Trigger warnings: Dystopia, religious corruption, ab*se of power, implied genocide, death
The Lost Star[]
"See Astra, they love you, you're doing well."
Maia didn't want her daughter to fret so much about whether or not she was worthy of the position she would inevitably inherit in just a short billion years. Worrying led to lack of confidence, which led to an unstable rule, which led to the crumbling of the empire Maia and the other Pleiades had worked so hard to build up. No, Astra would make a fine Empress, even better than herself.
Despite her encouragement, Astra only grew smaller witch each cheer of her name from the crowd far below. Maia shook her head. She acting so strange today. Maia asked herself what had happened to the excitable daughter who was always so enthusiastic about ruling. Had something changed while she toured her around their colonies?
Maia held out a palm and at once the crowd silenced and stared at the Pleiades and their children with glazed over, glassy eyes. She could hear Astra suck in a breath beside her. "My dear subjects of our great Empire of the Sacred Pleiades of Andromeda, to those of you fortunate enough to gather here today, and those of you watching from your homes, we once again would like to say how proud we are of all of you for welcoming my most beloved Maia Astra as my successor", Maia placed her hand on the small of Astra's back to gently guide her forward. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Astra has plastered on a smile. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. "I know it most not be easy to see us as one in the same, but we must commend you for having faith in the Eternal Plan," Maia lowered her palm, and the life in the eyes of her subjects returned.
* * *
Maia detested the way Astra looked at her these days. Like she was some horrible monster who had wronged her in the worst of ways rather than her mother. In the near year since her revelation ceremony, Astra became aloof and distant, rarely going outside for any reason that didn't have to do with her newfound duties. She no longer talked with Maia during the limited amount of time they had together, no longer visited her aunts and cousins in their provinces, no longer ran about the palace's various courtyards singing gleeful songs about how she looked forward to her destiny as empress or how she adored their subjects. No, now she always shuffled from room to room, always so focused and busy, like she was working on something. Maia couldn't say she wasn't glad that her daughter had begun to take her role more seriously, but the apparent avoidance Astra enacted against her was unacceptable. She wouldn't take it any longer.
Without warning, Maia burst into Astra's room. Astra turned to Maia from her desk, shuffling paper's behind her. "Mom," she blinked a couple times.
"Look at that. You're keeping things from me. What are those papers?" Maia strided ahead. Astra levitated the desk to a higher point in the room, only for Maia to let herself rise as well. Astra didn't even et time to sigh before Maia pushed her away from the desk. She lifted up some pages, scanning them. "Why are you so afraid I'll find ... historical documents?"
Astra blinked again, just once this time. "This is all - this is very incriminating. I mean you - you and the aunties - you murdered everyone who opposed you."
"Yes, and?" Maia rolled her eyes. Was this why she wasn't speaking to her? Really? "Of course we did. Did you really think that when we first came this galaxy that there wouldn't be those who'd try to subdue us? Blood is always shed in war, darling, I thought you knew that."
"That 'war' was a forceful takeover! None of the civilians stood a chance when you stole their power by draining the life out of their leaders!" Astra countered.
"It was a necessary sacrifice that needed to be made in order to achieve utopia. If none of that happened, neither of us would lead the lives we do today."
"I don't think this is worth all the bloodshed!"
"Oh sweetheart," Maia went to place hand on Astra's cheek, only for her to jerk away. "It is, don't you see how happy everyone is?"
"Happy because you make them be! Don't think I don't notice how you place people under trances!"
"How else do I make them behave? It's better for both parties; they're happy and I can do my job by keeping the peace. You're really blowing this out of proportion."
"Well if it's not such a big deal-" Astra grabbed her own handful of papers. "-then I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I leaked this information to the public!"
Maia gritted her teeth, eyes widening. Despite this, her voice remained even, albeit strained, when speaking. "Is this you're little plan? What you were working so hard on?"
Astra took a step toward her, straightening her back and puffing out her chest, her voice full of venom. "What if it is?"
Maia narrowed her eyes at Astra, doing her one better by growing her height so that the top of her head near reached the ceiling. "How dare you disrespect me."
"What?" Astra spat. "Is this supposed to be intimidating? Like you'd ever hurt me."
Maia scoffed. "Do you really think that leaking all this information would - what - dismantle the empire? No one would believe you. For biilions of years, the reality I've created is the only one this galaxy has ever known. Sure, for us, a billion years is one tenth our lifetime. For them? Hundreds of thousands of generations of tradition and conditioning. Even if by some miracle you did convince them, it wouldn't last long. My sisters and I could easily twist this information to fit our narrative, just like we always have. But, if you're so determined, go ahead. Ruin your reputation just so I can go and clean up the mess. I'm sure you know what that will entail."
Astra's gaze went from her mother to sporadic spots on the ground, her mouth flopping open and closed, the beginnings of words escaping from her mouth. Eventually, she hung her head, the documents in her hand dropping uselessly to the floor. She wrapped an arm around herself, shoulders shaking, sobs echoing throughout the room. She stumbled to her left, allowing herself to collapse onto her bed. Maia allowed herself to shrink down to a size that would more closely resemble normal. She walked towards the door. "One day, when you're in my position, and I'm gone, you'll understand. I assure you."
* * *
Maia didn't have to time to wait for Merope to open the door. If she was upset she'd destroyed it, she'd have to live with it. She could hear the clacking of hurried footsteps approaching. Finally.
"What do you want? All you had to do was give me a few minutes!" Merope shrieked.
