Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello! Thank you for taking and interest and stopping by to check out my work.
First of all, English is not my first language. I apologize in advance if there are any of grammatical mistakes of weird using of words.
The story will mostly be about stageplays, various kind of performances, and some headcanon lores.

-Some chapters might have a little angst.

-The main pair in this work will be between Performance Guide and the original skykid named Bina. Focusing on their friendships and growths over passing time.

-The elders' and spirits' pronouns are referred according to my headcanons. The female elders are Forest's, one of the twins from Valley's(bob hairstyled one), and Vault's. Other than mentioned are male elders.

I hope you will enjoy!
Have a nice day!

Chapter Text

All people in this world are connected by stars. We, skykids are connected together, remembering one after one by making up the name they can recognize.

This is the era where the original kingdom in the sky is destroyed, only memories that are awaiting to be awakened by other beings that carry light.

Children of the light.

A skykid with pigtail hairstyle with pink flowers that received from Days of Bloom, stands alone in the home, gazing at her constellations that have her friends’ name written on each star. Hasn’t seen them in a while makes her miss them a little.

She sighed, lit some of their candles and left to look around the area that is usually peaceful. Sometimes she can hear a tune, honks, or emotes noises. But today is weirdly quieter than ever, she thinks. Shaking off the thought, she walks to light up the candles on the ground.

Suddenly, a door appears from the ground, revealing a portal similar to the maps she had been before. She looked at it with a confused look on her face. Maybe it’s a new event she didn't know about? Knowing from her experience that behind these doors always lies a surprise or two, she stepped inside.

The sound of howling wind can be heard around her. This greenish surrounding makes her immediately know where she is.

Golden Wasteland.

She looks around, just to see a little different scenery. No weapons are pinned to the ground, nor destroyed construct like it should be. Moreover, she can sense something off from her body. She looks down to check her clothes, only to find that she’s wearing a dress with no cape, like a normal child spirit she would see when releasing memories. The flowers on her hair also disappeared, remaining just the simple pigtail hairstyle. Her mask is also a default one as well.

Just before she could walk forward, a voice came from behind her.

“Bina–!”

When she turns around, she’s met with a kid in a long hairstyle same as Tearful Light Miner’s, wearing the same clothes as her, running to her way.

“Finally found you! Where have you been? I looked for you all over the place.”

“I’m sorry, who might you be?”

“Huh?”

“Huh..?”

“I’m Anne! Your friend! Did you hit your head somewhere? Or is this one of your pranks that you came up with?”

“...”

Before she could ask another question, a text box popped before her eyes. 

―‘This is a story about a different hope of the kingdom.’

“What–”

Another texts pop up again, as if to answer her confusion.

—‘Fulfill this story with your hand.’

“Bina?”

Maybe this is some kind of ‘slipping back in the past’ thing, or she’s seeing someone’s memory from the first-person point of view, who knows.

Despite her being confused, she feels like deep down, she knows what to do. She just can’t point the finger to it yet. So playing along might be the best idea for now.

“Nothing. You always know my pranks, yet you fall for this one?”

“I knew it!”

“Haha. By the way, why were you looking for me?”

“Oh, right! The elder is calling for us!”

“By elder, do you mean which one?”

“Our Wasteland elder!”

“Why would he call us? Is there something urgent?”

“I don’t know, but we should go.”

“Alright.”

Bina nodded, following her to the temple. The inside is different from what she’s always familiar with, as if she traveled back in the time when the kingdom is yet to fall.

“You two are here.”

“!”

Bina slightly flinched when she heard the voice. The wasteland elder appears from the shadow, standing before them.

Didn't the elders in the temple don’t talk and just use their body language? She keeps her thoughts quietly in her mind.

“We are here, mister!”

“Glad to see you two here, our lights.”

The elder’s big hands gently pats their head.

“Why did you call for us?”

Bina asked.

“Right.”

The elder takes his hands back.

“I just received a report that someone spotted a dark dragon nearby. I wanted to warn you two to be careful when leaving your dwelling.”

“That’s scary… We will be careful!”

