Summary: Set directly after the events of Z3. Unsure of where he actually wants to go next in his career, Protozoa turns down a big opportunity for a comeback to rethink his approach or if he still wants the limelight he always craved before. Meanwhile, Zenon is given a shock about Sage throwing her for a loop and a new danger to her humble spay-stay. Can they help one another out and heal one another? PZ/Z
Disclaimer: I'm writing this fiction for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others. I'm not gaining any monetary gain from this fiction. Please do not sue, you won't get much, I can promise you. Student loans are doing the hard part on that front.
A/N: I do not know where this came from. I just had an urge to watch the Zenon movies from my youth, and my mind went into overdrive. I always had a soft spot for Protozoa as the actor looked exactly like my color guard coach from middle school and high school. This is of course relating to the Protozoa from the first two movies. I just superimposed his face on the third installment when I recently re-watched it. This time when I was re-watching though, it was all coming together in a vague story line. I needed to write it. I should work on my novels. Hopefully, once I get this one out of my mind, it will give me leeway to work on my paranormal romance novel.
Home
The room was not what he was used to. No overstuffed, plush chairs to lounge in while Lester did the talking, no snack bar to subdue any munchies creeping up and no bar to wet his whistle at either. The walls were a blank white with the occasional safety work sign, not somewhere they usually had talks for new deals, but once the moon dome collapsed, they did with what they had. The only up side was the view out of the large, floor to ceiling windows at his side of the desk. It had a fantastic view of the moon and the stars still dotting the sky despite the rapidly approaching dawn. It reminded him of times he was up among the stars.
The meeting went on much longer than he thought it would. Droning voices echoed against the blank walls and mixed into the background noise of the room much like the habitation filtration and water filter on the far wall. His mind went elsewhere, his fingers tapping on his kneecap as a new song wrote itself in his mind. The melody building on itself and wrapping into something extraordinary as his mind's eye slipped to a vision of a certain face and clear, blue eyes. Blue eyes attached to an excitable grin as another masterful idea flashed to life. He couldn't wait to get out of the room and put words to the notes on repeat in his head. His eyes closed in rapt attention of the song building at the thought of his muse.
"Zoa, kid!" Lester's voice cut through his solo meandering and snapped fingers in front of his face, "What do you think?"
Protozoa shook himself back to reality and looked around the rest of the drab room. Lester stood at his side while another bulky man sat behind a heavy desk where the lead singer of Cosmic Blush herself sat at the edge of the opposite corner. She lifted a blond brow at his apparent disinterest, as did her manager nearly identically.
"I'm afraid I didn't catch that, mate."
"Zoa, kid, concentrate here!" Lester begged his client, "This could be the way for a huge comeback for you and Microbe."
"Comeback?" Protozoa sat bit shocked.
True, he wasn't getting as much live invitations anymore, but his sales were still earning him royalties, and he was still writing often. The only time when he went completely into a funk was washed away with Zenon's trip to see the aliens. Sure, he was not the absolute top of the charts anymore. This trip and latest adventure gave him a huge wake up call to this affect, but he wasn't by any means completely washed up. He had more to give and he knew it, even if he was unsure in what capacity he would.
"No one's looking just for Protozoa anymore," the man behind the desk, named Chester, offered and cleared his throat to command the attention of the small room, "Or Microbe-"
"But," Jaime, the blond bombshell lead singer, butted it to stop her manager and put a light hand on his square shoulder, "Cosmic Blush has never gotten as many views on a live performance before on a compilation with any other artist. Until you. We've caught the attention of the masses and it can go far for both of us."
"You want to team up to tour?" Protozoa asked and pointed at her and then him in quick succession, "Microbe and Cosmic Blush together and touring the globe?"
"Revitalize your fans and kick start ours up again into seeing more to come," she nodded in agreement, "It's like passing the torch to us as you continue to grow in your own way."
"Into mediocrity?" Protozoa narrowed his eyes at her.
"I didn't say that," she narrowed her eyes back, "Just think about it, PZ. You get your name up on the stage again. One more go around in the live act before releasing more 3D Disks in your golden years."
