Starbound: War Within

Chapter 1

Darkness. That's all I could see. Nothing. That's what I could feel, like I was completely numb. Whispering voices. That's what I hear. Numerous voices, all hushed, all saying incomprehensible things at the same time, muffling eachother out. "I get the feeling I am dead, but yet... not. How?" As I began to start questioning myself, there's a slight break in the inaudible whispering, faintly louder.

"...nnn."

I was confused, and more than terrified, yet still unable to move. If I could, I'm sure I'd be shaking. I'm in a dark void, without knowing what is going on, or what happened, and there's this creepy whispering all around me.

"...onn."

I could hear the voice more clearer. It sounded like a females voice, but it wasn't human. I think? Maybe it was? I tried to open my mouth and call out, but I couldn't even do that. Trying to make sounds with my throat didn't work either. "Stars damn it all... What was I doing before all of this? Why can't I remember?!" As I continued pondering this, I felt a pain growing in my head. The voices were becoming louder, and feeling was coming back to me.

"...k up!" I heard in what I guess was a plea, from the tone, despite being muffled. The pain in my head was growing worse, and I started feeling pain in other parts of my body. My side, stomach, even my arms started hurting as I was regaining my feel sense. I felt like I was being softly shaken. I then felt a wet sensation on my head, and everything was getting brighter.

"..ssse!" The females voice was still trying to break through, with drowned sobbing noises. The whispering was almost clear, and as I slowly opened my eyes, softly groaning. Everything was very blurry and ridiculously bright. I then felt a wave of pain shooting through my head and pretty much anywhere it was possible to feel it, and closed my eyes again, not wanting to be blinded again. I was afraid though, that I might go back into that darkness with the voices.

As a few seconds went by, I felt what I thought was hands on my shoulders, softly shaking me again. "John? Pleasse open eyess!" I heard her clearly now through sobs. I did as I was told and slowly opened my eyes, to see a red blurry figure next to me. As my vision focused, I could see a very distraught red floran. I knew this girl. It was... Crimson Blaze

She had long red leaves that went down to her hips, a bit curled towards the end on her back. She was wearing a small grey stretched shirt over her c cup chest along with gold bracelets on her wrists, and low cut red pants, like the floran culture usually have. The best thing I liked is that she's not as violent as many floran are considered to be, she has a real soft heart. She is absolutely gorgeous.

I groaned in pain and put my hand on my head where the pain was. "What... what happened?" I asked. I felt what was a thick liquid on my head. I lowered my hand down to my eyesight and I saw it was a dark red color. As I saw that, I started remembering what happened. "Ohhh yeah... that asshole showed up and..." I trailed off in my head. I put my hands to my sides, trying to get up, but she held me down, and started crying more into my chest.

"I-I thought you were g-goner! I wasssso worried!" She sounded on the verge of going hysterical. I tapped her on her head, and she slowly looked at me. Her eyes were constantly streaming tears, and she just looked... hurt. I felt saddened seeing her like this. She didn't deserve this kind of pain. I reached a hand to the side of her face and gently stroked it.

"No need to worry, I'll be fine." I said in a weak voice as reassuringly as I could. She looked worried, but, I can't blame her. As my pain was dulling slightly, I felt the need to get up, and inflict some on the one who did this. "Can I get up now? I have a dispute to finish." I said softly, to the point of a near whisper.

She stared at me with teary eyes. "B-but...you're blood isss showing... y-you c-can't-" She said, sniffling. I sighed. "Yes, I can. I'm not going to let them hurt you further." I said, Keeping a comforting grin on my face as best I can with the pain and growing anger. "O-ok..." She said reluctantly, finally removing her hands from me, allowing me to get up.

I slowly put my hands to the floor on my sides, and lifted myself up to a sitting position. I reached up to my head again and rubbed it, still feeling the wound there. Grabbing my arm, she then slowly helped me up to my feet. The whispers finally ceased as a loud taunting voice rang out.

"Well well well..." he said slowly. "Looks like I didn't knock enough sense into you yet." I hated that voice, but even more, I hated the 'living' being it came from. I looked up from the floor, and saw the one that started the trouble. "Anton..." I said with a growl. He was an apex, a wealthy one at that, with what I always assumed to be bleached blonde fur, as it's an insult joke, and light brown skin. He was wearing a black open jacket with a grey shirt, fingerless gloves, and black pants. "Might as well be an angry emo" I thought.

