She woke up to a blue sky only filled with (text-style: "fade-in-out")[moving clouds].
She sat up and looked around the massive field filled with sunflowers and looked around.
There was nothing as far as she could see. At a distance, she saw a figure. Julia thought that maybe they could give some answer as to where she was.
Julia got up and started walking to the figure. As she got closer, she realized that the person was, in fact, a woman.
She was wearing a blue sundress and her hair seemed to be dyed a brilliant pink, wrapped in a falling apart bun, with a sunflower hair-pin in it. Julia could not help but want to compliment it. Though, she suspected that it would be awkward to greet someone like that. Julia debated on what she wanted to say.
(text-color: "deeppink")[["Um...hello?"]]
(text-color: "deeppink")[["Hi stranger! Y-you have really nice hair!"]]The pink-haired woman turned around and smiled at Julia. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Oh! Hello! It's nice to see someone else around here!"'']
Julia waved at her and was happy to have found a seemingly kind person in the field. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Uh..do you know where we are?"''] she asked.
The woman shook her head before responding, (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I do not. I'm sorry."''] Julia got worried. What was the purpose of her being stuck here? What was the purpose of the person in front of her being here too?
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"That's fantastic! Yeah...haha...um...soo what do we do?"''] It might be presumptous of her to assume that the woman would help her out, but Julia felt better thinking that she would agree.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I saw something flying by over there,"''] she said as she pointed towards the eastern horizon, (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"We can head there if you'd like?"'']
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Okay! Let's go!"''] agreed Julia.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Head east together.]]The pink-haired woman turned around and looked at Julia in surprise. She said, (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Thank you! I like your hair too! It reminds me of the sky."''] Julia became more conscious of her own light blue hair and got flustered.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"T-thank you. Um, if you don't mind me asking, do you know where we are?"''] Julia asked. The woman shook her head.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Unfortunately, I don't. I woke up a little bit ago. However, I am happy that there is another person here with me,"''] answered the woman.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Oh, that's great! Yeah, yeah....um...what do we do now?"''] asked Julia, nervously. She felt her heart pounding harder at the idea of not knowing where she was or why she was even there. Julia tried thinking but her head hurt a little.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I am not sure either. Hm...I think that I saw something flying in the direction of there,"''] said the woman. She pointed to the eastern horizon and Julia looked over. Though she could see nothing, she doubted that the woman would lie to her. For some reason, she trusted her.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Do you want to try and head over there?"''] Julia had no desire to head by herself anywhere. What if she faced something that she was not prepared for?
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Sure! I don't think I'd get anything from staying here. Let's go, shall we?"'']
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Head east together.]]While they walked together, Julia realized that she had not asked for the woman's name. To alleviate this, she chose to ask her. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Hey. I'm sorry for not asking earlier, but what's your name?"''] The woman laughed a little at the question.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Please, just call me M. What's yours?"''] Julia thought the name was short but nice. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"My name is Julia,"''] she replied. Silence encompassed the two of them again as they continued walking. Julia looked around the extensive field and felt more uncomfortable at the knowledge that there truly was nothing around the two of them. There was nothing here or there. Only the sunflowers.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"The sunflowers look really nice, no?"''] Julia agreed. She tried thinking of when she had last seen sunflowers but could not remember entirely. The harder that she tried to recall the memory, it made her head ache a bit.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Haven't seen them in a while.."''] M's voice sounded wistful. Julia said nothing as she got a different feeling: the sense that she had experienced this before. But she was not sure why she felt like that. Maybe she'd dreamed of a place like this before. She had heard that sometimes dreams can reoccur.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Find where M pointed to.]]The two stopped walking once they reached a lake, something new in the field of sunflowers, and M gasped. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Look! It's a chunk of metal!"''] She pointed towards the far shore of the lake where something shined. M sprinted over to the object. Julia hurried after her. When she got close, she inspected the object that M was holding in her hands. Though M was wheezing a bit, she held up the metal with excitement.
