Inspired by Owl City's "Shooting Star", both the commission idea and the story. This is about as self-indulgent as self-indulgent goes but I hope someone will be able to enjoy it, honestly.
Art by the amazing, kind and understanding  Glaucablitz

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Summertime Dream

“Pointless...” I grumble as I flip the pillow over for the umpteenth time only to find it just as hot as it was a couple minutes ago when I flipped it last time. I kick the thin covers off of myself and groan as every part of the bed around me appears to be plagued by the same dull heat that has consumed the entire room. With an annoyed sigh a spring up from the bed and open the window as far out as it would go.

I throw a glance out over the city bellow. Bright flickering light as far as the eye can see. Like tiny dots cars crawl along the neatly lit lines of the highways that stretch like a massive net over the empty streets. For a moment I freeze, feeling the first gust of fresh air lap against my cheeks. I sigh, and head over to the kitchen. I pour myself a cup of water and lean against the fridge. I yawn and gulp the whole cup down pouring another before heading out of the apartment.

My steps echo in the emptiness of the stairwell, no other sounds save for the muffled rumbling of the cars below. “Heheh…” I chuckle to myself as I keep walking. “I really shouldn’t be here.” While not strictly prohibited, going up on the roof is not something residents are expected to do, the place is kept under lock and key after all. However…

*Click*

My fingers press on the small metallic protrusion to the side of the iron door-frame and the lock effortlessly unlocks. A small smirk spreads over my face as the door swings open in front of me with a rusty groan.

I close my eyes as I let the same open air from before wash over me.

“Took you long enough!”

The sudden words startle me and the cup I had in hand with me shatters to pieces splashing water in every direction. I look forth to see a figure standing over by the railing, leaning over it with its back to me. I can barely make out the features in the dark of the night.

“You know, it’s a little sad that I expect something like this. Can you not even hold up a simple cup?”

I squint and take a few steps closer carefully avoiding the shards. Though as I approach I begin to realize that the voice sounds too familiar, that wording and those robes…

“F-Fane?” I stop dead in my tracks at the realization.

“Of course it’s me. Who else would go through all that trouble just to see you?” I hear him huff in disdain as he turns around, revealing the familiar features of his skeletal face.

“Oh.” I say as I approach and stand next to him leaning on the railing as my eyes once again search the city below. “Hello.”

I am not looking but I can feel Fane recoil in astonishment. “Is that really all you have to say?” He crosses his arms and steps closer. “I imagined you’d be hanging around my neck within three seconds of seeing me.”

A silent chuckle escapes through my lips as I shake my head. “Oh believe me, I want nothing more than to do just that.” Propping my elbow on the railing I glance sideways towards him. “But if I allow myself to get too excited, this gorgeous dream would just fall apart.”

“Dream?” Fane asks again. “I suppose that’s a reasonable assumption given the… nature of this world.”

“It has to be.” I smile wistfully as my hand reaches towards his, stopping just shy of touching the soft-looking glove he’s wearing. “There’s no way for you to actually be here. You’re a fictional character, a figment of my imagination and my precious unattainable dream.” I turn to him. “If my previous experiences are anything to go by, I will either be guided away from here by the flow of my thoughts or you’ll simply fall apart the moment I touch y-“

I gasp as I feel the grip of his hand on mine, shivers running down my spine.

Fane leans closer. “Well… Perhaps not this time.” With a surprisingly elegant tug I feel myself falling into his arms, I feel them wrap around me, their touch as warm and comforting as I always imagined, as I always hoped it would be. I feel my legs start to give and wrap my arms around him too. I squeeze my eyes shut.

The hug seems to last an eternity yet still it feels far too brief. I look up at him. “But how the h- And more importantly how do you even know me? The one you met was nothing like me.” I tilt my head inquisitively as for the first time I get to study his rigid features in such great detail, so up-close. Unable to hold back, I reach my hand up and gently grasp his pointed chin, gripping it with my thin fleshy fingers.

Fane makes a ‘tsk’ noise and rolls his eyes. “Ah, there we go. Now that’s a lot more like something you’d usually do. You are far more like your other self than you think.” Despite his apparent annoyance he doesn’t move away nor does he attempt to make me stop touching his face.

“You’re… gorgeous.” I whisper as my fingers trace the outline of the brilliant jewel encrusted in his forehead.

“Naturally.” He nods with enviable confidence. “But as for how I know it’s you and how I’m here, well…” He lifts one hand up and an ethereal teal flame bursts from his palm, forming a decently-sized orb which vanishes into thin air within seconds as the hand wraps around my waist instead. “Let’s just say I have my ways. And heavens it seems you could use a little company, living such a dull life. Though I do have to say the view from here is… quite beautiful.”

Several ideas pass through my head, I consider getting defensive, giving a snarky comment, gently shoving him with an elbow or just tugging at his chin to shake a little sense into that charming ego-maniacal skull of his. But instead I just close my eyes once more and lean towards him, resting my cheek on his chest. “Thank you… Thank you for coming.” I whisper.

I feel his hand resting atop my head, gloved fingers running through my hair, a sensation of gentle touch I would rarely ever get. “Oh it’s nothing. You’ve done quite enough to assist me and I did promise I would, after all.”

“Promise?” I look up at Fane.

“Well… Not to *you* exactly, but I suppose you know what I mean anyway.”

“Right.” I nod as my eyes settle on the city below once more. “So…” I begin as the side of my head rests neatly against his shoulder. “Is it your first time here?”

“Yes. And I have to admit this city you’ve got here is quite reminiscent of what my people were able to achieve back in the day.” His gaze scans across the horizon and then settles back on me “Even if your kind still is just as disgustingly petty and fragile as one would expect.”

