"Cassie Rose! Are you ready!?" I call out from down stairs and there is still no sign of her. The wedding will be starting in an hour and we haven't even visited Lucian's mother yet.
Lucian is seated next to me, eyes glued to his screen that monitors the traffic at the air base.
"She's making us late," I grit my teeth in frustration. I'd just received a report that two of my squad members had gotten into yet another fight and waiting here was only making me more stressed.
I had chosen to lead the largest squad of half breeds thinking I would be able to relate to them more being half human and all. Turns out the half breeds were a species of their own, they were a crazy bunch, all young and angsty.
I sometimes felt like a mother to all twenty of them and the squad was only growing. It seems all the half breeds want to be lead by me.
"Lucian," I snap at my much too relaxed husband.
He jumps to attention and stares at me with wide eyes.
"We're supposed to leave now. I told Luna I would be early," I say, my voice tethering dangerously close to a full blown scolding. If our daughter doesn't get her butt down here in five minutes that's exactly what she is going to get.
"Darling, don't stress. It's not good for Lucian XI," He places a hand on my swollen belly and I swear the baby just kicked. I inhale sharply and lean back to rest.
"I'll go get her," He runs up the stairs and comes down with our four year old who didn't want to leave her room.
"My apologies," Her nanny says and we both smile at her, knowing it isn't her fault.
Cassie Luciana Rose could be very stubborn when she wanted to be.
I try to scold her but she looks so adorable with her silver streaked dark brown hair tied to the sides in ringlets. Her little gown is littered with glitter making her look like an angel.
She follows us outside and squeals when she sees Remulus waiting by the car.
"Hey, little one!" He picks her up and carries her on his shoulders.
"Shouldn't you be there by now? Aren't you the best man?" I ask.
"Do you mind if I bring the kid with me?" He smiles at us cheekily. "You know how ladies just love a guy who's good with kids? And there's going to be lots of single ladies there."
I roll my eyes and Lucian laughs. "Fine but if anything happens to her, I'll scatter your limbs around the universe."
Remulus smirks, used to his leader's threats and Cassie hugs him tightly. She loves him almost as much as she loves us.
"Uncle Remu," She grabs his hair making him wince.
Lucian takes my hand and we get into the glider, heading to the house like prison designated to ex-general Lyra. We make it a point to see her every now and again just for Cassie Rose's sake.
Her place is near to ours with a large compound and a small cottage like house in the middle, all heavily guarded. Our new planet reminds me so much of Earth. Axon is about the size of Mars but it's atmosphere, gravity and moon makes it seem like a duplicate of Earth.
The grass here is long and sinewy, they dance in the wind. We head down the narrow stone walkway and I can feel Lucian already getting tense. He always gets like this when we go to meet his mother.
"Is Joon coming to the wedding?" I can tell he is trying to distract himself but his voice terse.
I run my hand up and down his back, calming him and he wraps his strong arm around my waist. "Yes, he is. He's bringing Indigo. Remember the halfbreed I told you about? The one who had the biggest crush on him."
"Yeah," Lucian murmurs absent mindedly. We are at the door already and an officer opens it for us.
We walk into the quaint living room and see Lyra sitting by the window. She turns to us briefly and then goes back to her knitting. "Where's my granddaughter?"
She barely looks at us, her only attention is on Cassie Rose who comes running through the door. She hugs her grandmother who the hands her little knitted clothes and trinkets.
I squeeze Lucian's hand, giving him the support he needs to face his emotionless mother. His eyes are clouded, a storm already brewing in them.
Their relationship has not progressed well. Especially since she thinks he's betrayed her by arresting her while he thinks she's betrayed him by manipulating all our lives till the war ended.
The ex general is adamant that she did the right thing by making him sole general, nothing can change her mind.
In a way I suppose she is right. The empire has never been so peaceful and it is all thanks to his fair reign. Lucian has also imposed a new ruling that every ten Plutonian years a new Sole General will be appointed to prevent tyranny and nepotism.
All Plutonians and citizens under the empire are allowed to vote for whom they deem suitable. This was another thing Lucian's mother could never forgive her son for.
With any Plutonian eligible to become leader, the generals command will eventually be scrapped away. Lucian's reign will end in a couple of years and then he will continue his duties as a war council member and squad leader.
The next in line has already been voted for.
Luna will be the next Sole General and I cannot think of anyone better suited. She is kind, compassionate and one of the best pilots I've ever seen.
