{This fic will be marked complete, but may be updated with random, unconnected snippets in the future. It depends on if I have more inspiration for the AU or not}

Tantamen

Rin had her face pressed to the glass again, and Maki couldn't find the energy to scold her. Eyes wide, breath frosting the window, Rin was full of excitement- full of hope. Hope that Maki no longer had.

"Hey, hey, Maki! I think I see something!" Rin grinned at Maki, pointing to some speck out in the darkness of space. Maki sighed, pushing herself out of her chair and lazily striding to Rin's side. She squinted, peering out into the cold void of space.

Thousands of stars dotted the view, bright blues and dim reds and warm yellows when up close, but at this distance they all appeared white. White like the inside of their space ship, white like the tattered remains of their space suits, white like the walls of the hospital Maki used to work at. She hated the color white.

"Seeeeeeeeee?" Rin jabbed the glass again, and Maki finally looked. The star wasn't the same yellow as home, but it was close enough to bring back memories of blue skies and green grass. The grass would be nearly black on a world orbiting this star, if such a plant equivalent existed. If such a planet existed.

Was that what Rin had noticed? Despite Maki's constant lessons on why they would never, ever, in their entire near-immortal life spans, be able to spot a planet from their ship, it had never stopped Rin from looking. But this star of hers was bright, brighter than one of such orange color should be. Was it near?

Maki muttered a few words, the ship's AI system picking them up easily and projecting the desired information on the window. Draco 419-111, class K1. It was near, yes, but still years of travel away in their rundown ship. Long gone was the warp drive, the hyper drive, the nuclear fuel. Now they ran on what little could be gathered from starlight and the easy momentum of free space.

"The AI says there are no planets there, Rin." To her surprise, Rin didn't seem disappointed at the news.

"Well, duh. I know how to check that too, you know! That wasn't what I wanted to show you."

"Then what? It's just a star, it can't be that interesting."

"It moved."

Maki stared at Rin, wondering if these several hundred years of floating aimlessly had finally caught up to her. But Rin was looking at her with such conviction, no trace of trickery in her eyes or laughter about to escape her lips, that Maki couldn't help but believe her. Rin nodded her head in the direction of the star, and Maki slowly, slowly turned towards it.

The star wasn't moving.

It was growing, changing shape, as if part of it was being pulled by a bored god. Maki didn't dare blink, didn't breathe, her whole body growing cold at the sight. She pressed a hand to the window, barely registering her own actions, and the telescope swiveled around to face the impossible star. A screen took over the glass, showing an orange blob focusing and refocusing as the telescope adjusted. Finally the image stilled, and Maki and Rin could see the true nature of the cosmic event.

"…It's a dragon," Rin breathed, her voice full of wonder. Maki only nodded, her eyes fixed on the star – on the dragon – as it unfurled its wings and stretched out its tail. Its scales were glowing orange, pulsing with energy. It had no legs (Maki almost laughed as she realized that there was nothing to walk on in space, not for this colossal creature, not for something burning with nuclear fusion), so with one huge shake of its body and a flap of its wings, the dragon began its glide through space.

"Follow it," Maki snapped out before she could think better of the decision, and the ship obeyed.

Rin was still transfixed by the scene. "Maki, it's a dragon. A space dragon. Did you know…?"

"No, I've never heard anything about this. There are the old legends, of course, but I thought they were just that. We must be the first ones who have ever witnessed this."

Rin was quiet for a long moment. Maki paused on her way to the control panel, turning back to look at her in concern.

"Rin?"

Another pause. Then, finally: "Do you think… do you think, if we told home about this, they would take us back?"

Maki froze. She could see Rin's reflection in the glass, see the sorrow etched into her face, and she remembered that she was not the only one trapped on this ship.

"Rin…" Maki sighed, heading back to Rin and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think there's anything we can do that will let us go back."

"Yeah, I know."

They stood in silence, looking out into the vastness of the universe. The dragon was a blur of light in the distance, the ship whirring and humming as it headed towards the mysterious creature.

"I'm sorr-"

"We should name it!" Rin smiled up at Maki, the sadness wiped from her face. "Let's name it Tantanmen!"

Maki watched her for a moment, wishing she could push aside her worries as easily as Rin. "After the ramen?" she finally said.

"Yeah! Cause tantanmen is orange, so it's perfect."

How long had it been since they had eaten ramen together? Three hundred, four hundred years since they had curled up on the couch with their steaming bowls of noodles, singing along to the music in between mouthfuls; seven hundred, nine hundred years since they had first met in the pouring rain, teeth chattering as they pooled change to buy one hot meal. Their ship provided many things, from games to movies to water to food, but there was no ramen.

And that was how Maki knew the despair lingered inside Rin, too, beneath that smiling mask and those shining eyes. Even if they beat the odds, even if they found a livable planet in all this emptiness, they would still be alone. Disconnected from humanity, cut off from their friends and family, spiraling farther and farther and farther from everything they had ever known.

Yet here was life.

Here was a dragon, half a light year long with eyes the size of Jupiter and wings the length of solar systems. Here was something that defied physics, defied the laws Maki had studied and lived under all her life, and yet it still existed. And if one star could unfurl itself and become life, then what was to say the others couldn't? If dragons could be born in this vacuum, if they could live and die without the green of Earth and the feel of dirt beneath one's feet, then why couldn't Maki? Why couldn't Rin? Together, they had once believed they could do anything. Who was to say they couldn't now?

Maki closed her eyes. She took a deep breath – In. Out. For the first time in what felt like centuries, Maki smiled.

"You're right, Rin. Tantanmen is a perfect name. What do you say we go introduce ourselves?"

Watching a star turn into a dragon was a magnificent sight, but watching the smile take over Rin's face, all dimples and bright eyes, was even better.

"Yeah!"

Together, hand in hand, they watched the stars go by.