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To most outsiders, the Aresian Royal Palace is something shrouded in both beauty and mystery. One would think it'd be a ugly hunk of rock, but that couldn't be further from the truth; with its smooth marble pillars and carefully placed roof tiles, it is no doubt a sight to behold. But a hidden sight, at that. Terrans and other extraterrestrials have to bend over backwards just to get a crude, blurry picture of the dome-covered building and city from one of their satellites. Assuming that the satellites were miraculously not shot down. But to Princess Elena, the palace is something she's seen way too many times for her liking. She's sick and tired of it. Tired of all the meetings that don't change anything, of all the royal officials breathing down her neck about policies, of him. Apollo. Simply saying his name makes her tense up. Elena envies those in the galaxy who have normal, boring families; it's something she feels that many take for granted. There's nothing she wouldn't give to trade being threatened with civil war by her own cousin with just going to the grocery store with him or something. As she's escorted up the overfamiliar stairs and taken across the overly recognizable hallway, Elena gets what feels like her thousandth dose of the palace. It's crazy to think that her dear late mother lived here! For years! When she finally gets to the great hall, a sea and court members, Sunbeams and Poets alike rise up and she remembers why she's here in the first place; to sign the treaty. This treaty is supposed to finally bring peace to Ares after years of hostile (bordering on straight-up violent) disagreement. With a few movements of her fountain pen, Elena can put an end to all of this. It all sounds so… perfect. She thoroughly reads the document, pen in hand, and for a brief moment the princess feels like she's in some sort of fairytale! …Until her large dark plum eyes fall upon one particular sentence in the fine print: “—If Princess Elena signs this, she agrees to forfeit all rights to the throne and every Sunbeams in her army will cease their fighting.” “What the fuck!” she shrieks, throwing her pen across the room. The audience gasps, whispering amongst themselves. “Is there a problem, cousin?” Apollo raises a thick brown in fake confusion. Elena sees straight through the display of falsehood. “Don't play coy, Apollo! I read the fine print! Did you really think I would fall for that? That I would just hand over the throne to you?” “Well it'd be the right thing to do, wouldn't it?” the prince quickly abandons trying to feign innocence, matching her volume. “Everyone knows I'm the one who should wear the crown! I know it, my Poets know it, the only person who seems to not have a clue is you!” Elena throws her head back in mirthless laughter. “You're one delusional piece of work, aren't you? My mother was the queen regnant of this stars-forsaken kingdom, so that would make me its rightful ruler! That's the basic monarchy system!” “Aunt Aranka might've been queen regnant, but my mother was queen regent! She was the one who was really pulling the strings while your mother was off fooling around with that dread headed monkey—!” a loud slap echoes throughout the room. “Don't you ever speak about my father in that way.” Elena says through gritted teeth. “How can you make fun of my mother marrying a Terran man? At least she married in the first place, and didn't have me at the age of sixteen like your mother did. And if I'm not mistaken, you're not a full-blooded Aresian either! Wasn't your mother violated by a spy from Earth?” when her cousin doesn't reply back, she smirks at his silence. “Yeah, that's what I thought.” Apollo continues to cup his cheek, still tinted red from the strong slap he had received from her just seconds prior, before sighing. “Listen; since I'm feeling nice, I'll cut you a deal. If you just give up this whole ‘I’m the true ruler of Ares’ charade now, then I'll make things easy on you. When I'm king, I'll give you a bigger mansion of your own and a ton of money. Let's say… a hundred million drachmas. Deal?” he stretches his hand out towards her for a handshake. Elena looks at him in disgust, pushing it away. “No. Absolutely not. No amount of money will ever make me agree to give up what's rightfully mine. And to be honest? I'm offended that you would even suggest that I'm that easily swayed. I am not breakable”. She walks out of the room, her long, loose mahogany curls bouncing with every vigorous step she takes. “You'll regret this, cousin!” she hears Apollo yell distantly in the background. Elena stops walking for a moment, before turning around and looking at him with a determined glint in her eye. “I'll hold you to that.” ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ When Elena had returned to her quiet manor after the earlier events of the day, all she had wanted to do was relax. She tried many things: curling up in the bay window with a good book and a warm cup of tea, watching an old Terran movie, doing some stretches. None of them worked. Sighing in frustration, she picked up her phone; maybe all she needs is to watch some cute cat videos on the internet. Before she could even type in “adorable cat compilation”, though, her feed was bombarded with articles and videos talking about what happened. Floods of news reports were released following the failed treaty signing. Poets slandered Elena, labeling her as a horrific monster who would rather hold onto a petty grudge than save her country. This didn't surprise her; ‘Poets’, supporters of Apollo named after his godly namesake, have always hated her. Why wouldn't they jump at the opportunity to drag her name into the mud? Sunbeams, however, named after the fact that Elena's own name means “shining light”, have shown her their endless loyalty towards her and published hundreds of news articles uplifting her in an attempt to combat the Poets’ attacks. This didn't surprise her either. What did surprise her, though, was when she heard a thundering knock on the door to her small manor. The clamoring was accompanied by a voice as well. “Open the door! I know you're in there!” a voice boomed, before continuing to pound on the door and rattle the doorknob. “Who the hell could that be?” Elena mutters softly under her breath. It can't be a Poet, surely not. The enemy group doesn't know where she lives, no one does. Unless— did someone give away her address? After a couple more minutes of yelling and trying to open the door, the voice stops and yells “We have a battering ram! We are going to break this damn door down on the count of three!”. “We?” so it's multiple people trying to break in? Elena panics internally; just like every other Aresian, she was blessed with the gift of shape-shifting. But the thing is, her power is watered down thanks to her mixed ancestry. As much as she loved her parents, in this moment she curses her late father for being a human. “One!” The ram crashes into the door, cracking the edges surrounding it. What is she supposed to do? Unless this entire army is of mixed blood like she is, which she highly doubts, her powers are practically useless against them. “Two!” another thud sounds out, and the web of cracks branches out even more. The hinges become looser. Screw it, she's going to hide! Elena bolts up the grand staircase. “Three!” Elena hears the door, the last line of defense she had, fall to the ground. Lots of footsteps rush in. Luckily, by the time the group of offenders get in, she's already hiding in her bedroom. She pushes a large bookshelf in front of the locked door, trying not to pant in exertion. There! That should serve as a nice barricade. Satisfied with her minor work, Elena foolishly allows herself to relax for a moment. Big mistake. She hears the same crashing sound from earlier, this time against her bedroom door. “Shit, why didn't I realize they'd just use the battering ram again?” She mentally face palms. Her large doe eyes frantically dance around the room in search of an exit. The window! Using her (appropriately) queen-sized bed as leverage, Elena quickly slides her window open. Thankfully, there's a ledge. She slips out and walks on it, trying to make her footsteps as delicate as possible. Seeing that there's no angry mob outside (why would there be? It's supposed to be a private property), she prepares to jump off the ledge. What she didn't think of though, was the possibility that there'd be an angry mob inside instead. Her bedroom door bursts open, sending the bookshelf colliding to the floor. The same voice from earlier, belonging to an average Aresian citizen, points at her. “There she is! Get her!” Elena immediately jumps off the ledge and bolts. She plans on attempting to climb the fence, but then realizes something; her spaceship is in the backyard! She runs around the side of the house, mob in tow, before she finally sees her spaceship. Somehow picking up even more speed, she hops in it, having to slam one of the crowd's fingers in the door just to get them off her tail. It works, and the man whimpers in pain, backing off. Elena turns on the ignition and peels out. ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ “Sarah, which Terran country has the lowest GDP?” Elena asked her AI. If she's going to flee Mars, then Earth is probably the best candidate to hide in. It's way bigger and way more populated; the Poets would have a really hard time finding her there. But it couldn't just be any country. She'd need to go to a small country. A country with low economic status and relativity. Her AI responds in a robotic feminine voice. “Tuvalu, ma'am. It's a small island country that is part of the Australian Nation.” “Well then, set the ship's map to wherever that is!” Elena yawns, letting autopilot do its thing. Being chased by a murderous gang and having to flee the kingdom really takes it out of a woman. She turns down the ship's lighting, and falls asleep in her chair. ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ The escapee princess is abruptly woken up from her nap by a blaring alarm, one that she'd never heard before in her many years of owning this ship. Jolting upright, Elena takes her sleep mask off. “What happened?” “The empennage sensors have detected an enemy ship tailing us” Sarah reports, eerily calm and collected. “I have put the spacecraft in full speed” Looking out the window, Elena can see a multitude of stars and a couple of planets zoom by, making a flurry of light. And at the rear of the ship, as expected, there is indeed another craft chasing her. But not just any craft— a high end one. It's the type of spaceship that only nobility or royalty can dream to afford. And not just a luxury item either; it looks almost like… a military ship? “No fucking way” Elena breaths, “Apollo sent a military ship to hunt me down? All because I won't sign a silly piece of paper? Sarah, turn on the rocket launchers.” “As you wish, ma'am.” The princess can't see anything, but she can hear the sound of a deep rumbling coming from within the ship followed by high-pitched whistles. To her disappointment, the missiles seem to explode far before they can reach anything, let alone Apollo's ship. “Ma'am, the other ship is intercepting our attacks using anti-ballistic missiles of their own” Sarah reports, “What action do you want to take?”. Is there really anything Elena can do? Stopping the ship would basically be waving a white flag, but continuing to zoom through space would only make them keep chasing her. She needs for the enemy to lose track of her, but also for her to get to Tuvalu. That only leaves her with one choice… “Sarah? Crash the ship.” “Ma'am…?” “Just do it. It's the only way.” “Ma'am, this is highly inadvisable for your safety—” “I said just crash the damn ship!” Elena screams. “...Very well ma'am.” The changes aren't immediate, but after a short while, Elena can feel the spaceship start to angle down. She thought it was going fast before, but that was nothing in comparison to this. If she wasn't literally in the dead center of the gravity-less solar system, she'd almost think she was free-falling. Free-falling in a very hot sky. “Sarah” Elena groans, sweat beading on top of her caramel-colored forehead, “Why has it suddenly gotten so hot? I feel like I'm burning up”. “The vessel is accelerating so fast as it is approaching Earth's atmosphere that it is causing air friction ignition. I trust that you have packed a parachute, ma'am?” Elena sluggishly moves around the ship's interior as best as she can while it's tilted at about forty-five degrees. She paws through various draws and cabinets throughout the cockpit, finding absolutely nothing. “Ready your parachute or brace for impact. We are going down in t-minus thirty seconds.” “Wait! There's no parachute on here! What am I supposed to—?” “T-minus twenty seconds.” “Please! Please help me!” the princess finds herself pleading to no one but the stars above. The stars mercilessly turned their backs on her, though; the last thing she heard was a sickening crash.
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With her body feeling like it had just been through hell and back, Elena wakes up with a pained groan. “Finally. I was wondering when you were going to wake up.” Her (probably bloodshot) eyes wildly search around the room for the source of the sarcastic voice. She sees bright colors, crocheted tapestries, tons of plants and flowers, and— “Oh my stars” Elena exhales dreamily. The woman, presumably the person who just spoke, is breathtakingly gorgeous. Like, jaw-droppingly so. The goddess lady standing a few feet away from her is camel brown, plump, and has thick black hair with a tiny streak of gray that is tied into two long braids. The dark bags under her epicanthic fold eyes tell Elena that she's tired and possibly even a little stressed out. For some reason, she feels the urge to kiss every worry away from this woman's mind. Elena must've been staring at the majestic woman in front of her for a bit too long, because she asks “Can you speak?”. To Elena's embarrassment, all that comes out of her mouth in reply is “Unngh”. “That's fine. I'll just have to speak for you” the woman shrugs, a smile ghosting her lips. “You're probably wondering what you're doing here, so I should explain. You're in the outer part of the city Funafuti. Someone heard a loud crashing sound yesterday night and decided to go check it out. That's when they found a smoking destroyed plane looking thing with you inside it. You were in pretty bad shape, so being the local medical woman, they brought you to me. My name's Ai'lani by the way.” If she's being completely honest, Elena couldn't even wrap her head around anything else the woman said besides her name. Ai'lani. That's what the angel is called. Noted. “Thank you” is the most Elena's still concussion-addled brain could grunt out in return. “Glad to be able to help. Do you have anyone I can call to come get you? A family member, friend, any sort of trusted person?” This makes the princess’ brow furrow in confusion. “You don't know who I am?” Ai'lani mockingly gasps, “Oh my, I didn't know I was in the midst of a celebrity! Can I get an autograph?”. Her tone goes back to normal. “No, I have no idea who you are. Am I supposed to? I mean, as far as I know, you're just some lady who washed up on shore in some weird flying machine.” Elena should be miffed. She should turn on ‘egotistical princess mode’ and start being offended that this gorgeous island nurse doesn't know that she's the famous princess of Mars. But for some reason, she's not. If anything, this is relieving. Now she doesn't have to worry about putting on a regal facade or acting all confident. She can just be… real. “The first sign that someone's the right person for you” her mother had told her during her teen years, “Is if you can comfortably be yourself around them. Bonus points if you two meet in an awkward, unplanned sort of scenario”. And that seems like the case now. Her mother had met her father at her post-coronation ball while she met this girl after crashing her spaceship into the Pacific like an idiot. It can't get more awkward and unplanned than that! “Elena. My name is Elena. But you can call me Lena, that's what my friends and family call me” she tries to put on her most charming smile. It's a half lie. Elena never really had any actual friends growing up. Sure, she'd play and dance with the other kids at court sometimes, but usually they just wanted something from hanging out with her. They thought that if they were seen with the queen's daughter, surely they'd be generously gifted some kind of reward. But her family, however, did actually call her Lena. “Oh, so we're friends now?” Ai'lani arches a delicate brow. “I, uh—” Elena frantically tries to look for words. “Okay Lena. You can call me Lani. Lena and Lani. That sounds good together” Ai’lani chuckles to herself, completely unaware that the princess laying in front of her is trying not to faint from what she just said. “Can you stand? I'd love to show you around.” ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ Before they got around to any actual sight-seeing, Ai'lani insisted on feeding Elena. “You haven't eaten since last night and it's already well into the afternoon” the shorter woman explained. She'd turned on a grill, something Elena had never seen in person. Anything that makes some sort of smoke is forbidden on Ares. Candles, matchsticks, grills, you name it. Breathable air was far too precious in the enclosed kingdom to be poisoned by something as silly as fire. Ai'lani puts a slab of some sort of pink fish on the cooking grate, and she concentrates hardly on her work. Elena gets an idea. “What's looking good cooking?” she blurts out, winking. “...What?” The taller woman realizes her mistake and wants to crawl into a hole. That's not even how the phrase goes! “Uh, I mean, what are you making? Elena backtracks, hoping the other doesn't notice. “I'm making us some ahi tuna and coconut curry” Ai'lani softly smiles, amused. “Ahi tuna isn't exactly a super fatty fish, but it does have some omega threes. It should heal your concussion a tiny bit.” “Oh, ok” Elena says, not having a clue on what an omega three is but just being flattered that Ai'lani cares about her health to some degree. When the food is ready, they sit at a table on the aged wooden patio. Ai'lani's beach house is small, but in a cozy sense. “You should tell me about yourself,” the nurse says to the princess. Elena slightly pales; what can she tell her without freaking her out or sounding like she's lying? There's not really a way to casually mention that you're a princess from another planet that's about to fight a civil war with her cousin. She supposes that she could always just start with the basics. “I… I like driving. Or piloting. Whatever you would call driving a spacesh— I mean plane” she nervously chuckles. “That's how I got into this whole crash mess. I was running away from home. From my cousin, specifically. We used to get along really well as kids but then people around us started pitting us against each other, and it kinda ruined our relationship. I just wanted a break from all the drama, so I flew away to another kingd— I mean country. But things went wrong and I had to make an emergency landing.” Elena hadn't even realized how much she was talking the other woman's ear off until the end of her prattle. At least she didn't lie though, she just… cut out a few details. “Sorry, I know that was a lot to process. I don't know why I started yapping so much.” “No, not at all! I actually find your situation really relatable. Me and my family don't get on as well as we used to, either. They loved me as a young, impressionable girl willing to do their every bidding. But when I grew up and became independent, they withdrew. They realized they couldn't shake me out of having my own opinions, my own lifestyle, or my own taste in romantic partners.” Elena can't fight the urge to touch on that last part. “Romantic partners…?” she hesitantly questions. “Yeah, they wanted me to marry some sort of rich doctor guy. Not only did I myself become a doctor, I also refused to marry. Not to a man, at least” Ai'lani wrinkles her nose as if she'd smelled something rotten. Internally jumping with joy, Elena doesn't bother to hold back her grin. “Really? Me neither.” “I guess we're not that different then” Ai'lani mirrors her smile. “C'mon, let's go.” They spend the rest of the afternoon prancing around the island, enjoying sunbathing, dancing, and surfing. After growing weary, they settle down on a small log on the beach. “I'll be right back” Ai'lani abruptly announces, speed-walking back to her house before Elena can respond. This worries her; did she do something wrong? Was it something she said? She stares at the turquoise waters rippling over the shimmering sand, overthinking everything she's done in the past few hours, when Ai'lani finally comes back. She's got a small wooden box in her hands, engraved with an intricate flower design on the lid. “What's that?” Elena tilts her head. “You'll see,” Ai'lani says, pulling out a tiny drill and a long string. Elena lets out a childish huff, never having been the patient type. She watches with curious eyes as the woman gently picks up seashells out of the sand, washes them, drills small holes in them, and strings them along the strand of string. A couple of minutes pass before she finishes. “Voilà!” she sings, holding the necklace out. “Now, turn around.” Elena follows her order, and feels it being softly clasped around her neck. She flushes, admiring the work. “Thank you, this is really cute! You just be a jeweler in your free time.” Ai'lani chuckles. “No, I don't do this very often. When I do, it's for the children who live here. They call me ‘the mermaid lady’, because I'm always either surfing, making them shell necklaces, or healing people.” The princess absolutely melts. She made her a necklace even though she usually only does it for the adorable kids running around? She's good with kids in the first place? Elena's heart can't take it. She feels as if she might just explode. Pulling herself together and acting like she hasn't just folded for the woman sitting next to her, Elena manages to say something back. “I'm really honored to be the exception to your necklace-making. And I'm also just really honored to know you.” “Oh?” “Yes, I am. I've only known you for about five hours, but in those five hours you've shown me nothing but kindness, charm, humor, and beauty” Elena claps a hand over her mouth. She did not mean to say that last bit out loud. The jig is up, there's no way Ai'lani doesn't know she likes her now. This is bad! What if Elena misread this whole situation? What if Ai'lani had been joking when she'd talked about being grossed out by the idea of marrying a man? What if she had just been doing her job when she nursed Elena back to health after the crash, and all this meant nothing? What if— Before Elena can keep panicking or take back what she said, Ai'lani silences her with a kiss.
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Elena's head spins, and not just from her minor concussion. The astonishingly beautiful ‘mermaid lady' of Funafuti just kissed her. Her! Elena, of all people! She feels like the luckiest star among the galaxy. “Wha— so, you like me back?” she whispers, completely taken with this woman. “You dummy,” Ai'lani fondly laughs, “Of course I do! Why do you think I introduced you to my community, cooked for you, or made you a necklace? I'm practically smitten with you! I thought I was making it really obvious” “Oh!” Elena gasps at both the revelation and the second round of passionate kissing that ensues. They keep going until Ai'lani pulls back. “We should probably get off of this beach, it's a public place.” ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ The pair barely makes it through the doorway without pouncing on each other. In seemingly no time, the princess and the doctor end up on the living room couch. The former stops. “Do you really want this?” “More than anything” the latter breathes. Elena eats for the second time that evening. ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ With her hair mussed and skin sweaty, Elena finds herself being big spoon on the couch. Ai'lani rolls over and turns to her. “I don't want you to leave” she simply states. Leave. Elena had sincerely forgotten that this little island country wasn't her real home. That she'd have to eventually go back to Ares and face Apollo. “I don't want to either” she murmurs, burying her face deeper into the shoulder of the woman she's holding. “You could always just stay here” Ai'lani suggests, “My home is your home now too, since you're mine”. “I…” Elena puts in tons of effort to say something, anything back, but she just can't. Partly because she's too busy flushing and seeing stars, and partly because she's not too sure about that. Could she really just pack up and leave her planet? Her kingdom? It's not that she doesn't think Ai'lani is worth it; that's far from the case. But as much as she's a queen in Elena's eyes, that doesn't disguise the fact that she's not of royal blood. Ares has never been a very homophobic country, not in all its (albeit few) centuries. Her people wouldn't have a problem with Ai'lani being a woman, but they would keel over at her non-noble heritage. She's not even middle class! For a moment, Elena entertains the idea of just telling her mermaid lady what's up. She's tired of dancing around