Work Text:
The colors were visible, even from the ground. To most of those watching from the safety of their home planets, the violet, indigo, magenta, and white lights looked like fireworks, signaling and celebrating the end of the war. Cheers rose up from the civilians, as most of the Marshalls and the Jura soldiers seemed to wordlessly put aside their difference and stop the rest of the Void fighters from escaping. The Void ships joined the mothership in exploding, the smoke from them mingling with the larger cloud of smoke. Though, not everyone was cheering. A small group of people in the middle of the battlefield on Cyber were staring up at the sky, varying degrees of horror and sadness on their faces. These people knew where that firework-esque display of colors had come from.
An escape pod, clearly from the Atlas due to its colors and design, landed a short distance away from the battlefield, creating a dent in the ground but no harm done. The surviving crew of the Atlas, as well as Eos and Pax Elara rushed to the pod, hoping that who they thought was in that pod was there, and that they hadn’t lost someone important to all of them after all.
Instead, when it opened, Zekei Sentry’s eyes opened carefully to see a group of eight people watching him worriedly. He knew the instant he was aware of them that not all the concern in their eyes was for him. Eos held out a hand to help him out of the pod, which he took. The moment he stepped out of the pod, his partner let go of his hand, both of them landing on his shoulders in a tight and terrified hold.
“Zekei, where’s Nova?”
The younger Marshall could tell that his partner was desperate, but he had no clue what to say. After all, he didn’t even know how he got back to Cyber. The last thing he could remember was that she had kissed him, told him something-
He stopped his thoughts as he realized what his best friend- no, not just that anymore- had done. He frantically looked up at the sky, just in time to see the smoke clear and the last of the colors fade away. His head filled with terror. She didn’t. He immediately began internally begging anyone out there to let him know that she was alive, that she made it out… But he knew what she had done. To everyone’s collective despair, tears began to fall down Zekei’s face. “Eos, I’m so sorry-“
The eldest Elara sibling immediately let go of him, the reality of what had just happened hitting him again, this time harder than earlier, trying to get him to realize what his sister just did. “Zekei, come on, stop messing with us! Where’s Nova?!”
He actually yelled, Zekei noticed. It was the loudest he had ever heard him talk, especially to him. He couldn’t blame him though. “Eos-“
“Zekei! Where. Is. My. Sister?!”
It was Pax who stopped him from yelling at Zekei any further. She put a hand on her older brother’s shoulder as best as she could with the height difference. “Eos, Nova’s dead.”
Zekei could tell how hard it was for her to say the words. He never heard the youngest Elara sibling’s voice so much as shake before, let alone cry. But both were happening now, and he couldn’t even be jarred by it because of the truth that had just dawned on all of them. Senator Tauri- Lyra, he had learned- made her way over to the group with Oberon, and both of them were now hugging Eos along with Pax, apologizing for their loss, and trying fruitlessly to comfort them. The surviving crew of the Atlas was now hugging each other. Even Kepler, Sol, and Titania were accepting hugs of comfort from each other and the other member there, which were Meridan, Holmes, and Zaniah. Holmes was crying the most, while Zaniah was tearing up. Titania and Kepler were trying their best to remain as stoic as they could, but they couldn’t avoid getting at least teary-eyed. Meridan was the calmest on the outside, which seemed like him considering what he must have seen during his entire time as a medic. And Sol was silent as he tried to comfort everyone, unable to say anything.
Zekei felt lost. He had just told her what she meant to him, and he had just learned that she reciprocated that sentiment. They had just become a couple.
So why did the universe take her away?
A few days later, under the supervision of Empress Lyra, everyone was brought home- or wherever they considered home, or at least some good accommodations- for the meanwhile, to be brought back together for the memorial in a week’s time. While most of them were in some small way relieved to be home, the Elara siblings stayed together, refusing to step into the house they used to live in with their other family members. Instead, they stayed with Zekei, the latter having invited them due to understanding that they just didn’t want to be home. Though, it was… strange the first few days.
Eos refused to speak to anyone. He spent all of his time in the guest room. Pax would tell Zekei that her brother just stared at the wall, crying. That conversation was had at one point when she wasn’t screaming at the universe herself, throwing her things around. To her credit, she didn’t destroy anything she didn’t own. She wrecked her laptop by throwing it out the window, where it hit the ground below, as well as a bunch of her previous projects (Zekei was pretty sure she was working on improving some of them before she left home), but she would break down too, sobbing at the loss of her older sister. Zekei could have sworn that he heard her mumbling apologies to her sister under her breath as he rubbed her back countless times during the first few days. He had never seen Pax this emotional before.
He himself felt numb. He forced himself to say it to himself in private one time; he loved her. He couldn’t get anything else out because he started hyperventilating, the loss overwhelming him. Trying to get through the day exhausted him, not just because of what had happened. Eos didn’t eat, Pax barely did. When there would be calls from the crew of the Atlas, it would be Zekei picking them up, since the siblings were in no condition to do so.
Most of the calls were from Holmes and Zaniah, trying to reach Pax. Every time, Zekei had to tell them that she couldn’t come to the hologram right now, and both of them wouldn’t push it. They understood.
