Chapters:

1. Unheard

The sharp, numbing pain in his side filled him with a sense of dread. That had been no ordinary blow--Ecliptor's last strike had breached his armor, and another hit like that would drive him to his knees. His ruby pulsed, increasing the Power flowing through him until he thought it might burn him out, and somehow he managed to stay on his feet as Ecliptor's sword slashed at him once more.

The grayness on the edge of his vision told him he didn't have much time--consciousness threatened to desert him, and there was no way he could sustain this kind of Power surge for long. But it was the only thing keeping him on his feet, and he backed up, struggling with his ruby for the control that he was dangerously close to losing.

Then there was something hard and unyielding at his back, and there was nowhere else to go. Ecliptor raised his sword, and something in him rebelled. It could *not* end like this--he wouldn't let it, not when there was so much left undone. But the Power was pushed to its limits already, and he could do no more than stand, alone and helpless, before the evil he had spent his life fighting.

He thought the bursts of light were only a trick of his failing vision, but through the haze he saw Ecliptor fall back, and there was a sudden wall of color between him and the enemy. *Rangers,* he thought tiredly, but he could not even muster the strength to step forward and stand with them.

Ecliptor might have vanished into sparkles of green light then, but he wasn't sure until he felt a familiar and very welcome presence at his side. *Cassie…* He knew without conscious thought that it was her, feeling her own energy spark against his overcharged Power in a reaction he knew all too well. The shock was almost too much to take after what he'd been through today, and she caught his arm as he staggered.

The spark ignited within him at the physical contact, and he found himself leaning into her without meaning to. Gods, he had missed that feeling in the long months since he had seen her last. How could he have lived without it, he wondered, her touch restoring his awareness in a way Ecliptor's attack, coming on top of scores of similar battles, had not.

As always, though, she seemed to feel nothing, and he tore his gaze away from her as she asked, "Are you all right?"

Her voice was only concerned, the mild tone of worry reserved for a fellow warrior. "I'm all right," he managed, trying his hardest *not* to look at her. The desire to see her, touch her, speak to her, had never abated since that first day when she had teleported to the site of a battle he had not yet left, and he had felt the brush of her soul against his.

He had taken any excuse to encounter their team after that, but he had never been able to face them--to face *her*--for very long. He found himself utterly distracted by the melding of spirits that she seemed completely oblivious to, and he had to flee before he said anything to give himself away. At last he had been unable to take it anymore, for as long as he was within range, he *would* find reasons to see her, and he couldn't keep up the constant tug-of-war with his heart.

When he awoke from his Power-deprived coma to find her standing over him, he had thought she *must* have felt it this time. Her energy practically surrounded him, merging with his as his ruby came to life, and it had been all he could do to keep himself from pulling her close against him to hold for all eternity. But she had made no movement toward him, and he had done his best to respect her wishes, putting distance between them as quickly as possible.

Her call of "Wait!" had stopped him in his tracks, and he had hated the hope that flared within him, knowing it was doomed to disappointment. And it was--she had asked only, in the friendliest way possible, if they might see him again. She could have no idea how close he came to confessing right then. Her question had brought him to the brink of hopeless abandon, wanting to answer that she could see him every day for the rest of her life if she so wished.

He still did not know how he had found the strength to walk away.

The hunger for her was no less, no matter how far from her he got, but at least he felt secure in the knowledge that he could not act upon it. The longing became a permanent ache in his heart, knowing now what it was missing and demanding that she come and fill it with her gentle yet courageous presence. Knowing that she was out there still, fighting even as he did, made him continue, dreaming of a day when things might somehow be different.

Today was not that day. He managed somehow to answer their questions, trying and failing to ignore the addictive joy of a kindred spirit touching his. She continued to support him, believing him too injured to stand, and perhaps he was, he did not know. He didn't care, either. Not so long as she was holding him, being his strength, hope, and the love he had never thought he could feel.

