Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 19: Quiet Trip Home

Darkness filled darkness as Phase opened her eyes. At first she was numb; she gave no reaction of curiosity, fear, tension, anything. She stared blankly, for a moment not sure what was going on, not sure what had happened. Then it hit her, all at once, and she began to panic. Where was she? Why was it so dark? And what was surrounding her? She stood up, and held her hands against what felt like some type of wall. It was lax in structure, flexible. She pushed against it lightly, then after a pause she pressed against it harder, pushing the wall outward.

"What are you trying to do, pop me?" Phase let out a small shriek and fell backward, bouncing lightly against the surface underneath her, made of the exact same material as the wall. "Stop moving, I'll pop, and you'll be gone." The voice came again, almost threateningly, but more with a friendly tone.

"Who-who's there?" Phase asked, beginning to panic. She couldn't see, but someone was there. Where? She began to breathe quickly, backing up, up against the material. It curved upward, she felt above her; she was in some type of sphere.

"Stop breathing so quickly, I can't get you oxygen that fast. Slow down, relax. Relax!" Phase heeded the commanding voice, her breath caught in her throat and the tempest in her heart slowly stopped thundering. She felt dizzy, light-headed, and sleepy. "I told you I couldn't get you oxygen that fast."

"Where am I?" Phase asked, a creeping grogginess slowly enveloping her.

"We're in the vacuum, coming close to a star system."

"What happened...how did I get here?"

"Stop asking questions, breathe slowly."

"Just one more...who are you?" Phase's eyes closed and she did as the voice commanded. The voice then spoke, breaking her ever-ascending sleep for just a moment.

"My number is 599, but I also have a name: Zeus."

"Zeus..." The name echoed in Phase's mind a few times, just before her body felt numb again.

Stitch's eyes began to droop as he turned off the glow from the dashboard display. The light of the near star-system was the perfect somnolent glow, alluring him to slumber even though he couldn't. But the necessity for rest was overtaking him--overtook him--and soon he was almost asleep, when he felt a hand fall upon his shoulder. He let out a small gasp as the hand left his shoulder, and a person sat in the co-pilot seat beside him.

"Getting sleepy?" Came Angel's voice. She spoke softly, idly looking back at the sleeping Lilo behind her.

"Just a little. How are you? Finally up. Feel ok?"

"A little limber," she replied, moving her arms to demonstrate the effect of overstraining her muscles, "but I'm getting there." Stitch smiled.

"I'll bet you're limber. Neither Lilo nor I could lift that. Whatever gave you that strength better not be around when I'm wrestling you, that's all I'm gonna say." Angel let out a stifled giggle. Stitch laughed in response, but Angel heard him hiss and wince. She glanced at him, making him out in the dim light, and saw his hand clutching his side. He removed it. Angel drew in a gasp.

"Stitch!" She said, gaping at a fairly large wound near his stomach.

"I'm ok, I'm ok. It's nothing."

"That's a big painful-looking nothing," Angel said with disbelief, reaching up above her head to the first-aid compartment, "when did you get that?" Stitch winced again as she dabbed him, the sting causing more pain.

"I think in the beginning, one of the Kino's must've cut me a bit." He said through gritted teeth as she applied a more soothing, thicker liquid.. "I guess I just...moved around too much." He finished, as the pasty liquid began to stiffen and soften, taking on the attribute of skin; the perfect bandage for a deep wound.

"You'll be fine. Jumba can probably do a better job when we get home." Angel said, staring at him while she glanced out the window. "Hey...why aren't we home? Shouldn't we be there already?" Stitch pointed at the dashboard. Angel looked at a glowing light that was the ship's status report. She touched it once, and the ship's schematics showed up in a three-dimensional image, a red light appearing near aft, and forward just a little toward the nose of the ship.

"Hyperdrive-Engine Malfunction." Read the blinking status report, along with other miscellaneous messages that didn't matter much, unless they got into combat.

