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Fantasy Cosmical Glitch ( ellarose & starboob. )

"Juno..." Lettie yanks against the purple veins, which wrap tighter around her and hold her back as the water rises above the pirate's head, the ripples warping her figure into an indistinguishable smudge of white and black. "Juno!" There's something there in the water with her. Something sinister. Something dangerous. (Her control over the nightmare only goes so far. Half of it belongs to Juno... and Juno's half might as well be beating her half at arm wrestling right now. And of course it is. It probably has stupidly buff arms, too! Shit. She's not reaching her. And if she doesn't reach her in time--) The faerie screams out in desperation, writhing against her constraints, kicking wildly, and then searches the starry sky as if seeking some god or goddess that might see this and help. (No use. It's the gods and goddesses looking to them for help these days, isn't it?) ...The stars.

Stars continue shine after they've died. It's not until they cool off that they're reduced to ashes and fade from the night sky. They're all that truly remains of this world, even if they're fading slowly. The heart's infected, nightmare fueled veins are going to mummify the faerie if she doesn't do something soon. More join those already holding her down with a snap, snap, snap. "Unfortunately, this is beyond our control. There is no going back now... if you perish we will have to find replacements."

The stars are the last flicker of hope for both of them. For Lettie and Juno... and for this world.

Snap, snap. The veins creep up the faerie's neck, pressing against her bruises. The end of one cuts her lip. Lettie is sick and tired of being held down. Held back. Told who she's supposed to be and what her place in this world is. With Juno, she found a new version of herself to fight for. Her true self, who had been buried alive by pressure and lies in Avangeline. Snap, snap. They brush the places on her back where her wings would've been, if she still had them. It's jarring every time. She can imagine so vividly how her wings would feel right now if she still had them. She's still getting used to it. (Maybe she'll never get used to it. It still hurts... especially whenever she looks up at the sky. It will always hurt.) But nothing would hurt worse than losing...

Lettie bows her head and closes her eyes as the veins cover her up entirely, submerging her in total darkness. At this happens, her spiritual self stretches her hands towards the sky, towards the stars, and draws on their energy. She's swept outside of herself among them, hovering in a sky of flickering, dying glows. The first time she drew on her source, she was surrounded with life and color. This time, though... it breaks her heart. Their voices are weak. They had to watch as their world died... they know they're dying, too. (Just like Lettie... watching other faeries disappear. Mourning them in silence all while knowing the same fate awaits her.) The faerie gently cups one of them between her palms.

"...You can see into my nightmares, can't you? I know how you feel." Lettie appeals to them, bringing the weak star close to her heart. "I want to help you, but I can't do this on my own. Together we can bring your world back. I promise." She swallows hard. Absorbing what little they have left will turn them all to ashes. But if this goes according to plan, then she can bring them all back. "Will you come with me?"

The star Lettie holds over her heart absorbs into her chest. The others spirit themselves into her chest the same way, gradually illuminating the white of her hair and her eyes. Eventually her entire figure glows as bright as Sirius itself as she descends back down into her physical body, immediately blasting the veins away from her. They land all around her feet in shreds. The faerie opens her crystal-like, kaleidoscope eyes. Rainbows swirl in her hair as it flows behind her. The stars within her view the sight with satisfaction. They've been waiting to do this for a while, haven't they? To fight. The faerie quirks her head to the side and smirks, showing off a sharpened canine. She licks the blood from her lip and then directs her attention underwater.

Whatever is coming at Juno now, it's razor sharp. Lettie glamours herself claws to match, outstretching them towards the connection she still feels to her. 'I've still got you, Juju.'

Lettie unhesitatingly dives into the water, moving with the speed and splendor of a shooting star as she puts herself between the pirate and the snapping razors. Sparks fly as she knocks them backwards with her claws... and then she pounces on them. Tearing them to shreds, bit by bit by bit. 'Juno, I'm here.' (For a second, she's back in the space station, tearing that abomination to shreds for daring to hurt Juno.) Then before she knows it, she's back in the present. Staring at her victim. Her own wings, severed, torn apart, laying in a puddle of blood. The faerie stares at them, horrified. The colors in her eyes shift ominously.

'My wings.' The faerie falls forward onto her forearms, her tiny shoulders shaking as she chokes trying to push back an anguished sob. She still hasn't let herself have a proper cry over it... but now isn't the time. These ones aren't even real. 'Look at me. I'm real.' She pushes past the pain, gathers her strength, and then tears into the sandy ground at her sides with both of her claws. 'You're real, too.' The marks she leaves behind creates a drain that sucks down the blood, the saltwater, her destroyed wings and everything else. 'Thanks for being real.' The only exceptions are the translucent heart, her nightmare goggles, and the world's cube. And Lettie and Juno.

'Juno, I know you're loyal. And real. The realest person I know.'
'I was a fake bitch with my sass and glamours and shit. This feels real, though. I want to be real.'
'I know we had a rough start, but I think you actually saved me.'
'I honestly can't think of any place I feel safer than right here beside you.'

'It's true I didn't have any say in where I ended up. And at first it was tough. But I'm glad I crash-landed into your life. After everything we've been through together... if I had the choice now, I would ask if I could st--' ('Stay, stay, stay.' 'All you had to do was stay!')

'You must be pretty fuckin' thrilled. You’ve been dying to get back home since this all started. What do you think of being back here?'
'Thrilled… isn’t exactly how I’d put it.' ('I don't want to think about home. I die a little on the inside every time I do.')
'I knew I was right to leave your ass behind.'
'Whoever you are here, on Avangeline, I’m inclined to believe that is who is real and she’s fuckin’ fake.'

"Stop." Lettie presses her claws against the sides of her skull as if to surgically remove the voices. As the points of her nails dig into her scalp, she shrinks them back into her hands. Her real hands, to keep herself from tearing away at her own flesh. "None of this is real, Juno. It's just a bad dream. A nightmare." (Yeah... if only she could excuse everything that happened on Avangeline as a nightmare. Wake up pressed to Juno's chest, wrapped up in her stupidly buff arms, as she had so many times before.) All of what they're hearing is real... but it's also in the past. They need to see through it and move forward if they're going to survive this one. "Cubey called it a nightmare storm. We're both going to die here if we don't handle it." Still unable to look the pirate fully in the eye, she takes the goggles into her hands and then gives them to her. (...Juno may need them more than she does right now. The stars won't let her forget her promise.) "...I've decided I'm not dying here." Her hair and eyes glow brighter yet as she offers the pirate her hand. "And neither are you. So let's do this."
 
Juno is ready to give everything, anything to make sure that Olette has a chance at flying again. It’s why she reaches for this hooded figure without question, without even considering the consequences of her actions. In her mind, there is nothing she wouldn’t exchange to see the faerie happy again. Even if she never forgives Juno for all that she did, she could at least part ways with her knowing that she did one good thing for her by getting her wings back.

Somewhere, she also knows that this is too good to be true. That there’s something sinister waiting for her the second her hand touches those wings and takes them. But there’s no reason in desperation and she is nothing if not desperate.

The water leaking from her chest and the screens around her continues to rise until it’s up to her chest. While the hooded figure’s palm is only inches from her, it takes everything in her to bring her arm up. It’s not even because of the weight of the water that’s coming up to her neck. It’s like she’s moving through molasses. Similar to those dreams where she’s put in a position where she has to fight, but none of her punches hit hard enough. (She still doesn’t make this vital connection.)

“Come on, pirate. Hurry. This offe—”

The figure shrieks as something or someone knocks it over and while she can’t see clearly through the water she can see the blood puffing into the water and the glow of the woman who’s tearing them apart. ‘Why is she ripping her own wings?’ The pirate doesn’t understand this and tries to yell at Olette to stop, but water floods her instead, reminding her to keep her mouth shut. Except, with water in her lungs, she reactively starts coughing, pulling in more saltwater rather than push it all out.

When the chamber finally drains, Juno collapses to her knees, not recognizing the ankle weights disappearing or much of anything as she coughs up bellyfuls of water. She almost collapses onto her side, gasping and swallowing up mouthfuls of air, as exhaustion creeps up on her, but Olette speaks before that can happen, explaining their situation to her. Without looking at her fully. ‘She can’t stand you.’ The pirate scratches her cheek and doesn’t respond, only taking the goggles to confirm that she’s heard what’s needed of them. From the stream that exists between them, she can feel that Lettie is as charged as she was back at the lab, so her own low stores aren’t a concern. ‘She doesn’t miss me. At all.’

‘Why would she? This is your fault.’

She adjusts the goggles around her head, observing the world as it is and not the illusions it’s trying to drown them in. Like this, she can easily spot the cube floating within this translucent heart. Though the faerie offers her hand, the pirate hesitates, staring at it blankly like she doesn’t know what to do with it or maybe like she’s looking at a scorching flame and not Olette’s hand. ‘It’s just for the mission.’ She can access her magic without touch, of course, but the physical connection takes some of the effort out of the process and Juno doesn’t exactly have much effort to spare. ‘She hates you. She won’t even look at you.’

But she has to do this. So that they can both make it off this world in one piece. So that Juno can fulfill her last promise. Even if it kills her. She keeps her stormy eyes trained on the cube. (In all honesty, it’s not as though Juno can look at Olette for too long. Without her wings… She’s just reminded of Avangeline, what happened there, and how she fucked up, forcing Olette to pay the price.) At least, with the goggles on, the faerie won’t be able to notice the tears she’s blinking away.

She takes her hand, barely holding on as if that might make up for the fact that they have to touch. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’re stuck with me.’

Restoring this heart takes little more than an impulse for Juno. Like commanding her little finger to move. At this point, reaching into the world’s core and clasping around those threads, revitalizing them with faerie magic and necromancy both, is natural. (Maybe she should feel proud for how far she’s come as a necromancer. How far they’ve come together as a team. But this feels more bitter than sweet.) A vision of this starry ocean world fills her mind— a vision of how it was, as well as a vision of its future. An ocean full of stars lights up the landscape around them, twinkling; kelp forests made of stardust sprout from diamond dust sands; sharks, fish, and other life twist free from these kelp nebulae, creating an entire cosmic aquatic population. The vision fades a few minutes later and this world’s cube descends into her palm, shining like a star. Juno clutches it to her chest, then passes the fuck out.

***​

Juno wakes up in her neglected bed ten hours later. Marjorie and the Medic both scold her and order her back to sleep, not that the pirate listens. She doesn’t make it three steps before she collapses again.

***​

“Can I choose the next world?”

“What? Why do you care?”

“Does it matter? They all need to be saved.”

“...Some need more immediate attention than others, but there is no strict order, I suppose.”

“So can I?”

“Depends. What world interests you?”

***​

The Maestro agrees to take them to a corrupted world, one that hasn’t been fully ravaged but risks the infection of its magic core. One that has a population versed in magic related wishes, miracles, and desire. However, the little bastard only agrees on the condition that Juno does something about her poor self-care habits, claiming that she “will be of no use to this mission if your heart goes concave in the middle of a resurrection” and that she “cannot rely on Miss Olette’s magic alone. She is not a battery.” Both facts were obvious enough but to have the cube point this out? The asshole that frequently talks about replacing them? That had been humiliating enough that Juno agreed.

Though she would have agreed without the cube pointing that out. This world is her last hope, she would do anything to make sure they visit it. Not only that, but she can feel her time running out like grains of sand slipping through her fingers. She can feel Olette slipping further and further away from her. (Or maybe that's just in her head.)

She hasn’t spoken to Olette or seen much of her following that cosmic ocean world. Juno’s out of her room more, so she’s caught glimpses of the faerie. It’s awkward every time. Juno freezes up every time, like she’s staring at a ghost. She can’t manage more than a strangled noise each time she thinks about trying to say something and nearly always darts away. She won't risk facing the goddess of revenge. She can't. Not until she completes her task.

To say that it's still tense on the ship would be an understatement, but at least Juno isn’t working herself to death. She gets her eight hours in each night. (She tosses and turns and jerks awake. On one occasion, Marjorie tries to wake her from a nightmare and punches the skeleton's head off.) She’s eating regularly. (Though she hasn’t cooked and most of her meals are handfuls of whatever she first grabs— whether that be cereal, grapes, or a fistful of bread.) She trains. (Perhaps too aggressively. The Medic scolds her for using her magic in the state she's in. Juno doesn't listen, however, because she knows she needs to be prepared for this next world. She has to make sure she offers something worthy.) She studies, taking fervent notes. (Until her hand cramps or her eyes glaze over the text and she tosses the tome in frustration. This earns her a lecture from the Magician about the proper care of ancient artifacts.)

She’s still not herself— only a ghost going through the motions of who she’s supposed to be. But she is in better shape (that isn't saying much) and that's enough to satisfy the unfeeling asshole known as the Maestro and after a week’s time, they’re off.

blip!
 
Lettie stares down blankly at her song book. She scribbled out the 'fake bitch' title she'd written and considers writing something else instead. Like a letter or something. One of the long ones, the sort of thing she can pour her soul into and then shove under Juno's door. Because lately she can't imagine herself standing in front of her and managing to choke out one word without falling apart. There's too much grief, too much pressure, and it gets worse every day. There hasn't been a single word from Juno's end since she shared her story. With each awkward encounter in the hall, the faerie wonders if Juno doesn't know what to say, either. A letter won't work. Her wrist is still recovering, the bandages there reminding her of all the off-limits words she'll have to dodge, and besides that it's not fit for anything that strenuous yet. (Especially after she went ballistic on her wings the nightmare that had been coming after the pirate. The Medic had complained that between her and Juno, they're breaking their last straw. Lettie's not sure that's how the saying goes, but she flipped it the bird and told it that as long as she could still do that she'll be fine.) Since Juno's been coming back to the gym to train, she's been ditching her physical therapy sessions altogether in favor of tinkering with Lady's defense mechanisms and further research on her nightmare goggles. They'll need a second pair. Despite everything, it seems they're still seeing the mission through. Seems like the only glue holding them together right now.

Could the most recent one have been a wake up call? Juno does seem to be making some effort to take care of herself again. It's not much of an improvement, honestly, but it's something. It hadn't escaped her notice. The dark circles under her eyes, the sallow look of her. Like she said, an improvement... but she still makes no effort to talk to her. She hasn't asked her once yet if she's okay, after... everything. 'She's like this because of me, isn't she?' Juno was going to make a break for it, leave her behind on her home world. Now she must feel shackled to her out of obligation or pity or something. Ugh. (It was probably easier for her when she had an excuse to hate her.) The thought makes her sick to her stomach. 'She totally still hates me. Or at the very least resents me.'

Maybe they just need an excuse to start talking again? They need a vacuum to suck away the awkwardness. Lettie will give Juno her own kick ass pair of goggles and... and she hasn't really thought about the rest. But maybe the goggles will be so kick ass that they can say fuck it to everything else. She can prove that she won't become dead weight without her wings. She's survived it before, hadn't she? Juno doesn't need to tread so lightly with her. Doesn't need to pity her.

One afternoon, Lettie stands on a footstool as she smooths one of the cute kitten bandaids over the new crack on Marjorie's skull. (She requested a footstool from the cubes to reach unreachable places. It's pink velvet and matches her couch. Initially, the Maestro got her a blue one... and the Magistrate sighed angrily and changed it to pink, saying everything needs to match. They proceeded to have some kind of lover's quarrel as they changed the colors of it. It was a whole thing. Seems like even the cubes have been losing their freaking minds lately.) When she asks Marjorie what happened to her, the skeleton told her Juno had been so startled after a nightmare that she punched her. Lettie feels a sort of sinking in her chest at this. (...She used to know Juno's sleeping habits so well. Sleeping in the same room, piled on top of each other so often. She used to fall asleep listening to her heartbeat. Now she doesn't know shit about anything.) It makes her sad. Makes her... fucking livid. Why did the one good thing in her life end up like this?

"Maybe I should punch her in the face?" Lettie suggests, furling and unfurling her fists as she hops down from her stool. "I should punch Juno."

"Oh, no. That is quite all right." Marjorie flaps her hand bashfully. "You don't need to go on a crusade to defend my honor."

"...I meant as, like, an icebreaker." Lettie paces the room, releasing a panicked little laugh. "That's what we used to do. It's genius, actually. I could challenge her to a fight!" She just wants those days back. She wants them back so badly. Where Juno would at least look at her. At least speak to her. Touch her. (She can still remember the way she barely held onto her hand, as if it was fragile and would break under the slightest amount of pressure.) "If she hates me now she should at least hate me out loud. I can't stand this."

"Miss Olette..." Marjorie may not have eyes, but Lettie swears she can see the pity in her eye sockets. She can hear it in her voice. "I don't think--" (The skeleton knows something she's not telling her. She must.)

Lettie swallows hard. It goes down all wrong, it's like she's swallowing knives. 'I can't do this anymore.' Then without another word she storms out of the room. She doesn't know where she's going and tears she can't fight back are quickly blurring her vision. She's lost the strength for fake happy and needs off the ship right now. She needs to be anywhere but here to experience breakdown she knows is coming. The skeletons gaze at her with their eyeless concern as she passes by. (...They must all think she's small and broken, too. Shattering in front of them will only confirm this for them. She doesn't want to fall even further than she already has. Pitiful, wingless little faerie.) "Don't follow me." There's a forest outside here. She'll be fine. "I'm gonna find a bear and give it a manicure."

"Sounds fun! I'll grab my sunhat." Abigail chimes... but Inez holds her back, sensing the faerie's foul mood.

Lettie ventures out into the depths of the forest, walking until the soles of her bare feet ache and bleed. Far enough that she can no longer see Lady's silhouette in the sky. Far enough that no one can hear her screaming.

***​

Lettie wakes with her eyes red-rimmed and swollen. Her memories are a fogged haze of crying until her throat was raw and she couldn't cry anymore. Then she laid flat in the grass, staring at the sky and thinking of everything she's lost. (Those bastards really stole everything from her but her life, hadn't they? Lady's just a shell now, resembling a home she once thought she had. But she doesn't belong like she used to. And Juno...) Eventually she passed out. One of the skeletons must've gone looking for her and carried her back, because she's back in her bed now. Or... maybe it was the cube who actually brought her back. Because the scenery outside of her window looks different now. They're on a different world altogether.

The faerie goes through the motions of her routine slowly to make sure she looks like Lettie again today. She glamours her hair violet and her eyes a sharp ice blue, dressing in a pastel band shirt and pink skirt. She covers any evidence she's been crying-- as well as any remaining bruises-- with make-up. Lastly she glosses her lips nice and pretty as if that might make smiling easier for her. (Spoiler alert, it isn't any easier.) Lettie stares at her reflection. She looks like herself. But she doesn't have the energy to dig any deeper than that today. Rather than focus on herself, she's going to get some shit done.

Lettie rockets her heart off to outer space and it numbs her to everything. She walks the halls openly without fearing an awkward encounter with Juno. In fact, she goes as far as to barge into the study without knocking first. (She avoided it at first, as it's where Juno holed herself away. But she wants to read Cressida's journal now. It might have insight to give her for her goggles... 'cause she's not just making copies of what she already has. Nah. She's going for an upgrade that'll wow everyone. It might be her last hope, after all. Either way, she needs more info on their mission to make them the best they can be.) The faerie doesn't find Juno there. But what she does discover is a huge fucking mess. Notes scrawled with handwriting she can't read are scattered everywhere, along with various different tomes. Piles of ash and shattered bones. "...What's with this mess?" Lettie asks as if anyone's going to be there to answer her. Juno must be in the kitchen or maybe the gym. But seriously. What the fuck has she been doing in here?

The faerie's heart speeds in her chest as she leafs through some of the papers and comes upon messily sketched diagrams of wings. Different bone structures, different ingredients. Some are scribbled out and some are circled. She's so startled at the sight that she drops the page. Gradually, the heart she sent off in a metaphorical rocket comes crashing back down to earth, back down to her. "...Juju." What in the worlds has she been trying to do? Compelled by an instinctual surge of urgency, Lettie rushes around the study to search for a sign that might guide her to Juno's most recent notes. This turns out to be a hopeless cause, though, as there's no conceivable order to this chaotic storm of research. She needs Marjorie to help her read all of this.

"Marjorie." When Lettie finds the skeleton, she drags her into the study by the hand. She gestures to the pages sitting on the very top of the desk first. There seems to be a list and a haphazardly drawn map. (It looks like a bunch of scribbles... it's a Juno map, in other words. Useful to Juno and Juno only.) Something about all of this... it's slamming her with an impending sense of doom. "What does all of this say?"
 
They arrive on Fabel early in the morning. Not that this makes a difference as the world is known for its perpetual twilight. The skies here are always lilac with streaks of fiery pinks. (Juno read somewhere that this world also has trees with flavored bark and part of her hopes that, should she be successful, should Olette forgive her, they can find those trees and Juno can prove once and for all that she had not been an idiot for trying to lick a tree. She hopes that maybe they can melt back to how things used to be. That’s all she really wants.) The Maestro plants them near the source of corruption, a bubbling tear in the world’s surface with baby nightmares crawling out from the fissure, but Juno’s not here for that.

At least not right now.

Though they only arrived moments ago, the inside of the ship already has the bite from the frigid perpetual morning outside. It slices into her cheeks, but she doesn’t bother with adding anymore layers. Where she’s going, she won’t need to worry about staying warm and she figures that the trek there will warm her just fine.

Before she leaves, she checks her reflection in the mirror, grimacing. Her features still make her look gaunt. The shadows under her eyes have not improved much. The burn mark on her right cheek from Crane’s glyph is still taut and scabbed over. She’ll never be able to hide or reverse the white streak that now takes up a significant patch of the hair. (Now she really does resemble a skunk.) ‘It’s fine. This is worth it. She’s…’ She does finish that thought. She shouldn’t have to. She never should have questioned that.

She crushes her eyes shut and takes a minute to collect herself. ‘Now or never.’ Then she checks her belt and disappointedly finds that everything is there. Meaning, Olette hasn’t snuck up on her. Hasn’t… She shakes her head. No time for that. Her timing has to be perfect if she’s to meet the conditions necessary to summon the wish granting spirits that tie this world together.

She secures her whip to her belt, her switch-axe to her back, and slips out from her bedroom window on a grappling hook rope. As she scales down Lady, she can’t help but admire the sky. It’s Olette colored. This has to be a good sign. ‘She’ll like flying here.’

***​

“Golly.” Meanwhile, Marjorie scratches her skull. (Fondly, she pets over the cute kitten bandage.) She lifts the page to the light, as if the secret code might reveal itself there. “Some of this is utter gibberish. I mean, what does, ‘Penny wishes are worthless,’ even mean?”

