Faolan took a deep breath. It had been.. a while. Since he'd seen the memorial room. Here where crushed crystals resided in the only graveyard theyd made. Crystals couldn't be left partially broken- once irreparable they had to be killed completely lest they turn into an Antirnity or into Corruption. Vermin was truly the best to show for what having a cracked crystal was like.
He walked down the hall where names and urns are placed in the room, each covered in the flowers and gifts of mourning. Finally, he finds what he was looking for. Vahlia..
He sighed, quietly as he sat down. There was talk of stopping the ship. Letting it dissipate. Faolan figured he'd stay in the damn thing until the last second - he'd already gone to war for never leaving. He pulled out the flask, swirling the liquid to get a sense of how much was in it. Nowadays he always operated with a slight buzz - it kept things down sensory-wise.
There were probably ways that he could keep em down that wasn't whatever weak shit humans call alcohol, but he preferred this. The self destruction... it called to him. He looked up at the words on the memorial and skimmed them. There was no urn.
Vahlia's corpse was in him. He felt it everyday. Like a second skin. He reached over to trace the words on the plaque with his finger. He'd read them a hundred times. They were to blurry right now to read - tears, he thinks. He hadn't had enough to drink for it to be that.
In fact, the buzz was starting to fade. There was the low hum of every mechanic in the ship and a dull ache as every code interlayed into the very universe started to drill into his skull. Sure, he was able to filter it out in battle - it was easier with a crystal in him and a sturdy fear of death. But now, in the peace of the end of a war, it buried holes into his mind.
He knew the price to editting himself was something like this. Its not like fundamentally rewriting yourself to fuse with a crystal. It made him more susceptible to the code, now, made him a little sponge. It was his greatest hatred that he can no longer live just being able to read it. No, now it flowed through him unnaturally and made its manipulation so much harder. Worse off, he still didn't know how to bring back dead crystals.
He doubted he'd ever know. Nevertheless, his buzz was fading. So he tips the flask back and drinks the rest of it. Feels a familiar burn down his throat.
Right. He came to talk to her. Even though her corpse was in him. A mirror would be more appropriate. But the grave would do.
"Hey Vahl," He says quietly, resting his head on the marble slab. "I really miss ya. Theyre talking about ending the ship. Makes sense. The wars over. I think if they do, though, I have to decide if I'm going back to Vhext."
There was a long silence. The truth was he knew from the beginning he would probably never return home, its what made the homesick so thick. He had always been othered. The odd child who could speak in sentences from way to early, whos mischeif was always a little to clever for his age. The way he learned every academic he could so quickly they ran out of education they could provide. How he would've been the "perfect" Alpha- to perfect. He was uncanny on Vhext. His father knew he was a freak. And though he never said it aloud, it was unspoken.
Faolan never fit in. His mama tried so hard to get him to, but the weird kid was always the weird kid, no matter how skilled. Thats all Faolan was at home. The other.
So he left. He told himself it was temporary. It was supposed to be temporary. To show that he could bring back something of worth from a different planet.
But he didn't go to a different planet.
And now, one war later, he is even more of a freak then before. Returning to Vhext was a far off dream; a fantasy where he could go back to familiar lands and smells and sights and family. And it was probably going to stay that way. He was to... not-Vhext now. To other.
"I don't know if I can go back. What'll they think of me, you know? Most of em have only known war in fairytales. Territory disputes were nothing like what we saw. Even when hunts go wrong theres.. theres an understanding to it. Death wasn't even... the worst. If you died on Vhext soil, you returned to Vhext. No ones seen war. I wake up screaming so often. I shake when something reminds me of it. How do I... how do I explain. I was already different before. Its so much worse now."
His eyes were fighting to stay open as he sipped the last few drops of alcohol. "I'll probably just stay on this ship. I don't think... I don't think I can go home anymore."


