“Tell me about it.” I chuckle, deciding to humor him.

Fane flashes me coy look. “I suppose you do make a decent exception though.” He ruffles my hair again. “And I must say, you look more… ‘cute’ than the you I’ve come to know.”

I find my cheeks instantly flooding with blush. “I s-suppose me being younger might something to do with it.”

“Ah yes, aging…” The skeleton strains, making air quotes with his hands. “Although Heavens, you *are* remarkably similar to your counterpart. It’s almost like I never left.”

“Well we *are* the same person.”

“I suppose that is true, but even so.”

For a few moments no words are said as we just bask in each other’s presence, looking over the breathtaking cityscape. “Are you… Gonna visit again then? Unless you’re a dream, I mean.”

“Oh for the love of-“ He lets out an exasperated sigh and grabs hold of the bridge of his nose as he shakes his head. “Yes. Yes I will definitely visit again. You wouldn’t let me hear the end of it otherwise.”

“But I… Don’t exactly have the magical powers to follow you.” I point out.

“The other you.” Fane clarifies with a measured bit of annoyance and I relent.

“Oh. Well that is… That is nice of him. Wait! How does *he* know about me?”

The eternal just shrugs in response. “I suppose he just does. *You* don’t exactly seem troubled by the knowledge of another you.”

“That… doesn’t really explain it but it makes a certain amount of sense.” I too shrug and then wrap my arms around Fane’s, hanging onto him like a needy child. “So what, he wants me to be happy too?”

“Yes. I believe your exact words were ‘I can’t imagine what it would be like to live without you. No version of me should have to suffer like that.’” The eternal recites with a slight change in his voice, yet one that doesn’t seem mocking.

I quietly chuckle. “Isn’t it odd to think about? That there’s just two worlds like that? Or… I suppose if there are two, there have got to be more.”

“Ah… Despite how pleasing it is to see you use your capacity for thought, it is something I’m never quite able to get used to. Such an odd thing.” He says and I can clearly tell he’s teasing. “You’re right. There are many more worlds out there. Though my fate lies with the one I come from, with my people and… with you.” For a second Fane sounds much more genuine, his words are quiet, calming… I can feel the urge to embrace him and so I do just that as he continues. “Even if that means I have to visit here to take care of this world’s you too.”

“Sweetheart.”

“Aren’t I just?” He smirks.

“But aren’t there more of me?”

“There are more Fanes out there too. Though from what I understand not all of them have come to know you. I am only burdened with the task of handling just two of you though, thankfully.”

“Dick.”

“You *just* called me a sweetheart.”

“You’re both.”

---

We chat for a while longer until finally Fane takes a few steps back. “I must get back soon.” Immediately I feel a pang of sadness wash over me, yet… Yet I’m grateful for this visit and so I nod.

“I understand. I’ll… I’ll miss you.”

The skeleton rolls his eyes. “I know. That is why before I go I will share one last thing with you.” He extends his hand and immediately every fiber of my being drives me forward to reach my hand for his and grab hold of it. “Come…”

I grasp his hand and out of the corner of my eyes I spot a teal glow, just like before. I feel the ground fade from beneath my feet as a slight sense of vertigo overtakes me. Before I know it, we’re hovering in the air. A few inches off the ground, then a meter and suddenly we shoot forward. As though it were a rollercoaster, we zoom forth, surrounded by a massive shockwave of ethereal source magic. I manage to catch my breath as sheer glee overtakes me and I begin to laugh without a care.

I see Fane glance at me with approval and then I look down, the city lights flickering below one again as they stretch out into thin lines, smudge and blur and mix together until I can’t make anything out. The sensation of the rushing wind on my skin slowly fades and then… Darkness.

---

“The peculiar comet-like phenomenon observed over the city last night still remains a mystery to the local populace. The latest reports suggest that the core of the brilliant ‘shooting star’, as people have come to call it, was in fact organic. Despite providing us with this information scientists are still puzzled by how the core managed to remain intact upon entry into the atmosphere. Considering the detected projector it is possible that the object did not interact with the Earth’s atmosphere at all. Upon moving over 100 kilometers East over the city the object simply fizzled out of existence. Some have claimed this phenomenon proof of extraterrestrial life on the planet, however most still remain skeptical as the pos-“

I yawned as the light of the slowly setting sun hit my face. Eight in the evening is the only hour of the day that it would do so in July. I stirred in bed until I finally found the will to open my eyes and look outside. “Huh…” I sigh as the events of last night flash in my mind. “Just… Just a dream after all.” I sigh and lift myself out of bed when suddenly…

*CLANG!*

“Oh really?” I hear Fane’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Would a dream carry you back to your bed and clean up the shards of the cup that you so needlessly obliterated?” Suddenly I see him there standing in the doorway with an annoyed, borderline pissed look on his face. “For the last time.” He hold his left hand in front of himself. “Not. A. Dream.”

“Not a dream.” I nod. “Got it.”

“I should hope so! Well… I will be taking my leave then.”

“But you’ll c-“

“Yes, I’ll come back, cease your whining.”

I hop up to my feet and rush over to him, squeezing him in my arms one last time.

I feel his hand on my head again. “Come on now, I won’t disappear. Here.” He pauses, reaching into his robes and pulling out a familiar-looking blue book. “I’ll leave this as… physical evidence I suppose. Feel free to study it if you wish.”

Tenderly I take his notebook from him and clutch it to my chest, nodding excitedly. “I will! I definitely will.”

“Somehow I knew you’d say that.” He shakes his head. “Take care Markus. I shall visit again shortly.”

“You too Fane, take care and… hug the other me for me.”

“Funny you should say that. That is the exact request I received on the way here.” He chuckled, nodded and clicked his fingers before disappearing in a brilliant teal flash.