_Selena Vaughn Elmeth

_Private Interstellar Cruiser - Edelweiss / Ship Lounge

Selena silently watched as the comm. device blinked off. Her gaze didn't move away even once from the image of the man with a slightly unkempt appearance, despite wearing a standard CIB suit, on the other side of the screen.

When the call ended, all semblance of the earlier bewitching smile left her face; and what replaced it was an unreadable expression which seemed to hide many complex emotions within.

"You've really become soft, haven't you? Man, I felt like the third wheel the whole time. And what's with that cheesy promise near the end? Gave me goosebumps, I tell you." 

She turned towards the owner of the voice, who'd addressed her in such a familiar, teasing tone. In the entire Solaris Confederation, people who could be this laid back when facing her were extremely rare. 

"And what, may I ask, are you still doing back here? I believe I'd already told you to go on ahead to Caldinus I after you finished the task," Selena asked with an arched brow.

"Oh, y'now. Just wanted to see the sights in another planetary system before I go back. I don't really get a lot of chances to travel on my own ever since serving as you gofer. Cut a guy some slack here," the other person replied. 

It was a tall young man with above average features and platinum blonde hair. His feet were propped up on an expensive looking coffee table as he sat on a leather couch in a languid manner.

"I bet you just wanted to embark on a food trip," Selena stated. Her expression finally broke into a wry grin. "You didn't leave any lose ends, I hope," she inquired.

The young man waved a hand dismissively. "Relax. As far as the records show, Young Master Marco Ramirez wasn't even on the Kestrel. He was on a private beach; busy getting plastered while hitting on the ladies."

"I hope so," Selena let out a small sigh.

"Why'd we have to go through all of that trouble anyway? If you just needed the fragment and the kid to resonate, we could've had our guys do it instead of risking it by setting that incident up. I nearly thought he would actually bite the dust back there," the young man asked.

"You know how difficult it is to convince those old fogies when it comes to dealing with the [L.D.F.] relics. If I didn't dangle enough benefits, they wouldn't even give us permission to use the supposedly broken fragment Natsume was working on," Selena replied while slightly shaking her head.

"They don't want to give others the chance to be the ones who would finally open the door. They want that glory for themselves. They don't even know what's waiting for them on the other side."

The young man snorted. "Bunch of deluded old ghosts," he spat. 

"So you just went with multitasking huh. You baited every party involved, but ended up being the biggest winner instead. The Emperium may have gotten themselves a fragment back, but it's already keyed in to our lucky candidate, making it next to useless by itself. You've also dealt a blow to those in support of conducting peace talks with the Emperium."

Selena nodded and smiled. "Yes. It seems my gamble paid off in the end."

"But what would've you done if our candidate didn't resonate with the [L.D.F.] as expected? He might have ended up really dying y'know. Uselessly at that," the young man probed with narrowed eyes.

"I already said it was a gamble," Selena nonchalantly answered.

"Man, that's cold. But I guess that's more like you - the infamous Azure Calamity," the young man cheekily retorted.

"Hmph!" Selena sneered in disdain. "I've never been fond of that moniker. And being called something like that would make it seem like you're suffering from an acute case of eighth grade syndrome. It would be disastrous for my image, so you better not mention it again, my dear loyal henchman number one," she playfully added.

The young man laughed heartily after hearing her sassy retort. His eyes were nearly in tears. Selena looked on with a wry smile gracing her lips.

After the young man's laughter died down, silence came over the two of them. They sat on their chairs in solemn stillness. A myriad thoughts raced through their minds. 

They were about past times. People whose faces they've nearly forgotten. Places they would never come back to again. A world which they had once called home when they were just silly and naive. 

"Hey, Saori...," the young man softly called out.

"What's up, Kyouhei?" 

"Just what the hell are we doing? What's the point of all this? Sometimes, I just feel so utterly drained y'know," the young man weakly muttered.

Selena deeply sighed. She gazed at the young man, whose cheery facade hid a battered soul. 

"Y'know, I'm tired too Kyou," she began. "The only thing keeping me going is my desire for stopping 'him'. I was the culprit responsible for making him into what he is right now after all."

The young man she called 'Kyouhei' straightened up and looked at her with a grave expression. "You know that's not true. You just did what you thought you had to. It's true that 'he' looked up to you the most. You were 'his' pillar of support. But 'he' was too dependent on you in the end. We all were."

"When you left us back then, something in 'him' broke. Heck, it was the same for all of us. So we went into a frenzy, and failed in the end. But we don't blame you for it at all. We never did. So you don't have to burden yourself with what happened like this," he coaxed.

Selena flashed him a bitter smile. "It's too late for me Kyou. The moment I began seeing people's deaths as mere variables used to influence my desired results, it was already far too late."

The young man powerlessly slumped back on the couch he was sitting on. "Fuck. This shit is just so messed up. We should all have just died after that bus accident in Saitama. Would've been better than being tossed about like this. So much better...," he grumbled with gritted teeth.

Selena made another audible sigh. 

"What's done is done. I just want to finish what we started, no matter the result. I want to stop 'him' no matter what Kyou. No matter what price I have to pay. No matter how heartless I need to become. Will you help me," she implored.

"Aaah! Fine, I'll see this through to the end. Might as well anyway," the young man exclaimed in exasperation. "Y'know, it would've been better if you finally agreed to go out with me in this life," he added teasingly.

"Unfortunately, I'm already hitched," Selena quipped back as she flashed her wedding ring. 

The young man called 'Kyouhei' sniggered in amusement. "Yeah, whatever. Everybody knows your so called husband prefers men," he retorted. Selena just smiled sweetly after hearing it. 'Kyouhei' simply shrugged after seeing her reaction. 

He knew he was out of his league anyway. The woman he liked since junior high in 'that world' already had someone in her heart in this one. The entire situation between the two was just too messy however. 

"So we're heading back to Caldinus I now, right? Natsume's son should already have begun synchronizing with the [L.T.Q.M.S.] mainframe huh," he then inquired.

Selena nodded in agreement. "He should have. He'll be experiencing his first 'Dive' soon. Just as well. It'll save me some trouble explaining."

They continued their idle chat like this as the Edelweiss entered the Space route headed towards Caldinus I; where an unsuspecting young man in a hospital pod remained blissfully asleep, oblivious to the surging undercurrents involving him.