The skeleton leafs through a few more pages scattered over the desk. “Geez, and what is this obsession with wishes anyway? She really does owe Abby several apologies for telling her that dandelions, shooting stars, and wishing wells aren’t real.” She tuts disapprovingly, handing the notes to the faerie. “It seems she has merely been hoarding the secrets for herself.”

***​

The rainbow springs are said to be hidden deep within a range of mountains shaped like a crescent moon and aptly named the Moon’s Scythe. From what Juno’s read, the springs were sealed off more than a century ago following some form of disturbance that she couldn’t quite understand. The tome wasn’t able to offer a more precise translation or even a clear account of what happened, but the promise that rests within these mountains is enough for Juno to forgo caution. And what does she even have to be frightened of? She grew up on Desdemonia, survived on a strict diet of nightmares and monsters. There’s nothing she can’t handle. Nothing scarier than what she’s already seen. (How can anything be scarier than seeing a clone of yourself fused with one of the worst monsters from your homeworld?) She’s tough as nails. She’s got this.

Besides, she’s already lost her life’s one good thing, the silver lining that somehow made her entire past worth it. Enough that she’d unhesitatingly do it all over again if it meant having even a meager chance at knowing Olette, at being aware of her existence. Because even just her presence, even just sharing one single moment, is enough for Juno. To know her is a blessing and she wishes she had cherished it when it might have been something she could call hers. And now, she’ll give anything for Olette’s happiness, her wings, and a chance at being forgiven.

It’s these thoughts that keep her climbing up the mountain’s steepest slope, not caring or yielding to her screaming arms and legs that beg her to give up. She won’t listen. Not when she’s so fucking close. All that fills her mind are thoughts of Olette and Avangeline. (That last nightmare world they experienced… Juno’s never had the right idea of the faerie. Always she’s thought of her as some star, but really that could not be further from the truth. She’s spent just as much of her life shackled as Juno has. It does neither of them a service to compare tragedies, but Juno cannot help to see all the tragedy that surrounds the faerie. All the loss she has experienced. Her mom. Lina. Her freedom. Hell, her goddamn fucking soul. And now her fucking wings, too.) Juno screwed her because she couldn’t trust something good. The truth had been in front of her face this entire time with sparkly cheeks and wonderful eyes. (Now she’ll never see those eyes again. Olette keeps hiding them. She can’t blame her. It’s her fault. She tried so hard to get Juno to see her and Juno just turned her cheek, afraid of getting trapped in her orbit and burning up. Well, now look who’s burned.) She should have been there.

‘Please. Please, let this work.’

***​

“This is giving me the heebie jeebies, Miss Olette.” The skeleton looks gravely at the faerie, her eye sockets darkening (somehow). Her eyes(ockets) scan over the dark scribbles of the Juno map, unable to make out anything intelligible from it. (It’s seriously a wonder how the pirate even can interpret her own handwriting or work.) “Hmm.” She taps her chin pensively. “Map!”

A cube appears.

Marjorie holds up the Juno map to the Map. “Does this look familiar to you?”

A green line beams out from the cube to scan it. After a few minutes, the cube starts smoking, shaking, and sparking before it finally quits, shaking its cube, ‘no.’

“Drat, I really thought the Map might know.” However, the skeleton does not give up. She lifts a finger into the air just before the Map can blip off. “Could you provide us with a map of this world?” Then she turns to Miss Olette. “Perhaps we can figure out which wish-granter she’s trying to make contact with based on her notes? She wrote bunches on rainbows and scythes.”

***​

The necromancer breathes out a cloud of air, hoisting herself up onto the narrow landing at the mountain’s midpoint. She flips over onto her back, exhausted. Sweat slicks her entire form and the temptation to melt into the rock beneath her is fierce. She welcomes the morning breeze that laps at her skin, keeping her cool. These few seconds are the only respite she allows, however, quickly pulling herself up to stand and careful to mind the ledge.

The rock face in front of her appears as the rest of the mountain has— flat, slick, and gray. There doesn’t appear to be anything significant about it, but this is to be expected. The entrance was sealed and all paths to this point, destroyed. But she can feel an inexplicable energy pulling her towards the mountain's core. This has to be it. She presses her palm flat against the mountain side and concentrates her energy on the soul of this ancient giant, finding the traces of people, bugs, animals, plantlife, bacteria that have all touched or passed through the mountain in some way or another. The mountain pulses under her palm, shaking, as the necromancer undoes the threads that hold it together until she’s able to push the stone in. The mountain rumbles with more shakes and cracks, as a tunnel carves itself out for her.

Her breathing is shallow after this, probably still exerted from the climb and, now, the new skill she gained through her recent studies. (Now it’s blood and sweat that slicks her skin.) Still, a small, satisfied smile graces her lips. The first one in weeks. She pulls out the white bandana Olette rejected and uses it to wipe her brow before proceeding. Then she grabs the lighter that she stole from the Major and flicks the flame. Similar to how she made the mountain move, she feels for the soul in the fire, the breath that keeps it alive, and allows the flame to jump into her palm. She brightens it and holds it up to light up the tunnel, taking a step closer to making this right.

Anything.

***
​
"Oh, you're looking for the captain, too?" The Magistrate asks, tilting their cube to the side. "As is the Major. Apparently the captain stole their lighter and they are quite miffed." The cube muses, manifesting a nail file that they levitate into the air and pretend to fix nails that they do not have because they are a cube. "Anyway, I haven't seen her since last night when she requested a haircut. She did not even say thank you so I'm quite miffed at her as well, but not as miffed as I am with the Maestro..." The cube practically hisses the title, at which point Marjorie shoos off the cube, finding them to be unhelpful as the others they've interrogated.

"Perhaps, Miss Olette, we ought to just go searching for her ourselves? Aren't worlds small?" The skeleton tilts her head to the side. The glow of her eyes flickers ominously, then settles. "Oof, it is too chilly here for my old bones."

Before the old skeleton can say anything else, one of the miniature skeletons that had been hanging from the lamp fixture, falls to the ground, their skeleton scattering to pieces. However, while the skeletons are known for falling apart, they are also able to mend themselves back together. This one does not. They lie still. Like they're dead (again). Marjorie goes to scoop up their bones and tries to attach their skull back to their spine. The skull stays upright for about a second and then clatters to the side. Marjorie shrugs. This is fine. (Probably.) "Huh. I suppose the captain didn't make these ones as sturdy?"
 
Lettie mostly ignores the cubes Marjorie consults as she studies the Fabel map provided to them side by side with Juno's 'map', searching for similarities. (Though it resembles something more like an alpaca striking a dramatic pose with gorilla arms. Seriously, what the fuck!? Is this really supposed to be helpful? The faerie squints at the scribbles until the lines begin to cross over each other and her head throbs. When she genuinely begins to worry that her brain might short circuit the same way that the Map did, she chucks it haphazardly over her shoulder and prioritizes the Fabel map instead.) "Rainbows and scythes..." She muses softly, brushing over the various different locations with her fingertip. (She might've taken a moment to admire her manicure, the way the polish sparkles in the light, but she's too wrapped up in her worry for that. The scribbles resembling wings keep creeping back into her mind... not to mention the obsession with wishes. The knot in her chest tightens. What is that pirate up to?) "Ah! Here." She finds some scythe shaped rocks illustrated along with a title. Moon's Scythe. The faerie circles it with her pink pom-pom pen. (Briefly, it reminds her of their contract. Contract, contract, contract... she has a bad feeling. A really, really bad feeling. They need to find her.) "What are our coordinates?"

The Map hovers behind the faerie, shining a green grid over the map before circling an area with a laser point of light. Heavenly Lane. Lettie draws out the fastest path between their current location and Moon's Scythe. Marjorie mentions looking for her themselves and she nods slowly.

"Yeah, we... we should go..." Lettie steels herself and looks up at the skeleton. There's a point where she has to stop wishing for something that isn't going to happen. Juno's never going to approach her first. She's not going to check in on her, not going to tell her she did good. There's been no reassurance that her opinion has changed at all since that night. All those things she said...

All Lettie wanted was for her to show. To tell her things could go back to normal between them. But if she keeps waiting and averting her eyes, who knows what Juno will get herself into in the meantime? 'What are you doing, Juno? Why didn't you just talk to me?' Because if this concerns wings-- her wings-- she should have consulted her about it first. Ah, whatever. She can ask all these questions after she stops the pirate from doing whatever it is she's about to do. Contracts, deals, wishes. They all have a cost. A catch. Lettie only made hers because she'd been backed into a corner. Juno doesn't need to do this... if she's doing what Lettie thinks she's doing, anyway. 'I want what we have to be unconditional.' Hasn't she been paying attention all this time? Doesn't she see how much she cares about her? Doesn't she hear it in her voice when she speaks?

'I don't want you to die, either.'
"And fyi, Marjorie implied that we both need tending to. So that includes you. Juno.
'I swear I'm fine.' Just look at yourself. You're bleeding!"
'I was worried. I was really worried.'

...Friggin' pirate, always making her worry!

And worry spikes up even higher yet when Lettie catches the strange flicker in Marjorie's eyes, like a candle flame that could go out in the wind. (Normally she might have been able to pass it off as a trick of the light... but a troubling spark tingles over her skin at the same time. The connection she has with Juno, the one she can feel if she only focuses on it hard enough. Something's happening.) "Marjorie...? What's going on--?" Crack! One of the small skeletons falls, bones scattering. She stiffens with horror as Marjorie tries and fails to put the poor thing back together. One by one, the other small skeletons clatter to the ground around them. And then...? Their insect swarm is the next to go. Their tiny bodies collapse to the ground, dead again. Her connection to them severs and snaps entirely. What...?

"I... I don't think..." Lettie's fear grips her even tighter as one of the average-sized skeletons confirms her theory, toppling over into a pile of bones without warning. "Fuck. Fuck. We're running out of time. I-- I think Juno's doing something very stupid." The faerie's eyes well with tears. She shakes her head quickly, slapping her cheeks twice to pull herself together. (If it's having an effect on her necromancy, who knows what's happening to her? Lettie has seen Juno pass out time and time again and the skeletons have never fallen apart in the process. Her frenzied heart races like her eager feet want to.) "We need to find her before it's too late. Come on!"

***​

Following the path Lettie drew on the Fabel map, Phillip runs faster than any of them on his colossal legs. His footsteps are 'thump-thumping' against the earth like a heartbeat. He carries Lettie and Marjorie on his shoulders while holding Abby and Inez in his arms. When they reach the point on the map, Lettie hands out butterfly daggers to everyone. (Geez, of course there's climbing involved. This would be so much easier with her... no. She's not going to think about that right now.) One by one, Phillip lifts the crew into the air to help them find purchase on higher points of the cliffside to give them a head start on their climb. Marjorie, Inez, and then Abby. His grip gets shakier and shakier with each one.

Lettie watches them but then turns her attention when she feels Phillip shiver violently underneath her. She stares at him wide-eyed, worriedly caressing the side of his skull. "...You good, Phillip?" He nods and pats the top of her head gently with his finger before lifting her high into the air like he did with the others. Lettie barely manages to find a foothold before the skeleton's steadying grip on her weakens... and crash. He collapses into a pile of massive bones beneath her. The wingless faerie slips in her panic, banging her knee harshly into the rocks, but she hardly feels the throbbing pain there as her heart overtakes everything else and clenches in her chest. "Phillip!" Lettie cries, gasps in a few desperate breaths. No. She stabs her butterfly knife into the cliffside to keep herself rooted in place, hanging in her grief as she stares down into the empty eye-sockets of his toppled skull. Not moving. Not Phillip anymore, just a big pile of bones.

Phillip, her skellie bestie. They started their lives on Lady at the same time. He was made with Juno's will to keep her locked in the closet the night they met. Which means she didn't just scrap him together... she didn't do anything halfway when it came to their rivalry in those early days.

In Lettie's experience, there are very few things that Juno only does halfway.

Phillip always kept her company. He caught her whenever she fell from things, lifted her whenever she needed to reach something high up and couldn't use her wings. (...Which was often.) Found her during her recent breakdowns and took good care of her. Lettie blinks hard through her tears and forces herself to keep on climbing. She has to stop this before they lose anyone else. When she nears the top, Marjorie offers her a hand to help her up the rest of the way.

"Thanks..." Lettie accepts takes her hand, lifting herself up the rest of the way. She clings tightly onto Marjorie as she fights to catch her breath, refusing to let go as if that might keep her there. (All this time, she just wanted a hug. Now she needs one more than ever. Phillip...) Inez is cradling an inconsolable Abby nearby, shushing her and reminding her that they're technically already dead. But Lettie's with Abby on this one. Just because they're dead doesn't mean this loss doesn't hurt like hell.

"Goodness gracious! This breeze is..." Marjorie's jaw is chattering, her eye-glows flickering erratically now. Even Inez can't seem to keep her cool anymore as she watches this. "We should have brought our team jackets." Marjorie is still trying to play this off like it's nothing more than a chill, as if that might keep them all from worrying. (She was always taking care of them. All of them.)

"Those jackets are so ugly. I was gonna... try and get us new ones. Cuter ones." Lettie whimpers. Something for each of their unique personalities. Lettie's would be pink and glittery, Juno's black and badass, Inez with her favorite cheetah print and... and... She blinks hard and then pulls Marjorie into a hug. "D-does this help?"

"Oh, yes. You're so sweet. Thank you, Miss Lettie." Marjorie pats her back lightly... but then her hand unceremoniously tumbles off and she slips through the faerie's arms into a pile of bones at her feet. The faerie collapses onto her knees, trying and failing to piece her back together with shaky hands.

"M--Marjorie... hey..." Lettie gives up, knowing there's nothing she can do. Marjorie's eye-glows never return. She doesn't answer... she's not going to answer. "Marjorie. Come back."

Inez is watching from afar, her eye-glows doing the same thing that Marjorie's did a moment ago. Lettie stares at her imploringly while gathering Marjorie's skull with the cute kitten bandaid into her arms. She hugs it tightly to her chest for comfort. "...Inez, don't leave me. Try to fight it."

"Oh... I forgot to mention. They got the inscription on my tombstone wrong. Make sure to fix it." Inez flashes a peace sign. (She never clarifies who 'they' are or how it needs to be fixed.) "And give it a nice cheetah print design while you're at it. It'll make all the other tombstones in the graveyard jelly." Then she nods. "And before we part, just know that... you shouldn't worry. You've still got hella nice tits."

"...What? Now's not the time to be joking around, Inez!" Lettie puffs her cheeks. Inez never argues back with her, though. There's no coincidental ba-dum-tss. (This isn't a nightmare. It is and it isn't... because it's real.) Her head tilts, falling off her shoulders, and she collapses into another lifeless pile. Abby's crying becomes louder and more frantic, acting as something of a wake up call. 'Don't get caught up in this, Lette. You can still stop this if you find Juno. You can have her bring them back.'

If Lettie gets caught up in her grief, who knows what might happen? Finding Juno is the priority here.

Their spirits are departing, but not erased... right? Maybe they're still close enough that Juno will be able to reverse this and bring them all back. There's still Abby to think about... but who knows how much longer she'll stick around? Lettie jumps to her feet, still holding Marjorie's skull under her arm while taking Abigail's hand with the other. "Abby, c'mon! We'll get Juno to fix it!" If it's not already too late. What the hell is she doing? What the hell is she thinking?

"...I never counted all the clouds." Abigail wails behind her. Lettie runs faster, through the tunnel, towards the faint glow of light at the end. (The energy emitting from the end... it's ominous. It crawls over her skin like thousands of tiny insect legs.) "Capn' wanted me to count the clouds."

Lettie trips, pitching forward and smashing face-first into the ground. She hisses through her teeth. Her already wounded knee screams with pain beneath her, her other knee, elbows and cheek now scraped, throbbing and bleeding as well. The faerie grunts and tremblingly picks herself up again, realizing in that moment that Abigail's not getting up alongside her. "A--Abby?" She's just holding the skeleton's hand, which is no longer attached to her body. No. She drops it and backs away, swallowing down a scream. She notices Abby's skeleton just as the glow in her eye sockets flickers out, leaving only her in that dark tunnel now. Small. Alone. Scared. (Her connection to Juno is only hanging by a thread... and it's about to snap. Is the same thing going to happen to Juno...? Is she just... is she just going to leave her here, completely alone? Does she think that's what she wants!? Because...) The faerie picks herself up again even when she wants to fall and succumb to grief. She takes Marjorie's skull into her hands and runs towards the mouth of the tunnel to confront whatever might be waiting for her at the end.

"Juju!" Lettie cries out desperately, her voice carrying through the area with an echo. She cradles Marjorie's skull over her heart for comfort, unable to stop the flow of tears steaming down her cheeks now. "Answer me. Answer me right now. I know you're in here!"
 
Aside from a few gigantic creepy crawlies that popped out from the walls, traversing the straight path down to the mountain’s very center has gone without issue. Even those crawlers had not been much trouble. They balked at her flames and scampered away, digging new holes for themselves in the mountain and leaving the necromancer to her own devices. It’s a good sign.

With each step she takes, she can feel a sort of buzz in the air, like electricity, causing her hair to stand on end but she feels no fear. No sense of trepidation. Nothing within her screams danger or that she should run, because the center of the mountain is calling to her, welcoming her into its embrace. The air is sickeningly sweet too, smelling like that disgusting cotton candy shit Olette once coerced her into trying. (“What the fuck? It’s like eating a fuckin’ pillow.”) This is another good sign.

When she reaches the entrance to the rainbow springs, an entire chamber of crystal shimmers before her, casting rainbows across the wide chasm. Despite there being no discernable source of light, the crystal reflect rainbows. Except they don’t just arc like rainbows— they swirl, spiral, loop, twist and turn in all sorts of directions that they're more like floating rivers of rainbows. ‘She’d love a place like this.’ She is a goddamn rainbow herself, after all. This can only be another good sign.

Curiously, Juno hovers her foot over one of the rainbow trails and when she completes the step, her foot touches the rainbow. It’s solid. A grin breaks over her lips and while she’s tempted to run across and slide down as many of these pathways as she can, her mission is still at the forefront of her mind. She focuses herself, scanning the chamber for signs of the spring. That’s when she notices the streaks of rainbow shiver, changing directions so they all filter down to a center point— a swirling pool of silver surrounded by dots of blinking gold. As if acknowledgment alone has activated those gold dots, they bumble over to her like bumblys (another good sign) and brush against her legs, her arms, her torso, push against her back and guide her towards this silver pool. ‘That has to be it.’ The rainbow path even cooperates, forming into steps to ease her descent into the crystal chasm.

The ground surrounding the pool sparkles and when she steps onto it, it puffs under her foot and seems to yip with glee. (Or terror.) Juno takes a deep breath, wiping her face of all the grime, sweat, and blood that’s coated her skin since her trek, trying to make herself as presentable as possible. She ties the bandana around her wrist and, once secure, she gets onto one knee, bowing her head. The toe of her boot just touches the spring’s silver rim. ‘Now or never.’

“Dream Weaver.” She speaks the spirit’s name and closes her eyes, picturing exactly what she wants. In her mind, she plays back every moment she has of Olette’s wings, focusing on the memories where the faerie had let her study them. She pictures every detail she can recall of their structure, their texture, their color. She recalls memories of the faerie soaring through the sky, performing tricks, diving to tackle. All she allows herself to think of are those wings, like flowers in bloom, to bring Dream Weaver forth.

The spring ripples in response— though Juno doesn’t dare to look— and reflects the memories pouring through her mind. Then, at the center of the pool, the silvery water gathers together, rising up from the surface, and taking the shape of a person. The body of this entity continues to reflect Juno’s desires, playing back those memories on its mirror body. The voice that Dream Weaver uses is soft, gentle like a breeze, and yet it nearly threatens to shatter Juno’s bones with its power. “Captain Juno of Desdemonia. Wanted for crimes of murder, thievery, kidnapping, torture, treason, and blackmail. Yet selected by the M’s. Curious.”

Juno stiffens, unsure of what to make of their assessment of her character, whether they’ve deemed her worthy or are insulted she’d even attempt contact. The silver body ripples and the memories that had been playing on the surface melt away. Dream Weaver then reaches forward, curling one of their cold long digits under the pirate’s chin and lifting it so that Juno is staring at their reflective face. They then move their hand so that the tips of their three foremost fingers are pressed to her forehead. All Juno feels is a slight jerk within her psyche, not too dissimilar from a sudden headache, and her mind floods with more memories. Or not memories. Visions? She doesn’t know, but she sees herself standing on a mountain top overlooking a transformed Desdemonia. She carries a sword made of sunlight over her shoulder and as this version of herself overlooks the horizon, she sees her world healed and thriving. More flashes filter through her mind showing statues made in her honor, parades to celebrate her heroics, and her name spoken long after she’s passed, getting her as close to immortality as a mortal could ever hope.

“All you desire is for this faerie’s wings to be restored? I could give you so much more than faerie wings. Power. Fortune. Fame. I could make you a legend.” Dream Weaver tilts their head to the side, but there’s no discernable judgment in their tone. “Is this truly how you desire to use your wish?”

“I don’t need that shit. Respectfully,” Juno quickly adds. “Are you willing to grant my wish?”

Dream Weaver removes their hand from Juno’s forehead and remains quiet for several moments as they deliberate. All Juno can do is stare at her own determined and exhausted expression, waiting and hoping that this spirit will transform her wishes into reality. The longer the spirit remains silent, the more the desire burns in her chest. Especially as she imagines Olette slipping away from her if her request is not met. Tears start to burn in her eyes and she blinks them away hurriedly, steeling herself.

At long last, Dream Weaver responds. “I can bend desire into whatever shape. A request such as this takes little more than a snap of my fingers.” They pause, perhaps waiting for Juno to say something but the necromancer remains silent. She knows that it doesn’t matter how easy the request, there’s still a price. Not that any amount would cause her to turn back now. Not when she’s so close. The spirit continues, “This will cost you, pirate. Are you willing to pay?”

“Yes.” Juno doesn’t hesitate. “Anything. Name your price.”

The air around Dream Weaver shifts, a disturbing chill running down Juno’s spine but she ignores it. She’s so close. “If you insist.” Dream Weaver’s body drops back into the spring all at once. Then the pool starts to crawl towards Juno. Thin, needle-like tendrils snake around her and pull her body up to a standing position, then push her backwards until she’s falling into a crystal chair that manifests behind her. Once she’s sitting, those silvery wires puncture her clothes, piercing her skin. “There is no going back now, pirate.”

