Chapter 8: Close Encounters with the Friend-kind

Bee felt like she was being moved. Stirring, she blinked languidly, trying to see past the bright light that flooded on her face.

/Bee, wake up./

Yawning, Bee smacked her lips and made and 'ugh' noise. "Tired," she whispered dryly.

/I know. But, aren't you hungry?/

Now fully awake, Bee's eyes shot open and she sat up, nearly colliding into Helystn's head.

/Whoa!/

"Hell Yeah, I Am."

On cue, her stomach growled and Helystn chuckled. Standing up, he stretched his arms and rolled his neck. When he saw that Bee had sat up and was gurgling her spit, he let a small grin slip. He held out his hand and Bee squished the saliva in her mouth before swallowing audibly.

/Ready to go?/ he asked.

She took his hand and stood up. "Are you feeling better?"

He smirked. /I feel great, actually./

Bee eyed him for a second before squeezing his hand. "Alright. Let's go get some food."

They nodded in unison, and Helystn took a deep breath before focusing. The area he probed around in his mind was like this planet. He went further and further out. Searching the universe to go as far as he could take them. Knitting his brows in total concentration, Helystn's path began to wind down and slow. When his search came to a snail's pace, he clenched his jaw and picked a planet that he felt had no life on it.

No life on a planet meant safety, and Helystn was determined to keep them both as safe as he possibly could.

Sucking in a breath, he picked a spot and released. Suddenly, the air wasn't humid anymore and the sand beneath them was gone. Expecting solid ground, both he and Bee were surprised when they sunk four feet into a mass of curling, pastel pink clouds. Shaking a bit, they steadied themselves on the wobbly semi-surface.

"Where are we?" Bee asked, taking in quicker breaths.

/Cloud Space… It's the furthest one I could get us to,/ he replied.

This wasn't the best place he could get them to, but it was going to have to do until he could find a planet that wasn't controlled by, or allied with, Royal Space.

He sighed through his nose. /Wait a minute and let me see if I can find a place we can go to./

Bee huffed and moaned as she complained about the lack of food going into her belly. Helystn ignored her and tried his best to comb the surrounding galaxies for unaffiliated Space sectors. Reaching out, he concentrated for life forms, but was shaken out of his focus when Bee slipped down with a dramatic deathly groan.

/Bee, seriously,/ he reprimanded her. /Knock it off, I know you're hungry./

"No dude…" she wheezed. "I'm dying…"

/Bee./

"Dying bro…"

/Bee./

"Dyyyyyyyiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggg," she drew out nasally.

/Bee, be reasonable./ He eyed her quickly rising and falling chest and noted her heavy breaths. /Hey, are you serious or playing around?/

"On death's door," she proclaimed solemnly.

He frowned and picked her up. Bee half heartily squirmed and flopped her arms behind her head. Helystn studied her breathing pace and decided she wasn't joking and that she was not getting enough air.

/This planet must not have a lot of oxygen…/ he mumbled under his breath. /Not good. I don't have a lot of time./

Getting nervous, he held the wheezy girl in his arms tightly and did his best to search the closest place with life.

No… That won't do. No, no—definitely not. Damn. All Royal Space supporters. This is not good, he thought anxiously.

Beginning to doze, Bee obediently laid in Helystn's arms as he thought through a plan of action.

If I take us to one of these planets, we can eat. At the same time though, we're in danger of being caught, especially if the Space King has a warrant of capture for me listed. He bowed his head. I don't think I can get us out further than Royal Space either, so it's down to this. Do I take us to a supporter space? Or do I let Bee go hungry for an indefinite amount of time?

Bee opened her eyes, now breathing significantly slower. Seeing that Helystn was troubled, in a daze, she reached her hand up to place against his cheek; something she remembered her dad doing to her. Breath hitching in his throat, Helystn looked down to meet Bee's glazed brown eyes and saw nothing but warmth. The same reassuring warmth that was given off from her petite, chubby hand.

/Bee?/ he asked, nervously. His cheeks and the tips of his ears were turning a soft pink shade and he could feel his face heating up against his will. /What're you doing?/

She smiled deliriously and said, "I'm making you feel better."

Her innocent consolation was too much for Helystn. All he could feel was the overflow of energy making him a tad dizzy with how much was directed to him all at once.

/En-enough, Bee,/ he stuttered. /You don't have to help me./

I don't deserve it…

She hummed. He leaned in involuntarily and watched her thin lashes flutter. His mouth felt dry all the sudden.

"But I want to," she confessed softly.

