Darkmoon Faire was often a time of fun and relaxation, a family place to meet up with both factions enjoying themselves in the sights of lights and games, the stench of melted ice cream and deep-fried foods galore. After such events occurred, however, it had left several people to need a vacation from vacation.
Jack was no exception.
Azurick and Darnath had offered him to stay at their tent for the evening after Kelli had been attacked and Jack had snapped at Mei to take her back to Sirens Bounty. His anger was stemmed from Kelli’s dishonesty, let alone people not taking his word and advice that she wasn’t safe to be out on her own. He’d been right. Instead, Azurick had been fired at, Darnath had been shot, Kelli was wounded and Mei was scared out of her mind. It had become too much.
Within the tent, Jack had halfheartedly thought they would keep their promise of letting him stay with them, let alone in between the both of them to stay safe. He had even been prepared to rest away from the two, but when both had set up the bed to accommodate the dragon, he stared for a long moment.
“Mind if I borrow a shirt..?”
Neither had questioned Jack’s request and soon Dar tossed him one since their frames had been much closer in size. Jack was careful to change, in fact, he turned his back to the other two to do so. He’d stripped his vest off and set it down, revealing the old scars from Hatal so long ago. The newer one in his upper shoulder was smaller than the gashes on his chest and he internally knew that if Azurick and Darnath actually saw the damage that was the ‘death’ of the dragon, it would have done far more harm than good in their delicate situation.
Turning once he was pulling the shirt down over his abdomen, it was still a bit loose on him. Even if he had two inches of height on the Knight, Dar was more muscular in his upper torso than Jack was, but it was good enough for a single night’s use. There was little to no grace at how the three wound up, cautious and careful, but slowly limbs entwined and all three bodies locked together in the most simplistic ways.
Into the early hours, they laid there, catching up in their quiet whispers. Stories of pirate tales and Atlas excavations, memories relived and retold with soft laughter. They were struggling, at least two of them were. Azurick had been their grounding rod for the storms that Jack and Dar had become and with his presence alone, both nerve-wracked beasts had settled together.
The serpent’s eyes had been the first to close, even if he continued to listen to Az and Dar whisper sweetly to one another. Their soft breaths dulled and rolled along his skin soon after, the faint chirping of the crickets outside was the trio’s lullaby. Each breath Jack drew in was a mixture of their scents and it was something he missed, but he was still waiting for the Nightmare to get him, he was waiting for the happy moment to end.
It never did.
Instead, when he heard the relaxed heartbeats next to him, Jackary’s body temperature was getting to be too warm. He wasn’t used to sharing a bed anymore and he was still nervous that something or someone would come busting through the tent door and ruin the movement. Blaming the paranoia on overheating, the largest of the three managed to somehow wiggle out of Az and Dar’s grip to finally stand up and look around the tent for a long moment. His eyes flitted back slowly to watch the two in which he gave a faint smile to himself. They looked peaceful, he couldn’t ask for more.
Glancing around again, he blinked and soon found a familiar shape -- Darnath’s guitar case was something of a sacred thing, a precious item that he referred to as his ‘baby’ and Jack had always respected such. If this was a dream, perhaps he should have at least quelled the urge within him to be outside and get a breath of fresh air. It had been a long night of an emotional rollercoaster, that was for sure.
Stepping over to kneel down in front of the guitar case, he opened it as quietly as he could, looking the instrument over with a curious gaze. Jack’s vision flitted back to Darnath a moment, but like a savage thief in the night, he delicately took ahold of Cindi and lifted her, carrying the guitar just outside of the tent to sit down, resting it upon his knee. Darnath had been the one teaching him how to play and thus his fingers gingerly gripped the guitar, strumming once to hear the finely tuned instrument.
Would he get in trouble if caught? Most certainly, the ire would be unimaginable. But it was a dream, right…?
Jack had been working on a song for ages in secret and under the Moonlight and Moon-kissed stars, the soft strumming turned into a gentle melody. “Bucket full of tears, baby, know I’m here, I’m here waiting… Close your precious eyes and just realize I’m still fighting… For you to be with me and sit under this tree, we can watch the sunrise…. We can watch the sunrise…”
It was a lifetime ago.
A fading memory that Jackary was trying so desperately to latch onto. He wanted to keep it, it was one of his favourite ones. On that particular night, years, after Jack had been grievously wounded to the point of death and revival, the song that Darnath had overheard, wasn’t quite finished back then and yet there Jack was under the Moonlight, this time his own guitar draped over his leg. A song had been started that night but never finished, Jack could never truly find the words to say. Perhaps Darnath had forgotten about it or maybe he was simply waiting for Jack to keep going.
“Wake up, feel the air that I’m breathing… I can’t explain this feeling that I’m feeling, I won’t go another day without you… I know it feels like no one’s around but baby, you’re wrong… Just get rid of the fear, promise that I’m here, I’ll never be gone. So baby come with me and we can fly away, and we can watch the stars shine, and baby, you can be my love, oohh~...”
Wings had been a gift given and in return, Jack had taken Darnath soaring. Their Starlight was there, he was still there with them. It was before Azurick had disappeared into the night sky, never to return, no matter how long Jack stared up at the stars, hoping… wishing.
That was forever ago.
Now, he had started to forget that night but he recalled the feeling that lingered from it. The warmth of something he could no longer describe. Again, he sat there at the old Farm House, strumming in his window perch, serenading the moonlight, unaware that his mate was even home to catch him. The same chords were plucked, fumbled through and yet his voice remained so soft and so pure. It was two days before their wedding.
“This is me tonight… There’s no more games and no more lies, and I know it’s right… Cause of the way you look into my eyes~. And when I hold you tight… The worries disappear, I’m glad you’re in my life.”
That was years ago.
Jack, roughed up and far more tired, sat there in his apartment, strumming his guitar absently. A cigarette hung from his lips, as he had recently taken up smoking thistle again to quell his anxiety of events ever since he’d awoken from a horrible nap. It was his music that brought him back to those feelings - the memories were gone, fading away but the feeling in his heart remained.
“Wake up, feel the air that I’m breathing… I can’t explain this feeling that I’m feeling…” He sang softly, absently to himself, unaware if Darnath could hear him in his workshop room. “I won’t go another day without you... Hooold on, I promise it gets brighter, and when it rains, I’ll hold you even tighter… I won’t go another day without you…” He hummed a bit, working on a melody he couldn’t quite remember where he’d heard it from, unaware that he’d written it in an age where things were far more simple.
“Without you… And I won’t go… another day without you…” That final chord was drawn out with his claws, mumbling through the words as if trying to recall them from somewhere. Fingers set his guitar down on his lap to reach for his cigarette, drawing a slow, deep drag from the herbs to ponder over the lyrics, trying to decide if he was satisfied with them or not.
Maybe it wasn’t up to him who should have been satisfied, maybe it should have been up to the one who caught him singing it every time.
