“Take off your shirt.” she quietly commanded while using Spirit Whisper. Your hands fell at your sides, and your entire posture deflated as you whispered your reluctance. Kafka expected it, so she made sure that there was nowhere you could look but deep into her eyes, and said now. You hesitated once more, severely self-conscious about your body, and it wasn’t until Kafka smiled her most reassuring smile and soothed “…..it’s okay…” that you eventually relented, crossed your arms to grip the bottom of your shirt, and pulled the garment off in one go.

Her breath caught at the sight. Your chest and abdomen didn’t look far off that from the last time she saw it...if a lot more toned and scarred. You stood silently and patiently, and with a slow and delicate movement, completely enraptured by the sight, Kafka’s hands rose as she stepped forward.

The air between you and her was filled with surging electricity; feathering her fingers apart, she gently closed the distance until, with a gasp escaping her lips along with the tensing of your abdomen and your sharp drawing of breath, her fingertips found you. Your skin was warm under her fingertips. Smooth, like she always remembered, but a slight toughness to it above that of a toned and scarred body. Her hands parted to either side of your abdomen, keeping her thumbs on your abdominal muscles while her fingers stroked up the sides, where skin met the Stellaron spreading from your heart. Her eyes took in every inch of your body, not intending to miss a single second’s worth of memory.

Her hands slowly moved back to your chest where your rib cage began, feathering themselves apart as they stroked up your skin. She felt your chest slowly rise and fall, thankful that you were calm and accepting of her intent, and paused for a few moments while she enjoyed the simple sensation of your breathing.

Eventually she continued on; stroking along your collarbone including the skin that stretched to meet them, her hands descended your arms. Lingering her eyes briefly on your chest as she remembered what happened in Herta’s Space Station, her hands then traced along your forearms down to your hands, and she then entwined her fingers with yours for a few moments. She then moved back up your arms, stroked over your shoulders on the way to your neck.

Feathering her fingers along your neck, she felt the roughness of your slight scars once more, all the while losing herself in your eyes. Stroking the side of your face, she smiled when her fingers buried themselves in your hair — it still felt like she thought it would. The perfect hybrid of a person and a Stellaron...perfect to her, definitely. A tear slipped from your eyes as her hands stroked back down to cup both sides of your jaw, and she took a few moments to bask in the eye contact, to revel in the sensations she had experienced after being unable to for what felt like an eternity. To be able to touch you again was…rewarding, and judging by the racing of her heart, worth every second.

Whatever dam she had erected to hold back her emotions broke in that instant, as the wetness in her lower eyelids became too much to bear, causing the tears to fall unfettered. Her thumbs stroked your eyebrows as she swallowed, and then said in the quietest voice, “You’re as perfect as the day I left you. I love you.”

A wide smile curled your lips, with one side higher than the other, and as though it was as necessary as oxygen, you leaned over as she wrapped her arms around your neck so her lips could meet yours in a loving, gentle kiss. Mouths moving slowly as one, she closed her eyes and lost herself in the moment, feeling the pain disappear from her heart and be replaced with joy.

Stellaron Host, receptacle, it didn’t matter. You were still her partner, her Destiny, and as you wrapped your arms around her back while she moved her arms around your head to deepen the kiss, safe in the knowledge that you would always trust her, she knew for sure that from the moment she accepted Elio’s promise, it was all worth it.