One Shot- "Time In A Bottle" is by Jim Croce. This is just a one shot that came to me while I was listening to this particular song one day. Riki and Iason return to Amoï many years after Dana Burn. Enjoy
TIME IN A BOTTLE
If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day till eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
Riki crouched and pulled the dead leaves and sticks away from the tombstone, dumped the old flowers out of the holder and replaced them with fresh ones. He traced Guy's name with his gloved finger and closed his eyes, as he remembered all the good times they'd had.
What would his life have been like if he had never chased after Iason Mink that day in Tanagura? If he had just stayed and tried to be content with Guy, in their little apartment in Ceres while heading the Bison gang? But he hadn't been content, had he? He chose to leave Guy because he had wanted something more from his life, and ended up in a far worse situation than he could have imagined.
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
Why did people have to drift apart? Why couldn't he have loved Guy the way Guy needed to be loved? Why had he been so selfish about his own needs and ignored those of his lover and friend? He never should have returned to Ceres when Iason had released him so very long ago; but it was the only place he could think of to run. Back to the only home he'd ever had, back to his friends and yes...back to Guy.
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do, once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with
A gentle hand landed on his shoulder.
"Do you believe in the Ever After?" he asked quietly.
"Are we not proof of life after death?"
Riki smiled sadly. "That's not what I meant."
"I know." Iason replied softly. "There is no definitive proof of such an existence, but I like to imagine life goes on in some form."
"Do you think he made it there? After what he did...What happened between all of us, do you think Guy would have been allowed to go there?"
Iason ran a gloved hand through Riki's shoulder length hair, soothingly. "I believe that the standard requirement for such a place is forgiveness. If the person is forgiven, it is possible they will receive redemption in the next life, should there be one to be found."
Riki tilted his head back and stared up at his beloved, a man who now looked very little like the Blondie who had captured him almost twenty years ago.
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty, except for the memory of how
They were answered by you
He and Iason had survived the devastation of Dana Burn, despite the odds, but to their world they both died over a decade ago. With Katze's help they had received treatment for their injuries and were smuggled off planet. Iason had set up a network of finances off world years earlier that the Syndicate did not know about, because in the end Iason never really trusted his Elite brothers.
They now lived a comfortable and peaceful life on a neighboring planet. Iason had dyed his trade mark blonde hair, that was still recognizable on several of the planets in their system, to a very sleek chestnut brown, and wore it in a long plat down his back, most of the time. He also wore dark contacts or glasses when they were in public, so only Riki got to see those icy blue eyes that were so entrancingly familiar.
Riki in turn took to dying his hair blond and it quite suited him with his dark skin. He had no need to hide the rest of his nature, as he was not as well known as Iason had been, however living away from Ceres and Tanagura had allowed him to develop a more mature style, regardless.
He looked very little like the slum mongrel he had once been, sporting a neatly trimmed goatee, a pencil thin moustache, and dressed in navy slacks, a crimson shirt and long leather waistcoat and gloves. His biker boots had been replaced with soft leather shoes, and he wore a simple gold hoop in his left ear, which matched the one in Iason's ear.
Together they existed, registered as a married couple and living in their small cottage by the sea. There were no other pets, except for a dog that Riki had found on the beach one day and it had followed him home. They did not employ a furniture to wait on them, they now did everything themselves. They had broken all contact with anyone who knew them, including Katze and Raoul. Jupiter never looked for the son that was lost and Iason had managed to lose the connection to his creator over time.
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do, once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with
"We have to go, my love."
Riki nodded and accepted the hand Iason offered him. He had heard about Guy's death threw the news wire, his name and photo was listed as one of the latest casualties caught in the quakes that had been affecting the planet so often in recent years.
Iason had predicted the destruction of Amoï in just under sixty years, and knew that the quakes were only the start. The planet was becoming unstable because of the constant mining and power use that his brothers had always insisted on to furnish their materialistic needs.
The other Elites and even Jupiter had refused to listen to Iason's suggestions to stabilize their planet, disbelieving that such a thing could happen after all of their hard work building it up. When he left with Riki he never bothered to consider them again. It was the reason he had set up separate allowances and accounts off planet years ago.
"Do you miss him very much?" Iason asked quietly as he continued to hold Riki's hand in his.
"No. I mean, I've hardly thought of him since we left, but I wanted to come because..."
"He was your friend." Iason pulled Riki into his arms, kissed the top of his head. "I know."
It had taken him a long time to get past his jealousy and possessiveness where Riki was concerned, but he found the strength to do it because he knew that Riki truly wanted to be with him. They were no longer pet and master, but lovers and life partners.
Riki took a deep breath and stepped back. "Okay. I'm ready, let's go."
