Em couldn't be certain, but she was pretty sure she was dead.
Maybe not completely dead, but probably as close as a person could be.
Her thoughts slipped in and out of darkness. She barely had the strength to keep her eyes open, and what she could see through them was short-sighted and blurred along the edges.
Why is this taking so long? she wondered. Why won't they just let me die?
She was so, so tired.
The room beyond her chamber was dark, save for the blinking lights of monitors and computers. The researchers had fled some time ago in a chaotic panic. Perhaps they would come back, but something inside of Em said they wouldn't.
Suddenly the lights flickered on, and Em winced back from the brightness. She couldn't hear—she could barely see—so she waited.
Then, stepping from the hazy corners of her vision, she saw May.
Oh, shit, Em thought. I really am dead, aren't I?
Maybe she was, or maybe she was just hallucinating. Either way, there was no way May could be there, standing in the lab on the other side of the glass. Em squinted and forced herself to focus. May was filthy, covered in dirt and blood, her face streaked with tears. She threw herself against the glass, shouting mutely.
She hammered her fists against the glass, sending small vibrations through the water.
Wait. Em's heartbeat picked up. I felt that. This is real — May's really here!
May was there, so close and yet a world away. As she sobbed, Em wondered what she must look like to her. Gaunt and motionless, her silver hair shorn off. She probably looked dead.
No, I'm still alive, Em thought desperately. Don't cry, I'm right here.
She was weak. Every bone in her body cried out in protest, but Em fought against the pain and willed herself to move. She had to let May know that she was still there, still fighting.
Her fingers twitched. Don't look away.
She lifted her hand and watched May's eyes widen as she pressed it to the glass. I'm here.
May's face split into a wide, deliriously happy smile. Still in tears, she looked over her shoulder and shouted something to someone outside of Em's range of vision. Then she raised her arm and pointed her Star cannon at the glass. But before May could fire, her attention was drawn once more to whoever was at the back of the room. She shouted something to them and gestured in apparent frustration. Whatever was said to her must have made sense though — she lowered the cannon and instead pressed her palms to the glass. Staring up into Em's bleary eyes, May spoke slowly and deliberately, mouthing each word clearly.
Hang on. I'm coming for you.
If Em could have laughed, she would have.
Oh, Maybe. For you, I'd wait forever.
It was impossible for Em to tell how much time passed before the water began to shift. She looked around and eventually spotted the way a handful of the chamber's floor tiles slanted downward, creating vents through which the water drained. Like being carried by gentle hands, Em's body sank with the water level until the chamber was empty and she was left lying limp on the cold, wet floor.
She heard the chamber's door open and the sound of footsteps echo as they raced toward her. The mask was pulled from her face and for the first time in who knew how long, Em was able to take a real breath. She gasped and spluttered, letting her lungs have their fill like greedy little animals. It was incredible.
Gentle hands pulled her up to sit. Though it took a moment for her eyes to adjust, Em didn't need to see to know it was May who cradled her to her chest; she'd know that heartbeat anywhere.
"Em, can you hear me?" May asked, caressing Em's sunken cheek with the softest touch. "Do you know who I am?"
Swallowing hard, Em turned her face upward and gave a weak smile.
"May." Her voice was hoarse and her throat sore. "You're my love of my life."
At this, May burst into tears all over again. She clutched Em against her heart and sobbed unabashedly against the soft fuzz of her scalp.
"It's over, Emmy," May whispered. "The Loyals, the war — we did it. We're finally safe."
Em smiled again, bigger this time. She closed her eyes and breathed May in. "I knew you could do it."
"We're so glad you're okay, Em," said a second voice. "They tried to tell us you were dead."
Curious Em slid her eyes to see who it was. She saw a shock of flaming red hair and a pair of warm brown eyes that watched her closely. She licked her lips and shrank deeper into May's embrace.
"Em?" May sounded confused. "Is something wrong?"
Still and silent, Em watched the smile that turned up the corners of those brown eyes fade.
"You don't know who I am, do you?" he asked quietly.
Em looked up at May, who's mouth dropped with surprise. Judging by May's reaction, Em was supposed to know this man with the hair like fire and a burning matchstick tattoo that crawled up his forearm. She looked back and tried to remember.
"No," she croaked. "I'm sorry."
*
In the days and weeks that passed, Em regained her strength. With that strength came some clarity as some of the hazier parts of her mind came back into focus. She recalled that she and May teamed with a group of rebels known as WIND. She remembered losing Welkin. She remembered May's proposal and the torture she endured under Wyndam Aviar's direction.
But she didn't remember everything. As far as Em was concerned, who she was now was the only person she'd ever been.
In the end, Wyndam hadn't been lying, at least not entirely.
Yes, Em was alive.
But Audrey was dead and gone.
*
Dismantling an empire is a slow process.
