Welcome to the final chapter of My Kind! This one will be short, since it's an epilogue, and I really do appreciate the journey you guys went on with me together! I love all of the guests, all of the reviewers, all of the anonymous ghosts that made this possible. I could never have finished this without your support and I can't believe you guys liked this as well as you did. I've cried twice actually trying to finish this because I'm sad that it's over, but really, you guys mean the world to me.
I'm terrible and self promoting like a jackass, but I will be coming out with a new, major, standalone RAPR fic called "Fire in the Snow," featuring military advancement, forced marriages, and a cocky Elite General falling in love with a cadet he becomes stranded with after a flight crash on the battlefield of a frozen wasteland. But the cadet is way more than he seems and has a bit of an unexpected past and an even stranger future. This fic will be rated M, like this one, and will take over the My Kind schedule of Wednesdays and Sundays at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5), and the first chapter will be up on Wednesday, January 1, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)! Sorry I'll stop self promoting like an idiot and let you get on with the story!
Final chapter rated T for light language, potential suggestive themes, and general adult content.
Four cycles into the future; the outskirts of Hatalca
"Yes! That looks amazing! I'm pretty impressed you managed that with only one eye." Purple chuckled up at where Pem stood precariously atop a wobbling ladder, trying his best not to slip as he tacked the final strip of colorful streamers up over their foyer.
"Yeah, well, I've had lots of practice." Pem laughed back, slowly descending and running a hand up over his massive facial scar before stepping back and throwing his hands on his hips to admire his handiwork. "I'm the only one brave enough at the station to string up the lights, so I'm not afraid of heights anymore."
Purple grinned, reading over the banner they had painted together earlier that morning as the still moist Vortian script glistened in the afternoon light. He didn't want to look away, sighing long and low as the words ate at his resolve and forced an eager shudder down his spine.
Welcome home, Red.
Red had been gone for nearly a full cycle to the ruthless Callnowian front after he received his commendations from King Lard Nar for his service to the Empire, receiving his opulent ribbon bar and his five star rank as General of the Imperial Fleet. Purple had been incredibly proud but apprehensive, knowing his husband would be engaging in massive interplanetary warfare with the enemy when they attempted to overtake Vort's natural gas reserves to combat their own slipping supply, bombing cities and setting crops ablaze to burn through their food supply. Lard Nar had gone to war first, streaking into battle with his men to head the first wave of retaliation alongside Fleet Commander Teem and her renewed, gorgeously deep green ocular implants. Together, the two had obliterated half of the Callnowian resistance, calling Red to action when Kez had received intelligence that their opponents were hastily planning to mount a large scale EMP detonation over the capitol and take all Vortian technology on the surface offline. Purple knew deep down that his partner would have to leave; it was in his blood to fly and to rain justice down on the doomed heads of his targets, straightening his collar and carefully pressing his uniform the night before his deployment as Purple sat up with him through the night and watched every flutter of his calloused hands smoothing over the deep crimson of his jacket as he hung it carefully along the backside of the hatch to their bedroom and moved on to tack his impressive ribbon bar over his sharp pocket. Purple had cried when he read over his husband's orders, landing on the damming number he had feared more than anything; he would be leading the Imperial Fleet on to victory as they targeted strategic bases and pummeled the planetary surface and surrounding moons…for eleven estimated months.
Red had watched in forlorn distress as his partner broke down over his reader, continuously checking the plasma canister in his side pistol before obsessively sharpening the thin titanium of his boot knife in preparation for his deployment. Eventually, Red had given in to his emotions and moved to sit next to his gently sobbing partner and run his hands tenderly over his distended, firm abdomen, knowing that his mate was reaching the end of his long, three-cycle gestation period and that he would most likely miss the coming of his daughter into the world. They had held each other close that night, Red's palms trailing expanses of glowing skin and tracing Purple's side scar as his partner did the same, touching every inch of Red's body he could find and desperate to keep him forever in his protective, shrouding hold for fear that he would slip away.
