A Hollow in Rainbow Sand

Just about a year has passed since I started the guards' training. It took them three months to stand still when I showed my power, and another two before they were able to actually try and attack me. I was honestly just glad that I no longer needed to get up that early anymore. I enjoyed spending time in the daylight sure, but more often than not I would rather spend the night laying on the roof of the tower where I stayed trying to make a star chart and comparing it to one that I pulled from my home dimension. I had learned how to draw on larger or more powerful items at this point, I also learned how to sync up with my alternates to a minor degree. I could link with, say, an alternate who was an astronomer, but not one who had any actual powers or abilities.

Most of these nights were spent in the company of Luna, who would sometimes ask me to explain the stories behind the constellations from my home. We spent many a night exchanging myths and bonding over a mutual love of the stars.

One night, however, Luna asked a question which nearly tore our friendship apart.

"Jack?" I remember her asking quietly.

"Yes, Luna?" I replied.

"I've noticed that you don't talk about your life back on earth that much...Why is that?"

I stiffened. That was a sensitive topic for me, I still remember a lot of the troubles that I had in my old life. Unfortunately, Luna seemed determined to find out more about me.

With a sigh, I stored the star chart I had been working on into my hammerspace. Then I laid back on the sloping roof of the tower. Telling Luna to get comfortable, I attempted to gather my thoughts.

"I was born in a no name town. Not a lot really happened there, and it wasn't even on the map. Hadn't been for decades before I came around. The hospital was barely up to scratch, and my mom barely survived."

I shook my head and focused back as memories of my parents began to bombard me, "About a year after that, we moved into some suburbs that were on the edge of city limits for both a small town and a large city. Things were good for a while."

I moved my hands behind my head to form a makeshift pillow before I continued, "My mom and dad were career military. That means that at least one of them was always away on a tour of duty. My dad was gone during most of the early years. When I was five, he came back and we got to be a full family for about a year before mom decided that she was going on a tour for herself."

I sighed, "It went on like that for a while, sometimes one of them would be gone for two years, others five, but there was always at least a year of family time between the tours. But that all changed when I was fifteen."

I brought out one of my hands before reaching skyward, towards the equivalent of the north star, "On my fifteenth birthday, my parents sat me down and explained that they thought I could take care of myself. For the most part, they were right, but I still had to learn a few things on my own. They told me that they were both going out on tour again, this time together."

Luna gasped, seemingly shocked that parents could do that to a child. I looked over and saw the pity in her eyes, making me close my own.

"Don't, Luna. If there's one thing I can't stand it's being pitied." I took a deep breath to gather myself once more and began again.

"Anyway, they left soon after that. Only a few days later in fact. I just kept on going through life, getting a job at sixteen even though they sent a portion of their stipend to pay for groceries and the like. Things were normal, and I occasionally got to video chat with them on days like Christmas. But once again, things changed once I hit eighteen."

This time, I had to call on Ulquiorra's personality to keep me somewhat calm, "I was about to graduate high school, and both my mom and my dad had a bit of shore leave so they were going to be at the ceremony. But when I stood at that stage and looked around at the crowd, they weren't there. I got a bit worried, but that worry turned to dread a little after I came home."

Even with the apathetic hollow's calm, I was still slightly tearing up at this point. This was where things got really touchy for me.

"Soon after I pulled into my driveway, I saw a car I didn't recognize stop on the road just in front of my house. When a man in an elaborate uniform came out of that car, I knew that something terrible had happened."

Luna seemed to figure out where I was going with this, as she reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. I gave a wet smile in thanks before inhaling deeply and letting it out slowly.

"The man told me that the ship that they had been stationed on was sieged by Somalian pirates. No one knew how, or why. All they knew was that those pirates had rocket launchers and managed to deal enough damage that the crew was forced to abandon ship. My mother was below deck at the time, and the blast caused shrapnel which killed her."

I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, and Luna brought me into a hug in order to comfort me. I don't know how long I cried, but it took a while before I could finish the story.

"As the last life boat was about to be deployed, it was discovered that more shrapnel had gotten lodged in the winch. This meant that someone would have to cut the line and then jump down before swimming into the lifeboat. My father volunteered to do it and had just cut the line when another rocket hit him head on. They thought that the pirate was aiming for the lifeboat, but missed because he cut the line. He wound up giving his life to save theirs."

The tears started again, and simply wouldn't stop. Luna held me closer, wrapping her wings around us. I must have cried for an hour. I don't remember much, but by the time I stopped the sun was starting to rise and Luna had to lower the moon.

After that night, Luna and I were much closer than before. It didn't take longer than a week to notice that I was starting to develop feelings for the moon princess. I didn't really know what to do about it at that point though, so I just kept quiet.