Part 19: The Specter and the Traveler
Alex's gaze bore into those of her new close friend, the deep violet orbs almost hypnotizing as she raised one hand to gently run it through her dark strands of hair. It looked absolutely stunning in the light of the small van they were sitting in, with the front windshield facing toward the battle-scarred city of San Francisco.
"You have pretty hair." Alex said dumbly as she stared at her close friend. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to touch your hair... I..." Alex stuttered when she realized what she was doing. She moved to take her hand back, but Mandy's hand, roughened by the months living in rough conditions and fighting sporadically, grabbed Alex's hand before she could move it.
"So do you..." Mandy's other hand reached up to stroke her cheek. The rough skin of her palm felt strangely pleasant for some reason against her not-exactly-smooth cheek. "I've been in love with it ever since I saw it..." She whispered under her breath. Alex stared at her. Mandy was talking about her hair... but her eyes never left Alex's.
"It's so long and soft... it's wonderful." Alex replied softly as she ran her hand through Mandy's hair again, her palm encircling the back of Mandy's head. They slowly found themselves moving toward each other.
"You're wonderful..." Mandy replied as her hand drew Alex's face ever closer to hers. "You're the most wonderful thing I know..." Her expression changed from one of tenderness to one of... hunger. A feeling Alex couldn't deny feeling herself. Having this beautiful woman... this beautiful, haunted person so close to her now was exhilarating... and in a way, intoxicating.
"You're so pretty Mandy..." Alex said. "Even when I hated you... I thought you were more pretty than Clover..."
"I thought the same way..." Mandy replied with a soft smile.
Slowly they moved even closer, until Alex felt her nose touch the tip of Mandy's. A small giggle escaped her lips. "I'm sorry, I just can't help myself..."
Mandy didn't respond, instead tilting her head to the side and drawing their lips together at last. Mandy's hand gripped the back of Alex's neck, trapping her as she moved closer against the lithe form of the former WOOHP spy. Alex was all too willing to be trapped, wrapping her arms around Mandy and closing her eyes as the kiss deepened. Their bodies moved closer together, rubbing against each other with such friction that it just set her soul on fire...
Alex awoke with a start, surprised for a moment to find herself sleeping in one of the beds she found on board the Argathin ship. She panted hard, the dream having awakened old desires and urges within her... urges that she couldn't fulfill now, but knew she couldn't let go.
As she sat up her gaze turned toward the window. The violet essence was floating just outside among the stars, peacefully pacing the golden ship like a whale looking over a ship lost at sea. Alex sighed and shook her head wistfully, staring at the Starlight Specter.
"I know Mandy... I feel it too..." Alex slipped off the bed and stretched her back out as she walked toward the large bathroom. She took her time in the shower, since she wasn't exactly in a hurry to be anywhere. The ship was still on its course to Earth, and they'd left the Argathin home world just a few days ago. It would be a while yet before they arrived at their destination.
When she was clean, Alex dressed in the same animal skins she'd been wearing and went back up to the bridge to eat some breakfast. The Starlight Specter followed her, appearing outside the front window with a soft cry that echoed deep inside Alex's head. She sat down in the captain's chair and used a small laser she'd found on the ship to open one of the cans she'd brought.
She shoveled the thick substance into her mouth with her fingers and leaned back to watch the glowing violet entity outside the window. It had been appearing and disappearing throughout the several days she'd been out in space. There wasn't much to do on this ship except for a few gyms she found down in the depths of it. But she wasn't in the mood to work out.
"Mmm... this one tastes like... beef stew." Alex told the energy outside the window. She ate her fill then set the can aside and pushed herself to her feet. "So where'd you go the last time you left me?" She smirked. Talking to 'Mandy' had become about all she did. There wasn't anyone else around, or anything else to do. Only the steady beeping of the console let her know she wasn't just drifting randomly in space.
Mandy never responded though. "You're too quiet." Alex told the drifting Starlight Specter. "You're seeing another lonely space captain aren't you?" She chuckled to herself. As usual, the specter didn't respond. "I knew it, you don't love me anymore." Alex whirled dramatically and put one hand to her head. She peeked back at the energy, but it still didn't respond.