"Bloody Hell, Jaime, I'm thirty-one, I'm not sixty," Protozoa stood up from his chair and pointed at her face, "Only six years older than you."
"And in six years I'll bow out to the newest thing. It's music evolution," she shrugged.
"You'll fight like the hellcat you are, I should know. I've seen you backstage," he mentioned and shook his head, "If Microbe needs a rewrite, then that's what we do. But I refuse to go out like a fizzing shooting star. Microbe goes out on their terms as a group. I go out on my own terms."
"So is that a no, Mr Protozoa?" Chester asked with a grin, his hands folded over the edge of the desk.
"It's a 'need to think about it'," Lester interrupted whatever Protozoa was about to answer, "It takes time to figure out the linguistics of everything and I think we need time to talk it over with the band as well. Give us a few weeks to figure it out? It will give Comic Blush time to finish out their current tour and their latest release."
"Agreed, we'll talk in a month to see what our next steps are," Chester nodded and motioned Cosmic toward the door of the room. They both walked out and the large man turned back to look pointedly at Protozoa, "Be those steps be with or without you. We'll be in touch, Lester."
The door latched closed behind them and Lester and Protozoa sat in silence with one another.
"Zoa, you really think that was the way to talk to an opportunity?" Lester asked as he leaned against the windows that Protozoa was gazing out just earlier.
"An opportunity?" he chuckled to himself and shook his head as he turned the swivel chair he was in toward him, "Lester, mate, that was not an opportunity. That was a sell out. They want me to give her all the leeway. I have no problem working with others, mate. I have before, I will again, but I will let no one tell me when I'm done."
"Zoa, you're not being requested at events-"
"How are sales?" he asked sharply.
"Steady and still toward the top of the charts. Royalties are not waning anytime soon."
"I'm not a bloody fossil, and we still have a lot to give. I'll give thought on it for you Lester, but I'm not happy about it."
"Give it a couple of weeks. Take some time. I'll let the rest of the gents know. Let you know what they think."
Protozoa stood up and looked out the window again as the sun finally crested the horizon, "I'm going off the grid in the meantime. Get some songs and thoughts together. I'll call you from my getaway."
"Call you in a week for a check in," Lester nodded and turned to leave the room.
Protozoa stood at the window for a little more time. It wasn't the first sunrise he's seen after a night concert. But it was the first one where he's felt so drained. He needed a break. Before that, he needed a nap. He turned to head back to the Wonder bus and his private room inside. Maybe he can write some of this melody down before it escaped into the ether.
Zenon smiled as she stretched in her cot. The night before, she opted to stay with the other contestants and the moon evacuees instead of heading back with Aunt Judy, Plank and Dasha. They needed time as a family to heal accidental hurts and misunderstandings. She got to spend nearly the full adventure with Dasha; it was time for her to spend time with her parents. Not to mention, Zenon wanted to spend more time with Sage before they figured out what they were doing next. She was sure she would head home to the spay-stay and he would head back home. Wherever that was.
The thought made her mind snap to attention and wake her up. Her eyes popped open, and she sat up to look around the small room she shared with Margie and Cassie.
Truth be told, Zenon knew little about Sage Borealis outside of his extreme passion to preserve the lunar surface. Cetus-Lepeedus, she only found out his last name last night when they were getting to know each other! He charmed her and she learned from him and had a crush on him major, but was that infatuation talking? She had a way of jumping into relationships with guys from intense infatuation. Can someone note her very close call with Bronley? She needed to talk with Sage. Now.
Zenon checked the clock and saw it going on 10 AM. Assuming many of the evacuees would sleep off the concert the night before, she had a good chance of catching him at the mess hall. He did mention he was an early riser, but maybe he got up late like she did. They talked late into the night after the stellar kiss.
"See Zee?" she whispered to herself as she grabbed some clean clothes from her gym bag, a careful eye on her friends in the bunks at the other side of the small room, "You know things about him. Sweat minor, Kar."
