A submission for last weeks Thursday Prompt: Ending

This ones quite a common concept and something I'll admit I muse about from time to time; if this didn't happen what would happen instead, or this person meets that person, or not being in the wrong place at the wrong time, etc...
Alternative Universes, Timelines whatever you like to call it and I've come up with quite a few...

One that I've thought about the most is looking into the relationship between Mayra and Juno with one of the simplest UA being what would happen if the pirate attack which kicked off the events of Mayra and Paul's story didn't happen or in this cases didn't put the two characters into a perilous situation were only one would come out...
And well as the prompt says, if that happened the story would have had a premature ending.

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“So is this it?” the yeen questioned as she placed a questionably friendly hand onto the lepus’s shoulder. Juno just took a deep swallow “yeah that’s it; it’s all heavy industrial work stuff you can get good money out of it... Or make good use of it”.

His sale pitches were never his speciality and really it was not helped by having this yeen at his side, another behind him, a whole squad of roughed up looking clones and his friend knocked out... Least he hoped they just done that.
The hyena just started nod her head as she broke away from Juno as she started to inspect all of the wrapped and locked boxes; checking labels, getting lids open and at times pulling this thing and that thing out, looking at it and then just putting it back.
He couldn’t be sure if she was really looking or just doing all of this to waste time and leave him to stew. One of his ears was already involuntarily twitching and with the number of small glances she gave him throughout her ‘inspection’ he was safe to assume it was for the latter reason though he said nothing.

She eventually came back after messing about with a plasma torch sparking the thing off and maybe stinging her eyes with it glow; least that what he assumed from the slight recoil before turning the torch off. She shook that off and came back looking the little rabbit up and down again seeing if there was any cracks or breaks maybe hoping he’d squeal about something if put under enough pressure... He was holding, maybe just barely.

“Is that really it?” the yeen questioned again though at this point she wasn’t looking at him. A pair of strong burley hand rested on Juno shoulder; her much larger counterpart seemed to slightly lean and loom over him though he didn’t put down his full weight, if he done that Juno might have just been crushed.
“You ain’t lying to the boss, no one lies to the boss” the bigger yeen boomed.
“N-No! That’s it, that’s all we’ve got” Juno fired back trying to appear brave... It got him a chuckle; not the response he was looking for but it seemed to break the tension though it was that creepy wheezy yeen kind of chuckle.

“Fine... I’ll trust you” and with that she snapped her fingers and a half of the surrounding clones slung their rifles and then got to work picking up and moving crates in squads of three or four. They were scarily effective despite how some of them looked like walking corpses.
“Now what should I do with you?” she said as her attention came back to Juno. It seemed despite them coming to the conclusion to take his cargo that didn’t mean this was over.
“You see I own this little boarder of space no matter what some CSS pencil pusher says or some Federal spook” she started to giggle again “ah the fuck’am saying; most those Feds are on our payroll”

She started to tap a hand to the underside of her grinning maw as her mind went back to memoires of other business. “Ma’am, it will be in our best interest if we kept this short” one of clones in some corporate PMC uniform came over breaking the hyena’s musing. She just grumbled shooing him away with no other comment before coming back to the situation at hand.
“You see, you don’t just sneak past my little line in space and waltz through without paying the toll... Because if there’s one thing I hate! It’s toll dodgers”. She crouched down to him a harsh angry growl passing from her lips as her looming second squeezed the rabbit’s shoulders hard.

Juno shrank, he couldn’t help it this was a one sided discussion and he had no influence in moving the chatter but she pulled back brushing off her shoulders, “but you know what... you seem like a new guy and I’ve seen a lot of lepus in my time”.