When the morning came, Red dressed in silence as Purple watched through the pale glimmer of dawn peaking through their metallic blinds, slinging his leather holster around his waist and snapping it securely in place before lacing up his knee high boots and re-polishing them to glittering perfection. Purple had pushed himself up from their tangled mess of sheets to help straighten the thick canvas of Red's beret over his antennae, peppering desperate kisses over his lover's neck, every one feeling like the last as he tried not to cry for the thousandth time his husband leaned down to gently kiss his belly through his gown and whisper sweet nthings to the smeet he longed to hold. Pem had agreed to venture off to their home to help Purple with daily chores before he was expected at the Hatalca Station to film his boisterous nightly talkshow, stretching up to hold Purple's hand as Red blew him his last tear-filled kiss in person and rocketed off into the cosmos to annihilate all those threatening their safety.
Then...he was gone.
After that it was all video calls and silly recordings of Red sending him jokes from his barracks aboard Lard Nar's gargantuan flagship as Purple overnighted him homemade snack cakes and waffles for breakfast before he was expected to lead the front into action. It didn't take long to hit the local news, Red's scarred face plastered over every headline as he continued to destroy and maim the standing resistance with full force, unleashing literal hell down upon all those that threatened his homeworld with blistering plasma fire and booming canons ricocheting back and sending formidable vibrations through his body. Purple could see the determination and glittering fervor behind his eyes as the sunkissed atmosphere of chilly Callnowia reflected back off the snow and tanned his husband's imperfect skin, leaving their King with a hilarious ring of light grey stamped over his eyes from where his goggles improved his vision. Pem was a surprisingly great help around the house, obsessively sweeping floors and trimming the now adult tree in the back yard when it threatened to fall lopsided over the roof of the house, all the while bonding with Purple and reassuring him that their partners would both return safe. Pem's destroyed sight had prevented him from enlisting in the military, investing his time in his gossiping, comedic show and the care of his daughter he always brought by as Purple learned parenting tips in preparation for their own little life to come into the world.
Red asked on the daily about their progress with their mysterious little smeet, grinning vibrantly when Purple would set up his transmitter on the nightstand and move back a few feet to show off the back-breaking bulge that he'd had to carry for just over three cycles, giggling when Red would remain adamant that he was still the most attractive Irken in the whole of the universe even when he denied it and complained of swollen ankles or waterweight. The day had come several minutes before their daily call, Pem hanging laundry outside when Purple felt the first twinges in his back and managed to throw open the back door to yell fervently for his friend to start up his personal runner and fly him to the hospital as the pressure increased and Red tried incessantly to get through to him through transmission to no avail as the little Vortian panicked and sped through the streets of Hatalca when Purple adamantly screamed at him to move faster if he wanted to live. It had worked out in the end, Purple's sweat slicked, completely exhausted face finally gracing Red's screen as he panted in a daze with a bleary, tender smile stretched over his face at the astonished confusion blaring back as Red opened up a firestorm of frantic questions over his health and worried comments as to what happened, stopping short and freezing when Pem excitedly took the screen and showed off the first image of their gently crying daughter being tugged away from her protective eggshell and shocked awake by the careful hands of Hatalcan doctors.
Tears. Victory screams. Elated shouts of pure bliss as gloved hands pressed over eyes in disbelief when ecstatic, goofy smiles sliced through sobs. Teem clamored up against the camera when their tiny, squirming daughter was swaddled and passed carefully to Purple's eager, waiting arms, Kez screeched on an incessant loop from behind, and Lard Nar slapped his friend on the back when he choked out his cracked, blubbering emotion and tossed his beret behind him to race through the whole of the slumbering barracks and tell everyone he could find that he was a father.
He was a father.
