Fifteen years in the past, Samus slides out of her bunk in the Galactic Federation barracks. Under a floor panel she's stored a pair of cutoff jean shorts, a cheap orange crop top, and some dirty, off white tennis shoes. She changes with a forced quiet and tucks her shoulder-length hair behind her ears. Down the rows of sleeping cadets a window has been left open for the cool summer breeze; no-one wakes up as she sneaks over and climbs out onto a metal balcony.

"Looking real good, princess."

"Anthony!" She's pissed. "You scared the shit out of me! What are you doing here?"

"Having a smoke, figured I'd catch you before you run off." He playfully pushes her shoulder in the neon nightlights. "Check you out, city slicker! You're gonna kill it tonight."

"Whatever. Shut up."

He clicks his tongue behind his teeth. "Bashful as they come. Hey, have a good date, alright? Have fun for me."

"I'll try. Don't let Adam know about this, okay? I don't want to get suspended again."

He mimes zipping his lips. "I'll keep the window open for you."

"Thank you, Anthony." She scales the balcony railing and hops off, falling to an alleyway below.

The streets it connects to hum with a warm, inviting electric sound, an entire world of its own outside the Federation. Samus swallows anxiety built up in her throat. It's not her world. But she's been invited to be a part of it. She steps out of the alleyway and sprints up the street, headquarters shrinking behind her until it's just another building behind a billboard.

Samus had never known the city before joining the space police. It gleams around her, diamond skyscrapers dizzy with taxicab ships and delivery drones. Growing up in an ancient research base, hidden on a rock lightyears away, she never could've imagined the spectacle of twenty million people living together. It's an enchantment. She crosses a sparkling bridge over a packed drainage canal, passing food stands on gondolas and tourboats full of people taking video. An advertisement at a bus stop projects holographic butterflies with cottony blue and pink wings. They glide through her chest, sailing up into the skyward traffic. She can feel where their light grazed her.

Two blocks further, she rounds a corner to see a line of people talking in the half-light of a building's back door. One of them notices and leaves the crowd to meet her. He's shorter than Samus, quiet and shy in the alley glow.

"You look really cute, Elliot. I'm glad you invited me out."

"You look nice too." He flicks his little brown eyes up towards her then back at his feet. "Do you want to go in? The first band plays in, like, five minutes. I think you'll like them."

She smiles at him. "Sure."

The music is loud and hot. People's arms tangle in sagged string lights as they dance and sweat on one another. Samus bobs her head to the punk band, giddy at being away from work with someone new. It means a lot to spend time with somebody other than Anthony or Mauk or Kreatz, her companions in the police. Meeting Elliot earlier this month felt grounding to the new planet. Like she was finally landing and adapting to life away from Zebes. She looks towards him.

It doesn't seem like he's enjoying the show. Looking distracted, he curls his lips awkwardly once he notices her, trying to focus on something different. He messes with his wavy hair.

She sways towards him. "Elliot, are you alright?"

"What? Yeah. I mean, yeah, I'm fine." She manages to look in his eyes: a shelled, avoidant sadness reflects back at her. "Do you want to go outside for a minute? And like, talk?"

"Is everything okay? We can leave if…"

"I'd like it to be just the two of us, for a bit."

She nods. "Absolutely." He takes her hand and they squeeze back outside, heading down the side street to a boardwalk overlooking the ocean. Beyond dim lights of faraway battleships is nothing but the dark outline of the horizon, below the moon.

They sit on the ground with their backs to the buildings, legs dangling over the low shore. Elliot's soft skin reflects the moonlight, rounding his cheeks and catching on his collarbone. Samus shifts closer to him and lays her head on his shoulder. He puts his arm around her.

"This is nice." She says.

She can feel his body rise as he breathes. "It is nice." They sit in the calm ocean breeze for a minute. "Samus, I have something kind of hard to talk about."

She picks her head up.

"I'm not… I'm just not making it here." Elliot's voice wavers. "I know we've only just met but I love spending time with you and I want you to know. Nowhere I've applied to has panned out. I'm not going to have enough money to keep paying rent through August." He tears up.

"No… I mean, I'm really sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I am too. I want to stay, more than you could imagine. I… I really want to spend more time with you."

"Where will you go?"

"The Creighton spaceport. They just started building it, I guess, there's a lot of cheap places to live and work there." He hides his face in his hands. "I wish it wasn't like this, I feel like such a failure."

"You're not!" Samus brushes his hands away and cradles his face. "You're making the right choice for yourself. I mean, I'm really going to miss you, I…" She can't help but cry with him. "I mean, it's only been a month, but you're my best friend here…"

"You're mine, too." They hold each other.

"Elliot, I only want to be here for two or three more years. I'll come find you on Creighton. I'll need somewhere to go. Even before then I can visit when I get time off."

"No, I could never ask you to do something like that."

"You don't need to, you're worth it." They embrace; the show behind them ends, clapping and cheers echo out to sea.

"Um…"

"What?" She says.

"I don't need to go until the end of next month. Before then, though, there's something I've been thinking about that I want to share."

Samus' eyes light up as the other girl takes the time to speak. She's silent, for a dozen seconds, then she can't help but laugh.

"Is that bad?" The girl shrinks.

"No! No, I'm sorry." Samus says. "It's just… I am too. And I'm really happy that you told me. I'm happy for you, I love you." Across the bay, bus stop butterflies wink in the sky, fluttering their pink and blue in the white moonlight.