Warnings: None! Yay! (❁´◡`❁)

Hey, I posted this so soon after the last because it is pretty short (and also not the chapter I had been planning on posting, but that's irrelevant).
Now, pull back the curtain and meet–!

{-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-}

"Hey," Aki grinned, waving at the figure of a man in the mist.

The mist dissolved – or did it condense? – into a white-haired man, near-black circles under his eyes. He frowned slightly at her, plainly bewildered. She couldn't blame him; it had been a long time since she had visited him smiling, quite possibly even the only time.

"Did you die?" he finally asked.

She shook her head, hands behind her back. "Nah, but I'm not anymore."

His eyes widened, and she couldn't help the giggles forming in her throat as she ran forward to glomp him.

Looking down at her, rubbing her back, he breathed a sigh of relief. Impossibilities were, apparently, possible. After a minute, she wriggled away, beaming as he hadn't seen her beam in centuries. Yet, her smile drooped half an instant later, and his quickly followed.

His frown deepened when she didn't speak. "Tell me," he invited, sitting cross-legged on the ground and gesturing for her to join her.

She twitched, then, laughing, hand scruffing the back of her head, she moved forward to join him on the ground. "It's a long story, Reiss."

His lips twitched upward. "It can't be any longer than last time."

She snorted, nodding. "Fair; it isn't that long… You know my twin brother, Natsu?" She continued without waiting for an answer; they both knew it had been rhetorical. "Well, his friend, Lucy, was sent back in time to kill our younger selves-"

Reiss sniggered; she scowled, hitting him across the head, and he broke into proper laughter, fending her off as she pounced on him.

"That's not even the point, Reiss!" she scolded, laughing with him.

"All your stories go like this, Ak!"

She sat back on her heals, scowl-grinning. "I think I don't have any idea what you mean, Rei."

He blinked, eyes widening the tiniest bit, before smiling gently, tilting his head. "It's never the same again, Ak."

She went a bit pink, staring at the ground. "I- and- saved us- Galuna- protected him- he- I- we have- I'm free- I've got my brothers back…" He scooched closer, putting an arm around her. She leaned sideways into his embrace, eyes closed. "I was used in some rituals" —Reiss's face contorted, and he hugged her harder— "and his friend- she cried for me… she called me her friend, me…"

He nodded silently, his nose brushing across her pink hair as she tilted her head back, staring at the sparsely clouded sky.

"It should be perfect, ya know?"

"Mn."

"But it's not."

"Mn."

"Why?"

"It's never enough, anything, for anyone."

She shook her head, a wry smile on her lips. "You're the only one who has never judged me, you know."

"Humans do that."

"You're human."

"I'm special."

She hooted, but he didn't join her. "How did I come across someone so special, then?"

"I came across a queen; I don't know what you're talking about."

She grinned faintly, cheeks tinted with pleasure. "I-"

"M-m," he muttered, shaking his head against hers.

"How do you know?"

"How does everyone else not know, you mean?"

"Either way."

"They're all blind, in my opinion."

"That's not-"

"I don't give a dragon if it's fair to the-em," he breezed, choking on the last word when she elbowed him in the side.

"Language, Rei!"

He smirked, rolling away as he swore, "Dragon-flapping-lizard-tails-"

"Get back here, you dragon-flapper!"

"Language yourself, hypocrite!"

Two mages, one white as snow, one a fluttering cherry blossom, chased each other, laughing, tumbling to the grass with several yelps from her, and a single oof from him.

{-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-}

(*writers' headquarters are always on fire and screaming*)
Hey! So, in case it wasn't clear, this is a chapter that happened #)$(*&%*) #(*%&^$&^ ) )&$)(*# &%)(*&%)(*&)(#*&$ ###&$* #(%_ #)$&%+_# )(&$(* #)&!_!_!_)_( &$*&(*&%^#() *$(#)$*(#)$#Q #$ #$^%#^$&&*(%()$^)(*&^%$%^&*()_(*&^%$^&*(()*&^%$^&*. And that pretty much covers it. (Ie, I'm not explaining.) Reason for this timing? I'm not telling. Reason for his existence? I'm not telling. Reason he hasn't appeared before now? I'm not telling. Reason for italics? I'm not telling. Reason for- I'm. Not. Telling. (^v^)ψ Glad to clear things up.
I went on a whole rant about a topic I ended up not including in this A/N at all, but I think I'll keep this little gem: Aki's at the steering wheel, I'm just taking notes of the places she's going.
Oh, and Aki's asexual, in case you didn't know. Not sure if I ever directly said it :/