"Was there nowhere else you wished to visit before we head home?"
"No. There's nothing here for me now, there wasn't really that much here even before." Riki lifted his hand and cupped Iason's cheek. "Just you. You're all I need."
"M...Masters?"
Both men turned to find a tall, strikingly handsome boy with short golden hair and wearing dark jeans, a black shirt and leather jacket. Riki could almost swear that the jacket had once been his.
"Hello, Cal," Iason greeted, and felt Riki flinch in surprise.
"Cal?" Riki gaped at the boy, no, the man that stood before them. "Oh my God, Cal!" Forgetting all about the need for them to remain incognito he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around their former furniture.
"Oh Riki," Cal whispered and clung to him. "You're alive! I can't believe you are both alive!"
"Yeah, will keep it to yourself will ya, no one else knows." Riki was not surprised that Katze had never betrayed them. "How the hell did you even recognize us?"
"I knew it was you. I could never forget you."
Riki laughed, squeezed him then stepped back. "Wow, you grew so tall, almost as tall as Katze!"
Cal dipped his head, shyly and that was when Riki recognized the young boy he once new. "I'm actually two inches taller," he admitted, as Iason stepped up. "Master."
"It is very pleasing to see you, Cal."
Cal lifted eyes that were glistening with moisture to gaze up at his former master. He had mourned their death far more than any of the others had, and then had lived in fear for the few days afterwards, wondering who he would be sold to, or if he would be destroyed as most furniture without a master were.
Then Katze showed up, his Master's former furniture and Riki's friend, and he was taken away to live somewhere else. He was taught to program and to infiltrate, to seek information and to barter for it. It was a hard life, living on the edge, but it was a good life, a free life. Katze had finally confessed one day that Iason had requested he take Cal in, should anything happen to him, and Cal would forever be grateful to his former master for that.
"What are you doing here, Cal?" Riki asked, he knew of course that Katze had taken in the young boy at Iason's request. "A black market meeting in a graveyard?"
Cal shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "Not exactly." He glanced up towards the hill of markers, then started to walk. "I was visiting a mutual friend."
Curious, they followed him and then stopped at the marker with Katze's name.
"That is a shame." Iason asked, disappointed. "What happened?"
"He was set up by a rival dealer, but he died before they could get anything out of him."
Riki knelt beside the grave, bowed his head sadly. "The Black Moon Cigarettes?"
"No, a fast acting poison he had been working on."
Riki nodded and smirked. "He always said he knew too much to live if he were ever caught."
"He was an admirable man and a good friend," Iason decided as Riki rose. "Have you taken over for him, Cal?"
"No, he never let me get that involved in the business. He said he didn't want me to be tainted by it as he had." He sighed heavily. "So, when he died, his second in command took over and I..." Call shrugged. "I just couldn't stay there."
He had lost his master and Riki, his home, and then Katze and a place he had finally started thinking of as his home. It had been too much to remain in Katze's world.
The ground beneath their feet began to tremble and Iason caught Riki's hand firmly in his. "We cannot delay any longer, Riki."
"I know, but..." Riki looked at him, then at Cal, then back at Iason. They couldn't leave him there. The planet was destroying itself, and what could a former furniture and black market squeeb do on his own? "Iason?" he asked and watched his lover nod. Riki reached for Cal's hand. "Come with us, Cal."
Cal gaped at them, obviously shocked at the offer. "I...I am too old to be a furniture now. I...I would be of no use to you."
"Come with us, not as our furniture, but as our friend. This place is a dead end, the planet's falling apart. You should get away now."
Cal blinked rapidly several times then turned his attention to Iason. "M...Master? Is this your wish?"
"Yes, it is, however I am no longer your master, Cal. Once we leave this planet you may do anything you choose to do."
"I...I have no way to choose..."
"Then come with us until you figure it out!" Riki insisted as the quake grew stronger.
"No more talk, come." Iason started to pull Riki with him back down the slope and Cal came along as well, because Riki refused to release his hand.
A moment later they were in their private shuttle and Riki was powering up the controls.
"Strap yourself in, Cal," Iason ordered as nudged the young man into one of the seats then settled himself beside Riki in the co-pilot chair. "Get us in the air, love."
"Working on it!"
Riki flipped switches, pushed buttons, and then gripped the controls as the shuttle vibrated with power. The ship was shaking badly enough from the quake outside rattled their teeth, but within a half a minute Riki had lifted off and they were zooming skyward.
Cal glanced out the port side window as an enormous crevice opened just where their ship had been and shuddered. They zoomed over the city of Midas, and then over Tanagura before heading upwards into space. He took one last look at the place that had been his home, then turned his attention frontwards to watch Master and Pet smile lovingly at each other.
My how things had changed.