Meridan called a few times, trying to check on all three of them. Zekei would tell him the truth, and Meridan would nod and give him advice on something to try. He wouldn’t push too hard, and Zekei had to admit that the medic would have probably been able to tell if he was lying about any of the three of them. Nevertheless, it was still hard to get through his calls. Sol would also call a few times, though their conversations were a little briefer. He told Zekei about Artemis getting arrested for what she had done, and while Zekei was thankful, he was still too hurt to really react. He still hadn’t told Pax about it. She would probably just get angrier.
Lyra and Oberon both tried calling on the same day. They had asked about both him and Eos. Zekei had tried to lie about how he himself was, but both of them saw through it right away. Oberon had told him that it was okay to admit he wasn’t fine, to which Zekei didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was telling Meridan the truth. It was hard admitting to a fellow Marshall that he wasn’t alright. It was equally hard to admit to Lyra that Eos was essentially catatonic with grief. Later, he would try to tell Eos about the calls, but he gave up after he got no response.
Titania and Kepler both called once, on separate days. They seemed a little agitated, but Zekei chalked that up to the aftermath of the war more than anything. They would push a little harder than the others when it came to talking to the siblings, but they would lay off after hearing something Pax threw hit the wall.
In all of his conversations, one thing was consistent. Zekei was stiff, his tone flat and tired. He was trying to be strong for the Elaras, but he was grieving on the inside too.
The fourth day they were there, Pax seemed to have finally ran out of stuff to throw. Eos finally stepped out of the room. He looked like a mess. So did Pax, really, but at least Pax had been interacting with food and another being. Eos had large dark circles under his eyes, and they were bloodshot red.
The moment they saw him, Pax had gotten up shakily, and went to her brother, who captured her in a tight hug, as if he’d lose her too if he let go. Pax lost it again, and she hugged her brother back, crying as well. He was apologizing to her, and she was apologizing to him through their tears.
Zekei noticed that they seemed a little more familial with each other than he had seen them be in a very long time. Maybe this was her final request to them, he thought. Maybe her ejecting me out of the ship that day was her final request for me.
When they let go, they pulled Zekei into their hug. The three of them, unlike the siblings, just had a quick hug before letting go. It would have felt much more awkward had it been at random. But he could sense that they were thanking him for putting up with them the whole time thus far.
In all honestly, he didn’t mind putting up with them. They needed someone there for them, the same way they needed each other.
That night, Eos actually ate and talked. Pax listened and even managed a small laugh during a funny childhood story, the first laugh in the house after days as well as the first time Nova’s name was mentioned without anyone breaking into tears of pure grief. Any tears shed over the meal were now tinged with a kind of remembrance of her. After dinner, the two had a small disagreement over who would use the com first, to which Pax won because Eos still had to pull himself together. Holmes and Zaniah were relieved to finally get to talk to Pax, and they told her about how they were really worried about her. She had to wipe away tears before they showed as she told them everything, and by the time she got off the com with them, they had agreed to a new kind of relationship between the three of them; all of them as friends. Pax internally told herself that she would take it slow, maybe wait before admitting she had developed feelings for the navigator. In the meantime, she hoped that the two of them would be able to be friends despite what happened before.
Eos managed to get through calls with both Lyra and Oberon, who were both glad to hear from him. He broke down once with both of them, but they had been quick to reassure him and tell him that they would be there for him. Lyra in particular reaffirmed that she cared for him, and Eos seemed to get the message as he reciprocated the sentiment. By the end of the call, he seemed to be in slightly better spirits.
Meridan had been caught off guard when he called and instead of Zekei answering, it was the Elaras. He had asked a lot of questions, though still didn’t push too hard, and finally told Pax about Artemis. To everyone’s surprise, she took it better than expected.
That night, Zekei managed to sleep without the same nightmare of the last time he was with Nova plaguing him. Instead, it was her telling him how proud she was of him, and how much she loved him. It was her thanking him for being there for her siblings, and apologizing for what she had to do. He woke up in the middle of the night again, but this time he felt a bit better than he had the whole time since. He learned later that Eos managed to actually sleep, albeit having woken up multiple times. Pax had managed to sleep a little longer before being woken up again by her dreams. It was the first time the topic came up, but it was the first night no one dreamt solely of their last moments with Nova.
Just a few days later, the others came back. Everyone was now in the city square, gathered around the fountain where the astral charges had been stored. There were small candles and flowers there, now clearly a memorial for those lost during the war. Zekei saw Eos and Pax cry at the sight of a small, purple, damaged-beyond-repair bot placed near the fountain. He found it ironic, but fitting that the fountain was where the little bot would be from now on. He remembered the way Nova had cried as she desperately tried to rescue Vee. I’m sure she’ll take care of her the same way she did down here. He thought, trusting the little VSS unit to watch over the woman he loved- still loves- until they got to see her again.
I hope you’re proud of us Nova, Zekei thought to himself as he took in the sight of everyone together, some of them crying and holding each other, but everyone still able to be civil with each other and not ruin the sort of camaraderie that was formed by the war and the loss. Thank you for everything.