She grabbed her zap pad before she headed to the lavatories, but stopped when she saw a message left from the night before. She opened it quickly, thinking it was her parental units checking on her once again, but they seemed to calm once she asked them to. That was before the concert last night and this time stamp was hours afterward. She frowned and rubbed her eyes before she clicked on it. The volume turned low to keep her roommates slumbering away.
"Zee? I know you must be asleep by now, but we needed to let you know before you heard it from the news break," her mother's voice echoed from the machine, her head stuck tightly in her newest stress helmet. Zenon could see her father in the background pace across the room and pull things off the shelves into organized piles.
"What are they doing?" Zenon stopped just to the side of her cot, her head tilted in attempt to see her father better.
"The space station is being decommissioned," her mother said quickly as if to soften the blow. She then looked directly into the camera, "And there is no saving it this time. It isn't because it is off orbit or a virus in the system, it's the station itself. It's falling apart and a new station is in plans from the government, but it will take years to complete. We have weeks until the station fails in every major system."
Zenon felt her legs go out, and she fell to the cot, her clean clothes now on the floor at her feet. Her home was.. dying?
Her mother's eyes teared up as she knew the pain the news would bring her child, but also for the fear she was trying to keep in check, "Zee, I know this is a shock, baby. Believe me, I hate to think of it more than you do. It would have been something catastrophic major to get me back on Earth, and here it is. But there is something else. You can't come back up."
"What?" Zenon frowned and gripped at the sides of the screen.
"Any station personnel on Earth are to stay there. Those space bound will do all the packing and transferring the experiments and the last of the personnel. We will take care of your room, don't you worry. We won't miss a thing, but General Hammond and Commander Plank are both in agreement that outside of necessary deliveries, no one should be put in harm's way should the time frame be off. Don't be mad with your uncle, he found out when we did and they won't let him back up either. I will call you later today with more details. I love you, baby. Your father and I will see you soon."
With that, the stress helmet went on and the video cut off.
Zenon could not move, did not want to move- didn't even remember if she knew how to move. She stared at the blank, black screen in front of her and then her reflection in the smooth black surface. Her home was dying... falling apart... and she couldn't even step foot on it again to say goodbye? Did they really think that was it? There has to be a way to save it. There has to be.
"Zenon?"
A tight grip at her right arm shook her enough to dislodge the tears from her eyes. She shook her head and wiped at her eyes before she turned to see a half awake Margie.
Her bed head pushed back, and she rubbed at her eyes before she shook her friend's shoulder again, "Morning Glorious. What's the emergency major?"
"Do you have any message from your dad?" Zenon asked in a whisper, her voice caught tight in her throat.
Margie frowned and turned over to grab at her zap pad. She opened the screen and saw a written message from her father. She sat up straight on her cot and read it again to make sure she read it right.
"He has got to kidding me!" Margie screeched at the screen, catching the slumbering Cassie by surprise and rocketed her out of her sleep.
"Margie, volume major!" Zenon pushed at her friend and then turned to Cassie, "You okay?"
"The world ending?"
"That was yesterday," Zenon tried to lighten the mood, but then shook her head. She took a long breath and turned fully to Cassie as Margie seemed to process the message for the third or fourth time, "The space station is being decommissioned. They're taking her apart."
"What? How can they do that to our home?"
"According to daddy, it's doing it to itself," Margie growled and threw her zap pad to the end of the cot, "It's failing itself."
"What do you mean?" Cassie asked and reached for her own zap pad for any info, only to find few news blasts on the upcoming mission scrubs that were to take place on the station, "They can't just take our home."
"They aren't taking it, they're letting it die," Zenon turned from her and picked up her clothes from the floor.
"Can't you do something like you did last time?"
"This isn't something I can fix, Cassie," Zenon shrugged as her mother's words echoed in her mind. She thought to herself before she narrowed her eyes and looked back at her zap pad, where the black screen stared back.
"I know that look," Margie groaned and fell back into her flat pillow, "What are you thinking?"
"That we know a preservation activist and we have a historical station to save," Zenon smirked before she ran toward the lavatories to clean up.
In no time at all, Zenon walked into the mess hall after sending an urgent message to Sage. Her want to talk to him hadn't changed, but the urgent nature took on a whole new turn. She ran her eyes through the mess hall and found Margie and Cassie at the far corner, but she couldn't find Sage.
