There are some things so important, they're worth doing no matter what the cost.

Written in the Stars
by Shimegami-chan

"We humbly present these medals of valour to the crews of the Righteous Indignation, Indefatigable and The Screaming Mimi for their bravery in wartime, and their unflagging loyalty to the peoples of the Aniverse. Commander Dogstar, step forward." A UAC officer smartly saluted the Commander after placing the medal around his neck. Dogstar returned the salute, the barest trace of a smile upon his jowls. Another officer was awarding medals to the rest of the Indefatigable's crew.

"Captain LaFloo." Mimi stepped forward to receive her medal. Her shipmates glowed with pride as the heavy adornments were placed around their necks. Their Captain looked militarily stoic, returning the officer's gesture with a razor-sharp salute of her own, but even those in the audience could read the emotion hidden behind her serene face.

"And Captain Bucky O'Hare, who led the final confrontation that brought us to victory." The officer who was presenting the medals reached out to shake Bucky's gloved hand after he had placed the decoration around the hare's neck. "It is because of you and your crew, Captain, that the Aniverse is once more at peace. Thank you."

"Thank you," Bucky returned, marvelling at the pomp and circumstance. A week ago the Council resented his headstrongness. Now he was being given a medal for disobeying orders. But in the grand scheme of things, with the toads thoroughly defeated and Komplex permanently offline, who was going to complain?

The rest of the Righteous Indignation's crew received their awards, all smiles. Most of the members had never been part of a military ceremony before, with the exception of Jenny, but despite their wide grins they knew enough to enthusiastically salute back. Even when Bruce accidentally nailed Blinky in the side of the head with his elbow and sent him tumbling, the android was up and at the ready by the time the officer carrying the medals had stooped in front of him to present the award. Bruiser, witnessing the mishap, doubled over in mirth.

"May the Aniverse ever prosper!" the speaker declared, gesturing at the three crews with a sweeping hand. "And let the memory of the Toad Menace henceforth be a lesson to us all!"

The audience erupted into wild cheers. "Long live Bucky O'Hare! Long live the Aniverse!"

"Thank you," Bucky said calmly, raising a hand to the crowd as he led the procession across the stage. "Thank you all!" He didn't stop to acknowledge the crowd or the speaker again as the group descended the stairs and disappeared behind a black curtain, though his whiskers twitched with a smile. Behind the stage, more officers were waiting to salute, and groups of comrades had already broken free of the audience and come backstage to greet them. "Some party, isn't it?"

"No speech, Bucky?" Dogstar asked jovially, clapping a hand on the hare's back.

Bucky shrugged. "You know I don't care much for those things. Knowing that the Aniverse is free suits me fine as thanks."

"Eeh, as much as I love th' idea o' a free Aniverse, a gunduck like me won't be knowing what to do with himself in peacetime," Deadeye said, holding his medal in two hands and cupping his cheek in another. His fourth limb made an expansive gesture back at the staircase to the stage. "'Tis been a long time since we had 'free' time."

Bruiser mashed his knuckles together, grinning wildly. "Yeh, well, Brother Bruce and I are goin' home to see Mom! She'll be so happy that we found Bruce, she'll make us banana cream pies for a week!"

Jenny couldn't hold back a laugh. "That sounds wonderful, I hope you two enjoy it." She paused. "I think I'll go back to Aldebaran awhile myself."

Even though most of the crew had dreamed of returning to their home planets for a long time, Jenny's words caused an unnatural silence to fall over the group. Bucky broke it finally, his expression unreadable but his ears slightly drooping. "And then?"

"I don't know." It was an exhalation. "Perhaps this is the end of my piloting days. I could return to the sisterhood, help teach the sisters-in-training..."

Willy nodded, more to himself than to the others. "I guess it'll be nice to have more time for schoolwork. I'll be in high school this year...though all the physics courses I could ever take, I think, wouldn't compare to the stuff I've been doing here. Anyway, without a ship to fix, I'm pretty much useless to you guys."

"You're never useless," Jenny consoled at the same time Bucky interjected "We've got a ship. The Righteous may be decommissioned after this, but if they think they can take it from me, they're sorely mistaken."

"This humble robot has no home to return to," Blinky piped up, continuing the earlier conversation. "Wherever Captain goes now, Blinky shall follow." He saluted.

"Thank you, Blinky." Bucky returned the gesture. "I appreciate that."

"Righto, righto!" Dogstar said with another hearty clap on the back, this time directed at Willy. "I myself can't wait to get home for a bit, see the family! Bucky, old chap, sounds like the speeches are over. Shall we make our escape before the crowds find us?"

"Good idea," the hare agreed. "I've had enough of this war for a lifetime."

Days later, the Righteous Indignation was going through the motions of returning its crew to their homeworlds. Bruce and Bruiser had been the first to go, furthering the dark mood that had fallen over the ship when Bucky asked "Should we come back for you?"

