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She drifted in and out of consciousness, fighting to strengthen her feeble hold on life. She lied on the floor of her cage, motionless but for the rise and fall of her chest to signify her breathing. Beneath the dirt, grime, and blood that coated her she appeared pallid, her pale skin gone paler, without the rosy color typically found in her cheeks. She was worryingly thin, having been quite slight to begin with, delicate and brittle looking despite all that her body endured.

Beaten as she was, even the simplest movement seemed to be an arduous undertaking. So she didn't move—not to eat what little food that was brought to her, not to drink the water. None of it was going to make a difference. She was tired and half-starved already, waiting for her next trial, or for the inevitable end.

The waiting was almost as terrible as the pain.

She saw figures through the haze. Ghosts, she thought. Of the girl whose starseed burned cold in her stomach. Of all the people lost on Ganymede so long ago. She could hear their whispers. They sounded faint and mournful as they called her name.

“Ganymede... Ganymede... Ganymede....” they said.

The worst was the girl. She came to Ganymede dressed all in white, with no distinguishing elements about her fuku. No color but for the bloodstains. No embellishments. Just pleats and folds of white fabric, with long stringy hair of an indistinguishable color. She had no face, only a smooth, empty plain of skin where a face should have been.

The girl never spoke, but Ganymede heard those terrible screams. Over and over again she heard them. They grew worse over time, beginning quietly, distantly, and becoming louder the longer the figure in white lurked about. It was as if the girl was screaming at her, blaming her for what happened to her, as if Ganymede had put her hand into the girl's chest and removed her starseed herself, only to feast on it after.

Ganymede trembled, whimpered, curled in on herself. To take her mind away from the girl, she thought of home.

The visions changed accordingly.

She saw her father, worn down as he'd been in the last years of his life. He showed no emotion, simply stared at her in silence. Blank, empty, his body a shell that contained no soul.

“Dad...” she called to him. She reached out a hand to touch him, but he drifted further and further away. “Daddy... Ne me quitte pas... Ne me quitte pas...”

His features distorted and reworked themselves. His jaw widened. His nose grew smaller. The five o'clock grizzle he always sported vanished. The weight of his body was redistributed, shrinking the gut, and toning the arms and legs. His hair grew, and changed from a dull brown streaked with gray to a rich mahogany. His eyes became just a fraction smaller, blue-green shifting to goldenrod.

To eyes like sunshine.

He wore forest green. A helmet appeared upon his head, with a symbol etched into each wing.

“Val...” she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

Tears burned her eyes. When she smiled wanly, the tears squeezed out and slid slowly down her face.

“Val... Oh, Val, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I love you... I love you... I love you...”

His face colored, grew blotchy and swollen, ugly dark bruises and red welts disrupting the smooth tan of his skin. Blood spilled from his side, staining his tunic and dripping down to form a puddle on the floor.

An arm moved as if to pull him close. His arm moved in kind, but when their fingers tips should have touched his passed right through.

He disappeared seconds later.

“No... Val... No no no no... Val, please... Don't go... Don't leave...”

But he did not return.

She cried there upon the floor of her cage, too weak for wracking sobs. She wept quietly, with a catch in her breath accompanied by high, pitiful wails.

Everything around her was out of focus now that her company was gone. Her body felt heavy, her consciousness slipping further into darkness.

The pain was never ending, but she held onto life by a thread.

For a little while, at least.

Just a little while longer.

Long enough to see Valhalla one last time.