"Love is composed of a single soul in two bodies."
Aristotle
\|/
Once again, sleep had held the unfortunate symptoms of that uncomfortable unease which had followed him this entire mission.
As he began to emerge from this anesthesia-induced state of oblivious slumber, the continued lack of that comforting presence still concerned him. And, as his often malignant mind seemed quite eager to burden him with, ideas of the worst stalked him. Thanks to this, the slow resurfacing of reality could not have come soon enough.
With the curtain slowly rising from his mind he could feel a great wave of emotions that had been held hidden behind it hit him.
There were no words to it, but all of its purpose was plain to see. Worry, anger, fear. It all stabbed at his heart.
They shouldn't have to feel like this. They deserved everything but to. Yet, if there was one thing he learned was constant in this universe, it was pure souls were always the ones to suffer the most.
He wouldn't sit idle to it. Not this time.
The bright light above him forced his eyes shut again just as they'd opened. His head was spinning and his mind groggy, but a psychic flare that need not the stimulation of any of his senses pierced the fog in his mind like a burning beacon, drawing his gaze towards the far side of the room where it blazed.
There, through the haze and blur, he could make them out: Jules and, more importantly, the being within the glass cylinder in his possession—the one that he was studying intently.
Was that it, what he had felt in his mind and soul and who now seemed to enter this universe just to suffer? It was redundant of him to ask. It was.
Adrian's hand only limply flopped in their direction. He tried to reach out to them and could only mumble what had meant to be a call. Whether either of these attempts reached them or not, they were overall unnecessary for the small figure within the glass container to notice him. Almost as soon as he had looked at it, it snapped its form in his direction and stared right back.
The sudden cessation of their temper, which they had been keen on having Jules be witness to after having been forced into the container, combined with their sudden and intense focus on Adrian, had drawn his eyes to the man as well.
When he saw Adrian awake again, he stood, leaving the container in the seat he'd been sitting. The inhabitants' discontent at being left behind could not be heard beyond the glass that surrounded them.
Adrian certainly, and unfortunately, felt it though.
"How are you feeling?" Jules asked, now standing over Adrian. "Probably as bad as you look."
Adrian slurred out the best response he could to Jule's fuzzy shape which thankfully blocked the light above him.
"And you sound like me the morning after getting paid." He smirked.
Adrian grunted and awkwardly pointed at the container holding the small angry shape inside. His faculties and motor control were returning, albeit frustrating slowly.
"That?" He looked over at the snarling serpent. "Strange little thing. Different from usual, or at least different from the pictures. Then again, I haven't seen one up close until now." He scratched his chin absentmindedly
"It's got a weird pale blue color, weird ridges on its head, too." He continued. "I got to see your heart, y'know. Watched it through the camera going, *ba-dump*, *ba-dump*." He made the motion of a beating heart with his hand. "Also, you're going to have something of nasty scar on your cheeks. Heh. But hey, it got it closed. That took a whole extra two button presses, so you can thank me later for that, too."
The man was damn irritating and must have been oblivious to the idea of tact.
It was clear he wasn't getting the message through Adrian's garbled attempts. But Adrian knew if it was anything, it was willful ignorance.
The strangest part was that most of this frustration he felt wasn't his own. Adrian had mostly grown used to such reprobates by now.
Instead, it felt like he was getting upset because someone else was and it was imparting onto him. He could feel where it was coming from as well. It was the same source that had drawn his attention to where the glass container lay with its inhabitant.
Adrian grabbed Jules' wrist, cutting him off.
"Bring… bring them here." He finally managed to struggle out.
Jules did a double take between Adrian and the creature in question. He opened his mouth with a quizzical look but stopped when something else came to mind. The growing sly grin already worsened Adrian's already sour mood.
Tightening his grip on his wrist didn't seem to dissuade him from what he knew was coming.
"Proud father, eh? Or maybe you're the mom?" He chuckled but relented at Adrian's tightening squeeze.
"No, you're right, that would be the queen." He grinned, shaking Adrian's grip off.
"Jules, goddamnit," Adrian hissed through his teeth. "Now's not the time for this." But he let up his grip and sighed to calm himself.
"Please. Please, just bring them to me."
"Alright, alright." Jules put his hands up. "I'll let the proud parent see their kid now." He went to grab the container whose occupant wasn't too happy with his returned presence and handling.
Each new surge of anger riled something deep within Adrian. He wasn't exactly angry like it, but it felt like he had a direct line to how they felt. Even though he had the freedom to choose how to act on these signals, seeing it struggle and feel like that upset him in more ways than just that.
However, the closer it got to him, the more their temper calmed as they focused on Adrian. He held his arms out to receive the compartment. Jules looked between it and him one more time before guiding it into his hands.
