A
Ametheliana
188604
Nath Tower
Aashi had just gotten done showering and was sitting on her bed, deliberating. She had things to do, things to say. Things that she did not want to face. She finally got up, got dressed, slung her still-wet hair over her back and stepped into the elevator with her familiar there with her. She made her way to Werner's suite and opened the door with her key card, not thinking twice about whether he would be there or not or if he would want her to enter. Her thoughts were on other things, instead, and she wasn't thinking straight.
A sliver skycar pulled up outside the tower. Ulysses popped the trunk and grabbed his shore bag, before moving to walk inside. He had been away on clean up operations in the I'ee's home sector. His bag rolled behind him as he walked through the lobby. He smiled softly and nodded to the doorman as he moved and got on the elevator. Typical day back for Ulysses, or so he thought. As he reached his floor and stepped into his room, he found Aashi and A waiting for him. The man actually jumped slightly, caught off guard.
"Hey Aashi." He said gaining his composure and smiling warmly, he then looked over to the familiar and smiled. "Hey my girl." He said softly. He turned back and he noticed Aashi's grim demeanor. "Hey what's wrong...?" He said walking over to her.
"Hey," Aashi merely said. She was short on words and incapable of talking about what was wrong. "How are you?"
He frowned, this was not her typical behavior. "I'm fine. But how are you?" He asked again moving closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"I'm alright, Ulysses. I'm alright. Maybe we should lay down?" she asked.
He gave her a squeeze and a reassuring smile. "Sure. Let's go lay down." He said bringing Aashi to his bedroom and throwing the covers up so she could get comfortable.
She put her hand on the bed and let her hip fall, then let her torso follow. She laid in a fetal position for a few moments, waiting for Ulysses.
He laid down next to her and slid his arm under her head so that she was resting it in the crook of his arm. Then his other hand moved to hold hers, intertwining their fingers. "Aashi... tell me what's wrong..." He whispered softly after a few minutes.
She buried her face into his shoulder and rubber it back and forth, shaking her head no.
He moved and held her firmly, placing a hand on the back of her head and rubbing it softly. He then leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. "It's okay... Whatever it is, it will be okay..."
"I'm not so sure," Aashi muttered before pushing her face closer into his body. "I'm not sure about that. It is bad, Ulysses. Bad for us."
Werner tried to remain calm, but inside he was very worried. He hugged her again. "Please Aashi... what's so bad..."
"I need to find my ship, Ulysses," she said as she looked up with tears in her eyes. "I need to..." she trailed off, then, as a tear slid out of one eye, said, "I need to go."
Ulysses face dropped as he heard the words, and his heart sank. "Y...you're leaving..." He said softly, as if the word didn't sound right in the same sentence. He struggled to keep his own emotions in check as he wiped the tear away from Aashi's face.
"It's the way I need to go. I can't stay here forever, no matter how much I love--" she caught herself, realizing she had almost said you. "I need to go, no matter how much I..." she trailed off, not knowing the right way to get around her own feelings for Ulysses. "I just can't stay any longer."
He stared back into her eyes, his silver eyes beginning to glisten. "Aashi... then... let me come with you." What he wanted to say was 'I can't live without you.' His heart was heavy in his chest as he fought the emotions bubbling up to the surface. Things that the Nepleslian had not felt about anyone in his life before.
"I couldn't ask that of you, Ulysses," Aashi said. "But I would never stop you from being close to me. I will always want you as near to me as you are to my heart."
Werner couldn't take it anymore. A tear rolled from his face and he vigorously wiped it away. "Please Aashi, just stay a bit longer... I can help you, but I have to finish my contract first. Please Aashi. I..." His eyes looked into her's, unable to finish his sentence.
"I need to do this, Ulysses," Aashi said as she put a hand on his shoulder. The other cupped his cheek and she said, "I have to. It's now or it's never for me. I can't stay any longer."
The man was torn. Part of him wanted to drop everything. His carrier, his career. He wanted to be with Aashi. And yet, part of him knew that he couldn't leave quite yet. Those two sides pulled Ulysses' heart to pieces. His head fell, and he buried it in Aashi shoulder. He just couldn't... He couldn't stand to see her leave.
She put her arms around him and she pressed her cheek against the top of his head. "It'll be hard, I know. For both of us. But I will come back when I find it to see you. Often. I'll be here as much as I can. I don't want you to think I won't be."
He stayed silent for a moment as tears streamed down his face. He looked up and wiped the tears away, before he wrapped his arms around her. "Aashi...I... I love you!" He said as he fought to keep the tears away and to keep his voice from cracking.
"Ulysses," Aashi said as she let her face become a haven of tears. They fell from her eyes quickly, streaking her dark skin with ther shine. "I love you, Ulysses. I love you."
He looked up and took both of her hands in his. He knew that she knew what to do. The look of determination in his eyes. He wanted to her to feel his emotions, the good and the bad. And he wanted to feel her emotions, both good and bad...
"No," Aashi said. "Let's dreamwalk. Sleep with me, Ulysses."
Werner had only heard of the term in passing, but he knew that the two would be sharing their dreams... "If you have to leave... then I want to go back and relive every moment with you..." He replied.
"I want to, too." She snuggled into him pressing her lips against his skin as her hand went to hold his waist. Her body slipped in line with the contours of his and they laid as if one person.
He kissed her cheek in turn as they laid as one on his bed together. Soon Ulysses had drifted off, holding Aashi in his arms.
In his dream, he looked up. He walked the busy streets of Osman that he did when he had first arrived. "I remember this..." He thought. "That bar..." It felt weird, like he was merely a passenger in his own body as the dream continued on, except he knew what was going to happen... He sat down and ordered his whiskey again and was sipping on it for quite sometime. For Ulysses it felt like an eternity till...
