Xero's eyes popped open and she instinctively reached across the mattress, only to feel nothing under her palm, empty on the other side again. "Was it all a dream," she asked herself as she raised her head from the pillow.
She looked around, instantly recognizing the bed as Zero's. She also recognized the blue dress she was still wearing from the night before. If that was not enough confirmation of the night before, then the foul taste in her mouth was. "It wasn't a dream," she mumbled as the night's memories flooded inside her head. After arriving home, she laid her friend on his bed and collapsed in exhaustion next to him. "Then…" she said as she realized that if those memories were real, then the memory of what had happened to him was too. He no longer looked the way he had before. "That doesn't matter," she told herself. "I need to find him," she said as she rose out of bed and towards the door.
She stopped in her tracks at what she saw and smelled. The lights to the kitchen were dimmed, yet the smell of bacon and the hum of the oven filled the air. And there he stood, in front of the over, unaware that she was creeping onto him, spatula in hand, bacon cooking on the stove. She quickly wrapped her hands around his waist.
Without a moment in between, he uncharacteristically pulled away from her and spun on his heels as though he was on edge.
She looked back at him, getting an eye full of his new appearance. He had grown a few inches over her, his skin the same blue-gray color she had seen last night. His fingernails were now gone, yet the ends of them had a slight point to them, like the talons of a bird of prey.
"Morning," she said calmly.
His shoulders dropped down, and the tension drained from his face from those few words. "Oh, morning," he said back. "You're up early."
She looked around the kitchen. On the table were some parts of breakfast, yet farther down the hall, she could see shards of a broken mirror. She saw shame quickly run to his face as he realized what she had seen.
"Are you ok," she asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Yea, I was hoping all of last night was a dream. I didn't expect to look at a new face."
"It's ok," she said warmly. "I'm here for you."
"You're not afraid," he said softly.
"No," she said as she reached her other hand to him. For a moment, he reached for her hand, until he saw his claw-like hand and just as soon retracted it again.
She looked at him with concern. "Talk to me… please."
He looked at her for a moment and nodded his head. "I'm lucky to be alive, he finally said. "I've had close calls, but none of them ever left a mark. Look at me now; I'm all marked...I don't know what to do…. I'm a monster," he said as tears started to stream down his cheeks.
Xero looked at him, her heartbreaking seeing him like this. She took a deep breath and reached out to him again, this time not waiting for him to take her hand.
"What are you doing," he said, flinching against her touch, his hands now in hers.
"It's ok," she said calmly, "it's ok… you're not a monster."
He laid his head on her shoulder and continued to cry.
"Besides," she added, "we had a deal. When you are scared, I'll be brave. And someday when I'm scared, I know you'll be there, just the same," she said as she started to run her hand through his hair, an action she wished were under better circumstances.
"You know," she finally said, "my Mom used to sing to me when I was sad," she said as she slowly walked even closer to him, her hands still calmly running through his hair.
"What did she sing," He asked as he whipped his eyes with his free hand, his composure returning.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine… you make me happy when skies are gray… you'll never know dear, how much I-
She stopped as she realized her hands had already left his hair and found a more comfortable spot around his neck, his own hands now around her waist. She looked up at him; his yellow and red eyes stared back at her, not with malice but with sorrow. They had a new color, but they were the same eyes she had found comfort in before.
She knew what she wanted; what she wanted was to stay in this surreal moment. A moment that felt like it was both built up to but also out of the blue. What she wanted was to hold onto him and be held by him. To know that this was not one-sided. What she wanted was to say what she had been struggling to say. But she stopped herself. 'This is not the time,' she thought to herself. 'This is not the palace.'
She slowly removed herself from him, something she thought she would never do. She slowly retrieved her communicator. "I'm going to call Niki. Maybe she can help us." she said as she slowly started to walk to another room.
"Right, of course," Zero said as though he was coming out of a trance. He watched her walk away, her communicator in hand, her song still ringing in his head. He waited for her to be out of earshot as he mumbled the last of the song. "How much I … love you."
