They had brought Fox over to the virtualazium so that he could feel peaceful and that it might help...if he was still there...ever since his prolonged recovery, he still hadn't woken up. Thanks to Nova, his wound was almost healed, but...it had been days since he had been in a coma, and there hadn't been any sign of progress. They stared down at him as they were in a meadow with flowers falling over them. All of them felt not only impatient, but losing a bit of hope for his recovery, and...none of them felt any sense of happiness because of what happened that started this...
Ash stared down at her brother, looking a bit hopeful than the others, but not much. Gary was standing in the distance as...he and Ash were not getting along right now and...he didn't want to make her angry by being close to her. And he himself didn't want to look at Fox because even though Invictus possessed him to do it...he put Fox in this coma. His hand did it, whether he was in control or not. And he let that happen.
He looked on, his eyes tired as he hadn't been able to get any sleep. The guilt was too much for him at night.
"Hopeful recovery time, everyone!" KVN cheered as he joined the group. "Let's make this special," Ash, Nova, Sheryl, and Avocato glanced up at him in annoyance as he was ruining the mood. "Fox doesn't get into a coma everyday, you know! I promised I wouldn't break," He sniffled, wiping at his eye. "I'm not breaking. Oh, god, he still hasn't woken up!"
"So, are we doing this or what?" Ash asked with a bit of an edge to her voice. Over the past few days, she had grown increasingly defensive and angry as time went on, especially when someone brought up Fox to her. She wouldn't talk about his condition to them all when they asked, and she only rarely let them see him. Little Cato walked over to her.
"Ash?"
"You want me to say something to wake him up?" She questioned him angrily. "To make you all feel better about what Gary did?" She stared at them and they said nothing in return. "I don't think so. Who is this even for?"
"All of us," Gary spoke up from the tree he was standing near.
"Crew means family, Ash. We love him, too," HUE spoke up.
"What do you know about love, HUE?" She glared up at the ceiling. "You're a freaking robot. What's there to say?" She whipped around to them. "None of you know my brother like I do. And then you almost killed him. If it hadn't been for Nova, you or Fox wouldn't be alive right now!" She turned to Gary while gritting her teeth.
"I..." He sighed as he stepped up. "I was trying to save your life, and...and..."
"Yeah? ...Well, instead, you ruined not only mine, but his too," She gestured to Fox still sleeping.
"Ash, that's not fair. Invictus possessed his body, you know that he'd never hurt Fox. Gary was trying to save the both of you," Nova defended angrily, standing in front of Gary. "Although I can't say the same about his other decisions. Just because a mistake happened doesn't mean that you have to take it out on him or them," She gestured to the rest of the team.
Gary was about to speak up to her to not defend him, but Ash beat him to the punch.
"A mistake?! He almost died!" She glared at Nova, who simply kept a silent glare. "So you're on his side, then."
"Don't do that," Nova warned her in defense, clenching her fists. "It's not about sides, it's about the truth."
"Well, I wish we didn't save Bolo, then! Or that you weren't my sister! Maybe then he wouldn't be like this! And you're gonna have to live with this until he wakes up! Or even if he wakes up at all."
Nova's mouth opened in disbelief at her and then she clamped her mouth shut. The others felt tense and awkward staring at the two.
Everything disappeared back into the virtualazium. Ash bumped into Nova with her shoulder hard and stormed towards the door.
"Ash, wait," Little Cato ran up to her. She came to a stop as he caught up with her. "Where are you going?"
"Anywhere but here," She growled out as she left, the door closing. Little Cato looked down sadly as Nova squeezed her eyes shut. Ash's words really struck a chord with her...
Ash flew off from the hangar bay away from the ship.
The group were escorting Fox back to the medical bay as KVN was sobbing. "Oh, sweet baby child!" He cried out as Fox's vitals were stable, but his eyes were still closed. It felt like...he actually had died, even though he was otherwise fine. "I'll miss your big ole arms, your big ole heart, your big face, and your ole pecky pecks~"
"KVN, shut up, he's not dead," Nova glared at him over her shoulder from in front of Quinn.
"But with the way Ash disowned you, it feels like he really is!" He stated and her eyes widened. She looked away as Little Cato glared at the robot.
"Really, KVN?"
"Everybody now! Come on!" He goaded them to start singing, ignoring both Little Cato and Nova, but no one joined in. "Huh? Come on! Everybody now!"
"Shouldn't we wait for Ash?" Quinn spoke up.
"I've been around a funeral or two, and even someone being in a comatose state. I don't think she's coming back," Sheryl told her as they looked towards the ground, remembering her words towards them.
"She'll be back," Little Cato stated hopefully. "I know it. But...we need to help him. It's the least we can do for him since...well..." He looked away, not wanting to say that they didn't get to him in time out loud since...that would just make them feel more guilty than they already were. "We'll give Fox the best recovery she'll be proud of."
They continued walking and then a screen pulled up. It was Kevin Van Newton on the line. "Gary? Quinn? Nova?" He then saw Fox in the glass tube and recoiled back. "Oh, is this a bad time?"
"Actually-"
"Great!" Either Kevin didn't want to let him finish, or he just didn't care. "Because I have news! It'll be quick."
"No, no, no, no, no, it's not going to be quick," Quinn denied knowingly.
"It never is with this guy..." Nova rubbed a temple.
"Can you get to it already?!" Gary asked impatiently.