So, it had been something–no–someone else that had been with him. That had and still did comfort him. He looked through the glass at the ghostly blue figure that stared back with an eyeless wonder. It carried a wonderful sense of warmth and calm with it.
Jules was right; they weren't like the ones he'd seen. Although, he'd never seen one in person before much like Jules.
What stood out first was its foggy blue color that wasn't seen among the paler youth of her kind. Also, as Jules had mentioned, it had a subtle set of chevron-shaped ridges running along its head in a wide pattern. If such differences could be noticed in its infancy, he wondered how different it would look at maturity. This question raised several more questions along the lines of Would it reach maturity? And Why did it look so different? Questions which only stressed him.
Despite all he'd heard, all he'd learned, and even the horrible film he'd seen, he wasn't afraid nor repulsed by this small creature. Not in the slightest.
He could feel they meant no harm. If anything, what they had felt for him and what he felt growing in himself had only continued to and showed no signs of stopping.
He brought the canister closer to his face. The small creature pressed its head against the glass.
They wanted out. They wanted to be with him. He could feel it all and he felt exactly the same.
Sliding his hands down to either side of the can, he gently turned the end of it towards him and looked at Jules.
"Jules, you've gotta trust me." He said, staring at him expectantly as he rested his hand on the latch.
Jules only responded with a surprised queer look and moved to take the container back.
"Hey! No!" Adrian pulled it away from him and put his hand out towards him. "Jules, Jules! Come one, just listen!"
Jules stopped but still stared at him with his peculiar gaze. "What are you-?" He narrowed his eyes at the two. "The readouts said the TTXIR was all out of your system but…" He shook his head. "Stop playing around. I don't really feel like chasing that thing around the room." He moved to grab it again only to be met with more resistance from Adrian.
"God dammit man, wait!" Adrian pulled it back again. The small Xeno was getting quite agitated from this. Adrian wanted to be quick about this and calm them down.
"Yeah, I know it looks and sounds dumb as hell." He looked at the xenomorph softly and rested his hand on top of the container to calm her. "But just trust me. I can feel-no, I know this isn't how we think it is, what anyone thinks it is! Like you just said, we haven't seen one like this or even heard of something like this. Have you? Have you ever heard of or seen a successful operation that wasn't just a page of black ink?"
"What they say is that everyone who was actually 'lucky' enough to get one removed in time grew tumors like they smoked a pack a minute and died not long after." Jules said quite flatly.
Adrian's mouth felt dry. He'd known this as well but honestly hadn't expected to live long enough to give it much thought.
"That's just what they say." Adrian asserted, but his fire was still tempered by the idea, and he continued in a quiet and concerned tone.
"Am I?" He looked back inside the container, his eyes lingering on their face which still stared right back. Lonely and wanting out. Lonely yet unworried.
Jules held an unfocused stare on Adrian for some time.
"No." He relented and pulled his hands back. "And it's the only reason I'm even letting you hold it. You'd be well in a coma and on your way out if it was as they said."
Adrian let out a sigh of relief and mostly relaxed again.
"What the fuck is going on man." He asked himself, briefly thinking of all the consequences this may bring them. He blinked a few times returning to the present and to his new… friend? He couldn't imagine them as anything less and a tender feeling in his chest arose each time he looked at them. Actually, simply calling them 'friend' did what he felt a disservice.
With a lack of any more attempts to stop him, save for the strange look Jules still held, Adrian twisted the handle.
The lock hissed slightly filling the two with anticipation as they stared at the widening opening.
The young xenomorph studied the new opening for barely a moment before they rushed out and onto Adrian. It surprised both him and Jules with that latter tensing his grip on his gun. He soon calmed, though, with his surprise growing twofold as it moved along Adrian's chest, rubbing affectionately against him and up towards his head.
Despite his surprise, Arian gently rested his hands on them. Despite their own initial surprise at his touch, he soon felt they were more than comfortable with the vibrating purr that emanated from them as it rubbed their heads against the side of his. All of it was only matched by the unadulterated affection he felt flow through this otherworldly connection they held in common.
The soft, warm being nuzzled and pressed into his touch, purring so fiercely he felt it vibrate throughout.
"I don't know, mate." Jules finally spoke up.
"What?" Adrian brought half of his attention back to the man who wore a baffled look.
"Your question. I don't know what the fuck is going on."
"Hey! Watch the language." Adrian pulled the precious coiled bundle closer.
"But you just-"
"I doubt she heard it while she was in there."
Jules scoffed and pulled out a rectangular package, tapping it against his palm.
"Sure mate, whatever you say."
He opened it, pulled out a cigarette, and placed it between his lips.
