[attr="class","main"]
The night before calamity strikes, her daughter comes to her in tears.[break][break]
"I h-had a nightmare," Lia stammers out between sniffles, clutching her ragdoll to her chest in a way she hadn't since she was very small.
"There was all this- t-t-this light, and a skeleton, a-and suddenly you and papa weren't there anymore—"[break][break]
The words barely have the time to escape her before Felix is sweeping her in his arms and Luka is pulling the blankets aside. Felix gently nestles her into bed beside her mother and climbs in after her, the two consoling their child as best they can: Luka, all warmth and tender affection, and Felix with his quiet solicitude, his stern face now gentle.[break][break]
Oliver, who had heard the commotion and came to investigate, pokes his sleepy head around the door. Luka immediately shuffles to the side to make more room for him on the bed, and gestures for him to join them.[break][break]
At first he wants to protest. He's ten now, and too old to share a bed with his parents— or so he says. But the imploring look from his mother quickly melts away his reservations and soon he's clambering under the sheets as well, cuddling into his father's side while his mother strokes his hair.[break][break]
And for a while, her family's presence is so comforting and safe that she forgets about the looming danger, forgets that everything they've built might come crashing down tomororw. All that matters now is the three heartbeats that echo in time with her own, and the love that envelops them all in a cocoon.[break][break]
[break][break]
Later, when their children's breathing is slow and deep, Luka turns to her husband.[break][break]
"I'm never going to lose you."[break][break]
It's a promise he's made to her so many times before. In it, she had often seen the ghosts of his past, the regrets and mistakes that have turned him into the man she loves today. But over the years she had seen him come to truly mean it— the love between them hadn't come easily, but it's real. She has to believe in that, or she has nothing.[break][break]
"I don't know what will happen to us tomorrow," she continues,
"But I love you, mon coeur. And no matter what...that won't ever change."[break][break]
She speaks in absolutes so easily, as if making her wishes aloud is enough to make them come true. And when he leans over to kiss her, it feels like he might actually try to grant it.[break][break]
[break][break]
Even so, she sleeps fitfully that night. Despite everything she's scared— terrified for Galar, for her kingdom, for the future of her children. If they're all truly destined to vanish once this is all over, what will happen to them? Lia and Oliver, her sun and moon. Would they survive without her?[break][break]
jayden cross's children are older and can guide them but they're still just that. Children. Bright and lovely, yes, but it's unfair to expect them to bear the weight their parents had carried.[break][break]
And above all, she'll miss them. Won't they miss her? She'd written them letters— it had started as one, then dozens, all sealed with wax and a kiss in a box at her bedside. She wrote one for
Felix Gallagher as well, but this she keeps with her, tucked against her chest. If they do return to Hoenn, she wants him to have it, and to remember.[break][break]
But perhaps this doesn't have to be the end. Perhaps— and it's likely just wishful thinking— they still have a say in how their fates play out.[break][break]
[break][break]
Days before the solstice, she had met Jayden for a stroll in the winter-barren gardens.[break][break]
"You're not listening to me," she argues.
"Maybe we heard him wrong. Maybe this isn't the end. "Luka," he replies in a flat, even tone,
"You've read the same stars I have."[break][break]
"Yes, but—"[break][break]
"You've seen the same signs."[break][break]
"I know, it's just..." She's quick to interject before Jayden can try talking sense into her again.
"Maybe we'll still have a choice. Maybe we can choose to stay."[break][break]
She sees her fellow monarch stiffen beside her and presses on.
"I would do it. It's not an easy life...but being here with Felix and the children...it still feels right."[break][break]
Emerald green irises seek his out, searching for the answer to a question she has yet to pose. For a moment she sees a spark of conflict in them, but she knows nothing about the conversation he'd had with
Felix Gallagher long ago.
"Would you?"[break][break]
[break][break]
When daybreak comes, her family is still nestled in bed together.[break][break]
It takes a long, long time for them to untangle. Luka is met with protests when she insists on dressing Oliver and brushing Lia's hair, but they eventually succumb to their mother's smothering affection. For a while it almost seems peaceful, as if the coming dread is nothing but a bad dream.[break][break]
But soon enough the sky splits open and unleashes hell.[break][break]
She's with
jayden cross and
Rhydia Ver when it happens. The three of them had spent the last fortnight preparing for this, readying the troops and preparing defenses. Her people are ready, and they swarm to join the queen they adore with a rallying cry upon their lips:[break][break]
"FOR BALLONLEA! FOR GALAR! FOR QUEEN LUKA AND QUEEN RHYDIA AND KING JAYDEN, WE FIGHT!"[break][break]
Luka turns to her fellow monarchs, the smile on her face wistful but determined.
"As one," she echoes. Time may have hardened her but her eyes are still soft; while Jayden's stare is aflame, hers is the gentle promise of the rain that follows. Ready to heal, ready to protect, ready to save.[break][break]
Her eyes flit towards the illusion of Zamazenta and she nods, a show of quiet respect.
"Please lend us your aid," she asks of them. Then she turns to
Felix Gallagher.[break][break]
"Take care of yourself." It seems silly to ask that of a man far more skilled in combat than she is, but she does so nonetheless.
"And thank you, for everything." She leans in to kiss him, lips soft and sweet as a hand grazes her cheek like a warm spring breeze.[break][break]
"I love you."[break][break]
She hopes she isn't saying it for the last time.[break][break]
[break][break]
Their armies surge forth. Luka rides alongside
jayden cross and
mint frost and most importantly
Felix Gallagher, her mount's ghostly hooves barely gracing the ground as they gallop onwards. Felix had always been her most stalwart guard, and he remains so to this day, so she follows him with Jayden towards the Dynamxed Rillaboom and it's swarming army.[break][break]
Unlike her many battles back in Hoenn, Luka knows now how to strategize. Ume's
future sight attempts to catch a glimpse of the enemy's plans and what awaits them in the battle to come. The wave of psychic energy that follows is aimed towards the Toxtricity general and any poison fiends unfortunate enough to be in it's path.[break][break]
And Luka herself joins the fray as well. A staff meant for healing bodes ill upon creatures built of poison and decay; upon being purified one after another swiftly falls, nothing but a pile of sludge to be trampled on by the oncoming horde.[break]
[break]
GaICm3n2
[break]
- lots of fluff stuff dont mind me[break]
- the tragedy of it all tho...[break]
- anyways Musharna uses
future sight against the
toxtricity and poison horde on the rillaboom side! also attempts to like, look into the future lol[break]
- healing staff is 'purifying' a poison mon and destroying it[break]
- used salac x1
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