-This Chapter is NOT INCLUDED in the main story, skip it if you want-

1. Circumstances:

I wrote it in a whim in the stroke of midnight, originally aiming for some light-heartedness from this CP. Hence why the beginning seemed so playful with the hand-holding with the argument circulating the "boyfriend" calling.

...Then it went downhill pretty fast. I had had to pause in the middle of my writing several times to wipe my tears.

It was strange how I always weep when writing about Fluffymare - perhaps because I have some sense of relatedness to Ccino's desire to be loved and appreciated, no matter how painful it was in the process.

We don't know, and would never know, in canon, why Ccino is depressed in the first place, so I put it that Eternity's Ccino was abandoned by his creator - like one of the countless creations that were simply being forgotten by the artists. The feeling of "being forgotten" always hurts the most - at least in my opinion, even though I've become less scared of it by now.

Like we are/I am/Ccino was but a particle of dust - common, insignificant... and useless.

With that feeling of inferiority, I had written "Eternity".

2. Characters - Ccino:

Ccino was our beloved protagonist, even if he didn't know it. I might have bordered OOC when I wrote him in Flowers In Your Eyes, but Eternity's Ccino was wholeheartedly based on canon: his appearance, his clothes, his usual manner.

The only difference that I added was that Ccino was abandoned by his creator. This course of event led to him possessing serious depression and therefore self-harm behavior, such as releasing his intense emotion by cutting his wrists.

...And he had been keeping doing this until Nightmare came.

Now there was the god of negativity to provide some sort of twisted attention - even underhanded or not, Ccino was actually feeling better with Nightmare's company.

But of course, when Nightmare wasn't there, Ccino hurt himself again - it was either the sense of release after attempting self-harm or his happiness when being with Nightmare. There was no other way.

...And about the "gamble" that Ccino took, it was for the cost of "being remembered" by someone. He knew, somewhat, he was being taken advantages of but couldn't help it but falling for the trap.

Oh and the sex. Exciting part. They had sex even before the events in "Eternity" happened, which made things even more complicated to Ccino as he saw having sex as "being useful" and therefore, "being remembered."

So that led to his own demise.

I'm really sorry...

3. Characters - Nightmare:

Eternity's Nightmare was made as close to canon as possible - he was selfish, self-centered bastard that only took advantages of people's feelings. His tragic past illustrated in Dreamtale was never an excuse to trample on Ccino's fragile sentiment towards him.

But Nightmare did that, anyways. And I really hate him.

..."He stumbled upon the shop on accidence and had kept his eye(s) on the shop owner for a while now. He felt invigorated every time he was with that skeleton, who always seemed to sparkle with affection towards him to the point of annoyance. He indulged his presence as it gave him power, tolerating his body as it gave him satisfaction seeing Ccino cry out of pain or pleasure, loving the unwavering attention and unadulterated devotion that Ccino always gave to him. He didn't need to give his feeling a name because he didn't do feelings.

But if he ever, ever put his feeling a name tag on it, it must be... fondness. He had to admit he was a bit swayed by the affection.

And that was why this fondness was dangerous and he had to eliminate Ccino."

...If Nightmare ever had a chapter of his own then it should be something like this. I never intended to spare him the benefit of the doubt so he remained a douchebag in Eternity.

A douchebag that was scared of harboring actual love and compassion towards anyone, even himself. That was Nightmare in this story was like.

4. Ending:

The ending ended up being too much vague than I expected, but that was partly because I told the story in Ccino's perspective.

Ccino perceived the last moment of his breath as the end of a beautiful dream and therefore, was willing to "sleep to eternity."

Now when it came to Nightmare, his "eternity" was a bit different. Maybe he could spend his eternity to think about his feelings, maybe he sucked out all of Ccino's magic and made it his own, which was a sort of "eternity" - because his magic and Ccino's would intertwine with one another for as long as he existed.

Or you, a reader can make your own perception. Please tell me if you want.

5. Afterwords:

In other words, you could say that "Eternity" holds a very special place to me as a writer.

It depicts the heaviness of the theme - the desperation and the emotional struggles of the character quite well. Of course there was some limitation such as the second-person perspective wasn't omniscient and couldn't tell the whole picture or I could have made the sex-related scene a little longer (my biggest regret lol).

But emotionally speaking, I still love every single moment of "Eternity." Even if I was given another chance, I would still write it this way.

And this might sound ridiculous but "Eternity" also marked an important milestone in my on-going writing career as a professional, along with other stories in my drafts and some others I posted on my language.

So... thanks, it was truly a fun ride.

Until next time!

Love, author.