It was a chunk of white metal. The metal had torn pieces and severe damage to it. It looked as if it had been attached to something but had broken off in what could have likely been an accident.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"There should be more of these, I swear. I have to keep looking,"''] muttered M. Julia did not understand why M wanted to look around for more scrap pieces of metal. Was there any use for it?
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Is there a reason that we need the metal?"''] Julia quietly asked. Her newfound friend's attention was entirely dedicated to looking around for metal so she had not heard whatsoever. Julia repeated her question more loudly. M, who had not been facing her, turned around and Julia saw a frantic gleam in her eyes.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"It's hard to explain. Just help me find more pieces...specifically if you can find one with a number on it."''] The explanation that M had given did not help Julia feel better but she supposed that helping her out could not hurt. Not like there was anything else to do.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Look around.]]Julia walked away from M to look on the other side of the lake. She dug around the sand and only found shells or the occasional crab. She looked up and saw something shining a couple of feet away and got up to walk towards it. As she walked, she felt her shoe hit something and she found herself falling. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Ow!"'']
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Are you okay?"''] yelled M from a distance. Julia reassured her and sat up to look at what had caused her to trip. She noticed that it was something shiny and started digging to pull it out.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"What is this?"''] she asked as she looked at the piece of metal. It was a white metal, like the one that M had first found, but this one had a faded number on it. It was what M had been looking for. She got up and hurried back to M.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Hey! I think I found it!"''] said Julia. M got up and looked at the piece in Julia's hands.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"It's exactly it!"''] she cheered as she took it from Julia's hands. Again, Julia wondered why M was so happy to have found literal scrap.
(text-color: "deeppink")[["What exactly is that?"]](text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"You don't remember?"''] asked M. A frown appeared on her face. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I hoped that you would remember..."'']
Remember what? Was Julia supposed to know what the metal belonged to? (text-color: "deeppink")[''"What are you talking about?"''] she asked.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Just look at the number, okay? Try to remember."''] M handed the piece of metal back to Julia and she stared at it. Though the numbers were a bit hard to read, she finally deciphered it all. It read ''TSPG(THE SPACE PROTECTION GROUP)-011245''. Julia felt herself get a bit nauseous and her head started hurting. What did it mean? What did it mean? She should know what that meant. Why didn't she know what that meant?
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blur")+(text-color: "dodgerblue"))$combinedStyles["You have to remember, Jules."]
Julia dropped the metal as her head hurt more. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Remember what?"''] Her voice strained to ask as images flooded into her head.
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blur")+(text-color: "dodgerblue"))$combinedStyles["Remember what you were doing before you got here, Jules. Remember me.....remem-"]
A ringing in her ears made it impossible to understand what M was telling her. Julia's world started (text-style: "shadow")[disappear] from around her. As she fell into darkness, her brain screamed the answer to her. Julia could remembered where she had sunflowers. She had seen them once with M...She'd seen them once with M because they're M's favorite flowers.
M's name was....
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-color: "deeppink")+(text-style: "blurrier"))
$combinedStyles[ [[Marina.]] ]The (set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "shadow")+(text-color: "black"))$combinedStyles[blinding light] made Julia feel uncomfortable as she strained to get her bearings. As her eyes settled, Julia looked around. She was very confused as to where she was. The startingly white room was not one that she knew, it was all unfamiliar. The only colors were that of the black speckles on the tile of the floor and the weirdly yellowing wall. The light was still too bright for her. She winced as she tried sitting up more and noticed that she could not move her right arm without it hurting. She looked down and realized that she was connected to an IV.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"What happened?"''] she asked quietly. Her head pounded as she tried thinking. What had she been doing earlier? She was..she was in...Where had she been earlier? She looked around more and noticed all the posters related to different health problems. Was she in an emergency room? Why?
Julia's head pounded and she closed her eyes and tried to remember. All she could see vague was flashes of red. Julia opened her eyes when she heard the doors opening and saw a nurse walk in.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Ms. Nulla? Are you awake? Can you speak?"''] asked the nurse as she approached Julia.
