As said in the summary, sappy, mushy, and corny ahead. But, hey, I needed a
little more kick to it. Review please, all I ask is that you people at
least tell me what you think in return for my services. Sayanora for now.
Epilouge... Angels
TV. Pre-cooked meals. School. Basketball. Normal living. None of it seemed real to Michael. It all seemed fake and phony, like a dream he would wake up from soon. The only thing that still seemed real was a pure, long white feather he kept hidden in a shoe box under his bed. Michael only wished he could wake up, and start living again.
He was nineteen now. He had applied to a good college, on a combination of a basketball and academic scholarship, both of which he had barely gotten. It wasn't college that Michael wanted, though, or even any kind of future on Earth. Though his parents, the shrinks his parents had hired, and his friends at school had all tried, no one could figure out what had happened on his year of absence that had changed him so much. No one knew of the dark-haired, emerald-eyed girl Michael had left his heart with. No one but himself.
Often at night, he would raise his head and look out his window, trying to catch a glimpse of the world only he knew of. Trying to find her face among the stars. He never saw her, or the world he missed as his home. But not a day went by when he didn't wish with all his being to see her again. Not a day went by when he remembered the sparkle of her eyes, the way she smiled and laughed, her sweet blush, her firey temper, her witty comebacks, anything to keep him from forgetting.
Inside the shoe box where he kept the feather, he also kept a sketch book where he had taken up sketching her face by memory, again and again. Often, he would sit and relive every moment he spent with her. When a girl at school would ask him out, he simply responded that his heart belonged to another woman.
Michael's mother and father had slipped back into believing he was home, all the way. But even they sensed that he had left his heart in whatever place he had been.
Finally, the girls had stopped hunting him all together, his mother and father went back to their lives, his teachers stopped pestering him, and slowly, he stopped showing up for therapist appointments. But the wishing never stopped, the memories were always flowing, and his heart continued to beat because his angel had promised him that they would meet again.
Stars never lie. Solo learned that young. The stars always held the truth for him. But now, they no longer spoke. They fell silent to his pleas for a resolution. His heart would beat unsteadily when in his darkest hour he would imagine living the rest of his life without the soft, luxurious hair, the gentle laugh, the innocent looks. He would remind himself haughtily that his chances of seeing his love again were far greater thatn Michael's: trapped on another world, alone and hungry for something other than the food he consumed.
Solo ran his hand through his black hair, which was now highlighted by red with his nearly constant exposure to the sun. He would dream, but even dreaming was no good. No matter how sweet his subconcious managed to make it - and it could do pretty good - the real thing had to be better.
There were rumors, of course. That Vera had returned to her normal habit of shooing her suitors off with a sword. She wore her dagger necklace like a new bride wears her engagement ring, loud and proud. She was blunt and characteristic in saying that she was hardly fair game when she had devoted her heart to another. " Even if I die an old maid, I'll only marry one man." she would say, smiling confidently. But rumors had it that the expression in her eyes as she said it was heartbreaking, and growing more so by the day. And it should. Her time for cornation, with or without a husband, drew near. If she were to marry after her coranation (in King Van's situation, the tables were different. He was coranated earlier than he should have been anyway, so the rules had already broken when he married Queen Hitomi.) it would certainly be a monstrous scandal.
It was the rumors of Crown Princess Vera's little sister, Princess Vari, mythical, innocent, and both chronologically younger and mentally older than her body suggested, that Solo listened closest to. She had apparently gone into a state of heavy depression after Solo's departure and the Light. Solo sent letters as often as possible and she would write back, but messengers were too easily bribed and the Second Princess of Fanelia having a long-distance relationship with a disowned noble's son would make quite a scandal in itself. Now that the Daughter's War was over, the public was thirsty enough to swallow whatever was spooned out. Solo had to be careful not to tarnish Vari's reputation.
He hated ever second of it with his whole heart.
Vari never tired of Solo's letters. It was all that kept her going when her heart failed her. Stress had finally flown off her shoulders during the Light, leaving her confused and lost. Her accelerrated growth had come to a screeching halt during the Light, allowing her a bit of normalcy. Aside from the light silver crown that wrapped around her head to form a tear- shaped ring around a similarly cut diamond on her forehead and her constantly tear filled eyes, she looked completely normal. But with all her curses that fled, a new one came. Seperation of love. While she watched Vera shrink away from the life she had known, Vari plunged herself as deeply into it as possible, burying herself until she was so deeply submerged she could barely breathe. But her thoughts were occupied, even if she was cursing all the burdens. She watched and waited though, for the self-appointed noble named Solo who carved a home out of the Wastelands for the rebels because he remembered all too well the bitter taste of rejection, and that everyone, even traitors, deserved a second chance.
Vera shrank away as a hand maid tried to place the golden crown that wrapped tightly around the circumfrence of her skull on her head. The hand maid won in the end, Vera wearing the crown none too gracefully and making her dipleasure known on no uncertain terms. How she longed to cast the crown aside and return to the days when she was free to wander the streets of exotic cities with Merle and Tygris and Chuba and... Michael.
Though Vera carried herself in the same slightly arrogant manner, her head was often down those few and far between times she did leave her immediate quarters. Only under the cover of darkness was she allowed to pick up her sword and slash the air, remembering sparring matches that no one won. Simply because she lacked the will to resist did she consent to wearing dresses now. She sat through delegations and conferences as one of the most powerful nations in Gaea's Crown Princess, Heir to the Fanelian Throne. Silent, like the porecelan doll she used to fear she would become. Suitors came like river water, a steady flow that Vera cast aside lightly, with no more deliberation than she would give a change in banners in the banquet hall. She shrank into herself, opening less and less, wishing only for Michael to return to her. Beginning to wonder more and more about the world her love and mother both came from, that mystical place so close and yet so far that barred her love from her sight.
Michael was finding raising himself from bed more and more difficult. His sulky glares had stopped his mother from mentioning how he looked like the walking dead lately, when he still lived with her. This morning, he didn't even try. He stared at the ceiling of the apartment he shared with a few friends. He rolled his long, white feather between his fingers and reached skyward with his mind. Only a few times had he and Vera attempted to make a mind link. It was dangerous business, but this morning was different. Almost as though he were physically reaching out to touch her, Vera reached back. His tendrils of thought caressed hers and they embraced mentally.
Miss you. Vera's thoughts echoed inside his head. Michael shivered in his bed as he felt his soul mesh with hers. It felt so good, so right.
Miss you too. he answered. Her emotions were his to feel as freely as she felt his. He had nothing to hide from her.
That Yoko girl finally stopped chasing you? Vera asked, reading his memories. Michael sent a mental signal that suggested a nod.
Yeah. he responded. He smiled at the many faces of suitors, the few of many that Vera could remember.
I'm not even going to ask. he said, smirking physically.
Are we going to go through with this? Mom and Dad haven't done this in a long time. What if something goes wrong? Vera asked. Her worry flowed through their link and echoed his own.
Do we have a choice? I can't carry on like this. Can you? Michael asked for an answer.
I guess not. Mom is really excited. Vera said.
She has every reason to be. Michael reminded her.
I know. Vera said. Well, we've got to save our energy for later, we're gonna need it. I'll be seeing you soon. Vera said. Michael could feel her mind, soul, and essence slipping from his.
Yeah. I love you. he responded.
Love you too. Vera said, then slipped away, leaving Michael feeling only slightly revived. It was enough to rouse him and get him out the door. He walked down the street, remembering that day walking home from school when he had seen that light. It had drawn him to it. To Vera. Grinning manically, she had slain a dragon before his eyes. He looked up to discover he was in almost the exact spot where he had first seen the light. He smiled soflty and picked up his pace.
In the clearing where he had met Vera for the first time and witnessed the killing of the dragon, Michael slumped into a sitting position and waited. He checked his watch. I'm on time, he thought. He closed his eyes when the pillar of light finally came crashing down. He opened them in time to see his one and only angel, floating downward with grace and beauty. She was dressed just as he remembered her, her hair had been cut to just below her shoulders. She touched ground gracefully and turned her eyes skyward, expectant. Just behind her, Vari touched ground, apparently having finally obtained the grace she had lacked all those years ago. Finally, Hitomi and Van settled down together, Hitomi grinning broadly. Michael didn't even bother acknowledging the others. Vera was all he knew anymore. He never remembered making any move toward her, only knowing her embrace once again. They kissed each other hungrily and furiously. Vera gasped for breath for a moment and let Michael kiss her face and neck.
" Michael… Come home to me, Michael. Let me make you a king." She whispered, seeming thrilled to be saying his name. " Michael…" she whispered again, as he tightened his grip on her waist.
" There's only one thing I want to be king of." He whispered back, smiling into her soft neck. Vera rubbed her hands against his back and pulled away from him a little.
" You grew your hair longer." She noted.
" And you cut yours off." Michael returned. " I like it." He added. Vera laughed and pressed her forehead to his.
" I missed you so much."
" I missed you more." Michael said decisively. Vera just laughed and surrendered to his kisses.
Later…
Michael knocked on the door to his mother and father's home, glancing over his shoulder at the troop behind him and flashing a smile at his bride-to- be to his left. Hitomi was practically bouncing up and down in happiness and anticipation. Michael's mother opened the door.
" Oh, hi Michael. Um, who are your friends?" she asked, glancing at Vera, who was snuggled up against Michael very closely.
" Mom, there are some people you need to meet." Michael said, pulling Hitomi, who had suddenly experienced a falter in courage, up to the door.
" Can't it wait, dear? I'm talking to Mrs. Kanzaki, you know, Hitomi's mom, and I-Wait, do I know you?" Yukari asked, addressing Hitomi. Hitomi had not changed too much over the nineteen, nearly twenty years of her absence. She looked older, more mature, but not too different.
" Yukari? It's me. Hitomi." Hitomi said, watching Yukari and almost praying. Yukari stared as realization and recognition dawned on her.
" Oh my God… Hitomi! Is it really you?!" Yukari asked, throwing herself into her long lost friend's arms. After everyone had settled down, and Mrs. Kanzaki and Hitomi had stopped crying, introductions had to be made.
" Mom, Yukari, this is my husband, Van. And these are our two daughters, Vera and Vari." Hitomi said, beaming with pride. " I've always wanted to say that to you." She said excitedly. Mrs. Kanzaki hugged her again. Van beamed in his wife's happiness, pleased by her pleasure.
" I must say, Hitomi, when you just suddenly left us, it was quite a shock." Mrs. Kanzaki said finally, after the initial hellos. Michael held Vera's hand and squeezed it every now and then to make sure she was real and hadn't disappeared.
" Honestly, it wasn't really planned." Hitomi said, smiling at Van, who returned it. " It just sort of happened. After I went back to Gaea, Van and I got married quick as a wink. Vera came a around shortly after that."
" Just Vera?" Yukari asked, looking confused. " Why, Vari can't be that much younger, can she? You two look exactly the same age."
" Chronologically speaking, we are." Vera volunteered.
" I was born four years ago, really. But Fate messed with my growth rate and I grew fifteen years in two months. I caught up with Vera very fast." Vari explained. " I'm aging normally now, because I've done what Fate wanted."
" What did Fate want?" Yukari asked. Everyone looked at each other.
" It's a really long story, Mom. I'll tell you sometime, but not now." Michael said.
" So you've been to this Gaea, Michael?" Mrs. Kanzaki asked.
" Yes." Michael said simply, squeezing Vera's hand again. " And I'd like to announce that Vera and I are getting married." He added quickly. While Vera's parents looked relieved, Michael's mother nearly had a heart attack where she sat.
" Exactly how well do you know each other?" she asked.
" Remember how after that time when I disappeared, I was never the same? She's why." Michael said, tilting his head to indicate Vera.
" Now would be a good time to tell you that Vera and Vari are no ordinary girls." Hitomi said, wincing. Michael wanted even less than she did to drop this bomb on his mother. " They're princesses."
" Princesses? Then that would make you two?" Mrs. Kanzaki asked.
" King Van and Queen Hitomi of Fanelia. Michael is now officially the male heir to the throne by marriage, and once he and Vera do marry, they will be crowned King and Queen of Fanelia, while Hitomi and I can go into early retirement." Van explained. Mrs. Kanzaki slumped in her seat.
" Hitomi, it's very hard for me to think of you as a queen. You even failed your public speaking class in high school." She said, shaking her head.
" Michael, I'm proud you've found someone to love, but marriage is a huge commitment all on its own. Are you sure you want to take on being a King at the same time?" Yukari asked.
" Positive." Michael said instantly. " Besides, it's not an instantaneous thing. Hitomi and Van will be there to help us the whole way." Vera smiled brightly.
" And he's already proved himself to my country, so they won't mind." She added. Michael smiled at his mother.
" When are you going back?" she asked finally, defeated.
" The end of the day." Van said. Michael smiled even bigger, relieved to know the days of suffering had ended.
Vari breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally safe on Gaea. Though the excursion to the Mystic Moon had been very exciting, she longed for home. What's more, she wasn't sure she could handle watching Michael and Vera fawn over any more. She left them to their own devices and went to her room. She had barely stepped into the room when she knew something was amiss.
" Who's there?" she called. Something moved as Vari reached to light a candle. The moonlight streaming in the window was enough to make out the silhouette, but not enough to make out who. After she had finally managed to quell her fearful shaking and light a candle, the visitor had stepped closer. He was a little taller than she remembered, his hair lighter with red highlights from sun. But it was him, all the same.
" Solo!" Vari cried softly, flinging herself into his arms. Solo gathered her up in his grasp and sighed heavily.
" Hello to you, too." He said with a smile. Vari looked up at him.
" I thought you were in the Wastelands!" she protested.
" I'm on vacation." Solo returned, hugging her tightly. " Carving an existence out there is hard work. I deserve a break." Vari giggled slightly.
" I missed you so much!" she whispered excitedly.
" I missed you too." Solo responded. Slowly, he leaned down and gave her what she had waited for and wanted for so long. He kissed her, slowly at first, but faster and hungrier as time went by. When she finally pulled her head away a little, she was gasping. She groped for the bed behind her with her foot, pulling Solo with her.
" This doesn't have to happen now." He said, looking her in the eye.
" Don't act so mature, just because you're two years older than me." Vari protested.
" More like seventeen years older." Solo reminded her.
" If you're picky." Vari said, smiling. " And I want this to happen now. I've waited for this, and I'm not going to let you deprive me of it." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Utter bliss settled over her as he slowly pushed her down onto the bed and kissed her more deeply than ever.
" Tryan! Chrono! Brono!" Merle called, snagging the smallest of her litter of three by the tail as they scattered, trying to avoid the wrath of their mother. She pulled little Tryan to her and boxed his left ear.
" How many times have I told you not to wander off into the woods! You don't know what's out there!" she yelled. Tryan winced.
" I told them not to, Mamma! They didn't listen!" the four-year-old cried. Merle eased him to the ground and swatted his rear.
