Enduring the Heart's Dream
Chapter One: The First Mistake
0 B.D:
The test tube held a glowing pink liquid labeled: UNSTABLE ELEMENT: Do Not Touch. "Unstable indeed" he snorted, "I'll show them what's unstable!" What he was about to do was against the rules. He wasn't even allowed to be in the laboratory without a technician's supervision, yet he was. He was determine to prove that he could be the best scientist on the IGS Dunley, the most scientifically advanced interstellar ship in this quadrant of the galaxy. Everyone said he was too young, that he needed more experience, and that he should just be patient about his being too young. He only had too more years before he would be 19. Then he'd be old enough to enter the Academy for Interstellar Scientific Exploration. He didn't want to wait, and that was why he was doing this now. Captain Klote had decided to take the crew exploring in a relatively unknown solar system in hopes to finding a habitable planet that they could get resources from and even possibly live on.
And they had found one, and only one. Were in fact currently orbiting the planet with teams on the surface searching for materials and intelligent life forms, though not much had been found yet that was useful to them. With the crew occupied with current discoveries of breathable air and life on the planet's surface it hadn't been hard to sneak into the lab unnoticed. He had been waiting for this for moment for months, planning relentlessly, calculating every possible out come, leaving nothing to chance. There would be no room for error. Everyone would know his name when he was done.
Wasting no time on delays he got to work, mixing this with that, heating one chemical while freezing another. Everything was going just as he had hypothesized. Just barely an hour into working he was done. The process was complete and the only thing left to do was test it. Placing the chemicals safely into his bag he looked at the tube of glowing pink goop. They weren't sure exactly what it would do. That it would cause mutation to any living thing that was in contact with it for too long was all they had been able to determine before locking the dangerous mixture away. It had killed three of the crewmembers already, leaving only their bodies behind like empty shells. This would make them listen. They would have to do anything he said with this in his possession. He picked up a capsule container, used for carrying small amounts of liquids safely without exposure or combustion. Carefully pouring the concoction inside he sealed it and marveled at the power he would now have over the crew and her Captain. The liquid swirled in colors of sliver and pink around the sphere container, and he tossed it lightly in the air softly whispering, "My you are a beauty aren't you? Like a precious gem stone... my jewel."
He stuffed it inside his pocket and ran for the exit, though just as he got there the door opened... there was nowhere for him to hide.
The door slid into the wall and standing before him was the one girl on the ship that he had respect for. Oh who was he kidding he didn't just respect her; he was in love with her. Midoriko stood before him with her long raven hair unbound hanging across her shoulders, and her blue eyes pierced his own with unrelenting anger. Her red uniform clean and pressed leaving it wrinkle less. "What in the name of Luphine are you doing in here? You know this is a restricted area!" then her eyes took on an emotion he hadn't ever seen in her eyes, a kind of sadness as she spoke gently, "I'm going to have to report you Onigumo." She had said his name. His name. She had never spoken it before. He didn't even think she knew he existed as anything but her crewmate, let alone knew his name. Stunned into silence he just gaped at her, never finding her more beautiful then that moment when his name had come from her lips. Even more to his surprise she stepped forward and placed a hand on his cheek. She was just a few inches shorter than him, and 2 years younger but she was nearly just as smart and accomplished everything she did with finesse and natural grace. He subconsciously leaned into her touch and noticed that her eyes had fogged over in tears. "Why did you do this? Why did you have to do this to me?" she whispered as a single tear slid down her face, "You're suppose to be the brightest of all the younglings on board. Smarter than even me, so why'd you do it? To us?" She leaned forward now and softly kissed his lips. He couldn't move. He wanted to through his arms around her, to return her kiss, to hold her close and never let her go. But one thing she said had stuck out in his mind. To us? What did she mean by that?
He grabbed her arms and pushed her away from him. She blinked up at him, and then she looked so hurt at his rejection. "What I did will only get me in trouble. It has nothing to do with you. What do you mean US?" He questioned while shaking her slightly. "US as in you and me, together." She clarified. She couldn't really love him, this must be a hallucination or something. There was just no way that she could tell him this now, when it was too late to do anything about it. It just wasn't possible. Was it? He hadn't seen her step out of his grip. He was so caught up in his own denial that he didn't see her hand move, didn't see it coming toward his face, didn't even realize that she'd slapped him until his head was forced to the side from the pressure of her hand. "Don't you know I love you, you detogg?!" She screamed in his face, "I saw your plans, I know what you're trying to do, and you can't! I won't let you do this! DEMON can't be used on people, it needs to be tested properly first, it's just too dangerous. We might never make it home alive, what can you be thinking? You're better than this!"
"Damn you!" He yelled at her, "Damn you for telling me this! I didn't know, how could I have known you felt this way? It's all I ever wanted, but I thought that if I couldn't have you then no one could, that this was the only way that you could ever be with me. How was I supposed to know?" He questioned softly with a hand lightly stoking her cheek. "Well you do now, you can still stop this. You can get rid of the compound, you don't need DEMON, and you can have me instead." She replied. He grabbed her to him and kissed her fiercely. Pouring every desire he felt for her into one kiss. They seemed to meld into one body for just an instant, but that instant was over quickly. He had dropped his bag when he grabbed her. A single tube had fallen out and rolled across the floor hitting lightly against a table leg. The glass tube cracked, and then spilt open allowing the compound DEMON to spread across the floor right to their feet.
The crew looked up as the ship crashed down to the planet's surface with flames bursting from its side. Fear and dread filled each person's eyes as they watched their only means of getting home crash down with it. They were stuck on this planet now, with little chance of anyone ever finding them again. They were going to have to make this planet home. This wild planet that their Captain had recently decided to name, Earth.
