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Flashes of memory pass before their mind’s eye as they slump in the little crevice between the wall and a high fence, a hand pressed tightly over the wound in their side. They struggle to breathe, firmly looking away from the iridescent substance leaking between their fingers. In moments, the bullet hole will start to heal and the bullet dissolve inside them, but maybe not before they bleed out… They cough weakly and stop struggling; it’s easier just to give in. Their last thoughts before their heart stops are of him, of course. They always are.
Marius smiled at them, pushing a few stray locks of hair out of their eyes.
“Welcome back, love”, he’d say and pull them into his arms, holding them there until they’d stopped shaking.
When they wake with a gasp now, they are completely alone as they tremble with cold and fear. Have their pursuers given up? They can’t hear anything, but that doesn’t mean anything really. As soon as they can move, they need to find a ship to take them far away from here, to somewhere where no one’s ever heard of… fuck, what alias did they use this time? They can’t remember, all the names they’ve used in the past centuries blurring together. All they know is that they have not heard the name Lyfrassir Edda in a very, very long time.
“Lyf? Lyf!” Marius’ pained shout echoed after them, but they didn’t turn around. They only ran, ran until they couldn’t hear him anymore, ran until they found a merchant vessel going right across the system, just about to leave… They sneaked aboard and hid in the cargo bay until the ship was safely out in space, and staunchly told themselves they hadn’t made a horrible mistake when they woke up screaming after getting shot by the captain.
They had nearly managed to stick by that lie for a decade or two, but by the point they admitted to themselves that they’d rather be aboard the Aurora with its lunatic, murderous crew than roam from planet to planet all alone, it was far too late to find them again. At this point, they doubt the Mechanisms would even remember them. Except Marius, they think, squeezing their eyes shut against the tears that are threatening to fall. He’ll still remember me. I wonder if he’s still angry. I wonder if he’d forgive me. Then they rub angrily at their eyes and take a deep, shaky breath. Oh fuck, Lyf, knock it off! They don’t have time to dissolve into a blubbering mess right now, they have an escape to arrange.
With a grunt of pain, they heave themselves to their feet. The wound is more or less healed, but their side feels bruised and sore. They stagger but catch themselves on the wall, and begin their painful walk towards the city’s landing range.
*
Later, they lie sprawled face down on an uncomfortable cot in a tiny sleeping cubicle, a bottle of cheap vodka dangling from their hand. Usually they try to hire on as a worker when they leave a planet, but this time they had no energy for that, instead opting for sticking a few extra credits in the quartermaster’s hand to avoid questions. She’d nodded and shown them to where they could stay on this dirty, rundown little ship that may or may not be smuggling a large quantity of… whatever. They don’t care. It’ll get them far away, to yet another place where they will stay for a few years at the most. Maybe they’ll try to create something of an actual life for themselves before it inevitably goes up in flames around them, or just drink themselves into oblivion and back until their money runs out and they have to leave again. They haven’t decided yet, but the second option feels more likely at the moment.
They shift enough to take another swig from the bottle, grimacing at the taste. Maybe if they drink enough, they can sleep without dreaming. Hah.
“You scare me.”
“Why?”
“I’ve never needed anyone like this before, I think. I – I love you, Lyf, and that scares me a lot.”
“You love them, too.”
“Yeah, I do. But it’s different, they’re just… I don’t think I could be rid of them if I tried, or them of me. But you… I want to be with you, and not because I have no choice.”
“Oh.”
“… is this the point where I have to go shoot myself because I just divulged my deepest, darkest secret and you’re just going to stare at me like that until I go away?”
“No! No! Sorry! I – I love you too, I – It’s just… a lot.”
“Mm, that’s fair. Come here, you.”
They wake with a splitting headache and tears prickling at the corner of their eyes. Their internal calender has long since stopped keeping track of silly things like dates and months and years, but this they know: every time the decennial anniversary or so of the destruction of the Yggdrasil system draws near, they start to dream of it again. They blink against the far too bright lamp they left on and swallow. While they didn’t make the connection at the time, it was probably no coincidence that they left nearly of the day of their ten year anniversary of coming aboard the Aurora. Apparently this also had the side effect that their brain has now entangled the two events so intimately that it’s become a toss-up whether they will dream of tentacled rainbow madness devouring their home, or the mad space pirates who took them in as one of their own… At this point they’d almost prefer the nightmares.
Their stomach roils threateningly as they sit up and reach for their coat. It’s pretty much ruined now, but it’ll have to do until they make landfall. Taking in its sticky state, the bullet hole caked with still shimmering blood, Lyf’s heart clenches. What if – what if it hit the inner pocket, what if – no. The bullet went through just below, they find with a sigh of relief. They hesitate for a second before taking out the old photo, creased and stained and full of fingerprints, but preserved in its anti-ageing case.
It’s a polaroid snapshot of themselves and Marius, that Jonny took on a dry, sandy planet somewhere in a different lifetime; the only one they have left. Lyf is half turned away from the camera, leaning into Marius’ side and sticking their tongue out at him. Marius’ is directly facing the camera, caught forever in the middle of a word – possibly swearing at Jonny for shoving that stupid thing in their faces again. With a jolt, they realise they can’t remember.
Lyf looks at the picture for a long time, touching Marius’ face on the outside of the clear casing. They stopped taking it out decades ago, out of fear of damaging it further. Then they very carefully pack it away before being sick in the sink.
*
The planet is small, hot and humid, covered in a lush, steaming jungle. It’s altogether unremarkable, and that suits them fine. They rent a dingy flat easily enough, and settle in to catalogue their meagre possessions and consider their course of action. Is it worth trying to find an honest job here? Find some friends, maybe learn a new hobby, try to find a scrap of peace… They snort, a sharp, bitter sound in the silence of the flat. Peace is something that was eaten along with the rest of the Yggdrasil system.
That night, Lyf dreams of the Bifrost, of being caught in the disaster, of being ripped apart and put together, only to be ripped apart again… They wake screaming and alone, unable to bring themselves to go back to sleep that night.
They dress and force down a bit of breakfast in silence. The quiet is oppressive, weighing down on them like a physical presence. I hate this , they think, listlessly poking at their bowl of brightly coloured cereal. How many times did they try and fail to rebuild some kind of… normal life for themselves, before giving up and accepting that this lonely vagabond’s life is their fate now? They’ve lost count, and they’re so tired .
