My stomach turned as we waited. Venus was preparing some herbs into a stone bowl, occasionally looking up to smile at Astral and assure him, everything was going according to plan.

The stars and the moons were lighting up the night sky very prettily, one moon half, the other full. Astral seemed a lot less nervous than what I was expecting. Or projecting. I was so nervous I was about to shake my skin off. What if something went wrong? What if something went so horribly wrong and I lost him.

As if he could hear my thoughts, he gave my hand a squeeze. I glanced at him, catching a supportive smile. He leaned in and kissed my cheek feather softly. It warmed me up immediately and it did calm my nerves, slightly.

"Come, Astral," Venus said and held her hand out towards him. She was dressed in this silk robe, and I had no idea why that was at all necessary. Seemed perverse, to be quite honest.

Astral kissed me again and rose from the stone bench we had been sitting on. I wanted to tell him to not go through with it, but I had promised to be supportive.

Even despite Venus having done her black hair up in the most ridiculous hairdo, I didn't get why she needed the theatrics to do any of this, and quite frankly, it seemed like she only did it because she could.

She handed a stone cup to Astral, having poured the remedies from the bowl into it. A stone cup. Who had stone cups?

"Drink, my friend. This will secure your future."

Astral glanced at me and clenched his jaw. "I'm sorry," he murmured and then he drank.

Sorry? What was he sorry about?

The stone cup dropped from his fingers the second he swallowed the first time. His body convulsed and I almost sprang to him.

"Astral!" I cried out, grabbing his arms.

He stared up into the sky, the stars reflected in his eyes. Only they were no longer just reflected. The white in his eyes turned progressively darker and darker, the brown disappearing too. His knees gave out and he sank down to the ground.

"Help him!" I almost screamed at Venus.

"I already have, Mars," she replied with an annoying amount of calm.

I crouched down in front of the love of my life, watching his eyes turn completely black before white dots sprung to life.

"Astral, talk to me, please," I begged, holding his face in my hands.

Black tears filled his eyes and then ran down his cheeks, leaving black lines on his golden skin. I tried smoothing them away, but they came out too fast. It was as if his eyes were being entirely replaced by the night sky.

"Do not worry, Mars, he will be fine. More than fine. He'll be immortal."

I whipped my head around, feeling blood drain from face. "Wh-what?"

"He chose immortality." She didn't wear that calm smile anymore. She just looked like she was bored.

I roared and was about to jump at her when I felt fingers in my clothes.

"Mars," Astral croaked.

"How could you?" I asked my rage quickly getting replaced sorrow. He had lied. First of all, he had lied. He had betrayed my trust so grossly I wasn't sure if I wanted to help him or slap him.

"I did it for you," he murmured and gently took my wrists in his hands.

"No," I whispered.

"I love you, Mars," he said with a shivering voice.

"That's not fair." I barely got the words out.

"Now you can be with each other for eternity," Venus said, interjecting herself in a situation that had fuckall to do with her.

"You don't understand a single thing," I growled and sent her a cold look.

"I've lived a hundred lifetimes, child. I know much more than you could even start to comprehend."

"Whatever." I helped Astral to his feet, letting him support his weight against my body. I didn't wanna talk more with Venus. I wanted to take Astral to bed, clean up his face, tuck him in, and then maybe maul him with the leg of one of the chairs in our room.

I wasn't thinking at all. I was just doing everything on automatically. Astral kept trying to get me to talk, but I didn't really hear what he said. I'd just mutter something incomprehensible and leave it at that.

I washed his face, his news eyes staring up at me. I avoided his gaze and looking at his eyes. I had adored his eyes. He promised he'd keep them, and I mourned them. They had been this dark brown shade that in low light made it look like he just had black dots, and in bright light they looked almost amber. I had loved his eyes from the first time I had met him. His hair, his eyes, his skin, his hands. I had loved every inch of his being, but he had lied. I hated liars. And I couldn't reconcile him lying and me loving him.

