Decisions

by jalpari

Noor has to make a hard decision and the team follows new leads in their quest for the creature.

A/N:

As you may have noticed, I reveal small things as we move through the chapters. The reason behind this is, it's fun seeing messages from readers who are trying piece the logic behind how the two worlds will cross over, for themselves.

Happy reading and please like, share, comment if you enjoy! It's super encouraging to get feedback and comments.

Owaiz glanced at the deck below. Noor was taking a break from training and was petting the dog that always followed her around.

"She's down there a lot", Hunk entered the room and stood beside him.

"She used to be a dancer", Owaiz whispered as she began training again. "But she stopped ever since her family died in the attack. I...I've never seen her dance...this is the closest she's come to dancing."

He watched mesmerized as Noor began another round. She moved in graceful, fluid, strong motions, dancing with her daggers as targets kept popping up and moving all around her. She looked like she was in a trance. Like everything else around had melted away as far as she was concerned.

"She seems different somehow...lighter."

"That's a good thing, right", Hunk responded.

"Yeah, I guess", Owaiz sighed and looked at a smiling Hunk.

His attention kept turning back to Noor. Ever since their fight, she had kept her distance. He tried to be patient. He tried to open his mind to this new set of people around her. But he hadn't been able to get rid of the discomfort that sat in the pit of his stomach. The door opened once more and Luten and Pidge walked in.

"I've been looking for you guys. Shiro wants to talk to Owaiz", Pidge joined them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Luten asked as he stood beside Hunk.

He leaned against the railing and saw Noor training below. He frowned and glanced at Owaiz whose eyes were fixed on Noor. Even though Noor seemed to trust him, something about him made Luten uncomfortable. He wasn't able to pinpoint what it was, but he didn't have a good feeling about him.

"We'll reach the planet by tomorrow unless", Pidge paused and looked at Owaiz, "...we need to make a pitstop on the way."

"Pitstop?" Hunk asked confused. "We got everything we needed on the swap moon."

"Yeah, but", she hesitated, "we...they're still discussing...trying to figure out where to drop Owaiz...so he can get back to Earth."

"What?" Owaiz blurted and looked at them with a frown. "What do you mean 'drop me'?"

An awkward silence followed.

"Oh...look at the time…", Hunk broke the silence, "I should really get dinner ready…"

With that, he hurried out of the room leaving behind a baffled Owaiz and an uncomfortable Luten and Pidge.

"I mean...you will be heading to Earth, right?"

"Yes", Owaiz stood up and crossed his arms in front of him, "but not just me. Noor is going back too", he stated matter of factly.

"She is?" Pidge turned and looked at the girl who was still going at it with the sparring bots.

"Yes."

"Did you actually ask her?" Luten snapped.

Owaiz glared at the irritated man.

"Earth is her home", he clenched his jaw, "and I'm sure she wants to…"

"You can't just assume that…", Luten retorted. "She is here for a reason. We are still…"

"Still WHAT?" Owaiz yelled. "Still dragging her all over the universe without a clue?"

"We need to find a way to help undo the effects of the experiments on her before it gets any worse", Pidge hastily intervened. "Until then, it's in her best interest to stay here."

"Effects?" Owaiz furrowed his brows.

"She hasn't told you yet?" Luten raised his eyebrows.

"No..what..what kind of effects? Like her grey eyes?" Owaiz glowered on seeing Luten's smug face.

"I think you should have this conversation with her", Pidge replied. "In the meantime, let's have dinner. It's been a long day. We all just need to get some rest."

Owaiz looked like he was about to say something more but decided not to. Luten turned around and leaned against the railing. Noor had stopped the simulation and was cooling down. She stood by the table and cleaned her daggers.

"Yeah", Owaiz interrupted his thoughts, "we should leave now."

Luten cleared his throat and nodded at Pidge. They left the room and headed for the kitchen. Owaiz decided to wait to speak with Noor. He wanted her to calm down and hoped she would be in a better mood after dinner. He wanted to make sure she was returning back with him.

