Five Arabian Nights



Joy made him feel

An innocent selfishness

That harmed no one

But himself.

And with his joy he danced

And he danced all night

Under the endless clouds.

The horizon of optimism

Crept into his once empty heart

As he danced all night

Under the endless clouds.

And when he stopped dancing

The god, filled with satisfaction, smiled

Not out of obligatory terms

But out of true happiness.

For he had missed the feeling

Of being truly happy for so long.

And he felt so, so happy to feel

That he danced all night

Under the endless clouds.

Chapter 2

The First Night

Much to Jaune's surprise, the clouds slowly turned into a pale orange before becoming a deep blue.

As the clouds underwent a slow change of color, the blond boy decided to sit in the middle of the clouds. No matter how far he went, he would not reach to a new destination. Perhaps he really did end up in the afterlife.

For the entire walk, he could not help but keep questioning what made him happy. Why was he joyful even though he had been pried away from his family and friends? Now that he thought about it, the very thought of enjoying isolation from those who cared about him was not selfish, but rather, cruel. How would he, who relied on others to feel happiness, be able to find happiness by himself? The long road of lies and cowardice had served him naught, as he eventually forgot how to bring himself joy.

Had the road become too long for him to turn back?

Jaune stared at the clouds above him. They had begun to move ever-so-slowly, as if to shake off some rust it got due to staying still for the entirety of the day. He lay down, his back resting on the cool embrace of water and air.

But… He remembered a certain dark-haired friend of his telling him not to be too cynical. And perhaps Lie Ren was right; Jaune might have been too cynical. But how?

He remembered a red-haired friend of his telling him to be hopeful. Jaune did not know what hope felt like; it had become nothing but a word pasted into a dictionary for him. As the pressure of leading a group of warriors to face against monsters fell upon his shoulders, he felt his humanity deteriorating. He felt the hopes of living to have less value than he thought it did.

He remembered an orange-haired friend of his telling him to move on.

Move on.

To move on was like ignoring the speed limit on a highway filled with obstacles. There were consequences for moving on, and he had so little courage to do it by himself. He relied on his comrades and friends far too much to become brave on his own. Everything he did was caused by his friends.

But…

But…

But…

But no matter how many times his friends pushed him through hard times, there had to be a reason why he moved on. No matter how reliant he was, there had to be something he did to march so far into the long road he traversed on for so many years.

He was the one who accepted their advice. He was the one who chose to lead them all. He was the one who decided to trust them, and he was the one who aspired to become not a man of simple honor, but someone he could truly be. He was the one who chose to take risks in a risk-filled world, and he had survived on the long run.

He had courage; he had value. He had trust; he had worth.

Jaune blanked out as he delved deeper into his train of thoughts. It all rushed into his head like a furious river, and it slowly calmed itself down as he understood more about what he felt about himself.

If… he was once a coward, then he had changed. If he was once a man with no backbone, then he had built one by deciding to trust people. In the end, his own acceptance to learn how to become a brave leader was the reason why his teammates seemed so perfect to him.

And he had just found out about it in the empty afterlife.

A single laugh emerged from him. He felt so happy; that even if it took long for him to realize, he had finally confronted a question he endlessly asked himself with an answer. Even if it was not the perfect answer… and even if it was not the flawless solution…

In the end, he himself held the key to the legion of emotional locks placed over his own honesty.

Jaune smiled. It was not too late; he at least found out his silly problem in a world where he could think clearly.

The sound of a bell ringing brought him back to the cloudy world.

The blond sat up from the soft, feathery surface as he watched the child of light skip around in circles from a distance. In the night, she brought a beautiful light with her effervescent smile and happy demeanor. Every time she laughed, no voice expressed her mindless joy; the jingle of a bell came out instead.

Jaune watched the child of light in awe. For she revealed that her arms were actually wings! Bright feathers gently floated through the wind as each and every one of them glowed. The once dark clouds Jaune had been observing seemed to become brighter as they passed by him. She laughed again, and the clouds seemed to become warmer as she continued to laugh.

The blond knight blinked. Then, a smile came across his once startled look.

Bell danced and danced, her bright blue eyes shining. The joyful child seemed to be far happier. He wondered if it was because of his own realization of joy.

The blond knight's laughed as the girl's dance became more and more playful. The clouds seemed to agree with her joy, as the feathers that filled the air slowly rose into the puffs of blue air. The fervency of happiness.

It truly was a beautiful thing.

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The First Night –END-