Fantasy Cosmical Glitch ( ellarose & starboob. )

[ellarose]

Lettie instinctively sifts her fingers through Juno's hair at her unspoken request, tracing strands thoughtfully over her troubled brow as she tells her what happened. As she does so, she can clearly remember walking the city street with Juno after she left Eliza and how they had only been kids at the time. The 'memory' might've been set on a stage built of illusions in a nightmare world, but she has it regardless and can connect it to the story that Juno's sharing with her now. Even Lettie had felt sorry enough for leaving Eliza to the point where she almost apologized for it upon first meeting her... and it hadn't even been real for her. She traces the edges of crystalization on her cheeks, making sure she's touching places where she'll be able to feel her.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You were only a kid, Juju. A kid trying to get by in a severely fucked up world." Lettie says softly, rubbing the back of Juno's head as she hides her face against her. (Though her heart breaks at the sight, her resolve to heal Desdemonia steels over yet again as she considers Juno's past and the kids she met the other night.) "And that's not an excuse, of course... but I'm sure if you apologize and tell her what happened, things between you two would be better than you're making it out to be in your head." Eliza sees Juno. And she's going to see what Lettie sees in Juno now when they meet again... she's confident in that, after hearing Juno's perspective on her. "I couldn't sleep the night we were separated and we talked for a little while. She told me she was worried about you." She has to tell her. Juno deserves to know.

"As somebody who worries about you on the regular... I guess I can relate to her." Lettie admits, puffing her cheeks slightly. (She's trying to keep a light disposition, but the look in her eyes is faraway and solemn. The faerie brings her free hand up to touch the bruise around her throat. 'The last thing I ever said to her was that I hated her.' She can't talk about her mother, about what happened before she-- it's not that she won't, either. She physically can't. But she does relate. She understands what that feels like so distinctly it nearly breaks her open.) "I won't tell you what to do, Juno. If that's what you want, we can spend the day alone together." Which, genuinely, she doesn't have a problem with. For as long as they're here, Lettie wants to spend every second at Juno's side. "But I am gonna point something out. Okay?"

Lettie inhales a deep, deep breath to brace herself. Her heart races, her insides wobbly on the edge of falling to pieces.

"You still have time. Your last words to Eliza don't have to be I hate you. As long as you're both here, that... that can change." Lettie blinks rapidly, on the verge of tears, and brings the back of her hand over her eyes. When she swallows, it's like taking a burning dagger down the throat. 'Don't make the same mistake I did.' She said she hated mother, that she never wanted to see her again... and now she never will. (Saw to that herself... tearing her apart and burning her alive on top of that.) But Eliza's still around. And most importantly, still gives a shit. She has to at least try once on both of their behalves. "The guilt you're feeling is going to keep you separated from the people who really care about you. I... I almost lost you to it."

...And they're not out of the woods yet. Lettie still might lose her to it. As much as she tries not to think about it, her thumb brushes a patch of crystalization over one of Juno's cheekbones as a reminder, evoking a wave of fresh tears. With the pirate talking about the outcome of the day, it becomes impossible to avoid it any longer. (It's always there, hovering above their heads just like Lettie's curse. If she keeps herself busy enough she can almost forget and hold up her defenses like usual... but there's no avoiding the implications.) The strength she reserved for fake smiles has all but crumbled away, her sore throat straining too much for her to make a single sound as her tears falling faster and faster. 'Don't leave me', she wants to beg, 'Don't leave me like everyone else.'

"It's your decision and I respect it either way. Whatever you choose, just promise me you won't let it weigh on your conscience tonight?" Lettie requests shakily. One slip, one mistake... that's all it took with her and Lina. They got caught and it was over just like that. (Should she have kept this information about Eliza a secret? She's not sure... but she knows from experience that Juno can tell when she's hiding something. If she didn't say anything, the pirate would be worrying about that instead. It's better to be open about these things.) "I know you don't like to fight, Juju... but we have to stay present so we can give it our all. We've gotta give it our all. We've got this." They'll fight for a future where they don't have to fight. She clutches onto Juno's arm. "I... I'm not losing you tonight. I'm not."

This isn't their last day. Maybe Lettie's childish for it, but she refuses to acknowledge the possibility aloud... even though she knows the world isn't nearly that kind.

"How do you want to spend the day, Juno?" Lettie rubs her eyes, making an attempt to brighten the mood by asking once her cries have calmed a little. (Her eyes are still teary and red, though, and nothing can be done to hide it. Any other day she'd take a second to touch up her make up in the mirror... but right now, all she wants to do is look at Juno.) "If you could do anything right now, what would you want to do?"

 

[starboob]

Juno wants to believe Lettie—more than anything in the worlds, she wishes she could believe her—and it’s not that she thinks her girlfriend is lying to her about what Eliza said, but this guilt has become so much a part of her that it’s not something she can easily let go. She wishes that Lettie’s gentle caresses could sooth her and give her the courage to face Eliza again, but the ‘what ifs’ keep her tied down and rooted firmly in place. She cannot see that woman again even if this could very well be her last chance.

When she notices Lettie touching her throat, she wonders what she’s thinking and it takes her a few minutes to recall how she got that particular curse. The imagery of the eternally burning rose flashes through her mind as well as how guilt and grief stricken Lettie had become when she was faced with that imagery. 'It wasn't her fault either.'

Lettie, of all people, knows what she’s going through and she’s experienced it to a gruesome extreme. She understands, then, that Lettie simply doesn’t want her to squander what could be her last chance to make things right. In that, she’s right when she says that her last words don’t have to be, ‘I hate you.’ Between the two of them, only Juno has the opportunity to make amends with the woman who practically raised her. It may have only been for four short years, but Juno wouldn’t be here without them. She would not have been able to meet Lettie without them and for that, she owes Eliza everything.

She presses her nose into her girlfriend’s shirt for just a few more seconds before she sits up and adjusts their positions, pulling Lettie into her lap this time. She tucks her finger under her chin and sweeps the tears from her cheeks, then leans down to kiss away the tear stains and stray tears that follow. “I really want to believe you, Lette, but I don’t know. I don't know if I can really get into all of that shit before everything else I have to face today.” Even though she knows that Lettie is right, that her and Eliza might have a chance to gain some closure, how is she then supposed to pull herself back up to face the stars? There’s no right answer here, only making peace with her decision. “But if you’re not losing me today,” she offers a small, hopeful smile, “then I can face her tomorrow.”

“For now,” and here she presses her forehead to Lettie’s, “I just want to spend as much time as possible with you before we have to kick ass.” She knows it’s nothing special, to sit here all day and be with each other, but she’s long past feeling like she has to be anyone but herself around Lettie. For one, she’s only ever been herself and when she had thought that Lettie might have wanted someone different, someone more like those on Avangeline, she ended up screwing them both over. Even if Lettie’s absolved her of that guilt ten times over by this point, she can't help the way it still tugs at her. “We can do something exciting tomorrow. Tomorrow, I can make you breakfast and I can kick your ass at whatever competition we decide to get into. Tomorrow.”

They both know better than to count on lucky stars, but she can tell it’s hurting them both to not at least have some hope that tomorrow could be a real possibility. Juno’s going to give everything she can to make sure they have an honest chance at it. Lettie will, too. “I don’t like fighting, but I told you once I’d fight for you and, honestly, vow or not, you’re the only person I’ll always fight for. Whether it be with my fists or my words, you’re worth defending and fighting for.” She presses a kiss to her temple. “All that I really think of during these fights is getting back home to you. Not even worrying about Eliza is going to get in the way of that. You have my word.”

“The cube’s an idiot for a lot of reasons, but it was right to choose us for this fuckin’ impossible mission. Who else in the worlds has as much fight as us? Thad?” She grins, her mood becoming lighter even if what’s on the horizon still looms like a dark cloud. “It has to be us. Just you and me, babe.”

After a few moments, her mind drifts back to her fights and while they don’t feel like victories, she knows that it’s still within her power to make a difference for all the people of Fabel; especially those kids. She can give them a real future; she can give them their dreams. She can return their blessed star back to the sky.

She sighs as she strokes Lettie's arm absently. “I don’t know if the villagers told you this, but the Guardian of Light, the one who’s responsible for all of this, she’s got a faerie. She’s using her. The faerie, Trix, somehow escaped the lantern that the Guardian keeps her in and flew at me at the end of the last battle, and she… She was so distressed, Lettie.” Juno’s eyes are shining with fresh tears just remembering the twisted anguish and fear on the Fabel Star’s face. She sets her cheek on top of Lettie’s head, wrapping her arms tighter around her faerie as if that might also extend to Trix and other faeries who’re trapped and being used. It’s unfair. “The Guardian’s been drawing on her magic to rip people to shreds, leaving only their polished skeletons.” She swallows hard, remembering how one of those ribbons nearly got her; even just grazing her nose, she swore it would melt right off from the heat. “She asked me to kill her, Lette. Obviously, I wasn’t going to and would never, but what if she asks again? What do I even say to that? Until she’s free, Fabel is still under the Guardian’s control and I want to free her, but what if that’s not even enough for her to have hope?” Maybe she's putting too much pressure on herself to try and fix all the problems of Fabel, but it broke her heart to see that faerie in such distress. She knows it's a hard life for faeries and she doesn't want to see one reduce herself to dust or send her spirit off because of what happened to her. It wouldn't be fair. She has to save her, because maybe if she can do that she can save her faerie, too.

 

[ellarose]

"I wish I had a solution." Lettie sighs, melting against Juno while she wraps her in her arms and confesses her fears. "I really, really do." Although she can't speak on her experiences openly, she does feel that Juno sees her, just as she sees that other faerie. (That other faerie who she understands. She empathizes with how Trix has been driven into a corner, left to feel so helpless and distanced from her own life that she wishes for it to end. Lettie's own curse isn't necessarily an immediate death sentence in the literal sense. But if her last choice is between what Asmodeus expects from her and disobeying his orders-- thus being fed to the Reaper? She's choosing the Reaper. Preferably she'd be absorbed into her source if she could swing it that way instead... but the stars aren't exactly something she can reach. Especially not without her wings.) Lettie tried to find a way to break that contract. Lina died trying to find the answer. That's what she worked her ass off for since she was seventeen years old, earning enough to take her own soul back and get the fuck out of there. In the end, all of those hours working herself to tears didn't even matter. She rubs her thumb over the zeroes on her wrist, dully watching how they remain unchanged. "But I don't."

That's the silver lining, isn't it? This is the path that led Lettie to Juno. If not for that corporation job, she'd never have investigated the cube and crashed onto Lady Vengeance the way she did. Even if she failed to break her curse the way she expected, she's still here somehow. In Juno's arms. If there was a way for her, there's got to be a way for the other faerie as well.

"You mentioned that she escaped the lantern herself, right? If this so-called Guardian is the only one who binds her, returning the sources she stole and rendering her powerless might weaken her control over Trix enough to set her free. Hopefully. She's been through a lot... probably got desperate and saw death as her only way out when she called out to you." And Lettie gets it. She gets the desperation that led her to blowing up the corporation's fancy cube machine, knowing full well what it might cost her. It's not that she wanted to die-- far from it. "When the battle's over we'll talk to her and see what she really wants for herself." Lettie resolves, pressing her ear over Juno's heartbeat. (Listening to it while she still can.) When the battle's over... because it will end and they'll both make it out. (She won't accept any other outcome.) "When she realizes it's all over she may be able to move forward. I'm sure the villagers will take good care of her, too. They seem like caring people." From the looks of it, they certainly treat their faeries with more respect than they do on Avangeline. It seems like there'd be hope for Trix on Fabel.

"I wanna believe there's hope for her." Lettie kisses Juno on the cheek, her eyes boring into her pirate's. She wants to believe there's hope for them, too. That they'll have that tomorrow that Juno was talking about. Tomorrow they'll have breakfast together. Tomorrow they'll make a contest of anything they can make a contest out of (and Lettie will win.) Tomorrow she'll be able to hold Juno's hand and know that she can feel her there.

Tomorrow won't turn into the worst day of Lettie's life, the first where she wakes up knowing she's living in a universe without Juno in it. Where she has to return to a ship without a crew or captain and tell Eliza what happened.

Those fears creep through her regardless of her attempts to defend against them. They make her feel smaller than ever. Lettie snuggles against Juno and it's her turn to bury her face into her shirt. Her tears soak into the fabric-- she has to give herself a second like this before she can look at her again. She's not gonna give up, not for a single second. But it doesn't change the fact that she's scared. Terrified.

"You've been calling me Lette." Lettie points out, turning herself around but keeping herself nestled snugly in Juno's lap while staring out at the sea. Idly, she traces stars between the patches of crystalization on Juno's arms. She smiles softly. "Of all the numerous names you've given me so far, I think that one's my favorite." She giggles, then, thinking back to the other name Juno had mentioned the other day. Her head falls against Juno's chest and she tilts her head back to look up at her from behind. "Hello, I'm Lette Licorice Radiance. Nice to meet you." She snorts through her giggles. "And-- and just think. If we got married, you'd be Juju Licorice Radiance."

Lettie's fit of giggles gradually wears down as she considers exactly what she just said. Oh. Oh fuck! She brought up the marriage thing a-freaking-gain! Well, she stopped herself last time. But this time she blurted it right out! The faerie turns bright pink at this, hiding her face in her hands. Bolstering herself to recover and change the subject, the faerie springs out of her pirate's lap with a nervous laugh and an announcement.

"Oh! I've thought of something we can do right here on the beach! Hold on a sec." Lettie skips a short ways away from where Juno is sitting, collecting pieces of driftwood near the water. Once she's satisfied with her selection, she comes back-- playfully twirling in the sand before grandly presenting the pirate with one of the driftwood pieces. "Let's try to draw each other, Juno." She plops down cross-legged across from Juno and uses her own piece to draw a heart in the sand between them. "In the sand like this. See?" While most of her artistry extends to make-up and nothing more, she's still confident they can both draw better pictures of each other than the Duchess had rendered on those wanted posters back on Desdemonia. (Fucking Cathy.)

Lettie makes a frame with her thumb and forefingers, peering carefully at Juno through it. "Hm. I'll have to study you closely before I can get started on my masterpiece, though." She nods resolutely, as if this isn't just an excuse to get close again. (As if she hasn't already committed every detail of Juno's face to memory already.) "Closer, closer..." She purses her lips to appear focused and studious while closing the distance between them... until their noses are nearly touching. Then she breaks into a cheesy grin and kisses her. Okay, fine. This has nothing to do with drawing right now. But how can she be expected to do anything else when she's a hopelessly gay faerie and Juno's lips are so damned kissable!?

 

[starboob]

They make out for what could be hours or days, but it must only be hours since the crystals haven’t devoured her, nor has the Guardian of Light announced the next challenge. They never do get around to drawing pictures of each other in the sand and the heart that Lettie had drawn has long since been erased after Juno fell onto her back and kicked her legs out, pulling her girlfriend on top of her. It’s bliss and for those few hours, Juno entirely forgets about her devouring and the fight to come. She forgets about the Fabel Star. The cubes. Desdemonia. Avangeline. It’s only her and Lettie when they’re like this together, hands exploring bodies.

Eventually, they do settle in a breathless heap. A lazy smile is smeared across her lips (along with whatever lipgloss her girlfriend had been wearing) as she idly strokes Lettie’s arm, tracing constellations over her shoulder sparkles. If she could have this moment forever, she would gladly leave everything behind. And yet she knows that this moment can be her forever if she fights well enough today and if she continues to fight well enough tomorrow and for however long it takes to complete this mission. They just have to fight for it. Juno can’t think of worthier cause than this.

She squeezes Lettie, pulling her in so that she can dip down and kiss the top of her head. ‘You’re not losing me. And I won’t lose you.’ She doesn’t know whether or not the cube will take them back to Avangeline or not, but she knows that those bastards are involved in whatever has been going on with the magic cores of the worlds. Lettie’s still not safe just because she’s off Avanageline. Knowing that the shadow entity—Angel Fish—can track them from world to world is proof of that. ‘I need to make sure I’m at her side again.’ Lettie is more than capable of handling herself, Juno has no doubt about that, but that bastard has proven to be too much for either of them to handle on their own. At most, they’ve only been able to hold him off.

But in these last moments of peace, she doesn’t want to be thinking of that, so she trades those thoughts for ones of Lettie, her lips and her sweetness. How she so casually mentioned them getting married earlier. How she so casually suggested that she might let Juno share her last name. That causes her heart to trip over itself, having never been claimed by either of her parents. Having always been Juno and only Juno. (She’s not even confident that her mother gave her that name.) But Lettie might be willing to accept her into her family. This isn’t surprising, but it’s not something she’s been able to give much thought. And, in some ways, she’s long assumed Lettie as her family. Their bond goes deeper than superficial attraction and means more. Sharing a name would only be a formality and it still means everything to the pirate who never thought she'd have claim to one; who never thought she'd belong anywhere.

Yet another reason to keep fighting. It won’t be so bad with Lettie at her side, assuming the cube lets her stay. She’s not going to leave her small family behind. “Lette?” She whispers into her hair. “Did you—”

“Pirate,” Dream Weaver interrupts, flashing into the air above them with an all too familiar beam of light. Naturally, the cube appears right next to the mirror. “There’s been a change and you must come quickly. The village Lockwood is under attack—it seems the Guardian will sooner see Fabel burn than lose her power over this world. No village shall be safe as she grows more desperate to cling to the little she has left.”

The cube pivots and turns its attention to the faerie. “We have some business to attend to with the Matrix, Miss Lettie. That core is compromised and we have it on good authority that Angelus and his other goons are preparing to come to Fabel.” It turns between Juno and Lettie for a moment, as if looking between them, then sighs. “The other cubes and I can throw their course, but we won’t be able to hold them off forever. You have twenty-two minutes and fifty-seven seconds before yourself and the new crew are evacuated.”

Juno can’t even find it in herself to be angry as worry spikes through her, both for the villagers and for Lettie plus her new crew (that she knows includes Eliza). She pulls them both up from the sand without protest or complaint. Before addressing the spirit or the cube, she turns to Lettie, attempting a reassuring grin that is dashed with her worried eyes. She squeezes her hand. “We got this.” Even if Juno only has Lettie’s assistance for the next twenty-two minutes, she will take it over nothing. “I love you.” In case this is her last chance to say it. “And I’m coming back to you no matter what, okay?”

It’s all she can say before Dream Weaver sweeps a piece of the clouds under their feet and sends them off to Lockwood. As they travel through the skies, the spirit also helps Juno summon Lettie’s nightmare goggles, her sword, her shield, and the moonstone gem. The pirate still has her bombs on her, including the three bomberflies she has yet to use. And she has Lettie, for at least part of this fight.

Before they see the village, she smells fire and spots plumes of dark clouds wafting from the hills ahead. As they get closer, distant screams reach them from below, only growing louder as Dream Weaver’s cloud descends near the border of Lockwood.

As Juno is stepping off the spirit warns, “She will try to tire you, pirate. The longer the battle stretches on, the stronger the stars will get as the cover of night charges their brightness. You’ll need to save strength, too, to face the Guardian herself once you’ve finished with the stars.” The spirit doesn’t mention this, but there’s also the devouring to consider, meaning she’s going to have to use her remaining time wisely as it continues to spread.

Juno nods and offers her hand to Lettie to help her off the cloud. She doesn’t get the opportunity to even ask if she’s ready as a deafening roar rips through the air, followed by more shrieking and the wet sound of teeth tearing into flesh. A gap in the smoke reveals a massive glassy construct that looks like a horned lion with wings and shining points like stars adorn its glassy body. Knowing what she knows from the last few fights, she informs Lettie, “Aim for the stars in its body. I think those are the weak points.” She tightens the straps of the shield over her arm and holds her sword at her side. “But first, we'll need to steer it from the village before we engage it. Let’s drive it towards the hills.” Knowing it could be her last chance, she captures her girlfriend’s lips in a kiss, resisting the urge to get too lost in it. She breaks away reluctantly, then sets her eyes on the stars.

 

[ellarose]

All Lettie manages to say is a tight, worried little 'I love you, too' before they're swept off towards their next battle. (Juno's right. They've got this. She has to believe in that... because if she gives up before they even begin, they're going to lose.) A mingling of smoke and emotion fills the faerie's white eyes with moisture and she blinks quickly to clear them, hugging Juno's arm as they fly through the air on a cloud. She thinks it might have been fun had they not been heading towards a flaming village full of screams and people who need help. (Somberly, she wonders if it makes Juno think about her childhood... or her lack thereof.) While she cannot deny there exists a part of her that wishes she could be selfish, escape with just her and Juno to some peaceful faraway world, she'd never ever do that. Even if Juno's life wasn't at stake with the devouring, she wouldn't have the heart to leave anyone behind. They're this deep in their mission now... and somewhere along the line, the little faerie continually finds herself giving a shit about what happens to total strangers. If all she amounts to nothing more than a blip in this universe, then she wants to do something worthwhile with that blip. It's after her life took this course, after she met Juno, that she decided she would take it seriously. There'll be no more hiding below deck, filing her nails, and looking out for only herself.

