Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Author's Note:

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"When you see a guy

Reach for stars in the sky

You can bet that he's doin' it for some doll"

-For Some Doll (Guys and Dolls)

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Winter passes in a flurry of slush and frost. Once, towards the end of winter, Kratos snuck Yuan up onto the roof and taught him the constellations.

"That's not what we call them." Yuan says. He scans the sky before pointing at the collection of stars that Kratos had always been taught was called Eben, like the hero in the history books. "That one's the man who was orphaned and left at Efreet's temple, where he grew up. By the time he was an adult, he could use fire as easily as the Summon Spirit himself, or"You so the story goes. But he fell in love with a woman, who was killed in the war, so he wrote her name in the sky with fiery letters so that the stars can whisper it every night and she wouldn't be forgotten." Yuan points again, this time a little to the right. "See, there's her name."

A lot of the constellations turn out like that, but Kratos has to admit that he likes Yuan's versions better. The one that Kratos knows as the Great Wolf, Yuan knows as Celsius' lover. The ancient gods were angry that Celsius had fallen in love with a human, so they cursed the human to become an animal. But Celsius refused to leave him and now, he can be seen at her side, a great white wolf who guards her because, even in that form, he hasn't stopped loving her.

Kratos writes these versions of the stories down in a notebook, careful not to write too fast, otherwise his handwriting will get messy. Sometimes, Yuan will flip through the notebook, slowly reading the words.

Kratos asks him why he reads it if he already knows the story so well.

Yuan glanced up. "…I guess it's different to see it on paper. I mean, I grew up hearing these stories, but we never wrote any of them. We told them to each other. I guess I'm wondering what would happen if half-elves were able to write and read. I think Mama would like to see these. I think she used to like to read, once."

Kratos wrapped his arm around his knees. "…Is your mom an elf?"

"Uh-huh. Poppi said that he fell in love with her when he got lost in the elven forest and she was sent to help him out. But when he looked up and saw her standing there, he thought he'd seen a goddess."

"Is your mom pretty?"

Yuan hesitated. "She used to be. Before my brothers went to the war, I think she used to be the most beautiful person in the world."

"Huh. I always thought my mom was pretty too."

"Do you have a picture? Poppi had a few in their bedroom. I used to sneak in to look at them."

"There's only the one picture and it's in my dad's study. It's from their wedding day."

"I like weddings." Yuan says, fingers still whispering over the pages. The texture of a page is entirely different when you know what it says. "Everyone's always so happy and there's so much food!"

Kratos chuckles a little at his enthusiasm. "I've never been to a wedding." He confesses.

"You can come to mine." Yuan tells him firmly.

"You're going to get married?" Kratos asks, startled.

"One day, yeah. And I want you to be there."

"Any idea who you'd get married to?"

"Of course not. But that's the interesting part. She could be anybody." Yuan was quiet for a moment before saying, "Is it weird to think that the person I'll marry is alive somewhere else, right now? Maybe she's even looking at the same stars that we are!"

Kratos laughs. "Yeah, maybe. I like that thought. That she can see the same stars even when she's far away."

"Do you think it's possible to give a person a star?"

"What?"

"There's an old story that I remember Poppi telling me. There was a man who had to go away to war, but he didn't want his wife to forget him while she was away. So he climbed to the highest peak of the tallest mountain and brought down a star in a jar. He gave her the star, and told her that whenever she got lonely, to hold the jar and she would feel him nearby. But she didn't want him to forget her in the distant lands either. So she went to the mountain and brought down another star. 'So you won't get lonely' she said. And they found that they could talk to each other through their stars.

"But one night, she couldn't hear his voice, no matter how hard she tried. The next night, she got the news that he'd been killed. When she looked up, there was a new star in the sky, shining brighter than all the other ones. She knew it had to be him, so she released her star into the sky as well, but she hadn't realized that she'd put her heart into the star after so long of being bonded with it, so she died that night. But the star with her heart went up and took its place beside his and now they're forever beside each other."

Kratos hums in thought. "…Yeah, I think it's possible. Is that what you're gonna do? Get a star for her?"

"Well, I haven't seen any mountains nearby, so I can't get it for her. But I can save one for when I meet her. And I'll tell her that it's her star."

"And which one are you gonna pick? There's so many of them!"

Yuan looked through the skies carefully. This star had to be perfect. He didn't know what kind of girl he'd end up marrying, but she'd deserve a perfect star, he knows that much. Finally, he chooses a small one that's silvery-gold.

"Why such a small one?"

"I dunno. I think she'd be a down-to-earth kinda person. She deserves one of the big ones, but she likes the little one. Or, I think she does."

Kratos chuckled. "Besides, all of the heroes from the stories already took the big ones."

"Yeah, they did. Star-hoggers."

There's a beat of silence, then two, before they both burst out laughing. They try to smother the laughter before it's heard inside the house, but it's hard because up here, it feels like they're on top of the world.