Part I: A Collective Sigh...

The wedding was over, and both bride and groom were alive. As an added bonus, Hojo was tossed to the sun, and Sephiroth found his real father. He also found his daughter. She hadn’t awakened from the initial shock. Gatoris hoped that Yuffie was going to be fine. Meanwhile, he had some explaining to do. "How did you survive getting shot in the chest?" his new wife asked. Gatoris had no clue, but he felt as if something was around his neck. He took off a necklace with two rings on it. And caught between the rings was a bullet. "A one-in-a-million shot... but how did this get on me?" Gatoris looked closer at the rings. One seemed familiar. He looked on the side and saw a name on it: Garrett. It was his class ring. Gatoris hastily looked at the other ring. It was a woman’s ring, with a name on it’s side: Angie. He put two and two together, and he began to cry. Jupiter came over as soon as he started to weep. "What’s wrong, Gatoris?" she asked him. "She saved my life. And I have no way to thank her..." Gatoris hanged his head, dropped the rings, and walked to the balcony. Aerith asked in a jokingly matter "Who wants to cheer him up this time?" Seeing how there was no one willing to do it, she went over to him.

Gatoris leaned on the railing and looked to the sky. Night had fallen, and the stars were out. It was a majestic sight. Only one thing was missing to Garrett... "I know what you are thinking, Garrett." Angie had emerged again. Gatoris kept looking at the stars. She stood next to him. "Remember the one thing that you told me would make you happy?" Garrett looked down. "Yes. As long as you were happy, I’d be happy. But that was back in Deadwood. There’s no way you could be happy." Angie was confused by those words. "You can’t tell my you are happy with the way your life is now. You live a dual existence. You live in two dimensions, and in one you are not the main part." Angelina finally understood what he was thinking. "I am happy. I am able to be with my family and friends. I also get to be with you. That is what makes me the happiest." She began to cry. Garrett’s tears let up. He held her and tried to comfort her. "It’s all right, Angie. The only other thing that ever made me happy was being near you." He began to cry again. They hugged for a time, and then Jupiter came at them with a sketch she had just did. While they had their conversation, she had documented it. "Thank you Jupiter..." he began to compliment her. "...Please, start calling me Almathea. It’ll be less confusing in case you have to talk about the Sailor Senshi." she said. "Doubt I’ll ever have to deal with them, but OK." Almathea started gazing at the stars. "I remember one of our past lives. It was one of those planets. In fact, I have something else to give you." She grabbed an old scroll from her bag, and handed it to Gatoris. "Interesting. What is it?" "It’s a collection of love poems, written by the best writer I have ever seen." she replied. Gatoris began reading some, and almost cried again. "Touching. You have any idea who wrote these?" If Gatoris knew what the answer was going to be, he would have never asked. "You did. 2000 years ago." Gatoris was shocked, for lack of a better phrase. Almathea still gazed at the sky. Gatoris had an urge to kneel before her now. He did. "Your highness..." Angie and Almathea were taken aback. "What did you just say?" Almathea replied. "I’m remembering that life, 2000 years ago. On Planet Amalthea." She looked a little less surprised. "I thought I remembered you from that life. You were the Garret who was my guard/servant/whatnot." "Yes," Garrett said, still kneeled. "I am the one, Princess Chastity." Almathea was puzzled by that one. "You NEVER called me that! You always called me Almathea. In fact, you were the only one who did." Garrett smiled. "Just testing you." Almathea giggled a little. "I also remember why I named you that. It was a play on Amalthea. She was a nymph who took care of Zeus as a child, according to Greek mythology. I felt that you would end up doing so." Garrett dictated. "Wait a minute... Do you think I am some kind of almighty being?" Almathea was again taken aback. "No, but I guess you do. I took the name from the meaning you gave it: one who comes to the aid of their friends." Garrett laughed. "I forgot that part. And I am not vain enough top think that."

Part II: More Questions Than Answers

Then, Sephiroth came in. "Finally, after millennia of searching, all four of us are together again." Garrett proclaimed. "And, Jason... I think we had a bet going on for the past 500 years." Angelina wanted to hear this. "I believe the bet was you would join back with me if I could reunite with Angie." Angie smiled. "Yeah, but there was also the part where you have to survive the first 24 hours." Jason said sternly. He remembered the bet, but he didn’t care. Jason didn’t think that Garrett could last long enough. Garrett blew off this lack of support. "We started as two souls, and we ended up with four." Angelina became confused. Two? That meant that either him or her had not existed forever, and that their love was not eternal. Garrett didn’t miss a beat. "Yes our love is eternal. Before you existed, I loved the woman you were a part of." This didn’t help matters. "Almathea. Until 6000 years ago, you two were the same being. She loved me, as you do now. Somehow, for some reason, you decided to manifest yourself in a form of your own. I have been in love with that form ever since." Angelina began to cry. "You mean that Almathea cast me off, like you did Jason?" Garrett was quick with a reply. "No. She wanted you to stay. You knew about the life we would have together four thousand years later, and now. You left in order to make your love pure." Angelina was less upset, but still confused. "In that life, Almathea was your mother. I met you by chance, and that started our love going through the ages." Almathea butted in. "Actually, it kept going the love we had. All the love for you, all the emotions I had for you left with her."

