Page 64 of Lunar Bound
"I will attempt the crossing," he decided. "My essence is already fragmented. Further dispersal is an acceptable risk."
"Lunar—" Solar began.
"If I fail to reconstitute, tell Poppy," he paused. "Tell her... Tell her I kept my promise. I found a way back."
Before Solar could object further, Lunar gathered what remained of his shadow essence and faced the dimensional bridge. Solar lifted Dani into his arms. Lunar placed his hand on Dani’s injured head. The contact helped stabilize their energies as they approached the portal's edge.
"Focus on Poppy's energy signature," Solar advised. "The resonance between you will help guide us."
Lunar paused at the threshold, his fragmented form wavering between solidity and dispersion. Beyond the bridge lay Earth, Poppy, home as he now understood it. One final effort, one last risk, and he would reach her.
"For Poppy," he whispered, echoing Dani's earlier words.
They stepped into the dimensional bridge together.
Pain beyond description engulfed him as his already weakened body scattered further, pulled in countless directions by the unstable energies of the bridge. He felt himself fragmenting into shards that threatened to drift apart forever.
With what remained of his sanity, Lunar focused on the single constant that had guided him across the stars. Like a beacon in absolute darkness, Poppy called to him. She was his guide through the chaos.
Eclipse's twilight energy suddenly appeared in the void, reaching out to him, providing a structure around which his shadow could reform. But it wasn't enough.
Then, impossibly, he felt another energy joining Eclipse's efforts. This one was warmer and perfectly attuned to him. Poppy. Somehow, she reached for him through the dimensional bridge. With the help of Eclipse, her unique sensitivity to shadow frequencies allowed her to reconnect his scattered form.
"Come back to me," her voice whispered through the void, more feeling than sound. "I'm here. Follow my voice."
Lunar gathered the fragments of his consciousness, drawing them toward that beloved energy signature. Slowly, painfully, he began to reconsolidate, shadow particles coalescing around the framework of Eclipse's twilight and the warmth of Poppy's call.
With a final surge of effort that consumed his remaining strength, Lunar pushed through the dimensional barrier. Reality twisted around him one last time, then solidified as he fell through the portal onto solid ground.
Earth. He had made it.
His shadow essence was dangerously depleted, barely maintaining cohesion. Through fragmented awareness, he sensed Eclipse stabilizing him just as Lunar had done for Eclipse after Milano’s attack. The dimensional bridge closed, and the landscape around them darkened.
“Dani? Solar?” he tried to ask.
"Lunar. Stay with me. Please stay with me." Gentle hands cradled what remained of his form.
Poppy.
The connection became stronger than ever now that distance no longer separated them. Her shadow sensitivity enveloped his fading essence, providing structure and stability where his own strength faltered.
“See there, Harris, I told you it would be fine,” Gary’s voice announced. “No human pudding. Put that bucket away.”
"Poppy, I kept my promise," he managed through their connection. His consciousness flickered.
"You did," she agreed, tears in her voice. "Now keep another one. Stay with me."
“I should have told you I love you.”
The last of his energy reserves were depleted. Lunar’s consciousness faded into darkness. But this time, the darkness was not empty. It held Poppy's warmth, her light within shadow, guiding him back to himself.
His final thought, just before awareness faded, was simple and with perfect certainty. He had come home.
Chapter
Eighteen
Poppy didn’t leave Lunar's side for three days.
