The Day the Earth Met the Sky

by Pat Ellis

  As if reading his mind, Erik reached out and took his hand, pulling him off the boardwalk, down to the rocky beach, where the night air grew colder with the coming storm. The ocean waves were resonant, crashing against the shore with tidal ferocity and Aaron was in love with the moment, hand still clutched reassuringly within Erik’s. Maybe it wasn’t impossible…

  Erik pulled him down to sit on a flat slab of stone. The storm was closing in, lightning beginning to show in the distance, thunder and crashing waves filling the air with loud energy. Just maybe…

  Erik was pleasantly buzzed and more at ease than he’d been in months. Aaron was smiling again, and he didn’t care how much alcohol it had taken to get him that far. Aaron’s sudden nosedive into depression had caught him off-guard and left him feeling useless; unable to pull him out of it even a little. He hadn’t known what to do. It seemed the more effort he’d put into trying to bring Aaron closer, to let him know he wasn’t alone, the worse Aaron felt. So, he tried to do the opposite and give him space, but this also made things worse. He couldn’t bear to see him so helpless. But, tonight he was practically his old self. Or maybe this was just wishful thinking on Erik’s part.

  “Erik! Check this out!” Aaron picked up a small, flat stone and held it up, dim light from the city reaching it just enough to make it shine.

  “That’s… a rock.” He laughed. “It’s pretty, for a rock.”

  “It’s not just a rock. Nothing is just a rock, man. Look at the history!” He held the rock directly in front of Erik’s face with an eager smile, clearly seeing something Erik wasn’t capable of.

  He was beautiful. On an impulse, Erik took Aaron’s hand and pulled it to his lips, kissing the pretty rock. Aaron’s eyes widened and, though it was hard to tell in the low light, Erik thought he was turning red. He closed Aaron’s fingers tightly around the rock with a wink. “You should hold on to it.”

  Aaron turned his head, letting his hair fall to conceal his eyes, and mumbled something unintelligible, smiling in the most adorably awkward way. Erik was overcome by an unidentifiable urge to do something, but was unable to act on it because he had no idea what it was he wanted to do. He leaned his shoulder against Aaron’s shoulder, which wasn’t quite enough to satisfy whatever it was, but would have to do until he figured it out.

  They sat in comfortable silence while watching the lightning streak across the sky, closer by the second, before Aaron asked, “Hey Erik? How do you see the future?”

  “You mean like, flying cars and time travel ’n shit?”

  Aaron laughed. “I mean personally. How do you see your future, yeah?”

  “I dunno. Guess this is the first time in a while I even thought of myself having a future. I don’t know what to think.”

  “Give it a shot, yeah?”

  “Hm. I guess if I had my way it’d be something like this.”

  “This?” Aaron gave him a curious look.

  “You know, just you and me… Doing whatever seems good at the time.”

  “You see me in your future?” His voice was almost too quiet to hear over the storm.

  “Of course, honey. What the hell you think I’d do without you?”

  Aaron looked away strangely, hair falling over his eyes again.

  “Aaron… do you not want me around anymore?” It hurt just to think—

  “No! I mean, of course I do! I want to be with you forever! I… shit, that came out—”

  “You mean that?” A near bolt of lightning illuminated Aaron and Erik was sure he was red this time.

  “Well… yeah. I can’t really see myself without you.” Again, his voice was so low Erik had to strain to hear him.

  “Good, I wouldn’t want you to.” He leaned back on the slick surface of the rock and smiled at the heavens.

  Erik was staring up at the sky, enthralled by the increasingly frequent lightning, wind tearing at his hair and causing his t-shirt to billow around him. His eyes were wide and intense, but his face was softened by an easy smile. It was possible, wasn’t it? If he felt it, there’s just enough chance of Erik feeling it to. Anything is possible. Anything can be truth if you believe in it enough…

  “Hey, Erik?”

  “Yeah?” Erik’s eyes didn’t move from the sky.

