Marry You?

Sky, upon learning of the different White Stones scattered across the world, has established a sense of motivation himself, wishing to attain all to defend his family at all costs. Of course, a piece of advice that had been missing from the way he thought previously, was that he was a member of his own family.

Sky had always put his life on the line when it came down to it and never considered that other people wanted him to live too. Being strong enough to protect them was more than possible, but being strong enough to protect himself wasn't a muscle he could train. It was a habit that had to be formed.

As soon as Sky left Ultima Tower back to Alicas, he realized all that had changed in such a short period of time. Food distribution centers were everywhere, Umbra, Hikari, and Avie were all united while moving food from one city to another. Manny, the old man who made Sky's clothing for the battle with Quake, and Lou-Lou were together, digging up the soil on one of the newly created slopes downward into the ground to plant crops. Everybody from his past, everywhere, was doing something to progress the city in one way or another.

Flipping his scarf back to symbolize he was the leader, he stood atop another one of the slopes while Dani, Carl, Charlie, and Ren sat behind him, enjoying a lunch that Carl prepared.

"How is Rin? Noboki? Mandi?" Sky asked, looking down on the citizens who used to condemn him for simply having a controversial name.

"They're still in critical condition... but they'll be okay. I've been monitoring them for a pretty long time," Ren explained, putting an apple to her mouth while sighing.

"I'm glad... I'm glad it was them who took the pain because I don't think anybody else could've done it. Not me, not you, not any of us," Sky explained. he took his scarf off, tying it around his waist and sitting around with the rest of his friends.

"Your Strands can't heal them?" Ren asked, but Sky shook his head.

"You know how Amy's ability was to fill your lungs with liquid? A thought came to mind, especially because we couldn't heal the damage... that liquid was Ethanol. When I think about it, it's the only way that they're still damaged without being healed. They slashed their lungs to pour out the water and were in pretty rough shape, but Mizu was luckily able to lead us to a note that somebody wrote," Sky said, keeping Orion's name out of the conversation.

"Huh, must be a good kid... so, what's next? I mean, we don't have any enemies left... we've never been able to live like this, have we?" Ren asked Sky. He looked at his White Stone, turning it over on his arm and retracting it underneath his skin before sitting down at the picnic with everybody else.

"What's next? Well, I'm pretty sure we just live, as we wanted to on the beach. Just... without the people we wanted to live with. We have a lot of growing to do, a lot of rebuilding, and a lot of defending in case another danger happens to show up. There's a lot to grow with our strands, there's a lot to grow physically, emotionally... maybe we could settle down and start families eventually. But for now? We won..." Sky said. He couldn't relish the fact that he finally found freedom, but wouldn't stop working hard to continue to preserve it.

"That is really weird to hear... we should commemorate the dead too. Have you visited their graves today?" Dani asked Sky, and he shook his head, staring down at his feet next while remembering his parents. It had been a while since he lost them, but still living without them for even a month was starting to drag him down.

A lot of people had died in his life, and he was forced to believe it was all his fault this entire time. It wasn't until Faith's outburst that he began to accept that he couldn't change things, and should live thanking the dead, rather than regretting his actions.

"Why don't we split off from everybody else and go to their graves?" Dani asked Sky, grabbing his hand and waving it off to Charlie, Carl, and Ren while she bounced over to the graves of their friends.

In one hand, Sky held Dani's hand tightly, and on the other, he held his belt-loop above the strands of Illya's hair, remembering the only person who made his life possible. As the two made it to the graves, Dani nodded, turning her head to Sky with rosy cheeks.

"Hiyochi and Ruby and so many other girls from down on Earth had given me these books... these books of romantic 'high school' kids. They talked a lot about this thing, at least in some of the books. I would stay up all night reading them, thinking of you. I would think of ways that I could follow through with what they did, and be cute with you, but I never realized that what we have... It's special, and I love you for it," Dani said, turning the tide of the conversation to make him blush.

"I'm sorry, I never said it before. I was afraid, flustered for nothing. You've never had eyes for anybody but me, even when you killed Raven, I was in your heart... you've done so much for me, Sky, and I would do everything twice over for you as well. The point of this is to just say... I know we're young and everything... but..." Dani froze, beginning to rub her hands together while looking anxious.

Sky caught on to what she was saying, putting his finger to her lips and silencing her as he created a ring to perfectly fit her left ring-finger.

"Marry you? There's no reason I can't right now, even as young as we are right now, but why don't we wait a little bit longer? I don't want that to sound disheartening to you, like as if I don't want to... but I do want you to keep what I just put on you. It's a promise, a promise that I will marry you and start a family with you, Dani," Sky stated. He slipped the ring on, and the two smiled, cherishing the moment while sharing a kiss.