Chapter 5: Sent With Love

/"WHAT?!"/

[You both should calm down,] Tempbot ushered with its deep, sassy drawl. [I just told you what I was told.]

"But I Don't Understand!" Bee yelled with a fearful expression. "What do you mean we can't take any more jobs?!"

Helystn rubbed a hand down his face in aggravation. He glanced at Bee for a second, then gave Tempbot a nasty glare.

[Got something to say, Puppycat?]

Bee scrunched her brows and raised her finger accusingly, about to reprimand Tempbot's sour attitude when the alien next to her spoke.

/No, but I do have a few papers I'll send here for our change of address./

[Oh? Congrats on moving. Now, if we're done here, why don't you go ahead and relocate out of here?] Tempbot suggested with a snoot.

Bee looked from side to side, seeing that that she and Helystn were surrounded by pink light.

"But Wait! How're we supposed to make money now?!"

[Figure it out,] it said as the two faded away to be transported back to Bee's apartment.

"What was that all about?" Bee asked Helystn after they landed back on her couch.

She kneeled on the cushions, clawing at them in frustration. Helystn swept his fingers through his hair anxiously and exhaled through his nose.

/We've been found out./

She looked at him confused at first, but realization slowly dawned on her. Bee began to flail her arms and wail, while Helystn sat arms crossed and eyes closed. When Bee calmed down enough, Helystn opened his eyes to propose his solution.

/We should leave./

She looked sorrowful and shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving."

/Bee,/ he said firmly. /Even if I submit the papers saying that we're in another location and we continue to stay here, the Space King will eventually send his soldiers or other warlocks to come here and destroy us. But if we submit the papers and go somewhere else, we'll have a head start on him./

"But—!"

/He doesn't want anything to do with Earth or its inhabitants. He just—/ he paused. Bee's eyes widened when Helystn looked down at his lap.

/—he just wants… to destroy me. I'm the problem./ Hearing the sadness in his voice, she knew that the threat of the Space King to Helystn was a real danger and that he would pursue him until he saw him dead.

I don't want him to leave by himself, but if I go…? Bee thought.

"…If we left here, where would we go? He'd just follow us to the end of the galaxy."

/Maybe… but not to the end of the universe,/ he said quietly.

"Wait, wait, the end of the universe?" Bee repeated questioningly. She thought on it for a second before remembering that phrase being said by him to the Space Princess. "Hold on… That's a real place?"

/Yes. It's where time begins and ends for all creation and destruction. It's the last place and the first,/ he said cryptically, romanticizing the idea.

"Yeah, Helystn? How can anyone get to the end of the universe? Pretty sure it's a big place dude, and getting there is impossible."

Helystn's expression changed to a prideful, cocky one. /Beforehand it would've been, but now that I'm back to my true form, I can get us there./

"Are you really that powerful like this?" she asked genuinely curious, eying his tanned arms.

/Yes. A trillion fold./

"Whoa."

/So Bee, if we go, if we leave here, we can go to a place where the Space King can't find us and also keep everyone on Earth safe,/ he said forcefully.

Safe, Bee repeated in her head. But, just me and Puppycat?

Bee pursed her lips and grimaced. Then bowing her head, closing her eyes in mild frustration, she told him, "Let me think about it."

He sighed and nodded, then stood up to go put away the rest of the groceries.

Later that night, Bee sat on her couch while Puppycat leaned out the window to star gaze and give noisy night bugs death glares. The twenty something year old was trying to lose herself in mindless TV watching, but her emptying thoughts would fill up again with Puppycat and his problem with staying on Earth with her.

I don't want him to leave… but, I can't go with him.

Bee looked at his back through the corner of her eye, studying his medium build.

Can I?

Bzz-Bzzz* Bzz-Bzzz*

Her cellphone vibrated in her pocket, signaling a call. Looking at the ID on the home screen, she saw that it was her dad calling.

"Whoa, dad?" Bee said aloud, grabbing Helystn's attention.

He turned to look over his shoulder to her as she answered the cell phone with a questioning smile.

"Hello?" he heard.

Helystn watched curiously as Bee listened to her father's voice and changed her expression to three different types of happiness.

"Yep, yep, I'm doing great!" A pause. "Yeah, uh, my job—the company is transferring my role within the store?"