For the first time in years, they try to count backwards to figure out how long it’s been since the Bifrost came. 300 years, give or take, is the number they arrive at. That can’t be more than the blink of an eye for the Mechanisms, but for them? For them it’s…
“Too long”, they mutter. “Way too fucking long.”
Through experience, they know that the nightmares will intensify over the course of a few months before tapering off again, leaving them a wreck. So far they have found nothing that helps; all they can do is wait it out and wonder if this is the time their mind will crack and the call of the Void consume them.
*
It goes like always. Lyf pulls themselves together enough to take on a few odd jobs, mainly repairing the robots that seem to do most of the labour on this planet, but the constant battle against the nightmares takes it out of them enough that keeping their mind on any complicated tasks is… difficult. More and more, they spend their time wandering the city, the way they used to wander the Aurora in their early days on the ship. If they just keep walking, they won’t fall asleep, and if they’re exhausted enough when they finally can’t stay on their feet anymore, maybe they can escape the dreams… It rarely works.
They load the coffee machine with shaking hands. When did they last grab more than an hour or two of fitful sleep? They should be on their way to the factory already, they’ve signed on for a big repair job that’s going to take them all week, but they’re afraid what damage they might do both to themselves and the robots in this state. And if they get hurt, someone might see, and that will end badly. Fuck! They grind the heels of their hands into their eyes until rainbows sparkle across their vision and they shudder, suddenly queasy.
The coffee is black, bitter, and far too strong. Regardless, they gulp it down and hope for the best, that it’ll get them through the work without incidents and then… Then what? For a moment, they allow themselves to rest their head on the table, its surface cool and hard against their cheek.
The repair work is complex, fiddly and requires complete concentration. They spend hours separating burned and twisted wires before they can even start reconnecting them, and before long they’re exhausted. Their mind keeps wandering to the days on the Aurora, the pride they felt when Brian let them do repairs on him for the first time – just something simple, because they were still a beginner, but it was such a sign of trust , that they were truly accepted as part of the crew…
“Thank you, Lyfrassir”, Brian had said, examining his arm. “It’s much better now.” Lyf had blushed and stammered something, preening under Brian’s heavy hand on their shoulder.
They swallow and put down the screwdriver. Their vision is too blurry to see what they’re doing, and when they rub at their eyes, their hand comes away wet and shimmering.
“Shit”, they mumble. It’s not quite time for a break yet, but rather that than cause an accident because they can’t see what they’re doing. They make another cup of coffee but can’t bring themselves to drink it. Instead they sit staring numbly at it, hunched over on the breakroom’s sofa. Last night’s dreams were worse than usual; iridescent claws and teeth, and screaming, writhing horrors, with slithering, squamous tentacles all around them, in them, tearing, ripping, rending… and through it all they could hear other voices screaming, the Mechanisms crying out as they were devoured, for them, for anyone… Marius yelling out their name over and over as sharp-toothed rainbows burst from his eyes…
They sniffle and take a deep breath; they need to return to the robots before they’re found and fired. Yet another skill they have the Mechanisms to thank for; Marius and Ashes took turns to teach them basic engineering when they wanted something useful to do around the ship, starting with the cleaning bots and ending up in charge of Brian’s repairs. After they left, engineering and robot repair- and management was the line of work they most often pursued, when they bothered to support themselves legally. It was something that was needed everywhere, on ships and planets alike, and as the decades and centuries passed, they’ve become very skilled at it.
Back at the robots, Lyf begins to fuse the torn wires back together. For a while, they manage to lose themselves in the work, but as always when they’re tired enough, the memories sneak in. Every spark, every reflection of fire on metal, even the heat from the welding torch carries flashes of their life on the Aurora.
The gleam of Ashes’ eyes in the light of their cigar as they deal t another round of cards, not even trying to hide their cheating … Their proud smile as Lyf first won a game with an ace up their sleeve …
The welding torch, shaped and feeling so much like a gun in their hand.
Tim’s left hand on their waist, his right steadying their arm as he corrects their aim, the gun he’s teaching them to use being much heavier than the light handgun they carried as New Midgard Police; his body warm and solid against their back…
A loud bang outside pulls them out of their reverie. Then the screaming starts, and they drop the welding torch and knock over their stool as the scramble to their feet. The doors are slammed open, and a large robot wielding two huge plasma guns marches inside, firing a couple of shots into the ceiling. The sun shining in through the open doors catches on the its copperwire hair, making it gleam bright red under its top hat, and Lyf would know that silhouette anywhere.
They run. They slam the door into the rest of the building behind them, but not before they hear Brian shout after them. His surprised cry of “Lyf!” rings in their ears in time with their pounding heart as they run towards the emergency exit, with no clear plan other than “get away”. Shit. Shit. Shit. If Brian’s here, so are probably the others. Which means that Mar-
Marius looked up, grinning, his face spattered with blood, to see Lyf staring at him in horror.
“Lyf? What’s up?” He yanked the bayonet free from the bloody corpse in front of him, and Lyf gulped against the sudden nausea rising in their throat. They backed away, shaking their head. Marius frowned and tossed the bayonet to the side, reaching out his metal hand towards them. Behind him, Jonny stabbed a nameless stranger with a gleeful shout, and Lyf turned to run. “Lyf? Lyf!”
They brace their hands on the wall as their stomach turns, but after barely being able to keep anything but coffee down for days, they only dry heave painfully for a minute or two before they manage to straighten up and continue to run.
Marius’ back shining with sweat, his metal hand almost cracking the headboard as they fuck ed him into the mattre ss, his moans needy and eager as they bur ied their face in the nape of his neck and reached around him to stroke him off …
Ashes’ grin, as fierce as the fire in front of them, when they clap ped Lyf on the shoulder, congratulating them on their first successful, largescale arson...
Mariu s standing with their back to them in the semi-darkness, playing something soft and sad that ma de them wonder how they ever could’ve found his violin annoying…
Jonny splashing water at them as the whole crew squealed and swam away in the crystal clear pool beneath a glittering waterfall. They all ganged up on him after that, and nearly drowned him before decided they were having too much fun for any deaths that day. Jonny accused them all of going soft and being terribly dull, at least until Lyf and Marius dragged him behind the waterfall to thoroughly disprove that sentiment…
They stumble out the back door, panting. Distant screams and gunshots can be heard from the other side of the building, but it’s still quiet here. They lean against the wall and take a few deep breaths as they try to think of what to do.