“I don’t care, just… my wish. Please.” Though, somewhere, Juno knows something is off. It’s just that her desperation screams louder than logic, louder than Olette’s voice reminding her of the dangers of storybook magic. Part of her is convinced that the molten liquid pouring through her veins is just a test of her commitment. So she endures. She grinds her jaw down hard, tenses her muscles, and lets the pain pass through her. Sweat builds over her brow once more as her insides are set on fire, feeling like she’s being cooked inside of her own skin. ‘Endure. Endure. Endure. Anything.’

“I’m beginning to wonder how much this is worth? You give so willingly. Perhaps I should see how much you’re willing to give.” Before Juno can even attempt a response, white hot lightning pulses through her chest and with each pulse, she can feel her strength being drained from her. This is what she assumes, at least, because her body starts to go slack, unable to hold itself up. It’s not until she feels the demon bug swarm fall that she realizes what’s happening. Part of her tenses, another part relaxes. ‘Fine, take my necromancy. I don’t need it. I just need her.’

Even with this resolve, however, she can’t ignoring the budding concern in her chest. Especially when her heart stutters, stopping for at least three beats, before starting again. She chokes out, tries to swallow, but nothing in her body is working— aside from the tears that are now forcefully spilling from her eyes. Weakly, she tries to jerk from the bonds, but it's no use.

More and more of her magic is siphoned out of her, more threads snapping— she feels each of her bone constructs fall. Phillip. Marjorie. Inez. Abigail. The pirate’s breathing is heavy now, coming through clenched teeth as she feels pieces of her skin burn away. (Well, that’s what it feels like. In reality, were she able to look, she’d see patches of crystal forming over her skin.) But it’s going to be worth it, she tries to convince herself. In front of her, she can even see the outline wings forming. (They’re only phantom vapors.) This placates her. She tries to relax into it.

But when she hears Olette’s voice travel through the chamber, her heart sinks. Not because she’s been found before the deal has been finished, but because she can hear the faerie’s fear licked worry. That tiny Lettie voice that exists in her mind starts screaming at her, but Juno can’t move. Can’t struggle.

“Ah, it must be my lucky day.” Dream Weaver’s voice whispers around her, curling through her hair.

“Don’t… Don’t hurt her.”

Somehow, Juno can feel the spirit smirking. She tries to cry out, but the silver tendril at her jaw keeps her mouth closed and she can do little more than let out strained groans and grunts. ‘Olette…’ She can feel that stream that once flowed freely between them dwindling down to nothing more than a drop of water sliding down a slick surface. Still, it’s all she has. She focuses on it, trying to give it one last tug because Olette… Olette won’t let this be her end. She knows that and she always should have known that. ‘Lettie—’

In that moment, all the rainbow pathways that had led down to the spring shift and a thick mist gathers over the chamber, obfuscating the spring, the spirit, and the pirate from view. The golden dots that had once guided Juno, now try to distract the faerie, attempting to push her to the far corner of the chamber.
 
"...Answer me!" Lettie tries again in vain, blinking through the unstoppable flow of her tears. The only answer she receives is the echo of her own voice. She squints, unable to see through the thickening mist swirling around her, and hugs Marjorie's skull closer to her chest. The thread-thin slivers of their bond are snapping away one by one, the electric current of Juno's presence in her is weakening rapidly. "Don't leave me here alone!" She chokes out those vulnerable words she's been meaning to say for so, so long. The crew fell apart all around her. Now she imagines the Juno from her nightmares, turned to stone and cracking. Pieces of her chipping away, reducing her to another lifeless pile at her feet. Leaving her alone to deal with the pain, with the loss of all of them at once. Abandoned on an unknown world, as lonely and afraid as she was when she lost Lina. Torn through and left with a stupidly buff pirate-shaped hole in her heart. (Lina died searching for answers to set them free. Mother died trying to set her free. And now Juno's trying to die for her sake, too? No fucking way! Fuck that. Fuck the whole self-sacrifice narrative. She won't let her.) The faerie takes a step forward and wobbles on her legs, her grief near mighty enough a force to pull her down to her knees. But she keeps herself upright, continues pressing forward into the mist. "Do you hear me!? Don't you dare leave me, Juno."

Lettie ignores the ominously warm, golden lights that float towards her. The faerie glares at them, seeing through the trick in a matter of seconds, walking right through them as if they don't phase her at all. (They whisper promises and taunts alike, but she doesn't listen to them.) The image of Juno is too clear in her mind for her to get distracted by these silly firefly illusions. "You'll have to try harder than that, bitch." She's finding Juno. She's... she's fixing this today, damn it. They've come too far for this to be the way they fall apart.

As if to rise to the challenge, a circular ballroom rises around Lettie stone by stone. She pauses, watching as the walls shiver and fill themselves out with elaborate details. Towering cathedral windows of rainbow stained glass take shape, casting odd, colorful patterns over her and the midnight violet floors. Wall mounted candelabras appear in the spaces between each window, the candles flickering with curious silver flames. The mist thins a touch but it never leaves. Lettie takes a deep breath, expelling the sweet cotton-candy fragrance. Underneath, the air is stale. Smells haunted. Like death. The faerie steels herself, hugging Marjorie's skull again as she takes a cautious step backward. She's surrounded by stained glass, no matter where she looks. There are no doors. No exits. She's trapped.

A dust that turns to sparkles swirls up from the floor around Lettie's feet, tracing the outline of an elegant ball gown around her body before it materializes and fills out with sweeping, silky pink-violet fabric. Another layer of fabric materializes like snowflakes on top, resembling magical crystals. (The dress is dreamlike in it's perfection. Made especially for her, like she's a princess in a storybook.) She's given fine silver hair pieces and jewelry to match, replacing even the heart locket she hasn't had the heart to take off herself. She brings her gloved hand to it. (Wait a second...) The remaining diamond dust draws out waltzing faeries which also fill in and materialize. They're translucent like ghosts, but carefree and vibrant. Each one represents a different color of the rainbow (though she's the only one among them who's pink) swirling around the sole wingless faerie in their own elaborate ball gowns and suits. Similarly transparent, crystal garlands of flowers adorn the walls and add to the air of splendor and magic. Soon enough, she can hear the sound of their laughter and chatter. She can hear the music they're dancing to.

Something isn't right here. Lettie stands along in the crowd, wishing she could take part in the joy everyone around her seems to be feeling. The air of cheer and mystique feels like it's meant to be infectious... but something isn't working. Something's missing. She clenches tightly onto whatever it was she'd been holding...

Huh. What was Lettie holding again? (The faerie glares suspiciously. Her form glitches for just an instant.)

It's Lina's hand. Lettie blinks bewilderedly, looking first at the other faerie's hand in her own (notably, there's no scar around either of their wrists) and then into her eyes. (The same eyes she remembers.) The blue faerie offers the pink one a charming smile, leading her into a dance across the ballroom floor. The other party guests part to make room for them, allowing them the spotlight. As she twirls her around, a weak outline of Lettie's wings blooms out from the gashes on her back.

"...It must be lonely. You hate yourself. You try so hard to be someone worthy of love... but everyone leaves you in the end." Lina sighs into her ear as she pulls her close. Lettie's wings crystalize into shape. They're heavy and sharp upon her back. Like giant razor blades. "What if I told you there's a very simple solution to your problems?"

Lettie stares up at her blankly, as if she doesn't register what she's saying. Lina seems a bit unnerved that she's not humoring her conversation, but presses past it anyway.

"All you have to do... is join us. Join us in the afterlife." Lina smirks, plunging what feels like two knives into Lettie's back at once. (What looked like wings were actually weapons.) She shoves her backward, then, sending her crashing through one of the stained glass windows and into the silver pool waiting beyond it. Lettie's blood clouds the water as 'Lina' holds her underneath, drowning her. "And die!" She laughs as Lettie goes limp under her hands and the silver water turns blood red. "Ah, glorious. Look at all that delicious faerie blood..." Dream Weaver's disguise melts away as they continue to cackle, enthralled with what they've accomplished. The mist disappears and the water drains just enough that Juno comes back into view. Lettie's lifeless body now lays still in a puddle at her feet. (Her colorful glamours never fade. She's not a pile of dust. Something is obviously off.) "I have to thank you for luring her here, Juno. How about it? We could try striking another bargain. You did say anything. Are you willing to give your life for hers?"

"...Over my fucking faerie dust." The real Lettie cuts in, materializing fully intact behind Dream Weaver. She's glamoured to look like an exact replica of her fantasy counterpart-- only her heart-shaped locket remains unchanged. (She figured it out back when the familiar heart-shape of the locket morphed and it sunk in further yet when Marjorie's skull disappeared. After that, she left behind an illusion of herself for the spirit to play with.) "Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me." With this reveal, the 'dead' Lettie proceeds to dissolve into a dozen holographic butterflies. They flutter around the pirate, landing on Juno's silver bindings and gnawing away at them. "...You didn't kill me. You killed the fake bitch."

Dream Weaver snaps around to confront her, but it's already too late for them to defend against the hell the faerie's bringing. An elaborate glyph is already charged and set in Lettie's enlarged hand mirror. It lifts into the air like a giant shield as she beckons it to rise with the wave of her hands. She tilts her head, staring at the spirit with cold eyes. No mercy. Dream Weaver unleashes an outraged cry, spitting a fiery rainbow-colored blast at her. It gets absorbed into the mirror, sending no more than a whoosh of air through Lettie's hair. The spirit sends blast after blast at her, but nothing is near powerful enough to shatter her looking glass. They howls and flakes away, dissolving into gold and silver fireflies as their light is siphoned. It's only a matter of time before what little remains of their body is inhaled inside the glowing vortex of the mirror's surface.

With that finished, Lettie's mirror shrinks back down into a simple hand mirror. She stares into it as a silvery figure materializes where the reflection would normally be, pounding their fists against the glassy surface. The glass shivers a little bit... but that's all it does. The faerie traces a glyph that wipes it away like a stain, allowing her to gaze at her own reflection. "...This is a nice dress. I think I'll keep it." Her hair and eyes are a near-white, but the fantasy dress still remains intact with the last dredges of her magic. She pretends to check herself out for a moment longer, gingerly touching the bloodied cut on her cheek. It's mostly to avoid... (No. No more hiding.) She glances reluctantly at Juno and all her strength leaves her at once.

Lettie sinks down to the ground, puffing her cheeks frustratedly as she stares at Juno. Eyes roving over her to make sure she's okay. (...Stars, she looks exhausted. Just what exactly has she been putting herself through?) The wingless faerie rubs away at a tear that escapes... but it's quickly replaced with more. She can't stop them now that they've started. "Juju...t-the crew is-- they're... and y-you were... I was...s-so... scared..." So fucking scared. She hyperventilates, totally incoherent when panic and grief catches up to her and pounces. She struggles to swallow down the funny feeling in her throat. (It hurts.) Her hands become weak fists at her sides. She pounds them against the ground once. "What the hell were you thinking?" Her shoulders tremble violently as she sobs, unable to hold it back anymore. Everything she's been holding inside comes flooding out with her tears, her cheerful dam burned to ashes at the prospect of losing her. (She was about to lose Juno. Just like she lost Lina.) She falls forward in a tiny heap, her voice breaking. "What the hell were you thinking!?"
 
The more Olette's voice breaks across the chamber, the more guilt worms through Juno, writhing under her skin. All the while, she can feel Dream Weaver pressing a smirk against her psyche. (She can feel their hunger, their thirst, and she can’t do anything to stop them.) Juno is frozen in her bonds, like a statue, her muscles stiff and tense. She can barely move her own eyes to look for Olette, to wordlessly plead with her to turn back. (But she knows she won’t. She knows even shooting her a glance like that would be an insult to everything they used to be, but she doesn’t want her faerie dying here as fuel for this spirit's sick appetite.)

While the mist prevents the faerie from seeing the pirate, the pirate can still see through the mist and illusions, perhaps because of the way Dream Weaver has injected themselves into her veins, replacing her blood with silver. The veins along her neck bulge when she sees Olette trapped in a ballroom. When she sees Lina (Dream Weaver) capture her in a dance. But the hold on her is still iron-tight. Tears stream down her cheek, the only way she can communicate her distress as she feels their connection fraying to practically nothing, as she watches Olette bleed and drown…

But there’s no dust. The pirate’s heart jerks, maybe because of Dream Weaver, maybe because of this realization. In the next moment, the real Lettie arrives, because of course she does. She’s the fucking faerie.

Now that she’s looking at her, she can’t take her eyes off of Lettie. She’s barely watching the fight or what she’s actually doing with her mirror, she’s just looking at her. For the first time in an eternity, she’s looking at her. Her wingless back. Her pale hair and eyes. The bandage on her wrist, the cuts and scrapes over her arms and legs. The butterflies barely even distract Juno. Even once they’ve cut through the silver wires and she regains more control over herself, she just can’t stop staring at Olette.

Olette can’t even look at her, however. Once all is finished, she just looks herself over and pretends. Juno’s sore heart sinks and boils in her stomach, at a loss. She doesn’t have wings to present her, she doesn’t have anything to show for. (She might not want her to die, but does she even want her to stay?)

Then it happens and Juno doesn’t know what’s worse. Olette looking at her or Olette ignoring her, because now that they’ve seen each other it feels as though the veil has been lifted. She’s looking at her. Juno thought she couldn’t stand the sight of her and now she’s looking at her and Juno doesn’t know what to do or say. Her throat tightens, closing up while her tongue transforms into lead in her mouth. The tears come down much more fiercely than before— relief, guilt, and grief all washing over her.

"What the hell were you thinking?"
"What the hell were you thinking!?"​

Juno slides off the chair she had been trapped in, weakly brushing off and plucking the silver threads still stuck in her skin. Her hands are shaking and even pushing herself down to the floor is a feat, exhaustion and all that she just lost having sapped up all of her strength. (Her magic.) Her head lulls back onto the seat, staring up at the crystal stalactites through watery eyes. She heaves, unsure of how to even answer that question or how to even explain herself. After another beat, she lifts her head and returns her gaze to Olette. It's easier looking at her now, knowing she's not pretending anymore.

“I’m sorry.” That’s as good a place as any to start, right? (But she doesn’t have the wings to prove it and, suddenly, she’s feeling rather naked.) She rubs her arm, her fingers grazing over a patch of crystal on her outer forearm. (It won’t come off.) She rolls her sleeve down to cover it, but she can still feel the hardness through the fabric. Still can’t hide the knowledge of what just happened and what almost happened. “I wasn’t thinking and I just… fucked up. And now you’re… Your wings.”

“It’s my fault.” Her shoulders slump forward. There are so many reasons why this is her fault. ‘If she doesn’t hate you, she’s going to.’ Juno blinks hard, squeezing tears out as if that might get them to stop sooner. (It doesn’t.) “That shadow fucker… The shapeshifter… They baited me after I left. I was so fucking angry.” She opens her eyes, chews on the inside of her lip and then shrugs, helpless. “I was scared. That entire time on Avangeline, I was scared. I kept thinking about how I was… I’d be alone after this is over.” She gestures vaguely. She doesn’t even know if she can still help with ‘this’ anymore. Without her necromancy… She’s just a fucking pirate. She fucking fucked up. “So when that stalker found me, I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t looking for the signs that they weren’t you and I may as well have put you in those chains myself.”

“You could fly before you could walk.” She continues, saying this like it explains everything behind her logic, but even Juno knows it doesn’t. She swallows, trying to wet her dry mouth. “I just wanted to get them back for you. I just wanted to…” Her eyes flicker over to the empty pool, where Dream Weaver had been, where those phantom wings had been, realizing the extent of her folly. “I’m just so fucking sorry and I… I tried fucking everything to make new ones or summon your dead ones and then I found this passage in one of the Magician’s tomes…” She explains everything to Olette. She tells her about every experiment and explosion, the discoveries she made, and how Olette’s forgiveness at the end of her trials is what kept her going, is why she couldn’t stop. “I-I… And you… You were real this entire fucking time and I was wrong. And you’ve…” She rubs her palms into her eyes weakly while her shoulders shake like boulders being split by earthquakes.

“I wasn’t fucking thinking. I thought I was close… I didn’t mean to… I fucked up.” She doesn’t even know what Dream Weaver took. …Well, that’s not true. While she suspects she might have just had years shaved off her life (something she doesn’t have the heart to admit to even herself), the split hair that still exists between them tells her what it really took. Even if she can sense that, she can’t yet bring herself to acknowledge it. Even if she had been ready and willing to give it up, for Olette, she can’t acknowledge it now knowing that she fucking failed. That she was a fucking bonehead and nearly got herself killed for something that probably was never going to work.

Hot shame melts over her and though it makes it hard to keep Lettie’s pale gaze, she won’t hide. Not from her. What does she even have to lose now? “I didn’t want you to think that what you did on Avangeline didn’t mean anything.” The pink plumes of smoke are still so vibrant in her mind. If she closes her eyes, she can even smell the smoke and hear the cries. “That was fuckin' incredible. You blacked out, like, three tiers, Olette. You.” She shifts uncomfortably, struggling to adjust her position and eventually gives up. “And you got caught, because of me… So I just wanted to get them back for you. To say I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have even needed to go that far. I never should have doubted you.” Of all the things she’s apologetic for, it’s doubting Olette that feels like the unforgivable sin because she should have known who Olette really was. She's always known the real Lettie. Instead, she let Avangeline and her own childish fears get in the way.

“It scares me… Terrifies me to think about what I’d do for you.” If these last few hours and the weeks leading up to now are any indication of why she has every reason to fear. “And you’re… you’re just a blip. I’m not… I don’t know how to deal with that. Not like a fuckin’ normal person.” A reasonable person who can let go easily. But Juno’s never been able to accept people leaving. She holds on too long until it’s her fingers breaking trying to bring people back. “I’m weak for you. I’m weak without you. I’m hopeless and it scares me.” She fiddles with the knot on her grimy bandana. “I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make this up to you, Olette. I’d punch that Asmo-douchebag’s lights out for you.” Not that she’d even stand a chance in her current state. Not that that would even stop her from trying. “I’ll topple Avangeline if that’s what it’ll take. Just… do you think you’ll stop hating me someday?” She’s too scared to outright ask for forgiveness, but the question lingers between them anyway. It’s reflected in those stormy eyes of hers.
 
"What...? Hate you? I don't hate you, Juju." Lettie objects fiercely through tears, her brow furrowing. Through the pirate's entire explanation, she's been a tiny bundle of shell-shocked silence. Holding herself through her weak attempt to hold what little remains of her composure together, knowing what all of this had looked like from the pirate's side. (And how drastically different it is from her own.) But when Juno makes this claim? Well, duh, it's obviously wrong! She summons the strength to speak, to correct her right away tp ensure she doesn't go another second thinking that she hates her. She needs her to know that's not how she feels. Not even fucking close! Because... "I-- I thought..." She swallows hard, the urge to sob with this admission burning like fire in her throat. "I thought you hated me. I thought that's why you didn't show when..."

Well. It's Lettie's turn to fess up, isn't it? It's time for everything to come out.

"That night on Avangeline... Juno, I was always going to get caught. Whether you said something or not, I went in there knowing it wasn't going to end well for me." Lettie sniffs, her white eyes darkening. Except it didn't end at all. She hadn't known she'd still be kicking somehow. "No one pulls a stunt like that on Avangeline and gets away with it. Especially not a tiny fucking faerie." She wrings her hands in her lap before raising her broken wrist, gesturing to the bandage that covers up the zeroed out countdown. Juno doesn't know everything... but after that nightmare, maybe she at least knows why she can't explain every tiny little detail. 'You shouldn't have even needed to go that far. I never should've doubted you.' With those words, the pirate has finally said what she'd been waiting-- no, hoping-- to hear all this time. "I... I am a blip. Just not in the way that you think I am." She shakes her head somberly. "It's my lot in life. And I couldn't..." It burns, inviting fresh tears into her eyes. She clings to her throat, hoping to communicate that way. 'I couldn't tell you. I would tell you everything if I could.' She reroutes. "I don't blame you. It was my choice. I didn't want to die quietly... I didn't want to disappear with you believing everything between us was a lie. You'd never trust anyone again, 'cause I know you're a stubborn fucking pirate. You'd close yourself off to love forever because of me. And that's the last thing I wanted. You deserve love, Juno. Maybe you said some things in the heat of the moment, but I know you would never put me in those chains."

Sure, when Lettie met Juno she had her tied up in a cell. It had even been under the pretense of selling her off to the duchess because of her wings. Yes, she'd called her 'the homicidal pirate' a fuck ton after that. (Like... she totally did throw a bomb at her on that one world.) But that was all before she got to know the real Juno... and before Juno was able to see glimpses of the real her. The real Juno is soft, she's thoughtful, and loyal and just needs somebody in this world to treat her right for once. And because they knew each other once, she was never going to go to such an extreme to hurt her. (The only way she was ever going to hurt her was by leaving her.)

Thinking back... Juno says she blacked out three tiers? Lettie blinks bewilderedly the more she considers it. Considering she blacked out herself, she didn't know that. Didn't know the scale of it. Only that she wanted to do as much damage to that evil fucking place as she possibly could. "Stars. Had I not gotten caught at that moment, I totally would've died in the explosion." She pauses. "If anything, you saved my life. You came back. You took me the hell away from there."

"I... I didn't expect to wake up on Lady. I was prepared for every possibility except for that. At first, I thought... hoped that maybe you changed your mind about me. That things would be okay and go back to normal." Lettie blinks hard through her tears. "I kept looking at the door, waiting for you to come visit me. For you to tell me everything was good now. But you never showed, not once... and nothing was normal. I lost... I felt like I lost my wings and you all at once. And it was--" It was hard. It was so hard. But the words are overtaken by shaking sobs. "It's been hard without my wings. Losing that part of me... but it broke me, feeling like I lost you. I felt pitiful. Like you were only keeping me around anymore because you felt sorry for me. Then I heard you were looking for worlds with faeries... so I thought you were looking for a place to leave me. And that you were looking for a ritual to sever our connection, so the cube wouldn't force us like before." (Oh stars. And look at where they've ended up!) "But all this time, you were really..."

"Fuck." Yeah, fuck. Because what else is there to say other than fuck? Juno immersed herself in guilt, in research, just trying get her wings back. Fighting for just a chance of getting things back to normal, knowing the whole time that it was only just a chance, not a sure thing. And she could've had that all along, if she'd only... if she'd only talked to her... and now... The wingless faerie crawls to Juno across the springs, to get a closer look at her. The streak of white in her hair. The circles under her eyes. The crystalized spots on her skin. Oh, Juno. She's not sure how much more of this her heart can take. Didn't she see her? Every time she insisted on dressing her wounds? Every time she told her to rest? Every time she lectured her for blocking with her face, for doing something reckless or dangerous?

