Fic written for ayumi-nightbeauty, as part of the activity of the first anniversary of the sorato topic in Proyecto 1-8.

Inspired by the tale "The shepherd boy" by the brothers Grimm. In reality, I've first heard of this tale in the episode "Heaven Sent" of Doctor Who.

Eternity

Koushiro once told them a story about a King who had made three questions to a shepherd boy. It could have been simply one of the many things the red haired boy said that would vanish from their memories eventually. In fact, Yamato would soon forget most of the story, except for one part:

The King said, 'the third question is, how many seconds of time are there in eternity?' Then said the shepherd boy, 'in lower Pomerania is the diamond mountain, which is two miles high, two miles wide, and two miles deep. Every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on it, and when the whole mountain is worn away by this, then the first second of eternity will be over.'

Preposterous! Yamato remembered thinking. How could someone conceive such absurdity? One little bird chiseling away a mountain made of diamond? One little bit each century? That was maddening! No single life form in the world, even if immortal, would have that much patience. And something hard and cold as a diamond wall would only hurt and keep away anyone who tried to break it.

Nobody would have that patience.

Nobody would go through all that effort.

It would be a lot wiser to simply walk around the mountain and leave it there: unaltered, resilient, alone.

An isolated piece of rock, scaring everybody with its hard exterior. A thing that should project strength and endurance, maybe even admiration.

But a bird came! On time, every time, a single bird flew all the way to the mountain and sharpened its beak on it. Perhaps that magnificent creature was the only one brave enough to do that. Maybe it was the only company the cold mountain ever had and to feel that little beak was a joy.

Did the bird sing to the mountain?

Did the bird stay for long before leaving once again?

Was the bird as kind as it was brave?

The lonely mountain, so strong, was slowly chiseled away by the determined bird. All its defenses were taken down. All its harshness and coldness were stripped away. What did the bird find in the end? What was under the rock?

Yamato thought a lot about that. It made him nervous.

Underneath, there should have been something very unimpressive. Something small and meek that tried too hard to hide itself. Something whose fear of being exposed was so great that it built an entire mountain to keep others away.

But the bird never gave up.

What did the bird do after there was no mountain?

What did the bird do when faced with the creature underneath it?

Would it be disappointed?

Would it flee?

A knock on the door brought Yamato back to the real world. He jumped off the couch and ran to open it. It was possible that if someone had seen him behaving like that, the person would say "why this needless hurry?" But how could anyone but Yamato understand his anticipation?

He was living alone in the United States to become an astronaut. That solitude hurt him so badly that the blond man had to keep his misery to himself.

But it was that time of the year again.

Yamato opened the door quickly and saw her even more beautiful than he remembered.

Sora smiled brightly and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close for a kiss.

The moment his lips touched hers, he felt all his composure crumbling down. Overwhelmed, Yamato picked Sora up, walked while carrying her and laid her tenderly on the couch. The man admired her magnificent features in awe and feared that he would start crying at any moment.

It had been so long.

He had missed her so much.

"Don't be like that," Sora said, softly, "I'll stay for a whole week."

"That's not enough…" He replied. "No even all the time in the world would be enough."

Sora pulled him closer and whispered in his right ear:

"Then, we'll have to make it worth it."

Yamato felt reassurance, as he always did whenever Sora came to visit him, and that feeling compensated his long lonely months.

In those few days, he no longer worried about the bird. Its motivations seemed crystal clear.

The bird took one second of eternity to reunite with her lover, having to conform to brief visits and kisses before that.

Her strength of mind did not waver because she knew that, in the end, they would be together for the rest of their lives.