Chapter Text
"Beat ya there!" Kim was running through a large field, the castle looming overhead. Behind her, Duncan was tripping over practically everything, from loose pebbles to clusters of vines to clumps of dirt.
"Hey, wait up!" Now Kim was at the river, and started doing a backstroke. By the time Duncan got there and started awkwardly wading, she was already on the other side and running up the hill to the castle.
"Not my fault if you're slow!" When she reached the top, Kim looked down over the edge of the hill to see Duncan slowly and tiredly beginning to scale the hill. "Hurry up slowpoke, you're gonna miss it!" She looked up expectantly towards the horizon.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Geez!" When he finally reached the cliff, he collapsed, exhausted.
"Y'know, for someone who knows so much about, like, everything, you sure are slow." Duncan knew she was just teasing, but gave her a light punch anyway. "Look, it's starting!" Duncan turned his attention westward and focused on the horizon and together they watched as the sun set.
~~~~~*1 Month Later*~~~~~
Recently, they had discovered Kim was pregnant, but couldn't determine for how long. They had started preparing a room in her tower for the baby nonetheless. "I still don't think you should be wearing that jet pack, Kim," Duncan warned her. "What if something goes wrong?"
"Like what? Give me one good example," She retorted.
"Uhh, birth defects. What about that?"
She took a second to consider, then landed on the flux sphere. "Mm, I guess you're right. I shouldn't help then, should I?" She couldn't help but laugh at the glare he gave her.
"Just... be careful up there, okay? The flux levels are still really dangerous."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. When has ANYTHING gone wrong up here?" Now Duncan landed next to her on the sphere.
"Well, I don't know, it's just... I'm getting a bad feeling."
"Please, if anything WAS going to-" She was cut off when her hand slipped and she started falling in. She grasped desperately behind her back to find the button on her jet pack to no avail. Duncan dove down and caught her, but not before she inhaled some of the pure flux. As soon as she made contact with the fresh air outside, she went into an uncontrollable coughing fit. He flew her into her tower and laid her in bed, then took care of her the rest of the day.
~~~~~*A few Months Later*~~~~~
Now, Kim's pregnancy was more visible, and they had decided to leave and find a new home. They were packing their things they wanted to keep into the spaceship and getting ready to leave. "I think that's the last of it. Ready to go?" Duncan asked Kim. She nodded, and he took the wheel and started flying.
"You weren't kidding when you said this thing was /slow/. Aren't there any faster settings?"
"Well, there are a couple more, but they're past the recommended speed setting."
"What does that mean as far as our speed goes?"
"This is as fast as it gets. Safely, at least."
"Ughh. Where are we even going?"
"I don't know. Just... somewhere else." They continued to drive until well after sunset, waiting until the landscape was no longer discernible. Duncan turned off the motor, waking a sleeping Kim.
"Hmm? Are we there yet?"
"No. Just stopping the ship for now." Kim fell back on her pillow and pretended to fall asleep. She waited until she could hear him sleeping, and sat up as quietly as she could. After looking over and making sure Duncan was asleep, she threw off her blanket and stood up. Tiptoeing over to the control panel, she looked at the speedometer. *0 KPH*. She saw a lever under it labeled "*Speed*". Next to it were five different settings, a red line after the third. Looking back at Duncan one last time, she flipped the lever to the fifth and highest setting. The ship immediately took off, causing her to instinctively brace herself on the wall. Duncan jerked awake, looking at Kim and the control panel before muttering "/Shit./" under his breath. He leapt up and grabbed the control panel, pressing multiple buttons frantically before a robotic voice turned on over the intercom: "Critical speed reached. Left wing damaged. Auto-pilot rerouting." Duncan looked petrified, and a minute later, the voice came back on. "Reroute failed. Collision imminent in T-30 seconds."
"Shit shit shit shit shit." Duncan continued to press buttons in what appeared to be random order, before looking over to see Kim still clutching the wall, a look of pure terror in her eyes. He let go of the command panel and ran over to her, taking her hands into his. "I... I guess this is goodbye then."
"Duncan... I love you." She was practically whispering.
He smiled, and shed a tear. "I love you, too."
They hugged, and remained embraced as the timer counted down, "T- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Everything went black.