Bruce had laughed. "Nah, Cap'n, no more space travel for me. If there ain't no toadies to scare, I can be jus' as good an engineer on my own planet." He twirled a wrench in one hand. "They need me down there."

Bruiser's expression was uneasy. "I wanna go wit Brother Bruce. But I'll miss ya, Bucky."

"Of course," Bucky replied, his voice wavering. "Of course. We'll miss you too. Keep in touch, okay?"

"Okay!"

Deadeye's send-off was no less melancholy, as they landed at a Kanopis III port and stood outside under the blazing sun. "Aye, here is jes' fine. I'll call me mates and be makin' me way back to the pirate base from here..."

"But Deadeye, we can't contact you there," Bucky protested.

"An' what will ya be needin' me for?" the duck asked. "Like I been sayin', there ain't no place for the likes o' me in peacetime, 'cept with other pirates. Wit the toads gone, the treaty's over, too, yeh know? What are yeh thinkin' yeh need ta contact me about?"

"I don't know." The hare's face fell. "Maybe we could find something else for the Righteous to do in the meantime. Mercenary work, even."

"That's not the life yeh want, Bucky, me boy." Deadeye told him, placing one hand on Bucky's shoulder. "Yeh're too nice to be a merc."

Bucky clenched both fists. "That's not the point!"

"Then when yeh find it, I'll be happy ta serve with yeh again." Deadeye turned with a wave, slinging a sack of his possessions over his shoulder. Bucky paused with hand outstretched, mouth open.

"Let him go," Jenny said quietly. "There's nothing you can say right now that'll bring him back."

"There isn't going to be anything I can say to you, either, is there?" Bucky returned, his furred face unreadable. He spun on his heel and climbed the ladder into the ship, leaving Jenny and Willy staring at one another, dumbfounded.

"Bucky seems really torn up about saying good-bye to everyone." Willy finally stated the obvious.

The cat's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I didn't realize he'd take it so hard. It's not like we'll never see each other again."

"But when will we see each other again?"

"I...don't know," Jenny said sadly. "I didn't really think about it. All this time we were working toward peace, and now that we have it...I guess Bucky doesn't know what to do with himself. Deadeye, either."

"What about you?" Willy asked uncertainly.

"I know what path my life must take from herein. I've always known that I must eventually return and live among my sisters once again." She paused. "It is what's expected of me."

"Is it what you want?"

Jenny smiled sadly. "Willy, you know we cannot always have everything we want. Even when we've worked for it so hard, sometimes other destinies are already written in the stars."

These words Willy carried with him all the way to Aldebaran, where he and Jenny bid each other a melancholy good-bye, and she implored him to keep the memory stone, to Willy's relief and surprise. "Jenny, I don't want to say good-bye forever. Even if you don't need a mechanic or anything...even if you just want to say hi...you can contact me any time. I'll always carry this with me."

The cat looked surprised at his devotion. "Willy..."

Blushing, he shoved the stone in his pocket. "Sorry. I'm making it harder on you and Bucky both."

"Don't be sorry," she told him gently. "Even if you weren't with us for long, you were still a dear friend. It's sad that only tragedy seems to be able to bring people from different walks of life together as the war has done. In peacetime, the people are guided by a different code. But even if it had to end before we were ready to part, I'm not sorry to have served with this crew." She fell silent as Bucky and Blinky appeared in the Righteous' hatch. "So I suppose this is it."

The hare made a noncommittal sound, and Willy looked away, made anxious by everyone's strange behaviour. Jenny was right, it took something much bigger than them to unite people as the Toad Wars had, and there was no place for him here anymore, without missions and excitement and friends. At home, school and the real world waited for him in a way that was almost too disheartening to consider. Before the Aniverse, he'd had...what? Science? The hum of machines in his room were the most pleasant company he'd kept. Startled at the reality that was beginning to sink in, the young boy stood paralysed at the foot of the ladder until Jenny finally threw her arms around him and whispered "Stay strong, Willy. The world may forget for a while, but it will always have need for those who fight for freedom." She kissed him, once on each cheek, and stepped away to embrace Bucky as well. The captain became slightly red-faced, and when they broke apart, it was Jenny who spoke first. "Take care."

"You too," he replied with a tired smile, retreating back up the ladder. Willy followed with one last glance over his shoulder, and shut the hatch.

Blinky retreated quickly to the back of the ship, aware of the tension and uncertain how to respond to the emotions of the living beings within it. In the cockpit, the silence was almost tangible as Bucky brought up systems that had hardly cooled. "Do you...want me to come with you to Warren?" Willy asked hesitantly. "It's always good to have a co-pilot..."

