Arkay was lying on the beach, staring at the vast array of galaxies in the sky above him. He had things to do, but he didn’t want to do them. As far as Arkay was concerned, he’d just helped save the universe again. All his normal duties could wait.
“You’re staring at me.”
Kinisis was the last person Arkay wanted to see right now. But there she was, standing over him.
“No I’m not. I’m staring at the…” Arkay paused. Technically, he was. He was staring at the entirety of the universe. The universe which Kinisis was the personification of. “I guess I am staring at you…”
“It’s cute…” Kinisis smiled. “And I must thank you for, well, helping me out again…”
“It’s not like I had any choice in the matter…” Arkay grunted as he rolled away from Kinisis. He hardly even wanted to look at her and her smug, almost gloating face.
“You…”
“No, I didn’t!” Arkay snapped. “I’m one of the many idiots who exists in this damn universe. Why would anyone pick the slow, painful destruction of the universe over getting up off your backside and saving it? There’s no choice to be had.”
“You could have let someone else do it.”
“I’m the only person who has a dagger capable of destroying corruption. Haven’t had time to make more…”
Kinisis sighed, then laid down next to Arkay.
“I find it cute that you pretend not to care. You do. That’s why you’re going through with this partnership. That’s why you came back the second I was in danger.”
Arkay rolled back so he could look at the sky again. “I don’t do it for you. Not the you sitting here next to me. I do it for the you out there. The you being every little creature in the universe trying to live its life… Actually…” Arkay paused, smiling ever so slightly. “If we’re partnering up, I would like a few little… rules…”
“Like what?” Kinisis asked. The way she was laying, she looked more attractive than usual. It made Arkay wander if she was making him fall in love with her, some sort of past trauma had affected Arkay’s perception of beauty and attraction, or whether he was genuinely attracted to her.
“Well…” Arkay gulped. She was sitting like that on purpose. “Partnerships are supposed to be about equality. I just want to make it clear that I will not put up with you treating me like dirt.”
“I won’t treat you like dirt.”
“You sure?”
“I promise.”
“You know…” Arkay wanted to say that her promises were worthless, but that would probably just piss them both off. “I just don’t want this to be like, well, like how everything already is. With me being your slave for all eternity. I want to have a reason to treat you with respect, while you treat me like a decent being and not some bitch to kick around for a bit.”
“That’s reasonable,” Kinisis shrugged. “Especially now that everything’s settled down a bit. I’ll admit, I’ve been acting badly. Mostly because I’ve been scared. But I have you to protect me now.”
That last sentence made Arkay smile. “So we’ll be proper partners?”
“Of course.”
“Do we have to have a silly ceremony or anything like that?”
“Not if you don’t want to.”
“Well alright then…”
Arkay went back to staring at the sky. Kinisis grinned, then snuggled up next to him.