Everyone was confused, but they decided it would be best to change the subject. "Back in Deadwood, I pictured this day most of my life." Garrett started. "But, with one major difference. I pictured that it would be my friends marrying, not me." "Who would have thought this would happen?" Jason added. "It could have been worse," Garrett began, setting himself up for trouble... "I could have married a ditz like Bulma..." As soon as that phrase came out of his mouth, Garrett felt a vase break over his head. However, it did not faze him. In fact, he kept going. "I’m only kidding, Bulma. Sheesh! I’m sorry, I won’t make that remark again." Bulma stormed off. "Gatoris, you have to watch what you say..." Aerith pleaded. "I had that coming..." he replied. "Let’s get back in and enjoy the party." Almathea suggested. All four went back inside, and enjoyed themselves.

At Jared’s house, he and Angelina were trying to figure out how Garrett’s voice got on that tape. They gave up and declared it a miracle. "I didn’t realize he could sing so well..." Angie thought aloud. "You haven’t seen the tape of when he and Jason sang with the band." Jared said unexpectedly. Angie looked at him. "Where is it? I want to see it!" Jared had a feeling she would say that, so he popped it onto the VCR. It started with the band joking around. They started to play a song. Angie could tell by the opening chords what the song was. Garrett got on the stage, mic in hand, and began to sing. It was "Lightning Crashes", but there was something different about it. "Garrett wrote alternate lyrics to it that he wanted to sing." Jared added. The first verse reverberated in Angie’s mind:

Lightning crashes, a young woman cries.

Her heart falls to the floor.

The angel opens her eyes...

The confusion sets in,

before she could even close the door.

She felt a chill. That is exactly how she was when she had heard about their deaths. The second verse was more haunting:

Lightning crashes, the young woman tries.

Here memories fall to the ground.

The angel closes her eyes...

The confusion that was hers

belongs now to her loved ones down the hall.

Angelina froze up. He was singing about her suicide attempt. How could he have known that far back? She was unsure if she could listen to the last verse. She felt there was no better time to hear it:

Lightning crashes, the young woman cries

This moment she's been living for, and it fits right in...

The angel opens her eyes

Pale blue colored iris

Presents the circle

And puts her love out to show, show...

Good god, she thought. He knew all along. He knew she loved him, he knew of his own death, he knew of her attempt to join him. She began to cry. "But wait..." Jared added, "It got weirder. Jason also sang a song for us, using some of Garrett’s lyrics." He played that selection. The first few verses of Garrett’s "Shooting Star" seemed not to have any emotional pull, they just talked about his video game obsession. But the last verse was chilling:

Garrett died one night, died in his bed

Bottle of pop, his love's picture by his head

Garrett's life passed him by like a cold winter day

If you look to the sky, you can still see him play

Angelina was even more shocked: he had predicted how he would be found. He had died in his bed with a bottle of pop next to him. Also, there was a framed picture of her near his head, with the glass broken. He had knocked it over during his heart attack. She then thought of something: "Jared, when was this tape made?" Jared replied without looking at her "the day before they died. In fact, I thought that Garrett had done himself in, until I was told it was a heart attack." Angie snapped back "I knew he would never do that. In fact, he was slightly upset with me..." Jared had thought she had lost it. "I saw them when I was out. He pleaded with me to live again. That’s all he wanted of me." "Unselfish even in death..." Jason muttered. "I can see why you loved him." Angie started to cry again.

"Garrett, how did your voice get on the tape?" Almathea asked. The four had been watching the events unfold. "Simple. I was there when they recorded it. They had left an open mic, in memory of me. I sang, but they could not hear me. The machine had no problem picking it up. Jason did the same thing on the other song." Jason nodded. Gatoris looked at the time. It was now midnight. Everyone was in the process of adjourning to their rooms. (Gatoris had insisted that everyone stay the night, seeing how most of them had some form of alcohol.) "Shall we do the same, my love?" Gatoris asked. Aerith giggled. "Sure! I’m kind of tired." "Good night, sweet princess" Gatoris said, directing it to Almathea. "Would you lay off that?" she retorted, half-laughing. Everyone was in their rooms. Now, the clock was ticking on if this marriage would last.