I was changing. There was no denying it anymore, even if I’d only been pushing back against the strange melding of my memories. Connecting to Mortician had done something to me that I’d almost forgotten about, but here it was rearing its ugly head at the worst possible time. If I pushed forward, there was a chance Jun would be affected too. Actually, how did she know if this grafting would take? I was a human, not a Staura.

Jun squeaked in pain. I watched a tear roll down her cheek along with a droplet of clear blood from her corner of mouth. A distraction from the pain in her back brought on by a pain in her mouth. And the longer I thought myself in circles, the longer she would suffer. Her genetic strangeness pulsed in time to her breathing, and before I could make another distracting thought, I gently pressed my bleeding finger into the strangeness.

I wasn’t in the trawler any more. Stone walls faded away into something I’d seen only once, and only for the shortest time. A room constructed from emptiness, along with a square of light that seemed to lead somewhere real. It had to be impossible. How was I back on the Ossuary?

Something appeared to cut off the light, casting a long and sinuous shadow over a thin figure clad in countless ribbons. The End’s true form was a strange sight to behold, especially knowing that I might have been the first mortal person to ever lay eyes on it and live. Or I could be completely wrong about that; I didn’t know enough about anything to make more than an assumption. It spread its arms and hurried forwards, as if it were… excited to see me?

I Instinctively recoiled as it closed in on me, but I couldn’t get far enough away to avoid its crushing hug. Its ribbons coiled around me like they had minds of their own, stroking my hair and patting my muscles. I couldn’t get the image of my own grandparents poking at me and fawning over how much I’d grown, and it brought up some complicated feelings I was not ready to deal with. This was one of the strongest beings in all existence, not my grandpa.

//AH, SEBASTIAN.

//AND JUNIPER, AS WELL.

//THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE!

//WHAT BRINGS THE TWO OF YOU TO THE OSSUARY?

Jun? I turned to the left and saw nothing, then turned to the right and saw Jun sitting on a dinky plastic-looking chair next to me. It was much like the one under my own ass, if I had to guess.

“Jun? How are you here?” I asked, feeling my own voice come out instead of the strange telepathic-esque communications I’d used every other time I’d found myself in The End’s presence. “Oh, shit, did I fuck up and kill both of us somehow?”

Jun said nothing, simply staring ahead with utter confusion written on her face. She couldn’t take her eyes off of The End. There wasn’t much confidence behind her voice when she eventually spoke.

“Drown me, we are dead, aren’t we?” She muttered, looking around the room. She pointedly ignored The End, eventually settling on the chair under me. “Why does the afterlife have cheap chairs? Shouldn’t we have beds of flowing pure water that we can sleep on until our consciousness rejoins the stream of creation?”

Both The End and I looked at her strangely at her words.

//THIS IS NOT YOUR AFTERLIFE, JUNIPER.

//THIS IS THE OSSUARY; MY HOME, AND THE HOME OF ALL WHO WORK WITH ME.

//INCLUDING SEBASTIAN HERE, WHO IS MY ENVOY!

//BUT YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT, OF COURSE.

The End nodded happily to itself, which did nothing to aid Jun’s confusion. “The Ossuary? I… I think I’ve heard that before, but I don’t remember where. Seb, what did you do to us? Is this… oh gods, is this The End?”

//IN THE COSMIC MATTER!

The End said happily.

//SEBASTIAN CONNECTED HIMSELF TO YOU AT THE ABSOLUTE BASEST LEVEL ACHIEVABLE FOR MORTAL RACES, WHICH CONNECTED YOU TO ME.

//THOUGH I MUST APOLOGIZE; I CANNOT EXTEND A HAND TO CHOOSE YOU.

//YOU SIMPLY DO NOT FIT THE CRITERIA NECESSARY.

“That’s… okay?” Jun reluctantly said. “But, uh Seb was trying to graft Persephonia’s name onto me. Did whatever this is,” Jun gestured all around her, “mess that up?”

//OH, OF COURSE NOT.

//SEBASTIAN HAS EXPERIENCED THIS A FEW TIMES BEFORE; YOUR PERCEPTION OF TIME IS GREATLY ACCELERATED WHILE CONNECTED TO ME.

//WHEN YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS RETURNS TO YOUR BODIES, IT WILL ONLY FEEL AS IF SECONDS HAD PASSED.

“That’s good. Very good.” Jun said uncomfortably, sitting up straight in her chair and folding her hands on her lap. “Seb, I think I’m having a panic attack. I can’t feel my legs right now.”

I instinctively went to wiggle my toes when Jun mentioned her legs, but I couldn’t move mine either. Everything below my stomach seemed frozen in place. “What’s going on? Is Jun being here making everything strange?”

The End shook its head.

//AS OF RIGHT NOW, YOU AND JUNIPER ARE ATTEMPTING TO DO SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT WORK CROSS-SPECIES.

//TO USE AN EXAMPLE FROM SEBASTIAN’S HOME; IT WOULD BE LIKE TRYING TO GRAFT A DOG’S LEG ONTO AN ORANGE TREE.

//TWO LIVING THINGS, YET COMPLETELY INCOMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER.

Jun and I nodded in sync at that. “So I can’t give her Nia’s name?”

“If he can’t change my name, then couldn’t he just erase the ‘Keratily’ part of my name? It’s not like he’d have to put anything in its place, so our species difference shouldn’t stop him from doing that.” Jun suggested.

//I NEVER SAID IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO TAKE THE ‘PERSEPHONIA’ NAME, JUST THAT WHAT YOU WERE ATTEMPTING WOULD NOT WORK IN FULL.

//YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS INTEAD OF WORMING AROUND INSIDE OF JUNIPER’S MIND.

The End turned to look at Jun while reluctantly releasing me from its strange-feeling hug.

//YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO CHANGE YOURSELF.

//IT WILL NOT COME AROUND AGAIN.

//IF YOU LEAVE HERE A PERSEPHONIA, YOU WILL REMAIN A PERSEPHONIA FOR THE REMAINDER OF YOUR LIFE.

//THE SAME WILL BE TRUE IF YOU REMAIN A KERATILY.

“Then why would I stay a Keratily?” Jun asked.

//I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHY, BUT IT WAS NOT A SUGGESTION.

//IT WAS A WARNING.

//IF YOU AND SEBASTIAN CANNOT COME TO TERMS, YOU WILL RETURN TO YOUR HAZARD WITH NOTHING HAVING CHANGED.

“Come to terms?” I wondered aloud. “What kind of terms would we have to come to?”

The End raised its hands. My whirlpool-like core hovered above its left hand, and something that I assumed was Jun’s core floated above its right. It was a semi-transparent black and yellow insect-like larva that flickered like a projection, curled up on itself to form a disk. The End brought our cores together, and when they touched, they both flickered and dimmed until they both exploded into motes of colour.

//IF YOU ATTEMPT TO ALTER JUNIPER’S BEING, YOUR CORES WILL ATTEMPT TO DEVOUR EACH OTHER.

//EVEN IF YOU HOLD NO ENMITY TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER, CORES ARE DESIGNED TO CONSUME THEIR BRETHREN.

//THE TERMS WILL LIMIT WHAT IS CONSUMED, AND FROM WHO.

“But something has to be consumed.” I said grimly, getting a solemn nod from The End in return. “Any advice on how we could come out of this pretty much the same people we came in as?”

“What he said.” Jun echoed. “I don’t want to hurt Seb when he was just trying to help me.”

//AW, HOW ADORABLE.

//I UNDERSTAND WHY MORTICIAN WISHES TO SEE YOU TWO TOGETHER.

//AS A COUPLE.

//IN CASE YOU MISINTERPRETED MY WORDS.

Ugh. “Please don’t bring that up. They made it awkward enough when they said it, and I don’t want you pushing for that too.”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind.” Jun said nonchalantly, barely to look at me with a slight pink blush. “But we are from different species. From what Keratily told me, not a lot of people break that barrier.”

The End waved a hand to brush off Jun’s last statement.

//OH, SEBASTIAN DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THOSE THINGS.

//I HAVE SEEN THE THINGS HE HIDES EVEN FROM HIMSELF.

//AND FROM THE LOOK HE IS CURRENTLY GIVING ME, I AM GOING TO STOP TALKING NOW.

“Thank you.” I ground out. “And I am not hiding anything from myself. Yes, I am attracted to Jun. I’m a young man, and I can’t really control that. I also trust her with my life and my secrets, which led to something just short of romantic longing. But I’m not going to tell her that, because I’m too worried about what it’ll do to our friendship if she says no.”

“I wouldn’t say no.” Jun said with a slightly deeper blush than before. “You’re the first person who I could actually see myself spending the rest of my life with, and everything that comes with it. Uh… skies above, did I just say that? And did you just say… all that?”

I clamped my mouth shut. I hadn’t meant to say all that. It was almost like my inner filter was inhibited somehow. I absolutely needed to stop talking now, before I said anything I would regret. The shame of The End hearing my truly private thoughts would kill me.

//YOUR THOUGHTS REGARDING THE OTHER FLOW FREELY BETWEEN YOU, WHICH MANIFESTS AS WHAT YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED.

//SEBASTIAN, YOU WILL HAVE TO GIVE UP A LARGE AMOUNT OF POTENTIAL TO ALTER JUNIPER’S NAME.

//JUNIPER… WELL, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE UP MUCH OF ANYTHING; YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN YOUR UTMOST TRUST TO SEBASTIAN, AND THAT WHATEVER HE DOES WILL BE PERMANENT.

“I already knew that. Obviously.” Jun said. “We wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

I swiped my hand through the air and consumed most of the cores I’d gained from killing carvurch. “How much potential do I need for this?”

The End looked between Jun and I, both of us completely ready for whatever was to come. Its aura shifted from one of slight warning to one of beaming happiness, grabbing for my left hand and Jun’s right. It placed my hand in Jun’s and clamped our fingers together, which neither of us tried to undo.

//I WILL TAKE ALL THE POTENTIAL NEEDED FOR THIS TRANSFORMATION.

//WHEN YOU RETURN, YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY SEE THE CHANGES IN JUNIPER’S INTERFACE.

//OH, AND MOST OF WHAT I JUST SAID TO YOU WAS A LIE.

The End waved at us, and I felt my vision start to fade.

//I KNEW SEBASTIAN TRUSTED YOU, JUNIPER, BUT I NEEDED TO SEE IF IT WAS MUTUAL.

//LUCKILY FOR YOU, IT IS.

Jun muttered something, but it didn’t reach my ears. It sounded annoyed, but also understanding. Was she feeling the same thing I was?

//SQUEEZE HIS HAND, JUNIPER.

//HIS MIND IS ATTEMPTING TO RETURN TO HIS BODY, BUT I NEED HIM HERE FOR A FEW MORE MOMENTS.

Jun’s hand squeezed mine just a little bit tighter.

//GOOD.

//AND… MY WORK IS DONE.

//YOU TWO WILL NEED TO FINALIZE THE GRAFT WHEN YOU RETURN.

//AND MAY I BE THE FIRST TO SAY…

//CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT!

My eyes slammed open, and once again, I was staring at Jun’s bare back. There was no wound any more, but I could almost feel her as an extension of myself. It was strange, to say the…

I paused, feeling Jun’s steady breathing pick up just the slightest amount. “What the fuck did The End mean by ‘engagement’?”