Archive of Our Own

you know

what must be done

it tore me apart

sacrificing

you

but i would do it again

i am not brave enough

to save humanity

when i saw the explosion

the brightest, most selfless minds, and

an unwilling volunteer

one day

they will teach

that i was a villain. but i saved

humanity

this is where i belong

in the classroom

the children

this dying world

needs hope.

yes, i relive that day when i close my eyes.

you cried

and i condemned

with clear-eyed cruelty

i can’t do it

you’re murdering me

a sacrificial lamb

to the slaughter.

i am a sacrifice too

i don’t ask anything of you

that i would not do myself.

you think these next decades will be kind?

at least you will be

among the stars.

yes, the sun will fade and earth will starve

but to do this task

it means my death, and

i will be cold and alone

far away from here

don’t make me

have done all this in vain

i know you can be brave.

we will look up

from our frozen world

waiting for salvation

i know the world will never grant me mercy

and yet i pray for you,

i can’t

go, don’t make me

please

in the final desperate moments

hands clutching dying grass

trying to hold on

i see the irony

hail mary full of

grace