Once the thunder storm had passed, it gave birth to clear skies. Billions of unknown stars shone through the empty black of night. Two foreign moons, Boulder and Sif, illuminated the path from the rear of the chapel to the hot springs. I tried to focus. I had to focus. There was only one person left that required my undivided attention and it already felt like an impossible task filtering out everything that had happened in only a handful of days; the monsters, the nightmares, and the death. There was just as little inner peace as there was from the outside. That same error message flashed across my Mind's Eye, 'Unable to Connect to Network.' How annoying. I didn't need to connect to a network. There was only one connection I absolutely had to establish.

Carved into the side of the rock face that fenced in the natural hot spring, wide stone steps curved down to the waters below. Moonlight danced off the steam and bubbling surface of the water. Wild cherry blossom trees bordered the pool. Out of everything one would expect to see at a hot spring, one thing stood out above the rest. In the center of the spa, seated upon a smooth, flat back rock, was a beautiful She Wolf.

I stood at the water's edge. Maybe my mind had finally broken? I'd expected to find Luna. Instead, seated on her haunches, muzzle pointed up at the twin moons above, was an actual wolf. Her fur however was identical to Luna's, rich auburn on top, pure white along her chest and legs. Maybe Kazuna actually had more of a sense of humor than I gave her credit for? I continue to study the She Wolf. I wait for the punchline. Instead, the gorgeous creature lifts its head higher back and howls. The melody was lonesome, full of longing. Her song sent shivers up my spine.

Still transfixed on the wolf in the center of the hot spring, I felt compelled to venture further out into the water. It felt like I was lost in a trance as the Wolf howled again. Her howl was calling out to me. I couldn't get my boots off fast enough. Once rid of my footwear, I stepped into the water without regard for the sound of the splash. My mistake. Following an inexplicable desire to draw closer to the wolf on the rock, my lack of caution and grace wading into the water immediately alerted the creature.

She turned her head toward me: bright red eyes boring into mine.

I froze, holding my ground and gaze with the She Wolf.

Without blinking, without breaking eye contact, an illusion unfolded before me. The She Wolf stretched her front paws forward on the rock, yawning. The digits on her paws scratched the stone, reaching out to become more human than animal. In the span of a breath the fur along her forearms became ivory white flawless flesh. Her arms, torso, back and hind legs also became human as I exhaled in amazement. Breathing in again, the creature before me now had a full length of russet brown hair that covered what was once a wolf's head. Throwing her long soaking hair back as she lifted her head, Luna had returned to her human form: mostly human form.

With the exception of her pointed wolf-like ears that stood atop her head, and long, luscious tail covering her chest and modesty, she was more human than I was. She was more of everything any man could have asked for. With one hand, she ringed out her auburn hair. Warm water cascaded down her chest. Her athletic form stood bare, glowing in the moonlight. She was breathtaking in every sense of the word.

"Gene," she spoke softly, "Come," she commanded.

I obeyed.

I waded further into the waist deep water. Luna lowered herself off the stone, slipping into the water. Her tail now curving back behind herself. She was exposed, just as my desire for her must have been equally as transparent. We now stood within arms reach of one another. What I wouldn't give to reach out to her now. I don't think I could ever let her go.

In a whisper, Luna reminded me, "You had a promise to keep, Starjammer."

I nodded, trying to keep myself from trembling despite the hot water I stood in; "I did."

With a smile and wink, she reached out for my hand; "You're supposed to say, 'I do."

I didn't immediately understand what she meant. Of course, at her touch, my brain most assuredly did melt. It took every bit of my mental faculties to reply, "Yes, of course."

Luna waited expectantly.

Even unconnected to the network of information that had recently bombarded my every waking thought, I still memorized the words I'd collected from my teammates; phila, storge, agape. I'd desperately tried to piece them together. Like a million piece puzzle without a reference picture, nothing connected as it should. What use was all the collective data of Fryga if I couldn't make sense of it?

Tilting her head to one side, Luna sensed my frustration, "You just have to say it, Gene. What's your word? What were you so ready to confess that you'd risk a public execution?"

I couldn't take it anymore, lashing out I screamed at the sky, "I don't know!"

Silence.

There was a part of me that assumed all had truly been lost. A gentle breeze twisted through the cherry blossoms. Pedals blew from the trees, floating down to the water below. I must have been the one idiot in every possible version of reality that didn't have the right word they needed to say to the one they desired.

I desperately tried to explain before Luna ran off in frustration, but to my amazement, she remained. Still holding my hands tightly, her tail still swishing back and forth sending out tiny waves of water behind her. She waited patiently and grinned.

Taking in another deep breath, I started with what I did know, "There's not just one word. There can't be. There's too much that I want to say to you. There's too much inside this..." I beat my chest uncertain whether there was actually a working heart left. I had to calm down. Had to keep going, "What I feel for you can't be contained by one word alone."

A wider smile spread across Luna's lips, "I hope that doesn't mean you're going to spend all night talking to me then?"

Was she playing with me?

Should I be playing back?

I felt Luna's left hand slide up my side, and take a hold of my free hand as I quickly answered, "No! I mean, no I don't want to keep you up--"

She pouted, "Now you don't want to keep me?"