*
Lyf’s braid disappears as the door slams shut behind them, and Brian stands frozen in shock. Different courses of action flash across his mind’s eye faster than a human brain could process, opposing Ends colliding and locking him in place. The urge to hunt Lyf down and drag them back to the ship, dead it need be, wars with the desire to forcibly gather up the crew and get them the fuck off this planet before any more of them run into their erstwhile companion. Especially before Marius does, because while Brian has no idea how he’d actually react to seeing Lyf again, he’s afraid it won’t end well for either of them.
The decades after Lyf’s sudden departure were by far among the worst in his memory, only surpassed by the grief fuelled chaos left in Nastya’s wake, and while the worst has long blown over, there is no telling what the more… volatile members of the crew might do. With an effort, Brian clamps down on the longing to stalk further into the building and shake Lyf down until they explain why they suddenly bolted when they did; while Marius no doubt was hit the worst by that betrayal, Brian had thought himself Lyf’s friend, too. No, he needs a second opinion, one as level headed as he is likely to get among the Mechanisms.
“Hey, Ashes?”
“I’m busy.” They continue pouring gasoline into the vent, their eyes intent on their work. When Brian lays a hand on their shoulder, they snap their head around and glare at him. “Fuck’s sake, Drumbot, I said I’m busy!”
“I saw Lyf.” The effect is immediate. Ashes goes rigid and closes the canister with a deliberate click.
“What. The fuck did you. Say.” They turn around, and Brian lets his hand fall from their shoulder, silently cursing himself. Well, so much for level headed. He clears his throat.
“I saw Lyfrassir. They’re here. I –” He slaps Ashes’ hand away as they reach for his back. “No, stop it, no one’s flipped it, dammit!”
“So where are they? Don’t tell me you just let them go!”
“I – fuck, Ashes, are you sure it’s a good idea to bring them back? Disregarding the fact that they might very well not want to. Marius…”
“Fuck Marius! I have a few things I’d like to say to them!” They strike a match and throw it into the vent, and a spout of flame erupts with a whoosh! “Show me where you found them.”
*
Lyf tries to move away from the sounds of violence, but of course they run into a fucking dead end before long. They contemplate climbing the fence, but even with the adrenaline furiously pumping through them, they can see it’s far too high. With a frustrated groan, they skid to a halt and stand panting, leaning on their knees. Fuck, fuck, fuck, they’re here, they’re here, Marius is here, Marius, Marius, Marius, fuck, fuck –
The hurt confusion is Marius’ eyes the moment before Lyf turned to run flashes before them and they whimper. The knowledge that he is here , somewhere close to them, yet completely unreachable, stabs right through their heart as painfully as any knife has ever done. There is no way they can face him, or any of them, after all this time, after nearly three fucking centuries feeling their absence like a missing limb, while knowing that it was they, Lyf, that fucking left , that they chose this life of loneliness over staying with the Mechanisms… Lyf falls back against the fence and buries their face in their hands. In the distance, something explodes.
They try to make their way back to their flat by the way of quiet backstreets, but apparently fate is determined to fuck with them as much as possible, and soon they find themselves closer and closer to the fighting. With a curse, they debate whether to backtrack or continue, and have just decided to double back when they hear him.
“Hey, over here, Raph! Got one who looks like he’s dying for some evil sciencing!”
All at once, their resolve melts away, and all thought is obliterated in favour of the all consuming need to see him. Just a peek, then they’ll run, because there is no way he’ll want anything to do with them, but they can have this. Just a look, just a quick one…
They peer around the corner, and there he is, grinning like a maniac. He’s half turned away from them, and his attention is entirely focused on the task in front of him, until it isn’t. He glances up for a moment, and they know the exact moment he spots them. His jaw goes slack and his eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to –
The bullet catches him in the temple, and Lyf screams. Logically they know a bullet to the head isn’t going to result in anything worse than a headache for him, but their heart only sees the man they – him die, mere seconds after seeing him for the first time in nearly three centuries. Before they know what they’re doing, they’re racing across the square towards him. Familiar voices are shouting their name, but they barely register it, their only thought is to reach Marius , no matter what.
Lyf doesn’t even hear the tanks approaching, and only notice the machine guns when the bullets slam into them. They stagger a few more steps as more bullets continue to rain down on them, and when they can’t stay on their feet anymore, they fight to crawl towards him, until shock and blood loss win out, and they sink into darkness.
*
“Tim! I think it’s about time to beat a fucking tactical retreat!”
“You don’t say?”
“Come on! Wait, hang on, is that –?”
“Bloody hell, it is! Ow, fuck! Time to go!”
“Hey, Brian, where the fuck’ve you been?!”
“Looking for them! I can carry both of them, come on, let’s go!”
*
Lyf’s body is riddled with bullets, and there is a rainbow smear on the ground where they crawled on despite their wounds. Beneath them a larger, shimmering puddle is still spreading as Brian picks them up by the scruff of their neck before snatching up Marius as well. He runs towards the ship, more bullets whizzing past him, some hitting, some not. A few feet in front of him, Raphaella takes a bullet to the wing and crashes to the ground, but is pulled to her feet by Ashes. Jonny falls with half his face gone, but Tim and Ivy hoist him up to carry him to the shuttle. Right now all that matters is to reach the Aurora and get far, far away so they can deal with the more… unforeseen turn of events.
Fortunately, millennia of practice around the Mechanisms have made Brian able to pilot various vessels through almost any conditions, no matter the distractions at hand. If he can manoeuvre them unharmed through an asteroid belt while Jonny uses his hat for target practice, he can damn well ignore Lyfrassir Edda’s corpse oozing rainbow goo all over the floor until they’re safely out of the atmosphere to where the Aurora is orbiting in wait for their return.
The currently living crew members drag the dead to the bridge to regenerate while they take off, because it doesn’t take more than a look between Brian and Ashes to decide that leaving Lyf and Marius alone together just yet would be unwise, to put it lightly. Add Jonny into the mix, and not even the Mechanisms might survive the outcome.
Jonny comes to first, groggy and grumbling about his nose growing back crooked. Ivy is just shooting him some dry remark on how he’s lucky never to experience that problem with his brain, because there simply isn’t enough of it to grow back wrong, when Lyf starts screaming. They’re not even awake yet, but the buzzing rainbows knitting their torn flesh together still seem to hurt more than the Mechanisms’ healing does. By the time the screaming tapers off and they open their eyes to blink in confusion, Marius is stirring, too. When he groans, Lyf rolls over and reaches for him, their eyes huge.