"I am! Get ready to-" For some reason, the sound cut out, and he continued speaking with them, but they were not hearing anything he's saying.
"Get ready to what?"
"Uh, his bloody audio cut out!" Sheryl told her son.
"Hello!" Avocato waved a hand. "We can't hear you!"
"Ugh," Nova facepalmed at this.
"That's some pretty fantastic news, eh?" Kevin questioned happily.
"We missed the news! Say it!"
"I can't hear you!" Kevin put a hand to his ear and Nova gave a blank look.
"This is more pointless than the mole shit when we were trying to open the Dimensional Key," She muttered, glancing away.
"You know, Nova, they always say that a KVN hug always does the job! Ask Gary!" KVN gestured to the man, who grunted in response. He didn't want to recall him being comforted by the robot of all people when he was still dealing with Quinn's Final Space poisoning. He reached out towards the girl and her eyes flashed purple in anger.
"Touch me, and I will RIP YOU IN HALF!" She screamed angrily and he flew away from her in fear.
Kevin finally adjusted the speaker. "There we go! Hear you now. Come to Earth as fast as you can! We're leaving Final Space!"
"You got the hyper-dimensional bridge to work?" Gary asked in disbelief; he just thought the guy was over his head initially.
"Yes! Kind of! Almost. It's close. It's-it's kinda almost close."
"Which one is it?" Nova asked skeptically and she earned a sheepish smile in return.
"We've got to tell Tribore," Quinn told the others. For some reason, both Little Cato and Gary looked annoyed upon hearing this. "We can't leave him here!"
"I'll conference him in," HUE connected him to the call while they continued walking.
"Who is this?" Tribore questioned immediately as he eyed Kevin.
"Earth's greatest visionary!" KVN answered the six-eyed alien.
"Well, I have a vision for him. It's called a haircut."
"Tribore, meet us on Earth," Quinn explained to her friend. "We're going home."
Tribore's screen changed to a...tropical background somehow. "Tribore? Where did you just go?" Little Cato called out curiously.
"Nowhere. I just changed my background. What do you think, Quatro?" He turned away to his son off screen. He appeared next to his father with a smile.
"Me encanta (I love it)."
"We'll be there. All of us. Okay, hugs and kisses," Tribore and Kevin both hung up and they stopped, looking towards Fox nervously. They just hoped that he would recover by the time that they get there...
"Okay. Call's over."
Together, they continued pushing Fox back towards the medical bay. "Your big ole eyeballs, your ole blue vest, and your big ole screams~" KVN continued singing and the door to the medical bay opened. "Everybody now! Come on!"
Ash found herself in an unfamiliar area, trying to focus on anything other than her family or Gary. She flew through tiny asteroids and past planets before something blue and long flew in front in front of her.
"What the..."
Whatever it was, it kept flying in front of her. She stopped and then flew downwards to get away from it. But then it reappeared in the distance.
"Okay, what the hell?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion. She came to a stop again and the entity started laughing. "Okay, what do you want?"
The entity formed into a floating sort-of flame with two arms. "Wow. What do I want? I never even thought about that." The entity started looking around, thinking excitedly. "I guess I want...to mess stuff up!" It spun around and then revealed a smiling face, laughing.
"You mean like...destroy stuff?" Ash asked a bit skeptically.
"Ha ha, yeah! Let's absolutely totally destroy something!" The entity exclaimed happily while spinning around. The girl looked away in thought; she DID need something to take the edge off from what was going on back in the Galaxy 2...
She chuckled and then smiled. "Anything in particular?"
"Whatever we see first, we blow it up!"
"Huh. That actually sounds awesome," Ash smirked a little, her powers activating from her hands. The two started destroying things around them, having fun. Ash smiled as she felt like she was letting go of her previous anger.
They glanced to the side and saw a moon. "Hey, look at that stupid moon," Ash pointed at it.
"Let's bust it up!" The entity exclaimed, sparkles falling from her. "Come on! Let's do this!"
The two flew over to the moon together and started blasting at it. After about a few seconds, Ash suddenly stopped.
"Wait! Stop! Stop!" She held up a hand.
"What?"
"I just..." She looked back, examining it. "Kinda like it. It kinda looks like a snowflake, you know?" The moon did indeed look like a snowflake. "Like a dead, twisted snowflake."
"Yeah...I see that," Her new friend agreed with her.
"Let's leave it, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Cool," The entity agreed, the twisted snowflake gleaming a little. She then flew off, alarming Ash.
"Hey, where you going?" She held out a hand, and went unanswered. She flew after her friend and they faced each other.
"Hey, have you ever seen the Hidden Lights?"
"No..."
"You wanna? It's gonna be cool." Ash looked down hesitantly, not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Her friend noticed her look. "Come on, don't you trust me? Trust me, trust me! Come on! I'm fun! I'm adventurous! Come on, I would never lead you astray. Let's go!"
"We can keep messing stuff up, right?" Ash asked hopefully with a smile.
"Uh, are you crazy?! Always! Let's go!" The two then flew off, blasting at stuff together again.
Back in the Galaxy 2, they stood in the medical bay, staring down at Fox. The only sound was the beeping going on from Fox's vitals.
Avocato paused, looking at the others. "Alright, then. Let's...say something to him. Maybe...it'll guide him back to us and Ash," He spoke up, biting his lip. He was about to say something when Little Cato stopped him.
