For my beta and for my dearest friend and sister Sylmenya who sing with me now and always.
A/N:
I really love this show. And I love the characters. And I also kind of hate the movies. And I ship Ranka/Alto. Not because I don't love Sheryl. I actually really do. But I don't think it's as good of a fit for the long-term. It's hot and intense and passionate, but it lacks for sincerity, which I think Sheryl would do better to find elsewhere. So, at the request of my wife/beta and also my friend – neither of whom I can refuse anything – I offer this alternate way of explaining the end of Macross, the movies, and how song became flight, became a lifetime of love.
Enjoy!
To Sing Is To Fly
"To sing is to love and affirm, to fly and soar, to coast into the hearts of people who listen, to tell them that life is to live, that love is there, that nothing is a promise, but that beauty exists and must be hunted for and found." – Joan Baez
"Good evening. We here at the Nightly Rumor are overwhelmingly honored tonight to present to our viewers an exclusive, unprecedented interview. Recorded earlier today by our top journalist, Tomoyo Rubia, this refreshingly honest conversation with the one and only Sheryl Nome is your sneak preview of her upcoming autobiography To Sing is to Fly. Let's see what our own Tomoyo learned in her conversation with the Galactic Nymph."
A shot of a lush garden, peaceful and refined. The camera pans over to a small, brown gazebo.
"My name is Tomoyo Rubia," begins the voice-over, "and I was invited here, to the Saotome estate, for a one-on-one conversation with Miss Sheryl Nome."
In the gazebo, the red-haired reporter, looking professional in her white and black suit and skirt, makes a stark contrast to the vivid beauty of the famed Sheryl Nome. Sheryl's signature pink-blonde hair falls about her like a waterfall. Her dress is purple, with lines similar to a traditional kimono in the sleeves and shoulders, but from there it flows to a ruffled full skirt that emphasizes her generous curves and her natural grace.
"Thank you for seeing me today, Miss Nome," Tomoyo begins formally.
"Oh, please, call me Sheryl," the singer's smile is bright. "This will take much longer if we rely on such formality."
"I admit, I am surprised to be speaking to you at all. You very rarely speak to the press concerning any matters other than your career."
"Well," Sheryl tosses her head, "with the movie released a few weeks ago and my autobiography coming out in less than a month, it seemed a good idea to set the record straight."
"The record as presented in the films made about you and the end of the Vajara War?"
"Yes." Now Sheryl's eyes are sharp and the ease of her smile disappears.
"I understand you were unhappy with the film's rendering of the real-life events?"
"Only in a few respects. Overall, it was a very good movie."
Tomoyo leans forward. "And yet you seem displeased."
"The writers took certain...liberties with some of the more sensitive matters," Sheryl is frowning.
"Concerning the romance between yourself and the now-famous pilot, Saotome Alto?"
"And don't forget Ranka Lee," Sheryl frowns even more. "She's as much a part of this story as I was. Some of what was portrayed between Ranka and Alto and myself was unfair to us all."
"I know there are aspects of the Vajara War you are forbidden from sharing due to fleet security," Tomoyo offers. "So let's focus instead on the things that happened after the war. You and Ranka Lee went on a joint tour as I recall?"
"Yes," Sheryl seems to relax. "Once Frontier had gotten established on the planet that was formerly the Vajara's home, Ranka and I were invited to do a galactic tour together to all the other fleets and Earth and many other places. It was a little troublesome," she smiles wryly, "as I had already been on tour for months. But this time, we had a much greater purpose. We wanted to tell the story of the war, the truth of the nature of the Vajara."
"And were you and Ranka...close at this time?" Tomoyo hesitates.
"We were friends," Sheryl replies firmly. "And we were also rivals."
"Rivals for the love of the pilot Saotome Alto."
"Yes. Ranka and I had both grown very close to him during the events on Frontier."
"That must have been very awkward for you."
Sheryl tips her head back to chuckle. "More awkward for him than us! Ranka and I both knew where we stood with one another. And, to be honest, she's such a sweet girl, I couldn't have hated her even if I had wanted to. She was always more innocent than me, but she reminded me of how I started out. Fierce, determined to prove herself, insistent that her voice be heard. We got along very well. It was poor Alto who had the most trouble."
"But Alto did not join you on the tour?"
"No," Sheryl looks away for a moment. "As I said, it was harder for him. Alto always knew he would someday have to choose between us, or choose neither of us. But he needed time. And a new world had just opened itself to him with the colony on the planet. Alto's dream had been to fly in a sky with no end. When the time came to leave for the tour, Ranka and I agreed that we didn't have the heart to drag him away from that with us."
