"Haven't you heard that it's always the living that are left behind when someone dies?" I asked him, stroking his face gently. "You would've been rolling around in heaven while I was left behind to mourn you,"
“The Vepar don't believe in heaven. And even if we did, the three of us are never going to make it there. We’d be fighting our way out of hell to get back to you," he swore softly.
I didn't say anything to that. I had already come to the conclusion that they were monsters.
And maybe it was wrong to love a monster, but they were my monsters, and I was never going to feel guilty about that ever again.
We finally followed Lanton’s men outside of the facility, and I had never been more grateful to be in the fresh air as I was right now.
Derrial set me down long enough for me to give Lanton a huge hug, although he didn’t stray more than an arm’s length away from me. "I'm forever in your debt," I told Lanton, starting to cry again, which was getting really frustrating.
Lanton held my face between his hands and looked at me fondly. "I would do anything for my children," he said. "And now that includes you."
I didn't have any response to that, so I just threw my arms around him, I was sure, shocking the gruff Vepar. I would find some way to show my appreciation to him, even if it took the rest of my life.
After Thane, Corran, and Derrial all gave their thanks and said goodbye to Lanton, we walked back to Corran’s ship. As we stepped inside, I couldn't help but feel like I had lived an entire life between the last time I had been on the ship and now. And even though we had made it through, I didn't let my guard down until we were up in the air pulling away from the facility. I never wanted to see that place again.
If our lives kept up this way, there wouldn't be any place on Veon that wouldn't give me terrible memories when I visited it.
"So where do we go now?" I asked my mates as we sat in the Bridge, all exhaustively pondering what we had just been through.
Corran looked back at me as he fiddled with the controls. "Let's go home."