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Two young people were sitting on a bench, watching the shooting stars shining at a certain rooftop in the Dream’s Edge, hand in hand.
They had just returned from the Radiant Feldspar, the most lavish and luxurious ship in Penacony that Caelus somehow was now the owner of in an unexpected display of gesture by Robin.
The two sat in relative silence, just enjoying each other’s company as they both knew that this might be the last time they get to do this for a while.
“Hey Firefly?” Caelus suddenly said, staring at the stars falling in the sky.
“Yes Caelus?” She kept her eyes on the shooting stars as well, content with just being in his grasp and leaning on his shoulder.
“This might sound crazy, but I need you to answer me honestly. You promised me no more secrets, right?” Caelus turned his head and now looked at her straight in the eyes with a serious expression.
“I did.” She returned his gaze and smiled. “What's on your mind?”
Caelus took a moment to gather his thoughts. He was noticeably worried with what he was about to say and the complications that might arise but decided that this might be his only chance to do it.
“Do we… know each other?”
Firefly's smile immediately disappeared.
“Huh? Wh… what do you mean if we know each other?”
Caelus spoke with conviction in his voice. “Penacony's not the first time we've met, right?”
Firefly was now a stuttering mess, she suddenly seemed very tense and let go of his hand. “Wh... what ar… are you saying Caelus?? Where is this coming from? Of course… of course it is! How could it not be?”
The hesitation in her voice gave him all the confirmation he needed.
“Do you ever get the feeling of longing, Firefly? For me, anytime I see Kafka or Silver Wolf, heck even Blade sometimes, something inside of me wells up and gnaws at the back of my head, like it's trying to tell me that I'm missing something incredibly important.”
Firefly only stared in silence.
“I've been feeling this way ever since I first saw them, and it never went away. I just can't figure out why, it’s like there are puzzle pieces in my mind that have faded away and I can't fix them no matter how hard I try. I hate that feeling. I still feel that way even now.”
Firefly thought about what to say. She had to be very careful with her words.
“So… if you feel this way… why not just ask them about it?”
He looked down at the ground now, unable to look at her any longer.
“Because… I'm scared. I'm scared that if I did ask, something would change, and it would ruin the friendship I already have with them.”
“I feel… I feel like they’re important to me somehow, but my memories are basically a blur before I first saw them in the space station, and I don’t want to reenact whatever I had with them because I don’t know what that even should be.”
They sat there in silence, neither of them not knowing what they should say next.
Eventually, Caelus decided to just come out and say what his mind was screaming at him to say.
“So… that brings me to you, Firefly.”
He looked at her eyes filled with confusion.
“That feeling of longing I can't escape when I think of them? It's the same with you, except it's one hundred times stronger.”
He could only sigh.
“I can't sleep, Firefly. My mind is screaming at me whenever I see you, whenever I think about you. My chest feels so tight that I feel like I'll pass out.”
Her heart started to beat ever faster.
“I think of myself… as a very cautious person. There are some individuals who have betrayed my trust in the past and I find it harder to get close to new people because of that.”
“When I first saw you in the Golden Hour though, I was immediately enamored. You were the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, sure, but there was more than that. I felt that I could trust you no matter what. Even when you lied, I felt no malice. I believed in you without a doubt. I’ve never felt this way about someone before, it’s like all the warning signs in my mind were suddenly gone when it came to you.”
“When you got stabbed by the meme and I thought I lost you, my whole world was shattered. I couldn't do anything at all, and the pain was so bad that I even thought about killing myself. Why did I feel so horrible? I had just met you a few hours beforehand.”
Her eyes widened and she stared in shock. Her heart broke at his revelation.
“Caelus I…”
He held a hand up, “Please… let me finish.”
She nodded in reluctance but chose to hold his hand again. Caelus continued letting his heart out.
“When I saw SAM for the first time, one of the lost puzzle pieces finally clicked and it felt like all the trash cans I've been so addicted to in the past suddenly just vanished from my mind.”
“When I saw you again after you took off the armor, safe and sound, it felt like my broken heart was immediately put back together and I was just overwhelmed with so much happiness and relief.”
“When you left the audition to face your second death, the feeling of despair once again plagued my heart, and I couldn't think about anything else without worrying about you.”
“And finally… when I saw you fly off with Sparkle's bomb ready to sacrifice yourself to save everyone else, my heart felt like it finally had enough. I shut down, and the only thing I could do was pray to whatever Aeon and beg for your safety.”
