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 Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 4:45 pm
It was springtime on her world, or thereabouts.
Ganymede was never sure of the seasons. They used to come with more regularity, she knew. In Liesel’s time, the seasons were distinct. Nowadays, she couldn’t tell spring from summer, or autumn from winter. There were no drastic changes in weather — not like Jupiter, with its howling winds and heavy rains. Her world was generally temperate, almost an idyllic place, except that it was home to more ghosts than people.
Beyond the castle, there was a field of patchy grass and small, feeble looking flowers. Ganymede remembered how lush the field used to be, just as she remembered what was left of it the first time she ventured out of the castle. It was in neither of those states now, but somewhere in between, struggling back to its former density.
Liesel used to come out here, when he could escape from the palace on his own. He would lie on the grass and watch the clouds float by, stare into the blue sky and wonder how things might be different if he was never born a Senshi.
Similarly, Ganymede stretched out atop the grass. She felt the closest to her world here, more in tune with it than she did anywhere else. With her back to the ground, her glowing palms pressed into the dirt and grass, she thought she could feel something like a heartbeat thrumming through her, not quite in time with her own.
“Sorry,” she said to the figure beside her. “This is probably boring for you.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:47 pm
“Not at all,” Valhalla answered easily in response to Ganymede’s apology. He was stretched out in the grass beside her, although his eyes were closed for the moment.
“It’s a good opportunity to relax,” he clarified, and reached out to place his glowing palm over the back of Ganymede’s. He didn’t have a connection to her world as she did, but there was still a closeness, a protectiveness he felt for it.
Especially now that they had so much to think about. The Velencians showing up on Earth meant that, without any doubt, that there was at least one populated world. What about others? Did Almadel come from a world that was populated like Velencya and Earth? He didn’t have the opportunity to talk to the otherworldly merchant like Ganymede and Sessrumnir had, but he’d heard enough about him by this point.
“What we felt when we were on the Moon,” he started, wondering if this was a good time to bring it up, or if he should just let her relax. “Do you still feel it now that we’re here?” They hadn’t been back to Valhalla yet, but he knew they’d both felt something when the energy from Archideus reached both Ganymede and Jupiter.
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Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 5:09 pm
”No,” Ganymede said. Then she sighed, not aggravated, but tired and lost. “I don’t know.”
After the moon, they went home and slept, then woke and cuddled their children, then slept again. Twenty-four hours later, with the children looked after by her own mother, Ganymede felt the need to come here to center herself and recharge, to ground herself again.
The energy they watched spread across the star map had come and gone. It left no trace that she could see, except that her world seemed more awake somehow. Ganymede couldn’t explain it, but she felt it. That thrumming beat was stronger than usual. She thought she could feel it in all the minor shifts of the soil, in the breeze that rustled through her hair, in every blade of grass her fingers touched.
She turned her head to gaze at Valhalla’s profile. He didn’t benefit from the energy here the way she did, but he seemed content enough.
“This was Liesel’s favorite spot,” she said. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever told Valhalla that, or if he knew, if he could tell by how she was drawn to it, too. “He would sneak out here when he wanted to be alone. I think he liked the illusion of solitude.”
They know I’m here, Liesel said once, but they pretend they don’t, and I pretend I don’t know that they do.
“And when Serge visited, they would lay out here together. Sometimes they’d just watch the clouds, or they’d talk for hours, until Liesel couldn’t justify staying out here longer.”
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:25 pm
Valhalla opened his eyes to look up at the sky and smiled when she told him how it was Liesel’s favorite spot. He knew. Even without her having to tell him. He felt a connection there as well, even if it wasn’t as strong as the one Ganymede surely felt to her world. But there was something that seemed to resonate with his starseed when he was there. He’d spent so much time there with Liesel that he felt as though a part of himself knew--
Serge... Serge had spent so much time there…
“I’m glad they got a break every now and then,” Valhalla said as he squeezed Ganymede’s hand. “Serge could relate to Liesel in that way. Wanting the illusion of solitude. I think he only ever felt truly at peace when he was with Liesel.”
Sometimes Valhalla hated his connection to Serge. He didn’t agree with what his starseed’s past life did, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
“And I know Serge loved him. In his own way. A bit too possessive for my liking, but… wanting to protect Liesel was real.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 9:50 am
A tentative smile worked its way across Ganymede’s face.
Talking about the past, however briefly, had a way of drawing the memories forward. The more she looked at Valhalla, the more his image began to blend with that of the man his starseed once belonged to. There were similarities in their appearance, enough that she often wondered if Serge’s family line continued in the Gallos somehow, but Chris and Serge were markedly different people.
Except perhaps that sense of protectiveness was the same, the intense devotion they often expressed in different ways.
