Amethyst 2. Embark ✓ [Editing Now]

27. Zenithium

"I've come to believe maybe there something wrong with me."

"Of course there are," Zeke had said. "But there are people who love you inspite of those things."

Apparently, Ezekiel Joziah Hunt wasn't one of those people.

Aris had looked forward to visiting the Zenithium ever since he had been a child. To see the vibrant festival, to see the Prosperity Dance. To see the largest bonfire in Obscura. To taste and sample the hundreds of varieties of food and explore all the culture and arts form all around Obscura. All the places he had wanted to go to but never had.

All he felt now was a gut wrenching pain.

He wanted to leave. Return to his room and curl into a ball till everything ended. Till his father got his senses back and broke the engagement off with the stranger who was to not be his step mother. Till his own birth mother accepted him. Till his father decided to embrace the son he had rather than the one he wanted. Till Ezekiel returned his feelings.

But he knew, neither of those were likely to happen.

It took all of his courage to keep up his façade as he smiled and laughed along with his friends. Zeke was quiet. Perhaps thinking.

But he was no longer going to butt his way into his business.

He felt a hollow chasm open in his chest at his heartless words. He knew Ezekiel had his own issues. He respected that. But he also knew that he was selfish. Maybe it was what he said, that he was too afraid to let anyone in.

But he had. It just wasn't Aris.

The festival passed in a haze. Aris remembered eating, Smiling. Playing some games, but somehow, his brain was uncomprehending.

Aahan had stared at him in alarm when he had eaten the fourth helping of pastry. Having to wrench the plate away from him so he finally stopped eating his feelings.

And then he felt guilty.

And his stomach ached.

The moment the bonfire began, Aris decided to excuse himself and walked aimlessly away from the hubbub of the festival. The dancing people and children, from the conundrum of the loud singing. He needed to be away from the infectious euphoria that clashed with his feelings.

At the end of the festival, the villages began, There were a few empty warehouses, they shutters open, rundown cottages that no one lived in and was mainly used to store the wares for the festival. He climbed onto the roof of one such cottage and lay down on the grilled roof, gazing up at the clear sky.