"Spoil sport." Alex stuck her tongue out at the glowing mass of energy. She stopped when she heard a small beeping sound from the front console. "Eh? What's going on here?" She approached the console and looked down at it. A light on the front was flashing red, and the entire console was slowly being overtaken by a strange looking static. "Tell me the ship's not breaking..."
A wailing sound erupted inside Alex's mind, drawing her gaze to the Starlight Specter outside the window. It was shivering, but still paced her ship. Alex turned her gaze forward and gasped when she saw a magnificent cloud of glittering lights framed by the darkness of space. Alex blinked in confusion as the ship drew closer to it.
Soon the console in front of her was covered in static, and outside the ship she could see the Specter weaving through space as if it was having trouble keeping up with her. "Mandy!?" Alex ran to the window and placed her hands against the glass. "MANDYYYY!" Alex screamed and pounded on the glass, but she couldn't stop the violet energy outside the window from vanishing.
"Whhooooaaaa!" Alex yelled as the ship began to rock under her feet. She collapsed to the floor and rolled toward the pilot's seat. She grabbed it and pulled herself up to reach for the controls... but suddenly the lights went out and the ship stopped moving. "Wh... what happened...?" Alex stuttered fearfully. She pulled herself into the pilot's seat, pounding on the console in front of her, but it remained dark.
In fact, the entire ship seemed to have gone dark. There were even any red emergency lights or anything, the entire thing was pitch black. She could only see by the small, but piercing rays of light from the myriad stars outside the front windshield, combined with the swirling rainbow of colors that the ship had flown into.
"We ran out of juice... not even any emergency lights..." Alex gulped. "Probably means no oxygen either..." She sat back in the pilot's seat, staring blankly at the front window. "Mandy, where the Hell did you go?" She asked in a shivering voice. The absolute silence seemed deafening after listening to the hum of the ship's engines for the last few days.
What was she supposed to do now? The shining rainbow lights outside of the ship illuminated the bridge fairly well, but she couldn't leave this room or she'd never find her way around in the pitch darkness. She couldn't see Mandy outside. And she swore she could feel the air beginning to stagnate already, though that was probably just her fear kicking in.
"Don't tell me this is it..." Alex sighed and leaned her back against the front windshield. "After coming all this way I get to suffocate on my way back home? That's just plain cruel..." She slid down to a sitting position. "Maybe I deserve it after abandoning the village like that... or killing that child... or any of the other hundreds of things I've done trying to fight the Imperium of Christ..."
She looked up in surprise when the golden lights began to shine again, for just a split second before fading into darkness again. "The power came back...?" Alex blinked and looked outside the window. The ship was coming up to a small gap in the rainbow cloud outside. The lights flashed again as they passed through it, but faded when she drifted into another section of the cloud. "The cloud... it's draining the ship's power."
So that was the answer, she had to get rid of that cloud... but how the Hell was she supposed to move a cloud out of the way trapped in deep space with no way to get outside to it, let alone actually move it? Was she supposed to just jump out an airlock with a big fan and blow it away? It was hopeless... she couldn't move a cloud, or even this ship...
"Alex..." Alex looked up in surprise when she heard a soft voice echo in the back of her mind. "Alex, are you in there?" The Latino woman leapt to her feet, turning to stare out the front window. Mixed with the rainbow energy outside she could see a violet swirl of energy randomly moving through it.
"M... Mandy?" Alex asked in surprise. The dark violet energy swirled faster, moving through the other colors like a bullet.
"You can hear me now!" The voice replied excitedly in her mind. Alex pushed herself quickly to her feet, staring at the dark violet energy outside. "I've been trying to talk to someone for so long... but I didn't think anyone could hear me!"
"I heard you... I heard you Mandy." Alex approached the glass and placed her hand against it. She couldn't stop grinning ear to ear as she watched the energy circle outside. "I knew it was you... I just knew it. But... what happened to you? How did you get like this?"
"I don't know exactly. I grabbed that bastard alien and threw us into space... then I exploded, and when I opened my eyes I was like this. I tried to go back down to Earth and find someone... but nobody could hear me." Mandy's voice replied. "I was beginning to think nobody would ever notice me again when I realized that people COULD see me up here in space... but they still couldn't hear me."
"Well I think I did hear you... in my dreams..." Alex replied. "And I can hear you perfectly now."