  “The tide’s coming in…”

  “Wha—? Oh sh—” Erik quickly got to his feet, but not nearly quick enough to avoid the wave that crashed over them both.

  They stumbled over the rocks to escape the rising waters, Erik cursing with every step and Aaron laughing hysterically.

  “Fuck it’s cold! Fuck!” Erik stood hunched over and drenched, holding himself and visibly shaking. “You’re not cold? How are you not fucking cold?”

  Aaron smiled and pushed his sopping hair out of his eyes. “I am, I just don’t let it get to me. Look, you just gotta embrace the cold. Like this—” He faced the ocean and closed his eyes, opening his arms to the wind. “Try it, yeah?”

  “Seems like a trap, but…” Erik took a deep breath and faced the torrential ocean, closing his eyes, opening his arms, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  He was so perfect, standing there dripping and shaking in the cold wind and completely compliant no matter how ridiculous Aaron was being. He grabbed Erik’s face in his hands and brought their lips together before he lost his nerve. Erik’s body stiffened just long enough for Aaron to panic and try to pull away—play it off as some joke—but Erik wrapped his arms around his waist, earnestly pulling him back into the kiss, forcing Aaron’s lips apart with his tongue. He tasted sweeter than the sweet cherry wine they’d been drinking through the night.

  This is what was missing…

  He was lost in Erik, his body responding easily and completely out of his conscious control, until torrential rain poured down on their heads to the point they couldn’t breathe anymore. Aaron broke away. He could barely make out Erik’s surprise through the rain. The thunder was almost constant now, lightning repeatedly bathing the beach in white light. “Let’s get out of here, yeah? Before we get struck by lightning or something,” he called out.

  Aaron stood just feet away from him, but, engulfed in water and sporadic light, he was ethereally obscured. Erik reached out for him, but he shied away, further out of view. “Let’s get going, yeah?” He may have smiled before he turned and walked away.

  Erik stood stunned for a long moment, watching Aaron fade out of sight, the storm raging around him. This is what was missing, he thought, and took off after his oldest friend.

  He wouldn’t let him get away that easily.

  Ever After

  His name was Ever for the sixth time when the world was very old. Impossibly old.

  He’d always liked the name Ever. In all his lives, anytime he was still lacking a name once he’d learned to speak, he would instinctively choose Ever—or, some variation, depending on the language. He was drawn to the word for whatever reason, and supposed it must be his truest, most fitting name. Aaron would always be his favorite though, because it was the name he held when he’d first met Erik…

  But, his name was Ever when the world was old and, for all intents and purposes, dead as a doornail. The surface of their world, Ever’s mother, had melted ages ago, and the sun had become a “red giant” as they say—the old designation being the understatement of the century. It was in the second red giant phase of its life/death and their world was just barely visible against its fury from their relatively safe distance. Ever wondered if he really saw it without the monitor, or if it was mostly his imagination—maybe the fact that Mother had to be there playing tricks on his brain. Their planet, their home, the progenitor of all the souls they’d ever known, was soon to be absorbed and obliterated by the very thing that had sustained life for so long. Most of Mother’s inhabitants had moved on to colonize a faraway world they liked to call Hope—after the first terraforming mission: Human Outreach Preservation Expedition. But, Ever and Erik had stayed behind, bouncing between the old or
biting space colonies until eventually they were all abandoned and shut down.

  For the past few hundred years, they’d made themselves useful at the last research station, left to monitor the slow demise of what used to be their home. What used to be Ever’s mother. His purpose, his sole reason for existing, the one thing he was destined for all eternity to protect; but, nothing lasts forever…

  Well, that wasn’t exactly true. It was the epic end of something, however, and their only real choice was to leave now, following in the footsteps of the rest of mankind, and hope for the best.

  Of course, Ever and Erik hadn’t chosen to stay behind due to some morbid fascination. There was the legitimate concern that Ever couldn’t survive in some distant galaxy, far away from Mother. In fact, he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to live outside her orbit even, since the first time the earth had gone barren he’d turned to dust, only reborn again after the Queen of Air arrived and cleansed her new domain of those manmade toxins; remnants of a particularly self-destructive war that had almost led to global extinction.