“M-marius?”
Brian sees the moment Marius recognises the voice, and he has never known Marius get to his feet quite that fast after regenerating before. Without a word, he stalks off, kicking a stray octokitten out of his way with unnecessary force. Lyf stares after him, their head falling onto the floor of the bridge with a clang, and their lower lip trembles when they close their eyes and begin to cry quietly. The rest of the present Mechanisms watch in silence, none of them sure of what to do, and Brian feels the stomach he doesn’t have drop.
What has he done, dragging Lyf back here?
*
Marius stomps along the corridor with heat pulsing through him, making his metal hand flex with the desire to close around someone’s throat. Whose, he isn’t sure – Lyf’s, his own, Jonny’s… all he knows is that he wants to hurt someone, because he is hurting with an intensity that needs to find an outlet somewhere. The wound that Lyf’s departure left had eventually scabbed over and lately he’s found it to only hurt when he deliberately pokes at it – at least until now, because suddenly it’s torn open again, leaving him raw and bleeding. The way their voice had shook, their eyes brimming with those shimmering tears… He doesn’t want to think about how their vulnerability makes a part of him want to run back to the bridge and pull them into his arms, while the rest wants to scream at them for leaving in the first place.
They’d hung around on that planet for weeks, looking for Lyf until every scrap of hope that they were still around had been exhausted. Only then they had gone back to the Aurora and reluctantly taken off, in search of new adventures and chaos to bring or exacerbate, but it had been a long time before Marius’ heart was really in it again.
*
After the tears finally slow, Ivy quietly tugs them along to an empty bedroom, telling them that there are spare sheets in the closet. Lyf nods and watches her leave before sitting down on the unmade bed with their head in their hands. So they’re back on the Aurora, which is exactly what they’ve longed for the past two hundred and eighty odd years… and right now, they’d give anything to be back in their dingy flat on the fucking jungle planet with its stupid, accident prone robot work force.
“Fuck”, they mumble, rubbing at their eyes. A headache is forming behind them, and Lyf groans. For a moment, they contemplate trying to throw themselves out of the airlock, but they know it won’t happen. Maybe they should just hide in their empty guest room until they make landfall somewhere and quietly leave… Their stomach drops at the thought. No. They’re here now, and thus they will have to face the crew, one way or another. Just… just not quite yet. Without bothering to make the bed, Lyf lies down to try to sleep.
It doesn’t succeed. They lie staring at the ceiling for hours, long enough for the Aurora’s daylight cycle to turn into night and then into morning again, but at last they can’t stand it anymore. With their head pounding, they creep into the corridor and head to the kitchen. It’s early enough that it might be empty, but of course they have no such luck. They almost turn to leave when they see Marius sitting with his back to the door, but he turns around before they have time to flee.
“Oh”, he says, his face going blank. “Lyfrassir.”
“Marius.” They swallow, hovering uncertainly in the doorway. Their heart is pounding in their throat, and they clench their hands to stop them from trembling. There are so many things they want to say to him, starting –
“What are the fucking chances, huh? That we’d end up at the same fucking planet again.” His voice is cold and flat, and Lyf’s stomach clenches. “Is that where you were this whole time?”
They shake their head mutely. If they say as much as a single word it will all come pouring out of them, they won’t be able to stop; part of them wants to tell him, tell him how much they’ve missed him, missed them all, how they’ve regretted leaving every single fucking day for centuries… but another can’t bear the thought of laying themselves open in that way, only to be met with that cold stare. Marius’ face remains impassive as he rises, moving to shove past them. They catch hold of his sleeve as he passes.
“Marius, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you, I’m sorry –” they start, but he jerks his arm away, the barest hint of a scowl flashing across his face.
“You were always free to leave”, he says. “You weren’t our prisoner.” And he stalks off, his steps echoing on the metal floor, leaving Lyf gasping for air as great, shuddering sobs rip through them.
When they can bring themselves to move again, they set off to find Brian.
He is, predictably enough, sitting in the pilot’s chair, staring out into the stars. When Lyf clears their throat, he inclines his head a fraction of an inch to confirm he’s listening, but doesn’t otherwise acknowledge their presence. Lyf swallows back the hurt at that and sits down on the edge of the copilot’s chair, twisting their hands in their lap.
“How far are we from the nearest populated… well, anything?” they ask after a long, uncomfortable silence. Brian taps a few buttons on the control panel, and a holographic map of the system they’re currently travelling through appears. He studies it for a moment before closing it again.
“There’s a space station we could reach in about four days. It’s set to be abandoned entirely soon, but there should still be one or two sentient beings there.”
“That’s – that’s fine. I can make my own way from there. I’ll… just try not to be a bother until then.” They stand, hugging themselves tightly against a chill that has nothing to do with the internal temperature of the Aurora. “I’m – I’m sorry, Brian. For everything, I guess.”
Brian gives a tight nod, still not looking at them, and Lyf quietly starts walking back towards the guest room.
*
Marius gets two winding turns of the corridor away from the kitchen before the scream he’s been trying to force down tears itself out of his throat, and he slams his flesh fist into the wall over and over again. He doesn’t stop until his knuckles are a cracked and bloodied mess, but he barely feels the pain of it over the one clawing at the inside of his chest.
You were always free to leave. You weren’t our prisoner. How many times has he repeated those words to himself? They were never a prisoner, they were free to leave whenever they wanted, he never should have expected them to stay, that he’d been a fool to think they ever would… the thought leaves a bitter taste in the back of his throat. He punches the wall again, with his metal hand this time. It leaves a dent in the steel, but doesn’t make him feel any better at all. He needs something… more.
There is always an ample stash of explosives and arsonist’s tools in Storage Bay 7. It’s not quite an official House Rule, not like No lethal violence in the kitchen , but at some point the crew more or less subconsciously decided that more large-scale recreational explosions and/or fires should be contained to a specific location, if nothing else for purely practical reasons. Having to keep repairing large sections of the ship over and over again, sometimes going years without proper spare parts or equipment, is a bloody pain in the arse: thus Storage Bay 7 is where they go when wanton small-scale destruction or interpersonal violence doesn’t cut it. It is also where they throw all furniture and similar things they’ve decided they don’t need anymore.