"I don't want to hear it!" Maia hissed, taking a step forward and pointing a finger at Merope. "Have you seen Astra!?"
"What?" Merope's eyebrows knitted together.
"You heard me!"
"No. Was I supposed to?" Merope cocked her head to the side ever so slightly.
Maia roared a swear. "Find your children and ask them."
"I-"
"GO!"
Merope shrunk back and hastily made her was down the hallway from which she'd arrived. When she returned, the look on her sister's face was enough to make Maia collapse. Merope kneeled down to the ground beside her, wrapping an arm around her. In a voice as smooth as honey, she asked, "What happened?"
"I can't find her," Maia whimpered. "I thought she'd be at your house or any of our other sisters', but no one has seen her."
"Oh, Maia..."
"We got in a fight ten years ago. Before I knew it, I couldn't find her in the palace. I knew she'd run away, I just - I didn't think she was serious. I was sure she'd come to her senses in at least a few years. But she didn't. So I gave it another few years. And now- she's-" Maia couldn't hold back the sobs anymore. She buried her face in younger sister's chest.
"Now don't fret, you can still find her. She could be anywhere in Andromeda. You'll just have to look harder. I'm sure she's okay," Merope stroked Maia's hair.
As Merope's words sank in, Maia slowly pried herself from out of Merope's arms, gradually rising to stand above her. "You're right. I'm Empress Maia, leader of the Pleiades, ruler of Andromeda, and Astra's mother, d*mmit! I'll find her if it's the last thing I will do! And if it isn't, I'll be sure to get her BACK HOME with me and make her sorry for disrespecting me and striking terror within my heart!" Maia sucked in her gut and clenched her fists, world turning bright as her eyes glowed and the wind whipped around her via her own will.
Merope joined her eldest sister in standing. "There's the Maia I know. I have work to do, let me know when she's home."
* * *
Maia didn't remember anything clearly after that. Only the terrified faces of her subjects, rubble, and heartbreak. She didn't keep track of how long she spent looking for Astra, but the time spent hardly mattered. It was what she did with that time. Countless planets were left barren, sometimes even split into pieces, in her wake. No matter how desperately she searched, Astra was nowhere to be found. Eventually she moved out of Andromeda, into what some planets dubbed the Milky Way. But Maia didn't have the same authority there she did back home, and eventually war was declared on her. She and her sisters had won wars before, but with all of their planets left defunct, they didn't have the resources to fight back. Not that Maia had cared, she was barely in touch with the war aside from when random armies attacked her.
All that mattered to her was finding Astra and bringing her home. Maia had ceased being angry and self-righteous, all that was left was worry and despair. What if she never saw her again? Was she okay on her own? She continuously asked herself how she could have been so careless, which led to her agonizing over the fight. Why did she have to be so dismissive, so condescending? Astra was her daughter. She should have heard her out. Perhaps then they'd still be together.
The next thing Maia knew, she was corned by her enemies - and her sisters. The younger Pleiades informed her that through labored negotiation, they had just barely managed to work out a deal with the Milky Way's most prominent leaders (and really, she should be so grateful they would do this after what she put them through). If she stayed confined to Andromeda, never entering into another galaxy, especially the Milky Way, she'd be allowed to live (she was lucky her sisters loved her so much, otherwise she wouldn't stand a chance). As for them, they'd would not be coming back; Andromeda was a wasteland, and there were greater things for them and their families out there (they didn't want to leave her out in the dust, bit she'd done this to herself). They also advised her to stop searching for Astra (didn't Maia understand that she made make it very clear that she didn't want to be found?). Resigned to her fate, Maia relented.
* * *
The only clear memory Maia had since Astra's disappearance were her final moments. For last hundred thousand or so years of her life, she spent her days in the palace, laying in Astra's bedroom, mainly sleeping. Her dreams were haunted by her past. She saw visions of Earth; the salty waves of the Mediterranean, the exquisite tastes of the olives. A paradise that Orion had deprived her and her sisters of. But soon none of that would matter. They travel throughout the cosmos until they found Andromeda. Seeing that most of its civilizations were is the very earliest stages of development and their new identity as stars gave them immeasurable amounts of power, their opportunity was clear. Within a short five hundred years, Maia and her sisters were regarded as goddesses. And then she ruined it by making corpses out of her subjects who worshipped her. She'd singlehandedly destroyed everything. And now was she completely alone, without even bacteria to keep her company.
Perhaps Astra was right. Maybe her methods had been needlessly ruthless. Surely there were other ways to be happy.
"Mother."
"Astra?" Maia looked over. It didn't quite look like her, the woman standing before her was too mature to be the same child she'd last seen. But it must have been Astra from the way she looked at her.
Astra pulled a seat from her desk, still littered with documents, next to the bed. "You must be dying."
"What gave you that idea," Maia said wryly as she tried to hoist herself up to sit, but broke into coughing fit while doing so. Astra helped her sit straight.
"It's all gone," Astra remarked. Her tone wasn't cocky or mocking - just matter-of-fact. As if she knew that one day this would be the fate of her family and their empire. She was certainly wiser than Maia.
How did she get to be mature, so smart? She guessed she'd never know. No point in asking now. Astra had nothing to explain to her. She was right to run. "I'm sorry."
Astra looked at her, voice remaining steady despite tear-filled eyes. "I know."
Maia smiled, fighting her screaming nerves. "Look at how beautiful you are."
Astra gave her a weak smile back, a single tear escaping her left eye. "How are you?"
Maia placed a hand over Astra's. "Never better."