"All this time."
"Me and you."
"It was not fated to be."
"But I don't believe in fate."
Lunae's hair rustled in the wind, revealing her two eyes as they stared down at Sonera's pale face. A sea of ocean blue flowed through her iris once more. The rage of her forced transformation, dwindling with each passing second, felt useless and inept compared to the serenity she felt as she gazed at her partner.
"Don't you get it?" Lunae mustered a chuckle. "I choose you, Sonera. Not as a shell of what was. But as an Infestare. Daughter to Lovatte. Heir to my people."
The princess keeled over, sheltering Sonera from the moonlight as it pierced the clouds. She was all the protection her partner would ever need. Lunae may not have believed in destiny. Yet Sonera's was in her hands.
"Sonera," Lunae whispered, her wings fluttering. "I-."
I love you.
She leaned in, placing her lips against Sonera's. The princess and the assassin, bonded by blood and tears. Their kiss, finally complete, echoed through time and space.
A ripple.
My vow.
Lunae's shoulders rolled back. Her hair shimmered, losing its sickly red as the moonlight from above began to shower the princess with its splendor. Yet she held her kiss.
My dear Sonera.
Like all Infestare transformations, hers should have been rightfully excruciating. But it was not to be. Lunae's hair became awash with blue, all without a pinch. It was a gift she had never felt.
Acceptance.
Her Infestare heritage was no longer spurned. Its ravenous hunger had been satiated. For through her ravenous need for Sonera, Lunae found her cause - the kind her people could understand.
Two mouths, betwixt spite, all for the bond they shared. Lunae's markings soon began to reshape as well. Gone was the angular vex of her hunger and regret. In its place, plastered upon her perfect skin, appeared the gentle visage of a crescent flower.
A hint of green shimmered throughout Lunae's body. Even her tail had entered its perfect form. But for all its grandeur, the princess hardly even noticed her gift. Her eyes were clamped shut during the kiss.
"I'm sorry." Lunae pulled away an inch, retracting her tongue with a gentle smile. "We should have been granted more time. But the moment has come. Someone has to save you."
The princess rose to her feet, striding gracefully with Sonera in tow. Her partner felt practically weightless. But in her heart, nestled deep between the clutches of Neirophen, lay a seed. Through it, Lunae was certain Sonera could live. The assassin's tale would not end that day.
"Imagine our children," Lunae giggled, blissfully unaware of her surroundings. "Would they have your scowl?"
The princess wasn't quite sure where she was headed. As long as her path took Sonera far from the battle, it mattered not. She who had shone so brightly could no longer dwell in such chaos.
You deserved better.
Lunae was the angel, sworn to lift Sonera from her hellish fate. Nothing would stand in her way. Death itself would answer to her demands. Like mother, like daughter.
Her bare feet swept across shards of broken glass, unfettered by their sharp rebuke. A ring of gunfire roared past Lunae, yet she barely blinked. The full might of her remaining enemy could do little to shake her focus.
And so Lunae strode, gracefully and with elegance. She practically floated across the fields of the Aerie, ignoring their shattered image from within Yrix's mindscape. That mattered little - and so too did the cannonade that screamed towards her.
A few Consortium warriors had noticed the princess and began to fire. But upon their approach, regardless of strength or rank, she simply waved them away with a Psionic push. Only a rather large Canere stood firm in its resistance.
"Hm," Lunae flicked her wrist, ignoring the streaking ray that danced across her Ambience.
As if deconstructed on an atomic level, the Canere ceased to exist. All other contenders met a similar fate. For those few who slithered past her Psionic grasp, Lunae made sure to cut them down with her scythe, its perfected form acting autonomously as it spun across the field.
"What the?!" Lila squeaked as she flew past.
The Earthling hadn't caught Lunae in her sights during her frantic maneuver. But she couldn't miss the direction of gunfire. Something had taken the Consortium's attention.
Lila shrugged nervously. "Works for me!"
As long as the Executor's ship had another target, her chances were greatly improved. If only her scattered senses knew the truth of the matter. For within the ruined field, set aflame by cannon fire, Lunae stood like a ghostly figure.
