She's standing at the mirror above her dresser, pinning her hair back into her signature bun. Mars is sitting on the bed and watching, blankets bunched up around her and held so that her chest is covered. She stares at Jupiter with her head slightly tilted.

"Fuck's sake," Jupiter mumbles as half of her hair tumbles out of her hair tie. She yanks it out and prepares to start over.

"It looked fine," Mars says.

"Don't be ridiculous," Jupiter replies. Her Kalosian accent, which she usually makes a valiant effort to hide, comes out in her words.

Mars giggles.

Jupiter snaps her hair tie back into place and holds it still with her left hand, reaching over to grab a can of hairspray with her right. This time, the tie holds, and she breathes a sigh of relief. She moves on to her back bun with a bit more caution.

"Jupi?"

"Yes, my dear?"

"Can I ask a super weird question?" Mars says, leaning forward so that her chin is almost touching the bed. "What's your name? You know, like, your real name."

Jupiter's hands freeze, her bun only half-formed between her fingers. "Why do you ask?" she says, her tone measured but her voice shaky. "Does it matter?"

"No, I guess it doesn't matter, but I just wanted to know," Mars says. She sits back up and starts fiddling with the sheets. "Sometimes it feels like we didn't exist before Cyrus."

"Well, you said it yourself. It doesn't matter."

Jupiter steps back from the mirror and flicks her bangs out of her eyes. Her hair is still messy, it's not as good a job as she would do in the morning, but she doesn't have the energy to try and fix it.

"Emily." Mars looks up at Jupiter with expectant eyes, still clutching the sheets, as if her giving up that information would somehow move her partner into doing the same.

Jupiter turns around, crosses her arms, and gazes into Mars' eyes, her expression unreadable.

"You've never really bought into all this Galactic stuff, have you?" Jupiter says. "You can't say things like that anymore. There's no room for Emily in our new world."

"You don't believe in it either," Mars says. "I can tell. You're too smart for his bullshit."

They stare at each other for a few seconds. Their accusations hang in the air, almost visible, almost tangible, pushing away any other words that they might have had for each other.

"What are you even doing here?" Mars whispers eventually.

"I could ask the same of you."

Jupiter sits on the end of the bed and puts her arm around Mars. She's never done anything that could be construed as romantic affection, always pulling away when Mars reaches out for cuddles, maintaining a clear distance when they're anywhere except this room.

"You're too good for this," Jupiter says. She kisses Mars' forehead. "I've got nothing to lose by being here. You do."

"Not really. Well, okay, I just don't really have anything to gain by leaving," Mars says. "So I stay. I don't know who I'd be without Master Cyrus."

"Don't say Master Cyrus like that."

"Sorry." Mars leans into Jupiter and rests her head on her shoulder. "If none of us care, then why are we here?"

"I think Saturn cares."

"I definitely think he wants to care." Mars shudders. "He's so young, Jupiter. I know what he says, but he can't be older than sixteen, can he?"

Jupiter nods.

"It scares me, the way he is. Forget me, forget you. I worry about him. He really does have so much more to live for," Mars says softly.

"One day, Mars, we'll - we'll - sorry," Jupiter starts. She clears her throat before she continues. "We'll go somewhere else, somewhere not tainted by this mess. I'll take you to Kalos. You've never been, yeah? It's beautiful, parts of it."

"That sounds nice," Mars says. "I'd like that."

It's not that Jupiter doesn't mean it, necessarily. It's just that Mars knows that it can never be reality. Not while Cyrus looms over her life, over the commanders' lives, over Sinnoh.

As Jupiter kisses her again, though, she allows herself to believe that it might happen, some day in the not-too-distant-future.

i can't believe i'm posting on again. wow. anyways i've been having a lot of emotions abt these two, and about galactic in general. more to come, maybe. just wanted to get this out there.