what her situation really is and pretending to be a normal Terran girl-next-door. She relishes in the thought. “Lani?” She gently calls for the shorter woman's attention, carding her delicate fingers through her lover's thick curls. “Hm?” “I have something to tell you…” This stirs Ai'lani out of her sleepiness. “Is something wrong?” She tilts her head. “No! Nothing's wrong at all! At least, not for now? I, um, have neglected to tell you a few… ‘fun facts’ about myself. This is going to sound super crazy, but I promise I'm telling the truth. You have my word! And my heart. But anyways, are you ready?” Elena blurts out. “You're kinda scaring me, but ok. I'll always listen to what you have to say Lena.” Taking a deep breath, the princess carefully articulates each word that escapes her mouth. “I'm the princess of Ares. And that ‘plane' out there isn't actually a plane, it's a spaceship. The cousin I was telling you about is Prince Apollo, and I ran away to Earth to evade him and his forces.” After a couple of terrifying beats of silence, Ai'lani's brows knit together in worry. “Are you sure your head is feeling better? I think your concussion might be worse than I thought.” Elena blinks, confused. “What? No! I know it sounds insane, but I'm actually being serious! Look me up or something!” Still extremely skeptical, Ai'lani squirms out of their cuddle pile and grabs her phone off the rattan coffee table. “What's your full name?” “Elena Akhona Makwetu-Vasilio.” Her thumbs quickly move around her screen, presumably typing something, before stilling. Her eyes skim for a couple of seconds before widening; looking at Elena, then the screen, then back to Elena again. “Oh my god. You weren't kidding. This is actually you!” The picture she shows her is a portrait of Elena done a few years back, one that is not very liked by her. She cringes. “That portrait isn't a favorite of mine.” “You're a princess! Of another planet! I just slept with a princess!” Ai'lani paces around the room, horrified. “Am I going to get arrested or something?” “No! Of course not! Nobody cares who I sleep with. Now marrying is another story, but anyways, you'll be fine” Elena rushes to reassure her. Calming down, Ai'lani returns to her spot on the couch. “Well in that case, I'm actually really happy you told me the truth. Now everything makes sense.” “What do you mean?” “Like, now I know the reason you were strong enough to survive a crash with an impact of thousands of feet! And why you’re confused about normal everyday things! You're not from Earth! My girlfriend is literally out of this world!” she uncontrollably giggles, kissing her senseless. When they finally settle down, Elena turns to Ai'lani once more. “So… What now?” “I guess you'll just have to stay here. Your ship is absolutely wrecked; there's no way you can use it to go back to Ares. And if I understand what you've told me about the political conflict, even if you go back, they'll probably kill you.” “Yeah, you're right. Y'know, I'm not nearly as sad as I thought I'd be about this” a realization dawns on Elena. “Really?” “Definitely. If staying on this island with you forever is supposed to be some sort of misfortune, then I'm a black cat who just opened an umbrella indoors while standing in front of a broken mirror.” ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ Elena isn't sure exactly how many sols weeks have gone by since she first landed here. Judging by the full silver moon illuminating the form of her love swimming in the distance, she'd guess two? Perhaps three? However long it's been, she doesn't care. All she knows is that the short time she has spent here has been the most magical time of her entire three and a half decades of life. Ai'lani front crawls toward her, hair dripping. “Do you hear that?” Elena has no idea what she's referring to. She's been too busy being hypnotized by her mermaid gracefully moving throughout the water. “Hear what?” “It's like a rumbling, whooshing sound. You don't hear it?” Ai'lani wrings her hair out, looking around before spotting something. “I think it's coming from there” she points to the sky. Elena follows her gaze; what she sees makes her heart plummet down to her stomach. A group of three spaceships are hovering over the beach, specifically where her own ship had crashed. Two of them are small and identical to the one that had chased her through the solar system, but the third one is larger. On its centre fuselage, the flag of Ares is painted; a maroon, black, and white banner with a sword surrounded by a semicircle of stars. The bottom half of the circle contains an inscription of the country's national motto that dates all the way back to its violent founding, “πέθανε πολεμιστής ή ζήσε δειλός”. In English, meaning “Die a warrior or live a coward”. He's found her. “Lani, we have to go!” she grabs her lover's hand. “Oh shit! Is that?...” “Yeah. That's him. C'mon!” The second they start running, the biggest ship shines a blindingly bright light on the pair, and begins shooting at them. Taking cover inside Ai'lani's house, they lock the door, race up the stairs, and hide in the closet. Elena cradles her. “I'm so sorry, I never meant for you to get dragged into this mess” she squeezes her eyes shut, as if doing so will magically make the ships go away. “Don't apologize. Being a part of your life means being a part of the craziness too, and that's a small price to pay for knowing you” A missile tears down the front door, and they can hear a legion of footsteps enter the house, some of them traveling up the stairs. They flip over the bed and topple the dresser, yelling and rampaging around the room. “Whatever happens, I love you. I hope you'll always know that” Elena whispers, tears beading the corners of her eyes. The closet doors slam open with a loud thud, revealing a crazed armed soldier. “She's here! I’ve found her!” he yells to the small battalion downstairs, grabbing Elena by her curls and yanking her out of the closet. “No! Let me go!” she thrashes against him, screaming and kicking and crying and just falling apart. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Ai'lani zoom toward the knocked-over dresser. She vigorously digs through it, pulling out a pistol and shooting the soldier in the head. To their horror, the brute only slightly falters, immediately regaining his grip on Elena. The spot where the bullet connected to his head is red and pulsing with a small dent in it, before reshaping back to normal right before their very eyes. He looks like he's been slapped, not at all like someone who's literally just had a bullet sent through their skull. His wild eyes fix onto Ai'lani, and he smirks. “Foolish Terran. Did you actually think that would work?” The rest of the small brigade bursts up the stairs and into the room. At the back of them, shielded from the frontlines, is none other than Apollo. “Why are you here? Tell him to let me go! I order it!” Elena screams at him. Her cousin laughs like she'd just told him the world's funniest joke. “Ah! That's a good one. Baros? Knock her out and bring her to the ship.” Elena's once-magical world fades to black.
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Elena doesn't even need to open her eyes to realize she's back at Ares. Or at least somewhere in the vicinity of it. She feels a chilling coldness nip at her skin, and the air is stuffy with dirt and dust. Her eyes blink open anyway, though. “Looks like Sleeping Beauty decided to wake up!” a familiarly irritating voice fakely coos. Glancing up through her lashes, Elena sees a messy head of dirty blonde hair, taunting olive green eyes, and dimples smirking at her. “Apollo” she sneers, “What do you want from me? Why couldn't you just leave me there?” “Well dear cousin, that wouldn't be very nice of me, would it? Of course I had to rescue my only living relative!” “Cut the bullshit and just get to the point. I'll ask again: What. do. you. want?” Dropping his smug smile in favor of a more serious scowl, he sighs. “Ok. You caught me. You see, I wanted war. At first. But then after having to consult parliament, the advisors gave me a better idea! One that's more peaceful. One that won't dissolve the kingdom into bloodshed and fire. One that will be a win-win for both of us.” “...Where is this going?” “They advised me to marry you.” If Elena had been drinking something, she would have spat it out. “What?” “You heard me correctly. If we get married, then we can rule as a joint monarchy. That means we can both have equal power! Does that