Three weeks have passed. It’s December. The air is colder now, endless foggy mornings and rainy nights… the winter is coming. The Moon’s Shadow and Lydia’s case culprit weren’t found yet by the royal family, nor did they attack someone again.

The sculpture students’ project due date was also near… They were finishing their works for the exhibition.

The group of friends along with their classmates, were almost done with theirs… except for Eclipse. She still had a long way to finish, so she was staying in the studio until night to conclude it. 

It wasn’t the first time this happened to her… It used to happen quite a few times and Lydia would always make her company on those nights.

However, this time she was busy at home and her parents also didn’t allow her to be out so late due to what happened that day… They were scared of it occurring again.

Dracarus was the one staying with her. They had gotten closer during these weeks. They understood each other quite easily and shared an inexplicable fondness between each other. Nevertheless, Eclipse seemed to avoid it sometimes… She knew what she felt for him was forbidden. As he could be her salvation, he could also be her death.

~~~

Dracarus had taken her home on his motorcycle. The weather was pretty good that day and without rain.

He was talking over the phone with someone from the castle, still in front of her house, when he suddenly heard a door shut quite hard.

It was Eclipse. She came out of her house and seemed to be worriedly searching for something in the front yard.

– Hm? What’s wrong? Are you looking for something? – He was concerned.

She looked at him and he noticed she was sobbing.

– Are you crying? What is it? – His voice softened.

She opened the gate and sobbingly told him everything.

– My cat… My brother returned from work and the cat is nowhere in the house, nor in the garden. – She was looking for her cat. – I need to find him.

“Aw… She really loves her cats, doesn’t she? To come out to look for him at such an hour…”

– Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you. – He gently stroked her cheek. – We’re gonna find him. – He reassured.

They searched everywhere around the house and nearby places, but he wasn’t in any. She was about to sob again.

– Hmm, maybe we should go check the forest. – Dracarus pointed to the forest near her house.

– But… Why would he go there…? – Eclipse’s cat wasn’t the adventurer type so…

– We should check it anyway. 

Eclipse nodded and both went through the dark and creepy trees. 

Not so long from the path they took, they heard a stem creak. 

“Hm? Could it be the cat?” Dracarus followed the sound, grabbing Eclipse’s wrist.

There it was, Eclipse’s cat. He was at the top of a tree, scared to come down.

– He’s stuck! He can’t come down… – Eclipse was worried.

– Oh, I can get him. – He grinned, glancing at her.

– Hm? But it’s so high… How–

In an instant he was gone and in an instant, he was back again, with the cat.

– Oh–! – She was surprised. – My dear Sun! – Dracarus gave her the cat and she hugged him as fast as lightning. – I was so worried about you…! – She was crying again.

– You don’t need to cry anymore, he’s back and safe. – Dracarus giggled.

– Yeah… Thank you so much. And… sorry for troubling you…

– You didn’t trouble me at all. – He assured her, petting the cat. – Is he called Sun because of his fur? 

– Yes, haha!

He was an orange cat with green eyes… And really fat.

~~~

It was heavily raining that night. The two of them were alone on the second floor of the studio… Or so they thought.

– Are you going to paint it blue? – Dracarus was crossing his arms above the table with his head laying on them.

– Yes. – Eclipse answered, looking at him. – Blue is my favourite color. – She carefully brushed the piece, painting it.

– Hm? Really? – He shifted looks between her hands and eyes. – Mine’s red.

She stopped and looked at him. “Red? We’re really on opposite sides, I see…”

She took another brush from the water cup and rubbed it on the red ink.

– Well then, help me paint this. – She gave him the red inked brush.

– Huh– I thought you were painting it all blue… – He was confused but accepted it.

– I changed my mind. – She gave him a subtle smile. – Paint however you want.

She was attentive observing him painting the grandfather figure.

– Is this good…? – He was quite unsure. 

– Haha, yes… – She looked at him in awe.

His eyes seemed as lifeless as always… She wondered why his eyes seemed so dead… What he had gone through all these years…

– Hm? – He slightly tilted his head. – What is it? – He had noticed she was staring at him quite deeply.