He drank it in, knowing that all too soon she would be leaving him again--and he felt his heart sink as he heard Andros's communicator beep. It was DECA, of course, with word of yet another monster attacking their home planet. They had to go, and he knew what was coming. She would pull her arm away from him, as she had after freeing him from Havoc's prison, taking with her both his heart and the only strength that was keeping him on his feet.

He drew away first, but the abrupt dimming of her presence in his mind was almost as bad as the sudden outflow of Power, and he realized exactly how much he had been depending on her. TJ and Ashley reached for him as he staggered again, but he pushed his ruby relentlessly, refusing to collapse in front of her. He could barely hear himself talk over the muted roar in his ears, but he knew that Andros ended up with the activation disk for the Delta Megaship, and then their Gliders were all there, waiting to take her away.

She was gone as quickly as she had come, and only Andros remained, asking if he would be all right. Had he any energy left, he might have chuckled. Of course he would be all right… living without the other half of his soul, living with an ache in his heart that wouldn't go away and the horrible fear that she could one day fall in battle before he could get to her side… How could he be anything other than all right?

"I'll be fine," he told the Red Ranger, sarcasm lost in the exhaustion he knew was in his tone. "I'll guide you when you're close."

Finally the other was gone, and he closed his eyes as an overwhelming sorrow washed over him. The ruby took advantage of his momentary lapse, wrenching control away from him and stemming the tide of Power that threatened to burn out his senses without her here to mitigate it. He felt himself falling, but it didn't matter anymore. He tried to guide Andros verbally through the maze that was the Delta Megaship, but as the Power drained out of him, there was simply nothing left, and he could no longer fight his descent into oblivion.

He didn't know how long he lay, unprotected and unconscious, on the jungle floor of Hercuron. But by some miracle, he awoke alone and unharmed--or at least, no more harmed than he had been before. The intensity of the pain that stabbed at his side before he even tried to move told him how seriously injured he was, and he knew that without medical attention, the possibility that he might not see another sunrise was a very real one.

With Eltare conquered, Aquitar remained the only safe haven open to him. He refused to even think of Earth. In this state, there was no telling what he might say or do, and he couldn't risk the likelihood that he would find himself, unmorphed and uninhibited, in the presence of a woman he had dreamed of for months on end.

Neither could he bring himself to leave without a last word to her, however. He knew the Earth Rangers would return to Hercuron as soon as the threat to their planet was dealt with, honor bound not to leave him when he had so obviously been injured battling what they must consider "their" enemy.

Drawing out a second message beacon, he depressed the record button and planted the device on the ground in front of him. It had a short delay built in, enabling him to drag himself to his feet before the camera switched on. He was gasping for breath as the light came on, trying desperately to ignore the pain long enough to get a coherent sentence out.

"Rangers," he managed. "I knew you would return--" He winced, clenching his teeth as a wave of nausea engulfed him. This had not been a good idea. He ended the message as quickly as he could, letting gravity pull him downward to switch the "record" function off. It automatically deleted the last two seconds--the other half of the delay--and he found himself wanting Cassie with a sudden, sharp longing that took what little breath he had away. Somehow, it would all be better if she were at his side…

But she had a job to do. She had feelings that could not possibly reflect his, and she had a duty that would keep her from acting on them even if she did. Over the course of the past few months he had grown to bitterly resent her duty, thinking it might be the Power that *kept* her from feeling what he did. After all, his life force was tied into, even a part of, his Power, while hers was a separate and distinct entity--submissive to her Power for as long as she was a Ranger.

It was only a rationalization, an excuse for her indifference to him, but it gave him a place to focus his anger at the unfairness of it all. Without realizing what he was doing, he had reached out to touch the record button again, stumbling to his feet once more. "Don't worry, Cassie," he told the beacon, wishing he could believe, in some corner of his heart, that she *was* worrying about him. "I'll be okay."

*Okay…* An Earth phrase, that. How she had influenced him, without even knowing it. He couldn't stop talking at her, now, clinging to consciousness and the vain hope that this message would mean something to her. He said words that would make his heart soar, coming from her, and he told her he would see her again--he knew no matter how hard he tried, there would be no avoiding the pull of her soul on his.

