#lightsaroundyourvanity

Three days. That’s how long Yang had been walking before she stumbled upon another person on the island. Or at least, that’s how long she thought it had been; time moved differently here, the two suns setting at different times and the moon never seeming to reach its peak every night. Regardless, Yang kept time as best as she could, setting up a makeshift home and making tally marks on the wall.

In those three days, she was alone. Miserably, horribly, terribly alone. She woke, ate, walked, and slept, trying to find a way out but losing hope with each day that passed.

Alone. That wasn’t totally true though, was it? She might have been lonely, sure, but she certainly wasn’t alone and she knew that. She was out there; Yang had lost hold of her as they fell and she levelled a solid punch to Yang’s eye, but she knew she was somewhere on the island too.

Neo. Of all the people she could have fallen with, it had to be her. The one person who had gotten the better of Yang in a fight - kicked my ass and made my mom come save me, more like, Yang thought - and the last person she’d ever want to be stuck on the island with. Which was why it was all the more annoying when, after three days of successful dodging, they finally crossed paths.

They froze for a moment, Neo still clutching the fruit she had been collecting and Yang brandishing the driftwood in her hand like it was a weapon. Sizing each other up, they began to step forward.

“Listen,” Yang started, “I don’t trust you in the slightest, and I know you don’t trust me. But we’re stuck on this shitty island together and it’s your fault, so why don’t we call a truce and try to get out of here?”

Neo’s eyes blazed, before her form crystallized and suddenly Ruby was standing before Yang.

Yang scoffed. “You’re not seriously trying to suggest it’s Ruby’s fault we’re here? Why, because she wouldn’t die when you tried to kill her? You’ve got a lot of anger in that little body of yours.”

Shifting back to normal, Neo rolled her eyes before jerking her head back towards the jungle, tossing her a mango and gesturing for Yang to follow her.

So, no not an alliance exactly, but definitely a start.

++++

It had been two weeks since that day and, dare Yang say it, she and Neo had struck up an unlikely friendship. They had managed to figure out that the island was being fed by the big tree in the center, the proverbial doorway out if Neo was to be believed. They planned and plotted, building up defenses and learning as much about the island as it knew about them.

And oh did it know about them.

The nightmares came for both of them; after months of nothing, Yang was suddenly being haunted by the ghost of Adam again. His eyes would burn into hers and she would wake up screaming, thrashing violently and ripping Neo out of her slumber a few feet away. Most nights, Neo would roll her eyes and turn over on her cot as Yang tried desperately to catch her breath; on other nights, she was awake already, sitting up wide eyed and shaking out of it the moment Yang’s eyes settled curiously on hers.

One night, however, Yang was up well past her usual bedtime, tossing and turning and worrying about the friends she had left behind. As she began to sit up and slip her boots on her feet to head out for a walk, Neo began to stir. Yang listened as her breathing picked up and she began to move on her cot; her legs jerked and her hands clutched at the thin layer of palm leaves that made up her makeshift bed. Suddenly, Neo gasped and sat up, breathing rapidly and shaking like a leaf. She was small, there was no denying that, but in that moment she looked miniscule, a little girl broken down by the world and never offered a way back to safety.

Yang was up and over to her bed in a second, reaching an arm out and settling it on Neo’s shoulder. Neo flinched and stiffened at the touch, turning to look at Yang in shock before seemingly registering who she was.

“You get them too, huh?” Yang whispered. “The nightmares I mean, you get them too. What was it about?”

Neo’s face hardened before she let out a breath and began to shift. A brown haired woman appeared in front of Yang, sporting the same wide eyed look Yang saw in Neo’s eyes every time they looked at each other.

“Your mom? Is that who that is?”

Neo shifted back, nodding and wiping at a tear that slipped out. Two weeks on this island and all of a sudden Yang was faced with just how similar the two were. And maybe, just maybe, all Neo had been after all these years was love.

“I can’t bring your mom back, just like you can’t bring back mine, but we can be here for each other. For now at least. If… if it’s what you want, I’ll stay with you for the night. It’s always helped me when… when someone would lie with me after a nightmare.”

Neo looked at Yang, and then at the floor. She thought hard for a few moments before her shoulders sagged and she sighed. She was so tired, Yang noted, feeling Neo take her hand and pull her backwards to lie on the bed.

Settling in on her back, Yang pulled Neo towards her, feeling the smaller woman tense before resting her head on Yang’s shoulder and closing her eyes.