Memory made Valhalla’s expression surly, his brows heavy, lowered in what often seemed to be a perpetual glare. One moment his eyes were the golden color Ganymede loved so much, and the next they were an olive green a part of her loved equally.
Sergius, Liesel’s voice drifted through her mind, broken by laughter. What kind of name is Sergius?
What kind of name is Liesel?
“Nothing was ever perfect between them, but it was real,” Ganymede agreed. “Liesel would question it. He was never sure of himself, never thought he was worthy of Serge’s friendship, let alone his love, and he was so committed to his duty and the expectations that were placed on him that he didn’t think himself capable of returning that love to the extent he thought Serge deserved, but now… with the benefit of hindsight…”
Ganymede brought her free hand to her chest, over the place where her starseed dwelled. “I know it was real. He knows it was real, in a way. What pieces of him remain. Or the memory of him, or… something.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 4:33 pm
“Things weren’t perfect for us, either,” Valhalla reminded her, a little mournfully, knowing that they both had their flaws, and he personally had to do a lot of growing as an individual before they were able to move forward to where they were now. Things were better, of course, but they would always be difficult with the Negaverse still in control of things.
“But I’m happy. And I think Serge was happy too, at least when he was with Liesel. With everything else…? He had a lot of burden to carry.”
As much as he was uncomfortable about the idea of having his starseed shared with Serge, he was grateful that he and Ganymede met and fell in love as they did.
“We’ll be okay,” he promised, turning to look at her with a smile, and gave her hand another squeeze. “No matter what life throws at us, or what surprises we get along the way. We’ll be okay. And I'll always love you.”
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Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 9:42 am
Ganymede turned her hand to grasp Valhalla’s, linking their fingers together.
“I’ll always love you,” she echoed.
It bothered her sometimes, thinking perhaps it was fate that they met, that they parted without any intention of crossing paths, only to meet again. Sometimes the thought was comforting — that the universe might want them to be together, and orchestrated things in such a way that allowed for it — but there would always be a part of her that thought it trite, like some overdone fairy tail or clichéd romance.
But she was grateful for it, too. Without Valhalla, her life would have been markedly different.
Ganymede turned onto her side. The image of Serge faded as she drew closer, until it was Chris again, staring at her through the glamor of Valhalla. She pushed some of the hair from his eyes, touched his face — unobstructed at the moment, with his winged helmet discarded nearby.
Then, a flicker of color out of the corner of her eye, a flutter of movement. Ganymede tensed from it, defensive. Other than the wind over the grass and through the trees, her world was normally still.
She looked for the source, anxious, and found nothing but a small butterfly perched atop one of the paltry flowers that littered the field.
Ganymede stared, watched its wings slowly flap, then followed its path to another flower. At first, she thought it must be a memory, a ghost from long ago, or some figment of her imagination, but it did not fade the way Serge’s image had.
“Do you see that?” she asked, voice nearly a whisper as she directed Valhalla’s attention to it.
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Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:10 pm
Valhalla could see the way that Ganymede tensed, and he tensed as well. If it was a memory, he didn’t want to do anything to disturb her thoughts, but he blinked in surprise when she asked if he could see something.
He shifted only slightly, turning his head in the direction she’d been looking, his eyes widening momentarily in surprise at the sight of a--
“Butterfly?” he continued to stare, as though it would disappear if he looked away. “I didn’t think there was anything living on worlds, other than plants,” he said in obvious confusion as he watched the insect. Maybe it was a memory of his own. Serge had frequented the field with Liesel, so it was possible they could have similar or the same memories, right?
But when the butterfly didn’t disappear, he turned back to Ganymede to see her expression, not sure what to make of the newest resident of Ganymede.
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:16 am
“There isn’t,” Ganymede said.
Her world was no better than dead the first time she arrived, nothing but crumbling buildings and a dark, star-strewn sky, with Jupiter looming large and foreboding, casting a reddish glow about the place. Back then, the memories were abrupt, a flicker of a ghost here and there, a short scene with little meaning, like watching a movie out of order in minute long increments. The more frequent her visits, the more memories she was afforded.
It wasn’t until she transcended that daylight returned. Then, her world came alive again — as much as it could with so few people to tend to it. No one could have lived there, certainly not for extended periods of time, but with enough supplies, she could spend a night or two in the old room Liesel once knew as his own. Ganymede fixed what she could, returned the room to something of its former state, and found comfort in her deepened connection with her world.
But nothing lived on Ganymede. Just patchy grass, trees that struggled to grow, and flowers that looked nothing like the vibrant blooms that once dotted the field.
“There wasn’t,” she amended.
Until now.
The butterfly fluttered closer. Ganymede reached over Valhalla with a gentle hand, like she meant to catch it. Tears filled her eyes when it brushed against her fingers before drifting several feet away.
