g/t one-shot book

the end (nb/f)

They weren't meant to last.
 
Both of them knew that the games they played could only last for long. For Sonia, it had been their embrace. The ghost of touch that once lasted them years would have to do for years. Decades, maybe even centuries would pass for Nova and yet...
 
For Nova, it had been Sonia. Everything about the human fascinated them. From how her feet fit the pads of their fingers to the tears that adorned her cheeks when it was time for them to leave. The stocky build that she resented one day and bragged about the next, the bruises on her knees and elbows, all of it was beautiful, distinguished, delightful. They had spent hours gazing at the different parts, zooming in on the intricate details of the human - her own fingers, which couldn't phase through different objects. The curvature of her exterior, the symmetry she was too good for - it was all perfect in its own way. Nova had never known such an anomaly, and yet that very anomaly now took up next to their own existence. Until now, apparently.
 
There was no doubt about that goodbye. No wondering if, or when the cosmic duo would see each other again. Sonia's mission had been them, but in them she'd found purpose - a mission she'd long forgotten about. They'd been cold, cool, collected - Nova was everything Sonia felt she wasn't. They were perfection, from the smoothness of their edges to the control over parts of time and space - it was frustrating at first. But Nova never wanted her to be like them, and would rather share that perfection with her, a fact that she grew to appreciate and now couldn't bear the thought of letting go.
 
Still, they had fallen in love. The superstar threat to Earth, and the speck of a threat to the cosmos. Humanity did what it did best - care, in the most destructive way it could find, but the havoc worked wonders for Nova. They liked the explosion Sonia had brought to their comfort - hiding her to their chest, under a cloak when spirits felt her whereabouts. The difference in perspective - how Sonia gave life meaning and Nova saw it meaningless.
 
Nova frowned. Love was such a fickle thing. So how...?
 
Their gaze landed on Sonia, who sat crisscross in a translucent hand. Gently, Nova's fingertips had traced her locs, and gently they had pet her. In a green bubble set apart from the vacuum of space, the duo sat - soaking up each other's company for the last time.
 
"Visit me?" Her voice came, and Nova was reminded of how small she truly was.
 
A nod from the giant silenced Sonia's question, yet she knew that if they stayed quiet long enough, she'd be forced to go.
 
"Was I good to you?"
 
Nova chuckled, the bubble wobbling with the bass that followed. "You are good. Always, and forever."
 
And they believed it. Even when the rest of the galaxy called her evil, when the planet she resided on was collapsing in on itself, until tomorrow and the forever after that. Nova would never call her evil, never fix their lips to pronounce a curse that couldn't be farther from the truth.
 
"Hmmm," she hummed, and Nova's hand curled around her a bit tighter. They both knew what she was doing, but neither would admit why she was doing it.
 
"I'd always thought you were pitying me."
 
Nova stopped in their tracks. They lifted their passenger closer to their face, the diamond shape that housed blue and purple hues. Square eyebrows narrowed slightly at the negative talk, and sure enough Sonia got the memo.
 
"Not now, but when you found me. My ship..." she trailed, biting back tears. "you were the one that found me, weren't you?"
 
Nova sighed. Back when they'd wanted nothing but simplicity to be what it meant on the surface. It was crazy to compare who they were before they met Sonia. If they could somehow meet the them of before, the old them would have had them killed. 

"You remembered," they responded instead, bringing the human in for a closer embrace.

The duo let the bubble that surrounded them fill the void of their voices - the thoughts Sonia & Nova were too afraid to say, hidden in the crevices of their proximity. Sonia's tears stained the metal that held her, and Nova was convinced that they would never be able to forget the warmth of the being that touched them so delicately. 

"Do you...believe in fate?"

Nova scoffed, although the partners knew there was no weight to their indignance. "I see futures you could only imagine like they're right in front of me, for what would I need fate?"

Sonia chuckled sadly. "Hope, then?" She offered.

Silence answered the second question. Nova held her tighter, their own visual orifices leaking cosmic dust. Colorful like the emotions they felt for Sonia, they watched the bubble expand from the corner of their eye, signaling that it was almost time.

"I'm not ready to go."

Nova grimaced. "Me, either." They agreed, both beings watch the green aura expand and lose opacity. 

To their surprise, she stood up in their open palm, a crooked smile on her lips. She beckoned them to bring her up to their shoulder and whirred their head 90 degrees to watch her next move. 

"I'm glad, I met you though," she mumbled to the surface of their shoulder.

She tried again, louder. "I'm glad you..."

Hope. As the words repeated, the realization struck Nova. The bubble was close to bursting now, any second now it would transport Sonia home, never to be seen again. But Sonia...

Their eyes flitted to Sonia, and then to the structure that held them together. She had hope. She wasn't saying goodbye, she was saying "see you later." They smiled as she met their eyes.

For Nova, Sonia was hope.

"I hope..." They tried, leaning in to kiss the human. Sonia blushed as the lips enveloped the top-half of her body. "I hope you realize how much you mean to me."

Mean. Sonia had picked up. Present tense. She sighed dreamily, letting the contact from the being hold her for however long before she'd see them again. Hope, her thoughts had thrown back at her. Nova hoped, for her. Even when it seemed dumb, even though they didn't believe in fate, Sonia had somehow made a being that was used to everything...hope.

"I love you," she said softly, the sound of the bubble beginning to pop filling both of their ears.

Nova managed to keep it together, watching her wave one last time before popping out of existence. Her warmth followed shortly after, settling in their hands for only a moment longer before wisping with the cold vacuum of space. More tears fell from their eyes as they mourned, albeit temporarily, for the love that had gone sour.

Right person, wrong time. Sonia had taught them. And as they watched the place they called home lose appeal before their very eyes, it was only then they had realized that the tears they were silently crying had lost their color, too. They turned to the direction of Earth, billions of light years away from there as their lips twitched from the kiss they sent last.

"I loved you, too."