Helystn didn't know how it happened, but one second he was staring at Bee's content and dazed eyes, the next, he was softly kissing her lips. Gasping, he pulled away slightly, but froze when Bee moved her's in a drunken motion, as if she was trying to pull him back. Trembling at the contact, he stood still, rooted to the spot, unable to move. Bee sighed with a smile before letting her head fall limp on his shoulder, now completely unconscious.

What—what was that? Helystn asked himself. No, what is this feeling?

His thoughts turned to focus on this full, but airy tingling in his stomach. Not sure what this new, distracting feeling was, he just didn't move. When a soft whisper of air caressed his shoulder though, he remembered the plight that he was currently in.

/We need to leave. Now./

He knew that he wasted enough time on this planet as is and decided that he needed to take them to an ally planet. Trying his best to focus again, Helystn pin pointed on a rather large planet further away from Royal Space, hoping their odds would be better on an outer system sector.

Taking in a shaky breath, he brought them from the fall in and out of space.

It was a shining blue forest. The leaves sparkled in the night, glistening in the dark canopy of bright trees. The trunks gave off an iridescent glow to the guide the way for nocturnal travelers. Helystn internally thanked for this as he traversed the even ground while carrying an unconscious Bee. Her breathing had returned to normal after being in suitable oxygen levels. So the danger was out of mind. He didn't think too much on this though. Even if he wanted to, his thoughts inevitably returned to the kiss the two of them shared minutes ago.

The twists in his gut returned. Not unpleasant, but not welcomed either.

I just need to find a place to lay her down while I go get us some food…

His thoughts trailed off as he spotted a small enclave with trees dotting the visible area around it. He would have missed it if he had looked up any sooner or later.

/Things are looking up… This can't be good,/ Helystn muttered to himself.

Walking to the cave, he kneeled and checked the ground before depositing Bee carefully out of sight. His silver eyes watched her form with a bit of hesitation. Exhaling, he stood up and chewed on the inside of his cheek.

/Wait here for me. I'll get us some food and… yeah. We need to talk,/ he told her aloud. /I'll—I'll be back./

Clenching and relaxing his fists, Helystn walked away and tried to calm his rapid heartbeat. When he had trekked quite a ways from the sleeping woman, he finally let his shoulders droop and talk himself out loud.

/What the hell is going on with me? I shouldn't be acting like this! I need to calm down./ He took a long deep breath, inhaling and exhaling. When he didn't feel an immediate change, he groaned, frustrated, and ran his fingers through his hair. /Come On!/

Stopping his walk to nowhere, he began to pace, now thoroughly upset with himself.

/This shouldn't be that hard. I mean, everyone else can do it. Stand up straight, clear your mind, and feel the positive energy, right? It's not that hard!/

Helystn stopped and slumped to his knees. Leaning his head back to stare at the canopy of blue leaves, he let a frustrated sigh escape his lips.

/Why am I so different? If I could just—be in control, we wouldn't be in this situation. I wouldn't have… I wouldn't have fallen in love./ Heat began to gather behind his eyes. Grinding his bared teeth, Helystn choked back on a sob. The inevitable tears began to rain down his cheeks as he tried in vain to stop the feelings of hopelessness pour out of him. Rubbing his face roughly, he turned to sneer at the ground.

/Pathetic. Creatures of the Stars do not cry. Do you want her to see you like this?/ He wiped his face again. /Then get control of yourself, idiot./

Sitting in festering anger, Helystn waited until his breathing became calmer before he kneeled to stand up. Hearing a snap behind him though, made him freeze. Looking around, he saw no one or any strange movement.

…No one's there. Hhn, quit being paranoid and get some food.

Shaking his head, he got up and returned to his original search for edible food.

Stirring, Bee weakly opened her eyes, feeling as if she had just been hit in the head by a fastball.

"Holy craaaaaapppp, I feel terrible," she moaned, holding her temples. "Helystn? Hey, what happened— huh?"

Looking next to her, she didn't see the man that she had been expecting. Instead, she saw blue trees and grass. Above her Bee saw that she was in a small cave. Sitting up, she looked around for any sign of the tall alien with white hair.

"Where the frick did he go?" she asked softly. "Helystn? Helystn?!"

Not getting a response from her loud calling, Bee decided to get up and search. She brushed off her capris and tugged her shirt down before going in a direction to look around for Helystn. As she walked, she called out his name occasionally, looking around the trees as she went deeper into the woods.

"Hmm," she noised, furrowing her brows. "Where is he? He wouldn't just leave me, would he?"