"Hey," Sage's voice came from behind her and his hand hit her lower back in a supportive touch, "Good timing. What's going on?"
"We need to have a sit," Zenon grabbed his hand and led him to an empty table after grabbing a nutrition bar for them both. She sat down and stared at the bar, not even close to opening it.
"You're scaring me," Sage said slowly as he bit into his own.
"My station is being decommissioned."
Sage took a moment to chew on his bar and swallow before he continued, "I'm sorry to hear it. I know how much you said you loved the station."
Zenon rung her hands together over the table top, "I don't know what to do. That's my home. It has been for most my life. Now it's just dying, and I can't do anything while they tear it apart. Or blow it apart or just let it float off out of orbit..."
"Nothing lasts forever, Zee. You already knew what the station had been through," Sage stated and took another small bite of the bar.
"But it's historical. The first rock concert in space. The first large space insurance payout scheme foiled. The first time humanity connected with alien life forms!" Zenon hit the table with a flat hand in frustration, "It has done more for humanity in that one instance than-"
"But it's still just a space station."
Zenon's eyes flicked up to his face, "What did you say?"
"It's a manmade structure that can be made again, even better this time around," Sage shrugged, "It's not like the planet itself is imploding."
"No, your home is going to be fine, it's mine being destroyed," Zenon spat and sat back, "You won't help me?"
"Help you what? From going thermal over a helpless situation?"
"Helpless? It's still up there!" Zenon pointed to the ceiling, as if the station was right above her head.
"But not for long," he pulled her arm down and tried to calm her down, "It's not a matter of saving it or not. It's a matter of letting go. It's going to happen. Nothing man made lasts forever. Not even us. You got to let it go."
"I thought you wanted to preserve that which deserves to be."
"Nothing we created has ever reached that peak. Its more metal that doesn't need to be up there to begin with, Zee. Welcome to Earth."
As he pulled the bar up to take another bite of his bar, she hit it out of his hand.
"Do you even know-"
"I know you're upset and I know you don't want to be stuck here, but here isn't all that bad to be stuck at. I know you've done some macro things, but there isn't a way. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too," Zenon shook her head and looked to the side and away from him.
At the entrance to the mess hall came a girl with black hair tied up in a high ponytail, that Zenon didn't recognize. She didn't look like any of the lunar evacuees and the girl's eyes scanned the hall until her eyes landed on their booth. She smiled and ran over to the booth to hug Sage from behind.
"Do you know how worried macro we've been about you?" she asked in a high voice, and squeezed him around his neck and shoulders.
Zenon frowned in complete confusion as her eyes bounced between Sage and the girl hanging over him.
"Aurora," he chuckled lightheartedly and turned to stand out of his seat and wrapped her in a hug that lifted her off the floor, "I didn't think you'd be here this early."
"I came as soon as I heard everyone got out and landed," she laughed and kissed him deeply.
Zenon sat shocked and felt her already fractured heart fall into the pit of her stomach. She let out a huff of air in realization.
"Aurora," he said against her lips, and tilted his head toward Zenon.
"Oh, sorry," Aurora apologized, and reached her hand out toward Zenon, "Thank you for saving everyone, including this guy. Saved the mission, but foolhardy in his attempts. Thanks for getting him out. I would be lost without him."
"I can see that," Zenon looked over her shoulder at him, who had the decency to look ashamed, but she turned her attention to Aurora, "Glad I can give him back to you in one piece."
"I'll be taking him off your hands," she play saluted Zenon and turned to pull him with her.
"I'm gonna say goodbye," he nodded at Zenon and then kissed Aurora on the cheek before she headed back outside to wait for him, "I told you I had friends."
"Cetus-Lepeedus, I should have known," Zenon huffed out another abrupt laugh at herself, "Needed a distraction last night? Couldn't have told me you have a girlfriend? You had no business kissing me!"
"I was planning on telling you before she got here. Look, I had no business listening to you either, but I got what I came for. You got people off the moon, even though it sounded crazy. And I followed you despite that."
