Hello, readers! I'm taking some time out of my busy, busy, busy schedule to write this fic for you! It was inspired by a dream I had the other day. Enjoy!

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Yuma twirled the ring around his finger absentmindedly as he lay against the rooftop of the home he shared with his sister and grandmother. The moon glowed brightly above him, putting all the other stars in the sky to shame. Yuma closed his eyes and inhaled a slow breath, taking in the moment. A flock of birds flew by overhead, passing in front of the full moon. The city around him had quieted down for the evening as all of Heartland's inhabitants saw their way to bed. Yuma sighed, tilting his head back to gaze at the empty air behind him where Astral always was.

…

"Yuma?"

Yuma grumbled to himself and shifted in his hammock, turning so he was facing his ethereal blue counterpart. He squinted his eyes against the glare of the television.

"What is it, Astral?" He questioned the spirit, who was seated on the floor in his usual nighttime spot in front of the TV.

"What is 'marriage'?"

"What?" Yuma replied sleepily.

"This couple," Astral explained, pointing a finger towards the television. "They are discussing something called 'marriage'."

Yuma sat up and rubbed the back of his hand against his forehead. He sighed at the thought of having to explain yet another human occurrence to his otherworldly friend.

"Well," Yuma began. "Marriage is when two people who love each other vow to stay together forever."

Astral nodded slowly, absorbing the information.

"Forever?" The alien repeated.

Yuma hopped gracefully down from his hammock to join the blue ghost on the floor.

"Yep! Forever." Yuma confirmed.

Yuma cocked his head at Astral and smiled, then took his partner's unusual silence as a means to continue his explanation.

"When you ask someone to marry you, you give them a ring."

Astral tipped his head in confusion.

"A ring?""Yeah." Yuma brought up his left hand for reference, wiggling the finger second from the left. "It goes on this finger."

Astral grasped his partner's hand gently, lightly stroking the digit. He smiled to himself, then to Yuma.

"Then you have a wedding and move in together and have kids and all that stuff." Yuma said, leaning back onto his arms and stretching.

"How do you know when you want to marry someone?" Astral asked.

"You should only marry that one special person that you really, truly love." Yuma responded, offering the spirit a smile.

"Are you going to get married someday, Yuma?"Yuma shrugged. "Probably. But, not for a long time."

"Who are you going to marry?""I don't know!" Yuma cried irritably. "Astral, that's years from now."

Astral nodded in understanding, his eyes following the teen as Yuma climbed back up into his hammock.

Yuma was almost asleep when he felt his ethereal partner near his face, opening his eyes to confirm this. He sighed and blinked sleepily.

"What is it now, Astral?""I have one more question…"Yuma motioned with his hand for him to continue.

"You said people who marry stay together forever. What happens when they…die?"Yuma frowned, thinking of his parents. He shook that thought and sat up again.

"You're still married to that person. It doesn't matter if they're alive or not. You can still love them and be committed to them. Love doesn't work that way. Just because the body dies doesn't mean the spirit does with it."

Astral was a bit taken aback by the young boy's passionate response. He smiled brightly at Yuma, who returned the gesture with just as much vigor. Astral patted the boy on the head and allowed him to return to sleep.

When Astral began to hear Yuma's light snoring, he transported himself inside of the key to take care of some business. He had made a very big decision.

…

Astral scavenged the key fruitfully, searching every far corner of the darkened abyss for something he could use to produce a ring for Yuma. He eyed the golden machine carefully, tilting his head at different angles and frowning. Then, an idea stuck him.

"Hope!" He called into the dark silence. "Hope, are you here?"

Within minutes, the loyal number approached, awaiting a command from his other master. The monster looked around carefully but saw no sign of imminent danger. He eyed Astral, a bit confused.

"Don't worry, my friend, there's no trouble." Astral assured. "I have a favor to ask…"

Hope listened intently as Astral instructed him of his intentions to use the golden machine to make Yuma a ring. Hope was unsure as to what relevance this had, but desired to follow his master's orders.

Astral watched joyfully as Hope began scraping his sword gently along the golden metal of the machine. He peeled the strip off carefully and began molding it into a circle with his fingers, using his sword again to assure the metal was smooth and not hazardous to his younger master. Once he was finished, Hope held the ring carefully, which was positively miniscule in comparison to the monster's large body. He smiled down at Astral, who was standing with his hands clasped together uncharacteristically, his mouth curved upward in the largest smile Hope had ever seen on the spirit.

Astral held his hands out gratefully as Hope gently placed the golden ring of metal into them. Astral sighed in contentment and closed his fingers over the ring, bringing his hands to rest over his heart.

"It's perfect…" Hope heard the spirit whisper to himself. The monster cocked his head and smiled; Astral's intentions were still unclear to him but deep within his heart Hope knew that that little golden band was meant for little Yuma.

