"Sorry, Sorry. We got a little distracted. It's totally my fault. But we are here now so- What are you doing?"

Seth strolled into the control room with Nixie's arms around his neck as she hung on his back like a backpack. He already had his hands up in defence, preparing himself for any punishment Astra wanted to dole out, only to stop and frown in confusion when he saw her.

She was slouched in the captains chair, jabbing angrily at the buttons on the control panel. With every jab of her fingers, the buttons let out a disapproving beep, which only served to increase her annoyance.

When she heard Seth's voice, she paused in her movements, her finger curling as she clenched her fist. She glanced over her shoulder briefly, but quickly corrected herself and kept her eyes facing forwards.

"I'm... I'm trying to get the ship to turn. I need the side to face the sun."

Seth frowned softly, but still moved around the chair so that he was in front of her and pressed the buttons from that side. With a few quick keystrokes, the console let out an agreeable tone before the ship shuddered gently and began to adjust itself.

However, Astra kept her eyes focused on the console, but not to watch his hands so she could copy the controls. When she felt the ship move, she quickly pulled herself out of the chair with a pained groan, keeping her eyes glued to the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world, as she hobbled towards her previous spot on the floor.

"Is everything okay? I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you're not usually this quiet. Well... sometimes you are quiet, but not this quiet. Especially when I did something wrong, which is a lot of the time."

He wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, but the crackling of electricity dancing across her soft, pale skin reminded him of the danger that would bring. Which just made him feel even worse.

Keeping her eyes on the floor, Astra hobbled over to the shield she had arrived in on and slowly bent down with a wince and a few restrained groans, before picking it up. Standing tall, she took a long and deep breath before finally turning to Seth and giving him a half-hearted smile.

"I'm just really hoping that this works, that's all."

"Hope that what works? Will you at least talk to me?"

With another half-hearted smile, Astra shoved the shield into Seth's hands with enough force to make him stumble back. As Seth was forced backwards, Astra also took her own step back and, in the same movement, slapped the button on the wall.

A button she could actually get to work, as it was written in English. The wall opened itself up to reveal a small corridor, no more than a meter long, as Astra quickly dipped inside and closed the door behind her.

"What are you doing?!"

Seth threw himself open, slamming his hand against the button, only for it to let out the same aggravatingly negative tone that Astra had been experiencing with the control console.

Instead of doing what he wanted, the wall in front of him shifted, turning translucent as he could see Astra through the window taking her hand away from the locking mechanism.

Astra put on a stern expression, pressing her hand against the window as she gave Seth one of her patented glares as her eyes bore into his, letting him see the slight watery quiver glazing her eyes.

"Whatever happens next, Don't interfere."

She spoke coldly, her voice muffled as it moved through the door. Before Seth could reply, Astra quickly turned away and strode confidently over to the other side of the short corridor. Her hand shot towards the control panel, but stopped and hovered just over the button.

She could feel Seth's eyes on him, and could hear the muffled sound of Nixie's voice as she asked countless confused questions.

Taking a deep breath, Astra glanced at her evolution requirements one last time, before finally pressing the button her hand had been hovering over in uncertainty. The wall obediently dissolved, opening up into a doorway, and in a single second all the air violently ripped out of the room as it, along with Astra, was flung into the uncaring void of space.

The air in her lungs wanted to join the air from the room, wanting to tear its way out into the treacherous void and fly free, whether Astra's lungs wanted them to or not. They threatened to rip her lungs out along with their exit, like a stropping teenager slamming the door behind them. Only much more fatal and gory.

Instead of letting the air tear its way out in a gory, dramatic exit, Astra pursed her lips and breathed out slowly. It was a controlled, steady stream of air that was taking a lot of effort to control. But it allowed her lungs to stay inside of her, where they belonged.

But that was not the only issue her new environment brought her.

Pain coursing through her was nothing new, she had endured it every time she used her abilities and was currently enduring it to this very moment as she was overflowing with energy. But this new pain was something else.

The blood in her veins began to bubble and boil. Not out of anger or in any metaphorical way. It literally began to boil inside of her, cooking her from the inside out.

Her vision began to blur, as the liquid within her eyes did the same. But even if the pressure of the vacuum didn't do it, her new view would have.

Towering before her, dominating every inch of her blurring sight, was the silent roaring inferno that blessed their skies every single day. It's warmth bathed her skin, before starting to cook it. It rapidly blistered and started to blacken as she burned to a crisp.

Yet Astra didn't care. Although her drifting seemed aimless, this was her goal all along. Gravity took over, dragging her closer and closer to the burning ball of gas that was one of the ultimate symbols of power in the universe. And she embraced it with open arms.

Even when her skin burned off, even when her eyes boiled, even when the air in her lungs was completely lost to the vacuum leaving her utterly breathless. Even then, she floated towards it with open arms.

She heard a small ding in her head, the notification of the system confirming something, as a hint of green appeared in her ruined vision alongside the overwhelming yellow of the sun. It was undoubtedly her guardian trying to show her something, but it was pointless now.

Even without vision however, she knew what the words said.

Her second last requirement had been complete. Now all she had left was the requirement that was, funnily enough, the easiest requirement of all. A requirement that anyone would be able to complete, even in their sleep.

[... (Complete)

- Absorb and Store a minimum of 4,000,000 Mwh of electricity - (Complete)

- Absorb Energy from a fusion reaction - (Complete)

- Die. - (In progress) ]

As Astra fell into the depths of the silently roaring sun her flesh turned to ash, the smile never left her lips, not even for a second. By the time she reached the surface of the sun, there was nothing left. Not even ash.

***

WHAM!

Seth's fist slammed against the wall of the ship, denting it inwards, but as soon as he pulled his hand away the nano-machines quickly got to work fixing the dent. He was too focused on the view outside the window to care however.

He ground his teeth, holding back the volcano of emotions that was threatening to erupt at any moment. The only reason he was managing to do so, was because of Nixie who stood next to him, gazing out of the front windshield in confusion. But she was also part of the reasons he was so close to erupting.

The window they watched from was shaded, adjusting itself to allow them a perfect and harmless view of the fusion reactor at the centre of their solar system. Not only did it allow them to pick out all sorts of never before seen details in the sun itself, but it unfortunately gave them a perfect, unobstructed view of Astra disintegrating as she dove head first into those details.

Then again, even if Nixie had witnessed the entire thing, start to finish. What did children truly know of death? Especially one born of an immortal dragon.

"What happened? Mommy is going to be okay, won't she?"

The innocent questions tugged at Seth's heart, his emotions wanting to spill from his mouth like bile. He wanted to break down, to weep and to cry. He wanted to shout, to break everything around him and blow up the sun in vengeance for what it had taken from him.

But most of all, he wanted to throw himself into that sun after her, because of how useless he had been. He had listened to her. For some stupid reason, he had trusted her and listened. And for that stupid reason, he stood idly by watching as the woman he... as the woman he loved burned to a crisp before his very eyes.

Yet no matter those thoughts, he didn't move a muscle. Instead he stood tall, pushed all those emotions deep down and took a deep breath as he focused on more useful thoughts.

He poured mana into his eyes, as they began to glow a bright white. Perhaps there was no body left... but if there was some remnant of her soul left that he could find then maybe... maybe he could fix her. Do what he did with Nixie. Even if it took him a hundred years to figure out the process and fix it, he would do it.

But when he looked forward with those glowing eyes, a smile tickled his lips and an incredulous laugh escaped alongside it.

"Yeah Nixie... Mommy is going to be just fine."

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