Moon followed after Monty, Solar close behind them, though Moon's mind was somewhere else further away than here.
He didn't know how to tell any of them. Hell he's barely accepted it himself.
They stepped inside. Why did they have to be here already, at least give him some time to prepare himself...
Monty went over and took Earths’ hands, pulling her from her baking. "Turn it all off, hon, and come sit down. I gotta tell you somethin'."
Earth seemed a bit puzzled and a little worried, seeing the looks on Solar and Moon's faces, and noticing a lack of Sun.
She didn't question it though, turning everything off as Solar collected Lunar, joining the rest of them in the living room.
"So what's going on?" Earth looked at Monty.
He sighed. "Think you can handle some really bad news?"
Earth looked at Lunar, both giving each other a very concerned look. "I don't think I like the sound of that, Monty."
"You won't. I mean I got good news too but it's attached to the bad news."
"Then start with the good news, please? Maybe it'll make the bad news less bad?"
She was as hopeful as Sun sometimes...Moon lightly shook his head at that.
Monty sighed again, taking a moment to steel himself before speaking.
"Dark Sun is dealt with. He won't be an issue anymore. Nexus is being held somewhere he can't escape from."
'Now came the harder part' Moon thought, his mind wandering as he stared at the floor, thoughts running a million miles a second.
How would they react? Besides the obvious, of course. Earth was sensitive, one of the two closest to Sun- shed been there when Moon died, when everything was going wrong. Would she have another breakdown like when Solar died?
Lunar was pretty detached from his emotions. Maybe due to his trauma, his training, both. But he was also close with Sun. Sun had been there for him when he was getting away from Eclipse, built his gift, Lunar went to him when he couldn't go to Moon or Earth.
And Dazzle...Gods Dazzle won't understand where Sun is, what happened to him, why he isn't here or coming back...
He was pulled back to reality as a sudden sob tore through the air. Coming back to his senses he saw Monty holding Earth close as she sobbed against him.
Lunar was staring off past them, hands gripping at the fabric of his pants. Finally he forced himself to look at Moon, a smile on his face and a disbelieving laugh on his lips.
"This...this has to be a joke, right? A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad joke...p-payback for the computer thing, right? Right, Moon, tell us it's an awful joke...!"
The silence from Moon, Solar and Monty told him it wasn't a joke.
His smile and laughter fell into quiet crying.
"What's wrong down here?"
And just like that, the moment Moon dreaded had come.
He looked up to the stairs seeing Jack, Dazzle and Molten all peering down at them, worry across their face.
Moon sighed and gathered his nerves, excusing himself briefly before heading up, ushering the three back into Jack and Dazzle's room.
"What' wrong? Why is everyone so sad?" Dazzle looked up at him as he shut the door and sat by the bunk beds.
It took a moment before he finally spoke.
As expected Dazzle seemed more confused than upset. Jack and Molten however...
"What...do you mean...died?"
"Who." Jack placed a hand on Dazzle's shoulder like she was the one they could hear sobbing and screaming from downstairs.
"Dont...don't worry about it right now you two. Please, this...isn't the time, Solar or I will fill you in later...can you two go downstairs, please? Dazzle, you stay for a bit."
She looked at her two friends, both nodding slightly before they left and closed the door behind them.
Dazzle approached Moon, sitting with him, hugging her Sun plushie a little tighter.
"What's going on...? Why's everyone so sad? What happened to Sun?"
"The best way I can explain it, Dazzle...what happened to you, you know what happened to you, right?"
She nodded. "Mhm! Some meanie hurt me and then I was a ghost and you guys found and fixed me up....is Sun a ghost?"
Moon nodded. "Basically, yeah..."
Instead of sad, however, she still seemed hopeful. "Then you can just fix him like you fixed me, right?"
She moved closer and hugged him. He hugged back, closing his eyes.
"I'm certainly gonna try but...there's no certainty it'll work. Sun might never come home again, Dazzle."
She seemed to understand that a little better.
She then held up her Sun plushie. "Do you want him, Moonie?"
"Are you sure, Dazzle? Isn't this your favorite toy?"
"It is. But it always makes me feel better when I'm sad, and you're sad too now, so it'll help you feel better too!" She gave him a big smile.
He couldn't help the small half smile of his own as he took and hugged the plushie close. "Thanks, Dazzle." He ruffled her hair a bit before she hugged him again, and he held her.
A few hours (minutes, maybe, he wasn't sure- all he knew is that all the commotion quieted down downstairs by then).
Dazzle had fallen asleep.
Moon carefully tucked her in with another of her toys and stepped out of the room.
Peering over the banister he found Monty, Earth, Solar, Lunar and Jack all huddled up together sleeping, with Molten silently standing over them, watching.
Suddenly he looked up at Moon.
"...No, I'm not." He said before disappearing into Sun's room.
Moon was sitting on the bed, staring at the plushie.
He hadn't registered he was crying until he began to notice dark, wet spots on the doll.
Molten changed his form, carefully coiling around Moon and resting his upper body and head across his lap, wrapped around him like one big hug to comfort him.
"I am...sorry I was not...there to...help you."
Moon sniffled and shook his head.
"I don't think there's anything you could have done, Molten. I barely managed to make it out of there alive myself...only reason Sun didn't is he stayed back to make sure I got out...damn idiot..."
His body began to shake, tears starting to fall down his face as he started to sob, clinging to Molten a bit.
"It's not fair, damn it! Why did he have to go and do something stupid like that for...? He's gone...my twin's gone..."