"I know. I think it's this cloud. It's like a... pool of energy. It sucks it from the surrounding space into itself. When I touched it, it took me too... but I feel stronger now than I ever have," Mandy said. "I'm so glad you can hear me Alex... you have no idea what it's like floating around up here alone, with nothing and nobody around..."
"I know Mandy, it's okay." Alex smiled slightly. "I'm with you now... but I won't be for long if I don't get out of this cloud. It drained the ship's power. I don't even have any emergency lights." She gulped. The violet energy outside the window swirled through the cloud even faster.
"I think I might be able to do something about that... give me a minute." The violet energy swirled away from her, vanishing into the rainbow cloud. Alex leaned against the window, watching curiously as the glowing particles of light began to swirl and move around each other in a small stream. The stream grew larger and larger until it parted to reveal a ball of light particles surrounding a surge of violet energy.
"RAAAAAGH!" Mandy's scream erupted in Alex's mind as the pulse of energy suddenly darted toward her, trailing a stream of light particles behind it. Alex backed away when she realized it was heading straight for the window she was leaning against. She dove to the side and covered her head with her hands as the surge slammed into the ship, knocking it to the side.
Alex looked up as the lights flared to life, blinding for a moment before they faded back down to their normal glow. The power from the cloud around them must have been thrown into the ship's systems. "You did it Mandy!" Alex exclaimed, climbing to her feet. She hesitated when she didn't hear anything. "M... Mandy?" Alex turned around slowly. She gasped in surprise when she saw a ball of dark violet energy lying against the back wall. It surged and swirled in itself, almost as if in pain. "Mandy!?"
"G... get outta the... cloud..." Mandy's voice ordered. Alex gulped and nodded, rushing to the control panel to set the ship back to autopilot toward Earth at maximum velocity. She watched the screen until they broke through the cloud into the darkness of space, when she finally let herself breathe again. She turned back to the violet lump against the back wall worriedly.
"Mandy? Are you okay?" Alex moved around the bridge toward the ball, reaching out to put one hand against it. It felt wonderfully warm to the touch, as she's expected... but it was also shivering. "Mandy...?" Alex stroked the solid-feeling energy, but Mandy didn't respond. "You're not strong enough to talk anymore... are you?" It didn't give a response.
Alex sighed wistfully and leaned against it, wrapping her arms around it. "Don't worry Mandy... I'll take care of you, and I won't let you be lonely again." Alex smiled slightly, holding onto the violet ball of energy. Gently she tried to put her arms under it and lift it up, but it was far heavier than it looked. She grunted and strained for a few moments, but it wasn't budging.
Finally Alex sighed and gave up, leaning against the sentient energy ball. "Sorry Mandy... but you've put on a little weight." She smiled jokingly. But Mandy didn't respond at all. It was hard to tell that she wasn't just a big purple rock really. The energy had completely stopped moving. "Mandy, you're... you're still alive... aren't you?" Alex asked. "Please say something..."
Alex waited, but she didn't get any response. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, forcing a smile onto her face. "Hey... okay, you rest up. You probably need it, and you definitely deserve it for saving my life twice now." She turned away from the purple rock and picked up her animal skin bag, turning to walk toward the exit. "I'll... check on you in a little while..."
She left quickly, wiping at the tears that flowed down her cheeks as she walked down the hallway. She marched into the bedroom she'd claimed as her own and dropped the bag to the floor. The bed squeaked lightly as she let herself collapse on top of it, burying her face in the comfortable pillow. Her feet hung off the edge of the bed since it was made for the smaller Argathins, but she didn't really care right now.
She kept her face in the pillow, only leaving her mouth hanging off so she could breathe. Her tears moistened the pillow, tears she couldn't seem to stop. She was afraid Mandy had killed herself... AGAIN... but what was she supposed to do about it? All she could do it seemed was just worry and hope, and those didn't seem like very productive things to do.
Still, she couldn't stop crying and worrying into the pillow until she drifted off into a light slumber. The darkness claimed her senses, drawing her away from the world until suddenly she felt the same touch she felt before. She saw an image in her dream of Mandy sitting on the edge of Alex's bed with a slight smile on her face.
"Mandy?" Alex sat up curiously. Wait... she was still dreaming wasn't she? It was hard to tell, Mandy looked so real in the golden lights that illuminated the entire ship.
