Lovers To The Stars
By Major Mike Powell III and Glexen
The notion of time was partially lost in space, but at least the ship's clock helped, and the lights automatically shutting off were a decent indicator of night time.
Another night on board the AEUG ship Argama, another night of elusive sleep.
Kamille Bidan let out a tired sigh. One of many tonight, and most likely, not the last.
One forearm placed over his eyes while he used his other hand as if moving the control yokes of the RX-178, his Gundam Mk II, as he pictured battle movements in his mind's eye, something to try and tire himself out enough to get some sleep.
A stab to the cockpit of a Titans Hi-Zack with a beam saber in one hand, and blasting off the head of another Hi-Zack to his flank with his beam rifle.
And then...he was blasted to pieces by a Titans ship's mega-particle cannon.
Nope. That would not do. The boy sighed again.
It would have been some consolation to Kamille to know that the person that kept him awake, frustrated, exhausted, and overall off his game was also awake in her own quarters.
Then, the blue-haired young man's (he stopped being a "boy" long ago, pretty much the moment he stepped into his Gundam's cockpit for the first time) irritation was interrupted by yet even more irritation as his intercom buzzed to life.
"Give me a break..." he muttered tiredly, reaching out to tune in to the call.
"Hey! Kamille, when you said 'light damage to the cockpit and head' in that last battle, you didn't add 'my entire communication suite is fried and needs replacing'! Normal contact communications are fine, but if you're so much as a foot outside the Argama's hangar, we won't be able to hear you," the engineer ranted on. "If you're going to need the Mk II for the next few hours, then you won't be able to communicate with anyone unless they are right there, with you, in the cockpit! Damn it, kid! What the Hell did you do to this poor device?" Was the final mutterings of the clearly-disgruntled engineer and maintenance workers trying to put back together what little remained of the RX-178's communications suite.
"Uh...y-yeah, um, sorry about that. I'll help you with that myself, Ok guys? I'll be there in a few minutes. I just...have to take care of something quick, Ok?" Kamille could barely understand himself as he talked, his quick, sharp mind rushing with ideas as he spoke.
"Well, Ok, kiddo. We appreciate the help," the engineer replied and the line went dead. Kamille then rushed to get started.
This, all this, had been going on for too long.
Kamille knew it.
And he knew that she knew, as well.
But, for once in his young life, Kamille would suck it up and finally deal with it like he should have done a long time ago, ever since his first love was taken from him by a bullet to the face, fired by a sadistic Titan piece of crap.
Kamille had shed his share of tears over Four's death, yes. But he now realized that love was frail, and that frailty could be lethal given their line of work, the whole war with the Titans.
If the day came when death took either of them, he wanted no regrets. And he knew that she felt the same away. Nobody needed to be a Newtype to know it.
Kamille Bidan stepped (or floated in zero gravity) out of his room and grabbed the handle on the wall, letting the mechanism pull him along to his next destination.
-.-.-.-
Tucked away in her room, former Titans officer Emma Sheen stared at the book she held in front of her lovely face, her back propped up on pillows that stopped feeling comfortable hours ago.
She had been staring at the exact same line for nearly an hour, give or take a minute or two.
The lovely brunette let the book drop from her nimble fingers, the reading material falling with a quiet thud next to her on the bed.
Another night, another instance of elusive sleep.
At this rate, she was most likely to shoot a friendly Mobile Suit than a Titans grunt in battle, she was so tired and sleepless and exhausted and just so sick of running (or floating?) around in circles around the boy who stopped being a boy back on that fateful day on the colony, the beginning of their journey in this war.
Kamille Bidan had gone through a lot of terrible events in his life so far; He saw his mother die to the vacuum of space. His father did not give a crap and later, got himself killed because of stupidity. Then, his very first love was killed in order for Kamille to reach the Argama in Earth's orbit.
Nobody had actually seen it, but Emma had been Kamille's anchor all this time. She spent a lot of her time in his presence, keeping him company, talking about battle tactics, Mobile Suit specifications and later on, about each other's personal lives and much more. It was only natural that the two grew close.
Many people on board the Argama, all fellow AEUG soldiers, tended to be very harsh on Kamille. But Emma was fairly certain none of them had suffered even half of what the bluenette young man had. And lately, she had grown to become something more than his anchor...and he was more than what everybody thought was her "little brother".
But, unfortunately, it was sheer, stupid, untimely interruptions that broke them out of whichever instances they were about to discuss this...this...this that they had between them; A Titans scouting patrol needing to be taken care of. An emergency distress call from another AEUG ship nearby. Either of them getting called to do whatever task that needed their technical and tactical expertise. Interruption after interruption.
Emma was sick of it, and she knew Kamille felt that way, too.