There she was. Aashi had sat in his booth by mistake. He remembered it, and mentally he almost cried as he saw her sit down, and the little surprised look she had given him.
"Well," she said coolly as she looked at the face of the man she was across from, covered in black from head to toe with a demeanor to match, or so Aashi perceived from the few seconds she had before she spoke again, "isn't this a surprise?"
Werner chuckled softly in his head as he heard himself speak. If he had really known who had just sat down across from him he would have been star struck.
The scene played out, them sharing a drink, him walking her back to the Queen's Slave and the promise of another visit.
His vision went to black as he jumped to the next.
He had brought her back to his ship, and she laid on Ulysses's bed. He smiled mentally as he peered over his reports to watch the Iroma woman sleeping. Then she started talking in her sleep and crying. Ulysses watched as his past self moved to comfort her, scooping her up in his arms. He felt it all again... the touch of her skin, the wetness of her tears...
then it went black again...
Werner laughed as he was walking through Osman city with Aashi. "This was the time Aashi got me in trouble..." He remembered as he watched her lift the bracelet and place it on his arm, and the lovely smile she had given him when he bought her one as well.
Next was the time Aashi had Ulysses come with her to get the fabricators, and how Aashi and Werner shared an empathic connection, only for Werner to pass out. He watched as Aashi held him in her arms, as he cried into her chest.
The memories flowed on and on. The trip to the resort where Ulysses had kissed Aashi in the photo booth and they spent a whole weekend together, the multiple times the two had held hands to watch movies, when the two shared their deepest feelings for each other through empathy, when Ulysses was hurt and Aashi stayed by his bed side through the whole thing, when Werner held Aashi as she cried for what she had lost... He relived everything. Their highest highs, and their lowest lows. He laughed and cried, as he relived every beautiful moment together.
Aashi didn't know how to feel, she became so enlivened by the memories that she could barely handle what they did to her. She was overwhelmed by it all, but in the best of ways. She wanted to relive these moments again and again as she dreamed them with Ulysses.
She could feel the warmth of his body on her as they slowly slipped out of their dream state and back to a waking one. Her hands gripped his hips and her lips moved to his cheek. She put them against his skin and pressed, kissing him there. Tingles all over her body erupted and she felt the resounding warmth of the feeling of touching him in that way, with her lips and soul and whole self. She wanted so deeply to feel that more. To understand that feeling for all it was worth. She wanted to do it over and over again for the rest of her life.
But, instead, she looked into his grey eyes and said, "Ulysses, I really love you. I'm sorry I have to go."
As Ulysses felt her kiss him, his heart and stomach had nearly done a flip. He always had kissed her on the cheek, but Aashi never had once returned it, that is until... "Aashi..." He looked up and gave her a warm/sad smile. "I love you so much Aashi, that it won't matter where you go. Because I will always be with you in here..." He pressed his hand to her chest, just above her heart.
He then wiped away a tear as a thought donned on him. "Wait here." He literally jumped up and moved to his dresser. "Aashi, do you remember when I first opened up my feelings to you?" He asked as he produced a small black box. The same box she had received when Werner had first revealed his true feelings for her.
"I do," Aashi said. "I do, Ulysses. I would happily accept this, now." She took from the box the ring and put it onto her left ring finger. She looked up at him, smile wide and eyes bright. "I wish I could stay with you now more than ever."
He moved and hugged her close. "I promise that my heart will always belong to you, from now until the end of time."
"Even if I leave?" Aashi asked, concern on the edge of her voice.
"Even if you leave." He held her left hand, rubbing the ring. "This is a promise. That I will always come back to you, that I will always find you. Because my heart only belongs to you..."
She was happier than ever to hear that and to be with him while she could be.
Aashi asked, "Do you want to do anything before I leave?"
"Yes." He replied. "I want to go on one more vacation with you. I don't even care if we stay here in the tower. I just want to spend some more time with you." He added, pulling her in close to him again.
"We'll spend days and days together, then. Let's hang out here. I'm going to call Uso, now, since I've told you and not her, yet." She set about sending a transmission to Uso.
Werner nodded and held Aashi's hand. "So we will hangout in your room then?"
In a few minutes there would be a soft bleeping of a new message.
Aashi laughed out when she read the message and said, "No, Ulysses, we should go down to the lobby to meet up with Uso. I think it'll be fun based on her message."
He sighed and leaned his head against hers. "Alright... Come on then." He said standing up and offering her his hand.
She took it and got into the elevator with him and her familiar and they soon found themselves standing in front of the portrait Ulysses himself had painted of her. Aashi stood, back erect and her familiar paced as it flew in front of them. The bellhop asked if she needed anything and she shook her head, shooing him away.
Werner smiled softly. "Come here A..." He said softly to the familiar, holding out his hand.
*BOOOM*
Uso rocket-breaked right before hitting the sandy ground infront of Nath tower. The sound of her CRT organs slowing her decent could be heard even inside of the building, a large plume of sand getting kicked up as she came to a halt...
... followed by a bit of knocking sand off her bodysuit...
She would then make her way into the tower's lobby, "What's up? You two a thing now?"
"I have to tell you, Uso, not that but something different. I will be leaving the planet soon to search out my ship, the Devata. It was lost before I met you and its whereabouts are unknown to me, but I plan on finding it. When I do, I promise to visit again."
"So you two aren't a thing then? That means I can still try and see you naked right?" Uso asked. "I mean, sure, you gotta do what you gotta do but I expect you'll stop by and visit so I can work my magic on you."
"Try all you want, Uso," Aashi said with a laugh. "You can always try. But, I'll be back, you can expect to see me soon." She thought on it, hoping it was sooner than expected. She wanted her ship so desperately that she didn't think it would be long enough for Ulysses to even begin to miss her. Let alone Uso, which may take much, much longer. Aashi went on to say, "Is there anything I can do for you before I leave, Uso?"
