Chapter Text
Stelle sat at the head of the bow amidst vibrant lights that flashed in the sky, countless fireworks exploded around and above her in raucous celebration. The dreamscape was safe and everyone was happy.
Myriad lights danced across her eyes, though she wasn’t really watching. It was hard to enjoy the show when the girl she cherished so deeply died beside her. This was all some sick twist of fate, one that she was somehow meant to be okay with. What was she supposed to do?
Fulfil her promise.
A spark of a plan lit up in her mind, and it was thanks to the game Constance demanded she’d play. Terminus and THEIR many strands, a woven web of power throughout time. If what the woman said was true then Stelle was one of those very strands, or at least had its power bestowed upon her.
It was an arrogant assumption to believe the power of an Aeon resided within her, but a logical one. If she were to attempt to alter the cosmic order, would it work? Her mind raced as the lone spark ignited her engines of deduction. She had already managed the impossible, Constance had said as much when Stelle was able to reconstruct her erased memories from nothing. It wasn’t supposed to be possible, and yet Constance never once seemed shocked. It was as if she were a scientist merely observing an experiment going exactly as hypothesised.
Stelle took another glance at Firefly whose glassy eyes reflected nothing back but the vaguest shapes. She had to do something, had to try anything. That exploration of her lost memories had let slip a cosmic secret into her mind. Stelle would blaze a trail toward terminus, and meander back through a hallway of memories toward her origin.
She let out a long, resolute sigh and stood. She left Firefly still and peaceful and steeled herself. If the script was anything to believe, this experience was probably supposed to be a trial run. Luminescent embers began to rise from where Firefly sat and Stelle closed her eyes. Amidst the dying embers of Firefly’s essence, Stelle flexed her will, now replete with the strength of this newfound secret.
She didn’t have to accept Finality’s vision, she didn’t need to follow Fuli’s rules. She made her own path. She simply needed to open her eyes and see the universe for what it truly was.
THEY opened their eyes. The ascent of fireworks slowed to a stop. Time had no meaning. It was simply another coordinate and Stelle changed where THEY stood in time with simple clarity. The universe groaned under THEIR forceful manipulation but eventually gave to THEIR designs and bent to THEIR whim. Reality shuddered as the rules of existence were flagrantly ignored and rewritten to allow THEIR work.
Stelle saw countless timelines through it all, innumerable possibilities lay just within her grasp. Yet her mortal mind had its limits, it reflectively discarded each one as quickly as they came. She couldn’t possibly begin to process the unfathomable amount of information provided by this godlike perspective. So she simply let it wash over her unnoticed, lest her conscience be swept along by the endless torrent of countless fates. Her mind was a pebble resting on the bed of a river.
It didn’t concern THEM though. THEY only had one small goal in mind. THEIR focus was strong and absolute in its singlemindedness. And then it came to THEM at last. Stelle seized the thin line in space and reality shuddered in recoil. THEY twisted.
The distant and colourful explosions in the night’s sky began to reverse. The launched sparks of each detonation retraced their path inward and the ashes of spent rockets rekindled then imploded, reformed and then reversed. They landed in opposite sequence to their launch. Meanwhile the hands on every clock began to turn backwards and the universe groaned its displeasure once more. Stelle was not yet practiced in the art of universal manipulation, THEIR hand was heavy and lacked finesse, the strain that THEIR actions put on reality was no-doubt large. It didn’t concern THEM though. It’s not like THEY wanted to change much. Stelle saw a lone girl looking out over a balcony, up toward a sky of shooting stars. The hourglass clicked, and THEY closed their eyes once more.
Stelle stood at the foot of a staircase, Robin’s music echoing faint notes throughout the night, ready to ascend and meet her love for a proper farewell. She and Firefly would not leave a footnote this time. This time they penned the truest conclusion of Penacony’s story, together. 