no bye, only hello

"I had told a...member of my cabinet that I wished - no, that I want to walk with Nia side by side, and hold her hand. I'm afraid it wasn't the most careful of statements."

"What, so you actually hate her? You're not like us after all?"

"I-it's not that, Eunie," Nia broke in, somehow combining both trepidation and haste. "It's just that..."

"Something weird about the worlds?" Mio supplied. "I understand. There's no pressure."

Eunie gave her a look. If Mio had to guess, she'd say the look was directed more at the ghost of M, no longer lingering, than the present younger catgirl herself. After all, who were they to be putting any sort of pressure on the queens at any point, in any world(s), first names or not?

The subject was, then, more or less closed. They could simply continue looking on at the surging horizon, waiting for final decisions and goodbyes to be made. No pressure. Only future, and past, and present.

But Nia was a nervous type, so she kept on nattering.

"You see, we are the only living people who still exist from the old worlds. Before Origin was stopped, we never really expected to meet. We are, technically, not supposed to be here. We never truly determined what would happen if we-"

"Oh, come off it, Nia! Don't be such a goon."

So saying, Melia stepped forward, grasped the sides of Nia's gape-mouthed face firmly with two ungloved hands, and, as they say (somewhere, somewhen), planted one on her.

Eunie was mostly just amused, letting out a polite but sizable whoop, while Mio clasped her own hands over her chest and tried to remember if she and Eunie had ever touched in such a way - or even not such a way! She knew Eunie had slapped Taion on the back plenty of times, and done the same to the side of Noah's head, but maybe those didn't count, through clothing and hair. She thought maybe once, or twice, even, she'd touched the peaks of Eunie's wings - brushed her hair, even - but she swore she must have been dreaming that.

If only she could just...just for a moment...

But the queens were still smooching, so there wasn't really any time for that.

"Wonder who taught you that!" Eunie called out, and to Mio's shock there was just the right special something in her tone that indicated awe and pride, as opposed to weird, leery enthusiasm. Melia would probably agree to it. We are all so constantly learning and evolving, she would say.

If it was all to be ending so soon anyway, why not take the chance?

She leaned over, ducking around the waving, jacketed arms, and pecked the other girl's cheek with a mighty wince at the ready.

Nothing happened.

Well, except that all had suddenly become very, very quiet.

"Eunie?" Mio prompted. "Are you alright?"

Eunie's face did split then, but into a grin, and not a handful of hemispheres.

"I'm cracking," she said slowly, just to prove it.

At last, the queens broke apart. Nia could be heard making a small, sad sound.

And then they really did explode, but it was fine, because what happens in Aionios stays in Aionios and also nothing ever happens in Aionios ever. That's quantum superposition for you!