢e͜d̢ before it twisted and shifted into multiples of his own, sounds of e̸͜l̸e͠c̨t̛ri̕͘c̡̕͢ was cutting in and the volume of it was piercingly s̕͢t̀́ri̛k̷i̷̢̕n̕͡g to the deafening note. The massive figure screeched along with him in the end and it seemed by the disappearance of the figure, it was a͟f̴̢̧r̛a̛i̵̡d̕ of him. Though his own a̧͟͝n͘͢xi̕͟e̕͝t͞y̴̶ and t̴͘e̴ŕr̛͢o̴̡̡r was wrapping tightly around his head, what felt like they were d̶̶es̨͡tŕ͞o̢͘͟y҉͘҉i̢͢n̶͞g̨̧ every bits of his brain cells and stars from his celestial mind, while the spasms were tearing his muscles apart from him. Even what felt like few minutes has been quickly passed by, his body continued on to t̸w̕͠i̶̧t̡c̢ḩ͟ and jerk v̶͢i̧̕ơ̡͝len͞͞tly͡ after his small glít̢c͞҉h͏̡è̛d̵ ̡br̴̛ea̶̧k̡d̛̛o҉̨wn͏҉, and he vigorously shook his head, all thoughts were shattered, screaming and shouting constantly under desperate pleas for this nightmare to be finally over. Tears were still rolling over his cheeks, and even if he felt the need to cough or vomit, for some reason, his system wouldn't allow him to, only to make him be choked on the powerful, overwhelming waves of agony and compulsive taking over him. The fear was what charged his strength, but every given emotions and thoughts had their consequences, and therefore, he was absolutely drained from his glitch taking away most of his will to keep on remaining consciousness and was slowly falling into the sweet nothingness. He couldn't pull himself forward to not let it grasp him under to the unknown, he couldn't fight no more, he was done, he didn't even think he could — he couldn't even think of anything anyone. He no longer felt anything inside of his body, as if the breakdown have stolen his whole emotions and sensations off of him and all of his senses were fading. With open arms, Caleb took the fact he was going to fall unconscious with silent acceptance, only wishing to end this Hell, and he watched as the black dots occurred every small areas of the world's colours with a blank feature look glued on his face, hearing only nothing but a loud ring as it kept on going.... and going... and....... "Caleb! Sh-shit, Caleb!" The darkness finally succeeded in taking over his visions. "CALEB!" Unlike the last time though, the light didn't arrive to them right away.

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Komorebi: Chapter 3 - “Stay Awake”

It was only few minutes later since the two freezing Stars, Caleb and Valerius, have approached to the pathway, which, as Caleb thought, it was made that can help possibly leading them to their destination, and now, unfortunately, much to Caleb’s distress and Valerius’ biggest concern; the Sagittarian could no longer feel his dick, with his balls hanging, anymore, which he felt very much so that it got chopped off of his body, as gruesome as it sounded. On the other note, the progress of them reaching to their goal so far... to put it bluntly, it wasn’t exactly going anywhere close to good at all ( obviously, it wouldn’t be if Caleb have lost his sensation of his genital ).... To the moment when the God, along with his best friend, couldn’t feel either of their flesh anymore either, while their arms were still tangled together, but only the heavy weight against one and another, they had to start speeding up their pace, no matter how frigidly painful it was for Caleb’s feet to take while they were being awkwardly stomped on the frosted surface beneath them ( meanwhile for Valerius, as a Satyr, he had hooves, again; the lucky bastard ). At some point, Valerius did offer him to carry him in bridal style, so they can cut to the chase, but Caleb, somehow, simply refused to take it as he doesn’t want to cause any troubles for him to handle, when he already had to deal with the unpleasant weather. Valerius, the stubborn guy, didn’t listen, and, without a single struggle made, he carried the God anyway.

