A/N: Oh shit, I'm at this again. This is the rumored sequel that I've been trying to figure out how to write. Well, I got something going. The posting schedule is going to be erratic and slow (but knowing myself, I'll probably have it done by the end of summer at least). Enjoy!


I pull myself over the top edge of the cliff and fall onto my ass. My arms feel like jelly after that last push to the top. I can feel the muscles twitching and spasming as they try to dispel the buildup of lactic acid caused by exertion. I pant heavily into the cool morning air. I lean forward, resting my forehead on my knee. When I catch my breath, I look up and over the edge of the cliff. The sight takes my breath away again just for a moment. The sun streaks its bright golden light over the surface of the ocean as it breaks over the horizon. The clouds are all tinged with yellow and pink and stand bright against the orange of the lower sky and the bright blue of a new day above.

"Beautiful. Just beautiful." On my knees, since my legs do not seem to want to work properly yet, I crawl to the edge of the rock and call down below, "You need to get up here to see this!"

"I bloody well will on my own bloody time. I can't fucking scramble up cliff faces like some simian-armed companion of mine," came the terse reply.

I simply laugh down to him and sit back down, pulling my pack around to the front. I pull out my sketch book and the small packet of pastels that we picked up at the latest town. As quick as I can I capture the morning beauty of the sunrise.

I am blowing off the excess dust when an arm breaches the top edge of the cliff. After a grunt of effort, dark hair and flashing emerald eyes soon follow. I quickly flip to the next page of my sketch book and capture the awkward angles of his body as he climbs up to the plateaued peak alongside me. He mimics my previous actions by also rolling over and sitting down as soon as his second foot clears the precipice. He looks over at my drawing and groans.

"Must you capture all of my unattractive moments? I swear you just position yourself to catch the worst angles and then you feel compelled to record them for what? Posterity?"

"Calm down. These are not going on display anywhere. It's just a study of the human body. I can not help it that you give me such wonderful challenges that inspire my hand to draw."

"That's bull and you know. Now what am I supposed to be looking at that you were fawning over just moments ago?"

I glance up and note that he has completely missed the sunrise. The view is still spectacular between the sun and ocean turning everything to the horizon into a field of glittering light. Instead of answering directly, I abandon my figure sketches and return the page to my drawing of the sky.

"Oh," he murmurs quietly as he takes in the colors. I get that flickering sense of pride in my gut that I always get when I show him one of my drawings because they are always accompanied by that soft smile. I am sure that he is not even aware that he is smiling. "It is a shame that I missed that. But it's still breathtaking up here, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

He looks out over the island, everything clearly visible from its tallest peak, as he recovers his breath. I look at him.


"Oh look at those waves!" We have barely broken through the jungle's undergrowth before the words fell out of his mouth in awe. I do as he suggests and take in the tropical blue water tipped with white foam that crashes into the golden sands of the undisturbed shore only broken by flat stones that have been worn away by time and tides. Several matching dark gray rocks form jetties that encircle the cove, only letting part of the ocean touch the land that we stand on. Several seagulls seemingly float in a neat line on the constant winds coming in from off the coast.

I hear the thump of equipment being dropped to the ground next to me. When I turn to look to see what is the matter, I only catch the fluttering of fabric and the impression of movement. As his shirt is also flung away a few steps farther on, I watch a trail of sand being kicked up by his heels. He pauses only briefly in his journey to shed himself his pants. A quick look back to the start of his path, I note his boots are underneath his discarded jacket. By the time I look up again, he is splashing merrily in the waves, kicking up more white spray.

Sighing to myself, I shuffle my burden to a single shoulder to that I can accommodate his. I pick up and shake out his jacket, folding it over the arm that is holding his boots. Soon his shirt and pants join my load until I find a flat rock sitting a little bit taller than the others and blissfully without sand. After depositing our equipment and neatly folding his clothes back up, I look to find him again.

He has wandered quite far out into the cove despite the water only coming up his waist. I am just about to call out to him when he drops suddenly into the water. I start forward with urgency until I see him return to his previous position, sputtering a little to get the salt water out of his mouth. I am relieved when I see his glasses firmly in hand even as he shakes his head to relieve his hair of the excess drips.

"Found the edge!" he shouts back to me when he finally replaces his glasses to find me standing just above the latest wave's mark.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes! Just fine. Just surprised me is all. Wasn't watching where I put my feet. Even with this crystal clear water. It's marvelous! You can see all of the fish just swimming gaily around! There are some big ones too!"

I can feel my shoulders slump in relief. He is always doing bullheaded reckless things.

Like diving into the water only moments after the recent head underwater escapade that has me stepping into the surf with alarm. Only vaguely in the back of my mind do I realize I should take off my own articles of clothing as he had before entering the salty water, but the thought is shoved to the side as I stare at the surface of the water, looking for any sign of him underneath.

Just as the next wave crashes against me, he reemerges. He way he flips his torso out of the water is much more controlled and elegant than before. The wriggling slab of silver in his hands is not.

"Can you cook this?"

I do not instantly recognize the fish but I am sure that I can make something of it.


The sands retain the heat from the sun of the day enough that the fire used for dinner is rendered moot and will not be necessary until late into the night if at all. We lay on my old robe and gaze up at the stars. His head is pillowed on my shoulder as he recounts tales of the constellations. He knows about three per figure from his travels across different cultures. I actually only recognize a few to be entirely honest. It is refreshing to hear new tales. It is nice to hear his take on some of the familiar.

"And that is the water bearer, Aquarius. It's actually considered to be an air based horoscope not a water one like everyone assumes. But those who actually care about that already know as I have found out. You didn't already know that, did you?"

"I did."

"Ugh! Does everyone and their mother know that already? It was such a revelation to me." He harrumphs and crosses his arms instead of pointing out the constellations to me.

"Forgive me for ruining your fun."

"Oh it's alright." He relaxes, his previous annoyance dismissed so soon. "I suppose it's not that exciting." He lets the crashing ocean fill the silence between us for a moment. "As a young boy I'd always climb on top of the roof to watch the stars. The city lights blocked more than you think they would for being so far away from the sky, but that just made me want to leave and find somewhere else where I could really see the stars. Out here you can. You can see all the heavens in their glory."

"I have done similar," I offer softly. "But I always had the impression that someone was looking back at me. That there was someone one up in the stars looking down and watching Earth."

"Someone in the stars? What an adventure that would be to find them."

"You are not even done exploring this world and you want to go find others?" I tease.

"This adventurous spirit cannot be dampened!" His shout echoes in the quiet night for a little bit. And then softer, "But I guess that is a little difficult saying I can barely reach the top of a volcano. How am I to reach the stars?"

He just sounds so forlorn, a quiet sadness about that question that I immediately want to promise to get him to the stars no matter how impossible it might seem.

"Perhaps your dreams will show you." It is the only consolation I can provide even as my mind categorically goes through my knowledge to piece together the solution. It's a matter of physics to get enough inertia to push away from gravity but even the weight of the fuel would have to be added to the amount needed to push it and the combustion of such would need to be controlled to keep it propelled against the ground and at a slow burn that it does not explode whatever craft was used to carry the load and us and whatever air we take with us because based on the thinness of air simply at the top of the volcano compared to base level air must be a premium at the higher altitudes if it exists at all between the stars.

"A fantastic dream then."

I agree in silence as he drifts off into sleep and I continue to plan a starcraft.