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Finally


                   Lucrezia rolled over in her bed, the thin mattress giving her little comfort and reminding her of the accommadations as a student at Lake Victoria. The rooms that had been assigned to the Mars terraforming team were sparse, but with the heavy labour and long working days, noone noticed when they collapsed into bed at the end of their shift. But still, even
though she had worked for longer than she should have that day, sleep was still forthcoming, almost two hours after entering her room.
                   She knew what the problem was. After 2 months on Mars, she was begining to
wonder why she came. She knew that the only reason she had stepped on the shuttle was to be with Milliardo and she thought that with the war over and neither of them having any obligations...
                   In the past 2 months they had spent almost all their spare time together,
talking, joking and enjoying each others company, and yet, in all that time she still didn't know if he loved her.
                   'Maybe he never will.' The stray thought passed through her mind but she
quickly brushed it aside, not wanting to dwell on the prospect. She sat up, knowing that sleep would not come quickly and thought of going to help the gamma team during their shift. Before she could even rise out of bed, though, a knock on the door caused a sharp rapping sound to reverberate through her room. Her brow furrowed in confusion before a small shred of
dread gripped her.
                   'Oh God, please don't tell me something's gone wrong.' She thought as she
made her way to her door.
                   The work on Mars had gone well so far, a base structure for the centre of
operations was set up and made self sustaining quickly with and airponics bay, and a head start from about a hundred oxygen tanks. The base was large and once fully completed, instead of in contained sections, would allow expansion to terraforming the planet.
                  She reached the door and opened it to reveal Milliardo standing there, looking as if he had as much trouble sleeping as she had, and not a worker reporting as she had expected. She looked at Milliardo in confusion, he wasn't the sort of man for midnight chats and unexpected visits. And he had been fine when they had eaten together earlier, so what would keep him from
sleep.
                  She watched him carefully as he stood at her door, staring at her at a seemingly complete loss of words. She was just about to ask him what was bothering him when he opened his mouth to speak.
                  "Lucrezia, I never meant to fall in love with you." She stared back at him incredulously before grabbing his arm and pulling him into her room. She shut the door befind them and then whirled around to face him.
                  "What?" She asked him, confused at his sudden words and the feelings
behind them. He had a forlorn expression on his face, as if he had just lost a vital battle. 
                  "All these years, Lu, only one thing has mattered. Getting my revenge for
the Sanq Kingdom. But even then I knew you were important to me too, but you couldn't be, so I wouldn't let my self feel anything for you. And then, the more I fought and the more blood that was on my hands, the more ashamed of myself I became and I realised that even if I let myself fall in love with you I wasn't worthy of you, so I pushed my feelings away. And then, after White Fang and while I was sorting myself out, I was sure you would hate me, and then you didn't. You came with me here and you spoke with me, and you stayed my friend, and even though I don't deserve you, I just couldn't stop myself from loving you anymore." During his rushed speech, his eyes were on the floor, not wanting to look at her, but as he finished, he raised his eyes to hers, and she could see the feelings buried in them.
                  She was filled with a mixture of emotions, and her heart couldn't seem to
sort through them. One emotion crept through though.
                 She brought her hand back and raised it sharply over his cheek, the slap sounding throughout her room. He clutched his cheek as she lowered her face to the floor. She felt a few tears roll down her cheek and she watched as they fell to the white plastic floor. She raised her head again quickly and look directly into his eyes.
                 "How dare you!" She hissed out, half in anger and half in disbelief. "All I ever wanted from you was your love! I worked for you, fought for you, followed you. I even stayed by your side as you prepared to destroy a damn planet full of people! Why do you think I did that, Milliardo? It was not because I did not value you, it was not because you were my friend, it was not even because of my loyalty to you from our years together. It was because I loved you, and because I wanted your love in return." She felt more tears fall down at her face as he watched her carefully during her angered words, shocked at the vehement response he was getting. "All these
years I loved you, and you think it is your duty to decide who is worthy of my love? Well, Milliardo, it is my decision, and I have loved you too much for too long to let you make that decision for me.
                 "I want you. I don't care what your sense of worth tells you, I'm telling you. I want you, I want you love and you have always been worthy enough to me."
                 The anger left her body and she felt weak as she bared all her emotions to
him for him to complete the decision he seemed to be making by coming to her door. He reached one hand over to wipe the tears from her face and he lowered his face to hers.
                 "I love you, Lu." He whispered before brushing a kiss against her lips.
He lifted his face slightly as if testing the waters before diving in. "I've always loved you, Milliardo."
                 He lowered his mouth to hers again as her hands flew into his hair, pulling
him down further as one of his hands reached around her to pull her body closer to his, in a kiss born of all the passion they had built up over the years they had known each other, and as he picked her up to lower her onto the now tempting bed, one thought coursed through her mind.
                 'Finally.'