Noor felt a little better after her shower. As she entered the kitchen, she saw Owaiz sitting beside Shiro with an empty space next to him. Luten sat on Shiro's other side. Pidge and Hunk sat in their usual place across them. Noor took her spot beside Pidge like always and smiled hesitantly at everyone.

"So...Owaiz was just telling us what he overheard when he stowed away on their ship from Naxzela", Shiro spoke as she served herself.

Noor froze from a brief moment as she remembered their fight.

"They were talking about a tree", Shiro continued.

"A tree?"

"Yeah", Owaiz replied in a measured tone, "...something about how it needs go back there with Noor as soon as possible."

"Oh…", Noor spoke softly and continued playing with her food. "Did it say what kind of tree or what it wanted to do there?"

"The only other thing I heard it say was that was the last piece in its plan and then everything would change. How every wrong would be avenged and how humanity will be saved."

"Didn't you have a vision about a tree?" Keith joined them and took his usual spot beside her.

"Visions?" Owaiz raised an eyebrow at Noor. "Like the ones you had back home?"

Noor stopped tossing her food around and felt a heaviness take over her again. It felt strange hearing the word 'home'. It felt strange being reminded of a place she had once learnt to call home after the death of her parents. A place that was so far away now. Everything from her time on Earth seemed like it had happened in another lifetime. Even though it had only been a few weeks.

She was taken aback when Pidge placed a hand on Noor's leg. She looked down at it and felt its warmth. Reassured, she finally spoke.

"Yeah, but this time I actually remember parts of it when I wake up. I see a tree...sometimes it's huge with many branches and long roots spreading through an ocean of green...and sometimes it's a hollow shell sitting in the middle of nothing."

"Maybe one of them is where the creature wants to go back?" Luten spoke.

"Maybe…", Noor mumbled.

"What else do you remember from these visions?" Owaiz asked impatiently.

Noor looked up at him. She tried to remember their time together on earth. She tried to associate the face she saw now with the face she had found solace in in that dingy hospital as they tended to other victims. They had been the lucky few who escaped the labor camps. She tried to recognize the voice that had ignited a tiny light in the darkness she had been engulfed by. She searched for the man who she had finally let in through a tiny window. To whom she had allowed herself to be connected by a fragile thread.

It frightened her that she found it difficult to find that thread now. She felt a burning sensation in her eyes. Each time she tried envisioning her past with him, the image was replaced by the faces of the scared prisoners he had left behind. Each time she tried reminding herself how she had felt for him, another voice inside her kept asking the same question.

How could he turn his back on people who needed help.

She felt her heart race, torn between anger, hurt, disappointment, disgust and guilt.

"Noor?" Keith whispered beside her. "You okay?"

"Huh?" She turned to look at him in a daze. "Uhh...yeah. I...I...think I need to go rest. I'm not feeling too good."

She stood up to leave but Owaiz jumped up too.

"I...I'll come along."

Noor decided she didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone and didn't protest. Owaiz walked with her in silence. When they reached her room, she hesitated to meet his gaze.

"Noor...talk to me, please. I know you're angry but we need to...talk about it."

"Yeah, I do want to talk about it. But I just...I just don't know what to say."

"I know everything is overwhelming right now. So much has happened so fast. But I know it will all be alright once we go back home. Pidge said that they can arrange for us to return tomorrow."

"What?" Noor looked at him in shock. "What are you talking about?"

"Going back to Earth", he smiled and held her hand. "We can put all this behind us."

"But...Owaiz...we've still not found the creature...we don't know what his plan is."

"Leave that to these people. They know what they are doing."

"But...we need to stop him before he hurts any more people."

"This is what they have trained for...it's their job. We're not like them. We lead simple lives. Just us, our home, the hospital, the patients. They need us."

"Owaiz", Noor took in a deep breath, "there's something you should know."

Noor told him everything that had happened since her rescue. Her capture on Ures, her time with the creature, what happened on Sepi, what she remembered from the experiments, her visions, the change in her signature and biorhythms, the healing. With every new bit of information, Owaiz's eyes grew wider. Ultimately, he gasped and leaned back against the wall in the corridor.

