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I've Seen Stars

She will not begin. She will not end, like she had nine times before. This tenth time, she would live and die, with him.

Someday, her tenth life will end, she will die.

Her past nine lives had proved this. Host bodies could not live forever and human bodies only lasted a hundred years, at most. Her body will age. Her once golden tendrils of hair that cascaded down her back in youthful glory will fade to grey, her porcelain skin will wrinkle with time.

Time.

Her nine lives proved that her body would someday die, but they did not prepare her for living. After years that were only blinks of an eye in all the centuries that she had lived, after all of the planets she had began and ended on, all of the colors, the sounds, and the tastes, she had not lived.

In all of the time she had experienced, there was no color more vivid than Ian's eyes, nor a sound more clear than that of her name spoken tenderly from his mouth. Wanderer. No taste more euphoric than his lips, slowly, languidly moving with her own.

Time was ephemeral, but why did it cease to move when he touched her, his hand cool against the tangible fabric of her shirt, stinging the skin of her stomach?

With one hand on her waist, he touched her hair with the other, pulling her against him. Her hair that had been pinned, poked, and prodded thanks to Melanie who insisted she wear it up although she hated the feeling of being so vulnerable when she felt empty air at her nape.

"Come with me," he whispered in her ear, his breath dangerously lingering on her fair, exposed neck. Her spine went rigid and she felt like she couldn't move, shocked into place. She thanked the darkness for the hundredth time that it hid her expression, but he could still hear her quivering breath.

His mouth took her by surprise, claiming her lips, and successfully stealing her breath all over again. Her hands were somehow tangled in his hair, black as the night around them, she mused, her fingers gently pulling on the strands as she opened her mouth. Their tongues touched, muscle moving against muscle in their own unique rhythm. His hands moved from her hips and traveled upwards, past the soft skin of her stomach. The smallest of gasps exited her mouth when his hands brushed the sides of her breasts.

Gently, he pulled away. "I want to show you something," he said, their lips still touching, his breath entering her mouth, robbing any coherent thought. She still had to recover for air, but instead of waiting for her to do so, he grabbed her hand and began to run through the dark tunnels.

"Where," she breathed, "are you taking me?"

They weaved through more tunnels, and he looked back, a smile playing at his lips. He said something though she didn't quite catch it, all she heard was, "Rain."

"Ian!" He still did not stop. "It's not going to rain!"

She thought she heard him laughing, the sound chiming in her ears. She tried to pull him back by her hand but it only caused her to stumble on the dirt because of his fast sprint.

"Ian! Stop!" Still, he did not halt, he kept running. "I've seen stars! It's not--"

He stopped, and so did time.

She would have collided into his chest as he turned, facing her, but she didn't. She didn't have time to react, not even time to think as his eyes found hers, her head cradled in his hands as he lowered his mouth to her lips. She was anxious, impatient even as their breaths mingled but did not become one.

He looked past her, into the very core of her being, her soul, the glistening silver ribbon of the nine lives she had begun and ended, the tenth life that she now lived.

"So have I."

She could not breathe, and he smiled at her expression. Breathtaking. He smiled dazzlingly before he placed small, feathery kisses on her closed eyelids. His fingers locked and intertwined themselves in hers as he led the rest of the way.

It was their future they were running towards, hand in hand. Not hers, not his, theirs.

Time resumed once again. The downpour of rain wet her yellow tendrils and his onyx locks that fell wetly across their eyes. The water soaked through their clothes, pricking the skin beneath, molding to the curves of their bodies as they laughed, watched and touched.

Then, the rain dried, the clouds evaporated and the Earth revolved around its axis. Resumed. Time would not stop for them. She realized this the next day when she caught a fever. She was one hundred and nine degrees until the cool finally began to kick in, but he was there beside her--Ian-- holding a hand to her head, making her laugh weakly.

Her tenth life would end, she knew. But when it did, when their bodies and hearts gave out to time, she will still be in his arms, in this mountain where they lived and died, buried among their friends, facing the stars.

End

well, this was my first Host fanfic and I really hope you enjoyed! I hope I lived up to the glory of HOST (starry eyed) lol. Any thoughts or reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

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