If it wasn’t for the coldness getting in Caleb’s way, instead of his teeth constantly chattering and had an awful ache located inside his jawline from keeping them moving long enough to create it, with no hesitations made, he would’ve complained his ass out while he had his arm over the nape of Valerius’ neck with his own hand was tightly locked on to his other, afraid his friend would drop him to the ground like a sack of potatoes, which, to be truthful, Valerius would do that on purpose, despite being gentle at time to time ( he was not the kind anyone should ever mess with, even his own friends, like Caleb, when his teeth would be bared like a wolf as as hostile act, a warning, a dark storm slowly approaching across his pale blue eyes, and his hands would become fists, muscles ignited within, a heated creation of desire to harm ). So there was Caleb who was currently shivering in the Satyr’s arms ( it was a surprise to him how easy he was to be carried, even with a fitting body structure, as he forgot how actually strong the brunet was ) through silence, what felt like it was soon going to explode with his annoyance as it was strongly radiating from him, eyes on what was before him. Since he was being carried, Valerius slowed down, not too much, but he didn’t put his strength into his pace, like before, when it would make jarring movements that can trigger dangerous, irregular heartbeats. Only what can be heard from him was the heavy pace of his breath with his teeth loudly clicking together, taking a sharp, brief inhale before he struggled to breathe out afterwards, coughing. Each time his body jerked with the cough tearing through his tightened throat, he was starting to see few black dots appearing in his visions and it ended with a small headache being formed at the side of his head. The urge to fall asleep while he was under comfort and safety of his friend’s arms was shouting at him, a rough jab at his mind to do it. Though it stopped when he felt his whole body close to being thrown up from the Satyr’s grasp and fell only for few seconds, screeching at the meantime until he was on the Capriquarian’s arms and shot him a glare, still, not even a single word would reach to the air from the surprised God, eyebrows furrowed, he expected Valerius to respond and the glare switched to an unamused scowl on his face. "Don’t fall asleep, Caleb," warned the Capriquarian, who seemed to be unfazed at the expression he was just given by him, and he flinched at how sharp his tone was. The brunet didn’t stop moving as he began to speak to him, "I don’t mean to scare you, but if you do, you’re most likely going to die." Caleb blinked once before he didn’t do it again as he could his veins turning into ice within his cold, empty system after what Valerius said, and even if the scenario of him sugarcoating his explanation had happen instead, the result would all be the same anyway. Although he felt like he should be aware of this fact, and the thought of the current weather was making him forgetting things, whatever it was, already, a small line of whimpers weakly fell from his lips. His eyes met with Valerius’ and they were desperately asking him how long will it take for them to finally reach the city. "Just focus on your breathing and your surrounding." At the meantime, Valerius would carefully raise him up higher, only to pull him closer to his bare chest, as an attempt to keep him warm, despite being shirtless. Caleb wheezed softly and placed the side of his head against the crook of his friend’s neck, when he was trying to protect part of his face from the cold, his lips, both parts of the flesh was beginning to become damaged by the frigid atmosphere around him, almost brushing against the Satyr’s skin. "The city isn’t that far as we’re almost there now, I promise." Caleb could feel something burning in the corner of his eyes and finally, he blinked it away and made a pair of tear made trails rolling over his cheeks. He was able to give a nod at Valerius, in a weak motion, but still noticeable, after he allowed his words to be slowly absorbed inside his head and registered them. Caleb tried to convince himself that Valerius wouldn’t actually throw him to the ground, in any scenarios as to why, when he was in this state at the moment, otherwise, if he did, for sure, he would’ve died, and he couldn’t be sure how death would work in this world. Unlike the previous, once he let go of his last breath in any current body he was in, he couldn’t choose whichever unused bodies that he can pull himself into it to possesses it before switching it back to his "main" ( more or less his favourite body to use — he doesn’t remember what his first actual mortal body was like when he came to the previous world, as it was a long time ago ) through a shapeshift power. Why he had that sort of thought currently wrapped around his head was because he would unlock his grip between his hands, before he had the one that was around Valerius’s neck still gently resting on the Capriquarian’s scalp, slowly brushing through his curled, brown hair, feeling some snows that was stuck to it, with his shivering fingers, somewhat relieved that he wasn’t wearing his gray beanie, though he would have tell it was Valerius when he first saw him in his Zodiac form right away without having to struggle. He would ask him what have happened to it, but it didn’t really matter to him, anyway, when he honestly thought it wasn’t important right now, during a situation like this ( Valerius doesn’t seem to even hold an inch of care at all over his hat being gone missing, surprisingly, since he held a deep joy wearing it ). Eventually, Caleb was starting to feel a warm, pleasant wave of comfort flooding over him, most likely created from what he was currently doing to Valerius, sending the small jolts to his toes, before he wiggled them in delight and it brought a feeble smile on his face. But it was gone for several seconds later when he then attempted to focus on his breathing first, as he was told. He couldn’t help himself but tightened his grip on Valerius’ hair at the realization of how it was now shallow and slower than he remembered. The Sagittarian found it troubling on having to pay attention on the way he was breathing, when there was anxiety silently creeping from the corner of his mind, eagerly clawing him in deep painful motions, to cause a panic attack in the end, like a bomb when the time hits to zero, how it would decrease faster if they were being played with as a children’s toy of sort. Caleb struggled to spread the comfort from him brushing through his friend’s hair to crush down the anxiety and in hope, focusing on his surrounding would also help him become relax, he torn his view away from staring at Valerius’ neck and does it what was displayed towards them instead. Since he have arrived to whatever this planet was, he didn’t have the time, without being panicky, and in his most vulnerable position, to really observe and admire what was around him. Though it was clear there was snows covering most lands from where he first stood against the world to where Valerius was taking him through. He couldn’t determine what was the period of time when the entire sky above them was covered in blackened clouds, lacking quite sunlight, therefore, it caused the area to be dark. Yet, he can only assume it was evening. Thankfully, there was streetlights lining along the path they were on, and while, it wasn’t used to be illuminated, for now; if the only area does get more darker as they were still on the snowy track, to the point there has to be light to give people, who was making their way through to, a guide for the same of their safety and comfort, he knew, in no doubt, it would be otherwise. Further ahead from the trees at the right side, through the large, wooden plants, he could see what looked like a frozen lake and after it was more trees, similar to what he pictured, only taking out the frozen part. He became aware he hadn’t added much details upon his mental image, and wondered if the weather and season they had at the previous world was transferred to this location they would be transferred to. Probably, sighed Caleb, annoyed at the thought it would be possible if they were somewhere else in a more warmer environment. While, he wouldn’t mind to admit out loud, the area does look pleasing to the eyes, as he does enjoy taking upon the lovely views of winterly sceneries, it was only the fact he could never agree at the idea of the temperature being low, adding highly before the last word, with an emphasize….. The God narrowed his eyes and, offhanded, he allowed his jaw to drop at a slight motion, his eyebrows furrowed. His mind was able to grasp the sense of it hanging, and he thought there would be words falling from his mouth, without remembering he wished to say something now, but nothing came out, except a soft wheeze, in the end. His feature held a frown and he cocked his head slightly at the right side. He shouldn’t have his head tilted though, when he thought it was becoming heavy for him to lift his head in one side, and, with instantly, the world was spinning around him as he was being thrown at with an urge to vomit out of sudden. It grew worse afterwards since he hadn’t ate anything yet ( at least, he didn’t think the food he ate recently when he was at the other planet would actually transfer from his feline body to this body he was in ). He closed his eyelids against each other tightly at every slightest muscles within his stomach becoming squeezed up from the painful desire to eat something. He opened them once more when there was something in the corner of his mind, whatever it was, and it was poking him to say something, to say a name he knew far too well, but it became nothing but a blur to him then before he would be able to grasp it in time. Regardless, the struggling Sagittarius was still being mentally poked on and snickered at, irritating him, and he bared his ivory, wolf teeth to express it. But the effort in doing it so caused his eyelids to feel more heavier to carry and he briefly huffed, trying to think, despite having a seed of fear inside of him grew into panic.... Val. Val. Val. Valerius, eventually, part of his mind chanted that name he has been looking for, another would scream it at him, and if he could through the frigid air, he would feel himself beginning to choke on a feeble sob that was daring itself to claw his throat apart, desperate to escape from him, and in the end, it did. "H-h-HELP! PLEASE!" Meanwhile that cry — it does not belong to him.