"Didn't he want to be at your side to protect you? It could have been a dangerous trip, and the Vajara War was only recently ended."
"We had several others making the journey with us who were more than protective enough. Ranka has two older brothers, Ozma and Brera, and both had already decided to accompany us. We sent Ozma back after the first year, however, when we learned that his new wife, Cathy, was expecting. Between the baby and taking over for her father to try to restore the presidency of Frontier, she needed him more than we did."
"So what happened during the tour?"
"It's funny," Sheryl shakes her head with a fond smile. "I can't remember anything about most of the places we went – what the hotel looked like or which shopping center was in which city – but I remember every concert perfectly. I never forget singing. And with Ranka..." Sheryl takes a breath, "When Ranka and I sing together, it's like touching a star. There's no doubt in my mind that a song can change the universe, if it's the right song."
"The tour was certainly popular," Tomoyo remarks.
"My tours always are," Sheryl replies archly. But she smiles. "This was more important than that, though. Ranka especially was determined to make sure the true nature of the Vajara was revealed to the people, that the mistakes made against them were understood and not forgotten."
"It's been said that Ranka had a very personal stake in the war, and not just because both her brothers and Saotome Alto were pilots."
"You'd have to ask her. I won't tell her story to you."
"Of course not," Tomoyo backtracks quickly. "So what happened after the tour was over?"
"Ranka and I returned to Frontier. It was her home, and Alto was there."
Sheryl looks off into the distance as she speaks, her words soft.
"Alto...we both still loved him. Three years of singing together and we both still loved him just the same. He had come to see us once or twice, but we knew he wasn't going to give us his answer while we were still on tour. So when we reached Frontier, we all knew the time had come. We knew it and everyone else did, too. All our friends mysteriously disappeared from our welcome home party at the same time, leaving us with him."
"And what happened?" Tomoyo asks gently.
Sheryl shakes her head with a sad, rueful smile. "Alto hesitated again."
"You mean after three years, he still didn't know if he loved either of you?"
"Oh, no," Sheryl replies. "After three years, Alto was still certain he loved both of us. And that was his trouble. But three years had given me some time to think, too."
"And you made a decision of your own?"
"Yes. I told Alto that I had waited long enough. I loved him, but I was not willing to hold my heart out to him indefinitely. I have my pride," her eyes flash brightly. "I told him that if he was not ready to decide, then I would do it for him. And I walked away."
"It must have been a very difficult thing to do."
"It was," and Sheryl's practiced voice catches ever so slightly, "but it also turned out for the best."
"How so?"
"A few things happened then. Alto came to his senses and decided that the person he really loved, the person he had always loved, was Ranka. Did you know he became a pilot to protect her? Not for me, not for Frontier. For Ranka. He cared about me, he humored me, and he would have stayed by my side if I had asked him to, but it wasn't what he wanted for himself. Alto is like a kite in the wind – he drifts wherever he is blown. But one string had always held him to the earth, and that string was Ranka."
"So he chose Ranka?"
"Not right away," Sheryl's lip curls with a delicate grimace. "Like a kite in the wind, he had to bob and weave off course a few more times before he got it right. But that proved the difference between Ranka and me. She waited. She always waited for him. No matter how far or how wildly he would fly, she was steady and patient. And I think he finally realized that she would always be there to tie him to the earth, but she would never try to keep him from flying. When he understood that, he was able to stop hesitating."
"And what about you?"
"Oh," Sheryl's eyes snap with amusement. "I came here."
"To the Saotome estate?"
"Yes. During the war I had made the acquaintance of Alto's older brother, Saotome Yasaburou."
"The man named to be the successor to the Saotome family?"
"Yes. He had helped me when I was in trouble before, and when I walked out on Alto, I came here." She smiles impishly. "It was almost the middle of the night, and I began by refusing to take tea and yelling at him. I told him – at length – how stupid his brother was."
Sheryl smiles gently. "And you know what? He listened to me. Yasaburou always listened to me."
"Was that uncommon?"
"No, not like that. I'm used to people hearing what I say or hearing me when I sing. Yasaburou heard the silence in my heart. And, just like in the war, when he understood that I could not stop singing no matter what happened, he understood better than I did what I really wanted."
"And what was that?"
"I wanted...I wanted to sing for someone who would hear all the things I didn't say. And I wanted to sing for someone who would always be there to listen for them. Music isn't just about the sounds. It's also about silence. I needed a silence to sing against."
"And I take it you found one?"