"We're taking the scenic route then?" Stitch nodded. "How long have we been on it so far?"

"Three hours, give or take, and we have another four or five to go."

"Well, it'll be fast for those two." Angel said, pointing back behind her. She tilted her ears at the strange look Stitch gave her. "What?"

"Angel..." Stitch paused, looking out into the vast vacuum of space. "Phase didn't make it." Deep black, bulging eyes stared back at Stitch, and twirled around to stare at the back of the cockpit. Sure enough, Phase was absent.

"Where is she? What happened? I mean, I remember something about teleporting onto the ship, and then I thought..." Angel trailed, looking down at the fading glow of the dashboard.

"She's all right." Stitch said, trying to cheer her up. "We just don't know where she is. I've been monitoring her on Jumba's computer; so far she woke up once about an hour ago, now it says she's only 'asleep'." He brought up the status of Phase for Angel to see.

"We're going to find her...right?"

"We're going to see what Jumba can do. Until then...try not to worry about it. She's fine, wherever she is." Angel smiled, satisfied with the situation's outlook. There was a pause, until Angel's smile crept up in the corners.

"You know she liked you." She said with a sly grin.

"I know." Stitch replied curtly.

"Well...did you like her?"

"...Is that a trick question?"

"Of course not, I just want to pass the time, that's all. Did you like her?"

"Well...no..."

"So you didn't like her?"

"I guess not. I mean I like you bet-"

"So then what, did you hate her?"

"No! Of course not-!"

"Then you liked her?"

"Well I...wait a minute, what do you mean by 'like'?"

"Would you stop shouting? Lilo's sleeping!" Angel hissed. Stitch stared back at her, a look of confusion and uncertainty on his face. She couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Oh come on, Angel. I go out of my way and rescue you, and this is how you repay me?" He said mockingly.

"I'm sorry. You just looked so stressed, and that's the only way I know to get you to relax." Stitch billowed out a large inhale. "Ok, I understand, no teasing you." She said with disappointment. He smiled, nodding his head, and returned to stare outside into the vacuum of space. Angel gazed at his eyes; she noticed that even the dim glow of the star-system, which was probably billions of miles away, reflected off his eyes, whereas some time ago, not even sunlight would dare to take on such a feat. "I wonder why that is..." She mumbled aloud.

"Why what is?" Stitch asked, his eyes returning to her.

"Oh, it's nothing just...you're eyes."

"What about my eyes, do they look different?"

"Well, yeah," she replied, "but...well, it's hard to explain."

"Couldn't take four hours to explain it." Stitch said, ushering her to tell him.

"I don't know how to say it, just...now you're eyes are reflective but earlier...they weren't."

"...What do you mean?" He asked curiously.

"Well, it's a long story, but to make it simple..." Angel proceeded to explain the incident toward the end of their endeavor, when Stitch had been hit hard, and the three of them--Lilo, Phase and herself--had to take on the rest of the Kinoes. She went on to describe the portion after they arrived at their ship with great detail, without understanding much of it herself. "The next thing I knew, she was getting me out of your way, and after that you turned into some kind of fighting genius; every move you made was perfect."

"Not me?" Stitch questioned, as if lingering on that one portion of the story.

"That's what she said...I still don't understand what she meant. Do you?"

"...No. I don't remember anything that you just described. The next thing I knew, I was helping you and Lilo get Phase out of a tight situation."

"Really? Well then...we'll just have to ask her. I mean, at first I thought she was playing around or something but the look on her face was just--what?" Angel heard Stitch let out a small gasp. At first she thought he'd found another wound, and turned on the light seconds after the noise, but all too immediately she found what he was gasping at. Angel had turned just in the nick of time to see Lilo give Stitch a small kiss on the cheek.

"Whoops..." Angel said awkwardly. Lilo's brown eyes glanced over with a smile.

