“Something told me I’d find you here,” a familiar voice said after some time.

I jolted out of the daze I had been in but refused to open my eyes and look up at him.

I didn’t want to. I wanted to be alone still. I wasn’t ready to face people I knew, much less him.

“Was it the tracker on my ship?” I tried to joke but it fell flat.

“No, it was the tracker on your comms device,” Cas said, with a gentle smile in his voice but still I didn’t look up at him.

I could feel him hovering in front of me and I knew without even looking that his eyes were scanning my face. I felt a hint of gratitude towards the buzzing disrupter on my face because I knew if he could see my real face, he’d know about my breakdown earlier.

After a moment, he sighed and I felt him drop down next to me.

“It’s beautiful here. I understand why Peg wanted to come so badly.”

Tears pricked in my eyes again and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying.

“What are all of the ribbons for? I didn’t get a chance to read any of the info signs.”

I opened my eyes in confusion and placed around. At first, the light blinded me and the world was just a blur of brightness but that slowly retreated. He was right. I hadn’t even noticed before in my exhausted state but people had tied ribbons to every tree branch within reach. Hundreds, if not thousands of ribbons decorated the trees around me, their colours blending in with the bright petals.

“I don’t know. They weren’t mentioned. Maybe it’s just something they do when the petals blossom?” I suggested, my voice rough and scratchy from disuse.

“I like it. They’re pretty,” Cas answered.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him just yet so instead, I stared around at the ribbons fluttering in the gentle breeze. I honestly don’t know how I’d missed them before because now, they were everywhere I looked. Multicoloured ribbons danced from every branch making the word seem slightly brighter for a moment.

As we watched, a young girl, no more than ten, slipped from her family and rushed away. Ducking behind a tree, her trembling hand shot out and tied a yellow ribbon around a tree branch. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure her family weren’t watching before looking back at it.

“For Crew Seven Six One,” she whispered.

She stood there for a second, her head bowed then bolted back to her family, glancing anxiously back at the ribbon.

“Oh,” Cas breathed quietly, his eyes going wide as he stared around at the many, many ribbons.

“Wow,” I sighed, trying to wrap my head around what was happening.

“Is all of this for us?” he asked.

I nodded, unable to speak.

The display of support for us was overwhelming.

“Look,” he whispered, nudging me gently and nodding towards a man who was carrying his kid on his shoulders.

She looked younger than five and she was giggling loudly, a pink ribbon trailing from her fingers. Cas and I watched as the man stopped and pointed up at a branch just above her head. The kid reached up and tied it on clumsily before letting go. Her father stepped back to examine it properly before holding his hand out for her to high five. She laughed again, the pure joy in it caused a few tears to break free and drip down my face.

“I wish they knew, you know? I wish they knew what’s happening to Peggy. This shouldn’t be for all of us, it should just be for her,” I managed, my voice thick with emotion.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, holding me tightly.

“I know. But we’ll get her back. We have to.” The desperation was barely contained in his voice and I peeked up at his face.

He was wearing a disrupter too. His skin was lighter, golden almost, and his beautiful honey brown eyes were now a murky blue but they glistened with restrained tears.

“We will, Cas. You know we will. None of us will stop fighting until we get her back,” I promised.

He nodded, his hand clenching into a fist.

“It’s been too long. We haven’t heard from her in ages. Why? Surely, she would have sent us a message, like over thought?”

I sighed, dropping my head back on the tree behind us.

“Either they’ve taken it out or… she’s unconscious.”

I refused to let myself say the other possibility.

“I know. I just… It feels like it’s all my fault,” Cas whispered.

“This wasn’t you, Cas. This was the Council. It doesn’t matter that it’s your dad, it was still his decision, not yours.”

Tears slipped from his eyes and slowly travelled down his face but he swiped them away angrily.

“Yeah but if I wasn’t related to him—”

“They would have already killed us. You know he only kept us alive for that long to torture you. Hells, half the shit he did was just to hurt you,” I interrupted, resting my head against his shoulder.

Cas snorted.

