The mistress of stars shapes the cosmos to her will.
With a wave of her hand the constellations shift.
Keith didn't know what to expect of Acxa. From the beginning he had his doubts and fears. Ones that she didn't seem to share. But of course not, she was the alien and he was the human. She was the Galra, he was the paladin. She always comes to him in the light of the moon. She always had since he had found his place back on Earth.
"Can you follow me?" Acxa asked, propping herself up on his windowsill. A habit Keith hadn't yet decided how he felt about. She could go to the door and knock. Hell, she could even throw rocks at the window from below to get his attention. But instead she perched herself in the fame of the second floor window and knocked. Sometimes if the window was already open, she would sit there staring at the rolling open field until he woke up. And then she would speak. That night was such a night. "I have something to show you." She added.
She's been mentioning this something for weeks now but it was always too cloudy or too rainy. That aside, he wasn't sure he wanted to see it. Her alien tricks still startled him to some degree. He could see the hurt in her eyes every time he turned her offer down. He was making her feel like a horrible oddity or something, weather he meant it or not. He wondered how much longer she would stick around with him being unsettled by such a large part of her.
"Please, Keith, it's actually really beautiful. I promise."
He wasn't the only person who turned down her offer. Apparently, her ability, her art, wasn't commonplace even to the Galra. She was used to concealing it away. Hiding something she enjoyed so much.
"I don't know, Acxa…" He trailed off, desperately searching for a way to let her down gently. The night was clear and warm, many clusters of stars twinkled unabashed in the sky, swirling towards zenith. It was a prefect night really. A splendid time to let her put on a show. For it, had no excuses this time. He could already see her face falling. He looked it the clock, "it's a little late..."
And there it was, the look of disappointment in her eyes, that didn't match the soft smile on her face. He was making her feel like a freak again. And he hated it, he didn't want to make her feel like an outcast. He didn't want to make her feel bad for an ability that she used to be so proud of. "It's alright." She was being as sincere as she could be. "I'm just going to…" she pointed towards wherever she went when she disappeared. She rose, carefully balancing on the sill.
Keith sighed to himself. He grabbed her hand before she could leave, "But late is the best time for this kind of thing, right?"
Acxa nodded, that time the smile reached her eyes. "That's correct."
"Can we walk this time?" He asked.
"I suppose." Acxa answered, with a downcast look at her jetpack. He took her hand, silently admitting to himself that holding a clawed hand was still rather weird. Weird and enthralling. He stroked the top of her hand with his thumb.
.oOo.
She had been asking and asking for months now. And now that he has accepted her offer to show him her star shifting, she was nervous. She wondered what she had been thinking. He wouldn't think that it was enchanting nor beautiful. He'd think that it was horrifying and unnatural just like everyone else. If her kind couldn't see the splendor in her gift, then how could a human?
For a while now they had been laying in the field, watching fireflies rise out of the grass and drift to the sky. The first time Keith showed her the bugs had been simply charming, she didn't think Earth had anything like them. They reminded her of stars, little yellow stars, with minds of their own. The grass rolled around them and the galaxies glimmered above them, waiting for her to shape them differently.
"You ready yet?" He asked. Suddenly he was more eager to see her display than she was to put it on.
"Not yet, I want to watch the fireflies more."
"Come on, you've been bugging me about this for a long time."
Acxa plucked a strand of grass and twirled it between her fingers. "Yes." She agreed.
"Well don't shy away now." He nudged her. He was so collected and almost enthusiastic. When had they switched?
Acxa stood up and faced a particularly bright cluster of stars. She rocked from foot to foot and looked back at Keith. He nodded encouragingly. She released a breath and closed her eyes. She let herself slip into a blanker state, somewhere more serene, and let the cosmos in. The danced in her mind's eye. And she, herself, slid into a dance of her own. A series of graceful and fluid motions, dragging the stars along with her.