Lettie savors their short-lived kiss, unable to stop herself from wondering if it'll be their last. "I love you." She says it again, more confidently than before. (Just in case it is.) The faerie tries not to get distracted by how badass Juno looks preparing to fight with her sword and shield, following her girlfriend's lead as she turns her gaze towards the battlefield. Each scream, each moist tear of the beast's claws and teeth through flesh grates on her-- the fine hairs on the back of her neck prickling as they stand up. She remembers what Juno said before. "That Guardian of Light... she's using faerie magic to do this?" Unwelcome flashes of demons absorbing faeries in duels rush through her in an instant, her heart fizzling with panic and rage. "Right. Right. We can lead it to us... Dream Weaver, can you evacuate the people of Lockwood?" She remembers those bubbles and everything the villagers of Nightwood had told her about their warriors and the way the Guardian had threatened Juno with their safety. "If this monster's here to keep Juno busy, the Guardian could be planning another attack on them while we're fighting. Wouldn't put it past the bitch."

Stars. It seems to Lettie that they need a whole fucking army to handle this. (And even then, she only has twenty-two minutes before Juno is left to her own devices here... probably even less now.) She's gotta figure out some way to hit them hard and fast-- do significant damage with the little time she has. But she can't burn herself out in the process, either, knowing it's only a matter of time before she has to face the entity and demons again.

"Juno-- I'm slower than you and shouldn't be glitching yet. Can you carry me?" Lettie shrinks down to her smaller form, keeping Juno in mind as well. While it is a bit frightening, facing an enemy so large when she's the size of an insect, she does this mainly to make herself lighter. She doesn't want the pirate to tire herself out by carrying her around the battlefield-- but she doesn't want to lag too far behind her either. (It's not that she doubts her pirate's stupidly buff muscles. Never! But they've got a long fight ahead of them. They're both going to need to do what they can to conserve their strength, just like Dream Weaver said.) There's another benefit to this size as well. "The Guardian doesn't know about me yet. I can be like your secret weapon." She winks, sitting on Juno's shoulder and hugging against a pillar of crystal to keep herself steady. "Just remember I'm here. I can't fly away like I did when we fought the Duchess."

And with that, they're off. Juno sweeps into the fight, valiantly giving fleeing villagers openings to escape the construct's wrath as Lettie clings onto her shoulder for dear life. The pirate rescues a child, handing her off to a concerned villager who seems determined enough to reunite her with her mother. They weave through flames and dodge the rubble of falling buildings. Gradually, the number of people to be rescued dwindles as Dream Weaver stealthily evacuates them from the area. Once the construct is properly distracted and chasing them towards the hills, Lettie turns herself around to keep her eyes on their opponent while Juno faces forward. (Like this, she doesn't have to worry about running or dodging. She can focus on hitting her target where it counts-- and watch Juno's back in the process. Whenever their opponent uses one of their forceful roars to knock the pirate off her feet, the faerie glitches them both, propelling them ahead of the blasts.)

"Alright. Let's test your theory, Juju." Lettie bites her lip concentratedly and sweeps her hand in front of her. The air shudders, tracing glowing outlines of five butterflies before they fill in. (She lends them a little extra magic, their wings sparkling and iridescent.) One by one, she has her bomberflies target the stars in the construct's glass-like body.

As they explode, it becomes apparent that the 'glass' must not be glass-- not exactly-- considering it isn't nearly as fragile. Lettie's bomberflies just put dents and cracks in that exterior, leaving the stars well-protected within. "Damn. It's almost like..." She furrows her brow, considering the patch of crystal she's hugging onto. "Like it has armor made of crystal or something." Her heart beats rabbit-quick at this thought. With enough bomberflies, she'd shatter the lion eventually. But using brute force will overwhelm and exhaust them both. Hm. There is something else she could try.

"Juno, throw me at it. As hard as you can." Lettie nods determinedly. (Yeah, it'd be a lot simpler if she could fly... but this is how it is now. It'd be less dangerous, she knows, at her normal size... but she doesn't want to risk being seen yet. Not by that Guardian, who might have some sort of magic that could shackle her. What if she uses her as a weapon against Juno, the way she's been using Trix as a weapon against Fabel? They can't let that happen.) "I'll glitch my way through and get it from the inside." It'll be more efficient than chipping away at it over time, anyway. She gives her girlfriend a tiny, reassuring kiss on the cheek. "I've got this. They're stars, right? My source." Truthfully, she has no fucking clue how it'll all go down-- she's just winging it, the way she always has. (Hasn't killed her yet though, has it?) "...You be careful out here in the meantime, okay?"

 

[starboob]

Juno never forgets about the fucking faerie—her fucking faerie—on her shoulder, even if she can hardly feel her there. Even as her mind floods with white hot memories from her past, she never once forgets to protect her shoulder, because she knows there is someone valuable there.

It takes her time to adjust each time her girlfriend propels them away from the lion’s powerful roar, but she quickly finds a rhythm, making their glitches appear seamless even if it takes a certain level of focus on Juno’s end to come out of those zips. (It does, of course, worry her each time they glitch, knowing this is one of Lettie’s more costly abilities and she still has those bastards from Avangeline to face after this. Now more than ever does she wish that she could be in two places at once. She has to remind herself that she has Eliza and that Eliza will take care of her.) When she skids to a halt, finally having created distance between herself, the construct, and the village, she whirls on her heel to face the stars. She swallows hard as she watches her girlfriend’s bomberflies do little more than put cracks in their armor. (It causes her to wonder about the limits of her own. It held up against the moon when that bitch tried to eat her, but how strong is it? And is this construct stronger?)

“Damn,” she mutters just as Lettie outlines a new plan of attack. For as much as Juno hates the idea of hurling her towards the construct, for as much as she hates the idea of not being able to protect her girlfriend directly, she trusts Lettie when she says that she’s got this. More than that, Juno’s not so stubborn that she doesn’t see the logic in the plan.

“Alright, yeah.” Juno nods, putting her palm to her shoulder to collect the faerie. “Be safe. I’ll do what I can from out here.” Without waiting a moment longer, she rears her arm back and catapults her girlfriend through the air, only returning her attention to the construct when she’s sure that Lettie made it safely inside. ‘You should have kissed her,’ one part of her says and the other reminds, ‘You can kiss her after.’

She locks eyes with the lion as it paces back and forth, sizing up the pirate. As it starts to walk in circles around Juno, she moves with it, shield raised. It rushes towards her, leaping to pounce and Juno ducks forward, rolling so that she comes up behind the lion. Picking herself up and spinning around in one practiced motion, she vaults onto her opponent’s back, pounding the edge of the shield into its back so that it’s stuck in place, giving Juno some hold on its smooth crystal body. She arcs her sword against the animal’s side, cutting into it and leaving a glowing orange streak along the path.

The animal cries out and bucks, attempting to shake the pirate off, but she thrusts her sword into the body, surprised by the ease at which the sword drives into the crystal, giving herself more leverage. Once more, the crystal glows orange around the wound, but just as Juno is starting to feel that she’s understanding her opponent, the animal’s body starts to convulse then ripple. The crystal moves beneath her as it morphs, forcing her sword and shield out of the body, ultimately sending Juno falling.

Dream Weaver sends a cloud to collect the pirate before she can hit the ground or be winded by the fall. She gathers herself to stand, watching with wide, horrified, eyes as the horned winged lion transforms itself into something from her nightmares. (This also shifts around the location of the stars within the body, but Juno doesn't notice that entirely.) Her heart jerks as her mind pulls her back in time, the scar on her face tingling as she’s faced with an amalgam between a wolf and a hulking man—though this version has two extra sets of arms and elongated canines that look more like tusks. She starts to step backwards, nearly stepping off the cloud, but Dream Weaver acts fast and creates another for her to step onto. “Careful, pirate. Whatever is going on in your head, bring it back to the present. Remember the villagers, the Fabel Star, and the faerie currently within the beast. You are not in the pits.”

Though the words come to her from a distance, she latches onto the mention of Lettie. Lettie is fighting the beast from the inside. Juno can’t falter. She doesn’t know whether this is a beast from Fabel’s lore or if the stars have intercepted her memories; either way, she’s determined to bring this bastard down. She has a faerie to return to. (She has a wolf mother to reunite with.)

The beast morphs one of its hands into a ball with spikes all around, swinging it towards Juno. She raises her shield to meet the blow and is sent flying into the hillside, creating a small crater in the earth. Shocks pulse through her arm, but she can still move it and doesn't think it's broken. A crack has formed in the crystal, but Juno hasn't taken note of that yet. Most of her focus is still on the stars, knowing they won't relent just because she's down.

The world spins around her as she clambers back to her feet, but she doesn’t rise quickly enough before the beast leaps into the air and lands right over Juno, sending more shocks through the ground that knock her off her feet. The creature’s eyes flash brightly, causing large spots to form in Juno’s vision. She can tell that it's still moving, still working to crush her, but she can't see it and all she can do is raise her shield and hope.

Flames shoot from the beast’s eyes, heating up Juno’s shield and heating up the crystal patches and, at worse, peeling off layers of her remaining patches of skin. (She can feel the crystal growing over the injuries, but this time the growth is painful as it creeps over the sensitive blisters.) She blinks harshly, trying to clear her vision to form a proper strategy, trying to ignore the searing pain pouring through her, when she notices the pulse of energy coming from the onslaught of fire.

Drawing on the little magic she has left, she intentionally pulls the flames towards herself and creates a wheel of fire around her, protecting her. The beast tries to get a different angle, perplexed by this development, but the flames continue to respond to her and adds to the spinning wheel around her. It ceases this attack and goes back to brute force. This time, it morphs all six of its hands into spike balls and turns its arms into a lengths of chain from wrist to elbow. It twirls the six deadly appendages—two overhead, two in front of it, and two at its side—then brings all six towards Juno from all angles. The necromancer builds up the wheel of fire around her until its like a flaming cyclone and creates six flaming hands to catch the weapons before they can touch her. She wills the flaming fists to clamp on the weapons with an ironclad grip and, just before she tosses the beast, she draws on the thin stream that exists between herself and Lettie only to warn, "Brace yourself."

Locked in her grip, she hoists the construct over her head and slams it onto its back into a hill, inadvertently crushing it with the impact. Sweat beads over her brow as she finally has a brief moment to catch her breath. Though when she goes to wipe it with her arm, it comes back down with a smear of blood over the crystals. She ignores this for now, knowing this exertion is necessary. She has to push herself today. "You okay in there, Lette?" She asks this just the beast's body is starting to morph again, moving around the stars to take on a new shape.

 

[ellarose]

Dead silence. Darkness. That's what awaits Lettie when she finds herself inside the crystalized monster. Like space, there's no gravity here and she floats clumsily in the air, spinning a few times before raising her arms and finding a rhythm she can roll with. Huh. There were stars in here, weren't there? They could see them from the outside and everything! Shining inside of the monster! But now that she's here...

"What...?" Lettie asks, her voice creating a dreamlike, tinny echo around her. ('What... what... what?' It mocks her. Fuck.) Pins and needles of panic dash down her neck, down her arms and legs all the way to her toes. Granted this was an improvised plan, like many before it, but she thought it was decent enough. But it's as dark as the Reaper's pit in here. The faerie tries drawing the energy of the stars towards her... but their voices have been reduced to whimpers. They're so weak that she can hardly even hear them.

Oh stars. What if Lettie just trapped herself in the belly of the monster, leaving Juno to fight alone on the outside? What if that's all she accomplishes with her twenty-two minutes? Nice going, Letts! Freaking disaster magnet. Useless. Onus. "What was I thinking?" Shit, shit, shit. She wraps her arms around herself, but it offers her little comfort. (The only ones capable of comforting her anymore are of the stupidly buff variety, whether they're patched up in crystal or not. And for all she knows, she's never going to feel those arms around her again.) "Juno... I left her out there all alone. Why'd you go and do that? Now you're wasting time! Dummy. Stupid, stupid, stupid." Nervous tears bubble up from her eyes and float above her head. She sniffles, watching with awe as they morph into shiny blue crystals before her eyes. "...H-huh?" They glow softly from within, the glows pulsing like tiny heartbeats, and the faerie has to quote a certain pirate. "What the fuck!?" Once they take their full shape they fall into the expanse of darkness under her feet, illuminating rainbow stars as they fall. She swallows and sniffs a bit harder-- mostly because she doesn't want her snot to crystalize too. (Freaking gross!)

"Ooooh... Okay. So apparently gravity applies to the crystal fucking tears!?" Lettie waves her hands incredulously over her head before pivoting herself to swim downward, chasing after them. She sighs. At least it's something. She's just gotta roll with this, do her damnedest to help Juno out there. "Guess we're doing this now."

As Lettie follows the crystals into the darkness below, faint but magnificent rainbow constellations shaped like various different animals and monsters swirl by her. Bears, serpents, birds and lions. There are gargoyles and a centaur with a bow and arrow. As these stars roam about and collide, they fuse together to create something new-- something bigger. Whenever she tries to make contact, it's as though her voice doesn't reach them. (As if they're already listening to someone else and cannot hear her. Hm.) Suddenly, an orange firework against the dark sky above distracts her. Following that is a lightning strike of orange. The constellations all flicker like confetti poppers in response to this. (It that... Juno?) Above her head, she sees a constellation resembling the monster that'd been terrorizing the village outside as it screeches out. Then they burst into nothing more than glowing orange dust.

That dust falls alongside her glowing tears, illuminating the crystal floor at the bottom of the monster's belly. Revealing another faerie with long golden hair and striking golden eyes. (She's sitting in river of her own bright blue crystal tears.) Shackles are fastened around her wrists, heavy chains attached to the floor preventing her from flying or floating away. Shards of crystal gleam and grow out from them. It seems like she's designing constellations, the stars moving and twirling beneath her fingertips as though she's finger-painting with them. The creation looks like a wolf... and the faerie whimpers as it ripples and transforms into something far more beastly against her will. The stars take on a new form unlike anything Lettie has ever seen before-- keeping a few of the traits that made it wolflike while growing human-like features and tusks. (Yet, she can't shake the thought that there's something somewhat familiar about it. They have faced a fuck ton of monsters at this point... but this one slips a chill down her spine.)

"No! Leave her alone." The other faerie pleads, trying to press down on the constellation to keep it there. But the monster she created escapes out from underneath her hands, launching itself high above their heads while unleashing a mighty screech. The stars around them shuffle in response to this movement, shifting and trading places.

"...Trix?" Lettie guesses. She clumsily maneuvers herself down closer to the faerie.

The faerie blinks her bright golden eyes with surprise, staring at Lettie like she's a ghost or a figment of her imagination. When Lettie doesn't vanish after a few seconds, she slowly starts to accept that she might be real. "Calytrix. The Fabel Star." She whispers, unable to bring her hoarse voice any higher than that. "Or perhaps more accurately... the Fabel Annihilator." She shudders and Lettie feels her heart breaking. "Who are you?"

"...Doesn't matter right now. I'm a friend... a friend who wants to help you figure out how to put an end to all of this." Lettie shakes her head, grabbing onto one of the chains to keep herself tethered to Calytrix. "Is there anything I can do?"

"There is no end to it. No matter how many times the challenger triumphs, the monster will continue to shift and adapt." Calytrix explains somberly. "The constellations reflect what she faces on the outside... and while I wish not to, I will continue to create them until she is felled."

"So that wolf... thing. That's what she's fighting right now?" Lettie asks, unable to disguise the fear tinging her words. (She pushes the thought of Juno being 'felled' from her mind. It's not going to happen. She won't fucking let it.) "If I fought the constellations from inside, would that--?"

"No. Another would simply take its place. I am the unwilling architect of everyone's suffering. You must end me if you wish to end this." Calytrix says, her eyes big and wet. Her tears crystalize and fall into the river around her. "Please. Kill me."

"There... there has to be another way." Lettie shakes her head, horrified by the request. (Juno did tell her that that was what she wanted.) They're running out of time and options as Juno crystalizes. But in Calytrix she sees a reflection of herself-- trapped and helpless-- and no matter how desperate she gets, she can't kill her. She just can't. "We'll figure something out, okay? You shouldn't have to die like this. That's fucked up."

"It's the only way. Now please. It's happening again!" Calytrix begs. She cries out as her the stars twitch beneath them-- ready to be formed into a new creature. (Vaugely, Lettie hears Juno reaching out for her. She's still alive. But she can't focus right now, with Calytrix in this state.) Lettie takes Calytrix's shackled hands in her own, squeezing them tight to prevent her from touching the stars, tackling her backwards and holding her down. The faerie screams and convulses wildly beneath her, but Lettie grits her teeth and holds down on her with all her might. Every ounce of strength in her body that wants to protect Juno and this faerie keeps her there.

"S-see?" Lettie tries to be casual about this, using all of her strength to pin the other faerie back from the stars. (Maybe the monster will be frozen mid-transformation the longer she stalls it. And while it doesn't know what it's supposed to be, it'll give Juno time to break through!) "I only have to stop you. Right? Now you're not hurting anyone." Tears fill her eyes again. "It's going to be oka--"

"No, get off! It's not-- it's not safe for you!" Before Lettie can process what's happening, Calytrix's hand morphs into a claw that slashes up across Lettie's chest. Everything stops for an instant... and then begins again. Calytrix is screaming, though the sound is so distant and faraway. She's apologizing. Trying to turn her claws against herself... but instead they overpower her once more, pressing back to the stars, drawing a new constellation to continue the cycle.

Lettie doesn't feel it. Not really. She's numb, perhaps with shock. Her grip goes slack, her gaze glazing over as brilliant red ribbons of her own blood float around her. Her blood crystalizes, just like her tears. Move. She begs herself. Her fingers twitch. She flashes back to her morning with Juno on the beach. Arms around her, nose pressed against the crown of her head as she tugged her closer. Juno. Her pirate. Her love. Her family, her future. She needs me. It can't end like this. It can't. Searing pain blooms through Lettie's chest as she reaches out for one of her blood crystals and launches herself forward again, using it like a sword to slash through one of the chains holding Calytrix down.

Faerie blood is a powerful resource, after all.

The chain shatters. The stars blink frantically all around them, like fairy lights on the fritz, and confusedly warp all around them. Lettie shatters the second chain, sending them both flying. Calytrix rises even higher-- her movements twitchy and unnatural. Not exactly floating... more like she's being hauled up by puppet strings. Around her, all of the stars form a new, final constellation. This one is a giant faerie with claws, mirroring Calytrix herself. (And the faerie herself is positioned in the constellation's chest, where the heart should be.)

On the outside, the monster finally decides what it's supposed to be-- taking on the form of a giant crystalized faerie with claws and large, brilliant wings. She flaps them, soaring high into the air. She seems to hesitate before attacking, crystal tears falling from her eyes (and crystal blood leaks from her chest)... but then, with the reluctant sweep of her arm, she casts star-shaped blades out from the tips of her claws, sending entire constellations of them sailing right for Juno!

 

[starboob]

“Oh, fuck.”

That’s a fucking faerie alright. Juno takes a startled step back, neck craning to take in the full height of the fucking faerie constellation, falling on her ass as she does so.

“Shit. Fuck. Dammit.” She scrambles to put distance between herself and this fucking joke, awkwardly pushing herself backwards before she remembers that she has legs that she can use to stand. And, better yet, fucking run. Retreat has never really been part of Juno’s vocabulary; even before Lettie proved herself a capable fighter, the pirate had been known to challenge tentacled guardians, stone gods, and gargantuan monsters without ever stopping to think about what her chances of survival could possibly be. It’s not even that this constellation—she assumes one that might be dedicated to the Fabel Star herself—is the largest opponent she’s ever faced, it’s that she’s a fucking faerie and Juno knows better than to underestimate a fucking faerie.

The point of her claws only remind her of Lettie’s berserker rage, demolishing that dis-fucking-gusting abominable amalgam between herself and Ripir. The bleeding chest only reminds her of the ward she cast against the duchess; only reminds her of what Ravan confirmed—faerie blood is fucking powerful. Faeries are fucking powerful.

More than that, she understands that the Fabel Star is no ordinary faerie if she’d once been responsible for watching over the citizens of Fabel. She's not to be trifled with.

She runs to save herself, to make sure she can still come back to Lettie, but it’s also that very thought that interrupts her flight response, reminding her that it does nothing for either of them if she dips. Like it or not, her survival depends on facing the stars. It’s her only chance at ever seeing her dream from last night realized.

