Chapter 10: Power

The couch broke my abrupt fall from space and I lurched at the sudden gravity that pushed on my body. I gasped and heaved for air. My chest was on fire and my eyes were simmering with thick unshed tears. Sprawled on the cushions from my landing, I stared at the ceiling of my apartment once again. Instead of being relieved and feeling secure, I felt as if it was not at all welcoming.

My lips quivered and my throat clenched. I pursed my lips into a tight pout, trying my best to evade the inevitable, but the warbled cry escaped anyway and I let it out.

I cried.

And cried.

And cried…

It hurt so much. I hiccuped and sniffed and let another wail echo on the lonely walls. The doorbell rang multiple times, it must have, but I didn't pay any attention. My heart felt as if it had been ripped. It had been. A part of me was still clinging to Helystn and the me here was feeling the tremendous pain.

That had to be the only explanation to why it hurt so.

"Bee?"

A soothing, worried voice filtered through the depression cloud hanging over me. I recognized that voice. Yet I couldn't bring myself to open my teary eyes.

"Bee…"

They just wouldn't stop. These awful, awful tears.

A hand went to rest on my shoulder in a familiar, reassuring gesture. "Bee, it's okay."

Sniffing, I shook my head and continued to weep. My head was beginning to feel light, but the drops still fell like a steady rain from my eyes. So we sat in silence until eventually I had no more tears left to cry with. Deckard had not stopped rubbing my shoulder in small circles all through this snot-filled ordeal and I felt mildly grateful for his presence suddenly.

It still hurt though.

"You've been gone a while… We thought you ran away."

I slowly shook my head. Fatigue was setting in and I felt its heavy pressure beginning to push on my temples.

He licked his lips. "You're bahach—baha— ahem! Back, without him." I grimaced. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I cleared my throat too and shook my head again. "I don't think I can," I said hoarsely. "Thanks though…"

He muttered an 'okay' and took his hand from my shoulder. The silence wasn't awkward to me, but I felt Deckard shift nervously on the couch beside me as the moments ticked by. Wallowing in my thoughts, I wondered why Helystn did such a thing. If we were truly friends, or more, shouldn't we be together like always?

That ass… He wants me to live on? How am I supposed to live without you?

The small apartment was filled with things she had acquired over the months of being with her alien cat, dog monster. She couldn't just cry like this and be done like that.

If that was what you thought I was going to do, then you're an idiot.

"Bee?" Deckard asked with worry still in his accented voice. "Where are you going?"

Bee ignored him as she stood up and walked to the front door, determined. She went outside and began down the stairs when the young man called for her again now a few steps behind her. Stopping, she turned around and faced him with red rimmed eyes.

"Thanks Deckard, but I have to go."

The silent pain was evident on his face, but he looked away from her gaze and sighed. "To where?"

"To Puppycat."

The conviction in her tone was proof enough. He knew what she meant, even if she herself did not understand the weight of her want. Looking at her again, he offered up a sad smile to his crush. "Then you better find him before he gets too far."

Bee blinked at his words and let them settle before nodding at that and taking off. Deckard watched her from the stairs go out of sight before wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Come on, Bee… I didn't even have a chance, did I?" he laughed bitterly. "I lost to your dahog fer' crying out loud."

He stood in silence for a second more then turned around to go back and lock up the girl's apartment.

"Right here."

Bee stood at the intersection where Helystn had fallen from the sky onto her umbrella. Sucking in a deep breath, she focused in a way that she thought he would have and tried to think of nothing but him.

If I put all of my feelings into it, then maybe I can reach him.

Seconds.

A minute.

Two.

Gritting her teeth, she warded off the urge to cry again and tried harder. This futile attempt to make contact was useless, but on a planet light years away from Helystn, she had little to no options available.

"It didn't work…" she told herself. "Crap, I really am useless aren't I? I couldn't help you then and even now…"

Bee let quiet teardrops slink down her cheeks as she stared at the sidewalk beneath her feet. Unbeknownst to her, a fluttering pink light flashed from up behind her and cascaded down like magenta stardust.

/Bee./

Shocked, Bee whirled around to see the person who called out her name. There, clad in precious sparkling blue, under the ethereal rose light, stood the last person in the universe she could have ever expected to see.

"You're… the Princess?"