"I pretty much already stated my goals Re: you. But if we want to be all professional about it I certainly want to keep you on my list of people that I know. You're capable, and you're great with Alex. If you're going ship hunting and you need some extra muscle feel free to drag along some of my guys."
"I'll keep that in mind, Uso. Thank you," Aashi said to the natural-born leader Neko. "It's been really wonderful having you on my list of people that I know. I wouldn't go back and change a thing. Coming to 188604 was anything but subpar. You have a really great planet going for you and I wish you all the best in running it."
"I'll expect a post card when you find your people..." Uso said, ".... oh, and how do I rent out space in your tower? I got some stuff I need to put in here."
Aashi smiled, "The tower is yours to have. Just keep the name."
"Neato. I'll let you two get back to it." Uso said, turning towards the door and giving a wave, "DON'T BE A STRANGER!"
"Thanks, Uso!" Aashi called as she looked to Ulysses. "That was nice."
"It certainly went smoother than I had anticipated." He replied looking aback to Aashi.
"With Uso things are always a surprise. Want to go up to my room?
"I'd love to." He said with a soft smile, taking Aashi's hand. "Lead the way."
They made their way to Aashi's floor and into her room and she immediately flopped onto the bed.
"So what are you going to do here while I'm gone?" She was hungry to know what life would be like with her ship back, but more than that, she was hungry to know Ulysses would in fact be fine without her.
He gave her another soft smile as he moved and sat down on the bed next to her. "I'll work. The Necromancer is constantly needing something done. That will take up a good chunk of my time." He added.
"I'm happy to hear that. I'll be thinking of you working on the Necromancer incessantly," Aashi told him.
He laughed, as he moved and laid down next to her. "I will be thinking of you constantly as well, you know."
She snuggled up with him and the two lay with one another for a few minutes, enjoying one another immensely before Aashi spoke again.
"If I don't come back..." she trailed off, then regained her composure again after her voice had broken. "If I don't come back, will you come find me?"
He rolled over so the two were nose to nose. His grey eyes looked determined as he studied her deep blue ones. "If you went missing, I would drop everything, leave everyone, to come and find you. I would look till the end of days and long after..." He replied taking both of her hands in his, absently rubbing her ring.
Aashi looked back into his eyes, watching as he spoke with care and happiness, though concern that she wouldn't see him etched into the corners of the sapphire of her eyes. She wanted to know she would be able to be with her friend, her best friend again, even after she left his presence. She was forced to realize she may not ever again and the feeling of dread haunted her.
"Oh, Ulysses," she said. "I hope you would. I hope you don't have to, though."
He smiled softly, trying to hide his own fear. Yet, his glistening eyes gave him away. "Of course I would, but I won't have to. Once you find your ship, everything will be okay. And, I won't stop helping you find it either. I'll work even harder if it means you can come back to me..." He said softly.
"Thank you, Ulysses. For that and all things you have done, thank you." She buried her head into his shoulder and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He placed a hand on the back of her head, and his other moved to her back. "Aashi... there is no need to thank me, because I wanted to do all those things for you. Because I love to see your smile and hear your laugh... Because I love you so much." He added, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
The two spent several days like that, holding one another off and on and spending time swimming in the pool and play fighting. It was with a heavy heart that finally, she said to him as they awoke, eyes still foggy with sleep, that she had to go.
She said, "I'm sorry, Ulysses, but it's time. Will you fly me to a good starport and let me find my ship?"
He slowly stirred from his sleep to hear those dreaded words. He nodded solemnly. "Of course Aashi." He replied.
"Then let's go," she said. She had been ready for those few days, bags packed full of guns, grenades, and garments. She hauled her bags down the elevator for one of her last times and glanced at the portrait Ulysses had made. She looked away, torn to be leaving it and the rest of 188604 behind.
"Yeah," she reiterated, "let's just go."
He moved and grabbed her bags, his other hand moving to hold hers. His car was already waiting out front for them. Hey put her things in the trunk and opened the door for her. He still hadn't said much of anything that day. He looked like... he was trying very hard to keep his feelings away. As she got in the car, a tear streamed down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly with her hand and, with the other, went to again squeeze Ulysses' hand and then brought it up to her mouth and kissed it gingerly.
As she took his hand and kissed it, he squeezed his eyes shut tight, holding back his tears. He wanted to be strong for Aashi, and yet he wanted to break down and hold her again, kiss her, anything to make her stay...
He opened his eyes again and forced a smile, with tears building in his eyes. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek as he began the short drive to USO's makeshift starport.
When they got there, after the short drive in which Aashi and Ulysses both had to manage their emotions, she got out of the car on unsteady feet.
Werner moved around the car and took Aashi's arm, giving it another squeeze. He then moved and grabbed her bags and the two started making there way to the Pumpkin Eater.
"This may be the last time I get to fly her," Aashi said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She hadn't had a ship besides the Devata and The Pumpkin Eater in her long life and leaving one to find the other sounded silly in her head when she didn't take into account what the Devata meant to her. She made her way through the hatch and on board and got about setting up controls on the bridge. "Ready to take off," she said to Ulysses beside her.
Ulysses had gone and set her things down by the hatch and sat down in the copilot's seat, helping with pre flight checks. As Aashi said they were ready, he radioed the tower. "This is the Pumpkin Eater, we are taking off."
"Roger Pumpkin Eater, god's speed, and good luck." The tower replied as Aashi engaged thrusters and a few moments later, retracted landing gear. They gained altitude and soon were nearly out of atmosphere as she turned inertial dampers off and brought the ship out of 188604's pull. She continued on her path and said to Ulysses after a few minutes something that she had been thinking of for the past few days.