Marius looks around him, taking stock of his options. Maybe the large gun cabinet with the broken doors? He swallows, harshly clamping down on the part of him that wants to throw up and curl into a ball and cry. Lyf left , and now Lyf is back, and Marius can’t think straight through the red hot throbbing in his head.
He’s nearly done setting the explosives when the door opens and Ashes saunters inside, carrying a canister of gasoline and a book of matches. They scowl when they notice him, clearly displeased with finding the room already occupied.
“I was here first”, Marius snaps, because he isn’t keen on company either. Ashes glares at him.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“So what?”
“Fuck you!”
“Very creative, Baron.”
“Fuck off!” Before he knows what he’s doing, he’s dropped everything in his hands and snatched out the knife he carries in his boot instead. He launches himself at Ashes with a wordless cry.
“Hey, what the fu-”, they yell as he drives the knife into their belly, their chest, their throat – His world narrows to the splash of blood on his face and the knife stabbing into them over and over again. When the red mist clears, he’s covered in blood and sits panting next to Ashes, who is very, very dead.
“Sorry”, he mutters, yanking the knife out of their shoulder. Then he leaves before they have a chance to wake up and yell at him, or worse, attempt to offer some kind of empty fucking comfort. The anger has faded into a dull ache, like a hook lodged beneath his heart that pulls him inexorably towards Lyf. He chokes it down; he doesn’t want to see them. They left, and none of the Mechanisms have ever taken abandonment well.
“You scare me.”
“Why?” A puzzled little frown had formed between their eyebrows, but they’d reached out and taken his hand, caressing his flesh palm with their thumb. Marius heart had been beating so hard they must’ve heard it, and his mouth was dry as the rusty sands of Fort Galfridian. He swallowed, trying to put what he meant into words.
“I’ve never needed anyone like this before, I think. I – I love you, Lyf, and that scares me a lot.” He picked at the sheets, pulling at a loose thread and intently watched it come slithering out of the fabric to avoid looking at their face, but he could still hear the warmth in their voice when they answered.
“You love them, too.”
“Yeah, I do. But it’s different, they’re just… I don’t think I could be rid of them if I tried, or them of me. But you… I want to be with you, and not because I have no choice.”
And they had told him that they loved him too, smiled and kissed him, and they’d tumbled off the bed when they wrestled for dominance, but neither of them had minded one bit as their tussling had turned heated, and they’d fucked on the floor and even fallen asleep there afterwards… Marius slams the door to his – theirs, no, not anymore, never again, just his – room behind him, tearing at his ruined clothes. He’s already turned that turned that conversation over in his head a million times, just like countless others they had in the decade they spent together. Should he have realised something from their momentary hesitation? They were always free to leave. They weren’t our prisoner. He never should have let his guard down like that! He never should have – he never should have insisted on looking for their ship after the Yggdrasil system was devoured…
No. That’s a lie and he knows it. He steps in under the shower’s scalding spray and leans his head against the wall, trying to turn his mind off without any success.
*
Lyf is halfway back to their room, hoping to be able to slip in there unnoticed. Of course they have no such luck, and almost walk into Tim when they turn a corner. He jerks back like they’ve burned him, his eyes whirl and click as he glares at them. Lyf hangs their head and avoids his gaze; whatever he wants to say to them, they probably deserve it. He opens his mouth as to speak a few times, then snaps it shut, shakes his head and stalks off.
Tim steadied their aim and adjusts their grip on the gun, his breath hot against their cheek. When they finally hit the bullseye, he wrapped his arms around them from behind and hugged them close, whooping as they laughed, and when they turned to kiss him, giddy with adrenaline, his mouth was just as soft and fierce as it looked…
When he’s safely gone, Lyf allows themselves a moment of almost quiet sobs, leaning against the wall. Then they square their shoulders and change directions; there’s something else they want to do before they leave again, and it’s probably better just to get it over with.
They knock on the library’s door frame, just to be polite. It’s not something they’ve ever done before, nor have any of the other crewmembers, but Lyf isn’t one of them anymore. They never were, not really. After a moment’s silence, Ivy calls out:
“Come in, Lyfrassir.” Her voice is cool, but that doesn’t mean much. They step inside and find her lounging on a speanbag with a book open in her hand. She watches them with her head cocked, but doesn’t say anything more, clearly waiting for them to break the silence first. They hesitate for a moment, then decide not to try for awkward small talk first.
“I… I was wondering about the books you salvaged from the Yggdrasil system. If – if you have anything you feel you could spare, because I would… appreciate it. Please.”
“Yes. I expected you would ask, come on.” Ivy carefully marks the page before she puts down the book, then she waves them along to the very back of the library where she keeps the truly valuable volumes. Lyf frowns. That’s not where she kept those books before, and insofar as they remember, nothing was particularly noteworthy, it was just… books. Books from their home. She stops in front of a large, heavily locked safe. “I had to put them in here”, she explains before they have time to ask, “to protect them. Otherwise Marius would have destroyed them, just like everything else that reminded him of you.”
“Oh.” They watch as she unlocks several heavy padlocks to open the chains covering the outer bars of it, then unlocking the bars, and only then reaching the door with a fourteen digit combination lock. She blocks their view as she starts to turn the dials.
“Do you have any idea how rare materials he cannot break through with his mechanism are?” she says, her tone conversational, but Lyf’s chest clenches anyway.
“No. Rare”, they mumble, and she nods. Then the safe clicks open, and she steps aside to let them browse the last books of the Yggdrasil system in existance. It isn’t all that many; Ivy has more of their native legends and stories archived in her brain, but it’s the physical books they’re after, really. A tangible reminder of what they had – and of what they lost. They’ve read them all before, of course, during their years on the Aurora, but they don’t have Ivy’s perfect memory.
Ivy, warm and solid, lying with her shoulder pressed to Lyf’s, reading quietly, their joint breathing was the only sound in the library, save the occasional rustle as either of them turn ed a page. It always was the most peaceful place on the entire ship, and the only one where there was a chance for quietness. No matter how much Lyf ha d come to love Marius’ and the others’ rowdiness and chaos, sometimes they crave d the silence of the library. Here, they could immerse themselves in the myths of their lost world, in a way they couldn’t anywhere else.
Beside them, Ivy nuzzled closer, slotting her entire body close to Lyf’s, content to share the quiet for a while…
“I have it all uploaded, take whatever you feel necessary.”