He now took both of her hands and held them while staring at the sunset in her eyes. He didn't notice when, but tears were pouring down her cheeks.
He realized his voice was breaking but continued on.
“I… I can’t keep living like this, Firefly. This feeling... It's urging me to hold you, to protect you; to hug you and never let you go, because if I don’t, I’ll lose you forever. It’s telling me that you are the biggest puzzle piece of all that I’ve been so desperately missing.”
“I know this basically sounds like the most heartfelt confession ever but… but I assure you it's not! …It’s not because I have the strongest feeling that this isn’t the first time I’ve said these things to you.”
He found himself wavering but pushed himself to continue.
“And… I’m terrified. I’m so scared to act on these feelings because I don’t want to ruin what I already have with you. I could very well be crazy and none of these feelings could be real… but my heart is telling me that I have to, Aeons I feel like I’m going insane.”
Caelus realized that he was now crying as well. He decided to ask the million-dollar question.
“Please… Firefly. Tell me... what are we?”
Instead of words, Firefly completely broke down and turned into a sobbing mess. She lunged at Caelus and enveloped him in the most heartfelt embrace.
He suddenly got the feeling that his fears were true and he really did mess up.
“Fire… Firefly? What’s wrong!? I’m sorry… please I don’t know what I was thinking!”
With her face buried in his chest, she finally found her voice, and now it was her turn to let her shackled heart free.
“You… remember. You finally remember!” Firefly spoke with such an elated tone, it was completely different from how she normally spoke, and the feeling of her in his arms hit Caelus with the biggest sense of déjà vu.
“Huh… huh? So… I’m right? We really are…?” He was in disbelief.
“Yes! We are! We’re together!” Firefly was hugging him now and was simultaneously giggling and crying like a little girl who had finally found her long-lost toy.
Amidst the laughter and the sobbing, she pulled back and steered herself to explain, knowing he must be confused.
“Elio forbade us… from bringing up too much of your past, unless you brought it up yourself. He said it would interfere with the script. I know Kafka and Blade might have said something, but I couldn’t at all because of how close we were.”
Caelus could only stare in shock.
“I’m so sorry for keeping this from you, Cae. This was the one and only secret I had to keep from you at all costs unless I was really sure you remembered.”
Cae. That nickname. That was the final trigger. Suddenly, all the memories of them together were finally coming back to him and it felt like a million puzzle pieces suddenly became ever so clearer.
He was now sobbing in turn; he was overwhelmed with so much happiness and guilt. “I… I remember, Fly! I remember us! Oh my Aeons, how did I forget! How could I ever stop loving you?!”
Firefly squealed at the sound of her lost nickname. “You called me Fly! You remembered that too!”
After a brief moment of respite, she enveloped him once more, “It’s okay, Cae. It’s not your fault at all, we had to follow Elio’s script. All that matters is that we’re together once again.”
He returned the hug but was tormented with guilt. “But still Fly, I left you all alone for so long, how could you possibly still hold any love for me?”
He immediately regretted his words as he witnessed Firefly’s face go into battle mode with that adorable scowl of hers. “Hey, stop saying that Cae. Don’t you remember what happened after we received the script from Elio?”
He shook his head, “Not really? There are still some things fuzzy up here.”
Her smile returned once again, and he breathed a sigh of relief. “You said that we should break up and I should find someone else. I slapped you after that, hard. I never stopped loving you, dummy, and it’s impossible for me to love anyone else. You taught me that feeling, after all.”
Caelus found it hard to accept her words, she has been alone all this time for who knows how long. “Still Fly, it’s my fault. If only I could’ve remembered sooner. No, I should’ve been able to remember it sooner, it’s you after all.”
She could only shake her head. “Stop blaming yourself Cae. Yes, it was incredibly lonely at first, but I know that you took care of me even when you weren’t there. You told the others to look after me, right? Kafka dragged me out to go shopping every week, Silver Wolf wanted me to play games with her all the time, even Blade asked me to go with him and beat up some monsters from time to time which he never used to do.”
Caelus smiled; he did remember asking the rest of the Stellaron Hunters to take good care of her in his stead as a final favor for him. It’s good to know they kept their promise, he would have to thank them whenever he saw them again.
