A soft purple haze settled over the forest landscape beneath a three mooned sky. The stars were arranged in patterns never before seen by human eyes before the previous night. The yellow toned buildings nestled in a valley nearby glowed with soft green light. It echoed with the faint sounds of a hundred different songs being played throughout the small city at different volumes. A celebration of the ages was taking place worldwide for no small reason. The apocalypse had passed and the Plume survived with minor casualties.

The larger building that followed the architecture of this world sat atop a hill at the crest of the valley. A decadent garden had giggling Plumes coupling up and getting away from the high society party taking place within. Soft light illuminated a lone human who watched from the balcony with an expression that, to the untrained eye, looked bored and unimpressed. However, to a friend, she watched with a melancholy smile.

What she wore was not typical Plume fashion. A black knee length dress that hugged her curves and covered her arms to her wrists was unheard of. The low cut neckline showing the grey skin of her collar bones only helped demonstrate how alien she was to them. The aloof demeanour ensured the Plume, while grateful, did not approach her nor speak with her. Each time one of them accidentally made eye contact with the humanoid woman their beady bird eyes immediately snapped to her companion in panic. After three hours of every Plume having the exact. same. reaction. She had reached her limit of tolerance and had sought refuge with the stars.

"Thought I'd find you out here" Came the voice of her companion. His face was cast into shadow from the light illuminating behind but the smirk was so audible in his tones she knew he was smiling. She was not certain of the source of his smugness and whether it was her predictability or his knowledge of her personality. She just knew she was annoyed and that tone wasn't going to help.

She took a calculated breath to steady herself and reestablish the emotional equilibrium she was famous for as he strode into the night to meet her, a flute of something in each hand. As he grew closer she realized he'd lost the tie to his dark blue suit at some point in the night. She speculated that he probably loosened it in the early evening and lost it while mingling. As what typically happened at these sorts of things. They were running out of ties. She'd have to search the marketplace of this planet before they left for their next adventure.

He held out a hand in silent offering of one of the flutes without looking away from the sky. She smirked slightly as she took the offering from him as she observed his awe. He never got tired of seeing the stars, let alone the stars of different galaxies from the perspectives of alien planets. His enthusiasm for space was a constant in their lives that they both immensely appreciated.

She tore her gaze from his blue eyes brimming with wonder as they stared at the heavens. Swallowing the surge of unidentified emotion she turned her attentions to her glass, swirling the liquid inquisitively.

"Is this champagne?" She asked as she brought the flute up to her nose to sniff.

He finally turned his gaze back to her before he shrugged and took a large sip of his own flute. "I have no idea. I wasn't ever able to try the stuff on Earth. But it's tasty. I thought you'd like it." He downed the rest of it before setting the glass to the side on the thick wood like railing. "As usual our eternal search for dairy products still has no results. The Plume don't do lactose. The concept of milk isn't even a thing here! Do you have any idea how awkward it was explaining how mammals work and why it wasn't weird that I wanted to drink another species child's milk?" His cheeks had a slight flush while he waved his hand around agitated.

Her sigh spoke of years of familiarity, "Danny, this is the fifth planet you've asked and this is the fifth planet you've gotten similar criticism at. Just accept it's weird and lean into it." She brought the flute to her lips and took a small sip. Her eyes widened in surprised delight before she took another.

He grinned at her reaction, turned, and then leaned his back against the railing to stretch out his long swimmers build body. An arm stretched to lay on the wood like structure as he crossed his ankles. The man was impressively tall, even more so when standing next to the woman. His mirth faded as he looked at her before becoming pensive. "Raven," he began, demanding her attention as though he didn't already have it, "You haven't been yourself today." At her shrug he continued more insistent, "I know I'm not the most emotionally stable, but if you want to talk about it I'm all ears."

The slight upward twitch in her lips vanished. She moved to lean over against the railing once again pressing lightly against his outstretched arm as she took another liberal sip. "I..." She hesitated. She turned towards the sky and finding it much easier to confess to galaxies than herself. "The Plume operate under the Unionized Galaxy's Calendar of Cxar so I was able to get the year and date. I translated it into human years cause I was curious how long it'd been since we last checked and..." She took a deep breath and tried to push out her internal conflict with a steady exhale. "It's Garfield's anniversary. To the day he died." She finished her drink and took a couple steps to gently placed her flute next to his before she moved back to rest against the railing once more.

The shadows darkened and a taste of sorrow permeated the air as silence crept between them. Danny's eyes were as tight as the line of his mouth as he took his time to process her words and process the emotions the words ignited within himself. His face writhed with apprehension and pain as he struggled to subdue them.

"I understand. I..." He choked on his next word before he swallowed and attempted again "I still want to listen. You've heard more than enough from me so. Please." With an unseen eternal struggle Danny shook his head to ground himself and accidentally forced his black hair to fall into his eyes. "If you want to that is."

