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"Ahahaha, this will never get old!" Jupiter shouted as she glided within the twilit sky of Chicago.
She was practicing using Caine's anti gravity boots as he followed along behind her. Jupiter had been practicing every weekend she could after her adventure with Space Capitalism and becoming an Entitled being. Who owned the Earth, which was still mind-blowing to think about for long periods of time. She still didn't know which direction she wanted her life to go, but she was willing to just breathe and take things slowly. Appreciate what she had. Like amazing flying boots.
Grinning, she looked over her shoulder to Caine, who had a small smile on his face. As they approached the shoreline, Jupiter slowed down so she could hover above the water, watching the city sparkle below. They were as high—higher, probably, as the Sears Tower. Caine slowed down as well and gently held her from behind, holding them aloft with slow beats of his wings. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other's company.
"It must be getting cold, Your Majesty," Caine whispered in Jupiter's ear.
"Mm, a bit," Jupiter replied, even as she pressed herself even more into Caine's chest. Then she let out a sigh and launched herself out of his arms. "I guess we should go back, huh?" she said, turning around to face him.
"We did promise your family we would have dinner with them," Caine gently reminded her.
"Yep, get ready for more nosey questions from my Uncle," Jupiter said dryly.
"I think I handled him perfectly well last time," Caine said with as much dignity as a wolf hybrid person with bird wings could muster.
"Caine," Jupiter said laughing, "You basically just grunted in reply to any of his questions."
"He was trying to get me to invest in his side business which is not financially sound on this--or any other world. I wasn't sure what would be considered polite in my interactions so I decided it was best to not engage as much as possible."
"Well, I hate to tell you this, but he thinks you're a fantastic guy because you listened to him all night and didn't interrupt him, as his family so rudely does." Jupiter rolled her eyes and looked out over the city, letting out a sigh. She loved this view.
"Alright, let's go," she said, turning to Caine—just in time to see him drop out of the sky.
"Caine!" she screamed as she dropped down after him in free fall, trying desperately not to panic. She could see that Caine was attempting to right himself but he kept tumbling down. Jupiter stretched out her hand to try and grab him.
She got hold of his wing and then began skating to slow their descent, though the water was looking closer and closer with each passing second. Caine grabbed her foot, pressed something by her heel and suddenly their fall slowed dramatically. She just kept pumping her feet, hoping desperately that Caine could keep a grip on her as they fell. Caine hit the water first, Jupiter right after him. The cold water was a shock to her systems, knocking the breath right out of her. She kicked upwards and gasped for breath as her head broke the surface of the lake. Caine was beside her in an instant.
"Jupiter are you alright?!" Caine said, fear in his eyes. Jupiter was still spitting out water, her teeth chattering as the cold seeped into her body.
"I'm okay," she replied shakily, "but we need to get out this water and get warm. How are your wings?"
Caine's wings looked waterlogged, the right one drooping in a way that made it look broken. Caine winced a bit in pain but just calmly replied, "they're fine for now though I will need them checked out once we get to shore."
"Speaking of..." Jupiter looked over at the shoreline. They were maybe a half mile off. "Oh boy," she said under her breath, "It's been a long time since swim class."
"Not to worry Your Majesty, the boots can help here," with that, Caine took her gloved hand in his and pressed a combination of buttons. "Just guide us to the shore and I'll hold on."
"Wait, Caine—what do you mean—Aaaaagh! " The boots apparently had booster rockets, which propelled them through the water. Within minutes, they were near enough to the shoreline that they could walk onto the beach.
"Okay," Jupiter said as her legs—now feeling like jelly and still tingling from having them become rockets for a short period of time—collapsed beneath her once they hit the beach. "We are never doing that again."
"Agreed," said Caine "At least not without a contingency plan." He held out his hand to help Jupiter up. "Come on, let's give Stinger a call."
++++++++++++
"Oh, I feel so much better now," Jupiter groaned as she flopped out onto the couch, in clean, dry clothes loaned by Kiza. Caine was in the other room, getting his wings checked out by Stinger. Another Skyjacker would be able to figure out what happened quicker than anyone else, she mused. Kiza bustled out of the kitchen, handing Jupiter a hot mug of milk and honey as she sank into the couch beside her.
"Here you go, Queen Jupiter."
"Hey," Jupiter said with a smile "I told you to stop with that 'Queen' stuff right?"
"But you let Caine call you 'Your Majesty'," Kiza said.
"That's different and you know it," Jupiter could feel her face heating up as she took a sip from the drink. "Have I mentioned how much I love being warm? Being warm is awesome. Have you guys invented a force field or something that keeps your warm all the time?"
"That would be more like a spacesuit, Your Majesty," Stinger grumbled, coming into the living room. Caine was right behind him, pulling on his sweater, Splicer brand covered in cable knit momentarily as he adjusted the garment.
"Did you figure out what's wrong with his wings?" Jupiter asked as the Skyjackers settled into chairs. Caine's wings were folded up underneath his sweater so Jupiter couldn't see if anything had been done to them.
"Well, nothing we hadn't seen before, though it is a bit rare," Stinger replied as he took his own cup of milk from the table. "There were times when a Skyjacker's new wings needed some adjustment before being fully integrated into the nervous system. Looks like that's what happened with Caine. But they'll get it sorted out at the Station and he'll be good as new in no time."
"And how long is 'no time'?" Jupiter asked.
"Should be about 2 months," Caine stated. "They have to regrow some of the nerve connections and regraft the wings—it’s a bit complicated compared to the other cybernetics."
Two months. Jupiter's heart sank a bit. She'd gotten used to Caine being around and knew she'd miss his presence. But—“Well I'm just glad you guys figured things out, now we can go back home and—“ Jupiter's eyes widened as she realized they'd forgotten something. "Oh my god I never called home!"
