And it hurts. Jupiter thought. It hurts so much.

There was blood littering the ground, wetting her hair, her scalp and the back of her uniform. The rough ground is jutting and uncomfortable beneath her. The friction is almost unbearable and all she wanted was for it to end. The stench of bodies and death and guts and blood and sorrow permeates her skin. She fears that she'd never be able to wash it off of her soul and that this would be how it ends.

There are tears falling from her eyes. She wishes they would stop. She wishes she could laugh insanely at this and lose her mind. But oh, it is the thinking that makes her teeth clench and her nerves on edge. It is the unendingly logical processing, and the hoping, so helplessly, that she could escape and that she could make it that makes the dying hard. If only she could destroy this one last obsticle... but she know she won't be able to.

Not this time.

"What was it that made you believe me?" the man over her asked with that smirking glance, that soft touch of pity that disgusted her.

And I'm dying. Jupiter thought. I'm dying so slowly.

And he was undulating over her. His chestnut hair in waves falling around them. And for a moment, she pretended that this was not that long ago. That he had returned to her from the blue-watery planet and that nothing has changed. If only...

"Did you trust me so much?" he wondered, hot breath along her neck.

He is in her. Before, it always felt so miraculous. It felt as if she had never known a person until then, or felt so close to someone until that very moment. Before it had been honest and true and sure. She would look up at him with her heart and he would reflect those fragile, tender emotions back to her. But now, it was vile and sick and twisted. Now that they have both changed and he was a stranger to her.

"Was it the sex?" he queried, eyes twinkling and teasing.

And it was a lie. Jupiter realized, hazily. It was all a lie.

The blood seeps slowly as he takes her on the battle-field. He is taking his time and she is going numb beneath him. The blood is draining from the spear through her stomach. And it hurts so much as she feels him and the spear, tearing through her and breaking through her.

And this is how it ends. Jupiter thought. This what it means... to live through a tragedy.

And she feels the tears fall past her temple to mingle with the blood at her hairline. She is so tired now. Too tired to be outraged. Too tired to be heart-broken or lost or confused. And so she stares at him with her tired eyes, a dead gaze on a dying girl.

She wished she was more a soldier and less the lover betrayed.

"Was it worth it?" he asked her as he releases himself into her. "Was the sex worth it?"

Jupiter reaches up with her bloodied hand and touch that face she loved. She pretended that he was someone she had known long ago. Somewhere, far, far away, she hears the distant rushing sound of wind in the leaves that reminds her of the Jovian forests she had grown up in until she was six years old. "Yes," she murmurs to the heart that stills.

And I forgive you. Jupiter closes her eyes and hopes for forever. Because I’ve loved you too much.