Despite those now calming tone it didn’t feel right; dealing with pirates never went in such a way. She seemed to fiddle about in her pocket but she kept chatting “well I like to make sure I won’t confuse you with anybody else; Though I doubt you’d be stupid enough to do this twice but you know better safe than sorry and all that crap” she finally pulled out the long black handle and once that was out she pressed a switch and a long slick blade popped forward; Juno could feel himself go cold.
“I’ll make this choice real easy; no deliberation, no chatter, you pick, I do, we leave and you’re free...”
She flicked the blade about in her hand clam and rhythmically, a concerning kind of smile on her face “so Left or Right?”


Her head was banging, Mayra couldn’t deny it that clone put a right umph behind that rifle... Fucker won’t get so lucky if I find him again Mayra thought... It was actually at that point she came to realization she was finally back; the ship now so eerily silent, where they gone?
Her ears flicked as she made out the faintest sound.
_{“Please wake up, please Mayra... I couldn’t live with myself if I got you k-”}
“Juno?” she knew his little voice even at such a whisper though the words were too quiet for her to hear, she pushed herself back up just catching Juno crouched near her though as soon as she moved he recoiled back.

His eyes were wide as if he was more surprised to see her moving then she was to seeing his now missing chunk of left ear. “Juno what hap-” she didn’t even get the chance to finish before the lepus jumped on her wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pressing his head into her neck; she could quickly feel a warm dampness on her neck, it couldn’t have just been the blood he was... he was crying...

She felt her heart lower as she reciprocated the gesture putting her arms around him as she held the rabbit close, “am fine you dork, am fine” she spoke in a soft tone; it was probably what he needed to hear and with that his soft little shaking stopped. She looked at her hand; that ear was bleeding bad, “come on Juno, let’s get that ear patched up”.
He didn’t respond but she could feel him nod his head in her neck fur.


It was still quite quiet though Juno little squeaks broke the silences as Mayra put each stitch into his wounded ear while she followed each squeak with an equally meek “sorry”.
By the time they finished the mood was oddly placed, Juno was still being quiet as he sat on the bench while Mayra cleaned the blood off of her hands’. She felt as if she wanted to say something like so what’s the next job? Or the next adventure? But it felt wrong and inappropriate but luckily she came to some kind of compromise “so where we going from here?” that felt right.
The job’s shipment was gone; so would it be better to go and meet the recipient to see what the outcome would be or would they flake? It also wouldn’t be wrong to address this was a first time occurrence; they had close calls, rough moments and even a couple fights but never anything like this... Never a situation where they got caught, where she was knocked out and Juno was hurt... That was the one thing she couldn’t get away from though she knew fine and well Juno would likely tell her she was being silly, if anything he was sitting there with a shameful look like he blaming himself for her getting knocked out.

“I... I – er... I don’t know Mayra” he was still clearly thinking about a lot.
“Are you alright?” Mayra made her way back over to him placing a reassuring hand onto his shoulder though his gaze dropped down. His eyes were glazing over again but he kept his composure, “am just... Am not sure” he went quiet again slightly turning his head away from her “look can we talk in the galley? I just gotta think some things over”.
Mayra just nodded her head before gently rubbing at the rabbits shoulders, “sure little guy, sure” Mayra was still soft spoken as she left giving Juno some time.


It took an hour but soon enough Juno made his way back sitting down at the table. Mayra passed over a beer but at that moment Juno just pushed it away taking a deep breath.
“You’re not about to give this all up?” Mayra asked; she was getting that kind of melancholy feeling from him. He just rested his head in his hands maybe he still wasn’t sure.
“Look am” he paused again, clearly he was trying to be serious but he was conflicted. “That was such a close call and am not going to lie for a moment there I thought we were done, I thought they kil-” he stopped for a second watching Mayra as her ears flattened sympathetically. He paused thinking again reconsidering his words before taking another breath and starting again...
“This put a lot into perceptive about what I’ve done... What we’ve done and it’s made me realise what’s important and what I’ve been putting off”
“What are you saying Juno?” Mayra gave a little awkward laugh but even she couldn’t escape this serious feeling.

