Freeing Gallus

by CrackedInkWell


Chapter 13: Starry Reflections

That night Sandbar couldn’t sleep. Between what was about to happen at the crack of dawn to the news that Grandpa Gruff delivered, going off to dreamland wasn’t much of an option. He tried to distract himself by reading, even warm milk, but with what happened, his mind was resisting to hold still. So as quietly as he could, he took his pillow with him to sneak out of his room and headed towards the upper floors of the school. He didn’t do this very often, but on nights like this where insomnia was the order of the evening, he would go out onto a particular balcony where one of the school’s gables were low enough to climb up on. He hopped onto the roof and made his way up until he was able to see the stars.

With only a pillow underneath his head and Luna’s moon for light, he gazed up at the million points of light that twinkled and flickered like candles. Although it was the most unorthodox place to be, it was one of those places where he could be at peace.

“I figured I’d find you up here.” Sandbar jerked his head away from the sky, not realizing that Gallus had flown up on the roof. “Can’t sleep either, huh?”

“No, not really.”

The griffon, in the dim light of the moon, rubbed his neck. “You uh… You mind if I join you?”

Sandbar waved a hoof, and Gallus lay beside him, both facing up at the constellations that silently watched. At first, neither of them said anything. The crickets played their nocturnal concert of unending chirps while the waterfall at the school entrance provided the white noise for them to be lost in thought.

“I’m sorry.” Gallus finally said.

“Huh?” This snapped Sandbar’s attention. “For what?”

He sighed. “I completely forgot the whole issue with divorce and us griffons… It’s something that I honestly didn’t think about. A microscopic detail that I’m so stupid to overlook.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, dude.”

“Well, what else can I do? I’ve had you be dragged into a marriage that, let’s face it, we’re not entirely ready for yet, and we’re stuck pertinently.” The young griffon paused, looking towards the moon. “I know that it was your idea, and you wanted to help me out in whatever way you could. But by doing so… I’ve unintendedly trapped you into something that you can’t get out of. It’s completely unfair to you, that by freeing me, I’ve ended up imprisoning you. Sandbar… I’m so sorry.”

A hoof touched his arm, Gallus looked over to Sandbar’s eyes. “You’ve nothing to apologize for. Even if I did know beforehoof, I would still have gone through it.”

“But not at the price of your own freedom.”

He shook his head. “I think you’ve underestimated me. My calling is in compassion, to help those that need it. What happened to you in Griffonstone… it’s appalling. No one should have to go back home to a place where you don’t have a say over your own life. For someone like you, not only would I trade places, but offer my life so that you can breathe free.”

“Sand,” Gallus took hold of his hoof, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’ve been doing for me. Despite what Grandpa stick-in-the-mud might say, I think you would have made my parents proud for what you’re doing. But at the same time, however… it’s not fair for me to trap you forever in this.”

“What are ya talking about?”

“Dude, we’re sixteen. Despite what your shippers of parents would say, we shouldn’t be married this young. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do have feelings for you and all that mushy stuff. However, since we just decided to start, ya know, date, I honestly don’t know for sure if you’re the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. And don’t you dare say otherwise because I know you’re thinking of it too!”

Sandbar’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“Who knows,” Gallus continued, “maybe we were really meant to be. But in the off chance that we’re not… I don’t think I’ll be able to live with myself knowing that I trapped you into a marriage where you can’t find happiness. Even when you have feelings for me now, who’s to say that it wouldn’t fade, and you might have your eye on someone else?” He squeezed the hoof a little tighter. “What kind of life would that be that you won’t be free to be with the one that you would actually love?”

“But… what about you?”

He sighed. “Stop worrying about me. You’ve already done so much for me, and I did say that I owe you a debt. All I care about, right here and now, is that you would be given that same freedom that you gifted me.”

“And if…”

That pause from Sandbar made Gallus sit up. “What?”