At the same time, Helystn came back to the enclave, beginning to panic when he saw no Bee.

/Bee? Bee?!/

Helystn dropped an armful of exotic and strange fruits, then ran off in a direction he thought she probably wandered off to. Calling out for Bee, he dodged around the glowing blue trees, hoping to run into her soon. Instead, he came out to a clearing and he stopped immediately in his tracks when he felt eyes on him. Standing in place, eyes looking from tree to tree, he searched for any movement to alert him of a hidden individual. When he caught sight of a leg going behind a tree to the left of him, he turned and shouted for them to show themselves.

That's when a familiar snap sounded and Helystn turned around again, just in time, to catch an arm holding an electrified spear before it touched him.

/Who're you?/ he ground out, leveling a glare at the alien.

It said nothing and tilted its helmeted face upward as a challenge. Helystn's ear pricked when he heard fast footsteps running to them. Twisting the alien around and pushing him away, he blocked the downfall of another spear with his forearms, and winced as the electric current ran across his skin.

Three more figures approached and surrounded Helystn as a group of five. Narrowing his eyes, he frowned deeply as the alien in front of him pushed down harder with its weapon. Pivoting on the ball of his foot, he pushed out from under it and readied to defend himself.

Please don't be caught Bee… he pessimistically thought.

Bee pursed her lips to a pucker when she heard some shouting. Turning around, she paused to hear exactly which direction the sounds were coming from before walking toward them. As she got closer though, the yells and shuffling reminded her all too familiarly of a certain group under the Space King's command.

Getting anxious, she sped up her pace.

"Helystn?" she called out.

Hearing a sharp cry of pain, Bee's face fell and she began to run. "Helystn!" she yelled. "Helystn!"

Stumbling into a wide clearing, Bee shrieked when she saw Helystn fall to his knees. He evaded the blow to his back in a swift roll to the side, but that didn't stop Bee from jumping into action to defend him.

She rushed up to one of the attackers with a raging battle cry and took one by surprise with one of her fists to its face. As it stumbled backward, blubbering in pain, Bee launched an onslaught of kicks as she continued to yell incoherently.

/Bee!/ Helystn roughly warned. /You need to get out of here!/

"No! Let me help you!" she stubbornly refused.

She kicked the same alien, that she had been wailing on for the past minute, in the groin and watched in furious content as it jolted and jerkily collapsed to its knees.

"You need to leave! I've got this—!" interrupted, Bee cried out when she felt a sharp pain to the back of her skull.

/BEE!/

Helystn watched in terror as the young woman's eyes fluttered closed and she too collapsed into an ungraceful heap on the ground. When her frizzy brown hair settled on the blue grass, Helystn's nails dug deeper into his palms.

The remaining four aliens closed in on him as his breathing became ragged. Never moving his gaze from the unmoving girl, Helystn licked his lips and swallowed.

/Get up…/ he said in a whisper. /Bee… I said get up./

The heat began to build up behind his eyes again. Blinking, trying not to let the weakness show, Helystn bared his teeth. A spear dropped to level at his chest. Vision starting to cloud over, Helystn silently urged the knocked out girl to do as he said.

/Bee, please. Get up./ The spear inched closer, and Helystn squeezed his misty eyes closed. /Get up./

[A/N: Okay, I know a lot of you are probably like "whoa! so many much updates? whats the occasion home skillet?" Uh, 'occasion' is "let me get this story out before I give up on it 5 or six months from now". I have the whole thing planned out, it's just a matter of actually sitting down and getting it done. Besides, we're supposed t be on ch 10 and I'm on ch 9 right now... Yeah, this'll end at ch 13 or so. I may even extend it to 15, depending on how wordy I get.

How're the characters? Still in character? No? Yeah I thought so. Puppycat died when he told Bee he was Helystn (wut?) and Bee never returned from that trip to the market. Idk, she might have even gotten lost somewhere between 2-3? Whatever. This whole story is what I call "how many times can I say 'Bee, be reasonable' before someone tracks me down and murders me, and yiiiiikkes do I really want to know what the effects of Puppycat's Outlaw backstory would have on the BaP happiness? So, if most of you who came here for the aw yea story line, don't even. I feel like this whole plot was written up by my ten yr old sister.

If you like it though, let me know why. Because honestly, right now, I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. I'm just going off of what the plan was.

Alright, rant over. I'll see you guys for two more soon to be released chapters, a break and then another chapter to get us back on track for once a month updates. Aight, peace.]