"Wait. I...wanna say something to him first," His father stared at him and he stepped up to face Fox. "Okay, uh, before anyone else says anything, I...I just wanna say...Fox, I admit it," He gave a small smile, touching the glass. "I...I used to dip my paws into your mouth when you were sleeping so you'd wake up with hair balls."
Little Cato gave a small chuckle. Avocato just shook his head with a small smile and Nova smiled weakly at him. She suddenly remembered the day that evil KVNs were attacking them and the two wouldn't stop fighting until she intervened.
"Why not, right?" The young Ventrexian shrugged with a small smile. "Ventrexians hate Tryvuulians. Except, um..." Little Cato wiped at his left eye, trying not to weep. "Why? For the short time I've known you, you showed me...hating for no reason is just stupid. So...I don't wanna say get better." Little Cato opened his eyes, tears streaming from them. "I wanna say...thank you for...teaching me curse words in Tryvuulian." He sniffled, wiping at his right eye. "They are truly disgusting. Uh...thank you for saving my life, thank you for teaching me you can be a great warrior...without being a killer. And most of all, thank you for giving Starlight a family...the one thing she didn't have, but she needed."
Nova blinked back tears as she looked down at him. "Thank you so much, Fox," Little Cato bent down and lightly kissed the glass. "We're all gonna be a little smaller unless you pull through this, and...we know you will."
Nova hugged him. "That was sweet, Cato." He smiled a bit and stepped back. Nova lightly touched the glass, staring at him. "Fox...while we've had our ups and downs, especially since while trying to find a way back home...you still managed to be...just so optimistic that it kinda made me feel a little sick, I'll be honest with you," She rubbed her neck. "After I lost my grandparents, I...just kinda lost hope, you know? Almost like with Ash when...you know what happened," She looked away sadly, thinking about Clarence. "But...despite the fact that we're complete opposites...you still welcomed me into your family. We might not have spent as much time together as you and Ash have, but...you two have a bond that I never want to break. And...well, I hope that when you wake up, we can remedy that because I want to know more about you, Fox. Hopefully you'll let me."
Little Cato smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. They stared down at Fox as they wanted to be in silence for the moment. Fox hadn't reacted, but they had an inkling that he had been listening. Mooncake hugged the glass.
"Chookity pok..."
Their eyes saddened and Gary started crying, squeezing his eyes shut. He looked down in guilt because Fox was in there due to his arm...
"Look! There's my secret spot," The alien led Ash over to a ledge. "Come on!"
Ash's mouth opened in awe as color hit her face and she saw the Hidden Lights, which were a beautiful light display. They reached the alien's spot. "Close your eyes," The alien covered Ash's eyes with her arms, turning around. "Turn that way. Now...open them."
Ash did so and she looked in amazement to see them up close. "Whoa..."
"I call them the Hidden Lights," Her friend explained to her. "They say it was the last thing the Star Lighters lit up."
Ash took a seat, continuing to look at the lights. "The Star Lighters?"
"Yeah," The entity floated down next to her. "Every star. Every light they lit up." They stared up at the Hidden Lights for a bit. "It's pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah," Ash smiled up at them.
"Wanna destroy it?!"
She gave a baffled look, standing up. "W-What?! No!"
"I got ya good," The entity laughed and Ash pushed her away playfully. "Uh, do you have a name?"
"Ash," She smiled at her friend. "Do you?" She sat down as her friend shapeshifted into a snake.
"Nope. Seriously. I just found out about those."
"Really?" Ash asked incredibly as the entity floated down to sit with her.
"Yeah, no one ever gave me one."
"So...give yourself one," The woman suggested with a big smile.
"Okay. Uh? How about...Ash?"
"That's my name," Ash smiled softly at her.
"Riiiiight. Right. Right. Yeah, yeah. Okay," The entity turned back into her regular self. "How about Evra?"
Ash gave a small, soft chuckle. "I like it."
"Oh! You do? Okay, cool!" Evra sounded very happy upon hearing that answer.
"Yeah," Ash brushed her hair behind her ear. "Hello, Evra."
"Why, hello!" Evra turned into a snake shape with a hole at the end of it facing Ash. "I'm...Evra. Oh, my god! Say hello again! Say hello again!"
Ash just laughed at her enthusiasm. "Hello, Evra."
"Hello, Ash! I'm Evra!" The two laughed together, looking back up at the sky.
In the Galaxy 2, everyone left the medical bay with Quinn looking out the window. None of them said a word as there had been no progress from Fox at all. They looked out the window together, watching Mooncake fly off.
"Where's he going?" Avocato asked and Nova sighed a little.
"He's gonna go find Ash, he has some hope that it might help," She answered, hugging herself. With Fox still being in the same state as he was before...that was a debatable outcome of whether or not Ash would be able to change anything. Staring at him felt like staring at a corpse, even though HUE had told them time and time again that Fox was still alive. But...talking to him felt like talking to a ghost, and it made them very uncomfortable at times.
"Hey," Quinn turned to Avocato.
"Yeah, what's up?" He asked casually.
"Gary could use a friend right about now," Quinn suggested to him, KVN flying over.
"He does!" He smiled happily, eager to do that for Gary. "He has me!"
"Not you, KVN," She warned, taking a deep breath and turning to him. "You."
Avocato paused, glancing away and bracing himself. He had never done this before for a friend; he didn't have friends to have these kinds of moments with to begin with. For the longest time, it had been just him and Little Cato.
