Chapter 19: The Part We Hate

"The hell you are! You are NOT leaving us here!" Jenna's stare could have broken the hardest stone. Amun knew that she was going to be upset, he was not ready for this. She paced back and forth along the deck in front of him, furious after he had found her and updated her to the situation. Scarlett sat quietly behind Jenna, watching her travel back and forth in front of her. The xenomorph was also not happy with what her king had said. Amun could tell that his daughter did not want to leave the human behind.

"Father-" Scarlett started.

"It is too dangerous my daughter." He cut her off, knowing what she was going to say. "We are on a boat in the middle of nowhere. The company could send one missile or gun ship or god knows what else, and our friends would have nowhere to go. We need to keep them safe."

"We can take them with us!" He was surprised when his daughter yelled back her response. She stood to her full height and took a step towards the king. " I am not leaving her!" Amun let out a loud huff of air, informing his daughter that she needed to calm down. She backed up a step, but did not sit down. Amun watched as the mist around her changed from a blood red to a straw yellow. She was afraid. Amun softened the tone of his voice.

"Scarlett...my daughter. I know you are afraid for our friends, I am too. But we have to do all that we can to keep them safe, which means that sometimes we have to leave. I know it hurts, believe me. Sometimes doing the right thing means enduring the pain." As Amun explained the situation to his Praetorian, he felt Emilia approaching from behind. He also recognised the footsteps of Charles.

"Amun," The queen called out. "Our daughters are all in the water and waiting for us." She came to his side and put her one hand on his large shoulder, she could tell the situation was tense. "She doesn't want us to leave...does she?"Emilia already knew the answer, so Amun said nothing, he simply let out the air in his lungs as his head fell to look at the deck of the ship. His heart was starting to break.

His attention was grabbed by the sound of Jenna crying, he looked back to the small woman. She was now within the arms of Scarlett, who held her tightly, not wanting to leave her new lover. Amun's heart sank even further. Forcing apart those who were falling in love. It only reminded him of when he lost Jolene, holding her lifeless body on that cold, mountain road.

"My daughter, trust me, I know your pain. But it is better to leave someone to return another day, then to lose them forever." Scarlett's head lifted from where it had been nuzzled and look to the now grieving king. She knew what he was talking about, it was clear from the mist of brown pheromones he was giving off. She looked from her king, back to the woman she now held.

"Promise me...promise me I will see her again." Scarlett whispered as she tightened her arms around Jenna. Amun moved low and closer to his royal guard, letting out a low purr.

"On my own life, I will make sure you will be together again." He sent her every reassuring feeling he could. His daughter looked to him once more, knowing that her father was not lying. Scarlett loosened her grip on Jenna who protested, knowing what the Xenomorph was doing.

"No, no please! Don't go!" She said through tear soaked eyes, her hands holding onto any part of Scarlett that was within reach. "Don't go...don't." He words were taken away with the heavy flow of tears.

Scarlett moved close and gave Jenna one last kiss before turning to lunge over the side of the ship. She hit the water only a second later. Jenna ran after her, leaning over the side of the rail, watching her new love disappear under its dark surface. She did not notice the king writing her a message with his claws on the metal surface of the ship behind her. She cried over the side of the ship, looking and hoping that Scarlett would return. Nothing came back. Charles moved to her side, putting a hand around her.

It took a gentle touch from Amun to finally turn the woman around so she could see the message he wrote from her. At first she did not see it, still over taken by her emotions, she stared up at the king. Amun watched as anger, sadness, rage and fear all emanated from the woman. He had to point his large claws towards the written message so she realized it was there.

"PROMISE I WILL BRING HER TO YOU. ON MY LIFE." Once the message was read, she looked to the king and attempted to wiped the water from her eyes. The tears were replaced immediately with more. Her small hands came up in front of her and she gestured for him to move closer to her, he complied. The tiny woman wrapped her hands around his large head as much as she could, squeezing with all her strength. Amun let out a low thrum, telling her that he would miss her as well.

"You better, you goof." She whispered to him before squeezing one last time and taking a few steps back, standing next to Charles. She wiped away a few more tears, then looked to Emilia. She held her hands wide, wanting a final hug from the queen as well. Emilia happily moved low and into the waiting arms of her friends. As the two hugged, Amun noticed Charles making his way towards him, so the king stayed low. The man wrapped himself around his old friend, giving another powerful hug to his exoskeleton.

"You come home buddy, you hear? I'll hate your guts forever if you don't. And make sure you bring Mia back to me eh? She's a keeper." Amun let out a low rumble from his throat to tell him he would. Charles backed up a step and landed a friendly, soft punch on his nose. "Take care big guy."

Amun stood to his full height and noticed the Captain walking towards them, probably brining the information he had been waiting for. The Captain stopped at Charles' side and put his hands behind his back, looking up at Amun.

