All the Stars Between Us

The Twins

Thalia kneaded her temples. "Great, just what we need. Thanks, Cas."

She strode off to find Never, leaving Caspienne staring angrily after her.

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"Never?" Thalia tried calling through the keyhole of Never's bedroom door, again.

She received no answer, and sighed. "Never, you do usually make everything a joke. I understand if you're angry, but can you please come out and discuss training? Caspienne and you can work out your differences."

The bedroom door swung open, and Never's body tumbled out onto her. She cursed, lowering it to the floor. She had told Never before that when they were spiritwalking, they should never leave their body at a point of weakness. Namely, somewhere their enemy could easily slit their throat, leaving them bodiless, roaming the in-between for all eternity.

But, of course. Why should they listen? It wasn't as if the threat of destruction wasn't imminent. With Maeve unstable, alone, and isolated, it was only a matter of time before she came up with something to destroy the galaxy as they knew it, or at the very least, civilisation.

Gods knew that it had seen enough war, enough destruction for countless lifetimes. She gazed out of the floor-length windows looking out onto open space, stretching out into nothingness, and wrenched her gaze away to go and find Nyx.

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"Never?" Nyx walked into the cell. "Are you material yet?"

Never was sitting with their back to Nyx, and they stayed silent. Their back was tensed, and Nyx could tell they were still angry.

"I thought you'd be here," she said gently.

"Well done you. Would you like a medal?" Never said sarcastically.

Nyx put an arm around their shoulders. "We don't have to talk, if you'd like. We could just be."

Never said nothing, but they didn't move.

"I'm not fucking selfish. Why should I even fight a war that I have no stakes in? It's not like I care whether any of you or them live or die."

"Look, I get it, but you'll die too, if she wins."

Never looked at her skeptically. "I'm sure the queen of the Three Empires cares about me."

Nyx nodded. "True, she doesn't. However, she does care about a Wielder. She won't let you live. She'll either take control of you, see to it that you're killed, or she'll kill you herself."

Never's mouth thinned into a line. "I could give up my weapon, then."

Nyx looked at her seriously, raising an eyebrow. "You'd give up your weapon? It's a part of you, now."

They made a sound, a quick rasp deep in their throat. "And who's to say I actually care about staying alive?"

Nyx looked at her skeptically. "You? Letting death get the better of you? As if." She snorted. "Either I'm a horrible judge of character, or you care about us and don't want to admit it."

Never stiffened for a split second before relaxing. "You're a horrible judge of character."

Nyx laid a hand on their arm, but they ripped it away. Her eyes softened. "Why are you so afraid to open up to people?"