midnightstar

Since graduating from the Academy, life has been..interesting for Alisa, to say the least. She's been kept very busy, since she was upholding her promise to her mother on showing her the proper way to run the company, and it wasn't easy to put in those changes. Though it would have been a lot harder if she didn't have the support of those around her. But because of that, she hadn't been able to get time to get to visit Rean as much as she liked.

Translation: As much as she liked = every day. She did get to visit - or vice versa - at least on the weekend, and she talked to him almost every night thanks to the range on the ARCUS. Just as finished up for the night, she made her way up to the penthouse, glancing around to make sure she was alone (And you never know with Sharon) in order to take out her ARCUS once more and see if she could get a hold of Rean before bed. She was planning on seeing if he was in the area - alternatively, she was sure she could get away for a visit, if he wasn't busy.

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She might be holding them back but he can feel it. After all that ache in his heart is just as fierce and he thought he could ednure that kind of pain better after the things he'd done. Alisa's heart was even larger than his even if most people couldn't realize it from interacting with her.

He met her hand with his and raised it up to his lips pressing them softly to her smooth skin before peering back at her.

"I'm sorry. You know you don't have to come to the station with me, right?" He was offering her that at least.

Rean's was just as big, and he was already trying to spare her more pain when they parted. She smiled weakly, "I know... I know, but... I want to spend as much time with you as I can." She squeezed his hand and cupped her other one around it, "Please...?" She didn't care if it'd be like someone tearing part of her soul out of her with a hot dagger, she just wanted to be with him as much as possible.

Honestly he was going to try and insist for longer still since she clearly wasn't in any state to let go of him. But then she just had to use that potent magic word on him and his opposition buckled and crumbled completely.

"Honestly. I was just trying to spare you the grief but what am I supposed to do when you say it like that? Of course I want to be with you for as long as I can as well."

Alisa smiled softly, a bit sadly, and squeezed his hand a little more, "It's not going to be any easier for you. You don't have to shoulder everything on your own, Rean." Especially this. She leaned away, relucantly getting up this time.

Rean had no argument that would convince Alisa when it came to trying to shoulder everything on his own. It was a bad habit of his that was only aggravated by the unfair twist and turn his life had taken.

He slowly got up after her, his hand still holding onto Alisa's firmly as he leaned forward to press his lips to her cheek again. "I promise I'll make it up to you." Now when that might come to pass was anyone's guess.

Alisa smile, her thumb gently brushing along his hand, "Only if i don't first." She promised. She already had a few ideas of how to make things tolerable for him - or hopefully more tolerable. "Rumu's going to have a lot of modifications when you see him again." She added, as they passed the deactiveated little bot. Sharon followed along behind the couple, carrying Rean's belongings since Alisa was busy keeping possession of his arm.

"Mmm yeah that too." Alisa would try to pull that off and surprise him when he least expected it. Well after this quick pitstop of bliss he had to admit he wasn't comletely opposed to getting a visit from Alisa every now and again. After all realizing how starved he'd been for her touch and presence had left its mark.

"I can't wait. He's already almost perfect so I can't wait to see what imrpovements you'll give him." He just hoped the little robot would keep his promise with Rean a secret but then again he did blurtthat part about him seeing Alisa as a goddess.

"Heehee," Alisa grinned, her pace only slightly faster than that of a snail. Oh yes, but she definitely had plans to surprise him once in a while - she figured it would be easier to go and see him than the other way around with his schedule. And she would still want to visit her second home away from home anyhow.

Rumu MIGHT keep his promise a secret - he'd certainly try, but if Alisa asked, well, he would blab, for sure. "Haha, well when I show him off you'll be the first -- well, second after the engineers - to see his improvements." She wrapped her arm around his more securely as the group slowly made their way out of the penthouse apartment.

Well hopefully rean would get to return to Trysta again soon once his upcoming mission was completed. Hopefully it would take less than a month for that day to come. Regardles if she still felt that way by the time the next opportunity came, he would naturally welcome Alisa with open arms.

"Don't change anything too drastic about her personality and memory. In those regards, the little guy is already perfect~" That and if he retained his memories that meant Rumu would be sure tokeep that ssescret promise he had shared wiht the machine.

She was certainly going to hope that his schedule lined up with hers. If she really wanted to be sneaky about it, she'd get in touch with some of the people in Trista she was friends with to keep an eye out for when Rean was around when she was going to be in the area. Of course she -could- go to Trista just to visit them too, but... honestly she was probably going to end up spending every waking moment with him. Unless she managed to pull herself away for an hour.

"I won't, I promise." Alisa smiled, pleased at the praise of the little critter. "The only thing I really want to improve on is his mobility right now."

A lot of their upperclassmen would be gone soon. Moving on to their new roles in life. Leaving Rean even more alone than before until he would be the last one from his generation there. One day he would come back from a mission and find nothing but new faces outside of the staff. Even the staff would soon experience some shifts. He'd heard Rumblings that even Principal Vandyck was getting summoned back to active duty.

"Sounds like a good place to focus on next."

