Chap­ter 85 of All the Col­ors of the Dark opens with Misty gen­tly rep­ri­mand­ing Patch for his tar­di­ness, reveal­ing the wor­ry she has been car­ry­ing about his absence. As they stand togeth­er, they observe the ongo­ing cel­e­bra­tion, with a dis­tant melody weav­ing through their con­ver­sa­tion, adding to the atmos­phere. Misty’s voice car­ries a blend of hope and con­cern for their future, prompt­ing Patch to reflect on the pres­sures tied to her seem­ing­ly per­fect life, sym­bol­ized by the poised pos­ture of her par­ents. This con­trast between their worlds—his uncer­tain­ty and her appar­ent stability—fuels his inter­nal strug­gle, as he grap­ples with his own fears and the unspo­ken expec­ta­tions placed upon them.

Patch open­ly admits his fear of nev­er find­ing the per­son he is search­ing for, a truth that he car­ries like a heavy bur­den. Misty lis­tens care­ful­ly, offer­ing encour­age­ment to keep search­ing but also remind­ing him that he might be over­look­ing what’s right in front of him. Despite her words, Patch strug­gles to look up, still weighed down by exis­ten­tial thoughts that keep him root­ed in uncer­tain­ty. His inabil­i­ty to break free from the over­whelm­ing weight of his fears leads to a dis­tance between them, even in a moment meant to bring them clos­er. Misty’s reas­sur­ance, while thought­ful, can­not ease the depth of his inter­nal con­flict, reveal­ing the stark con­trast between their emo­tion­al states. The com­plex­i­ty of their rela­tion­ship becomes evi­dent as Patch wres­tles with his need for some­thing greater while fail­ing to see the val­ue in the present.

Misty, ever per­cep­tive, com­ments on their dif­fer­ences, point­ing out that Patch’s bur­dens iso­late him. “No one knows you. Not real­ly,” she says, cap­tur­ing the essence of his struggle—his lone­li­ness despite being sur­round­ed by peo­ple. Their dance beneath the lumi­nous moon and bright stars pro­vides a fleet­ing sense of con­nec­tion, yet Patch feels an urge to hide from the beau­ty around him, unable to ful­ly embrace the moment. Their con­ver­sa­tion shifts deep­er as they dis­cuss love’s capac­i­ty to inflict heart­break, with Misty hint­ing at the fragili­ty of the world and the poten­tial for it to col­lapse. The dance, while phys­i­cal­ly close, reflects the emo­tion­al dis­tance Patch feels as he tries to rec­on­cile his fears with the real­i­ty of their con­nec­tion. In this moment, the fragili­ty of their rela­tion­ship is pal­pa­ble, mir­ror­ing the fragili­ty of the world they both occu­py.

As Misty slips off her heels, the grass beneath them offers a ground­ing con­trast to Patch’s lofty thoughts, pro­vid­ing a moment of clar­i­ty amidst his swirling emo­tions. This inti­mate act marks a ten­der exchange between them, root­ed in both phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al con­nec­tion. The sim­plic­i­ty of the grass beneath them serves as a reminder of the earth­i­ness of their bond, ground­ing them in a way that their pre­vi­ous con­ver­sa­tions and thoughts couldn’t. Patch, still deeply intro­spec­tive, takes in Misty’s pres­ence, curi­ous about the gift she received for her birth­day. This curios­i­ty brings out a vul­ner­a­ble side of him, eager to learn more about her and the things that mat­ter to her in a way that feels more authen­tic.

In a moment of raw hon­esty, Misty looks into Patch’s eyes and shares that she received exact­ly what she had hoped for: “I got to dance with the boy who saved my life.” This sim­ple yet pro­found state­ment encap­su­lates their bond, reflect­ing how their lives have inter­twined in a way nei­ther of them antic­i­pat­ed. Her words reveal the deep con­nec­tion they share, ground­ed in past strug­gles, present love, and an uncer­tain future. It becomes clear that their fates are linked in a com­plex dance of love, loss, and hope, each unable to escape the other’s orbit despite the chal­lenges they face. The chap­ter clos­es with the bit­ter­sweet real­iza­tion that, despite the weight of their respec­tive bur­dens, they have found solace in each other’s pres­ence, even if just for a moment.