Helystn's eyes widened. Bee can lie?!

He saw her pink cheeks and quivering mouth trying to keep the smile heard in her voice over the phone.

She's a terrible liar, he thought, but why is she lying?

He knit his brows.

Bee's smile dropped and she listened to her dad on the other line.

"You know Bee, you were always a good kid—you know?"

"Dad..."

He laughed. "Well, I won't keep you up too long, since you have work in the morning. I just wanted to check up on you."

Bee chuckled nervously at that. "Dad, what's up? You sound like this is a goodbye for a while or something junky like that."

There was silence on the other end. Bee's eyes wandered while she waited for a response. Her gaze caught the burning one of Helystn, who was frowning at her. Her brows furrowed in confusion and she looked away when her dad sighed over the line.

"Beebee," he started quietly. Bee gulped at her childhood nickname.

"Hey, dad—"

"Listen, I know you have important things to take care of. If those important things are going to keep you busy and unable to see me for Thanksgiving or even later, it'll be okay, because I know that you're working hard. That's alright with me. Responsibilities come first, right?"

"Daddy no! Family is responsibility! That's what comes first!"

"But this job is involves people who are like family, right?"

Bee stopped. Her dad always had great intuition and knew the right things to say even if he didn't know the whole story. He saw through all her little lies to make things better and never put her down for them. He just turned them around in a way so that she could see things in a different light. He was, somehow, the one person she needed to hear things from in order to make her decision.

The right decision.

"Yeah, it does," Bee answered him.

"Then, the next time I hear from you, I want to hear all about what happened. It's sure to be a great story, huh?" he joked.

She laughed along with her author dad before agreeing and beginning their long string of goodbyes.

When she hung up, she smiled at the cell phone in her hand.

Looking back up to where Puppycat last was, Bee was surprised when she didn't see him.

"…Helystn?" she called out after pausing to push his name off her tongue.

Bee got up and left her phone on the couch. Going to the window, she went to close it when she saw him standing out on the side of the apartment building. Brows scrunching up and confusion written on her face, Bee called out to him again. Not getting a response, she huffed and closed the window before going to the door to put on her shoes and go outside.

Jogging down the corridors and rushing down the stairs, Bee wheezed a bit when she half ran to the grassy 'backyard' of the apartment.

"Helystn," she called out to him, out of breath. "What're you doing out here?"

He didn't acknowledge her and continued looking up at the sky.

Pouting, she walked up next to him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Quit ignoring me."

/Why did you lie?/

"Huh? About what? I haven't lied to you."

/I know, but you lied to your father. Why?/

Bee looked down to the ground. She always felt queasy when she lied, but she felt it was necessary and easier than trying to explain the whole truth, which in her case, seemed more like a lie than the actual lies themselves.

"I don't want to worry him more than he probably already is."

Helystn stayed silent.

Bee pursed her lips then took a deep breath. "Helystn, you're still leaving aren't you?"

/Yes./

"Can I still go with you?"

Finally, he looked at her.

/Bee, he just wants me./

"And I want you."

Both their eyes widened at that. "Not What I Meant! I want to go with you! With You!"

Helystn's shocked expression melted to one of sheer happiness and laughter. Bee watched him, concerned, looking at him as if she was wondering who he was.

/Bee,/ he said, trying still his laughter, /Are you sure?/

"Yeah man, I wanna go," she replied in a confident voice and stoic expression.

He looked behind them to the apartment window and grimly frowned.

/Do you need to say any goodbyes?/ Helystn inwardly grit his teeth at the thought of Deckard and her having a mushy goodbye.

She looked to the apartment too. Cass had a key in case of emergencies, so the lights, trash, and food would be taken care of after a week or so when she realized that she was gone. Saying goodbye though… would be hard.

"No… it's ok." I'll be seeing them again anyway. It's not goodbye.

Helystn turned his eyes from the window to glance down at Bee's, out of character, serious determination.

/Alright then,/ he affirmed. Holding out his hand, he nodded resolutely. /Let's go./

Bee nodded as she slowly took his hand and grasped it tightly. A strange floaty feeling bubbled up in her chest as she watched Puppycat close his eyes and focus on a deep breath. Another second, and the world disappeared.