●○ ｔｅａｓｅｒ ｔｗｏ ○●

It wasn’t until he gazed down at the city from the rooftop that he realized how vast it is—and how foolish he had been.

The sky was radiating a hideous glow of orange again that night, devoid of the stars that should have been there. Instead, the city lights below him crafted a giant constellation of their own, constantly shapeshifting despite its amorphous state. It was times like this that served as a reminder of a cliché he once believed in:

Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

Once upon a time, he was content with basking in their flickering lights and fleeting warmth. How foolish he’d been for settling for the stars, as when they finally died down, the moon had already slipped from his grasp, and he was lightyears away from making it back. Here he was, alone and drifting away with no end in sight. And when he looked back, the stars had turned vile.

Rotten.

Beyond salvation.

(Or perhaps they already were, but he’d been blinded for far too long.)

He laughed—laughed because he too, was supposed to turn into a star. A hero of the people. Yet all he’s done was lose sight of himself and the people he was supposed to save. He had turned his back against them. He was undeserving of such an honorable title, but perhaps that was never what he needed in the first place.

So he aimed for the moon once again.

And this time, the moon shall crumble along with him.