Forever

Twenty.

Two-zero.

Somehow he expected it to be different, but it turned out to be a day like all others, beginning at midnight and silently brightening into dawn and morning, the sun crawling ever up to its highest point and then slowly dipping towards the horizon through a long, lazy afternoon and evening. Nothing special, nothing extraordinary.

Except that he wasn't a "teenager" any more. He was sure he should be feeling… unusual. Older. Wiser. More mature. But try as he might, he couldn't sense any difference. He was still the same green changeling that he always was.

He tried to shrug the disquiet off and relax, enjoy his birthday and share it with all his friends. They made a grand party for him and just about everybody was there, dancing, singing, joking, having a great time.

Except for the one person that he really wanted to be with.

She tried to stay, tried to share it with him, but the distress was rich in her scent and her heartbeat reverberated in an anxious staccato. He literally had to carry her to her room while she fought him weakly all the way, even as the combined emotions of so many guests tore her apart.

In the end they struck a deal: she would stay in her room, where the feelings swamping her empathic sense were sufficiently attenuated to allow her to regain a few pieces of tranquility, but in exchange he had to leave her and rejoin the party so the guests wouldn't be unattended.

He chuckled. He didn't have to be old and wise and mature to know that Raven's concern wasn't about the guests, but about him. She wanted him to go and have fun, celebrate, revel in the company of friends that he didn't have the chance to see as often as he wished.

"What's the big deal?" she would ask in that familiar, dry tone of hers if he complained. "You see me every day."

He smiled and shook his head, wondering if she'd ever get it.

He mingled and talked, joked and danced, drank and shouted, teased and played. And every minute he would send a yearning glance at the door, the desire to run and be with her almost overwhelming.

A large, metallic hand landed finally on his shoulder.

"Just go already," his friend said quietly. "Nobody's gonna hold it against you."

Ten seconds later, he was at her door.

He walked in silently, not wishing to disturb her. She lifted her gaze from the book she was reading and smiled, her eyes glowing with love. He felt his heart swell, his chest too small to hold it inside.

She placed the book beside her and rose, walking over and embracing him. Her face burrowed in the crook of his neck while he ran his fingers through the soft silk of her hair. He sighed deeply, finally content.

After a few blissful moments she pulled away. "I didn't give you my present," she said softly. At a wave of her hand many candles burst into life, bathing the usually gloomy room in a soft yellow radiance. She went to her nightstand and removed a long, narrow wooden box from its drawer.

"Rae, you didn't have to –"

"Hush. Of course I did."

She opened the box and took something from it, then turned and offered it to him. His hand went up to take it and his eyes went down to see it; it was a rose.

A violet rose.

He took the flower gingerly, mindful of the thorns, his hand trembling slightly. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't form a single coherent thought in his mind, let alone force it though his throat.

Raven noticed his hesitation. "I'm… I wasn't sure if… a flower would be… appropriate," she began, her voice choking slowly into a whisper. She swallowed and tried to read his emotions, but the swirling maelstrom that thundered in his soul was too blinding to discern anything.

She bit her lip. "I… I know you don't like books much, and I thought… maybe a comic, but I didn't know which ones you've read…"

He remained silent, staring at the flower.

She took a deep breath and tried to keep the trembling from her voice. "I thought… I thought of a computer game, also, but… but I… didn't know…"

His thumb moved slowly over the delicate stem until it felt the sharp tip of a thorn. He pressed down hard. The pain shot through him and woke him from his stupor.

He lifted the flower and took a deep breath, tasting the sweet fragrance of the rose and… something else. Something wonderfully familiar and painfully addictive.

"Rae…" he looked up and saw her eyes, the dew in them shining like jewels in the soft candlelight. "This… this is you."

Her gaze dropped and a blush crept up her cheeks. "I've… enchanted it with my soul-self. It will remain… fresh."

She looked up into his eyes again and he understood. "How long?" he asked in a choked whisper.

Her arms went around him and she lowered her head on his shoulder.

"Forever."