Juno leaned back into his chair for a moment placing his hand in front of his mouth; trying to hide that he was biting at this finger while he tried to think of the best way to phrases all of this... It seemed even after the hour of thinking in private it done no good in helping him find some clarity, he pulled his hand back.
“Look... I... I thought just going on all of these ventures was what I wanted, then I met you and I thought I could go from now till the end of time” he paused for a breath seemingly half tempted to softly bite his finger again though he push forward “but then that happened and I realised it; it was not just the ventures...” He stopped again and finally looked up to her and into her eyes; this soft feeling coming from him, she didn’t speak and just let him keep going.
“You and me have been a great team” he smiled before it dropped “and when I thought you might have gone it finally clicked; it wasn’t just the doing this with you... It was y-you”.

Mayra felt a little tickle in her throat as she looked down to the table; he was such a sweet bun but she wouldn’t deny it all felt so sudden, “Juno...” she was still speaking softly but he clambered out his words maybe expecting her to question his thought process.
“I understand this might seem weird... But... But thi-this has been something I’ve thought about for a while; but I kept putting it off cause I thought there was always tomorrow...”
He stopped again his mouth had started to go dry as he went on and on and finally he pulled the small can of beer over just opening to wet his mouth.
“But you realised not everything’s so certain” Mayra finally said slowly beginning to understand his feelings. “Yeah I realised it takes one bad day and there might not be a next time and all those things one puts off can never be... So I want to fix that”.

Juno moved the little can away as he finally twisted his whole body to face towards Mayra pausing one last time, taking one last breath before he spilled his feelings.
“Mayra I... I love you...” He was being genuine, commemorable honesty and it even had Mayra looked away slyly, it didn’t feel right, yet she couldn’t deny her own feelings.
“Juno I...” she tried to respond but Juno kept on trying to rationalise himself.
“I know it’s not the most conventional relationship but I can’t keep ignoring these feelings, I couldn’t keep putting this off-”
“Juno...” Mayra tried to cut in but he was rambling now maybe fearful he ruined everything, pushed the ball too far.
“I know people will find it weird and there’ll be those that give us stick but I don’t care; I’ve never felt so certain about something-”

She stopped trying to interrupt him and rather just took a hold of the rabbit holding him close while he was still babbling, “please Mayra... Please tell me I haven’t just fucked this all up”
She just hushed him, stroking a hand across his head being careful not to touch his bandaged ear. He finally calm down though he still pressed for an answer “you don’t feel the same do you?” he mumbled softly into her chest as she kept a hold of him.
“It’s not that, this is just... It’s just kind of sudden; never thought of you as the type to settle down” she gave a soft little snicker and to her surprise Juno followed it with his own little laugh.
“I know and am sorry... I couldn’t go leaving this any longer and go on like nothing happened” he finally was able to free himself slightly as he pulled back reassured by the pleasant look on her face while she still stroked his head.

“You’d really be willing to put up with my crap for the rest of your life?” she asked the question only half serious, they were finally at ease and Juno seemed to laugh light heartedly. “I put up with you for the last few years and we never murdered each other”.
Mayra snickered but she pried onto other things “your people really going to be happy to see something like me walking about? Still remember that one time you stopped by to see that friend of yours”
Juno replied still assured this was the right choice “I think you made a good first impression; I mean there might be a few jumpy vets but the rest will get used to you quick; hell Quinsy liked you”. Juno was smiling as Mayra leaned back, maybe there was one thing she wasn’t looking forward to “yeah, I think that friend of your liked me a bit too much”. That just got another snicker out of Juno; he knew his friend would be happy to see him home.
“Okay but come on now bunny-boy; there’s got to be one thing that’s giving you a little bit of concern?” Mayra grin as her tail playfully flicked.

Juno gave a little nervous smile; he wasn’t going to fully admit it but there was one thing that worried him, “well I’ll put it this way; am sure my parents will love to meet you...”