Chapter Text
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Astron counted the seconds.
Not because they mattered anymore, but because they were all she had left.
The numbers above her head flickered constantly, one moment bright, the next unreadable, like even time itself was beginning to forget her.
The wind pressed softly against her face. The world smelled like iron and rain.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
That sound followed her wherever she went. Before, she couldn't hear it, now she could.
Astron sat by the window of an empty house. She watched the reflection of her hands trembling. She could still feel the salt from the sea on her fingers
It started with Winsweep.
The waves were too strong. Zombie had gone under first and Astron dove in without thinking. The water was freezing, her lungs already aching, but she reached him, dragged him up by his collar.
When she turned back, she saw him struggling, saw the surface close over his face as the next wave crashed. She tried to reach him. The current took her sideways, slamming her into a rock. By the time she surfaced, he was gone.
The ocean was quiet after that. Only her heartbeat. Only the ticking.
Then Amy. The piglins were screaming somewhere behind her, guttural howls echoing off the basalt walls. Astron ran, pulling Amy by the arm. They almost made it to their portal. Almost.
The netherrack crumbled under Amy’s boot. She slipped, fingers brushing Astron’s sleeve. Astron grabbed her, but the momentum pulled them both toward the ledge.
The lava below hissed and spit, boiling below them.
Astron’s grip slipped and Amy fell before she could scream.
For a long moment, the world went still. Then the clock began again.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Oceana was next.
Diansu didn't know what would have happened. She tried to get him away, pulling him through his workshop away from his machine. It would have exploded, killing him. But Astron learned. If you cheat death away from his prize, he will take another.
Will never got the chance to see the sun again.
She stopped talking after that. Every voice she tried to save was replaced by another sound.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Astron packed her things one morning. No note. No goodbye. She walked until the noise faded behind her. The ground turned to sand, the wind cold and thin. Her footsteps were the only thing left. She reached the cliff at dusk.
The sea stretched endlessly below, swallowing the last light. She set her pack down beside her, her hands shaking. She could still hear the waves. Still see their faces when she closed her eyes. Maybe, she thought, she wasn’t meant to save anyone. Maybe she was the reason they kept dying.
The wind shifted. A faint echo rolled up from the sea
Tick.
She didn’t move.
She didn’t want to move.
The wind shifted behind her. Soft at first, then colder, carrying a scent she almost recognized.
A hand rested on her shoulder and a voice she knew too well whispered, “It didn’t have to be this way.”
She didn’t turn. She didn’t dare. She’d spent too long wishing he’d still be here, and now that he was, she couldn’t bear to face him.
Astron kept her eyes on the horizon instead, the faint shimmer where night bled into dawn. Her lips moved soundlessly, a prayer, a plea, to Folly, to fate, to anyone still listening.
Let it end.
When the sun rose the next morning…
She was gone.