"Alright, but uh, I don't think I've ever had one of these things where I didn't make things worse," He pointed out, leaving the hall. Quinn stared at him, hoping that he could help Gary.
Little Cato turned to Nova, reaching out and taking her hand. "Ash and Fox are gonna be okay, Starlight. Don't worry."
"It's not that. I've never seen Ash that angry towards anyone before, let alone me," Her eyes saddened a bit. "What she said...it was so full of hate and anger."
His ears flattened a little as he remembered what Ash had said towards Nova. "She's just emotional, that's her brother. I'm sure she didn't mean it," He tried to cheer her up. "Bolo is just as important to you as they are. And she'll realize that eventually."
She turned to him with a sad smile. He was always the one person she could turn to for comfort that she never got in her entire life. "Thanks, Cato..."
KVN popped in between them. "The perfect cat alien and bounty hunter-former princess romance..." Both of them gave him a blank look. "Hey, remember when you brought up the time you brought up the whole 'Am I your girlfriend' thing?" Nova's eyes widened as she flinched. "Whatever happened to-"
"None of your business!" She smacked him away and the two glanced away from each other. Both of them had hoped that it would never have to come up, but it wasn't exactly something they could avoid. Especially since neither of them had made an effort to speak up about it after they rescued Avocato's team.
"Yeah, KVN, y-you're just being crazy," Little Cato chuckled nervously from the looks he was getting from Sheryl and Quinn. "Because that never happened. U-Uh, Starlight, you wanna go somewhere else?"
"I'd rather be anywhere than here," Nova stated and they walked off together.
Avocato stepped into the room, looking up as Gary was alone, staring towards the sun. "Yo. Uh, hey, buddy..."
"What's up?" Gary asked with no joy in his voice.
"Quinn, uh...uh, she thought you could, uh, use a friend." Avocato couldn't see it, but there were tears forming in Gary's eyes.
"She would be wrong," He dismissed it and the Ventrexian reached out to him.
"Look, you did the right thing. You gotta stop beating yourself up, man. Fox isn't dead."
"Just because he's not dead doesn't mean I shouldn't feel guilty!" Gary exclaimed, closing his eyes. "So beating myself up is the only thing I'm good at. I just can't. I can't stop...replaying...that moment in my head."
He started to cry and Avocato thought about what had happened to Little Cato's parents...he let out a knowing sigh. "I know the feeling," He removed his hand from Gary's shoulder.
"You hurt someone that you and everyone loves?" Gary asked in disbelief, glancing at his best friend as he had stopped crying.
Avocato looked away briefly. "Just saying...I'd trade yours for mine. Any day."
"No way," The blond denied, shaking his head.
"I'm telling you, man," The Ventrexian walked off with a scoff, sitting down on a bench. "Y-You're not listening."
"Seriously?" Gary asked him dead seriously.
"You don't wanna know..."
"Yeah, I do. Please just tell me something, so I don't feel the way I feel right now," Gary begged him. He hated having to live with this guilt because of something that Invictus did...but it was his body part. And he couldn't gain control again...he just wanted out of that dark corner that he felt so trapped in right now.
"I, uh..." He closed his eyes, not wanting to look at Gary as he was about to tell the secret that he let linger inside him for over a decade. "I..." He looked up at Gary, guilt and sadness stricken in his eyes. "I killed the King and Queen of Ventrexia." Gary frowned at him. "But that's not even the worst of it. They had a, uh...they had a, uh..." He struggled to say it, but he wanted to help Gary, though it would be at his own risk. "They had a, uh, child. A son." Gary's eyes furrowed as he listened carefully as something to him wasn't adding up all of a sudden. "So I took him in. To try and make up for killing his parents. To give him the love he'd...h-he'd never get unless I raised him as my own."
Gary walked up to him furiously. "You're not..." He placed his hand on Avocato's shoulder, not wanting to believe what he was telling him.
"Yeah," He confirmed sadly.
"Little Cato?"
"I'm not. That's right," Avocato sniffled a little. "I'm not Little Cato's real father."
Gary recoiled back his hand in shock. "What the hell are you even saying to me right now?!" He walked past Avocato, who stared at him with a small glare. "You...killed Little Cato's parents?"
The Ventrexian got onto his feet. "Yeah."
"You killed his parents!" Gary held his head in a panic as he felt that his world was crashing down. Knowing that Avocato was the second-in-command to the Lord Commander, he knew that he did some fucked-up stuff, including almost killing Little Cato when asked to by the evil tyrant. But never did he think that his best friend killed his adopted son's parents. "No. No. No, no, no."
"Gary, listen," Avocato called out as Gary started getting really upset.
"Please, tell me this is a joke," Gary walked up to him with a pleading look. "Please, tell me this is a joke! Please!" He started to look really pissed off, like Nova would, but far more furious than he could possibly convey.
"It was war. I had-" Gary leaped forward and tackled him onto the ground. He then started punch Avocato in the face. "Listen to me, Gary!"
"What can you possibly say that can make this any better?!" Gary growled out, tears streaming down his face.
"There isn't!" Avocato pushed him off with gritted teeth. "Just listen! I just-"
"You're a coward," Gary whispered furiously, pointing at him and clenching his fists.
"Don't call me that!" Avocato shouted, standing up and glaring at his friend.
"What? 'Coward' gets you worked up? Go walk in there and tell the boy that you killed his parents!" The man demanded to him. "That you aren't even his real dad!"