But he was only rambling, pretending somehow that he could see her in front of him, that she would listen to what he wanted to say and smile at him, just once, in that breathtakingly beautiful way she had. That smile could sustain him for years, if only it didn't always leave him wanting so much more…

He dropped to the ground, placing a hand over the beacon and stopping the camera again. His wounds stabbed at him, and he could feel the tug of his ruby, trying to make him teleport back to his ship. But he couldn't forget the one time she *had* smiled at him, and the memory took over his mind, rendering him frozen and uncaring of anything around him.

His hand clenched on the message beacon, wanting that moment back now and forever. *Cassie,* he cried silently. He couldn't help it, unable to forget and not wanting the image to fade. He didn't even notice as the device's only button sank beneath his fingers, the red light covered by his hand. "I love you so much, Cassie," he whispered, voice choked as an unsympathetic breeze stirred around him. "Why can't you feel it too?"

He cried out as pain wracked his body once more, harsher and more unforgiving every time. His ruby won, this time, and the Power enveloped him, teleporting him back to his ship and keeping him awake long enough to lift off and lay in a course for Aquitar. Back on the surface of the now deserted jungle planet, the autostop on the message beacon turned the "record" function off. The device powered down, waiting until its proximity sensors activated it again.

Rangers were the first to find it, not that the sensors distinguished between Ranger and non-Ranger. One of them knelt in front of it, impatient for the message it held, and it finished loading the first recording even as she reached out to speed its progress.

A miniature hologram appeared to the side of the device, the static a result of the beating it had taken and subtle testament to what its carrier had endured. The hologram spoke, imitating with near-perfect accuracy the words and actions of the one who had been there before. The recording ended, and the Rangers remained in the clearing, demorphed and trying to comfort the one who had been so eager for the message.

They turned back to the beacon as the second recording finished loading, and the hologram appeared once more, this time with words that made the disconsolate Ranger smile. She waved a little at the device, trailing her friends out of the clearing before it could finish loading the last data stored in its memory.

The message played out nonetheless, speaking to a clearing empty of all but the uncaring wind. "I love you so much, Cassie..."

2. Unspoken

They shouldn't have done it. He had left that message beacon for them--they shouldn't have left it behind. But Andros had not seemed to think it important, had not appeared to believe it was anything more than a temporary form of communication, as ethereal and fleeting as a subspace comm transmission. He didn't see it as a tangible thing, left by the Phantom Ranger as a substitute for his own presence.

They shouldn't have left it behind. But the others had followed Andros's lead, and she had been too embarrassed to make a scene about it. Her hesitation had been bad enough, after the second message that had been so obviously meant for her. She had been holding back tears, watching him struggle so to get the words out and wishing she could be at his side.

But with the others watching, all she could do was hope her smile didn't look too forced as she slowly walked away. She *knew* she was acting like an infatuated little girl, and she hated the knowing looks her old Turbo teammates exchanged when they thought she wasn't looking.

She had never fallen for someone as hard as she'd fallen for him. She tried to tell herself it was a crush, and it would pass. She didn't even know what he looked like, for heavens' sake. She didn't know the first thing about him--where he'd come from, who he was, what he did during the time he was not with them… which lately, was *all* the time.

She tried not to sigh. The strangest feeling had hit her the instant she teleported into that clearing on the outskirts of Angel Grove, all those months ago. It had almost been as though someone was suddenly there with her, looking over her shoulder and staring with her at the scene of devastation left by the battle they had been too late to join in.

As fast as she turned, though, she wasn't quick enough to catch anyone behind her. She had put it down to nervousness, but the feeling had refused to go away. As the others spread out to search for any lingering traces of fighters, good or evil, she had paused warily, glancing around for the fiftieth time since she'd rematerialized.

