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Falling, falling, falling.
At least, that was what Mira had thought she was doing at first. But as her body drifted through the vast expanse of space, she felt the pull of no celestial body. Instead she drifted without a rhyme or reason, a single floating object among millions. She hadn’t the foggiest idea of what had set her on her initial course, but regardless of the how her floating journey continued unabated.
Mira spent much of the voyage taking in the myriad interstellar sights; at first, that was more than enough to content her. Each star she glided by gave a warm glow that enveloped her body, and the occasional comet gave a light that would illuminate her trajectory. But the further her journey progressed, the more sights would dot her vision. More and more celestial bodies surrounded her, as if encroaching upon her. The glow of every star and trail of every comet encompassed her vision simultaneously. So countless were the discoveries before her that it started to overwhelm her very being. She snapped her eyes shut, but still her vision perceived them. Her consciousness slowly faded, giving way to and becoming one with the phenomena overtaking her
Until a single deep blue streak tore through the space above her. So brilliant was it that for a split second, all she could perceive was a sheet of azure. Mira opened her eyes a sliver, to discover all other light had vanished. The one line of blue was all that remained, at its head an asteroid that shimmered even more brilliantly than its trail. The girl stared up at her savior slack-jawed, until realization washed over her.
“Ao,” she whispered, her voice carrying even through the vacuum of space. But no matter how far her cry carried, it was never to reach its destination. For as long as its trail lingered, the asteroid itself accelerated away at ever increasing speeds. For an instant Mira perceived the celestial object through the trail it left behind, and where she expected to see an enormous rock eroded through innumerable collisions and endless travel, she only saw
“Ao!” she repeated, the shout pursuing the flying girl more quickly but nevertheless falling short. Mira reached a hand after her, grasping at the vestiges of her wake as she disappeared into the distance. Tears welled in her eyes, and she twisted her body, contorting it every which way in the slightest hope she could accelerate after the other girl. After much struggling she rotated her body so that she was facing Ao’s trail.
Mira took a deep breath, wiped the tears from her eyes, and as she lurched forward, she cried out one last time, “AO!”
She then tumbled right to the floor of her bedroom with a thud, the impact snapping her awake. She blinked twice, turned onto her back to face her ceiling, and blinked several times more. No matter how many times she blinked, her eyes refused to stay closed. Instead, tears started to form once more, and as she rose to her feet, she echoed her dream with another whisper of, “Ao.”
Making her way across her own home in the dead of night was more difficult than Mira expected. Her hands traced the walls of each hallway she traversed, but she had to resist the temptation to yank her hand back every time one encountered a bump in the wall. =Nevertheless her blind groping of the walls eventually led her to her destination: her sister Misa’s room.
At least, it was her room until a short while ago, if Mira's memory didn't fail her. But the more she cracked the door open the less sure she was of her own memory. In the pitch blackness of midnight every fine detail of the room was invisible; no decoration made itself known, and all Mira could perceive was the bed in the corner of the room. She stepped closer, but no matter how close she drew, the bed’s sole inhabitant remained a formless specter in her vision.
She hesitated for a second; not only from the possibility that the figure was not Ao, but also because she shuddered to recall what Misa did to her last time she crawled into her bed in the middle of the night. With a silent gulp she set her left leg onto the bed, then her right. She got onto all fours, lay on her side, and with a deep breath, wrapped her arms around the figure.
Ao practically jumped out of the bed from the shock, in the process sending Mira tumbling right back to the floor. She whipped her head every which way, trying to pinpoint her aggressor but the darkness surrounding her making that just a bit difficult. Her eyes finally settled on the girl on the ground, but even still it took her a few seconds to shout, “Mira?!” It wasn't until after she shouted that she became aware of her own volume, and she continued in a much lower voice, “What are you doing?”
Mira rose back to her feet and once more threw her arms around Ao, starting with the slightest rasp in her voice, “I’m sorry Ao but I was in space and you were there but then you weren’t and I tried to chase after you and...”
The breathless explanation continued for a while yet; the more Mira said the more her own voice became racked with sobs, and the more Ao’s eyes widened. Ao put one arm around the other girl’s waist and the other atop her head and pulled her closer. The action rendered Mira silent in an instant, and in the newfound silence Ao found the room to ask, “You had a bad dream?”
With a sniffle Mira nodded her head, Ao feeling the motion in her shoulder. “I had to make sure you weren’t going to leave,” she said, trailing off as she realized how ridiculous that sounded.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere,” Ao replied, pulling the other girl back to look her directly in the eye.
Even in the pitch blackness of the room, Mira could see the brilliant blue of Ao’s eyes clear as day. The sight slowed her breathing, and with a sigh she asked, “Can I sleep here tonight? I just want to make sure you’re not gone tomorrow morning.”
Ao couldn't help but let slip a laugh at the question, but before Mira could take offense, she made sure to acquiesce with a small nod. She started to lay back down, motioning for Mira to do the same, and the other girl was quick to follow. The two slipped under the covers and held each other at arm’s length, sharing one last, lingering look.
“Good night, Mira.”
“Good night, Ao.”
The rest of the night passed in the blink of an eye.
The next morning, sunlight crept in through the window. A stray beam of light landed atop Mira’s face, stirring her awake. She rubbed one eye to clear it of any lingering drowsiness, and once that had been done away with, the very first thing she saw was the still sleeping Ao. Mira’s lips spread into a smile, and as she placed a hand on the sleeping girl’s face, she greeted her with,
“Good morning, Ao.”