a/n: I wore out my own welcome mat.

Sunset across the city.

They found themselves in a modest locale again, with a fresh burst of tropical weather. When the wrong mix was achieved, they called it monsoon weather.

Today seemed to be safe, in that precarious sort of way.

She mouthed a thank you to the owner of the small tea hut and bowed, getting one in return. She pressed her lips against the porcelain tea cup and sipped at the warm liquid inside. Her eyes closed in satisfaction.

A head poked in.

"Amy?"

"Yeah? What's up?" she asked her beloved companion.

"I need to talk to you. Or at you, really."

"Sure. The owner's English isn't too great, I guess. Some privacy, anyways."

"It can't be here."

"Aw. Alright, but I can finish this?" she asked, holding up the teacup.

"Yeah. Hey, meet me back at the inn."

"Yeah, alright. I'll be quick."

As promised, Amy finished her tea and sighed happily. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and took out a few bills, placing them underneath the saucer before leaving quietly. Rouge was standing outside of the small inn as she said she would, wearing a plain shirt and jeans.

"Everything okay?" Amy asked as she approached. She rubbed the bat's back gently, noting her tension.

"Amy...I'm feeling nervous. I want to talk...I want to stop running."

"I see." Amy took her hand and they journeyed into the wilderness. The sun gave the sky a bright orange glow as it continued to set. Rays of light weaved through the trees.

The forest around them was muted, almost silent.

They held hands before looking into each others' eyes.

It started slowly, Amy noted. Rouge took her time and the words were almost too roundabout.

"Something like that, you know?"

"Yeah."

Still, she listened. More than that, she paid attention, because she realized that anyone could listen and just passively absorb things. It was a long and slow burn.

She could see the stumbles and reversals. It was difficult. She could feel it.

A long pause and Rouge looked away. Composed herself momentarily. Then began again.

And then she spoke and the bottom fell out.

"Rouge?"

She looked towards the ground for a long while. Not responding. The word on her lips was gone, faded into the aether. Whatever thought she had was lost. Trying to regain control, but continually failing.

Amy touched her shoulder and she shivered, staring at her with that same lost and tired look.

"Why?" she asked, her voice crumbling.

"For the same reasons we all do, Rouge. You wanted to live."

She made a sound as if to pick up where she left off, but Amy saw the tears coming down and knew, understood the very limits of the other woman's being.

A trembling again, but more pronounced. It was coming from inside of her.

And she yelled. A burning, distracting string of words that Amy knew she wanted to see, but at the same time would have hoped to never learn of.

The strings were cut away.

A stream of tears, soulfully poured out onto the ground.

Crumbling.

Amy could see the slowly turning sphere in the darkness.

She grasped it and looked at it. Read the inscriptions.

She released it, realizing how it swallowed the light.

"Rouge..."

In her mind's eye, she pulled out her trusty hammer and aimed true.

"Happiness isn't an illusion. But it's not in the places we want to see it. It's more than a feeling. It's...our way of being."

She smashed the sphere to pieces. Took the bat's trembling hands in her own.

Sprouted a pair of angelic wings.

And in the meanwhile, the dark dust from that sphere scattered into the corners of the world, changing shape. It covered the sky again and everything besides. Forming darkness.

Forming stars.

And in that moment, the universe was changed.

Rouge looked up and let out an unsteady breath.

"Not from the beginning, Rouge. There is no beginning."

"..."

"Do you know what to do?"

"...I think I do," she said in a weak tone.

"That's good."

This isn't a romance.

Still crying, she hugged Amy tightly. And felt herself dancing among the stars at last.

An overwhelming, fearsome spirit. An angel in her presence. Powerless against that kind of will being exerted with each moment.

But she was opened up now. And the light could shine nearly as it pleased.

This isn't a romance, she said.

She felt the tears slowly stop.

We fell in love from the beginning. A beginning that was never there.

The two pulled away from each other. They noticed that they eyes of the other had changed.

Still warm and breezy on the outside.

"You think it'll ever happen?" Amy asked her.

A slow nod in return. "It probably already has."

"Yeah?"

"Of course."

They shared a kiss and Amy walked away. Rouge looked out at the still setting sun. A hand went over her fast beating heart.

"That hurt. That hurt a lot."

She smiled.

"Well. It's an answer, anyways. She really is...hm."

With one last glance to the sun, she turned and walked back to the inn.

The muted forest swayed behind her.