A massive cloud of dust rolled across the hidden valley. Stone crashed upon stone until the entire ancient structure disappeared beneath a mountain of rubble. The gold vanished with it. The jewels, the coins, the secrets of the old keepers and boon Voss. Then came silence.
A deep unnatural silence. Seiya and I lay on the ground covered from head to boots in dust. My chest heaved. My heart hammered so hard it hurt. I turned toward her.
Are you all right? She coughed and struggled to catch her breath. Yes. Then she looked at me. You I'm still alive.
For several seconds, we simply stared at one another. Then we started laughing. Not because anything about what had happened was funny. We laughed because we were still breathing. Because we had survived.
Because Boon Voss would never hunt her again. And most of all, because after everything the desert had thrown at us, we were still together. The treasure, Seiya said after a while. It's gone. I know.
All that gold, all those riches are buried forever. I studied her face. Do you regret it? Seiya held my gaze. No, because something far more valuable made it out of that place.
What? Us? A smile broke across my face. You're right. I pulled her into my arms.
There in that hidden valley, beneath the endless blue Arizona sky and surrounded by mountains, we kissed with all the fear, tenderness, and relief we had been carrying inside us. We had lost the gold, but we had gained something worth infinitely more. We had found each other, and that was worth more than every fortune buried beneath the earth. Let's go home, I said. Sea blinked.
Home? Yes, my ranch. I smiled. Our ranch. Her face softened and tears filled her eyes.
Our ranch, she'd repeated quietly. I like the sound of that. We climbed to our feet and began the long journey back. We carried no coins, no gold bars, no precious stones. But we were taking home something no thief, outlaw, or treasure hunter could ever steal from us.
Love, freedom, and the promise of a future we would build together. 3 weeks later, we finally reached the ranch. We were exhausted, covered in trail dust, and our clothes looked as though they had survived a war. But we were alive. We dismounted side by side.
Seiya stood there for a long moment, looking at the old wooden house, the barn, and the cattle pens as though she were seeing them for the first time. Home, she whispered. I looked at her. Yeah. Then I smiled.
Home. We stepped inside. Everything was exactly as we had left it. Seiya gave me a tired smile. I need a bath.