"I'm gonna step out for a bit, been ignoring Dick's hails." He rolled his jaw and the cigarette between his lips. "That'll be fun but he knows me, I know him, he'll understand. Or maybe he won't." Jules' eyes drifted out of focus for a moment before he shrugged and turned for the door.
Adrian, despite how much he loved and hated the guy, was glad to get some personal time to know her.
Wait, 'her'?
"She?" Jules stopped at the door and said at the same moment Adrian himself had realized.
"What do you mean by 'she'?"
Adrian looked at Jules, unsure of where such a notion had come from either. He looked back down at it. No, that didn't sound right. Every time he'd said or thought 'them' or, even worse, 'it', it left a bad taste in his mouth.
'Her' sounded and felt right. When he called her...well, her or she, something, maybe even herself, told him that's what she was.
"I... I don't know." Adrian looked between her, coiled comfortably on his chest, and Jules.
"Like everything else today, I just don't know. But I can feel it. Christ, I don't know how many times I can use 'I can feel it' as an excuse, but all of this-" Adrian motioned around him at nothing in particular. "It's not like anything I, or probably even you, have ever known before or could have even expected." He looked back at Jules, whose expression remained incredulous.
"I've never just run off of 'what I feel' before. Hell, I most likely would've laughed at myself for it before today. So if this, something as important as this right now, has got me to just roll with it because of what I feel, it's gotta be something important, man. Something real important." Adrian shook his head, unsure what else he could say about this entire situation—if he could even consider what he had right now a situation.
"All I can ask you to do is to just roll with it with me. For now, at least."
Jules stared at him for some time. He looked like he wanted to say something else about it but it never came to life.
"Know what? Whatever. I'm not really surprised anyway, like bees, I guess. They've got Drones, Queens, Hives, and... that, that's about where the similarities end."
Jules began for the door again.
"Time to face the music."
The pair watched as he left. A tiny huff drew his attention back down to her still on his chest and staring at the door he'd left from. Her soft purring had turned to a low growl.
"Hey, he's an alright guy. Give him a break." He told her softly.
Jules may have been sort of an ass half the time but he made up for it the other half. Adrian reminded himself it would be wise to be mindful when throwing bricks in this glass house he'd built if he was going to chastise Jules.
"I'm not sure how he got to this team or what he's done, to be honest. But, from what I've seen… I think his heart's in the right place."
Although she didn't seem quite convinced she let it go at his touch and began her trilling purr again that he could only smile at. The sight brought him incredible affection and equal parts remorse. Remorse for a life lived without this. Remorse for what might come after this.
He would not allow such things to ruin this; they would come later. He wasn't in any shape to do much about it anyway.
What came now was her. Her and the indescribable affection she held turned the gears of his heart back to life in spite of the many bitter years he kept it cold and idle in his work. Almost everything she did blurred his eyes as they threatened to cry. Every time she pressed into his touch, every time she purred, or even when she just looked at him, all of it—all of it, and this otherworldly ethereal bond he still didn't quite understand only made it all the stronger.
It was only now, as she brought the idea of song back to his heart, that he understood what it had all been, what it all was and is. The warmth, the comfort, even the fear and worry she had felt for him. Its true meaning had eluded him until now because he, in the depths of his despondency, had convinced himself that he'd never truly known it and never would. But the unadulterated affection–the word itself barely doing justice for what he felt–that stirred and grew within his heart and throughout his soul told him all he needed to know. Despite how he may try to delude himself, find another word for it, or even refuse to acknowledge its existence for any plethora of reasons from apprehension to even a shadowing feeling of undeservedness, the part of his mind, and perhaps more so his soul, that whispered to him the truths of his life both good and bad continued to even now at this turn in his life.
Love. It was hard to say even in his head. It was almost embarrassing. He didn't know why, there was no real reason for such. But, most of all, it felt like he shouldn't be allowed to say it. Not after years of disenchantment that he filled with bitter indignation. Despite it all, it still felt true. Regardless, it was still no easier. It had taken him too long to realize the true nature of what he had felt–NO–what he feels right now. Not only within himself but that which beamed with a strength unparalleled from her as well. It was a love he had only imagined before, one he had told himself that he was damned to eternal solitude from his unrealistic desire for and nothing less. And nothing more. Yet, it was the kind and caring love, the unconditional and undying love. It was the love that made him realize, almost immediately, that they would live and die for each other.
He would do all his power and agency would allow him, and then even more, to reciprocate all she held for him.
He wanted to stay stuck in the midst of such idylls come to life. But he knew that if he wished to keep it alive, they could not become stuck in idleness. Especially now.
"It's about time we got moving." Adrian said reluctantly as he ran a finger down the ridges atop her head.