"Yes," Sheryl nods. "I began spending a lot of time with Yasaburou, and he never got tired of treating me with the same quiet kindness that his brother largely lacks. He was gentle and he was honest and straightforward. He has a patient and steady heart. I can see now how he was such a good older brother to Alto. He grounded Alto the way Ranka does, and he gave me an anchor, too, when I needed it."
Sheryl blushes slightly. "It's no wonder I fell in love with him."
"Your surprise marriage was the talk of the year when it happened," Tomoyo says. "The heir of the Saotome family marrying the Galactic Nymph was the most important story in entertainment in a long time."
"I don't know about that," Sheryl shrugs. "But that's why the ceremony was so quiet. We didn't want it all over the news. It was only us and our closest friends – Ranka and Alto, of course, Ranka's brothers, a few friends from school and a few from the war, and the Saotome family. That was it."
"After everything, you were still close to Ranka and Alto?"
"I'm Alto's sister now!" Sheryl laughs. "But yes. I never stopped being close to them. For me, meeting Ranka and Alto on Frontier changed my life. And I don't mean the Vajara War. They gave me something I'd never had before. They gave me a family. And then Yasaburou gave me another one. I'll never stop being close to them."
"But you stopped performing with Ranka."
"Because we both had to live our lives for a little while. I was caught up in being here with Yasaburou and Ranka was getting to know her life and her family here. She's got a niece and Ozma and Cathy are about to have a boy now, and our friends Luca and Nanase are expecting, too. We still sing together, but we usually do it quietly for our family."
Sheryl gets a gleam in her eye. "And we've done one or two special events for a pair of friends we would like to see fall in love, but they're both very stubborn. One has already lost someone she loved, and the other is still figuring out who he is after a lifetime of struggle, but we all care about them both very much and want them to be happy. If Ranka and I singing love songs at them doesn't work, nothing will."
"How long have you been trying to get these two together?" Tomoyo finds herself asking.
"More than a year!" Sheryl sighs dramatically. "They're so stubborn. I think Ranka would have given up by now but Alto still seems to think it's a good idea."
Then Sheryl's face flushes a little and she huffs a laugh. "Ranka always tells me I say too much in interviews. I guess she's right."
"That's all right. Everyone wants to know the truth about you, Sheryl."
"Well, my autobiography is coming out soon, like I said. And there's a lot more in there. I got help from everyone. Alto and Ranka and Brera and Ozma and Luca and Nanase and Klan and of course Yasaburou all added bits so it could be our story together. It starts with my life and with how I became the Galactic Nymph, but it's really a story about...about us."
Sheryl looks out over the garden again.
"The Vajara were a species that were totally interconnected. They had one voice, one song that they shared. They were strong because they were united, and they taught us that different voices singing together can do anything. My book started with my life, but my life stopped being my own when I started singing with Ranka for Alto. And now we all sing together, even the ones who really shouldn't sing like Bobby. The book could have started with any of us, but in the end, it's about all of us. You can't have me without Ranka and Alto and Yasaburou. You can't have Ranka without us and Ozma and Brera and Nanase and Luca. You can't have Klan without Bobby and Cathy and the girls.
"We're just like the Vajara. We sing one song together now, one love song for all of us. And we'll be singing that song together long after people forget about Sheryl Nome, Galactic Nymph, and Ranka Lee, Superdimensional Cinderella. Our pilots will always be pilots. Ranka and I will always be songstresses. Even after everybody looks away, we'll still sing together. We'll still fly together."
"I'm sure you will." Tomoyo faces the camera. "This has been Tomoyo Rubia with the amazing Sheryl Nome."
The camera pans back out into the garden. From down a garden path that leads to a grove of trees, the faint sounds of music can be heard. Sheryl begins walking down the path and the camera follows her, catching the slightest glimpse of a large group of people on a picnic together near a pool of water. Ranka Lee is easily identifiable, leaning half against a tree and half against the broad chest of the pilot Alto Saotome. President Cathy Lee is dancing with her young daughter amidst the flowers. Others are busily unpacking baskets of food and spreading blankets. From a shadowy spot, a young blond man draws a harmonica to his lips and begins to play.
Sheryl enters the sunlit scene and begins to sing, Ranka's voice rising up in perfect harmony.
Aimo aimo nedel lushe
Noinar milia endel protea fotomi
We are in a warm ocean.
Lulei luleia
The dancing larks in the sky are waves.
Lulei luleia
You are a gentle child of green.
The great love that sleeps in my chest
Is slowly waking up from the warmth of your hand.
We are in a warm ocean.
Long ago, everyone in the world was one.
Come with me – it's a warm universe.