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Komorebi: Chapter 2 - “Humiliation”

There was a word — a name — that was just sitting on the tip of his tongue at the realization, and he tried to pull himself off of the ground, so he could get closer to the male, but like glue; his trembling knees were attached to the ice, while every parts of his body were numb and frozen from remaining in the position for too long. Caleb has been holding on to his breath, afraid that if he let go of a single inch of his breath, like a prey, the Satyr would run away; out of his sight. The low temperature around him was creating troubles for him to seek who it was, he had the name of in mind, twisting and bending it, therefore it would look out of shape for him to actually pull it off in knowing who he was actually seeing. Caleb’s face held surprise when the creature before him finally made their movement, yet they were going towards him. It was strange for him to be aware of the fact that the presence of Satyr wasn’t sending the shivers of fear or unease to his ivory spine or anything along the line in believing there was danger from them, when they could be anyone…. Even….

Caleb heard a breathy chuckle, laced in amusement, from them, breaking his trail of thoughts apart.

“Huh… Now, I would be worried for you, and I am, really, but I’ve been wanting to ask you this question; isn’t this a lovely sight I haven’t seen for quite a long time…”

‘What?’

He noticed how the Satyr wasn’t looking directly at his face when they were speaking, probably when they approached even, but rather….. Puzzled at what they meant, like a fool, he followed their gaze down to see - “O-oh sh-” A small, surprised squeak escaped from him by the time his finally mind registered at the fact, after it’s been at least around three minutes, he was fucking naked.

Whatever happened to him before has completely left his mind, and the sight was more like a heat, made in embarrassment, and burned his entire body. Eventually, it gave him the power to move freely on his own once again, and at that, Caleb immediately pulled his trembling hands over to where his cock was. He lost his balance at how sudden his motion was and the first thing he felt was the sharp and cold sensation hitting against his whole bottom and jumped, uttering another high pitched noise. “F-FUCK!” He threw himself forward with one hand gripping on the icy surface as a support to put him in a standing position with less struggles and managed to do it so, before his hand, used as a support, came back to the other. Then a pair of dark blush appeared on his cheeks at a, rather, painfully slow pace, but it became more intense from hearing the Satyr’s laughter and knowing there was someone seeing him like this. “What th- wha-what the fuck…” The Sagittarian couldn’t tell either if it was the hesitation, his shame being the main reason now, that was preventing him from speaking smoothly as he wished, or it was just the cutting coldness through the atmosphere he was in. Though seeing himself having no clothes had really crushed the moment he had alone until the Satyr arrived, but regardless of how they spoke to him as if they have met each other before, he still couldn’t truly reach that name that was still resting on his tongue, imaging it giggling at how fucking stupid he was.

( It was most likely that he was just distracted, while he was mainly focusing on not getting his dick checked on by the Satyr anymore longer. )

Caleb frantically glanced around his surrounding, searching for just as anything that can help hide his genital from the public eye, especially the brunet at this moment. He whined loudly when there was only pile of snows and sticks in one spot and another, while there was trees also, they were too far for him to hold the desire to move that much in a crazy cold weather like this. Though his body jerked slightly when he remembered something he could’ve known of since the beginning, and reached his hands out before him, making them into a pair of fist before his eyes were shut tight, creating wrinkles on his forehead. His concentration was locked on his celestial powers as he wished to conjure a sweater and a pant for him to wear, but unfortunately, only a small spark of fire appeared around his hands for several seconds until it faded away to the unknown. 'I don’t understand,’ thought Caleb. He tried to activate his powers once again, only a flicker of failure appeared at the same spots he first saw and left him frowning in annoyance. 'Maybe my energy is now drained from transferring myself and Val to the other world….’

He froze after a single word suddenly appeared inside of his head.

’Val.’

That was the name his mouth was holding on to for a while now.

He mentally cursed at himself for not remembering he was with Val couple of minutes ago, distracted with himself, as the usual, and in the corner of his eyes, he saw a figure while their shadow was casting over his body. Believing it must be the Satyr ( he shouldn’t dare the doubt to make him think otherwise ), he blinked and swiftly looked over to them and their face was several inches apart from each other, with them having a reassuring smile tugged at the corner of their lips ( not a grin or a smirk, but a smile, and he doesn’t trust it at all ). Though there was something else hidden through the mist behind their pale blue eyes that made his stomach churned, not in a negative way, but… Caleb stared deeply into their eyes and he was starting to see the playfulness dancing happily, but silently, inside of them. He should’ve took few steps back away from them at how incredibly close they were than he expected, close into invading his own personal space, much to his discomfort, but his mind only wanted him to look at them, no words given also.

Plus…. this Satyr who he was seeing was probably…

Probably, he would repeat that word to himself.

He was already close to being burnt to his death from having his whole body exposed to the world around him, so he was afraid to make himself the biggest fool of them all by mistaking someone his best friend, again, even if the Satyr was treating him like they knew each other. Part of him was consumed with doubts. While the Sagittarian’s jaw was still hanging slightly, unaware of how there was an aching formed within, he attempted seek any memories of when Val had told him he was a Satyr in Zodiaeart. Eventually, there was nothing his mind could offer him, but then again, the chilling weather wasn’t something his mind can easily function and progress through what was being thrown at him out of sudden. He saw the stranger’s humanoid hand coming over to his head, and his muscles stiffened, flinching with his eyes closed tight at the thought they were about to harm him ( a coward he was for not being able to put himself into his defence ). He expected pain, only he was met with his hair being jovially ruffled from the Satyr. “Hey, it’s okay,” soothed the hybrid with a gentle hum at the end, “it’s me, Valerius. I just realized you don’t remember what I-I look like in this form.”

And so, his thought was confirmed.

“So there’s no need to be shy about it. But… I’ll admit, I’m still amazed to see how big your dick is, even after million of years.”