“Thank you.” They run their fingers gently over the books, trying to choose just one or two. There is no reason to suspect that their life after this strange chance encounter will be much different to the one they led before, so keeping permanent possessions to a minimum is necessary. Hanging onto that bloody photograph has been hard enough, but oh, they have missed having a link back to their home world, just anything to prove that it was ever real at all.
Ivy hangs back as they fight back tears and carefully read the spines of the books in front of them. Lyf wonders if they should tell her of their plan to disembark on the space station, but decides not to. Most likely she’s already worked it out from the available data, and she doesn’t exactly invite conversation. At last they settle on two books, one mythological anthology and one collection of fairy tales, and stumble away with them tightly clutched to their chest, leaving Ivy to lock the safe alone.
*
It’s a few hours after midnight, Aurora time. Marius is pacing the corridors, unable to settle down, just like he has been for the past days. He hasn’t seen Lyf since their encounter in the kitchen, but whether it’s just random chance or because they’ve been avoiding him, he can’t tell. Nor can he decide whether he’s relieved or not, because the constant ache that forces him to keep moving long after his body screams for rest refuses to be classified as simply as “want” or “do not want” to see Lyf again.
He’s stopped to rest, leaning against the wall for a minute to try to stop his legs from cramping, when he hears it. A panicked yell, a thump, a ragged shout that dissolves into sobs – Marius is running towards the sound before he’s consciously registered who the voice belongs to. His body knows, though, because he’s heard those sounds far too many times before, and always, always responded with pulling them close and holding them until the night terrors pass.
It isn’t far to the guest room, and Marius skids to a halt before the door with his hand already reaching for the handle, only then realising what he’s doing. He freezes, and inside, Lyf gasps for breath and punches the wall hard, over and over again, before dissolving into desolate sobs once more. Marius gulps, his hand still raised towards the door. The urge to comfort them is almost overwhelming, but his hand hovers frozen a few inches from the handle.
There’s no way to tell how long he stands there, listening to Lyf crying and cursing inside, until it dies away into desperate, hiccuping breaths. Marius leans his face against the cold steel of the door and fails to keep his own breathing steady, clenching his flesh hand hard enough to draw blood in his palm and digging the fingers of his mechanism deep into his thigh to keep quiet. He can’t go in there, can’t face them, can’t… He can’t decide what would be worse, to have them scowl at him and tell him to fuck off, or bury their tear streaked face in the crook of his shoulder, leaving shimmering stains that will never quite wash out. Marius already had to get an entire new wardrobe after Lyf’s departure, because somehow some of the rainbow gunk they had a tendency to emit everywhere had found its way onto every single fucking piece of clothing he owned.
He swallows again and pads away, forcing himself to keep his steps soft enough for them not to hear him leave. This is hardly sustainable, he knows, but for the moment, he can’t think of what else to do.
*
They’ve purloined a small bag to pack their few possessions in, and they stare blankly at it as they try to gather up the courage to go and do the final thing they need to do here. When they hunted down their coat where they’d apparently left it on the bridge, Brian confirmed what they’d already strongly suspected, that they are mere hours away from the space station. If they wish to say any final goodbyes, now is the time.
They contemplated not to, to just slip quietly off the ship as soon as they dock, but… Brian got a mumbled goodbye as they grabbed their coat, which he didn’t reply to as far as Lyf could hear, and they doubt the rest of the crew would care much either way. They’ve stayed out of Lyf’s way as much as they’ve stayed out of theirs, which is probably the best for all of them, but there is one person they can’t leave without a word.
“Oh, Marius”, they sigh. Maybe he’d rather just be rid of them, and seeking him out is only inflicting unnecessary pain on them both, but they left once without an explanation, and they can’t bear to do it again. Steeling themselves, they get up and go to look for him.
He isn’t in the kitchen, nor in the common room – at least they don’t think so, they had to duck away quickly before Raphaella or Ashes spotted them, but fortunately they were too engrossed in their card game to hear their retreating footsteps. They go to their – no, his , they remind themselves, they barely shared it for a decade, yet it feels more like home than anything else in the universe – room next, but no one answers their knock, so they move onto the medbay. It’s empty as well, and Lyf starts to despair. They doubt he’s on the bridge, and they don’t want to face Brian again, but where else is there? Except… They swallow, do they have the strength to go there, on the off chance that it’s where they’ll find him?
Lyf found the little nook on one of their nightly explorations, back when the nightmares were still fresh and almost a nightly recurrence, and thought at the time that it seemed like a nice, out of the way spot for some alone time that wasn’t in their own room.
Marius had been delighted when they show ed it to him. By then, they’ d dragged a small table and two chairs there, and packed a basket of snacks and their latest attempt at making mead. They stay ed there together all night, and the next morning, when they w o ke up stiff and sore from sleeping on the steel floor, they resolve d to bring a mattress there too.
The mattress is gone, but the table with its chairs are still standing where Lyf remembers, and their chest go tight when they see that one of them is occupied.
Marius sits with his back to them, his head bent over something in his lap. They clear their throat and he turns around, his lips pressed into a thin line and his dark eyes lacking their usual sparkle. He looks tired and unshaven, with dark shadows under his eyes. They cast about for something to say but come up blank, so they just sit down in the chair opposite him instead, accidentally glimpsing what he was looking at when they interrupted him.
It’s the photograph.
“Where did you get that?!” Lyf silently curses how shrill their voice sounds, but Marius doesn’t even look at them, his eyes still focused on the picture. He’s rubbing his thumb lightly over their braid on the picture, loosely wound around his own hand.
“You left you coat on the bridge.”
“Oh.” They blink, realising what he said. “Hang on, so you found my coat there and what, just decided to go through my pockets?!”
Marius shrugs.
“Pirate.”
Lyf twists their hands in their lap, unable to remember a single thing they’d planned to say to him. All they can think of is the photo, and what they should do about it – do they want it back? And if they do, can they really ask that of him, when they are about to leave again? Or… or should they tell him to keep it, if he wants it? But that might just be adding insult to injury, and why would he want it? He’d probably just rip it up the second they left, and – and maybe that’d be for the best.
They swallow, digging their nails into their palm. If he offers it back to them, they’ll take it, otherwise they will just… pretend not to think about it anymore. It’s time to say goodbye, after all, and hanging onto this memento is just to torture themselves at this point. Just leaving it and trying to forget is a better option, surely… They bite the inside of their cheek to stop a derisive snort; like they ever could forget this crew! Not Ashes, not Tim, not Jonny or the Toy Soldier, Brian and Ivy and Raphaella… Marius. Who is looking at them weirdly, so they really need to –
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, his voice softer than they’ve heard it since – since before. Their mouth doesn’t wait for their brain to put in an argument, and they blurt:
“You.”
