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In the nocturnal dark, the light swirled with brightest shades of red and yellow, mixing and intertwining in an eternal, enchanting dance. Around it, the whole world suddenly gained colors, illuminated until it left the dead depths of the night, and turned into something else altogether: suddenly lively rather than asleep and fascinating rather than dull. The powerful luminosity, reaching even outside to tint the grass and flowers of the gardens Keigo called his home, made the pale glow of the moon seem like nothing more than a shadow. With just the sight of the gorgeous radiance, the little hawk-moth could feel his chilled wings warm up and flutter faster instantly drawn closer and closer to the source of his instant infatuation. It was almost like a deja vu of his pre-cocoon memories: of the times he could still look into the sun, hoping that one day, he would become a butterfly and fly right up towards it. He hardly remembered it all but the yearning stayed with him - even as he emerged late at night rather than during the day; even as he understood that he has been cursed with the night-time, lonely, underground life, where everything remained in grayscale; even as he realized that he probably could never enjoy daylight with what he has become - Keigo has never ceased dreaming of the bright, burning ball of sun.
As he reached a glass window and pressed his face to its cold surface to look at the swirling light as close as possible, Keigo believed that it was, indeed, the Sun itself: somehow captured by the humans within their house as a clever way of making the daytime last forever. And so, he kept staring, mouth agape, and wings fluttering in shaky desire - a profound, heartfelt wish to touch the surface of this dazzling heat, lay close and warm himself up, lazily basking in the sunshine for as long as his short time in this world would last. This - this would be, as Keigo believed, the perfect life.
From that time on, all of his efforts and strengths have been redirected to get in.
For days or maybe even weeks, Keigo woke up only to helplessly bang against the glass, flutter his wings looking for any opening, and - once he got too exhausted from moving - gawk at the shining light, resting his aching head on the windowsill. The yearning for his beloved Sun overpowered any and all of his natural urges: from hunger to finding a mate. To fit his struggles, he decided to name it Endeavor; later, he’d use this name, calling and calling out to the light in hopes it could - hopefully - hear him.
Sometimes, it seemed as if the ball of heat stared right back, acknowledging the dedication the little dark butterfly has shown him each night.
It was more than enough to keep him hopeful.
He could hardly believe his luck when one day, upon waking up way after darkness took its reign, he found the windows to the house of the humans wide open - and the light shining as bright as ever, luring him close in a near-hypnotic daze.
Up close, Endeavor looked even more enticing. The light was near-blinding: a whirlwind of fire, scented like nothing Keigo has smelled before; and getting progressively hotter and hotter the closer he approached flying.
Still wanting more, the little moth didn’t take long to find an opening allowing him to enter the glass box the humans must have locked his beautiful, beloved Sun in. But before he could get inside, reaching the goal he has been pining after for most of his lifetime by now - in the crackling of the fire, he heard a deep, sulky voice.
“Don’t do it. You’ll get hurt.”
Keigo’s heart soared as he realized that finally-finally, Endeavor was talking to him.
He was so, so close to reaching his goal now.
“I don’t care! I was waiting for you so long, you’re all I dreamt of, I’m not giving up now-”
“Stupid moth.” a sudden surge in the flame interrupted him. “You’ll burn your wings. All I can do is hurt you… All I ever do is hurt. Go live your life instead of...wasting it on me.”
As Keigo rested his legs against the heated glass, set on making his Sun feel better, a hiss could be heard - the first layers of his form burning off. He didn’t even flinch.
“That’s not true! You bring light and warmth. Everything is just dark and gray, and cold without you. It always was before… you saved me, Sun-”
“I’m not the Sun, moth.” the fire talked back, its aggressive flare faltering slightly towards a less confident flicker. “The Sun… is all-mighty. It gives life, hope, it’s a true symbol. I’m nothing more than a necessary replacement for night-time. A lamp, that’s all. I will never be bright enough to surpass it-”
Slowly, Keigo crawled closer towards the blazing heat of the lamp’s opening, wanting to be closer, wanting more, wishing to embrace Endeavor fully and become one with him, forever - even if it shall come at the price of his own life.
“You’ve always been my only Sun. I’ll never be pure enough to be a butterfly. But… night-time needs a guiding light too, you know.”
The swirling colors reflected in his unused, wide-open eyes as he gazed longingly into the inferno below, seeing nothing but a lover’s embrace waiting for him to succumb to temptation.
“Endeavor-san? Maybe if my wings add the fuel to your fire, you could burn brighter than the sun.”
“Moth, don’t-”
As he flew right into the shining light of his dreams, even as his wings dusted into oblivion in the flaring fire, the little moth smiled, fulfilled to his very core. Endeavor’s fire was his mate, his Sun, and his beloved; and now, it would be that for eternity as he chose to become its fuel.