I own nothing. Warning! Femme!Slash! Alien trafficking! Watch The Galactic Enforcers first, please.
Also, I'd like to thank my muse, Myaxx, for this (hopefully) awesome first idea.
Myaxx: ...
Myaxx, c'mon, you can't hate me forever!
Myaxx: Wanna bet?
...
--
The silence of the blessedly cool night was lost on no one, swirls of desert sand dancing to the frozen music in the air. The entire planet breathed one, collective sigh as two figures stood, gazing at the last glimmers of sunset. Where one seemed to almost tower over the other, both clearly feminine, the looks exchanged left no room for questionable intentions.
Bending close to the smaller female, the tall woman tipped the younger's head upward to meet her own lips, memories passing between mingled mouths and gasps for breath.
Eyes opened briefly, the younger's murmuring, 'Will I see you again?'
The elder was without a reply, other than to intensify her kisses.
The younger closed her eyes and remembered…
--
The first time she saw her, it was early morning. Her cousin had done… something? It was a classic 'love at first sight' moment. The rest of the world seemed to dissipate as she gazed into glimmering, amber quad optics. Shimmering crimson hair so dark one might think it was black cascaded down powerful shoulders, strong, overpowering red. Rough arms, four of them, were covered in spikes of flesh that glinted in the warmth of the sun.
The only problem with her fairytale was that she seemed to have gone completely unnoticed by the being of perfection before her.
A tall, blue male had given introductions, but only one name stayed with the girl.
"Tini."
--
Tini broke from the kiss, staring into eyes that were so completely green, she could have drowned in them, but she knew that, for once, she wouldn't have to save herself, or anyone else for that matter, because the girl in front of her would save her.
She breathed in the sweet scent of earthen fruits from the girl's hair, cradling her against her chest as she warped them both back to the hotel the girl was staying at, remembering…
--
"Hey! How come he gets the superhero treatment?"
Ultimos had lightly brushed off her indignant cry, but Tini felt her pain. She knew what it was like to be just another face. The young girl's pale complexion was framed by soft, ginger hair, but her personality and wit were as sharp as cinnamon.
Vaguely, Tini wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through the earth child's hair. Would it be coarse and nearly solid like her own? Or would it be submissive, giving way between her fingers, molding to the shape it was commanded to.
'I like men,' was her last thought before she headed off to battle Sixsix and Volcanus, hearing a soothing phrase addressed to the girl.
"Gwen."
--
Noises assaulted them upon their return from the Gobi. The Detroit air was heavy with the sounds of a city and the pounding of a mighty thunderstorm. Gwen held onto Tini as she strode toward the girl's bed, seating herself on the floor beside it.
Gwen nuzzled Tini's chest, sighing softly as the tetramand brushed her hair from her face as the alien whispered, "I'm sorry. I have to go."
--
When Gwen saw Tini lying, trapped by an old boxcar, she was angry. She didn't quite know why, or at what, but she knew she was angry. When Ben rescued her, she was embarrassed. But it was when Synaptak had shielded Tini from the rockslide that Gwen became so livid she had to keep quiet to contain herself and had ended up lashing out at Synaptak when he had asked about steel forges.
It was also then that, had Gwen bothered to look, the day had suddenly taken a turn for the overcast.
--
Gwen gripped Tini's arm with all her meager strength, attempting to deny the female's egression.
Tini sighed, permitting one hand to ghost down the length of Gwen's vertebrae.
"Gwen, you and I both know it couldn't work. You are a human, a child, with your entire life before you. I cannot take you from that."
--
Tini was surprised, to say the least, when Gwen was the one who volunteered to handle the chemical sabotage. If anything, it made her less certain of herself. The human child was brave, intelligent, observant…
And everything Tini felt she had known about social norms began breaking apart before her eyes.
The girl of no more than ten earth years was twisting her heart into a shape she never thought it could be. It was all she could do to attempt to keep Synaptak near her. As long as she believed she loved him, there would be no problems.
--
Gwen's eyes snapped open, blazing in rage as she quietly fumed, "And what if I want you to take it from me? What if I want to go with you, to see the universe with you, to save lives and chase bad guys with you?"
"And when the time comes, do you want to be tossed aside with us, too? Because that is what will happen!" scolded Tini, staring into Gwen's evergreen optics. "Gwen, in a few more earth years, we will be assigned a permanent position in some deserted sector of the Universe to just wait there until we've either been called home or died. Is that what you want?"
Gwen's eyes flashed as a lightning bolt shut off the electricity, questions spilling over her lips as tears spilled from her eyes.
--
The Galactic Enforcers would have left Earth immediately, but in a last, ditch attempt to prevent their capture, Volcanus had smashed the control room of their ship. Synaptak and Ultimos were to work on it, but they had asked Tini to gather information about the planet below for future reference.
It wouldn't have bothered her so much had she not been paired with Gwen as her guide.
Of course, it didn't seem to bother her at all when the human fell from a tree branch she'd been reading in and had, when caught, pressed full, soft lips against Tini's.
No, it hadn't bothered her at all…
--
"What do you mean?" Gwen questioned like a daughter sans her father's loving presence.
"I – that is, we – were bought by the Intergalactic Judicial Association. We were all from poor families, and by selling ourselves to the IJA we were able to take care of our families on our home planets. That's why Ultimos is so careful about following the code. His wife and children – two little girls – depend on him being able to follow it. For Synaptak, it's his parents. For me, it's my sister. What it means, though, is that we are the property of IJA."
There was a quiet in the room that stretched too long for Gwen's liking, broken only by the occasional sniffle or car horn.
"I'm sorry."
It was all Gwen could think to say. It terrified her to think of what it was like, being someone else's property.
This time, it was Tini's turn to weep, rotating her head so that her coarse hair fell over her luminous eyes.
Reaching a small – so small compared to the giant in her room – hand up, Gwen brushed Tini's mane from her face, watching puffy, orange-tinted eyes glance at her, then down in shame as she placed a light kiss upon each of her four eyes.
"If you ever want to talk, or need a friend, I'm always here for you. And one day, I'll buy your freedom, and you and Synaptak and Ultimos will be free, and you can be with whoever you want."
The words were spoken as more than an oath, and Tini smiled, even through a curtain of tears, as she laid Gwen on her bed and tucked her in.
Standing to leave, Gwen called out, "Wait!"
Looking over her shoulder, Tini paused.
"I know you can't be here permanently, but could you just… stay until I'm asleep?"
A quiet sigh escaped Tini's lips, and she sat beside the human girl, running a hand down her back and murmuring the tune of a lullaby she thought she had forgotten.
If either had bothered to look, they would have noticed the rain had stopped and the harvest moon had peaked out from behind the foreboding storm clouds.