"I..." Avocato hesitated for various reasons. He had already been stringing along this lie for years; he never spoke a word of it because he willed himself not to. To tell Little Cato the truth now...would break him and he would resent Avocato for probably the rest of his life. And he didn't want that, especially since they were still stuck in Final Space.
"That's what I thought. You're a coward."
Avocato squeezed his eyes shut at Gary's word, his anger bubbling over. He glared at Gary and felt so pissed, that he ended up saying something because of it. "And you almost murdered Fox!"
Gary tensed up at that. "It wasn't me!" He defended himself. "Invictus did it!" He lunged forward and punched Avocato in the face again. Avocato started fighting back, punching Gary multiple times with rage in his eyes. Gary received a black eye, a bloody nose, and scratched cheeks. He grabbed his friend by the jacket, and Gary saw his chance to headbutt him in the nose. He let go of the man, as he earned a nosebleed. He fell backwards onto the ground as the furious Gary looked at him, clenching his fists as he looked at his friend with two black eyes. "GET UP!" He dared Avocato, who turned around with a growl.
He did so and kicked at Gary, who blocked with his arms. He jumped up and then punched Gary again. The two glared at each other.
"Alright," Gary gave him an uppercut and the two kept giving each other blows, blood flying as they beat the crap out of each other. "Time out!" Avocato punched him in the face. The two panted as Gary gave a signal. "Time out!"
"Okay!"
They said nothing as they took deep breaths for a few seconds. Deep down they knew that they shouldn't be fighting, but with their heighted emotions of guilt and anger, neither one seemed to remember at the moment that they were still friends.
"Time out."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, blood dripping down from Avocato's nose. It reminded Gary that he still wanted to punch it for killing Little Cato's parents.
"Alright! Time in!"
The two resumed their brawl.
Evra and Ash were still staring at the Hidden Lights together and Ash sighed in content. She felt so...happy and safe. Things that she hadn't felt for days...
"How do they make you feel?" Evra asked her curiously.
"So...small," Ash looked down at her hands.
"In a...good way?" Evra got a little closer to her.
"In a great way!" She smiled up at the lights. "Like...how can what I'm going through be the end of the world when all that's going on?" She gestured up to the sky.
"I know! It's like 'hey, do your thing, but I'm going to keep being ridiculously beautiful no matter what, okay'?" Evra laughed at the joke and Ash gave a small smile. It almost reminded her of Nova in a way, just in the exact opposite way that she'd convey it.
"Yeah."
Evra swirled around and became a sort of snake with stars lighting up the body, along with a smiling face. "This m-might be too personal a question, but um..." She looked up at Evra nervously.
"Just ask."
"Are you uncomfortable with me?" Ash questioned slowly.
"What? No. Why?"
"Because you keep changing shapes. So I-I just thought maybe you're nervous or something," Ash rubbed the back of her neck, looking away.
"Ahhh!" Evra just let out a laugh while Ash was blushing. "I'm trying to find a shape that you'll like."
"Oh," She chuckled, still blushing as she gave a light smile. "That's, uh...that's nice."
"Anything come to mind?"
"Um, yeah. Can you..." Ash leaned in and whispered to Evra. Evra spun around and she watched as Evra changed. A blush came to her face as Evra sat there looking...like a human female. Evra smiled at Ash, who chuckled a bit. Evra slid closer and Ash reached out her hand, smiling. She hesitated to touch Evra's hand, but Evra placed hers on top of Ash's. The two looked back up at the Hidden Lights as Mooncake flew past, glancing around for the woman.
"Whoa. Who is that?"
Ash frowned a little at the reminder of her brother just by looking at the alien. "A friend. He probably wants to bring me back because...my brother and my sister are probably freaking out over me being gone," She chuckled weakly, staring up at the lights. She...she wanted them both to see these someday, especially Little Cato and Nova.
"Are they gonna be okay?" Evra wondered gently.
"...Yeah," Ash's eyes softened as she remembered the good times she had with them, and that they were still there for her no matter what happened. "They will be," She gave a gentle smile as Mooncake turned around and saw her, beaming.
He flew down to Ash, gently bumping his face with hers. "Pok. Pok." She giggled as Mooncake gave her a small kiss on the forehead and nuzzled her.
"I should get back to my ship," Ash stood up, turning to Evra. "Will I see you again?"
"Not sure," Evra stood up with a smile. "Evra doesn't do times and places. But ya never know!" She stepped up to Ash a bit.
"Yeah. You never know. Thanks, Evra," She gave Evra a grateful smile before walking off. She and Mooncake flew away from the rock, Evra staring after her with a smile. Evra laughed towards her happily.
"Bye!"
Back on the Galaxy 2, Avocato had Gary in a choke hold. "You give up?!"
"No," Gary denied immediately.
"I said...do you give up?" He growled out, tightening his hold on Gary.
"Never," He grunted and wheezed as the hold felt like it was suffocating his throat. "O...kay," He called out weakly.
"Okay, what?" Avocato demanded him with a growl.
"I...give...up..."
The Ventrexian finally let him go and he let out a big gulp of air, crawling away. "You should've never brought me back," Avocato spoke up, squeezing his eyes shut. "You should've left me for dead. It...it would've been a whole hell of a lot easier."
In his eyes, if he wasn't brought back, he wouldn't have gotten possessed by Invictus and tried to kill him. He also wouldn't have had his almost-entire story come out by the Lord Commander, and he wouldn't have to keep this secret from Little Cato. If he was still dead, he could've kept that secret to his grave, and he wouldn't have to feel so guilty like he did right now.