His image had leaped out at her, reflected in the side mirror of an abandoned pickup truck as he hid on the other side, trying to catch his breath. The feeling of a presence at her shoulder suddenly increased tenfold, and without knowing how she was instantly certain that he was the source. The standard warning across the bottom of the vehicle's mirror burned into her mind as she edged around the end of the truck: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

His cloak had hidden him before she could get an unobstructed view of the mysterious Ranger, but she had known he was still there. He had to be--she could still feel something, someone too close for conversation but too far to really touch, someone whose Power was somehow boosting her own. That was the oddest part: the rest she could put down to an overactive imagination, but she *knew* her Power inside and out, and it wasn't this strong…

She had reached out on instinct, trying to grab hold of something intangible and more than a little unbelievable, and had gasped when her hand actually touched something. There was nothing there--but there was. "Who are you?" she had asked without thinking, and had been startled when someone replied.

Two words, and his presence had started to fade. She felt herself standing alone again, and felt suddenly much smaller in the deserted clearing. The Power flux diminished, and the energy that had once seemed overwhelming every time she morphed now seemed inadequate compared to the inexplicable rush that had come with him, and gone as he left.

Ashley had not felt it. She had asked her friend later, and privately, if she had noticed any augmentation of her Power, or even that strange feeling of someone standing right behind her no matter where she moved. The Yellow Ranger had just looked at her as though she was crazy, and she had started to think she might be.

She had felt it again on the beach, and tried to ignore it, telling herself it was the invisible pirahnatrons that had spooked her. But there, crouched in the sand, she had felt her energy flare suddenly, and she knew beyond any doubt what she would see when she looked up. His invisibility gone, he extended a hand to her, and she had done her best not to flinch at the fire his touch sent through her. It had felt as though he had yanked her into a teleportation beam and wrapped her in his arms all at once, and for the briefest second she had felt like she could tell what he was thinking.

But he let go of her hand the instant she was on her feet again, turning to walk away before she could shake the confusion from her mind. He had always done that; disappearing before she could collect herself and leaving her with a feeling of trying to hold her own against a hurricane. And he never touched her again, at least not of his own accord.

Even so, reaching out to him today had been second nature. She had thought she would be able to do what she had to, even knowing he was there, but the sight of him had arrested her midstep, and only the greatest strength of will had been able to force herself to stand with her teammates until Ecliptor had vanished. Then she had holstered her blaster and run to his side, afraid for the obvious pain in his stance and his near-inability to stand despite the flood of Power she could feel racing through him.

She had tried not to gasp as she took his arm, his energy almost tearing her own Astro Powers out of her control, and she wondered how he could survive a tide so intense. The fact that so much strength was only just keeping him on his feet frightened her even more, and she moved closer, trying unconsciously to lend her support, such as it was, to containing such an incredible amount of energy.

That feeling of someone looking over her shoulder was back, as strong as ever and closer than the presence had ever felt--except the time she had helped him out of Havoc's prison. Even as now, he had leaned on her and swamped her with the feeling of being wrapped securely in his embrace. She had wanted desperately to know what that would *really* feel like, and she had pulled away from him then at the first excuse, before she could do something foolish.

This time, though, she hadn't been able to. It had been so long since she'd seen him, heard his oddly accented voice, felt that exhilarating surge of energy. She couldn't step away, and it was all she could do to keep her voice calm and level as she asked if he was all right. She was acutely aware of the others gathering around the two of them, and especially of Andros's stare while the others tried to pretend there was nothing more to the situation than met the eye.

She had stayed with him as long as she could, barely hearing the conversation and dreading the time when he would once again turn away from her to leave. But he had let her hold him, not contributing even as the others tried to decide on the best way to track Zordon, and she knew with a sudden sinking certainty that he stayed, not because he wanted to, but because he was utterly incapable of walking away.

He was hurt worse than any of them realized, and her heart had screamed at her not to leave him when Andros's communicator summoned them back to Earth. It terrified her to think of him here alone, defenseless, and as close to collapse as he had once been without his ruby. She had opened her mouth to say that she wasn't going with them when he wrenched his arm away from her and stumbled toward Andros, saying something about a Delta Megaship and how imperative it was that they have it.

