Page 62 of Eclipse Bound
Eclipse nodded, not needing him to finish the thought. "If you go back, the council may not permit your return."
"You have beaten Milano once," Lunar said, ignoring the warning. "You are best equipped to evade them."
Eclipse understood the unspoken truth. Lunar was making his own sacrifice, choosing duty over his personal desires, so that Eclipse didn't have to.
"The threat must be communicated properly," Eclipse said. "The weapons they have developed, their knowledge of our physiology, and their intentions toward interstellar expansion. These represent a potential danger to Zorveya in the not so distant future."
Lunar moved closer to Eclipse, his shadow essence condensing to its most focused form. "Promise me you will protect Poppy," he said, his voice low enough that only Eclipse could hear. "Until I return."
Eclipse's twilight essence pulsed with solemn agreement. "I promise. For as long as it takes."
"And tell her..." Lunar hesitated. "Tell her everything I could not."
Eclipse nodded.
Lunar pulled Poppy aside. Eclipse gave them space as he turned to Rowan.
"Pudding," Harris said in a panic.
The Milano helicopter crested the ridge, its spotlight sweeping across the clearing.
Lunar's shadow essence was now fully focused and controlled. He turned to Eclipse, rippling with unusual emotion. "It has been educational serving with you, Diplomat Eclipse."
"And with you, Intelligence Specialist Lunar. Tell the council what happened here. Tell them Earth has potential beyond their imagining. And tell them I have found my true function at last," Eclipse said.
Lunar's form shifted, becoming almost invisible as he merged with the pre-dawn shadows.
"Protect her," he said to Eclipse, gesturing toward Poppy before he vanished into the darkness.
Poppy reached out as Lunar faded from view, her hand passing through the last wisps of his shadow essence. Eclipse felt her grief resonating across the clearing, a pain so sharp it momentarily disrupted his own energy patterns.
"He will return," Eclipse told her, though he could not be certain it was true.
Rowan moved to Poppy's side, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Come with us," she said firmly. "You're not staying here for Milano to find."
Poppy nodded numbly, her eyes still fixed on the spot where Lunar had vanished.
The extraction devices began to hum, emitting a soft blue glow as they activated. Harris bustled between them.
Rowan furrowed her brow in annoyance.
Eclipse took Rowan's hands in his, his twilight form stabilizing at the points of contact. Their energies resonated together, creating that perfect harmonic convergence he had never experienced before her.
"I choose Earth," he said simply. "I choose you. I'm staying."
Rowan's eyes widened. "But your mission?—"
"Lunar will deliver the report. The council will receive the necessary information about Milano's threat."
"But your home?—"
He thought about how he tried to leave his post as an ambassador, and his people sent him here. It was hard not to think of that as a punishment. "There, I am always in between. It is not where I belong. Not anymore. Here, with you, I have found something I did not know was possible."
A helicopter's spotlight found them in the clearing. Voices shouted commands as Milano forces spotted the extraction array.
Harris yelled frantic nonsense.