"Did you even believe me when I told you about Selena?"
"I didn't need to. You were doing what I needed you to. Why argue the details?"
Zenon tried to reign her temper before it led her into darker waters.
"I never want to see you again."
"You were lunarious, Zenon," he mentioned and tapped on the table as if that forgave everything he did, "Goodbye."
She sat at the table and stared at the empty chair across from her, the nutrition bar forgotten in front of her.
"That went as stellar as we could've hoped," Margie growled and picked up the bar knocked from his hand. She crushed it between her fingers and tossed it to the floor to stomp on it, "That lowlife, totally inky, son of a black hole-"
"Margie, forget it, he would not help us regardless," Zenon shook her head and looked out the large windows to the beach and the horizon, "He said it wasn't worth it."
"Do you need anything, Zee?" Cassie asked and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Just some time to process major, I think," she gave them both a half smile and turned back to the window, "Just some time."
"We're going to get some calls made and meet up later?"
"Sounds good," Zenon nodded and didn't look back at them. She felt them leave, and she laid her head over one of her arms and let her mind float in whatever way it will. She looked at the horizon line along the water and could vaguely see the dot that was her space stay in the distance, "No place like home."
Protozoa searched the small settlement on the beach for a place to pick up something to eat. As he had let everyone on his Wonder bus for a quick exit, they also took advantage of the food stores he had on the way back to Earth. Now grotesquely low on cereal, he ventured out to find something to fill his stomach. He finally found the mess hall and got over half a dozen handshakes, hugs and nods of thanks for his heroic actions that saved them all from the moon. He was happy to help, genuinely. Sure it made him a hero on top of a fabulously handsome rock star, but he wouldn't have done it any differently. He was immensely thankful Zenon had the evacuation plan thought up when she found him halfway into an ice cream tub.
He walked in to find most of the morning menu gone; the spread being actively switched to a lunch layout and grabbed an apple to chew on. As he turned, he noticed the hall was very empty except for a very familiar figure leaning over the table at the large windows looking out toward the beach and the horizon. He took a moment, but then grabbed another apple for his friend, who looked like she needed a pick me up from her favorite, stellanarious rock star.
He slipped into the seat across from her and kicked at her foot, "Oi, oi, oi! What's wrong with my favorite space girl?"
Zenon took her time picking her head up from her arm and wiped at her eyes as she turned to him and gave him a struggling smile.
"Zee, darling, what's wrong?" he was instantly sat up in his chair and reached over to grab her hands in his. His thumbs instantly went over her knuckles in a soothing fashion. He knew it wasn't much compared to whatever she was going through, but he would do whatever he could.
"Something I can't fix. Not this time," she gripped at his hands and smiled at the care he showed her. Hundreds of thousands of fans across the galaxy he couldn't be bothered with when she needed someone. When she needed him.
"That doesn't sound like my supernova girl," he pulled at her hands to bring her eyes up to his, "Is this about the bloke I saw you with last night? You need me to talk to him, mate to mate?"
"Sweat minor. He's long gone, Zoa. I dodged a laser blast," she assured him and gripped at his hands again with a long heavy breath, "It's the spay-stay. It's coming down. They're decommissioning it. It's failing, all of it's systems are going down one by one. And I can't stop it this time. My home is dying and I can't do anything-"
Her tears came back in full force, and she tried to pull her hands away to cover her face. The last thing she wanted was for him to see her fall apart on him. He instantly abandoned his seat and slid into the booth seat next to her. He let go of her hands, only to wrap her in a hug. She still buried her face in her hands for a moment or two, but then wrapped her arms around his chest and waist to pull him to her. Her face went to his neck as she sobbed fully.
He had never been in this situation before. Sure, there were hundreds of women who cried in joy at the sight of him before. Even some who cried when he left the room or stage. But never once in his arms. He had acted on instinct until now, but now what to do? Did he just stay quiet and still? Does he say something? Zenon, despite being younger, was the tough and headstrong one of the two. She also had all the ideas on what to do in sticky situations. This was a change for them both. With time slowing to a standstill, he did the only thing he thought of with a mess of Zenon Kar in his arms.
He hummed.
It was until then an unheard melody he wrote last night. It was only fair she would be one of the first to hear it, as she was the muse for it. He hadn't gotten past the chorus, but what he had he hummed on repeat until her cries mellowed and her breathing evened out.
"That's a new one. I thought I knew all of your songs," she mumbled into his neck and chest.
"You're the first one to hear this one. I'm working on it and haven't gotten too far," he smiled down at her and pulled back just far enough to wipe a tear or two that clung to her cheeks.
"I like it," she smiled up at him with a small, but genuine smile.
"Good. Maybe you can help me name the bloody thing," he chuckled at his joke. The lyrics were coming along just fine, but the title was giving him some problems.
"We can go over lyrics later," she nodded as if in a promise to him. They had talked and discussed his works before. She was heavily involved in 'The Galaxy is Ours' outside of her average muse duty, so it was ready for Judy and Plank's wedding. Just days before the nuptials, she sat with him in one alcove by the windows and helped him plug in some words. 'Stellanarious' was one of her and Nebula's tributes to fit the missing lyrics. He even teased her with the line during his small concert at the reception. She moved to shimmy from his embrace, but he just held her in place until she looked back up at him, "I'm okay."
"You can lie all you want, but you aren't good at it, love," he reached to the table and picked up one apple to hand to her, "Especially to me. You need to eat something. And don't tell me you have, the fully wrapped protein bar tells a different story."
She paused for a moment, but at least re-positioned herself where she was leaning against his side instead of his chest. He kept his arm around her and hugged her to his side in comfort. He grabbed the other apple and took a large bite out of it before he got to his questions.
"Are you sure there is nothing that can be done about our dear space stay?" he asked after he swallowed and saw her take a much smaller bite of hers.
"Our?" she asked with a grateful smile.
"It's an important monument as far as I'm concerned," he looked at her as if she had insulted him, "First concert in place, first contact with aliens... both with yours truly. Should be a bloody monument for rock stardom, if nothing else. Not to mention the home of the greatest space girl that has saved hundreds of lives and now the planet. Can't let all the history go to waste."
"The parental units say that it's situation danger mortis for anyone to go back up there. I can't even get back up there to get more info or even say a proper goodbye," Zenon looked at her apple and tried to figure the fruit out as she got little fresh stuff at the station commissary, "I don't know what to do."
"If you taught me one thing, it's there is always a way even when it's impossible," he took another large bite of the apple, settled in his rightfully placed confidence, and at her silence he looked down at her. His voice muffled around the apple, he struggled to add on, "We'll figure it out."
"We?"
"Of course, we," he said after swallowing the apple in his mouth. He knocked his head against hers in play, "You usually get the bright ideas, but I don't mind being your muse if you don't mind being mine. If there is a way, you'll find it. I'll help. For whatever you may need."
"You have so much to do with your own career, Zoa. I heard you had a meeting about a deal. I can't ask you to put it off for this."
"I have time to figure that mess out. Lester is giving me at least a few weeks to think it over. As you can tell, I'm not as sought for live appearances. For the first time in my career, I'm not sure on which way I should go. Which way I want to go."
Zenon noticed his slow down, and she gave him a half smile to make him understand she was being truthful, "Be yourself, your fans will always follow. We know when you're genuine."
With a nod and the warmth in his heart spreading from her words, he shrugged, "Maybe helping a friend is going to help me more than you know. Let me focus on the creative side while problem solving. See? Totally selfish reasoning on my part."
"You're an omega inky black hole, you are," she agreed with a larger smile, "And just where are we going to do all this planning?"
"How do you feel about a tropical getaway to a secret little place called Nova Linda Cove?"
"Let me make some calls and update everyone. If nothing else, it would be a nice getaway."
"If you don't mind me making music in the other room."
"Got other songs floating up in that head of yours?"
"Always, darling," he smirked with a nod.
For the first time since picking up her zap pad that morning, Zenon felt hope and a warmth flicker back to life in her chest. She took a bite from her apple and relaxed with him until lunch.