…

Yuma yawned obnoxiously and stretched as he awoke, rays of sunlight peaking in through his window. He smiled and sighed, satisfied with the night of sleep he had received despite its brief interruption. Speaking of which…

"Astral?" Yuma called quietly, noticing his partner's absence.

With a bright beam of light the blue spirit arrived, smiling down at his young counterpart.

"Good morning, Yuma. I did not realize it was so late already!" Astral said, eyeing the sunlight that was pouring brightly through the window.

Yuma smiled and chuckled to himself. "What's gotten into you?" He asked, noticing the odd glee his friend was expressing.

"Ah, well…nothing. Just - nothing." Astral tucked his hands behind his back shyly, he wanted to make sure he proposed to Yuma at the right moment.

Yuma raised an eyebrow at him and laughed again. "Whatever! I'm gonna get ready for school, okay?"Astral nodded in affirmation and smiled as he watched the young boy dash downstairs to the restroom. Astral closed his eyes as his heart fluttered with joy, feeling the golden ring that was clenched between his fingers.

He was so madly in love with the young boy that he could barely contain himself. All day as Yuma sat through school Astral floated behind him eyeing him with admiration. Yuma, who had been asleep through most of his studies, had failed to notice. The walk home from school was quiet, but peaceful. Astral allowed Yuma to have a shower and dinner alone with his family before joining him again in his room for some TV before bedtime.

Astral eyed the moon through Yuma's open window. Stargazing was their most favorite activity to do together besides dueling. Astral smiled and tapped his partner on the shoulder. Now was the time.

"Yeah?" Yuma said, turning away from the TV he and the spirit were watching together.

"May we step outside and have a look at the stars?" Astral asked.

Yuma smiled. "Sure! Just let me grab a blanket or something, it's kinda chilly tonight."

Astral smiled and assisted his young counterpart onto the steep rooftop, sitting down next to him as opposed to floating above him. Yuma smiled at this, noting the alien's strange behavior as of today.

"Seriously, what's gotten into you?" Yuma joked.

Astral smiled. "I have something I want to ask you."Yuma's eyes lit up and he nodded. "Okay."

Astral brought his fist up to Yuma's face, unraveling his fingers and revealing the ring of gold underneath. Yuma's heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

"Yuma Tsukumo, will you marry me?"

"You said you should marry that one special person that you love. And…no matter what happens, you will be married to them…forever." Astral continued as he emphasized the last part, Yuma immediately understanding what he meant.

"I love you, Yuma. And I want to marry you.."

"Astral…" The young boy had been rendered speechless. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked Astral deeply in the eyes.

"I will." He responded in a sincere whisper.

Astral's eyes widened and he inhaled a deep breath.

"You will?" Astral questioned, his voice quavering with emotion.

Yuma nodded in confirmation. "Yes. I love you, too."

Astral laughed jovially and reached eagerly for the young boy's hand so he could place the ring onto his finger. Yuma eyed the band with curiosity.

"Where did you get this?"Astral winked. "I had some help…"

Yuma laughed and leaned his head onto Astral's shoulder, the spirit wrapping an arm around him and cinching the blanket tighter to help keep him warm. Astral gazed off into the night sky, his exuberance and joy for life taken to a whole new level.

…

Yuma and Astral had opted for a quiet summer wedding, completely to themselves, inside of the key. Yuma had saved almost a year's worth of allowance so he could gift his love with a ring of his own. They had spent nearly a month of wedded bliss together before…

That duel.

The duel with him.

That duel that ruined everything.

Astral had warned Yuma that it was not a good idea to challenge Kaito to a rematch, their numbers and Astral on the line. Yuma, as per usual, did not listen, and paid a hefty price.

This time, there was no interruption before the end. There was nothing to save him. There was no Haruto, no Faker, no Orbital, no nothing. It ended almost as quick as it began.

Yuma screamed in emotional agony as he watched his love vanish, the key around his neck unraveling and crashing to the pavement. Yuma collapsed to the ground, punching and screaming and kicking and crying but there was nothing he could do. He was gone. He was gone.

No.

No, he wasn't gone.

Yuma toyed with the ring around his finger, remembering the vows he made to Astral. Remembering the first conversation they had ever had about marriage. Astral was his husband, and their love was never going to die, even if…

Yuma wiped the tears that he hadn't noticed were dripping down his face. He could faintly hear his grandmother calling for him to come back into the house as he continued to lay upon the rooftop gazing up into the starry night.

Yuma twirled the ring one last time before mustering up the strength to stand, beginning to walk back towards the house. He stopped and turned, smiling up towards the moon and blowing a kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Astral." He whispered before disappearing back into the house.

…

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Annnnd there it is! I'm sorry it's sad. I was just so inspired by this dream I had where Astral asked Yuma to marry him that I had to write this! And for those wondering, yes, the sequel to "Power of Love" is on its way, I've just been such a busy bee recently! I promise I'll get it out soon. But, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading!