Dawn was barely breaking when they summoned her for the last time. Elizabeth had postponed the execution numerous times, forcing the fate of her own mother Anne Boleyn on Mary. Whether it was a last act of cruelty or a subconscious way of dealing with the terrible crime she was committing, nobody would ever know. Suspicions had risen the moment Mary had been sent to Fotheringhay, and from what little she had heard they would continue long after her death – suspicions, questions, tales about how the two most charming and most beautiful queens of their time could not live in peace. How the virgin could smash a woman who once had several knights and kings vowing to protect her.
How a son could condemn his mother.

"Finally, Mary Stuart."
"Queen Mary, your majesty." She held Elizabeth's glance easily, her expression as placid as the English queen's was greedy. "I am pleased to see you relieved from all your fears now. Although it might not last for a long time." Only now Mary looked down to hide her smile at the other's gasp.
"You will not live to see another hour, whether filled with relief or worry", Elizabeth hissed. "Your time is over, cousin. Your own people betrayed you. You are nothing – not to me, not to anyone in the world."
Mary nodded and closed her eyes for a second as they filled with tears. The betrayal of the Scottish peers – even if she understood it now, in parts – still hurt. But not as much as the letter she had received two days ago, a message from Spain in broken French, telling her of Bash's death. Even he had left her now. "You're right." For a moment, her voice quivered, and she took a deep breath. "You were not right, however, in condemning me. You cannot sentence me to death, not on your own."
"I did."
"But it wasn't right!" Mary's voice was sharp now, too, her eyes blazing with a fire not even the darkest nights and coldest cells had been able to black out. She had lived through worse than Elizabeth's hatred. So much worse.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe what I did for my country will be forgotten one day. But your crimes against me won't ever be. People will talk about you, about your greed and your fear and how they grew so big that you took God's law into your own hands and killed me, because even imprisoned I am stronger than you!"
Her voice had become louder with every word, and when the echo had faded, silence fell over the courtyard. The English lords, the servants, the soldiers, even the birds seemed to hold their breath, waiting.
Elizabeth didn't say a word.
Then, suddenly, the sun broke over the horizon, rays of gleaming gold reaching for the executioner's block. Again, Mary felt tears in her eyes, but this time they came from relief.

It was over. She had finally suffered enough. She had lived without the love of her life long enough, without her best friends – Aylee, Lola, Leith, they all had passed away before her. Bash had been her last and perhaps truest companion, and he had left, too, had taken his place at his brother's side.
Francis. Mary smiled. Over the years some memories they'd made had been lost, and in prison she had almost lost the sound of his voice, his smell – gone, everything gone in cold and fear. Had she become everything he had seen in her? Had she fought bravely enough for both her countries, for her family?

"You can tell your lies in the afterlife", Elizabeth finally said, her chin shivering with fury. "I am tired of your voice, Mary Stuart, and of every breath you take. I heard even Sebastian de Poitiers couldn't handle it anymore and decided to die."
"He did." Mary shook her head and took a step closer to her cousin, until the guards stopped her. "You cannot hurt me anymore, Elizabeth, don't you know that? Whatever I may lose in this life, I gain in heaven. And to begin with, I've lost more than you'll ever own." For the first time, she bowed before the queen and then went up to the block.
The executioner knelt down in front of her. "Forgive me, your majesty, for what I am forced to do. And beg mercy for me before God. I would not have done this but my children need to eat."
"They do", Mary said gently and touched the man's shoulder. "Stand, and do not be afraid. Your queen will have to justify her orders once. You are but a loyal man. And you do me a greater favor now than you can ever do to your queen." Without looking back she knelt down and closed her eyes.
"Heavenly father, accept your daughter. Bring me peace as I have tried to bring it to my people, and have mercy on my soul." She bit her lips and continued quietly, "let me see him again. I've lived in hell long enough, and I will go back and burn there if it is your will but let me see him first! Let me see them all and tell them how sorry I am. Please. Please, God, -"

A sharp hiss, then her head exploded. Heat, blood, white blossoms raining down on her, a crown, a sword, Bash laughing, Lola and Jean sleeping next to her, a wooden ship, a blonde boy running in front of her on long legs and she chasing after him, running faster and faster, through night and day and darkness again, darkness,…

And into nothing.