"Yeah, it's me." Mandy told her. "I'm glad to finally be able to TALK to you instead of just... remembering." She said.
"Mandy..." Alex reached up and grabbed her, pulling her into a tight bear hug and leaning her cheek against her shoulder. "You have no idea what I went through after you died... wishing that you were still around..." Alex gulped and closed her eyes. She felt Mandy wrap her arms around her back. Wait... how could she feel it if this was a dream? Ah, she didn't care. Why question something that felt so wonderful? "I said you were a special thing... and I meant it..."
"You were a special thing too..." Mandy replied softly. "The second person to accept what I was..." She said softly. The first, of course, was Mandy's high-school flame, Lisa Jones. Alex didn't care about the past though... she had Mandy now, that was what really mattered to her.
"I love you, Amandy..." Alex whispered softly, squeezing Mandy even tighter. Mandy stroked her back and pushed her back onto the bed, until Alex was staring up at her, the deep purple eyes boring into hers.
"I love you too, Alex." Mandy told her firmly, more of a statement of fact than some kind of declaration of love. Alex blinked, but suddenly she found the purple-eyed woman on top of her, her lips and teeth gnawing into the tender flesh of her throat. Alex shivered in surprise and delight, arching her neck to give Mandy better access. So much fire now... it was completely different from what she remembered. Mandy was back in herself... and apparently very hungry for human contact after months of isolation.
Contact Alex was all too happy to give.
She felt Mandy's hands probing her body, pulling the skins away from her with such delicate, electric touches that there was no way this could've been a dream. Soon Alex found herself completely at Mandy's mercy, lying on the bed nude with the violet-eyed woman hunched over her, looking her over as if to decide how to begin some kind of torture.
Mandy leaned down, pressing her body up against Alex's. Was she nude before? Alex hadn't noticed somehow... that was kinda weird. But she wasn't about to argue, because the feel of Mandy's body sent an electric thrill through her. Mandy's lips engulfed her own, and her hands slid up and down her sides, across her thighs and around her butt, sliding around to toy with the edges of Alex's womanhood.
Alex shuddered in pleasure, giving herself to the fiery brunette woman who was dominating her body. She closed her eyes, feeling Mandy's hands probing her body in firm and quick, but careful strokes and prods that set her nerves on fire. She moaned when she felt Mandy's hand sliding over her breasts, her other probing and stroking her most tender areas so expertly Alex felt like she was going to explode within seconds.
Mandy's lips touched her throat again for a few moments, and Alex whimpered when she started moving them down her body. They trailed up the top of one of her breasts, moving down until the found the place that would send waves of sensations coursing through Alex's body. Alex arched her back, clutching the sheets and groaning loudly. The tension built quickly, once believed lost to her forever, but now inexplicably back.
"Maaaannndyyyyyy!" Alex yelled as the wave of passion swept over her. She opened her eyes and sat up... to find that Mandy was gone. Alex was panting heavily in the afterglow of her very real climax, looking around. She was very confused until she saw a glimmering purple energy in the corner of the room. She blinked in surprise as it moved toward the bed.
It was at least twelve feet tall, with the highest tip almost scraping the ceiling of the massive space ship. It looked like it had a generally human shape, and it was about as wide as a human. It looked like a person wearing a cloak that dragged against the ground as it moved in an eerie, ghostly floating manner. A protrusion from the top resembled a human head sticking out of the cloak, though there were no specific features to be found anywhere on its body. Alex could almost feel a sense of warmth coming from it though.
"Wow Mandy... you look kinda... creepy." Alex said. The violet figure shook her 'head' and shoulders in what Alex thought kind of looked like a laugh. "You still can't talk huh?" Mandy shook her head. "That's okay... I'm still glad you're here." Alex stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the figure. She was less than half as tall as she was though. "And we always have my dreams."
Mandy nodded and part of her 'cloak' stretched out to wrap around her in a light hug. Alex smiled, enjoying the warms of Mandy's 'body' wrapped around her. The memory of what they'd just finally shared after so long helped too. She wasn't alone in her journey back to Earth anymore... boy would Sam and Clover be surprised when she showed up back on Earth with Mandy. It would be wonderful.