"Sure," Bucky said in a strained voice. They both knew that the hare could easily handle the ship on his own, especially with Blinky to handle everything other than piloting, but Willy didn't feel right about leaving just yet. He didn't really feel right about leaving at all, but it wasn't like he had a choice. His time had been almost evenly divided between Earth and the Aniverse lately, and Willy didn't want to admit it, but he could feel control of his life on the other side slipping away all too quickly. True, the Aniverse had quickly become a better place than home to spend one's time, but in the end, he was human. He didn't belong here, and there was the occasional person or two back on Earth who would care if he never returned.

After this, neither seemed to really know what to say...really, Willy didn't think there wasn't any conversation out there, even for someone as gifted with words as Bucky, that wouldn't make things worse rather than better.

The trip was shorter than Willy remembered, and he'd been to Warren several times. When Bucky set the ship on autopilot and rose from his seat, the young human was still jumpy from the long silence that had stretched between them, and tried to stand without undoing his restraints. "Bucky...what gives? This isn't Warren."

"No, it isn't," the hare agreed. "I'm not going back just yet."

"Why...?"

"Why, indeed." Bucky's ears drooped. "Back home, I'm a hero. I'd be in the public eye all the time, kissing bunnies, shaking paws. What good is that?" He paused and Willy detected something strange in his companion's voice. "I don't want that. I'm selfish, Willy...during the war I grieved for the life I left behind. Now I'm grieving for the one I just left. What kind of hare does that make me?"

That's human nature, was what Willy wanted to say, but Bucky was not human and he didn't quite know how to phrase it any other way. "People are frightened of change. That's how it is. You shouldn't feel bad for having regrets."

"I suppose."

"The Toads had to be defeated. You put aside everything you knew to fight for the Aniverse, and without you, we wouldn't have won." It was funny that Willy was now the one offering advice rather than being given it. "I think it's okay to think about yourself once in a while, too."

Bucky regarded him with wide eyes, seemingly impressed. "You've got a good head on your shoulders, Willy. I suppose you realized that I let you co-pilot here because I didn't want to be alone just yet. I didn't tell you we weren't going to Warren - you could be home already."

He shook his head. "I planned to go with you even if it wasn't to Warren. There were still things we had to say." Willy left out how distraught he had been, standing on the surface of Aldebaran not so long ago. "Now I don't know what else there is. I wonder...I wonder if this might be the last time we meet. That photon accelerator..."

"Of course; I'd have no way to contact you to open the door." Neither had said it until now. Jenny could, but Jenny was no longer on the Righteous. Willy fingered the gem in his pocket, clasping his hand around its smooth surface.

"I'll figure something out," Willy promised, finally wrestling himself out of the co-pilot's seat. "Photon accelerators are practically my specialty now, you know."

The black vastness of space hung just outside their viewport, looking deeper and more mysterious than ever. Willy drew in a long breath at the sight of it now, so calm that he felt time itself had stopped, until the slow rotation of the ship brought something different into view. "Where...are we...?"

"The centre of the Aniverse. Or as close as we can get," Bucky told him, the light reflected from a dozen planets in his eyes. "I used to come here to think."

"It's beautiful." Willy realized abruptly that he rarely saw anything in the Aniverse; for too long their habits had been to strike fast and escape faster. He could not name a single of the planets, moons or stars that lay before him, but still they brought on a nostalgic rush, and he had to tear his eyes away from the scene as Bucky led him into the main body of the ship, and in Engineering they stood together, threw the switch together.

The door had appeared, as innocent and incongruous as ever on the deck, and somehow daunting. Home. And I... Still Willy wanted to rush back to that overwhelming display of space at the window, but something prevented him. If he looked too much, he knew he'd have to stay. Wordlessly he turned the knob and nudged it open, gazed into the organized chaos that was his life back home. It had its own pull, like a gravitational field wrenching at him from opposite sides, and he knew in that one moment that humans were not yet meant for the kinds of things he'd seen here. What does that make me, I wonder, for wanting to abandon Earth? Even just for a moment?

"Don't feel bad about it," Bucky said, interrupting his abstraction, having sensed his unease. "It's okay to think about yourself once in a while, right?"

Willy just laughed and shouldered his duffel bag. "Yeah. That's what I hear."

Somehow the word "good-bye" went unsaid; perhaps it was just superstition, but Willy felt it to be too final, and maybe the hare thought the same. Instead they simply faced each other when Willy had crossed the threshold, and he let the bag fall to the floor there, regarding his friend with uncertainty. He didn't really know what to say.

Bucky, ever responsible for his crew, spoke first, softly. "Do you suppose there's still room for us in this vast universe, Willy?"

"Somewhere, Captain," he replied, "there's a place for everyone. I'll see you there."

They raised their hands in greeting, and then the door was closed.

-end

A/N: Most of this fic was sitting around in a text file for a couple of months. Pulled it out and finished it in a much more depression fashion than was originally planned. u.u Hope you all like.