Their abrupt separation made her dizzy, throwing her Power down to normal levels in the blink of an eye and leaving her suddenly small and isolated from everything she had been feeling. Anger flickered within her, and she glared after him. This was nothing more than duty to him, a task to be performed no matter the obstacles. *They* were nothing more than a duty to him…

Hurt and resentment made her stay silent, then, as Carlos called their Gliders. She leaped onto hers without a backward glance, thinking bitterly that if he died then at least he would have accomplished one more goal on his checklist. Had she ever meant anything more to him than that?

This time she did sigh, closing her eyes on her darkened room and trying somehow to erase that memory. It had been childish, she knew. He had never said anything to her because he didn't *feel* anything for her. That was just the way it was, and she *had* to stop expecting more. It wasn't his fault that she had a hopeless crush on someone she'd never even met face to face, and she should have said something to the others about his condition rather than stalking off like a sulky child, leaving him to fend for himself in an obviously precarious situation.

At the very least, she shouldn't have let her embarrassment keep her from picking up the message beacon he had left them. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was important, and shouldn't have just been left on the planet's surface for anyone to find.

She got to her feet reluctantly, making her way through the deserted corridors of the Megaship to the jump tubes. Everyone else had to be asleep by now. She ought to have been, too, but this wouldn't take long. Just a minute to return to Hercuron, retrieve the beacon, and come back. Then she could finally stop agonizing over *one* of the questions that tormented her mind, and maybe, possibly, be that much closer to sleeping herself.

The world turned sparkling coral as she leaped into the tube, landing fully morphed on her Glider as it streaked out into the void of space. The Megaship, still in orbit around the jungle planet, receded to a pinpoint of light as her Glider dove through Hercuron's atmosphere and slid to a halt just inside the clearing she and the others had returned to hours before. The sun was just setting on this part of the planet, and the message beacon lay, rather forlornly, she thought, on its side in the grass, probably knocked over by an animal of some sort.

She bent down, intending only to pick it up and return to the Megaship. She had no particular desire to see the small image of him suffering even as it tried to stay on its feet, and she certainly didn't want to hear those words he had said to her at the end. So condescending, so thoroughly hurtful; he had made her feel even younger and far more transparent than she had thought she was. But the message beacon activated with her presence, and as she reached for it, the hologram flickered into view once more.

She froze, unable to help watching as he tried to stand straight and get his formulated sentences out before they realized how injured he had really been. It was painfully obvious to her that he was barely keeping himself upright, but none of the others had said a word. Reaching out instinctively, wishing she could help him somehow, she wondered how they could possibly not have noticed.

His second message started to play, and she sank to her knees, closing her eyes. He must think she was such a child… She didn't want to hear the message again, but she couldn't bring herself to cut even this recording of his voice off. It was beautiful, regardless of the nature of the words or the pain in his tone, and for a brief moment, she let herself become lost in the sound.

Then there was only silence, and the hum of the message beacon. She lowered her head, a little frightened by how obsessed she had become with him, and even more so because she *knew* it and couldn't stop. She didn't even know him, but despite his indifference toward her… she would still do anything to be near him.

The beacon started to beep again, and she sighed. It must have an autoloop function, making it replay its messages until the listener turned it off or moved out of range. She opened her eyes and reached out to stop the beacon before it started again, but she was too late.

His words reached her ears once more, only this time there was no hologram, only a sort of dark shadow where his form had been projected before. Choked and barely understandable, she heard his voice whisper, "I love you so much, Cassie." There was a brief hesitation and she heard him struggling to draw breath as he murmured, "Why can't you feel it too?"

The hopelessness in his tone brought tears to her eyes even as she stared in shock at the beacon. She heard him cry out, and suddenly an image appeared--him on his knees, mirroring her position in front of the beacon, drawing his hand away from something in front of him even as the glow of teleportation enveloped him.

