" let the stars seal our fate. "

[trans]

it's been over a year now─maybe even more than you think it's been─and now the day before the storm has come. you've thought about this day countless times before, sometimes wishing it would never come, and other days thinking it couldnt come fast enough. you've thought about it so much that it's almost become a permanent thought in your headspace, and you used to constantly think of scenarios of how it'd all go down, wondering if you could actually win.

and now it's finally... finally here. and you have no idea what to do now that it is, or how to feel about it. the rebellion has come so far in such little time, all this planing and preparation and just─all this time spent creating what is probably the biggest rebellion this planet's ever had, and finally...

the due date is tomorrow. tomorrow, when you wake up, you could wake up completely different than you are today─a completely different person entirely. when you wake up, you could wake up in a world so different from what you know, what you've seen today and every day before that. and it scares you..

eden must sense it, because she rolls over and looks at you right in the eyes, holding your face between her hands gently. "you think too much. stop thinking, sleep." she says, quietly, so as not to wake the others up, and leaves a sloppy kiss on your forehead.

"didnt know you felt that way." you whisper teasingly, barely restraining a grin when she smacks you lightly on the shoulder.

"oh im sure. definitely. absolutely. totally not like we havent been lowkey but also not lowkey flirting and nervously waiting for the other to finally say something for months now." she says, smirking, then plants a kiss on your cheek this time, grinning against your fur. you return the affection in earnest, leaving a kiss on her hand, holding it like a prince would a princess in those over-exaggerated fairy tales, though it's a bit difficult when you're both lying down.

"i... i love you." you say, muffled into her shoulder, and she just laughs, that contagious, twinkly, silver bell laugh that makes you fall in love all over again.

"i love you too. now go to sleep." she says, shifts so you can lay next to her, and you intertwine your fingers with her own like that fateful day so long ago, and fall asleep to the sounds of crickets and the soft breeze.

[trans]

your breath comes out ragged, and you hold your weapon in your hands slack, staring out at the battlefield around you. blood, death, and the smell of the matriarch's blazing magenta fire permeates the surroundings, the air, your own fur and skin. it stings your eyes and nose, makes your head hurt, ears pulse and tail twitch like you're waiting for her to come for you next.

tapestry is at your side, eden off god knows where helping anyone she can find and bellum working strategy and air attack plans with other pilots and big-brained thinkers like themself. you definitely know you couldnt have pulled any of this off without them, as you kick a grimy magenta goon off a civilian, and tapestry guides the shivering child to safety.

it both alarms and surprises you that literal children are out here, but you suppose you cant complain. if they want to fight so badly, it's not like you could convince them otherwise, much less physically stop them.

"hey! we got a situation over here!" someone shouts, another points, and you look up just as the matriarch herself descends from the clouds like a demon in magenta, flames swirling around her and the sight of her sending both chills down your spine and thorns of pure anger and hatred and spite jutting up and around inside you. she's grinning, all pearly white teeth and pink-purple horns and wings like they were taken right from a dragon's back, large and leathery and long, kicking up dust, dirt, and grime as she lowers herself to the ground in a flash of magenta-tinted light. talons bigger than any you've ever seen jut out of her hind feet, and there's thick, hardened scale on every inch of vulnerable flesh on her. the natural armor she's got looks just as tough, maybe even tougher, and you cringe thinking about how you'll do this.

she makes quick work of a group of rebels who charge straight for her, and you grimace seeing them fall so quick, but nonetheless, know that it'll be you next charging towards her. this is your only chance. you cant mess this up. you cant.

with a scream that comes from the deepest parts of you, raw and filled with hurt and anger and pent up emotions that all have resulted from this devil's existence on your planet, your city, the people you loved and cherished, you charge, weapon in hand, trying to prepare yourself for the inevitable but knowing that you never truly could, not now, not ever.

eden must've heard you, because in the next moment she's leaping to your side from nowhere, and tapestry and bellum meet up to stand next to you too. with the people you've come to know so much in so little time, it all of the sudden feels, by your side, a confidence like you've never felt washes over you in waves. you heave your sword up even higher, feeling your strength return to you in this last moment, to aid you in what is possibly (probably) the last day you exist on this earth.

the matriarch looks towards you and your friends with a slithery, snake-like grin, slit pupils staring at you, widening once she recognizes you, and dashing forward to meet you half way, a cocky grin on her face. she's so confident she'll win, so confident that she has this in the bag, so confident that she could never lose, especially not to the likes of you.

and with your last breath and a promise on your lips, you head directly into the eye of the storm, knowing that you may never come back out.

[trans]

you stand on the top of a hill, overlooking the many fields and forests and what lies beyond this simple hill. gravestones litter the landscape, names engraved onto each and every one, and a flag hanging high every few rows. you walk down the rows, you look at every name, just to see if you recognize them or not, and think about the times you had with those you do.

avril. she was always so sweet. shaun. he was a smart kid. and good ole henry wagner, of course. guy knew how to lighten a room, that was for sure. you'll miss him. you think he had a brother; you'll have to send some flowers one day.

you'll miss all of them, really. with time, you may forget the little details, the small things, just like everyone else. but you will never, ever forget their names. those─you'll remember those forever. you swear on it, even if it's the last thing you do, the last thing you remember.

you keep walking, hand intertwined with someone else's, until you get to a specific one. one more, one more, and─bingo. here we are.

HERE LIES JENN ANNE HASTINGS

"The bravest woman I ever knew."

"she really was." you say, wiping at your eyes with the back of your hand. you dont know you decided to be emotional today, but based on the quiet sniffle from beside you, you're not the only one, so you feel a little better.

"yeah..." eden says, reaffirming her grip on your hand, and you let her head droop onto your shoulder as you watch the flowers rustle in the gentle breeze. like the day, and like the very first day...

"i wish i got to know her more." she says, and you nod. the former moon priestess may have been from a rival kingdom, but it was hard pressed to find a single innarian who didnt like her. she was a friend to everyone, even people from other kingdoms and planets, and treated every life with the respect and kindness of a soul too pure, too good, for this world to possibly contain in one person.

"she would've wanted to know you too." you say, quietly, and as the sky begins to darken, revealing many stars, you take eden's hand and walk away from a land covered by its scars. with time, things will smooth out again, will fix itself, and be fixed by others. things will get better, definitely. but for now...

you just want to spend your days with eden by your side.