But even if it was truly Valerius who Caleb was meeting this whole time, regardless in the end, the intense heat inside his cheeks didn’t go away, and his eyes widened at the reaching finish of his friend’s sentence ( at first, he was uncertain over why he would emphasize the friend part, when they were boyfriends in the far past and the chance of them having sex before was high — knowing Caleb himself — but after all; this whole scenario was quite unexpected for him to go through, as he would often forget how sexual Valerius can be, when he was usually emotionless and upon first glance; he doesn’t seem the type to have an interest towards sex ). He would’ve gasped, but instead, he nearly choked on his saliva that was pouring down, through his throat, without his awareness to swallow them them whole, when they were forming so much more than he expected, as his attention was entirely absorbed on to Valerius. “Sh-shut the fuck u-up!” He managed to release those four words, voice still sharp and high, at Valerius, who only reacted with a snicker.

The fucker, he was…

The God’s ears burned furiously and he tried to push the Capriquarian’s hand away from his now disheveled hair, some strands at the front was currently covering part of his face, taking his wrist with one hand while the other was still concealing over his dick, but Valerius had done the same action on him, except faster than he did. A heartbeat after, his best friend pulled him more closer to him, nearly bending his wrist to the opposite side and goes over to his side during the progress, Caleb’s face meeting close to his face, not done with too much force and strength behind the action to hurt him, but it was rather enough to warn him. Caleb would have done something about it with his other hand being free, but as if Valerius read his mind, he could see his eyes darting from his spared hand to the one he was grasping on to and made a brief nod, a motion and a look that would loudly tell him a dare to do what Caleb would want to do.

The suggestion made the Sagittarian drop the idea and gave up struggling against Valerius’ tight grip and he watched in horror at a relaxed smile on his ruggedly, handsome feature turning wider into a cocky smirk ( pun unintended, as, well, there was Caleb’s dick involved in this situation ), something he would definitely hold a great desire to punch it out of his face. At the same time though, how incredibly close his own face was to Valerius’, and, now, knowing the Satyr was him, he was less in unease than he was several minutes ago, and he couldn’t resist himself but to admire his face ( that was also stupid, attractive, but stupid )…. Caleb snapped himself out of the trance and eventually, he couldn’t bring himself to slap Valerius, just because he wasn’t that cruel towards people ( at least, not in this way, oh no ).

But instead, what he can say —

“Fucking Saturn,“ scowled Caleb, although his old traits of being the playful asshole was slowly dripping over his present behaviour as he was able to speak to Valerius with the amount of confidence that has been found and was used to coat on his bruised soul, "if it weren’t for you…. l-looking gorgeous as - as Hell,” he huffed at the end, hinting his disbelief, if his narrowed eyes wasn’t showing enough while they were nearly misty, a cloud of embarrassment, attempting to hide over his shame ( a failure he was in the end ), “Steh-Stars… I would’ve slap tha-that shitty ass smirk off of your stupid f-face…” He awkwardly allowed the silence to take over as his comment would sink deeply into Valerius’ mind before he returned him an expression with a shitty grin. Although, much to his frustration, his comment eventually earned a snort, and a funny look from the brunte that would ask him, “oh, really, now?” Mischievousness hidden doubt was being used to poke against his side and Caleb gave him a glare. Valerius replied nothing but had innocence painted across his flawless feature and leaned them over to one side at a slight motion. “What? Are you telling me that my appearance of being a cat isn’t worth something to you?” causally questioned the brunet, eyebrows raised. Caleb’s mouth parted to reply his inquire, a glimpse of guilt filtered his then widened eyes ( even though Valerius didn’t sound too serious, his words gave his stomach a tug — he didn’t mean to have him picture the this idea ), yet he didn’t get to start it when Valerius simply added,

“I’m offended, Caleb Norwood.”

Not coming from Caleb’s expectation, his body reacted with a brief shake out of sudden, as his words, mainly when the Capriquarian’s said his full name at the end, send a small, but powerful, shivers down his spine, feeling them swirl and twist uncontrollably, and he can feel his knees hitting against each other once again. He desperately wished it wasn’t the reason why he responded that way to Valerius’ statement when it was what it actually was. He tightly pressed his quivering lips against each other and drew a straight line, to mute a sound he would just straight up fucking die, knowing what would it sound like if it escaped from him. Please, thought Caleb, he had enough of the goddamn humiliation. He turned his face away from Valerius and attempted to pull his wrist away from Valerius’ grasp. “I’m s-sorry…” Came a whisper, somewhat forced, words were stitched under the trembling hands of a fragile God ( do not think it’s a shocker — if both mortals and Gods can bleed and sweat, so can they shed tears ). It was an instant change and who Caleb was before became the man after he has gone through eight months of torment; from being playful and confident to submissive and frightened. The Sagittarian didn’t even remember why he was apologizing to Valerius, even why he was acting this way again ( it was probably over how heavily embarrassed he was, to the point, he couldn’t emotionally handle it anymore — the moment did become worse in the end when he felt the guilt weighing him down ).

A small whine passed from his lips, failing to keep all of his sounds to himself only, and it was only at least close to a minute until the tightness around his wrist was released, replacing with the coldness kissing his skin that was marked from the pressure. Caleb didn’t wish to know how Valerius was taking the sudden change, and allowed his gaze to remain on one spot at the snows with his bare feet under his sight… Snows…. Suppose he didn’t exactly add much details to his mind when he was picturing a scenery, as a result, his power must have put them in an unknown world with a similar weather as where they were before….. “It’s okay.” Caleb would hear a soft respond, every trace of mischievousness behind the tone was fading away, only calmness. Regardless, he didn’t want to look at the speaker, known as Valerius, afraid his eyes would say otherwise. Pity… Disappointment…. Anger…..

