A/N: I had my iPod on random and 'Unchained Melody' by the Righteous Brothers came on as I was writing the last one shot. It did not really fit Amitto so I thought.. I need to write a song fic for what I saw in my mind's eye. The longing and unrequited (seemingly) love just needed a fic. So, here is it. I don't believe in the lyric, story, lyric format. I prefer to combine the lyrics into the story. You will also find lyrics from 'The Distance' by Evan and Jaron too. I hope you enjoy!

Eminus is latin for "at a distance".

Eminus

War was ugly. War brought pain. More importantly, war separated loved ones. Sometimes this separation was only temporary. More often than not, the separation was permanent. Casualties of war were common. For death was a common factor in war. Death and blackness and fear were what war caused. To think that it had been cold for so long and had turned red hot. It had boiled over with such intensity that it had enveloped everyone and everything around him. It did not matter which country. It did not matter which side. Both were equally taken aback by the sheer number of loss that had resulted from the fight.

The war had been something that he had waited for. He had expected war and he had expected death. Death did not bother him. He had been surrounded with its company since he was a boy. It was familiar and it was his goddess. War was slightly different. It had just been a constant thought in his mind while growing up. A whisper in the darkness of the halls at night. Rumors from a nameless source. The shiver of cold that he had felt sometimes. He supposes he had been ready for it all his life. It had been time to stop hiding behind fake smiles and insincere declarations. Then the war had begun.

What he had not expected to come was her. He had not expected a light at the end of the vast, dark, endless tunnel of his life. After he had seen her, she was all that he could see when he closed his eyes at night. Sometimes he even dreamt of her light. As he saw her more, it seemed inevitable that they would come together. He had fought it though. Oh how hard he had fought it. She was the enemy. She was on the other side. She was never supposed to be his. In the end he had lost himself to her and he had not looked back since.

Their separations had been many and most times he thought that they would be the permanent kind. As he had constantly been in danger and had, had to kill far too many to stay alive. He knew that had been the same for her. They both lived very dangerous lives and it did not make it any less dangerous that they loved the enemy too. But their lives had become entwined. Their sides blurry. It was hard to differentiate the intensity of his love for her with the intensity of his hate for her country sometimes. Both called forth such equal passion within him. The separations only made it worse. He needed her and after so long without a glimpse of her face, she had become more important than the blistering war.

The last encounter that they had with each other had been brief, too brief. She had flown into his arms and told him that she loved him. He had kissed her in return, because he could not say the words back. To know it was bad enough, to say it would have been condemning. She had merely smiled a sad smile up at him, because she knew. Saying such declarations would do them no good when they were on opposing sides of such a vicious war. They both knew, however, that they would not be able to kill the other on the battlefield. He hoped it never reached that point. It had not.

Months went by after that. The months turned into a year. Blood seemed to permeate everything with the death. There was just so much death and ruin. Yet during those nights that he could, he would lie underneath the bed of stars and see her face in his mind. It was the only time that he could think about how much he hungered for her touch. To realize how slowly the time went by. That time could do so much. That he needed her love no matter how stubborn he had been to say it back. The lonely rivers of his memories flowed into the sea of his mind. Those memories that sighed to her in hopes that she would wait. To just wait for him to come home to her, because she was home. He knew that now with this distance between them. He hoped, hoped that she was still his after all this time.

He needed her. He needed her love and he wished her love could be sent to him. To be sent to him through this distance, this vastness between them. It was this distance that he could not take. For he realized that without her the night sky had somehow lost its glimmer. The moon seemed not to shine so brightly. At least, that is how it seemed now that she was not with him and it had been so long since he had seen her. As he stared at that night sky, he wished that the minutes would pass because he knew that it would bring him closer to the next time he would see her again. He wanted to see her smile and he could not take this separation any longer. Still, the months dragged on, despite his longing.

Sometimes he thinks he feels too much. Feels too much about everything and especially her. Because no matter how close he had held her, it never seemed to be close enough. Sometimes he thinks her name so loudly inside his own head that he wonders if she can hear him. He makes believe that she does. She hears him and she responds to his call. He had already braved the fire of missiles and the rain of bullets. Yet, he felt as if he could not survive being away from her. That was just what she had come to mean to him.

Now, the war is over. The fighting has officially stopped. The civilians could breathe a sigh of relief. It was over. It did not matter why it was over, just that it was finally over. The blood, the death, the fear was finally over.

As he makes his way across the battlefield, he does not seem to really take note of how bad the carnage is around him. All he knows is that he must find her. He just had to find her. His eyes scan the length of the bodies about the ground and he knows, instinctively knows that she is not among them. He knows, he just knows that she made it out of this alive. Alive meant that he would finally see her again, after so long. Then he would finally know what he had agonized over all the previous months before.

A dust cloud passes and a golden hued figure forms in front of him. He knows that figure from the countless nights that he had thought of her. He would know that silhouette anywhere. Then she seems to fully materialize before his eyes. Her blonde hair is a little blood soaked and her face has many smudges of grim and he has never seen a more beautiful and welcomed sight. Both of their runes are flashing. His is blue. Hers is gold. He wants to run to her and pull her into his arms but he waits because he is not sure if she is still his, his Stella. She staggers a little with her steps but she stops all together when she sees him.

There is a moment of tension as they both stare at each other. He can see the tears in her eyes and he feels his own stinging as he takes in her full appearance for the first time in so very long a time.

She finally breathes out a small laugh as she runs towards him and leaps into his welcoming arms. He pulls her tightly against himself as he clutches her desperately. To loosen his grip would be to lose her forever, he reasons and he could not have that. His lips bury themselves within her dirty hair and speak softly into her ears.

"Oh my love, my darling. How I have hungered for your love for so long a lonely time," he whispers urgently and she cries as she clutches his jacket even tighter. They both fall to their knees on the ground as they continue to cling to each other. "Time has done so much. I know it has, but I need your love. I need your love. Will you... still be mine?"

She sobs for all everything that they have lost and all that they had done. But only for a moment before she looks up into his eyes. Her eyes are resolute and teary from happiness. "Yes, I will."

Their lips meet and mix their blood, sweat and tears as their union is finally solidified. With the dawn of peace, their bond would unify their nations. Through time, distance and separation they had finally come together. Together they would be and none could change their unchained melody.

The End.