"I'm so... fucking angry." Lettie curls her hands to fists again. She punches Juno with one, but it might as well just be a tap with how weak it is. She's not saying or doing this to hurt her. She's just telling it exactly like it is. Because she's not hiding it. She'll leave no more room for doubt or mistakes. No more room for this narrative where Juno nearly kills herself trying to appease her when that's the last thing she'd ever want. "I'm pissed. And guess what, Juju? It has nothing to do with my wings. Nothing. Don't you get it? It's 'cause you're still doubting me!" Her tears roll down her cheeks, fast and hot. "You're underestimating how much I care about you. After everything we've been through... how else am I supposed to get it through your thick pirate skull that I want to be more than a blip in your life? That I don't wanna lose you? Lady felt more like home to me than Avangeline ever did. Being-- being with you felt like home."

"A-and... and I already said what we have is unconditional, didn't I?" Lettie continues. Punch, punch. She keeps on punching but the lack of hate or any true will to hurt Juno is evident. There's no force to it. (Even less than there would normally be if they were fighting just to play. Especially since Juno's so drained.) "I'm not here to take the duchess's place. I'm not going to ask you to punch faces or topple worlds for me. If I let myself be selfish, the only thing I'd ever ask of you is... is if I could stay." There it is, at last. She sniffs and trembles, struggling to hold herself upright anymore.

"If that bitch came back out here and gave me the choice between you or my wings, I'd choose you every single fucking time. No hesitation. I can handle losing my wings. But losing you...? No. No." Lettie stares into Juno's stormy eyes, pleading with her to see her and truly see her. The tears blur over her. She puffs her cheeks, but they quickly deflate as she cries. Punch... punch. The punches continue, but they slow considerably as she cries even harder. "Can you guess why, Juno? Or do I have to spell it out for you with fireworks?" She gives another punch but she's mostly collapsed against Juno's chest at this point. "And little hearts and shit...?"
 
“You deserve love, Juno.”

Everything that the faerie has said hits the pirate like a ton of bricks, but it’s that notion that keeps echoing over and over again in her mind as Lettie beats her fist against her chest— each soft tap, another reminder that she deserves love. Somewhere, she knows it's a concept that should be as basic as needing air to breathe, food to live, water to survive, but it's still so foreign to her that she can’t help the plain bewilderment on her features; like she hadn’t ever known this and, to a certain degree, she really hadn’t. (Admittedly, she still doesn’t know if it’s true, but she accepts that Lettie, at least, believes it.) Even if Juno knows that she’s experienced love before, it’s been so rare and short lived that she never assumed it could be something that's consistent. (It hits her that Lettie is more or less suggesting that she loves her.) And it's another thing entirely to be told that she— with all her faults and flaws— deserves love. 'Why?'

All Juno can do is sink further into the ground as the weight of this settles over her. The punches continue and when they slow, she takes Lettie’s wrist in her fist and holds it against her chest for a minute. Then, with her other arm, she scoops the faerie closer to her, holding her as tight as she can manage. (She's barely able to press her into herself.) She doesn’t know what to say or do, so she just lets Lettie cry into her for a few more minutes while her own stream of tears turns into rapids. Her shoulders shake even while she tries to tense and keep still, but she can’t find it in herself to care that Lettie is seeing her like this at all. After everything, what does she even have to lose?

She buries her nose into the top of her head, feeling the familiar weight of her, the solidness of her figure. ‘I almost lost this. I almost lost her.’ Because of her own stupidity, she nearly ruined everything between them. While Lettie might not blame her entirely for how things have been between them, because it’s true that much of this had been because of what she physically cannot say, the pirate still feels like a fucking bonehead. Now that she knows everything and Lettie is talking to her again, she doesn’t even care that she’s angry with her, because she at least feels something for her. She also knows that her anger is just a sheet and beneath it, is love— though Juno is still half-wary of making that leap, thinking it might too bold. (Maybe she does need that firework show with little hearts and shit.)

Finally, after a small eternity, when her shoulders shake with less intensity and her sobs start to relent enough that she can speak again, she clears her throat. “I’ve been such a fuckin’ bonehead— I’m sorry.” She’ll repeat that until the end of time most likely. Though she'd rather demonstrate her remorse than voice it, any attempts would probably kill her and Lettie’s already made clear, several times over, that that would break her. (She’s only one tiny faerie, after all.) “I just– I just…” Her voice trails off as she swallows. There are so many ways she could explain why she went to such lengths, but she realizes it doesn’t matter. Explaining until she’s blue in the face won’t do anything to change the past. What’s done is done and now… Now there’s only living with the consequences. (And she’s still much too ashamed to pull on her necromancy to confirm that it's gone.) “I don’t… I’m not… I’ve never really been great with people. In any capacity.” This can’t even be a surprise since Lettie already knows Juno’s propensity for punching faces without prompting. “This shit's new to me and I’d’ve done much stupider things just to feel I was making things right. You're too important to me.”

Juno closes her eyes and rests her cheek on Lettie’s head. She takes the wrist she’s been holding and moves it over her heart, flattening her palm against her chest so she can properly feel her heartbeat. “But I’m here, Lettie.” She shifts a bit so she can look at her again, holding her pale gaze. “I’m here and I’m not leaving. Even…” She swallows again, eyes shifting between her bruised throat to her bandaged wrist. “Even knowing what I know.” She really only ever considered leaving when she’d been under the impression that Lettie might not have feelings as serious and gargantuan as her own. Weak as it makes her feel to admit that— that she couldn’t be strong enough to muscle through rejection— it is true. Lettie makes her weak. Impossibly so. “Stay. For as long as your blip lasts, stay. It’s not selfish to ask. Kinda fuckin' relieve you have, because you feel like home to me, too.”

It makes it even worse to know that Lettie isn’t guaranteed any amount of time. In fact, she’s running on stolen time now, having escaped Avangeline. (Later, Juno will shiver knowing that there’s at least one person capable of tracking them across worlds and who has connections to that Lettie's homeworld. For now, she’s let herself forget this detail about the entity.) “And that fuckin’ terrifies me.” She repeats this sentiment once again, her eyes watery and desperate still, but nothing indicates that she's going to let this terror scare her off. Not again. “No one’s ever made me feel so helpless before and– and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’d never even think of comparing you to fuckin’ Cathy.” She strokes Lettie’s cheek with the pad of her thumb, then wipes away some of the blood and grime from her scrapes. Her eyes flicker down to her lips, heartbeat hiking in her chest when that echo— that notion that she deserves love and that Lettie might be willing to spare it on her— bounces through her thick pirate skull. “You’re just… You just make everything in my life better. I’d do my entire life over again, exactly the same, if it meant getting a chance to know you all over again.”

She tucks some loose strands of hair behind Lettie’s pointy ears, then curls her finger under her chin. “But I’m not sure… I’m not sure I totally fuckin’ get why you’d choose me over your wings. I’m just a homicidal pirate, aren’t I?” She manages a small smile while her eyes stay firmly locked on her lips. Slowly, she leans forward, turning that annoying distance between their lips into inches, mere centimeters, until just a hair stands between them. She can feel the warmth emanating from her lips, can practically taste her already, but Juno stops just before closing this short distance. Lettie is a fucking lady after all. "Is this alright?"
 
Lettie’s at Juno’s mercy and at the same time, Juno’s at hers. Since they’ve laid their hearts out on the floor at each other’s feet, all she can do is release her fists and hold her back when she pulls her closer. She’s warm, she’s safe, and holds her ardently— like she wants her closer, all the way down to her core. Like she truly wants her. This is how love is supposed to be, she thinks. Both of them equals in their terror… but deciding it’s worth it, if it means more time together. She doesn’t want to waste another second. Stay, she says, and Lettie holds her tighter, burrowing her fingers into the back of Juno’s shirt. She holds the pirate the way she wants to hold onto this moment, savoring it because it's so precious. I’m staying. I’m here. She doesn't know how this is going to end, doesn't know how much time she has left. But with what remains of it, she's going to stay with Juno. She'll spend every second convincing her that she's worthy of all the love she can offer.

Just a homicidal pirate... Lettie's brow furrows just slightly and she stares up at Juno searchingly as she leans closer. Noticing her eyes on her lips, her own gaze flits down to hers. Is this really happening? A scatter of butterflies are swept around her heart like leaves in a swirling breeze. Am I dreaming? The sparkles in her cheeks become more pronounced when she blushes... the instinct is there, to embarrassedly flatten her wings against her back. (They would have turned pink, too.) Noticing what's missing gives her stab of loss-- a feeling that's becoming as familiar to her as her wings once were. However, her heart never wavers. Nothing she's told Juno is untrue. She'll always miss her wings, but...

"I can find other ways to fly, Juju." Lettie says softly, moving her hand from Juno's chest to her face. She gently traces the skin alongside her scar before brushing a strand of her bangs from her face. She's beautiful. "You're irreplaceable. No one else can make me feel the way you can." Irreplaceable. The faerie puffs her blushing cheeks. Geez! Look at Juno, making her say all this cheesy romantic shit! (But that's exactly how she feels. She's just being honest.) "Anyway, I won't have you questioning my taste! 'Cause I have really fucking good taste."

Juno's not that homicidal pirate anymore. Not to her, anyway. To her, she's Juno. A badass pirate captain and a sweet, softie pirate wrapped into one. The sort of person who's thoughtful enough to pause and ask if it's okay before she kisses her because she cares about her and not what the faerie can give her. Nothing at all like those parasites on Avangeline seeking their own pleasure while disregarding her own. The sort of person who will use her strength to protect her instead of the alternative.

Once upon a time, Juno captured her with the intent of selling her wings off for profit. The homicidal pirate title naturally followed that. But now? Now, she's willing to give up anything and everything to get her wings back for her sake. (And she would, Lettie knows. She would sacrifice anything in a heartbeat, without hesitation if she asked her to. Like hell is she ever going to let that happen, though.) Lettie's never, never going to use Juno's heart like a weapon against her. Through all the missions they've been through together, Juno has never taken more than she needed from her. (In fact, she practically had to beg her to.) She's never once used her up like a battery. And so she wants Juno to feel just as safe in her tiny faerie arms as she does in her stupidly buff ones.

"Mhm. But first..." Lettie grins mischievously, closing the distance between them only to teasingly kiss the corner of her mouth instead of directly on the lips. Giggling all the while, she proceeds to pepper gentle little kisses all over Juno's face-- from her cheeks, to her ears, to her forehead, to her nose, leaving a faint trail of lipgloss stains wherever her lips have been. Kissing her in every spot she's ever thought of kissing on her face, saving the best part for last. At last, she finally kisses her on the lips, intending to make the wait worth it. (They're warm and stupidly soft. Nice.) She puts her all into it, wanting it to be the best damned kiss Juno's ever experienced, so that it's enough to scrub away any lingering doubt that might exist in her mind. (Truth be told, she couldn't resist it with her silly antics for all that much longer. The faerie has wanted this-- wanted her-- for so long. And she kisses her like she's been waiting to kiss her because she has been. All those almosts, all that silent wanting, and now she finally finds the courage to act on it.) As she deepens the kiss, her hand slides from Juno's face, glides down her neck, and then rests on her shoulder. And another thrill runs through her, they've been rushing through her like shooting stars across the night sky. Her hand moves down her arm, rubbing consolingly but also exploring the muscle underneath. Buff pirate. Her buff pirate. (Does this mean she can kiss them now, too?) Ah. Her coherent thoughts melt away entirely, her insides turning to jelly.

Lettie leans against Juno by the time they part again, dizzy with feeling and lack of air as they resurface to breathe.

"Wow." Lettie whispers breathlessly, nuzzling against her for a moment longer before looking up at her again. It's not long before she snorts with another fit of giggles, affectionately grinning up at Juno. "Your... pfft. You've gotta see your..." The pirate's covered in evidence that she's been kissed all over by a certain little faerie. (Her. Lettie.) Eyes crinkled and sparkling with the first traces of genuine joy she's felt in a very long time, she supplies her compact mirror (the spirit-less one) to show the pirate her reflection. "Your face, Juju."

They're both completely spent, but they still have it in them to roughhouse in the gentlest possible way (and maybe sneak in a few more kisses, too) before bracing themselves to leave the rainbow springs behind. They stay close through the journey. It isn't easy, having to pass by the abandoned bones of the fallen crew. (They contrast greatly with the soft pastels of the world they're on now.) Lettie shivers with the memory of each of their last moments so fresh in her mind. And more than that, just coming to terms with everything Juno just sacrificed... it's unavoidable. They can't collect all of their bones at once with all the climbing they have to do to return to Lady. However, there's no way they can leave them. They'll come back for them. There must be a way to reverse this. Juno was cheated out of her necromancy... there's got to be a way to cheat the cheater back.

The cubes are nowhere to be found at first, but Lettie doesn't question it. She doesn't want to deal with them right now, anyway. Everything's in shambles. They've lost so much... and she's uncertain what their future looks like. Will they have to return to Avangeline for the Matrix? And what will happen to their mission, since Juno...? While the unknown that looms ahead of them is terrifying, she has the strength to move forward because she has Juno's hand in her own. She's bringing her home alive. They're together again. That's what matters most to her right now. The two of them make their way into Juno's room and collapse on the bed together in an exhausted heap. They need their rest to face whatever comes next-- it's non-negotiable.

"I missed this." Lettie mumbles sleepily as she starts to drift off against the comforting, familiar warmth of Juno's chest. Noticing the rhythm of her heartbeat, the way it collides with her own. (Over and over, like they used to as the cube tossed them from world to world.) For the first time in what feels like forever, she's draped over her pirate like a little faerie blanket. She curls her toes, realizing this is the first time she gets to fall asleep on Lady with the certainty that she can call it home, too. (Without Juno, though, it wouldn't be. She thanks the stars that she made it to her side in time.) "I missed you."

Though Lettie falls asleep with ease, she startles awake a few times during the night-- jerking as if she'd been falling from a great height. Her nightmares aren't leaving her alone. First it's the fucking geese. ("You... long-necked chickens... don't stand a chance..." She's been talking in her sleep, too. "Against stupidly buff muscles.") They progressively get worse. Burning roses. Her severed wings in a puddle of blood, which gradually morph into Juno's notes and wing sketches... blotted with Juno's blood instead. The Reaper and Asmodeus, gigantic and watching the wingless faerie with morbid curiosity as she's trapped in a golden hourglass-- pounding at the sides with her small fists as she's slowly drowned in the sand that trickles down. There snippets of the skeletons falling apart. And lastly, it's Juno turned to stone. Shattering to pieces the same way the crew had. The faerie small and alone, cutting her hands while trying and failing to piece her back together. ("Don't leave me. Don't...") Every time she wakes, the reassurance of Juno's presence soothes those fears. I'm not alone. She's here. Having rolled off of her at some point in the night, she snuggles closer to Juno. She's right here. After a while her overactive dreams finally dissolve to nothing and let her rest.

Lettie wakes before Juno. This time she doesn't leave the room to make her toast. She stays instead, curled up on top of her while gently tracing the pirate's arm with her fingertips. (Call her superstitious, but the sequence of events would be way too similar to that day they ended up on Avangeline. She'd just... rather them make breakfast together today.) She doesn't have too much time to fret about this, thankfully, as Juno seems to sense she's awake and rouses as well. "Good morning." From the looks of it, though, it's actually the middle of the night. Well, whatever. Their concept of time has always been fucked up. There's no telling how many hours they've been dead to the world since they crashed. She caresses Juno's cheek, wonderstruck as she considers their kisses all over again. "...How are you feeling? Hungry?"
 
Juno falls into a dreamless slumber that feels like a blink more than anything else. For the first time since Avangeline, she doesn’t toss and turn for four to six hours, waking up in a cold sweat as her mind supplies scenarios of Lettie tormenting her over her lost wings. Perhaps it has something to do with the faerie sleeping on top of her, but she doesn’t move an inch. Her sleep is still and silent. Her body sinks against the mattress and envelops her in a warm cocoon.

When she does begin to wake, the light trace of fingers against her arms sending tickles shooting up to her shoulders, she doesn’t immediately open her eyes. She shifts a bit, stirring her sore muscles, and settles back into the mattress, content with the feeling of Lettie on top of her. Passively, her mind takes her back to the day (?) before, to Lettie’s lips on her lips. Her heart bathes in a sudden flush of warmth recalling how her hands felt roaming her arms; the way the kiss deepended; how Juno nearly rolled the faerie onto her back before they pulled away for air.

Before Lettie, Juno had thought that kisses were just two bodies coming together, all anatomy and no lightning. But with Lettie thrills pulsed through her like a storm, sending her heart into a frenzy. She would have done anything back there. She would do anything to relive that moment again and, she realizes, she can. Because Lettie is right here and she’s staying.

She shifts again, waking up the rest of her body as she lazily peers down at the woman in her arms, a tired (dopey) smile on her lip. “You sure I’m not fuckin’ dreaming?” Juno never thought herself the type to be so cheesy, but Lettie pulls it out of her. (Lettie has that effect on Juno, she realizes. She’s just got a knack for helping the pirate feel comfortable enough to be a dweeb.) She pulls Lettie in closer with the arm that’s wrapped over her shoulders and presses a kiss to the top of her head. “Sore as fuck. Climbing a mountain, that fucking trek… That was stupid as shit.” Not to mention the loss of her necromancy has her feeling weaker. It’s not that her necromancy enhanced her strength, but the loss feels like weights around her wrists and ankles. Maybe it’s just in her head? She’d rather not think about it.

And it’s easy to avoid thinking about anything with the stunner lounging on top of her. Easily, she flips their positions around, hovering over the faerie with a mischievous grin. “Hungry isn’t exactly how I’m feeling.” Thirsty is definitely the better word, but she doesn't bother explaining herself further. Instead she closes the distance between them, stealing a kiss, then another, and another. Then it’s her lips tracing constellations over Lettie’s star-speckled face, kissing each of her freckles, saving her favorite for last. “Revenge for yesterday.”

Honestly? She’d much rather spend all day lounging with Lettie, but her stomach growls insistently and she’s also reminded that, as much as she doesn’t want to think about it, they’ll have to figure out how to get her necromancy back. If it’s even possible. (They’ll also need to investigate the crystal patch on her arm. Juno hasn’t looked, but she can feel it’s spread. Not just on her arm, but she’s pretty sure there’s another stretch forming along her spine with the way she can only feel her shirt layered over everything except her spine.) Slumping forward so that her head falls against the faerie’s shoulder, she takes a moment for herself, nuzzling into her neck and enjoying the tiny little space heater beneath her. (It’s so weird laying like this, for several reasons, and the biggest is…) Her stomach growls again and Juno groans as if telling it to shut up.

“Alright, alright,” she mutters, pushing herself off of Lettie and helping her out of bed… only to push her over a second later with a wild grin on her face. “Last one to the kitchen is eating roast wasp!”

Juno wins the race to the kitchen with her head start, but she doesn’t make Lettie eat roast wasp. (They ran out a while back anyway.) She does, however, apologize for keeping the gruel from her and apologizes again for her behavior when they first met. She understands there isn’t the need to, that she’s more than made up for that time, but the squishy part of herself that is reserved for Lettie alone will always feel bad about it. (It continues to be true that Lettie saved her from that dark part of herself. The part she let takeover as a means to survive and then, later, just because it had become so familiar and safe. Like a shield.)

She makes them something simple, something called “a dutch baby” topped with fruit. (Juno and Lettie spend at least a half hour trying to puzzle out this name. "Maybe the eggs are the baby?") As a side, she also made a hefty sausage scramble. They eat until they’re stuffed and not a crumb remains. They’re sitting on their floor dining room spot, pinky fingers locked together while they each lean against the other's shoulder. Juno still can’t believe that this has happened. That Lettie is her… her girlfriend. She’s pretty sure.

The ship is quiet without the cubes or the crew. Winifred’s incessant singing isn’t loud enough to fill the halls (thank the fucking goddess) and Prissy has always been relatively quiet. (She’s currently laying across Juno’s lap.) It’s just them and while that’s nice, while they are content, the atmosphere on the ship is still dreary. It borders on being eerie and that's coming from the woman who grew up on Desdemonia.

“The cubes have… They’ve left us alone before, right?” Juno breaches the subject as gently as she can, not wanting to ruin their moment together but also needing to address the unsettling stillness. “I mean, it’s not like they’re our fuckin’ babysitters or anything. It’s just… I’m not used to the ship being so quiet.”

‘Maybe it’s just the lack of boneheads.’ That’d be a reassuring thought if it didn’t also point to the fact that she doesn’t have her necromancy. This also only reminds her that their mission seems to require a necromancer and a faerie. And with how chaotic their lives have been since their first collision, she isn’t sure the cubes will give them time to sort out her own necromancy. (The idea that she could teach Lettie necromancy does occur to her, but she doesn’t want the entire mission to rest on her shoulders. She’s powerful, yeah, but they’ve always needed each other to resurrect the hearts. It's too risky and she already doesn't know how much time she has with Lettie as it is.) They’ve got to figure this out. This and…

Juno blows out a sigh and rolls up her sleeve, holding it out so that Lettie can inspect the crystal growth that's now spreading over her elbow and reaching towards her wrist. “That grew. I can also feel…” She furrows her brows together unsure if she should show her or tell her. Lettie might be fine with all the scars she can see, but her back… She’s not ready for that. “I can also feel patches growing along my spine.” She turns a bit to give her access. “You can feel them. Uh, don't... don't look.”

“It’s… It’s going to be fine," she reassures. Though whether she's saying it for Lettie or herself, she doesn't know. "We'll figure this out. We always do."
 
Lettie hums thoughtfully, agreeing with Juno's observation about Lady's unnaturally quiet atmosphere. Usually there's a lot more bustle-- especially in the morning-- between all the cubes and the crew. (If she closes her eyes and lets her mind wander, she still sees them falling apart all around her. Then she sees the Juno from her nightmares falling apart, too, and her heart squeezes. Now that she knows she has a home at Juno's side, now that she has this good thing going... the universe is going to try and rip it away from her, isn't it?) Trying to distract herself, she purses her lips and glamours the toaster into a cube. Maybe the illusion that a cube is there would make things feel a bit more normal? But... nope. It does nothing for her. She waves her hand and the glamour is whipped away fleck by fleck like particles of sand blown in the wind.

