"Sorry to bug ya." Sammy gave a light knock and entered the domicile that was being used by the trio from past earth, though only Vanessa was within, sitting upon the small bed and staring out the fairly large window. The stars were dancing in twilight, sparking like sapphires and singing like sirens in a vast ocean: calling to her. "Viper..., she wanted me to tell you something." Vanessa looked over a shoulder and at the youthful leader, remaining silent. "She said..., follow your gut, if you want to find the truth! No, that's not it..." He fumbled over his wording for a moment, until raising a finger. "If you wish to become a truth...seeker, follow your gut..., instinct. Follow your instinct. That's what she said. Make of it what you will, the woman's got a screw loose, I think."
"My instinct..." Vanessa Arlotta looked down over herself, no longer wearing her pajamas, but rather one of The Eclipse uniforms she had found in the closet of the bedchamber. "What does that even mean? Become a truth seeker?"
"Hey, don't ask me. Listen. Hang tight, okay? We'll have you home in no time. There's just a couple things I have to do first." He looked up and set a hand on his goggles, before rubbing the back of his head bashfully and exiting the room.
"Nessa?" Kevin walked into the room and looked at his girlfriend, who was still staring almost vigilantly out the window. "They said we can go home soon; this mess will all be over. And we won't even be bothered with memories of all this- we'll probably wake up feeling like we were drugged and had crazy dreams." He smiled, walking up and setting a hand on her shoulder, though she did not turn to face him. "Aren't you glad?"
"Back home, I would always stare at the stars and wonder which of them were actually stars and which were spaceships. I always wondered, hoped, that there was something else out there. And now I'm just supposed to..., go back to wondering? To not know?"
"It's not like there are aliens here, Nessa. The ships here are man-made, of our future. We made them! There won't be any ships in the sky back home."
"That's not-...Kevin." She pivoted her body and turned towards him, placing her hands over his, which were now resting on her legs. "There's so much we can learn here. So much we can do to help these people."
"Who, us?" Kevin scoffed a little. "Have you seen these people? With their gadgets and weapons..., and that woman who's as strong as a tank? What could we possibly do to help them?"
"Everything that we can." She spoke in soft earnest, causing her companion to give her a stare in response. After a long pause of silence, he spoke.
"Vanessa Arlotta. You're going to come home with me." He slipped an arm around the small of her back and tugged her towards him a little. "We're going to go back to our simple lives..." He leaned downward, his lips pressing against the exposed skin of her neck and making her shiver. "Back to the beds that we share, yours and mine..."
"K-Kevin..., not here..." His hand was creeping along her thigh, against the tight, black pants that were a part of The Eclipse uniform.
"And when I save up enough money..." His teeth grazed along the lobe of her ear, eliciting a tiny whimper from the slender brunette. "I'm going to buy you a ring..." Vanessa's eyes widened. "And I'm going to make you my wife..."
"Y-You're just saying that! Thinking I won't remember!" Kevin pulled back from her and set his firm hands on her shoulders.
"I'm not just saying that! I love you, Nessa. I love the way your nose crinkles, and the way you push your glasses up every five minutes in that cute way that you do. You and all your books, and your computer..., just, everything. I want to spend my life with you!" He smiled with honest excitement, pulling the woman in by the back of her head and forcing his lips on her's. Though while he so desperately kissed at her, her own lips were still. Tears brimmed along the lines of her eyes and spilled along her cheeks; to his shock, she pushed at him to get him off of her.
"Nessa?" He looked absolutely panicked as he saw her in his arms, crying.
"Kev..., I-I'm not..., I can't go home with you!" As she sat there, trembling, the man paled. "I can't go back to that! That normal life, the same old everyday...- I just can't! Not after what I've learned; I can't just unlearn it, not now! I have to stay here!"
"Please, listen to what you're saying! You have family back home! Me, and Tony, and everyone else back on our street. Your mom, and your dad- your grandma. Could you really leave all of them?" He looked at her, wracked with grief. "You don't know what you're saying...- you're just..., you're overwhelmed by all of this." He pulled her against him and held her there are she sniffled. "I'm going to take you home."
"I'm sorry..." She choked over her sobs. "Kevin, I can't..." She buried her head against his chest.
"What are you saying, Nessa? That you're leaving me?"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Kevin! Please, don't hate me!" There was silence, and then Kevin rose up and pulled away from her.
"So, I'm too normal for you, is that it?" He clenched his fists and looked away from her. "You'd rather be with somebody like blue-eyes? Or maybe it's the tall one with all the muscles that you'd fuck. Since he has a mechanical eye, and all. I wonder what else is mechanical. Maybe he can vibrate for you in twelve different colors!" His voice was cold and seething with anger, and hurt.
"Kevin, stop! I love you, please don't say that-...!" She choked over another sob, pulling up on the blanket sitting atop the bed and clinging to it like a child would. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
"You love me, just not enough." He stormed out the door, slamming it shut as it gave a loud, booming noise that echoed down the hall.
Anthony Arlotta, who had been waiting patiently at the bridge, waved at Kevin as he came up. "Hey man, where's Vanessa? Is she ready to go?" Kevin didn't answer right away. There were tears in his eyes, and he was visibly shaking. "Woah, did something happen?"
"She's not coming." He blurted the words out as if wanting to rid himself of them like a bitter pill.
"...What'dya mean, she's not comin?"
"Apparently, she doesn't want to go back to her normal life, with her normal boyfriend, and her normal family."
"She doesn't know what she's talking about. Go get her."
"She made her choice, Tony. I don't care anymore." Kevin walked from one side of the bridge to the other, his voice bitter, ragged. Anthony stood there, bewildered.
"You guys ready to go?" Jed spoke up from the center of the bridge so both Anthony and Kevin could hear him. His mechanical eye whizzed internally like a focusing lens, knuckles cracking as he rolled a shoulder. The two walked up to him, and Anthony shot Kevin a serious look.
"I'm not leaving without my sister. You can't possibly think we're just going to leave her here."
"I don't fucking care if she stays here or not. I just want to go home and forget about all this bullshit."
"How can you say that!?" Anthony, getting riled up now, grabs one of the other man's shoulders and clenches it aggressively. "She's your girlfriend!"
"Not anymore! Don't you get it!? She chose them over us! She's going to stay here and enjoy the exotic variety!"
"Shut your mouth, punk!" Without warning, Anthony swung a punch at Kevin's face with his free hand- but it was stopped, halfway, by one of Jed's massive hands. The tall man looked unphased, although somewhat displeased.
"Enough."
Anthony spoke up in protest. "Let me go talk to her."
"No." Jed spoke in refusal.
"What do you mean, 'no?' She's my sister."
"She made her choice. She's not going with you." It was Jed's cold words that finally made the truth sink in for Vanessa's brother.
"Then let-..., let me say goodbye!"
"No."
"What do you mean, no!?"
"She asked to be left alone."
"You can't be serious! I'm her brother! She's my baby sister!" Despite all the commotion going on, the middle of the command chamber began to glow with an eerie, blue light.
"Jed!" Sammy's voice resonated through the room from where he sat at his command chair. "Toss 'em in!" As instructed, he grabbed them both like they were ragdolls.
"You can't do this! You can't- please! SHE'S MY SISTER!" While Anthony struggled, Kevin gave in and held still, silent. "PLEASE!"
"Displacement in three..., two..., one..."
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