When Grace dies he asks for his body to be turned to ashes, and then into a statue. The statue has him sitting, legs crossed, arms curled slightly, with his palms on his knees. He says in his final message there is a reason for this very specific positioning, but that he can't say what it is.
Time continues forward. Rocky and Adrian grow and change. They move house a couple of times. Rocky changes career from engineer, to inventor, to scientist, to diplomat, to teacher. Adrian picks up a new hobby every few decades. They explore other parts of Erid they've never seen. They meet humans on more than one occasion, but there's something about it... Something not quite right. The Eridian mind can never forget, and no matter how much time passes, Rocky feels it. Missing Grace. His human.
And then time really does move on. Rocky walks stiffly, Adrian sleeps for weeks at a time, they both eat less often due to how draining it is.
And one day, the temperature is perfect. Adrian wakes earlier than they have in years. The warmth loosens Rocky's arthritis, the wind is quiet that day, and sound can carry for miles because of it. The soil is quiet, ready, resonant. And they both know.
They go for a walk, take a dip in the sea, attend a choir in a crystal cave. And then, without fanfare, when no one else is around, they visit Grace. And Rocky climbs into his stone lap. And Adrian curls their body around Grace too. Just like Grace did hundreds of years ago, they let go, no scream, no pain, just peace and togetherness. Too beautifully intertwined to ever untangle.
And there they sit, three stones, for the rest of time.
so the project hail mary ground team probably had communication with the ship for a little bit before it traveled out of range, right?
iโm talking video feed, microphone, and remote access to the care robot.
stratt watched the ISS crew assist yao and ilyukhina and a sedated grace prepare for their induced coma. she heard ilyukhina make a joke about waking up the most well rested sheโs ever been in her life. she watched yao shake hands with the crew captain and thank them for their help. she watched the fate of humanity drift off to sleep, watched as the ISS crew wrote โgood luck!โ on the sleep pods, watched the hail mary detach from the ISS.
stratt checked the feeds almost obsessively. she would pull up the cameras and tap into the microphone, even though she saw no movement and heard no sound. she scrolled through health reports that she couldnโt understand. it became part of her routine. despite all her bravado, all her efforts to remain distant and detached, these people had become her friends.
and she had betrayed them all, in some way. grace most of all, yes, she had forced him on a mission he didnโt want to go on, had signed his life away to the stars for the sake of a dying star and a suffering planet, but she had also betrayed yao and ilyukhina, sending them on a mission without knowing that grace had said no. a lie of omission, but a lie nonetheless.
once the ship had cleared the requisite distance from the ISS and any satellites, the astrophage engines kicked on. the speed increased and with it the distance, which eventually led to delays in communication with the ship. the reports began to slow, delayed by a few hours, then days, then weeks. the video feed became glitchy before going dark. the mic feedback was nothing but static.
the hail mary became a ghost โ something that was there but could not be seen or reached.
but perhaps most haunting of all was the last report ground control was able to receive:
NOTE: I think you can guess what song inspired this. No but in all honesty someone take my computer away from me before I make myself cry more. ๐ฅน I promise Iโll write a happier one soon loll Also all the love my Valarr fics are getting is so nice!! And everyoneโs so sweet! Thank you all!
The corridors of Valarrโs chambers had never felt so narrow.
Summer clung to Kingโs Landing in heavy, breathless waves. The air tasted of salt from Blackwater Bay and iron from the Red Keepโs old stones. Servants moved in murmurs, the maids carried buckets filled with steaming water. A maester hurried past with linens folded over his arms like surrender flags.
Inside, behind a door carved with three-headed dragons, you were giving birth.
Valarr stood uselessly in the hallway at first, palms pressed flat against the wood as if he could feel you through it. The sounds from within were not like battle cries, nor courtly laughter, nor the weeping of petitioners. They were something rawer. Something that tore through him in slow, merciless strips.
โYour Grace,โ A maester had said gently earlier that evening, โit is common for a first birth to be long.โ
Long.
Valarr had fought in tourneys, he had ridden through storms and stood in council beside kings. He had believed himself patient.
But time was a cruelty he had never known until that night.
He pushed through the door at last, his feet feeling like lead.
You lay on the great bed, sheets tangled around your thighs, dark hair plastered to your damp temples. Candlelight trembled across your skin. You had always glowed in sunlight, golden, warm, the sort of beauty that made bards forget their rhymes. Now the light flickered uncertainly, as if unsure whether to stay lit.
Your eyes found him immediately, for how could you not instantly recognize your beloved.
There it was. That small, familiar smile, the one you reserved for him alone. It was faint, but it was there.
โValarr,โ you breathed.
He crossed the room in three strides and fell to his knees at your side. His hand wrapped around yours, careful and reverent. You squeezed back with as much strength as you could muster.
โI am here,โ he said, voice cracking on the final word.
He had not wept when a many of his relatives died, he had not wept when his cousin fell in the lists, but his throat burned now, thick and unsteady.
Another wave seized you. Your body bowed against it. A cry tore from you that made him flinch as if struck.