“Just… hear me out. What if this permanent marriage thing is a blessing in disguise? Sure, those Griffons in your homeland would see that we’ve done something taboo, but let’s face it, we don’t have to go and live there. Plus, my parents are officially your parents now too. Regardless of what you do here in Equestria, you have a family here that welcomes you with open hooves. Plus,” he scooted closer over to him, “you are a good guy, Gallus. Sure, I don’t exactly agree with everything you say or do, but looking past it, I’m still willing to be more than just a friend.”

“Even though we have no idea what we’re doing?” The Griffon deadpanned.

“Hey, we’re not exactly the first… couple to do something like this. Applejack’s neighbors made it work, so who’s to say that we can’t have that?”

“We could, but… should we? Now that this thing is permanent, how do we know that this, what we have now, will be? Gods, we’re teenagers, Sandbar, we as an age group don’t exactly have the best track record for making the best decisions that we won’t end up regretting.”

“Hmm… True.” Sandbar flipped on his side, facing him. “But let’s face it – we’re not exactly normal teenagers, aren’t we?”

Gallus opened his mouth for a moment or two, but nothing came out of it.

“I mean,” the young stallion continued, “maybe it’s because I don’t know much about Griffons, but over the past several months, you’ve been becoming… what’s the word?... Selfless? That whole, ‘I don’t want you to be trapped by me’ thing, that you were more concerned about my wellbeing than your own… that says something.”

“Oh c’ mon,” Gallus chuckled, “after doing all of this for an orphan from Griffonstone that doesn’t have a bit to my name… because you want to…” He too turned on his side, facing his husband. “Now that, is worth something beyond gold or jewels.”

Sandbar smiled. “Awe, are you finally admitting your feelings for me?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just… Well… Uh…” After trying to make a charge of his thoughts and failing, he only looked at him in the eye to say: “Damnit… Yeah… But how exactly. This might sound corny, but something from literature class comes to mind.”

“Yeah? Which one?”

“Give me a minute, let’s see if I can remember it…” the young griffon shut his eyes, trying to remember the words stored in his mind that seemed to whisper like a ghost. Opening his eyes, he laid on his back, towards the moon to recite. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alterations finds, or bends with the remover to remove: oh no! It is an ever-fixèd mark, that looks on tempest and is never shaken…”

He turned his head, back to Sandbar as he is fully entranced by these familiar words. “It is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come; love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” He reached out his claw underneath the pony’s chin. “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor I had ever loved.”

“You just quoted Shakespur’s poem to me.”

“Yeah? And?”

“That was both incredibly touching and I have no clue what half of that meant at the same time.”

Gallus laughed. “It means that although I do have my doubts if time would change what we have, this moment, this thing we have now… is a memory that might outlast us. Although we shall age, and death to come so our mortal bodies are turned to dust – this scrap of tenderness, this sweet nectar of your kindness, underneath the candlelike twilight, shall never be forgotten. This moment we have is in my eyes immortal and flawless…” He blinked. “That sounded incredibly cheesey, didn’t it?”

Sandbar chuckled, “Or, you could just say what has been on my mind.”

“That being?”

The young stallion leans forward but paused just within kissing distance. “I want to hear you say it. No poetry, no flowery words, but the essential truth of it all.”

Gallus gulped, his face burning and that pulsing feeling in his heart coursed out like veins of a volcano. “S-Sandbar… I… Is it weird to say that… I think… I might be falling for you?”

“No.” The pony closed that gap between them and pulled him into a kiss. Although this time it wasn’t as aggressive as Gallus gave at the wedding, this was something gentle, something pure enough for the griffon to kiss back.

It was the young griffon that had to push him away, to catch his breath. “Sand… We should really get to bed. We have to be up before sunrise.”

Sandbar nodded. He gathered up his blanket and the two of them climbed down, back into the school’s dark hallways. Although both of them went to bed that night feeling peace, there was that whispering doubt in their minds if what they have could really be as eternal as the stars they looked up to.