It was too much. The noise, the stench, all the blood from both humans and undead. And the feelings overrun her. Anger, pain, fear. Fear for her life, for all the others that fought on her side, but most of all... fear for him. She saw him, attaching one of his explosives to the last catapult. Zott... She couldn't lose him, not now. Not, before she was able to confess her feelings...
Why hadn't she told him before? Fear, of course. Not only she had waited for the right moment never to come, but she feared that he wouldn't reciprocate her feelings. That he would just look at her and laugh, or that he just would do nothing. But this was war, and war meant nothing more than loss and death. She had to tell him now. As soon as this fight was over, she would tell him. For sure.
Another wave of undead charged out of the water and she lost sight of him. "ZOTT!" She cried, but he could never ever possibly have heard. Or was that someone calling her name through all that fighting noise? She couldn't tell.
Only the thought of him kept her on her feet, made her fight with a fury she hadn't been aware of before, and the only thought in her head was this one and special name: Zott. She had to survive for him, as he had to survive for her. There was no other possibility.
A tremendous explosion made her lose ground and when she opened her eyes again, most of the undead lay on the ground, burning and motionless. The few ones that were still alive were cut down by the newly gained strength of the Pact members and finally, there was silence. All catapults were destroyed, all undead defeated, and for a few heartbeats, no one could believe what just happened. They won. They had won the beach.
But while others started to cheer, reluctant and faint first, but then growing more and more lighthearted, Ellis heart was cold as ice and she had stopped breathing. Between all those Pact members she wasn't able to see the one her heart was looking for. She ran to the broken remains of the last catapult, where she found nothing but stone and dust. "Zott! Where are you? Zott!" She cried, tears welling up in her eyes. He had been right here when she had seen him last! Had the explosion been too big? Was he too slow to escape from the fire? No! He must be alive. He can't be dead!
Something moved under the rubble, Elli could see black hair emerging and finally the dusty wreckage revealed the one she had been looking for so long. She took in a hard breath and felt her heart beat again.
Zott stumbled over stone and body parts, coughing and bleeding from a few wounds, but he was more alive than ever. Finally he saw her, grinning from ear to ear and started to say something, but Elli was faster than him. Her embrace took his breath away and soft, but firm he pushed her a few inches away.
Elli was out of breath, her face glowing and her whole body trembling. "Zott, you did it! Bless your adorable little moony eyeballs - you're a hero." You're my hero. She said, the last words nothing more than a whisper.
Zott blushed, still smiling, as if this was not war against the Elder Dragons, but just another invention he made.
"It wasn't all me. The commander did a great deal, and, well... there was you..." His eartips drooped as Zott shyly attempted to stroke Ellis cheek with his hand.
Elli run her hand over his. This was the moment. The moment she had longed for so long. "You're being modest. Now come here and kiss me, you big -"
She was interrupted by Zotts painful scream and saw him, yanked around by an arrow that had pierced his ear and finally stuck in the bloody sand right before their feet. "Whoa, that was close!" Zott gasped while he clutched to his bleeding ear. But then he turned back to Elli, and while the world around them faded and all noise fell silent, their lips found each other in a kiss so much wanted and so long awaited, and they knew, that nothing - not even death - would be able to tear them apart once more.
All too fast this moment was over, and their eyes met. So much love, so many feelings unspoken, and they both wondered, why hadn't they recognized before? Why did they have to face death to understand the feelings of each other?
"Elli..." Zott whispered, his voice trembling, "I have lost you before, out there in the shores, and I was barely able to save you. Promise me I will never ever loose you again, because if I did, I couldn't..."
"You won't. I promise." Elli answered. "Besides, you need someone to keep an eye on you when you're working in your lab! Otherwise the whole complex will go ballistic one day, with you in the thick of it..."
Zott planted another kiss on her forehead. As they heard steps behind them, they both turned around to face their commander, a tall human woman with long red hair. Her skin was covered in dirt and blood, her hair was a mess and her armor was cluttered with holes and cracks, but her deep-set eyes glowed with life and joy.
"Commander Rhowaan..." Zott started to say, but the human interrupted him with a gesture.
"Victory at last." Her voice seemed tired and exhausted, but there was a spark of hope in it. " We won. And we couldn't have done it without your help, my little friends." She smiled.
"We have not only won this beach, but we were able to significantly vulnerate one of the Elder Dragons!" Another voice appears behind the commander, and Pact Marshall Trahearne appears out of the dust and smoke from the fires around them, were Elementalists have started to burn all the bodies of the undead.
No one recognizes the spark in Rhowaans eyes when she faces the Marshall - no one but Elli. Trahearne seems to speak to all the people around him, but his eyes are only focused on Rhowaan. "Together we are not only able to hurt Zhaitan, but soon we will kill him! And he might be the first to kill, but for sure he won't be the last! One by one, the Elder Dragons will fall, and with every strike Tyria will be more save. We won't give up until that one day when Tyria will finally be free of the Dragon's corruption!"
The cheering around them grew louder and more intense, when Elli felt the warm touch of Zotts hand back on her cheek. "It's okay. You can stop crying now."
"I'm not..." Elli wanted to contradict, but then she tasted the salty liquid on her lips. Since when was she crying?
Zott smiled and put his arms around her tiny trembling body. He wanted to hold her till the end of that all, and never let her go before he knew for sure that she would stay alive. "I'm here. So are you. We're both alive, and we will be when this war is over. I will never ever lose you again!"
He buried his face in her dusty and shaggy hair and soothed her with words that only the two of them understood.
And while the Pact was celebrating another victory, the dark clouds that had darkened the shores of Orr for so long finally cleared away and gave way to a few tiny sunrays, that fell directly upon two young Asura, that had finally been able to express their feelings for each other.