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Harpy throws up her hands "I thought you said--"

"UP!" I roar

Red secondary lights bathe the launch bay in bloody hues as Sevro and I load ourselves into the cold starShells It takes three Howlers each to help the two of us slip into the robotic carapaces I lie in the armor as Harpy buckles s over my meat and bones The Howlers are fast in their movements even as the ship lurches with another neara hull breach I try to slow my breath as Victra fits my head into the starShell’s helmet

"Good luck" She leans her face close Before I can stop her, she presses her lips to mine I do not recoil, not this close to death I let her lips part and cling war aroundthe massive visor of ht I can’t help but wish it was Mustang who sealed ital display owns my vision and I disappear from my friends into the metal launch tube I’m alone And scared

Focus

I’m cocooned, belly-down, in the spitTube This is where most would piss themselves, separated froravity in the tube It isn’t pressurized I hate the weightlessness of it

I can’t look up or my neck will break when they launch me I can’t move side to side My starShell is latched into a thousand toothlike netic hooks They click into place like tiny insects, chattering

In moments they’ll shoot ainst my sternum I drink in my body’s terror and smile They said this was suicide at the Acadeht

But this is why I was made To dive into hell

I’ines that costs ht arm When I need it, it will bloom like a haemanthus blossom

I think of the time Eo laid a haemanthus before ht that I was supposed to win the Laurel How far away those warm days seem from this cold place, where petals arepinned in Boarding parties i your launch" The ship moans as another missile almost clai us together

"Aim true," I say

"Always Darrow …" Her silence says a thousand things

"I’m sorry," I tell her

"Good luck"

"This is not fun," Sevro groans

The ship’s hydraulic system hisses and thenetic strealance its way

They say that many Golds can’t take this, that even Peerless can panic and scream and cry in the spitTube I believe it Pixies would have heart attacks right now Some cannot even ride in a spaceship for fear of small places and the vastness of space Soft-bellied fools I was born in a hoo bay of this ship I made my life at the end of a clawDrill thatand pissing ether from scrap