not sound absolutely delicious to you?” he waves his arms around, exasperated. “It is very much enticing, yes, except for one teensy-weensy itty bitty part; I have to marry my own biological cousin! My mother's nephew! My aunt's son! That's fucking disgusting!” she gags. Apollo just rolls his eyes. “Oh please. Don't act like this hasn't been done before. Royalty have intermarried for millennia. ‘Keeping the bloodline pure’ and all that stuff. Some marriages have been even closer related than cousins! So why would it be such a big deal for us?” he shrugs. “...Are you even hearing yourself right now?” “Whatever. It was not a suggestion; it was an announcement. We are getting married. Whether you like it or not. As long as you're captive on my ship, you will head my orders.” “And what if I refuse? I could always just run away again. I've already showcased how good I am at that” Elena's lip curls. “Then I will track you down using your ship's coordinates again. Except this time, I wouldn't be so merciful; I'd kill that Polynesian girl you fancy too.” Ai'lani. She can't put her in danger. Even if it means being an arrogant prince's bride for the rest of her life. Swallowing hard, she grits her teeth together and tries to hold back the tears threatening to spill. “Alright. I agree to your terms. I'll marry you.” A cruel smile upturns Apollo's mouth. “Good! Y'know, you're actually really pretty for a mixed breed. Dare I say, a beauty fit for a king?” Elena ignores the infuriating sight of him throwing his head back in laughter while leaving the room. She ignores the feeling of her world crashing down, ignores the salty tears that have begun to stream down her cheek. She has to do this. For her safety. For her country. For her Ai'lani. ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ “May I speak freely, Your Highness?” one of the baby-faced royal stylists nervously asks Elena. “What is it, child?” “I was wondering why Your Highness seems, erm, upset? I've heard that a wedding is supposed to be one of the happiest days of a lady's life. But Your Highness has not cracked a single smile today” the girl jabbers on, delicately applying warm-toned blush to the princess’ cheeks as a finishing touch. Elena firmly grabs the makeup brush, locking eyes with her. “Your Majesty—?” “How old are you, child?” She quickly cuts the stylist off. “Erm, I've just turned eighteen as of last week, ma'am.” “Eighteen? So you are barely an adult. You know nothing of marriages, at least not the royal kind. If you did, you would know that ‘happiness’ and ‘true love’ are myths. Purely fabricated because the prospect of it sounds nice. Aesthetically pleasing. In reality, marriages are rarely anything but carefully crafted alliances, made to resolve a conflict or unite two noble families. You want to find an aristocratic couple that genuinely loves each other? Then I suggest you march your delusional ass to the desert and look for a drop of water; because searching for such a thing is just as difficult, if not more so” Elena lets go of the brush. The servant girl stares at her, wide eyed, before steeply curtsying. “Please forgive my manners, Your Highness, I didn't mean to overstep my place”. She continues with her work. In the back of her mind, Elena knows she should probably feel bad. The makeup artist seems sheltered, innocent; she was probably just sincerely curious. It is hard to feel guilt over her words, though, when it seems like her life is over. In about an hour from now, she is going to go to that altar and give up everything she has fought so hard for. She'll be forced to put aside her hopes, her dreams, her freedom, her love, all to appease a tyrannical man-child who she hates with every breath in her body. Lost in her thoughts, she'd forgotten that the stylist was even in the room. “I'm done with the hair and makeup, Your Highness.” “Thank you. Here; for your troubles” Elena reaches into her coin purse and gives the girl a hundred extra drachmas. She accepts them with a smile, curtsying and taking her leave. Two of Elena's bridesmaids gather the train of her extravagant dress; they're not even her friends, but rather a couple of women from court that she only picked because she can tolerate them. Pressing her forehead against the large double doors and heaving a sigh, she pushes them open and begins her walk down the aisle. Among the many people sitting in the pews, she hardly recognizes a single one of them. Not a friend or family member (besides her groom) to be seen. They're all just… people. Court people, people she's seen Apollo talk with before, people who she has no idea whether they're Sunbeams or Poets. She can't imagine a Sunbeam being here, though; why would one of her own supporters want to witness her being forced to marry their enemy? A few shifty members of the audience wearing cloaks at the front of the chapel whisper. She doesn't think much of it. Unlike her mother, who publicly executed a lady-in-waiting for showing disrespect towards her, Elena has never cared about what others say or think about her. Let them have their thoughts. It doesn't affect her in any way. The moment she gets to the area where the suspicious people are, one of them stands up, stopping the music and drawing attention towards themself. “For the princess!” The yelling voice is revealed to belong to a woman, and sounds shockingly familiar. The hooded woman throws a grenade-looking device into the middle of the aisle, causing a loud boom and tons of smoke to fill the room. Everyone screams and runs about the chapel, trying to find an exit. Elena is thrown back by the force of the bomb. While on the floor violently coughing, she tries her best to see through the billowing smoke and notices a couple of cloaked shadows walking calmly towards her, like nothing has happened. One of them, who she recognizes as the one who threw the bomb, holds out her hand to her. Upon noticing Elena's distrustful hesitation, she recites something: “Sunlight, shine bright, save us from our kingdom's plight”. The secret anthem of the Sunbeams. She's safe. She grabs her hand, and the small group run through the doors that Elena came out of. They race down the halls and the stairs, eventually leaving the abbey. “We've prepared a ship for you, get on!” The hooded woman shouts, voice muffled by the mask covering her entire face. Wanting to ask so many questions but having so little time, Elena boards the ship, and they take off. As the few other Sunbeams pilot the ship, the female one takes a bottle of water out of the fridge and hands it to her. “For the smoke. Sorry. It was the only way to get you out of there without getting caught.” Elena grabs it with gratitude. “Thank you. I must ask, who are you? I already know you guys are Sunbeams, but I'd like to see the faces of the people who've rescued me.” Nodding, the woman points around. “That's Nico—” a man waves, taking off his mask and smiling, “That's Damian—” the second man follows suit, “That's Sebastian, and I'm… Well, you already know who I am” she chuckles, pulling off her hood and taking her mask off. The warm ivory skin. The monolid eyes. The flat nose. The poorly cut silky black hair. The brownish-pink lips pulled into a mischievous smile. Elena does, in fact, know exactly who this is. A grin, one so huge and genuine that it reaches her eyes, appears on Elena's face. “Mila!” she squeals, practically jumping on her long-lost adopted sister trying to give her a hug. Only slightly stumbling back, Mila returns the embrace. “It's good to see you, sis!” “Oh my stars, I have so many questions! Where did you go after mom and dad died? Why did you leave in the first place? What have you been doing?” it all rushes out of Elena, and she feels like a small child again. A small child running around and playing tag with her big sister. “Woah, woah, slow down! I'll explain everything in a sec, just let me sit down first” she gestures for Elena to scoot over in the bench. Taking a seat next to the princess, she fills her in on everything. “I left because I basically had no choice. I couldn't stay at the Bandírí Palace because dad's hidden nephew took the throne, so I couldn't just hang around there anymore. I didn't come here at first because for one, Terrans aren't usually allowed, and two, I'd have no place here either. So I went back to Hanoi. I stayed there for years, until I finally heard about what was going on with the whole you and Apollo thing. I was really scared for you, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you'd