"I think I will miss you more than any other person I have ever missed. I was ripped away from my family at one point. And then ripped away from my crew. But, with you, I wonder if it will feel all the more worse, even if I'm not being ripped away. I think it will be much worse. It already feels much worse." Aashi looked forlornly at him and said, "Much worse."
A tear finally fell from his face. "Life... it just won't be the same..." He replied. He stood and moved over to Aashi. He stooped down and scooped her up in his arms, and he walked back towards the lounge. "Normally we would be watching a movie... But I don't think I can..." He said softly as he sat down on the couch, with Aashi still in his arms.
She rubbed her face into his shoulder and smiled into it, smelling his soft, sweet scent. It was somewhat earthy and mellow. A scent she would always want to remember. Just like him. She let herself be carried and giggled, overjoyed to be so close to him and willing to forget about their circumstances, now.
"Oh, Ulysses," she whispered into his shoulder. "You make me so happy."
He smiled warmly and held her even closer, practically pulling her ontop of him so that they were laying on the couch together. "I could stay like this for the rest of my life..." He said as he held her, praying that his wish would come true.
"I want to pretend we can..." Aashi whispered. "I like to pretend we can. One day we'll be able to, again."
"When that day comes, I won't let you go..." He whispered back, kissing her softly on the cheek.
"No," she said. "Don't."
They lay like that for awhile, until the ship was close to Null and Void, Fresspacer territory. They made their way back to the bridge and Aashi sat down in the pilot's chair and brought the ship in to the blast doors encircled by flares on Null.
Werner's eyes began to well with tears as they drew closer to the barren landscape that was Null. As they descended and the massive blastdoors opened for them to enter, his heart slowly fell. "I can't believe it has come to this..." He whispered to himself as the tears fell freely. He couldn't hide them anymore. At somepoint, there is no fighting it... The sadness...
"Oh, Ulysses," Aashi said as she hugged her friend. Tears came from her own eyes and dotted his shirt as she slipped onto him to sit on his lap. She felt the sadness from both of them meld together as she opened up empathy, her forehead on his. She felt the dire and overwhelming feelings of sadness at losing her, and he could feel the same, only for her losing him. All she wanted was to have him there, with her, always, but she showed him in her thoughts and feelings how it would end up being okay.
"We'll get to see one another again. We will. We will always have that hope, until we meet again."
He nodded softly. Aashi could feel Werner pushing another emotion up to the surface. It was all the love he had for her. He kissed her on the cheek and poured as much love as he could into the act. He took her hand in his and rubbed her ring. "Of course we will... Plus I made you a promise. That my heart will belong to you, until the day I die and beyond. No expanse of space, no matter how vast, will ever change that fact..." He added softly.
"Oh, Ulysses, I love you so much," she said. Aashi then put her lips to his and let her feelings cascade out of her and into him. "I will think of you, always." She got off of him swiftly, pulling her hand up to her nose and rubbing her index finger against it, then swept her fingers across her cheeks to brush off the tears. She managed a smile and said, "Always."
He was stunned by Aashi kissing him. He was still getting used to her open displays of affection... too bad he didn't have more time... as she quickly broke the embrace he jumped up. "Wait..." He said spinning her back around and kissing her back, pressing his lips to her's.
She received the kiss with the corners of her lips turned upwards in a smile as he gave her what she desired most.
"Thank you, Ulysses," she said after the kiss had ended. "I love you." The words felt hot in her mouth, like she couldn't stop them from escaping out of her. She wanted desperately to feel them again and again as they left her mouth, but those few times would have to do. Her familiar glided in front of the both of them and pushed against Ulysses a few times, demanding a goodbye, as well. It made Aashi let out a little laugh, something she hadn't expected to do given the circumstances.
Werner grinned. "Hey my girl..." He said softly, petting the manta. "Keep her safe for me. I am trusting you to deliver her back to me safe and sound." He said looking the manta over. "I'm really gonna miss you too A..."
The Hlarai skyfish brushed against him again before flying back behind Aashi so that she could look at him for the last time before setting out to find her ship.
He stood and pulled his datapad from his pocket. He tapped a few times, till Aashi got a notification on her own. When she looked at it, she would see that Werner wired her money... a lot of it too... "Before you refuse, I have nothing to spend it on... It would have been spent on you anyway..." When she looked back down and read the total again, it came out to 1,010,785 DA. "That is my life savings... you can save a lot when you don't do anything..." He said in an attempt at a joke.
"You'll have a lot to do when I get back." she said, more than a little surprised at how much he had given to her. She chose to not refuse it, but promised herself that she would bring back to him just as much as he had given her. She almost told him as much, then stopped herself. She wanted him to remember these moments with her before she left not as something to do with money and riches, but the care and compassion they shared for one another.
"Please," she said, "stay safe. Stay happy. Be safe and happy for when I come back to you."
"Of course..." He said hugging and kissing her one last time. "You come back to me... I won't forgive otherwise." He said at another attempt at a joke. "I love you Aashi..."
"Oh," she sighed out. "I wouldn't want that. I'll come back to you." She then picked up her bags and found her way out of the Pumpkin Eater and out onto the subterranean area where the planet's crust and mantle met. She looked back at the ship one more time before she walked away from it completely, wondering if she would see Ulysses S. Werner at the hatch of the ship.
Werner stood in the hatch, tears freely flowing now like a river. He desperately wished to see Aashi Nath again... As she disappeared into the starport, Werner slowly turned back and walked into the pumpkin eater. He walked back towards the bridge and moved to sit in the pilot's chair... Aashi's chair. He stopped, unable to do it. He dropped to his knees and sobbed...
Aashi would see Ulysses again, but not that today and not for many days to come. She worried, though, that she would never get the chance to again and that worry pushed her forward, away from him, so that she may find her ship and return to his arms, again.
