23
White—bright, blinding, dizzying—nothing to hold onto, there was only the feeling of wind and the g-force of the pull, kidnapping them and forcing them to a place unknown.
A hand, nimble and strong, grabbed onto their fingers, a flurry of blue and rose pink; Pulse yanked those colors to their chest, holding on tightly.
Quark, in turn, clung on, bracing for the impending impact.
Both knew it was a matter of time. The crash was the only thing to expect. Afterwards was a mystery.
Pulse used their body as an impact cushion. They must have absorbed most of it as their body enveloped around Quark. It was enough to knock the wind out of Pulse.
"Quark? Quark!" Pulse sucked in, spurting out his name before their lungs were full of air. Was he bruised? Was Quark bleeding? Pulse didn't examine their surroundings yet, just Quark. World be damned, is Quark okay?
He didn't say anything. He looked around.
The smell of burning candles was strong.
The malodorousness of ancient wine is sharp and prolific.
There was a thin layer of smoke lingering, suspended like a fog.
Wordlessly, Quark shook Pulse's arm, bringing him to the realization that they were not out of trouble yet.
Across from them, Pulse noticed her. Seret scowled at them—a millennium's worth of anger bore holes through their skulls. She took a long drag of her cigarette before adding it to the mound of smoldering ashes.
Pulse locked eyes with her, exigent as their hands slammed on the desk while towering over the woman. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"
Seret remained seated. There was barely a wall of courtesy, only a sliver of control left to keep her voice professional and obsidian sharp.
She wasn't intimidated by the pulsar that wrecked the Black Hole moments before.
Quark could see an energy in her that Pulse was blind to.
Unlike any star or other celestial, it is something unfounded and unbridled.
Something confusing, mysterious, and omniscient in ways he thought impossible.
"You have some real gall to stand there and act like I was the one who went out of my way to break every possible rule in a single night." Seret's tone was similar to putting a cigarette out on someone's skin. "I cannot—"
“Leo was in danger!” The walls shook as Pulse shouted, iron and bronze supports groaning from the force. “Real danger! And now you force us here to nag at us?”
"Nag? Nag? That's what this is? You—You and him both—are some of the worst stars I' ever had the misfortune to deal with. You break into a different department, you break the rule of the pull, you—"
"Why didn't you tell us?" Pulse's fingers dug into her desk, leaving visible scratches. "Why didn't you tell us these dreams could hurt Leo? Hurt any dreamer for that matter?"
"That is not a matter your kind should know. Ever. That is for me and the heads of the other departments. Do not act like any of this was justified."
"You bitch," Pulse's breath created steam as they hissed. "All this is justified! Leo doesn't deserve–never deserved any of this. You and everyone else have failed to protect her for who knows how long!"
"This isn't just about her," Gamal stood, staunchly shorter than Pulse but equal in prowess. "These rules also protect you. This situation is much more dire than you can perceive. I'm taking you off. You're going back."
"No," it was Quark's turn to shout, a sudden action that shocked Pulse. "We did the right thing! We shouldn't be punished for protecting someone who needed us!"
“I have to. I have to prevent—”
"Your own reputation?"
"Your corruption!" Losing her temper, she slammed her fist on the table.
"Do you want to end up like Ruin? This is the course he took that turned him into what he is. He broke the pull. He acted out in ways that eroded him into this insane, life-sucking force you've witnessed. That I've seen played out one too many times to tolerate. No exceptions. Non-negotiable.
I will not let any more stars corrupt themselves in my department."
"That is not happening to us," Quark challenged. Pulse and Seret's tones were hot and high energy, but Quark remained cold and monotonous. "You don't get to decide whether Leo deserves to be protected. She deserves basic decency and consideration at the very least!"
“This isn't—”
"No, it is. It is about her; she's the core of all this. Pulse and I will not tolerate her being abused because of some nonsensical rule you never thought to question."
“You do not understand.”
“We are Leo's stars. Our job is to make her happy. Happy and safe. I'll be damned if either of us will accept that rule.”
"You—You—" Pulse roped Quark into their arms.
The stars could sense some cataclysm about to happen.
All the warmth and colors of the candles were getting snuffed out.
Some force was reaching out to them. Spindly, encompassing fingers, ready to pluck them out of the air like a sadistic child.
"I will not let this happen again. I will not let you two corrupt yourselves as long as I can help it."
Pulse was quick to react. With Quark in their arms, they dodged the fingers.
Each time they dodged the grasp of whatever was coming for them, they were back into a corner.
There was nowhere to run. Those hands were reaching for their prize, and it was at their expense.
They were losing–had lost. No others had escaped their fate before.
‘Not until now.’
Quark pointed out a gap in space. This space had not always existed here, and right now, it didn’t matter. This was their one and only chance.
Hand in hand, the stars made their way through the ripple of space, acting as nothing more than flashes of orange and blue light.
Voices called out to them in desperation, fading into the background as the two found their way into obscurity.
In the dream, but outside of perception from the rest of the universe.
Out of the line of sight of the Egyptian woman who shouted after them words of warning.
Premonitions, those of which Pulse and Quark cared not an iota to listen to.
By the time they fell away from cognizance, they no longer heard the cries of other stars.
They had no way of knowing they had removed their entire beings from their respective constellations.
Once they made their way through that door, they ceased being.
Nothing more than wisps of dreams, Pulse could hear the momentous weight of silence.
Through space and time, dreams and reality, but it was quiet.
They were alone. They were alone each other.
Admittedly, it made disappearing bearable, preferable, even.
He was exhausted and worn. His shirt was tattered, stained with Leo’s blood, some blotches of ink, mud and smeared grass.
His fingers still had the bite from Leo's memories,
The night sky was without two stars.
They reached the planes between consciousness and fantasy, somewhere unbounded by the cosmic laws.