He chuckled "No shit. What, you upset over getting beaten by a monkey?" He said, smirking. I glared at him. "You're gonna pay for what you did to her." I said, gritting my teeth, feeling anger build up inside of me.
He furrowed his brows. "I was putting her in her place, and I haven't even started on her yet." I just about lost it, clenching my fists. He smirked and grinned evily. "But when I do start on her, I plan on finishing reallll good."

I lost my anger at that point. Twitching my eye in pure anger, I pointed at him, and proceeded to let out. "She is not an object for you to claim! Neither are any other women! If you had any decency and intelligence left in that small brain of yours, you'd keep your grimy hands away from others who want nothing to do with your self-centered bullshit! You think you can just do whatever you want cuze you have wealth?! All the money you have won't amount to a damn thing!"

He scoffed. "This coming from the dipshit who spends all his time in books, so focused on getting A's, messing with those machines." He walked forward a little, crossing his arms. "You claim money won't amount to a thing? Well take this into consideration, peasant; even after all that time wasted, YOU'RE the one who amounts to nothing right now. You can't even defend yourself." He chuckled. "And nobody wants to be with someone with nothing to offer." He said, smirking. "Now, here's what's going to happen, you're going to stand aside like a good little coward, unless you want your own ass handed to you again, and I'm going to make Crimson be happier in a minute than you can make anyone in years." Something inside of me snapped.

I was about to say something to her as she suddenly stepped in front of me. "You bringsss no happinesss, only sssuffering! No mate ever choosse you! You abussse heartss! Leave usss alone!" She said, standing in front of me like she was trying to protect me. I was flattered at this if not, confused.

He quickly walked in front of her and I glared knowing what he was going to do. He slapped her face hard and she hit the floor. Nothing was holding me back from taking this asshole apart now. "RRRAAAHHH!" I screamed, tackling him down. I punched him twice straight in the forehead, and as I was about to strike a third time, he moved his head, dodging it, with me hitting the ground. He used the delay to roll us on our side, and kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me a few feet away.

He rubbed his head, and scoffed in annoyance. As I slowly climbed back to my feet, still clutching my stomach, I turned back to him. On the outside, I looked calm, but on the inside, I was ready to tear his limbs off. He glared at me, and grabbed a bottle from the nearby counter.

"You didn't learn from the first time did you? You're weak, and you will always be weak. Pretending to have a pair will kill you. Watch." He said as he charged at me. He swung at my head and I ducked under the swing. He made a quick jab with his other hand into my stomach, and I hunched over in pain, walking backwards to gain some distance. It helped for a second, as he was already swinging the bottle again, and missed. I punched him in his stomach, but that didn't slow him down much. It was like his shirt was armored and cushioned my blow. He made a quick right hook into my face, and sent me spinning, right onto a table.

I was feeling dizzy, and I was probably going to go back into that void again. I didn't want to. I fell from the table and slumped to the ground, leaning against one of the table chairs they have setup in here. I saw Crimson behind Anton on the ground, crying, and holding where Anton had slapped her face again. Rage boiled inside of me. I was about to get up as he brought the bottle down where my head was a half second ago, and it broke. I gave a quick kick with both of my legs where his knees were, and dislocated one of them.

He quickly dropped the bottle, and fell to the ground on his side, wailing in pain. "GAH! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I felt no sympathy for him, he deserved this. I glared at him, at was considering harming him further in my rage, but my eyes wandered to Crimson, crying on the floor. I looked back to Anton and kicked him in his side. "Serves you right for all the women you thought you could mess with." I walked around his still loud self, cursing and spewing hate all the way, and stopped in front of Crimson. She had her eyes closed, and opened them to notice I was standing right in front of her.

She looked up, full of tears, full of... pain. I reached my hand down to her, and she accepted it. I helped her up, and hugged her, and stroked her long red leaves, as I didn't know how else to comfort her at this time. No sooner do we embrace, cheers rang around, along with the combined wailing of that pompous prick. As we parted from the embrace, someone yelled. "What's wrong with all of you?! Call this person medical support now!"

I wasn't really focused, and even if I was, I wouldn't care for the asshole, as I was busy staring into two beautiful eyes. Eventually, I decided to break the silence. "Come on Crimson, this graduation party sucks. Let's get you back to your dorm. I'll make some of that shepherd's pie you like when we get back to the academy." I said, seeing her beam at that.

As we were walking out, we could hear Anton yelling out. "YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU'LL NEVER FACE THE UNIVERSE!"
I sighed, trying to ignore what he said. As we walked out of the bar which was holding a party for the Protectorate graduates, we noticed it was quite dark outside. I looked up at nightsky, seeing all the stars, and ships flying by. I thought about what would happen soon.

