Letters of Recommendation, To Apply Early or to Wait?

Hello everyone! I have a weird situation, and I would love to hear your perspectives! Regarding letters of recommendation, I have two from previous internships. These letters while I cannot see them, are likely to talk about my work ethic, motivation as it pertains to law and policy (they were internships relevant to government and policy work), and likely talk highly of my character in a work environment. However, I understand these are not able to equivalently discuss my academic performance in a rigorous environment like a professor's letter of recommendation may. Thus, I asked a professor 5 months ago if she would be interested in writing one for me, and she said yes. She is likely the only professor I know who would write one for me and knows me well-enough where I have confidence it would exceed a generic letter. However, she has ghosted me in the last month (despite mentioning it would be done in September) and I have no reason to believe the letter may get finished anytime soon although I pray she reaches out. I have attempted to reach out to her in multiple channels already, even just to check if she's doing well and to catch up more generally, and nothing since August when she said she may begin on it soon. Thus, my two options are either apply anyways with my two letters although neither are a professor, or ask another professor who may write me a more generic letter and likely would finish it around December. In my circumstance, I am only a year out of undergrad (graduated 2025) so many professors I had may still remember me and I am not as worried about that, rather, worried about the timeline since aid consideration is my primary factor for stressing out for earlier applications in November. Is it a deal breaker for schools when accepting candidates or considering aid whether a professor is on their letters? Or, is it more important I apply before December? Thank you all for taking the time to read this!