The young woman's hair was the lightest shade of silver that flowed behind her shining in the night. Her skin was fair, and reminiscent to her father's, the Space King, and Bee could not help but stare at the beauty. The last time she saw her was under a different impression, but now, Bee had no idea what to make of this unforetold situation.

The princess eyed Bee and titled her chin up in a cocky manner. /Let's skip introductions, shall we? My father has Puppycat./

Bee had guessed as such that by now he had been taken to Royal Space. It felt odd though to hear its solidity coming from the person partly responsible for his plight.

/And I don't like that. Hence, why I'm willing to work with you to prevent his fate./

"Wait, what?"

/Be grateful I'm doing this much. In the end though,/ she mused aloud, /he's still going to choose me of course./

"WHAT." Bee shook her head and wiped her face. "Hey, listen. How'd you even find me and know about all—"

The princess scoffed. /As if I wouldn't know? We're wasting time. I told you what I'd do, so let's get on with it./

In the recesses of her mind, Bee could physically feel her patience snap at the snooty tone of the space princess. Years of not telling anyone what to do, Bee felt the unbridled urge to shut her up break loose.

"NO."

Surprised at her refusal, the princess tittered in place at the sight of the short girl staring her down with a serious expression.

/Excuse me—?/

"Listen up," Bee interrupted. "I'm going to be the one to save Helystn. I don't need your help or your whatever! You came here, out of no where and expect me to accept help when you got him into this shit in the first place?! NO. So unless you have some great reason to be here otherwise, LEAVE."

The princess took a step back and reevaluated. Seeing no other way out, she slumped her shoulders and fiddled with a streak of hair absently as she gathered her words to speak.

/I need your help,/ she said after a pause, acting quite mellow. /To save Puppycat… After what he did for me, this is the least I can do in return./

Narrowing her eyes at that, Bee tilted her head to side. "What do you mean?"

/Well, just as he never wanted to be an outcast, I never wanted to be royalty. We both kind of just fit into those roles after time. I didn't mean for him to be turned into a monster… I told my father who he was after an argument and he blamed Puppycat./

The pieces clicked together and Bee saw the whole thing transpire again before her eyes. The space princess had been late to meet Helystn because she had been confined to the castle after an argument with her father. That argument led the Space King to seek out and destroy him for "corrupting" his precious daughter.

How awful… Bee thought miserably.

/Puppycat was my inspiration,/ she continued. /He was labeled an outlaw and separated himself from his past. So I did the same./ Walking to Bee, she got close enough to touch, but instead of her fingers meeting her shoulder, they simply passed through. /I did an act that separated me from my past. I became an outlaw as well./

Bee had been looking at where the space princess' fingers went through her when she announced her act of crime.

"Ghost?" Bee asked quietly. "You… you killed yourself?"

The impassive expression the princess wore showed no hint of remorse for her actions.

/I never wanted an eternity with anyone else but me. That doesn't mean that you don't have to./

Bee looked up to the princess' eyes and peered into the swirling depths of impossibly pure blue.

/Bee, I've been around Puppycat enough lately to know that he loves you more than me. Can you help me to help you save him?/

"How? You're not, you know, really here."

/My powers are. That's what's anchoring me. May I give them to you?/

An offering hand reached out between them and the princess waited for Bee to decide. The woman understood that by gaining these powers, the same as Helystn's, she'd be able to save him. But then what? The Space King would stop at nothing until the void in his heart, left by the death of his daughter, would be filled.

He'd chase us, to the end of the universe…

Mind made up, with a plan motion, Bee took the princess' petite hand in her own and grasped it. A smile, echoing her cocky attitude from before, graced her lips.

/You know, I'll become you, so technically, he'll always choose me./

"I won't give you the satisfaction of knowing it though."

She laughed at her stubbornness as she disappeared. Faded away, a gradual light began to shine from Bee's palm until she was enveloped in the pale pink light. An instinct not her own rose up inside her and suddenly, as if she had known how to for years, she focused on her breathing and began to feel the vastness of space for one man.

Helystn, we're going to live on.

[A/N: so... yeah. It's short but that's because its right up near the end. I know sad, but things are wrapping up. This one may not have made too much sense, but that's okay! Next chapter will clear it all up. I had an idea midway through writing and wanted to try something a little different than what I had planned. It'll be longer than this 1000+ shorty. Promise.

And yes, I love Deckard to death but our Outlaw needs a Bee. It's what keeps his heart BEEting. (laugh) Okay, see y'all next chapter. Addio]