The ship turned out to be structurally sound, so we all piled on for some much-needed rest and relaxation. At least, almost everyone relaxed. Bassi, Kory, Jitters, and I however, were standing in one of six chambers within the envelope.

Kory and Jitters had identified these chambers as being integral to the flight of the ship by looking at how the internal supports were configured. Apparently, the whole airship was built to essentially hang off of these chambers, instead of gas bags like in Earth airships.

Within the chamber, a strange white crystal was locked in place by a great many very sturdy steel supports. It was clear that it was one of six crystals responsible for keeping the ship aloft, and as far as we could tell, nothing was wrong with it. So why hadn’t they tried to use the ship to escape? It had to be something else that had caused the ships to fall out of the sky, but what, we couldn’t tell.

“I think…” Kory began, before shaking his head and closing his mouth.

Bassi turned one of her infamous eyebrows on him as we all stood there, trying to figure out the mystery. “What is it?”

“Well,” he began, before grinding to a halt again. “It’s just that, this ship appears to be in pretty damned good shape. A few replacements where time has worn it down, but other than that, it should be uh, skyworthy.”

“So why did all those other ones crash?” I asked, trying to wrap my brain around it. “They obviously fell out of the sky. They weren’t shot down.”

“Certainly didn’t see any anti-aircraft guns with the monsters,” Kory agreed, throwing me an amused look.

I grinned. “Or any SAM batteries.”

“God, that would be terrifying,” he said, miming a shudder.

Bassi and Jitters were sharing a look of their own as we spoke, so I jumped in to clarify. “They’re weapons we developed on Earth to fight aerial vehicles.”

“I… see…” my girlfriend said slowly. “Well, I think we should go and inspect the other ships with Jitters. Kory, can you go and get Leon, then the two of you can recruit others to start replacing whatever needs replacing, okay?”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” he replied, saluting her with a smile. Clearly he was as excited about the airships as I was.

With the plan now sorted, it was time for us to go out before night set in. We didn’t have far to go, the closest airship was laying half on top of another building next door. It was a large cargo ship by the looks of things, and it was a little worse for wear.

Carefully, we picked our way through twisted metal and ruined machinery, until we finally reached one of the cores. Right away, I could see what had happened. It wasn’t difficult to understand.

“The rot,” Bassi said, reaching out to poke the desiccated floatation crystal with a splintered piece of a wooden beam. The crystal fell apart, having become dust long ago, just waiting for something to give it the last little push.

“Look,” I said, pointing out a trail of dark tendrils. “It worked its way inside like… like flowing water.”

There was a trail of rot all the way from under the door of the floatation core, up one wall, then down a primary support. It ended at the crystal, which it had obviously tainted and devoured.

“I bet that if we follow that line, we’ll find a point of impact where they hit the outside frame with the spell,” Jitters mused, frowning as she traced the line with her eyes.

“Since this mystery is solved, do you think we could go and get the dust out of the cabins back on our ship, then sleep?” I asked, suddenly fighting a yawn. “I’m getting really tired.”

The other two agreed, so we headed back to the hangar. When we got inside, we found that the rest of the party had discovered a problem. Namely, there were two sets of accommodations within the ship. The crew cabins, and the rich cabins. The problem now, was to figure out who got what.

Eventually, I just threw my hands in the air and said I was going to take Bassi to one of the senior crew cabins and then fuck her there. The rest of them could figure out who got the fancy rooms or whatever. I was tired and I wanted to sleep.

The cabin was relatively small, only ten feet wide and twelve feet long, but it was also a lot bigger than some of the other cabins I’d seen. The bed was big enough for us to comfortably share, but that was only because Bassi and I slept practically on top of one another.

Other than the bed, it had a few cupboards and a desk, and that was really it. We spent about half an hour airing out the room and dusting it, then we took the sheets off the bed and threw them into the hallway. They were pretty gross, although surprisingly, they might still be usable once washed. Bassi laid her bedroll out for the night, though, and we both cuddled up inside.

"Finally," I groaned, wrapping my arms tight around her. "Finally. Finally."

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" She asked, shifting slightly to get comfortable.

