Earth

2027

Rory sat on the edge of the bed where Levi would sleep tonight. She wanted to stay with him every night from now on, especially his first one on an alien planet, but she couldn't wait any longer to do what needed to be done. Her son was finally free of the neuroweb. Now was the time to act.

They'd talked until his eyes began to look heavy. "I want you to stay longer," Levi said.

"Me too."

"I know you have to fight like Dad." Levi pushed up onto his forearm. "I've been training extra so I can help too."

Smiling, she pushed his hair back from his forehead. "Do you know that my dream is for you to never have to fight in a war?"

His eyes looked too serious for his young age. "That's my dream for you and Dad. I know it can't happen, though."

His words felt like a punch to the stomach.

"I'm strong, Mom. Don't try to hold me back. I have my own dreams."

He sounded so much like his father that it terrified her. "You've already been through so much."

"You too."

"Okay." Rory encouraged him down on the bed. "Can't we have just a little bit more time where you get to be the kid and I get to be the mom?"

He smiled wide now. "I guess that's okay."

"I have to let you sleep, but I'll be back soon. I promise. Your nanny will be here with you. Your aunt and uncles too. They won't have any missions for a few days."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

How could she not worry when Vehru had brought her child to the planet she intended to conquer? Rory didn't buy for a second that this was an act of kindness or some way for Vehru to appease her mother. She was trying to distract Rory and Jace.

Rory kissed his cheek, clung to him again, and then forced herself to leave his bedside. Her heart felt full as she looked back at him in bed, finally able to kiss him to sleep. "Goodnight, baby."

"Goodnight, Mom." His brows pinched and his voice quieted. "I can handle it, you know."

"Handle what?"

"The truth."

Rory tilted her head.

"Dad told me that you couldn't remember anything while you were here on Earth. We're in a stranger's house. I don't think it's because yours is messed up from the battle."

Her stomach twisted at his words.

"I know that you might have a family here. Dad told me that. He said I needed to be ready for whatever happened."

"Oh, Levi." Rory touched her hand to the wall, unprepared for this conversation. "When you were born, you were so small. I touched your little nose and I promised you I would give you a wonderful life. I'm so sorry you've had to be so strong without me."

He glanced away, the strong facade wavering. "Do you have other kids?"

"No." The vague shadow of lives forever left unlived stretched out before her as the familiar grief drummed within her. "No other children."

"It would be okay if you did." Even though he said that, there did seem to be relief on his face. "What about…" He bit his lip and looked at the window, where Rory knew that Jace trained outside. "Do you still love Dad?"

That wasn't the question he'd planned to originally ask but maybe it was the one that mattered most to him. "I love your Dad with all my heart. I loved you both, even when I couldn't remember anything. There was a pain inside me that had no name."

Levi smiled even though tears filled his eyes. "Thanks for telling me the truth and not just saying I'm a kid."

"I think you deserve it. We can talk about it more soon. Okay?"

He nodded, seeming to understand this was not the last difficult conversation.

Rory couldn't leave without hugging him again. She wrapped her arms around his lanky body and squeezed him tight. "I'm proud of you," she whispered.

Though she thought it would devastate her to walk out of Levi's room, her need to take him home drove her forward. She didn't know what home would look like, but she knew that her son deserved a safe one with all the people he loved. As impossible as it felt to leave him for even a minute, the depth of the strength he gave her overshadowed even that.

She walked outside to find Jace hovering upside down with his eyes closed, almost looking like he slept, when she knew remaining suspended like that was quite the feat with the flight mod. Tonight, Rory would travel for her first official duty as Witness. It was strange to have so much freedom as Witness, and yet to be so limited. Not that she planned to play by Vehru's rules for long, but she had a few things to do before continuing the rest of her plan. She didn't want to leave without talking to Jace first.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Tufts of Jace's short hair hung upside from his head. He opened his eyes.

"Why didn't you come in with us?" Rory asked. "Is it because it's so important for you to practice hovering upside down for the thousandth time?"

"This is a great way to master control. Look. No shaking anymore."

Rory lifted one side of her mouth in a smile. "It is impressive." She sat down on the ground, her face level with his. "You know running doesn't work."

"This isn't the same as before we dated and I tried to keep myself from falling for you." Jace placed his hands on the ground and then lowered himself to sit in front of her. "I'm fighting two conflicting wars at once, one for Vehru and one against her. The odds aren't good for me."

"That's not how this is going to work." Rory leveled a hard stare at him. "We are fighting this war, not just you. We're going to fight Vehru and the Federation, but we're also going to fight for our lives with everything we have. And I mean everything. You won't give up on yourself or let my neuroweb hold you back."

Jace scoffed. "If Vehru ever hurts you like that again, I will muster every ounce of my energy to hit her with."

"Fine, as long as you focus on the war, not just saving me."

"I plan to fight, Aeryn. But my top priority is making sure you and Levi are together when this is over."

"Our top priority is to give Levi the best life we can. He needs us with him, but he also needs us to fight for his future. He needs us to teach him how to do more than survive and to overcome. Look at what Vehru has done to her mother. She has sentenced her to a life of guilt and complicity. We can't do that to Levi."

"You know it's not the same. I'm fighting on the right side of the war, but I'm also going to protect you."