“Come on,” He then felt an arm brushing against his, gesturing him to hold on to it. “let’s quickly find something that we can cover you up with, as apparently, your powers isn’t working either…. before we need to find a place to stay in for a bit, until the weather isn’t as bad as now.” Caleb stared at Valerius’ arm and he hesitated to put his grasp to it, but after he took several steady breathes in, before he would slowly exhale them, he wrapped his arm with his own, yet still, he doesn’t want his eyes on his best friend. “I-I…” The God would begin to speak, his voice was barely hearable as a string of his words were shaky, and as before, he doesn’t remember if it was him stuttering out of nervousness or the frigid weather, “uh, I beh-believe there’s a ci-city nearby that we can - we can g-go to….” He would point at a direction across from where they were and there was an opening entrance, where behind it, there was a land of mainly trees at the sides, with a pathway at the center, possibly leading to where he said; the city. He did remember picturing a city behind the trees, so they had to be close.

“You sure it’s a good idea though?” Valerius inquired, and noting by how firmly he was pressing against his words on purpose; he was concerned at his suggestion. It made him frown, but he eventually understood why. “I can assume it’s a public area, and Jupiter knows who would we meet upon and if they can actually tolerate with you being fully naked, unlike me.” The Capriquarian’s tone was becoming more serious as each few words reached to his ears, different from how he was treating him at the beginning, and Caleb was honestly unsure if he should feel relieved or afraid. He didn’t complain anyway. “Uh…” He didn’t had an answer to his question either, when he was uncertain how the people here would react upon seeing a naked human, and the Sagittarian slowly closed his mouth, shrugging afterwards. He did think he can say he would hold on to hope as tightly as he can that whoever they meet would understand why he was naked, but part of him didn’t allow him to, and at the end of the pause, he stopped where he started and simply dropped it.

Valerius was a lucky bastard to be a Satyr, as not everyday, you would see a Satyr wearing a shirt while their lower part of their body was like a fucking goat.

“Well,” sighed the brunet, his voice starting to sound forced and lower for Caleb to hear, when the exhaustion was about to take over him, “remember, stay close with me.” The God could feel his hand being held on to with another, Valerius’, and felt his hand being gently squeezed. Perhaps, it meant his friend was reassuring him that he wouldn’t let him be more embarrassed than he was anymore, if anyone else did come across him having no clothes on. At least that was what Caleb wanted to think, so he can calm himself down. “We can’t ever be sure if this world is where we can actually stay, for a long time, at least, until we see it for ourselves, and I’m not going to risk doing that with you not being with me at my side.” Though it may not be real, Caleb still felt what was similar to a rock was forming inside his throat and he tried to swallow it whole, leading to him almost gagging at the end. After Valerius was finished speaking, Caleb finally decided to look at him and glanced back, giving up a brief nod at his face, to say that he got everything of what he just said. “O-okay…”

When Caleb looked at the Satyr, he didn’t see him smirk anymore, like before, and wasn’t carrying any emotions he thought he would, when he first had his eyes on him after a bit while of avoiding looking at him for the sake of his comfort and fear of really seeing the mixture of negative feelings Valerius had towards him from his sudden behaviour changing. But to see his friend offering him a smile instead, made his heart beating quicker and he could feel the heat rising inside of him again, since it died out during the moment when his soul was being filled with guilt ( before he would choke on them, then he was close to drowning in them ). Surprisingly, without hesitation, he returned him the same expression, and Valerius began their small travel to the city towards where Caleb pointed the direction that would hopefully take them to a place they can stay in, plus getting clothes for the both of them ( though Caleb himself was the biggest concern ). The God tried to ignore the numbness around his bare feet as he tried to lift one of them from the ground and take a step forward with them, before he does the same with the other, repeat. There was few stumbles and close into tripping here and there, but his feet was slowly able to get their senses back, the longer he kept moving them.

He was trying to shower the majority of his attention to his walking and his surrounding, than how extremely cold he was at the moment, and letting out a loud breath, Caleb would grip on to Valerius’ arm more tighter, as to support his stand, in case he would fall and he can have something to help him from that scenario happening. He was certain the city won’t be far, and he wouldn’t be sick, even after how long he has been standing in one spot, since he wasn’t an easy target to catch a cold, both in his human and animal form, so he wasn’t too worried about it. But if he did stay out in the cold far too long, especially having no clothes that can provide him warmth to be able to outside for a while ( and don’t forget Valerius, he may be more warmer than him from having part of his body being furred ), the chance of getting hypothermia, which eventually leads to death, was high, Caleb and Valerius had to be hurry on their search.

[kcmcrebiii-blog]

Komorebi: Chapter 1 - “Repeat”

It was a simple, yet sudden blink of an eye away when Caleb’s power was activated without any warnings given, instead of Valerius, who answered his inquire in confidence, but also, his tone to it being gentle ( to hear it together made his chest within bloom burning affection ), therefore he wasn’t prepared for the transportation at all. What the God wouldn’t have expected as well was how he have lost the warmth, he swore, he was able to grasp on, having it immediately torn away from his grip at the flicker of darkness across his sight, and it hadn’t returned to him then when it was washed over by the whiteness, eventually black once again ( though it hadn’t left from his chest yet, but Caleb will make sure he would erase the “yet” as he would finally encourage himself to fight again, never mind how he thought he doesn’t want to anymore, as long as the fire wouldn’t go away, he will keep fighting ).

Now, his entire body was trembling violently and the temperature was incredibly lower than he remembered before he was able to access his ability of him and the Capriquarian to travel themselves from a planet they were in before to another, leading them to… wherever they were now…..

His eyelids were still firmly shut against each other, but he didn’t wish to open them, afraid where he, along with Valerius, could be standing on and let the sight fold their visions. At the mention of his friend, remembering he was holding his…. Caleb hesitated to do what he was planning to do next, with a breath being taken in through a heavy and brief motion, he flexed his muscles below him. They became tensed up as the rest inside of his body… It couldn’t be….. The Sagittarian swallowed a ball of anxiety that was slowly being formed inside his now tightness throat, and he breathed, deeply for several times as he did before. Take a breath in, let it go, repeat. Take a breath in, let it go, repeat.

( Then tell yourself, “everything is going to alright.” Repeat. )

After a brief moment of silence, except how the nature song was playing, with colds winds howling and send aggressive kisses against his mortal flesh, leaving stings behind the forming blocks inside, directly in his starlight veins; a pleasant string of birds were chirping through at the meantime, an important sign of knowing the nature itself was still going as he was at this moment, he was still alive, his heart was still beating ( only barely, but he was still here ); he finally opened his eyes as he raised where he mainly flexed up to his face. His facial expression was immediately covered with confusion, while a fear, mixed in shock, occurred across his eyes, eyebrows slightly furrowed at the familiar sight before him.