Knowing Rean would be even more alone would only make Alisa want to be close to him more than ever. "Yeah... I'm sure I'm going to be kept busyh for a while with him." Which would keep her from being too depressed over Rean's departure after a while.

"It'll be worth it." Rean pointed out with a confident smile. This was part of the plan to restore the public opinion towards the reinford Company after all. Their products were used extenively during the civil war after all. Still Rean felt little rumu and his soon to be kin would help sway the public back towards the company.

"I guess you're right. Still..." She didn't think she'd be able to focus for a while on things. Sacrificing her happiness with Rean just to restore the Company's image was too great a price as far as she was concerned.

Walking with Rean at this point was a drastic change from the previous days she left the company with him, and the staff currently posted would definitely notice the difference. Alisa was clinging even closer to Rean, though more in a desperate hold to stay close than her natural cling of pure adoration.

AT this point anone other than Sharon would no longer have any room for doubt as to what kind of person Rean was for their beloved lady. Still Rean couldn't bring himself to point out this fact to Alisa since she clearly was so very loathe to see him go.

"Just stay your course. You have something really solid to build up on."

"I couldn't have thought about it if it weren't for you. So you should take at least partial credit for him." She.. was totally not acknowledging the existence of anyone other than h im and Sharon. This was just a very very slow walk to the train station, and the closer to it they got, the tighter she held his arm.

"Alright I suppose that is fair." Rean relented with a soft sigh. He had merely provided the inspiration. Most of the work had all been Alisa and her team. Still if it helped make her feel a bit better about the project, he could take the credit he was due at least.

Rean did certainly notice the looks they were getting but given he had no idea when he was going to be with Alis again, he just blocked it all out.

She just wanted him to be as much a part of things as she could! Being her inspiration for cute little Rumu was every bit as important. "Sorry, I'm being stubborn again, aren't I?" She didn't sound very sorry though - and like Rean, she was more or less blocking out any glances that she was getting while she leaned into him as they walked. You'd think they were walking to an executioner though.

He could respect that. Being included in such a manner was extremely heartwarming and flattering. When Alisa asked him, Rean just chuckled softly before leaning a little closer to her cheek.

"You are but that's just another reason why I fell for you." Yes he just said that and without even the lightest hesitation.

Just twist that 'knife' a little deeper, Rean. Make it even harder for her to let go. Evern though yeah, he's not doing it on purpose or anything, but Alisa lets out a soft noise, a breathless laugh. "Oh... Rean..~"

It was so flattering hearing him say things like that, especially when she knew he was 300% sincere, but it also hurt when she was going to part from her beloved as well. She slipped her arm from around his to wrap around him in a one armed hug, leaning more into him.

As if it was any easier for him. Saying all these things out loud only reinforced them to Rean's own mind as well. Still to be able to see her this happy even now at the end was more of a reward than he'd dared to hope for.

He pulled her in closer to his side rather than let her hug him just of her own initiative. The station still drew with slow yet steady steps and somewhere in the distance Rean could make out the sound of the train as it rolled down the track.

So far, Alisa was doing a good job of keeping herself from breaking into tears, even if she did press more into him when she heard the whistle of the train. Behind them Sharon walked in silence, smiling should anyone around them glance their way, but for the most part, she was troubled, watching the couple walk closer to their inevitable fate. "... it ... sounds like it's pretty close.. doesn't it?"

Rean was holding up a bit better but only because he was used to bottling up his feeling about things to an unhealthy extent. SO it was nothing to really praise him for. Even while his heart felt like it was being slowly torn in two with each step the took towards the station.

"Mmm...yeah. The new models that have been coming out recently are even faster than the ones we used back when we first went to Thors." Technology was progressing in the world so fast. First airships, then trains and tanks. Next came the soldats that had become the standard of the imperial army. Technology was connected to the blood of the empire itself. That's why to prevent that technology from becoming the worst kind of poison, Alisa needed to stay her her course.

Even so...he really truly didn't want to leave. And the way he pulled Alisa closer and closer conveyed that simple fact.

"Y..yeah... I've heard about some of the latest models.." Alisa would have loved to be able to argue being able to stay her course at his side, or in Trista, but ... she knew at best, she wouldn't be able to do more than a short visit here and there. Things were too touch and go still, and the company wasn't yet safe enough to leave on its own, even with her mother and grandfather having their hands full.

Even so.. she didn't want him to go. If she was simply letting him go where he could live in peace with Valimar, as an instructor or something like he mentioned, she would deal with it much more easily, but knowing he was being manipulated into fighting when he didn't want to... when he just wanted to live his own life.

She actually balked when they came to the archway to the station. The moment they passed through.. and yet she could see the train pulling into the station and she fought back a soft sob.

The reaction as she realized they had entered the station was even more heartbreaking than the trip here was. He was hurting Alisa horribly with this and yet he had no argument to stop her from doing this in the first place. Hurting the one he loved so much. Was that all he could do?

Rean slowly put his free hand up against her arm to keep her hugging onto him even as the cleared the ticket booth. After all with his position he didn't need tickets when Claire was coming over to pick him up in person. Rean tilted his head to the side and tried to peer at Alisa, bracing for what he was going to see now that they were moments away from being torn apart.