" No excuses! Get your rear in gear and get home! Now!" she yelled. Tryan scampered off obediently. Tryan was the best behaved out of her three boys, all named after the brothers she had never known. They had been a curse to carry and give birth to, all at the same time, but they were worth the pain. Most of the time. Dromada approached her from behind, the remaining two kittens thrown over his broad shoulders.
" But Papa!" Chrono cried, told apart from his brothers by a white stripe in his nose.
" No buts!" Dromada bellowed. " These woods are dangerous!" he added. He winked at Merle and set the boys down. The two looked up at their mother and mewed pitifully.
" Get back to the house. I'll deal with you two later." She growled. The two four year olds must have set a record for speeding back to the little log cabin Dromada and Merle had carved on the edge of the forest, near their growing village. After the two parents were sure their offspring were gone, they burst into laughter.
" What would our old allies say about us now?" Dromada wondered out loud. Merle smiled and ruffled her once vibrant pink hair.
" They wouldn't even recognize me. I've got gray hairs now." She said.
" Gray hairs are a sign of wisdom." Dromada said.
" Then I must be really wise." Merle said, smiling.
" And I think you're as beautiful as always." Dromada said. Merle kissed his nose.
" Why, thank you. After three kittens and four years of marriage, if you still think I'm beautiful, then I think we're going to be all right." She said. Dromada laughed and wrapped a thick arm around her shoulders and led her back to their home.
Tygris leaped backward as Merle and Dromada's three kittens went speeding past her. She and Chuba stared after them before laughing.
" I bet they went into the forest again." Chuba said. Tygris laughed again.
" You're probably right. They've got an earful waiting for them when Merle gets a hold of them." She said knowingly. " Do you think we'll ever be as good of parents as those two?" she asked. Chuba smiled and patted her expanded belly.
" We better be. This litter's not going to wait for us to learn." He said. Tygris smiled as one of the two kittens encased in her womb kicked. She rubbed a hand over her abdomen and smiled again into thin air. " How much longer do you think it will be?" Chuba asked, helping Tygris waddle along to their small home.
" A few more months." Tygris said.
" Is it just me, or is this taking forever?" Chuba whined.
" These things take time. Unfortunately for you, these two aren't like Vari and are going to just pop out all of the sudden." Tygris said pacifyingly. Chuba pouted for a moment.
" Oh well. At least I get a beautiful wife and two kittens out of the deal. I can just be patient." He said, suddenly happy.
" You are impossible." Tygris announced.
Vera rolled over contentedly in bed and studied Michael's features. He lay on his side, facing her. His soft, sable hair was a mess, falling over his closed eyes and face. His chest was broad and if Vera tuned her powers, she could hear his heart beating deep within it. His light olive skin was stretched tightly over his ribs, lined with thick muscles and sinew. He smiled softly in his sleep. Vera smiled back at him, thinking about the day before. I'm finally your wife, she thought toward Michael…
The wedding had been beautiful. Vera had worn her mother's wedding dress, a long, traditional dress that had a form fitting top and tank top sleeves. Following the old tradition, she had worn her dagger charm for something old, a new silver crown studded by diamonds, the whole dress for something borrowed, and sapphire earrings for something blue. Michael had been completely decked out in mandatory clothes for the groom of a wedding. Vera had loved every second of it…
Vera smiled at Michael's sleeping face as he began to stir. She was only just now noticing the sun penetrating the windows with its rays. Her smile only grew as he opened his sea blue eyes and examined her.
" How long have you been awake?" he asked groggily. Vera shrugged.
" A few minutes, a few hours, what's the difference?" she asked. Michael laughed softly and reached for her. "Oh, my Lord, we must arise to meet the court." Vera said in her most courtly voice, pulling away from Michael.
" Uh-uh. I went to Hell and back, waited for years, and now you want to go talk to the court. Forget it, they can wait their turn. You're all mine now." He said. Vera laughed at him and allowed him to wrap her arms around his middle.
" I was kidding, genius." She said. " We're on our honeymoon." She reminded her new husband. He blushed and stuttered for a moment while she laughed.
" It's so perfect." Michael whispered in a few minutes, after Vera had stopped teasing him. Vera smiled up at him.
" Just think. We have a lifetime of these mornings together. This is only the first." She told him. He smiled broadly and sighed, content to hold her in his arms, she content to be there.
Well, that's it. Yeah, I know it's short, mushy, corny, and all the rest. But let's face it: the ending sucked. I hated it, and I wrote it! So, as a certain someone ::cough-Shini-cough:: wanted, here's some more "spunk" for ya. Tune in for the sequel as soon as I come up with it. ^_^ So thanks for the reviews, it's great to know someone appreciates these "wastes of time" as my mother calls them. ;_; Not fair! I slave over these fics!!! So, neway, I'll write up the sequel as soon as I find some inspiration. Got any ideas??? I'm debating between slapping the current crew in a new adventure, who knows what kind, or ~big drumroll~ starting a whole new adventure for guess who? That's right, Vera and Michael's kids. Hey, and why not the rest of the gang's offspring? I dunno. You guys tell me what you want. Well, buh- bye!