It would be another full cycle before Red would meet the deep crimson eyes of his baby, to feel her antennae scenting against his skin and the dig of her tiny claws latching into his uniform. He had missed her once sightless eyes opening for the first time to observe the colorful, strange world around her, missed her first shaky crawl over the plush rug in their livingroom, and missed her try to stand herself up against his armchair in the corner of their bedroom where he had promised he would read her stories when he finally got home. Purple recovered slowly from the body-altering time he had spent carrying her, returning to work in the shop after six months as he entrusted Pem's now completely stable, medication tamed mind to babysit her during the day and returned home to find Nea gently rocking her to sleep.
It had been nice, but Purple was ready for his husband to return to his loving embrace, to hear the wordless voice of their DNA come together as one, and to speak her carefully-chosen name for the first time;
Zil.
Her name was Zil.
Little sixteen pound, overly curious, sugar eating Zil with a love of grabbing inquisitively at Pem's horns when he played peekaboo with her from her cheap crib and sucked on Purple's claws at night when he lulled her to sleep in his lonesome. No longer would she be without her father; they would finally be a family again.
Lard Nar, Teem, and Kez, had returned from the front a week in advance to practically hibernate after the muscle aching, brutal hand to hand combat they had all endured, but Red had opted to stay behind a bit longer, running rescue missions on the surface for missing Vortian, Inquisitorian, and Irken troops trapped beneath snow piles and freezing to death atop mountains. He had become a true, selfless hero, the face of shining Vortian compliance and resilience pasted against buildings on patriotic recruitment posters and over billboards as the example of gallantry and blinding valor for their cause. Purple saw his broken smile around every corner, brushing his fingertips along his lips as he carried his cooing smeet into work and set her up gently in his office on the days that Pem was called away for photoshoots and conferences, taking shifts with Len Tarf as they tag teamed ships and mopped oil free of their grimy floor.
But today…today Red was coming home.
He was coming home.
"Purple, take your gross kid." Teem rounded the corner holding Zil a few feet in front of her with a disgusted sneer smeared under her now emerald green eyes as a thin trail of drool lolled aimlessly down her niece's chin. "She's nasty and she literally just spit up on Kez's lap for the third time this week."
Purple reached out from where he had been watching anxiously out through the back window, scanning the skies for the first sign of his husband's new and improved, cherry red Vortian Stinger he'd painted as an anniversary gift a cycle ago, growing jumpy when the warm body of his squirming daughter was thrust back into his arms. Lard Nar was busy toiling in the kitchen, fixing exotic Vortian dishes with his husband as Nea played with sacks of flour at their feet in preparation for Red's much-anticipated, needed arrival. Kez had set to work folding his clothes dutifully on their bed to get him out of the disgusting uniform he had worn for the past year as he barked orders and wrestled his way nobly through the deep greens and flashing yellows of the Callnowian Nebula with thousands of devout soldiers at his side.
Every passing second was a cycle.
Every word said was a novel.
Every heartbeat was an earthquake.
Everyone spoke but Purple didn't listen, focused on the tiny claws smoothing up his arms and plucking soft fibers from his cardigan as he stared unblinkingly out of the window, counting every minute in succession and feeling his pulse lurch every time a ship flitted by overhead and taunted him with what could be.
"He'll be here. Don't worry." Kez called from the other room, somehow sensing the overbearing tension stabbing through Purple's nervous chest like a knife as he shifted uncomfortably on his bare feet against the warm tile. She poked around the corner and watched as his free hand twitched, itching desperately to wrap his fingers around his partner's and draw him back in to his hold to never let go again. "Honey, I know you're going a bit crazy waiting for him but he'll get here."
"I know…" Purple mumbled under his breath with a low sigh, drawing Zil up to his chest when she whined to be closer and feeling her stout, quivering antennae brush the underside of his chin. "I just haven't seen him in so long. I mean, I have, but I haven't seen him." He swallowed edgily, bouncing Zil in his arms when she tried to reach up and smack him lightly in the side of the face. "I've waited a full cycle for him to come home and I don't wanna wait any longer. And Lard Nar?"
His brother spun on the stool he had perched himself upon, almost splattering Pem with the delicious creamy soup he had concocted as a comfort food for when his comrade returned back to them. "Please, you don't have to say it again." He groaned, plopping his ladle back into his rich cooking and rolling his eyes when Purple jutted out his bottom lip and laid into him for the fifth time that day alone.
"No. I wanna make sure you really understand me." He grumbled, reeling back his exasperation when Lard Nar flashed him an understanding smirk over his shoulder. "I don't want you sending him out there any time soon. I'm fine with planetary work, but nothing intergalactic for a while. He's already missed a cycle of Zil's life and I don't want him to miss anymore because of the wars you-"
Purple let his firm words die on his lips when the telltale sound of glass shuddering in panes ricocheted throughout their home, rattling their cookware in their cabinets as Zil scrunched up her face and began wailing at the intrusive noise she had only heard a few times before. He let his violet gaze snap back to the door, tears pricking in his vibrant eyes as he let loose a premature adrenaline-fueled scream of a laugh at the sight of the crimson, now war torn, pummeled hull of the Stinger he had generously painted descending between the full grown trees of their yard, knocking aside gooey black leaves and carelessly scraping against scarred trunks as the landing gear descended slowly from the belly of the gargantuan monster he had waited months to see. Purple didn't waste any time, fumbling with the security lock on the hatch before throwing it open and halfway sprinting across the short two acre expanse of gently fluttering grass, sobbing openly through his wide grin as he clutched his daughter to his chest and the plasma core hummed to a stop when the external lights of the ship peacefully dimmed.
Please.
Please.
Please.
The main compartment of the cockpit fazed open as Zil shreiked in agitated confusion against her father's heaving chest when he cried out again, not caring when the rest of their improvised family bounded out after him and the screech of Nea calling for her missed uncle resounded across the field when Red finally appeared at the top of the steps. He dropped his hefty bags to his feet when Purple yelled for his attention, waving his free hand in a wild display of frenzied loneliness melting away to nothing and evaporating to the swirling colors of the atmosphere as his husband's dumbfounded, exhausted expression shifted to a look of blissful, tear-filled joy at the unbelievably gorgeous sight of his now thin partner running as fast as he could to meet him and nearly tripping over the cobbles of their meager path as he cried. Red stumbled gawkily down the perforated metal steps, limping his way stiffly across the pathway and throwing his arms wide when Purple screamed out his excitement and slammed into his chest, immediately burying his face in his neck and audibly sobbing when Red took a deep, shuddering breath and let his carefully tamed emotions run free, pulling back and pressing a warm, desperate kiss to his husband's tear-streaked lips and frantically running his plasma burned, soot caked gloves up over his cheeks when he didn't feel close enough.
"I love you…I-I love you." Red whispered on a repeated loop against his partner's lips as Purple flew into a fit of giddy laughter, feeling every inch of tanned skin he could find and grazing his free claws up the sides of Red's scratchy uniform. "Fuck, I love you so much. I missed you every day and-"
"Vort, you're home! Y-You're finally home! I love you too, honey, I love you so much!" Purple cried happily, capturing his partner's lips again to ensure they were actually real when his hungry, starved affections took over once more and ate away at whatever rational judgement he'd maintained as he slept alone at night and watched his mate sleep over video call. "Please, Red, please stay. Stay with us."
"Shit, you really think I'd go anywhere after all this time? I'm on indefinite leave by my own orders." Red reached up and wiped away his own blisteringly cheerful tears on the back of his glove as he chuckled, shucking them to the ground when he realized what his husband had said before finally noticing the wriggling bundle sandwiched between them as wide cherry eyes stared silently up at the new face she had yet to be acquainted with.
Purple smiled warmly as he choked on another deep sob and moved back a few inches, carefully unhooking Zil's developing claws from his clothing and helping his stiff partner take her in his sore, achy arms to finally hold her for the first time since her birth. She flicked her antennae forward when he broke down once more, running his bare claws over her round, wind whipped cheek and trailing her bone structure as she craned to get closer to the familiar scent of her father's cologne Purple had repeatedly spritzed over his bedsheets before drifting off at night. Zil smiled on impulse, screeching happily when Red slung his free arm back around Purple's neck and pulled him in for another searing, untamed kiss he'd been waiting to taste for too long.
