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Exchanged glances, yet again. But now there was an uncontrollable bit of happiness hidden behind those eyes everytime they locked gazes with each other. Bubbling beneath the surface, and in plain sight for anyone to see if they were willing to look a little closer, a happiness shared between two souls inextricably bound together.
It really wasn't the best of weather stagnant, grey cloudy skies with seemingly no plans for it to clear up or rain anytime soon. They were travelling on a nest highway and so the monotony may have been multiplied another twofold with how the skylines and city blocks seem to repeat themselves like some sort of self containing fractal, though at least monotony has it's perks that of being not attacked by syndicate members every other hour or so.
The majority of the bus seems to be quietly twiddling away at their own little ways to pass the time, a barely audible convo at the back involving the food they ate yesterday pioneered by none other than Rodya, Don Quixote's endless repository of stories and tales still being told to sinclair up to this day though she knew to read the room and decided not to tell the stories with the passion and might of a thousand suns however much she wanted to. And lastly Yi sang was quietly scribbling away at his leatherback book, smiling to himself as he jotted down the events of the night prior to this, he was in quite an ecstatic mood to say the least.
---
"And thus concludes.. the second part of the Cinq chronicles... truly one of the greatest in mine vast collection of books and materials comparable even to the Unified fixer multiverse arc from Fixer Comics issue 981 through 1200 though in mine long life i had not had the chance of seeing the end of the tale for i have heard it still runs even to this day. Alas, there has been too many volumes they churn out that to even read them all may take another third of my life and if fate had it that mine collection would magically collect every issue of the series it would not fit inside the interiors of this bus lest it crush us all with it's sheer volume"
Sinclair did as always and quietly nodded along to her story, but of course she would eventually tire of telling stories and instead would either fall asleep beside him or look out the window while humming a tune only she and Sinclair knew since she hummed that tune so much even before she regained her memories which serves even more reasons to prove that deep down Don quixote the persona and Sancho the actress is truly one and the same.
Don quixote was looking out the window and closely observing the grey skies when she suddenly spoke in a very soft low tone.
"Say, Sinclair, can thou see it? The stars and the nebulae beyond the veil of the clouds?"
"No..? I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about." Sinclair also directed his view outwards towards the window and up into the stagnant, unchanging grey skies above.
"If thou would find it in thine heart to bear with me for a moment, I'm sure thou hast already seen me as nothing but a madwoman but thou must listen to me. The banished nebulae and the stars above seem to be gathering, it has been many moons since they last did and verily, i cannot shake mine feeling that something truly wondrous would happen tonight."
"No, no I don't see you as a madwoman Don Quixote, not at all. And i think perhaps you might be onto something that i don't know yet."
"...thank you. I'd thought that thou would scoff at this and regard is as no more but nonsense, though i suppose to prove it we shalt await nightfall when the curtains on the stars would be unveiled, truly i have not felt this for a long, long time..." Her voice trailed off into silence as she pondered the sky once more, Sinclair saw some hints of reminiscence in her eyes and he could only hope that she comes to terms with her past just like he did though he did it with her help and maybe he should return the favor? For now, it didn't matter as both of them were facing out the window, after a moment Don continued to hum that tune and seeing as nobody seemed to be bothered by it and how he probably had listened to that tune for a thousand times already he figured it wouldn't hurt to also hum along.
Upon hearing Sinclair join in Don quixote turned towards him with a surprised face, Sinclair slowly trailed off his voice until he was completely silent and shot back at Don quixote with a look that just says "Should i stop...?" To which Don responded with perhaps the biggest smile in the world, enough to part away the stale grey skies and reveal the stars hidden above even if the sun was still around, no. She would probably replace the sun with her radiance.
She returned to peering outside the window and continued humming the tune, now with a companion in this two person symphony they both felt like little children just happily singing along a boring roadtrip which isn't exactly far off from the truth.
---
The curtain fell on another "work" day, though today had no official business such as luxcavations and or mirror dungeons rather, today's schedule was meant only for travel across the nest and onto the next destination. The sinners would eventually simmer into a sort of droning low chatter at the end of any given work day and this one was no different than the others, but it wasn't always like this. Faust recalled that during the earlier days there would be this tense silence between most of the sinners as the work day progresses, not that it mattered much to Faust who spoke only when needed. That aside it's beneficial how the sinners had gotten closer to each other, spurring better team coordination and the likes. And she is reminded of how she'd gotten considerably close to one of them...