Rory's voice rose. "I don't want you to protect me at the cost of losing this war. I may not be a combat soldier, but I am a soldier. I'm the Witness. This is my damn war to fight."

"You're the love of my life." The intensity of emotion on Jace's face made him look at once like he could shatter and like he was made of stone. The weakness and power of loving her so much warred in his eyes. "And the mother of my child." He breathed in sharply through his nose, the grief he'd suffered this last decade shining brightly in his gaze. "I'm going to save you this time, whatever it takes. I'll give it all. My flesh and blood. My soul. Everything. This time…" The brokenness won out over the strength and strained his voice. "This time Levi gets to have you."

Rory felt as if her body wilted. Back when Jace had told her to live, not long before Vehru took her as Witness, it had been too much for her. This was too much for him. But just as she'd once had to do the impossible, he now did too. "Promise me that you'll do what's necessary, and that you won't simply give up on yourself. I can't handle Vehru using the neuroweb on you either. It's impossible. But I have to believe that our love can give us the strength to do the impossible, and not simply make us a danger to this world."

"You're right, except just like I won't accept you getting hurt, you won't accept that there's too many people to save and there's going to have to be sacrifices." His eyes burned with passion. "The life we had is gone. Vehru stole it from us ten years ago. You have a new life now, one that you love. You married another man. We have to let go of what we lost so we can fight for what you can one day have." He hit his fist against his palm. "This is what I can do as Levi's father and your husband. I can give you two a life together with a man who isn't going to die in this war."

Rory clenched her teeth, speechless.

"Don't look at me like that," he said. "I've had ten years to think about this."

"Since when do you give up?" She leaned forward, her muscles coiling for a fight. "You don't get to abandon us."

"Abandon you? A man can sacrifice for his family. That's not abandonment."

"You would never let me decide I'm going to just kill myself for you guys. Never. So why do you get to? You think I don't want to sacrifice myself for you and Levi?" Rory raised her hands. "Of course. I would die a hundred times over if it meant you two lived. You're being selfish."

Both of his brows raised. "I'm selfish because I want to sacrifice my life to save my fucking family?"

"Yes." Rory jabbed her finger at him. "We can't just surrender because we're afraid of what could happen. Yes, our life was stolen from us. Yes, I married another man. Yes, we're probably going to get ourselves killed by the end of this. But we deserve the chance to fight, just like Earth does. We can't give Vehru the gift of simply giving up. There might be a way for us to be a family."

Jace ran his hand over his face. Rory caught it and pulled it down.

"You have to have hope, Jace. There's no life without hope. The most powerful, courageous thing you can do in a world at war is to cling to hope. So, please, don't let go."

Jace met her eyes again. "I do have hope. I've lived on the hope and faith that you and Levi will be together." His look deepened. "I would do anything to be with you, Aerie, but I don't see how that's going to happen at the end of all this. That is something I can't bear to hope for."

"Just because you can't imagine how it will happen doesn't mean it can't." Rory wound her fingers with his. "What you said earlier was wrong. We didn't lose our life together. We're together right now. Don't surrender me to Vehru. Fight for me and for our family."

He reached forward to brush her hair and froze right before he touched her. "I never forgot. Every moment for ten years, I missed you. I can't play pretend for a few days and then lose you again. This war will call for sacrifices. It's my turn this time. Theo's a good man. You wouldn't be with him if he wasn't. He'll love Levi just like he loves you."

"Taking on all the pain for yourself won't save the people you love from suffering. We're not holding back anymore now that Levi is safe." Rory could feel how torn Jace was, because he wanted to take Vehru down so badly, but also feared what she could do to the people he loved. "I'm going through with everything we talked about. I know you're having second thoughts. Promise me, you'll do your part and won't hold back because of me."

Jace lowered his head. "Vehru will have to respond if we do this."

"If you love me, don't make me live with the weight of a fallen planet on my shoulders. I need to fight, Jace. You do too."

A person could only take so much and if they had any hope of fighting this war then they needed to live their lives when the opportunity came. She'd vowed forever to Jace and she'd meant it with all her heart. No matter what else had happened since, it was not one she could break. Whatever the future may hold, today they had one another. Despite no longer being separated, they'd held themselves back from one another. Jace needed her right now. He needed to love her. She needed to love him. Whether that was for a day or until their last breath. Rory didn't give Jace the chance to distance himself from her. She slid onto his lap with arms around him, close enough to feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

Long ago, when she'd first let herself feel something for him, she wanted him so badly that it felt like a physical pull on her body. This was different. It was so completely different than that young, fiery love. The need for him drove itself so deeply into her that the tug now came from her soul. They had been one and she could not stand the space between their hearts. Holding him close now, it felt for the first time like truly having him back. Jace relented and nestled his face against the crook of her neck.

"We may die," she said. "We also may live. If we do, we'll have the chance to figure out how to be a family. Don't give up on us and assume that we have no future. I know you wouldn't go back in time and choose to never be with me now that you know how it feels to lose me. So don't rob of us the hope for what could be a beautiful future."

This was the last thing Rory needed to do before taking a step that she wouldn't be able to undo. She needed to tether her family to her and keep Vehru from ripping them away, because they were about to make the commander incredibly angry. Rory would not let go of any of the people she loved, not as long as she had breath in her lungs.