I saw Tobirama's reaction to the noise before I heard it myself.

He dropped to his knees, releasing the sword as he clutched his head with both hands. And then, through the burning, I heard it, too, in my mind. 

The sound of the Great Planetarian dying.

A crack had formed where Tobirama had shoved my sword that was now his, and that crack now elongated and grew wider. The larger the crack became, the louder the sound in our minds became. It was a scream like no other, like a shard of glass being dragged through our brains.

Is there no end... Make it stop... Please, make it stop...

And then, with a final scream, the stone was cracked in half, and slowly, very slowly, the top fell off and burst into a million pieces as it hit the ground, its impact causing the ground to vibrate.

And all became very, very still.

After a while, there were a cascade of splashing noises, and I dared lift my head to look. The planets had lost their gravitational pull and were all falling into the deep lake, one after the other, causing giant waves that washed over us again and again. But finally, the last planet had fallen, except the amethyst planet that was still floating next to us. I couldn't decide whether I felt protected by it, or threatened.

For a while, we just lay there, me and my lover. I started whimpering in pain, not strong enough to hold back anymore. I felt Tobirama's hand on my cheek, heard him whisper my name.

"Izuna..."

You can never be too close.

We heard it before we saw it. It was as if the light reflected from it had a noise, and that noise caused us to turn our heads.

From the bottom of the black hole underneath where the great stone had stood, the amethyst from my sword was slowly floating up, not held back by the force of the stone anymore. For a while, we just stared. Then, Tobirama snapped back to the now, stood up and ran to grab it. This time, he succeeded in giving back to the amethyst planet what it had been asking to be given back from the moment I had chosen that sword to fight Tobirama's twenty captains nine years ago. He put the piece in the chip, and it was healed into place, making the amethyst planet whole again.

And I felt the pain of the burns wither away. As the crack between the amethyst from my sword and the planet was healed, zipped up, so did the burning disappear, replaced by a soothing sensation beginning in my feet and climbing up towards my face, that soothing sensation possibly being nothing but the absence of pain.

"Izuna... Izuna, it's done." I didn't know how he still radiated such power; I was absolutely exhausted but Tobirama was bending his knee at my side, his eyes crystal clear, ready to fight everything in the universe just to keep me alive no matter how much more it cost him. "Izuna, it's done. The amethyst isn't angry anymore. You're safe. You're safe."

I couldn't speak. I had never been so tired in my entire life. I felt him take my hands, looking at them, a wave of relief washing over his face as he saw they weren't necrotic anymore. He kissed each of my fingertips before letting go, bending down to where his dirty, blue robe lay, picking something long and glittering out of a pocket. The flute... He started playing a beautiful melody, one that revived all of my memories as I saw my whole life pass before my eyes. This is a good way to die...

I heard a bubbling sound close-by. Tobirama stopped playing, took a few steps away from me.

No... No, don't leave. Let me die by your side.

"Thank you", Tobirama said. To whom or why, I didn't know, and I was too close to death to even wonder. Even if the weakness from the burns were gone as we'd given the amethyst its missing piece back, the suffering from the blood sacrificed remained.

Please, let me die. I can't take it anymore.

He came to me again. He took my hands and put them on something warm. I looked down and saw a giant pearl, whisky white.

Jenna?

A warmth spread from my hands through my body, healing my insides. It felt as though I melted together.

"There we go", Tobirama said softly, caressing my head. "There we go, my love." I nuzzled into this hand. "You're the strongest person I know. Two blood sacrifices... You, a human... You crazy, crazy man."

He took the sword with one hand, now deprived of its amethyst, lifted me up with the other as I was still carrying the pearl. He carried me as carefully as if I were an egg, his shoes echoing in the vastness of the cave. The cave felt eerie and empty without the planets. I felt eerie and empty without the sword in my hand. Jenna used her fin to help Tobirama up on her back. He carefully put me down, and I clung to the pearl as if my life depended on it, which it probably did. Tobirama put his flute to his lips and started playing, and Jenna started swimming over the lake to the other side.

Halfway through, I used my newly gained strength, took the sword from Tobirama...

And threw it away in the middle of the lake so it sunk deep, deep down and was gone until the end of time.

"Hi." His face was warm, and he was smiling down at me. "Got something for you!"

He looked happy as he held out a box of pralines towards me. He clambered in next to me in his bed, on top of the blanket, and I realised we were in his bedroom. I looked around. Crystal bottles with liquids of all sorts of colours, some of which I'd never seen before, were going into my veins; I had at least eight needles shoved into my arms.

"You look happy", I croaked; I hadn't used my voice in a while.

At this, Tobirama threw himself over me, hugged me close.

"I am so glad you're alive", he whispered.

Everything tried to come back to me then, but I wouldn't let it. I just couldn't handle it. So much had happened. So, so much. I looked down on my hands. They were healed, without any trace of burns.

"Tobirama", I whispered, kissing his cheek.

He put a praline in between his teeth and reached it towards my lips playfully, one eyebrow raised to show me it was just a game. I bit it off carefully, my lips brushing against his. I felt him shiver. He fed me another one in the same way. Over and over, we just enjoyed this little infinity of normality where we could feed each other chocolates from the lips. 

We didn't say anything until our hearts were ready, which they eventually were. We talked a little about all that had happened, strengthened by the sweet taste of the chocolate and the love for each other. We talked about the war, about Nicholas, about what had happened in the cave. We cried. We kissed. We apologised. We chastised the other for apologising. We apologised for apologising. And so on. On and on it went, until finally, our hearts were empty, yet they were full of the other.

"So..." he finally said tentatively, and looked at me sideways. He looked shy, hiding a little under his shoulder-length hair. "What will you do now?"

I closed my eyes, relaxed in the bliss of him. Everything important to me was lost. My brother. My parents. Micha. My relationship with the humans. Nicholas. My brother's body.

Except one person...

And that person was the only one I wanted.

I turned to him then, allowed myself to resurface to reality, to the salmon-coloured room, to the warm autumn sun outside. I put a careful hand on his cheek. He immediately took it, leaned in. Sometimes, I suspected he enjoyed my touch more than I enjoyed his, even if there was no magic behind mine as there was behind his. He looked strong, happy, healthy. Just like I felt.

"Tobirama, I whispered. "Can I stay here? Like, stay-stay?"

He looked like he was the happiest person on the planet.

Had I asked him, he would have told me that he was.