"After our gradution, what then? I'm aware some get assigned to worlds, some are assigned to ships, but..." I continued thinking about this, perhaps too long. Crimson nudged me, knocking me out of my daze. "Hmm? Sorry Crimson I was just... thinking." I said, looking at her.

She looked me in the eyes. Or maybe I thought she was looking me in the eyes, or think this means something, because- "John? Are you ok?" She asked with concern in her voice. I nodded. "Yeah. Well... sort of. I'm just wondering what will happen to our friends after the graduation, if we'll even be able to see eachother, you know?"

She nodded and giggled. "Sssilly! Friendss won't go far. Protecterss get communication devices, then sstay together!" She said happily. "Yeah... somehow I don't think the universe will smile on us like that." I said in my mind.
"I hopess." She continued, knocking me out of my thoughts.

I raised a brow. "You hope? If you talk like that, it might not happen, and then..." I frowned. She took note of this and frowned as well. "Everythingss fine. Take me to the meatss? Pleeeassse?" She said in the cutest voice she could muster as I heard her stomach grumble. I chuckled. "Yeah, alright let's get on the bike." I said as I took out the keys, and inserting them into it. I then turned it on and climbed onto it, grabbing the handles and revving it up. Crimson climbed on next, holding onto my waist, and leaning her head on my back. I smiled a bit as I blushed. I revved up the bike, and we were already speeding down the city streets.

Noticing the scenery going by, the buildings, all lit up at night, it was beautiful.

Around 10 or so minutes, the academy came into view, along with a large river like ocean running underneath it. I slowed down, and looked at it. The moonlight reflected off the water, and I could not help speak the words in my mind. "Such a capturing sight."

I head her sigh right next to me. "Yess, beautiful reflectionsss". I smiled, and continued on our way. I made a few turns here and there, soon pulling into a parking like area. There were not that many vehicles here, strangely. As I set the brake on it and pulled the key, we walked to the elevator that was here... somewhere.

I sighed. "Still can't get this layout down." I said in mild annoyance. She nodded as well. After looking for a minute, we found the elevator and got in, and hit the button for 35. Waiting for the elevator to reach our destination, my thoughts began to swim with her. I glanced to her, only slightly turning my head enough to see her, and she did the same. I can't be sure, but I think she was blushing as well. "Ah well." I mentally shrugged, if I do that, it'll make things more awkward between friends. "Heh, yeah... friends." I said to myself in my head.

The silence was finally broken when she spoke up. "Um... John?" I looked at her curiously.
"Yes Crimson?" I replied. She looked down at first, and was rubbing her arm, like she was nervous about what she wanted to say.

"About the graduation party.. I'm sorry.." She said, looking down at the floor, saddened. I frowned slightly. "Crimson, please look at me." She slowly lifted her head, and her gaze met mine. I suddenly became extremely nervous, and finding it hard to do anything other than stare. "Aaaand now I'm frozen. Greeeat!" I said in my head.

I took a slow inhale, then exhaled slowly, as we stared at eachother, til I spoke. "I didn't care about the party really. Ok, well, I did, but... even if there wasn't a party, I was there only to see friends. You included, Crimson." She appeared surprised. "And it's a good thing I was, too. Otherwise he would've... forced himself on you." I said, frowning, thinking of the horrible scene if it did happen. She sighed sadly. I placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked back up at me.

"I made a promise to you, that I wasn't going to let you get hurt. And... even though I failed that today, I try to my damndest to keep you safe from harm." I teared up a little. "I don't like seeing you hurt." I said. I released my hand from her shoulder, and she continued staring at me. Then abruptly she hugged me tight. I was taken aback by this at first, then I eased into the embrace.

She was tearing up too. I could feel it on my exposed should as they must of ran down her face. "T-thank you." She said, stuttering. We continued holding each other, for who knows how long, until the elevator dinged, and we were at our destination. We finally let each other go, and I looked right into her eyes, wiping her tears away. "You are always welcome, Crimson. Now let's go get you some meat, you have to be hungry after this nights' events." She smiled.

We were walking down the hallways, with some tables and benches here and there, until we finally reached her dorm room, stopping at the door. I turned to her. "Welp, here you are Crimson. I'm sure your other dorm mates are either at the official graduation party or throwing one themselves, so..." I said, shrugging and opening the door, and gesturing her in with my hand. She giggled at this. "Sssilly human." I smiled, and followed her in.

