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Twin rays of light burst forth from the tips of Echidna’s Quills. With a flick of your wrists, they twist about each other, scooping underneath Roxy as she leaps toward the Condesce. Elsewhere, John conjures a whirlwind spiraling toward her outer flank. In a single deft maneuver, she manages to evade both attacks. Roxy and Kanaya seem to be having better luck landing direct blows. Just as you note this, the witch crouches and swats at Kanaya with her trident, knocking her into you. The force of the impact knocks you both down, the full weight of her body now on top of you.
“Roxy!” A voice you recognize as your own but not belonging to you cries out. “Build a fort around them!”
“What?!” you and Kanaya shout in unison.
“Okay!” You can only assume that Roxy’s immediate compliance with this strange request is a byproduct of her single-minded focus on the task at hand. At least, you would be assuming this if you had any time to process these events at all, which you do not. Before any individual thought can fully take form within your head, a structure of green perfectly generic objects encloses the two of you.
“Meow purr trill!” You hear Jasprosesprite over the cacophony of the battle. “Don’t worry Rose! You’ll understand soon!”
“What is she talking about?” shouts Kanaya.
“I can’t begin to—“
Your response is cut short by the sudden disappearance of the block fort, and of every other thing around you. Roxy, John, Jasprosesprite, Nannasprite, the Condesce, along with every trace of Derse has suddenly vanished from around you. Kanaya is still here, and, notably, still on top of you. She seems as startled as you are at the sudden change of scenery.
“—imagine,” you finally say.
Kanaya allows herself to roll off of you, and the two of you stand up to take stock of your surroundings. A bright, colorful assortment of prismatic bolts of lightning cuts through the dark sky, and the glow of various pyramids in the distance serve to further illuminate the orange ground beneath you.
“At the risk of unnecessarily stating that which should be plainly obvious, we appear to be on Lopan,” says Kanaya.
“At the risk of being arbitrarily redundant, ‘indeed’,” you agree. “But, perhaps speaking more constructively, I don’t think that we were moved here via any of the conventional means typically employed for such instantaneous transportation.”
“Do you think that it’s possible that we’re dreaming?”
You nod, in spite of the fact that neither of you are looking at each other. “That seems to be the most likely explanation. Owing in no small part to Jasprose’s intervention, I’m sure.”
“Then we’ve been knocked out by an ally, put to sleep while our comrades engage in the battle of their lives. For a very particular reason, this strikes me as a somewhat karmic turn of events…” Kanaya’s voice trails off.
You glance in her direction. “I’m choosing to ignore the ominous nature of that last —“
“Oh, nothing!” she interrupts.
“…right. As I said, choosing to ignore it.”
“Thank you.”
“What did Jasprose say? That we’ll understand soon?”
“Her exact words were ‘You’ll understand soon’, and while our language has the infuriating distinction of having that particular word operate in both plural and singular modes, I do believe it is reasonable to assume that she was referring to you, specifically.”
“Perhaps,” you say as her gaze meets yours. “But the fact remains that we’re both here, and presumably by design.”
She only nods in agreement.
Looking out into the colorful expanse, your mind starts to ponder to what end Jasprose wanted you here, and in the midst of the biggest fight of your life up to this point. You recall that before Roxy made the fort, Jasprose had brandished her own needles and had actively engaged in the fight; clearly, she had intended to supplement your contributions to the fray in your absence, giving you the opportunity to do…something here on Lopan. Whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing, which she seems convinced will make itself evident.
But why Lopan? And what could possibly be so important that this had to happen now, of all times? You suppose you could fly and get a lay of the land, but your intuition, known for its startling precision concerning matters of fortuitousness such as these, tells you that here is precisely where Jasprose meant for you to be.
Your thoughts are interrupted by the appearance of something in the distance. Something blue, fluttering through the atmosphere.
Your eyes involuntarily widen. You think you know what it is.
Or rather, whom it is.
Without speaking, you link arms with Kanaya, who, accustomed to this routine, instinctively braces herself. The two of you lift off into the air.
“I gather that you have also spotted that blue thing in the sky,” she says, not at all bemused by your actions.
You maintain your silence. Or, more accurately, a sudden tightness in your throat prevents you from responding. If that thing is what you think it is, then you know precisely why it is you’ve been brought here.
You crest the slope of a nearby pyramid, revealing Lopan’s towering statue of Nix in a clearance out in the distance. The blue figure appears to be pursuing another, darker blue figure that has just touched down near the statue’s base. The darker blue figure appears to be carrying something.
As you draw nearer, you feel as though something has gripped you around your heart. A welling pressure forms behind your eyes as the scene comes into clearer view. You draw a shaking, uneasy breath.
