"Oceans of Stars" By Amber Michelle and Rune Grey myaru@etherealvoid.net, wind@leamonde.net *Generic disclaimer... we don't own these characters, although they might go around claiming they own us.* The sky was nothing more than a sea of stars, a glimmering chair of lights that stretched from horizon to horizon like a ribbon of diamonds. The night seemed like a black sheet of velvet that pressed from all around, a comforting blanket of darkness. Light from the moon provided a silvery frost of light as it reflected off of the smooth surface of the sea. Fei smiled as the cool moonlight washed over him, frosting his hair in a soft silver glow. For what it was worth, the night seemed just short of perfect... a gift from God... if He were inclined to grace a poor painter with his attention. He stood slowly, glancing around the grassy expanse of beach that stretched out before him. The part of his soul that was a painter took in all of the beauty, placing it aside so that he could draw upon it again later on. Such perfection was indeed rare... and for once, he seemed to have timed one of these moments exactly right. She appeared down the beach, walking along the thin trail of sand that he had walked across earlier. The light of the moon seemed to deepen to a glowing red as it washed over her hair, giving her a quality that seemed to be more than human... angelic, if he had to chose a word to describe it. Smiling, Fei held out his hand as he walked across the beach towards her. "Elly... I'm glad you came. Thank you." "No reason to thank me." She offered her small smile, reaching out and curling her fingers around his hand. Clasping it tightly between her own two hands, Elly waited a moment in silent question, head tilted and hair drifting on a brief, invisible breeze. After a moment, however, she seemed compelled to speak. "Did you ask me out here for something, or just to enjoy the beautiful night?" She turned her glittering eyes to the sky, that small smile playing at her lips widening. "You must see a million opportunities for paintings and drawings, right now... It's like a scene from heaven, almost." Just the sight of her smile was enough to help Fei get himself under control. Regardless of his concerns, as long as she kept that smile everything would work out in the end... With a smile, he turned to face the breeze, tightening his grip around Elly's hand ever so slightly. "Yes... it is. I did want to be able to share it with you, after all. Beauty is such a rare thing in the world that it must be treasured whenever possible. "It's like the old days... when I used to come trek from Nisan out to the shore, to look at the starts and practice my paintings. The stars have a simple beauty, but the simple things are the hardest to capture and remember..." He smiled, turning to look back at Elly for a moment before he continued, his smile deepening slightly. "I don't think that I could ever forget you..." Elly's gaze fell back to him and she raised an eyebrow, half tempted to give him a hard time and pretend to take his words out of context... but no. Rather than taunting - she had enough opportunity to do that during the day, after all - she brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed his fingertips. The feeling this night inspired in her was too precious to break, even with light-hearted teasing. At least for now. "I hope not..." She bit her lip, smiling around it. "If you did forget, I would have to make it my mission to remind you. And you know I won't give up if I set myself to doing something important..." It was actually quite a disturbing thought, forgetting... As irrational as it had been, Elly had been half afraid that she would lose herself - or that Fei would - once Zohar and Deus were completely gone. Until those moments at the end, with Krelian, she had never realised just how much a part of her that program was... or what would be missing once she was free. It felt almost as if she was only half a person... although when she was with Fei, that feeling always seemed to fade away. She'd never told him that... even Krelian hadn't really understood. Perhaps it was time to say something, finally. With such a perfect night enveloping them, anything could happen. Fei smiled in response, marveling at the effect of the moonlight carassing her face. "How could I forget that, as well? Dear dedicated Elly... willing to carry any cause to its conclusion." He gently reached up, brushing a few errant strands of hair away from her face. Part of their exsistance was their familiarity with each other... each of them a mirror of the others soul. And it was in that understanding that Fei felt something... cold. A memory so lost in the history of his mind that it was not as much a memory as a myth. A recollection of the beginning, long ago in front of the Zohar Modifier... "What did I ever do to deserve you Elly?" he asked quietly, a slight catch in his voice as part of his fears rose to the surface. Because in the beginning, he HAD done nothing to deserve her... simply a child in the right place, at the right time. His memories and desires used as a template to create a companion for him over the ages as he moved to complete his destiny... "To deserve you love, you kindness...?" He had to know, before he could move on. With all of his memories, everything that he could recall as still dominated by 'Fei', and his experiences in this life. He was no longer quite the same as he had been before his father had healed the breach in his mind, but he was still very close. But Elly had absorbed all of Miang's memories as well... how much of the Elly that he had fallen in love with was left? And was it a simple directive a computer had created that drew her to him, a lost memory...? "Deserve me?" Her look, the tilt of her head, was almost mystified, though her mind played over the possibilities behind his questions. Part emotion, and part the cold reason she had inherited from her own long experience. Her 'own' now, not another's... "You didn't have to do anything to deserve me, Fei. We're all born deserving of love." Elly returned his gesture after a pause, brushing his unruly hair from his eyes... a habit echoed from time unending, so familiar she almost thought it was yet another bit programmed into her... "I'm just like anyone else. If anything, I don't really deserve you. You risked death and worse to help me, and all I've done is cause you pain... worry..." She shrugged, letting her hand drop to his shoulder. "I'd say we deserve each other, but I don't know if that is such a wonderful answer..." It was said with a smile, faint as the moonlight. Fei blinked in surprise... more of because he could not think of anything else to say for a moment. Everything that had happened had seemed to natural to