“Me.” Marius’ quirks his eyebrow, and Lyf feels a deep blush rise on their cheeks. They look away.
“I – I came to say goodbye. We’ll dock at a s-space station in an hour or so, and I, um. I’m getting off there.” They keep their eyes fixed on the table, but a strangled noise from Marius makes them look up. He’s gone pale, and Lyf frowns. “Brian didn’t tell you?”
“No! I – I – fuck! Lyf, I… fuck.” He trails off, his voice choking up. There is a crinkle of paper, and Lyf can’t hold back a little distressed yelp when they look down to see the photograph crumpled in his metal hand. Marius looks down too, and drops the ruined photo like it’s burned him before burying his face in his hands. “Fuck, Lyf”, he whispers thickly. “So you’re going. Again.”
“Yeah.”
“Why? You don’t want to stay? No, fuck, ‘course you don’t. You made that pretty fucking clear.” He looks up at them, and suddenly they’re angry. Angry at him, at themselves, at everyone on this fucking madhouse of a ship.
“It’s not like I’m welcome here anymore!” they shout, and Marius startles like they’ve slapped him.
“What?!”
“I’ll just… I’ll just go, okay?” They rise and start to walk away; they should reach the space station soon enough that avoiding the rest of the crew shouldn’t be too hard, but Marius’ shout stops them.
“It’s not fucking okay! You just left, and I don’t know why. C-can – can you at least tell me that, before you go?”
When they turn around, he’s looking straight at them, his dark eyes shining with a vulnerability they’ve only rarely got to see. Lyf swallows around the lump in their throat and wraps their arms around themselves.
“I – I don’t know”, they say, then clear their throat, “I don’t know. I didn’t know then either, only that – that I had to get away. The – the nightmares had been g-getting worse, and everything was just too much already, and then – then – then you –”
“– did what we always do.” Marius’ mouth twists in an ugly scowl, and Lyf flinches back. “You knew who we were, who we are. That still hasn’t changed, it never will.”
“I know. But I did.”
“You still have the nightmares, though. I heard you.”
“Yeah. It… gets worse, sometimes. Like now. Lately.” They hug themselves tightly and look away, but it doesn’t help; they can still feel Marius’ gaze on them, heavy and intent. “I dream of you”, they whisper, “of all of you, not only the Bifrost, ever since I left. I dream that it takes you.”
“Oh, Lyf.” Marius’ chair squeaks against the floor as he pushes it back and steps around the table. He starts to raise his arms, but drop them again, clenching his hands into fists. “You don’t have to go.”
Lyf blinks, unsure if they heard him right. He’s not looking at them anymore, and the words were so quiet they nearly missed them altogether.
“Don’t I?” They huff a quiet, mirthless laugh. “I meant it, you know, that I don’t appear to be very welcome.”
“You left, how do you think they all felt about that? How I’d feel about it?!”
“I – I didn’t think.” They hang their head, digging their fingers deep into their palms. “And when I did, I – I figured that you wouldn’t… c-care that much. That I probably didn’t matter a whole lot to most of you.”
“Well, you were wrong.”
“I told myself I was merely a blip in your existence, that you’d forget about me soon enough.” They risk a glance at him, and finds Marius staring at them, incredulous.
“Was I really that bad at showing what you meant to me?”
“No.” The need to touch him, to reach out and fling themselves at him, to run their hands through his hair and wipe away the frown creasing his brow, is almost overwhelming. They force themselves to take another step back; if they don’t leave right now, they might not have the resolve to do it at all. And if they don’t… well. They still don’t think that they’d be allowed to stay. “No, you weren’t. I – I have to go.” They back away, and Marius makes a broken noise, reaching for them.
“Don’t”, he chokes out, “don’t go.”
They shake their head, but their feet stop moving on their own accord, standing rooted to the spot as Marius takes a cautious step closer, then another.
“I left”, they whisper, “I left, and it’s too late now.”
“Why?”
”Don’t you ever talk to each other?” They snort, and Marius rolls his eyes. Neither of them smile, not quite, but… “They don’t want me here, I’ve gathered that much from what little I’ve seen of them. I – I don’t even know why I am here, who decided to –”
“I think it was Brian, actually.”
“– oh. He… didn’t seem too happy when I spoke to him. I haven’t even seen Jonny or Ashes, or TS for that matter.”
“I think they’re staying away, waiting to see what happens.”
“Jonny, staying away from drama?” They raise a dubious eyebrow, and Marius shrugs.
“Ashes might’ve ordered TS to restrain him. Killing you was never the same as killing the rest of us, you know?”
“Yes. I know.” While they had eventually got used to dying, and not been quite as terrified of it as in the beginning, they had never got around to treating it in the same casual way as the Mechanisms. That’s not to say that the crew hadn’t killed them on occasion, by accident and deliberately, nor that they hadn’t killed any of the others, but they had still been killed noticeably less often than the others.
Marius takes another step towards them and holds out his flesh hand, palm up. His eyes are shiny, but the look in them is unreadable. Lyf’s gaze flits between his face and his outstretched hand, their own hand itching to take hold of it.
“I could leave with you”, he says hoarsely, and they stare at him, unable to believe their ears.
“Aren’t you angry at me?” they whisper.
“Yes”, he says and takes their hand. A jolt of heat shoots through them, and when he tugs lightly, they fall into him, wrapping their arms around him and crushing him close. He’s as warm and solid as ever, and despite the time apart, Lyf’s body molds itself to his, just like it used to.
“We fit together”, Marius used to say, wonder in his voice, “I don’t know why, but we do.”
We still do, they think, when Marius fits his face into the crook of their neck and their tears smear shimmering rainbow stains into his hair.
“Do you want to kill me?” they ask, sniffling as they pull back. Marius frowns.
“Yes! No! I – I don’t know!” The frown deepens, and his voice goes soft. “No. I don’t. I – right now I want to hold you.”
And he does, he clings to them like an octokitten, and Lyf sobs into his hair, feeling him tremble and shudder against them as they sink down onto the floor.
*
They stay like that for a long time, holding onto each other until their breathing has calmed down; long enough for Lyf to start wondering whether they’re going to dock at the space station and having Brian show up to throw them off the ship. Marius pulls back when they start to shift uncomfortably.