And she's getting married today to Pollux who plans to be a stay at home husband while his wife runs the universe. He doesn't really need an office anyway, his computer is enough for him to access the control centre and monitor almost everything.
"The wedding is today," I say softly. The ex general has aged considerably in her confinement, she almost looks fragile.
"I know," She snaps and Lucian's hand tightens around mind.
I cast him a look and ignore her snappy tone. She's always like that with me, I've gotten used to it. I've forgiven her for all she has done to me even though Lucian doesn't like it. I only want her to have a good relationship with her grandkids.
"Here," I place a small transmission screen on the table next to her. "You can watch the wedding from this."
She doesn't reply but I notice she nods ever so slightly.
We leave right after, rushing to the most celebrated wedding since our own. I stare out at the busy streets, with Plutonians and halfbreeds scuttling about. They don't avoid each other like they used to especially now that they are all treated equally.
All thanks to fair leadership.
I squeeze Lucian's hand and stare at him lovingly while Remulus plays with our daughter.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lucian runs a hand through his soft silver hair, blushing slightly. He's wearing formal Plutonian attire, his suit decorated with his titles and accolades. He looks so handsome, I can't stop staring.
"I'm just appreciating my husband," I lean on his shoulder and he strokes my bare shoulders. "You have been such a good leader. Everything has been so nice, so perfect. I wish it could stay like this forever."
"Everything is cyclical, Aria. Nothing stays perfect forever, the rot is always there, waiting to seep into the cracks."
His words remind me of his mothers, when she told me her ancestors had initially built the empire when other planets had reached out to them for their help and protection. Maybe it had been just as harmonious in the beginning.
"Maybe you should stay Sole General longer, maybe even forever," I joke before kissing him on the cheek.
"That would be a dictatorship, the biggest crack of all," He smiles. He runs a hand through my hair, his gaze loving. "When the time comes I will let go and retire. Enjoy my life with my beautiful wife and kids. We've done our fair share of fighting this life time. Let the future generations deal with the rot if there ever is any."
"I couldn't agree more," I say and then I lean against his shoulder and look out at the world we have created. The peace we have fought for.
I will never forget the lives lost to get here. Cassandra, Rosie, Matt, Ron, Hugo, Castor, Polaris, the rebels and all the soldiers who fought for us and perished in the war. If they were staring down from heaven, I hope they would be proud.
I'll let Lucian be the practical one but in my heart I will always hope for this unity and equality to last forever.
It is after all everything I have ever fought for.
A/N
Hey guys it's me again. For those interested, I actually want to explain my inspiration for this story. I think most of you have kind of guessed but I drew inspiration from our world's history of colonisation and the after effects of it all.
I actually chose Pluto because it is the smallest planet in our solar system which was meant to represent the small countries that managed to colonise most of the world before most of us reached independence. (but are we really independent?)
Another main theme for this story was racism which is also kind of an after effect of the above.
Lazarus - literally the embodiment of racism and supremacy, I thoroughly enjoyed writing him and reading how much you guys hated him.
Lucian - a mixture of both but I tried to show that not every Plutonian is bad just because the mc thinks so. He's neither black nor white but with a conscience so he's a nice shade of grey lol. Luna's kind of the same.
And last but not least
Aria
I don't know if you guys noticed but I never really specified her appearance, height, looks, etc. Her skin is not fair, not dark, hair dark (no specific colour), eyes a dark colour but not specified either. They could be dark anything.
I actually did this on purpose because I was going through a phase (I think most of us are especially during these tough times) and I really needed to draw strength from someone so I wrote a strong character, who was determined and never wavered on her goals till the end.
Aria could be anyone of us. We are all strong and empathic and we all deserve to be loved by someone like Lucian haha.
Anyway that's the end of my brief motivational speech and message lol. I seriously love you guys soo much for supporting this story till the end. The engagement has been amazing and I appreciate every single vote and comment and message you guys write. You are seriously the best :) :)
NEW STORY ALERT
I'm usually a fan of darker stories and murder but for now I need to write something light as a detox. I am currently writing a teen fic humor/murder mystery and will be uploading that soon and I really hope to finish my other unfinished sequel.
If you guys are keen please check that out. If not stay tuned for my other works in the future. Any Kpop fans here? Maybe something along those lines in the future hehe. Seriously wish I operated on Plutonian hours so I cud have more time haha :) :)