Disclaimer: Don't own any of the healing items/ summons/ jobs, those are Squaresofts. This is non-profit fun.

A moment of silence please…

~ Message from Pen.

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It is fragrant and warm with spring.

Birds titter faintly somewhere far off but not too far.

The wind gently rustling the leaves overlaps the tittering.

It seems to hush slightly, daring to raise in volume again but never really follows through.

Serenity…

Someone's humming breaks through it. Soft, feminine, a familiar lilting tune.

I remember that…from long ago.

The breeze picks up again, threatening to drown out the humming but doesn't. It carries with it the sweet scent of jasmine.

…Aleura?

"Ashen…" The one humming calls gently.

The image is hazy due to the sunlight, but her face is there hovering over. She smiles.

Immediately his eyes widen completely, sitting up he questions breathlessly the young woman sitting beside him, "Aleura?!"

"Yes Ashen?" She smiles as if everything is completely normal in her high priestess outfit, her hands in her lap, her bare legs curled under her. 

Before she could say anything else, Ashen pulled her into a tight embrace. An arm about her waist, the other scrunched in her golden waves of hair, both seemed locked to their positions never letting up for an instant. He could feel her smile while she pressed her face into his collarbone, gently wrapping her delicate arms around his waist and applying pressure there tenderly. She's warm, thank God, she's warm…

He leaned his head against the top of hers, his words rushed from his mouth, "This isn't a dream right? God-tell me it's not another dream?"

 She stiffened slightly in his arms, "No…" She said softly.

He realized the weight of her answer, loosening his grip on her, she eased out but not completely to look at him in the face. His eyes squinted, both looking confused and pained, "Then we're…"

"Dead." She let out softly, the words themselves were always difficult to say.

Unsure how to take the news, his eyes drifted to the green grass to the side. His mind shifted through the events that brought him to this point. Alarm marred his features at the sudden remembrance of things, "Meth? Is he?"

"Also dead." She assured him with her eyes.

"What about Dynasty? And Ghri? And-"

"Ashen, that world doesn't pertain to us anymore…their concerns are not ours, we have no place there." Her eyes held a slight sadness to them.

He sighed, regaining his baring, "You're right. I forgot."

She smiled and got to her feet, taking his hand with her, "Common, lets walk? It will help you to adjust."

He stood up with her, shrugging his leather jacket back on his shoulder, it was slipping off.  Ashen's eyes combed the area, the sight making him stop before they even took two steps. 

The curvaceous elegance of the monastery stood before them, across the little rope bridge that connected to the holy place they were standing on. Everything was intact, nothing burnt or crumbling. The holy tree still with its lavender blossoms, the rest of the grounds were green and filled with springtime flowers. The waterfall still trickled gently, the streams were clear and running lightly over stones not body parts. Everything was like it was…the first day he came there, but Aleura was still a young woman, not a girl…

Aleura noticed Ashen let go of her hand, he stood close to the edge of holy place gazing into the water, "Something wrong?"

"Where are we?" He asked confused and not looking from the water.

"The monastery."

"No, I mean…where exactly are we?"" He finally turned his red eyes to her.

She bit her lip in her sheepish smile, shrugging slightly with her arms behind her back, "I don't really know that one."

Aleura went over to stand next to him, looking at the water with him she suddenly giggled.

"What?"

"Um…actually you're supposed to be the one who knows these sort of things." She smiled out at the water.

He thought about it and realized his former job requirements. He huffed a slight laugh and smirked, "Oh, yeah, that's right." 


The short reminder of the past lifetime left the two reminiscing of unpleasant memories. Memories that involved their misery along with the misery of so many innocent people. For Ashen, the reminiscing brought more guilt then misery. He was at fault for so much, for the deaths of so many. What made it all worse was that as Ashen he failed to make anything any better. They had dreamt of being together; to grow up, to marry, to have children, to grow old…to live in peace.  None of that happened, instead he lived a life of carnage killing the same people he called his own then died young with the woman he loved. This, all of this was his fault.

"I'm sorry…" He said finally, a hollow husk of his usually firm voice.

She gazed up at him, he was a vision of strength to her eyes despite the way he sounded. His face not downcast, instead he watched the waterfall across from them with his chin up and his eyes firmly fixed. She could see the muscles in his jaw clench tightly, his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed down the lump she knew was there.  She could feel the past in that face, remember boldly each time that stance appeared, and what it tried so hard to hide under the guise of pride and strength.

Amused by it, she smiled, turning her focus back on the trickling waters below, "Why do you blame yourself for things you have no control over?"

His eyes glanced at her from the side, noting the curious smile, then passed back to the falls. "I could have done something" His voice seethed through clenched teeth, "Instead I-"

The back of her hand brushed against his gently, she intertwined her pinky with his. The contact interrupted both his words and thoughts allowing for a calm to set in.

 "You did what you could." She said warmly, smiling at the waterfall.

He finally looked down at her, though she continued to watch the falls with a smile.

"To dwell on the past now…is pointless.  All that happened, happened because Fate meant for it to happen." There was a warm squeeze on his pinky from hers, "It was that same Fate that allowed me meet you again."

He grimaced in doubt, "You died because of me."