…It was his hand.

’Again.’

His starlight brain was flooded with memories out of sudden after a thought appeared, without his will, at the center of his consciousness; where it took place at a dreamland, exactly, a dream realm owned by Da- “N-no, no, no, n-no, no,” Caleb winced at his voice becoming more raspy and deep, unlike the last time he spoke, but he ignored it and he pulled his other hand to his eyelids with the one he raised up with, he then used both of them to rub his eyelids, his action closely drawn in a furious manner. He stopped and placed one of them against his cold neck when he thought he was about to choke on fear after his usual breathing pace broke into an uneven mess. “it’s over, it’s over, it’s - it’s - it’s over…” He repeated that two words to himself under a harsh mutter, over and over, until he couldn’t find his own voice anymore, lost within himself. It was only his mouth that was moving, mouthing the same phrase, while he didn’t hear himself speaking anymore. But a whimper reached to his ears, made in a heavy wonder of how long will it take for him to believe it truly was over, that he wasn’t back in time to breathe agony during that particular moment once more.

( He wanted to, but at what cost? )

His knees was hitting against each other through each shake his entire body was made, taking a hit against the remaining energy he had left to use for his ability to stand. It became difficult for the struggling God though when part of his mind was starting to shut down from it being successfully taken over by his demons, carrying the illness of anxiety and it would spread across like wildfire. A heartbeat and several more then, they fell to ( as his demons howled in victory ), what felt like, an icy sheet of ice beneath him. The rough landing created some cuts on his flesh, and numbness quickly approached with the throbbing sensation spreading across his knees afterwards, but it wasn’t like Caleb ever cared about it.

He just wanted all of this to fucking stop.

“Breathe, Caleb, breathe.”

The Sagittarian heard a voice, though it doesn’t belong to his own, when the tone was different compared to his; firm, yet somewhat relaxed, a heavy weight of support. His mind was buzzing familiarity. Caleb had his eyes closed this whole time after his hands left them in tears, and eventually at the buzzing inside his head, he opened them and moved his head over where the voice was coming from. His gentle gaze was now focused on to a figure who was several steps away from where he was kneeling on. He squinted his eyes, allowing his tears to drop and roll over his slight chubby cheeks. He stared at the figure and without realizing, his breathing pace was returning back to normal, and he stayed in that position, blinking slowly, as if nothing had happen. He noticed there was something behind their presence that would bring comfort over to his soul, destroying every occurring monsters behind every corners and edges of his freezing system. Caleb narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. He couldn’t get the clear view of who he was staring at, his visions was blurred from his running tears, but it took a brief time ahead before he could finally see them in a clear view at where he was facing towards to.

The figure was resembled as a man, or so he thought, until, while he would see the upper part of their body having a fit structure; with pale smooth skin that can be easily marked in red, and had stubbles, they had curly, dark brown hair; that was when something was off. They were goat horns growing out from their head, and he noticed the ears wasn’t exactly what he expected it to look like for human. The God’s jaw was slightly lowered, without realizing it was, and at a slow pace, he glanced downwards to see this… man he was observing at. Though he didn’t focus on the facial expressions and emotions they had on their face, his curiosity was screaming to know what the rest of their appearance looked like. His eyes widened at how their entire legs were covered in long furs, a matching colour as their hair, and had hooves, rather than a pair of feet. The sight even made him assume they had a tail, similar to a goat, like their horns, as well….

His heart nearly froze and his mind instantly clicked.

‘A Satyr.’

[kcmcrebiii-blog]

Komorebi: Prologue - “Trust”

It has been only several days now since Caleb departed from the Main Game, as he would call it, part of whatever world he, along with his best friend, Valerius, was on ( but he does believe it was Earth, as somehow animals were evolving in being somewhat advanced while there were mythical creatures along with powers existing — don’t forget, animals that were extinct were returning, it was sure a fact full of madness ). They were travelling through the stark winter, and still, they hadn’t found a perfect place where they could call it a home. Mainly where they were going, they would approach close to the territories that was owned by clans, and they were both unsure if it was possible to find somewhere far away from them.

Thank to Stars, there was various of small places that held security and at least bits of warmth scattering apart from each other where they go for them to stay in for the night each day. Valerius was well aware of the mental conditions Caleb has to fight against nowadays since his battle with Dark was now over at last, and much to his anger, the Capriquarian wouldn’t allow a single day of letting the tuxedo feline to stay awake during the whole night and instead, get the rest he should have. It wasn’t like Valerius cared with the protests he was getting from him though, because as long as Caleb would be able to have his energy and strength restored at the end of the night, he wouldn’t mind getting his ass mentally kicked by him with just glares and barks.

( Caleb may have the wolf teeth, but it was rare of him to use it ).

Guilt would heavily rain upon the tuxedo feline, a drop against his furs only felt like a kick to his side as he would awkwardly progress through his life now with the kind treatment he was given from his friend. He knew how actually desperate Valerius wanted them, especially Caleb himself, to find a better and safe environment where they could reside in and wouldn’t be easily bothered by anything or anyone else but to each other, for a long period of time at least, and Caleb thought it would be better if they barely any sort of breaks, just to get this little mission they had to find a new home be over with ( even does he refuse to take any snacks, which led up to Valerius’ concern ). No matter how times the Sagittarian was told with a gentle and calm coating of reassurance from Valerius it was fine to stop for a moment and relax, he still didn’t wish to obey while his anxiety was screaming at him to ignore it and force him to believe Valerius would still appreciate if they kept moving on nonstop until they found a perfect place to live in.

Regardless, the God of time and space still appreciated how caring Valerius was.