him, enough to be second nature by now. When he finally could speak, all he could get out was a faint laugh. "I just wonder who we are now... a painter and a pilot, or two people who have seen millenia roll by them as they have lived..." He sighed, cupping Elly's cheek and running a finger down the side of her face. "When we met, we didn't know anything about who we were, or why we felt that we knew each other... and I have to wonder if... if we hadn't lived the lives that we had, would we have ever found what we have between us?" "Well..." Again Elly shrugged, leaning into his caress almost without thought. "Why not? We couldn't remember our past for the longest time... you helped me when you had no idea who I was, and I joined you because I believed in your cause... Who is to say that we wouldn't have developed feelings for each other even without that?" A flash of mischeif lit her eyes, and she took another step forward, embracing him tightly. "Because, you know..." she whispered in his ear, almost laughing, "All of the /other/ desirable guys were already taken anyway..." Fei simply stared at her for a moment, instinctivly tightening his arms around her as she embraced him. The desire to stare at her in shock, and to demand to know exactly what she meant by that comment raged withing him for a moment as he looked down at her. And finally, he did the only thing he could do... he laughed. Elly's smiled deepened after a moment, as Fei returned the embrace. "Oh, is that so?" he replied, a smile matching her own on his face. "Probably because 'you' had already taken them... and a good number of the beautiful ladies as well..." "I don't know what to say to that..." She planted a light kiss on his chin and stared up at him, arms still wreathed around his neck. "... Or even what made me say such a thing..." Wind brushed over her face again, sending their hair flying, and Elly turned her face against it so her bangs streamed back, and out of her eyes. Memories. The sound of the surf, the wind brushing her with cool fingers, the feeling of sand between her toes... It was an echo of something she could only imagine in visions, something she couldn't put into words. But this felt right to her; Fei's arms, and the sea spray coating her face with that tint of salt... and the moonlight. With a smile and a nod, Fei gestured towards one of the rocks nearby, inviting her to sit down next to him. The evening breeze swept by the, ruffling the folds of his shirt as he looked out at the ocean. "We came from the ocean... and ocean of water, and an ocean of stars," he whispered quietly as Elly sat down next to him. "We met by the ocean... we nearly starved to death on the ocean... and got shot down by Bart... and returned to Ignas, from the sky to the sea." He shifted slight, gently wrapping an arm around Elly as he gazed up at the stars. A single pinpoint of light flashed across his vision, arcing over the horizon towards the east. "Even after ten thousand years... we both fell in love time and again. But when we fought so hard to avoid one destiny that was planned for us, can we in good faith lay claim to another?" "I think..." Elly paused, following his gaze into the endless night, and its millions of tiny stars. "I think we should release our hold on destiny. We defeated that overbearing 'will'... It's our decision, now, whether we think we deserve each other or not." Head still tilted back, she looked over at him, wondering what his reaction would be. "Don't you think so...?" Fei nodded and smiled slightly, running a finger down the line of her jaw in a gentle caress. "I agree... we deserve our own chance at life, one where we can live in peace, without the Ministry or anyone else trying to manipulate us to our own ends. A world where our children can live in peace... "I loved you before I even had a hint of our past... before Emeralda, before Grahf and Miang. I don't want to lose that, simply because we have become more than what we once were." Fei rested his head against Elly's, the breeze causing her hair to tease at his face for a moment. "Always..." A smile tugged at Elly's mouth again, and she clasped his hand. "How can I possibly say anything as nice as that? You've outdone me..." Her hair swirled around her shoulders, stuck to cheeks moist with sea spray. She brushed it back with idle fingers, a new thought overshadowing her smile, for a moment. "Fei..." It seemed odd to ask, and she knew it... but she felt compelled. "Have you... seen Ramsus, since Merkava? Have you tried to talk to him at all?" She almost regretted the question as soon as she asked, though she didn't know why... Only, she hoped it wouldn't disturb him too much... it was obvious what he had been thinking, when she'd first met him here tonight... Fei shook his head after a moment, a faint frown crossing his face. "No, not since Doc slapped some sense into him back in Shevat. But... he has changed. I think that once he had lost the veil that Krelian had put over him, he did start to heal. Once he realized he could be something more." Glancing over at Elly, Fei chucked after a moment upon seeing her expression. With a smile of reassurance, he continued. "I have looked... I want to be able to face him one last time. To see which of us truly is the best, now that we have found ourselves..." Something like a giggle escaped Elly's lips. "You'll have to fight Dominia first..." Of course that wasn't completely true... at least she didn't think so. The Element -- all of them, really -- had calmed down quite a bit since Deus's fall. She leaned on Fei's shoulder, falling silent. Ramsus seemed much better... she only hoped it was true. She didn't want to pity him, and she hated the guilt that still hung over her heart, whenever she saw his face... "I hope you two can be friends..." Again she paused, mind wandering lethargically as she gazed out over the glittering ocean. Then, "He reminds me of Krelian." Elly smiled, lips parting. "Don't let him wipe the floor with you too often..." Fei turned to face her, smiling in return. "Well, I still have some pride... and after all, I think Ramsus could do much better on his own now." He paused, their faces almost touching now. "Just promise that you'll still respect me if I happen to lose on purpose..." "Of course..." Elly bestowed a light kiss upon his lips, and slid off the rock. Still grasping his hand. "Shall we return? I left Margie in the middle of a meeting, and I don't think we want her to muster up any search parties..." With a quick motion, Fei gently pulled her towards him, pressing a kiss to her lips. "She can stand to wait a little while longer... and certainly you don't want to waste the evening, do you Elly...?" He asked her quietly, a faint smile on his lips. "I think they will understand..."