There's a possibility that the cubes gave up on them. Juno's necromancy is... because of what she traded away, she doesn't fit the requirements for their mission anymore. The cubes have been saying constantly that they need to hurry. Lettie wonders if they threw up their non-existent hands and decided look elsewhere for help. New necromancer, new faerie, new start. (They're just cubes... but it is kinda weird that they all left without saying goodbye after everything they'd done. Well, no. It's not too weird. They're fucking cubes. And the fucking cubes rarely explained shit to them, because that would be too helpful. Still. Losing the crew and the cubes all at once... it is a drastic change.) Hm. What's going to happen to the mission, she wonders. Lettie had wanted to see it through, for Desdemonia's sake and for faeries like Cerise. But at the same time, she can't imagine teaming up with anyone but Juno. (Trusting anyone but Juno.) Whatever. For now, she's content to focus on the pirate sitting beside her. They can take care of each other, take it moment by moment, rather than stressing too much about the big picture.

Way too much of Lettie's life has been about stressing, hustling, working herself down to the bone. And in the end? None of it even mattered. The contract has been torn up into tiny pieces, her soul now entitled to scum like Asmodeus. She gazes down briefly, distractedly, at the scar and golden zeroes around her wrist. The absence of the bracelet is still what hits her the hardest. (The last piece of Lina she had left. Gone.) Rage and grief intertwine in her chest, twisting her insides up. Fucking assholes. They really tried to take everything she had. Worked her to death, stole her wings and her bracelet. They would've taken her life, too, if not for...

Juno's sigh helps Lettie resurface from her thoughts. Seeing the crystal growths on her arm, she inhales a sharp breath and holds it as her heart shivers in terror. (Again, she can imagine the pirate crystalizing before her eyes. Shattering. Shattering, shattering, shattering...) Wide-eyed, she looks helplessly from the crystals to Juno and back again. There's an imperceptible tremor to her hand as she runs her fingers gently along her arms, scraping the sharp ridges that feel unnatural next to the softness of her skin. After assessing those, brushes the ones growing from her spine without looking at the pirate's request.

"...Does it hurt?" Lettie's brow furrows deeply with concern, fighting to reign back the worry from her expression so it doesn't impact Juno. She's terrified. She's terrified, but she needs to focus right now. Juno's got to be terrified, too. She needs her to focus right now. (While she's perfected the art of the fake smile, at acting like the sunshine when there's no glimmer of light to be found, she suddenly finds herself completely depleted. Fear is stronger and it has that part of her in a chokehold.) "Fuck the cubes, then. We need to figure this out as soon as we can." Especially if it's growing. How much time do they have left?

***​

They agree to freshen up before they figure things out, considering they passed out directly after their mountain climb. There's a lot of sweat, blood and grime from the day before to wash down the drain. Though Lettie zones out frequently, she manages to get ready in record time for her. (Six minutes.) She picks out a comfy black lounge dress from the wardrobe and pairs it with one of Juno's white button down shirts, wearing it as a makeshift jacket. (For comfort. It's warm, it smells like her and it also covers up the scars on her back.) She sits stiffly on the bed instead of lounging like usual while the pirate takes her turn in the bathroom, imagining the crystals eating through more of her flesh all the while... shattering, shattering, shattering.

Relief loosens the tight ball of worry in Lettie's chest when Juno walks out. The faerie stays close at her side afterwards, holding tightly onto her hand. She'll squeeze three times if she feels like she's in any danger. She'll warn her. Right?

Lettie rocks from her heels to her toes. Hm. (She needs to get used to this. Being held down by gravity at all times.) If she still had her wings, she'd be gliding up to kiss Juno's forehead. "...Hey. Get down here." Like this, though, she has to tug at the collar of Juno's shirt to request that the pirate to come down to her level. (And even then, she still has to rise up onto her tip-toes to close the distance.) While she has her there within reach, she kisses her forehead and then her lips, affectionately holding her face in her hands. The faerie's eyes bore into her for a long moment, like she's trying to commit every little detail on her face to memory. (She can recreate her perfectly in her memory already. That's a test she's passed before while dealing with the shapeshifter's cheap copies. But it never hurts to get a refresher.) Gently, she uses her thumb to stroke a strand of Juno's bangs away from her scarred eye. "I meant what I said before. I like it when I can see your face." (Did the pirate hate the haircut she gave her before? It feels silly to ask about that of all things now.) She purses her lips as her eyes trail down to her neck. Lettie hesitates before drawing her magic circle and taking the broken heart-shaped locket out to show her.

"...I held onto it. Just in case." Lettie blushes sheepishly. She can still recall how it felt, watching Juno tear it from her neck. Watching her throw it to the floor. But... there are good memories she associates with it, too. Enough good to bulldoze over the bad. Like the heist. The way they both had the thought to get the other a necklace, without having it planned out in advance. Then there was the process of finding their favorite photos of each other to keep inside them. (And through all of this, she still hasn't taken her own off. Taking it off would've been like giving up.) "I haven't had the chance to get it fixed, but..." She swallows uncertainly. (Ugh. Why is she even worried? It's unlikely that Juno's going to refuse now that they've made up. Now that they've made out.) "I thought you might want it back?"

Lettie shakes her head. "A-anyway..." As much as she'd like to talk through everything, they've got important shit to do. "We've got to figure this out." She gently brushes her fingers towards the crystal growths again, her heart clenching in her chest. "Let's go to the study. Can you show me all your notes on the rainbow springs?" She puffs her cheeks as she considers the state she found the study in the day before. All the scrambling she had to do to catch up with the pirate. "Uh, scratch that. What I mean to say is that you'll have to translate them for me, Juju, 'cause I can't read your handwriting."
 
Juno comes out of the bathroom with clouds of steam trailing after her. Unlike Lettie, Juno took an uncharacteristically long shower (seven minutes), with good reason. At least half her time in the shower had been spent searching her body for other patches of crystal that she might not have been able to feel. Then she naturally had to double check to confirm that the spots are only on her arm and back. (But knowing that a new patch could show up at any moment, without warning, does terrify her. Especially not knowing whether this growth will continue at a steady or exponential rate. It’s hard to tell since it spread while she slept and while a superstitious part of her wonders if she should blame her sleep and, therefore, forgo it, she knows that that won’t help regardless. Unless Lettie specifically tells her to be a stubborn pirate, she’ll keep with her schedule. It’s at least easier knowing that the faerie will be joining her at night and will be there if anything happens.) ‘Fuck. Now look who’s on a fucking timeline.’

For Lettie’s sake, she tries to not let her worry show or even name it. She knows that she can. She knows that Lettie is too observant and too well-versed in her mannerisms that she can’t hide it from her entirely, but she does trust the faerie to trust her on what to disclose and what to keep private. (Of course, if it comes to it, she’ll warn her. She’ll absolutely warn her even if her voice breaks and she’s shaking, she’ll bear it just so Lettie knows.)

She blushes under Lettie’s kisses, still getting used to the frequency of affection and being on the receiving end of all of it. (She wouldn’t want it any other way.) The blush deepens when the faerie pushes back her damp bangs and reaffirms that she likes her face. She doesn’t doubt this and even remembers the way her fingers had traced the scar that goes over her eye the previous day (or earlier today?), how it was tender and not full of reproach. She’s never jerked away from Juno. (Well, not recently.)

“I know.” Is all she can manage to say in response, in her small quiet voice. Once she’s straightened out again, she takes a hair tie from her wrist and knots her hair into a bun so the faerie can enjoy her face. (She’s maintained the haircut that Lettie gave her on Avangeline. Initially, she was going to buzz it, because it would have reminded her too much of Lettie, but after that final night… She wanted to be reminded of her. She even threatened to crush the magistrate if she fucked up the touch up she requested before embarking on her harebrained quest to get Lettie her wings back.)

Then Lettie continues to stun the pirate by handing her the locket she ripped off. Part of her tells her that she doesn’t deserve it and the other part of her tells her that Lettie’s telling her that she does. Otherwise she wouldn’t be giving it back. She nods, still too stunned to say anything proper, and takes the locket into her palm, closing her fist around it protectively.

Thankfully, the faerie is done trying to give the pirate a heart attack (Juno always knew Lettie would be the death of her, she just didn’t expect it to be quite like this) and they head to the study. With the jab at her handwriting, Juno’s easy smile returns and she nudges Lettie as they walk to the study. “Well, handwriting isn’t really in the curriculum for badass pirates. Can you even imagine that at the pirate academy? Bunch of us rapscallions tryna perfect our letters, remembering to dot i’s and cross t’s? It’d be a fuckin’ joke.” Though the truth is that Juno only learned to read and write a handful of years ago and she’s never spent much time trying to perfect her handwriting. She’s never really had a reason to write.

When they make it to the study (after stopping for a second or two to listen to Weenie sing sea shanties from Avangeline), Juno’s face lights up bright red seeing the absolute state that it’s in. Though she doesn’t let go of Lettie’s hand, she does hurry inside and mutters apologies about the disorder. (If she still had her necromancy, she could have swept up all this ash with a sweep of her hand. Now she’ll have to settle for a broom.) While tempted to clean, she also knows they’re on an unknown timeline and settles for kicking around the mess to create a pathway to the desk where a bulk of her notes are. The Magician’s tomes all seem to have disappeared, however. This is unsurprising if the cubes truly have decided to free them from their mission now that Juno’s no longer a necromancer. (Though she can still feel a vague connection to Lettie. She isn’t sure if it’s just in her head though.)

She positions Lettie in front of her and stands close behind, so that their bodies are practically touching. She leans over her and sorts through the notes, apparently able to order them even if her handwriting is a mystery to others, including (mostly) all powerful cubes. Then she opens her desk drawer and pulls out a spool of leather cord. She opens her palm with the locket inside. “Thanks for holding onto this, by the way. Thought it was gonna be gone for good.” She slips the silver chain into the desk, to be fixed later, and puts the locket on the leather cord, tying it around her neck. “I can fix the chain later.”

With that taken care of, Juno returns to her stack of notes on the rainbow springs as well as the entity known as Dream Weaver. ‘Fuck.’ Even just her cursory glance over her notes, she can see that all the warning signs had been there that this entity is a hoax. Still, she has to bear through this if they’re going to reverse this crystal curse. “Just… Just try to remember that I was sleep deprived and desperate?”

She sighs and then begins to read her notes. “The rainbow springs located in the Moon’s Scythe mountain range were formerly a place for Seekers of Fabel to acquire power to bring back to their respective villages. The spirit of the mountains, Dream Weaver, has the ability to pull out a Seekers' desires and materialize them into reality in exchange for a portion of a Seeker’s life. Depending on their wish, it could be a few years or even half their life.

“Most Seekers were looking for impossible cures, hidden powers, to help their people. Seekers were generally regarded as healers and leaders of their vilages. They were usually the strongest people in the village who could bear the cost. However, over time, Seekers began to abuse Dream Weaver’s gifts and started taking for themselves and themselves alone.

“Some even used their newfound gifts to conquer new territories and pillage villages. When Dream Weaver discovered how their gifts were being used, they started to turn the tables on the Seekers.

“Those with impure desires were… Were devoured.” Juno pauses and scratches her head. She wraps her arm over Lettie’s chest, keeping her close. “I didn’t write this down, but there were a lot of different accounts of what ‘devouring’ meant.” She explains and holds up her crystalizing arm. “I think this could be that.”

“Dream Weaver, however, in reading people’s hearts, believed all people were corrupt. That there is wickedness in everyone’s soul and no one could be trusted with their gifts.” Juno’s voice lowers a touch, recalling how she glazed over this detail, fully believing that she could’ve been an exception with her intention being so clearly for another. But even Dream Weaver pointed out all of her crimes before tricking her out of her necromancy. (Probably would have lost more had Lettie not shown up when she did.) She hugs the faerie tighter before continuing. “Eventually, no Seeker was making it out of the mountain and the villages of Fabel decided it was too dangerous to keep sending their leaders to this place. They made the decision to seal off the mountain.”

Juno furrows her brow together, sifting through the rest of her notes. “I know there was—”

“Pardon.” The maestro blips in right in front of them at that moment, wearing an expression of exasperation and disappointment. (Quite a feat for a six-faced faceless object.) “Miss Lettie, your presence is required. Captain Juno, sort out your demons.”

The little asshole gives them not a second more of warning before its faces are glowing bright hot white light, swallowing the study—

blip!

***​

Meanwhile, in the far off world of Skullville, home of the edgelords, Thaddeus lounges across a pink velvet couch that appeared in his lair a few hours ago. (Of course, he smartly made sure to banish any demons, ghosts, ghouls, and other tricksters from its fabric and cushions before testing out its levels of comfiness.) “Not my taste,” he mutters to himself, flipping through a book titled When Furniture Appears from Alternate Dimensions For Imbeciles. (Thaddeus would never call himself an imbecile— his IQ is far too gargantuan and impressive— but it was the only book available on the subject as the alternate title, Wizard-How: When Furniture Appears from Alternate Dimensions, had already been checked out at the local library.) “But it is rather comfortable. I could almost see myself falling asleep on this with my wife. If I had a wife.”

“It smells a little gross, though. Like a fucking faerie. Bleh.” He summons a bottle of Living Death from across the room and is just about to cleanse the couch in pleasant rottenness when a bright light swallows up his entire lair.

The necromancer startles, leaps into the air like a frightened (black) cat, and manages to vault himself behind the furniture, covering his eyes from the threatening shine. (Totally messing with the vibes of his dark and awesome underground lair. How rude!) When the light fades, he peers over the back of the couch and, upon seeing a glittery elf, he pulls his wand out from his boot and points it at the intruder. “Be gone, elf!”
 
What... what the fuck is going on!? No, that's not exactly the right question. Because Lettie knows what the fuck is going on, having been channelled away by the cube's obnoxious light more times than she can count. But she isn't sure why the fuck it's going on right now! (...Actually, no. She also knows the reason for that as well. One, because she's so smart. And two, because cubey is a piece of shit who takes pleasure in throwing their lives into upheaval with machiavellian timing.) The only problem is that 'their lives' isn't really 'their lives' anymore when the faerie's falling and doesn't notice Juno beside, under, or on top of her as she smashes onto the floor of some loser's lair. That's where her confusion is coming from. Lettie's alone. But maybe... She sweeps her arms out where Juno just was, so close behind her that she could feel her warmth, checking to see whether or not this isn't really just some world with topsy turvy rules that turn them both invisible (weirder and similar things have happened in the past) and ends up clinging to nothing but the air.

For the first time since they met, Lettie and Juno are on different worlds. The fear that accompanies that realization is a sharp, cold stab to her gut. But she has little time to process it when some edgelord-wannabe rando starts calling her, the fucking faerie, an elf. An elf!? And-- and was he just sitting on her couch!? Utterly offended, the faerie's lips twist with distaste.

"Hmph, trust me. I would if I could! Now get that silly little stick out of my face!" Lettie waves her hand dismissively at the stranger's tree branch as she rises from the floor and flips her hair over her shoulder with a flourish. "Imbecile. Don't you know a faerie when you see one?"

"This is a wand." The edgelord-wannabe says deliberately slow, gesturing to the stick. (...It's def a stick.) "You are an elf." He gestures to her and then flips the gesture back towards himself. "And I am not an imbecile!"

"Yeah? Well, your book says you're an imbecile." Lettie tilts her head to the side to read it at the angle it's sitting at, gesturing to it in a way that deliberately mocks his manner of gesturing to things. Heh. Can't argue that, can he? "Don't get used to this couch. It's mine."

"My book says finder's keepers. The couch is mine." The stranger argues, brandishing his stick cautiously. "It's humorous that you think you're a faerie. Did you hit your head when you fell, elf?"

"...Seriously, cubey? You're pairing me with this edgelord-wannabe dweeb!?" Lettie starts yelling at the ceiling instead of the imbecile, shaking a fist in the air. The cube's the one she should really be chewing out right now. She gets it, okay? This is her 'new' necromancer. (But she doesn't want a new necromancer! She wants her necromancer. Her... ex-necromancer who could totally be a necromancer again if they figure out her curse. Which-- which they were going to figure out together. Together! Why'd she have to disappear at that moment? After all that scary shit she uncovered about the rainbow springs and Dream Weaver?) What's more, the cube seemed to find somebody who'd get on her every last nerve, specifically to spite her. What has she ever done to deserve this!? "I'm gonna fucking throttle you!"

"Oh. You definitely hit your head." The stranger shakes his head slowly as if pitying her, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. He begins drawing some weird symbols with the tree branch. "Fear not. I'll make this quick, elf. You won't feel a thi--"

The cube blips between them before he can do anything, beaming with a light that streaks through the glyphs and erases them before they can do any damage. It tilts back and forth, as if regarding the both of them. Then the other cubes appear in stacks all around them, taking the stranger's expression through various stages of shock. (Might've been comical if Lettie wasn't so damned angry with them all.)

"This isn't gonna work, you guys." Lettie purses her lips. She cannot believe she's stuck with the cubes and this dude. Just her luck! "Besides, Juju and I were working on it! Can't you just find another faerie for the mission until we figure things out?"

"She's talking to cubes." The stranger is talking to himself, though, which is just as fucking weird. "Why cubes..."

"No can do." The maestro says. "We have urgent business. It's simpler if you explain things, Miss Lettie." (The stranger does a double take, staring wide-eyed at the cube now that it's speaking. "The cubes are talking back.")

"Still, you shouldn't have left Juno all by herself. I-In her current condition..." Lettie presses her eyes shut, recalling flashes of the crystals growing over Juno's skin. Her nose tickles and she takes a deep breath, holding her cries of worry inside. "You-- you could have brought her with me. Or--"

"Captain Juno is not alone." The magistrate chimes in. "We left Melvin with her!"

"Oh. Well, that totally makes me feel better." Lettie snorts, rolling her eyes and stomping her foot in protest. "Not! Of all of you, why Melvin?"

The gathered cubes twist all around, as if to look at each other and deliberate. Then the mayor finally speaks up. "He's been causing a lot of drama lately. We, uh... we needed a break from all his bullshit." The cubes nod in unison, humming and murmuring their agreement.

Lettie claps a hand over her face.

***​

"...You need a pep-talk, cap'n? 'Cause hot diggity dog-- can I give you a pep-talk!" Back in the study, Melvin hovers around Juno like a fly "I might not be as cute as Miss Lettie, but I can be your cheerleader while she's gone." Beams of light appear at the cube's left and right sides, summoning pom poms that bounce up and down cheerfully. They explode a second later in terrifying blooms of fire, raining down on the floor in streams of shimmery, flaming confetti. The cube promptly hoses the mess down before the flames can spread to the pages strewn all over the floor, chuckling nervously. "The others told me I was the most qualified for the job." He clears his non-existent cube throat. "I do give the best motivational speeches if I don't say so myself. So, y'know. Just say the word if you need the words!"

There's an awkward pause.

"Because I have the words." If Melvin had eyebrows, he would be wagging them right now. Before he can say anything more on the subject, a mirror-shaped silhouette of light draws itself into existence in front of them. "Oh, look! Miss Lettie's mirror has finally arrived!" The cube tilts towards Juno. "It takes us a hot minute to steal things from her magic circle. Anyway, you're going to need this." The light spirits away, revealing the hand-mirror Lettie trapped Dream Weaver in. "Can't fight your demons if your demons aren't here. Am I right or am I right?" If Melvin had elbows, Melvin would be elbowing the pirate.

"...Ugh. Who's making all of that noise?" The figure flickers inside the mirror, hissing with annoyance.

"Heh. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the mirror!" Melvin blissfully prattles on. "Anyway, that would be me. I. Eye. Melvin."

"If you don't cease your incessant chatter this instant, I will use this cursed mirror to show you your worst fear." Dream Weaver seethes. "Melvin."

"Pfft. I'd like to see you try!" Melvin blows a raspberry.

"Captain Juno is not alone. We left Melvin with her!" The mirror's surface ripples, showing a glimpse of Lettie and the other cubes gathered in the reflection.

"Oh, hey! It's the others." Melvin chuckles. "Neat party trick, Dreamie Weavie."

"Oh. Well, that totally makes me feel better. Not! Of all of you, why Melvin?" Lettie's voice echoes.

"Hey! What is she talking about? I'm great!" Melvin gasps, scandalized, and tilts towards Juno. "Dude. Your girlfriend's really rude."

"He's been causing a lot of drama lately. We, uh... we needed a break from all his bullshit." The other cubes proceed to chorus their agreement.

"...What the fuck!?" Melvin yells a certain pirate's catchphrase, tilting between Juno and the mirror before spinning out of control. They tilt towards the mirror accusingly. "Oh, I know what this is. You can't fool me! This isn't real. You're just pullin' my ninety-degree angles."

"No, it literally just happened." Dream Weaver deadpans, reappearing in the mirror and replacing the scene. Melvin scoffs and vanishes-- no doubt to pout alone. The spirit's attention then drifts over to Juno. "...You. What do you want?"
 
Oh, Juno could throttle Melvin right about now. If the piece of shit hadn’t (wisely) blipped himself out of range, her stupidly buff hands would be crushing that little death box like an aluminium can. Maybe she'd even melt that bastard down and turn him into some cube destroying weapon, because, so far, Juno’s learned that these magic cores are more trouble than they’re worth. Too bad it wouldn't solve her current problems.

Her back hits the wall without being entirely aware of it herself, though as she slides down the wall, landing on the floor, she somewhat comes to. Anxiously, she rubs the crystal patch on her arm, feeling the sharpness of the edges rather than her scarred skin. She tilts her head back, clutching the necklace that hangs over her heart, recalling the feeling of Lettie disappearing in her arms until all she was left hugging was herself. ‘At least… At least she’s safe. For now.’ Worry does spike through Juno, wondering if the cube’s have, in fact, paired her with a new necromancer. Wondering if that necromancer is even capable of protecting her faerie, whether they’ll even care in her absence. Then there are the worries of what will happen when Lettie or Juno find their ways back to each other. There’s no doubt in her mind that they’re both going to be desperate to return to each other’s side but… With the way time works between the worlds, what if a week or two to Lettie is thirty years for Juno?

Her fist tightens around the locket, barely registering ‘Dreamie Weavie’ next to her. It takes every ounce of self control to not punch that stupid mirror in the face, anger flaring through her to replace her worry. She holds back only because the tiny (tinier) Lettie in her mind tells her, ‘Not every problem can be fixed with a facepunch, Juju.’ She settles for clenching and unclenching her fist and imagining how satisfying it’d be to pummel that piece of shit. (But, really, she wants to pummel herself for being such a dumbass and putting them in this situation.)

“So angry you are.” The mirrored spirit bristles with a sigh, likely having nothing better to do than talk to the ex-necromancer they screwed over. “This is your own doing, you know. No need to turn your violence on insolent cubes or trapped spirits. Though, if you broke this prison…” There’s a grin in their voice that immediately tells Juno she really shouldn’t break the mirror.