“It’s her last memory,” your trembling voice manages to croak.
Sensing your growing distress, Kanaya braces nearer to you. You didn’t realize the magnitude of the chilled sensation overtaking your being until the warmth of her body came as a welcome salve. “Rose?” she asks in concern.
You find yourself unable to speak again. You land on the slope of another pyramid overlooking the scene.
In the distance, John finally lands next to Roxy, who sets down what she had been cradling.
It’s you. The instance of you that would become Rosesprite. You’re witnessing her – your – final moments.
Another chill runs up your neck as you turn away. You can’t bear to look. Kanaya places a reassuring hand on your shoulder.
In your years of floating through the idle memories of your friends, never before have the bubbles seen fit to show you a moment such as this one. A newfound sympathy for Jasprose creeps into your thoughts as the magnitude of this awful burden she’s been carrying hits you. You blink back more tears and crouch into a huddle. Your only sense of respite comes from a certain gladness that at the very least, Roxy doesn’t have to be here to relive this moment. You take Kanaya’s hand into yours. Surely by now she’s figured out what’s going on.
“Are you alright?” she asks, voice teeming with concerned affection.
Your grip on her hand tightens. In an instant, flashes of a timeline not your own appear in your mind’s eye. You’re on Lofaf. You can hear Terezi screaming, punctuated by Jake crying out in pain. There were chainsaw sounds a second ago, you…you’re have trouble focusing. You need to find something. The Condesce unleashes a blast of red and blue light, carving through Jade’s toppled house. In its path, you look to see Kanaya, hapless to evade…
For one terrible, unspeakable instant, the screams you hear are your own.
“Kanaya…” you finally say. “I know why Jasprose brought us here.” You take a deep, shaky breath as a tear finally escapes your left eye. You try to steady your voice as much as possible. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have already told you, a thousand different times in a thousand different ways. I think that…” your voice cracks. You look into Kanaya’s eyes. “…she was afraid that I’d lose my chance, just as she had lost hers.”
Before you can continue, Kanaya puts a finger from her other hand to your lips. You glance at it briefly before looking back into her eyes. Those warm, hazel eyes you’ve gazed upon so many times. Her fangs are peeking out from her lips, curled into that smile that makes you melt just a little bit every time you see it. “Don’t say it. Not yet. Keep it as a promise to yourself, that we will see each other through this, that we will make it to the other side, and then, when all of the ambient dead lamina cells have settled, say it then.”
You start laughing, but it comes out in between sobs as the dam behind your eyes finally breaks. “’Ambient dead lamina cells’. God fucking dammit!” you sniffle through an uncertain smile as tears stream down your face. She moves her hand away from your lips, also smiling. You think it’s possible that the moment might be spoiled now.
Fuck it.
You swiftly lean in and press your lips against hers. She makes a surprised noise before settling into the kiss. And there you remain for a few, precious seconds, happily lost in the tenderness of the moment, before finally pulling away.
“I love you, Kanaya.”
She smiles, and it’s clear from her expression that she isn’t the slightest bit surprised that you didn’t take her up on her suggestion. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to mind.
You continue. “I promise you that I will do everything that I can to get us through this fight together. But this is something that I don’t want to leave to chance. Call it flushed feelings, call it mating fondness, call it having fallen prey to the human dysfunction of amorous inclination, call it whatever appropriately alien term is suited to your disposition, just know that I am, and have been for some time now, head over heels all of the above for you.”
She twists her head, smirking beneath half-lidded eyes. “I suppose that I’ve grown rather fond of you as well. And I must say, the sheer magnitude of ascendancy that humans place on one simple word is truly something that inspires no small amount of awe.”
You laugh as another tear streams down your face. Her efforts at breaking the tension of this moment are paying off extremely well.
A brief silence hangs between you. For a moment, you’d almost forgotten that the two of you are both still in a dream of Lopan, overlooking what is actually a fairly grim proceeding. Your mind was lost in thoughts of another. She seems to have that effect on you.
She finally relents. “I love you too, Rose.”
As if on cue, the two of you are suddenly back on Derse, your bodies thrown into the air by the sudden and calamitous destruction of the block fort. You’re able to recover in flight, and note that Kanaya has also managed to gracefully handle herself in this new proceeding. To your puzzlement, it looks as though a fridge, tossed by one of the green mobsters Jake is supposed to be fighting on another planet, is responsible for the damage. He’s taking swings at Arquiussprite as the Condesce stands atop the offending storage unit.
You look about yourself quickly. Though you’re all separated, it looks as though every member of your team is still in this fight. You take one last meaningful look at Kanaya before arming your needles once more.
You meant what you said. All of it. And now you have a promise to keep.
-end-