  But, since that time, mankind had been slightly more careful about preserving such things. The research station maintained a classic greenhouse, growing food the oldest way known to man while safeguarding a small piece of ancient earth for many generations, and Ever was terrified to leave it behind. In truth, it was all that was left of Mother; the planet itself was nothing but a molten corpse. In truth, the little bit of dirt left on the station might be all that was keeping Ever alive and it didn’t matter where it was in the universe. Or, it could be that Mother had released him ages ago and something else entirely was keeping him alive; something he hadn’t the faintest notion of.

  But, that thought and the fact that they would take a piece of the dirt with them did nothing to ease his fears.

  Reality of the end was sinking in and the weight of hundreds of thousands of years of lives lived, wars fought, lands explored, and, most of all, Erik… the countless times he’d fallen in love with Erik had all happened out there on that floating rock he called Mother. God, what would happen to them? Could the new world possibly accept an Earth Child from another planet? What would his purpose be then? Not that he’d had a purpose since Mother became uninhabitable and the humans took everything they could and left. He couldn’t help Mother maintain the balance when the fulcrum didn’t exist anymore. In truth, him and Erik probably should’ve left ages ago to protect and serve humanity as they’d done since forever, and if Erik had had his way then they probably would have. But, Erik was patient and loved Ever more than anything, and Ever was lost without Mother. Leaving was inconceivably unfamiliar to Ever, who possessed hundreds of thousands of years of familiarity with his one and only world.

  “How many times have we done this? How many lives?” Erik said as he lounged like a cat, opposite Ever in the window seat. “It seems like I’ve lost quite a few memories—just too faded to distinguish from dreams at this point—but I know I remember the first.” He smiled wistfully out the window at the Fiery-hell ball of death that used to be so warm and lovely—sunny summer days on the beach—“Aaron,” he closed his eyes, “it’s raining, and you taste like cherry wine. How long ago?”

  Ever would always remember the first time they’d fallen in love like it was yesterday, though he couldn’t tell you when it had happened, or even where anymore. There was a lot of rain and Erik was dark and genuine, as he always was; that first time he fell hard for those blue-sky eyes—the color of the old sky—back when the world was still teeming with life and death.

  “I couldn’t count if I wanted to,” Ever said with a laugh. “You know I’ve always been bad with time. But, this… this one is no doubt our longest stretch together, you know? Most peaceful too, if you ignore the looming star of death we’ve been under for most of it. Think this’s what they call retirement?”

  Erik faced him with that old crooked grin, eyes shining with all that was left of the sky they once knew and probably took for granted. Ever remembered how Erik’s chestnut skin would become so much darker in the sun, so warm and smooth. The nostalgia was overwhelming. Was this his life flashing before his eyes? Melodramatic. Always melodramatic; one thing he could never change about himself and kind of hated.

  “Yeah, you know I can barely remember most of this life, let alone anything else,” Erik said. “That happens a lot though. I mean, doesn’t it? I feel like I always forget.”

  “It’s your human brain, man. It can only hold so much.” Ever wouldn’t say it, but they’d had this conversation more than a few times.

  In fact, Erik couldn’t even remember his name from this most recent life of his.

  Both of them had lifespans far outreaching that of humans, but, with Ever’s fate—born whenever there was a disruption in the balance in order to set things right—they’d often sacrificed themselves for “the greater good,” or whatever. Sometimes they got lucky and were gifted with many years together, peaceful times with no war great enough to need “divine intervention,” or whatever. And, they’d had nearly a millennium of peace in this latest life, which was unheard of before, but that was likely because humanity had taken all their troubles with them to Hope, and Ever hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on any of it. Mother couldn’t pull him to action anymore, so he basked in blissful ignorance while Erik’s mind slowly filled to the breaking point. It was a bit sad, like senility—as humans call it when their folks get old and forget things a lot—but Erik was still Erik. Erik’s music was still beautiful and full of magic and Erik’s heart was still the biggest he’d ever known.