"I have your heading sir, you need'n head strait west so just follow the setting sun." Amun tilted his head, the captain did not know that a xenomorph had a hard time seeing the sun. Thankfully Charles stepped in.

"Big guy here can't see like we can. Which direction would that be Cap?" The captain looked to the human with a bit of confusion. Regardless, he pointed towards the front of the ship, the direction they had been heading.

"We be headin' that way now. Once all yea be off the ship, we'll turn 'round'n head home. Tail between our legs, but alive to fight 'nother day." The Captain gave a salute, then turned back towards the wheel house without another word. He was probably happy to see them go, not wanting to have a hive of creatures on his ship any longer. Amun could not blame him.

He turned his large head to face Emilia and gave her a nod, telling her it was time. The queen took one last look at their friends before throwing herself off the side of the ship towards the depths below. Amun watched the queen disappear before turning to face his friends once last time. He always hated saying good bye, but he knew it was the best way to keep them safe now.

Amun raised his crowned head to the sky and let loose a mighty roar, a final gift for his friends. Then he followed his queen into the cold waters surrounding the ship. Jenna and Charles both ran over to look over the rail, they were just in time to see the last of the xenomorph king's tail slip into the black void of the ocean. Not knowing if they would ever see the king again.

Sometime later, Amun was calmly swimming, not really noticing anything that was going on around him. He was too far into the depths of his own mind and how much he hated having to leave their friends behind. So he quietly swam. In the vastness of the ocean, everything was calm and uneventful, it a bit unsettling. With his vision, there was nothing, only a veil of gray in every direction. No sense of distance, no sense of depth. Amun would, from time to time, look down into the void of the ocean and see absolutely nothing. It was unsettling, and his feelings did not go unnoticed. Emilia swam up to the nervous king and softly brushed up against him.

"What is wrong, Amun?" She asked in a rather calm voice. Amun kept his gaze forward as the two, surrounded by their family, kept swimming.

"I don't like the ocean much." His tone reinforced his statement. He was surprised that his uncomfortable state brought about a laugh from his queen. "What's funny?" Her giggle trailed off.

"Amun, you love the water! Why are you nervous? We are just in a big puddle!" She playfully swam around him, to show him there was nothing to worry about. Amun glanced down before quickly snapping his head back up. Emilia followed his gaze down. "Do you not like how deep it is?" He shook his head.

"I like water that I can see in, or I know is not that deep. I like our little lake back home because I know it's not that deep. I do not like the thought of something under me that I don't know about." He tried to explain.

"Thalassophobia." Emilia said, Amun sent her a confused feeling. "O, it's a fear of deep bodies of water and what lurks beneath. I could understand it if you were a human out here, but Amun...you're the size of a whale and probably the biggest thing for a thousand miles! If anything's down there, you'll be fine." Amun's fears were not taken with the statement.

"Not helping love." Emilia sent him a mental smile.

"My daughters, your father is scared of a big fish! Quick, surround him!" The queen said to her hive that was swimming all around them. Amun watched as close to one hundred xeno's turned and came straight towards him.

"No no no!" He playfully cried out, but it was too late. One, then five, then twenty aliens were grasping onto him where ever they could. It was brining a smile to his face, until he noticed that he was slowly beginning to sink. Panic started to set in. "Emilia no, please stop!" He asked with real desperation, his fear of the deep gripping his mind. Thankfully Emilia knew that it was no longer funny.

"Away my daughters, I'm sure your father feels better now." Amun froze as his daughters all began to release him from their grasp. Right in front of him, he was met with Bobby, who gently touched her domed head to his crown before swimming off with the twins. Once free of his daughters, he started to swim back towards the surface of the ocean, back to where he would feel safer. However, just as he stated to swim, a wave of pain flashed over him mind. It was so intense that he grabbed at his head, looking to stop the pain.

It was like a fire had been lit within his mind and flooded his nervous system. As suddenly as it had happened it stopped. Amun looked to Emilia to make sure she was alright and noticed that she was retracting her own hand from her head. She had felt it too. Amun's mind was then flooded with calls from his daughters, all asking what had just happened. They had all felt it as well, this was concerning. Something that hit every member of his hive at once was nothing to brush off.

"Amun, what wa- AAAAAA!" Emilia was cut short as another wave of pain over took her. It hit Amun and his daughters as well. What on earth could this be! The pain caused a high pitched squeal within his mind. It took over ever thought he had with its long, drawn out note. Once the pain stopped, Amun searched the vast gray depths of the ocean, looking for the source.

As he searched, he started problem solving in his head. It was a short burst of pain that seemed to hit him mentally and not physically, so it was not an animal. It had to be man-made. It hit like a wave, seeming to start from his mind and move through his body.

"O no..." Amun realized the only thing it could be. "Emilia, submarine!"