I flipped on a switch that was close to the door, and lights came on. I saw a couch with Crimsons' Poptop pet, Hugs sleeping on it, a table in front of it, with some magazines and a plush of a poptop on it, also Crimsons'. "Go ahead and relax Crimson, I'll get your meal ready for you." I said as I walked to the kitchen area that was in the dorm. She nodded and picked up her poptop that was resting, and layed down on the couch. Soon I heard a soft, soothing melody being sung. I chuckled at this display and got to work on cooking, first bringing out a pot, and setting it on the stove and turning it on.

Next I got to work on other things, like measuring cup, ingredients to put in a stew for the shepards pie, as it was a two part recipe. Pouring the necessary water into the pot as I needed, I then mixed in wheat, pearlpeas and corn. Next I chopped up a raw steak into multiple pieces using a cutting board and what didn't even look like a kitchen knife, salting it, then tossing them into the pot. Once I had thoroughly mixed it enough, I set the pot aside on another oven burner that was not on, and went about making a mashed potato. Was... fairly easy.

After that was done, I grabbed a bowl, and dumped the contents into it. After a minute or so of letting it cool off, I called out to her. "It's ready Crimson, your favorite thing in the universe is here." I said, raising my voice a little but not enough to be considered yelling. At this sound she sprang up and ran over to the kitchen counter and sat at one of the stools they have there. I put the bowl in front of her, then went and got a spoon from one of the kitchen drawers, and set it in the bowl. I rubbed her shoulder. "There you go Crimson. I'll see you at graduation." I said as I began walking out.

"Wait!" I heard her say as I reached the door to open it. I turned around and she looked... well, I don't know how to describe it. I suppose a pleading look was what it is. "Yes Crimson? Is there something wrong?" I asked, feeling concerned, looking between her and Hugs. It doesn't even look like she touched her food. She opened her mouth to say something, and looked like she changed her mind. "N-no... nothingsss wrong. Thank you for meal." I was skeptical, sure she was afraid to say whatever it was she was going to originally say, but I dropped the subject. I nodded. "Alright, you're welcome." I said, turning and leaving the dorm.

"And now I am alone, walking in the near darkness, back to my lonely dorm." I chuckled. "Well I guess it better suits me anyways, having a whole dorm to myself, nobody to mess with my projects, or move my stuff. It's... great." I thought sadly. "Though... sometimes I do want others around. It's nice to have company, like..." My thoughts turned towards Crimson, of having been in classes with her, all the antics we got in with our friends. "Like the time I was staring at her during our sewing course, I was too focused on her, and I wasn't even paying attention to the machine right in front of me slowly eating my shirt threads." I thought of other memorys, and my face burned a little.

As I was in a sort of trance, thinking about her, I didn't even realize I had gotten back in the elevator and already hit the floor number for where my dorm was. I walked out, face still burning, and passed by book return carts, a lobby like area with pencils, papers, and other writing supplies on a table, then finally past a set of lockers. As I entered my room, everything was as it still was. My workbench was still off to the left, with metal plates of all sizes were on another one. There's too much mechanical stuff in here to describe, there really is. I sighed. I was still thinking about her, I feeling sleepy, and needed to clean up for graduation day.

I walked over to the bathroom and entered. Went over to the sink, turned on the faucet, cupped some water and threw a bit on my face as I looked into the mirror. Still same boring self, with the long purple hanging bangs resting on my cheeks, past my chin. I then undressed out of my dark grey jeans and grey muscle shirt, proceeded to take a shower, so as to get rid of any grime, and any dried blood off my forehead, as my headwound should of stopped bleeding mostly by now. I stepped out, grabbing a towel from a rack that was right next to the shower, and dried myself off mostly. Stepping out into my dorm, I walked over to the kitchen area, grabbed a bowl, set it down next to the fridge on the countertop, and got ready to boil myself some pearlpeas in the bowl, using the microwave I have here.

After It was done and the microwave beeped, I retrieved the bowl, and set it on the counter where 2 stools were at, sitting down and quickly eating them. I then went and grabbed a pair of boxxers, slipped them on, and threw my towel lazily at a basket that had a few clothes scattered around it.

And now, as I lay in bed, thinking about the graduation and whatnot, not having stopped thinking of her, I say to myself...

"...I have a crush on her and she's going away...

I sighed and said one word before I closed my eyes, thinking of how things keep being very inconvenient.

"Fuck..."