Nath Tower
Aashi had just gotten done showering and was sitting on her bed, deliberating. She had things to do, things to say. Things that she did not want to face. She finally got up, got dressed, slung her still-wet hair over her back and stepped into the elevator with her familiar there with her. She made her way to Werner's suite and opened the door with her key card, not thinking twice about whether he would be there or not or if he would want her to enter. Her thoughts were on other things, instead, and she wasn't thinking straight.
A sliver skycar pulled up outside the tower. Ulysses popped the trunk and grabbed his shore bag, before moving to walk inside. He had been away on clean up operations in the I'ee's home sector. His bag rolled behind him as he walked through the lobby. He smiled softly and nodded to the doorman as he moved and got on the elevator. Typical day back for Ulysses, or so he thought. As he reached his floor and stepped into his room, he found Aashi and A waiting for him. The man actually jumped slightly, caught off guard.
"Hey Aashi." He said gaining his composure and smiling warmly, he then looked over to the familiar and smiled. "Hey my girl." He said softly. He turned back and he noticed Aashi's grim demeanor. "Hey what's wrong...?" He said walking over to her.
"Hey," Aashi merely said. She was short on words and incapable of talking about what was wrong. "How are you?"
He frowned, this was not her typical behavior. "I'm fine. But how are you?" He asked again moving closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"I'm alright, Ulysses. I'm alright. Maybe we should lay down?" she asked.
He gave her a squeeze and a reassuring smile. "Sure. Let's go lay down." He said bringing Aashi to his bedroom and throwing the covers up so she could get comfortable.
She put her hand on the bed and let her hip fall, then let her torso follow. She laid in a fetal position for a few moments, waiting for Ulysses.
He laid down next to her and slid his arm under her head so that she was resting it in the crook of his arm. Then his other hand moved to hold hers, intertwining their fingers. "Aashi... tell me what's wrong..." He whispered softly after a few minutes.
She buried her face into his shoulder and rubber it back and forth, shaking her head no.
He moved and held her firmly, placing a hand on the back of her head and rubbing it softly. He then leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. "It's okay... Whatever it is, it will be okay..."
"I'm not so sure," Aashi muttered before pushing her face closer into his body. "I'm not sure about that. It is bad, Ulysses. Bad for us."
Werner tried to remain calm, but inside he was very worried. He hugged her again. "Please Aashi... what's so bad..."
"I need to find my ship, Ulysses," she said as she looked up with tears in her eyes. "I need to..." she trailed off, then, as a tear slid out of one eye, said, "I need to go."
Ulysses face dropped as he heard the words, and his heart sank. "Y...you're leaving..." He said softly, as if the word didn't sound right in the same sentence. He struggled to keep his own emotions in check as he wiped the tear away from Aashi's face.
"It's the way I need to go. I can't stay here forever, no matter how much I love--" she caught herself, realizing she had almost said you. "I need to go, no matter how much I..." she trailed off, not knowing the right way to get around her own feelings for Ulysses. "I just can't stay any longer."
He stared back into her eyes, his silver eyes beginning to glisten. "Aashi... then... let me come with you." What he wanted to say was 'I can't live without you.' His heart was heavy in his chest as he fought the emotions bubbling up to the surface. Things that the Nepleslian had not felt about anyone in his life before.
"I couldn't ask that of you, Ulysses," Aashi said. "But I would never stop you from being close to me. I will always want you as near to me as you are to my heart."
Werner couldn't take it anymore. A tear rolled from his face and he vigorously wiped it away. "Please Aashi, just stay a bit longer... I can help you, but I have to finish my contract first. Please Aashi. I..." His eyes looked into her's, unable to finish his sentence.
"I need to do this, Ulysses," Aashi said as she put a hand on his shoulder. The other cupped his cheek and she said, "I have to. It's now or it's never for me. I can't stay any longer."
The man was torn. Part of him wanted to drop everything. His carrier, his career. He wanted to be with Aashi. And yet, part of him knew that he couldn't leave quite yet. Those two sides pulled Ulysses' heart to pieces. His head fell, and he buried it in Aashi shoulder. He just couldn't... He couldn't stand to see her leave.
She put her arms around him and she pressed her cheek against the top of his head. "It'll be hard, I know. For both of us. But I will come back when I find it to see you. Often. I'll be here as much as I can. I don't want you to think I won't be."
He stayed silent for a moment as tears streamed down his face. He looked up and wiped the tears away, before he wrapped his arms around her. "Aashi...I... I love you!" He said as he fought to keep the tears away and to keep his voice from cracking.
"Ulysses," Aashi said as she let her face become a haven of tears. They fell from her eyes quickly, streaking her dark skin with ther shine. "I love you, Ulysses. I love you."
He looked up and took both of her hands in his. He knew that she knew what to do. The look of determination in his eyes. He wanted to her to feel his emotions, the good and the bad. And he wanted to feel her emotions, both good and bad...
"No," Aashi said. "Let's dreamwalk. Sleep with me, Ulysses."
Werner had only heard of the term in passing, but he knew that the two would be sharing their dreams... "If you have to leave... then I want to go back and relive every moment with you..." He replied.
"I want to, too." She snuggled into him pressing her lips against his skin as her hand went to hold his waist. Her body slipped in line with the contours of his and they laid as if one person.
He kissed her cheek in turn as they laid as one on his bed together. Soon Ulysses had drifted off, holding Aashi in his arms.
In his dream, he looked up. He walked the busy streets of Osman that he did when he had first arrived. "I remember this..." He thought. "That bar..." It felt weird, like he was merely a passenger in his own body as the dream continued on, except he knew what was going to happen... He sat down and ordered his whiskey again and was sipping on it for quite sometime. For Ulysses it felt like an eternity till...
There she was. Aashi had sat in his booth by mistake. He remembered it, and mentally he almost cried as he saw her sit down, and the little surprised look she had given him.