^_~
Rogue Fox
Epilouge... Angels
TV. Pre-cooked meals. School. Basketball. Normal living. None of it seemed real to Michael. It all seemed fake and phony, like a dream he would wake up from soon. The only thing that still seemed real was a pure, long white feather he kept hidden in a shoe box under his bed. Michael only wished he could wake up, and start living again.
He was nineteen now. He had applied to a good college, on a combination of a basketball and academic scholarship, both of which he had barely gotten. It wasn't college that Michael wanted, though, or even any kind of future on Earth. Though his parents, the shrinks his parents had hired, and his friends at school had all tried, no one could figure out what had happened on his year of absence that had changed him so much. No one knew of the dark-haired, emerald-eyed girl Michael had left his heart with. No one but himself.
Often at night, he would raise his head and look out his window, trying to catch a glimpse of the world only he knew of. Trying to find her face among the stars. He never saw her, or the world he missed as his home. But not a day went by when he didn't wish with all his being to see her again. Not a day went by when he remembered the sparkle of her eyes, the way she smiled and laughed, her sweet blush, her firey temper, her witty comebacks, anything to keep him from forgetting.
Inside the shoe box where he kept the feather, he also kept a sketch book where he had taken up sketching her face by memory, again and again. Often, he would sit and relive every moment he spent with her. When a girl at school would ask him out, he simply responded that his heart belonged to another woman.
Michael's mother and father had slipped back into believing he was home, all the way. But even they sensed that he had left his heart in whatever place he had been.
Finally, the girls had stopped hunting him all together, his mother and father went back to their lives, his teachers stopped pestering him, and slowly, he stopped showing up for therapist appointments. But the wishing never stopped, the memories were always flowing, and his heart continued to beat because his angel had promised him that they would meet again.
Stars never lie. Solo learned that young. The stars always held the truth for him. But now, they no longer spoke. They fell silent to his pleas for a resolution. His heart would beat unsteadily when in his darkest hour he would imagine living the rest of his life without the soft, luxurious hair, the gentle laugh, the innocent looks. He would remind himself haughtily that his chances of seeing his love again were far greater thatn Michael's: trapped on another world, alone and hungry for something other than the food he consumed.
Solo ran his hand through his black hair, which was now highlighted by red with his nearly constant exposure to the sun. He would dream, but even dreaming was no good. No matter how sweet his subconcious managed to make it - and it could do pretty good - the real thing had to be better.
There were rumors, of course. That Vera had returned to her normal habit of shooing her suitors off with a sword. She wore her dagger necklace like a new bride wears her engagement ring, loud and proud. She was blunt and characteristic in saying that she was hardly fair game when she had devoted her heart to another. " Even if I die an old maid, I'll only marry one man." she would say, smiling confidently. But rumors had it that the expression in her eyes as she said it was heartbreaking, and growing more so by the day. And it should. Her time for cornation, with or without a husband, drew near. If she were to marry after her coranation (in King Van's situation, the tables were different. He was coranated earlier than he should have been anyway, so the rules had already broken when he married Queen Hitomi.) it would certainly be a monstrous scandal.
It was the rumors of Crown Princess Vera's little sister, Princess Vari, mythical, innocent, and both chronologically younger and mentally older than her body suggested, that Solo listened closest to. She had apparently gone into a state of heavy depression after Solo's departure and the Light. Solo sent letters as often as possible and she would write back, but messengers were too easily bribed and the Second Princess of Fanelia having a long-distance relationship with a disowned noble's son would make quite a scandal in itself. Now that the Daughter's War was over, the public was thirsty enough to swallow whatever was spooned out. Solo had to be careful not to tarnish Vari's reputation.
He hated ever second of it with his whole heart.
Vari never tired of Solo's letters. It was all that kept her going when her heart failed her. Stress had finally flown off her shoulders during the Light, leaving her confused and lost. Her accelerrated growth had come to a screeching halt during the Light, allowing her a bit of normalcy. Aside from the light silver crown that wrapped around her head to form a tear- shaped ring around a similarly cut diamond on her forehead and her constantly tear filled eyes, she looked completely normal. But with all her curses that fled, a new one came. Seperation of love. While she watched Vera shrink away from the life she had known, Vari plunged herself as deeply into it as possible, burying herself until she was so deeply submerged she could barely breathe. But her thoughts were occupied, even if she was cursing all the burdens. She watched and waited though, for the self-appointed noble named Solo who carved a home out of the Wastelands for the rebels because he remembered all too well the bitter taste of rejection, and that everyone, even traitors, deserved a second chance.
Vera shrank away as a hand maid tried to place the golden crown that wrapped tightly around the circumfrence of her skull on her head. The hand maid won in the end, Vera wearing the crown none too gracefully and making her dipleasure known on no uncertain terms. How she longed to cast the crown aside and return to the days when she was free to wander the streets of exotic cities with Merle and Tygris and Chuba and... Michael.