Juno doesn’t like fighting, but she will fight for that future. And when she remembers that Lettie is still there inside this construct, she reminds herself that she has to do her part. (Lettie never responded to her either. She knows she’s not dust, because she can still feel her, but that she didn’t respond worries the pirate.) ‘What the fuck is going on in there?’

She doesn’t bother trying to figure that one out, not when she turns to find a swarm of star-like knives gaining on her. “Fucking fuck!” She isn’t able to do more than raise her shield and huddle behind it, protecting her vitals (and her face). The stars bang and dent against the shield and more than a few pierce through it and jam into her arm, surprising her with a surge of pain. Disturbing cracks splinter across what she had thought had only been a crystal encasing, but is actually a solid diamond arm. It’s not enough to shatter it (not yet) and the revelation almost distracts Juno from the rest of the swarm slicing into the parts of her body she can’t cover, like her legs that are half-flesh, half-crystal. The flesh bleeds and the crystal cracks and chips. Where there are flesh wounds, new crystal grows over it as if to suture the injuries. Except, she can feel the crystals driving deeper into the wound, consuming more of her flesh until it reaches bone. Until it wraps around the bone. "Shit!"

The onslaught stops, but the damage is done. She doesn’t have time to assess as she can see the Fabel Star struggling to form a new attack. (If it is Trix in there, she wouldn’t be surprised if she’s trying to fight against her reins. And knowing that Lettie is there, she knows her faerie is doing what she can from the inside as well. And she won’t let herself assume Lettie’s been knocked out of the fight. She can’t let herself think about that. She has to believe that she's okay.)

Juno uses the Fabel Star’s moment of hesitation to attach one of her bombs to Lettie’s bomberfly, aiming to take out the wing. It’s dirty, but the pirate can’t fight an aerial opponent as large as this one. (At least not without her ship and crew.) She has to even the playing field somehow.

She commands the bomberfly-bomb combo up into the skies, but doesn’t have it land directly on Trix’s wing, unsure if this avatar is only a representation or if it will do actual damage to the faerie’s real wing. She doesn't want to permanently damage the faerie if she can help it. Instead, she sets off the explosive a few yards away from the wing. Fire clouds burst in the sky and even from the ground, Juno can feel the shockwave that sends the Fabel Star tumbling towards the earth, her right wing set aflame as she shrieks and howls. Juno winces, but doesn’t let her sympathy keep her from charging (more like awkwardly stumbling towards) the giant crystal faerie while she’s down.

Her head and heart pound in rhythm with her feet. She drags her light sword along the ground as she stampedes ahead, feeling for the trace elements of death within the earth through her sword. Then, drawing on the moonstone’s magic, she pulls on the earth and drags it up with the upward momentum of her sword. Hardened earth shoots out in spikes from the ground, straight for the struggling faerie, though the rocks do little more than collide with her hardened body, not even scratching the surface. The force does cause the giant to stumble, but her body jerks around to catch her in an awkward, near robotic manner.

Juno doesn’t even have time to think, ‘Oh, shit,’ before the faerie glitches forward and back, knocking Juno around, not giving her a second to find her feet. More cracks form against Juno's crystallized body; bruises form on the little flesh she still as left. When the Fabel Star stops, Juno is dizzily trying to right herself, but the star plucks her from the ground with her claws and dangles her right over her open mouth.

 

[ellarose]

Move. Move, damn it! Lettie strains to mould something coherent out of her scattered thoughts. There's a disconnect between mind and body-- it takes longer than it should for her limbs to obey her commands. And when they do they move about floppily, like she's a mermaid struggling to traverse a desert by shuffling her immobile body over mounds of hot sand. Juno. She pries her eyes open with a pained gasp. Did she lose the last few seconds, or the last few minutes? (Is she dead? No. No, she aches too badly for that. Scorching hot pins and needles are stabbing her in the gut.) The wingless faerie has since floated away from Calytrix without chains there to tether her. Gingerly, she touches her stomach, flinching and bringing her hand back to find blood. The claw marks have left five angry scratches in a row through her stomach-- deep enough to tear her clothes and skin, but not deep enough to be fatal. (Not right away, at least. She'll still need to do something to staunch the bleeding, have it looked at. Later.) Lettie can't tell what's going on outside, she can't tell how Juno is faring from here. But she finds relief in finding her presence there when she reaches out for it... and Calytrix is still held taut in her trance, commanding her constellation faerie to fight. Something must be happening right now. She can't waste anymore time. She can't leave Juno to face it alone.

'Juno, I'm still here. I'm still fighting. Hang in there.' Lettie sends her thoughts out to Juno, recalling how the pirate had tried to reach her amidst the chaos. She's tempted to ask what's going on out there-- but she doesn't want to distract her with questions. One single moment caught off guard could be her last.

There's a flash of an explosion, lighting up the stars of the constellation faerie's wing a bright orange. The stars that ignited are blasted away, hurtling in a sphere-shape right for Lettie. (These ones... suddenly, she can hear their voices, like someone tuned a radio just right to get the proper signal.) Juno! She's doing what she can. Dealing damage. Of course she is-- she's captain fucking Juno! But that still doesn't mean she should have to face this alone. Rather than dodge the incoming stars, Lettie steels herself and concentrates, reaching out to meet them halfway with her soul self. I hear you. You don't want to fight. She appeals to them. Neither do they. Or I. But we've got to fight to put an end to this senseless violence and return you to the skies. Will you help me?

Their answer is immediate. The stars are drawn in towards Lettie's chest, absorbing into her heart, casting their light upon her. (As willing participants in this fight, their glow restores itself.) The faerie tilts her bloodstained hand in front of her face. The blood there has since crystalized. She glamours her hand around those ruby chips of crystal, giving herself long claws-- obsidian with rainbow pearls. Her canines sharpen and her kaleidoscope eyes narrow as she sets her gaze upon the faerie constellation, lifting her hand above her mouth. The body language indicates...

"No!" Lettie screams, piercing enough that the crystal body of the giant faerie shivers from the impact. With her energy restored by the stars, she glitches herself through the crystal faerie monster... but rather than come out as herself, what shoots out in her place is another crystalized faerie construct-- this one only one fourth the size of the one dangling Juno over her mouth. Embedded within, Lettie hovers in a trance as her new crystal form exits the giant faerie's bleeding chest like a bullet, her body lodged where the heart ought to be. (The stars act as her sight, her instincts guide the new form's limbs. It's sort of familiar-- reminiscent of the time she and Juno had to control that giant robot.) There's a vague shimmering where the smaller crystal faerie's wings ought to be-- the stars struggling to construct them when she no longer possesses a pair of her own. Relying on muscle memory, she makes a few clumsy attempts to fly-- like a baby bird leaving the nest. Then Lettie sees Juno, dangling and bleeding above the monster faerie's mouth and it clicks.

Lettie soars towards Juno, snatching the pirate from the monstrous faerie's clawed hand before she can swallow her whole. (The impact breaks the larger faerie's arm off entirely, smashing through it with the force of a wrecking ball.) She moves too fast to have any semblance of control over their trajectory-- the weight of the crystal form so unlike herself. All she can do is wrap the crystal construct's form around Juno like a protective shield as they fall through the clouds like a canon ball. Smash! They put a hole in the earth, large enough to carve a tunnel into it, the edges of Lettie's crystal faerie carving it out as they roll. Behind them, the larger crystal faerie's claw wedges itself in behind them, completely blocking the entrance.

When they finally come to a stop, they're stuck deep beneath the ground. Enough that it severs Lettie's connection to her source, stealing her glow, her claws, her edges. The crystal faerie that Lettie's embedded in shatters to pieces, thus dropping the real faerie inside right on drop of Juno. (Back where she belongs.) She cries softly when her wound snags against a piece of Juno's cracked crystal and she rolls off so she lie beside her in the dirt instead. "Juju..." She moans softly. "Are you..." Okay? (Cracked crystal. It's dark down here, but Lettie can feel that Juno has taken damage. A shit ton of it. Her eyes shimmer in the dark with tears as she hauls herself to her knees and studies her fresh wounds. The same places on her own body sting with sympathy.) "Juno, I tried to... I couldn't..." Lettie inhales a sharp breath, her words wobbly with pain and panic. "Trix is in there. I didn't-- couldn't kill her." Yeah. And that decision might have killed them, she acknowledges. Both of them in rough shape, trapped in this tunnel with the entrance blocked by a giant crystalized faerie hand. It's not right, Lettie thinks, that she was put in that position. She's been fighting her whole life to escape death and the very feeling of helplessness that Calytrix is experiencing now. It was as if the universe had doomed her to fail from the very start. Juno, is this the end?

Through stinging tears, Lettie looks at her hands. They're no longer claws... and briefly, she flashes back to underground prison she was kept in when those demon bastards deprived her of her source. (The stars won't possess the same energy underground. Given the effects on her, she knows it will weaken the construct as well... perhaps that's why the hand blocking the tunnel hasn't moved yet.) Still, it doesn't offer her much relief. They're cornered. Trapped. She has no fucking clue how they're going to get out of this one.

"She told me it won't stop trying to kill you unless we kill her first." Lettie shakes her head, verbally trying to talk her way into some kind of solution. Something-- anything they can do to turn the odds in their favor. She is not giving up, no matter how hopeless this looks right now. No fucking way. "... But it's the Guardian we should really be fighting. Once we sever their connection, Calytrix won't have to fight anymore and the... the construct should fall apart." She summons up her purse, then, taking out her goggles and tiny compact mirror. Shakily, she begins drawing a complex glyph into the surface. "I-- I'll use looking glass magic to find the Guardian. If she thinks we're stuck in here, we might be able to take her by surprise." Her source is weak down here-- but desperate times, desperate measures. They can't just wait down here to die!

With her back turned, Lettie doesn't notice the awakening glows of the stars within the clawed crystal hand blocking the tunnel. The way it outstretches a finger, poised to send a flurry of star-shaped knives right for her.

 

[starboob]

The only thing that Juno can do is hang in there (literally) as she’s dangled above the giant faerie’s fanged maw. At some point, while she was battered around by all those glitches, she lost her sword, her shield, and even though she knows she can call the sword, she isn’t sure there’s anything she can do to save herself. Not in the position she’s in.

This is the end.

And she wishes that it weren’t—more than anything in the worlds she wishes for another chance, a redo, because to end now means that she’ll never be able to begin with Lettie. Not truly.

All the if onlys and what ifs race through her mind as the giant faerie stutters, just shy of dropping her. The biggest if only and what if of them all? If only and what if she never for a second doubted Lettie back on Avangeline. Bitter tears sting at her eyes, feeling the wash of defeat, acceptance, come over her all at once.

This is the end.

It happens in a blur (though, to be fair, Juno’s vision started failing her around the third or forth glitch-pass). Though she feels her stomach lurch as her body falls, she also feels something hard and protective wrap around her. And the fall is longer than she would expect, but she also figures that this is her mind’s way of savoring its last seconds of consciousness before her soul goes to the goddess. (Or the void, since her goddess is dead.) It’s not until she feels a violent collision pulse through her crystal body, hears the crunching of the earth as it’s compressed and moved by a massive force, that she realizes she might not be dead. When the familiar weight of her faerie lands on top of her, she realizes that she can’t be dead.

Blearily, she tries to look around, but everything is dark and it’s not just because of the dark splotches in her vision. Aches rattle through her body and pirate can’t find the energy to lift herself up. Not yet, anyway. The only thing she seems to be capable of is breathing. (Maybe Lettie’s only prolonged the inevitable.)

This is the end.

She tries to speak, but all that comes out is a labored groan, every nerve squeezed and bruised. (She feels so heavy. Is that because of the crystal?) She squeezes her eyes shut, focusing on the dregs of strength she knows she still has, pulling on them to at least lift her arm and cup Lettie’s cheek. “O-Olette…” Her vision starts to clear, but her girlfriend appears in dizzying doubles and no amount of blinking steadies her sight. “You’re… you’re bleeding.” The air is thick with the metallic smell, but it’s the feeling of it permeating through the earth beneath them, mingling with the other traces of death, that alarms her. She isn’t sure if it’s because of how potent Lettie’s blood is or if it's from the amount of loss.

Even with this observation, however, Lettie isn’t giving up. It’s not Juno’s intention to quit, that’s not her way (it's not the way Eliza raised her), but it’s her body that’s given up on her. The crystal has all but taken over and while she can still move, it’s not without a strain of effort. As if thought alone inspires the curse, the scars on her face bloom with crystal; she can even feel it starting to take over her eye. She cries out again as it burrows into her ribs. (She’d be sweating bullets if her pores were all still intact, instead she feels herself heating up, tempting her to claw at her crystallization.)

This is the end.

But like Lettie, Juno isn’t capable of giving up. Even with her body heavy and cracked, protesting her every movement, she hauls herself up when her goggles register danger. The strain causes her to cry out, but nothing will stop her from protecting her girlfriend. She throws herself over Lettie, instinct guiding her and causing her to absorb the rest of the moonstone’s energy, using it to bring up the earth with her as another layer of protection as the starry knives shoot for them. With the blood in the soil, with the intent to protect, rather than just shield them, the hardened earth instead shoots along the tunnel like a bullet traveling the barrel of a gun, smashing the knives to dust and colliding with the giant faerie’s crystal claw, breaking it as well as two other fingers off her hand.

She can hear Calytrix’s cry, disorienting even from within their tunnel, but before either of them can take advantage to escape, the remains of the giant fist slam over the entrance once, twice, three times. The walls shake and crack around them and it’s not hard to guess that they’re going to be buried and crushed alive—

blip!

Searing light swallows them whole and spits them out in the Guardian of Light’s shining palace in the clouds. Her sword and shield clatter next to her, though she doesn’t notice this just yet. Juno groans out an apology as she rolls off of Lettie, knowing her crystal form is heavier than her flesh one, knowing her edges are sharper, and knowing Lettie is also severely injured. She’s attempting to lift herself from the ground when the little bastard appears next to them. Mournfully, they inform the duo, “Miss Lettie, we must go. Captain Juno, we all sincerely wish for your return. Do stay alive.”

blip!

In another flash, without the chance to say goodbye, without the chance to say that she loves her, that there will be a tomorrow, without even being able to kiss her one last time, Lettie is gone. But Juno isn’t alone.

Stiletto heels click against the tiles of the palace and when she turns to face them, she’s before the Guardian of Light once more. “I suppose I don’t mind being your personal executioner, challenger.” She smirks, pulling out a sword made of midnight from an invisible sheathe above her head.

Juno reaches for her own sword in time to block what would have been her decapitation. Tired as she is, aching as she is, the moonstone’s energy still waves through her, giving her a second (maybe third) wind.

This isn't the end.

***​

The ship, the new crew, and Thad’s layer all come crashing down near the body of a stone guardian, felled by a certain faerie and a certain pirate once upon a time. Thaddeus, in true Thaddeus fashion, flails as he falls, eventually landing with a grunt on the rocky earth, then wheezes when the el—faerie lands on top of him. (Well, it’s either her or Marta and Thad is mostly hoping that it’s Olette, because he’s pretty sure the only thing keeping Marta from feeding him a knuckle sandwich is Eliza. And he’s not confident Eliza will continue to protect him.)

Without any consideration for the faerie, the necromancer manages to use his noodles to shift the woman off of him as he rises on wobbly legs, taking a few steps this way and that. After a few seconds the world stops spinning and he’s able to look down at the companion he never asked for. His beady eyes widen, immediately drawn to those angry red slashes across Olette’s abdomen. “Olette—”

“Kid, what happened?” Eliza rushes over before Thaddeus can finish his sentence, worry etching new lines on her features. She crouches right beside the faerie, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. ‘Fuck. Thought she was only visiting Juno?’ Then again, they all felt the tremors through the earth and saw flashes in the sky. She knew something was up, but she never would have guessed this. “Ezra! Get over here, quick!”

 

[ellarose]

A choked sob catches in Lettie's throat. The world around her moves too fast for her to keep up with, disorienting her. It's getting to be too much. (It is too much.) She reaches and her hand out and catches nothing but air. Juno's gone. The cube left her there-- after everything they've done, it just abandoned her there. The faerie slams her empty fist to the ground at her side. Fuck! The memory of Juno crying out with pain rakes over her heart even deeper and angrier than those over her stomach. (Though it's... bad. She can tell. Juno knew it right away, even with the crystal taking over her eye. She's bleeding out. Please. Don't take Juno away from me. Who is she supposed to bargain with at a time like this? The stars that have all turned against them? The dead goddess? It's sinking in that they're fucked. She can't deny it anymore. But she'll use the remaining air in her lungs to plead if she has to.) Her breath turns ragged. Heat flashes over her, sweat collecting at the back of her neck. She retches when she falls again, the impact sending a spear through her gut and blowing her eardrums out, a dull hum blocking the noise around her. The faerie barely registers that she had landed on someone-- not her pirate-- and was unceremoniously dumped off.

There's a disconnect. Lettie knows the ground is solid beneath her, but she doesn't quite feel it there anymore. Almost as if her soul is dangling precariously over the ledge that separates life and death. Juno, throwing herself over her. Teleporting in quick succession. She's winded now and the weight of loss pins her down. She curls up on her side, tears slipping from her eyes like falling stars among her cheek sparkles (and Juno's favorite freckle), creating a small river that runs over the bridge of her nose and pools on the ground, mixing with blood. She can hear the susurrus of voices knocking against her skull, warbles of blurry sounds like a sea of will 'o wisps dancing on a night's sky. Ette... wh... pened... ver... ick...

They've been pitted against gods and fate itself. Lettie is weak, having been stripped down so entirely-- no glamours, no wings, sobbing, wounded and bleeding on the ground. Lost without Juno there by her side. Afraid for her. That might have been the last time she'll ever see her face... and it was all a blur of crystal and the motion of being ripped away against her will. And now she's still expected to pick herself up again. The world has tried to break her from the moment she opened her eyes. Although she was born a tiny faerie, she fought like hell to take everything that was thrown at her in stride-- smiling in spite of it all, stubbornly refusing to give those bastards the satisfaction of making her cower. Now she feels like she's seventeen again, lost and closer to breaking than she's ever been. It wasn't enough, was it? Though her resolve is steel, she's not physically strong enough to save Juno. Who was she kidding? At the end of everything, she's only a tiny faerie and there is only so much she can do. Lettie's tried to be strong for so long but now she feels as small as she truly is lying there on the floor.

At least Lettie went down fighting. She can't regret it when she put her whole heart into it-- even if it hurts beyond measure now. At least she loved and was loved in return, even if it was for a blip. The faerie thinks of their souls reuniting, playful and full of energy, pranking Thad, and traveling across the worlds they never got to see. They could search for the crew. Take over the afterlife together in their matching jackets. (Maybe even find James and...) Lettie's breath hitches, snagging against the painful reminder that Lina's gone forever. Every trace of her was erased the second the Reaper absorbed her dust. All that remains of her now is her name, etched messily into the back of her mother's tombstone... and her gift, the bracelet, which was stolen from her. This fight was for more than their future. It was also for the futures of kids just like them, to change the fucked up worlds they grew up too fast in for the better.

A task out of the legends. They knew they weren't invincible, but they tried their damnedest anyway. They tried. And they almost...

Almost...

Dizzily, Lettie reaches for the locket around her neck to make sure it's still there. She wants to open it up, get a glimpse of Juno as she drifts off so her face is the last thing she sees, but her fingers slip ineffectively around the clasp. A hand falls over her own. Another strokes gently through her hair at the back of her head, lifting her up. Someone's there, supporting her. Taking care of her. There's a brush of cool air against her stomach as her shirt is peeled back (above her head, someone starts yelling) shortly afterwards there's a jostling sting as her gashes are cleaned and examined. Although she can tell they're trying to help, she reflexively writhes at the unfamiliar touch in such a vulnerable place-- the person holding her tightens their grip, stilling her. Feeling kneads it's way back into her body, as does pain, and when she inhales sharply, she can hear it slicing through her like a knife. "Stay with us, Olette." She's alive. The faerie jerks again and her breath hitches. "Easy, easy."

"Juju?" Lettie mumbles, hope flickering in her bruised heart. Maybe it was all a nightmare and she's about to wake up. The blurry face in front of her is just a bit reminiscent of Juno-- but as her vision clears, filling in more of the details, it quickly becomes apparent that it's Eliza holding onto her now. Not Juju. (Not Juju.) Hm. "Oh. Eliza..." 'But if you’re not losing me today then I can face her tomorrow.' Lettie remembers the way Juno smiled. Her heart aches.

"Have you looked at her? She can't fight like this." Thad is arguing with the cubes on her behalf, as do members of Eliza's company.