"When Pidge said 'the effects', I assumed it was something like side effects of a medicine. But this...this doesn't even...make any sense…"

"Believe me", Noor leaned back against the wall beside him, "I know how crazy this sounds. I'm still digesting it."

"Noor", he turned to face her and squeezed her hand, "I...I don't think it's a good idea for you stay here and chase them. You're just putting yourself at risk. What if he catches you and does more experiments to finish whatever it was he started?"

"If I go back, he's going to hunt me down all the way to Earth. And we'll be defenseless then."

"But it may just give up on you and look for another person. It did, after all, use many people for the experiments. It could do it all again and find someone else to…"

"To what?" Noor snapped and pulled her hand back.

She stepped away and glared at him, shocked and livid.

"Go on", she spat out, "finish that sentence. Find someone else to do what?"

Owaiz remained silent.

"And even if they did find someone else to TORTURE", she continued angrily, "and they somehow survived the experiments like me...what do you think will happen then, huh?!"

"Then…", she went on, "it would finally get what it wants. A weapon. And then we may not be able to stop it from accomplishing whatever it is, it set out to do."

"But from what you all told me", Owaiz finally whispered, "it seems like he wants to take out all the threats to humanity…maybe he...wouldn't hurt Earth..."

"What are you…", Noor gasped in disbelief, "...are you...can you hear yourself right now?"

"I'm just trying to understand…maybe he isn't as big a threat to us as you all think..."

"And what about the rest of the universe? And what about me!? I don't want to walk around like a ticking time bomb, waiting for the next thing that could trigger me and make me lose control like I did on Sepi! I destroyed all of them and literally transformed a desert planet to an ice planet."

"But you did that because Pidge's life was in danger...you didn't do that for any evil…"

"I can't believe you're not able to see the dangers of this situation!" Noor groaned in frustration. "We don't know enough to be sure of that...or of anything else! We have to find them and stop the destruction that they could unleash on the universe."

"I can't believe you're willing to throw away your life….OUR LIFE...for something you know nothing about! You could just leave this to the people whose job it is to handle such threats and if they need you, they can come and get you then!"

"I WILL NOT LET ANY OTHER INNOCENT PERSON DIE FOR A MEANINGLESS WAR. NO ONE SHOULD SUFFER THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE BECAUSE OF A PSYCHOPATH THAT THINKS HIS HATE IS JUSTIFIED."

Noor was shaking as she tried to catch her breath after the outburst. Owaiz looked at her alarmed and angry. They glared at each other for several seconds and finally, Owaiz's face softened and he dropped his shoulders.

"You're...you're right…", he whispered.

Noor took deep breaths and it took all her effort to calm herself down.

"I'm staying too", he continued.

"No", she muttered decisively.

"No?" Owaiz looked at her in shock. "Why?! Do you not want me here?"

"That's not it."

"Is it because of that man...Luten?"

Noor's eyes widened in astonishment.

"What do you mean?" She stepped forward and steeled her voice.

"He seems to...have a thing for you."

"Even if he does, so what?"

"Do you…"

"Are you fucking kidding me...do you really think that I am staying back on a spaceship, chasing a crazy mutant all over the universe, risking my life...because...because of a boy!? What is wrong with you!"

"Then...why...", he sighed, "I just don't understand."

"Yes...you don't", Noor said dejectedly.

"Noor...we finally found each other again. And now...you just...feel like a stranger to me."

"You are beginning to feel like a stranger to me too", Noor whispered and quietly walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

Once again, Noor didn't get any sleep. Kosmo stayed by her side as she tossed and turned. Everything hurt. Her body, her head, her heart. She ached for her mother and father that night. She cried into her pillow and called out to them. She wanted time to rewind and take her back to when they were alive. When she was happy with them. When she knew things with certainty and clarity. When she knew what her life was, what she was doing, and where she was headed.

She hugged Kosmo and wept. Hours passed by and her tears didn't subside. She sat up when she couldn't take it anymore. She was finding it difficult to breathe, a sharp pain was clutching at her chest, her heartbeat and sobs were echoing in her head, her thoughts were racing just as fast as everything around her seemed to slow down. She felt herself descend into the familiar void of panic.