(text-color: "deeppink")[["Yes...where am I?"]](text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Jules, you really cannot stay. I beg you."''] Julia anxiously bit her lip.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"But you won't be there when I wake up, Mari. You won't be there."'']
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I won't be there, yes, but you have to move forward. You just have to."''] Julia understood but the pain in her heart was unbearable. She had spent so much of her life with Marina. Marina had been there with her when she got accepted into the Space & Exploration University, she had been there when Julia had graduated, she had been there when Julia first got her job, and she had been her greatest supporter at all times. It felt like her heart was going to be ripped out.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"But Mari, you...you.."''] Julia trailed off. So many emotions filled her but she knew that Marina was right. She did have to wake up and recover. She knew that but she also knew that she had no desire to leave Marina.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I wish that you could stay with me, you know? But that would be selfish of me. I want you to wake up and accomplish so much more. You have so much more waiting for you. Jules, I am happy to have been able to meet you in this lifetime. I really am. It hurts to have to separate but wake up, okay?"''] Marina hugged Julia just when Julia's world started to distort. Her heart broke knowing that Marina was also struggling with this. Though she had a hard time accepting the truth, Julia knew that their time was being cut short.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Parting.]]
(text-color: "deeppink")[[But Julia did not want to leave.]]Julia stirred into the realm of waking once more. (text-color: "salmon")[''"Her vitals are stable, Nessa. It seems that the bedbug is awake,"''] spoke someone with an excited voice.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Good to hear, Doctor Fiori. I was worried that she wouldn't come to this time. All that inhalation of the Neptunian atmosphere and rubble can't be good for the lungs."'']
(text-color: "salmon")[''"Yes. She's lucky to have been found,"''] said Doctor Fiori. (text-color: "salmon")[''"Ms. Nulla? Are you awake?"'']
Julia opened her eyes and focused on the world around her. Before stood Nurse Nessa and someone else that she could only guess was Doctor Fiori. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Yes,"''] she answered. Her head felt much lighter and the tension had disappeared. She felt better than she had the previous time that she had woken up.
(text-color: "salmon")[''"It is good to know that. With you awake, we can begin proper treatment of the toxic chemicals in your system and start you towards complete recuparation."''] Nurse Nessa proceeded to explain the entire process of recovery. Julia smiled at what she was being told. It seemed that the poisoining of her system was not as severe and she would recover well. It was then that she wondered how she even got out of the station. She vaguely recalled someone speaking to her but that was it.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"May I ask how I even got out? High Command was not alerted?"'']
(text-color: "teal")[''"One of your companions on the station, Joy Jevina, found you and got you out. She's also recuperating in the Recovery Ward."''] Joy...Joy had managed to escape her own floor and find Julia. She would have to thank her later for saving her life.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Recover.]](text-color: "teal")[''"It's good to hear that. My name is Mrs. Dominguez. But you can call me 'Nessa', alright? Tell me, do you remember anything that happened?"''] asked Nessa. She started changing out the IV as Julia tried to remember again. But like last time, her head hurt too much.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I can't. Head hurts-"''] Julia cut off as she was in too much pain to speak anymore.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Head pain? This is bad, not the worst, but bad. Doctor Fiori had expected that you would not make it through. I think that you might have to rest some more for your head to clear up better."''] Julia could not really think much about what Nessa had told her as her mind was swimming.
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blur")+(text-color: "teal"))$combinedStyles["You'll be okay, Ms. Nulla. Just sleep for now."]
(text-color: "deeppink")[[To where she was...->In the Field]]
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Remember...]]Julia shot up and looked around. She frowned in confusion. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Was I hit with space sickness?"''] she asked herself. It was not uncommon to randomly fall ill in the station due to general shifts in the pull of the magnetic field on the station and their presence in a foreign system. The shifts in gravity were nauseating at times.