Though Vera carried herself in the same slightly arrogant manner, her head was often down those few and far between times she did leave her immediate quarters. Only under the cover of darkness was she allowed to pick up her sword and slash the air, remembering sparring matches that no one won. Simply because she lacked the will to resist did she consent to wearing dresses now. She sat through delegations and conferences as one of the most powerful nations in Gaea's Crown Princess, Heir to the Fanelian Throne. Silent, like the porecelan doll she used to fear she would become. Suitors came like river water, a steady flow that Vera cast aside lightly, with no more deliberation than she would give a change in banners in the banquet hall. She shrank into herself, opening less and less, wishing only for Michael to return to her. Beginning to wonder more and more about the world her love and mother both came from, that mystical place so close and yet so far that barred her love from her sight.
Michael was finding raising himself from bed more and more difficult. His sulky glares had stopped his mother from mentioning how he looked like the walking dead lately, when he still lived with her. This morning, he didn't even try. He stared at the ceiling of the apartment he shared with a few friends. He rolled his long, white feather between his fingers and reached skyward with his mind. Only a few times had he and Vera attempted to make a mind link. It was dangerous business, but this morning was different. Almost as though he were physically reaching out to touch her, Vera reached back. His tendrils of thought caressed hers and they embraced mentally.
Miss you. Vera's thoughts echoed inside his head. Michael shivered in his bed as he felt his soul mesh with hers. It felt so good, so right.
Miss you too. he answered. Her emotions were his to feel as freely as she felt his. He had nothing to hide from her.
That Yoko girl finally stopped chasing you? Vera asked, reading his memories. Michael sent a mental signal that suggested a nod.
Yeah. he responded. He smiled at the many faces of suitors, the few of many that Vera could remember.
I'm not even going to ask. he said, smirking physically.
Are we going to go through with this? Mom and Dad haven't done this in a long time. What if something goes wrong? Vera asked. Her worry flowed through their link and echoed his own.
Do we have a choice? I can't carry on like this. Can you? Michael asked for an answer.
I guess not. Mom is really excited. Vera said.
She has every reason to be. Michael reminded her.
I know. Vera said. Well, we've got to save our energy for later, we're gonna need it. I'll be seeing you soon. Vera said. Michael could feel her mind, soul, and essence slipping from his.
Yeah. I love you. he responded.
Love you too. Vera said, then slipped away, leaving Michael feeling only slightly revived. It was enough to rouse him and get him out the door. He walked down the street, remembering that day walking home from school when he had seen that light. It had drawn him to it. To Vera. Grinning manically, she had slain a dragon before his eyes. He looked up to discover he was in almost the exact spot where he had first seen the light. He smiled soflty and picked up his pace.
In the clearing where he had met Vera for the first time and witnessed the killing of the dragon, Michael slumped into a sitting position and waited. He checked his watch. I'm on time, he thought. He closed his eyes when the pillar of light finally came crashing down. He opened them in time to see his one and only angel, floating downward with grace and beauty. She was dressed just as he remembered her, her hair had been cut to just below her shoulders. She touched ground gracefully and turned her eyes skyward, expectant. Just behind her, Vari touched ground, apparently having finally obtained the grace she had lacked all those years ago. Finally, Hitomi and Van settled down together, Hitomi grinning broadly. Michael didn't even bother acknowledging the others. Vera was all he knew anymore. He never remembered making any move toward her, only knowing her embrace once again. They kissed each other hungrily and furiously. Vera gasped for breath for a moment and let Michael kiss her face and neck.
" Michael… Come home to me, Michael. Let me make you a king." She whispered, seeming thrilled to be saying his name. " Michael…" she whispered again, as he tightened his grip on her waist.
" There's only one thing I want to be king of." He whispered back, smiling into her soft neck. Vera rubbed her hands against his back and pulled away from him a little.
" You grew your hair longer." She noted.
" And you cut yours off." Michael returned. " I like it." He added. Vera laughed and pressed her forehead to his.
" I missed you so much."
" I missed you more." Michael said decisively. Vera just laughed and surrendered to his kisses.
Later…
Michael knocked on the door to his mother and father's home, glancing over his shoulder at the troop behind him and flashing a smile at his bride-to- be to his left. Hitomi was practically bouncing up and down in happiness and anticipation. Michael's mother opened the door.
" Oh, hi Michael. Um, who are your friends?" she asked, glancing at Vera, who was snuggled up against Michael very closely.
" Mom, there are some people you need to meet." Michael said, pulling Hitomi, who had suddenly experienced a falter in courage, up to the door.
" Can't it wait, dear? I'm talking to Mrs. Kanzaki, you know, Hitomi's mom, and I-Wait, do I know you?" Yukari asked, addressing Hitomi. Hitomi had not changed too much over the nineteen, nearly twenty years of her absence. She looked older, more mature, but not too different.
" Yukari? It's me. Hitomi." Hitomi said, watching Yukari and almost praying. Yukari stared as realization and recognition dawned on her.
" Oh my God… Hitomi! Is it really you?!" Yukari asked, throwing herself into her long lost friend's arms. After everyone had settled down, and Mrs. Kanzaki and Hitomi had stopped crying, introductions had to be made.