She giggled, "Ashen, whether it was now or sixty years from now, I was going to die someday. It's part of being alive, that's what we signed up for.  Would you still blame yourself if I had died an old woman safe in my bed?"

Huffing in frustration, "That's different, the way you died was…"

"Horrible? Violent? Unnecessary? It was a risk that both of us were willing to take, I don't regret taking it though it did not turn out the way we had hoped."

He marveled at how cheery she seemed despite the topic, "You seem to be taking this surprisingly well for someone who was murdered in cold blood."

"Maybe…" Her voice changed to something that conveyed to him the deeply heartfelt meaning of her experience, "It's just because I see the benefits in the results…"

Her face turned up to him, her eyes held tenderness in their green orbs, "Ashen, it's over…all of it. He can't harm them anymore, they're safe.  …And so are we," She held back the choke, "Nothing can hurt us or separate us ever again, not duty, not Death, nothing. We're free, Ashen, truly free."

The peace we've longed for… He understood. Ashen smiled warmly while looking in her eyes, the look in them spoke to her of two beings residing as one, both and the same that she loved with all her heart. He let his hand drift up to her face. First gingerly touching and tracing with his fingertips her delicate jaw-line and cheekbone, basking in the warmth of her skin like some long sought after dream.  Then finally daring the contact, he smoothed his rough palm to cup her soft cheek gently. Obeying her own desire, she leaned into it letting her lips press slightly against his callus thumb, closing her eyes to savor the feeling forbidden to her for two existences.

His fingers shifted slightly, his thumb under her chin tilting her face upward. She felt warmer then she had moments ago, his scent closer then it was before, and under some spell his heat radiated upon her face she let her eyes stay gently closed. His own eyes shut under his furrowed brow, his mouth open slightly letting warm breaths tingle over the sensitive skin of her lips. But he lingered hesitantly, wary if following through would be allowed now or if such a desire would result in some cataclysm like it had in so many times in the past. Each minute felt like a millennia, for her in the dark with his warm about her. For him, she seemed a thousand yards away; each inch gain was a painstakingly slow process.

Finally he touched upon her lips that were as soft as petals. Like one experiencing their first kiss, his lips stood still, stunned by the contact, before pressing against hers lightly. She seeped into the kiss in a soft demure way that was uniquely her.

Suddenly, if the world ended or not didn't matter anymore; reality, if you could call this place that, broke apart around this moment.  Strange how such a simple thing could leave two people so enraptured that nothing but the sensation and emotion seemed to exist, to lose all that held you captive for so long in a single subtle kiss. Their first kiss…ever.

And then…a whooping whistle abruptly tossed them back into "reality".   

"Awww, look at the little love birds! Ain't they cute?!" Someone called from far off, their teasing voice utterly irritating.

Ashen and Aleura quickly pulled away from each other, embarrassment for being caught in such a private moment marred their faces. Ashen growled and looked over Aleura's drooping head as she tried to hide her deep blush.

Across the bridge Kazu was shouting to them energetically, "Ashen and Aleura sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N-OW!" A pale hand flew out of the bushes next to Kazu and pulled him back down inside the bush.

"Idiot! They saw you!" Ashen and Aleura heard Sesshin scold Kazu loudly from their 'hidden' place inside the bushes.

"Well DUH! That's the point!"

"SHH! They might hear you!"

"Who cares now?! They already saw us! You need to lighten up Sesshin."

The two monks faded into another argument. Aleura giggled into Ashen's chest, despite the constant rumbling from his frustrated growls. He rested his chin atop her head, glaring daggers at the bush that seemed to move now due to the fight inside that just turned physical.

"Idiots…if they weren't dead already I'd kill them myself," Ashen grunted quietly to Aleura, hugging her close.

She laughed and pulled away, to Ashen's surprise, then took his hand, "We should be going anyway, common-"

He didn't budge while she pulled at his hand weakly, instead he pulled her back into an embrace, letting his forehead rest against hers. "No." The blunt refusal, low and husky, purred into her ears.

She could swear she saw a fang poke out of that smirk on his face, Oh I get it…

Flick.

He tilted his head back to look at her, he blinked and arched an eyebrow, "Did you just flick my nose?"

She smiled beaming up at him after she slid out of his arms. The great Ashen Maave subdued by a mere nose flick.  She giggled at the thought, taking his arm in hers, "We have all eternity for that sort of thing. Common, lets go." She began to walk, this time he followed in tow reluctantly.

"Do I have too?" He asked dryly while letting her drag him somewhat.

"Yes," She said excitedly, "There are people who want to meet you, silly."

"People who want to meet me? Who?" He looked at her as if she were crazy.

She shot into a bouncy giddy run with poor Ashen running along to keep his arm connected to his body, she giggled, "You'll see!"

The two rushed across the rope bridge, past the rumbling 'ouch' ridden bush, towards the mess hall of the monastery. For them it was not an ending, but only a beginning.

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AN: Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen! That was the end of Ghost (course that's just the beginning of all the preludes). I want to say thank you for reading and I want to especially thank my friends, fans, family, and inspiration. This story really has a piece of myself in it. It was supposed to be some little story of love, tragedy, and revenge. However, it turned into something much larger and I'm actually glad it did. Thanks again, see you next fic, whichever it might be!