10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
The door of the spaceship opened and a figure emerged from it, blurred by the clouds of smoke and dust. And even if Erwin’s eyes couldn’t yet see her clearly his heart reacted first, beating wildly in his chest.
"Is… is it you…"
"… Cassiopeia!?"
It had to be an illusion. Maybe he was dreaming. He dreamt about her a thousand times in the past weeks and in his dreams she always slipped between his fingers, she always left… But not this time. This time it was very real.
She got rid of her helmet and looked directly at him, with a guilty smile on her soft green lips, as she waved her hand "Hi…"
The truth was Cassiopeia was expecting Erwin to be upset. She lied to him, she left without even a goodbye, she worried and disappointed him. So when he covered his face with his hands and let out a long and angry groan, she wasn’t surprised at all.
"Wait, Erwin, let me explain…"
"Explain!?" Erwin yelled "You come back from space after weeks and all you say is hi and now you want to explain!? I thought you were dead!! What are you going to explain to me? Are you going to explain why you never mentioned you are an alien? Or maybe are you going to explain why you let that monster plant eat you without letting us know!?"
Cassiopeia grimaced and decided to only reply to the last part.
"Well… I… I had to do it!! It was the only way!! She couldn’t leave other way, and she didn’t deserve to die!! And if I told you–"
"We were supposed to be a team, dammit!" When Erwin used those words against her, it felt like a slap on Cassiopeia’s face. Because she knew he was right.
"I know. I’m sorry…" Cassiopeia admitted "I just… wanted to save everyone, and I didn’t to worry any of you so I…"
Erwin cut her off with a snort "Shut up, Cass. Just shut it"
And then he pulled her in with an arm around her waist.
"I missed you"
Erwin’s expression softened and if Cassiopeia had had a heart in this body it would have done a triple backflip in her chest. And when he leaned in and their lips touched, this body felt as human as her disguise did. All her systems were about to overheat and fail her.
(↑ Click me ↑)
Even when she didn’t know what she was doing - and to be honest, who knows what they are doing in their first kiss - Cassiopeia gave her all into it. This was what she had been missing. This was exactly where she was meant to be.
When they broke the kiss and their eyes met again Cassiopeia’s systems tingled with pure energy. It was happiness, but also different.
"So that’s what you humans call a kiss"
Erwin blinked slowly once, twice, a third time… and then seemed to realize what just happened. His face got beet red and filled with panic as he tried to cover it with his hands.
"HOLY WATCHER! I’m so sorry!! What did I just do!?"
Cassiopeia couldn’t hold a laugh when Erwin started to freak out, and that helped him calm down, because she wasn’t upset. Cassiopeia’s laugh died when their eyes met once more, and then as if choreographed they fell in each other arms again.
Cassiopeia was finally home.
Since neither of them were tired now, they spent the rest of the night talking. And they had so much to talk about.
Cassiopeia explained why she never told him she was an alien, she was scared of being rejected, she was scared that he would be scared of her, she was scared of how humans treated aliens. She also told him how she took Mother to her Mother's home planet, and how she got lost coming back to Earth. Coming back home.
"So that’s why it took you so long…" Erwin muttered with his eyes on the sky and after a while he finally asked "How did you say your planet is called…? Sixam? Where is it? Over there?"
"You can’t see it from there, but it would be in that direction, yes"
They fell silent again for couple of minutes, enjoying the view above them, until Erwin broke the silence one more time with a whisper.
"I thought… you maybe left forever… after seeing how we treat aliens in Earth why would you want to come back?" Cassiopeia just stared at him, the answer implicit in her dark eyes, and Erwin felt blush creeping up his face again, so he looked back at the sky "S-so… you are not going back…? Are you staying here… forever?"
"Yes, I’m staying here. Forever"
With you.