"Well, unfortunately, you don't get to take the easy way out," Gary glanced at him, blood dripping from his nose. Avocato just silently rolled his eyes. "You know, I had, uh..." He took a moment to wipe the blood from his nose. "I had the best dad in the world once," He sat up, staring at his best friend as he remembered losing his father twice. "I did," Avocato's eyes softened at him. "Always felt...safe around him. And in a flash, he, uh..." He squeezed his eyes shut, vividly remembering as a child...seeing his father die in an explosion. "Was taken...from me." He hung his head, taking a moment to breathe before looking up at Avocato.
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," He looked away in thought. "Not even my worst enemy. Not even on Nova's parents, who were just...god-awful to her and to people in general." Avocato glanced to the side as he brought up her parents to Little Cato once...he didn't want to seem to talk about it other than the fact that Nova's childhood was less stellar than it seemed for a princess. "Maybe KVN," He then turned to Avocato, pointing at him. "You think your crime was killing Little Cato's parents. But it wasn't. It wasn't. Your crime was getting into that kid's heart. Because I know he thinks the world of you."
Avocato teared up at his words, starting to weep as he thought about Little Cato...and what they had told him about his attempted sacrifice to save his father. All of the angst he had when Avocato was dead, all the rage he felt when facing the Lord Commander, and him leaving when Avocato was possessed...all of them was for him. The same Ventrexian who killed his birth parents and almost killed Little Cato himself when he was still working for the Lord Commander.
"And I really...really wanna hate you," Gary confessed to him, clenching a fist.
"You should," Avocato growled out, slightly opening his eyes as he didn't want to look at his friend.
"Because I know that kid, man, and I..." He gave a small sigh. "He's my son," He gestured to himself. "And I know this is going to destroy him."
"I know," Avocato stated in a teary voice, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Gary stared at him, knowing that his friend was feeling this way for a very long time...every single day, he'd have to look at Little Cato and be reminded of what he did. It was no wonder that he sacrificed himself to a bomb, because he would do anything to ensure that the king and queen's son lived on.
"Look, I'm not gonna pretend to know why the universe sucks the way it does, why it robs you of the things you love the most. Or why, for whatever reason, it put me and you into this kid's life. But we're his dads now," Gary walked up to the Ventrexian. "And our job...is to protect him."
Avocato stared up at him. "We can't change the past, but we can...write a new future, one that's better for him."
He exhaled shakily, realizing that his friend was right. "You still want anything to do with me?" He looked back up at Gary, with his sad eyes and his bloody nose still apparent.
Gary kneeled down to him. "It's back to back. For life," He extended his hand.
"No!" Avocato exclaimed suddenly. "No, man! Don't forgive me!" He turned away, his eyes shut. "I don't deserve it."
"Then prove to me...that you're worth it," The blond gave a small smirk. He looked back to his friend, his tears stopping. "Like I have to prove it to Ash and Nova."
Avocato stared at his hand for a few seconds and then took it. Gary helped him onto his feet and then started to leave.
"Hey!"
He froze as the Ventrexian called out to him and he turned back. "I didn't mean what I said about you almost murdering Fox. And I'm one lucky guy to have you as a friend."
Gary gave a small smile and then left the room. Avocato closed his eyes, vowing to protect Little Cato...
Ash and Mooncake flew back to the ship, where Little Cato and Nova were sitting together. The two had their hands on top of each other. "You always have hope in people, huh?" She asked with a small smile as they had been sitting there for a while now.
"I know Ash is having...her problems," He rubbed the back of his neck. "But...she cares for the people she loves, so...I know she wouldn't leave you and Fox behind. And she's like a sister to me," He gave a small smile of his own. "I actually learned it from you."
"Me?" She chuckled in amusement. "You wanna tell me how the hell I did that?"
"When you first walked into my cell," He answered gently and she blinked in confusion. "It...made me realize that even people with a lot of emotional...stuff can have something to look forward to. Seeing you...you just seemed so sure of yourself. Brazen, brutally honest...and yet you still trusted me enough to tell me about you. And...I wanted more of that. I don't know if it was because of fate putting us together or because I was your only option, but...I felt like I could count on someone for once."
"So you're the reason why I stayed, because you needed me?" She gave a small smirk, a hand on her cheek.
"Wasn't that your reason too?" He asked playfully.
"Maybe," She winked and they both chuckled. "But...as for why I trusted you...yeah. You're right on the mark about fate," She smiled softly at him and he returned it.
"Um...so about the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing-"
Before he could say anything, Mooncake and Ash emerged into the ship. "Have you been waiting for me?"
He scoffed at her assumption. "Waiting?! No," He took a book and pretended to read it. Nova rolled her eyes at him. "I've got a ton of reading to catch up on," Ash landed and walked past them. "You know...new ship, tech specs."
Ash sat down and he smiled a bit. "Yeah. We couldn't think straight till we knew you were safe."
"Dude," Nova hissed at him, elbowing Little Cato in embarrassment.
"What?" He asked innocently. "Was she not supposed to know that?"
Ash just smiled at the duo. "I'm safe."
"Uhh..." He glanced away nervously. "This is...this is awkward, but..." He gave an embarrassed laugh. "Um...You're not...you're not here to kill Gary, right?"
"In all honesty, he's a wreck. I think he's suffered enough," Nova stated, crossing her arms.