"Well," she said coolly as she looked at the face of the man she was across from, covered in black from head to toe with a demeanor to match, or so Aashi perceived from the few seconds she had before she spoke again, "isn't this a surprise?"
Werner chuckled softly in his head as he heard himself speak. If he had really known who had just sat down across from him he would have been star struck.
The scene played out, them sharing a drink, him walking her back to the Queen's Slave and the promise of another visit.
His vision went to black as he jumped to the next.
He had brought her back to his ship, and she laid on Ulysses's bed. He smiled mentally as he peered over his reports to watch the Iroma woman sleeping. Then she started talking in her sleep and crying. Ulysses watched as his past self moved to comfort her, scooping her up in his arms. He felt it all again... the touch of her skin, the wetness of her tears...
then it went black again...
Werner laughed as he was walking through Osman city with Aashi. "This was the time Aashi got me in trouble..." He remembered as he watched her lift the bracelet and place it on his arm, and the lovely smile she had given him when he bought her one as well.
Next was the time Aashi had Ulysses come with her to get the fabricators, and how Aashi and Werner shared an empathic connection, only for Werner to pass out. He watched as Aashi held him in her arms, as he cried into her chest.
The memories flowed on and on. The trip to the resort where Ulysses had kissed Aashi in the photo booth and they spent a whole weekend together, the multiple times the two had held hands to watch movies, when the two shared their deepest feelings for each other through empathy, when Ulysses was hurt and Aashi stayed by his bed side through the whole thing, when Werner held Aashi as she cried for what she had lost... He relived everything. Their highest highs, and their lowest lows. He laughed and cried, as he relived every beautiful moment together.
Aashi didn't know how to feel, she became so enlivened by the memories that she could barely handle what they did to her. She was overwhelmed by it all, but in the best of ways. She wanted to relive these moments again and again as she dreamed them with Ulysses.
She could feel the warmth of his body on her as they slowly slipped out of their dream state and back to a waking one. Her hands gripped his hips and her lips moved to his cheek. She put them against his skin and pressed, kissing him there. Tingles all over her body erupted and she felt the resounding warmth of the feeling of touching him in that way, with her lips and soul and whole self. She wanted so deeply to feel that more. To understand that feeling for all it was worth. She wanted to do it over and over again for the rest of her life.
But, instead, she looked into his grey eyes and said, "Ulysses, I really love you. I'm sorry I have to go."
As Ulysses felt her kiss him, his heart and stomach had nearly done a flip. He always had kissed her on the cheek, but Aashi never had once returned it, that is until... "Aashi..." He looked up and gave her a warm/sad smile. "I love you so much Aashi, that it won't matter where you go. Because I will always be with you in here..." He pressed his hand to her chest, just above her heart.
He then wiped away a tear as a thought donned on him. "Wait here." He literally jumped up and moved to his dresser. "Aashi, do you remember when I first opened up my feelings to you?" He asked as he produced a small black box. The same box she had received when Werner had first revealed his true feelings for her.
"I do," Aashi said. "I do, Ulysses. I would happily accept this, now." She took from the box the ring and put it onto her left ring finger. She looked up at him, smile wide and eyes bright. "I wish I could stay with you now more than ever."
He moved and hugged her close. "I promise that my heart will always belong to you, from now until the end of time."
"Even if I leave?" Aashi asked, concern on the edge of her voice.
"Even if you leave." He held her left hand, rubbing the ring. "This is a promise. That I will always come back to you, that I will always find you. Because my heart only belongs to you..."
She was happier than ever to hear that and to be with him while she could be.
Aashi asked, "Do you want to do anything before I leave?"
"Yes." He replied. "I want to go on one more vacation with you. I don't even care if we stay here in the tower. I just want to spend some more time with you." He added, pulling her in close to him again.
"We'll spend days and days together, then. Let's hang out here. I'm going to call Uso, now, since I've told you and not her, yet." She set about sending a transmission to Uso.
Code:
To: Uso of USO
From: Aashi Nath
Dearest Uso,
I require your presence at the Nath Tower. Please let me know when you are free.
-AashiWerner nodded and held Aashi's hand. "So we will hangout in your room then?"
In a few minutes there would be a soft bleeping of a new message.
Code:
To: Aashi
From: Uso
Aashist Aashi,
I willith proceed to doth location post-haste.
Forsooth,
UsoAashi laughed out when she read the message and said, "No, Ulysses, we should go down to the lobby to meet up with Uso. I think it'll be fun based on her message."
He sighed and leaned his head against hers. "Alright... Come on then." He said standing up and offering her his hand.
She took it and got into the elevator with him and her familiar and they soon found themselves standing in front of the portrait Ulysses himself had painted of her. Aashi stood, back erect and her familiar paced as it flew in front of them. The bellhop asked if she needed anything and she shook her head, shooing him away.
Werner smiled softly. "Come here A..." He said softly to the familiar, holding out his hand.
*BOOOM*
Uso rocket-breaked right before hitting the sandy ground infront of Nath tower. The sound of her CRT organs slowing her decent could be heard even inside of the building, a large plume of sand getting kicked up as she came to a halt...
... followed by a bit of knocking sand off her bodysuit...
She would then make her way into the tower's lobby, "What's up? You two a thing now?"
"I have to tell you, Uso, not that but something different. I will be leaving the planet soon to search out my ship, the Devata. It was lost before I met you and its whereabouts are unknown to me, but I plan on finding it. When I do, I promise to visit again."
"So you two aren't a thing then? That means I can still try and see you naked right?" Uso asked. "I mean, sure, you gotta do what you gotta do but I expect you'll stop by and visit so I can work my magic on you."
"Try all you want, Uso," Aashi said with a laugh. "You can always try. But, I'll be back, you can expect to see me soon." She thought on it, hoping it was sooner than expected. She wanted her ship so desperately that she didn't think it would be long enough for Ulysses to even begin to miss her. Let alone Uso, which may take much, much longer. Aashi went on to say, "Is there anything I can do for you before I leave, Uso?"
