The Blue And The Gold Memories (IsabellexShiro)

He rolled in her sleep as Isabelle's memories began to flow.

The soft green grass of Argon tickled at her toes as eight year old Isabelle and her own year old brother, Jayce, sprinted through Cordaninya field. The sun was shining in the birds were chirping. Isabelle loved playing in the Cordaninya field, especially with her new baby brother. She'd been the baby of the family for nearly seven years, then Jayce was born. The two siblings were picking Cordaninyas when the memory changed again.

This time, Isabelle was no longer in the Cordaninya field on Argon. She was in a royal fighter jet, zooming through the galaxy and away from the Galra at shooting star speed, maybe faster. She couldn't be sure with the jets her people created, they'd never raced a shooting star. A blue and green planet was the only one Isabelle could spot that seemed peaceful enough to have inhabitants. It was a lot like her home, but with much more blue than Argon. Before she could remember what happened next, the memory changed.

Now she was in the Galaxy Garrison, a school about astronomy and exploring that Isabelle's father worked at. Isabelle recognised the memory as the day she first met Shiro; properly. She'd always glance at him in the halls, before her crewmates dragged her away for another flight simulation. There was many of those, due to her testing from Commander Sanda and the fact that Commander Iverson was her father.

The memory made Isabelle smile in her sleep - it was the day she met her best friend after all.

The memory changed to the evening Isabelle had found out Shiro was gay. They were in her room, while Isabelle was brushing her hair before lights out and she had developed a crush on him over the couple of years she'd been close friends with him. When he came out and said it, her heart ultimately shattered. But there was no point being upset about it. Her best friend had just come out to her as gay and she had no right to be mad at him, because it made him happy. All she wanted was to see him happy, whether it was with her or someone else.

The heartbroken memory changed to an even worse one; the time Isabelle caught her girlfriend cheating on her. It'd only been around three to four years into their relationship, but her heart felt like it would explode. On Earth, she didn't have her brother or her biological parents. She didn't have her best friend, and practically sister, Kaelie. All she had with her was her now ex-girlfriend, Keith and Shiro. She didn't want anyone else to be that close to her, Isabelle felt so alone without the three that she trusted most in the world. Keith was like the little brother she had on Earth, Shiro was her best friend in the whole galaxy and Celeste was her girlfriend - was.

Happy memories came back when Isabelle saw Shiro, Commander Iverson and her friend, Matt Holt, smiling at her with joy. It was her first mission into space. It'd been seven years since Isabelle was in space, due to her ship from Argon being destroyed. The three men were so happy for her, that they were celebrating with cake and fun; something she didn't usually get because the only time Isabelle and Commander Iverson visited Mrs Iverson was on long weekends, otherwise they'd be in the Garrison training.

Memories flashed until the scene at the Iverson household played out. It was the first time Keith had come to dinner with Mrs Iverson, Commander Iverson and Isabelle. As the usual, Isabelle invited Shiro to the family dinner who invited Keith since the two pilots and engineer had become a little family. Not only was it Isabelle's 22nd birthday, but it was the night Shiro had told her about his and Adam's engagement. Like any other best friend would be, Isabelle was happy for him and Adam, but on this inside, she was the opposite. Isabelle felt like she'd not only lost the love of her life, her crush, but her best friend as well. Isabelle never liked Adam, mainly because she was jealous of the chemistry the two men had and because she was afraid that Adam would take her best friend away. She didn't want to lose the only person she truly had by her side all the time.

The memory of Shiro's worst day replayed in Isabelle's dreams. The night Shiro had been in tears because Adam called off the engagement and preparations because Shiro was going on the Kerberos mission, even with his condition. Being his best friend, Isabelle was sitting on the rooftop of the Garrison with him, to comfort him that everything would be okay. "He doesn't deserve you if he's going to let you go like that." She whispered to him, "like a good fiancé, he should've been happy that you want to explore before...you know what comes. And he should have told you that he'd be waiting for you to return. Like I will be." That was when she could look into his watery eyes properly. "I'm your best friend, Takashi Shirogane, and nothing will ever change that. The disease, the mission, our freaking relationships, I'm always going to be here and I'm always going to love you." Especially in the way you don't know, Isabelle thought to herself as she pulled the pilot into a hug.

This memory was of the one when Shiro and his crew were leaving for Kerberos. Isabelle's crewmates let her the time to say goodbye to her best friend before they went back to training, even Commander Iverson and Sanda agreed. So there she was, with Keith under her arm, Isabelle smiled as Shiro walked up to the two. She promised that she'd take care of Keith for him and Keith semi-promised that hed stay out of trouble while the older male was gone. Isabelle said goodbye to Mr Holt and Matt, who she had become friends with over the nine years she'd been on Earth. She and Keith stood with Katie Holt, Matt's little sister, and Mrs Holt as they waved goodbye towards the space shuttle before them.

The memory consisted of tears and sadness, as Isabelle, Mrs Iverson and Commander Iverson watched the local news. A report had come on that Mr Holt, Matt and Shiro were concluded as dead while working on the Kerberos mission. A small argument broke out between Isabelle and her father as she scolded him for not telling her about this sooner. "If you lost communication with the crew and assumed my best friend was dead, I should've bene the first to know! Not the stupid news network!" She screamed at the man she called Dad. "Shiro and Keith are the only people I really trust in any more, and now I just have Keith! Thanks, Dad, for believing that I could hide a big secret that the Kerberos crew is DEAD!!" The last sentence flew down the staircase, before Isabelle slammed her door shut. Then, she felt to the ground in tears. All she had left to remind her of Shiro was the locket he brought her for her 24th birthday. Inside contained a photo of the two best friends and a small note Isabelle had written for him when they were seventeen. 'You will always be my best friend.'

"Izzy! Wake up!" Shiro shouted, as he shook the petite paladin awake. "Thank the Lord, you were crying. What's wrong?"

Isabelle could feel the tears down her face and collapsed into Shiro's hug. She knew they always made her feel better. "I missed you so much when you were gone." Isabelle cried into his shoulder, her voice muffled by Shiro's shirt. "It was so long. I felt so lonely."

"Well, lucky for you, I'm not going anywhere." Shiro sympathetically smiled down at his best friend. "I'm staying here, with you. I'm your best friend, Isabelle Iverson, and nothing will ever change that. The universe, the war, our freaking relationships, I'm always going to be here and I'm always going to love you."

Isabelle felt another tear striped her face, but it wasn't from the memories of him being gone. It was because she knew he'd never love her the way she loved him.

Oh, how wrong she was...