TO BE CONTINUED
Alex's gaze bore into those of her new close friend, the deep violet orbs almost hypnotizing as she raised one hand to gently run it through her dark strands of hair. It looked absolutely stunning in the light of the small van they were sitting in, with the front windshield facing toward the battle-scarred city of San Francisco.
"You have pretty hair." Alex said dumbly as she stared at her close friend. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to touch your hair... I..." Alex stuttered when she realized what she was doing. She moved to take her hand back, but Mandy's hand, roughened by the months living in rough conditions and fighting sporadically, grabbed Alex's hand before she could move it.
"So do you..." Mandy's other hand reached up to stroke her cheek. The rough skin of her palm felt strangely pleasant for some reason against her not-exactly-smooth cheek. "I've been in love with it ever since I saw it..." She whispered under her breath. Alex stared at her. Mandy was talking about her hair... but her eyes never left Alex's.
"It's so long and soft... it's wonderful." Alex replied softly as she ran her hand through Mandy's hair again, her palm encircling the back of Mandy's head. They slowly found themselves moving toward each other.
"You're wonderful..." Mandy replied as her hand drew Alex's face ever closer to hers. "You're the most wonderful thing I know..." Her expression changed from one of tenderness to one of... hunger. A feeling Alex couldn't deny feeling herself. Having this beautiful woman... this beautiful, haunted person so close to her now was exhilarating... and in a way, intoxicating.
"You're so pretty Mandy..." Alex said. "Even when I hated you... I thought you were more pretty than Clover..."
"I thought the same way..." Mandy replied with a soft smile.
Slowly they moved even closer, until Alex felt her nose touch the tip of Mandy's. A small giggle escaped her lips. "I'm sorry, I just can't help myself..."
Mandy didn't respond, instead tilting her head to the side and drawing their lips together at last. Mandy's hand gripped the back of Alex's neck, trapping her as she moved closer against the lithe form of the former WOOHP spy. Alex was all too willing to be trapped, wrapping her arms around Mandy and closing her eyes as the kiss deepened. Their bodies moved closer together, rubbing against each other with such friction that it just set her soul on fire...
Alex awoke with a start, surprised for a moment to find herself sleeping in one of the beds she found on board the Argathin ship. She panted hard, the dream having awakened old desires and urges within her... urges that she couldn't fulfill now, but knew she couldn't let go.
As she sat up her gaze turned toward the window. The violet essence was floating just outside among the stars, peacefully pacing the golden ship like a whale looking over a ship lost at sea. Alex sighed and shook her head wistfully, staring at the Starlight Specter.
"I know Mandy... I feel it too..." Alex slipped off the bed and stretched her back out as she walked toward the large bathroom. She took her time in the shower, since she wasn't exactly in a hurry to be anywhere. The ship was still on its course to Earth, and they'd left the Argathin home world just a few days ago. It would be a while yet before they arrived at their destination.
When she was clean, Alex dressed in the same animal skins she'd been wearing and went back up to the bridge to eat some breakfast. The Starlight Specter followed her, appearing outside the front window with a soft cry that echoed deep inside Alex's head. She sat down in the captain's chair and used a small laser she'd found on the ship to open one of the cans she'd brought.
She shoveled the thick substance into her mouth with her fingers and leaned back to watch the glowing violet entity outside the window. It had been appearing and disappearing throughout the several days she'd been out in space. There wasn't much to do on this ship except for a few gyms she found down in the depths of it. But she wasn't in the mood to work out.
"Mmm... this one tastes like... beef stew." Alex told the energy outside the window. She ate her fill then set the can aside and pushed herself to her feet. "So where'd you go the last time you left me?" She smirked. Talking to 'Mandy' had become about all she did. There wasn't anyone else around, or anything else to do. Only the steady beeping of the console let her know she wasn't just drifting randomly in space.
Mandy never responded though. "You're too quiet." Alex told the drifting Starlight Specter. "You're seeing another lonely space captain aren't you?" She chuckled to herself. As usual, the specter didn't respond. "I knew it, you don't love me anymore." Alex whirled dramatically and put one hand to her head. She peeked back at the energy, but it still didn't respond.
