The world we knew will die.
But every ending marks a new beginning.
A whole universe collapsing into nothingness.
And from it´s ashes,
We´ll be born anew.
Two lovers,
Ready to shape their own future.
The forest was quiet and the air was cold, misting out in front of her with every single of her shaky exhales, the thick white blanket of snow, myriads of tiny crystals covering the forest floor, was cushioning her steps, softly cracking underneath her cautious feet.
„Caius...?"
Oh, where was he hiding?
„Come on now. It´s perfect..." She heard her lovers voice whispering from somewhere in front of her urging her to follow him into the doom she knew was lying right in front of her.
Winter had come.
And her fears of the cold air freezing her to death there in the middle of the forrest without a single piece of garment clothing her body where quickly extinguished when she reached the small platform of blank smooth rock, the pleasant heat emanating from it´s smooth surface quickly warming the soft skin of her tender soles.
It was all about conquering her fears. Or was it?
It was Caius who had found the hot spring. Nestled against the side of a cliff somewhere in the nothernmost parts of the forests it had probably layn abandoned there for ages, just waiting to be discovered.
„What are you waiting for?" Caius urged.
He really could be impatient sometimes...
It was dark around her.
Deepest night.
The thick branches of the forest blocking out the little moonlight that was trying hopelessly to guide her way.
Lightning didn´t like it.
She still wasn´t very fond of water.
Least of all in complete darkness, where she couldn´t see a thing.
Inching forward she found the edge of the basin at her toes and sitting down where she knew the safety of the smooth warm rock would end she slowly let her legs glide into the soothing hot water.
Oh yes... This was exactly what she needed.
Caius Ballad hadn´t promised too much.
After all those days of chilly fierce winds and bitter cold nights the heat of the water embracing her from every side, it felt heavenly there on her weather-beaten skin.
Finally mastering her fear it was slowly and with relish that she let her body glide into the steaming waters, holding her breath until her feet met the mouldy warm ground.
She could easily reach it with her head safely above the surface. He had promised.
And she was relieved that he´d kept right. As usual.
„Caius?" She whispered into the night once more, straining her eyes now to look beyond the darkness.
She couldn´t see him.
Couldn´t see a thing.
Where had he gone?!
It was out of nowhere that the she heard his deep smooth calming voice.
„Relax. I´m here." he whispered from somewhere right behind her and her body gave an involuntary tiny shiver when she felt her lover´s smooth warm touch on the small of her back.
They were living in a paradox. She was aware.
In a tiny bubble ripe to burst any second.
But she didn´t mind.
She didn´t mind one bit.
It was exactly like Caius had always promised.
Worth it.
Worth anything.
Winter was hard. She had always known that. But it wasn´t as hard as she´d imagined. Not with him to keep her warm.
All those nights they had spent huddled together in front of the fire in Caius´ hut, their hut. All those days of bittercold winds and icy, numb feet. All those days spent tramping through the snow tracing game that wouldn´t show.
All those moments of complete silence, all the sounds muffled by the snow, the Archylte Steppe a thick white sea of crystals glittering and gleaming in the low setting golden winter sun.
No...
Not for one second had she missed the comfort of Cocoon. That golden cage.
It was only seldom that her thoughts would carry back to it. Seldom that the pink haired warrior looked back into her past, the future.
No.
Her eyes were set on now. The present. This very moment. And everything that made it special. Precious. And to live it to the fullest.
Yes...
Spring would come soon. And with it the foretaste of the summer.
Lightning couldn´t wait.
That previous summer. It had been magical. Had been the best summer of her life.
She couldn´t wait to see another.
Would she have the time to see it?
Lightning couldn´t tell.
She knew whatever happened, her paradise, it wasn´t meant for her forever.
Wasn´t meant for them.
On her path through this strange dream, fate was always lurking just behind the next corner.
Would she be ready to stand up against it once her time would come to face it once again?
Would she be ready to face what cruel ordeals it would throw at her?
She would.
She had managed before.
So many times.
She still remembered that day she´d last defied it.
That day in the steppe.
All those times she had before.
Would she be able to do so once more?
She would.
For him, she would.
„CAIUS!"
She had screamed his name at the top of her lungs. Her voice filled with worry, with fear, with dread, it hadn´t been the fear of him that tinged it this time, but fear for him. Fear that she might had come too late.
„CAIUS!"
She had screamed his name into the brisk morning air of the Archylte Steppe that day. The man she loved on his knees facing the sunset from the dew wet ground under the tree of their secret sanctuary.
„CAIUS!"
She had screamed his name at the top of her lungs praying he would hear her, praying he´d let her reason with him, praying that there was still time, that there were still options, opportunities.
The purple haired man who´d been kneeling in the brown dying grass of the lands he´d been born in, the old polished six shooter grasped tightly in his hand, his right index finger pulling the trigger, ready to change his fate, his destiny, his path, her past, his future, it was with a start that he had turned his head away, the bullet meant to pierce his skull, hitting only sky.
„CAIUS!"
It was within seconds that she had reached him, her body dropping to her knees as she had embraced him in the tightest hug she´d ever given.
„Oh my god! Caius..."
It had been a close call. She knew.
But that didn´t matter.
He was still there.
Still there with her.
Drawing a shaky breath Lightning turned around in the steaming waters to pull him close to her.
That horrible day, still vivid in her mind, she knew it was nothing but a memory.
She had saved him then. There on that cool autumn morning in the Archylte Steppe.
They were still together.
And that was the only thing that counted.
Her lover´s arms holding her tightly, she felt the warm skin of his chest against her own, his hands trailing soothing patterns on her back and shoulders, with the pleasant hot water pressing against them from all around them Lightning knew that she´d done the right thing.
All the right things.
Maybe this was how things were supposed to be in the first place?
Maybe all those terrible things that had happened in her past... All the sorrow, All the pain...
They had led here right here. Right to him. Right to this very moment.
Maybe they´d been living in a paradox all along.
And maybe it was this time that finally they´d gotten it right?
Well...
Odds were against them as usual.
But that had never dissuaded them before.
They wouldn´t let it dissuade them now.
Never in the future.
This was their path.
The path they´d chosen.
The path they´d walk together.
And no gods or faith or destiny would keep them from walking it.
Not anymore.
Never again.
They were free.
Even if only for a short fraction in time.
They were free.
Even if only for a short moment in eternity, both of them were happy.