Julia looked to her left and noticed that she had fallen asleep in the hallway of the space station. She could see Neptune from the window and recalled that she had to give Marina something important. She looked down to her right to look at the clipboard that she had dropped.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I have to show this to Mari,"''] she said as she got up and set herself back on track. The report typed up by Joy, a new recruit, that she was taking to the Captain was filled with concerning information, to the say the least. The magnetic pull of Neptune onto the station was starting to cause problems.
Something that all crewmembers had started to notice. Creaks, sudden shakes, and shifts in general direction of the station were all causing massive danger. At the moment, the station was edges away from being torn apart by the blue giant because of its violently chaotic magnetic field.
The information was supposed to have been handed to Marina sooner. Unfortunately, it seemed that space sickness had knocked Julia down momentarily and it was imperative that she got there soon so that they could find a solution. It was life or death.
She hurried to the cockpit and knocked on the metallic door at the same moment that the station gave another creak. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Come in!"'']
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Enter the room.]]Julia opened the door and stepped inside. Marina stood at the center of the room, looking over a map of the Solar System with intense curiosity, looking well-put together as always. Her rose-colored hair was wrapped into a tight bun with a sunflower hair-pin that heavily contrasted the dark-gray uniform that she wore. Julia jumped a little as her attention was drawn to attention by Marina's words: (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Did you bring me something, Jules?"''] Julia nodded, walked over and handed the report to her. Marina thanked her for the documents and started reading over them. Meanwhile, Julia turned her attention to the map again.
The planets well-beyond Neptune, closer to the star of the system, had been circled by Marina. Julia wondered why that was. She looked up at the Captain, whose attention was still on the documents, and looked back down at the map.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"So I see. We have to move the station. But...I have to ask permission from High Command to do so,"''] she muttered as she walked to the console.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"You think they will respond quickly? Joy was concerned when she gave me the report and said it was urgent that something was done,"''] said Julia. It was no secret that High Command had little care to respond quickly. While Proxima b was far away, they had managed to make communication much faster with everyone. Travel as well. Which made it frustrating to not get responses quickly.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Well, I doubt that they want to lose our research,"''] said Marina as she slammed the blue emergency button that opened up an immediate response chat with High Command. Something only meant to be used in the highest of emergencies.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Wait for response.->Watch Marina.]]Julia walked over to the console to watch the messages that came in from High Command. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Permission to move station further from Neptune. Purpose? Magnetic field is destroying the station."''] Marina repeated the words as she typed them out. An immediate response was sent back to them.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Oh! They responded quicky!"''] cheered Julia. The response, while positive, did warn Marina that any misdirections in the station could cause the magnetic field to actually tear apart the station. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Good thing that they have the best pilot,"''] mumbled Marina as she walked over to the engine start.
Before Marina was able to do anything, a loud noise interrupted all motion and a bright red light started flashing into the cockpit. Over the intercom, a voice came in: (set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blink")+(text-color: "red"))$combinedStyles["COMING IN CAPTAIN! QUINN REPORTING FROM FLOOR ONE! JOHN IS DOW- *COUGH* THE STATI-- IS BREA---G *COUGH* ATMOSP-ER- PRO--EM *COUGH* ESC--E! CANNO- MOV- STATI-- OR ITL- BREA- FAS---! *COUGH* IM SOR--!"]
Marina ran to the intercom microphone and screamed out for Quinn. No response was given and Julia got worried. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I'm going to try and get into contact with Joy."''] Unfortunately, Joy did not respond either. The station gave a massive (text-style: "rumble")[shake] and the two of them nearly stumbled to the ground.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"We have to leave now!"''] She pulled up the holo-map of the station and they realized that 2 out of 3 levels of the station were being torn off and was plummeting into Neptune. Only their level was left intact and it was on the verges of falling as well as it no longer had the stability of the other levels.
(text-color: "deeppink")[["Let's go!"]](text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Wait!"''] said Marina as she turned around and grabbed a small, purple rectangle from the console. She turned back and the two of them ran out of the room.