++++++++++++
After speeding home and apologizing profusely for missing dinner (and getting gross comments from Cousin Vladie as to the reason they were so late—wink wink nudge nudge) Caine and Jupiter were collapsed on Jupiter's bed together. Caine had his arms around Jupiter as she rested her head on his chest. She closed her eyes and they laid like that for a while, just listening to the other breathe.
"Hey Caine," Jupiter said after a while. "I was really scared today." Caine was silent but he did tighten his grip around her.
"Me too," he replied after some time. Jupiter opened her eyes and started mindlessly running her hand along his chest.
"As we were falling all I could think of was 'I hope there's a Recurrence for us'," Jupiter laughed and sat up. "Isn't that silly? I know I'm not the same as Seraphi and I don't even believe in Recurrence or reincarnation but I couldn't help but hope—think—we’d get to see each other again in time. Like we're connected somehow." She looked away. "It's silly, isn't it?"
Caine sat up and took her hand. He was quiet for a moment, lost in thought.
"Splices don't believe in Recurrence for us because—well, we're custom ordered genetics, built for a purpose. But it is a nice thought to have."
Jupiter looked at him. "Have I ever told you that the brand on your neck—the one from your Splicer? That means 'Jupiter'. So, even before we met, you were meant for me." Jupiter took his hand and said this last part fiercely, as if willing the universe to keep them apart. Caine cupped the back of her head as he turned towards her.
"Mmm, no you never mentioned." His voice became huskier as he said, "But I like the idea of being branded with your mark."
He leaned in and kissed her then, and Jupiter felt his relief at them being both alive through the ferocity of the kiss, as if he could hold her and keep her safe in his arms forever.
+++++++++++
Stinger came to pick up Caine the next day and Jupiter couldn’t help but start moping immediately. “This sucks,” she said as she sat on the couch watching Vladie play his game.
“Relax, your brooding boyfriend is going to do his thing and come back to distract you enough so you’re out of our hair again,” Vladie said flippantly as he tried—and failed to sneak up behind someone. “Shit!”
Jupiter couldn’t help but smirk at Vladie’s frustration. “Maybe by the time he gets back, you’ll have figured out how not to die in that game.”
Vladie rolled his eyes. “You just don't understand the nuance required to play such a high class game as this.”
“Uh-huh,” she responded as Vladie’s character got stabbed in the face—again.
For all the Jupiter missed Caine, she knew she’d go stir crazy moping all day—so a few hours later, she was back to scrubbing toilets. On her day off she went to visit the Apini farm and helped out there as well. She enjoyed packaging the honey, and also enjoyed the radio time she and Caine could have at Stinger’s. From everything he told her, it sounded like he was just as bored as she was but didn’t have an outlet. When she could, she tried to distract him by telling him what her ridiculous family had been up to. Time passed in an easy rhythm of weekend talks as Jupiter packed honey and told him what she’d been up to for the week, while Caine tried to paint a picture of the Station. Soon only a week remained and both were looking forward to being reunited again.
+++++++++++
"Hey Caine, I want to show you something."
They were suiting up for a new test flight on Stinger's farm, Caine having just got back from having his wings adjusted. The Aegis doctors had pronounced him in working condition but they were being very cautious with the first few flights. Caine needed to get a feel for his wings in Earth's gravity and atmosphere as well, instead of within a sterile lab in space with controlled conditions.
"While you were gone I was thinking about your brand with my name and I wanted to do something similar." Saying this, Jupiter rolled up her sleeve to show a tattoo of an unfamiliar pattern of dots on the bottom of her left wrist.
"It's the constellation Sirius," she said blushing, as Caine just looked on. "There wasn't anything I could put on my skin that said Caine-well I mean, I could have put your actual name on there but this way it's more abstract, like your brand and I just thought," and here she took a deep breath "that you might like us being alike, this way."
She looked into his face, and Caine just kept staring at her, looking a bit stunned. "And I-this is so silly but I thought-if we were ever separated" her voice cracked a bit and she coughed "if we were ever gone, we could someday find each by our symbols, even if...years have gone by."
"You marked yourself for me?" Caine said softly, still sounding stunned.
"I-yes Caine, are you okay?"
Caine gathered Jupiter in his arms and hugged her tightly.
"I don't truly know what to say," Caine said softly, "You're Entitled and—no one modifies their bodies for Splices. No one." Stepping back, he took a deep breath and looked in her eyes, emotions running deep within. "And I promise you Jupiter, if we get separated and you still want me to—I will find you and be with you. Nothing will separate us."
"Oh man Caine," Jupiter breathed shakily, trying to talk through sudden tears. "I thought you'd hate the fact that I went to a tattoo artist without your glowering presence. I'm glad you don't think its weird or that—that we're going too deep right now. I just hope you stay with me for a long time."
"Me too," Caine replied.
"Hey! You two lovebirds finished?" Stinger shouted at them from across the field. "It’s cold out here and I want to get the mutt’s wings passing muster soon!”
Jupiter grinned at Caine and took his hand.
"Well, let's get poor Stinger out of the cold. We can talk about this after you go through your paces." Caine grinned at Jupiter and squeezed her hand. Wordlessly, he stepped near the edge of the roof and unfurled gorgeous brown wings. He took a deep breath, stepped off the edge—and swooped up into the air.
"See you soon!" Jupiter shouted. She knew they had a long way to go, figuring out what her Inheritance meant for her, and her responsibility as an Entitled—but Jupiter felt better having Caine at her side to lean on when things got tough. She knew they'd have a new adventure soon but she was confident they could handle it together.