“...”

Dark dragons are creatures that are hungry for lights. They’ll attack, or even eat any living thing that has light in it. Some skykids are brave to face them, and some are afraid of them because of their aggressive behavior. Golden wasteland is the first area the skykids will encounter, so it might mean that this is the time where the kingdom is starting to lose the light.

Bina stares at the floor, pensive with the information she just heard.

“Bina.”

She can feel her cheek being caressed by the hand that just patted her head. She lifted her face to see the two smiled at her.

“We’ll be fine. I’ll protect everyone here.”

“Yes. I will try my best to protect you too!”

She looks at them in their eyes. Oh how she wishes they can live happily from now on.

“Thank you.”

Is what she whispered to the two.

The spirits here are quite good at handling weaponry. Whoever received the training here are all brave fighters with gentle hearts.

Bina and Anne are a different case. The two are adopted by the Wasteland elder not long ago, and raised to live at their will. Anne likes to dance and entertains people, while Bina is just there to hum the tune for her. Everyone adores them as if they are their little sisters.

“What do you want to do when you grow up?”

Anne asked Bina in their snack time, eyes sparkling. Bina chews the snacks in her mouth while thinking, then swallows it before answering.

“I don’t know yet. What about you?”

“Me? I want to be a dancer in the Valley of Triumph!”

“Valley of Triumph?”

“Yes! They say that it’s a land for people who want to grow in any form of arts. Most of them, including the twin elders, are athletes, but I heard they have a small theater group too.”

“Ah.. right.”

She knows that well. It’s a theater group which she helped during the Season of Performance.

“You can come with me. You sing, and I will dance. We’ll be the brightest duo on the stage.”

Bina’s eyes lit up at Anne’s words.

“Sounds good.”

“It’s a promise, then!”

Their little pinky intertwined. Making a little promise.

“Bina, do you have a moment?”

Another day passes by, Bina lifts her face from the jigsaw she got from one of the fighters in training.

“I do. What is it?”

“Come with me!”

Anne chirps happily, dragging her friend along.

Golden wasteland’s surroundings are mostly sand and water. It’s rare for any woods to grow, let alone blooms a flower. They sneak as if to hide from something.

“Who are we hiding from? What did you do–”

“Shh.”

The wind howls louder as they walk along the way. It’s the way to the first area where every skykid would encounter a dark dragon for the first time.

They walk through a small pathway. Bina’s eyes widened as she saw what lies ahead.

The blue searchlight.

She grabs Anne by her wrist, pulling the girl behind the big lamp with her.

“The elder warned us about this. This is not a place to play.”

She whispers quietly with a frustrated voice. Anne frowned when she got scolded.

“I’m not here to play. Look.”

Anne points at a pile of sand that has a sapling of pink flowers in bloom.

“I just wanted to show that to you. The elder seems to be tired lately, so I think it would cheer him up by giving him the–”

Bina put her hand on Anne’s mouth, as the searchlight came their way.

Blue light changed to red, making Bina’s heart drop. She kicks the ground out of habit to fly, just to realize that she can’t do that without a cape. As she lifts her hand, about to push her friend away, just to be pushed herself.

A loud thud can be heard as she fell on the ground. She looks up to see the dragon’s sharp horns pierced through her friend’s body.

“　　”

Anne mouthed something she couldn’t hear, as she tried to breathe through the panic. Then, the world around her went dark.

A smell of scented candle filled the air when Bina opened her eyes, find herself laying down on her bed. She gasped and quickly got up, seeing the Wasteland elder sitting beside the bed.

“Where is–”

“...”

The elder remains silent as if to answer her unfinished question.

The room becomes silent as no one speaks. She doesn't know if his silence is from anger or grief, but judging from his body language, it’s rather grief.

The Wasteland elder picks up a piece of jigsaw puzzle in his hand, and places it on where it fits.

“Why did you go there?”

Bina looks at the puzzle he’s working on. She doesn't know what the picture of it is from the lack of light in the dim room. All she know is the color scheme is different from the one she was playing today. 

“...Anne took me there to see the flower.”