"I pretty much already stated my goals Re: you. But if we want to be all professional about it I certainly want to keep you on my list of people that I know. You're capable, and you're great with Alex. If you're going ship hunting and you need some extra muscle feel free to drag along some of my guys."
"I'll keep that in mind, Uso. Thank you," Aashi said to the natural-born leader Neko. "It's been really wonderful having you on my list of people that I know. I wouldn't go back and change a thing. Coming to 188604 was anything but subpar. You have a really great planet going for you and I wish you all the best in running it."
"I'll expect a post card when you find your people..." Uso said, ".... oh, and how do I rent out space in your tower? I got some stuff I need to put in here."
Aashi smiled, "The tower is yours to have. Just keep the name."
"Neato. I'll let you two get back to it." Uso said, turning towards the door and giving a wave, "DON'T BE A STRANGER!"
"Thanks, Uso!" Aashi called as she looked to Ulysses. "That was nice."
"It certainly went smoother than I had anticipated." He replied looking aback to Aashi.
"With Uso things are always a surprise. Want to go up to my room?
"I'd love to." He said with a soft smile, taking Aashi's hand. "Lead the way."
They made their way to Aashi's floor and into her room and she immediately flopped onto the bed.
"So what are you going to do here while I'm gone?" She was hungry to know what life would be like with her ship back, but more than that, she was hungry to know Ulysses would in fact be fine without her.
He gave her another soft smile as he moved and sat down on the bed next to her. "I'll work. The Necromancer is constantly needing something done. That will take up a good chunk of my time." He added.
"I'm happy to hear that. I'll be thinking of you working on the Necromancer incessantly," Aashi told him.
He laughed, as he moved and laid down next to her. "I will be thinking of you constantly as well, you know."
She snuggled up with him and the two lay with one another for a few minutes, enjoying one another immensely before Aashi spoke again.
"If I don't come back..." she trailed off, then regained her composure again after her voice had broken. "If I don't come back, will you come find me?"
He rolled over so the two were nose to nose. His grey eyes looked determined as he studied her deep blue ones. "If you went missing, I would drop everything, leave everyone, to come and find you. I would look till the end of days and long after..." He replied taking both of her hands in his, absently rubbing her ring.
Aashi looked back into his eyes, watching as he spoke with care and happiness, though concern that she wouldn't see him etched into the corners of the sapphire of her eyes. She wanted to know she would be able to be with her friend, her best friend again, even after she left his presence. She was forced to realize she may not ever again and the feeling of dread haunted her.
"Oh, Ulysses," she said. "I hope you would. I hope you don't have to, though."
He smiled softly, trying to hide his own fear. Yet, his glistening eyes gave him away. "Of course I would, but I won't have to. Once you find your ship, everything will be okay. And, I won't stop helping you find it either. I'll work even harder if it means you can come back to me..." He said softly.
"Thank you, Ulysses. For that and all things you have done, thank you." She buried her head into his shoulder and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He placed a hand on the back of her head, and his other moved to her back. "Aashi... there is no need to thank me, because I wanted to do all those things for you. Because I love to see your smile and hear your laugh... Because I love you so much." He added, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
The two spent several days like that, holding one another off and on and spending time swimming in the pool and play fighting. It was with a heavy heart that finally, she said to him as they awoke, eyes still foggy with sleep, that she had to go.
She said, "I'm sorry, Ulysses, but it's time. Will you fly me to a good starport and let me find my ship?"
He slowly stirred from his sleep to hear those dreaded words. He nodded solemnly. "Of course Aashi." He replied.
"Then let's go," she said. She had been ready for those few days, bags packed full of guns, grenades, and garments. She hauled her bags down the elevator for one of her last times and glanced at the portrait Ulysses had made. She looked away, torn to be leaving it and the rest of 188604 behind.
"Yeah," she reiterated, "let's just go."
He moved and grabbed her bags, his other hand moving to hold hers. His car was already waiting out front for them. Hey put her things in the trunk and opened the door for her. He still hadn't said much of anything that day. He looked like... he was trying very hard to keep his feelings away. As she got in the car, a tear streamed down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly with her hand and, with the other, went to again squeeze Ulysses' hand and then brought it up to her mouth and kissed it gingerly.
As she took his hand and kissed it, he squeezed his eyes shut tight, holding back his tears. He wanted to be strong for Aashi, and yet he wanted to break down and hold her again, kiss her, anything to make her stay...
He opened his eyes again and forced a smile, with tears building in his eyes. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek as he began the short drive to USO's makeshift starport.
When they got there, after the short drive in which Aashi and Ulysses both had to manage their emotions, she got out of the car on unsteady feet.
Werner moved around the car and took Aashi's arm, giving it another squeeze. He then moved and grabbed her bags and the two started making there way to the Pumpkin Eater.
"This may be the last time I get to fly her," Aashi said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She hadn't had a ship besides the Devata and The Pumpkin Eater in her long life and leaving one to find the other sounded silly in her head when she didn't take into account what the Devata meant to her. She made her way through the hatch and on board and got about setting up controls on the bridge. "Ready to take off," she said to Ulysses beside her.
Ulysses had gone and set her things down by the hatch and sat down in the copilot's seat, helping with pre flight checks. As Aashi said they were ready, he radioed the tower. "This is the Pumpkin Eater, we are taking off."
"Roger Pumpkin Eater, god's speed, and good luck." The tower replied as Aashi engaged thrusters and a few moments later, retracted landing gear. They gained altitude and soon were nearly out of atmosphere as she turned inertial dampers off and brought the ship out of 188604's pull. She continued on her path and said to Ulysses after a few minutes something that she had been thinking of for the past few days.
