Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean story line or any of the characters, sadly. :(
A.N.: This is my first *published* fan fic. I've writen two others regarding Edge and Reimi. Please read and review :3
Edge Maverick was a dead man. You must be sitting there wondering, what kind of trouble did he manage to jump into now? Well. Let's rewind a little bit to the previous night. Edge had decided to take a harmless, innocent nap. But as fate would have it, that's just not allowed when you're aboard a spacecraft with seven other crew members. One said crew member has a phobia of being left alone to her own devices. Meracle, the Fellpool cat that Edge and co. had adopted into their crew from Mirror Earth, was just that said crew member. Having one of those nights, she was left alone during her rest when her roommate, Lymle, had decided she wanted to poke around with Bacchus. After awaking, and finding herself alone, she began to dwell on past memories.
"Professor..." Meracle whimpered to herself. "Where have you gone...?" Tears began to stream down her cheek as she struggles to shake the depressing thoughts from her mind.
Setting out for some company, the first person that came to mind was Edge. She had been there to cheer him up during his down slump. So she justified that it was his turn to return the favor.
Wandering down the hall carefully so not to disturb anyone else, Meracle finally came to her destination. She ventured into the captain's room to find him sleeping peacefully. From her point of view, his back was to her, making it seem like he was having a staring contest with the wall. Meracle let out a giggle as she softly glided across the room to Edge's bed. Laying down beside the young man, she made herself comfortable and tried once again to put her mind at ease. Sleep came almost.. instantaneously as soon as she had laid down.
A few hours had passed and Edge sat up, his mind still asleep. Stretching his arm out, Edge came into contact with something soft, and slightly moving. Turning his attention downwards, he realized that Meracle had made herself comfortable along side him during his nap. But, that wasn't the worst of it. That "softness" he had come in contact with was actually Meracle's breast. Immedately removing his hand, he stood over Meracle.
"Meracle!? What the hell are you doing here?!" Edge yelled. His senses now fully wake as he took in the situation he was in. Trying to wake Meracle up, he stared at her as if his eyes would somehow get his point across to the sleeping Felpool that laid under him.
Just then, Reimi entered the room with the ship's planned course. Looking up from the tablet she was holding, she was stopped dead at what she saw. Edge, HER Edge (though she had never admitted it openly), was hovering over that... stray of a cat, Meracle.
Before Edge could even realize the position he was in, it was too late.
"EDGE !? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MERACLE?" Reimi shrieked.
"It-it's not what you think, Reimi! I swear!" Edge tried to defend himself.
But with what was about to happen, there was no hope. Meracle awoke from her nap and greeted Edge with a kiss on the cheek. Reimi inhaled sharply and Edge nearly choked as a reaction. Acting as if nothing was wrong (well, she truely thought nothing was wrong), Meracle stretched and walked out the room, mumbling something about washing up.
Reimi stood there, staring daggers at Edge. Not 100% sure what to do, Edge tried to laugh it off and smiled at Reimi. Her response? A skillfully planted slap, leaving a trademark tattoo of a hand print across Edge's face. Reimi stormed out of the room, trying to convince her heart not to break.
That catches us up to the current moment. Edge Maverick sat at the end of his bed trying to piece together what had happened. Concerned with how Reimi was taking it, he set out to search for her and convince her that nothing happened. It seemed simple enough on paper, but when he got to thinking about... It was a completely different story. Edge had always harbored feelings for Reimi. At first he brushed it off and considered it just a "best friends" type of deal. But as their adventure slowly warped from the SRF mission, so did his feeling for Reimi. It had become much more than just "best friends." That in and of itself complicated how he was going to explain things to Reimi.
"No point in sitting here letting my thoughts get the best of me... Act now, or it's going to be to late." Edge told himself.
Starting his search for Reimi, Edge already ruled out her room due to the fact that... well, that would be too easy. Reimi liked to hide when she was brooding. feelings. He checked in with the other crew members, downstairs at the bridge, in the storage rooms, and even asked Welch if Reimi had been by the IC terminal. To no avail, it had seemed as if Reimi had disappeared off the Calnus. Wandering back upstairs, with no idea as of where she could be, a light turned on in Edge's head.
"The battle simulator..." he muttered. And with that, he continued up the stairs and banked right. Upon reaching the door, he took a deep breath and steeled himself for what he might face. He had decided that it was going to be today that he got everything off his chest. It was today that he was going to tell Reimi what he felt. The only thing standing in his way was the misunderstanding of what happened between Meracle and himself earlier.
"Nothing happened!" He told himself harshly while slapping his own face to get prepared. Edge ventured through the door to find the girl he had been searching for.
"Reimi...Hey! Are you still made at me?" Edge raised his voice trying to catch her attention.
Not getting any sort of response, Edge continued to push his luck. He just needed eye contact. He needed to show her that nothing happened. He needed to tell her everything...
"If the first officer keeps moping around like this, it's going to affect crew morale..." Edge stated. Trying to bring others into always got to Reimi. "She always tried to keep her image of a kind, softhearted, caring person in front of others. Never putting herself first unless it came to something I did. Funny how that works out." Edge thought to himself.