  His name was Van this time, but Ever didn’t care to remind him. Erik was the name he’d had when they first met, and no matter how many lives they’d lived together, Ever always preferred to call him Erik once he’d found his memories again. Erik suited him much more than Van…

  Erik, his one true love, his eternal soulmate—before Erik, life hadn’t been nearly as painful, no doubt. So many centuries they’d spent alone, just waiting to find each other again, sometimes not even knowing what they were searching for. Admittedly, Erik had been the one doing most of the waiting. It was a sad joke they shared, the fact that Ever died so frequently on him. Erik, though he was once human, possessed a godlike lifespan that was inconceivable to his own human mind. In fact, he was practically immortal. There were very few things that could end his life, but nothing is truly invincible. Even a god can die of a broken heart.

  So much pain came with love, but Ever would rather suffer until the end of days than give it up. That was what he feared most, after all. Dying, the end, none of that scared him. But, the thought of losing Erik, of their link being broken—that old spell of his not having ground in a new world or dead space—of living on without being able to spend eternity together, always finding each other, always falling in love, over and over, his heart was racing just thinking about the loss. The spell Ever had woven that linked their souls for “eternity” was rooted in Mother’s magic. He’d had no magic since they were forced to leave the planet. Maybe even before that; he couldn’t exactly remember. In fact, he wasn’t even sure when Mother had officially died.

  If Ever died now, there was no guarantee he’d be brought back to Erik again. It was unlikely enough to meet by chance when they’d had only one world to consider, but now… Ever didn’t even know where he could possibly be reborn, or what he would be when it happened. He was humanoid because he was born to assist humanity from a world where humanity reigned. If he died out here in dead space, where would his soul go? What would it become? It was too much, too horrifying, he couldn’t—

  Erik closed the space between them. He wrapped Ever in his arms, squeezing Ever tight against his chest, kissing the top of his head. “Stop that. It’s going to be ok, I promise. I won’t let you die, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

  Ever sighed and burrowed deep into Erik’s embrace. Erik had a way of closing space like no one else. It’s partly what made Ever fall so hard in love with
him.

  “Why?” Roth said, a bit harsh. “Sorry,” he cleared his throat, “I mean, what is it that… you know…”

  “Why? Why do I care about you? Jeez,” Kiddo said with a laugh.

  “Is that a weird question?” Roth’s face was turning red and he didn’t appear too pleased with himself for it.

  “No, just… a lot. And unexpected. Captain Roth, insecure? Never thought I’d see the day.” He made a tsking noise and Roth turned away from him with a huff.

  “Hmm, why do I love Captain Roth?” Kiddo put his arms around Roth’s waist, but Roth was stiff and stubborn, and Kiddo may have been enjoying his discomfort too much. He rested his head on Roth’s shoulder and sighed. “You know how there’s just some people who… who fill space? Well, you don’t just fill space, you close it. It’s like, most people walk around in a bubble, their own world, everything about them is separate. But, I feel you. When you look at me, you actually see me! Not just what you think I am, or want me to be, but for real. That’s so rare, yeah? Someone like you who sees other people, and genuinely cares about them. Not just me either, you care so fucking much about everything. You’re genuine, with a big heart, and I don’t think anyone appreciates it enough. You carry the weight of CNDI and the whole world on your shoulders, and I just want to take care of you.

  I… I care about you because you care so much. I like you because you’re the only person I’ve ever met that I’ve actually felt like we exist in the same reality. The same space and time… not just some image, or interpretation. I feel you… I love you because I never knew how alone I was before I met you, and now I can’t stand the thought of not being a part of you.”

  Roth relaxed into him, tentatively covering Kiddo’s hands with his own, bringing them to his chest. His heart was racing. “You really mean all that?”