Epilouge

    A place he was glad Tseng had left behind.

    The former Turk was lying on the hotel bed now, his bare back to Reeve so his lover could apply the perscription salve to his healing wounds. He was lucky, the doctor had said, and the wounds would heal completely if treated carefully. Reeve was just greatful to have the love of his life alive. The fact that he survived with no permenant scars was an incredible bonus.

    "Reeve..." Tseng sighed, practically purring like a kitten, "Are you going to stand there and admire me, or are you going to put the stuff on me?"

    The older man chuckled, reaching down and beginning to spread the substance. "I can't help but admire you. You're so beautiful."

    "Even with the scabs on my back?"

    "Even so." He pressed a tender kiss to the back of his neck.

    "Reeve..." His voice was softer now, and full of thought. "I... I don't really want to ask this, but, we've been here for a few days now, and I've been wondering... Now that there's nothing to go back to... What now?"

    Reeve spread the last of the cream, wiped off his hands and reclined besides the younger man on the bed. "I've been giving that a lot of thought." Their eyes met, and he asked, "What about Wutai?"

    Tseng's eyes lit up. "You mean it?" He loved his hometown very much so, and had been living there just before he left to come to Nibelheim. A pause followed, as he grew serious a moment. "What about Kalm?"

    "There's nothing there for me." Reeve looked away. "I don't want to see it."

    Affectionatly, Tseng wrapped his arms about Reeve's waist and laid his head on his chest. "I love you."

    Automatically a hand began to run it's way through the short black hair. "I love you too."

    A long moment of silence passed between them, as they simply enjoyed in being in one another's prescence.

    "Rufus proposed to Bria yesterday," Reeve said suddenly.

    Tseng shut his eyes as a smile curved at the corners of his mouth. "He doesn't waste any time."

    "No he doesn't," he agreed, smiling too. "She said yes, of course."

    "Of course. That's great."

    "Ben's going back to Wutai too. And Vincent... I don't know where he's going."

    "He'll find his way," Tseng said softly, thinking a moment of the older man whose heart still yearned for a man long since dead.

    "Cloud and Tifa are going to stay here... Though I don't really know why. It's not where they grew up."

    Tseng responded by clutching Reeve tighter.

    In response he drew the younger man closer to him, his head of soft hair tucked under his chin. "Reno's going to find his sister. And Rude's going with him."

    "I hope he finds her."

    "Me too."

    "I think they'll be okay." He paused, then decided, "No, they will be okay."

    "I wonder where Rufus and Bria will move to..." he said thoughtfully. "I'm assuming we'll switch with the kids."

    Tseng looked up at him and said, "We can be near them if you want, Reeve. It doesn't matter to me. I just want to be with you."

    Reeve looked at him sqaurely a moment, a thought passing through his mind. Sitting the other man up, he patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Be right back." Then he got up and went into the other room.

    Tseng sat where he had been left, not moving as he thought about how far he had come to get where he was now. That the sum of every choice he had ever made and every deed he had ever committed had come to this. And despite all the horrible things that had happened, and the horrible things he had seen, as he looked around now, he couldn't help but be pleased. More than pleased actually. Far more than that.

    Reeve returned, something clutched tight in his fist. A smile tried to sneak it's way to his lips, but he fought it off poorly, coming to the side of the bed, and drawing a flustered Tseng to his feet. Then he got down on one knee.

    Only one thought came to Tseng's mind, and he became dizzy with the very thought of it. Shallow breaths cleared his throat as he looked down at Reeve, trembling already.

    "What can I say?" Reeve began, looking down at the floor instead of up into the eyes of the man he loved. He still held Tseng's hand in his own and he could feel the him shaking. This made him shake as well.  "I'm a fool. Don't argue with me--I know it. For a long time, I didn't know who I was, or what I wanted. I was mixed up." Now, looking up, he met Tseng's eyes, which were already wet around the rim. "I don't think about that anymore. I know what I want. And I should have done this a very long time ago."

    Then he took it out, that tiny black box that had the amazing power to alter lives with it's shimmering contents. A gasp made it's way from Tseng's lips as Reeve opened it and revealed a simple golden band, more brilliant than the one he wore already. The one that had pledged their friendship so many years earlier. A tear slid down Tseng's cheek.

    "I love you." Reeve's gaze didn't falter as he spoke. "You're what I want for the rest of my life. You always have been. So... If you could... Pity a fool who finally knows what he needs in this world, and....marry me?"

    Tseng was trembling too much to stand. So he too, got to his knees, cluctching Reeve by the wrist and holding him tight as the tears escaped his eyes. "Yes. Yes! Gods yes! Of course! You really are a fool--did you think I'd say no?"

    They brushed their lips together, and then Reeve, his own hand shaking, slipped the ring on Tseng's finger.

    Then they got onto the bed and made love. Their bodies and souls mingled under cries of love and passion.

    Afterwards they held one another close, still kissing as their nerves tingled with the last waves of the amazing pleasure that had possesed them moments earlier.

    "Sephiroth was right," Tseng commented as they drew apart. He cuddled against Reeve's chest.

    "About what?" He kissed the top of his head and played with the ends of his black hair.

    Tseng had to smile. "He told me this would happen. I didn't believe him."

    Chuckling, Reeve replied, "He just knew everything, didn't he?"

    "Not everything," whispered Tseng. He said nothing more, thinking of all Sephiroth had been ignorant of.

    "Can you grow your hair back?"

    Tseng looked up, Reeve's words drawing him from his reflection. "What?"

    The older man blushed a little. "It's just that... Well, you're always beautiful, my love, but your hair was just so beautiful long. I miss it a little."

    Outside the sun was setting over Nibelheim, and painting the sky with a rainbow of fantastic colors. But Tseng was obilivious to it all as he leaned in, intent on pressing a kiss to Reeve's parted lips with the words, "I miss it too."