Chapter 7: The Power Struggle Within

The soft chorus of Helystn's breathing and the almost indistinguishable lap of waves were a strange ambience for Bee. She listened to this for probably hours, but it didn't seem like it. When she looked at Helystn sleeping, she felt as if time went by so quickly. The sky had changed colors over the course of their time on the tiny island and Bee could only guess that it must've been near lunch time, or any meal time by then.

Her stomach growled and she groaned.

How long are you going to sleep Helystn? I'm getting hungry dude…

As if to answer her internal musings, Helystn moved in his sleep, sighing under his breath. Bee watched him to distract herself from the grumbling in her tummy. Her eyes traveled over his taunt form, still appearing as if he was in some pain. Bee patted his head and scratched near his pointed ears like she used to. He trembled and stiffly turned over on his side to face her. Taking her fingers away from him, she watched the rise and fall of his shoulder in tune with his soft breaths.

She looked from his shoulder up to his neck where his noiseless bell hung on a pink choker. A smile played on her lips at that. The bell didn't work anymore, not after quite a few missions ago when Puppycat was hit into a large tree.

Bee remembered telling him that she could get him a new one, but he refused. He wanted the one he had or none at all.

"You're stubborn, you know that?" she told him, rolling her eyes.

/Yeah./

Jumping up and squealing, Bee looked down at the half-awake Puppycat who was staring at her with sleepy eyes.

"How long have you been awake for?!"

He rubbed a hand down his face and sat up slowly. Blinking away the sleep from his eyes, he groaned as he stretched before answering. /Right when you told me that I was stubborn. How long was I asleep?/

Narrowing her eyes, she put her hands on her hips in frustration. "You've been out for a while," she grit out. "I'm hungry."

Helystn scratched the back of his head and hummed.

"We don't have food."

/No, we don't./

"There's no life here either."

/No, there's not./

"So, we have to wait until you're able to get us off of here until we can get food."

/Yes, and—,/ Helystn looked away. /We may have to wait a while longer. If we try to leave now, I won't be able to get us far. The other planets will have a similar situation./

"Damn."

Bee plopped back down and hugged her knees.

"Is there not a way to help you get energy faster than sleeping?"

He hesitated.

Suspicious, Bee glanced at him. "Helystn?"

Gulping, he closed his eyes and frowned. /Sleeping doesn't regain my energy./

"Say what?"

/I said, it doesn't regain my energy… Sleeping is like, I don't know… Stalling. Power save mode./

"What?!" She asked again louder. "If sleeping doesn't give you energy, then what does? The air?"

/No,/ he told her. /I didn't think that I'd need to tell you this, but this is probably the best time to…/

He was fidgeting, getting more nervous by the second. Bee saw this, but didn't understand. She saw him swallow again and knit her brows at that.

/I'm from the race of Star Creatures. The same ones that you saw at Royal Space./

Bee nodded, getting that much. She remembered how surprised she had been when she thought Puppycat had been replaced with one of the beautiful aliens who had been dancing.

/This is important, okay?/

"Okay."

/Yeah, so… Star Creatures used to eat the energy from stars./ At her puzzled expression, Helystn thought of an example for her. /Um, like… Photosynthesis, I suppose./

"Oh," she drawled. "You guys were like plants."

/When it came to energy, yes. You can think of it that way./

Bee shrugged her shoulders. "So? Is that what's going on?"

/No. We evolved,/ he explained. /We realized that stars don't live forever. Back then, we couldn't move from star system to star system. So if the star died, so did we./

"Oh…"

/What we did was, we fed off ourselves. Not in a morbid way, Bee. We ate each other's emotions—BEE./ Helystn became more frustrated with each disgusted face Bee made at his statements. /That's what happened, alright? The Star Creatures started eating emotions for energy. It kept us close and equal and never at odds with each other. That's because the most level emotions were the ones eaten and when eaten, it had the same effect on the consumer./

Bee nodded her head slowly, letting the information sink in. It was all surreal and sounded unreal. Eating emotions didn't seem at all like a good idea to her.

"Okay, well I guess since you eat emotions you can eat mine?"

/No. I can't./

"Why? I wanna help if I can help!"

/I can't because I'm physically unable to, Bee. If I tried eating your raw emotions, I'd probably, literally, explode./

The horror etched on Bee face would've been hilarious in another situation, but at the moment, it was warranted.

/Beforehand, I was fine just being in your presence. I fed off that and the other people around us. Human emotions are that strong. Now though, it's just you… It's enough, but it takes longer since now I'm back in my body and using far more energy than on Earth./

"That makes sense," she whispered. "So being near me is what you need?"

/Yes./

"But, it takes a lot longer… Doesn't that mean that I'm not enough?"

He stayed silent. He wasn't sure exactly, but he thought that she would be enough. His head dropped and he rested his chin against his chest.

I can't do anything can I? He fought back the self-pity, but it was winning over. I really am an outcast, aren't I?

Bee found her hand on top of his, wanting to do something, anything, to show him that she was here for him.

A shock ran up Helystn's arm and he jerked his hand away. What was that?!

"Sorry!" Bee told him holding her hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean to surprise you."

He stared at his own hand before flickering his gaze to her's. Taking her hand again, Bee awkwardly let him hold it as she waited for him to say something.

I'm not consuming… How is this possible? He thought. Oh. Contact.

