Places among the stars,
Soft gardens near the sun,
Keep your distant beauty;
Shed no beams upon my weak heart.
Since she is here
In a place of blackness,
Not your golden days
Nor your silver nights
Can call me to you.
Since she is here
In a place of blackness,
Here I stay and wait

-Stephen Crane

It was way too early in the fucking morning for him to be awake. Thank God at least one coffee shop was still open, or Judai would have probably keeled over right on top of his thesis. It wasn't the shop he liked to use, but damn would it have to do at this point.

Why on Earth did I decide higher education was a good idea? he thought irritably to himself as he pushed groggily through the doors, blinking even at the dim lighting. Why did I decide this metaphysical shit was what I wanted to go into?

He knew why, but he was in a pissy mood right now and didn't feel like reminding himself. He managed to pull himself over to the counter and squint at the menu before ordering something much stronger than he usually did—he needed it. He left his name and then stumbled over to a booth in the corner. He wasn't going to be able to keep himself upright to wait.

With a heavy sigh, he let his head slide down onto the table. Hopefully he wouldn't sleep through hearing his coffee called, but he couldn't sit up. This was the worst. Staying up until five am, and no sleep in sight?

He twisted his head toward the window beside him.

This is such a small town, he thought. So different from the city.

It was a small college too, with a very intense program for metaphysical studies, the only one in the country. He supposed he was lucky even one shop was open this time of night in a place like this, but it was a college town. They were probably used to getting college students stumbling in at all hours.

But he could see the stars here, he thought. There wasn't any light pollution or smoke to hide them. The college had a great astronomy program too because of it—there was even a big telescope and observatory at the edge of town that Judai had visited more than once.

The stars were the reason he had chosen this place—the program he wanted being here was a bonus.

If he's here…he'll find the stars, right? He'll follow them…if he remembers…

He pressed his forehead back against the table. Somewhere behind him he heard the door jingle open.

"You're late."

"Sorry, got caught up in a Skype call with my brothers. You can take off now if you want, just let me know how to finish off that cup."

"Name and order's written on the cup. Have fun."

Judai closed his eyes. He was too tired to be thinking about it—to be thinking about him. It was at times like these when he started to think that he was just a dream. Just a disassociative hallucination or something. It was at the quiet moments, without his research about reincarnation and metaphysics to distract him, that he thought…

Maybe he had made it all up.

Maybe it was like his parents had said—an imaginary friend.

But it was so vivid. The names, the places, the settings—could he really have made it all up? Could it really only be the imagination of a child? Could he have made up remembering his dragon wings? Remembering the names of places that turned out to be real before he had ever read about them before?

Could he have made up remembering what it was like to die?

His body tensed up. He let out a hiss between his teeth to try and release some of the tension that came with remembering that. To distract himself, he turned his eyes back to the sky.

Draco, he thought, staring at the constellation just visible over the tops of the buildings across the street. That one's ours.

He put his hand on the window, felt the cold glass under his palm. Imagined that he was touching the constellation—cold, distant, shining. That was where they hid their memories, he remembered saying once. Or had it been Yusei who had said that? He couldn't remember.

Someone's voice called out softly into the coffee shop, but it didn't sound like his name so he didn't look up. The voice spoke again, poking at Judai's haze of sleep.

"Jaden?" someone called again. "Is there someone called Jaden here?"

Judai looked up irritably. Holy fuck, not again—how did people keep getting Jaden out of his name? He growled as he shimmied himself free of the booth, angling around it and bumping his calf against the corner. He swore under his breath. His head ducked down so he could rub his calf while he half limped up to the counter for his coffee.

"Jaden must be me I guess," he said, lifting his eyes from his sore calf to take the offered coffee. "Although—"

The coffee slipped out of the barista's fingers before Judai could get his hand all the way around it. He swore again as it fell in slow motion—he made a swipe for it. He managed to grab it, but his hand squeezed too hard and some of the coffee dribbled out and down onto his hands, burning his skin.

"Oh, fuck, fuck, what the—"

Immediately, the barista's hands were cupping his with a napkin, mumbling an apology as he tried to dab the hot coffee away. He pulled the cup out of Judai's hands to set it down on the counter.

"I'm sorry," the barista said again.

"It—it's fine, I just—should've grabbed it. Needed to wake up anyway, you know, and—"

He finally looked up at the man who's hands hand stopped, still holding his, trembling against his palms.

Judai felt his heart jump up into his throat, closing it off. He couldn't speak.

He could only look right into his eyes—Yusei's eyes.

The other young man's eyes were shining with tears.

"You can't really blame me for being shocked, right?" Yusei whispered. "Or maybe you can—maybe you don't—"

"Yusei," Judai whispered, and Yusei stopped talking, his mouth closing with a snap.

He pressed one hand to his mouth, the other still wrapped around Judai's.

"You remember," he whispered.

"You remember," said Judai.

Yusei let out a soft, choked laugh. He took Judai's hand and pressed it against his face, eyes closing for a moment. This counter in between them was—was too much space. Judai didn't care if anyone in the shop was paying attention. He climbed up over the counter and landed on the other side so that he could wrap his free arm around Yusei's waist, press onto his tip toes so he could push his forehead against Yusei's.

"I came here to look for you," Judai whispered, feeling his voice crack. "I thought—"

"The stars," Yusei finished. "Draco is the most visible constellation from here. I knew it would bring you, if you remembered."

"How long have you been here?" Judai said.

"Three months."

"God, I've been here for six—how have we missed each other?"

Yusei answered by leaning down and kissing Judai full on the lips. Judai melted up into that kiss, his arms wrapping around Yusei's shoulders and pulling him closer, as though he could make them one being, one soul in that moment.

They broke away as one, foreheads still touching.

"You remember everything?" Yusei said.

"All of it—the dragons, the pirates, the college courses, the festivals, that one weird one I swore I made up with all the steampunk shit…"

"I thought I made that one up too," Yusei laughed.

Judai took Yusei's hand to press it against his cheek, to feel the warmth there.

"They say when a dragon falls in love, its soul becomes mortal," he whispered.

"To follow the one that it loves, until both souls can meet again and remember," Yusei said back.

"Was it you or me that started putting our memories into the constellation?" Judai said.

"I think it was both of us," Yusei said, caressing Judai's cheek. "Because we always knew—all we had to do was follow the stars."

"And the other would be there waiting," Judai said.

There were no monsters, no dragons, no pirates, no secret agents. No adventures left, but for the adventures of two people in love, in an ordinary world, in an ordinary life.

It was quiet in the tiny coffee shop where they finally met for the last time.

And Draco sparkled, watching, as always. The constellation of two hearts, finally beating together.

Every life with you was worth it.

Every single one.

At the end of this last one, let's go together. Let's go together, and find what lies on the other side of our constellation.

The stars have never failed us.

And we will follow them to the other side. Together, hand in hand, forever.

It was worth the fight to find you.