Edge let out a sigh. Reimi's back was still to him and he could feel her hesitating. He could tell that she was trying to hold back what she was thinking.
"...I'm telling you, Meracle just stumbled into my room when she was half asleep. That's all it was, okay?" Edge's tone became more and more distressed as he tried to get through to Reimi.
"...Whatever." Reimi spat back.
Sighing again, Edge took a moment to take another approach. "Whenever she got angry. She always did just let it fester.. I guess there's only one way to handle this..." Edge told himself with reassurance. "I'm going to get through to her..."
"Hey, Reimi! Why should only you get to be angry!?" Edge demanded, but didn't stop there. "You're the one that came into the room, you know." he clearly stated.
Reimi fidgeted and sighed, but didn't give in just quite. Edge caught on and pushed the "reverse psychology" method even further.
"YOU made the decision to come in, YOU thought something weird was going on, and YOU decided to be angry about it!" Edge stressed his words carefully. Trying to put the blame on Reimi so that he could get some sort of reaction out of her. She sighed once. Her defenses were giving in. Edge knew that with just a little more aggression, he would be clear to voice everything.
"...You really are childish, you know." Edge said with disappointment. "You've always been so arbitrary about stuff like that, and you never grew out of it." He spat.
Reimi had had enough. Who was he to think that he was innocent? He wanted a peice of her mind, he was certainly going to get it. Stomping her foot, it was her turn to rip into Edge. The only thing is that she failed to notice just how close he had gotten to her.
"Well excuse me for not growing up! It's not like you ever grew out of being a hothead, either!" she yelled back.
Just then, Edge placed his hand on her shoulder and in return, Reimi spun around, ready to continue her retaliation of words. Yet, it would be futile with what Edge had planned.
"Just.. take a deep breathe and do it Edge. You know you can. You guys invented it after all..." Edge told himself. Just then, he stepped right up to Reimi, and planted a kiss on her forehead.
Reimi had no idea how to react. She took a step back and put her hands over her forehead, trying to hide the blush that had rapidly formed across her face. "Ah.." she stammered out.
Edge had his eye contact now. It was his chance and he wasn't about to waste it. "You're right Reimi. Neither of us have changed. So... how about we just cut this out and make up like we always did?" Edge said. Sincerity laced every syllable of the words he spoke.
"Edge...you... still remember out little making up ritual..." Reimi said in complete disbelief.
"C'mon, don't embarrass me. How many years do you think it's been?" Edge said, his bold stature was fading as he drew closer and closer to what he wanted to tell Reimi for so long. "So.. are we even now? Because there's... something else I need to tell you." Edge quietly stated.
"Something... else?" Reimi questioned.
"Yeah. Well, I'm not sure where or how to put this... but here goes nothing.." Edge spoke more or less to himself. Taking a deep breath he stepped closer to Reimi, putting both of his hands on her shoulders. Peering deep into her chocolate eyes, he could see curiosity and ... something else, but he couldn't quite put a word on it.
"Reimi, ever since you and I were little, we've always looked out for one another. If one of us were in a rut, the other would do everything to get them out of it. It holds true to this day. But.. there's... something else. I've had this... desire... this need for more." Edge said, nervousness spread thick in his voice. He couldn't hold eye contact anymore after his last words. So, he decided the next most interesting thing would be the ground. Completely unsure of what to expect, he prepared himself for Reimi's reaction.
"Edge..." Reimi whispered. She stepped right upto Edge and lifted his chin with her index finger.
"You're not alone on that boat..." Reimi smiled as she looked back into emerald eyes. She knew that he had been dwelling over this thought for quite some time now.
"Why do you think I cried so much whenever you left my side during our childhood? I've felt the desire... the want.. no. The need of you for quite some time Edge. I just never knew how to voice it. I've tried so many times since we've started our journy into the stars...but could never do it." Reimi said with a hint of remorse. She didn't have the courage that Edge had. She couldn't make the first move. Something always prevented her from pushing through.
As if it were the last time he'd ever see Reimi, Edge pulled the petite brunette into his embrace. "You have no idea how relieved I am hearing you say that." Edge said, happiness pulsing through his entire being.
Pulling back from Reimi just a bit, he stared into her eyes before moving in and planting a gentle and chaste kiss on her lips.
Reimi didnt know how to react before recipricating the kiss. To her, time had stopped, everything went into this warm fuzz, and it was if the stars all around them had aligned for this one moment in time. This moment, that would forever be remembed by her heart.
Breaking the kiss, Edge shared a smile with Reimi that only she would ever see. That type of smile that if anyone else were looking, they couldn't tell it from any other time Edge had smiled. But to Reimi, she knew it was one of a kind. It was hers.
"So, Reimi... when this is all over. Let's set out again, just you and me." Edge whispered.
"I couldn't imagine anything more perfect, Edge." Reimi responded as she rested her head on Edge's chest.