Chapter One: The First Mistake
0 B.D:
The test tube held a glowing pink liquid labeled: UNSTABLE ELEMENT: Do Not Touch. "Unstable indeed" he snorted, "I'll show them what's unstable!" What he was about to do was against the rules. He wasn't even allowed to be in the laboratory without a technician's supervision, yet he was. He was determine to prove that he could be the best scientist on the IGS Dunley, the most scientifically advanced interstellar ship in this quadrant of the galaxy. Everyone said he was too young, that he needed more experience, and that he should just be patient about his being too young. He only had too more years before he would be 19. Then he'd be old enough to enter the Academy for Interstellar Scientific Exploration. He didn't want to wait, and that was why he was doing this now. Captain Klote had decided to take the crew exploring in a relatively unknown solar system in hopes to finding a habitable planet that they could get resources from and even possibly live on.
And they had found one, and only one. Were in fact currently orbiting the planet with teams on the surface searching for materials and intelligent life forms, though not much had been found yet that was useful to them. With the crew occupied with current discoveries of breathable air and life on the planet's surface it hadn't been hard to sneak into the lab unnoticed. He had been waiting for this for moment for months, planning relentlessly, calculating every possible out come, leaving nothing to chance. There would be no room for error. Everyone would know his name when he was done.
Wasting no time on delays he got to work, mixing this with that, heating one chemical while freezing another. Everything was going just as he had hypothesized. Just barely an hour into working he was done. The process was complete and the only thing left to do was test it. Placing the chemicals safely into his bag he looked at the tube of glowing pink goop. They weren't sure exactly what it would do. That it would cause mutation to any living thing that was in contact with it for too long was all they had been able to determine before locking the dangerous mixture away. It had killed three of the crewmembers already, leaving only their bodies behind like empty shells. This would make them listen. They would have to do anything he said with this in his possession. He picked up a capsule container, used for carrying small amounts of liquids safely without exposure or combustion. Carefully pouring the concoction inside he sealed it and marveled at the power he would now have over the crew and her Captain. The liquid swirled in colors of sliver and pink around the sphere container, and he tossed it lightly in the air softly whispering, "My you are a beauty aren't you? Like a precious gem stone... my jewel."
He stuffed it inside his pocket and ran for the exit, though just as he got there the door opened... there was nowhere for him to hide.
The door slid into the wall and standing before him was the one girl on the ship that he had respect for. Oh who was he kidding he didn't just respect her; he was in love with her. Midoriko stood before him with her long raven hair unbound hanging across her shoulders, and her blue eyes pierced his own with unrelenting anger. Her red uniform clean and pressed leaving it wrinkle less. "What in the name of Luphine are you doing in here? You know this is a restricted area!" then her eyes took on an emotion he hadn't ever seen in her eyes, a kind of sadness as she spoke gently, "I'm going to have to report you Onigumo." She had said his name. His name. She had never spoken it before. He didn't even think she knew he existed as anything but her crewmate, let alone knew his name. Stunned into silence he just gaped at her, never finding her more beautiful then that moment when his name had come from her lips. Even more to his surprise she stepped forward and placed a hand on his cheek. She was just a few inches shorter than him, and 2 years younger but she was nearly just as smart and accomplished everything she did with finesse and natural grace. He subconsciously leaned into her touch and noticed that her eyes had fogged over in tears. "Why did you do this? Why did you have to do this to me?" she whispered as a single tear slid down her face, "You're suppose to be the brightest of all the younglings on board. Smarter than even me, so why'd you do it? To us?" She leaned forward now and softly kissed his lips. He couldn't move. He wanted to through his arms around her, to return her kiss, to hold her close and never let her go. But one thing she said had stuck out in his mind. To us? What did she mean by that?
He grabbed her arms and pushed her away from him. She blinked up at him, and then she looked so hurt at his rejection. "What I did will only get me in trouble. It has nothing to do with you. What do you mean US?" He questioned while shaking her slightly. "US as in you and me, together." She clarified. She couldn't really love him, this must be a hallucination or something. There was just no way that she could tell him this now, when it was too late to do anything about it. It just wasn't possible. Was it? He hadn't seen her step out of his grip. He was so caught up in his own denial that he didn't see her hand move, didn't see it coming toward his face, didn't even realize that she'd slapped him until his head was forced to the side from the pressure of her hand. "Don't you know I love you, you detogg?!" She screamed in his face, "I saw your plans, I know what you're trying to do, and you can't! I won't let you do this! DEMON can't be used on people, it needs to be tested properly first, it's just too dangerous. We might never make it home alive, what can you be thinking? You're better than this!"
"Damn you!" He yelled at her, "Damn you for telling me this! I didn't know, how could I have known you felt this way? It's all I ever wanted, but I thought that if I couldn't have you then no one could, that this was the only way that you could ever be with me. How was I supposed to know?" He questioned softly with a hand lightly stoking her cheek. "Well you do now, you can still stop this. You can get rid of the compound, you don't need DEMON, and you can have me instead." She replied. He grabbed her to him and kissed her fiercely. Pouring every desire he felt for her into one kiss. They seemed to meld into one body for just an instant, but that instant was over quickly. He had dropped his bag when he grabbed her. A single tube had fallen out and rolled across the floor hitting lightly against a table leg. The glass tube cracked, and then spilt open allowing the compound DEMON to spread across the floor right to their feet.
The crew looked up as the ship crashed down to the planet's surface with flames bursting from its side. Fear and dread filled each person's eyes as they watched their only means of getting home crash down with it. They were stuck on this planet now, with little chance of anyone ever finding them again. They were going to have to make this planet home. This wild planet that their Captain had recently decided to name, Earth.