I made a humming sound of affirmation and splayed my fingers out over her hip. The truth was that every single day was long for me, because it usually meant I wasn't holding her like this.

Turning to meet my drowsy stare, she smiled at me. "You don't actually want to make love, do you?"

"Just snuggles," I said with a slight nod.

Cuddling my head up under her chin, I let myself relax. Goddess, I loved this girl. She was so amazing, so strong, but also so tender and caring.

Her name slipped out of me completely unbidden. "Bassi…"

"Hmmm?" She mumbled, moving a little so she could kiss my forehead.

"I just wanted to say your name," I confessed. "I love you, and sometimes that love doesn't stay contained."

"Fine by me," she chuckled, shimmying down the bed until we were level.

Her eyes shone in the dim light of the cabin, watching me like she was a dragon and I was a pile of gold.

An idea hit me, partially due to that simile, and so I asked her, "You know I'm yours, right?"

Her eyebrows rose. "Yes?"

I shook my head and leaned in until we were an inch away from kissing. "I mean, you control me. My heart is yours, and with it, you have control over me. It's a control I've given to you happily, too. I want you to know that."

Now she just looked confused. "Mist?"

Now I did kiss her. Just a small one, soft lips to soft lips. "I'm telling you this so that when you feel like your world is off its rocker and nothing makes sense and everything is confusing and painful, you remember. I want you to remember that you control me, through my heart, that I've willingly given to you. Let it be a solid foundation that you can trust to build a plan through your problems. Through your shitty doubts and painful memories. Okay?"

She'd stared at me throughout my whole little speech, and now her eyes began to mist with tears. "W-why are you telling me this?"

"Because I love you, and you've been struggling," I told her plainly. "I want to be here for you."

"I have?" She looked so vulnerable right then. I kissed her forehead and tangled my fingers up in her hair.

"Of course," I laughed gently. "Now, would you like to make out before we sleep?"

Watching me, deep in thought, she took a while to respond. Then, quietly, she asked, "Okay, but I want you to do something for me."

I squeezed her. "Anything."

"Take control," she whispered. "Let me be the one who is following."

"As in…" I began, before trailing off to demonstrate.

Carefully, I pushed her onto her back and straddled her. She gazed up at me as I did so, watching, waiting, trusting. I gulped, uncertain what to do next. She liked to put my hands above my head and hold them there. Maybe she'd like that too?

I gathered her wrists up in my hands, and gently pressed a kiss to the inside of each. She let me shift them above her head, where I nestled them up in her hair.

Finally, I leaned down to kiss her, slowly at first. I didn't want to come in too aggressive and scare her. I always marveled at how good our lips felt together. Soft and supple, I relished them, my tongue darting out to tease her and draw that delicious tongue of hers in.

When it snaked out into my mouth, I bit down, using my new fangs to hold it in place. She let out a gasp of surprise, and then as I danced my tongue over hers, she moaned. I let her go, but only after squeezing her wrists lightly.

“Was that what you wanted?” I asked, breathing heavily.

Her acid green eyes, now shot through with veins of gold, were lidded, pupils blown wide. “Yes. Yes, that was… so good. I think you could help me… you know, learn to let go of my control, sometimes.”

Propping myself up above her with one hand, I used the other to trace her jawline, then the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, if you want it. I mean, it seems that what I said about my heart could also be said in reverse, right?”

“I do love you,” she nodded, her expression growing sober for a moment. “I love you so much it scares me.”

“Why does it scare you?” I asked, although I already knew the answer. It was the same reason I was scared of my own love for her.

She smiled. “I don’t want to lose you, of course.”

“Good thing you won’t, then,” I said, kissing the tip of her nose. “Shall we sleep now, or do you want to kiss more?”

Her smile was so cute, so shy, so eager. “Kiss more.”

QuietValerie

Sorry for the slow down. I'm sort of taking things easy rn. My lungs are hating on me super hard again. I'm still trying to push this story to its conclusion though. Hopefully I can then get on to gauntlette and follow through with that one too. Please hit up my patreon if you can spare a little each month too. Thank you :).