“I – I need to decide what to do”, they mutter. Marius lays his hand on their cheek, pushing gently until they meet his eyes.
“I meant it”, he says, “if you still want to go, I could come with you. If you’ll have me.”
“Can you even leave them?”
“Watch me.” The corner of his mouth quirks up, and Lyf’s heart does a double flip. Marius doesn’t hate me. They draw a deep breath to ask him the most important question they can think of at the moment, but what comes out instead is something different.
“I looked for you”, they blurt, grabbing hold of Marius’ flesh hand and threading their fingers together. “Not at the start, but af-after a while, when I couldn’t keep lying to myself anymore. I had no way to trace you, but I kept an ear out for any stories that might be sightings of you for a long time. Not that I had much hope I’d be welcomed back, even if I found you.” They chuckle, a short, mirthless little laugh to keep any new sobs from escaping. Marius sighs.
“Maybe it’s better that you didn’t.”
They nod. That tracks with what Ivy told them, but they still need to ask him the question, and they need to do it quickly. They can’t be far away from the space station now.
“Do you want me to stay? And if I do, what – how –”
“Yes! Yes, Lyfrassir, I want you to stay. But only if you want to, just like last time.”
They know he’s not talking about when they left, but of the time he was prepared to help them go through the airlock, deep in empty space. He’d respected their wishes then, and he – They swallow. He would have respected their wishes if they had only told him they wanted to leave on that planet, too. Maybe he would’ve argued, but he wouldn’t have forced them to stay, not if they truly didn’t want to. But they didn’t. Instead they just left without a word; they don’t blame him for being angry at them. This second chance is far more than they ever hoped they’d have.
“What if the others won’t accept it? Jonny isn’t exactly the forgiving type.” They chew on their lip; they are actually a bit worried about that. There are a lot of crewmembers they haven’t seen or spoken to during their days on the ship, and the thought of facing all of them is still terrifying to them. But with Marius on their side… Marius, who smiles grimly, his eyes flashing dangerously as he replies:
“Then I will ask him what he’d do if Nastya suddenly showed up and wanted to come back. He’ll murder me in the worst way he can come up with on short notice, and then he’ll go off to have an existential crisis long enough for the others to come around”, he says. Lyf stares at him, unable to help their startled laugh.
“That’s – that’s terrible, Marius!” they sputter, but Marius shrugs.
“Yep. Pretty sure it’ll work, though.”
“And then you’ll all take turns killing me until it feels better, is that it?”
“Only if it’s a mutual thing.” He squeezes their hand as they snort, shaking their head at the memories his words evoke.
“I’m sure it can be.”
“Bet you haven’t had that in a while, huh?” Marius nudges them playfully, and Lyf rolls their eyes.
“I glow in the fucking dark, long-term romantic attachments weren’t exactly an option. The one time I forgot to keep the lights on she was out of the door screaming the moment she saw me, so… no.”
“Yeah, I can see why that could be an issue.” Marius traces their palm, then raises it to his mouth and kisses it softly. Lyf draws a sharp breath, his lips on their hand making their head swim so that they almost miss his next words. “Not to me, though.”
“No.” They huff a soft laugh and nuzzle into his hand, their heart beating so hard it nearly makes them nauseous. “No one was ever you, and I couldn’t help but resent them for it. Apparently all I want these days are bastard space pirates who kept annoying me in prison. Or on their ship, for that matter.”
“Well, I always knew you’d come around. Inspector Lyf.”
He grins tentatively at them, and they punch his shoulder lightly, realising with a start that they don’t mind the old nickname this time around.
*
Marius squeezes Lyf’s hand before stepping onto the bridge alone. He clears his throat a few times, but when it doesn’t spark any reaction, he resorts to words.
“Brian?”
“Yes, Marius?” Brian doesn’t move, keeping his eyes fixed on the tiny speck in the distance that Marius suspects is the space station they are headed to.
“You can change the course. Lyf is staying.”
The Aurora shudders violently when Brian yanks one of her controls sharply to the side, a few alarms beeping angrily at him. He doesn’t pay them any mind as he swivels the pilot’s chair around to stare at Marius. Marius grins at him, the bubbling joy filling him spilling into his face. Maybe they’ll have to find the nearest planet instead, if the crew are as averse to Lyf’s continued presence as they fear, but right now, Marius can’t bring himself to care, neither about that nor about the painful conversations about hurt feelings and abandonment that no doubt awaits them in the future. Right now, he only cares that Lyf is back, and isn’t planning to leave again. He nudges Brian, who still sits frozen, his face a mask of unmoving brass.
“Brian? Did you just short-circuit?”
Finally, Brian reacts, but not the way Marius expected. Instead he shoots out of the pilot’s chair and shoves Marius out of the way in his rush to the door to the bridge. Marius dashes after him, suddenly terrified of what he’ll do to Lyf, who stands waiting just outside, but when he gets there, he sees that he needn’t have worried. Lyf is crying again, but they are doing so crushed tightly into Brian’s arms, hugging him back with all their might.
“Welcome back, Lyfrassir”, Brian says just as Marius reaches them. “I’ve missed you.”
“And I missed you.” Lyf sniffles and reaches out for Marius, pulling him into the embrace.
They stand there, holding each other, when the sound of footsteps make them break apart.
“Why the hugging?” Tim holds himself stiffly, but he looks more curious than angry, to Marius’ relief. While Tim had been as hurt as the rest of them by Lyf’s departure, there is a chance he won’t hold too much of a grudge, but it’s probably best to clarify the situation to him anyway.
“Lyf is staying”, he explains, and Tim eyes whir and click a few times as they zone in on Lyf.
“Are you now”, he says, and Marius’ stomach drops. He’s about to blurt something to challenge the icy frown on Tim’s face when Lyf squeezes his wrist for a moment before stepping forward.
“If I’m allowed to”, they say. “If the crew will have me here. B-but in the meantime, while you all decide, do you, um. Do you want to help me blow up a space station?”
I’ m in love with a genius, Marius thinks when he sees the frown change into a savage grin on Tim’s face. It might not actually solve the problem, or suffice to placate every contrary crewmember, but…
“Yeah. I’d like that”, Tim says, and Lyf takes his hand in the one not holding onto Marius’.
“Good”, they say. “Let’s reduce that place to space junk.”