been hurt in war or something. They let me come here to Ares because I'm technically part of the royal family, just in time for your wedding. And now you're all caught up” Mila grins. Taking it all in, Elena sighs in awe. “Wow. You're basically the same as ever” she lets out a few watery chuckles. “Even your haircut is still fucked up after all these years!” “Hey! Not too much on my hair,” she feigns offence, taking it out of the small ponytail it was in and swishing it around. “I fixed it a tiny bit, it's kinda like a wolf cut now. At least I don't have a butt chin!” They banter back and forth just like old times, Elena feeling more happy and at peace than she has in a long time. Wiping a tear from laughing so hard, Elena finally sighs, content. “So this ship is safe right? Like, Apollo can't find us?” Slightly sobering, Mila sits up a little straighter. “We hope not. Nico removed the data receivers, so that should take it off the radar. The only thing that could give us away is if someone went outside and saw the ship, but the smoke bomb should've bought us some time. Damian, how close are we to the headquarters?” “We're one and a half miles away, so we should be there in like three or four minutes” the brunet man yells from the cockpit. Mila nods, giving him a thumbs up. “Headquarters?” Elena tilts her head. “Yeah, you didn't know? It's not safe for Sunbeams near the castle, so we've established a HQ in the Outer Dome. You'll see in a bit.” ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ The Sunbeam Base is indeed in a secluded area of Ares. It's still in the Dome, so Mila is protected from radiation sickness, but it's still significantly far from city life. “I'm confused, is this not just a normal jewelry store?” Elena whispers to her sister. “No, it's not. Just wait”. The group walks into the small building, surrounded by necklaces, bracelets, and rings made with various rare gemstones. A man at the register puts on a customer service smile, and tries not to stare at the fact that the princess just walked in. “Hello, welcome to Gemma's Gems! How can I help you?” “We'd like to purchase the brightest piece of jewelry you have. Something that shines even brighter than a beam of sunlight” Mila tells him, putting emphasis on seemingly random words then showing something on the inside of her sleeve. Elena wants to ask her why she's talking so oddly. The cashier's eyes darken with a look of recognition, but his smile does not falter. “Oh? That's perfect! We have a little something like that here. It's in the back”. He pulls the finger of one of the ring-wearing mannequins, and the floor behind the register starts to open beneath his feet. He steps back, waiting for the mechanism to finish. When it does, he gestures to the newfound opening, dropping his ‘friendly cashier’ persona. “Welcome, Sunbeam brothers and sisters.” Mila thanks him, and they make their way downstairs. The floor closes back up. The second they get underground, Elena realizes that the music she was hearing wasn't playing from the store's intercom; it was coming from down here. The Sunbeam headquarters is like a miniature civilization within itself; people of all sorts of different backgrounds are talking, plotting, moving about. Just… existing. It tugs at Elena's heartstrings a little to know that there's so many types of Aresians supporting her. One of the men on Mila's crew (Sebastian, was it?) picks up a glass and clicks on it with a fork, making the room go silent and look at them. “Ladies and gentlemen, we've successfully saved the princess!” he booms. Everyone cheers, rushing to envelope Elena. She ends up crowd surfing, giggling as the small army of people whoop and holler and chant her name. When the excitement calms and she's set down, she's introduced to a group of people dressed in uniforms. “Elena, this is our team of scientists. They're working on something absolutely incredible. Fill her in while I go get a drink?” Mila walks off towards the tiny bar. “Yes, Ms. Mila is correct, Your Highness. We have developed our first prototype of a serum that enhances strength by manipulating the very DNA of whoever ingests it. It would aid us very much in battles against Apollo and his Poets” one of the scientists explains. “Oh! How interesting,” Elena smiles, “It sounds very useful indeed. Have we tested it on anyone yet?”. “Yes, Your Highness. Though many Sunbeams have volunteered, we only selected three individuals to test the serum on. That way, we can see its effects on a variety of Aresians without lowering our numbers too much if something goes wrong. With your arrival, we can now conduct the live testing!” He yells the last sentence to the rest of the people there. They cheer, gathering around a platform that almost looks like a stage, but without curtains. The lights shine down on three different pods, all large enough to fit full-grown bodies. One of the other scientists, a lady, steps up to the platform. “Alright everyone, please give a round of applause to Selene, Kai, and Elias!” Claps fill the room, and the three people smile and wave as they hop up onto the platform as well. They climb into the pods. The scientist holds up three different syringes, all appearing to be filled with the same exact magenta liquid, which glows and bubbles unusually. After administering the shots to all three of the volunteers, she closes the pods. “I wonder why they're in those” Elena whispers to Mila. “I think it's so that if they explode or go crazy or something, then they'll be contained and we'll be okay.” Oh. How… morbid. Elena turns her attention back to the platform. For the first few moments, nothing happens, and the crowd mutters among themselves in boredom. However, after the two minute mark, things start to change. Or rather, the volunteers start to change. They start to squirm uncomfortably, sweating and groaning in what seems to be pain. One by one, their veins start to glow with a magenta light flowing through their contorting bodies. Their eyes bulge out, irises the same magenta color, bloodshot and terrified. Suddenly, the sound of bones cracking echoes throughout the room. The volunteers howl in agony. Elena wants to bring this to a stop, wants the scientist to free these people from these pods and get them some medical attention. But she can't. No matter how hard she tries to force sound out of her throat, nothing comes out. She can't look away; her eyes are glued to this spellbinding tragedy. All three test subjects grow larger in size, more bulkier. Even the rail thin girl, Selene, has produced some muscles on her once lithe frame. Small patches of excessive hair coat random parts of their skin, almost looking like the fur of a mangy dog. Their canine teeth jut out from their top and bottom lips in an animalistic snarl. Even though these people might not have been human before, being Martian was the closest thing. After all, Martians are basically the exact same since they evolved from humans, but just stronger and biologically gifted with the ability to shape-shift into anything or anyone they desire. This serum has stripped any small trace of humanity from these people, though. What Elena sees before her are creatures. The scientist opens Kai's pod. “How are you feeling?” she asks, shining a slit lamp into his eyes. She doesn't get a response at first, but as the light keeps shining, Kai narrows his eyes, a deep growl resonating within his broad chest. Grabbing the scientist by the hair, he uses his grip to brutally yet easily tear her head apart from her neck with his bare hands. Blood sloshes onto the platform, and he quickly devours the severed head with all the grace of a barbarian, nearly unhinging his jaw as he does so. The crowd cheers, satisfied with the results of the testing, and Elena can't help but replace her own horrified expression with an ear-to-ear grin. It worked. They're going to win.