" Mom, Yukari, this is my husband, Van. And these are our two daughters, Vera and Vari." Hitomi said, beaming with pride. " I've always wanted to say that to you." She said excitedly. Mrs. Kanzaki hugged her again. Van beamed in his wife's happiness, pleased by her pleasure.
" I must say, Hitomi, when you just suddenly left us, it was quite a shock." Mrs. Kanzaki said finally, after the initial hellos. Michael held Vera's hand and squeezed it every now and then to make sure she was real and hadn't disappeared.
" Honestly, it wasn't really planned." Hitomi said, smiling at Van, who returned it. " It just sort of happened. After I went back to Gaea, Van and I got married quick as a wink. Vera came a around shortly after that."
" Just Vera?" Yukari asked, looking confused. " Why, Vari can't be that much younger, can she? You two look exactly the same age."
" Chronologically speaking, we are." Vera volunteered.
" I was born four years ago, really. But Fate messed with my growth rate and I grew fifteen years in two months. I caught up with Vera very fast." Vari explained. " I'm aging normally now, because I've done what Fate wanted."
" What did Fate want?" Yukari asked. Everyone looked at each other.
" It's a really long story, Mom. I'll tell you sometime, but not now." Michael said.
" So you've been to this Gaea, Michael?" Mrs. Kanzaki asked.
" Yes." Michael said simply, squeezing Vera's hand again. " And I'd like to announce that Vera and I are getting married." He added quickly. While Vera's parents looked relieved, Michael's mother nearly had a heart attack where she sat.
" Exactly how well do you know each other?" she asked.
" Remember how after that time when I disappeared, I was never the same? She's why." Michael said, tilting his head to indicate Vera.
" Now would be a good time to tell you that Vera and Vari are no ordinary girls." Hitomi said, wincing. Michael wanted even less than she did to drop this bomb on his mother. " They're princesses."
" Princesses? Then that would make you two?" Mrs. Kanzaki asked.
" King Van and Queen Hitomi of Fanelia. Michael is now officially the male heir to the throne by marriage, and once he and Vera do marry, they will be crowned King and Queen of Fanelia, while Hitomi and I can go into early retirement." Van explained. Mrs. Kanzaki slumped in her seat.
" Hitomi, it's very hard for me to think of you as a queen. You even failed your public speaking class in high school." She said, shaking her head.
" Michael, I'm proud you've found someone to love, but marriage is a huge commitment all on its own. Are you sure you want to take on being a King at the same time?" Yukari asked.
" Positive." Michael said instantly. " Besides, it's not an instantaneous thing. Hitomi and Van will be there to help us the whole way." Vera smiled brightly.
" And he's already proved himself to my country, so they won't mind." She added. Michael smiled at his mother.
" When are you going back?" she asked finally, defeated.
" The end of the day." Van said. Michael smiled even bigger, relieved to know the days of suffering had ended.
Vari breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally safe on Gaea. Though the excursion to the Mystic Moon had been very exciting, she longed for home. What's more, she wasn't sure she could handle watching Michael and Vera fawn over any more. She left them to their own devices and went to her room. She had barely stepped into the room when she knew something was amiss.
" Who's there?" she called. Something moved as Vari reached to light a candle. The moonlight streaming in the window was enough to make out the silhouette, but not enough to make out who. After she had finally managed to quell her fearful shaking and light a candle, the visitor had stepped closer. He was a little taller than she remembered, his hair lighter with red highlights from sun. But it was him, all the same.
" Solo!" Vari cried softly, flinging herself into his arms. Solo gathered her up in his grasp and sighed heavily.
" Hello to you, too." He said with a smile. Vari looked up at him.
" I thought you were in the Wastelands!" she protested.
" I'm on vacation." Solo returned, hugging her tightly. " Carving an existence out there is hard work. I deserve a break." Vari giggled slightly.
" I missed you so much!" she whispered excitedly.
" I missed you too." Solo responded. Slowly, he leaned down and gave her what she had waited for and wanted for so long. He kissed her, slowly at first, but faster and hungrier as time went by. When she finally pulled her head away a little, she was gasping. She groped for the bed behind her with her foot, pulling Solo with her.
" This doesn't have to happen now." He said, looking her in the eye.
" Don't act so mature, just because you're two years older than me." Vari protested.
" More like seventeen years older." Solo reminded her.
" If you're picky." Vari said, smiling. " And I want this to happen now. I've waited for this, and I'm not going to let you deprive me of it." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Utter bliss settled over her as he slowly pushed her down onto the bed and kissed her more deeply than ever.
" Tryan! Chrono! Brono!" Merle called, snagging the smallest of her litter of three by the tail as they scattered, trying to avoid the wrath of their mother. She pulled little Tryan to her and boxed his left ear.
" How many times have I told you not to wander off into the woods! You don't know what's out there!" she yelled. Tryan winced.
" I told them not to, Mamma! They didn't listen!" the four-year-old cried. Merle eased him to the ground and swatted his rear.