"No," she whispered, stretching her hand out as he vanished. "Wait…"

But it was too late, hours too late, and she knew it. "I love you," she whispered anyway, feeling a tear trickle down her cheek.

3. Uncalled

He hurt all over. He was exhausted, and the stabbing pain in his side was a constant reminder of the tragic fate he had so narrowly escaped. Aquitian healing had mended his wounds, but his body needed time and rest to recover, to finish the job the healers had begun. He was alive, and he supposed that was something--but he knew that no amount of time or healing could take away the sharp-edged ache in his heart.

It hurt, physically *hurt*, to be so far away from her. The months had dulled the memory somewhat, or perhaps he had somehow grown more used to the lack--but today he had been forcibly reminded of everything he did not have and needed in his life. She had made him whole for a few brief, wonderful minutes, and he would gladly have his injuries back if it meant he could relive that fleeting time when she had been at his side.

Head in his hands, he stared without seeing at the counter on which he was leaning. Sterile and cold, it ran the length of the deserted medical bay, passing just underneath the windows that so mocked his attempts to sleep. Each time he thought he might surrender to the peaceful bliss of dreams, where every night she smiled just for him and made his life worth living again, those windows would draw him away. Their very nature, that of a portal to the outside world, would remind him that somewhere someone else was seeing the real Cassie smile, and bitter envy would drive him out of bed to stand in front of them.

He sighed, scrubbing at his face with his hands, trying to erase… *something*. What he wouldn't give, sometimes, to go back to a time before--before he knew her, before he had felt the startling closeness of her soul and the completion of his own. Before he had known that there was someone with such a spirit, someone who could be defiant in the face of any odds, someone so quick to laugh and with a caring look in her eyes that made him go weak inside. Before he had met the person who could give his life the only meaning it needed--and yet barely knew he existed.

She had no idea how crazy she made him. He, who had never needed anyone or anything, who had been alone and invincible, surrounded by armor that kept the universe in its place--at a distance--had fallen head over heels for an Earth girl without so much as an introduction. And he stood now, unmorphed, worlds away from her and uncaring of anything that had mattered in his life before, feeling every fiber of his being yearn for her presence.

So much so that he found himself remembering, with startling intensity, the ghostly brush of her mind and the gentle, taming flow of her energy against his own barely controlled Power. He smiled, unbidden and more than a little sadly, knowing the emptiness would hurt that much more as the memory faded.

It did not fade, and a voice from the doorway made him stiffen in disbelief. "Phantom?"

He almost didn't turn, not certain he wanted to know how real his dreams had become. But he lifted his head involuntarily, and her reflection stared inscrutably out at him from the glass. He couldn't keep from looking, then, the reflection a poor substitute for the beauty that drew him so irresistibly, no matter how he tried to fight it.

She stood in the doorway, night-dark hair spilling across her shoulders and brown eyes sparkling in the dim lighting. He put both hands behind him, clenching his fingers on the counter's edge to keep himself from striding across the room and enveloping her in an embrace that he would never let end. She couldn't really be here… "How--how did you find me?" he asked weakly, unable to keep the stammer out of his voice.

She just looked at him for a moment. "Dimitria told us your power came from Eltare," she said at last, her voice carrying a hint of the music she so loved even while she spoke. "When Eltare fell, and everyone started looking to Aquitar, I thought you had probably come here."

He didn't even register her words, listening to her speak and wanting to drown in the sound of her voice. He grasped the counter harder as he tried to resist the urge to go to her. Dream or no, he could feel her Power boosting his depleted energy level, draining the tiredness and isolation out of him and suffusing him with a feeling of warm comfort. He couldn't speak, afraid he would say something she didn't want to hear.

"Phantom…" She held up her hand, and he was surprised to see the message beacon he had left for her team. The red light started to flash as she ran her finger across the bottom, and the device hummed to life. Instead of a hologram, it projected a dark, cloudlike glow, and his eyes widened as he recognized his own words--words he had not thought had been recorded.