Looking at their holding hands, he realized that this physical contact was how they could be close enough for him to gain energy. He didn't need to be around Bee and her friends' positive atmosphere to survive. Bee's selfless feelings were enough.

Laughing a little, Bee made an exaggerated awkward face as he held her fingers tighter.

This is great! I feel almost normal doing this!

Bee,/ he said suddenly, gaining her attention from her sweaty hand. /Please. Touch me more./

Eyes wide, she took a second to let what Helystn said sink in. When it did, she pulled back, appalled, and punched him sending him backwards.

"PERVERT!" Bee yelled, blushing.

Not believing what she had heard, she kneeled, trembling, and stared angrily at the soaking wet alien who sat in the ocean.

/That's not what I meant! I meant could you—!/

"NO! I don't want to hear it!" she told him, covering her ears. "LaLaLaLaLaLaLa!"

/Bee… Be reasonable./

"I'm not talking to you."

He griped under his breath about her always overreacting in serious situations. Getting up leisurely, he made his way back up the tiny island to sit next to an unwilling Bee. She turned away from him and didn't bother making eye contact, even when he laid down.

/I'm going to rest. In the morning, I should be able to get us off this planet and get us food./

She said nothing.

/Sorry you have to go to sleep hungry, Bee./

She pouted as guilt started to chew at her. Bee didn't turn to look at Helystn until the planet's sky had turned to night. The highly saturated turquoise, dotted with the blanket of twinkling stars was the cover to the two figures on the lonely island in the middle of the infinite sea. Bee's brown eyes searched over the sleeping alien's body.

For the first time, she saw his different features. He had skin like Cass and hair like Deckard. Though, Helystn's hair was a lot messier and it went past the nape of his neck. His pointed ears were lighter colored at the ends, and Bee thought she saw freckles on the tips. Her gaze went down from his face to his neck, where the gold bell on the pink choker was tied around.

He has really broad shoulders… Bee thought.

The white half shirt, that exposed his midriff, would have looked strange on anyone else, but Helystn pulled off the look well. He was toned, but it looked like he had gained some weight.

She giggled. Puppycat ate with her and Bee prided herself with the motto: all food is good food.

His wrinkled brown pants were tucked into a pair of darker brown, mid-calf boots. All in all, he probably could have pulled this off as a space vagabond look back on Earth.

Earth.

Bee turned to face the sky with all its many foreign stars. She loved to star gaze back at home with Puppycat and sometimes Deckard when he was available. Now, she couldn't. Puppycat wasn't Puppycat anymore, and Deckard was at home. She'd never spend time with them like she used to. Never again.

Helystn shifted in his sleep and sighed. Bee glanced back at him and saw his peaceful face had turned troubled. Thinking he was in pain again, she felt bad that she couldn't do anything but be near him.

/Touch me more./

Blushing and closing her eyes, Bee shook her head.

"You butt…"

Grudgingly, Bee laid down next to him, with about an arms distance between them, and hesitantly took his hand. She didn't see it, but Helystn's face calmed significantly. Bee gazed at the sky, trying to go to sleep. The soft sounds of breathing and water slowly lulled her to a calm as well and before long, she had fallen asleep on the sand.

It was a dream.

Bee opened her eyes. Looking up, she saw the familiar cats bob and float above her. Smiling, she held out her arms to them. The orange Puppycat hopped in place excitedly and swam to her open arms. The blue Puppycat boobed and held him back. The purple and green Puppycats bipped and chirped as well, looking as if they were explaining to the orange Puppycat.

"Guys, what's wrong?"

Bee's lilac hair twisted and boofed around her slow waves. She pushed it down out of her eyes and saw that the blue Puppycat was eying her strangely.

"Puppycat?"

It turned away. Orange Puppycat called out loudly, all of the others looking to him. The five cuddly creatures conversed, then, together, took a deep breath and joined hands. Bee watched in fascination as they all merged into one colorful Puppycat quilt. A little disturbed when the fluffly blanket wrapped around her, she took a moment to relax, but eagerly sunk into the warmth.

In the warping darkness, they cuddled together for a while. Bee scrunched her brows though when the quilt began to bulge and contort around her body. Her eyes shot open when the soft fur slowly started to encase her. Muffled screaming was all she could manage before complete and total darkness swallowed her up.

"HhGeYh!" Bee awoke with a start.

Breathing heavy, her eyes looked around for the quilt of Puppycats. Finding nothing but the soft pastel orange of dawn, Bee sighed and sank back into the warmth around her, planning on returning to sleep.

Wait… What?

A strong hold was keeping her in glued to the place of warmth.

Who? Oh no…

Turning her head, she could make out Puppycat's collarbone through the wall of her hair between them. Shocked, she struggled, but stopped when he made a sleepy, aggravated groan. Bee leaned back a bit to see his face returning to peaceful slumber.

Laying there, sleep still fogging up her tired mind, Bee tried to piece together what her dream had been about.

It didn't look like Puppycat wanted to come to me… Why?

Then she recalled that she called out 'Puppycat' and not Helystn. Puppycat looked—hurt. The strong arms around her tightened slightly as he inhaled.

This isn't Puppycat. This is Helystn. Her thoughts mellowed as sleep began to overcome her again. Helystn—is who Puppycat was trying to hide…

Bee closed her eyes.