Faust really didn't expect her out of all the sinners to be the one engaging in a relationship, she didn't think she had it in her to be intimate with any other individual and yet, here she was.
It really just seemed like everything went right for this to happen, she didn't know whether she would have done it if gesselschaft was still there evaluating her every move and even now they still haven't returned from their "meeting" and usually, she was not someone who'd take risks like that, she guessed that a combination of no one watching over her giving her that extra sense of intimacy and just the situation at hand was enough for her to give in and confess. In other words, she was caught up in the moment and she just disregarded everything else at that moment.
The moment replayed itself over and over like a broken record, though every little bit of detail was preserved, from the way the wind seemingly stopped as if waiting for her word and his palm rested atop hers as they slowly and nervously accepted each other's embrace.
Such are the downsides if having good memory, though she supposes that any other person who experiences this sort of thing would have had it ingrained in their memories for a while.
Now, the matter at hand. She was unsure of how to move forward, they both have recognized the nature of their relationship but what exactly does this mean? How will things change if at all? It's moments like these where she silently hoped that a romance savvy Faust from gesselschaft would assist her, but she remembered who it was that Yi sang had fallen for, it was her. And everytime she thought of that her mind almost thinks of it as an impossibility that anyone would fall for a person like her much less a person she also likes back.
Without realizing, the rest of the bus had all but returned to their quarters except herself and Yi sang as usual, though what was unusual this time was their proximity. She was unusually cautious on how to proceed, should she be the one to approach him? Or perhaps he'll come over? She wanted to spend more time with him but a part of her was just embarrassed to, it's like a part of her is still so shocked about all this to the point of rejecting what she really wanted to do and even recognizing what was happening is still not enough to budge her into doing anything.
So for a moment, she was just sitting there in the front row, unmoving, however much her heart wanted to, every fiber of her being seemed to reject the notion of her seeking "happiness"
It seemed that even without gesselschaft someone was still holding herself back, and one close look at the mirror would reveal it to be herself.
She was hopeless.
A light tap at her shoulders seemingly broke her trance and brought her back from the world of indecisiveness.
"Miss Faust, i- i mean, Faust. I..." Yi sang's gaze was averted and his face flustering, his left arm scratching the back of his head.
"If i may ask so, can i ask for your company?"
"...yes, in what business are you asking my company for?"
"There is no matter at hand, i... simply wanted to spend more time with you." An embarrased half smile crept up his face, she found it quite endearing, how could she not? They were both stuck in the same boat after all.
"Then i shall accompany you." Faust stood up and followed Yi sang to where he usually sat, the seat beside his has already been cleared out of the scraps of paper he'd strewn about all over the place leaving a space for her to sit.
"My apologies, the seat is a bit messy, I will make space and move aside if you so wish."
It really was fine, not too cramped and most importantly it was close to him so for him to offer to move further away from her is the exact opposite of what she wanted, not like she could admit it straight to him.
"It's fine Yi sang, you can stay where you are." She says as she takes the seat.
It's funny isn't it? How even after they've confessed and everything they're still so courteous with each other as to not overstep this imaginary boundary between them, sometimes she wishes he could dare that line perhaps or maybe it should be her to take the lead?
But she was fine with this arrangement, and she was sure it'd take some time and it'll be quite a journey but so is the nature of the bus, perhaps she should have anticipated how the natural progression of relations within the sinners would affect her.
Check the boxes one by one, sign a dozen times, write a paragraph or two detailing the specifics of the work agenda today and tomorrow. Maybe even next week, many many plans were made though a golden rule for her was to schedule the location of any night time activities be it work or research to be outside and on the bus. At the start she used to require doing this to monitor Mephistopheles's engine readings and keep things in check, these readings were displayed on screen in the front of the bus hence why she sat there though as she nailed down the specifics of the mephistopheles there was no need for her to stay in the front of the bus or even in the bus at all. Though she recalled that it was at that same time when Yi sang started to accompany her during those nights, while she didn't realize it at that time it may have been her underlying want for company that made her stay.
