∞

Bright

worlds,

worlds

fading_.

I stood up, took her left hand, and placed my free hand on her hip. We began our own version of a waltz, since I’d never taken dance lessons and spent as much time holding the walls up at any function I’d ever been to that required dancing as showing off my less than stellar moves. I'm not even sure if the way we danced would be able to be considered an official dance of any type, as I stepped on her toes every couple of steps. I lost count with the music, concentrating more on staring at her than maintaining proper cadence. She didn't seem to mind, so neither did I. We continued the dance for a while without speaking, until a really slow song came on, and then we just stood there, holding each other, rocking in time to the music.

"Do you think we can stay like this forever?" she asked.
"I hope so," I answered.
"I never want to go home, you know," she said, holding me a little tighter. "Whatever it is that I forgot, whoever it is that I left behind, however it is that things were, they couldn't be like this."
I didn't say anything, I just listened to her, trying not to dwell on the implications, the likelihood, that there really was Someone that she had left behind, someone who might possibly love her as much as I did, someone that would come looking for her someday.
"Nothing, anywhere, could be like this, except for you, and me, right now."

"Then don't ever leave," I suggested. "We can stay here, or we can run away together. We can get away even from today's frantic pace of everything and go back to a simpler time than now." Of course, I was really just fantasizing out loud, but it seemed like a good idea.

"This IS the perfect time. Right now," she stopped moving and leaned back, looking up into my face and smiling. "Right now," she said.

And inside, I knew that it was. Inside, I knew that she was right.

^{I reached over and took her hand, squeezing it.}

^{"I love you," I said.}

^{"I love you, too. What brought that on?"}

^{"Just thinking it."}

^{The wings rocked a little as the sun set over a little broader of a horizon than we were accustomed to, and above, the stars came out, clearer than ever.} 

^{The wings rocked, and home we flew, memories and moments all bundled up in a pressurized world, miles above the world, the oceans below.}