Tap.

A piece of jigsaw is placed on the table once again. Bina looked at him stopped his track from picking up another piece.

Having his guesses confirmed by her words, he picked a flower from the vase beside her bed. Her eyes follow his action to see the same pink flowers from the sapling in the area she went today.

His hand approached before her face. Bina closes her eyes, and opens them again when she hears the shifting noises as he backs off.

She can feel something on her hair.

“Did you pick me up from that area..?”

“I did.”

“Then where is Anne?”

“You do know when people lose the light, they turn into rocks, right?”

She saw tons of that during her life in the future kingdom. Seeing her nod her head, he continues.

“I got her remainings in the coffin. You can take a look if you want to.”

He looked at the coffin placed in the corner of the room. Bina gets off the bed, walking to the coffin. Her hands lift the lid off, just to see a rock statue with a big hole in the middle.

Her hands clenching her own chest, taking a candle out. Her light.

The elder quickly grabs her hand.

“What are you doing?!”

“Maybe this can help.”

“It won’t help her. She’s dead.”

“I can revive her.”

“What?”

The flame from the candle touched the statue. Only silence can be heard.

No one comes back to life, nor any light is returned.

“...Why won’t this work? What is wrong with it..?”

She tries to shove the candle inside the hole. Seeing the girl in front of him doing things like that breaks his heart. He grabs her hand and places it on her chest, returning the light to her body.

“I know you are upset. But it won’t work. We can’t revive the dead, Bina.”

“I can!”

“Bina.”

He called her name, then pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why would you be sorry…”

“I swore to protect you two, yet this happened.”

“It’s not your fault at all… It’s my fault that I could’ve protected her…”

She wraps her arms on his neck, hugging him back.

They shared a moment together after a loss of someone dear. Tears falling from their eyes. Only sobs from two can be heard.

That day, Bina knows that even a strong fighter can cry more than a drop of tear .

The moon rises as the nighttime comes to visit once again. Bina wipes her face with a wet cloth given by the elder after crying. She spaces out, doesn't know what to do next.

At this time, she usually plays or has a talk with Anne. But now, she’s not here anymore.

The elder seeing her spaced out, he took a piece of unfinished jigsaw to her.

“Do you want to find out what kind of picture I’m working on?”

She looks at the piece, taking it with her hand and goes to sit across from him. Her eyes searched for the place to fit the piece in, and put it on when she found it. The picture kind of reminds her of the end of the race area in the Valley of Triumph.

The sound of taps after taps can be heard, the puzzle is almost complete.

The elder took the last piece, handing it to Bina.

“Do you want to go to the Valley of Triumph?”

She lifted her face to look at him with a confused expression.

“Why?”

“Anne told me she wants to go there when she grows up and be the best duo with you. So I thought you might want to.”

“...”

To be honest, she enjoys singing and performing as well. She can remember how excited she got when she heard that it’ll be a theater to be in.

“There, you can start a new life without getting scared everywhere you go.”

She wants to, but she is also worried about the people here with the dark dragon as well.

But even though she remains here, there’s nothing she can do much.

“I… would like to go. I want to make our promise come true with my own hands.”

He smiled and took her hand, putting the last piece of jigsaw on her hand.

“As you wish, my light.”

Tap.

The puzzle is now completed.

“Here is your cape. It’ll keep you warm during your trip.”

The elder put the brown cape on her shoulder. She gently tucks it.

“Thank you.”

“The boat will fly you to the Valley of Triumph. Be careful and sit tight, okay?”

“Okay.”

She steps on the boat, looking at him before parting.

“...Are you sure you don’t want to visit Anne’s grave before you go?”

He asked.

“I’m thinking of visiting her with a bouquet I got on my performance, so no, for now.”

“That sounds like you.”

The boat starts to move when it’s time to depart.

“I’ll definitely come back here again. Please take care.”

“I’ll make sure to welcome you with the Wasteland with no dark dragon.”

She chuckles.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

The boat flies to the clouds, until he can’t see her figure anymore.

May your journey to achieve the dreams be a pleasant one.