Caleb’s pelt was being clung on by a sheet of coldness, and each step he take against the snowy surface, he could feel them slowly growing heavier before it would start to sink into his flesh. It started to travel to his paws now when a biting sensation struck to them and he gritted his teeth as an effort to ignore the pain enveloping afterwards. He added more, as an effective way to distract himself, by plunging himself into a wave of thoughts, mainly about their journey. The Sagittarian had a weight chained to his heart with his belief absorbing the thought of how they weren’t making much progress towards their purpose. He was aware of the fact there was various kinds of clans and tribes across this world, mainly the former. What if there was no places for them that could bring them peace, thought the freezing Sagittarian.

He deeply frowned, the notion have left him tasting the sharp disappointment, cutting his tongue to bleed celestial wonders; staining himself in stars of anxiety. It was noticeable by the shining across his bicoloured eyes, but luckily, where Valerius was, he was in front of him with a wagon of their property behind as Caleb was supposed to be focusing on their belongings, in case they somehow dropped from their vehicle. The former clanner blinked. He remembered how he can travel across an universe to another universe, although it has been a long time since he had done anything like that, so he couldn’t be certain if he could doing it again now…. Especially at the current health state he was in… Caleb would snap himself out of his thoughts and had his focus locked on his best friend who still doesn’t have any idea what was going on with him while he was walking before him.

The God noticed, in the corner of his eyes, the sun was falling down the horizon and the sky was now painted in shades of pink to orange, taking over the baby blue. The realization made his stomach drop, to see the day was almost over was creating a small spark of desire to stop walking for some reason, but he was able to get rid of it as fast as he could, and he huffed softly. There was a ball of nervousness sitting on the back of his mind to speak to Valerius about what he was just thinking. Valerius wouldn’t be upset at the idea of going to a different universe because it was probably a low chance of find a safe and quiet place to inhabit, as he would agree, would he?

Caleb took a deep breath in, taking a control of creating a wave of calmness to knock over his anxiety and fear, and exhaled in a slow pace, eyes closed for a brief moment. When he gathered enough courage to reach out an attempt to get Valerius’ attention, he opened his eyes and called, “Hey V-Val,” There was a pause. He cleared his throat when he became fully aware of how his voice was barely heard, even in his own ears — he couldn’t hear himself, and only sensed his mouth was moving without what he thought no words were coming out of him; but the tightness that was clinging around his neck wasn’t helping him when he tried to raise his voice, and a gate within was now closed, blocking his will to breathe.

He suddenly stopped moving, bicoloured eyes were closed once again, yet more forced, and he released a small, but unpleasant line of coughs and nearly gagged when at the end, a cough was more stronger than the rest and gave an urge to throw up. Valerius was quick to react and halted himself from continuing on the wall before he came over to his side, facial expression lacked any emotions while his pale blue eyes were dull, and carefully observed the male, searching for any symptoms of a cold. “Are you okay?” Valerius calmly questioned, and while his face may not be carrying any emotions, his tone was laced in heavy concern. His words were closely pulled into one, but Caleb can understand the bubbling worry of his friend and it was causing him to act swift as to make sure everything was going okay. Caleb couldn’t tell if he really did, but he gave a nod at Valerius’ direction, sort of, when he was still coughing.

“Y-yeah, yeah, I’m okay,“ heavily breathed the feline, giving himself some space to sit against the snows. He shifted around his seat in a discomfort manner, not being ever used to the freezing temperature to spread across his bottom at a speed of light. He didn’t complain though and focused more on shoving an end of his coughs. Thankfully Valerius came to the rescue ( as the usual ) and got him a plastic bottle of water. He awkwardly opened the cap and lifted it almost over his head, creating a thin fall of water towards his mouth. The cold, but pleasant water was able to wash away his coughs alongside with the burning sensations across his throat from how strong he was letting go of the coughs like magic ( but was there any other of sorts that could heal his mental scars and wash his dirty soul clean? ), and he deeply sighed, softly thanking his friend. His inner self though, he was imagining himself being pulled into the sea and choke on nothing but a taste of shame.

He didn’t remember the heat would roll in anytime now when autumn was slowly being replaced by winter as each day goes by, but he saw Valerius who was about to take a seat also beside him, their furs being brushed against each other during the progress as to create warmth between them, and the brown tabby gave him a nod afterwards. He furrowed his imaginary eyebrows at him and tilted his head to the side, expecting him to say something to him. He didn’t understand what the gesture meant, until his head raised slightly and made a small "o.” Right. “So, you have anything going on in your mind lately?“ Caleb’s attention was torn apart from his own mind to the other feline who had his shoulder resting against his, rather casually, and to see the Capriquarian, who was known to be "stone-faced” and can take just as almost ( emphasizing the almost ) anything in an untroubled and mature manner, doing something like this, it deeply flustered him. He calmed himself after taking several deep breaths and letting them go as smoothly as he can, and had his body relax against his friend’s weight. Though he couldn’t reach the point of bravery to look directly at him as he would answer his inquire and had his gaze on his forepaws instead, watching them being twiddled against each other.

“U-uh,“

Part of his mind harshly cursed at himself over having to start with him being nervous already, stuttering —- pathetic he was acting ( as always ), "I was thinking… Since wherever weh-we go, uh, th-there would be a clan…. Don’t you…” The God paused on his words and lowered his head down, as his bicoloured eyes blinked with a flicker of unease at the possible reactions he would get from Valerius at his next several words. “Ah, d-don’t you teh-think it would be better if… w-we go off to a different world?….” He remained silent once again to gather the growing reaction he would get from the brown tabby so far. In the corner of his eyes, he could only see how overly serious the Capriquarian was, and he swore he sense the side of his face burning over how strangely intense he was looking at him, even with him wearing a gray beanie; being a cutie by wearing a beanie while having a solemn expression on their face does not match at all. He motioned his jaw in a circle, attempting to release the tension within and he took a sharp inhale as he lifted his gaze over to Valerius’s and finished his sentence, “Because I-I… I don’t think we’re, uh… um, we’re making.. uh, much progress, t-to be honest…” Caleb’s voice eventually faded away and turned into more of a mumbling mess, few of his words became close to being inaudible, not even his mind could figure what he was trying to say at the end.