The evacuation chamber was on the far corner, on the other side of the first level, and they had little time to make it. Julia's previous track training gave her enough energy to continue running but Marina was lagging behind a little. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"You okay?"''] asked Julia, looking behind her to see Marina barely jogging.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"*wheeze* I'm *wheeze* okay...Forgot *wheeze* inhaler..."''] Julia remembered that Marina had never been able to keep up with so much running around due to her asthma. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"It's fine! Here, take my hand."''] As Marina's hand barely touched against Julia's, the station (text-style: "rumble")[shook] and they went different ways. Julia grabbed onto a column and saw Marina stumbled back. Julia stumbled forward to get Marina as the station tilted to the lift and gave a horrid creak. The ceiling above Marina (text-style: "shudder")[gave way] and Julia screamed in panic as it knocked open a hole into the windows next to a weakened Marina. The closer that Julia got, the more pressure she felt from the strength of outside.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"*cough* Go, Jules! Don't come! You have the *wheeze* files! Escape! *cough*"''] Marina pointed to Julia's hand and Julia realized that she was holding onto the purple rectangle that Marina had been carrying. When they had nearly grabbed onto each other, she had slipped it into Marina's hand. She looked at Marina, who was struggling to get back up, barely holding onto a column that kept her from slipping into space.
(text-color: "deeppink")[["I'm not leaving you!"]]
(text-color: "deeppink")[["Mari..."]](text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"It's too dangerous! *cough* The ai-"''] Marina's words were cut off by a coughing fit. Julia still pressed forward, despite the intense pressure on her chest, and half-stumbled, half-walked to Marina.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I'm not leaving without you. I. Refuse. To. Do. That."''] Julia's emphasis was a product of her clinging onto different columns to not be flung into the void of space. She finally grabbed onto the column that Marina was holding onto and grabbed her arm. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"We're going together!"''] She turned back and started pulling Marina with her as she grabbed onto the columns that she had used on her wait there.
Again, the station shook and the continued tilt made it difficult to walk steadily. Another loud sound was heard and Marina pushed Julia out of the way just as the ceiling gave way again.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"MARI!"''] screamed Julia as she fell. Rubble settled and Julia coughed. She saw no sign of Marina and realized that she could barely get up. Her legs had been hit by some of the ceiling as it fell. Julia's breathing got more strained as she started coughing. Julia's world started to spin away as she collapsed back onto the ground. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Mari.."'']
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blurrier")+(text-color: "indigo"))$combinedStyles["Julia? Oh no...please..."]
The next time that Julia opened her eyes, she saw some vague shapes of (set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "bold")+(text-style: "blurrier")+(text-color: "black"))$combinedStyles[TSPG(THE SPACE PROTECTION GROUP)-011245] before slipping back into unconsciousness.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Reawaken]]Julia could not fathom the idea of leaving Marina back. She cared her for too much to even think about leaving her to die. At the same time, the station was tilting quickly to the left and there was a chance that they would lose the information on the disk in her hand. If that was lost, it would be difficult to ever obtain again and there was no telling that they would ever be given another chance to explore this area.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"*cough* It's okay, Jules! *wheeze* Don't feel guilty! I....I.. *cough*"''] Marina was unable to finish her words as she collapsed once more. Julia let go of the column and started running to Marina as the ceiling fell and separated them. Julia fell to the ground as dust was inhaled and so was the space air. Julia's world spun around. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Mari...Mari..."'']
