Crescent

Crescent

A pair of Skydancers work their way through their old boxes, sorting out what they want to keep, throw away, or donate to charity. Their dreams to remodel their basement are far above their budget, but the couple has already made a small living space down there. Still, the towering boxes always seem to loom in the background, until the two Skydancers finally began to go through them.

“Some of this stuff is more exciting to find now than it was when we first got it,” Kaja remarks, holding up a violet lava lamp. “This brings back some memories.”

Crescent laughs at the memory. “Hey, I was carrying, like, two dozen things. It was pretty much inevitable that something would fall.”

“You caught it, though,” Kaja reminds her. “I’ve never seen you move that fast in my life.”

“Sure, I caught it, but I dropped everything else,” Crescent laughs. “Good thing I saved the one thing that was breakable,” she adds, flicking her tail at the lava lamp. Chuckling, Crescent turned back to her box. The box she is going through holds books, most of which she’s read multiple times.

“Hey, Kaj, you don’t mind if we get rid of the Fighting Cats series, do you? We haven’t read it in...” As Crescent trails off, trying to remember the last time she’d read the series, she notices her mate’s silence. Crescent turns to see Kaja gripping a hatchling’s shirt tightly in her claws, shaking, with tears spilling down her cheeks. Still, she doesn’t make a sound as Crescent approaches. Crescent lays a hand on Kaja’s shoulder, and the red and white dragon sobs and falls into her partner's arms. Not knowing what to say, Crescent just strokes Kaja’s hair, choking back her own tears.

“I should’ve done more,” Kaja sobs into her mate’s shoulder, shuddering with every breath.

Crescent leans her beak on her mate’s head. “You did all you could,” she soothes, trying to hide the wobble in her own voice. “He’s in heaven. He’s not hurting anymore. He’s happy.”

A few moments pass before Kaja sniffles a few times and allows Crescent to lead her to their ratty old couch, where she curls up, still clutching the tiny shirt in her claws. Crescent smooths her mate’s hair before going upstairs to make some hot chocolate, knowing that the sweetness and warmth often comforts Kaja. Through blurry eyes, Crescent manages to make the hot drink. She wipes away the tears before going back downstairs with a steaming mug.

Kaja has fallen asleep, as she often does after a crying spell, so Crescent sets the mug on the coffee table before going to the boxes that her mate had been looking through. There are four of them, all labeled Baby Stuff in a penmanship that Crescent hadn’t seen since their son had passed away and Kaja had fallen apart.

The first three boxes hold nothing but pain, and Crescent considers just donating the last box without looking through it. She decides to push through the pain and opens the box.

Inside the box, there seems to be nothing but baby clothes, but some digging yields a small picture frame, laying face-down in the box. On the back the date 6/11/21 is written, and Crescent feels her breath catch in her throat. It’s him. She flips the picture frame over, revealing her son’s face in a simple white frame. Crescent’s heart stops for a moment as she looks at her lost son’s face.

“Crescent?”

Crescent stuffs the picture in her pocket, feeling guilty despite having done nothing wrong. Kaja hasn’t lifted her head yet, and she’s hidden by the back of the couch.

“I’m here,” Crescent tells her, walking around the couch and crouching in front of her mate. “I brought you some hot chocolate,” she adds, picking up the now-lukewarm mug. “Uh, it’s a bit cold. Do you want me to heat—”

“It’s fine,” Kaja insists, her voice hoarse as she picks up the mug and takes a sip. Crescent continues to comfort her mate, still aware of the picture in her pocket.

~*~*~

“This way.” Crescent guides her blindfolded mate into their basement, taking care to warn her of the steps and the low beam that needs them to duck to get under.

“Forward... take a left... stop!” Crescent unties her mate’s blindfold to reveal her project. “Viola!”

Kaja gasps, speechless as she slowly approaches the painting. Crescent holds her breath as her mate looks over every detail that she’d been sure to add--the light brushstrokes on the feathers, the stippling of the scales, the glimmer of metallic paints on the highlights. Kaja begins to smile, then cry, then hugs Crescent close.

“It’s perfect.”


Lore/Layout by @Bibbit
From @RusticEyes



By PuffinSweater


Made by @Bibbit with Picrew