"She has your eyes, Red." Purple bit his lip with a giggle, reaching up to unfasten his husband's stiff tie as he reeled from the glorious beauty of their child bouncing in the crook of his arm and shielding her away from the chilly wind. "Say something to her. Let her hear your voice."
"Shit, she's so beautiful, Pur. S-She's so beautiful." Red sniffed, beaming uncontrollably when Zil's attention shot back to his at the sound of his now hoarse voice ringing out like a song through her parent's ecstatic, sunny reunion and continuous, feverish kisses brushing warm lips between shaky words and trailing hands.
"That's your Dad, Zil. He's the bravest, most handsome Irken I've ever met...and the biggest, nerdiest dork in the whole universe." Purple laughed with a tease, brushing up over her shivering antennae when another arctic wind ripped through the clearing. He reached up with a long, slow blink and pulled Red's beret free from his antennae, letting his own flutter forward to graze along his husband's sensitive stalks as he slung a protective, profoundly loving arm around his waist and turned them back to their patiently waiting family watching from afar. "Come on, honey, it's getting cold."
"We did good, Purple." Red breathed against his cheek, unable to peel his pride swelling, hazy eyes from the half toothed smile of the innocent life they had created together. He followed along through his exhaustion, leaning his weight against Purple's shoulder as he carried them back towards their forever home.
Purple nodded against his warm, familiar skin and gave himself over to the scent he had craved for so long, drowning in the beautiful, heavenly moment of his partner's gorgeously safe, infinitely tender hold. "Yeah…we did good."
Teem saluted her commander with a proud beam, nodding him on as he flashed her a look of genuine, unabridged friendship back. Lard Nar and Pem filed around them hand in hand and chattered excitedly for his attention as the scent of delicious, mouthwatering Vortian cooking invaded his senses and pulled him away from the chalky battle rations he'd been forced to endure as Kez and Nea prepared glassware on the delicately set table waiting for him to sit. Purple let go, gingerly pulling their daughter away with a heavenly smile as Pem plopped himself down next to Nea who banged excitedly against the table with polished shoes, giggling for her uncle to take a seat next to her and indulge in the delicious cooking Lard Nar had managed to prepare for them all. Teem smacked at the jumble of wires protruding from her PAK as her ocular implants flickered, pulling out a chair as her petite wife crossed her legs and deftly reached for her silverware, laughing when Purple struggled to set Zil up in her rickety high chair before also taking his designated place and glancing up to meet his partner's gaze from afar, beckoning him on like a siren to finally complete the cosmic, bizarre, utterly magnificent horde of displaced wierdos and former terrorists snickering at each other's jokes and forgetting that they were even different in the first place.
It started with the Florpus, a designated wrench thrown into their reality to set them onto the long, harrowing, but featherlight journey of love and acceptance they had all managed to endure together. Together…they were all meant to be together.
"You're home now, honey. Don't just stand there like an idiot. Come eat." Purple called out over the clinking of silverware, nodding to the empty, once cold place at the table ready to accept its owner once more.
Red took a deep breath, tugging his ribbon bar free from his chest before leisurely unbuttoning his formal dress jacket, letting his gaze bounce between the absolutely stunning vison of perfect elegance he had decided to share his life with and start his long overdue, beautiful family with and the messy smeet shouting unintelligible Irken as she popped tiny morsels of sweet cream and homegrown vegetables into her mouth.
Home. Family. Love.
He slung his crisp jacket over the counter and bent down to unlace his boots, never once breaking eye contact with the infinitely rich violet beating back against him with more adoration than he had ever thought he would deserve. Finally, he wiggled free and kicked them aside, grinning back and taking his first step back towards his long awaited, beautiful forever.
End