Apart
First in the Wanderer's Human Family Series
(I don't own The Host or the movie or any of these characters. This fanfic is purely for my own enjoyment and the hopeful enjoyment of anyone who wants to read it.)
It had been an emotional and exhausting day. Finally-everyone who had participated in Wanderer's re-awakening had gone off to bed or had found somewhere to sleep in the hospital cave.
Everyone was asleep...but Melanie ...and Wanda herself.
Wanda had actually closed her eyes a couple of hours ago-more out of emotional than physical tiredness. She had just spent several weeks in a cryo pod and Pet's body had been resting, unconscious on a cot for several days. Awakening, suddenly, when Wanderer had expected ...well... nothing…ever again-was a shock. Plus being the center of so much love and attention had been surprising and moving. The emotional toll on everyone had been great all day. The Soul had finally slowed her conversation with her loved ones at her bedside and had allowed her lids to droop out of sympathy. After the nervousness and excitement of their reunion had worn off-everyone had looked very, very tired.
Jared and Jamie had made a palette on the floor by Wanda's cot and were snoring in unison. Doc was stretched out on his bed in the back. Ian had squeezed into Wanda's bed behind her now slight frame and was also noisily sleeping. Everyone else had excused themselves to their own rooms long ago.
Mel had wrapped herself in a blanket and was sitting in the same chair she had pulled up to Wanda's bedside over four hours ago. Here she still sat, a faint smile on her face, quietly regarding the person she had claimed as her sister-despite the fact that Mel had started her acquaintance with Wanderer as her unwilling host. The enmity...the disdain...and slowly the path to grudging respect the two women of literally different worlds had shared...was utterly unique. It was little wonder-after all they had experienced together- that the Human and the Soul had forged a loving bond that transcended friendship. Indeed—it was something even greater than family.
When Wanda opened her eyes and saw her former Human residence smiling at her, she too smiled. What a strange feeling it was, to be outside of Melanie...rather that inside. It still seemed that all she should have to do to share even the most intimate of thoughts or worries was to...think.
"Hi..." whispered Wanda.
"Hello. Nice nap?" Mel was also quiet.
"I wasn't really sleeping..."
"Yeah-I know..."
"I guess keeping any secrets from you won't be easy...even now..."
"Yeah-I kinda have you figured out...I think..." Melanie took Wanda's hand in her own and sighed. "This is...weird...surreal... And I keep thinking I should start a sentence with 'we' instead of 'I'..."
Wanda sighed too. "It is. Your face looks...backwards. It's kind of quiet in here...with you out there...where you belong."
"Nothing of Pet's host?" Mel asked, still a little concerned. She did not want to have to go through all this again.
"No. Just some memories from Pet. Colorful ones. She is very...unique it seems."
Mel stroked Wanda's curly hair from her face. "You are so pretty."
"Not as pretty as my previous host...in my humble opinion."
"You know why we did this...right?" Wanda nodded. "Mad at us? At me?" Wanda shook her head.
"I love you-you know," Melanie said, looking down at their joined hands. "...you are a member of this family no matter what."
"I love you too. And I thought that was why I had to go. But-I'm glad to be here...1123 years old and still going…"
"Huh? 1123? Is that how old you are? I saw in your head…well, our head...just 'over a thousand'...never an exact number..."
"Hmmmm. Pet, it appears, was extraordinarily adept at mathematics ...looks like she left me a little present in here. Yes, starting at a…certain date on the Origin world…time is measured in a funny way there…and now taking into account the time in cryo-hibernation between worlds...and adjusting for the different measurements on each world...then convert to Earth years ...yeah; I'm 1123."
"When will you turn 1124?" Mel teased. Wanda was quick on the uptake.
"November..."
Melanie reached for a bottle of water on a nearby table and offered it with a gesture. Wanda took it and drank. Handing it back, Melanie took a drink as well. Food had been brought from the kitchen and eaten long ago. Doc had insisted on getting Wanda fed to the point feeling almost overstuffed, since they had been unable to feed the unconscious host body.
Melanie stretched her back a bit but did not let go of Wanda's hand. "You left me some presents too you know."
"I did?"
"I remember all the worlds we-well...yes WE lived on."
"You remember?"
"Mostly in my dreams. God are they vivid! Colors that I just don't have names for. All those adventurous lives. People of all those different planets...still in my head..."
"You left me something as well..."
"Jared?"
"Well, yes. I ...still love him. And Jamie too of course. But I was thinking of something else too."
"I think I understand. I ...think I still love Ian...hmmm." Her own words took her by surprise. Recovering her focus Mel asked her sister, "What did I forget in there..? Did I leave my dirty socks on the floor of the 'other room'?"
Wanda smiled and shook her head. "Your bravery... You taught me love and left it behind. But you showed me courage...and left some of yours in here." She tapped her own heart.
"Oh...Wanderer..."
"I believe I am courageous enough to stay here...and live with my Human family and friends...to share your -no, our-burdens and our joys...all because of you."
"I...remember some pretty brave things you did when we were still together..."
"That was mostly you..."
"Sorry...you can't lie to me-remember. Shared a head and all that. You are a brave Soul too, Wanda. Lived all those lives on all those worlds...that takes courage."
Wanda shrugged. "But you can't argue that you taught me about love. And then left all that love behind..."
"No...I took some with me. We still have to share Wanderer…even if we live apart now."
There was a very long pause in their conversation and Wanda wondered if Mel had started to fall asleep. But soon, the human girl looked up from their joined hands and shared a simple smile with her sister.
With her free hand, Wanda reached up and pushed back an errant lock of Mel's hair. "You should get the boys and head to bed…" she told her former host.
"I'd rather stay here if you don't mind. Now that I have you back…I'm just not ready to let you go…"
"Ok…" she agreed, realizing that she felt exactly the same.
The two women just looked at each other, not speaking, sharing something that no one else in the universe could truly comprehend. Their bond, somehow stronger since their separation, was palpable between them. Eventually, Melanie laid her head next to Wanda and turned so that they were face to face.
Wanderer gently kissed Mel's forehead and a moment later Melanie returned the kiss to Wanda's cheek. Soon after two pairs of eyes, one set glowing with Soul luminescence and one with just a twinkle of human emotion closed. The girls were both asleep just a few heartbeats later.
They spent Wanderer's first night of this new life together in this way …because they were just not ready to be apart…