Just like now, she didn't know when it was but they've slowly gotten closer with each other, now their shoulder brush against each other. Her pen trails off on the last signature in her report and she looks over to Yi sang's notebook, he was working on a sketch of the interior of a house, even now traces of his old job was still present in him though one quality stayed consistent. He was, and always has been a designer.
The outlines were mostly complete, it detailed a very comfy yet very functional and pragmatic design, the space is catered towards a middle lounge/workspace area and one could see themselves having everything they need in a close proximity to the workspace, and if they need multiple things from multiple places the space accomodated for that with how one is able to do one singular sweeping motion across the room to grab anything they need before returning to the workspace.
She scooted over to get a better look, her head almost on his shoulders at this point.
After a moment of silently watching his work he started to sketch slower, trailing off his pencil strokes and taking deliberate pauses when before he just had one fluid motion in shading the piece. Perhaps this was because of him realizing his newfound admirer.
Well, it appeared that he really was distracted just by the mere gaze of her eyes as he stopped sketching entirely and put down his pencil. He turned his face towards Faust whose chins were almost resting on his shoulders already, an awkward half smile already crept up his face as he does so.
She really couldn't resist it, she closed the gap between them and closed her eyes. Her lips touched this ephemeral warmth that was his cheek, for a moment there was a jolt of surprise and even after she opened her eyes what she saw was Yi sang's flustered, surprised and ironically for a person like him an out of words face as he tried to form any semblance of coherent thought as to what just happened.
She could only smile a little bit seeing what she's done, and she truthfully she just wanted to see more of it.
And so she wrapped her arm around him, and before she closed the gap yet again they shared a deep, meaningful gaze with each other as the-
SLAM! The backdoor swung open and following suit are the sound of two pairs of footsteps, one very enthusiastic and one clearly just woken up and is missing every half step.
"Pip pip Sinclair! Straighten thine back and peel your eyes for the sight that shall await thee, for it shall be most glorious indeed!"
Don quixote appeared to still don her full work uniform complete with pins and all while Sinclair was wearing pajamas with the company overcoat atop it.
After a long yawn and his eyes rubbed so he could clearly see he saw the sight of the two Yi sang and Faust sitting beside one another separated by one vacant seat in the middle.
"Ah, a good night to thee young Yi sang, young Faust if thou would excuse mineself and Sinclair over here..." Don Quixote grabbed Sinclair by the arm and walked to the bus's front door leaving Faust and Yi sang still sitting at the back.
After a light pull the door didnt seem to budge at all, it seems like the door was locked.
"It seems that i require thine assistance in opening the door! If by chance any of thee may know the whereabouts of the key i ask of thee to share thine knowledge."
Faust and Yi sang looked at each other before getting up and approaching the two blondes currently at the front of the bus, it seemed that Yi sang wanted to speak but Faust immediately jumped onto it.
"The door locking mechanism is not one of a key, rather a button in the bus's dashboard. Though Faust must ask the reason for your desire to go outside the bus during resting hours, any harm caused or sustained while the executive manager is not present may pose a significant threat to-"
"Fie, while thine concern is well founded i believe it to be negligible as we currently find ourselves in a residential area of a nest. And besides, mine intent was not to venture far from the bus but to merely gaze upon the starry skies present tonight."
"This is intriguing, i do not recall it within me that any nest of any wings would have visible, clear starry skies for they are clouded by the blighted lights of the city."
"I- uhh.. Sinclair! Can thou explain mine situation?"
"Um... she said that she felt something about the nebulae and the stars returning tonight? I'm not too sure but she said she hasn't felt it in a long time..."
Faust seemed to be surprised before closing her eyes deep in thought and muttering to herself: Beings as old as her can sense it? This is quite fascinating.
"Well.. i suppose i am not one to grant the final authorization, Faust?"
"...Faust recalls a meteorological event that will occur tonight, perhaps this is a chance to conduct some observations and collect data for my personal research. So yes, i will allow it." Faust walks forward and presses a series of buttons and a series of clicks follows as the bus door was opened.
The cold night air came rushing in the bus as the door was open causing Sinclair to shudder, which considering how everyone else were still in their work uniforms it was understandable.