The Star Council had agreed to May's terms, calling off the Loyals in exchange for the long lost wishing star. And, though the Loyals stayed true to their name and conceded their power, it would be some time before the Wishes would be able to find comfort in their new freedom.
Wyndam Aviar was gone. Both he and Melanie had died at May's hand; a conflicting fact she would wrestle with for years.
As the former Loyal leader, Wyndam's assets defaulted to his next of kin. May took great pleasure in watching Jeremy and his mother, newly released from decades of false imprisonment, take the substantial wealth Wyndam had amassed and redistribute it to the victims of his many crimes, knowing that Wyndam would have hated everything about the arrangement. Together they set up a trust to support the surviving Wishes and their families, knowing that, while money wouldn't erase their collective trauma, it wouldn't hurt either.
When they finished, Jeremy and his mother moved to Tenna, where he joined Dom and the rest of the mountain region's search and rescue team. Both May and Em knew it was as good a place to start over as any.
"Just watch out for the bears!" Em called out to him the day he pulled away, with his mother waving back at them from the passenger seat of their small moving truck.
Jeremy made a face, then laughed. He shot May a small salute, and she waited until he was out of view before she let herself cry.
Connor and Rue stayed behind. After decades of fighting to do right by the many victims of the wishing star's fall, they couldn't bring themselves to walk away. They understood that reconciliation isn't something that just happens because someone tells you to play nice, which was why they joined a small group of progressive Loyals to help establish peacetime education and reforms. There would be a lot of unlearning involved in this new era, and they wanted to make sure the world in which they raised their son was one made of understanding instead of hate.
Priva disappeared overnight, leaving only a note behind. Apparently Lety asked her to run away with her, and Priva said yes. After a brief pitstop to see Priva's remaining family, the two of them planned to explore the world. They promised to write from time to time.
And then there was May and Em.
With the money they received from the Wish's trust, they decided to build a house. They spent months roaming along the coast, looking for the perfect place to re-start their lives together. Though her family tried to coax them back, May knew her future lay beyond the island of Hoku.
"Don't worry," she told her tearful mother one evening over the phone. She was sprawled out on the mattress that took up the entire back of the van she and Em were living in. They had backed onto a deserted beach and opened the doors to let the fresh sea air waft in. Em was curled with her head on May's stomach, enjoying the sensation of May's fingers as they combed softly through her short silver pixie cut. "I've drawn up the plans myself — the new house will have plenty of space for when you come visit."
"Ha!" Tiio laughed, then sniffled. "Be careful what you wish for."
But it was true: the home May had designed accounted both for visiting relatives plus a small family of their own. That part was still a ways off though: first they had to find a place to build.
Eventually they settled on a small patch of land that overlooked the sea, just north of Mondova. The water was colder there than what May had grown up with, but the waves sounded the same.
They eloped on their land the same day the sale went through.
There would be time enough for pageantry and a big party once the house was finished. They would have all of their friends and family for a giant celebration along the cliffs; take proper photos with the flowers and gowns and everything.
But for now, all they needed was each other.
Connor and Rue came out to bear witness and officiate respectively. The brides wore simple dresses they bought the day before at small beach-side boutiques in town. May cried when she saw Em in her off-white sundress, with its linen skirt fluttering gently around her legs and a simple crown of flowers resting on her hair. Em was still quite thin, and at times she needed to take a moment to catch her breath. But tonight, under the candy colors of twilight, she was absolutely as radiant as ever.
As the sun sank low on the horizon, May and Em exchanged their vows. Gaten, dressed sharply and looking so grown already, swayed at their side, clutching brand new rings in each of his tiny fists. When his mother called on him, he hurried forward and held them aloft, just like he had practiced.
"Good job, buddy," May whispered. Em gave him a wink, and he beamed.
The rings weren't fallen wishing stars, but to May and Em they were just as precious. They took turns sliding them on each other's fingers, then looked to Rue eagerly, their hands clasped tightly between them.
"I guess that's that," Rue said with a grin. "With the power granted to me by the Stars above, I pronounce your union blessed. You're officially married, ladies! Now, kiss your bride!"
They came together in perfect harmony, like the tide washing to shore. May wrapped Em—her actual, honest to goodness wife—in her arms and kissed her so deeply that, for a moment, she forgot about everything and everyone else. The world could move on without them if it wanted: she had everything she needed now.
When they did eventually pull apart, Em stayed close, resting her forehead gently against May's. Her eyes fluttered open, and May's breath hitched as she lost herself in those diamond pools; just like she had countless times before, and no doubt would every day for the rest of their lives.
"Guess what?" Em whispered. She grinned like she had a secret.
"What?"
Em touched her lips to her wife's cheek. "We're officially an 'us'. Like, in the eyes of the law and everything."
May laughed. "Not too shabby for a couple of girls without destinies."
"Ready to spend the rest of our lives writing our own?" Em asked, leaning back just enough so she could look May in the eyes.
And May kissed her again.
"I can't wait."