Dr. Aki Ross blinked in the light of the sun and watched the lone hawk winging its way over the new world. The clouds in the blue sky were white and puffy; the Earth was becoming greener almost by the moment.  The planet was safe from the danger of the Phantoms -- they had been destroyed when the Spirit wave was absorbed into the Phantom Gaia. Aki Ross felt none of the elation and freedom she had expected for so long to feel once the Phantoms were gone. Instead, all she felt was a curious blankness; a feeling of nothing at all and that nothing at all really mattered. She was sitting on a rising platform, almost back to her ship, holding her lover's body as if it were the ony thing keeping her from flying away into space, and just then, nothing else did matter.
    Sid's face, then the rest of his body appeared as the platform reattached to the ship. The expression on his face went from amazed happiness to concern as he saw Grey's body in her arms.
    "Aki! Does he need medical attention? What happened? Was it the Phantoms?"
    Aki shook her head slowly. "He -- no, it's too late for medical attention. It was a Phantom. The ATV was destroyed and we had no way to connect the Spirit wave and the Phantom Gaia." She stopped for a moment, and Sid's eyes widened as he understood.
    "So he used *himself* as a conduit! Incredible, but oh, Aki -- I'm so sorry." Aki stood up slowly and stepped away from Sid.
    "So am I. I -- I need to be alone right now." Eyes averted, she hurried to her personal quarters.  Curled up on her bed, her face to the wall, Aki's mind drifted. To finally prove the idea of the Gaia was a giant step in the understanding of the universe itself. It was, and Aki should have felt some sort of vindication or joy. The thought that she should be feeling *something* lingered in her mind, to no effect, as she crossed the line between thought and sleep.  She had a new dream. The sky was a brilliant cloudless blue above the green field where she stood looking at a sparkling ocean in the distance. Behind her, she thought at first, was a Phantom. The hair on the back of her neck stood upright and she knew someone -- something -- was watching her. It was a reflex that had been ingrained in her during her search for the 8 Spirits.
    She started to whirl around and look, but hands dropped onto her shoulders and held her firmly in place. Those hands...they were invisible. Aki could feel the pressure on her shoulders, but she couldn't see anything there. She knew those hands, though. Her voice caught in her throat.
    "G-grey?" she whispered, and the wind blew the word from her lips; she could almost see it tumbling away towards the water.  To her shock and amazement, the rough voice she would recognize in her grave responded.
    "Yes, Aki. It's me."
    "But how? You died -- your spirit was absorbed into Gaia.  How can you be here?"
    "How could I not stay with you, Aki? I couldn't let myself become part of that living nothingness. I couldn't leave you behind. You asked me not to leave you."
    Turning around, not caring if he was invisible as the air, Aki buried her face in the material of his military uniform and wept,
quiet sobs that shook her entire body. The warmth of Grey's arms as they curled around her protectively seemed to seep into her bones.
    "Grey, I thought you were gone forever, and I didn't -- didn't know if I could stand it! I left you behind once, and I regretted it the minute I was gone. This time I was sure it would kill me to lose you."
    Grey's voice took on a reflective tone. "When I was younger, greener, and stupider, not to mention more afraid of death, an old soldier gave me some advice. He said that Death is always by your side; however, if you show fear it will spring at you faster than light, but if you don't show fear, it will only look gently over you. I was never afraid of dying as much as I was afraid of never seeing you again, Aki." He brushed her hair back from her face with one invisible hand and kissed her gently on the forehead. "Dr. Sid is calling you. You can't sleep the rest of your life away."
    As Sid's voice woke her up, she thought she could almost see him, standing in that green field under the blue sky, waiting for her to return. She sat up in bed with a ghostly smile, surprising Sid.
    "We've landed, Aki. The council wants to talk to you. They think you're a hero. I told them you were indisposed, but --"
    "Thank you, Sid. It's all right, I'll go talk to them." She stood up and walked out of the room and down the hallway to the cockpit, and greeted the council.