The brunette sighed tiredly and moved to sit on the edge of her bed, doing a small stretch. She had no idea what she wanted to do...not really. She wanted to see Kamille but it was very late into the night, it would be rude to just barge into his quarters and-"Miss Emma!"
"E-Eh?!" She was nearly thrown back into her bed with surprise at her object of affection floating at her open door.
"K-Kamille?! Can't you knock?!" Granted, Emma was not in an indecent state of undress. In fact, she was dressed like usual.
"S-Sorry, Miss Emma!" Kamille's blue eyes looked down in apology. Emma immediately softened upon seeing that look. She approached him and gently ruffled his soft, well-maintained blue hair.
"N-No, no, it's Ok, Kamille. What is it? Is everything alright?" She asked him gently, her green eyes warm and understanding. The young man looked back up at her and his face showed nothing but determination.
"Miss Emma, please, come with me!" He said and grasped Emma's wrist, before taking off down the corridor via the transport handle, rather comically pulling Emma along.
"W-Wah! Kamille, wha-where are we going?" She questioned after getting her bearings and balance back, shifting her hand in Kamille's grasp so that now, their fingers were intertwined. She was blushing and so was he, yet neither pulled away. If anything, Emma felt Kamille squeeze her hand just a bit tighter.
The bluenette young man remained quiet, only filling Emma's head with more questions, even as they entered the Argama's hangar bay.
"There you are Kamil-You brought Emma too? I know she's also a pilot, but I didn't think the electronic communications suite needed two people...?" The mechanics were waiting for them but simply shrugged and went back to business as usual as Kamille whispered in Emma's ear to "just play along". She had a hunch as to what he meant, so she complied.
Kamille's eye twitched every now and then, out of frustration from seeing the actual damage his Gundam had suffered in their latest battle with the Titans. The mechanics had clearly forgotten a detail or two about the battle damage. Also, he was irritated because this whole repairs issue kept him and Emma distracted from his initial purpose for coming here in the first place. They did not need this, but they had to help fix the Mobile Suit.
However, with what they had at hand, Kamille calmed down quickly and relaxed a bit as he went on auto-pilot doing his share of the repairs and speaking back to the engineers. At least he felt and met Emma's gaze repeatedly, which helped calm him down, and vice versa. Then, intentionally stopping from just about fully fixing the Gundam Mk II's communications suite, Kamille beckoned Emma over, saying "Miss Emma! Come take a look at this, I think I got it!"…that is when she saw it.
Kamille's soft, gentle smile, a smile just for her, and the most subtle of winks as he beckoned her over...she finally understood.
She gave a half-baked excuse to the mechanic she was talking to and then, darted over to Kamille as fast yet casual as zero gravity would allow, and then, accepted the young man's hand, letting him pull her flush against his body as the Gundam's cockpit hatch slid into place and the Mobile Suit was activated.
By the time the older woman was settled nice and snug in Kamille's lap, they were already off and away from the Argama on the RX-178, leaving behind a hangar full of confused and angry technicians, yet a few chuckled and others shook their heads in dismay.
The Gundam Mk II was now at a good distance from the Argama.
"So...Kamille? Now, what?" Emma tilted her head to the side, looking at the young man with a gentle, warm smile.
She giggled upon seeing his beet-red face and the cute look of him scratching his cheek with an index finger while his other hand gently rubbed small circles on Emma's waist.
"Uh...err...I didn't...plan that far ahead. Sorry, Miss Emma..." He replied in an awkward manner that was all Kamille.
Emma rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
Then, she began to hum a song.
Kamille looked at her, half in confusion and half in contentment as he let the song the beautiful brunette was humming fill the cockpit.
Emma kept humming the nameless song, leaning closer to Kamille when he wrapped both of his arms snuggly around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
Out in space, in the cockpit of the Gundam Mk II, bathed in the light of the stars that, in a way, they had inherited when they left the bounds of Earth's gravity…they were happy.
"Ooohhh, ten years after, a decade from now, I'll still be loving you~" Emma's voice had always been lovely, but this time, that single chorus line she cooed was downright melodious.
Kamille could have spoken something along the lines of "Will we even be alive ten years from now?" or something pessimistic like that...
But no. Not now. Perhaps in the future, whether they lived to see this war through to the end or not. But for now, as Emma continued to sing that love song while he cradled her in his arms, Kamille knew it.
Emma knew it.
They were Heirs to the Stars, and now, upon sharing their first kiss with each other after Emma's song was finished, they were now Lovers.
FIN
From the Major: Special shout-out to Admiral Muffin and Ominae. I guess that the old saying "When you want something done, you better do it yourself" is strong with this one here, no?
And to Glexen, my friend, thank you for hearing me out and helping me finally get this idea out of my head. :3
Semper-Fi! Carry on!