That time she asked
Ajak hated looking up at the sky on starry nights. Ghosts swirled in her mind too painfully.
She had spent 500 years traveling the world, mingling with humans and learning from them. And in all that time, there was not a single day that your name did not escape her lips. It was unvitable, she had you engraved on her soul.
She understood why you were so fascinated with them. Humans weren't that bad, in fact, they were gorgeous. They grew and changed faster than she expected, destroyed themselves, and were reborn. It was almost magical. Soon, she found herself closer to them than to her eternal former companions.
Sure, she knew where they were most of the time. But she couldn't help feeling...more human. Maybe that was what you had felt so many years ago.
She frequently visited Gilgamesh and Thena, she knew about Druig, although she respected his space, Phastos had needed her on several occasions and it hurt her to see him lose faith in humanity more and more. Sprite visited her often, Makkari still lived on the ship and she would be lying if she said she didn't have a DVD of all Kingo's movies.
Ikaris...Ikaris was strange. She didn't know where she was standing with him. Sometimes he was hostile, other times loving. She told herself that it was because of the pain of losing Sersi, who had followed her life happily, but something inside her whispered that her relationship with him had changed since the moment you died.
Still, Ikaris was always loyal to her.
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Ajak hated looking up at the sky when there was a starry night. It was painful.
But as the deviant drained her life, she found comfort in the dim lights that began to appear over her. The pain of Ikaris' betrayal and the fear that she had felt when she recognized that this was a fight from which she would not get out alive, disappeared little by little.
She didn't know it, but there was a creature watching her other than the deviant and Ikaris. An ancient creature, who had been caring for her for centuries, bound by a promise.
Tlaloc had intended to save her, protect her as it had promised. But in the chill of the rising night, it understood that it was best to let her go. She had already spent too much time separated from you, now, she deserved to find you.
So it spoke with that ancient voice, one that the wind carried away and only Ajak heard. A whispered hope in her ear.
"She is waiting in the stars"
And the fear was erased from the woman's mind, hoping to return to you.
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Of all the things Ajak remembered from previous lives, death was not one of them. She knew that she had died before, just like everyone, she was sure of it, but she could never remember where she went.
Where her soul rested while she waited to be brought back to life? She didn't know. There was a time when she thought she was returning to Arishem, but this...this was different. Even unable to remember the times before, she knew.
"Ajak"
The woman turned to see you, as beautiful as ever. She wanted to cry, but the tears didn't come. Maybe the dead couldn't cry? She wasn't sure, nor did she care. The only thing on her mind was that you were here, in front of her. Real.
"Y/N" she whispered
"Hey...I've waited more than 600 years for you, the least you can do is hug me" you joked.
The woman didn't need you to tell her twice before throwing herself into your arms. Your head quickly found a place in her chest and suddenly, it was as if she had never lost you, as if all those years of memories, sadness and loneliness were erased from history.
"I missed you so much" she told you
"I was always with you" you said "Because you never forgot me"
You raised your head to meet her gaze and your lips found their way to hers like a magnet. They belonged there.
"You never lost the universe of your eyes" you whispered before closing the gap.
And you two, without knowing if you were souls, memories or echoes, joined in the cosmos. The same song. One heartbeat. Ajak didn't know if you would wake up again, and if you did, she might not remember, since Sersi was now the prime eternal. But it didn't matter. The future was not a problem now, because she knew, that no matter what, she would always find her way back into your arms. After all, you were bigger than the universe itself.
When you parted, she looked at you for a moment before speaking again. A question escaped her lips, one that she had waited centuries to ask.
"Y/N, would you watch the stars with me?"
You smiled and took her hand, guiding her.
"You are going to love them, Ajak, here they are always shining "