"Uh, not as far as I know."
"Right," He gave a small nod. "Got it. But...uh...right! Course...but-got it. Ugh. Why would—why would you? But...you know—um...I'm gonna need something a little more...concrete."
"I think you'll be doing all of us a favor if you give him the assurance that you're not gonna kill Gary," Nova patted his back and he gave a weak smile.
"No, I did not come back to kill Gary," Ash confirmed to them.
"Good news!" Little Cato smiled in relief. "S-So...where'd you go?"
"Have you...ever seen the Hidden Lights?" Ash asked the duo and they shook their heads.
"No."
"...I have. Someday I'll take you guys to see them," She smiled at them. Gary suddenly walked into the room, and that was their cue to leave.
"Oh! I just remembered! We have to go someplace that...isn't this room now," Little Cato took Nova's hand and helped her up.
"Wait! Nova..." Ash called out and she flinched. "I'm so sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have said those things to you. I just...it's been hard to deal with...my brother not awake yet, you know?"
The girl glanced over her shoulder, her eyes solemn.
"Ash...that's not it. I'm not mad that you said that or that you were angry towards us not having gone after Fox. I just...I saw you fly into a black hole going into who knows what," Nova stated sadly and Ash's eyes softened at her. "And...I almost thought you were dead. It was Invictus! But when you came back...I was just happy that you were okay. I was happy that for once, I actually cared about someone who's everything my own sister wasn't to me. I...I should've gone after you, and Fox too. Maybe then he wouldn't...be like this now..."
"It's okay. You don't need to blame yourself anymore. I'm always gonna be there for you and for Fox too."
Nova looked up and gave a small smile. The two shared a comforting hug and Ash pulled back. "Hey, um...someday I want you to meet someone."
"Oh really?" She raised a brow in amusement. "Do I get to know more about this guy?"
"Ehh...female, actually. Or I guess...she presents herself that way? Is it weird?" Ash rubbed her arm nervously.
"Need I remind you that you don't need to worry about gender when it comes to me," Nova stated with a small smile. "It's not weird at all. As long as both of you can stand each other like Little Cato and I do, then I'm not weirded out."
"Hey," Little Cato called out mockingly. "I resent that, Starlight. You know how hard it is to deal with your anger issues?"
"I'd imagine it'd be on the same level as having to put up with your big-ass ego and your sometimes cheesy catchphrase. 'Ehh, look at me, I'm so good and so hard'!" She imitated him and he let out a laugh instead of being offended or annoyed.
Ash just smiled at the two; even when they were talking about aspects that they didn't like about each other, they still managed to be happy and make their relationship work. Even if they STILL hadn't really talked about what exactly their relationship is.
"Thanks, little sister."
"Ugh," Nova gave an annoyed groan upon hearing that. "Okay, if we're cool now, quick tip. Don't ever call me that again. It feels weird..."
Even though Ash was always older than Nova since she was in her late teens before she became an adult, they never used the terms 'older' or 'little' sister with each other. And Nova certainly wasn't going to do that now.
Ash chuckled at her. "Noted." She waved as Little Cato pulled Nova away and they noticed Gary's face as they reached the doorway.
"You good?" Little Cato frowned a bit upon looking at him.
"Whoa. Gary, no offense, but you look like shit. Kinda reminds me of the Lord Commander when he was mocking us in prison," Nova blinked in disbelief.
"Alright, I-I deserve that," He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Seriously, it's like if you took him, and then you, put all that into a blender, and then the Gatekeeper after a kick in the balls, and you'd still look worse in comparison," She explained and he gave a blank look.
"Huh, I can see it. Looks like you got into a fight and lost like four times," Little Cato agreed with her. Gary just gave a small chuckle.
"Yeah. I'm good."
"How'd this happen, anyway?"
"...I beat myself up!" He bit his lip nervously and she raised a skeptical brow. "Yeah. Yes I did," He placed his hands on his hips nervously.
"You...beat yourself up? Yeah, okay," She decided to let it go for now, but she could tell that Gary could not have beaten himself up. She had seen several bruises in her day and had gone through them as a bounty hunter, so she already knew he was lying.
Little Cato placed his hand on Gary's arm in assurance. And that just made Gary a bit more guilty since he wasn't going to tell him the truth...
"Hey!" Gary stopped him and Nova looked over her shoulder. "Uh...I love you, kid," He confessed, placing his hands on Little Cato's shoulders, earning a laugh.
"What's that for?"
"I just, uh...I just wanted you to know that," Gary backed away while rubbing his neck, looking at Nova. "Nova...I, um..."
She held up a hand. "Gary...let me stop you right here. I know that...what happened was...horrifying and it shouldn't have happened. I think we can all agree on that," She closed her eyes. "But...I know the truth, and I know you. So you don't need to apologize to me, and I was out of line anyway. I shouldn't have called you out like that."
"Nah...we're even, Nov," He smiled, walking towards Ash. The two smiled back at him. Nova then left with Little Cato, the door closing and she sighed.
"Starlight? What's wrong?"
She turned to him and took a deep breath, preparing herself.
"Hey," Gary gave a small wave.
"Hey," Ash returned it calmly.
"I don't know if there's...a word...in existence that would describe how terrible...I feel for what I did. And what it led to between you and Nova." She sat down on a box, staring at him as he stood there in silence for a few seconds. "I am so very sorry, Ash." He slumped his shoulders, looking towards the ground. "I don't expect you to forgive me. But I just wanted you to know that I love the big guy. I do. And I would love it sometime if, uh...you would...if you were to tell me more about him. And...just so you know, he still hasn't woken up. I know you'd...wanna know that."