" No excuses! Get your rear in gear and get home! Now!" she yelled. Tryan scampered off obediently. Tryan was the best behaved out of her three boys, all named after the brothers she had never known. They had been a curse to carry and give birth to, all at the same time, but they were worth the pain. Most of the time. Dromada approached her from behind, the remaining two kittens thrown over his broad shoulders.
" But Papa!" Chrono cried, told apart from his brothers by a white stripe in his nose.
" No buts!" Dromada bellowed. " These woods are dangerous!" he added. He winked at Merle and set the boys down. The two looked up at their mother and mewed pitifully.
" Get back to the house. I'll deal with you two later." She growled. The two four year olds must have set a record for speeding back to the little log cabin Dromada and Merle had carved on the edge of the forest, near their growing village. After the two parents were sure their offspring were gone, they burst into laughter.
" What would our old allies say about us now?" Dromada wondered out loud. Merle smiled and ruffled her once vibrant pink hair.
" They wouldn't even recognize me. I've got gray hairs now." She said.
" Gray hairs are a sign of wisdom." Dromada said.
" Then I must be really wise." Merle said, smiling.
" And I think you're as beautiful as always." Dromada said. Merle kissed his nose.
" Why, thank you. After three kittens and four years of marriage, if you still think I'm beautiful, then I think we're going to be all right." She said. Dromada laughed and wrapped a thick arm around her shoulders and led her back to their home.
Tygris leaped backward as Merle and Dromada's three kittens went speeding past her. She and Chuba stared after them before laughing.
" I bet they went into the forest again." Chuba said. Tygris laughed again.
" You're probably right. They've got an earful waiting for them when Merle gets a hold of them." She said knowingly. " Do you think we'll ever be as good of parents as those two?" she asked. Chuba smiled and patted her expanded belly.
" We better be. This litter's not going to wait for us to learn." He said. Tygris smiled as one of the two kittens encased in her womb kicked. She rubbed a hand over her abdomen and smiled again into thin air. " How much longer do you think it will be?" Chuba asked, helping Tygris waddle along to their small home.
" A few more months." Tygris said.
" Is it just me, or is this taking forever?" Chuba whined.
" These things take time. Unfortunately for you, these two aren't like Vari and are going to just pop out all of the sudden." Tygris said pacifyingly. Chuba pouted for a moment.
" Oh well. At least I get a beautiful wife and two kittens out of the deal. I can just be patient." He said, suddenly happy.
" You are impossible." Tygris announced.
Vera rolled over contentedly in bed and studied Michael's features. He lay on his side, facing her. His soft, sable hair was a mess, falling over his closed eyes and face. His chest was broad and if Vera tuned her powers, she could hear his heart beating deep within it. His light olive skin was stretched tightly over his ribs, lined with thick muscles and sinew. He smiled softly in his sleep. Vera smiled back at him, thinking about the day before. I'm finally your wife, she thought toward Michael…
The wedding had been beautiful. Vera had worn her mother's wedding dress, a long, traditional dress that had a form fitting top and tank top sleeves. Following the old tradition, she had worn her dagger charm for something old, a new silver crown studded by diamonds, the whole dress for something borrowed, and sapphire earrings for something blue. Michael had been completely decked out in mandatory clothes for the groom of a wedding. Vera had loved every second of it…
Vera smiled at Michael's sleeping face as he began to stir. She was only just now noticing the sun penetrating the windows with its rays. Her smile only grew as he opened his sea blue eyes and examined her.
" How long have you been awake?" he asked groggily. Vera shrugged.
" A few minutes, a few hours, what's the difference?" she asked. Michael laughed softly and reached for her. "Oh, my Lord, we must arise to meet the court." Vera said in her most courtly voice, pulling away from Michael.
" Uh-uh. I went to Hell and back, waited for years, and now you want to go talk to the court. Forget it, they can wait their turn. You're all mine now." He said. Vera laughed at him and allowed him to wrap her arms around his middle.
" I was kidding, genius." She said. " We're on our honeymoon." She reminded her new husband. He blushed and stuttered for a moment while she laughed.
" It's so perfect." Michael whispered in a few minutes, after Vera had stopped teasing him. Vera smiled up at him.
" Just think. We have a lifetime of these mornings together. This is only the first." She told him. He smiled broadly and sighed, content to hold her in his arms, she content to be there.
Well, that's it. Yeah, I know it's short, mushy, corny, and all the rest. But let's face it: the ending sucked. I hated it, and I wrote it! So, as a certain someone ::cough-Shini-cough:: wanted, here's some more "spunk" for ya. Tune in for the sequel as soon as I come up with it. ^_^ So thanks for the reviews, it's great to know someone appreciates these "wastes of time" as my mother calls them. ;_; Not fair! I slave over these fics!!! So, neway, I'll write up the sequel as soon as I find some inspiration. Got any ideas??? I'm debating between slapping the current crew in a new adventure, who knows what kind, or ~big drumroll~ starting a whole new adventure for guess who? That's right, Vera and Michael's kids. Hey, and why not the rest of the gang's offspring? I dunno. You guys tell me what you want. Well, buh- bye!
^_~
Rogue Fox