There, among a thicker patch of meager flowers, the butterfly joined two more with similar coloring — red wings speckled with splotches of black.
A hitch in Ganymede’s breathing prevented her from speaking again. In spite of the war, in spite of all the awful things that made continuing to fight seem so hopeless, her world was more alive now than it had ever been. She could feel it in the low, deep thrum that resonated through her, in the soft blades of grass beneath her fingers, in the gentle breeze that blew against her face.
A single sob of joy and relief tore from her throat.
Then Ganymede choked and lowered her head onto Valhalla’s chest, shoulders quaking with laughter.
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:06 pm
Valhalla had no idea what to make of the butterfly-- butterflies. He stared in amazement and awe as Ganymede’s reach across him drew his attention to the other red and black wings flittering around the field, from flower to flower. He felt breathless, like if he thought to breathe everything would disappear.
And when Ganymede lowered her head to his chest, he instinctively wrapped his arm around her to keep her close, expecting tears--
But instead he got laughter.
“You okay, babe?” he asked in surprise as he rubbed at her back, hoping that she wasn’t going into hysterics or something that he wouldn’t be able to understand. He knew this wasn’t something they’d ever expected to see off Earth, and yet there were multiple butterflies dotting the field, which he noticed as he pushed himself up just a bit to hold Ganymede better.
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:13 am
The first sounds to make their way out of Ganymede’s mouth between all her breathless giggles were the words, “Sex pollen,” wheezed into the air.
Then she laughed for several minutes with no explanation. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she did so. Ganymede didn’t know if she was more amused, or shocked, or happy by this turn of events. She felt raw after the events of yesterday, and her emotions were a chaotic mess as a result, constantly in flux.
But being here on her world, with magic flowing through her and the proof of life all around her, it was the first time since the battle that she could think of anything other than a head at her feet.
Eventually, Ganymede forced herself to breathe properly. She took in deep gulps of air and brushed the tears from her face, pulling herself off of Valhalla’s chest enough to smile at him.
“The butterflies,” she said, her expression twisted by some combination of misery and happiness. “There were legends about them. It was said they secreted some substance that, when mixed with the pollen of a certain flower, had a way of enhancing desire, sort of like an aphrodisiac. Only it wasn’t true. They were just stories, but there was this whole festival based around them every spring.”
Ganymede wiped at her face again, sopping up the few tears that remained. “Even though, by Liesel’s time, the festival had become more like Valentine’s Day, he was never allowed to participate. One year during the festival, Serge was visiting. He snuck into Liesel’s room and…”
She lifted her right hand to show Valhalla the glowing scar across her palm. “That was when they did this. It was a blood bond, a soul bond, or so another Ganymedean legend said.”
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:40 am
Valhalla stared at her, but then snorted quietly, and finally joined her in her laughter. He didn’t even know why it was so funny, but seeing her being so giggly and happy for a few minutes was enough for him. It was her energy that made him feel light.
Ganymede always had a way of making him feel good, even after such horrible things. It was why he loved her, why he wanted to be with her. And something told him that this was why his starseed was able to find her again in this life, after being with her in the last.
As Ganymede caught her breath and smiled at him, Valhalla lifted his hands to try and wipe the rest of the tears off that she didn’t manage to catch, herself.
He listened to her story, smiling fondly as he tried to beat her to catch the lingering tears. The glowing scar across her palm had his attention. He’d known it was there, of course. Just as she knew he had his own glowing scar across his left palm.
He held it up for a few moments, before reaching out to gently take her hand into his, squeezing hers in the same way Serge would have with Liesel when they made their soul bond.
“Maybe those legends should be taken more seriously than people thought,” he said softly, pulling her hand to his lips to kiss. “I love you.”
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:34 am
Ganymede didn’t believe the legends. She wasn’t sure Liesel believed them either. Not entirely, anyway. But their lack of belief didn’t diminish the meaning, didn’t tarnish the emotion Liesel was trying to convey when he sliced open his palm.
It was the only way he knew to express his feelings without uttering the words that seemed so forbidden.
A thousand years later, Ganymede could say them freely.
“I love you.”
She pressed her palm to Valhalla’s, let their fingers twine, glowing scars almost perfectly aligned.
Fate or luck, or a little of both — it didn’t matter what brought them together. What mattered was that Valhalla was here with her, and through them Serge was with Liesel again; the dark forces that took their lives from them only succeeded for so long. Chaos destroyed so much, but there was hope, still, in the small things, in the memories and the coincidences.
Ganymede smiled. A few more happy tears slid down his face.
“I love you.”
Nearby, the butterflies fluttered from one flower to the next.
Somehow, amidst all the darkness stretched across the universe, life had returned to Ganymede.-------------
“Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.”
- “Begin” by Brendan Kennelly
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