He lifted his gaze to hers in horrified comprehension. This was no dream. She had heard what he had been trying to hide ever since he met her, and now she had come for an explanation--or perhaps only an assurance that he would not impose his presence on her, no matter his feelings.

"I am sorry," he muttered, wanting to turn away but not able to make himself do it. "I never intended for you to hear that."

"Why not?" she demanded, the urgency in her voice the first break in her composure.

He could not answer.

She hesitated, then, quietly, asked, "Phantom? Who are you?"

His restraint crumbled, refusing to hold against her innocent query, and he found himself saying words he had dreamed of telling her for months. "Someone who loves you," he said, afraid she would never speak to him again after this but unable to stop himself. "Beyond all reason or hope…"

Her eyes were wide as she regarded him with an expression he could not interpret. "What's your name?" she asked, even more quietly.

He closed his eyes. She could not know how hard that question was for him. "You have taken my heart and soul," he whispered miserably. "Must you have my name as well?"

The slightest whisper of air told him when she moved, and he knew before he opened his eyes that she was now standing only a few steps away. "Only if you can give it," she murmured.

The pleading expression on her face was his undoing. "Saryn," he whispered. There was nothing he would not do to take that look off of her face. "My name is Saryn."

"Saryn," she repeated, and he tried not to flinch. That name was no longer who he was, but he had no other.

Her next words, simple and soft, stopped his heart. "I love you, Saryn."

He could only stare in complete shock as a sudden wild hope flared within him. Could she, truly? Could she, somehow, have hidden feelings for him the way he had tried to hide his for her? He barely dared to breathe, as, gazing steadily back at him, she lifted her right hand toward him.

Hesitantly, he withdrew his left hand from the counter behind him and reached out to her. Slowly, their hands were drawn together, and he inhaled sharply as her fingers touched his. She slipped her fingers between his and clasped his hand before he could pull away, and for a split-second, a flicker of ethereal pink light sparkled across their hands and wrapped around his wrist.

The sudden overwhelming awareness of *her* crashed home at exactly that moment, and it was all he could do to stifle another gasp. If touching her through his armor had been disorienting and utterly distracting, this was that feeling exponentially increased. He took an inadvertent step forward, desperately wanting to hold her, but stopped himself just in time.

She had no such qualms. She moved closer until he could feel the warmth of her body as clearly as the touch of her Power, letting their joined hands fall to the side. Laying her head on his shoulder, she leaned against him, and he closed his eyes, beyond surprise. Sensation overwhelmed him, and he felt her fingers slip out of his as he wrapped his arms around her.

The feeling of sudden and total peace was at odds with the electric awareness racing through him. It had been so long since he had touched *anyone*, let alone one who was a vision straight out of his dreams. Her silky hair was soft against his skin and her body was slight and warm beneath his hands, her breath echoing his and her soul so close he wondered that he could not read her mind.

"Cassie," he whispered, delighting in the sound of a name he had so seldom allowed himself to speak aloud. Since the moment he first heard it, called by one of her teammates as they fought, it had been nothing less than his reason for living.

She lifted her head, her gaze meeting his, and he caught his breath as she *smiled* at him. How long and patiently he had waited to see that expression on her face again, never expecting and only dreaming that it might one day be directed at him.

"Cassie," he breathed again, not wanting to ruin this moment that he would dearly love to keep forever, but suspecting there was no way he could keep her from knowing any longer. "I… I can't live without you," he confessed softly, searching her expression. "Please…" He knew this request would either drive her away for good or make him happier than he had ever been in his life, but he had to try. "Say you'll let me come with you, whenever and wherever you go."

She stared at him, smile fading, and for one heart-wrenching moment he was sure she would pull away from him. He cursed himself for not staying silent, as he had so often before--and then her mouth was on his, searing his mind with a fire that erased all other thoughts. "Yes," she murmured, the word sweet on his lips as she kissed him again.

He lost himself in the feeling, two wandering, lonely souls who had at last found the place where they belonged.