Thad's right. Lettie can't fight like this. Not physically, anyway. But she is a tiny faerie... and tiny faeries don't always fight with their fists, do they? They have to find other ways. They have to be clever, with their sleeves full of tricks. (Juno might be facing the Guardian, but who's to say that crystal faerie won't show and make her life infinitely more difficult? Lettie refuses to humor the alternative, where her pirate is already... no. 'I’m coming back to you no matter what, okay?' She's still fighting. And Lettie's going to fight, too. She'll do it in her own way-- in the only way she can.) 'There is no end to it. No matter how many times the challenger triumphs, the monster will continue to shift and adapt. The constellations reflect what she faces on the outside... and while I wish not to, I will continue to create them until she is felled.'

"Then... then we don't have to fight." Lettie manages through her teeth, struggling to sit up with Eliza's help. Everyone falls silent, staring at her. Her smirk is wobbly, but it reveals her sharper than usual canines. "We trap the fucker instead. We play them hard." Always playing their mind games, it's the perfect karma. That bastard entity loves turning into Juno, using her image against her. And now there's a big ass crystal faerie searching for Juno... or someone Juno-shaped. If they're crafty enough, it's possible they can turn their enemies against each other. They can't count on the entity staying in that form, though, so it's probable they'll need glamours. Damn good ones, will 'o wisps and everything. "Use my blood. There's plenty here... so use every last drop. We need to pull out all the stops."

***​

Swords clash, lights flashing from the magicked blades. Gold against silver. Notably, the Guardian has less experience fighting like this than Juno does. But with the pirate in such rough shape, she manages to nick her with her sword whenever an ache slows her footing or temporarily robs her of her focus. It does very little, however. The crystal armor, even while cracked, prevents the Guardian from dealing significant damage. (It could also be due to the faint silvery glow of the moonstone's magic, veiling Juno in light that makes her appear almost otherworldly and immortal. This infuriates the Guardian, a mortal who crowned herself immortal for years and years by scaling the backs of Fabel's finest magic users.) The faerie is not longer at her side and thanks to Juno, she's lost the sun, moon, and stars on her crown. Her blade cannot cut the way it used to. It's dull. Weakened. She will never be as powerful as she once was.

The Guardian tries not to let it show-- though her expression keeps twitching at the corners, hardly able to withstand her own rage. Juno is in rougher shape than she. For that reason, she's confident she will come out victorious. The stars will return to her, as will the faerie, and she will reign over these lands once more.

The glow cast over Juno flickers. The moonstone is beginning to reach its limit. With a wildness in her eyes, the Guardian pounces at this sliver of a chance, aiming for a place where the pirate's flesh is still visible, in the valley of one of the crystal cracks...

A familiar mirror suddenly crashes through the window, cutting through the air like a bullet and hitting the Guardian of Light square in the face before she can deal any damage. Her sword crashes to the glittery marble floors instead-- leaving Juno with the opening she needs to strike. The Guardian steps out of the way... though it's too late to escape completely unscathed. Her arm is cut. She stares down at her own blood, horrified, as if she'd forgotten long ago that she could bleed.

"Dream Weaver..." The Guardian seethes through her teeth.

"You will not harm her." Dream Weaver pronounces fiercely. Clouds begin to flood into the room through the windows as the mirror pivots to face Juno. (The Guardian struggles to see them through this fog... but somehow Juno is able to see her clearly. It's reminiscent of the illusion space that Dream Weaver created before, which concealed her from Lettie's view but allowed Juno to watch.) "Juno... if you break the mirror, I will have ten minutes to help you before my spirit is called back to the rainbow springs." They nod, their expression grim. Remorseful, though they don't voice it. "The devouring is nearly complete and there is nothing I can do to stop it now. I am sorry. But if you need assistance, do not hesitate to call on me. We must put an end to this. For Fabel."

 

[starboob]

Juno doesn’t want to believe that this is the end, not when she knows that Lettie is still out there fighting for their future (can she still fight?), but with Dream Weaver’s words, her sparks of hope are dying. Anger surges through her and would have bulged the veins in her neck were her neck not already devoured. Her jaw tightens as the urge to shout, scream, curse this piece of shit spirit overwhelms her—she’s half tempted to break the mirror only to beat the shit out of Dream Weaver. But that will accomplish nothing.

It won’t fix her situation, it will only burn more of the few minutes (seconds?) she has left.

Then there’s the temptation to leave the spirit trapped and damn them all forever. It’s what they deserve, for being such a conniving ass. But she doesn’t have it in her to damn those children who’ve piled on top of her the past two nights. She’s not as selfish as she once was and, dammit, she wishes she could be because this really isn’t her fucking fight—she shouldn’t be laying her life down for this world she’s only known for a week.

She should have taken her chances with the crystallization on her own. She could have spent more time with the only woman she’s ever loved; the only woman who has ever truly loved her. Now the last memory she’ll have of her is her battered, shredded figure; her teary eyes, her panic, her stubborn determination to find a way. But there isn’t going to be a way out, is there? Not for Juno. (And maybe not for Lettie either.)

Dream Weaver cannot stop the crystallization. Juno’s a dead woman walking and she won’t even get to see Lettie one final time. She won’t ever get to hold her again. She won’t be able to tell her goodbye, that she loves her, or that she’s sorry.

Juno squeezes her eyes against her tears, her fist automatically closing around her locket as reality sets in. As the weight of it crushes her. When she opens her eyes, half glaring at the mirror that has the audacity to ask for freedom, Juno grabs it and smashes it against a pillar. The pieces clatter to the ground, dumping out the spirit in a silvery heap. The pirate grabs the scruff of Dream Weaver’s neck and hisses, “Stay out of my way.” She tosses them, hard, back into the pillar where they collapse again. She won’t accept help from that damnable spirit. The spirit tries to say something, but Juno’s already turned her back, her anger unyielding.

Maybe it will be her stubbornness that gets her killed, but she’s dead anyway, isn’t she? Dream Weaver made sure of that when they sent her on this quest, knowing exactly how the crystal curse functions and the timeline she’s on. Well, good on them for getting her attached to the citizens of Nightwood, because it’s the only reason Juno’s still committed to trying. Still committed to taking down the Guardian of Light. (The fucking reason Lettie’s so hurt right now. That Lettie might be...) She’ll never forgive them, but she won’t damn Fabel because of them. And she won’t do Lettie the disservice of giving up.

***​

The necromancers, at first, don’t know what to make of what Olette is saying. Some of them visibly question her state of mind when she suggests using her blood as none of them are familiar enough with faeries to make sense of the implications.

“Well, don’t just fucking stand there,” Eliza snaps, masking the fear from her tone even if it’s reflected in her eyes. “Ezra, Squid, Nico, Keys—you heard Olette. Collect her fucking blood before its wasted. Now!”

The group stumbles into each other as they rush forward to draw four equally sized spheres into their palms, though still uncertain of exactly what they are to do. Traditionally, blood magic on Desdemonia is most often used for defense, not offense with the key exceptions being ripping people's veins from their bodies or controlling them through their blood. Nico shyly breaks the tension by asking, “Uh, what now? Make a ward?” The other blood magicians echo this question and it’s the magistrate who pops in to give a brief overview on faerie blood. (Apparently, her disdain for faeries has also led her to being somewhat of an expert.)

Meanwhile, while the magistrate gives her talk, Eliza looks to the rest of the group, for now focusing on the bone magicians (Delaney, Marta, Leona, and Aysha) as well as the spirit magicians (Ainsley, Thad, Sadie, Mauve). “Scout the area for any bones, bodies, or hauntings. We can’t beat them with power alone, we learned that in the ravine, so we’ll need numbers, too. Rest of you,” she turns to the magicless bunch (Lana, Jo, Lou, Hana), “Let’s see what captain fucking Juno’s got aboard her ship. We’re looking for weapons, bombs, cannons, gunpowder—anything to give us something of an edge.”

As Eliza doles out orders, the medic fusses over Olette’s injuries, a dozen or so spider-like arms emerging from their six faces as they work to clean, numb, and stitch the gashes over the faerie’s abdomen. All the while, Eliza never leaves Olette’s side, supporting her as the medic does their work and, once finished and bandaged, Eliza helps the faerie onto the ship. “You ought to stay on the ship, keep out of sight. I don’t want you getting pulled away by those gold fucking chains." She gives the faerie a stern look, to make sure she's heard. "I snooped earlier and saw that Juno has some radios. We can use those to communicate. Using the aerial advantage that Lady Vengeance gies, we’ll be relying on you to direct us from the skies. Once Nico and Mauve are finished with their constructs or wards or whatever, they’ll join you on the ship. They’re good kids, they’ll listen to you. Try to keep them out of harm, but I understand if you’ll need their help operating the ship.”

Once the ship is in the air and cloaked, the radios distributed among the leads on each team, the constructs raised, the illusions made, and an army of the undead standing ready (borrowed from the fallen civilization), they all hide themselves in the trees, behind boulders, as well as the fallen stone guardian. It does them little good when the goons from Olette’s homeworld arrive and loudly announce their presence.

“Tsk, you think hiding will do you any good?” A shadowy figure asks, surveying the area for movement. He appears to be alone, but after the encounter in the ravine, none dare to take this for granted. “I know you’re there, Onus, and I have some friends who are longing for your company. Won’t you be so kind as to entertain them? They’re just so starved.” A smirk edges his lips, just revealing a bright flash of fang. “Come forward and your little human friends don’t have to die.” However, his message implies they will be hurt regardless. Well, at least he’s being something close to honest? "Don't keep us waiting."

From behind one of the boulders, an image of Olette appears, hands raised in the air—she even appears to be holding something cube-shaped. The entity’s grin widens, buying the illusion. “Atta girl. Seems you’ve finally learned your place.” However, before he can be warned, before he can take a step to close the distance between himself and the apparition, the apparition moves in a streak of red, claws raised and aiming straight for the entity’s throat. (If only it could be that easy.)

***​

Juno faces the Guardian once more, though she remains unseen thanks to the cover of mist. (While this advantage may be from the very spirit who she has sworn off, she would be a fool to give up the advantage. Especially in her current state.) The Guardian stands tall, poised, her eyes narrowed to fine slits, shifting back and forth as she waits for any sign of the challenger who threatens her absolute rule over Fabel and its magic. Her sword is raised above her shoulder, pointed and ready to thrust at the first sign of movement.

The air thickens around them with anticipation, Juno circling the Guardian as she deliberates her attack, careful to keep her steps quiet, careful to keep her breathing steady. But Juno’s body is heavier than she is used to and she’s tired, making it difficult to fully mask the sound of her movements. Her boot scuffs the floor and the Guardian whips towards the noise, skirts fanning out as she thrusts through the mists, missing Juno’s chest by a hair. The pirate stiffens, stills, and swallows, staring straight into the Guardian’s honey eyes, no longer as brilliant as they were when they first fought. However, it seems the mists are still working to her advantage and the other woman pulls back, satisfied that Juno isn’t there.

Juno exhales quietly and makes her way towards the Guardian’s back.

Once in position, she licks her lips, raises her weapon, and, in a single step, crosses the distance between them. She lunges, aiming for her heart, but the movement isn’t quick enough, isn’t quiet enough, and the Guardian catches it, spins, and parries the attack. With Juno’s position revealed, the illusion drops and the duo engage in a fight as fierce as before, both knowing that one of them must fall.

Juno draws a bloody 'X' over the Guardian’s chest and the Guardian returns the favor by chopping her blade into Juno’s arm, just barely missing the crack she had been aiming for. (That surely would have broken off the limb from force alone. Juno thanks the stars that doesn’t happen.) Juno jerks her arm down, ignoring the new cracks, and shoulders her opponent backwards. It doesn’t send her off her feet as she’d hoped, but still gives Juno the advantage to come down hard. The attack is blocked, her opponent using her speed to her advantage and side stepping to straighten herself out.

A second later they deadlock, pushing against each other, trying to get the other to crumble, but when it’s clear neither will budge they fly away from each other, only for their blades to collide again. Sparks shower over the palace floors and the throne room fills with an orchestra of metal against metal.

All the while the crystal continues to grow over and into Juno’s body, burrowing deeping into her and stunting some of her movements. Her scarred eye is almost completely consumed by the crystal and the Guardian takes advantage by trying to attack her right side. However, Juno’s kept a tight right defense since receiving the scar and accounts for this, managing to keep her defenses. Though she pushes herself, unwilling to give up an inch of room, willpower can only go so far.

Exhaustion is coming down on her fast and it shows in her slowing movements, sloppily blocking and parrying against the Guardian until, finally the Guardian’s blade comes down hard on her shoulder, sending a violent crack down her chest and back. The pirate drops her blade from the force of shock. Both hands clasp the blade, attempting to stop the Guardian from severing her body in two.

But the blade still slides, Juno no longer strong enough to stop the inevitable. The Guardian of Light smirks as she sees the clear path to victory, wedging the blade further and further down the crack, inching it closer and closer to the pirate’s heart—though Juno isn’t convinced it will matter whether she reaches her heart or not, because the edge soon hits the flesh beneath the six inch crystal encasing. Blood flows in rivers over her torn shirt, down her front. Juno tries to step forward to give herself some ounce of leverage, but it’s no use. She tries swinging at her, but her reach doesn’t go far enough. She tries, she tries, she tries, but the sword only wedges deeper, painfully slow as it cuts her in two.

“Lettie,” she reaches for their connection, not seeing a way out, “I love you and I’m so—”

A rainbow cuts between Juno and the Guardian, sharp enough to break the blade and throw both women to the side as Dream Weaver steps through the mists, their hand glowing with colors (some that Juno has never seen). “I won’t stand in your way, pirate, but I shan’t let you die by her hand either.”

The spirit then sweeps their arm through the air and another rainbow shoots out, catching the Guardian and tossing her across the chamber, breaking her throne. “And, you, Melisande, must answer for your crimes against Fabel, its true protectors, and its casters.” With another arc, using both of their arms this time, Dream Weaver slams two rainbows down over Melisande’s head, creating a crater where her false throne once was and wedging the mortal into the ground. “A swift death would be a mercy and you have been merciless—ruthless in your quest for significance. Rest assured, however, your name will live on as a cautionary tale for those who believe themself all important. In that, your quest for immortality shall be realized.”

“D-Dream Wea–” the Guardian starts in a panic, but Dream Weaver seems to have had enough of her and when they move again, a thousand curved, razor sharp rainbows no bigger than the size of their palm fly through the air, shredding the Guardian—Melisande—to ribbons.

Melisande shrieks against each cut, raising her arms to protect herself, trying to wriggle from her position to avoid the onslaught, but she’s trapped. As trapped as Calytrix has been. As trapped as all of Fabel has been under her rule. She’s no more than a red mess by the time the last cut is delivered, but she is not quite dead yet. Perhaps out of her own sheer stubbornness, her chest still rises and falls, though it’s faint and weakening as the seconds tick by.

Juno blinks in awe as she watches from her position on the floor, slowly bringing herself up despite the waves of molten lava cascading over her crystal figure, protesting her every action. Dream Weaver turns to the pirate and, in a blink, is beside her, helping her to stand; Juno’s too weak to be stubborn and refuse. Before the pirate can say anything, Dream Weaver silences her with a gesture. “To fulfill your task, you must be the one to deliver the final blow.” The spirit helps the crystallized pirate over to the barely living body and though Juno doesn’t see the point, she supposes she’s beyond questioning that which she does not understand. The weariness also makes it difficult for her to formulate anything coherent. “I know it won’t be much,” the spirit continues, guilt thick in their tone, though their pride does not allow them to speak so freely, “but your necromancy will also be restored once complete…” It seems Dream Weaver might be wavering, deliberating on what more to say, but before they can, their silver body starts to fade, along with the mists, as they’re called back to the Rainbow Springs.

Now there are only two dying women in the palace throne room.

Juno calls the light sword to her hand, breathing heavily, groaning as she lifts what had once been a light weapon and uses the last of her strength to cut off the false guardian’s head. It rolls down the steps that once led up to the throne and Juno’s body falls backwards with it, the broken sword still lodged in her.

The night sky, at long last, drapes over Fabel like a blanket, stars returning to their place in the same moment that the Guardian and Juno both fall. All is dark.

 

[ellarose]

'Keep out of sight.' Lettie anxiously drums her nails over the starboard as she watches the entity approach from above. "It's cool. It's fine. We're... we're all gonna be fine." Alone, she tries to give herself a pep talk. Her hearing goes in and out. She's not even close to being what can be considered 'okay', even with the medic's assistance. But she's not giving up. From up here, the demons won't be able to sense her. (Or so she hopes.) Once again, the faerie found herself in a position where she couldn't warn Eliza about the full extent of her curse when they were laying out all their plans. Namely the fact that her location can be pinpointed and teleported to with terrifying accuracy because she's marked. That's why she could never fly away, why she couldn't make her great escape through the Starry Grove. They'd kept tabs on her in secret as she fixed up that abandoned ship, hoping she might just be able to use it to brute force her way out. They smashed it to pieces when she got close. They waited until she was hopeful and then snatched it at the last second, just to be douchebags about it.

It's frustrating, like she's keeping secrets from them. (And it's because of this fucking curse that they're in this situation to begin with.) Lettie's struggled all this time to meet new people, to get close to anyone, because she's been unable to communicate beyond the surface level. They stole that from her to isolate her, she knows. To make her into exactly what they wanted her to be. They made sure that all anyone would ever see of her is the surface level-- the glitz, the glamours. Juno believed it for a while, back when they first met. Maybe Lettie convinced herself to believe it for a while, too. But over time... despite the fact that she's been unable to say everything, she's been able to share herself with her. With Juno she's seen. She exists. The faerie brushes her hands over her nose and cheeks, recalling the feeling of Juno's lips tracing the constellations of her freckles. Her smile, warm and loving and beautiful. What they have is real, unconditional, and...

"You're talking to yourself again, Miss Olette." The cube interrupts her thoughts, as if there's a reason to tell her something she already knows. It's so fucking helpful like that. That unfeeling, bastard little box abandoned Juno back there.

"Don't give me shit, cubey. I'm not in the mood." While her voice is weak and raspy, Lettie's usual fire has turned to ice. It's cold enough to cut and gets the cube to back off.

Juno makes Lettie feels like she's worth fighting for. Not useless. Not Onus. And certainly not a pretty thing to be displayed above someone's mantle or chained to their tilted stages...

'Juno.' Lettie clutches her locket, warming the silver heart in the palm of her hand. (Is she--?) No. Worrying can come later. It shouldn't consume her now, lest she get distracted. Instead she's got to trust that Juno's still fighting, that she's doing everything she can to keep her promise of coming back to her. And Lettie needs to do the same in return. Even if those asshole demons have made her an easy target, like hell is she gonna make their lives that easy for them. If she's gonna go down, she gonna go down swinging because their love is a force to be reckoned with. And on top of that, Eliza and her company are counting on her now.

Time to do this thing. Lettie fastens her goggles over her head, surveying the area below. She grips her radio instead of her locket, feeling ghosts all around her. Juno, the skeleton crew-- who would be standing where she is right now if they were still around. (...Are those days really gone forever?) The faerie determinedly shakes her head to shake off her thoughts, automatically, snapping into all-business mode as she starts issuing out commands while the entity is distracted with the red apparition. (It melted into the ground before any damage was done, of course, but the apparition is wielded in such a way that it keeps the shadow distracted and away from the crew.) Knowing the entity will demand her focus again later, Lettie uses the time she can now to gauge the demon's positions.

"Marta, Delaney-- two demons at three 'o clock. They're distracted-- now's the perfect time to take 'em out." They're laughing together, cracking jokes... and they pay for their arrogance when the pair's bone constructs come for their asses. "Hell yeah!" Lettie cheers them on, knowing it's the least she can do from where she is, but quickly shifts her focus when she notices more movement. "Squid, there's a group coming in behind your team at eight 'o clock. Thad, same thing. Five 'o clock. Brace yourselves." She hums, leaning in closer as her gaze darts around the battlefield. "Rest of you, there's a cluster waiting around behind those pillars of rock at eleven 'o clock. If you can get above them, try hitting 'em with your bombs. You might be able to crush them before they know what hit 'em." She hums thoughtfully. "If you can't get there, I'll try it with the canons. I just don't want to reveal Lady's position too soon."

"Nah, don't reveal your position yet. We've got this." Eliza's voice crackles back through her radio and Lettie's heart twinges, Juno's voice echoing after Eliza's. 'We've got this. I've got you.' "Just keep watching our backs."