In a blur, she saw something move. (text-color: "deeppink")["Mari?"] Julia heard a voice say, (set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blurrier")+(text-color: "indigo"))$combinedStyles["Julia? No...oh no..please hold on!"] The next time that Julia came around, she saw some vague letters (set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "bold")+(text-style: "blurrier")+(text-color: "black"))$combinedStyles[TSPG(THE SPACE PROTECTION GROUP)-011245] before slipping out of consciousness again.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Reawaken]]Julia opened her eyes in the hospital room once more. She looked around and saw that no one was there. She looked up at her IV and it was nearly empty. Just how long had she been out? Right on time, Nurse Nessa walked into the room.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Ms. Nulla. Are you feeling okay at the moment?"''] she warmly asked. Julia wondered for a moment. Her head still ached. But she was aware of everything that had happened. Had she been dreaming about the accident? Then what was she dreaming of before? The more she tried to recall the previous dream to the one of how she had ended up in the hospital, the more it hurt.
The more nauseating fact was that Marina....Marina in her dream had been under the ceiling that had caved in. Marina had not made, had she? Julia could not bear the thought.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Ms. Nulla? Proxima b to Ms. Nulla? Are you okay?"''] Julia shook her head.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Do you want to rest some more? While I do not recommend it, if your head is still hurting, it may be good to sleep."'']
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Why is not recommended?"'']
(text-color: "teal")[''"There is no telling if you'll wake up again. You have been asleep for a week this time. When you got here, you were out for three weeks. I am not sure if it will be worse, but it is your decision."''] Julia considered her options. If she rested some more, it was uncertain that her body would pull through. If she did not rest some more, it meant that she would recover. But that also meant that she could not try and go back to her first dream..whatever it had been. All she knew was that Marina had been in it. She did want to see Marina. She wanted some closure.
(text-color: "deeppink")[["I will rest some more."]]
(text-color: "deeppink")[["I will not rest anymore."]](text-color: "teal")[''"Alright. Rest well, Ms. Nulla. You are safe here,"''] reassured Nessa as she pulled out a needle and injected Julia with it.
Nessa added, (text-color: "teal")[''"Please do not forget to wake up."''] Julia nodded as she slipped back into unconsciousness.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Go back to the field.]]Though it hurt a lot to admit it, Julia knew that it would be more difficult to accept the truth of everything if she continued seeking comfort in her dreams. She had to move on, even if it could not be with Marina.
(text-color: "teal")[''"Excellent! Allow me to explain to you the path of recovery. You inhaled a lot of toxic things from being unprotected,"''] began Nessa. Julia learned that she had been lucky to be saved by Joy, who had managed to leave her own floor and get to the top floor to find her, and that her lungs had taken the worst of the damage. Recovery, while long, would be possible.
(text-color: "teal")[''"I'm going to get Doctor Fiori to finish up some charts for you and then we can talk more about the recovery, okay?"''] Julia nodded. Her mind drifted back to the station. What had happened to the others? Had they fallen into Neptune? What about the rest of the station? Would High Command have to deal with that? She also wondered if the research information had actually been given to High Command. Questions that she figured that she could ask about later. She worried that if she thought too hard, it would give her another headache.
She had to recover. That was the main focus.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Recover.]]Julia opened her eyes and she was back in the field again. The sound of the lake was close to her. She sat up and looked around. The sunflowers look just how they had before and she could see Marina at a distance, by the lake. She got up and ran to Marina. (text-color: "deeppink")[''"Mari!"''] Marina turned around and gasped.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Why are you here? Jules? Why aren't you awake?"''] asked Marina. She closed the distance between her and Julia and gripped her shoulders. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Jules, you have to wake up!"''] Julia shook her head.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I refuse to leave you."''] Julia knew that if she left, Marina would actually be gone. They would never see each other again and she would be alone.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Oh, Jules. You have to leave me. You're alive. I am....I'm.."''] Marina could not finish the sentence but Julia understood. She had understood from when she remembered everything again.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Mari, please. Please don't leave me."''] Marina smiled at Julia sadly.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I don't want to lose you either, but Jules, you have to move on. You can't remain here. It's not your time yet."'']