"I think I will miss you more than any other person I have ever missed. I was ripped away from my family at one point. And then ripped away from my crew. But, with you, I wonder if it will feel all the more worse, even if I'm not being ripped away. I think it will be much worse. It already feels much worse." Aashi looked forlornly at him and said, "Much worse."
A tear finally fell from his face. "Life... it just won't be the same..." He replied. He stood and moved over to Aashi. He stooped down and scooped her up in his arms, and he walked back towards the lounge. "Normally we would be watching a movie... But I don't think I can..." He said softly as he sat down on the couch, with Aashi still in his arms.
She rubbed her face into his shoulder and smiled into it, smelling his soft, sweet scent. It was somewhat earthy and mellow. A scent she would always want to remember. Just like him. She let herself be carried and giggled, overjoyed to be so close to him and willing to forget about their circumstances, now.
"Oh, Ulysses," she whispered into his shoulder. "You make me so happy."
He smiled warmly and held her even closer, practically pulling her ontop of him so that they were laying on the couch together. "I could stay like this for the rest of my life..." He said as he held her, praying that his wish would come true.
"I want to pretend we can..." Aashi whispered. "I like to pretend we can. One day we'll be able to, again."
"When that day comes, I won't let you go..." He whispered back, kissing her softly on the cheek.
"No," she said. "Don't."
They lay like that for awhile, until the ship was close to Null and Void, Fresspacer territory. They made their way back to the bridge and Aashi sat down in the pilot's chair and brought the ship in to the blast doors encircled by flares on Null.
Werner's eyes began to well with tears as they drew closer to the barren landscape that was Null. As they descended and the massive blastdoors opened for them to enter, his heart slowly fell. "I can't believe it has come to this..." He whispered to himself as the tears fell freely. He couldn't hide them anymore. At somepoint, there is no fighting it... The sadness...
"Oh, Ulysses," Aashi said as she hugged her friend. Tears came from her own eyes and dotted his shirt as she slipped onto him to sit on his lap. She felt the sadness from both of them meld together as she opened up empathy, her forehead on his. She felt the dire and overwhelming feelings of sadness at losing her, and he could feel the same, only for her losing him. All she wanted was to have him there, with her, always, but she showed him in her thoughts and feelings how it would end up being okay.
"We'll get to see one another again. We will. We will always have that hope, until we meet again."
He nodded softly. Aashi could feel Werner pushing another emotion up to the surface. It was all the love he had for her. He kissed her on the cheek and poured as much love as he could into the act. He took her hand in his and rubbed her ring. "Of course we will... Plus I made you a promise. That my heart will belong to you, until the day I die and beyond. No expanse of space, no matter how vast, will ever change that fact..." He added softly.
"Oh, Ulysses, I love you so much," she said. Aashi then put her lips to his and let her feelings cascade out of her and into him. "I will think of you, always." She got off of him swiftly, pulling her hand up to her nose and rubbing her index finger against it, then swept her fingers across her cheeks to brush off the tears. She managed a smile and said, "Always."
He was stunned by Aashi kissing him. He was still getting used to her open displays of affection... too bad he didn't have more time... as she quickly broke the embrace he jumped up. "Wait..." He said spinning her back around and kissing her back, pressing his lips to her's.
She received the kiss with the corners of her lips turned upwards in a smile as he gave her what she desired most.
"Thank you, Ulysses," she said after the kiss had ended. "I love you." The words felt hot in her mouth, like she couldn't stop them from escaping out of her. She wanted desperately to feel them again and again as they left her mouth, but those few times would have to do. Her familiar glided in front of the both of them and pushed against Ulysses a few times, demanding a goodbye, as well. It made Aashi let out a little laugh, something she hadn't expected to do given the circumstances.
Werner grinned. "Hey my girl..." He said softly, petting the manta. "Keep her safe for me. I am trusting you to deliver her back to me safe and sound." He said looking the manta over. "I'm really gonna miss you too A..."
The Hlarai skyfish brushed against him again before flying back behind Aashi so that she could look at him for the last time before setting out to find her ship.
He stood and pulled his datapad from his pocket. He tapped a few times, till Aashi got a notification on her own. When she looked at it, she would see that Werner wired her money... a lot of it too... "Before you refuse, I have nothing to spend it on... It would have been spent on you anyway..." When she looked back down and read the total again, it came out to 1,010,785 DA. "That is my life savings... you can save a lot when you don't do anything..." He said in an attempt at a joke.
"You'll have a lot to do when I get back." she said, more than a little surprised at how much he had given to her. She chose to not refuse it, but promised herself that she would bring back to him just as much as he had given her. She almost told him as much, then stopped herself. She wanted him to remember these moments with her before she left not as something to do with money and riches, but the care and compassion they shared for one another.
"Please," she said, "stay safe. Stay happy. Be safe and happy for when I come back to you."
"Of course..." He said hugging and kissing her one last time. "You come back to me... I won't forgive otherwise." He said at another attempt at a joke. "I love you Aashi..."
"Oh," she sighed out. "I wouldn't want that. I'll come back to you." She then picked up her bags and found her way out of the Pumpkin Eater and out onto the subterranean area where the planet's crust and mantle met. She looked back at the ship one more time before she walked away from it completely, wondering if she would see Ulysses S. Werner at the hatch of the ship.
Werner stood in the hatch, tears freely flowing now like a river. He desperately wished to see Aashi Nath again... As she disappeared into the starport, Werner slowly turned back and walked into the pumpkin eater. He walked back towards the bridge and moved to sit in the pilot's chair... Aashi's chair. He stopped, unable to do it. He dropped to his knees and sobbed...
Aashi would see Ulysses again, but not that today and not for many days to come. She worried, though, that she would never get the chance to again and that worry pushed her forward, away from him, so that she may find her ship and return to his arms, again.