The bus was parked in the middle of an alleyway of sorts, sorrounded by nothing but apartment complexes and closed street shops but even with everything blocking the full sight of the night sky it was still very pretty.
Don quixote looked around and saw a fire exit of a building near them prompting her to point at it.
"Young Faust, i know that mine promise was to not stray far from the bus but if thou would please allow it that we find ourselves a better vantage point?"
Faust has been looking up and down from the sky back to jotting things down in a piece of paper she held, she seemed slightly reluctant towards Don Quixote's plead but a quick look at her eyes seemed to indicate that this was no mere childish plea but rather the genuine wish of Sancho the kindred to see the night sky in its entirety.
"Faust also requires some specific constellations to be visible as to ascertain the true nature of this phenomenon, so yes. We shall move to a better vantage point."
"Truly, my gratitudes be upon thee young Faust, i shall truly remember thine kindness.
Now let us gallop onwards to claim the sights! Hurry on! ...Sinclair?" Don Quixote already walked several paces in front yet she noticed that Sinclair has been "frozen" in place, she could even see his hands shivering as he clutched the sides of his company coat.
She approached Sinclair and stood right in front of him before turning her back and pressing it against Sinclair, her golden hair right up in Sinclair's face.
The movement was a bit sudden and he couldn't help but be a little bit surprised of this little antic of hers but it appears that this wasn't just any random antic.
"If thou would stayeth close to me and drape thine coat over mine while we hug, there shan't be a cold we cannot prevail!"
Sinclair was slightly hesitant about whatever nonexistent boundaries they both had as it seems Don had not much of an inkling of an idea of what it is "boundaries" are and constantly break them so really, was it there in the first place? But now was not the time to be thinking about that, Sinclair was suffice to say: freezing and cold to the touch and so the immediate warmth offered by Don was happily recieved as he wrapped his arms around her and she readjusted his coat so that it would drape both of them over, creating a sort of portable blanket fortress against the cold with one little gremlin at the helm of it.
And so they went, Don Quixote and Sinclair huddled together while walking up the stairs of the fire exit followed suit by Faust and Yi sang walking side by side.
The reverberations of their footsteps were the only thing that were audible in that stairwell alongside the low humming of the fluorescent lamps, the pipes running along the stairwell were rusting and leaking suffice to say even in a nest people still aren't going to shell out money for places where people dont go often.
It was a short three stories later when they came upon the entrance to the roof top, Don quixote with Sinclair behind her went first and opened the door to what can only be said as a stunning view.
The night light that bleeds into the atmosphere seemed to be drowned out by the sheer majesty of the heavens, swirling and moving in a unknowable rythm of chaos yet in that very chaos there is an order, and underlying rule that besets the skies with an emergent beauty. A flock of ancient beasts migrating across the horizon. Cosmic tears accompany these beasts, occasionally falling down onto the grey draped city and blessing it with what little vibrance it provides, and the thing that ties everything together is an ethereal river that ebbs and flows across each and every star, nebulae and galaxy. Tying together the life force of the heavens, intertwining them, creating a truly magnificent symphony conducted and performed by heavenly bodies both old and new, welcomed and exiled, far and near.
And it's audience, a city who has long forgotten to look at the skies and dream, but to those whose hearts were planted with that seed of light, no matter whether they see it from the highest of towers or the smallest sliver from a bedside window or perhaps merely the reflection of it from the murky gutter skies. It is there for whoever that chooses to look up, it is there for whoever that chooses to see the beauty.
"Sinclair, dost thou know that the denizens of this city used to ponder the night skies?
And they'd see themselves in it as though they were looking at a clear, black mirror which reflected the stars within them." Her eyes glimmered with that of a vision, a now unreachable one, distant yet so tangible.
Sinclair was sure that the memories of her impossibly long life is still coming back to her even now, like a roll of film being played back from the end back to the beginning. He could only imagine how it must feel, and the only thing he could do for her is be there by her side.
And so he looked upon the heavens once more and picked out a star, it was a dimly lit, flickering dot compared to the nebulas and the tears and everything in between but he felt an unwavering kinship to it.
And to it he took a sort of oath, only known to him deep within his heart that no matter what happens he will always be by her side.
Don Quixote pointed at the same patch of sky that Sinclair's star was.
