This will be my last story in this collection of fics. I want to thank all of you for your support, and use this space to shamelessly promo my next work. It will be all the Joey x Mai you all have, from the reviews, grown to love me for, as well as a few other pairings. I'm going to start a real story saga after this. It will be rated R because I'm going to use not only language and violence, but also sexual situations and occult references, not extremely overt, but I just want to be safe. I'll just tell you that it is a fantasy story, and Joey and Mai will be our two heroes.
But, without further adieu, the final story…
I knew this day would come, but that didn't make it any easier. I was doing what I wanted, and yet it pained me so much that whenever I thought of it, I had heart pain.
"Mai." I asked her, her face looking towards me with an expression that said she understood. "Mai, I don't know…if what I'm doing is the right thing."
"That's part of life." She said simply, blowing her nose with a tissue. Man, she was so beautiful, so beautiful that I almost thought she wasn't real.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We don't always know whether we do the right thing or not. We just do things."
"But this isn't what I want to do. I want to stay here; with you."
"I know that, do you think I don't want that to happen." She said, stifling a tear. She had to be strong, and she was doing a terrible job. Well, I wasn't doing anything better. I had already said my farewells to the gang, but I wanted her alone to see me go, not even Serenity could come down with me to the docks.
"I'll…stay…in touch." I said with a tear.
"I know." Mai said. "That way I know you're not dead."
"Weep no more, my lady." I quoted a line from a song my mother was fond of singing. I don't remember how it went, but that was the line I remembered, as I wiped away the tear about to escape from her eye.
"I…I don't understand why we're so sad. This is what you wanted." She said. I knew that was true.
"It…it was what I wanted." I replied. "I still want it, I guess, but I don't want it as much as I want you."
"You really mean that?" She said. Through all the time I spent with Mai, I was never as honest as I was now. Perhaps I hadn't been fair to her until know, maybe I was just afraid of how she would react. But this was the last time I would see her for a while, I had no reason to be afraid now. If I was, I risked any chance I had of making her still feel loved as I left.
"Yeah, I do. Always." I said, bringing her in close.
"Joey…" She said softly, just before we kissed. Magic, pure magic. I could feel all the tension that was building from my final meeting with her being realized through my mouth.
As it ended, regretfully, I grabbed my luggage.
"Goodbye…goodbye." I said. When I got on the boat, I turned around and waved to her, but she was nowhere to be found. I guess…I guess she didn't want me to see her cry. I understood that. I saw her car in the parking lot, and I thought I caught a glimpse of her seated inside.
I knew I would see her again; I prayed and waited for those days. But before the ship left, I paused to find something in my pocket. It was a note, addressed to me, in Serenity's handwriting. I opened the folded piece of paper, expecting a tearful farewell letter, but what I got was something else.
Joey
I know, it's hard to be honest about your feelings. You can't tell me things because we are so close, and the rest of your close friends are guys. So I'm going to write this as if I was an anonymous observer. I'm going to say that you're being too timid. I was told that the best person who can tell if you're in love is someone who knows you the best. And there is no one who knows you better then us. We know you better then you know yourself, because if you're reading this when I think you are, you're denying your feelings. Joey, as someone who knows you, I'm going to ask you a question, and please, make sure you think about the answer. What will you gain? What will you lose? It's not a simple question, I know. But make sure you think fast or you'll really lose what you've been seeking your entire life.
Now, I'm going to stop writing before I cry up and mess up the paper, so I'll write something that I'm sure I told you before you left. No matter what, all of us believe that you know how to make the right decisions.
Serenity, with help from Tristan
Oh God, I was being an idiot. How could I have been so blind? Here I was, chasing something that I didn't want anymore, and why the hell was I doing it? Because I wanted it before? God, that was the dumbest fucking reason ever. Shit, shit, shit, I hope I had enough time to correct this. I ran off the boat quickly, nearly blowing over some old broad who managed to curse in that way old people cursed, saying some mild curse like "oh, my word" as if it was saying the mother of all words herself. I ran off just in time, the ship was leaving port as I exited the harbor. I ran to Mai's car, which hadn't moved, but it was empty. I then saw her standing on some wooden support beams, to get a better view of the departing ship. Because the ledge was narrow, I hid and waited for her to step down before I called out to her.
"MAI!" I shouted.
"Wha…Joey…what are you…" She was shaken and nervous, recently crying. I came up close to her and hugged her.
"Mai….I have what I want…right here…I promise I'll never leave you." I said, burying my head in her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around my back.
"You're…you're foolish. You've given away the world for me. You know I think that's idiotic."
"Yeah, I know."
"But, you know." She said as we looked towards the sun. "I don't think…you're wrong."