Disclaimer: I do not own Balem or the Jupiter Ascending universe (though I wouldn't mind owning Balem =D) but I do own Amoya.

Song inspiration:

None specific to this chapter.

Chapter 13: What was hers?

It's been two months since Balem Abrasax had left Jupiter to settle a dispute on a planet in the Outer Rims.

The moment that Balem left, Amoya felt like running through the palaces walls screaming for pure joy. She basked in the silence. She cherished waking up and knowing she wasn't going to be summoned. Most of the palace residents ignored her for the most part and that was fine with her. Amoya reveled in her new found freedom. She was free to explore the place and found it to be pretty awesome.

Despite the fact she had been on Jupiter quite some time now, she only saw very little of the palace, much less Jupiter itself. In fact this was the first time she had ventured outside, once she asked Chicanery Night if the air was breathable. He looked at her as if she was ignorant as jack and went into a lengthy speech about the force field they had. It took all of Amoya's willpower to smile sweetly and not snap at him.

Amoya even discovered a massive library that she began spending her time in. There were paper books like on Earth, though the main baulk of the library seemed to be data pad books. She found very few books, paper or data, that weren't in English. Amoya thought it was kind of cool that when she picked up a data pad book in particular the first thing it ask her is what language she wanted to read it in. There was a librarian, an splice that as half woman and half turtle that manned the library.

Amoya found herself hitting it off well with the librarian. Well, once she managed to assure her that she wasn't going to go off on her like Balem or like any of the pure-blooded humans would in the universe. It was that time she learned about splices. That really explained a few things...even why Mr. Night looked like a rat. Amoya found the process very interesting, which surprised the librarian as in the universe, splices were looked down upon. Amoya didn't really understand why. She could not see why she should have a problem with them as a fully grown human.

Despite all the new things she was learning, it wasn't until halfway through the second month she discovered she was beginning to feel a little blue. She was eating breakfast one day when it occurred to her that she was beginning to feel...well lonely. Now that didn't really bother her except for the fact that she was beginning to feel lonely without a particular person.

Balem Abrasax.

Unexpectedly she was beginning to find she was missing the eccentric man. She was missing the spats she had with him. She was beginning to miss his snarky attitude.

And she felt that was very bad and so pushed the man out of her head.

Only problem was he kept jumping back into it.

And here was Amora standing on a balcony overlooking all of Jupiter. She could see for miles and miles yet her mind was not anywhere on the planet.

Instead it was back on Balem. He irked her so much and yet in the months they had shared together he was becoming a big part of her life. It was never boring when he was around.

Her mind went back to the day she had her nightmare.

In his own way, he seemed to show care for her. She didn't want to analyze it too closely but it seemed obvious.

Well, in an Balem Abrasax way.

She felt she was beginning to understand the man that was Balem Abrasax. He was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and sometimes, Amoya was finding out, the best way to understand him was to understand that he was an mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Confusing she knew.

And like opening a can of worms, her mind delved deeper into the moment. Unconsciously, she brought her hand up to her face to stroke it as he had done. He had been gentle in his own way and for Amoya it was different to experience such a thing.

If that messenger hadn't interrupted them...

Amoya shook herself. She didn't want to think about that.

Would he have kissed her?

She said she didn't want to think about that.

And yet, her brain was turning on her.

In his own way he had comforted her. Did he not in his own way say she could be worth something? That she didn't have to be confined to her birth circumstances?

Was he right? She spent her entire life dreaming but did the problem lie with her lack of courage? Did she waste all the time dreaming convincing herself to only enjoy her dreams because that was all she would ever have? Did she lack the courage to take what she wanted?

Those were the questions that plagued her. Questions she had fought to ignored in the time he went away.

What did she want?

Less and less was her ambition was to go home.

She let Balem think that she still wanted to go home on account of the fact she was not conceding any more to him then she absolutely had to.

But the thought of returning home almost filled her with panic.

Almost.

The thought of going back to her mundane life filled with nothing but broken dreams after all she has been able to witness and see left her feeling bereft.

No, she didn't want to return home.

Yet, what did her future hold for her here?

When she was younger and still just before she was brought here, she wished to become a Moon Princess. Meet space royalty.

Fall in love.

Amoya swallowed. Her thoughts had been constantly reminding her of her previous desires now that she had space to think.

"He would be tall, cute. Maybe a little arrogant. After all he is the King of all the galaxies. I would be his Queen. Of course, I wouldn't like him right off the bat. He'd have to grow on me. You know, work for it"

Did she not utter those very words to the stars once?

And now it wasn't lost on her the irony she was in. The irony she dared not even put into thoughts much less words.

So what did she want?

Did she want to continue to dream or did she want to take what was hers?

What was hers?

She could not bear to think those thoughts either.

A sneeze broke into Amoya's thoughts that came from her.

"Excuse me", she muttered out of habit though no one was around.

She sneeze a few more times, her eyes watering. "Pollen." She murmured under her breath, though there was no trees or any kind of nature around.

Sniffing she walked back into the palace.

What was hers?

TBC...