"Dost thou see that radiant star?"
A star beaming and flickering it's radiant flame can be seen, it's large and bright enough to outshine the star that was right besides it. That coincidentally being the star that Sinclair swore upon.
"I shall swear upon an oath, that for the rest of mine life i shall reach for a star as radiant as that one."
One flickering little star fluttering in the wind. Accompanied by the tempestuous radiance of another, larger star besides it and yet the larger star does not subsume the light of the smaller one but instead coexists with each other in a sort of cosmic balance.
Sinclair looked over to Don quixote, she was probably as radiant as the star she chose to follow. And truly, it may not just be a pipe dream for her to reach it.
---
"The hypogeal river is mirrored even to the smallest of its deltas and tributaries..."
"It is the result of my observations that the mirrored river which now flows above us and by correlation the true river below us which it is reflected as, share similarities with that of a human nervous system, what do you think of this Faust?"
"I have yet to become a Faust who posesses that information, and so i must theorize and hypothesize as we routinely do.
We live in the age of humanity dictated by the head with inhuman things deemed blemishes and exiled onto the outskirts and the beyond, and for the river to be so inextricably linked with the return of the nebulae may indicate a time once forgotten," Faust took a short glance at Don quixote.
"Where humanity and the nebulae and every sort were living in some sort of coexistence, whether it was by the inherent greed of humanity that caused us to drive them out of the city or some other cause entirely is only speculation. Nevertheless, the Head may not be very thrilled by this."
"Coexistence... with the beings whom we have exiled, i question whether they will find it in their hearts to forgive us."
"Humanity and the city dwellers has commited many, many atrocities and sins toward the other kinds, but as Faust has observed, it seems that the sins humanity has done to itself far outweigh it as to compare it would be to compare a droplet with the depths of the ocean."
"Nevertheless, do you find the night sky to be beautiful?"
"I am quite partial to it, yes." She sets aside her notes and her pen to truly look at the night sky.
Though she noticed that Yi sang hasn't been doing the same and instead his gaze has been fixed on her all this time, she felt a bit flustered by this and instinctively looked down and brushed her hair aside.
"Faust.. asks you of why you're not currently gazing at the sky."
Yi sang had a sort of gleeful, whimsy look, the same one he makes when he was about to make a jest though this one seemed to be packed with more joy behind it this time.
"Perhaps I've seen enough of it yet, and i suppose looking at the heavens through your eyes would surely suffice my thirst for beauty."
"..."
How was she even supposed to respond to that?
'Connection stabilized.'
What? Oh, they're back.
'Excuse the Gesselschaft management for not providing assistance for an extended period of time, we have been busy discussing the limitations and parameters for which.."
She was very quick to dismiss the chatterbox and assume it as nothing more than a white noise, besides if they took this long they've probably discussed every excruciating detail there is and truthfully tonight was the night to listen to it all. He was here after all, along with the stars he seemed to adore so much. It was better to stay in the moment.
Her hand slowly grasped away at the skies, follow your star and you shall find...
A hand had accompanied her, one holding her hand and one pointed at the sky.
"I recollect all my memories of staring at the night sky, even through the smog and the lights i notice that the brightest of the stars always seem to shine through them all. Being visible in all the corners of the city, from the gallows to the peaks.
Something is there to be said about the millions of other stars drowned out by the noise, after all isn't it most likely that one would end up as one of them instead of being the brightest star? Yet we spend our entire lives aiming to be one, and i've seen that time and time again that this city is stuck in a perpetual cycle, one that brings the highest to fall and the most decrepit to prosper but they again, will fall just the same."
"One must chase the ideal even if it would never be achieved for that means we strive for a better tomorrow rather than remain unchanging.
Faust wishes to say that in different places some stars appear brighter than others, perhaps not in the city, in the outskirts or someplace else altogether where the stars would be much more appreciated as their whole."
"To the city's eyes perhaps, one might seem insignificant. It pleases my heart so that perhaps, in another's eyes one might be the brightest star in their sky." Yi sang drifted his gaze back to Faust, his eyes were filled with this sense of wonder and sincerity.
"And to me, you are my brightest star."
"Then we are both are stargazers chasing one another through the cosmos, each other's brightest star." Faust had decided to retort.