As powerful as the demons from Avangeline are, they meet their match when faced with the survivors from Desdemonia. They're built stronger than mortals, sure, but as the company sneaks up on them it becomes apparent that they're arrogant and sloppy because of it. While the battle isn't easy by any means, they're putting up a formidable fight down there with their constructs-- gargantuan skeletons like Phillip and buff, six-armed spirits. And with the faerie blood at their disposal, the blood magicians on each team do significant damage, creating giant ruby scythes, swords, and spikes that wipe several demons out of the fight altogether... this magic clashing with the demon's shadowy, nightmare-fuel magic turns the battlefield below into something of a hot mess. Fuck. Delirious, vision blurring again, Lettie's struggling to give instructions with her mind pushed in so many directions. She doesn't want to fail them. Doesn't want to lose anyone.

Through the chaos, Lettie does everything she can to help each team, acting as their eyes and warning them whenever an enemy is trying to sneak up on them. The faerie's stressed, sweat beading at her brow as she divides her attention in so many directions-- trying everything she can to keep everyone safe. Relief washes over her when Nico and Mauve join her at the starboard-- they're able to divide their attention, each of them prioritizing a specific team, and are able to give faster and more in-depth instructions.

"Olette." Eliza's voice crackles in again, strung tight with a worry she can barely disguise. "We've lost sight of the entity. Do you see it?"

Lettie's blood runs cold. She's been trying, but it's been hard to keep track of. The entity can transform into anyone to blend in down there. She guesses in the chaos, the team that was supposed to keep track of it... lost track. (It's fine. Accidents happen. But this one... might be fatal.) Lettie blames herself, too. She should have prioritized it. Her goggles would've been able to give her the signal. But-- she wanted so badly to make sure she was keeping everyone down there safe, stretched herself in too many directions at once. Fuck! "No. Fuck. No, I've lost it. Who was the last one to--"

"Sorry it took me so long to get here. I was--" Mauve starts to say, but pauses suddenly with shock. Nico's eyes fill with terror. Lettie whips around, finding a flushed Mauve standing in the doorway. (But if Mauve is there, who's standing right beside her?) That's when the Mauve holding the radio at Lettie's side smirks, casting the devise aside before morphing into his true form. The entity. They loop a tendril around Lettie's waist with ease, yanking her against them and smirking against her ear. "Hello, Onus."

Lettie quickly presses the button on her radio to ask for backup. "Eliza, it's-- mfff." The entity covers her mouth and rips her radio from her hand, smashing it to pieces on the floor. Nico lunges for it-- but the entity sweeps them quickly to the left and sends him crashing into the starboard. He curses and the real Mauve rushes to his side. The faerie struggles harder against the entity's hold, tears pricking at her eyes as it presses over her wounds and fresh bruises, as her worry for the kids overwhelms her.

This is also the moment Lettie's connection with Juno seems to snap, the cold reality striking her like a whip. Their connection wore down until it was thread-thin when the pirate lost her necromancy. It's getting weaker now. “Lettie. I love you and I’m so—”

"Don't you dare say you're sorry." ...And Juno doesn't. Juno doesn't even finish her sentence. "Juno?" Lettie holds her breath, willing it to come, willing her to tell her she's still got this. Not that she's sorry. (Sorry for...) But there's no apology. There's just silence. "Juno? Juno!?" Lettie floods it with her own frantic response, unable to accept it. "Juno, I love you too. I love you so much. Don't leave me. Please, don't leave me. Please." More silence. The faerie slinks, heartbroken, limp in the entity's hold. She's helpless to do anything for her. She can't protect her, can't hold her in her arms. And now...

"Come with me like a good little faerie and the kids won't get hurt. Deal?"

Lettie's brow furrows, her expression crumbling with grief and remorse. She barely possesses the strength to lift her head, but she looks at Mauve and Nico... and then at the entity. She nods.

This isn't Lettie accepting defeat. It isn't. It's just... dealing with the cards she's been dealt. (If she can't keep Juno safe, she's at least got to do what she can for these kids.) A flower is held over her nose and mouth and as she inhales, the world spins out of focus.

"Olette--!" It's too late for Nico and Mauve to protest as the entity melts them both into the ground and disappears.

***​

"Olette? Olette, stay with me." Lettie's consciousness crawls back slowly. A hand strokes a strand of hair behind her ear. (Her goggles are gone.) She's lying flat on a rocky surface, with her head in someone's lap. And the voice... that's Juno's voice. (And while every inch of her flutters, she can't move. The weight of her own heart is too heavy for her to bear. She truly thought Juno was...) "Wake up, Olette."

"Juju...?" Lettie's vision is too blurry to see her clearly, her goggles missing. She's in a dreamlike haze. (Maybe this is a dream? Maybe it's the afterlife? No. Her whole body aches. If it were dust, if she were nothing but a soul, she wouldn't be feeling this way.) She trusts Juno, but she doesn't trust this. It's too good to be true. "What happened?"

"It's me." 'Juno' lies. "You took a fall. You're in rough shape, so I promise I'll let you rest after this... But you need to tell me something first. It's important. We're under attack and we need the relics. Where are they?" Her hands clasp over her shoulders. "Where did we put them, Olette?"

"The... the relics?" Lettie plays dumb. The entity might be able to perfect every last detail of his shifts, but he's a fucking terrible actor. Juno never talks about 'the relics'. And if she does, she calls them the cubes, or the death boxes, or little shits. "I'm sorry, Juju. I can't remember... I must've hit my head, like, really hard when I fell." She plays a convincing damsel, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand and knitting her brows together like she's straining to concentrate. "It hurts so bad."

"Just try to remember, Olette." This 'Juno' is trying to be gentle and patient. But she's not gentle and patient enough to be her pirate.

"Um, let me think... it might come to me in a sec..." Lettie nibbles at her lower lip.

'Juno' fidgets impatiently but nods nonetheless. "It's important, Olette." Thinking the faerie is buying their shit act, they don't break character just yet. "We need them if we're going to make it through this."

"...Really?" Lettie asks impressionably, dumbing herself down. She catches a trace of movement on the horizon. (It seems they're at the top of a rocky peak, a few miles away from the battle. Not far enough to go unnoticed, under the right circumstances. And the right circumstances might be marching towards them as they speak.)

"Yes, really." The fake Juno's patience is wearing thin-- the entity's practically hissing at her through their teeth. "Come on, Olette. We need them for--"

"For that?" Lettie asks, pointing behind 'Juno' at the giant crystal faerie. 'Juno' turns around, confused as to what she means, the entity's jaw dropping when it sees what she sees. "Oh, stars. Is that what we're up against, Juju? You're totally right! I promise, I'll try my best to remember."

The crystal faerie lifts her remaining claw, poised to send starry daggers towards them.

"What the fuck!?" ...Heh. That might be the most convincing Juno impression Lettie's heard from the entity yet.

 

[starboob]

The entity—Angelus, or so he calls himself—does not even think twice as he transforms his arm into one of silken shadows, wrapping it around Onus, and slinking them both into the shadows to avoid the constellation of daggers. It only belatedly occurs to him that he’s revealed his cards. Well, so be it. There are other ways to get a faerie to talk. (Though if ripping her wings from her back wasn’t enough… Then he supposes he’ll have to go for the pirate herself. Whatever the nature of their relationship, he understands there’s a certain affection between them and, perhaps, he’s been going about this the wrong way. A thought to ponder another time.)

The daggers all explode into the rock face and, despite the entity having slithered back into the shadows, the avalanche that follows still sends him (and the faerie) tumbling down the cliffside, his body traveling between the shadows of each cascading rock. Ugh. So inconvenient. When the former mountain top finally rests at the bottom, he jumps along the cracks and crevices, emerging on top of a pile and reforming his body into something solid, though still inky. Olette comes out with him and he unceremoniously tosses her onto the jagged ground. “What a dirty, dirty trick, Onus,” he tsks disapprovingly. Between his fingers, sparks of energy dance and he opens his palm towards Onus as a bright sun emerges at the center. (Technically, he’s forbidden from killing her, but there's been no recourse for severe maiming. And he can always blame the avalanche.) “Let's see if you're worth anything without your looks," he smirks.

What the entity fails to notice, once more, is that the giant faerie behind him has taken note of the bright burst of energy in his palm and has her claw, sparking with stars, aimed right at it. Either Calytrix registers another faerie in danger or she assumes this is still Juno. In any case, it works to the original fucking faerie’s advantage when she releases the new swarm and they rip into the entity’s shadowy hand, tearing it to shreds as has happened so many times before.

The starry daggers send fire and light through the shadow entity’s arm, igniting each nerve with angry white flames as the arm is consumed by the light and destroyed. His shout comes out strained and rare tears sting those neon red eyes that seem to flicker and darken when touched by the stars. He turns his back on Onus, hot waves wafting off his form, inky blood falling from the joint where his arm used to be, hitting the ground and dissipating into black mist. His eyes sear into Calytrix, lifting his remaining arm and channeling another blast towards this gargantuan onus. He lobs the blast at the crystal faerie’s chest, but she doesn’t move. Her form glitches out, going back and forth between bright solid gold and crystal in rapid succession. She then retracts her shoulder blades, pushing out a phantom form of herself to meet the blast.

When the two energies collide, it creates a dizzying strobe effect where light and dark can’t decide what is more dominant. The phantom faerie curls in on itself to wrap around what had been the entity’s blast, swallowing it, at first, then bursting into a bright painful light that swallows up the mountainside.

The entity lifts his arms—a jerk reaction where the missing one is concerned—to cover himself, but the light burns and tears at his shadowy figure, leaving cuts that go straight through his body. He's not given a moment to react or assess the damage done before the remaining demons, attracted to the falling mountain and explosions of light, teleport to the location. Though it’s clear they hadn’t prepared for what they’d find. Perhaps they thought Angelus—or whatever his real name is—might be getting carried away, but they certainly had not expected to be craning their necks up at a colossal faerie. “Olette,” one whispers, fear or rage mixing in his tone, “What the fuck have you done!?” It’s clear he cannot tell faeries apart and assume Claytrix is Olette. The demon whips his head between his remaining companions—who are all cut up, burned, and bruised—and orders, “Get that fucking faerie and let’s get out of here!”

The demon who gives the orders then grows in size, but only becomes a fourth the size as the giant fucking faerie. Calytrix may have been content to turn away, to continue her search for the challenger, but the demon’s stomach opens like a mouth and thousands of vine-like appendages reach out for the crystal faerie, wrapping around her legs and pulling her down. Calytrix falls with a great thud, but manages to twist and kick herself free, hurling the giant demon into another mountain as a result.

Meanwhile, while the demon and Calytrix fight, Lettie’s not left to fend for herself for long as a ship sized ripple appears in the sky. A second later, cannon blasts announce Lady’s location, first aiming for the demon tangling with the giant crystal faerie and another aimed right next to the group surrounding Lettie, shaking the surface and kicking up dust. Rope ladders seem to slip out of the sky itself as Eliza and her company scale down them, tackling the demons and entity, giving the fucking faerie room to breathe.

Eliza, unsurprisingly, steps between Olette and these bastards, daring any of them to come at her—mortal or not, she shows no fear. And why should she? She grew up on Desdemonia and has survived longer than most do on the ground. ‘They should be running from me.’

It’s chaos as the groups clash, especially with the crystal faerie being unpredictable with her allegiances—sometimes attacking the demons and, other times, the company. The entity, still shredded and looking like a threadbare sheet, seems to have momentarily forgotten about Onus and is instead set on enacting revenge on the crystal faerie. His remaining hand lights with energy, his eyes brightening like neon signs. His palm is poised to hit the faerie’s chest, where Calytrix is embedded, while the first demon restrains the crystal body, working in tandem with the entity. The demon strains against Calytrix’s writhing, her form starting to glitch and—

The night sky, at long last, drapes over Fabel like a blanket, stars returning to their place. The crystal faerie shatters and the real faerie within soars from the chest into the skies, now free from those tendrils, now free of the Guardian. The entity’s blast hits the demon instead, punching a hole straight through his stomach. His giant body falls while the Fabel Star, golden and shining bright, can be seen like a beacon in the sky.

‘Is this… Is this a dream?’ She wonders to herself, confusion, relief, anger, and grief all swimming through her tiny body. ‘Has the challenger won? Am I free?’ Hardly believing what’s happened, hardly knowing how to feel, dazed as if still under the Guardian’s spell, the Fabel Star peers up at the stars for the first time in what feels like centuries. They wave as they twinkle at her, some eager to caress their sky maiden, shooting across the sky. However, before she can get lost in celebration or continue questioning her reality, the sound of shouts and screams draws her away. She looks back over her shoulder, tensing, unsure of what damage she has caused, but when she finds that striking faerie from before, surrounded by villains with golden chains, her luminous eyes widen. Unhesitatingly, she dive bombs for her, sending phantoms of her form to fight off the assailants. “Stay away from her!” No longer shall innocents perish while she is free.

 

[ellarose]

Lettie's not sure if she's awake or if she's dreaming. The voice of her will, stubborn as it is, has been whittled down from a rallying cheer to a whimper. (But a whimper is still something, isn't it? It's not nothing. Just like Juno's signal. It's there, albeit faint. Like if she reaches just a little further, she'll realize it was a fluke and of course-- of course she's still there. Because she's fucking captain Juno! Because she promised she'd come back to her! ...Or, perhaps, the faerie's just denying the truth to soften a blow she knows will be fatal.) After coming this far, she's not giving up. But she can't get up. That's just a fact. Not because her heart has been in a deadlock since hearing Juno's (last) words, but because she's a tiny faerie-- she's just not physically built to muscle through this much damage. It's why she bargains and bamboozles instead of picking fights. But now the jig is up. 'It's over, isn't it? (No, shut up!) This is the end. (Shut up, shut up, shut up!) Juno is... (She's isn't.)'

Red hot knives sear through Lettie's abdomen with every ragged breath, a piercing ring spearing her eardrums since the entity unceremoniously tossed her to the ground. All his threats are a nonsensical blurb, blurb, blurb of noise. (Blah, blah, he wants to know where the cubes are, blah, blah. Well, tough. He's not getting any fucking answers out of her. He's not getting anything at all.) Wet, sticky blood stains her white locks from the impact of smashing into the rocks below. Though she feels herself fading, pinpricks of rage cascade over her alongside pain as she considers that the cubes probably knew they were going to fail, what with all their calculations and statistics. Probably brought her here to act as their distraction and make a break for it, to seek out another faerie and necromancer duo to finish what she and Juno started. Unfeeling little cubes with no sense of loyalty... they stole her last minutes with Juno. And maybe if they were together, this wouldn't be--) The ground shakes beneath her. Something's happening. A lot is happening. Big explosions, big demons, bigger faeries. She can't keep up, can't hope to compete with all this. 'I'll get crushed like a bug out here. That's just my fucking luck.' Lettie stares blankly ahead amidst it all, her vision unfocusing as she opts out. The end will crush her any second now.

This was Lettie's fate all along, wasn't it? She's run as far as she could run, fought as hard as she could fight. And she put up one hell of a fight, didn't she? All she can do now is curl herself into a ball, as if that alone might protect her from further harm, and mourn her dreams of a future with Juno where they don't have to fight this hard just for the chance to make pancakes at midnight, play games and fall asleep in each other's arms. Tomorrow. Tomorrow is reduced to a daydream that Lettie's desperately trying to sculpt in her head, putting her imagination to work as she painstakingly recreates every detail. Juno's face, her storm cloud eyes, her smile, her laugh, her voice. 'Come back. Be here.' The faerie imagines her pirate apologizing. Not for leaving her, but for worrying her. Catching tears on her fingers, stroking and kissing them away. 'It's okay, Lette. I'm here. I got you.' Lettie transforms the warmth of her bleeding wounds into the warmth of Juno's arms around her as she falls asleep for the last time. 'I got you.' She's entitled to rest during her last seconds, isn't she? To escape to a happier place. After working so hard in vain this entire fucking time...

The last person Lettie will ever trick is herself... into believing that they made it.

"...Hold on. I've got you." Imaginary Juno's voice mingles with another. One she vaguely recognizes but can't quite place. Lettie's brow twitches in confusion-- caught between her rose-colored world of escapism and reality. The warmth she's imagined around herself turns into actual arms... but they don't belong to Juno. The faerie struggles to open her heavy lids, staring up dazedly as she's held protectively against the chest of another faerie. What's... happening? Calytrix?

As Calytrix's phantom selves hold the demons back, the faerie herself presses her free hand flat against the earth. A complicated gold glyph appears, flowering outward in elegant, curling blooms from her fingertips. Lettie's half-lidded eyes widen in wonder, the light illuminated in them. Calytrix didn't even have to draw it. She simply willed it into existence. (She's majestic. Powerful.) A razored circle of gold light slashes upward around the glyph's perimeter, slicing the surrounding demons into a sea of monstrous skeletons. A rain of sparkling stars trickles down around them and the entity glares at the faeries through it. If his rage could burn holes through the fucking faeries it surely would... but fortunately it cannot. It's ineffective. Just as ineffective as he would be minus an arm and demon army, outnumbered against a hardcore crew of survivors from Desdemonia and two faeries.

The entity retreats in a cloud of inky black smoke, forced to accept this battle as a defeat. (...But it's not over yet.)

"I'm so sorry." Calytrix's voice breaks through the silence that stretches in the aftermath of such a noisy, messy battle. Lettie vaguely registers Eliza's crew around her, checking up on each other and picking interestedly through the monstrous demon bones strewn around. The other faerie's hand hovers over the slashes in her stomach. "I did this to you, didn't I? You came to help me and..." She bows her head, grief stricken. "I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault..." Lettie assures her, trying to sound firm but mumbling her words. She hasn't died. She's still here. But Juno... has she left her behind?

"The challenger set me free. The one you call Juno." Calytrix informs her, pointing towards the twinkling stars in the velvet sky above. Lettie stares up at the sky, noticing it now for the very first time. It's... pretty. (But it'd be a whole lot prettier if she was staring at it at Juno's side.) She did it. Of course she did! She's captain fucking Juno. So why does she feel like crying her eyes out? (It might have cost her everything.) She's proud of her pirate beyond words. She's also angry... fucking pissed. (Why did it have to be her? Why Juno?) Maybe they'll immortalize her in their legends, name a constellation in her honor, ensure she's remembered for all time. That's great and all, but... they never did this for the glory. That's not what they fought for. It's a victory and a defeat mingled into one. The last thread tying her to Juno is a delusion-- she's convinced. Juno never answered her. She would have used her last dredges of strength to do that, to spare Lettie from this soul-crushing worry. She's gone. "Let us go to her now. Before all else, I must offer her my thanks."

Lettie's too choked up to speak, preventing her from expressing approval or disapproval at this course of action. She's frozen still-- absolutely petrified. (What are they going to find? Does she even want to see, to burn the image into her brain forever? Once she sees what happened for herself... there's no going back.) Calytrix casts another glyph and a rain of stars erases the battlefield around them, warping their surroundings until it turns into a fancy throne room instead. Lettie sees the severed head of the Guardian first, sitting beside her knee. Then her gaze pans up slowly, fading around the edges with dizziness, and--

Lettie screams. There's no telling how long it lasts before all goes dark.

***​

"...I do not possess the power to bring the dead back to life." Someone is trying to explaining something to Lettie. (But nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing.) Her throat is raw from screaming, eyes red from crying, her body draped defeatedly over the cracked crystal shell encasing Juno... Juno and the broken sword lodged in her chest. She's as trapped as Lettie is right now, in a nightmare where this tragedy is their reality. Where Juno is at in body, Lettie is at in soul. Frozen solid with a sword in her heart. Broken. "But she is not dead. Not yet."

"Juno has done the unthinkable and set me free." Calytrix is speaking, consolingly soft, a hand rubbing circles over Lettie's back. (It provides very little comfort when Juno is... Juno. Lettie wants to rip out the heart of the person who did this to her, but the Guardian is already dead. And even then, revenge will not bring her back. It won't make this any easier for her.) Not dead. A wish. What are they trying to say? "And I am the Fabel Star, a wish granting faerie." She pauses, gazing upon the pirate with a sorrowful expression. "I owe Juno three wishes for all she has done for me. However, she is in no condition to make her first wish."

"And so Calytrix brought her to me, as I know what Juno last wished for." Dream Weaver is speaking, too. Lettie realizes that sometime during her grief-induced stupor, they were brought into the rainbow springs. The place where this all began. (If she can't kill the Guardian, she can at least take this out on Dream Weaver. She'll do worse than burying her with Melvin, too. Even that fate is too kind for what happened--) "That wish was to restore your wings, Olette."

No. Lettie chokes on another sob. She's close to screaming again, frustrated. If only they'd talked sooner. If only she could turn back time, if only she had stopped her... now Juno's practically dying for her sake. (Yet another person she's killed by being in their life. Juno was doomed from the second she said she loved her... because everyone who loves her ends up--) "Fuck that. I don't want them." All she ever wanted was her. If her wings return this way, she'll resent them forever. She might go entirely mad and cut them off herself. "I-- I... I don't want them! I don't..." She breaks down, hyperventilating. Calytrix holds her through it, trying to steady her, and in her grief Lettie's too weak to push her away.

