ORIGIN

Destiny had no answers. There was nothing she wanted to say. She didn't want to discuss her own death. It wasn't just Fira that felt trapped. The platypus was stuck between being nice, being happy just like she always was, and simply breaking down. She lowered her bill under the water, thinking deeply. she was shaking, struggling not to cry, because it hurt. Everything, everything hurt now. She didn't want to talk about the ever approaching end.

Finally, she spoke, and when she did, it was with a mumble, one that was caught between speaking her mind and not speaking at all.

"There's a difference... 'tween... Y'know... knowing you might die one day, and knowing that time is going, going, going..." She struggled to remain calm, but was beginning to feel pain with every movement she made. So she began to struggle to the bank with awkward twitches of her paws. And when she got to shallow enough waters, she simply lay there. "I understand what death is. I'm dying, Fira! I know, it's tough luck to me. It's not like I can live my life in b-b-blissful ignorance. The gems who d-die in fights or fall from heights, they live their lives in luxury. And then it ends, quick as it began."

Destiny's breaths were short and harsh, tremors racked her. She fought not to cry, searching in vain for a silver lining that simply did not exist in this moment.

"I was destined to go from the start. Tell me to buck up all you want, but what I'm living right now isn't a part of life. It's a part of death."

"A-alright," Destiny stuttered, unsure of what else to say. She felt unstable, as though part of her could lash out or simply run and run and run, even if there were things to fall off and rocks to crash into or roots to trip her up. The other part of her was drowning in guilt, though. Her outburst felt unreasonable and sudden, and she wished she could take it back. "S-sorry for that..." she murmured. "I... It's just... It takes so much of me to b-be above this...but it... it..." ...Still doesn't feel like enough.

Destiny fell silent, but unspoken words hung on the air.

She wanted to drop this, but she felt like she needed to make this better. she didn't like the awkward rift that seemed to have suddenly opened up between them. or maybe that was just Destiny. It made her heart feel fluttery and weak, and her gut tremble. She was glad she hadn't eaten in a while. And then with those three words, Destiny broke. She sniffled softly, her eyes stung, and she struggled to hold everything inside, keeping everything bottled up. This was too much. She didn't want to cry again. Twice was enough...

But, she couldn't guarantee that her eyes were still dry.

"I l-love you t-too, Fira..." she stammered, the deepest sort of sincerity in her voice. And then she listened, and slowly waddled out to where she could feel the water lapping around Fira's legs. She wanted to be close to the leopard right now.

Reaching Fira, the platypus treaded water beneath her and rested up against one of her limbs- she couldn't tell which one it was.

"Wh-what is it?" she echoed shyly, meekly, as she tried to find comfort in Fira's presence.

Destiny gave a small nod, more butterflies suddenly seeming to fill her belly. Where was this going? Was it to remind her? Had Fira sensed that Destiny, even though she had agreed and still respected Fira's wishes, still felt the same? Romantic? her heart pounded, a lump rising in her throat, but she spoke anyway. That feeling, that odd, warm feeling, was still there. Even now it made her feel warm inside, better about the world, sort-of. She wasn't sure. maybe she was just clinging to any little scrap disguised as hope. "Y-yeah? How could I forget?" she murmured, smiling shakily. "You still make the best friend ever-...! ...huh?"

Destiny was cut off. She'd begun saying what she thought Fira wanted to hear as she tried desperately to make the leopard feel better, but now the words had simply dropped off the end of her tongue. She opened her bill to try and speak, but only a little warble emerged for a good few seconds.

"You... would?" Destiny felt taken aback. She felt so nervous that she could have fainted, her belly was churning so that she worried that she'd fart out a load of butterflies at any given moment! But oh, it was... a good feeling! it was... crazy! She couldn't believe it. had Fira really just said that? had she? Or was it just Destiny's poor, confused mind trying to make herself feel better? Destiny didn't care. even if it was, it worked!

"I'd love to...!" she breathed, still hardly daring to believe. "I-I... I l-love you m-more'n anything else in the world..." she stuttered, and stammered, and had to gulp back all the lumps in her throat and finally, Destiny said it again. this time, she put her heart into it. She said it with everything she had, and that, to her, made it real.

"I-I love you! You're not forcin' anything on me. I always have. An' you've been there for me, through all this... all this..." -she gave a very pronounced gulp- "...Sh-shit... goin' on. and all the time you talk to me and do things for me and say things like this, I know it more."

Destiny, strangely, felt very brave. Although she felt like she was rambling to no small extent, she was rambling directly from her heart. It felt pretty good. She might as well have been drugged up on emotion by this point.

But the platypus didn't care one bit.