“You don’t need to rub it in my face, asshole. You’re just as stuck as I am.” Now it’s Juno’s turn to smirk, but it’s half-hearted as she thinks about Lettie, the fucking faerie who saved her ass. She rubs the knob of crystal at the top of her neck. ‘Fighting with this bitch won’t get me anywhere.’ She sinks against the wall, barely glancing at the pocket mirror. “What’d you even do to me? I know you took my magic, but… what is this shit?”

“I believe you already know the answer, pirate.” Their tone gives the impression that they’re shrugging. Dream Weaver is silent for a long moment and Juno doesn’t have it in her to respond, because they’re right. She does know and she wishes she didn’t. But, after a minute, the spirit sighs. “The faerie interrupted me before I took all of your magic, you know. I only took the worst of it. I think you should be thanking me.”

“What do you mean? Thanking you?”

“Please. You knew your necromancy was killing you. Stubborn pirate.”

The pirate sinks lower, staring blankly at her hands. ‘We’re just fodder.’ She remembers telling Lettie something like that at one point, how necromancers were burned through on Desdemonia, trying to fight off the nightmares, ghosts, and ghouls. Trying to survive. Killing death with death. Yeah, many necromancers would kill or sacrifice others to replenish themselves but… Juno only did that once, by accident, and then never again. She was never going to live long and maybe that’s why she made her agreements with the duchess, because it would only ever be for a decade or so at most, if she kept at it the way she had and has. “Then… Then you must know why it was killing me. You read my soul.”

“Indeed. You are a stubborn pirate.”

“No,” Juno’s tone is firm (stubborn). “That’s not it and you fucking knowing it.”

“I know that your heart is beyond saving.” Now it’s Dream Weaver who is being stubborn, digging their metaphoric heels into the ground. “A few good deeds towards the end of your life does nothing to make up for your character.”

“Stubborn spirit.” Juno crosses her arms over her chest, turning her chin into the air, away from the mirror. “If that’s all you see in me, then you fucked up, ‘cause that’s not who I am.” Lettie’s shown her who she really is. Or, she gave her the opportunity to be the person she kept hidden. “I don’t excuse what I’ve done. My hands are stained with murder, I know that. I’ll have to live with that knowledge for the rest of my life and I’ll spend the rest of it trying to do right by myself and those who deserve it. Maybe even those who don’t deserve it, either, because maybe those people just need a second chance, like I did. What’s your excuse, Dream Weaver?”

***​

Meanwhile, in Thaddeus’s underground lair, the edgelord necromancer is pacing back and forth, running his hands through his ash colored locks, laughing nervously as the cubes continue to speak absolute nonsense. “Lord of Darkness, perhaps I should not have taken my last draught of undead mushrooms last night.”

He rubs his eyes as if that might fix the problem, but when he drops his fists to his side and blinks his vision back to clarity, everything is as it was. Cubes, reeking of death, all over his lair. A pink velvet couch (which is totally his now). A tiny, indignant elf. “A simple banishing ward ought to work… Though how they got past my awesome, powerful, and unbreakable wards already…” Oh, this is most concerning. This just will not do!

One of the cubes starts to slide (float) closer and closer to Thaddeus and, were it not for its strong scent of death, the necromancer might not have noticed. However, feeling those ripples in the air, the necromancer lets out a manly cry (a squeak) and hops away from the cube, bumping into a newly materialized wardrobe— that he falls through, breaks, and is now lying in a pile of disgusting floral, pastel, sparkly clothes. “Ack! What is this dark magic you have brought into my lair, elf! Call off your death boxes!”

“I am not a death box,” the cube (the one known as 'cubey') protests. “I am a cube and I must imprint on you. Please hold still. This would be much easier if Miss Lettie would cooperate and explain.”

“Oh, ho, ho, ho!” Thaddeus scrambles around for his wand (not a stick) and, once in hand, draws a protective ward around himself. It glows white around him. “I think not! There will be no imprinting whatsoever. I repeat, elf, call off the death box!”

Whatever spell he cast, doesn’t stop the cube from floating closing to the necromancer. Thaddeus hops out of the broken wardrobe, pink feather boa wrapped around his neck (he doesn’t notice), and runs across his lair, making for the exit. Except the death boxes materialize in front of him and block his path. He draws a circular glyph with his wand, an array of ghostly arms appear from six different points within the circle, that smash against the cube wall. The cubes are disaffected. One of them (the mother) giggles. “That tickles!”

“Miss Lettie,” Cubey sighs, “could you please explain the situation to Thaddeus? Serpentine needs saving ASAP. Unless you want it to be nightmared?”

“Serpentine!?” Thaddeus exclaims, a nearly imperceptible tremor in his tone. “No, no, no! Absolutely not. Do not take me there. Do not! That world can perish. I don’t fuck with snakes.”
 
"I have lived a millennia longer than you and shall outlive you a millennia still. I do not make excuses." Dream Weaver spits the word 'excuses' with reproach, as if it's an exclusively mortal affair. As if the concept itself is below them. "I have read many, many human souls in my lifetime. Even those like you, whose wishes seem selfless, possess self-serving motives beneath them. You asked to restore that faerie's wings, yes... but wouldn't you say you wished more for her forgiveness than you did her wings?" The spirit sighs. "I sensed your care for her, yes, but ultimately you humans will do what you must to preserver against all odds. I've seen some of the most heroic humans sacrifice the ones they loved for the greater good." The surface of the mirror ripples, reflecting an image of Juno and Lettie holding hands as if they're preparing to heal a world. Gradually, Lettie's form glitches before flickering into dust. "I glimpsed into your nightmares as well. Faeries are a powerful resource. Eventually you will use her. You know this, do you not? That is why you dream about it."

"Fine. I will give you a chance to prove yourself, pirate." Dream Weaver purses their lips. "I am trapped here, after all, and I presume life in this mirror will become quite boring otherwise. I am still quite confident my mind will remain unchanged on the matter, but..." They shrug their shoulders. "I do have one condition, however. Do not let that Melvin near me under any circumstances."

***​

"There." Lettie goes to the painstaking effort of piecing her wardrobe back together. When she steps back to assess her work, it leans forward, her eyes widen, and there's little time to back away before she's knocked over by an avalanche of broken pieces and pastel clothes. She groans softly and doesn't move out from underneath them. "...I dunno know why I thought that would work." The wardrobe thing is dumb. It's so dumb, it might be the very thing that gets the faerie to burst into tears. She's exhausted, trapped in close quarters with Thaddeus Rex and the cubes, and she misses her pirate. Closing her eyes, she takes a second and tries to imagine the wardrobe pieces are Juno on top of her instead. Nah, doesn't work. Too pointy. Juju isn't pointy! Juno is Juno and she's irreplaceable. But now the cubes have gone and taken her to do just that. Holding hands with Thad, surrendering her magic over to him... something about it felt icky.

Lettie has also come to realize that Juno really does take magic from her at a trickle. Lightly, gradually, to the point that Lettie could hardly sense it until they reached the final stretches at the end. (She's so gentle and courteous with her. The faerie's always known this, but now that she can compare the experience with someone else... Juju.) Granted, Juno has had more practice than Thad. The first few missions and the worlds where the nightmares were particularly formidable could get rough.

The edgelord-wannabe calls her an elf on the daily (even though the cubes have confirmed several times that she is a faerie) and looks down on her for her love of all things pink (mostly because he's stupidly tall) but he doesn't seem to have any, uh... homicidal tendencies. Just perfume that fucking reeks. Like Ravan, he seems to have this fixation on death and edginess as an aesthetic choice. That is to say, there have been no murder attempts thus far. Still, there were no promises spoken between Lettie and Thad before they got started on their first mission. There's no trust... and while he didn't end her in an instant, the way a demon on Avangeline might, it'd still been scary. (Having her magic sapped away at a rate she could feel gave her terrifying glimpses of what her life could've been. It put her in the place of several faeries she'd seen reduced to dust on those underground arena floors. It's all fucked up. Especially the way they force younger faeries like her to clean and sweep the arena floors afterwards. Lettie, Lina and the others would try their best to collect every speck of faerie dust into jars so they wouldn't end up in the garbage.) Thad's not the worst. But he's no Juno, either.

As a concept, too, the routine of moving from world to world doesn't feel the same. The cubes have been trying to move Thaddeus's lair (cave) from world to world the way they used to do with Lady... and seeing as it's not a ship, it's a disastrous mess. Each journey sends the furniture flying. It topples everything inside (including her couch), scattering Thad's precious dolls onto the floor. (...He insists on calling them 'collectables'. But they're dolls. Skeleton dolls, in fact, and Lettie pockets four that remind her of Phillip, Marjorie, Inez and Abigail.) On a particularly bad day, she staged them around the table and then shrunk herself small to have a much needed gossip sesh with them. And no... she hasn't lost her mind, thank you very much! Sometimes a faerie just needs to vent. It's science.

Whenever cubey asks her to explain their situation to Thad, Lettie flashes them the bird and says that she'll only do so on the condition that they let her see Juno again. "You didn't even give me a chance to kiss her goodbye, cubey!"

"Would you like some super glue for that, Miss Lettie?" The mother asks, ushering her back into the present moment as she summons her handbag. It shakes around as though an invisible person is rummaging around through it. "Tissues, silly string, explosives... oh, drat. I swear I've got it in here somewhere!"

"No glue. I want Juno." Lettie pouts, puffing her cheeks and gripping her heart-shaped locket. She turns herself over onto her stomach and kicks her legs dramatically. (Will the melodrama do anything? No, probably not. But she is Olette Lycoris Radiata and she cannot help but be dramatic.) They've been apart for a week now. It feels like an eternity. "Juno."

"...Captain Juno is not in my purse, Miss Lettie."

"I want Juno." Thad mocks her in a high-pitched, nasally voice. (Ugh. He sounds nothing like her!) Lettie cuts her eyes at him across the room. Up until now Thad had been curled up in a ball, rocking in the corner and processing the fact that he'd been forced by an army of 'death boxes' to heal Serpentine. There were more snake people... (sneaple?) than actual snakes. Still, he spent most of their mission shrieking and crying. (Lettie's inclined to think he siphoned magic from her so quickly because he was in such a rush to get out of there.) Afterwards, he declared that they should never speak of Serpentine again. "Juno, Juno, Juno."

"Hey. Gimmie the silly string." Lettie asks the mother with a devilish twinkle in her eyes. The mother blips it into her hands and the faerie (not an elf!) turns on Thad with a smirk. The necromancer's "Juno, Juno, Juno." quickly morphs into "No, no, no!" as Lettie advances on him with it.

"Stay back, elf! Back I say! I do not wish for the string of silly to--" Thaddeus backs away, waving his hands frantically, but it's too late. Lettie sprays him with the silly string (or, pfft, the string of silly) in all it's pink, glittery, stringy glory. Calling her an elf again was a big fucking mistake. She wants revenge. Stars, she'd rather to go back to random 'O' nicknames like Ollie and Odella than be called a freaking elf!

"I have deliberated your request, Miss Lettie." Cubey appears while Lettie tackles Thad with the silly string. Neither of them are paying attention. "The young nightmares on Fabel will help ease the newbie, Thaddeus Rex, into our mission. He may also benefit receiving advice from Captain Juno."

Juno...? The sound of her name catches Lettie's attention. There's no time to process this, though, before the cube's sides light up and--

blip!

***​

"...Incoming!" Melvin yells a warning from the crow's nest on Lady as he notices two figures falling from the sky. "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a--" (Two figures and a freaking cave...) The cave, being the heaviest of the three, lands first. It hits the ground directly next to where Lady is anchored and sends rumbling quakes through the forest. "Wowie! A secret lair." Gradually, the other two figures become more discernible as they near the deck. There's Thad, who is screaming and flailing with horror... and Lettie, with her cheeks puffed, expression unimpressed and her arms crossed. (She's used to cubey's spontaneous bullshit by now.) However, that's not to say she's looking forward to eating shit on the deck as they plummet closer and closer to the ship she learned to call home.

"Really, cubey!?" Lettie yells at the sky. She knows the little shit can hear her.

"I don't see the issue." Cubey responds. "I've fulfilled your request."

"...Yeah, but we're gonna crash!" Lettie gulps, bracing herself and squeezing her eyes shut tight. This... is really starting to feel kinda like deja vu, isn't it?
 
In the time since Juno has been left alone— she hardly counts Melvin, Dream Weaver, or Winifred as company— the pirate does what the pirate has always done; she keeps busy. However, this isn’t to say that she’s working herself to the bone again. Not in the slightest. She still remembers to get in at least two meals a day and sleeps for a minimum of six hours. (She does try to go for the full eight, but it’s not as easy to accomplish without her faeries sleeping on top of her. With Lettie on top of her, she could probably go for thirteen hours, easy.) But between cooking, eating, sleeping, and other daily necessities, she makes sure to find things to do.

With her first two days alone, she spends them cleaning. First her study, then the rest of the ship. (The skeletons really were useless, because the place is a fucking wreck. It’s like they threw ragers every night she was fixated on wings.) Then she goes back to the Moon’s Scythe to retrieve the bones of her crew members. (While part of her considers only taking what she’ll need to reconstruct them, she could see Lettie not wanting to leave any bit of them behind. And, well, she’s sentimental over the piles as well. She even gets a little misty eyed collecting Marjorie’s bones, specifically.) This takes her an entire day by itself— even after moving the ship closer to the mountain range and taking out the entire hike up, she spends a decent portion of the afternoon staring at the sacks she had separated their remains into, imagining what antics they might be getting up to if they were still here.

She also makes sure to keep the other skeletons in their respective piles. Even without her necromancy, she can tell who is who by even their smallest bones. Dream Weaver mocks her in the middle of this, saying something that cleanliness is not, actually, close to godliness. Juno takes them to Winifred’s current haunt and leaves them there for three hours as petty revenge. (Sure, it’s not wise to upset the spirit who holds her necromancy, but the spirit should not upset the pirate who can break them free.)

This is not the only instance that Dream Weaver decides to insult Juno, but Juno never bothers to explain herself to the spirit. They’re soul-knowing (or so they claim) so she doesn’t see the point in arguing. That and they’re just as stubborn as she is. All she can do is show the spirit who she is and, yes, sometimes she is petty. Sue her. (There’s a reason her and Lettie clashed so much early on— they’re both petty in their own ways.) If Dream Weaver’s going to reassess her character, she’s not going to put on a show. She’s going to do this Juno’s way, for better or for worse.

To say the least, the two are at a stalemate, with Dream Weaver refusing to be helpful and Juno continuing to be petty.

Time drags on at a snail’s pace with Lettie not here to keep her company— even sharing silence with her could make time speed forward— and Juno eventually runs out of chores. (She tries to go into the engine room, but it reminds her too much of Lettie and she doesn’t know what the fuck is going on in there anymore. So she leaves before she can get sad or mess something up.)

While the pirate paces the deck one brisk twilight afternoon, smoothing over her locket with her thumb, she decides she needs to get off the ship and goes to explore the forest. This doesn't take her mind off of Lettie, because forests are her thing. Moreover, she's reminded that somewhere in this forest there is a tree with flavored bark and she'd love to rub that in her face. (However, she’s wise enough to not go searching for it without her faerie or the Magician’s tomes to consult with.) Still, she forages in the forest, selecting the berries, roots, flowers, and mushrooms that appear familiar or safe. Then she realizes she’s too paranoid to eat any of these without knowing more about Fabel and slumps down onto the forest floor, staring blankly at the blades of grass. ‘I have to get back to her. Someone on this world has to know something about summoning or teleporting.’

Except… There don’t seem to be any inhabitants on Fabel? The forest is eerily quiet. The bushes and trees don’t rustle unless it’s the wind that disturbs them. Birds don’t flock the skies or sing. There aren’t even bugs trying to bite the shit out of her. She wonders if all the citizens of Fabel are invisible, extinct, or incredibly shy because Juno hasn’t seen or heard another soul now that she’s thinking about it. Dream Weaver seems to be the only evidence that this world might have had life once. However, the pirate hasn’t yet worked the nerve to ask Dream Weaver about what might have happened— and she sure as hell isn’t going to ask that useless piece of shit, Melvin.

This observation quickly consumes most of Juno’s waking thoughts. (The other thoughts are usually wondering about Lettie and worrying whether or not she’s safe or even still alive. She swears, if her new necromancer turns her to dust, she’s going to return the fucking favor. Bug rights.) They consume her to the point where she decides to look deeper within the mystic forest for any signs of life. Beyond the trees and other plants, that is.

She takes a seat on a fallen tree at some point for a break and that’s when she meets her first local. It comes first as a sharp hiss to her right, but when she snaps her head over, she doesn’t see anything. After waiting a few minutes, she decides it must have just been a trick of her lonely mind. But then it happens again, sounding closer, and she knows it’s not a mistake. In a fluid motion, she whips out her axe-blade and takes a fighting stance. Almost immediately, the forest ripples and changes around her. The trees move so fast that she wouldn't have been able to chop through them even if she thought that would be a good idea and she’s soon ensnared in roots that strangle her limbs and torso. (Thankfully, not her neck.)

Dream Weaver, who she has carried with her in her back pocket, chortles. “Oh, you’ve done it now, pirate. Good luck to you, I say.”

Juno hisses back, “Shut the fuck up.”

“What?” This comes from a tree and it really should not shock Juno that trees can talk when Lettie’s already taught her that they have spirits. Even so, she seizes anyway in the trees’ hold, eyes sliding over slowly towards where she thinks the voice might have come from. The tree continues, “How does one ‘shut’ the ‘fuck up?’ This seems important to know. I have a fuck up I would like to shut.”

“What the fuck…”

That’s how Juno meets Cedar, one of the many tree spirits of the mystic forest. Soon, after a nonsensical argument (or was it a conversation?), Cedar releases Juno and laments over the fuck up they are trying to shut. The entire story confuses Juno and, eventually, Cedar decides to show her what they mean by taking her to the nightmare chasm on Heavenly Lane. Cedar quickly clarifies that this is not their fuck up, but the fuck up of some other overzealous wizard who wanted to build a portal to another world and instead welcomed corruption to Fabel.

Curious, Juno asks how they’ve been dealing with the nightmares so far and when Cedar explains that their main strategy has been retreat, the nightmare expert offers her advice. She even gives a demonstration by luring a young nightmare towards her and vanquishing it with flames. However, Cedar is reasonably put off by handling fire so the pirate offers to dig a moat around the chasm, as that can keep the young nightmares contained. (She does caution it won’t be a permanent fix as the nightmares might evolve, at which point they’ll need to ally with fire spirits. Nightmares left to rot on their own will evolve and with a vengeance.)

This task occupies much of Juno’s time over the next several days and as the days pass, she meets more of the tree spirits. (Or tree people? Treople? She isn’t sure and she has a feeling it’d be offensive to ask.) They mostly just watch her. Some shake out their heads (she assumes) and let their fruit fall as payment or thanks.

One of the fruits, she happily discovers, has a cat-or-pillar hanging onto it and Juno decides to take it aboard Lady for safe keeping. It’s as she’s whispering something to her new friend, Wormy, that Melvin shouts, “Incoming!”

While Juno is inclined to ignore Melvin on most occasions, the large shadow that swallows Lady’s deck encourages her to look up and that’s when she sees the “secret lair.” (It looks like a clod.) As well as—

“Lettie!” The pirate gasps, sets Wormy on top of Melvin’s head, while her heart and feet propel her forward without thought. (This time around, she doesn’t need to think about what she’ll do when she spots a stunner falling from the sky.) She takes a wide sweeping stance, arms open, and she catches Lettie with a harsh grunt that finishes as a wheeze. The force of impact causes her to stumble backwards but Melvin, or somecube else, has the thought to cushion their landing by summoning Juno’s mattress to the deck. They fall on top of it in an all too familiar heap, Juno’s arms winding tightly around the faerie, her faerie, the woman she’s been aching for this past week, while she buries her nose into the top of her head. She inhales her scent— why does she smell like living death?— as tears spring and fall freely from her eyes.

There’s another, more disturbing thud not too far from Juno and Lettie, but she pays that no mind. Not with—

“Lettie,” she whispers, squeezing her tighter (maybe too tight). “You’re here.” She pulls away a bit to look at the faerie, a smile and a laugh on her lips when she finds her favorite freckle. “It’s you. I—” She pulls her in for another hug. “I missed you.” Her heart hammers in her chest, an entire garden bloomin within. “I was so worried— I was scared that—”

Juno pauses and blinks as the glint of something cube-shaped falling from the sky catches her eye, heading directly for them. The pirate growls and reaches to catch the bastard and immediately tries to crush it. “You little fucker—”

A heap on her deck groans and weakly lifts up a spindly arm as he tries to crawl from the dent he's left beside Lettie’s first dent. “Fuck—ing… Elf..!”

The pirate sits up a bit and stares at the stranger on her ship, putting together that this must be that replacement necromancer. ‘What a fucking geek ass nerd.’ Juno looks down at Lettie, her stormy eyes serious. “Tell me everything. Are you hurt? Did that fucker hurt you? Have you been on missions? Who should I throttle?”
 
"Yeah, I'm here." Lettie blinks through tears of her own, though most of them get absorbed into Juno's shirt. Seeing her smile, her adorable dimples, she grins back lopsidedly. (Her pirate has the prettiest, most charming smile in all the worlds.) "I'm home." She squishes a sparkly cheek and pointy ear to her pirate's chest, listening for the sound of her heartbeat. Thump, thump, thump. (Thank the stars.) She hasn't been devoured in her absence. She's here. She's alive. Might've been cubey's most assholish move yet, letting her hear all that worrying information before blipping her away. Didn't even let her say goodbye, damn it! Now they've fallen back together, like puzzle pieces finding their perfect match, and everything makes sense again. The faerie jellies as she gives a big sigh of relief, releasing some tension she'd been holding onto since they were first separated, melting snugly into the other woman's embrace.

When Juno mentions her worry, Lettie nods understandingly against her chest. The feeling is reciprocated, of course. (The pirate must know by now that there's a part of her that always worries. Is she getting enough sleep? Is she eating right? She isn't overworking herself again, is she?) And now, there's that devouring thing on top of that. Gently, she runs her fingertips along Juno's arm to assess how much of her skin has crystalized. That she'd managed to catch her did offer her the reassurance of knowing that she's not crystalizing on the inside (yet)-- not so solidified that she can't move or anything like that.

The cube and Thad burst the bubble Lettie'd been in with Juno. For a sweet, precious moment it was like they were the only two people in the world... and being reminded that they're not has her sourly puffing her cheeks. Especially when Thad calls her an elf in front of Juno.