"Sorry Angel." She apologized. "Guess I should've asked first." Angel stared back, blinking. She wanted to turn away but now that Lilo had seen her staring there wouldn't be much of a point.

"You don't have to ask..." She said, trying to hide her embarrassment with a hearty laugh. "I mean...after all..." She trailed, not even sure what to say. Quickly she flipped off the light and cleared her throat, thankful that it would a moment before the girl's eyes would adjust to the change in lighting.

"I wasn't much of a help was I?" Came Lilo's voice again, somewhat sleepily. The question was aimed at Stitch.

"No..." He said with a gulp. "You were a great help...I couldn't have done it without you..."

"Yeah you could've, if you had all your powers." Stitch felt her arms reach around him, her right matching his. Her left took his by the wrist, and her right crossed in front of him, and gently laid across his left palm. Angel backed away slightly, as the cockpit was suddenly awash with a jaded light that lasted no more than a few seconds. Again the ship was dark, and again Angel was thankful for the darkness. "There...I don't need them anymore." Lilo said with a pause. "I'm pooped. Gonna go back to bed, ok?"

"Oketaka." Stitch replied.

"G'night Angel."

"E-enchujae." Angel bid, swallowing mid-speak. Silence overtook the ship for quite a while, as Angel waited until Lilo was asleep before she spoke again, or until Stitch spoke, whichever came first. "I think...you should get some sleep too, boochie-boo." She suggested with a soft voice.

"Naga, Stitch fine." He replied in the same tone.

"I don't doubt your health, but you've done so much. I'll take over until we get home, you get some rest."

"Naga, Angel sleep."

"Stitch I couldn't; I just woke up. Now c'mon, go to sleep, you were practically there when I came up behind you anyway."

"Naga, miga chobeeshta."

"Stitch," Angel said, a hint of irritation in her voice, "go to sleep." There was silence--disobedient silence. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way; either, you're going to sleep. Which'll it be?" There was another prolonged silence, and just before Angel repeated herself again, Stitch quickly snapped out:

"Angel sleep." He heard Angel breathe in, and billow out a sigh, followed by the sound of cracking knuckles.

"All right then, you called it." She said. Stitch smiled coyly as she stood up and neared him, glancing over once to see a frown on her face. But when he felt her cold palm fall on his shoulder, and squeeze with an iron grip, he began to sweat. He dared not, but glanced over again to see Angel rearing back, for a punch for all he could tell. He winced, closing his eyes, wondering what the heck Angel was going to do. He felt a rush of wind up against his face; she was breathing down his neck. His eyes scrunched down tighter, a slight fear taking him over as Angel's lips moved to his ear, and her other hand came up behind his neck.

"Acuto chuto, egata nomuta." Stitch's eyes bulged open, his vision blurring. "Naga-toe nala," his eyes grew heavy, his head tilted forward, her hand massaging his neck, "esuto taduho." Finally the somnolent mists claimed him, and he was fast asleep only a second after she stopped. She smiled, gazing at his sleeping face. "Don't say I didn't warn you." She told him in a whisper, leaning down to kiss him, carefully making sure to miss Lilo's spot. She then stood and lifted him out of the chair. With her arms under his knees and back, she carried him to the rear of the cockpit, and set him down on the floor of the ship, below where Lilo slept across the seat.

She sat on the floor and watched them for a moment, stifling a laugh as the sleeping Lilo's hand began to pester the sleeping Stitch's ear. It was even harder to stifle her outbursts when Stitch retaliated by trying to grasp her hair. She stood up again, and made her way to the captain's seat, dimming the dashboard as she took her position, staring out into the cold vacuum, pushing back the thought of Phase in her mind. Right now, she wanted to think peacefully. She stared back at the two sleeping, and smiled again. Lilo's arm lay limp on Stitch's stomach, her hair in his mouth.

"Even in their sleep," she said with a chuckle, "they act more like brother and sister, than friends."

Atitchura

(The End)

New series coming soon