Yi sang was flustered at her response, and his clutch on her hands tightens.
It seemed that gesselschaft was indeed, too busy prattling on endlessly about guidelines and rulesets to even notice their hands holding each other right now, it was slightly baffling though she wonders how much she could push the boundaries until they notice.
But she guesses that she shouldn't do anything reckless with those two around unless she risks their secret going out to the whole bus and well, she couldn't even begin to think about how she would save face against that.
'-and according to guideline number... alright can you stop that? It's getting embarrasing watching you think you're above it all, please spare some thought to the person whom you are blatantly ignoring.'
Oh, so they did notice it after all.
Do one of the guidelines state that i can temporarily suspend gesselschaft's influence?
'Unfortunately... yes, much to the detriment of many of the board's members you are allowed to suspend our influence for a period of time everyday, unless the situation requires us to intervene.'
Thank you for that information, i will hold onto that.
'Can you please pay attention at least? Look, its not just me who...'
The noise seemed to fade away, drowned away in static, no more important than white noise and definitely not more important than the person in front of her right here, right now. She was present in the moment, something she hadn't felt in quite a while. She wanted to stay in the moment, while not forever she just wanted to stay in it for a little longer.
And as soon as she thought of that, the city seemed to have listened to her and decide to spite her. The sky seemed to gradually darken again as it returns to void, the great wilden beasts seem to venture off further into the distance as the rivers that flowed betwixt them seem to fade away along with the flickering stars like a light switch being turned off, the faint veils of the nebulae that stretch across the skies start to become drown out by the city lights once more.
"It seems the Head has finally gotten to it."
"I suppose so, but..." Faust tightens her grip and returns her gaze onto the earth and onto him.
"Can we... stay like this a little longer?" If the city won't do it, then she would be the one who would have to extend the moment.
"Gladly." A smile bloomed between his rosy cheeks, they haven't exactly gone over that embarrassment and considering herself they definitely wouldn't for the foreseeable future though she had gotten a little bit more comfortable with asking these things and one may say a little 'bold' by her almost nonexistent standard of relationships.
---
As the stars went out Don vainly grasped way at them, reaching out to grab hold of what more little memories they hold.
It was quite a bit harrowing, the sight left Sinclair teary eyed. He can't possibly know what Don is feeling right now, seeing the faint traces of her past being taken away in front of her eyes. Their losses were related to their families, he could find some kinship in that but seeing this was a bit much for him. Wings, she's the one experiencing it and he's the one crying? He really should stop-
"Sinclair, thou need not to mourn for... this it really is-" Her breath got caught up in her airway as a sniffle was the only thing that came out, it took a moment for her to wipe some tears that were pooling at the sides of her usually vibrant eyes. "It is fine, yes. Besides, i uh... ehm- I have recalled upon a moment between me and my father which, well 'twas not a moment one would say and more of a trait that he had during our long adventure outside Lamancha Land."
"I had not remembered where it truly came from nor did i ever ask him of it's origins but if thou would recall the tune that we had sung this morning due, that was from my father. He would hum it during the dreariest of days and the most victorious of them no matter, and yet i had never grown particularly weary of it."
Sinclair recalled that ever since he knew Don, she had always hummed that tune even before she had regained her memories.
"You were always humming that tune even before didn't you?"
"I suppose, truthfully the memories of the past still flood my mind so and until the point where recalling mine recent memories prove difficult, so if i take thine words to be true then the river must have missed a few slivers and in its wake, left me humming an empty tune to no one."
"Well.. don't put it like that i don't think it was ever empty, i think it was always full of life, always full of a dream that you pursued. And now i know what that dream is, and i realize that you've been continuing his dream all this time haven't you?"
A slight hesitation overcame her upon hearing the topic of her father being uttered on someone elses tongue but with who he was and what he was saying, she figured that it was fine. Before she could nod as to answer his question he opened his mouth once again.
"And... if i had to say one more thing, you didn't exactly hum it to no one, you hummed it to me, to the rest of the bus too." He said that through a smile so earnest she couldn't think of an answer other than a
"Thank you."
After a short moment looking back at the muddied night sky, Don took in one last deep breath of the cold night air and sighed it out.
