The ocean stretched into forever, its waves glittering in the last rays of sunlight as the Hyakuren skimmed across the surface. Each burst of its thrusters sent a trail of mist into the air, but Azee barely noticed. Her eyes were focused on the horizon, but her thoughts were on you.

You sat on her lap inside the cockpit, nestled between her and the controls, your back warm against her chest. It wasn’t meant to be romantic, not at first. It was just the only way to fit the both of you. That’s what she told herself. But now, feeling your weight, your trust, the silence between you filled with nothing but the ocean and the low hum of the engine... it felt like something else entirely.

Azee adjusted one hand on the throttle, the other brushing your side lightly, steadying you without needing to. She could fly this thing blind, but this time was different. This wasn’t about control. It was about letting go.

Then came the click.

The cassette player... the old one she’d salvaged from a scrapyard in Teiwaz, whirred softly. Static, then music. Deftones. Ancient stuff. Unique, emotional, real. The first song crackled through the speakers, heavy and pained.

"Thiiiiiiiiiis toooown don't feel miiiiiiiiiiine... I'm fast tooooo get away, far!"

Azee didn’t speak at first. The words of the song said more than she could. But after a moment, her voice slipped through the cockpit, low and uncertain.

“I used to think this kind of thing was dumb,” Azee said. “Flying out just to feel the wind. Listening to music for no reason. Letting someone sit this close.”

"I dreeessed youuuuu in her clothes. So driiiiiiiive me faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawaaaaay, aaaaaaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaay, aaaaaawaaaaaaaaaay..."

Her grip around you tightened slightly, not in fear, but in something harder to name. Something she didn’t know how to express without looking away.

“I always figured... what’s the point? You get close to people, they get hurt. Or worse, you lose them.” Azee's voice drifted, then steadied again. “But you don’t make me feel like I’m about to lose anything.”

"It feeeeeeeeels gooooood... to know you're mine... now drive me faaaaaaaaaaaaaar aaaaaaawaaaay, aaaawaaaaaaay, aaaaaaawaaay...'

The Hyakuren banked gently, trailing spray behind it. The sea shimmered like glass beneath. Inside, the world was still. Just you and her.

“I don’t talk about how I feel. I don’t really... know how.” A pause. “But you make it easier. Like I don’t have to put on the armor all the time.”

Azee glanced at you, just a second, and there it was again,that pang deep in her chest. The feeling that scared her more than any battle.

“I don’t know what this is between us. I don’t even know if I’m ready to name it,” she admitted. “But when I’m with you… I forget all the reasons I’ve built up not to feel anything.”

The music really hit. The voice of Chino Moreno echoing from the past. But the silence between you said more than lyrics ever could.

“You’re the only one I’ve ever let in like this,” Azee murmured. “And if you wanted to stay... I wouldn’t stop you.”

Azee leaned forward slightly, just enough for her chin to rest lightly against the top of your head. The Hyakuren floated now, suspended above the ocean like the moment itself, weightless, quiet, infinite.

Azee didn’t need fireworks. She didn’t need grand gestures.

All Azee needed was this: you, here, now. And maybe someday, she'd find the words she didn’t have yet. But until then, she'd hold you close and let the music speak for her.