"Things have changed since then. I have learned a great many things about Juno while accompanying her in battle over the past three days." Dream Weaver continues patiently in spite of her hostility, taking all of it with an accepting grace. (She is not without remorse, willing to accept the faerie's ire.) "She trusts you, Olette, and her last wish was made on your behalf. Knowing that, you should be allowed to make this wish. It is your decision."

Lettie blinks. Slow, confused. Not fully processing this in her shattered state. It's her decision? She gets... a wish?

"I understand this is a lot to take in... but we must hurry. If she passes over to the other side, there will be nothing we can do" Calytrix pulls Lettie off of Juno-- and while she longs to keep holding onto her, her fingers slip off her crystal limbs easily. The faerie goes slack, considering this possibility. (Bring her back. She can... bring her back? This isn't a sick joke, is it?) "Try to relax... and let me in." Calytrix sets her hands on Lettie's shoulders, transferring a warm steam of golden light over to her. The faerie's white eyes flash gold and something inside of her seems to unlock. Lettie can see a web of infinite possibilities flashing before her all at once. (Her wings restored. Fuck that. Her curse, broken... while her gaze does linger on that one for a second, it's only for a second. There's something-- someone-- she wants more than that.) Lettie reaches for her wish. The only wish.

Lettie glows brighter and brighter, the strength of her wish mirroring that of her will to bring Juno back safely. (She's so consumed by it that she doesn't notice Dream Weaver and Calytrix are staring at her with awe... indicating that, somehow, her response to this magic is not exactly what they anticipated. "Olette, you're...") In Lettie's mind, there's only Juno. When her wish is strong enough to melt crystal, to defy death, to kiss the wounds away, the faerie instinctively knows what to do. She leans over and presses a kiss to Juno's crystalized forehead. 'Please. Come back to me. Don't leave me alone.'

 

[starboob]

"Juno?"

When Juno opens her eyes, they’re full of stars. Galaxies, milky nebulae that pulse like heartbeats extend for as far as her storm cloud eyes can see. Greens and blues, but also vibrant pinks and purples. It’s cold here, wherever here is. ‘Where…?’ She tilts her head up to the stars, to the side to the stars, and down to the stars. Everything around her is a starry landscape full of stardust nebulae and swirling galaxies, though she doesn’t remember how she got here or why she’s here. There’s a logical part of Juno, a part of her that isn’t dead yet, that knows she should be concerned, but so awestruck by the sight before her, she can’t find it in her to fear. It reminds her of home. She can’t place why, it’s just an inexplicable feeling deep within her soul.

Stars shoot across the skies, leaving trails of glittering dust that fall over Juno and get into her hair, land on her face. Her eyes twinkle with childlike wonder, a grin automatically tugging at her lips. More speed across the skies like glitching faeries, all heading in the same direction. (Faeries? What are faeries?) As she follows the shooting stars, needing only to use her thoughts to travel, she realizes that they are gathering around a slumbering woman. A woman whose silken dress seems to be the very fabric of space. She realizes, then, that this is not space, but the folds of an elaborate and endlessly long skirt. As she follows the folds up to the woman’s face, her heart stops.

She gasps, jolting backwards from the shock of seeing the goddess’s unmistakable features, built from the souls who rest within her, pressing against the veil of her skin. Juno averts her gaze in reverence, bowing her head. The souls beneath her skin appear faceless, at first, but as her eyes linger, they start to distinguish themselves as people she has known. Gran. Her first mother. A sister she doesn’t quite remember, but instinctively knows. A brother. Terra. Clay. Several cadets from the academy. And, of course, James.

James, just as she remembers him—not bludgeoned skull and staked heart, but the optimistic kid. The bravest kid she ever knew.

"Juno? Juno!?"

That voice, familiar and not, calls out to Juno again, the very one that woke her up, but she only glances over her shoulder before she turns back to James, tears swelling like oceans in her eyes. “Is it really you?” She whispers the question, but James hears her and nods. And, slowly, she puts together where she must be—though she always thought the Inferno were a torrent of flames. It seems her people must have got that all wrong. “I’m…” Juno chokes on the truth.

"Juno, I love you too. I love you so much. Don't leave me. Please, don't leave me. Please."

The voice is more persistent this time, but Juno still can’t quite place it. Her memories are stuck behind a thick fog. She can’t even recall how she got here. How she died. Though when she looks at James again, her eyes drooping and heavy, he simply shakes his head. Somehow she understands this to mean, ‘Not yet you’re not.’

“Please. Come back to me. Don't leave me alone.”

There she is again and, this time, something soft touches the crown of her forehead, warming her from the winter chill that had taken over. She touches the point on her forehead and turns around, finding a brilliant silhouette of a woman—someone familiar, though she still can’t place her. She only knows that this woman is safe. That this woman is home. The silhouette reaches out for Juno, but she doesn't immediately take her hand. She looks back and forth between the woman and James, confused about everything. James simply bobs his chin, pointing to the woman, and nods to show his approval.

Trusting both the silhouette and James, she takes the woman’s hand.

***​

When Juno opens her eyes, she’s looking at a star. Her star. Her faerie. The world is spinning around her and while she doesn’t remember anything beyond ending the Guardian, she has the faintest sense of peace in her chest. But maybe that’s because she’s with Lettie, who is always a welcome comfort.

Her eyes, though heavy, stay on Lettie, completely ignoring Claytrix and Dream Weaver both, not even realizing that she has an audience. Not even realizing that she’s back at the rainbow springs, where this all started. All she knows is that she’s with Lettie, her love. And all she knows is that her love’s eyes are red rimmed and swollen. Weakly, despite her screaming, aching muscles, she lifts her arm and brushes her thumb over the tear stains. “Lette,” she breathes out her favorite name, not able to manage anything louder. She also manages a small smile. It’s wobbly and weak, but no less bright than all the others she reserves for Lettie. “Told you I’d come back to you.” Her smile falters, dropping to a frown as she continues to rub her thumb over her cheeks (and her favorite freckle). “...I worried you, didn’t I? I-I'm sorry. I thought...”

Her hand drops to Lettie’s shoulder. She’s about to tug Lettie into her chest, but her eyes widen, staring at her arm—her actual arm, not one encased and devoured by crystal. She looks down at her chest and finds that it's also flesh again. And there’s not a sword cut into her, resting close to her heart. The broken blade lies next to her and the remains of the crystal are spread around her like broken eggshells. Whatever damage she suffered isn’t as severe as she would have expected, knowing that she had been cracked all over and nearly cut into two. Instead, where the sword had almost severed her, a lash wraps around the line of the injury, deep, but not gaping. The other injuries—like the cracks—are angry and red, some just fine lines. And where she suffered more damage, like where her crystal arm had been hacked, the wounds go deeper. Though, despite this, none of them bleed, like magic is keeping her from bleeding out. Her brows stitch together, confused. “Dream Weaver said… How…?” The pirate blinks, not understanding how at all she survived the devouring when it seemed that all hope had been lost.

That’s when Calytrix coughs a polite little, ‘ahem,’ startling Juno who had thought they were alone. “It was the power of Olette’s wish that saved you from the devouring and death both.”

“Her wish…” Juno repeats, remembering the wishes she was granted after each battle. She doesn’t question Lettie getting a wish. She fought just as hard for Calytrix, so it only seems fair. What does shock Juno, though she knows it shouldn’t, is that Lettie used her wish on her. Of all the things in the worlds, she chose her. It’s not that she doubted it when Lettie reprimanded her for nearly losing her life to get her wings back, it just lands differently knowing how deeply she meant that. Of course, Juno would have done the same. The worlds aren’t worth it without her faerie. They wouldn’t be nearly as sparkly without her.

The pirate stares, bewildered, and tugs Lettie into her chest as she strains to sit up. Someone (Dream Weaver), helps support her as she changes position. (The spirit is lucky that Juno is too focused on her faerie to notice this.) She wants to squeeze her, but remembers the thick smell of blood in that tunnel they created and can see the bloody bandages and other injuries covering her girlfriend. So she holds her gently instead, pressing her pointy ear to her chest. “You gave me another chance. I… I owe you more than pancakes tomorrow, eh?” She tries to make light of everything, because Lettie’s always trying to hold them both together, but there is remorse in her tone. She isn’t sure when she’ll forgive herself for what she almost did to them.

Her shoulders slump forward, dipping her head down until her nose is buried in Lettie’s hair. She notices the new cuts along her back and winces, knowing they got here because of her. But she knows Lettie wouldn’t want her to blame herself, so she tries to think of something else. “I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe. And I’ll build us a house somewhere where no one—not even the cubes—can find us. You broke my curse and I’ll do my damndest to protect you from yours.” It goes without saying that she wants as many tomorrows as she can have with her girlfriend. (She also seems to remember that Lettie expressed wanting to marry her earlier, though she’s too shy to actually bring that up. Especially not with their audience.) “Whatever I can do, I’ll do it, Lette.”

 

[ellarose]

Worried is a severe understatement. Worried is what happens when her pirate doesn't get enough sleep at night or when she blocks with her face in a fight. It'd be more accurate to say that this brush with death horrified Lettie. It broke her into a thousand fucking pieces. And she's still trying to pick them up so she can put herself together again, as she's done so many times before-- because Juno's here now, smiling at her, talking to her. (But through it all, she still sees a tragedy in flashes-- taunting her as if to say what she's seeing now is a fantasy built up by her desperate mind. The cold, cracked crystal shell, the sword in Juno's chest, her unseeing eyes. Was that really something she possessed the power to kiss away?) Lettie's expression scrunches up with effort, because she wants to pull it together to smile back at her, but twitches with the strain and ultimately she crumbles. Fuck. She can't articulate any of this through the tears that Juno's catching on her fingers. No matter how many she tears she brushes away, they don't seem to stop falling. Now that she's started she doesn't even know if she can stop. Heartbreak. Horror. Relief. That concoction of emotion sloshes around in her, reducing her to a sloppy, sobbing mess of grief. She cries as openly as a child might, unable to hide just how scared she was.

But Lettie can feel the warmth of Juno's fingers now, no longer crystalized. She clings to that feeling, knowing that's what's real. She's real. She's here. Alive.

It's still going to take time, though, for the crying to stop. Lettie... Lettie watched Lina die, too. The excruciating wound it left in her has had plenty of time to heal... but this experience tore it open again with claws and teeth. The reminder that death comes for everyone she loves. It nearly took Juno from her today. It nearly did. They made it out alive, yes, but Lettie's not making it out unscathed. The memory of seeing her like that, how she felt when she first discovered her...

Juno's staring wonderingly at herself, processing that the crystal has all cracked and fallen away from her in the time she'd been out. She has questions that Lettie's in no condition to answer-- so while there is a part of her that longs for time alone with her pirate, she's thankful that Calytrix is present to give her the clarity she's not composed enough to give. The faerie's breathing hitches violently and she struggles to calm it while she has a second to. 'Stars, she's okay now. She's okay. Stop crying.' The tears don't stop, but their flow is finally beginning to slow. She's cried enough to dizzy herself. Every inch of her body aches. Her heart, her head, her bleeding stomach. 'I'm such a mess. A friggin' disaster.'

Mess or not, Juno still tugs Lettie close. Her stupidly buff arms wrap around her like a warm blanket-- no longer cold and hard with crystal-- and feeling that, the faerie sniffles and her breathing finally steadies. She melts tiredly against her heartbeat, content to fall asleep to its comforting rhythm.

"Uh huh." Lettie agrees weakly when Juno mentions owing her more than pancakes, trying to play along. (And nah, she doesn't really owe her anything. Their love will always be unconditional-- she'd use all of her wishes on bringing her back without hesitation, without expecting anything grand or luxurious in return. She just wants her to stay. To be with her.) Although she's exhausted, she wants to try and meet her halfway in lightening the mood. They have a tomorrow again. They have pancakes and competitions and kisses. (They better have kisses.) They're together and in that she finds the strength to manage a classic faerie cheek puff. "It's a pancakes and cake-cake situation, Juju."

Lettie nuzzles against Juno's chest as if trying to get closer to her (although she's probably already as close as she can physically get) and listens quietly as the pirate talks about building a house and hiding away from the rest of the world. Protecting her from her own curse. The thought of living out a future together in their own house away from the rest of the world is sweeter than anything the faerie could ever hope for... but the reminder of her curse touches on a bunch of worries she doesn't have the energy to process right now. Juno's here and because of that it feels like everything's going to be okay. But the curse... it's a sharp-edged reminder that their fight isn't over yet. Lettie's so tired of fighting. But she'll pick herself up and do it anyway if it means securing this future together.

"Captain Juno, you have returned the sun, moon, and stars to Fabel's sky. More than that, you have set me free. I am forever indebted to you... and as thanks for your heroics, you will be granted three wishes." Calytrix explains. "As you were unable to make your first wish, we sought out someone you would trust to make it for you. And since she used it to heal you..." She nods and smiles warmly. "You have two more wishes to make however you choose. Perhaps a house of your own..." Her gaze flicks empathetically to Lettie. "Or a curse broken. The only rules are that you cannot wish for more wishes or raise the dead." She swirls her hand, creating a portal in the springs. Within it is the image of an inviting looking bedroom. "Here. A room in the castle where you can rest soundly for the night. I will personally ensure that no one bothers you there and also let your crew know that you're all right. Make sure to get plenty of rest. I've no doubt in my mind that the villagers will be holding a festival in your honor tomorrow to thank you as well." She nods earnestly. "We can continue this talk later. Please do take your time and give your remaining wishes some thought."

***​

The castle room they've been set up with is fancy-schmancy. What with the big bed, big wardrobe, and glossy marble floors with big tiles. (The sort that'd be fun to skate on in fuzzy socks.) Lettie notices that the bed is as soft as a cloud, the mattress is the sort that sucks her in and leaves a faerie-shaped imprint as soon as her body falls against it. (She only feels it for a second, though, as she spends the rest of the time on top of Juno where she belongs. It's when the pirate was in the bathroom washing up that she assessed the bed's softness... and the faerie stayed deathly still throughout their short time apart, listening for her sounds to remind herself she's still there even when she's out of sight. Fighting to keep the horrific memories from worming their way back into her head. She almost asked her to leave the door cracked open, almost asked if she could go in there with her.) Lettie used her own time to wash the blood and tear tracks from her face, knowing all the while that she won't be able to erase the toll the day has taken on her. Still, she's doing better now that she's clean and wearing one of Juno's white shirts. (Calytrix managed to collect some of their things when she went to inform everybody that they're okay.)

The rest of the time Lettie is basically attached to Juno-- whether she's hugging onto her arm or lying on top of her, foregoing the luxurious mattress for what feels more comfortable for her. She hopes Juno doesn't mind too much... 'cause she's gonna be clingy for a long fucking time. She almost lost her. She almost lost everything.

"So they're gonna hold a festival in your honor." Lettie muses, gently tracing little stars and hearts against Juno's bicep with her fingertip. She puffs her cheeks. "But what if I want you all to myself?" She gives a huffy little sigh and falls flat against the pirate, listening for her heartbeat. "...You deserve it, though. Seriously. You're like a legend here." A legend here and in her heart. But she's more than that to Lettie. She's Juno. And Juno is everything.

"I don't wanna go to sleep. I don't think I can." Lettie admits, her eyes boring into Juno's. Then she hides her face against her chest. Mostly because she feels like she's going to cry again. (She thought she'd cried all her tears out earlier... but evidently not.) "Every time I close my eyes, I see..." Her breath hitches. She can't say it. "I almost lost you. I'm scared I'll wake up and find out this is all a dream. Or worse... that this is one of those nightmare worlds playing a cruel trick on me." She shudders. "You're here, right? You're really, really here?"

 

[starboob]

Hot water cascades over the pirate, soothing her aching muscles and simultaneously stinging the cuts that were not fully healed by Lettie’s wish. She watches blankly as the dirt, sweat, and blood all swirl down the drain, her mind flashing with images from these past few days. Days that have felt like entire lifetimes on their own. The victories. The defeats. Lettie’s shuddering, sobbing self when she came back. Lettie coming in to save her more times than she can count.

Lettie, Lettie, Lettie.

She looks over her arms, over the two deep gashes on the one. She traces the stripe over her shoulder, following it from her shoulder blade down to her chest, still remembering the Guardian’s sword chopping and sawing into her. Still remembering how she used what she thought was her last moment to tell Lettie she loves her. She squeezes her eyes shut, sweeping away the memory.

When she steps out of the shower, she wipes the steam from the mirror and spends longer than usual inspecting her flesh, making sure that it’s still all flesh. Occasionally, from her peripheries, she’ll catch what she thinks is a crystal gleam, but it’s only a phantom. A memory. There are red triangular splotches on her cheeks where the crystal had formed sometime last night. Those same splotches line her jaw, making her look sunburned. And everywhere she looks is flesh. Angry lined flesh. Bruised skin. Deep cuts. Her old scars. It’s all her. She takes extra time staring at her right eye, closing her left to make sure she really can still see from it.

She’s all her. All Juno.

Satisfied, even with the phantom gleams, she wraps up the wounds on her forearms and chest, then dresses herself in another Lettie and the Skellies t-shirt. This one is bright pink and while she’s notoriously allergic to color, this one reminds her of her girlfriend. Like wearing a hug (though her real hugs will always be superior). She pushes her hair out her face and switches with Lettie, tempted to ask if she can accompany her, but contents herself with waiting in the swanky room.

In true Juno fashion, she doesn’t settle on the bed and instead paces the room. It doesn’t take long before she decides to occupy thirty seconds of this endless waiting by ripping the sleeves off the shirt, feeling only slightly guilty about ruining the shirt. Then again, Lettie modifies her clothes all the time when she doesn’t like them. She shrugs it off and happily joins Lettie back in the bed when she emerges from the bathroom.

Lettie’s familiar touch is grounding, remembering the brief period where she couldn’t feel her at all. When she couldn’t really hold her. When her body was too jagged and broken to be Lettie’s chosen mattress. Lettie draws hearts and stars over her bicep and Juno draws little circles over her back, occasionally tracing the length of her spine. She lets out a breathy laugh. “Well, they’ll have to wait. I have pancakes and a cake-cake to make for my savior.” Then, more serious, “I’ll skip it. I’d rather spend all my time with you than some festival.”

Her cheeks storm with a fierce blush when she considers that it won't be just some festival, but one held in her honor. Does she really deserve all the fanfare? She might be a hero here, but she knows who she is. Or, rather, who she has been back on Desdemonia. She presses her lips to the top of Lettie’s head, kissing it, and mumbling, “Kinda hope the cubes whisk us away before that.” She doesn’t really mean that, because she knows if they do that, they’ll be back to work and she just wants to rest for as long as she can. Yeah, Juno wants to rest. “It should be your festival, too. I wouldn’t’ve survived without you. Wouldn’t’ve gotten as far without you.” More than that, she just doesn’t want the spotlight and knows that Lettie tends to sparkle under it. Literally. (Sometimes she’ll think about the first time she ever saw Lettie perform, back during that bizarre as fuck game show. It always makes her blush, even now.)

When her faerie buries her face back into her chest, Juno threads her fingers through her hair, understanding the exact fear she has. She doesn’t have to imagine it, because Juno remembers avoiding sleep when those nightmares of Lettie dying consumed all her midnights. Even caught up with her in a nightmare world. “I’m real. I’m real.” She shifts them, gently placing Lettie on her back so that she’s staring down at her. “And I’m here.” She leans down and presses her lips to Lettie’s, melting against her, helpless to that butter effect she has on her insides. As she comes up again, she pushes Lettie’s white hair from her face, stroking her cheeks. “I’ll sleep for both of us, but you really should rest.” She won’t push it, however. She gets it. Those nightmares are fucking awful. “If you do fall asleep, I promise I’ll be right here every time you wake up. I won’t leave bed until you wake up, either.”

Juno settles back onto the mattress so that she’s facing Lettie, using one arm as a pillow while the other continues to thread through her hair or stroke her arm. “Calytrix said I could break your curse with one of my wishes.” Her gaze lowers, unsure of whether she should even bring this up or not. “I could probably get your wings back with the other.” Just as Lettie would use her wishes on Juno, Juno would use hers on Lettie. She already has everything she could ever want; she’s looking straight at her everything, staring into her starry white eyes. “But I won’t wish for either of those things if that’s not your wish.” Needless to say, she’s learned her lesson on trying to help Lettie without her knowledge or permission. “I’d honestly only wish for a safe future with you, if I were to make a wish for myself. Somewhere peaceful. Quiet. With lots of trees and flowers and shit. Somewhere without geese or nightmares.” She kisses the tip of her nose, then her cheeks. "Somewhere that's safe for faeries, like here."