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Declaring war is an easy process on Ares. There's hardly any sentiment about bloodshed or lives lost like there is on Earth, and the country is known for violence, boasting the highest crime rates in the Milky Way galaxy. So why is Elena so utterly terrified? Sitting in the broadcasting room of the Aresian Royal Palace, she's clutching her speech note cards like they're her lifeline. There's nothing to fear, really; she'd already snuck into a castle by shape-shifting into a noble person's identity, broke into the room where announcements are made, and boarded up the door. There's even two Sunbeams outside disguised as security guarding the door. No one suspects a thing. Sighing and straightening her back, she lets her own disguise go. Her tan skin replaces the paleness of the facade, her real mahogany curls taking over the false straight blonde hair. The holographic camera is right there. One press of the button, and her image will be projected throughout every functioning screen in Ares. She can't believe she's really doing this. That this tiny family conflict has grown into a giant civil war. She runs her fingers through her hair. Click. “People of Ares, this is Princess Elena Akhona Makwetu-Vasilio. Hear my voice. Today, I am officially declaring war on Prince Apollo Alexandros Vasilio. We have all seen his continuous acts of cruelty. I myself have fallen victim to his tormenting and, as you all saw recently, kidnapping” Elena can hear a commotion outside, court members and real royal guards demanding to be let into the broadcasting room and scuffling with the Sunbeams. Ignoring the pounding on the door, she continues on. “No longer will he terrorize me or our great country. No longer will we stand by and watch him run this nation into the ground. Poets, I am giving you one last chance to change your ways and join the Sunbeam side. Because after this war, there will be no more chances, no more warnings, and most importantly, no prisoners. Thank you, stars bless us all” Click. Opening the window, she jumps to the getaway ship. “Alright, done! I'm ready for takeoff!”. Damian gives a thumbs up, and the crew sails away from the castle. Or at least, they attempt to. A laser gun goes off, and Elena sees a streak of bright light zoom to the back of the ship. “Danger! The significant damage to the ship's engines have been detected” the system repeats, an alarm going off. “Fuck, what are we going to do?” Nico jumps out of his copilot seat, pacing back and forth. “Either we try to make it to the headquarters safely without the engine blowing out or we stay here and try our best to fight them off” Sebastian sighs. Elena thinks for a moment, running the options through her head. Finally, she makes a decision. “I say we fight them off, but bring reinforcements. Mila, is there a way for you to call someone from the headquarters and tell them to get here as soon as possible?” “On it” the Viet nods, pulling out a phone. “Ok,” Elena sighs, “Let's do this”. Each grabbing different weapons, they get out of the slowly burning ship. Elena is immediately met with a Poet holding a molotov. He throws it at her, but she ducks just in time, and it hits the ship instead. The ship that had a nearly destroyed engine. Which had been leaking kerosene like a faucet. As one probably expects, the ship caught fire the second the flaming bottle brushed against its outer hull. Elena swiftly roundhouse kicks the Poet, falling down with a huff. It feels like the battle lasts for ages. More and more Poets keep coming, but the amount of Sunbeams remains four (not including Elena): Damian, Sebastian, Nico, and Mila. Right when Elena's bones start to ache after such an intense session of hand-to-hand combat, a fleet of ships rapidly pulls into the scene. Tons of Sunbeams rush out, all armed, and quickly engage in the fight as well. The smallest ship, which Elena had noticed was covered in scratch and bite marks, opened and unloaded a sea of Wolves. She couldn't be more happy to see that many serum-injected Aresians turned into monstrosities. The Wolves quickly overpower the Poets, lowering their numbers with astonishing speed. Apollo's supporters may be armed, but they're no match for an army of rabid half-man half-beast creatures, who fight on pure animalistic instinct rather than calculated planning. They have almost no sense of control; the only thing holding them back from killing fellow Sunbeams is the fact that they went through vigorous training to not do so. Elena corners one of the few remaining Poets on the flaming battlefield, getting ready to deliver a final blow with a scimitar in hand. “Wait! If you spare me, I'll take you to Apollo. He's in hiding, but I know where he is. Please!” the Poet blubbers, fearful tears flowing down her ruddy cheeks. Elena almost wants to snicker at how fast one of her cousin's ‘devoted’ supporters would turn on him at the threat of death. “Fine. But if this turns out to be a trick, you can rest assured that I will be feeding you to the Wolves” the princess gestures to the rampaging creatures in the back. The Poet girl gulps but nods, rising to her feet. She takes Elena to Apollo's personal bed chamber. When Elena doesn't see him immediately, she reaches for her scimitar and prepares to extinguish this stupid girl for deceiving her. But the Poet moves a bookshelf off of the wall, revealing a secret passage leading down into the basement. Elena releases her grip on her weapon. “Show me.” The princess is led down the steps into a dark, sparsely furnished room with only one single light source. Apollo is sitting on a couch, playing some sort of racing video game on the holographic TV. Elena clears her throat. Jumping, Apollo drops the console he was holding and turns around to face her. “How did you get past the Poets? They told me that there were only four people on your side!” his olive green eyes narrow. “Emphasis on were, cousin. Did you really think that I didn't have any backup to call for? Always the fool” she mirthlessly chuckles. Apollo's eye's move from her to the Poet. “Wait. You're wearing purple, so that means you're a Poet. What are you doing with her? Did you lead her to me?” his nostrils flare. “You may go,” Elena tells the girl, who quickly bolts out of the secret space. “Yes, she did. I suppose it's not surprising for at least one of your supporters to mend their ways and obtain some common sense.” “No! Supporting you is the furthest thing from common sense! Why can't you see that I'm the true ruler of Ares? Everything is in my favor! I'm a man. I'm the son of the former queen regent. I even have fully white blood!” to Elena's shock, he dissolves into tears. In all of their years of growing up together, she had never seen Apollo cry. Not even once. He always had the ‘boys are too strong to cry” mentality, even at a young age. “I hate the fact that I'm crying right now.” “Apollo—” “And I hate the fact that I'm losing this battle. I hate the fact that deep down, I know you'd be the better monarch. I hate the fact that you always had a knack for helping others, for being caring, and smart, and just perfect. Whereas I was the child who was born sickly and premature, a bastard. You never had to be crushed by the pain of being illegitimate. Your birth united two great kingdoms, and it was celebrated worldwide. You never had to experience growing up and being told that you killed your mother, clawing your way through her immature teenaged body and making her bleed to death. You never looked in the mirror and realized that you carry the face of a rapist” Apollo’s voice breaks, “Why can't I be like you? Why can't I ever just win at something in life?”. Elena stares at the sobbing man in front of her, but doesn't move to comfort him just yet. She feels bad for him, of course she does, but that doesn't change the fact that he is the public enemy. Still; someone else might look at him in this vulnerable state and see a man, a prince. But to Elena? Right now, all she sees is the same scrawny little boy she grew up with. She puts a hand on his shoulder, and he looks up at her through soaking wet eyelashes. “I'm sorry. I really am. I genuinely had no idea you were carrying this pain all these years. But I can't let you go. You've done too many bad things to me and my kingdom” she says bluntly, with just a tiny hint of empathy peeking through her tone. Apollo looks back down. “But I won't kill you though! I can get you some help. Some therapy, maybe? You can have an honorable position at my court when I ascend to the throne. I promise” she tries her best at a kind smile. “Really?” he sniffs, “You'd do that?”. “Yeah. You're still my cousin, Poll. Now let's get out of this dusty old basement”. He gives her a watery laugh and follows her back upstairs. ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ The second Elena resurfaces with Apollo in tow, Nico runs up to her. “Princess Elena! Come quick! It's Mila!” She wastes no time following Nico, heart pounding through her chest. The battlefield is much quieter, with all of the Poets having been killed or retreated and most of the Sunbeams gone back to headquarters. She'd forgotten how suffocating the air around her was while she'd been in the castle, though. Despite the huge fire having been mostly put out, smoke and burning pieces of ash linger, singing her nostrils. It'll probably be a while before the smell completely goes away; the entire kingdom is enclosed in a dome, after all. Having finally jogged to where Nico had said Mila was, Elena instantly gasps and puts a hand over her mouth. Her sister is laying on the ground, with some sort of huge black metal object penetrating her entire abdomen. Blood is spilling out underneath her and onto the dust-covered ground. To Elena's amazement, she somehow manages a weak smile. “Lena. You're here. I'm glad I got to see you before—” “No!” Elena interrupts her, “Before nothing. You'll be fine, Mila. I'm not letting anything happen to you. Not on my watch.” A couple of feeble chuckles roll out of Mila. “I can't believe you're still this stubborn after all these years. Look at me, sis. A literal chunk of the ship fell off as it was burning and impaled me. How do you expect me to survive this?” she shakes her head sadly but fondly. “I'm the princess! I have the best physicians in the country, and— and the castle is fitted with super advanced technology! Even better than what Terra has! You'll be just fine” Elena's words begin to falter, tears threatening to fall. She's not sure if she's repeating “you'll be fine” to reassure Mila or to convince herself. Mila sighs. “Not even the most highly esteemed doctors can save me at this point. I'm not an Aresian. I don't have enhanced strength or resilience like you guys do. I'm just an ordinary human woman. A middle-aged one, at that! I'm forty-six years old, Lena. Don't you realize that?” Taking a good look at her, Elena does. She was so caught up in the fact that they've been reunited that she hadn't even noticed how much they've aged. Mila has aged well, that much is true, but the year gap is still slightly evident on her face; crows feet line the corners of her eyes and tiny streaks of gray are starting to bloom from the roots of her hair. Not wanting her last conversation with her sister to be an argument, Elena doesn't say anything back. She instead crouches down to where she is on the floor and holds her, repeating the words “I love you so much” like a mantra. “You're going to be the best Queen this kingdom has ever seen. I hope your people love you as much as I did” Mila tells her, before eventually going limp in her arms. Elena tenses, and looks at her face; the light in her once mischievous black eyes has gone dim. A few moments pass, before she hears an apology. “I'm sorry. I know you were really close to her.” Elena looks up, having forgotten where she'd been and the fact that there were still other people around too. Apollo. He stands there, square jaw clenched in the seriousness of the situation, trying to avoid her eyes. This is his fault. If he hadn't caused all of this drama and violence, if he hadn't kidnapped her, if he hadn't been born in the first place, none of this would've happened. Mila wouldn't have— “You did this” Elena stares at his awkward form. “What?” “This is all your fault! You and your stupid Poets! I spare your life and raise you out of that hole, and you repay me by killing my sister? My last family member?” “But… I'm your last family member” Apollo hesitantly says, stepping away from her slowly as if he's backing away from a wild animal. Elena punches him in the face, relishing in his pained cries. “No. As far as I'm concerned, I have no family left. The man I see before me is a pathetic, murdering, backstabbing, traitorous piece of shit!” she slaps him with every adjective. “Elena—” he starts. “Shut up! Just shut. Up. Your mommy is gone?” she fake coos, “Well too bad! Because guess what? So is mine! So is my father! And now, thanks to you, my sister is gone!”. “Elena, I'm sorry—” She slaps him again. “What part of ‘shut up’ do you not understand?” she sneers, before suddenly maniacally laughing. “...What's so funny?” Apollo fearfully asks. “You have my idea what fate you've just given yourself. You're going to die. I'm going to kill you.” “But you said you would let me live! You promised me!” Reaching for a laser gun holstered to a dead Poet’s hip and mentally thanking the stars above that Apollo is only half Aresian, she aims at his skull. “Promises are for fools and fairytales.” The gun goes off.
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Elena makes her way across the coronation hall in long strides, mink coat trailing behind her. Sun shines through the stained glass windows. After having not only killed Apollo but all of his Poet supporters too, she has made sure that the Aresian court consists of nothing but people who were registered Sunbeams during the Civil War. As she goes through the exact same ritual her mother went through, and her mother before that, all she can think about is her late adoptive sister. The funeral procession has already taken place, about a week ago. They decided to bury Mila in Hanoi, since it was her hometown. Who were they to deny her the right to be laid to rest at the place she loved the most? After the crown is placed upon her head and the people cheer, Elena smiles. But her smile isn't a true one. In reality, she feels like she hasn't done enough. She hungers for more. More bloodshed, more war, more power. She doesn't know why; she has it all now. The throne, the crown, supporters, the full happily-ever-after package. Everything except Ai'lani. Elena had returned to Tuvalu to collect her love, hoping to swoop her away to the castle and start a brand new life together. But to her dismay, instead of being met with open arms and a joyful grin, she was met with reluctance. “I'm sorry Lena” her mermaid lady had told her, “I just don't feel comfortable dating someone who's killed so many people”. This absolutely baffled Elena. Doesn't she understand that she did this for her? For the good of the kingdom? Yes, she may have ordered hundreds of people to be mutated for the sake of having more manpower on the battlefield. Yes, she may have shot her cousin in the head. Yes, she may have killed many individuals then tracked down their families and killed them too. But doesn't everyone make mistakes sometimes? And can you even really call her actions mistakes, when they brought so much good in the long run? Some months pass since the coronation, and Elena finds herself gazing at the hologram on the throne room floor displaying the solar system. She's staring at Earth, specifically. The blue and green orb spins around on its tilted axis, taunting her. It reminds her of Ai'lani. Of her childhood. Of her family. Stepping down from the throne, she kneels down and swipes at the false image of Earth. It fades away at her hand's touch for a moment before reassembling into a perfect model of the Terra. She wants it so badly. She feels like a cat yearning for a ball of yarn, and knows that she probably looks that same level of desperate to the guards standing by pretending not to look at her, but she doesn't care. There are some that say Elena has gone mad. Whispers at court talk of her being just as ruthless as Apollo had been, and even of regrets over fighting on her side during the war. She doesn't mind them; she just banishes those gossips to the barren radioactive Martian wasteland for them to starve to death. But no matter how many people she sends away to die, it still doesn't satisfy the hole in her heart. After Mila's death and Ai'lani's rejection, her desire to rule not only Mars but the entirety of Earth as well has grown. She remembers as clear as day what her sister's last words to her had been. “You're going to be the best Queen this kingdom has ever seen. I hope your people love you as much as I did.” However, Elena doesn't just want to be queen. She wants to be an Empress. Empress of every civilization in the galaxy. And why stop at civilizations? She could likely use uninhabited planets, too. Uranus and Neptune supposedly rain diamonds. Why wouldn't she want to send ships to farm some of those? And the best part is that nobody would be able to stop her. Aresians are the more advanced species anyway. Stronger, smarter, better; it would be so easy to destroy Terrans in war. She'll show them. She won't stop until every single conscious living thing knows of the name ‘Empress Elena of the Milky Way’. Ai'lani thinks she's become evil? She thinks that she's lost her mind? Elena will show her crazy! Elena will show them all.