Ash closed her eyes, thinking about her brother. He would want her to forgive him...and...hearing his words...she could tell that he had no intention to severely hurt Fox. Gary took in her silence as in that she was still mad at him.
"Okay. Well, I'll leave you, uh, alone."
"...You wanna know about Fox?" She spoke up softly and he turned to her eagerly.
"Yes! I mean...I mean, hell yeah."
She patted the seat next to her and he joined her. "Did you, um...ever hear about the time he got coramite leeches all over his body from Fentrex 7?"
He laughed out loud upon hearing that and she giggled, covering her mouth with her hands. "No way! Those are the itchiest leeches in the universe!"
"Yeah," She smiled at him. "It was the best. We, uh—we went there for the beaches, but apparently we stayed for the coramite leeches."
He laughed and Quinn was watching them from a hologram. "Ash is back, Quinn. And I mean truly back," HUE told her and she smiled fondly. KVN and Mooncake looked on happily.
"Set a course for Earth. Kevin van Newton's waiting." They took off into a lightfold.
Little Cato and Nova were sitting together in the weapons room. "What is it?"
"I just...I've killed a lot of people in three years. All I had was Mooncake back then. I looked out for him, but my relationship with my parents and my sister were over. I never looked back. I never let them cloud my judgment. I never even let them see me after what they did to me. But now I...I never had to think that...after what happened to my father, one of my own siblings would almost die right in...right in my..." She faltered, trying not to cry. Little Cato tilted her chin upwards.
"It's okay to let it all out, Starlight. You can trust me."
She finally gave in and started bawling sadly as she thought about all of the family members she had lost, along with Bolo's illness. Little Cato pulled her in for a hug, squeezing her tight as his ears drooped. "Everyone I had as a family is in danger. My grandparents are already dead!" She wailed out into his chest. "Who's next, you?!"
"That's not true," He whispered to her gently, starting to cry himself. "You still have Bolo, Fox, Ash, and the Team Squad...and me...we're all family, Starlight. We're all going to get out of here." He pulled back to look into her eyes. "Standing together...alone...you'll always be with me."
"How do I know that?" Nova fell onto the floor, sitting on her knees sadly. "You could be here one day and gone the next...just like the Arachnitects..." She squeezed her eyes shut, continuing to cry. "I keep worrying to myself that I'll keep losing people, and that I've given up hope. Something I didn't even know I had or needed until I met you!" His eyes softened at her. "I can't stand watching any more people die or having to hear about it! It's awful as hell! You have no idea how much I need you right now, Cato," She continued crying quietly, ducking her head. "I'm so scared..."
His ears flattened at her words before he kneeled in front of her. He dug into his pocket and held out a golden ring with the red geode he stole from Invictus on top of it. She blinked at it and then looked up at him.
"With this...you don't have to be...I made it myself, b-because I...I wanted to know if...you wanted to make it official. You know...that we promise to always be there for each other, to never abandon each other. I-I...I realized that after I said you were my girlfriend to my dad...t-that I...want to be your boyfriend, Starlight. I want to hold you when you cry, comfort you when you're scared...and to show you that I'm here. I care, not just about you, but about us. So...what do you say?"
He smiled nervously as he held out the ring to her. Her eyes widened as she paused. He rubbed his neck nervously upon using that word out loud, since she didn't use it.
"…It's about freakin time!" Then she leapt forward, hugging him with tears of joy. He smiled and hugged her back, kissing her forehead. He placed the ring over her finger and she smiled at it. "It was corny as hell, but I actually needed that."
He just laughed, wiping away her tears with his thumb.
"Did I ever tell you that the Lord Commander mispronounced the word protégé?"
She gasped and chuckled at him. "No way! You're totally playing with me right now, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not!" He laughed and she sat up, listening to his story. She leaned in a bit with interest, a smile on her face. She was grateful that he had managed to make her laugh despite her doubts. And…listening to him, she felt so much better.
Angel: I'm not gonna lie, this...by far was the most difficult episode to write in the entire story from this show. That crown was first held by The Happy Place. Unlike Chapter 6, Avocato's death didn't last the entire episode, it was literally the last few minutes, so that's why it was easier to write while heartbreaking as it was. While The Happy Place had a disgusting and unneeded joke that I couldn't avoid or rewrite in the first 2 and a half minutes, and that made the rest of the episode unbearable to write in my opinion. But this episode...while I did change everything, yes, having to watch this episode with its original content a second time...broke me emotionally. And in the best way possible because of this season's writing (even though I don't like ALL aspects of it). I consider this episode the most emotional out of the whole show, and that's kinda why I had a hard time writing this. Literally like 7 minutes in, I had to take a break because I started crying ^^' And the rest of the episode, I kept having to tap out. Cause everything I changed...just reminded me of what really happened in the episode every single time. And...it's my favorite episode in the whole season because of that emotional tug throughout almost the entire episode. I cried several times, and...this has been the only episode where it's been able to do that the whole way through. Because it's a very beautiful, heart-wrenching episode of a show that I love. I had to force myself to get through this episode emotionally, but I did it.
This was kinda depressing to say, I'll admit ^^' See you guys next Friday with the next episode where my emotions get tugged at again…that should be fun.