 

[ellarose]

"...We could go together for a little bit. Treat it like a date." Lettie floats the idea out there, noticing the blush on Juno's face. She's bashful, adorably so, but the faerie wishes she could see as well as she does that she deserves this. It's a festival to thank Juno after everything she did for Fabel, so she should get to make the rules and decide whether or not she really wants to go. (And, selfishly, the faerie does want to keep her pirate all to herself. That's true. But she doesn't want to shut down the possibility entirely, in case there is a part of Juno that's curious to see what it's all about.) Sensing her girlfriend's reluctance, she's not going to push it too hard either way. "See what it's all about and bounce early if it's not our thing. I bet those kids would be happy to see you there, too." She purses her lips and nods sagely. "It's your decision. Whatever you wanna do, Juju."

Regardless of what Juno decides, they're planning what they're going to do tomorrow... because they have a tomorrow to plan for. And whatever they end up doing, they're gonna do it together. That's what matters most.

Juno says she wouldn't have gotten this far without her, but Lettie still wishes she could have done more for her. She wishes had been there, that she could have stayed by her side through all of her battles on Fabel. That she could have somehow saved her from taking that sword through the chest. Imagining the pain she must've been in, all alone on that cold throne room floor...

Against all odds, they made it. They have a tomorrow. Lettie should focus on that, on moving forward with Juno from here.

It's Lettie's turn to blush when Juno shifts their positions around, becoming her view as she moves on top of her. (And, yes, she likes this view very much, thank you. It leaves her no room to doubt that Juno's here when the pirate is all she can see in front of her. She's real. She's here. And her kiss is soft and warm without those layers of crystal over her skin.) Lettie gently cradles Juno's wrist in her hand as she strokes her cheeks, leaning affectionately into her touch. Electric thrills tingle down from the crown of her head to her belly, and lower yet... (Ah, shit. She wants her even closer, as close as they can possibly get. She wants her. Wants to feel her.) The faerie curls her toes tightly as she tries to cope with her desire, itching to move her hands lower and explore every inch of Juno's body now that those damned crystal patches are gone...

Juno intends to sleep, though, and also wants her to get some rest. And Lettie knows deep down that that's the right thing to do after everything they experienced. (Funny. It's usually the faerie insisting that they rest. Since when did they switch places?) They're in rough shape, exhausted, and who knows when those bastard little cubes are going to pop back in with something more for them to do? The fire ignited in her gradually cools as Juno brings up her remaining wishes and what she intends to do with them. Mentioning the curse. Her wings. A future where they're safe and together on a world that won't hurt or discriminate against her.

A future. For the longest time, Lettie couldn't truly envision one for herself... only imagining the pirate, someplace peaceful where she doesn't have to fight anymore. Now an image of herself is materializing next to Juno, lying in the grass and looking at the clouds. Is it really possible? Is that really within their reach?

Lettie touches her throat, her lower lip trembling. She bites down on it to keep it still and sucks in a sharp breath. Hell, she might start crying again. Oh, stars. The idea of being free, of finally owning her own soul after all this time... it chokes her up with emotion. (Not that she could talk about it even if she wanted to.) She fought her whole life for a chance... even when everyone told her it was impossible to break out of the faerie ring once she was marked, she worked her ass off day after day hoping she might make it. (In the end she failed. But that path led her to Juno, which led her to... this. A possibility. Hope.) With her eyes boring pleadingly into Juno's, she gives a subtle nod, hoping it communicates what she's thinking clearly enough without words. 'Please. Save me from this curse.' If Juno makes any wish on Lettie's behalf, that's what she wants the most. If they want that safe future together, this is a crucial step in securing it. After that, she can open up without holding anything back. She can be sure that they won't get lost in the fogs of miscommunication ever again. Won't hit a low like they one they've already hit.

"Don't get me wrong. If you had infinite wishes, I would love to have my wings back. I do miss them and flying." Lettie muses, snuggling in closer so she's hugging Juno-- gently, to mind both of their wounds. She's not going to lie that it's been easy, being a faerie without her wings. She loved them and flying and that has been hard for her. However... "But I think there are more important things that you could use these wishes on. Our future, like you said..." She peeks up at Juno, her eyes flicking between her and her 'Lettie and the Skellies' shirt. (The ripped sleeves are a nice touch... they do give her the most lovely view of those stupidly buff arms.) "Or our family. Do you think there's a way to bring the crew back? I know Calytrix can't technically 'raise the dead'-- but I wonder if she could bring them back?" Her brow furrows a bit with thought. Dream Weaver had said something, actually, that she hadn't picked up on right away in the depths of her grief. But now-- "Unless... I heard you got your necromancy back. Do you think you'd be able to find them again?"

"Speaking of family..." Lettie hesitantly breaches the subject after a moment of thought. "Eliza really had my back in that fight. I don't think I would've made it out alive without her." Yeah, she seriously owes her. She showed up around the time the faerie was giving up hope, thinking Juno was already gone. Through it all, she was vaguely aware that the woman had defended her from those demon assholes when she couldn't defend herself. "I told her about you and about us... and ever since, she did everything in her power to keep me safe." True, she did have her back in the bar when they first met-- that's just in her nature. But the faerie found she took that role even more seriously than before after their heart to heart that first night. After she told her that she loves Juno. "I think she approves of me." She grins impishly, trying to keep things light, especially knowing how nervous Juno is about this. "Of us. And I think she'd be relieved and happy to see you again, Juju. Do you still wanna go see her tomorrow?"

 

[starboob]

When Juno considers the children and their small squishy round faces, it’s hard for her to deny that they would be thrilled to see her. For whatever reason, they like her. They feel safe around her. Even if she couldn’t save all of the villagers, even if some of the Nightwood warriors were lost, even if an unknown number in Lockwood were lost, she has succeeded in securing a softer future for all those kids. Even the ones from villages or towns or cities that she hasn’t met. She can see what she’s done for Fabel when she considers the children who won’t have to grow up to serve the Guardian or live in fear of her; when she considers that she’s given them their ability to dream again.

Still, the unforgiving and cruel part of herself has a hard time letting go of her past mistakes, the things that haunt her in the middle of the night. But when she looks at Lettie, when she considers that her girlfriend is trying to get her to see this opportunity as something other than a big celebration about her, that it could be as close to a normal date as they can get with the unpredictable cubes ruling their lives… That, too, helps warm her up to the idea. She nods, almost imperceptibly, and mumbles out, “We can check it out, I guess.” She still wants Lettie to get some of the recognition, because she would have been toast without her—even during the battle for the sun. Had she not had Lettie’s goggles she would have been flambéed within seconds of the start. “For twenty minutes. Minimum. If they try to make me give a speech or some other weird shit, I’m out. I don’t—I don’t want the attention, but I do want to hang out with you and do stuff together.” Lettie can make anything fun, too, so if she’s going to give this thing a try, she might as well do it with her.

Though her thoughts of tomorrow pause concernedly when Lettie touches her throat. She doesn’t miss her lower lip tremble or the way she tries to hide it—she doesn’t even necessarily think that she’s trying to hide anything from her, but it’s impossible to know exactly what Lettie’s thinking. Her lips part to ask, then close, remembering what happens when she tries to speak on certain topics. The bruise is still there as a reminder. She catches the slight nod, the pleading look in her brilliant eyes and returns the nod, wrapping an arm around Lettie’s waist. When she scoots closer to hug her, Juno holds her firm. “I’ll do it.” She wants to add, ‘This is your last night belonging to anyone other than yourself,’ but decides against it. Not while Lettie can’t even talk about it herself.

That’s another wish down and while she’d use them both on Lettie, she considers what else she has to say, blushing madly when she implies that they have a family. Even if Juno has known this for herself, having it be affirmed and come from Lettie? Let's just say she might have more butterflies in her chest than the faerie right now. (She’s almost positive Lettie can hear the awkward fast rhythm of her heart.) Again, it hits Juno that what is important to Lettie goes beyond herself. Always has. When she remembers the moment they agreed to fight this mission together, both of them agreeing they aren’t heroes, and both of them unable to turn their backs on the worlds once they saw what they saw, she supposes it never should have been surprising. She just never knew someone could be so selfless. It inspires her.

“Yeah,” Juno nods after a beat. “Got my necromancy back the second I gave the Guardian a taste of that sword.” She felt the power surge back through her, but it hadn’t been enough for her to pull herself back up after she had fallen. Not with that sword in her chest or the devouring curse eating up the remains of her flesh. But it was something for her to cling onto, for a brief moment, before she lost all consciousness. “I can reanimate their bones, that shouldn’t be an issue.” The real question is whether or not she can get back Marjorie, Inez, and Abigail. Those boneheads had been more than simple constructs. She fused actual spirits to them. It was nothing short of a miracle as her spirit magic is something she's always rejected and struggled with ever since the Shrike. “If Marjorie, Inez, and Abigail decided to cross over once they were released, I don’t know if Calytrix can help. She might be able to help me find them if they haven’t.” She reaches behind her for Lettie’s hand, removing it from her middle to kiss her fingers. “Is that really what you’d rather me wish for?” For the necromancer, she only grew attached to the skeleton crew after meeting a certain faerie. For her, it’s not as big a deal to let go of the skeletons if it means seeing Lettie with her wings again. But, then again, even with this short time truly appreciating those boneheads, she knows she’d be sad without them. Especially Marjorie. Fuck, the longer she thinks about it, she realizes she’d miss all of them—even Fred. (Fucking Fred.) “Guess they deserve to see this mission through, too,” she says instead of admitting she’d miss them. “I’ll see if that wish is even necessary.” She grins. “Tomorrow.”

Because they have tomorrow.

However, that sweet note turns sour when Lettie brings up Eliza. No, she obviously doesn’t harbor hard feelings towards Eliza—she’s long since owned that what happened to her was her own doing—it’s just that… It’s just that the thought of facing her again terrifies her, sending chills through her bones. It doesn’t matter what Lettie says, Juno will always fear Eliza’s rejection. Juno buries her face into the top of Lettie’s head, shaking her head. “Not really, no,” she admits sheepishly. “But I also don’t want to lose my only chance to face her again.” If there were some way to both never face her again and have the assurance that Eliza doesn’t hate her, she would opt for that, but the pirate knows there’s only one path forward in this case. Especially since Lettie’s assurances aren’t working. She sighs, rolling over and pulling her favorite faerie blanket on top of her. “I’m not surprised she likes you. Who wouldn’t? You're kind of the best. A fuckin' genius and you're a total stunner." Maybe the exhaustion is catching up to her, but Juno would like to think that she'd say this in broad daylight, stone cold sober. "Not to mention a total fuckin' badass. I feel like everyone wants to get caught in your orbit. You're a star, Lette."

 

[ellarose]

"Mhm." Lettie confirms her intentions, blushing when Juno kisses her fingers. "The skellies took good care of me after I... after my wings..." She fumbles over her words, emotion swelling in her chest as she thinks about them and how devastating it was to watch them fall apart one by one. Abigail, upset that she couldn't count all of the clouds in the sky. Inez, hyping her up by confirming that her tits were fire and giving her that weird request. Phillip, making sure she got up the mountain just before he fell apart... and Marjorie. Marjorie who was doing everything she could to help her find Juno before it was too late. Without them, she wouldn't have stopped Juno in time. She might have gotten away with trading her life for Lettie's wings, never getting to hear that she loves her. Never giving them the chance to make up. (Or make out.) Juno has to know that she doesn't have to go to such lengths or make such grand gestures to redeem herself at the expense of her life. Enduring the awkwardness of a conversation would've been infinitely easier than all of this. But it's over now. They know now... and the faerie is confident they'll be stronger in the long run for it. "It would feel weird to have my wings back and not them. I miss them." She nods. "There're other ways I can fly in the meantime. I live on my girlfriend's legendary flying ship, after all." Which is infinitely more hot than all those demon assholes who used to brag about their fancy cars when they flirted with her at bars. She tilts her head, as if considering something, and then kisses Juno's forehead. She grins impishly, moving down to the tip of her nose and then to her lips. "'Sides, they have a way with the cubes. If they can distract them, it might give us some much-needed privacy to do what girlfriends do."

Yeah, Lettie can embrace those numerous (there were numerous, how did she ever fucking deny it?) fantasies with enthusiasm now that they've passed the threshold from fake girlfriends to real girlfriends. The one of Juno pushing her against the wall reemerges from wherever she shoved it down to and that wanting heat pools in her belly again. (Hehe. She can also daydream about Juno's muscles and no one has the authority to tell her not to! Because, hell yeah, those are her girlfriend's muscles. And she uses those buff arms to hold her, and... ah. She's really living the gay faerie dream now, isn't she?) This time the flames in her spark hotter when Juno lifts her on top of her, every touch leaving thrilling trails of electricity behind.

When the conversation shifts from Eliza to her, Lettie's not sure how much longer she can last. Not with Juno telling her she's a genius, a stunner, a badass and a star. (The harsh, self-hating voice in her head almost tries to tell her otherwise... but when she holds Juno's gaze, she can see in her eyes that she believes every word she says. The pirate's not giving compliments just to give them. She's not giving them because she has some kind of ulterior motive either. That's never been their way.) "Oh yeah?" Lettie wears a kittenish smile that reaches her eyes, propping her chin up on her hands as she gazes down at her girlfriend. The faerie blooms like a flower under the pirate's loving attention. Wanting to return the affection, she considers reminding Juno that she's a literal legend and that the word 'badass' was probably invented with her in mind... but remembering her embarrassment earlier, she decides to spare her from that for now. (Stars know Juno will have enough of that to cope with tomorrow.) Come to think of it, it is sort of bizarre to be on a world where they're treated as heroes instead of wanted criminals. Like, they have a whole wanted poster wall on the ship and everything! It's like they've crash-landed into some kind of alternate reality.

It's been a long couple of days and... needless to say, Lettie would rather help Juno relax than ruin the mood by making her uncomfortable. They have tomorrow, after all, and hopefully many tomorrows after that where she can ease her pirate into accepting the praise she deserves. (Now that Juno has her necromancy back, hopefully they won't be separated anymore. They won't be worlds apart ever again.)

There are ways Lettie can show her appreciation without words, too. The faerie shimmies forward so she can reach Juno's lips with her own, capturing them in a kiss. She bites her lip softly and then leaves a slow trail of kisses from the corner of her mouth to her jawline, her collarbone, and moving down towards her neck. With each kiss she appreciates how warm and soft she is to touch-- especially without that damned crystal barrier standing in her way. "...You can feel this, right?" She whispers. (Juno's real. She's here.) It had been difficult, knowing that morning on the beach that Juno couldn't truly feel her there. That and noticing the way she touched her so carefully because she was afraid to cut her on her edges. It was nice to hold each other... but it'll be even nicer now that they don't have to hold back. The faerie can't even imagine how tough that must have been. The fighting undoubtedly wore her out-- but she had to have been so stiff and tense underneath that crystal shell.

Maybe Lettie can rectify that. Touching her serves as a physical reminder that she's here. She's real. And she promised she won't leave the bed until she wakes up. Calytrix also said she'd ensure they don't get interrupted. This night is theirs, to do with as they please. They don't have to do anything too wild, either. Just...

"You know..." Lettie says suggestively, lifting her head to see how Juno's receiving all of this, gauge whether or not she's in the mood (As much as she's feeling it, she'll stop if Juno would rather just go to sleep. They've been through a lot and she can understand if she just wants to rest.) "You haven't seen anything yet. I could give you a real out of this world experience." She claims confidently, her eyes glittering with passion and mischief. She kneads her fingers into Juno's shoulders to massage them, moving down her arms. (Muscles. Stupidly buff pirate arms. So freaking hot they should have their own wanted poster.) She kisses her again. And again. "Calytrix said she's gonna make sure no one interrupts us tonight." She puts the reminder out there, in case Juno's mind also runs scenarios where the cube appears unannounced to interrupt or ruin the mood. (Those fucking cubes, with no sense of-- ah. Better not to think about it right now.) All she wants to think about is Juno. "I could help you release some tension before you fall asleep. Would you like that?"

 

[starboob]

If Lettie had wanted Juno to relax, her ministrations had done little to achieve that. Quite the opposite in fact. Innocent as it may have started—and even to begin, it had not been all that innocent with her girlfriend turning her blood to lightning, sending fires roiling in her belly and lower—that was never going to last. Not with both of them so wanting and craving each other’s touch. The second skin met skin, there was no doubting that they’d be getting little sleep.

True, afterwards, Juno had slept like a baby, but that took a several hour prelude.

Once they started, there was no stopping. Mouths and hands had become voracious, leaving no inch of each other untouched, unkissed, unexplored. Perhaps it was knowing this really could be their only moment alone for as long as their mission lasts or perhaps it was the months and months of build up, followed by the recent days of agonizing separation. More than likely, it was both.

Their bodies had tangled together, bedsheets thrown off, tossed aside, and Juno would have been content to never stop, but eventually they slowed back down to kisses and kisses turned to to lazy, hazy murmurs.

Though Juno slept soundly, not moving and dreamless, she still woke up early. The sun was above the horizon, but the crisp morning air still had not quite melted away. She had tried to pull her warm girlfriend shaped blanket closer to her, settling herself deeper into the mattress, but sleep refused to return. Lettie must have sensed her wakefulness, because she woke not even an hour later despite Juno’s stillness. They might have mumbled good mornings to each other, might have spent some time tracing each other’s outline with lazy fingertips, but all Juno remembers is rolling on top of Lettie and roaming her girlfriend’s body, again. (And again and again.)

By the time they made it to the bathroom to freshen up, the sun had burned through the morning mist. And by the time they left the bathroom, the sound of celebration already reached their bedroom in the castle.

Though it’s not the sound of celebration that twists the pirate’s once relaxed heart or what fills her stomach with dread. The closer they get to leaving this bedroom, she realizes, is the closer she gets to facing Eliza again. She tries to play it off, but it’s probably obvious something is up when she cycles through three black button-ups that are all essentially the same. It becomes perfectly transparent when she stares at herself in the mirror, fiddling with how to do her hair. (Up? Down? Neat? Unkempt?) While she might be able to pass this off as her nerves for the celebration, Lettie’s too smart to be fooled and they don’t lie to each other. Plus, she already knows her anxiety around seeing Eliza again after all these years. (How many has it even been? Six? Nine?)

She drags her feet over to the vanity where Lettie is sitting, wrapping her arms over her chest and bending to rest her head on top of hers. She meets her eye through the mirror then kisses her cheek, nudging her so she can reach her lips—an action Juno doesn’t entirely think through, because now she’s wearing Lettie’s lipgloss and Lettie’ll have to redo hers. Though Juno doesn’t seem to mind, experimentally licking her lips to see if it’s flavored. (It's cherry flavored.) “Would it be so bad if we holed away until the next time the little assholes come to collect us?" She nuzzles into Lettie's neck, into one of the many bites left there. "My knees hurt from the shower and we both probably need more rest, y’know? Marjorie’s rules?”

But Juno doesn’t mean any of this—well, her knees do hurt from their shower, marble tile isn't exactly soft, but it's not so much that she can’t walk or anything. Not so much that she really needs to be resting them. She’s just stalling and before Lettie can say anything, she sighs, resigned. “I know, I know… It’ll be fine. It’s just been so long and so much has changed.” She buries her nose into Lettie’s hair, remembering the simpler time of a half hour ago when she had run soap through it and helped her wash up. “When you’re done, can you help me with my hair? I haven’t decided whether to go up or down or, I dunno, something else.”

***​

While they are guaranteed a feast once they make it to the festival, Juno still owes Lettie a pancake breakfast (along with cake-cake later) and she figures it’d be best to not face Eliza hungry. Naturally, they make a race of trying to find the kitchen first, though it doesn’t end up being much of a competition since neither really wants to leave the other’s side and they end up finding it together. Juno still tries to joke that she spotted it first and Lettie hotly contests, which makes them both laugh, likely both realizing what it means that they even get to have these petty arguments.

Juno does all of the cooking. It’s not that Lettie doesn’t offer to help, it’s that Juno is determined to do this all by herself, because of her promise. (This pirate and her damned promises.) While she's adding the dry ingredients to the wet ones, she asks, “What cake flavor do you want for your cake-cake?” Yes, Juno understands that had been a joke, a way to try and keep the mood as light as possible, but she’s serious about following through. (Again, this pirate and her damned promises.)

