Between Friends Part 19 - Epilogue Geo tugged down on Eagle's jacket to get the wrinkles out of it, then finished buttoning it up for Eagle. "Would someone usually oversleep on a day like this?" Geo questioned critically. "I did remember that there was a military festival today..." Eagle defended himself slightly, with a smile, knowing Geo was right. But it had been such a sweet dream that he hadn't wanted to wake up... and besides, it was only another procession.... "Oh yeah. About Lantis..." Geo started. He paused for a second, reaching over to the table to grab Eagle's white dress gloves and hand them to him, then continued softly, "He declined the offer to be officially registered as a fighter of the Autozam army." Eagle stood quietly for a few seconds, absorbing that fact, thinking about it, then decided and said "... Geo, I'm going to borrow your bike." "Eh!?" Geo demanded. "What are you going to do about the festival!?" "Tell them that I'm still asleep," Eagle replied with a shrug, starting the engine of Geo's autobike. "You know your dad's going to yell at me for this---!!" Geo yelled after him as Eagle raced off on the machine. Eagle ignored him and concentrated on Lantis. Over the time they'd spent together, he'd developed a sort of sense of where Lantis would be at any given time. And now he was at the place they'd first met... the place where Lantis had arrived at when he'd first come to Autozam. Eagle thought, knowing what was coming, what had been coming for the past few weeks. Cephiro was crumbling due to the death of its Pillar, the beautiful Princess Emeraude who Eagle had met once in his dreams. And Lantis' older brother... Lantis' only family... had died too. Eagle's only hope had been that Lantis would accept the offer of a position in the Autozam militia, but if that offer had been declined it could only mean one thing. Lantis was going home. Lantis took the hilt of his sword out from the inner pocket of his cloak, and ignited it with half a thought. The blade glowed whitely as he held the weapon. A spell that he hadn't used for quite a while came easily as the one he needed. "Lantis!" a familiar voice called from behind him. Damn. He'd hoped to leave without this confrontation. That was why he'd planned to leave now, during a holiday that would require the young Commander Eagle Vision to be on display. ".... You're returning to Cephiro?" Eagle asked, getting off of the bike that Lantis recognized as belonging to Geo, removing his headset. "To end the Pillar system of Cephiro?" ".... Yeah," Lantis answered reluctantly. "Is there a way?" Eagle asked curiously, only partially what Lantis expected. He'd have thought that Eagle would have made a bigger deal of his leaving. But the curiousity about the subject was easily understood; the Pillar system was one of the things they had debated in depth. Lantis refused to read the emotions he saw in Eagle's eyes. He didn't want to... couldn't... deal with that. Not now. He *needed* to return home, and he couldn't if he let himself consider what Eagle was feeling. "The Pillar must travel through the Path to the Pillar and accept a Challenge," Lantis said, reiterating what Guru Clef had told him about it. "Only the past Pillars know where that Path is...." "You plan to find, and destroy, that Path," Eagle stated calmly. ".... Yeah." "Any dangers that you might lose your life on...?" Eagle asked, walking closer. ".... There are, aren't there...." Eagle's golden eyes examined him calmly for a minute, making Lantis squirm internally. "Use my hovercraft," Eagle finally said, surprising Lantis. "I can't lend you the FTO because Zazu will get mad at me. But I think this is faster than your seijyu." ".... Eagle," Lantis said, thoroughly startled. An offer of aid from Eagle had been the last thing he expected from this conversation. ".... It is what you decided. You will go through with it no matter what happens," Eagle said, his pretty face composed and serious. "Besides, I have decided on something now too." ".... What did you decide...?" Lantis asked curiously. "A little secret," Eagle answered nonchalantly, smiling. In the end, Lantis accepted Eagle's offer and parted without words, only a good-bye kiss. And he knew, as he looked back only one last time, that he would see Eagle again. Something tied their futures together. That was why they had never technically "broken up." It wasn't over between them. Eagle watched after Lantis until the dark figure disappeared into the golden sky, disappearing into the light. "Until that time..." he murmured in farewell, knowing that he would see Lantis again. What he had decided upon as his course of future action assured it. "Until we meet again, Lantis." ********* Feels like I'm standing in a timeless dream of light mists of pale amber rose... feels like I'm lost in a deep cloud of heavenly scent, touching, discovering you Those days of warm rains come rushing back to me... miles of windless summer night air... secret moments shared in the heat of the afternoon... out of the stillness, soft spoken words.... Say, say it again I love you, always, forever; near and far, closer together; everywhere I will be with you; everything I will do for you Say, say it again I love you, always, forever; near and far, closer together; everywhere I will be with you; everything I will do for you You've got the most unbelievable blue eyes I've ever seen; you've got me almost melting away as we lay there under blue sky with pure white stars... exotic sweetness; a magical time Say, say it again I love you, always, forever; near and far, closer together; everywhere I will be with you; everything I will do for you Say, say it again I love you, always, forever; near and far, closer together; everywhere I will be with you; everything I will do for you Say you'll love, love me forever; never stop, never whatever, near and far and always and everywhere and everything (*repeat*) Say you'll love, love me forever; never stop, never whatever, near and far and always and everywhere and everything (*repeat*) I love you, always, forever; near and far, closer together; everywhere I will be with you; everything I will do for you (*repeat*) --I Love You Always Forever by Donna Lewis *Between Friends; Owari* ********* To those of you who have read all through this story, congratulations, and welcome to the Author's Ramblings. This story has been my testing ground for much of my writing ability, and I view it as successful. I state here and now that I don't own the RayEarth 2 manga, and have had only a minimal exposure to the anime of the series (ah, but such a lovely introduction it was... fast-forwarding to all the good "interaction" scenes...), and have thus depended almost solely on the translations provided by one Miss Rika Takahashi for the writing of this story. Thank you, Rika! This is the first fanfiction based off of either series of RayEarth that I have written, though I write extensively on fanfiction for other of CLAMP's series... Tokyo Babylon and X being the main ones at current, as I have not had a great deal of exposure to RG Veda, and other of CLAMP's series can be a bit tricky to procure, even living in Southern California. In addition to CLAMP's works, I have great fondness for a series called "Yuu*Yuu*Hakushou," about which I have written many fanfics, and various other animes as they pass through my sphere of movement. I am intending to become an English major when I return to a real university (I am currently biding the time at a JC), and hope to be good enough to make my living writing stories. In the meantime, I study that, Japanese, whatever aspects of human psychology interest me, and try to develop my minimal art skills. I always appreciate comments on my stories, and try to reply as soon as I can. If you happen to have access to IRC and want to talk to me in real time sometime, I often go around on EFNet through another account as any of three personalities: Peridot, Nataku, and Nokoru (none of which is my actual name). Beware, however; there is another person who is fond of using the name Peridot. I can be found on #clamp, #anime!, and #yyh. And... well, pretty much everything else about me is contained in the .sig! Ja ne! */*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/* | Life is a Manga... if You Just Look at it Correctly | *---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***-* | Mokona Protectors Society Society for the Preservation of Bishounen | | Earth Mistress Member/Co-Founder | *---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***-* | 71411.1046@compuserve.com | | Peridot, Nataku, and Nokoru Imonoyama | | Keeper of the Keichans, Fanfiction Writer, Student | */*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*-*\*-*/*