"I believe we have looked afore the night sky enough today, i wouldn't like to burden thee more than this with interrupting thine rest and i would suggest thee continue it so that thine spirits would be in the greatest shape tomorrow."
Sinclair has kind of woken up at this point, what with all the sights and her proximity to him tonight but alas his fatigue is still quite present and he would prefer it if he returned to his rest, and so he followed Don who was slowly walking back towards the stairwell.
But before fully going down the stairwell he remembered the other pair who was also stargazing with them and he scanned his eyes around to find the two Yi sang and Faust standing besides each other and... holding hands?
He didn't really know whether to interrupt their moment or not but it would be discourteous to just leave without a word and so he decided to call out.
"Umm.. Yi sang! Me and Don are going back to the bus!" As he said that it was apparent that their hands parted immediately in a sort of panic, but as to not embarrass them further Sinclair decided to turn away from the pair and towards the stairwell when a swift gust of air blew with all of its coldness his warmth away leaving him frozen on the spot once again.
But this time, without any forewarning Don Quixote immediately walked over to him and assumed the blanket fortress position once more.
"Thou needn't give the word, if thou art in need i shall come to thine side and help thee. That is my promise to thee."
A promise... she had made one with him before that he would return the favor and help her as she did his that night.
He wondered whether that memory still remains or was lost and clouded by those of her past.
---
The four had gone back to the bus, out of them it seemed that the only one who wasn't sleepy or tired was Faust. Don Quixote and Sinclair said their last words of the day as they each parted ways into their rooms, leaving only Faust and Yi sang on the bus.
"Are you going to continue your work tonight Faust?"
"It does appear that Faust has some things to look into along with a possible recreation of the night sky anomaly we have just witnessed, suffice to say i will be staying here for the time."
"Well, i must apologize for not being able to accompany you for i am... quite tired tonight."
"It is not an issue that requires any apologizing."
It already seemed that he was about to turn back and head off into the corridor but instead of doing so he was awkwardly standing there mustering up the courage to do something, his gaze was almost fixated on the floor.
"Is there anything else you wanted to say?"
"Uhm, well miss Fau- i mean, Faust. May i...?" He took a step forward, closing their distance.
His gaze lifted fully to meet her eyes, a moment passed as they locked their gazes together. His hand slowly reached out to cup her cheeks in a slow embrace, it was soft and her breath can be felt on his wrist.
He closed the second distance and placed his lips gently on her cheek, it felt as if the boundaries of what was 'him' and what was 'her' didn't exist at that moment, blurred away by the ethereal warmth that radiated off of themselves.
And as they parted, he could see that she had closed her eyes during the moment. Cold air rushed inbetween the gap as he slowly brushed her cheek and set aside her white hair to reveal the full sight of her as she opened her eyes.
She was so beautiful.
Though that creeping embarrassment quickly took a hold of him as he broke eye contact and reverted to his slanted gaze, while this was unfortunate the butterflies in his stomach seemed to be happy at least as was him.
"..Goodnight Faust." He turned his back against her and slowly started to walk back into the corridor.
'How much have we missed since the two or so days we were gone?
I certainly didn't expect you to form such a relationship so quickly this is unprecedented by your standa-'
May i request a time out on gesselschaft for a moment?
'What are you--
Connection terminated, connection will be reinstated in T-15 minutes.'
A mischevious smile arose on her lips.
She walked over to Yi sang whose hand was already on the handle of the backdoor and tapped on his shoulder.
He turned back towards Faust who was quite literally right in front of him.
"Faust? Wha-" without another word, Faust grabbed him by his shirt's collar and closed the distance as she pulled him towards her for a kiss on the lips.
A jolt as his whole body tensed was felt at the point of contact, but not long after that he seemed to ease in and return her kiss. They held that for what seemed like an eternity before parting for the second time tonight, their breath was held all the time during the kiss and was exhaled at the same time as they parted with each other. His face was akin to a red beet when they were finished, his mouth scrounging up silent words as he was at a loss for them.
A small sense of victory arose in her at the sight along with a smile.
"I haven't said goodnight yet." Faust said as she turned back and headed to her seat at the bus, leaving the wordless Yi sang almost stumbling around as he exited the bus and onto his room.
This was a good night indeed.