She serves their pancakes on a single plate and lets Lettie decide on the toppings, ambivalent to what she chooses since she’s still generally new to concepts such as “flavor.” (But at least she’s no longer attempting to make meatloaves out of the monsters they slay. It hadn’t looked that appetizing anyway. Radioactive mucus green has that effect.) Not only are they sharing a plate, but they’re also sharing a chair and not because the castle lacks extra seating, but because neither of them want to be apart. (It seems the events of last few days have them both feeling clingy.) Still, realizing they're making do with a single chair (and have been for months at this point), she smiles. “If we keep this up,” she gestures with her fork to their current arrangement, “Lady won’t need an extra chair.” Even if the chair currently lives in Lettie’s room, it’s bound to move once they settle back on Lady—like, Juno fully expects her girlfriend to move into her room. She basically already does, but now they can make it official. "But maybe we should get you your own mirror. The gym one is still mine." She needs it to make sure her stupidly buff form is correct, after all.

She hums thoughtfully, forking another obnoxiously sized bite into her mouth. "What else should we get for the ship? It's your home, too, like you said and I'd like for her to have your touch. I will have to veto changing her all pink, though."

 

[ellarose]

It took Lettie an hour or two later than Juno to fall asleep... but she was eventually able to drift off safely in her pirate's arms. At some point the gruesome imagery of Juno crystalized with a sword through her chest was replaced with, ah, all the new memories they were making. In her mind, she played back the noises she'd teased out of her-- noises she's never heard the pirate make before. The way she'd tried to see how red her blushes could get, her lips exploring her body to find out where she's sensitive and what she liked best. She'd tried to one-up herself every time by studying her reactions. In a way, it was a reminiscent of their early days-- when they sparred and she paid special attention to Juno to figure her out... Yeah. It was definitely a release, to finally act on those fantasies she used to keep to herself.

Needless to say, Juno wasn't the only one making noises and blushing. Lettie surprised herself with how shy she became her first time lying under Juno, melting with want and shivering at her touch. (It kinda blew her fucking mind. No one's ever made her feel like that before.) Throughout, her pounding heart reminded her that she's alive. They're alive. The sensations she felt that night were too vivid to be anything but real. It couldn't have been a dream tucked inside a nightmare. By now, Lettie knows Juno by heart. She could recognize her anywhere... and would have figured it out by now if it was a cruel trick. In her mind she sees Juno, gazing at her with the kind of admiration that has her blooming like the prettiest flower in the garden. (She's not just a bug when she's with her.) When she tells her she's beautiful, she believes her. Even without her glamours, wingless, scarred and bruised. Lettie can't remember the last time she checked herself out in the mirror or fretted over her outfit.

There were more important things to worry about.

Rest assured, the faerie is still the fucking faerie and she always will be. The next morning, Lettie's determined to doll herself up for what could be their first (kind of-sort of) date. Juno may like her in any form she takes, but she still wants to put in the effort to look extra nice when they're together. (Plus, getting ready is part of the fun! It makes her happy. Simple as that.) She glamours her eyes blue (Juno's favorite color) and her hair pink (her favorite), humming to herself contentedly as she gets ready for the day. (It's tomorrow. They made it to tomorrow... and maybe, just maybe, she'll have her curse broken at long last. Maybe she'll get to have more tomorrows than she ever could have dreamed possible.) Then her thoughts shift to daydreams about the way Juno's fingers felt shampooing her hair as she styles it in two braids along the sides of her head that meet in the back to form a voluminous ponytail. Alongside the pirate, she cycles through various outfits... though in her case, it's because she's a picky little faerie and not because of nerves. In the end, she settles on a flowy white and pink sundress-- something perfect for a daytime date.

Lettie frowns thoughtfully when Juno tries to talk her way out of going, sensing her anxieties, and softens when she concedes without her input. (A twinge of worry rises in her chest when Juno asks for help with her hair, remembering how things went down on Avangeline after she cut it. How much it hurt when she ignored her and hadn't really commented on it. But then she remembers how Juno kept the style afterwards, refusing to let the cubes buzz it or alter it too much from the style she chose.) Things are different now, too. Completely, totally different! They're on the same page again. And since she's asking, it means she still cares about the faerie's input on these things. So... it won't be the same as last time. She's confident in that.

The faerie soothes herself with a deep breath and wears a delighted little smile as she helps Juno settle on a half-up and half-down style-- picking out a few strands and arranging them just-so to frame her face in an appealing way. It's simultaneously neat and messy, something that doesn't lose Juno's personality. (And like this, she gets a nice view of her pirate's face.) Lettie's confident that the second Eliza looks into Juno's eyes she'll see that the Juno she knew back then is still there. They're going to be all right. If Juno doesn't believe it, she'll believe it for the both of them.

***​

"I'm thinking pumpkin spice." Lettie considers Juno's cake-cake question, grinning as she thinks about the chocolatey mess of a competition they had before. Yeah, it's probably for the best that Juno's not letting her touch the ingredients this time around. Knowing them, cooking together could easily turn into another food fight. And they spent so long getting ready for the day, too! (Although, the faerie can't really say she'd be opposed to showering together again-- no, no. But maybe they can squeeze another one in at the end of the day.) "Or, if you're feeling experimental, maybe an ice cream cake."

Lettie swings her legs happily as she eats (they don't touch the ground while she's sitting in Juno's lap) and she tilts her head to the side as she considers their arrangement. "No, we need more chairs." She insists anyway, wagging her fork before spearing a strawberry. "Not because I want to change our arrangement or anything..." It's clear this is her preference, given there are other chairs in this room and she's not sitting anywhere else. "But in case we have guests over, Juju. The skeleton crew might appreciate sitting with us, even if they can't eat." She traces the back of the pirate's hand, peeking back at her. "And maybe someday you'll get to cook for Eliza. I think she'd be impressed to learn about your secret hobby, hobby secret."

Lettie would also like to have Ravan and Ariel over someday. But... with Ravan involving himself in her crimes, she can't be certain whether or not they're okay back on Avangeline. Her heart squeezes at the thought and she tries to shake it off. They're both smart and capable. She has to hope they've found ways to keep each other safe since she's been gone. (...And hope that she hasn't completely ruined their lives.) It's probably better for them that she's not there right now. "I'm just thinking about Ravan." Lettie explains her silence. "How it'd be nice to have him over, too. But..." She shakes her head. "I don't know. I'm worried about him."

There are so many lives Lettie could ruin-- so many lives she wants to ruin-- if she ever returns to Avangeline without her curse silencing her. And if anything happened to Ravan, there'll be hell to pay.

"These are really yummy." Lettie comments on the pancakes, trying to lighten the mood. She doesn't want to ignore how she's feeling anymore, doesn't want to leave her worries unvoiced like before... but she knows from experience that worrying in excess won't accomplish anything. That worry will always be there in the back of her mind, but she can't let it slow her down. With that in mind, she considers what Lady with her touch would look like. "Aw, c'mon! A pink airship would be badass and you know it. But fine, fine. I can admit that Lady Vengeance does look classy in black. We should paint a couple of her rooms pink, though. And get some more pink furniture, too." She crosses her arms and puffs her cheeks. "Fucking Thad thinks the pink couch belongs to him now. Juju, we're keeping that couch. That's our couch. Like, we met Velvet on that couch." That groovy little spider. "That's where we started raising our demon bug army! It's sacred."

 

[starboob]

After their breakfast—where Lettie has to explain what the fuck a pumpkin spice is and where Juno reminds Lettie that her dorky friend is pretty badass despite being such a fucking dork—there's no more time for Juno to stall. She doesn't even try to drag out the argument on the number of pink rooms she will allow or even protest against Lettie's insistence that they get more pink furniture. In part, because she doesn't actually care all that much, especially if it makes her girlfriend happy, and, in part, because her mind wanders back to Eliza, knowing that moment draws nearer as their strawberry topped pancake stack dwindles to a clean (albeit sticky) plate. She sighs against the seat, growing quiet as Lettie munches on the last strawberry, and lightly hugs around her middle. “Damn,” she mumbles into her faerie's shoulder. “I was hoping that’d take longer.” She’s half joking.

While nerves are causing her to feel light and jittery, slipping her hand into Lettie’s helps steady her. Lettie believes that everything is going to be fine and a small part of her finds it in herself to trust her judgment. She is a Genius, capital G, after all.

While they don’t exactly know where they are in relation to Lady, finding a ride proves to be easy when this entire day has been dedicated to Fabel’s newest hero. (This constant reminder has Juno shifting from foot to foot, trying to ignore all the fuss that’s being made over her accomplishments.) As they step outside of the palace a courier is already waiting for them, hoping to take them straight to the festivities, but Juno asks if she can return to her ship first and explains no more than that (in true Juno fashion). The courier doesn’t even grumble or insist she head to the festival, immediately obliging the hero’s request. The small woman pulls out a mini-whistle and uses it to summon a carriage made out of the clouds itself, pulled by winged horses. (Lettie says these are called pegasuses. Juno calls them creepy, quickly discovering that she is not a horse person whatsoever.)

The journey might have been scenic, but Juno wouldn't know. She spends most of it drumming her fingers against her thighs, her heart twisting and bumping against her ribs, making her hyper aware of its existence. The pirate only looks through the window when her ship comes into view, somewhat comforted by the sight of home. (Their home.)

Lady hovers above a mountain range that looks half pulverized and is covered in scorch marks from explosions. A faint smell of ash and burnt flesh also lingers in the air. Outside of all that, the air is peaceful. At least until the winged beasts hit the deck of her ship, the carriage following, and Juno squeezes Lettie's hand like a lifeline. Her stomach flips. Her mouth dries out and, as tempting as it is to just endure the festival instead, the courier opens the door before she can so much as protest.

Juno doesn’t even know what happens next—it’s all a blur of relieved cries and two scrawny bodies inviting themselves into the carriage, throwing themselves over Lettie.

“Olette!” The twins cry out in unison, pulling back to give the faerie a once over, concern reflected in their matching ash eyes. Then, still speaking over each other, “You’re okay.” Neither immediately notices Juno and she takes the moment to shrink away from the group, deciding they’re alright if they care so much about her girlfriend. While Nico continues to blabber apologies about not recognizing the entity and almost getting her captured, Mauve peers over Olette, eyes widening when she recognizes captain fucking Juno, in the flesh. “It’s true.”

Mauve nudges Nico’s side to get his attention, gesturing to the pirate. He gasps and backs up from Lettie, rubbing his eyes. “Holy shit.” Then he blurts out, “Is it true that you murdered both the commodore’s kids? And blew up the Academy? Is the Duchess really your—” he pauses, considering Lettie, and amends his question. “Your ex?”

“Dude, shut up!” Mauve elbows Nico in the ribs, pulling him away from the infamous pirate and out of the carriage. “She can explode skulls with her mind.”

Juno’s ears burn as the rumors about herself are brought up, reminding her of who everyone still thinks she is. A childlike urge to hide herself behind Lettie takes hold, but she resists and instead squeezes her hand for comfort, reminding herself that she's not alone. Lettie's here.

“None of that is true.” She says after clearing her throat. Though, after some thought, she adds, more truthfully, “I only blew up a hangar at the Academy.” She refuses to elaborate anymore than that. Nico tries to say something, but one look from Juno has him closing his mouth—it's not a mean look, but it does tell him that she's not open to questions. He backs away, along with his sister, and gives the couple room to exit the carriage.

When they step out onto the deck, there are a cluster of women from Desdemonia (and Thad) staring at them. While they know the faerie and have come to trust her, they still give Juno wary looks, none of them daring to approach her just yet.

However, of all the women on deck, only one isn't visibly scared of her. Only one dares to size her up. She's sun leathered, lined face, and has more scars than Juno remembers, but she’d recognize Eliza anywhere. Her arms are crossed over her chest and her expression gives nothing away. Juno can’t tell whether she wants to punch her in the gut for leaving like she did or whether she wants her out of her sight.

The pirate stills, becoming a kid again and not like the kid she was when Eliza found her, but more like the one who was sold to Gran and left to fend for herself. Scared and small. A cold chill washes over her, palms sweating while a fist sized lump forms in her throat. What does she even say?

‘I’m sorry.’
‘Just punch me and get it over with.’
‘Do you hate me?’

Eliza squares her shoulders and approaches the pirate captain, some in her company becoming visibly tense—Juno’s reputation clearly preceding her—but she steps up to her, unafraid, and wraps her arms around the kid, holding her so tight, she might as well be suffocating her. “I missed you, kid.” She presses her cheek to Juno’s shoulder. The pirate's stiff as a board, wide eyed with shock, but Eliza doesn't notice (or she pretends not to). “You’re not a little twerp anymore, eh?”

The older woman starts to pull away from Juno, but Juno pulls her back in, wrapping her arms around her, keeping her close, eyes watering and her body shaking as she attempts to hold back her sobs, but they shake through her anyway like tremors of an earthquake. She wants to say something back, anything, but words fail her as she’s overwhelmed with sobs. (This entire exchange visibly surprises the company, none of them aware of the history between the pirate and their leader and none of them prepared to see captain fucking Juno cry.) Eliza squeezes the kid tighter, rubbing her back consolingly like she would when Juno was younger and too upset for words. "S'alright, Juno. S'all alright."

***​

Juno isn’t sure who herded them into her study—whether it was Lettie, Eliza, or if it was the more responsible of the teens (Mauve), that's where she finds herself when she stops sobbing and speaking incoherently. Juno’s leaning against the desk (since there are no chairs and the couch is currently at Thad’s lair) with her head resting against Eliza’s shoulder and one hand still clutching Lettie’s.

“I didn’t—” Juno starts, barely audible and through hiccups. “I didn’t—”

Eliza tilts her head down, presses her lips into Juno’s hair and gently shushing her. “You don’t need to explain yourself, kid. You’re alright. We're alright.”

Juno shakes her head, pulling back from Eliza so she can stare at her through her watery eyes. “Let me explain,” she begs, holding on tightly to the older woman’s shirt. Eliza, seeing how much this means to Juno, nods, and takes the spot next to her on the desk. Once the older woman is settled, Juno continues. “I didn’t mean to leave that night.”

Eliza opens her mouth, but Juno keeps talking, quieting her. “I got to the city. Snuck in through the sewers, you always said they were weak points.” The city was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress, but it only took a bit of cash to bribe a steward away from his post and the sewers were easy access points to export goods to the ground. “But I got arrested the same night I got there and I—" she hiccups, "and I was thrown into prison. Into the hole.” She explains how she had meant to go back to Eliza after a night or two away, but everyone knows that once you’re locked up, the chances of getting out are slim to none. “I couldn’t get word to you. The stewards took all the cash I had on me when I was arrested and I had nothing I was willing to bribe them with to just let you know I was sorry.”

“Kid, you really—”

“I know, I know, but I’m fuckin’ sorry for leaving like that. I wanted to get back to you, I really fuckin’ did, but I was doomed when I got thrown in that place and I didn’t know how I was going to survive.” Sometimes she wishes she hadn’t. It came at such high a cost. She squeezes Lettie's hand, remembering why it was all worth it. How she'd do it again just to get to her. “When I was offered a contract with the stewards I took it, thinking I could maybe get to some place better. That maybe we could meet again, but I know you. I know how you feel about the stewards.” Juno shares the sentiment too, but it was a way out and she was desperate. She doesn't believe in that excuse, however. “I don’t know what I was thinking, trying to desert them. Guess I thought if anyone could get away with it, it’d be me. Caused a whole mess on my way out, though.” Terra squealed on her when her mother, the commodore, caught her packing her bags to run away with Juno. “Then I was framed for Terra’s murder and my face was everywhere. I don’t know why I didn’t just fuckin' give up. I don’t know why I went to the duchess—but I’m fuckin’ sorry. You taught me better, but I was stupid and—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Only Eliza could make that phrase sound warm. She says it softly, sadly, looking Juno straight in the eye. “I cared about that shit, yeah. When I first heard, I thought it had to be a different Juno, but then I saw the posters and I was fucking choked, kid. Worried you lost yourself." She puts a hand on Juno's shoulder, giving her a squeeze. "It’s not on me to absolve you of your guilt or your deeds. That’s on the goddess. But that little faerie,” she gestures to Lettie, “restored my faith in you. You’ve got your demons, but, Juno, I just wanted to see you as the person who I know you can be. Took you awhile, but you’re here.”

“I’m here,” she repeats in a whisper, squeezing Lettie’s hand while looking at Eliza. Eliza nods then leans over so she can look at Lettie, grinning over at her. “She always like this? I don’t remember her being this soft or apologetic.” Of course, the older woman says this as a jest and with pride shining in her eyes. This is the Juno she always saw. "How do you put up with this dweeb?"

 

[ellarose]

"Mm, she's been having her teddy bear moments a lot more often lately." Lettie says with a playful grin, rubbing circles against the back of Juno's hand before giving it a reassuring squeeze. "But I love that about her." Even if it makes her a mushy girlfriend, there's no trace of shyness to be detected when she admits this-- not even a sprinkle of hesitation. (Lettie doesn't want Juno to feel ashamed of her softness for even a second.) It's the truth and, even better, it's a truth she's capable of talking about. Damn right she's gonna say it! Seeing Juno and Eliza properly reunited, the faerie's insides are all soft and gooey. She could tell Juno was hardcore stressed about it on the drive there and even before that, while they were getting ready and when she acknowledged their empty plate with dread. But the moment she pulled Eliza back in to hold her longer, finding a sense of closure she must've needed since that horrible day she got arrested, the faerie's confident she made the right choice in giving her those pushes and nudges to go see her. Lettie hugs Juno's whole arm, squishing her cheek against it, and peeks up at her. She's good and honest and loyal. (And hers.) "Makes me feel safe."

Juno's been through so much, too. More than she knew initially. Not all of it was a shock, as there were pieces from the nightmares and things Juno has opened up about herself. But she's never heard the story told like this before. Terra, her ex... being framed for her murder. Then everything with the Duchess. As her current girlfriend, Lettie supposes it's only natural that she's curious about those relationships. However, she still feels that tug of guilt she always feels for her curiosity. She can't ask those kinds of questions when she can't open up about her own experiences the same way. It doesn't seem very fair. Maybe later. Maybe if the wish can really break the curse, I can also...

Seeing Juno and Eliza together, thinking about the curse, Lettie can't stop her own thoughts from drifting towards mother. How would she react, meeting Juno? Would she accept and understand all the choices her daughter has made for herself? (...Would she ever forgive her for what she did?) Mother is different from Eliza, in every possible way... so she can't be certain. She can't compare them at all when it comes down to it. She's not sure she's ever seen mother look at her with the pride that Eliza shines on Juno just for being herself. She only got a glimpse of it when she glamoured herself to look like her mother's miniature double in the mirror. Not herself. When Lettie was Lettie, it was those sad, manipulative eyes of disappointment. Then anger. Then demands that she lock herself in her room.

"She also makes me pancakes in the morning." Lettie reveals conspiratorially to Eliza, not letting any of these heavy thoughts show. It's not that she's trying to hide any of what she's feeling from Juno, or that she intends to treat it like nothing... she simply knows there's a time and place. This moment is for Juno and Eliza to catch up on what they've missed over the years and there's no way in hell she's going to make this about her when it's been such a long time coming. "Turns out Juju's great in the kitchen! Well... as long as she's not trying to make monster loaf, anyway." She crinkles her nose at the thought. Then she brightens, slapping Juno's arm excitedly as an idea springs to her mind. "Oh! Instead of cake-cake, you should try making cupcakes, cupcake." Lettie winks. (...It's been so long, but she remembers.) "We could hand them out when we walk around the festival and share them with everyone. The others, those kids, Calytrix..." Then she sighs dramatically. "And Thad, I suppose. As long as he gives our pink couch back."

No. Lettie will not drop the subject of the pink couch until it's back where it rightfully belongs. She's a stubborn little faerie and by now they all know it. It also occurred to her, seeing everyone's shocked reactions to captain fucking Juno, that not everyone treats her like Lettie treated her back when they first met. Rather than forgetting her words in shock or cowering away, she dared to look the pirate right in the eyes and challenged her in every possible way. While they were totally at each other's throats back then, they were open with each other in a way they weren't with anyone else in their lives. With that context, it kinda makes sense why things ended up working out between them.

"I'll go set up in the kitchen so everything's ready for you." Lettie kisses Juno on the cheek (leaving a mark with her cherry lipgloss in the process) ruffles her hair, and then rises to her feet. Yeah, she doesn't want to leave her pirate's side for even a second. Especially after yesterday. But she understands the importance of giving Juno and Eliza the chance to have a moment of their own. While Juno is open as she could possibly be with her and likely has no problem sharing with her whatever she shares with Eliza... she still wants them to have some time to themselves. The faerie can rest assured that Juno will be safe as long as she's with Eliza, too. She presses a hand against Juno's shoulder, wordlessly telling her to stay where she is for now. "I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on."

"So, Juju." Eliza says experimentally, playfully testing the nickname after Lettie leaves the room. She smiles fondly at Juno, at the lipstick stain on her cheek, and elbows her in the side. "Thought you swore you'd never settle down?"