"Spoil sport." Alex stuck her tongue out at the glowing mass of energy. She stopped when she heard a small beeping sound from the front console. "Eh? What's going on here?" She approached the console and looked down at it. A light on the front was flashing red, and the entire console was slowly being overtaken by a strange looking static. "Tell me the ship's not breaking..."
A wailing sound erupted inside Alex's mind, drawing her gaze to the Starlight Specter outside the window. It was shivering, but still paced her ship. Alex turned her gaze forward and gasped when she saw a magnificent cloud of glittering lights framed by the darkness of space. Alex blinked in confusion as the ship drew closer to it.
Soon the console in front of her was covered in static, and outside the ship she could see the Specter weaving through space as if it was having trouble keeping up with her. "Mandy!?" Alex ran to the window and placed her hands against the glass. "MANDYYYY!" Alex screamed and pounded on the glass, but she couldn't stop the violet energy outside the window from vanishing.
"Whhooooaaaa!" Alex yelled as the ship began to rock under her feet. She collapsed to the floor and rolled toward the pilot's seat. She grabbed it and pulled herself up to reach for the controls... but suddenly the lights went out and the ship stopped moving. "Wh... what happened...?" Alex stuttered fearfully. She pulled herself into the pilot's seat, pounding on the console in front of her, but it remained dark.
In fact, the entire ship seemed to have gone dark. There were even any red emergency lights or anything, the entire thing was pitch black. She could only see by the small, but piercing rays of light from the myriad stars outside the front windshield, combined with the swirling rainbow of colors that the ship had flown into.
"We ran out of juice... not even any emergency lights..." Alex gulped. "Probably means no oxygen either..." She sat back in the pilot's seat, staring blankly at the front window. "Mandy, where the Hell did you go?" She asked in a shivering voice. The absolute silence seemed deafening after listening to the hum of the ship's engines for the last few days.
What was she supposed to do now? The shining rainbow lights outside of the ship illuminated the bridge fairly well, but she couldn't leave this room or she'd never find her way around in the pitch darkness. She couldn't see Mandy outside. And she swore she could feel the air beginning to stagnate already, though that was probably just her fear kicking in.
"Don't tell me this is it..." Alex sighed and leaned her back against the front windshield. "After coming all this way I get to suffocate on my way back home? That's just plain cruel..." She slid down to a sitting position. "Maybe I deserve it after abandoning the village like that... or killing that child... or any of the other hundreds of things I've done trying to fight the Imperium of Christ..."
She looked up in surprise when the golden lights began to shine again, for just a split second before fading into darkness again. "The power came back...?" Alex blinked and looked outside the window. The ship was coming up to a small gap in the rainbow cloud outside. The lights flashed again as they passed through it, but faded when she drifted into another section of the cloud. "The cloud... it's draining the ship's power."
So that was the answer, she had to get rid of that cloud... but how the Hell was she supposed to move a cloud out of the way trapped in deep space with no way to get outside to it, let alone actually move it? Was she supposed to just jump out an airlock with a big fan and blow it away? It was hopeless... she couldn't move a cloud, or even this ship...
"Alex..." Alex looked up in surprise when she heard a soft voice echo in the back of her mind. "Alex, are you in there?" The Latino woman leapt to her feet, turning to stare out the front window. Mixed with the rainbow energy outside she could see a violet swirl of energy randomly moving through it.
"M... Mandy?" Alex asked in surprise. The dark violet energy swirled faster, moving through the other colors like a bullet.
"You can hear me now!" The voice replied excitedly in her mind. Alex pushed herself quickly to her feet, staring at the dark violet energy outside. "I've been trying to talk to someone for so long... but I didn't think anyone could hear me!"
"I heard you... I heard you Mandy." Alex approached the glass and placed her hand against it. She couldn't stop grinning ear to ear as she watched the energy circle outside. "I knew it was you... I just knew it. But... what happened to you? How did you get like this?"
"I don't know exactly. I grabbed that bastard alien and threw us into space... then I exploded, and when I opened my eyes I was like this. I tried to go back down to Earth and find someone... but nobody could hear me." Mandy's voice replied. "I was beginning to think nobody would ever notice me again when I realized that people COULD see me up here in space... but they still couldn't hear me."
"Well I think I did hear you... in my dreams..." Alex replied. "And I can hear you perfectly now."