Regardless, it didn’t matter anyway when the tuxedo feline’s cheek was pressed gently and was being attempted to look over who he was being brushed at, Valerius, but why? Caleb didn’t fight against the gesture and glanced back at the brown tabby. He saw stars inside his pale blue eyes, glimmering in understanding. Such beautiful sight never ceased to amaze him, especially how empathetic and tender Valerius was. “Well, that can be possible, actually… but where can we go, exactly?” The beanie-wearing Star would ask the exhausted God, who couldn’t resist himself but to admire his feature, eyes dropping slightly, so he could look directly at his flawless jawline. But thankfully, he was able to catch his focus from falling where his gaze was on also and gripped it on against Valerius’s question. He never exactly thought of where they could go…. Yet was it easy to believe there could be another planet out across the universes that was similar to Earth, where they were standing now? “I-I… I don’t know,” sheepishly admitted the Sagittarian. Though there was a small smile that would shine comfort to Valerius’ eyes, gentle and loving. “But uh, weh-why not we give it a try? If… If there is anything that would end too b-bad, we can, u-um, always get out and go to - go to a-a different one… It’s simple…..” ��I guess.’ Caleb would awkwardly add, but to his own thoughts as he doesn’t wish to say them out loud.

His foreleg became numb and light after he felt the weight of his friend leaving him. The God nearly whined at him to don’t leave him alone, but the Capriquarian was only taking another spot to sit on, but this time, he was in front of him. Caleb carefully watched him tilting his head at a slight motion, and he swore, the concern in his eyes never leave. The tuxedo feline gently bit the inside of his lower lip, deeply exhaling and would see his own breathing escaping behind his flesh torn lips. “Do you still remember how to travel across the universe?” Caleb never minded being questioned, as he enjoyed answering whatever inquires would be tossed at his way, most of them at least, but there was something bothering him while it was jabbing him by his side. Still, was there a flicker of worry that would come by across Valerius’ eyes once after few minutes, and it gave him discomfort to believe he didn’t like the idea of going to another planet from here.

It was probably his doubt telling him the idea, but what if it was true?

“Yeh-yeah, just… hold my paw…. and close your eyes…”

After his words, be would then slowly reached his forepaw towards the other, and his facial expression shifted from nervousness to surprise at how quick Valerius was at doing as he was told and already, he was waiting patiently for him to do something now. He swallowed what felt like a pinecone to his throat and coughed softly. Even if he hadn’t done this for a while, especially if he was doing it with someone else, the tuxedo feline was certain they had to hold each other with their eyes closed, and the main user, Caleb himself, has to picture any scenery for a moment before they would be transferred to wherever places that has the close requirements to what he visualized. “What about our stuff?” Came a next question from his best friend, knocking down his thinking progress to the side, away from the center of his attention, just as there was an end to it. “Wherever we go, would we still be able to access our powers to conjure them to us?” Well, that was an easy one to answer, thought the God. Otherwise he would’ve been honestly irritated, in a mixture of anxious, as to why the brown tabby have to ask so many questions. He didn’t return a question to him and instead, “Y-you can only hope…” simply replied Caleb under a mutter, shrugging, though he still winced at how he stuttered at his respond anyway, ears twitching in annoyance. He knew the fact there was many planets out there, so he was’t too worried over it when the chance of them losing their zodiac abilities and powers was low. Just as he was about to close his eyes, Valerius decided to give him another inquire, but there was something behind it that made his heart nearly froze and part of his inner self melted.

“And most importantly, do you think you’re feeling okay enough to this for us, for you, especially?”

Surprisingly, like the previous question… he was certain of his reply.

“Yeah.“

Even though Valerius wouldn’t see it when his eyelids were still shut tight against each other, Caleb couldn’t help but let the corner of his lips curled into a small smile. Though he may not reach to the point it was genuine as he hoped it to be, the question did bring the shivers to his ivory spine, a pleasant kind, actually. Disappointment burned gentley across his bicoloured eyes when he realized he wouldn’t be able to see how Valerius must be feeling now as he inquired him, when he still doesn’t hold any expressions with his eyes were closed. Caleb tried not to focus too much on the realization and closed his own eyes. Like before, he took a deep breath in and allowing it to rest within his healing lungs for several seconds, at the end, he slowly exhaled them, an attempt to keep his mind clear, so with a swift, he could splash them with an image of where they could go. He made his muscles tensed up, preparing himself to endure a headache that was likely to form inside his head by the extra effort on his power, and he heaved a sigh.

It only took time of waiting in chilling silence until colours began to drop on his mind, like a splatter of colourful paint to a blank canvas, and while his anxiety hadn’t left him yet, he was taking out every remaining strength and energy he had right now from his starlight system, to use it against a savage beast, marked to be eventually destroyed under faith and time. Though with doubt slowly eating parts of his mind, he gritted his teeth and shook his head in furious manner, as an attempt to throw it away to the side. It didn’t interrupt much of his progress in picturing a scenery though, as he was starting to see the image of it, much to his relief. Yet to his shock in the end, it wasn’t what he wanted when it did distract him from choosing a specific location. It was a lake with a city behind the trees. Again, not exactly where he would plan to go, but he thought it wouldn’t hurt to try and explore a new planet ( after all, as he said, they can leave anytime they want and move on to the next one, especially when anything goes too bad ).

Meanwhile Valerius hadn’t said or done anything since he asked him if he would be okay after sparing his energy and strength to use one of his powers, and it honestly doesn’t help him to know if his friend genuinely thought this was a good idea or not. The tuxedo feline allowed the current image to stay inside his head and before he could do anything next in the end, and a brief moment later of him being completely frozen, he licked his quivering lips, shakily inhaled, and he softly said,

“Val, uh, I-I have a… uh, que-question I would l-like to ask you….”

Immediately after his words, he felt his forepaw being squeezed.

Then tell, he imagined him saying.

Once more, he took a breath in... He breathed out...

Repeat.

“Do… do you trust me?”

Then there was darkness.

“In the bottom of my heart and soul,"

Eventually, it became white.

“I do.”