The princess lifted her hand, erasing the lethal explosions with ease. She couldn't care less. It was the audacity, if anything, that sent tremors of rage down her spine.
Perfect serenity is what she held in her arms. And peace alone was all she felt upon crushing an interceptor in her grasp as it flew by.
"Lunae?!" Lila finally took notice.
Lunae could feel the Earthling's presence as well, glancing at the Riven that streaked overhead. She nearly destroyed the vessel with her mind. But upon spotting her family, wounded and at wit's end, the princess was convicted.
Her duty to protect Sonera was absolute. But so too was the fealty she swore to her family. Lunae's cause was clear. She knew the cost, well before Lila entered the mess. Her awareness was beyond anything she had ever felt, verging on prescience.
Death from above.
Lunae frowned, diverting her full attention to the Executor's flagship that shadowed her every move. There it was - the monument to her captors, its keel unraveling itself in revelation of a terrible weapon. The Infernum cannon, as they called it, was primed to destroy the Aerie in its crimson hellfire.
She was well aware of the danger. If the cannon fired, its glassing effect would no doubt catch her family in the blast. Sonera, Lila, Ivy, and even her new friends would all meet their demise.
"Sonera." Lunae set down her frail partner. "Be still."
The princess raised her hand to the sky. She had only a moment to take decisive action. Warm air swirled around her as the sky began to boil. The Infernum cannon was nearly ready.
Lunae entered a silent state. It took all she had and more, even in her heightened state, to present a challenge to the colossal dreadnought. It was once princess against an army.
She wasn't Sonera. She couldn't simply reflect an entire superweapon. Lila would likely die if the weapon fired at all. Gritting her teeth, Lunae snarled as she took hold of the ship.
The entire ship.
Her Psionic grasp tore into its metal hull. The superstructure quivered, groaning as a crushing weight bent its reinforced alloy. But it wasn't enough. Lunae faltered. Blood began to leak from her eyes as she screamed.
"No way," Lila gasped.
The sheer awe of the scene had distracted both her and the pursuing interceptors. No one could believe what Lunae was doing. It was an impossible feat.
But what was the measure of strength, if not simply a chance to prove a vow?
Lunae opened her palm, its pale flesh trembling as she strengthened her grasp. The dreadnought had begun to crumble at the seams, its hangar bays and gun decks torn to shreds. Its primary weapon, however, was designed to operate on the verge of collapse.
"Nngh!" Lunae whimpered.
She could see the red beam scream towards her well before the cannon released its fury. Using her free hand to point at the floor, Lunae propelled her might with every last drop of sanity she had left. The crimson death, hurtling at speeds beyond what any human could react to, had frozen in place.
The princess began to levitate. Her hair swirled with hues of deep green. She had reached the apex of her effort.
Lila watched helplessly as the situation unfolded.
"We…can't do anything, can we?"
The dreadnought was tearing itself apart. Its Infernum beam had already begun to retrace its steps back towards the firing lens. Any attempt at retrieving Lunae and Sonera was doomed to fail.
There was a clear path for escape. With her enemy distraught, Lila could activate her sunlight engines unmolested. But abandoning Lunae felt like the purest betrayal.
I'm sorry.
So preoccupied was the princess that she couldn't even muster a farewell to Lila. But her intent was clear. The Earthling had to leave.
"See you around," Lila sniffled. "Let's go, Ivy."
And not a moment too soon. For just as Lila punched the Riven into gear, the dreadnought began to split in half. A massive shockwave rocked what remained of the Aerie, toppling its last spire as a cascade of explosions consumed the night sky.
Lila didn't look back. She couldn't. The Riven soared through the clouds at unfettered speed. Soon, she had only the stars to greet her guilt.
Lunae released her hold, falling to her knees. She had but a few seconds before the ruins of the dreadnought fell upon her. Only one task remained.
"Goodbye, my beloved Sonera." Lunae smiled at Sonera one last time. "Promise we'll meet again. My heart is forever yours."
She pressed her forehead against Sonera's, engulfing the assassin in blue grandeur. In a flash, Sonera disappeared. Not a trace of her existence remained.
"Did I…" Lunae pursed her lips, surrounded by flame and ruin. "Are you proud? Mother?"
And the world went dark.