A lamp in the garden shattered and the light outside grew dimmer. Raven gritted her teeth and forced herself to be honest to him "What really bothers me is how... How I just forgot. Forgot the anniversary," she began as her mouth fought against the urge to snap shut. "Forgot to mourn him," tears crept traitorously from the corners of her eyes as she choked out the true root of unease that had settled deep into her mind.

"Forgot to remember him."

She ripped her gaze back to Danny with slight apprehension to take in his expression only to be relieved to find comradery and understanding in his eyes. She knew they were in this together no matter what but a reassurance like this in a time of emotional vulnerability to this degree was immensely healing for her current mental state.

Danny remained silent as he was an excellent listener. A result from years of practice. The shadows had grown darker. However, they felt less menacing and more a darkness meant to hide secrets in. A darkness meant to reassure rather than unease.

"I-" she choked, "I feel guilty. He was my friend." She growled out frustrated. "My family." The railing began to crack under the pressure of her tightening grip. " My teammate." She finally turned to look at Danny with wild eyes as she acknowledged her turmoil. "He was my first love."

Her hands flew from the railing to wrap around her torso. She gripped her elbows tight as she wrestled with the moisture in her eyes. She forced the tears back. They glistened near her iris as she took deep even breaths.

The sound of rustled fabric, a slow movement, and then strong wiry arms wrapped around her from behind. He rested his head atop hers to put a slight even pressure against her head to help ground her. The body behind her was colder than it had any right to be yet the sharpness of their temperature contrast helped pull her from her spiral and back into her reality. She counted lampposts, guests, anything and everything she could see she counted until she was back in control.

Giggles erupted from inside as the party continued unaware. The silence between the two embracing stretched and Raven silently vowed she would not be the one to break it. After six different sets of music had played and not a word had been spoken between them Danny wet his lips once as he fought against the dryness of his mouth to reassure her.

"It's... It's hard to remember." He paused as he tried to organize his thoughts before he gave up. Raven felt her lips twitch as she fought a fond smile. Danny wasn't good at thinking before speaking and he hadn't gotten any better with age. "It's hard to want to remember." He sighed against her hair as his arms tightened slightly around her as if to hold himself in this moment. "We're free and we're living a life we can find joy in." He said with an undertone of wonder before it curdled into one of self loathing. "I think everyday part of myself wants to take me back to those places. Back to where we hurt." He let out a deep pained breath, "To where we mourn. Part of myself wants to drown in the sorrow. Live only for the remembrance of the dead."

He buried his face in her hair as the air grew colder. Frost began to gather on the railing, began to crawl up the glass of their flutes,it left small intricate blue patterns as it spread.

"I think I'll always feel like I failed them." He whispered ashamed, "and I think I'll always feel like-like if I'm not remembering them I'm failing them." She reached one trembling hand over to one of his arms and stroked his biceps in reassurance. "I think..." He shifted his other arm to rest his spare hand on top of hers. "I think it's okay to feel that way. But I also think it's okay to ignore it." He tightened his grip on her hand. "I think it's okay to want to be happy Rae but I don't think we're the kind of people who can be happy when we're carrying around our pasts at the forefronts of our minds." He took a deep breath and said confidentiality, "Not remembering doesn't mean we don't care. It just means it still hurts."

He paused before he chuckled as he lifted his head away from hers. "Finally got it. That's what I was trying to say." He struggled for the words for a second. "It hurts Rae. Of course you didn't want to remember." He trailed off as he got lost in his thoughts while he lost his gaze in the sky.

A slow bittersweet ballad began to play. As Danny began to rock them to the beat Raven closed her eyes and focused on the motion of their bodies as his words sunk into her and shifted her perspective.

"Your words were very reassuring." She thanked with her eyes still closed.

"What are best friends for?" He jokingly asked her with a voice that screamed to her that he was smiling his dorkiest smile in that moment.

Something ugly crawled up her throat at his words before she shoved the feeling back below her breast. As long as she continued to ignore it, it wouldn't exist right?

The ballad ended and his swaying stopped. "Now," he began as he let her go and moved away from her, "what do ya say we get outta here? I heard they have more of that drink down Maij Street." He asked as he threw his thumb over his shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows at her as she turned to face him.

What she wanted to say to him is sometimes I see Garfield in your smile. Sometimes I see him in your gestures or your words. Not as a replacement, but as things I adored about him. I touch you and I think I could love you forever and that terrifies me.

But what she actually said is "That was absolutely champagne."

"What?!" He asked in surprised delight before he reached out to grab her hand. "We need to stock up! No time to waste!"

She often caught herself smiling and looking at Danny as he pulled her through the crowds. When he stopped to give half asses excuses for their disappearance and early leave to the persistent she quickly buried her joy. When they were free of the building and it's inhabitants he still didn't let go of her hand. As they ran through the streets picking up spare ties and bottles of champagne, lamp posts near them often shattered from the occasional quip or tightening of hands. The shattered glass and wood like beams littered the streets would be the talk of the town for the upcoming weeks.

It didn't matter to them anyway. They were gone by morning.