How could I possibly dig myself into a hole this fast with both my hands occupied? I tried to correct myself, stammering, "T-that's not what I meant."

She stepped closer to me. I could feel her warmth, her breath as she quietly laughed, "I know." She laughed a little, adding, "Honestly I'm impressed you're holding yourself together as well as you are right now."

Frustrated wasn't the right word. Frightened didn't nearly encapsulate the situation either. It would be most accurate to say that there were so many emotions vying for my attention, it was if I were standing on top of a whirlpool spiraling, pulling me under the water at the speed of sound.

Sounds.

How long have I been standing here stammering like an idiot?

I had to say something intelligent while Luna was standing here, nearly pressed against me. Drawing in a sharp breath, I asked Luna, "What exactly do you want?"

She bit her lower lip, looked down, then back up into my wide eyes. She leaned forward, lips brushing over my ears as she confessed, "You, Gene. I just want you." Brushing her cheek across mine, she pulled back where we once again met face to face, nearly nose to nose.

I squeeze both her hands in mind and tilt my head forward.

Our foreheads met up against one another.

Out of everything that I'm feeling now, fear just barely edged out everything else. It was a fear born for both caution and sorrow. Until now, I've known pain. This next step that I'm about to take however, would leave me more vulnerable, more susceptible to pain deeper than the sharpest blade could penetrate.

My fear was great.

My desire was stronger.

With a deep breath, I too confessed, "Luna, I feel like there's a chain embedded within me, pulling everything inside myself toward you..."

Lifting up my right hand, Luna traces the marks where she'd bitten into my hand with her forefinger. She makes small loops, gently skating over her mark in figure eights; "I know. I feel it too. It's because of this."

Closing my free hand around her's, I gather all the nerves I have left to ask, to plead; "I have to know; is this all this real? Do I have control over how I'm feeling now or..." I swallow hard, "Are you controlling this? Controlling me?"

Luna shakes her head. Wet red and brown ringlets of her hair bounced and swayed with the motion; "No, Gene. I'm not controlling you." With a compassionate smile, she explains, "In my home world, The Blood Covenant amplifies feelings between two parties, but it can't conjure emotions that weren't already there to begin with. It's symbolic of ties between friends, family and... Mates." Her tail and ears twitch simultaneously with this revelation. Her eyes grow even wider than before.

Mates? I repeat the word again in my mind, grasping for clarity. Again, my mind's eye reminds me, "Unable to Connect to Network."

Luna is now impossibly close. I'm practically reading her lips with my own as she speaks, "Gene, there's another symbol from my home world: a ritual. But, it has to be your choice."

I may feel as though I'm completely out of control, but the reality was that I trusted Luna. She was my teammate, my friend, and now? Now, we were on the edge of becoming something else entirely. I took courage in the known factors I've come to rely on and assert, "I choose you, Luna."

Taking me by the hand, she leads me out deeper into the water. We stop, standing face to face once more. We're nearly chest deep. Shivering from much more than the cool night air, Luna describes the ritual as, "Becoming a bonded pair. Before we do this, I want to make certain that you're ready. On Heimdall Station, I know how much it meant that I could tell you who you were..."

I tilt my head to the side, "Luna, whatever I was, whatever I've done, I'm willing to let that all be lost to the past if it means sharing a future with you."

She wraps her arms around my neck, pressing herself against me as she whispers; "There's not much more to it than that. As we submerge ourselves in the water, we wash away our old lives, dying to our old selves, becoming something new." Luna's Ruby eyes glow brighter. Her lips tremble as she asks, "Are you ready?"

"I am," I admit, "Are you willing to give up your past for a future with me?"

"Yes," she says, "I will."

With a grin, I wrap my arms around her bare waist, "You're supposed to say, 'I do." Without waiting for my mind to become further polluted with empty words, I grab Luna tighter and plunge into the hot spring with her. We remerge seconds later. Both of us are soaked. Without any ceremony, something has most certainly changed between us.

With one hand, I push Luna's sopping wet hair out of her eyes. Those ruby eyes I've spent so much time obsessing over; not because of their color, but their ability to see me for what I am.

I'm imperfect.

In spite of that imperfection, she still chose me.

Leaning in closer to Luna, I make one last confession; "When words fail me, Luna, believe in my actions and the truth behind them." My lips finally connect with Luna how they should have the moment I saw her. I feel her breath within me as she returns my kiss. Her arms draw me in closer. Her hands grip my shoulders tighter. Even her tail wraps around my waist to hold me close while my hands trace the curves of her body up her bare back. My fingers continue to push through her dark hair, cradling the back of her head. We both drink from each other's lips until we've had our fill.

We part lips only briefly; each of us assuring the other this is real.

We are bonded.

We are one.

Exchanging breathless smiles our lips return to one another, again, and again. We drink from each other's lips like we've been stranded in a desert for years. When we do finally come up for air, it feels as if the heavens have opened up above our heads. Night has become day and the stars themselves have fallen from the sky. Reality itself could break for all I care. The one I love will forever be in my arms, and I'll always be in hers.

Except, I realize, the stars aren't falling. There's only one fiery body racing towards the earth, and it's diving straight for the temple ruins where we stood.