Title: In the Aftermath of Battle Comes The Beauty of The Soul
Fandom: : Ghost Ship Infidel Blue
Rating: M
Length: 1411 Words
Content notes: Much thanks to my beta, Inforpenny! I waited until the last day to post this for a reason. It will be on AO3 in a few hours. Please, for the sake of our poor FFW mods, please comment there in true GSIB fan fashion, rather than on FFW ;)
Summary: Josh/Ryan, after the lightsabre fight with Luke


Ryan allowed his shuttle to just drift for the longest time. Yes, in name and in duty he was a Space Ranger, but at this very moment, he was the man who had killed his best friend six weeks, five days, and four hours ago. [Note to beta: is that weird that the time looks like that? Liks 6-5-4? Its just that I'm trying to place it between the end of Classic Blue and the GHOST SOUP FOREVER JUDGEMETN tie in novel, and the timeline is pretty tight]

Ryan knew that some day he would need to resume his duties. If for no other reason than that he had killed the only other Space Ranger in the area, and someone needed to maintain order in the Infidel system. But also because it was his sworn duty, and it was what he had sworn to do when he took his oath as a Space Ranger. He had given his word, and he would not take it back now.

Ryan di, however think it was alright to take a little time to himself after to be solitary after what had happened. Since he had not eaten since the incident [Note to beta: he can survive that long wihtout eating, right? Or do I need to add in something about the shipboard computer forcing him to take those energy supplement pill things that they showed in 71.4 of the Manga?] he had grown incredibly thin and gaunt, and his eyes were all but hidden in the dark hallows of his eye sockets. [Also, I'm assuming that he hasn't been doing the ritual oil bathing because of his sorrow, but should I, like, state that explicitly?]

Ryan wildly and without looking slammed his fist against the consloe (being very careful not to hit any buttons that would turn off the life support or something) in his anger and grief. Why did she have to interrupt them? Why had she emerged at just that moment?

Ryan was so immersed in his grief and such and his selfenforced solitary confinement that he never even noticed when the airlock was activated one day. The computer piinged the warning at him, but he misheard it as he was re-acting out the fatal tragedy in his mind again and again.

Ryan was therefore super surprised to see Josh suddenly walk into his room (Where there may or may not be a bed: I'm not getting into this with you bedder people) with no space suit on. "How did you get here? And without a suit?"

Ryan asked. Josh nodded his head and made that squigly arm symbol in the traditional sign of sorrow for the Maktarish tribesmen. "I'm sorry, Ryan. I wanted to get here as soon as i COULD, BUT i had to wait for a local transport ship to be crossing through this locality and be willing to drop me off at your hatch. Also, you were hard to find because your ship was just drifting in your grief."

Ryan nodded his understanding and then jumped up and hugged Josh with all his might. Then he tensed and tried to pull away, because for one moment he had forgotten that he was a horrible person who had killed his best friend in all of space. [Note to beta: I'm trying to use a phrase like, 'best friend on the planet' but its coming out wierd cause they aren't on a planet. Suggestions?"]

Ryan did not deserve to be hugged in sympathy by someone as awesome as Josh. He He deserved to be filleted by a Maggovvin and served up on a terra cotta platter, was what he deserved instead. He deserved to be dumped alone on one of the horrible swamp planets to become a lonely hermit. He deserved to have his own lightsaber stuck through his funy bone repeatedly. But instead, Josh pulled him tighter, and began to nuzzle his neck.

Ryan, despite not deserving it, wanted to sink into those warm golden bronze arms and allow the Maktarish man to take him then and there are make him forget all of his pain and suffering from the last six months, but he really still didn't deserve that happiness yet, after what he had done to Luke. Except he hadn't just done it to Luke! He'd done it to Moira and Angela and *ANNIE*, Angela's Clone.

Ryan tried to lose himself in Josh's embrace, but e\Every time he closed his eyes, his mind flashed back to the site of her, of Angela's Clone, and the lubricant fluid running down her clear [Get it? *Clear*, Elfwreck, because they did get rid of the heart shaped freckles in Reboot!] cheeks like slightly poisonous tears. Snd she was crying because of him; it was all his fault.

Ryan frowned. Escept that it wasn't all his fault! If she hadn't come up onto the fight deck, if she hadn't interrupted them, if she hadn't distracted both he and Luke at exactly the right moment then Luke never would have stepped into the path of his lightsaber, and Luke would have been able to block it anyway if he hadn't been distracted by her interruption too, and really if Angela's Clone hadn't come to the fight at all none of this would have happened.

Ryan felt Josh's shimmering bronze arms tighten around him and he finally allowed himself to relax slightly. Maybe it was okay, since it had been an accident and all Angela's Clone's fault anyway, and maybe he should allow Josh to comfort him as he had so many times before this one.


Ryan moaned as they sank to thr ground beside the shuttle pilot's chair in the main room of the shuttle and Josh began to lick all over his body with his forked tongue.

Ryan found that to be the hottest thing about Josh, and sometimes wished that his culture cut their tongues instead of melding shut their tear ducts, because fcuk was that HOT!!! [Beta note: Don't you wish! ;) ]

Ryan moaned again as Josh licked and nibbled and bit his way all up and down his neck and torso with his tentacle-like tongue and at the same time thrust his hands into his now way too tight space sweatpants. {You know, the dark green ones with the triangles that he wears on the cover of the second to last chapter of the first Manga. And don't tell me that they aren't green but teal, because I've seen the original cover art signed by the Manga Ka at a con once and they were GREEN! so there!)

Ryan shouted as Josh pulled his *GREEN* pants away and threw them somewhere behind the navigating console and began to run his tongue over his throbbing member. "Great Star Goddess!" [Beta note: I know only Spaceelves really use that phrase, but what else could he say? It doesn't really seam right to call out to Thorinki God of Chaos and Battle Masters at that point, and I don't really remember him worshiping any of the other gods or goddesses in canon.]

Ryan bucked under the talented tongue and fingers of his sometimes-boyfriend [Oh, do you have my copy of the RPG rules book? Because I think the god thing was mentioned then, but one of y'all borrowed my book, like, three games ago.] as Josh began to ramm into him with each pounding thrust that pushed his neck and back up against the wall by the doorway. Ryan felt more alive and less haunted than he had in the six weeksand five days and four hours since he had killed Luke in self de-fence. (And yes, I know some of you think Luke can't die because of whatever Moira did in that spin off cartoon, I'm not getting into the lifer vs spacer debate with you people either]

Ryan saw fireworks exploded behind his eyes as Josh thrust into him one last time, spilling his magical glowing seed inside his deepest offices.

~o~

Ryan sat at the control chair of his space shuttle with Josh in his lap and piloted for a troubled area of space near Mars that needed the services of a Space Ranger. He was feeling much better now, and knew that Luke's ghost had forgiven him, and that he didn't have to live his life alone and solitary in repentance, and he was ready to do his job again, with his mate by his side.