“Well, he’s succeeded. I’m pretty much torturing myself with guilt now.”

I reached out for his balled fist and took his hand. He laced his fingers through mine and squeezed tightly.

“This isn’t your fault. No one thinks that it is. We all blame Harvey.”

Cas dropped his head back against the tree heavily.

“I know that logically but it’s still just eating away at me,”

I swallowed. Sadness gnawed at my heart. I wished I could do more to help.

“I know. Me too.”

His arm tightened around me as we fell silent. With his warm body beside me and the gentle breeze blowing through the air, I felt my anxiety and fear start to dissipate. Contentment started to nudge at my mind.

“So, tell me about Osinir?” he asked eventually.

I blew out a heavy sigh. I didn’t want to talk about my failed mission on Osinir.

“I fucked up.”

“What happened?”

I rolled my head back on his arm to look at him. He was watching me with a gentle smile on his face. There was no hint of judgement in his eyes.

“I accidentally hit the button on my disrupter and a kid saw my real face. Then, the mom came over and asked who if it was really me.”

“And you told her it was?” he guessed.

“Yeah. I felt so bad, the Council treated Osinir like shit. I felt like I had to tell them the truth.”

Cas nodded slightly.

“How’d it go?”

“Eh. Not too badly, they kind of surrounded me and were like saying shit about how brave we were.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. It was pretty rough. Tuc told me I had to get out and stay away from Freo until they knew I wasn’t followed… Are they okay? The people on Osinir?” I asked hesitantly.

I almost didn’t want to know the answer. If they had suffered because of me, it would be too much for me to handle. Guilt already plagued my daily life but this time, it would be directly my fault. This was my decision.

“As far as I’m aware, they are. Fornax said they managed to rush the supply drop and get out of there not long after you left. By the time I was leaving, the Council hadn’t gotten wind of you being there,” Cas said.

I blew out a grateful breath.

“Should I ask Gem or Cory what’s going on?”

Cas considered it for a moment.

“Nah. It can wait till we get back. Why don’t we stay here a little? Cory was in the medBay when I left but we can let Gem know. She’ll tell them not to expect us back any time soon.”

A small smile spread on my face as I snuggled deeper into Cas’ chest.

“I’d like that.”

“Okay.”

Gem, can you let Andy know we won’t be back for a couple of hours? Cas thought.

There was a pause before Gem’s worried voice came into my head.

Mmm… you might want to come back sooner. A press conference has just been called for an hours time.

I glanced uncertainly at Cas.

Why? There was one yesterday. There shouldn’t be one today too, I thought.

Yeah, Gem thought, we don’t know either. None of our fighters on the inside know what’s going on.

What about the Guardian who’s been guarding my dad? Cas asked, his tone concerned.

She said he seemed in a good mood but she didn’t know anything more.

Fuck, I thought, meeting Cas’ eyes. Alright, we’ll leave now.

Great. Elliot’s sent your ships a route that should get you back in time for the conference.

Okay, thank him for us, Gem? I requested.

Will do. See you soon. Fly safe.

I stood reluctantly, holding my hand out to Cas to help him up. He took it, refusing to let go once he was up. Walking back through the forest and the education centre, I once more allowed myself to imagine that this was our life. That we were living there happily but that dream came crashing to an end as we reach our ships.

Cas had parked in the same space as me, right behind my ship. The ships fitted together well, their wings almost touching.

“Nice park job,” I said with a genuine smile.

He grinned back.

“Thanks, I learnt from the best.”

He winked, causing a gentle blush to rise over my face.

“You lift first?” I suggested.

“Alright, I’ll meet you outside the atmosphere and follow you to Freo?”

“Okay.”

I smiled to myself as I tapped on the glass canopy and lifted up. At that moment, it felt strangely normal, as if we were just going for a recreational flight rather than rushing back to watch a Council broadcast. I picked the stray petals off my seat before climbing in. The petals had been trapped in the warm jet for so long that they’d lightly perfumed the air. I inhaled deeply before pulling my harness on and signalling to Cas to start his engines.

Coming now, Gem.