"I know. I think it's this cloud. It's like a... pool of energy. It sucks it from the surrounding space into itself. When I touched it, it took me too... but I feel stronger now than I ever have," Mandy said. "I'm so glad you can hear me Alex... you have no idea what it's like floating around up here alone, with nothing and nobody around..."
"I know Mandy, it's okay." Alex smiled slightly. "I'm with you now... but I won't be for long if I don't get out of this cloud. It drained the ship's power. I don't even have any emergency lights." She gulped. The violet energy outside the window swirled through the cloud even faster.
"I think I might be able to do something about that... give me a minute." The violet energy swirled away from her, vanishing into the rainbow cloud. Alex leaned against the window, watching curiously as the glowing particles of light began to swirl and move around each other in a small stream. The stream grew larger and larger until it parted to reveal a ball of light particles surrounding a surge of violet energy.
"RAAAAAGH!" Mandy's scream erupted in Alex's mind as the pulse of energy suddenly darted toward her, trailing a stream of light particles behind it. Alex backed away when she realized it was heading straight for the window she was leaning against. She dove to the side and covered her head with her hands as the surge slammed into the ship, knocking it to the side.
Alex looked up as the lights flared to life, blinding for a moment before they faded back down to their normal glow. The power from the cloud around them must have been thrown into the ship's systems. "You did it Mandy!" Alex exclaimed, climbing to her feet. She hesitated when she didn't hear anything. "M... Mandy?" Alex turned around slowly. She gasped in surprise when she saw a ball of dark violet energy lying against the back wall. It surged and swirled in itself, almost as if in pain. "Mandy!?"
"G... get outta the... cloud..." Mandy's voice ordered. Alex gulped and nodded, rushing to the control panel to set the ship back to autopilot toward Earth at maximum velocity. She watched the screen until they broke through the cloud into the darkness of space, when she finally let herself breathe again. She turned back to the violet lump against the back wall worriedly.
"Mandy? Are you okay?" Alex moved around the bridge toward the ball, reaching out to put one hand against it. It felt wonderfully warm to the touch, as she's expected... but it was also shivering. "Mandy...?" Alex stroked the solid-feeling energy, but Mandy didn't respond. "You're not strong enough to talk anymore... are you?" It didn't give a response.
Alex sighed wistfully and leaned against it, wrapping her arms around it. "Don't worry Mandy... I'll take care of you, and I won't let you be lonely again." Alex smiled slightly, holding onto the violet ball of energy. Gently she tried to put her arms under it and lift it up, but it was far heavier than it looked. She grunted and strained for a few moments, but it wasn't budging.
Finally Alex sighed and gave up, leaning against the sentient energy ball. "Sorry Mandy... but you've put on a little weight." She smiled jokingly. But Mandy didn't respond at all. It was hard to tell that she wasn't just a big purple rock really. The energy had completely stopped moving. "Mandy, you're... you're still alive... aren't you?" Alex asked. "Please say something..."
Alex waited, but she didn't get any response. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, forcing a smile onto her face. "Hey... okay, you rest up. You probably need it, and you definitely deserve it for saving my life twice now." She turned away from the purple rock and picked up her animal skin bag, turning to walk toward the exit. "I'll... check on you in a little while..."
She left quickly, wiping at the tears that flowed down her cheeks as she walked down the hallway. She marched into the bedroom she'd claimed as her own and dropped the bag to the floor. The bed squeaked lightly as she let herself collapse on top of it, burying her face in the comfortable pillow. Her feet hung off the edge of the bed since it was made for the smaller Argathins, but she didn't really care right now.
She kept her face in the pillow, only leaving her mouth hanging off so she could breathe. Her tears moistened the pillow, tears she couldn't seem to stop. She was afraid Mandy had killed herself... AGAIN... but what was she supposed to do about it? All she could do it seemed was just worry and hope, and those didn't seem like very productive things to do.
Still, she couldn't stop crying and worrying into the pillow until she drifted off into a light slumber. The darkness claimed her senses, drawing her away from the world until suddenly she felt the same touch she felt before. She saw an image in her dream of Mandy sitting on the edge of Alex's bed with a slight smile on her face.
"Mandy?" Alex sat up curiously. Wait... she was still dreaming wasn't she? It was hard to tell, Mandy looked so real in the golden lights that illuminated the entire ship.