She clambered off the bed and walked out of her room, unsteady and disoriented. She used the wall for support and made her way to Shiro's room. She didn't know what or why she was doing any of this; all she knew was she needed to talk to Shiro. She rubbed her chest and knocked on his door. After several seconds, the door opened.

"Noor...what are you…", Shiro paused mid sentence and froze when he saw the condition Noor was in.

"Noor! What's wrong! You look…", he led her in hurriedly and seated her on his bed. "What...are you…"

Noor's tears fell freely and her breathing grew shallower as she clawed at her chest.

"Noor, listen to me", he knelt beside her, "Just breathe...follow me...look…", Shiro moved his hand up and down as he took deep breaths in and out.

Noor clutched the bed sheet and gulped.

"You can do it, just breathe with me. Like this...", he went on inhaling and exhaling and slowly Noor followed his lead.

She choked and coughed and gasped as she tried to draw air into her lungs. But every time she tried, nothing made it all the way down. She would lose control and the air would just vanish, leaving her as breathless and suffocated as before. She had been here before. But it didn't make it any easier. She was terrified. Each time, it felt like she was dying. She could feel herself imploding.

"It's alright, Noor. Don't think about anything else. Just breathe", he held her hands and squeezed them.

Noor closed her eyes and tried to ground herself in his touch. She took in a few breaths and slowly, felt some of them successfully fill her body. After a few more, she opened her eyes and loosened her grip on Shiro's hands.

"That's better...all you have to do is breathe. Nothing else matters right now."

Noor's body loosened up slowly. She dropped her shoulders, unclenched her fist, uncurled her toes, and relaxed her back. She trembled as she felt herself float up and out of the void and the panic recede like a dark wave in a darker night.

"You're fine", Shiro rubbed the back of her hand and smiled.

Noor nodded meekly and let out a deep breath.

"Where did...you learn that?" Noor finally whispered hoarsely.

"Curtis...my husband used to do this whenever I had a panic attack...it was frequent right after the war but slowly, it stopped", Shiro sighed and sat beside her on the bed.

"Well, thank him on my behalf."

"I will", he grinned.

"And thank you", she smiled back, "I should...I should go…"

"Come on", he stood up, "I'll walk you to your room."

"We'll reach in an hour", Bani spoke.

"And what about the coalition ship?"

"Uhh…", Bani looked at the others hesitantly.

Her eyes rested on Owaiz and Noor but she continued.

""The closest ship can meet us on the planet soon."

"What ship?" Hunk asked.

"The Coalition has offered to escort Owaiz back to Earth", Shiro spoke evenly.

For a few seconds no one said anything. Keith glanced at Noor who was sitting at the other end of the lounge lost in her own thoughts.

"I'll get my stuff ready", Owaiz stood up and left the room.

Everyone looked at each other uneasily. Eventually, Pidge walked over to Shiro.

"What happened last night?"

"Noor decided it was best that Owaiz return to Earth and she would stay."

Owaiz saw the Coalition craft as he walked out the hatch. It was a small barren planet. He looked back and sighed when he didn't see Noor.

"Take care, buddy", Hunk stepped forward and gave him a gentle hug. "I hope you have a safe journey back."

Owaiz nodded at the others. As he began walking towards the craft, he heard footsteps approaching him. He turned out and saw Noor walking to him.

"Noor!" He smiled hopefully.

Noor stopped in front of him and hesitated. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you for everything", she whispered.

As she pulled back, she managed to smile at him. She watched him nod slowly and walk away. She wrapped her arms around herself and held her head up, refusing to feel guilty. She knew she had done the right thing. This was for the best. She felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. She saw a smiling Hunk pull her closer and gently pat her arm. They watched the craft take off and disappear into the sky.

"We'll be leaving soon, too. Doesn't look like the terrorists were here."

"Alright", she nodded.

"How're you holding up?" Hunk asked softly.

"I'll be fine", she sighed and leaned against his arm.