Until I See You Again: War Of The White Lion

Conscious of A Fallen Warrior

Shiro's POV

The Lion was struck by some sort of purple energy Ray. Upon impact, the lion and everyone inside was electrocuted. Pain shot throughout my body and what made it worse was the screaming from within the inner chamber of the lion. Like the terrified cry of a child. There was ringing in my ears, my body was in pain, and the lion was spinning out of control. Tripping over my feet, I hit the edge of a metal crate head first.
Then the world was no more.

(Flashback to 13 years ago, we take another visit to our favorite awkward space nerd and a rambunctious troublemaker continued by Shiro's POV)
Ok, I have some good news and some bad news.
Good news is, Its Adam's fifteenth birthday at the Garrison!
Bad news is, there aren't very many celebrations here at the Garrison so Adam's birthday will just a dull acknowledgement. The Garrison, because in life you can't have fun and y'all need more and more school.

It's been about four years since Adam and I have been friends, and his sly grin still gets the better of me. But now that we're teens, he's gotten taller, his hair has gotten longer and even more messy. But most importantly, he has glasses! You should've seen the look on his face when he got them! It was a mix of embarrassment and pouting! It was honestly the cutest thing I've ever seen! But of course I'll never tell Adam that.
For his birthday, I decided to be cheesy. I currently own a Polaroid camera. The one with the vintage photos. So I've been taking pictures my whole time at the Garrison. Mostly so I could send pictures back home to Miyagi, Japan.
If you didn't know, I had to earn a scholarship to get into the Garrison from Japan. The only way I am in contact with my family is I send photos home. Once, I sent a few pictures of me and Adam and now I think my mom thinks I have a boyfriend. God that would be so amazing!
Jesus, I'm getting ahead of myself!
Point is, I made a photo album of the two of us. Yeah I know it's cheesy but I've recently discoverer Adam's soft side for cheesy things. For example, his favorite movie is The Titanic, if he sees a dog, he has to go pet that dog, his favorite thing is stargazing with me, and he likes stuffed crust pizza. The last thing is getting literal, but I've made my point.
I took photos of all his favorite things.
Getting the photo album, I had to sneak out of the Garrison at night.
Lately I've been getting pretty good at hiding and sneaking around. God I'm such a rebellious teen!
I went to the corner store and got some things. One of which was the photo album. I got the biggest one they had. I also got sodas.
This is gonna be great!
Earlier today, I asked Adam to meet me at our spot. (The place Adam took me when we first met)
So I'm waiting for him under the stars that we love so much.
I set the things down next to me and pull out the other two things I got from the corner store. I know it's a little dangerous but a little dangerous is what I know he could appreciate.
Then behind me I hear footsteps going up the ladder. Then on the door there is two soft knocks, then three, then six.
That's our signal to let eachother know that the other isn't Sargent Kovu.
I go to the trapdoor and open it.
"Hey, ya called me?" He asks with his signature smirk.
"Yeet." I respond as he holds out his hand to me.
I grasp his hand in mine and pull him out while we gently set down the lid of the trap door.
"So you know that birthdays at the Garrison suck, right?" I tell him, trying to hide a smile.
"Yes! Oh my god, Kovu always has to ruin everything!"he whisper shouts because if he said it out loud he would probably yell it and we would get caught.
"Well, I have a little surprise!" I say, leading him to where I have the photo album, and sodas. The two other things I got from the corner store was a candle and matches. Like I said, a little dangerous but Adam loves anything that's a little dangerous. I don't think I cut that list, just yet!
I take out the candle and matches. I take a match out and light light it with a small fizzle of fire.
"Holy shit! Takashi, what are you doing?!" He whisper shouts even louder.
"You'll see." I say calmly.
"If you're suggesting we do something to Kovu you are crazy!"
"What?! Adam, I'm not crazy I don't do things like that!"
"Holy shit you better not!"
(Did I mention Adam has a bad habit of cursing?)
I pull out the candle, and quickly light it. Then I blow out the match. I look back to Adam and give him my best I-told-you-I'm-not-crazy look.
"Oh my god I thought you were going to do something stupid!" Adam says in complete relief.
"I'm not crazy, but I'll go for a little dangerous."
"I very much agree. And the candle is sea grass scented. Yay!"
"That's not it, I also have some snacks."
"Oh my god you went all out tonight!"
"Of course. On your fiftenth birthday, you deserve the best."
We got out the sodas. I got one of every flavor they had. Cracking open the first few I decide that Pineapple Fanta is my favorite.
We spent a good hour talking about things. It was a little cheesy. But that's when I got out the photo album. The candle was almost burnt out, and the air was tingled with the scent of sea grass. In the dim light, I found the photo album and brought it out. It was so big that it rested across both our laps.
"Adam's and Takashi's Adventures." It said across the cover in my best handwriting which wasn't all that great.
"The title is so cheesy!" Adam laughs.
"I thought you loved cheesy."
"I do love anything that's cheesy."
He laughs putting his arm around my shoulder. I didn't expect such a gesture of affection so I try to return It. I wrap my hand around his waist. Together we look at the photo album which is only a few pages.
"Why is this mostly empty?" He asks.
"It's so we have room to put in more pictures."
"This is the best, most cheesy, most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me." He says with a genuine smile.
"I'm happy you like it." I say.
The candle is burning to its last bit of light. It's dim, and the fire flickers on and off.
Adam looks into my eyes in the dying light of the candle. His eyes are darkened, but the faint light from the candle ignites the traces of green and yellow in his hazel eyes. His eyelashes throw shadows across his cheekbones, giving him a mysterious and wistful look. His skin is golden tan and it looks so soft. His arm around my shoulder shifts to guide me closer to him. He shifts to me, and I shift closer to him. In the dying light, the wind gives a little breeze, brushing Adam's dirty blonde hair out of his eye for just a moment, then the light flickers one last time, and dies.
But that doesn't stop me, from giving Adam one last birthday present.
In the quiet darkness, my lips connect to his. Only the two of us and the ever patient stars know what went on that night.