She could feel them on her fingertips, and for the time she felt at ease. All her prior discomfort shed itself leaving her to feel ethereal and bold and more confident than she really ought to. In that moment, shifting stars felt like both the most mundane thing in the world and the most special.
She brought herself to a stop and looked up at the sky, it appeared just as it did in her mind's eye. She turned to Keith, trying to discern his reaction. He stared at her with his mouth agape, his eyes were wide. She swallowed a lump in her throat. He seemed as horrified as everyone. And she thinks that what everyone else said might just be true. That creating new constellations is not a gift. It is not lovely and pretty. That no one in the galaxies should have that kind of power. It is frightening and unnatural. She is an anomaly. Some glitch in the universe. "I'm sorry." She apologizes before he can speak. "I won't do it again.
.oOo.
Acxa was a dazzling sight. She lived in a world so distant from his own and still she was more otherworldly that even that one. Than any of the worlds he had gone to. Her skin seemed to shimmer and glow like the constellations she was molding and creating. They danced up and down inky blue hair and over deep blue, slightly-parted lips. He thought that, maybe, the stars were a part of her, that he could spy the pattern on her skin before it took to the sky.
She waved her hand to the left and then down and the stars twisted to meet it. They spiraled away from the Zenith and towards what he thought might have been the middle of the sky. She dipped her body lower and the stars dragged down lower still. And she rose again, with her came the stars like a wave.
He has never seen anything like it. He already knew that she was celestial, but this. This was divine. It was powerful, like nothing he has ever seen before. And far too short. She came to a stop and inspected her work. For a brief time, with the stars still glinting on her skin, she smiled.
He smiled too, because in the sky he could see a silver, sparkling depiction of his space wolf. Its head turned up high and its paw reaching down to him. He had the overwhelming urge to try to reach up and take it.
He wished that he could shape the stars.
He wished that he could shape the stars, and she was apologizing for having done so. "Won't do it again?" He furrowed his brows. "Why not?"
Now she was puzzled. "Because it isn't right." He didn't think he had ever seen her cry before, not until then. "I have to stop."
He pulled her into his arms, with her face nuzzled against his chest. He stroked her hair. "It's amazing, that's what it is." He assured her. "I don't know why you would think any different."
"Because everyone else is frightened by it. You think that it's more 'creepy alien stuff'."
He winced, he hadn't meant to give off that vibe. Hadn't meant to just assume that it would be. "I was wrong." He tried. "I should have let you show me before assuming it was more scary space stuff. It's space stuff, but it's not scary." He gave her forehead a soft kiss. "I mean look at that." He waved his hand across the horizon. "That's amazing."
"But it isn't right." Acxa insisted. "To just change the stars."
"Maybe it's your destiny or something." Keith mused aloud. He wasn't one to believe in fate but…
She peered at him skeptically. "My destiny?"
"Well someone has to create constellations!" He declared. "I'll bet that these," He motioned to Cygnus and to Aquila. "Used to be blank spaces in the sky." He glanced at Acxa, watching her wiper her eyes with the back of her hand. "You can be some kind of cosmic artist." He pointed out. "You can fill in the empty spots and make them pretty. Give Galrans, Earthlings, and Puigians something nice to look at."
.oOo.
He squeezed her hand. "Maybe that's the direction you were looking for."
Acxa tilted her head.
"The Galra have destroyed a lot of planets." He continued. "You can be a Galra that creates beautiful things instead of destroys them."
Acxa allowed herself another smile. "I suppose that I could." She looked down at her palms. At hands that could shift the stars. "I just wish that everyone else could see it that way."
He kissed the top of her head. "Just give them time, they'll come around, I did."
It was a minor victory, but a victory that she would cherish. Perhaps she wouldn't be showing her abilities off any time soon, but this was a start. If one person, the person who mattered the most, could appreciate her bizarre ability, then maybe she could too. Maybe, from the background, she could craft something wonderful.
He held her tight, admiring the wolf.
Admiring her.