STARFIRE
Chapter 4
"Shira! Wake up!" the familiar voice rang through Shira's head until she finally woke up to see Diego with a worried look on his face.
"What? What's wrong?!" Shira yelled out to him. Diego didn't answer her. Instead, the earth did that for her as it began to shake uncontrollably.
"There's an earthquake! We've gotta go! Now!" Diego told her.
"Without hesitating, both of the sabers took off out of the cave and sprinted across the open valley. It was the strangest way for Shira to wake up to. She looked to her right to see Diego running right beside her. Shira began thinking to herself.
'An earthquake? What bad luck! Hang on, bad luck? Wasn't that exactly what Diego was afraid about when he was debating whether or not to let me travel with him? So it's true then….. I'm cursed.' Shira suddenly stopped running leaving Diego to stop as well a few feet ahead of her.
"Shira! What are you doing?! We gotta go! Come on!" Diego yelled to her. Just then, The ground split open and separated the two sabers from each other.
"Get away from me, Diego! I'm cursed! You'd have a better chance to survive without me!"
"What?! That's crazy! I'd never leave you!"
"Yes you would! Any saber would do that to me!"
"Well, I won't! And you know why?!" Diego yelled.
"Why?! Why would you even think about not leaving me?! Everyone hates me!"
"I don't! I love-
All of a sudden, the ground beneath Shira shattered sending her falling into the dark abyss within the Earth, gone forever.
Diego was shattered, he couldn't think, he couldn't move. He noticed everything going all white until it was completely blank and he blacked out.
"SHIRA!" Diego yelled jumping up from his spot in the cave where he and Shira fell asleep that night. He looked around, his heart and pretty much every muscle in his body pounding, and rested his eyes on Shira who was sleeping with her back facing away from the cave's wall.
Diego Gasped out a sigh of relief and collapsed to the floor.
"Thank god. It was just a dream." Diego said and looked back up at Shira. He remembered her saying how she was cursed in his dream. That shattered Diego, even in the real world. And at that moment, Diego felt something that he's been praying he would never feel. He felt depressed, defeated, suffering. He tried not to, but he couldn't help it, he started to cry.
"What's wrong, Diego?" An all too familiar voice spoke up. Diego looked up to see Shira awake and looking at him. He quickly wiped the tears out of his eyes and tried to make an expressionless face. It wasn't easy to his surprise.
"Nothing."
"It sure doesn't look like nothing. Can we just be honest with each other, or do you not trust me?"
'Of course I trust you.' Diego thought.
"Really, what's wrong?" Shira asked again.
"...I had...a dream." Diego said the last word quietly.
"…okay, do you want to talk about it, if you want to?"
Diego looked at the ceiling than back at her.
"It seemed so real. There was an earthquake. And me and…" Diego stopped for a second, "This other saber, we were running as fast as we could." Diego looked up and could tell that Shira was listening very well. " And all of a sudden, we get separated from the earthquake, and that saber I was with fell into the earth caused by the earthquake." Diego finished and laid down.
Shira got up and lied down next to him.
"Did this have anything to do with you past?" Shira asked.
"No, I don't know where it came from. It didn't feel like a dream. I could think clearly, I could feel the wind and the vibration of the earthquake. It couldn't have been a regular nightmare. It just wasn't. It was too real."
"It was just a dream." Shira says resting her head on his shoulder. Diego got shocked at first, but he realized he needed all the support he could get, so he let her.
"Ya, it was just a dream." Diego said back.
"What do you mean?" Shira looked up and asked.
"Shira, I'll just come straight out truthful with you: It was you that was in the dream with me." Diego said and instantly regretted it.
"It was me?"
Diego sighed and nodded, "Ya, and once you fell into that abyss, I felt as though my life was…shattered." Diego said and rested his head on his other shoulder.
"Like life had no purpose without me?" Shira asked.
"In a nutshell, yes." Diego replied. He then looked at Shira directly in the eyes and she did the same to him. So many feeling were going through Diego at that moment, he couldn't even stop to think before he jumped on Shira and pressed his lips against hers.
Shira was motionless. She was in no way expecting that. She was still looking into his eyes Diego continued kissing her uncontrollably.
He released his lips with hers to speak, "Shira, I-
Shira interrupted him and switched positions so that she was on top. "I love you, Diego. I always did since the moment I laid eyes on you."
"Hey, that's my line." Diego smirks and lets Shira continue to kiss him. Words were clearly not enough to express what the two sabers felt for one another right now, and maybe even what they were doing right now wasn't enough, but the moment was what it was, and nothing was going to interrupt it.
"Shira, I'll never leave you, I want you to stay with me. If that's what you want, of course."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Of course I'll stay with you. Otherwise I would have left by now."
"I'll always be there for you, Shira. That's what matters most to me, it's that you're happy as much as possible."
Shira started crying out of happiness and a few tears landed on Diego's face. "You don't have to do that for me." Shira said and rested herself on Diego's masculine body. Diego wrapped his arms around Shira to keep her warm. It just keeps getting better, this was the best feeling she's ever felt. The best one so far anyways, she thought.
'This is too good to be true! Out of everyone in the world to get the happiest life ever, it was me! I couldn't be happier! I owe it all too Diego! Which reminds me…' Shira looked at Diego once more.
"Diego, I've always forgot to say this. Thank you. Thank you for giving me a purpose in life. Thank you for giving me another chance. To live again."
"Not a single inch of doubt was going through me when I let you travel with me. It was destiny. I'm sure of it."
Both sabers continue to embrace each others affection for one another.
"It's still hard to believe." Shira started.
"Hard to believe what?" Diego asked.
"How much of a Softie you've become."
"Hey! Excuse me?! Softie?!... okay, you got me, I am becoming more open minded, I guess."
"That's okay. That's what I like about you most. Softie."
Diego would physically kill anyone who dared call him a Softie. But Shira, it was a completely different story. It pretty much told him how much she loved him.
"Hey, Diego, I just thought of something, remember that first night when you laid against me to keep me warm?"
Diego smirked and already knew where this was going.
"Ya…" he says.
"Well, I was just curious, was that only to keep me warm? Or was there something else?"
"Shira, we both know the answer to that." Diego tells her.
"Which is?" Shira mocked.
"It was just an excuse to be as close to you as I could get."
"You're such a Softie." Shira mocks continually.
"Ya, I'm your Softie." Diego jokes to her.
"Ya, you're my Softie."
He didn't know why, but those words sounded incredibly amazing.
"Okay, so, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Shira asks.
"Remember when I told you about StarFire?" Diego asks.
"Ya, why?"
"I need your help to find it."
"What, are you just saying you love me just so I'll agree to help you find something?"
"No! Of course not! Shira, I love you for who you are! I'm praying that you feel the same for me."
Shira kissed him again in the best way she could.
"Of course I do." She said after she was done. She gets off Diego and lays next to him and leans against him.
"I'm happy to hear that." Diego smiles at her. It was the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. A couple of minutes or two go by and the sabers comfort each other as they both think to themselves.
'This is EXACLTY what I wanted! Just to settle down and be loved by another saber! Diego, thank you. Thank you. Nothing else matters as long as you're here.'
The silence of the forest around them made the moment that more amazing. But, the best part of all of this has got to be that she will wake up every morning and know that her mate was there to make her life that much more meaningful.
"Thank you, Diego." Shira says one last time.
"Like I said, anytime." Diego answers back.
Both sabers calmly fall asleep with the warmth that the other had to offer. If the world were to end the next day, it still wouldn't be enough to tear Diego and Shira apart. Right?
