His thoughts wandered to his days in Anna's company. It must have been fate in mortal form that brought them together. He knew from the moment he laid eyes on her that they were meant to be. From then on, Techlevel was sometimes needy and close, but then suddenly cold and fearful. Anna also behaved strangely, one moment adoring, scathing the next. That was how it was to this very day.
"Techlevel," Anna said simply with no trace of emotion. Her bronze depths complimented heratramentaceous strands, brushing against her shoulders, belying her despairing heart. She was dressed in her usual everyday clothes. She had a generously curvaceous coral-flushed light-colored form.
"Anna. I feared you might not come," Techlevel whispered.
"I don't know why I bothered," she murmured.
He lowered his globes, down and away back toward the sapphire sea. "Then maybe you should go."
A pause. "No." She brushed her hand against his, almost as if by accident. "Come."
Neither of them spoke for some time. It wasn't uncommon for them - they'd exchange poker-faced glances and walk in silence for hours, until finally, they somehow touched, and overwhelmed by pain and loneliness they would turn to each other. It was no different this time. They had tracked halfway down the shore, down to where a cliff rose to block their progress, before Techlevel turned to Anna and whispered, "I waited a long time for today. I... I missed you a lot." She didn't say anything. "It's like I told you before. You're all I have..."
He sought out one of Anna's hands with his, but she drew away. "Just be quiet." With a lachrymose glance, Tech let his hand drop. "Every time. Cry, cry, cry. That's all you do."
Stricken, Techlevel turned away and began to weep. Each sob was a blow against her will and heart. At last she took a deep breath and dictated, "Stop. ... Please. You... you have no idea what effect you have on me."
"Why are you like this to me?" Techlevel whispered. "I... I don't understand. I need you, Anna. I need you like I need air. I'd do anything for you, but you still treat me this way..." He folded his arms across his chest and took a shuddering breath. "Do you hate me, Anna?"
"What if I did?" she mused.
"I would fall apart," he whispered. "I would have no reason to be." He waited for some kind of reassurance that it wasn't true, that it would never be, but it didn't come. He bowed his head. He should've known better than to expect such a display from Anna.
Instead, she took a few steps toward the cliff and arced her head to gaze up its height. "If I could be as open as you," she pondered, "I would consider myself lucky."
"Please let me in," Techlevel wept. "Please. Together we might be able to bear this cruel world."
He was just so... so... She was also just so... so... Maybe he had a point, she thought. Anna approached him and brushed a finger below his mahogany pools. "Perhaps... that might be..." she mused before stepping away again. Techlevel blinked, and wet his cheeks again with tears as Anna walked away - and then hurriedly followed, for he had nothing else in the world. After a few moments, they found themselves walking down the beach again. Tech couldn't stop thinking about his shroud of pain. It plagued him endlessly - while he was far from her and while he was near. It threatened to consume him. When he had let the faintest hints slip in the moments before, it had already taken taken so much of his will.
Anna's dark crystals passed over him once impassively before at last she seemed to steel herself and intone, "Techlevel. You've been worrying."
"Anna... it's..."
And at that moment everything came together, all of the magic and the hurt that had been building that day, and she locked her depths with his and whispered, "You can tell me."
It was like a floodgate burst, or some barrier of fear had been struck down. Techlevel shook his head and everything came out at once. "I don't know if I can put it into words. I... lately... it might not even be just lately... It's nothing. It's nothing! I just... I don't feel well... I don't know where it is, whether it dwells in my heart in my head. It hurts, Anna... there's nothing that helps. Except that... sometimes, I feel a bit better when you're by my side..."
Anna listened silently and solemnly. At last, when all the words had left him and he was at a loss for words, she reached out to him and took a deep breath to whisper back, "I... I understand, Techlevel. Please believe me. It's happened to me, and... lately, I keep thinking about it too. Your shroud of pain and mine... maybe they're not the same, but I... I think I know how you feel." She laid a hand on Techlevel's shoulder. "That awful sadness... I just... I just want you to know, Techlevel... you're not alone."
Techlevel's eyes began to burn, and he abruptly pulled her into a fierce embrace. Her pools widened at first, but then she too felt overwhelmed by emotion and succumbed to the warmth of his touch.
"You," Techlevel whispered, his breath hot on her ear. "As long as you're here, I... I can make it."They held each other as tears trickled down cheeks and dripped onto the shifting sands to be carried away into the sea. With time and soothing embraces, their pain dissipated into a mist swept out by the ocean breeze and into the setting sun.
They basked in each other's quiet companionship for a few moments.
"Mm. Sunset."
Techlevel lifted his head at Anna's words to behold the dying sun's salmon radiance. "Mm."
After a moment of silence, she asked, "How long will we last?"
"Please... let it be forever," Tech murmured in response.
"Hmm," she said only. But when Techlevel looked at her, he saw a glimmer of hope in her mournful orbs.
Techlevel sighed with contentment and brought her closer. He gazed at the beautiful lemon-colored rays of the falling sun, thinking about everything that had transpired on this day and all that would pass between them.
"I love you, Anna."
"I love you too, Techlevel."
Their lips met, and auburn strands met sable ones, aflame in the dying light. The sand was their witness and the rumbling ocean their approving audience, and Anna, his eternally faithful lover. Techlevel thought to himself that nothing had ever been so perfect for him as this.
The End