So, I shut down. I didn't feel anything anymore. I didn't think. I didn't try to reconcile the new Astral with the old. I just existed as I climbed into bed with him. I just existed when he wrapped his arms around me, whispering soothing words into my hair.

He had finally told me he loved me, he had done the ultimate sacrifice for me, and I thought I'd be enough of a romantic to fall into his arms and praise his actions. But I couldn't.

I just existed.

I slept. A lot. I wasn't sure if it had been days or merely minutes, but my body grew heavier, and I grew weary every time I was awake. So, I simply chose not to be awake. In my dreams nothing happened. It was just me and a big void that keep watching me as I was watching it. It felt comforting because no one demanded anything of me. There were no big life-altering choices to make, no Astral lying. There was nothing and it felt amazing to be nothing alongside it all.

Hands on my body awoke me and I didn't want to wake.

"Mars," Astral whispered in my ear. "Please, wake up now. You've slept for two days."

"Don't care," I muttered.

"I'm so sorry, Mars." His voice sounded broken. "I didn't want you to be alone ever again."

And just like that I was done being nothing. I broke completely open, turned around and pressed my face to his chest. Everything hurt. Everything.

"I know you didn't want this-" he started but I interrupted him.

"I did," I said.

"Wait... What?" He pulled back and looked down at me, cupping my cheek with his palm. Heat travelled from his hand making me realise I was freezing and all I wanted was to be close to him.

"You lied and I hate you for it. But I don't hate you for choosing immortality. I hate myself for feeling so relieved."

"Oh Mars," Astral murmured softly and kissed me.

I wrapped my arm around him, pressing him to me. "I'm so selfish. All I've ever wanted was you. Just you."

"You have me." He was so soft in the way his hand ran up in my hair as the other stayed on my cheek. He guided my forehead to his chest again, his fingers gently massaging my scalp. "You've always had me. I wanted to make sure you'd always have me in the future too."

I couldn't hold back a pathetic sounding sob and I pressed my face to his chest again, the fabric on his shirt soaking up the tears.

"I'm sorry I lied. You'd never let me do this if I had told you the truth."

"You're damn right I wouldn't." I tried to compose myself.

"But you also have to realise, this was my decision all along. Mine. No one knows immortality better than you and me. You live with it but I've spent my whole life living with it too."

I frowned up at him.

"Alright maybe I'm not the best at explaining this but like... I knew what I was walking into. I weighed my options and immortality paired with no longer getting sick from visions? It won. And I'd get to be with you forever." He smiled a bit and I allowed myself to properly look at his eyes this time. It looked like the night sky had taken up residency within them. They were quite beautiful as dark blues swirled around the white stars-looking dots.

But they were also a reminder of the betrayal.

"Did you come here with the intention of becoming immortal?" I asked with a low voice.

"I..." He hesitated and then sighed very deeply. "Yeah. I did."

"Why?"

"Because honestly, Mars, I... Knew you would have a hard life. The day I'd die would make your life hard. And I'm not just saying that to be romantic or to make a big deal out of myself. I'm well aware of my role in your life, as I am aware of yours in mine. We're co-dependent. And it killed me to think about me growing old and dying and you staying young and beautiful, watching me wither and die and maybe I was afraid you'd leave me."

"That's a lot of reasons," I pointed out.

"Yeah. I sometimes have more than one thought running through my mind."

"Sounds fake."

He snorted. "I am sorry for misleading you. It's not like it was a fun thing to do, but I needed to do this."

I nodded. "I can't forgive you for lying. Not right now."

"I understand that..." He bit down on his lip, looking genuinely worried.

"And I'm not done sleeping." I moved down a little and put my head on the pillow. "Stay with me."

"I will. Let me just get undressed first." He untangled himself from me and swung his legs over the side of the bed, unbuttoning his shirt. The fabric slid down his shoulders, exposing one of my favourite areas of his body. He had a really nice back.

"Mars?" he asked without turning around.

"Yes?"

"Will you ever be able to forgive me?"

"In time, yes. And time is something we have a lot of."

He looked at me over his shoulder and nodded, smiling at me. "Yeah, we've got time."