"Well..." Lettie contemplates Juno's questions, somewhat drunk on the power she reigns over Thad's fate right now. She can tell from the solemnity of Juno's storm cloud eyes that she'd totally deck the other necromancer if she asked her to. Her loyal, golden-hearted pirate. (And make no mistake, the little fucking faerie in her that thrives on mischief is incredibly tempted to do this. Especially as she considers every time that geek ass nerd called her an elf.) At the same time, though, she's not the duchess. No fucking way is she ever going to belittle her by treating her like her personal attack dog or some fucked up shit like that. "We've been on one mission so far... and he's a total newb." She furrows her brow. "I finally convinced cubey to bring us here 'cause he needs practice dealing with the nightmares. And this world is full of babies."

"A world of snakes... now you've taken me to a world of babies!? Ugh. Gross." Thad whines and shivers, as if the concept of being surrounded by babies is just as scary to him as being surrounded by snakes. Lettie rolls her eyes. Fucking edgy-wannabe punk. "It took me forever to get that flowery faerie stench out of my couch. Now I'm going to smell like a fucking baby." Oh, woe is him. He rummages around in his cloak for his awful death-scented perfume.

"...So you admit I smell like a faerie?" Lettie narrows her eyes.

"Silence, elf."

"He's been calling me an elf, Juju." Lettie tattles at last, scandalized and fed up. She throws her arms open exasperatedly towards Thad. "An elf! And he's also trying to say my pink couch is his." Pouting, she mutters the last part. "Broke my wardrobe, too."

"Oh, boo-hoo. You're starting to sound like a baby yourself, elf. Crying to your, heh, 'stupidly buff girlfriend'." Thad makes quotation marks in the air with his spindly fingers. He hasn't looked at them yet... and this is probably a big mistake. "I bet she's actually..."

"He also thinks I made you up." Lettie concludes with an almost pitying sigh. "Excuse you! My amazingly buff pirate girlfriend is real, Thad. Use your eyeballs and look!"

"Actually..." Thad finally looks up. Now he sees. Now he knows. When Thad notices her stupidly buff girlfriend, he squeaks and scrambles backward. "Oh." He scrapes his bony self off the deck with impressive speed for someone who just ate shit, running and cursing under his breath.

"...I don't think he wants to hurt me, really? He's an annoying, edgelord-wannabe dork. But I am kinda worried he might kill me by accident." Lettie keeps her voice low enough that only Juno can hear this part, twisting her lips to the side and biting the inside of her cheek. She's gonna be honest, especially if it means Juno giving Thad advice that might prevent her death from becoming a big old whoopsie daisy after everything they've been through. (There's a possibility that cubey might blip her away again before they're prepared, too. A possibility that any moment could be their last.) She softens again, thinking about how good Juno is, and hugs her side. "You're the best, by the way."

Lettie takes her hand a presses a kiss to her knuckles. Then she positions herself to get a good look at her face, gently tucking rouge waves behind her ears. She kisses her forehead, then her lips, and stares into her eyes searchingly when they part.

"Are you okay, Juno? The..." Lettie shivers, unable to hold her fear at the concept inside. "The devouring. Have you learned anything more about it?"

"...Mow." Prissy trots up to them, though the faerie only vaguely registers her from the corner of her eye while she's preoccupied with Juno. When she realizes that her cat has something in her mouth, she glances down at her. She sets a fish down on the deck next to them. Upon closer inspection, it's leaking some kind of weird, inky black substance. It's eyes are totally bugging out, too. It doesn't look... right. Ew.

"Aw..." Lettie says reluctantly, clearly grossed out but wanting to be a supportive cat mom. She scratches Prissy affectionately under the chin. "Have you been bringing Juju gifts? Has she been taking good care of you? That's a sweet kitty." She does check her mouth, though, considering the grossness of the fish. Yuck. Then the deck starts rumbling beneath them. Thump, thump, thump.

The quakes almost sound like a heartbeat, but it doesn't comfort Lettie the same way Juno's does. "...Oh, shit." Lettie's eyes widen as she notices a monstrous creature approaching them on the blush-pink horizon. It's a big, gooey thing with a head that's essentially just one giant eyeball. (It's so big that it's back is hunched from the weight of it.) As it crawls closer, she notices a number of bones, birds and... fish, just like the one Prissy brought, stuck in the inky goop of it's limbs. The faerie looks from the fish, to Prissy, to the monster and back again. "...Prissy, what did you do!?"

"...Mow." Prissy replies, completely unaffected by this development as she trots off.

"What the fuck!?" Thad, meanwhile, gives quite the impressive scream as he runs back towards them. (Pfft, stealing Juno's catchphrase. Who does he think he is?) "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck!?"
 
All the fire in Juno fizzles to quiet embers when Lettie wraps her arms around her torso, then moves to kiss her forehead, then lips. This is the only thing that saves “Thad” (what a dorky name) from being greeted by her left and right fist. And while Juno’s fists are never something that people should want to meet, two of her knuckles have crystalized and she knows they’ll pack a fucking wallop now. She could probably send him straight to the giant moon hanging in the perpetually twilight sky. But Lettie brings her back before she can even move a muscle and with the softness of her touch and her gaze, she doesn’t really want to move. She doesn’t really want to punch Thad in the face (but she will, rest assured she will).

As her girlfriend’s fingertips trail over the crystal, she doesn’t feel it. She doesn’t register it until she looks down and sees her fingers on her arm. Even then, there’s no feeling. Juno lifts her arm, twisting it around to show how it’s spread. A new spot has formed on her bicep peak and reaches down towards the soft flesh on the inside of her arm. She also holds out her fingers so Lettie can see that her index, middle finger, and thumb are covered on the outside. She hasn’t been able to look at her back, but she’s pretty sure crystal has spread across her shoulder blades. And when she undoes the buttons of her shirt to the midpoint, there’s a sliver forming over her solar plexus. “It’s getting worse,” she admits, her voice low and solemn. “And the growth seems random. Some mornings, I wake up and everything is just like it was the day before. Others, I find new patches or the current patches have spread.”

Just as when they first discussed this, she keeps the terror from her tone, but she can’t hide that acknowledging it exhausts her. When she speaks about it, it’s like she’s aged ten years. “Dream Weaver agreed to reassess my character, but the bastard hasn’t been any help beyond that.” The locals don’t even seem to know what’s up with her crystallization. She’s burning time and yet, without any leads, what can she even do?

“Can still move and function well enough, but I can’t feel shit.” Like when she reaches to stroke the back of her two crystal fingers against Lettie’s sparkly cheek, there’s no register of warmth or softness. An apology is reflected in her eyes and she’s about to voice it, but Prissy trots over with trouble following right behind her.

The pirate sighs, rising to stand (and taking Lettie up with her) to get a better view of the goop-monster the weird cat has stolen from. As Thad runs back over towards them, clearly bolting to go below deck, Juno grabs the collar of his shirt as he runs past and yanks him forward. The dorkomancer gags, paws at Juno’s hand as a series of, “Let me go, let me go, let me go!!” flees past his lips. ‘Pathetic.’

“Listen, dork,” she twists her fist around his collar, pulling him forward so that they’re nose to nose, eye to eye. (Juno has to dip her chin to stare at him squarely, seeing that Thad is two or three inches shorter than her.) “My girlfriend’s life is in your creepy little hands and you’re gonna protect her while I’m out of commission, okay?”

Thad nods rapidly, swallowing a lump in his throat. Sweat drips down in droves from his hairline.

“Good. Glad we agree.” She jerks him back without letting go. “Now, here’s what’s going to happen: Olette and I are going to kick that monster’s ass and you’re gonna sit back here like a good little nerd and take notes, because the next monster that comes?" She arches her scarred brow. "I’m handing it off to you. And those little asshole cubes? They aren’t going to care if you die. You’re expendable. They’ll find a new necromancer, just like they did me after I lost my necromancy.”

Juno lets go of Thad, clapping him harshly on the back as she steers him towards the railing. Once they’re at the railing, watching the trees move their roots like octopus to retreat, she adds, “Oh, and one last thing.” She points to his face, throat, chest, stomach, and then his balls. Then she shows him her partially crystalized fist. “That’s the order I will be punching you in each time I hear about you calling her an elf. She’s the fuckin' faerie.”

Maybe some version of Thad, the Thad who had been blissfully unaware of the reality of a stupidly buff pirate girlfriend, would have scoffed and rolled his beady little eyes. Maybe he would have tested her. Instead, he gulps and nods, still too struck to say anything.

“Good,” Juno smiles, clapping him on the back once more. Her dimpled smile would be kind if her eyes weren’t sparking over the idea of him testing her. This doesn’t seem to be lost on the geek either, seeing as he’s covering his jewels now. Finished with him, she turns to Lettie, her eyes softening and becoming warm. She takes her hand and squeezes it. “We got this.”

They secure and toss a rope ladder over the railing and scale down to meet the monster. About halfway down, Juno vaults off from the ladder and somersaults as she lands, coming up on one knee. In a fluid motion, she grabs her axe-blade from her back and shifts it into its sword form. She might not have her necromancy, but the pirate’s always known more than one way to fight.

The goop monster lumbers over towards them. Its pace is technically slow, but the limbs are so gargantuan that it's managed to move within a hundred yards of the ship when it was only on the horizon a few minutes ago. The trees, by this point, have retreated away entirely, creating a wide clearing on either side of them. From here, the river that flows through the forest is perfectly visible as well as the trench Juno dug from the river to fill the moat around the nightmare chasm, which the goop monster is currently heading towards.

“We need to keep that thing away from the nightmare chasm.” She pulls one of her bombs off her belt and begins running away from the chasm, over to the mountains. “Let’s see if we can drive it over towards Moon’s Scythe.”

The pirate bolts off, as fast as her legs will carry her, until she’s put a monster’s length between herself and, well, the monster. “Hey, fugly!” She shouts, lobbing the bomb into the air, high over its head. Juno hasn’t missed, her aim is like an archer’s, and it’s how she knows she never made an attempt on Lettie’s life by throwing a bomb at her. (But this is not the time to bring up that argument.) Clouds of flames burst in the air with a deafening BOOM, drawing the monster’s single eye towards the noise, then back down to Juno.

The beast roars and while its pace before had been lumbering, it launches forward using its haunches, charging Juno. Unfortunately for it, it takes more than brute force to take down the pirate. Effortlessly, she dodges and the monster falls forward on its face. When Juno rights herself again, behind the beast, she brings her sword down, across the its back, slashing straight through. It’s goop body slips with the tear in the back, leaving an opening big enough for—

“Wait— Lettie, I don’t think we should kill this fucker.” She points towards the recovering, howling goop monster. The opening she’s left in its back reveals the source of ooze— a heart covered in the inky goop, unsurprisingly. “Think it’s a corrupted spirit or guardian.” Ever since toppling an entire civilization, she knows they’ve both been more cautious about what and who they brazenly decimate. “We need to hold it down to be safe. Any ideas?”

However, before Lettie can answer, the beast uses this moment to reach over and hose Juno with its goop, sending her backwards into the mountainside. Floundering fish smack her in the face while the bone pieces drag cuts across her flesh. Though the crystalized plates prevent her back from bruising, the shock still vibrates through her and jolts her. Her head hangs for a moment before she pulls herself up.

The monster shakes itself out, the slash in its back suturing itself together. It rears for another attack.

“Ugh, careful where you land, pirate.” Dream Weaver grumbles from her back pocket, reminding Juno of their presence. “Have you forgotten that I did not take all your magic away?”

“What?”

There isn’t time for Dream Weaver to explain themself as the monster raises its fists over its head and slams them down on the ground, sending a split straight towards her. Juno rolls to the side to avoid it and comes up in a runner’s start position, fingertips to the ground. Recalling what the spirit just revealed, she tries to feel for the spirit of the earth. It flickers beneath her fingertips, but the goop monster is still trying to crush her with its massive fists. She somersaults forward to avoid a blast of goop, rolling right between the monster’s legs. She rushes over to Lettie, yelling, "Can you distract it? I'm gonna try to open a hole in the earth."
 
"Bleh!" Lettie sticks her tongue out at Thad (in a totally dignified, justified and not childish way) just before she drops down behind Juno to descend the rope ladder. Heh. While danger rages on the horizon, a hyper-charged whirlwind of butterflies swirls around in the faerie's heart as she replays what just happened in her mind. Juno defended her. And she proclaimed, without a single beat of hesitation, that she's her girlfriend. (She replays it a few times more as she climbs down. Then her thoughts float even further. 'I'm Lettie, the fucking faerie and Juno's girlfriend.' Her cheeks turn pink, her freckles sparkling vibrantly, and she's glad that she has only the side of Lady Vengeance as her witness. 'Her real, not-fake girlfriend.') What they have now is for real - for real. Like, the real fucking deal. No way is Thad gonna call her an elf again after that. She'd scared him shitless, no face punching required. The faerie giddily curls her toes and smiles to herself. 'That's my girlfriend.'

'Course, they gotta fight like hell if they're gonna have a future where they actually get to enjoy being girlfriends. (Flashes of Juno's skin encased in crystal gnaws through her fantasies.) Lettie peeks over her shoulder, noticing that the pirate has already hit the ground running. Damn, she's fast! 'Get with it, Letts! This is no time to be slacking!' She hurries her climb down and then, realizing she won't be fast enough to keep up like this, shuts her eyes and hopes for the best as she flings herself off the ladder. While she tries to position herself the way Juno told her her to in the past on safe landings, she stumbles and nicks her knees on the ground. Ouch. She'd been getting too comfortable, having her wings again. The scars on her back sting as she acknowledges this, gravity pushes down on her a touch harder and reminds her she'll never fly like that again. Just as quickly as these thoughts come, though, she shakes them off when she notices the beast charging Juno. There are more important things.

"Moon's Scythe. Got it! Right behind you, Juju..." Out of breath, Lettie holds a thumbs up in the air. With a rather unladylike gasp, she pushes herself off the ground and leaves her hang-ups behind her in the dirt as she runs as fast as her feet can carry her to catch up. While she tries to avoid glitching herself as much as possible, she expends her magic a few times in order to give herself the extra boost she needs. She has tiny faerie legs, after all. (And all it takes is one slip, one instant for everything to end in tragedy. She needs to be there, right at her side.) Of course Juno's got this. But still, she can't help worrying. She looked so exhausted, talking about the crystal growths. Her girlfriend is strong in spite of everything she's lost-- but Lettie knows how it can feel to act on instinct and realize that her body doesn't move the way it used to. Like that time she mistakenly tried to use her broken wing, attempting to escape that bomb Juno threw at her back on the ice world. (...Thank goodness she hadn't killed her back then like she'd been intending to! Dying because Juju was trying to get revenge over a measly snow-ball would've been too much.) Yeah, the faerie's not letting go of that argument either. But now's not the time.

Lettie catches up in time to see Juno land her blow and tilts her head as she considers her question. Hold it down somehow, hm... When the beast is so big and she's so small, she has trouble imagining how she might accomplish that. Trees or a boulder might be heavy enough to do the trick-- but she isn't inclined to destroy the forest, either. Maybe they could use the rope ladder they used to scale the side of the ship somehow? Though she can't imagine it holding for long--

"...Juju!" Lettie's heart nearly pounds out of her chest as her pirate is blasted backward. Her hands shake when Juno's head lolls down and she curls them into fists. 'That's not enough to take captain fucking Juno out. Can't be.' However, she's haunted by her memories of feeling of sharp shards of crystal along her spine. She worries what would happen if the growths started to crack. If it'd be enough to shatter her. Oh, stars. Thankfully, Juno lifts her head again before her fears can plummet her wits too far into the realm of mindless panic.

"A hole in the earth? What are you..." Biting into her wobbling lower lip to keep it still, Lettie scraps her question and nods instead as Juno requests a distraction. It'd be silly to waste precious time on questions-- she's sure her pirate has a plan. She musters a grin, playing up an air of confidence, and blows a kiss. "Yeah, I'm on it babe! I got this." She swallows hard and says the rest under her breath, perhaps trying to reassure herself. "I totally got this."

Lettie raises both of her fists at her sides, splaying her fingers wide open as twin flames made up of butterflies flicker to life from her palms. Furrowing her brow, she concentrates on guiding them through the air in sharp-moving streaks, batting them in circles around the creature's head, baiting them like one might bait a cat with a toy, captivating and guiding their attention towards her. (Speaking of cats... If Prissy stealing a fish got it's attention in the first place...) To give her distraction some extra oomph, she works some illusion magic to make the butterflies appear like birds and flying fish. This does the trick as the beast growls in recognition.

"That's right... over here!" Lettie backs up a few steps, imperceptibly gulping as the shadow of the looming goop monster blankets her. It stomps forward and the faerie turns on her heel, breaking into a zigzagging run. (Gotta run if she doesn't want to get crushed like a bug. Which she easily could underneath this thing.) Feeling the vibrations of the earth under her feet, she glitches whenever the vibrations intensify. Thump, thump, thump. "Bet you can't keep up with me!" She sticks out her tongue again, taunting it.

Everything is going according to plan... until Lettie trips over an overgrown tree root. The faerie hardly feels the impact of the ground beneath her as the monster's arm collides with her and smacks her against a nearby tree instead. The goo sticks her there like glue, the scars on her back igniting as they're nicked against the gnarled bark. She hisses through her teeth. "Gross." She wheezes, blinking the stars from her eyes. Goop oozes in a slow crawl down her clothes and legs and she shudders with disgust. "This was one of my favorite skirts, you abominable mountain of ick!" Enraged, she summons up a bomberfly and commands it to land on the monster's arm. BOOM!

The monster snarls, outraged. Lettie falls through the hole her explosion creates and realizes belatedly that she really should've thought of a landing strategy before doing that. Whoops. Haphazardly, she glitches herself in order to gain the momentum she needs to latch onto a nearby tree branch. She grips onto it for dear life, hanging precariously high above them all. (The wood creaks, as if it's going to give or snap at any second. Fuck. Fuck!) Trying not to think of that, the faerie focuses her attention on restrengthening her illusions and keeping the monster distracted as best as she can from where she is. The creature loses balance, swatting at the birds and fish with it's one good arm while stumbling forward... until the exploded arm grows back and recovers. One by one, it crushes the faerie's illusions, severing her connections to them. The butterflies shatter to pieces.

Snap! Aaand the branch Lettie's clinging to breaks. Luckily (or not so luckily) the monster is standing right below her to break her fall. Knowing and dreading what's about to happen, she inhales a deep breath of sweet, fresh air while she still can before plummeting somewhere among the birds, bones and fish in the goo on its back, leaving a faerie shaped hole that fills itself in behind her and trapping her inside.

It's dark, smelly, and small bones leave cuts against Lettie's skin as she sinks. Though she tries to glitch her way free of the mess, she finds she's quickly losing track of which way is up and which is down. It's like being submerged in a sticky river-- and the deeper she sinks, the more she panics. (It's getting in her nose. She can't open her eyes or her mouth.) She claws at nothing, catches on nothing, and is rapidly losing hope that she'll make it out. A feeling of lightheadedness overtakes her, having held her breath for so long. Distantly she hears the 'thump, thump, thump' of a nearby heart... and she can feel the souls of all the dead things trapped in this beast with her, brushing up against her. Compelling her to join them. (It reminds her a bit of being connected to the undead insect army.) Either that or she's tripping hardcore...

For a moment, Lettie's almost comforted by the thought that she's not going to die alone. That's the trick, though, isn't it? Lulling her with these promises so she gives up without a fight. (And does she really want to die in this ick? After everything?) Determinedly, she pictures Juno, pushing back the temptation to surrender. 'Juju, I'm not giving up.' She thinks, pulling on the thinnest thread that still remains of their connection. (She hopes she's not just imagining this, too.) 'But this is so gross. So, so gross. Please hurry!'
 
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It takes Juno one second to fully recover from Lettie calling her “babe.” Truthfully, it would have taken much longer for her to recover and process this development, but with the stakes so high, knowing she’s left her faerie to distract the goop monster by herself, she has not a second more to waste. (Even then, she feels bad for the one second pause she took. Every second in a battle must be used wisely. Juno’s learned and relearned that lesson time and again. Her body is covered in the proof.) While her cheeks are still stained pink, she dips down to her knees and presses her palms flat to the earth, ignoring the butterflies fluttering through her (Lettie’s magic soul bugs are infectious, apparently) as she focuses on the earth beneath her hands.

Just as when she moved the mountain to open a tunnel to the rainbow springs, she focuses on the trace elements of life in the soil; the ghosts who once walked over this land in their life; their bodies as they decayed and became one with Fabel. (Soil itself is the most potent store of death and the negative, inverse energy that necromancy is based on. That Juno never thought to use it before only shows how disconnected Desdemonians have become from their world and its inherent resources.)

A pang, like a nail to the middle of the forehead, hits her as she tries to pull on the dregs of necromancy that Dream Weaver wasn’t able to take. It’s like scraping the last bits of moisture from a puddle in hopes of sating thirst. The strain causes her arms to shake as she reaches for that energy within the rich soil and attempts to grasp it. Quickly, she realizes she'll only be able to do this once. Then she’s out until she’s able to recover. This has to count.

At the risk of breaking her connection, she cracks her eyes open, scanning the battlefield for the goop monster and Lettie, checking to see their position and exactly how much time she has left. With Lettie hanging from a tree branch over the colossal monster, she knows her time is coming. Then, considering that the monster has the ability to reform, it’s not so far fetched to imagine that it can reshape itself and escape. A hole in the earth will only trap it for so long. The window of opportunity will be small. And they’ll need Thad ready.

Her gaze flicks over to her ship and, thankfully, Thad hasn’t gone and run off while they’re distracted with this goop monster. (Which is honestly what Juno would have done, but it’s clear Thad isn’t exactly a survivalist like herself and Lettie are.) Even from this distance, she can see him trembling. Whatever. He’s all they have (unfortunately). “Thad! Get your skeletal ass down here right now!”

“What!? But you said I cou—”

He doesn’t get to finish that sentence as one of the many assholes aboard her ship blips him down from the bow right next to Juno. She doesn’t look over at him and only acknowledges him curtly. “Good, you made it. Be fucking ready.”

Thad loudly asks what that could possibly mean, but in true Juno fashion, she doesn’t bother to explain. Especially not when she hears Lettie’s whisper to hurry. She doesn’t speak to her, obviously, but somehow Juno can hear the faerie like she’s speaking directly into her mind. ‘I’m coming for you, babe. I’ve got you.’

