My challenge entry for bluhart's challenge, One cannot live without the other~! Enjoy the storeh! Inspiration for this came from The Lost Hero, a greek mythology story by Rick Riordan! ^^

..:~ ~:..

She lives alone in this world. A solitary girl, prancing about the heavens. Hair that is fluffy, silvery, like the wisp of a cloud, floats behind her freely as she skips through her abode in the vast blue ocean of air. Logic and reason are beyond her; imagination rules her life.

As she twirls and dances through a fog, something catches her wide, sapphire eyes. Porcelain hands brushing a chunk of the haze away, and she spots a form below her, miles and miles away. What is this? she wonders, tilting her petite head. A dress crafted from snowy white material flows behind her as she peers through a section of mist.

The form was human, which was impossible. She was the only person in this world, companionless and lonesome. What was this curious object, then? She did not realize that the sky went down, only up and up and up and up. But when she tried to float downwards, she was unable to.

"Hello!" the girl called, her exclamation floating on a warm wind. The boy--for it surely was a human, like herself--did not turn, did not acknowledge her presence.

"Who are you?" she tried again, this time placing more volume into her soft voice. Once more, she was ignored. Instead, she tried a different approach.

She leaned forwards, then backwards, pirouetted, and leaped, moving her hands gracefully as she called upon the rain. Dark, heavy clouds approached her as she continued her dance. Once the storm had been summoned, she willed the rain to drizzle on the boy, calling his attention upwards.

He did not turn, did not move. Continued to face away from her as he studied something. What was that, what was he standing upon? She imagined it was a blanket, and yearned to lie upon its velvety surface. But it seemed more solid than a piece of cloth, more tangible.

She beckoned lightning down with a sharp flick of her dainty hands, fingernails the color of hyacinths. Electricity flowed from her pitch black perch and struck the ground the boy was on. This got his attention. The boy turned his eyes up towards the sky and she stepped back. He was absolutely gorgeous.

"Who are you?" he asked when he spotted her, gazing up at her with piercing green eyes. His dark skin was the color of melting chocolate.

"I am Sky," she whispered, knowing he could hear her.

..:~ ~:..

He was the only inhabitant of this land. The only friend he had was his mind, which was constantly analyzing, thinking, and speculating. What made the grass grow green, he wondered. What was above him, he asked himself. Why was he alone?

He paced the grass as it swayed gently in the breeze. Above him a storm was accumulating, but he saw no reason to leave. When it rained, there was the sun to dry him off. When it was sunny, there was always a cloud to take cover under. When it hailed, that is what caves were for. There was a solution to everything.

When lightning charred the ground next to him, he finally found reason to avert his gaze up. What was above him, anyways? These endless questions always tired him out, but logic was his forte. There was no reason to do things, if they did not have reason. Imagination was unheard of in his domain.

"Who are you?" he inquired, spotting a girl in the center of the storm. How was it even possible for her to hover there? She seemed as if she was trying to lower herself, but was struggling with the task.

"I am Sky." He only heard her a minute after she spoke, as if her words were being pushed around by a draft. "Who are you?"

"Earth," he replied, bowing. Sky was absolutely beautiful, with hair that billowed behind her and large blue eyes filled with endless possibilities.

"What are you doing down there? Having a picnic?" Sky giggled, spinning about on her cloudy platform.

"I am earthbound. How are you all the way up there?" Earth questioned in reply, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm the sky, silly," the mysterious girl smiled. She tried to lower herself towards him, but failed. "There's a force field between us!"

Earth chuckled at Sky's pout. "It is because the earth and the sky never meet," he explained solemnly. All of the sudden, he wanted to touch the girl. To be near her. Have her ubiquitous presence close to his body.

"B-But," Sky's eyes began to water, "That's what magic is for! I am free to fly around the world, but I can't get down there?"

"That's just how it goes," Earth told her, though there was a hint of sorrow to his calculating eyes. Here he was, chained to the dirt that made up the earth, while above him a girl flowed through the world, free, but unable to touch the ground.

The world was cruel.

..:~ ~:..

Earth and Sky chatted for many days after that, in fact, it could have been years. As months went by and the seasons passed one by one, both boy and girl grew older, more mature. Sky still reigned the heavens, driven on by her fantasies, opinions, and creativity. Earth roamed the land, ruling it through computation and intellect.

Whenever Sky had a wild idea about fairies or dragons, Earth would tell her that those things were impossible. When Earth would over-think a certain idea, Sky would chide him and say that anything was possible. They laughed together, they cried together. They talked, sung, danced, and confided in each other together.

One day, when the two friends sat together, one in the sky and one on the earth, Sky asked a surprising question.

"What's love?"

"Love? It is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person," Earth said automatically.

Sky waved her hand at him and rolled her eyes, "Not the dictionary definition! But what is it, really?"

Earth shrugged, unable to answer that question. "I guess you'll know when you find it..."

"I think I've already found it," Sky breathed, but this time her voice didn't reach Earth, who never believed in such emotions. If it wasn't definite, it wasn't possible.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Sky smiled, but the clouds around her began to drizzle lightly. Earth looked up, confused, but continued to play with the blades of grass surrounding his figure.

He never saw her again.

..:~ ~:..

Decades later when Earth's dark hair was beginning to turn gray, he heard a voice from the heavens. Emerald eyes snapping up towards the skies, he quickly scanned the clouds, searching for a girl. What he saw wasn't a girl, but a woman, as he had turned into a man. She disappeared as soon as he lay eyes on her.

"Earth," his name was repeated, incessantly, as if a flurry of snow was descending upon him. He couldn't locate where the sound was coming from.

"Sky? Is that you?" he shouted frantically. He squinted, as if that would help him find the girl. Ever since she had left him, there had been a hole in his heart. It was like he was missing a piece of the puzzle that was himself, except he knew he would never complete it. Sometimes he'd ponder the last question Sky had ever asked him.

"What is love?"

"Sky!" he yelled, cupping two hands around his mouth. "Sky! I have an answer to your question!" He suddenly had an idea.

All he heard in reply was his name, being repeated over and over. He continued on without hesitating, the words tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. He knew the answer to Sky's question; he always had. He just hadn't been able to articulate it.

"Sky! If you're listening to me right now, I know what love is! Love is you! Love is me! Sky, I love you!"

For a moment, he believed he heard the faint giggle of a little girl. And the clouds parted, and he could almost make out the face of the woman he loved, as she gave him a last parting smile.

"I love you, too."

Right then and there Earth knew he could not live without Sky.

Like the moon cannot live without the sun, like peace cannot live without war, like humans cannot live without each other.

The sky's imagination cannot live without the Earth's logic.

For her, Earth took his life, as she disappeared in the clouds.

And so the adventure of life goes on and on.