Xenosaga, An Interlude: Macht der Wiederbelebung

By SusanPevensie394

A/N: Updated version of the final installment! This is no longer a oneshot thanks to the review of issachar-san. There will probably be about four parts to it. :3

Disclaimer: I do not own Xenosaga or any of it's related characters and themes.

True happiness.

Shion wondered when was the last time she had actually felt that. It had to have been months ago at the very least. Before the final battle, to be sure. Before they all left her. Well, not all... a few of them had survived.

Letting out a sigh the young woman walked silently through the graveyard as a heavy rain fell to the earth. Her head was lowered so she stared at the ground, though her eyes were unseeing as she thought about what she was going to do now that everything was over.

Allen... he had told her that he loved her. That he wanted to be with her, but... she just wasn't so sure that she could return his feelings. She had realized long ago that, although she had gotten over her love of Kevin, she loved another. And that person was not her former assistant. A sad smile came to her lips. Of course he was gone, also. He had been the first to die--the first new scar upon her heart.

Shion blinked, realizing that she had stopped moving. She was kneeling before a lone grave, set apart from all of the others she had come to visit. This one would never have been here, had she not specifically made a request for it. The inscription upon the marker was simple, and didn't state any dates.

Andrew Cherenkov
May you find the happiness you seek
In the next life

When she had been asked if she wanted an inscription placed on the marker those words had seemed fitting at the time. They still did, although Shion wished that they didn't. She wished that the Commander could have found happiness in this time...with her.

She let out a bitter laugh at her own foolishness. How could she think that, even now? He never would have loved her, even if she had actually told him of her feelings. She was everything that he had despised. She was the creator of a killing machine that had no qualms about killing something in her way. But...KOS-MOS had been so much more than that.

Tears filled her eyes as she thought of the android. They had been through so much together. Shion's wish had come true in the end. They had been a lot more than just creator and machine. They had been like true family...

Shion blinked away the tears, refusing to let herself cry again. She had done enough of that to last her for three lifetimes already. Letting out another sigh she placed the bouquet of white roses she had brought on top of the marker and leaned back. In her hand she still held one final item. His crest...the last part of him she still had.

She knew she should move on with her life and leave the crest here, but... she couldn't bring herself to do it. This was her third visit to the graveyard since the marker had been constructed, and each time she had failed to leave the crest. Even the thought of abandoning it made her heart go cold and ache terribly.

It was foolish, and yet she just didn't care. She wanted to keep that part of him. As a memory, and as a reminder.

"Commander... I...guess you were wrong in the end. I never did turn into a Gnosis..." she murmured, resting her chin on her hands, not caring that she was still being soaked by the freezing cold rain. "I should be happy about that, and I am. But a part of me wishes that you were right. That I did change... I know how silly that sounds, but I wanted another chance to see you again. A chance... to tell you how I really felt." She smiled faintly. "I still do. Commander... no... Andrew... I guess it's alright if I call you that now, even if you never gave me permission. Andrew... I wish that I hadn't been such a coward around you. I wish that I had possessed enough courage to tell you how I felt. That I..."

Shion stopped speaking for a moment, finding it too hard to go on. How strange that even though she was speaking to a grave marker, she still couldn't bring herself to speak of her feelings. Taking a ragged breath she tried again. "That I... I... love you..." By this time tears were falling and she was powerless to stop them. She hadn't cried for him since the day he had died. She had forced her emotions down, not allowing them out. She had feared that if she let herself cry again then she would never stop.

The sound of her sobs became so loud that she almost didn't hear the softly spoken words from a voice long unheard.

"I love you too, Shion..."

Her heart stopped. It wasn't possible... it was just her imagination. When she turned he wouldn't be there. No one would. She would be all alone, just like always. Slowly she turned, bracing herself for what she knew she would see.

But what she saw was not at all what she expected. Andrew Cherenkov stood a few feet behind her, looking down at her with a mixture of sadness and love. She gasped, lurching to her feet.

"I-it's not possible," she whispered. "Y-you're dead... I saw you die!"

Cherenkov nodded. "Yes, I did die...but somehow now I'm alive."

Shion shivered. It wasn't possible, it couldn't be. She must be dreaming... or hallucinating, or... she didn't even want to think about why else she would be seeing him now. "No...you can't be..."

"And still I am," Andrew replied simply. He took a step toward her, reaching out a hand. "If you don't believe me just take my hand."

The woman stared at his hand, not quite sure what to do. If this was her imagination than when she reached for him nothing would happen; or worse she would go right through him. But if it wasn't... no, it wasn't possible for him to be alive! And yet she still had to be sure. She just had to know. Hesitantly she reached her own hand out until her fingers were just centimeters away from his. She hesitated for a beat, before closing the distance and brushing her fingertips against his hand.

She pulled back instantly, staring at him with disbelief. He was...real? Was she dead? That was the only explanation that she could think of for why she could really touch him. She had frozen to death in the cold rain and his spirit had come to get hers.

Her face must have betrayed her thoughts because he laughed then. "This is real, Shion. Neither of us is dead...not anymore anyway." He stepped forward again until only a few inches separated them. His expression changed, softened. "Did you mean what you said?"

Shion shivered again. She was half-tempted to lie and run. Her running emotions got the better of her though. "Y-yes... I did--do. I do mean it..." She took a deep breath and smiled softly. "I love you...Andrew Cherenkov..."

Andrew let out what was most likely a sigh of relief. "Good...then I don't feel so bad about doing this..." Before she knew what was happening he swooped down and claimed her lips with his. Just as she was about to return the kiss he pulled back and surveyed her lovingly. "I meant it too."

And he once again captured her lips, kissing her passionately. Shion wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer. The lady vaguely realized that she hadn't asked how it was that he was standing here, but that didn't matter...for now anyways.

Both were too caught up in their love for each other to realize that the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to peak out from behind the cloud cover.

Shion's last coherent thought before she completely lost herself was that things would be much better from now on.