(text-color: "deeppink")[["But I don't want to..."]]Marina pulled away. (text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Little time remains here. I think it's possible that your vitals could be plummeting if you stay any longer,"''] said Marina.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I promise to make you proud...I-I promise to never forget you, Mari."''] Marina smiled at her. Julia grabbed Marina's left hand and squeezed it.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"Jules, I promise to always watch over you. If you ever feel down, just know I'm right //there//."''] Marina pointed to Julia's heart.
Julia's world distorted and started to spin around. As everything started to fall apart, she heard Marina's final words to her:(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blur")+(text-color: "dodgerblue"))$combinedStyles["I love you, Jules."] Julia responded but was not certain if it was understood...
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "blur")+(text-color: "deeppink"))$combinedStyles[["I love you too..."]] Recovery took several months. Julia found that she could not spend much time outside, much like Joy (who had also been recovering alongside Julia), as a result of the toxic inhalations. But that did not stop her from working hard on the potential idea of one day going back to space. High Command had been happy to know that she had gotten the research on the purple rectangle, but they had told her to take time.
(text-color: "indigo")[''"Hey, slowpoke! You good? Want to take a break?"''] asked Joy from a small distance away. The skittish blonde had luckily not lost her enthusiasm and kindness in the time that she had been recovering from particularly bad inhalation. While Julia had only been stuck in the final level, Joy had gone through multiple areas that were bad. It was nice to see that such encounters had not destroyed her energy.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Can we rest for five minutes?"''] Joy nodded and jogged back to Julia. The two walked to a bench and sat down.
(text-color: "indigo")[''"Hey, I have an idea I wanted to run by you!"''] said Joy.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Oh? What is it?"''] asked Julia. She always looked forward to Joy's creations.
(text-color: "indigo")[''"I wanted to ask if you wanted to open up a committee with me? All dedicated to protecting future space explorers. What happened back at the station...it could have been avoided,"''] said Joy. Julia considered it. It would be a good idea. Regulation was already lax on construction of stations and if they could push for better protection, less people would have to suffer like they did.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Let's do it."'']
(text-color: "deeppink")[[Epilogue.]]Still, she refused to go. Julia forced herself to remain within the dream. She would not leave Marina.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I'm not going to leave you,"''] she said quietly. Her world came back into focus and Marina was frowning.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"I don't want to hold you back, Jules."''] Julia disagreed. Marina never held her back. It was her own decision to remain with her, even if it meant that she had to let go of ever waking up again.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"I want to stay with you. That is my decision,"''] assured Julia. She hugged Marina tightly.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"*sigh* You never changed, Jules. If this is your choice, I won't continue trying to convince you."''] Julia hugged Marina tighter. Her and Marina would be okay together. She had no idea if they were to remain stuck in the world for the remainder of...everything or if things would change.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Hey, why don't we explore some more?"''] asked Julia after she pulled away. She extended her hand to Marina, who accepted it and tightly held on.
(text-color: "dodgerblue")[''"In the time you were out, I think some more things appeared...down there?"''] Marina pointed back west from where they had come together originally.
(text-color: "deeppink")[''"Let's go then."'']
While they knew not what was going to happen, Julia was certain that it would be okay because they were together.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[End.->Beginning]](text-color: "deeppink")[''"Thank you so much for the donation, Mr. Rodgers. This will help us so much!"''] thanked Julia. Joy held onto the check as they all took pictures. Afterwards, they had a dinner together.
(text-color: "indigo")[''"This is great, Julia! With this, we can fund more research and support more explorers,"''] whispered Joy excitedly to Julia. Julia agreed. The two of them had been working hard to push for better regulation and had been slowly succeeding. Simultenaously, they had been working on more research to improve suits and stations for space exploration.
Julia knew that however difficult it had been to recover, to move on from the loss of Marina, to move forward from the destruction of the station and that aftermath, things had turned out okay. They would continue being okay.
She would be okay.
(text-color: "deeppink")[[End.->Beginning]]Remember and Do Not Forget
(set: $combinedStyles to (text-style: "bold")+(text-color: "white"))$combinedStyles[[Begin.->In the Field]]Double-click this passage to edit it.