She didn’t say anything. She just grabbed his face and drew a cute blue cat smiling on his cheek.

“She’s so close… What is she doing…?” He felt his ears and cheeks heat up.

– It’s done. – She said, looking at the little drawing.

– What did you draw? – He asked, clueless.

– A cute cat, just like you. – She responded, turning herself away, placing the brush on the water cup to clean it.

“A cute cat?” His eyes softly widened in embarrassment. “Wait…!” He got an idea.

He grabbed her left hand, interrupting what she was doing, and tried to draw something for her as well.

She seemed flustered after seeing what it was. And so did he.

– And you’re a pretty red bunny. – He remembered that day from the festival, and drew a red bunny with a heart around it.

“Did he just…” She was blushing quite hard. Their exchange of gazes were also intense for some seconds.

– Hmph… – She shyly smiled to herself. 

He also timidly giggled away. They were really cute with each other at times.

They kept on painting the piece when they suddenly heard a noise come from the balcony.

“What was that sound?” Eclipse was sensing something bad.

– Huh? – Dracarus glanced at the balcony. – There’s something there. – He noticed a mysterious paper laying on the floor. It wasn’t there before.

– Wait… I’ll go check. – She was hesitating about it as it seemed suspicious, but she still went.

– It probably flew here in the wind… – Dracarus followed her behind.

She picked up the soaking paper and something was written on it.

She read it and was in complete shock. She felt cold chills go down her spine. “What… What the hell?! … Has she been stalking me…?!”

“Are you really sure you want to keep this up? You might end up even more sorrowful… Be careful of your choices, Moon.”

“Hm? She looks quite… startled.” Dracarus noticed the panic in her eyes but he didn’t understand it. He couldn’t read it.

– What’s wrong? What does it say? – He asked, curiously in hope of an answer.

– Oh… – She didn’t want to tell him, so she crumpled the paper. – It’s nothing to worry about… Just a stupid person trying to scare someone. – She tried to fake it out.

– Ah, alright… – He tried to believe it but it seemed more than that.

“I wonder what was written there…”

~~~

Dracarus took Eclipse home. This time by one of his cars. 

He noticed she had been sighing all the way there… she was probably worried about something.

– Are you okay? – He questioned, keeping his focus on the road. – Something seems to be bothering you.

– Huh, well… – She glanced at him but wandered off right away. – It’s nothing. I’m just a bit exhausted because of the extra hours during the night. – She had to find an excuse again.

– I see… – He looked at her in a suspicious way. Her answer seemed like a lie.

She was looking outside the window, watching as the rain fell, and didn’t dare to look at him.

“Hm… For some reason I think it’s because of that paper…”

She was completely fine before that occurred…

He dropped her off and arrived at the castle at 11 o’clock. He felt unusually sleepy that day.

He went to the kitchen to drink something hot and Khaos was there.

– Oh, you returned already. – Khaos was making tea for herself. – How was it today? – She asked.

– Uh, it was a normal day… I stayed with her again. – He seemed pensive about something.

“He looks rather serious today. I wonder if something’s up…”

Dracarus picked a cup and put it side to side with Khaos’. He also wanted tea.

– Did anything happen? – The Goddess asked, trying to know why he was so absent.

– Well… nothing much. However, I think there’s something up. – He confessed. 

They both picked up their mugs after pouring the tea and sat together in the barstool.

– What do you mean? – Khaos asked.

The strong wind and heavy rain outside the wide windows made it more creepy to think of.

– We found a paper on the balcony… I think someone might have been watching her and put it there on purpose. – He took a sip of the tea while Khaos was attentively listening to him. – When she picked the paper, she seemed quite panicked by it. I guess what was written there shaked her up.

– Didn’t she tell you what was on there? – She questioned.

– She didn’t. She only said it was someone trying to scare us. – He responded, still wondering what it was about and why she was so surprised at whatever that was written on it.

– Hmm… Interesting.

~~~