He would have traded anything in that moment. His claim, his titles, the dragon banners. He would have thrown the Iron Throne itself into the sea if it meant you would not suffer any longer.
When the pain passed, you looked at him again, dazed and breathless.
โDo you remember,โ you whispered, โthe orchard at Summerhall?โ
The question startled him. He let out a broken laugh. โOf course I do.โ
It had been the first place you had kissed him. Apples half-ripe on the trees, bees lazy in the heat. You had scolded him for climbing too high, though he had been a prince and you only the daughter of a sworn lord. You had always scolded him when he acted foolish.
He leaned forward until his forehead rested against yours.
โYou told me,โ he murmured, โthat love was not a lot of things.โ
Your lips twitched.
โNot a crown,โ you breathed. โNot a kingdom.โ
Another contraction seized you before you could finish. Your grip on his hand tightened painfully.
The maesterโs voice rose, the midwives moved in urgently, their skirts flowing. Valarr was gently pulled aside, but he refused to leave entirely. He stood at the edge of the bed, watching as if through a pane of glass, powerless.
Hours bled together, and your screams grew hoarse. Your strength slowly fading.
At some point, the maesterโs expression changed. Valarr saw it. He recognized that look, the quiet gaze of loss.
He stepped forward sharply. โWhat is it?โ
The maester hesitated. โThe babe is large, Your Grace. And the princess-โ
โSay it,โ Valarr demanded.
โShe weakens.โ
The room seemed to tilt, and not in his favour.
You were drifting now, your voice thinner, your skin pale beneath the candlelight. When Valarr returned to your side, your gaze struggled to focus before settling on him again.
โValarr,โ you whispered, barely audible.
โI am here.โ
โI am not afraid.โ
The words struck him harder than any sword.
โDo not speak so,โ he said fiercely. โYou will live. We will-โ
โListen,โ you interrupted, with a surprising thread of authority. You had always possessed that. Even when you were a girl with grass stains on your hem and laughter too loud for court.
You raised your trembling hand to his face. โHe will be great, he must be,โ you said softly, โplease Valarr, you must take care of our boy.โ
He did not understand at first, how you knew it was a boy was beyond his comprehension.
You said plenty of funny things. Sometimes they made sense, others not.
He recalled a memory.
It had been a jest once, something you had said in the orchard when he promised to love you until the end of days.
Not a lot, you had teased. Just forever.
He pressed his lips to your palm, desperate.
The maester gave a quiet command. The midwives shifted you.
And then a cry.
A son.
For one suspended heartbeat, the world was nothing but that sound.
The babe was lifted, red-faced and wailing. Valarrโs eyes snapped toward him instinctively, and then back to you.
You were too still.
โMaester,โ Valarr said, voice low with warning.
The cloaked man did not answer immediately, his hands were busy. Too busy.
โMaester,โ Valarr repeated, louder.
There was blood, so much blood. Your blood.
Valarr had seen men disemboweled. He had seen fields painted red after skirmishes. But this, this was wrong. This was sacred and terrible all at once.
โStay with me,โ he pleaded, kneeling again. โStay.โ
Your eyes fluttered open once more. They were unfocused now, blurry.
โIs heโฆ?โ you breathed.
โA son,โ Valarr choked. โStrong. Loud as a dragon.โ
A faint smile ghosted across your lips.
โGood,โ you whispered.
Your hand twitched in his. He clutched it tighter, as if he could anchor you to the world by force.
โI love you,โ he said. It came out raw, unguarded. A boyโs confession, not a princeโs declaration.
You exhaled slowly.
โForever,โ you murmured.
And then-
Nothing.
The candles burned on.
The babe cried again, indignant at the cold air.
Valarr did not move.
He remained kneeling beside you long after the maesterโs hands had stilled. Long after the midwives had wrapped your body in white linen.
Someone placed the child in his arms.
He took him automatically, as one accepts a blade or a burden.
The boy was small and furious and impossibly warm.
And he looked exactly like you.
The same pattern of his hair already curling damply against his scalp. The same stubborn line of brow. Even the shape of his mouth, the hint of that familiar smile that had undone Valarr from the beginning.
Valarr let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob.
โYou could not even leave me without haunting me,โ he whispered.
The child quieted slightly, blinking up at him with unfocused eyes. Valarr pressed his forehead to the infantโs, trembling as he did.
โAelor, your name.โ he said hoarsely. โFor the strength you stole from her.โ
โ
He did not sleep that night.
He sat beside your still form until dawn bled pink through the windows. The babe rested against his chest, tiny fist curled in the fabric of his tunic.
When the sun rose fully, Valarr stood.
The court would need to be told, his father. The king. The realm.
But for a moment longer, he allowed himself to be only a husband.
He brushed a lock of hair from your face.
โYou had said not a lot,โ he whispered. โJust forever.โ
He swallowed hard. โHow cruel of you wife. To make me bear it alone.โ
โ
The Red Keep draped itself in black within the week.
Bells had tolled, septons sang, and ladies wept into their embroidered sleeves.
Valarr did not cry in public. He couldnโt.
