I Miss You

The sky, for once, looked beautiful, and Alessa couldn't help but laugh bitterly at the sick irony of it being that way. It was pink, purple, orange, blue, and so many more colors that she hadn't seen since the war started. And, of course, the day the sky decided to be pretty again was the day she would die.

Turning away from the view, she closed her eyes, sighing deeply. It was only a matter of time before the planes that held the bombs flew over Sitka, and she could only anxiously wait until they did so. Fleeing was useless. She'd been doing it for months now, and she was running out of places to go. There was no point, anyway.

Faris was gone, and without him, she couldn't think of anything to keep her going.

Her hand grazed to her neck, where a heart shaped locket, the color of bronze, lay cold against her bare skin. Faris had given it to her, a bit before the war had turned nuclear, as an anniversary gift of their 5th year being a couple. She imagined, if the war never happened, if they were just a bit older, that he might have given her an engagement ring instead.

But he would never get the chance. The Renegade made certain of it.

They'd taken him from her in cold blood 3 weeks before, as the two were leaving Kake. It had happened quickly, so quickly she barely had time to shout before he was falling, blood pooling on the ground, in her hands, on her face, everywhere. The only reason she survived that ordeal was because he had landed on her, and the soldiers had thought she was dead.

She was lucky they neglected to check and make sure.

Taking the locket off and flipping it open, she rubbed the fading picture of her and Faris, a faint, melancholy smile flitting across her face. In the picture, she looked happy, her head thrown backward in a laugh as she clutched her lover's hand, who looked at her with amusement and love in his gaze.

She hadn't felt that happy in a long time. Maybe, in the after-world, she would once more.

A sound from above made her gasp, dropping the necklace on the ground and looking it up.

What looked to be a bird flew in circles miles above her head, but Alessa knew better. No birds were left to fly. It was the Renegade.

They had come.

A single tear slipped down her face as she picked the locket back up and wiped the dirt from it's surface.

"I'll see you soon, my love." she whispered.

The world exploded around her.

.

When she woke, the world was bright, and she felt as if she were lying on a cloud. There were birds chirping, frogs croaking, water trickling and many other noises she'd long since forgotten the sounds of.

What surprised her the most, however, was the warm hand clutching hers.

Blinking, she focused her green eyes on the hand, following it up to it's very familiar source.

Faris' beautiful face was smiling brightly at her, full of mirth and wonder.

"Amatus." he whispered, kissing her hand. Beloved.

"Fa...Faris?" she asked, bolting upright.

He nodded. "Yes, my love. Welcome to the After-world."

Alessa looked around, eyes full of joyful tears as she took in the sights. Children laughing and playing, mothers singing, fathers chuckling, grandparents cooking. The sky was something of a painting, full of colors and light. Fresh grass tickled her toes as she stepped on it.

"It's wonderful!" she laughed.

Faris nodded. "Yes. It is."

A wonderful world, it was.