"Yeah, it's me." Mandy told her. "I'm glad to finally be able to TALK to you instead of just... remembering." She said.
"Mandy..." Alex reached up and grabbed her, pulling her into a tight bear hug and leaning her cheek against her shoulder. "You have no idea what I went through after you died... wishing that you were still around..." Alex gulped and closed her eyes. She felt Mandy wrap her arms around her back. Wait... how could she feel it if this was a dream? Ah, she didn't care. Why question something that felt so wonderful? "I said you were a special thing... and I meant it..."
"You were a special thing too..." Mandy replied softly. "The second person to accept what I was..." She said softly. The first, of course, was Mandy's high-school flame, Lisa Jones. Alex didn't care about the past though... she had Mandy now, that was what really mattered to her.
"I love you, Amandy..." Alex whispered softly, squeezing Mandy even tighter. Mandy stroked her back and pushed her back onto the bed, until Alex was staring up at her, the deep purple eyes boring into hers.
"I love you too, Alex." Mandy told her firmly, more of a statement of fact than some kind of declaration of love. Alex blinked, but suddenly she found the purple-eyed woman on top of her, her lips and teeth gnawing into the tender flesh of her throat. Alex shivered in surprise and delight, arching her neck to give Mandy better access. So much fire now... it was completely different from what she remembered. Mandy was back in herself... and apparently very hungry for human contact after months of isolation.
Contact Alex was all too happy to give.
She felt Mandy's hands probing her body, pulling the skins away from her with such delicate, electric touches that there was no way this could've been a dream. Soon Alex found herself completely at Mandy's mercy, lying on the bed nude with the violet-eyed woman hunched over her, looking her over as if to decide how to begin some kind of torture.
Mandy leaned down, pressing her body up against Alex's. Was she nude before? Alex hadn't noticed somehow... that was kinda weird. But she wasn't about to argue, because the feel of Mandy's body sent an electric thrill through her. Mandy's lips engulfed her own, and her hands slid up and down her sides, across her thighs and around her butt, sliding around to toy with the edges of Alex's womanhood.
Alex shuddered in pleasure, giving herself to the fiery brunette woman who was dominating her body. She closed her eyes, feeling Mandy's hands probing her body in firm and quick, but careful strokes and prods that set her nerves on fire. She moaned when she felt Mandy's hand sliding over her breasts, her other probing and stroking her most tender areas so expertly Alex felt like she was going to explode within seconds.
Mandy's lips touched her throat again for a few moments, and Alex whimpered when she started moving them down her body. They trailed up the top of one of her breasts, moving down until the found the place that would send waves of sensations coursing through Alex's body. Alex arched her back, clutching the sheets and groaning loudly. The tension built quickly, once believed lost to her forever, but now inexplicably back.
"Maaaannndyyyyyy!" Alex yelled as the wave of passion swept over her. She opened her eyes and sat up... to find that Mandy was gone. Alex was panting heavily in the afterglow of her very real climax, looking around. She was very confused until she saw a glimmering purple energy in the corner of the room. She blinked in surprise as it moved toward the bed.
It was at least twelve feet tall, with the highest tip almost scraping the ceiling of the massive space ship. It looked like it had a generally human shape, and it was about as wide as a human. It looked like a person wearing a cloak that dragged against the ground as it moved in an eerie, ghostly floating manner. A protrusion from the top resembled a human head sticking out of the cloak, though there were no specific features to be found anywhere on its body. Alex could almost feel a sense of warmth coming from it though.
"Wow Mandy... you look kinda... creepy." Alex said. The violet figure shook her 'head' and shoulders in what Alex thought kind of looked like a laugh. "You still can't talk huh?" Mandy shook her head. "That's okay... I'm still glad you're here." Alex stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the figure. She was less than half as tall as she was though. "And we always have my dreams."
Mandy nodded and part of her 'cloak' stretched out to wrap around her in a light hug. Alex smiled, enjoying the warms of Mandy's 'body' wrapped around her. The memory of what they'd just finally shared after so long helped too. She wasn't alone in her journey back to Earth anymore... boy would Sam and Clover be surprised when she showed up back on Earth with Mandy. It would be wonderful.
TO BE CONTINUED