“And besides, do you know how happy I was when I realized you were falling in love with me all over again? I was content with waiting however long it took for you to remember. We’re destined to be together after all!” Firefly was feeling giddy with excitement, she was in such a good mood that it warmed Caelus’ heart.
Feeling a sense of boldness and yearning washing over him, Caelus held Firefly by the waist and pulled her into a loving exchange of lips as they kissed passionately. She was surprised but almost immediately melted into it and reciprocated the gesture. It was a kiss that was long overdue, and it lasted for a long time too.
After what seemed like ages, they pulled away and stared into each other's eyes, both of them having red blushes on their faces.
He was the first to break the silence. “Sorry for the sudden sneak attack, I just couldn’t wait any longer to do that.”
Firefly could only giggle, “I was about to do it too silly, I missed you so much Cae.”
“I missed you too.” Upon the recollection of his memories all of the screaming and pain that plagued his mind seemed to go away. He was finally at peace; the feeling of longing had finally subsided. Elio was right once again it seemed, they really did obtain unforgettable gains from the planet of festivities.
They embraced each other once more and sat down on the ground, staring at the shooting stars in blissful silence. This was one of their favorite activities in the past after all, just relaxing in each other's warmth as they forgot all about their troubles and worries.
This wasn’t such an occasion though, as both of them knew this feeling couldn’t last forever, not yet at least. After a couple minutes, Firefly decided she should be the one to break the ice. It seemed like the time had come.
“Hey Cae?” She leaned her back into his chest as they both kept their eyes on the shooting stars.
“Yeah Fly?” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
“Do you remember the promise we made right before we had to leave each other?”
Upon hearing those words, Caelus instinctively reached into his jacket pockets, trying to search for something frantically.
“I have it with me, silly. You left it with me because you were scared you wouldn’t remember and throw it away.”
Firefly manifested a black box out of thin air, she pulled away and sat in front of him. Upon opening the box, two silver rings shone brightly under the moonlight of the sky.
Caelus found himself tearing up again, he knew exactly what these two rings symbolized. “That’s right… we promised that we would put on these rings once we were reunited for good, so we could spend the rest of our lives together.”
Firefly could only smile in return. “Yes, we did, I’m so happy you remember. I’m also sad though, because now is not that time. Even though we’re together again, we also have to move further apart.”
He tried his best to keep his composure. “I… I know. We still have to find the cure for your disease after all.”
Firefly nodded and Caelus took hold of both of her hands, it seemed like he made a decision. “Even so, I still want us both to wear them now. We’ve finally reunited, and these rings will serve as a memento and a reminder for what we’re fighting for even when we’re light years apart.”
Firefly had the biggest smile of the whole night on her face. ‘That’s a great idea Cae! It’ll also ward off any potential threats who would dare even think of taking you away from me.”
He laughed, if she was in the mood to tease then he didn’t feel so bad anymore. “Hey, I have to keep an eye on you too, you’re the prettiest girl in the whole universe with a badass mech to boot, this ring will help with that.”
She scoffed and playfully pushed his arms away, “Heh, flattery will get you nowhere, as if anyone could even hope to compare with you. I hope you know this ring will never come off until we both have reached the end of our journeys; you better do the same!”
“Of course I will, Fly.” He seemed reserved, suddenly he wasn’t worried about the future anymore.
“It’s funny. When I first woke up at that space station, I felt so lost and empty, like I had no purpose in life. The only reason I joined the Astral Express was because I had nowhere else to go and nothing to do. I felt that way for all of the planets we’ve gone to so far. Yeah, I like helping people and following the path of the trailblaze, but I still felt like I was missing something to strive for. It’s only now that I finally realized what my goal is: to find a cure and reunite with you for good at our journey's end.”
Firefly was now tearing up, he softly held her head as he struggled to keep his tears from falling as well. They held their foreheads together under the star-filled sky and reiterated their promises.
“I promise Firefly, I will find a cure for you. You will not die as long as I still exist, this isn’t goodbye, but instead it’s a beginning that will shape our future together. We will meet again; I swear by that.”
Her voice was filled with love and emotion. “I promise too, Caelus. I will find a cure for myself and come back to you. Even if we must separate now, our hearts will always be together for all of eternity, these rings prove that. No matter how much time it takes, I swear to continue living for myself, and for you. We will meet again.”
The two star-crossed lovers share one final embrace after saying their vows, they leave the fabled rooftop hand in hand without a doubt in their hearts, because they know that their ambitions will someday come to fruition.