Not wasting another second, she reaches back for those threads she had been attracting towards herself. They push up through the earth in response, connecting themselves to the ex-necromancer (or, at least, ex-bone magician) and when she has enough of them within her grasp, she concentrates on the space below the monster. With all her strength, she releases a shout from the pit of her belly, and tears a hole into the earth, right below the monster, trapping it. At least for now.

When Juno rises, she’s drenched in red sweat, her breath is heavy and her entire body is shaky and weak. But it’s not over yet. Without looking, she grabs Thad’s collar and rushes them over to the trapped beast. Thad keeps muttering her catchphrase and asks frantic, pointless questions about what she did and how she did it, but Juno doesn’t hear him. She’s too focused on the last thread of connection she has to Lettie, making sure it doesn’t flicker or go out entirely. Her heart hammers, sending tremors through her entire body.

Once beside the struggling beast, Juno’s eyes search for an opening where she might be able to reach for her girlfriend. She grabs her whip from her belt (a regular one, her last one turned to ash when she lost her necromancy) and fastens it to her waist, handing the end to Thad. (Goddess, his skeletal arms better not be the death of them. Though she supposes if she has to go down like this, she would prefer to have her lady in her arms.) “I have to get Lettie before you two can heal this fucker. When you feel me tug three times, pull. Use all the muscle on your fucking bones or I swear to the goddess you’re going to have two angry bitches haunting the shit out of you. We’ll haunt your fucking soul, Thad. Don’t fucking test us.”

The necromancer pales and nods his head, gripping the whip end until his knuckles are as white as his face.

Juno takes a deep breath and dives straight into the monster, following the only source she has to find her fucking faerie. It takes a full minute for her to make it to Lettie, wading through all that thick muck. She reaches for her arm and pulls her close to her body, hugging her tightly while the goop weighs on her like the sky. She tugs the whip three times, knowing it’s on Thad and his dork arms to save them now. ‘I’ve got you. I’ve got you.’

The length around her waist goes taut and ever so slowly, she can feel them being lifted back up towards the surface. Juno kicks and pumps her legs to help Thad’s efforts then, suddenly, with a forceful tug, they’re yanked straight from the monster’s backside (causing it to writhe and howl) and fly up into the air, falling into a classic stack with Juno on top of Lettie. Juno grunts and gasps out upon landing, coughing as she takes in mouthfuls of air. She forces herself to ignore the need to recover, already pushing herself off of Lettie. Any other moment she would have taken her time to look at her girlfriend from this angle and maybe even kiss her with fervor, but there’s not the time with the goop monster is still behind them. She settles for hugging her tightly as she pulls them both up to their feet.

When she looks over at Thad, she spots a large spirit construct behind him, holding the end of her whip. It’s unlike anything she’s ever witnessed with spirits before. (It’s got six stupidly buff arms…) Her wide eyes seem to offend Thad. He puts his hands on his hips, petulant. “Why do you look so surprised? I’m not an imbecile. My IQ is so impressive tha—”

“Shut the fuck up, nerd. I’ve never seen necromancy like that is all, but now’s not the time to piss ourselves over this shit. Look,” she points to the gaping hole their exit placed in the monster’s back, revealing the heart. “This is what the corruption looks like on a lesser heart, before it’s fully taken over a world.”

She gestures for Thad to step closer. “Whatever you did on that last mission, you’re going to need to do again, but on a smaller scale.” Before Juno releases Lettie to the other necromancer, her voice softens a touch. “And slower, this time. She’s not a battery. She’s not a source. You take too much from her over nothing and…” The pirate’s expression drops, darkening. “Just be careful.”

“Or you’ll punch me?”

“I might.” She shrugs, undecided. “Best not to find out.” She raises her brow and looks between the two of them, then stands behind Thad, placing her hands on his shoulder. “When I squeeze your shoulders, stop pulling from her. You really don’t need much— faerie magic is fucking powerful. Less is more." She then looks to Lettie, offering her a reassuring (albeit worried) grin. "You ready, Lettie?”
 
Lettie slowly recovers from her daze, coughing and gasping in lungfuls of air. She leans against Juno as she embraces her and hoists her up from the ground. (She's got me.) In her arms, the faerie paws at her face in attempt to scrub it as clean as she can. She blinks hard as the mix of dirt and make-up runs into her eyes, burning them and drawing tears. Then she takes to the tedious work of picking tiny bones, feathers, and a fish from her messy white locks. Finally, she wrings her hair in her fists and watches with open disgust as goop spills in rivulets down her hands. (...She doesn't want to look down at her clothes or she might cry for real. Yeah, 'course the battle's more important-- the fact that she's alive is more important-- but she just wouldn't be Olette Lycoris Radiata if she didn't still give a shit about her clothes.) Ugh, what a mess. Is it too much to ask that she look cute in front of her girlfriend? Yeah, she knows Juno doesn't care nearly as much about that stuff... but she does, damn it! Pettily, she glares at the goop monster. 'You are soooo lucky we're not exploding your gross ass.'

That's when Lettie notices what Juno had been doing while she'd been off distracting the monstrosity. Given there's a giant fucking hole in the earth that definitely wasn't there before and everything. 'How did Juju...?' Her white eyes widen with shock as she looks from the pirate, to the hole, and back again. "H-- wha...?" She confusedly points her fingers left and right, unable to form a coherent question, and then eventually gives up and drops them at her sides again. Juno's explaining all this to Thad so they can take care of this shit before the creature escapes. Of course she doesn't want all that hard work thus far to be in vain. With that in mind, the faerie saves her questions for later.

Lettie peeks up at Juno as she explains everything to Thad, the faerie's expression softening as the pirate's voice does. ('Just be careful.' Her compassion disarms her and turns her knees to jelly.) She considers telling Thad if he reduces her to faerie dust that Juno won't be the only one he'll have to worry about. Her ghost will come for him with a vengeance. Somehow, she doesn't possess the capacity to act like her feisty self. (Lately, she hasn't felt much like pretending the way she used to. She might've lost the strength for that along with her wings.) Still. If the disheveled goopy state of her turns out to be her last look? There's gonna be hell to pay.

"...Mhm." Lettie nods, uncharacteristically meek. 'You've just gotta do this.' Anxiousness writhes in her chest as she recalls the way it felt last time. (She can't shake the memories, the dust they swept off those arena floors. The fear that that's all she'll amount to when all her life's been siphoned out.) 'Deep breath. I am not a battery. I am not a source.' She thinks that affirmation to herself and with a deep breath, steels against her worries with the reassurance that there's no way she's gonna turn to dust under Juno's watch.

Lettie's never felt afraid like this with Juno. Not once. Even when things got rough-- and damn did they get rough-- she never gave her a reason to believe that she was gonna take too much from her by mistake.

The faerie takes the newbie necromancer's head and nods, offering Juno a determined but worry tinged grin of her own.

As usual, Lettie's glitching form glows as Thad begins pulling from her. (Without her wings, her eyes emit more light than they did before. Shapes and patterns claw out from them-- an admittedly odd side effect of that magic no longer being able to appear as kaleidoscope patterns in her wings. They stretch forward, wrapping the monster in light and washing goop from the heart, cleansing it.) Eventually she bows her head against the strain of finishing the job, glitching a touch more erratically. Her senses are so heightened in this state that with two necromancers standing beside her, her connections to both of them war in her chest. Her soul is being stretched out like putty. "Thad." She cringes, gritting out a warning through her teeth. The newbie necromancer's rhythm is still clumsy, enough that she can physically feel him draining her. Thankfully this doesn't go on for too long before there's a sharp stop. Thad tries again, slowing the pull a bit more. There's another sharp stop. It slows to a trickle. Whew. Juno's influence, no doubt. She's got her.

Lettie blanks out. As the phantasmic glow fades from her skin, pinpricks of it emerge from the heart before it bursts entirely in an explosion of blinding light. The earth below their feet rumbles and when the faerie blinks her eyes open again, she finds the forest floor littered with tiny bones, birds, and fish. The goop has been completely banished, though (good riddance) and a wavy silhouette of light remains in the monster's place. A spirit of some kind? It's shaped kind of like a mystical sea serpent. It nods at them in recognition before slithering back in the direction it came from.

(From Juno's back pocket, the surface of the hand mirror briefly pulses with light.)

"Mission accomplished." Lettie sighs and offers them both a thumbs up, sleepy and relieved. She looks down at herself and winces. The magic might have freed the monster from the goop, but it has not freed her. She's still a mess. Figures. "Yuck. I need to shower... like now." She glimpses Juno, her heart racing as she considers suggesting they shower together. (Hey, might as well take advantage of every moment they can get...!) But then she considers how reluctant the pirate was to show her the crystal growths on her skin (specifically her back) and doesn't want to put her in an uncomfortable position. And speaking of which, she might be a little reluctant to let Juno see her own scars. She doesn't want them to stir up any unnecessary guilt in her. She's shouldered way too much already. While normally it might've been fun to race back, she's too tired for that. So instead she bats her eyes and raises her arms up towards Juno. "Carry me?"

From the corner of her eye, Thad opens his mouth to mock her or gag or something equally distasteful. Lettie silences him with a finger to his lips before he can make a sound. "...Shut up, Thaddeus Rex." She purses her lips. "You're just jealous 'cause you don't have a stupidly buff girlfriend."

Can't argue with that, can he? There's nothing better than being carried in her stupidly buff girlfriend's stupidly buff arms. (Especially now that she can think that these are her girlfriend's arms. She has a buff girlfriend and will never get over this fact. Juno is her girlfriend.)

On the trek back to Lady, Lettie nuzzles against Juno's neck, careful not to brush up against the sharp edges of any of her crystal growths. Then she playfully boops her on the nose. "You did so good back there. How did you..." The faerie makes a whoosh sound effect and splays her fingers, her eyes wide and curious. "I mean, you tore a hole in the earth, Juju! That's totally bananas." (Especially... considering the circumstances.) "How'd you do it?"
 
Juno obliges her girlfriend’s request without question, carrying her bridal style before shifting her over onto her back to ascend the ladder. Yes, she’s tired and exhausted herself, but for Lettie? She summons her strength, wanting to enjoy the closeness they have while it lasts. They aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. They aren’t even guaranteed the next hour. It’s unclear whether the cubes will let the new duo stay long enough to heal the nightmare chasm or if their only intentions had been for her to coach Thaddeus Rex (his full name is even worse and Juno’s already forgotten it) on how to draw from Lettie. (It took everything in Juno to not snap Thad’s neck when swallowed up at least three whole butterflies needlessly, like he hadn’t been listening to her at all. Somehow, she kept her calm and settled for squeezing his shoulders as she said she would. Took him a couple tries, but she thinks he’ll get it.) She just doesn't want to waste another moment apart from her faerie.

When all three of them are back aboard Lady, Juno shows Thad to the gym showers and offers some extra soap and a towel. The magistrate then blips in and says that she will take care of his clothing, giving off the effect that she’s grinning over the prospect of styling the nerd. Well, good. At least that hints that her and Lettie might get an hour or two extra being together. (Here’s to hoping no fuckshit happens in the meantime.)

It’s not even a question that Juno lets Lettie take the first shower. But before she can trot off and cleanse herself of the goop, Juno makes sure to hand her some clean clothes from her wardrobe— a shirt, hoodie, and the leather jacket she’s been favoring recently. (Something from the magistrate, styled in a fashion more similar to that motorcycle world than anything from Desdemonia.) Juno then takes a seat beside the door, wanting to remain as close to Lettie as possible. She thinks about asking to hang out inside the bathroom with her, but the thought turns her cheeks bright red and she decides that should be saved for another time.

As she waits, she thinks over Lettie’s question, smirking as she tilts her head back against the wall. “I told you," she finally answers, raising her voice so the faerie can hear her through the door and over the water. "I learned a lot when I tried getting your wings back.” Though Juno would ordinarily be tempted to leave it at that, she can already hear the faerie’s questions and as much as she loves teasing Lettie, she doesn’t know if she even has the time for that. “I mean, you explained it to me once that there’s life in everything and that trees and shit have feelings and that’s why you don’t chop them up.” She feels proud of herself for reciting this, knowing she's totally nailed the essence of that lesson. “Plus, think about it, we were able to heal that techno world. So even tech’s got some form of life in it. And if there’s life, then there’s death and inverse energy clinging to it.

“Moving the earth is just about feeling for those traces of death. It’s easy when you think about what soil is and how rich with life and death it is.” Well, it's only easy for her now. At first, she struggled to figure out what she was supposed to be feeling for, but once she reminded herself of what the faerie taught her, it came to her quickly. “I also learned how to control fire. Can’t create it myself, but if I have a source, I can work with it.”

She inhales sharply after that, recalling the strain she was under earlier having so little magic and trying to do so much with it. She releases her breath, rubbing the back of her neck. “Dream Weaver didn’t take all my magic. You prevented that, but what I have left is scraps. Less than scraps, probably. I don't think I can do more than one move like what I did today. I have to be careful with it.”

As Lettie exits from the bathroom, Juno looks up at her with a dimpled grin. She doesn’t even notice that she’s grinning, because it’s just what she does around her faerie. “You’re a total stunner, you know that?” She wants to pull her down for a kiss, but she somehow can’t imagine that her sparkly clean faerie will enjoy being kissed by her goop girlfriend, no matter how stupidly buff. “It’s not fair.”

Juno doesn’t waste her time in the shower. True, it does take a bit longer to scrape all that goop off of herself, but she still manages to get herself clean in record time. (She also notes that her crystallization doesn’t seem to have spread, either.) And, soon, she's stepping back into her bedroom wearing a Lettie and the Skellies band t-shirt along with some comfortable joggers.

As her eyes land on her faerie, the tension she hadn’t realized she had been holding unknots itself and she immediately goes to scoop her up, kissing her with clean lips. She smooths the pad of her thumb over Lettie’s cheek, then cups her face in her palms. “You okay? I tried to get him to slow down, but he’s jittery.” She backs up to sit on the bed so that she can press their foreheads together, looping her arms around Lettie's neck. “I’m working on this, y'know." 'This' being her necromancy, of course. "It’ll be me again, holding your hand and watching your back. We’re going to finish this thing together.”

It’s bold of her to make a promise she doesn’t know that she can keep. There are certain things that are out of her hands, beyond her control. Even if it’s her hope speaking, she shouldn’t make this promise, because what if Lettie comes back and she’s a statue?

“I just have to figure out how to work with Dream Weaver. They’re stubborn as fuck.” Like a certain pirate and a certain faerie. “And jaded. I get it, but I have no idea what it’s going to take to prove myself to them.” She sighs and dips her head to rest on her girlfriend’s chest. (The best place to rest her head, as she’s learning.) “I wish they could see me through your pretty eyes.”

“Ahem!”

Juno stiffens and straightens up her posture, head swiveling around in search for the source of the interruption. Something flashes in her pile of ruined clothes and she furrows her brows together, sharing a look with Lettie before she goes to pile, pulling out the flashing hand mirror. Dream Weaver is waiting within the glass, arms crossed over their chest. “Finally. I was beginning to think you had forgotten about dear old Dream Weaver.”

“What do you want?”

“If I were you I would temper your tone when speaking with the divine. But I suppose you are who you are, pirate.” The spirit pauses, perhaps waiting for the pirate to say something, but Juno doesn’t speak. She remains quiet, not budging. (It’s as Dream Weaver said, she is who she is.) “And perhaps who you are is not such a bad thing," they admit. "I have watched you help peoples who have no stake in your life. You even managed to not punch that Thaddeus character. Even so, I have not made a final decision on whether or not you deserve you are worthy of a second or, rather, seventh chance. To be precise." The spirit pauses again, letting their words hang in the air. Juno doesn't know what to make of it, whether she's angry they're playing with her life or whether she's relieved they're starting to give. Maybe both? Dream Weaver continues, "The crystallization is going to consume you in three days time. From my mirror, I cannot do anything to lift the devouring—"

"If you think for a fuckin' second—"

"Pirate, shut the fuck up and listen." Surprised enough by that, the pirate shuts the fuck up and listens. "As I was saying, I cannot do anything from the mirror, but I know of a spirit who may be able to lift or stop the curse. They are a dear friend to me and should you help them only with a few tasks, they may assist you. You won't even need to give up your last bit of magic or slivers of your life. Just some favors. Should you help this friend, I may even be inclined to give back your necromancy at the end of the trials."

Juno shoves the mirror under her pillow, like that will make their conversation private, and looks at Lettie. "What do you think? They tricked me once already..." She rubs the back of her neck and, as she does so, the crystal on her free hand spreads to cover the three fingers entirely. It doesn't hurt and she winces anyway. "Do I have a choice?"
 
Three days time...? No way. No way, no way, no fucking way! Lettie's tempted to tell Dream Weaver to shut the fuck up instead, to claim they can't possibly know what the fuck is happening from their new mirror digs and that they're fucking wrong. They're wrong. They have to be. They're... just... just trying to scare them or some shit. Right? (Right!?) Because three days can't be all they have left to figure this out. No, no, no. (Curse that bastard cube, ripping her away at the worst possible moment and allowing precious time to slip through their fingers. There's no way of knowing when cubey is going to blip her away again, either. What if the mission keeps her from Juno for yet another week--? Or more than that? Stars, she could disappear at any moment. Meaning that if what Dream Weaver's saying is true, if they only have three days, any moment could be their last. She could return to Fabel to find her pirate standing as still and solemn as her mother's graveyard statue.) Tears of frustration and fear prick in her eyes and she presses the heels of her hands to them to keep them from falling. Not now. She can't unravel because Juno needs her. (Needs her while she's still here.)

'It’ll be me again, holding your hand and watching your back. We’re going to finish this thing together.' Lettie wants to trust in Juno the same way she had wanted to trust in Lina when she told her they'd leave the estate and that city behind someday. (The conversation they had before she--) The faerie's grieving heart screams warnings at her and panic might be stronger than her willpower this time. Wave after wave it crashes over her that loving her is a death sentence. It's not fair. How much does she have to lose before she catches a fucking break? Her hands tremble and she buries them in the blankets on the bed, clawing her nails into the soft mattress. It's probably for the better that Juno stuffs the mirror under her pillow. Dream Weaver should consider themself lucky she's not yanking their spirit out of the mirror and tearing them to shreds for putting them through this.

Lettie inhales a sharp breath, grappling with... all of it. I can't lose her. Not like this. Staring down at her hands, she catches a glimpse of the golden zeroes on her wrist. It reminds her that they've had countless close calls in the past. They... they can get through this one too, can't they? (...Only difference was before they were always together. They're together now, yes, but for how much longer?) Seeing Juno wince at her newly crystalized fingers, the faerie makes an odd noise. A portion of the sob she's been holding onto bursts out and it takes everything in her to swallow it back down. Hurriedly, she scrubs her hands over her face. Pull yourself together! She needs you!

"...Fuck. We have to try." Lettie nods slowly, her hands falling to reveal the world-weary expression behind them. She rubs her thumb over the golden zeroes. "We can't just give up. If there's a chance we have to take it." Just like she did. (...Just like she did. But she doesn't want it to be exactly the same for Juno as it was for her with these so-called 'favors'. She doesn't want her last moments to be spent working herself to the bone only to have it all be for nothing. She hadn't failed to notice Dream Weaver specifically saying their friend 'may' help. It's all too wishy washy for her taste.) She steels herself. "Doesn't mean we have to trust them, though. We'll meet with the other spirit. If we think it's a trap we can leave and find another way."

"And if it is a trap? Mark my fucking words Dream Weaver-- I'm gonna make it my mission to stick the worst possible roommate in that mirror with you." Lettie lifts the pillow, snatching up the mirror to make sure that the spirit is getting all of this. (She figures they must've heard everything anyway, considering they'd heard them from Juno's pile of clothes. Still.) She also glares for good measure, to show the spirit she's a determined little faerie who means business. "And then I'll bury it somewhere no one will ever find it."

Needless to say, Lettie has to be there to meet the new spirit. (She wants to be there through all of it, of course she does, but at the very fucking least she has to be there for this part.) Considering the mess they're in now, Juno may need her killer bullshit radar to report on this one. While she does believe the pirate has since learned her lesson from dealing with Dream Weaver the first time-- this kind of magic is sinister and tricky. It goes without saying that the faerie has more experience with it... and she'd feel more secure, reading the fine print and making sure she's set up with someone who's actually going to help her.

"Melvin, get in here!" Lettie calls for the cube, clapping her hands twice as if that might summon the menace.

The mirror's surface flashes as Dream Weaver stiffens at the mention of Melvin's name. "I can assure you..." The spirit says, tense. "It is not a trap." The prospect of being trapped with Melvin has really changed their tone, hasn't it? (...Good to know. She will bury the mirror with Melvin if it comes down to it.) "Please, I do not wish to be imprisoned with that--"

"What's updog?" Melvin asks after they blip into the room with a spin. (Lettie rates it a two out of ten.)

"There's no time to explain. I need you to distract cubey for me." Lettie demands, bringing her hands to her hips. She is a determined little faerie who means business, after all. "It's a top secret mission. Do you think you can do it?"

"Sure, sure! I can distract the maestro. No prob Bob. But seriously, though. Someone please explain to me..." Melvin says, sounding distressed. They're smoking a bit. The faerie isn't concerned at all about this. "What's an updog!?"

"Go ask cubey! I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you." The faerie urges, not even bothering to hide her annoyance as she puffs her cheeks.

"Great idea! See ya then!" And with that, Melvin blips away. (Geez. Lettie hopes Melvin annoys the hell out of cubey.)

"Hopefully..." Lettie's eyebrows furrow together when she looks up at Juno again. Her eyes drift from her eyes to her crystalized fingers... and she reaches gently to hold her hand before bringing her gaze back up to her eyes. "Hopefully that'll buy us some time." They don't know whether she has three minutes left on Fabel or three days. That means they have to take advantage of every second. With that in mind, Lettie hugs Juno's arm with one arm and raises Dream Weaver's mirror with her free hand. "Take us to your friend. And remember..." Her eyes flash dangerously. "I'm not fucking around. I will make good on my threat to bury you with Melvin if this turns out to be nothing more than a wild goose chase." (The faerie shudders. She does not use the phrase 'wild goose chase' lightly for obvious reasons.) "The second we get where we need to be you're gonna be banished to the magic circle. Just in case this is some kinda ploy to free yourself."

Thinking that all her bases are more or less covered, the faerie nods. Okay. Okay, time to do this.

"...We're gonna figure this out, Juju." Lettie softens, trying to sound reassuring when she sorely needs reassuring herself. She tries to smile and squeezes her arm. "We got this." Or at least she really, really hopes they do.
 
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