He stood beside your bier in the Great Sept, dressed in mourning colors, son cradled in his arms. The boy had your eyes, that same clear shade that caught the light like glass.
People whispered about it.
They said it was a blessing.
Valarr thought it a cruelty. A mockery from the gods.
At night, when the court had dispersed and the corridors fell silent, he would walk the nursery alone.
Aelor slept in a cradle carved with dragons, soft blankets tucked around him. The blankets you weaved.
Sometimes he would fuss, tiny brows knitting together in a familiar way.
Valarr would lift him carefully.
โYou have her mouth,โ he murmured one evening, tracing the air above the childโs face. โWhen you are displeased.โ
The baby made a small, indignant sound. Valarrโs lips curved despite himself.
โI do not know how to do this,โ he admitted quietly. โShe was meant to teach me.โ
He would sit by the window overlooking Blackwater Bay, rocking the child gently as moonlight spilled silver across the floor.
โYou must forgive me,โ he whispered into the downy hair. โIf I falter as a father.โ
โ
The boy grew, and the days blurred into months.
He smiled early, a bright, sudden thing that stole the breath from everyone and Valarrโs lungs.
The first time it happened, Valarr froze mid-step. Aelor gurgled, tiny hands reaching toward him.
And there it was. Your smile.
Not exact, but close enough to make his vision blur with tears.
Valarr laughed then, a broken, startled sound.
โYou wicked thing,โ he said softly. โYou knew what you were doing.โ
He began to speak to you in the quiet hours.
Not aloud, not where others could hear, but in his mind. In the spaces between breaths.
He would recount Aelorโs progress as if writing letters you might somehow read.
He has your stubbornness. He hates the taste of lemon cakes, though the cooks insist other children adore them.
Silly boy? He sometimes reaches for the sun as if he means to catch it. When Aelor took his first steps, it was in the courtyard garden, his palms open to the sky.
Valarr had been kneeling on the grass, arms outstretched. The boy wobbled uncertainly between nursemaids before lunging forward.
He fell into Valarrโs chest with a delighted shriek.
Valarr held him tightly, pressing his face into the childโs hair.
โYou would have laughed,โ he murmured. โGods, you would have laughed.โ
The court watched him carefully in those years. They expected him to remarry as a proper heir would. After all one son was not enough, they wanted him to remarry and his new wife to pop out a spare.
They whispered of alliances and heirs and the necessity of queens.
Valarr listened, he nodded where appropriate. But he could never get himself to agree.
โYour son requires siblings,โ one lord pressed gently.
โHe requires his father,โ Valarr replied coolly.
He would not bring another woman into the chambers where you had died.
He would not risk another grave draped in white.
And selfishly, desperately, he could not bear the thought of another smile that was not yours.
โ
Aelor grew tall and bright-eyed.
He loved the training yard, he loved stories of dragons, he loved the sea.
He would sit on Valarrโs lap and demand tales of you.
โWhat was she like?โ he asked once, solemn and curious.
Valarr studied his sonโs face, the echo of yours staring back at him.
โShe was brave,โ he said first. โBraver than any knight.โ
Aelorโs eyes widened. โDid she fight?โ
โIn her own way,โ Valarr answered softly. โShe loved fiercely. That is its own battle.โ
The boy considered this gravely. โDid she love me?โ
The question struck deep. Valarr cupped his sonโs cheek.
โShe loved you before you ever drew your first breath,โ he said. โShe knew you before anyone else.โ
Aelor seemed satisfied with that. Valarr was not.
He often wondered what you would think of him now, grey threading through his dark hair, lines stating to carve at the corners of his eyes.
Would you scold him for brooding?
Would you laugh at how hopelessly he adored your son?
On seasons, he would return to the orchard at Summerhall.
He stood beneath the same apple trees, older and heavier with grief.
โI am still here,โ he would whisper to the wind. โAs you asked.โ
The years did not soften the loss. They only shaped it.
Forever, it turned out, was not loud.
It was quiet moments. It was watching your son tilt his head exactly as you once had. It was catching the scent of apples in late summer and feeling his chest tighten.
It was loving someone who could no longer answer.
โ
On Aelorโs sixteenth nameday, Valarr presented him with a sword forged in Dragonstone steel.
The boy, no longer truly a boy, accepted it with shining eyes.
โWill you watch me train today father?โ he asked eagerly.
Valarr smiled faintly. โAlways.โ
As Aelor crossed the yard, sunlight caught in his dark hair. For a fleeting instant, Valarr saw you there, not as you had been in that terrible bed, but as you were in the orchard. Laughing and alive.
He exhaled slowly.
Not a lot.
Just forever.
And as his son lifted the blade and stepped into the ring, Valarr felt the ache settle into something almost bearable.
You were gone. But you were still here.
In every smile.
In every stubborn argument.
In the fierce, unyielding love that refused to diminish, no matter how many years passed.
Forever, he realized, had never meant endless days side by side.
It meant this.
Carrying you forward in the only way left.
Through the son who looked just like you.
Through the love that death had not managed to silence.
Through the quiet promise whispered beneath apple trees and kept, steadfastly, until his final breath.