A soft moan signifying her own objection to the idea made the task that much harder.
"I know, I know." He said sympathetically as he petted her coiled form. "But like he said, we've gotta face the music."
She squeaked as he pushed himself up and she slid into his lap. He chuckled and scooped her up in his arms. The door opened just as he planted his feet.
"Can you walk? Oh, proactive, good man." Jules strutted in and began to ask but cut himself off after seeing Adrian with his feet on the floor.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just give me a sec." Adrian took a few deep breaths, trying to chase away the lingering fatigue that had plagued him for most of this operation.
"Here, let me-" Jules started towards Adrian, but a quiet growl stopped him.
"Hey! Don't be like that!" Adrian chastised her but regret it almost immediately when she looked at him and slouched away guiltily.
"Ohh, it's alright, you're alright." He gave in and brushed her with the back of his hand. "She's not much a fan of yours, it seems."
"I can tell, and she's well smug about it too. Well, if she wants to go on and make it harder for you, good for her."
Adrian clicked his tongue.
"And how bout' you let up on her as well? Look at her! It's not like you can even say she was born yesterday."
"I'm really starting to think you are her dad or something at this point," he scoffed and moved to the door with Adrian finally following. "And you're spoiling her, too."
"Like hell! And so what if I was?" He held her up, proudly displaying her upon his palms. "She is a dam-dang princess. If anything, she deserves it." She looked at Adrian intently and then straightened up proudly, forming an 'S'-like shape. Adrian smiled widely at this and pulled her back onto his chest.
"So, you're trying to tell me she can get away with whatever she wants just from the fact of her birth?" Jules scoffed. "Yeh, sounds like an aristocracy to me, and you're her little peon. We'll see where that princess treatment gets you when she's all big."
"Man, forget it. I'm not even going to bother trying to explain it to the likes of you." Adrian waved him off.
"What's that even supposed to mean?"
"What the hell-" If Adrian was to try and make an effort for her, he couldn't half-ass it this time. "-heck, do you think it's supposed to mean? It's a waste of time to ask the jester if he's a fool. All he's gonna do is jingle his bells and do his dumb little dance. You clown." Adrian leered. He'd do as Jules did and see if it liked it.
Of course he did. It got a good rise out of him. However, his newfound good spirit was short-lived, as a bothered look crept across his face. This worried Adrian a bit that he'd crossed the line, but he found this, too, didn't last long as Jules began again as he had been.
"Yeah. Hey, you thought about naming her?"
The intentional change of subject would have been easily noticed had the question not been something that immediately drew all of his attention.
"Huh? Oh ehh… Fuck, no I-" Adrian said but caught himself and grimaced as he looked down at her, who was looking up at him. He could sense the confusion from her, most likely due to his reaction to saying it and not the word itself.
"You didn't hear that, alright?"
She only tilted her head slightly.
Jules shook his head. "I'll take that as a no. Not a very good parent are you?"
"Would you quit it with that, man?" Adrian chided but couldn't help but grin and looked back down at her. She was still looking up at him but almost expectantly now, as if she knew the topic revolved around her. He wouldn't be surprised if she did.
"No, I haven't." He rubbed his sandpaper chin. "But yeah, that's pretty dang important, to say the least. And I don't even got any real ideas right now. Didn't think I'd make it this far, to be honest. Let's keep walking while I think."
"Sure thing, mate." Jules replied with a slight somber hint to his tone that confused Adrian again.
They hadn't walked for long before more nerves prompted Adrian to speak up again.
"So what'd he say?"
"Huh?" Jules had been caught off guard, seemingly deep in thought.
"What'd Richardson say? Did he tear you a new one, or was it just a bunch of hot air?" Adrian said but soon found a more serious tone himself.
"And uhm, what'd you–what'd he–say about her?" He motioned to the small bundle who had drifted asleep in his arms. Growing takes a lot of energy. He smiled at the thought but returned to the question at hand.
Jules stared blankly ahead for a few seconds before answering.
"Yeah he's mad, or he was." He licked his lips. "I just told him the facts, what happened to you, what I did–which pissed him off royally–and about her… extraction. He seemed to calm down after that; he just told me to get us to the cargo bay where the shuttles are now and to be quick and safe about it." He furrowed his brows. "That's the strangest part. 'Safe'never heard him say a damn thing about us being safe before." He looked at her in Adrian's arms. "Honestly, I'm not sure, but it's not like we got much other choice."
"Maybe. Maybe." Adrian sighed but saw that his new bout of stress was messing with her as well as she slept. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself for her sake, he tried to quiet the alarms going off in his mind.
What seemed to do the trick was thinking of names for her. Nothing he thought of felt right, though. They sounded good in theory, but not so much when he imagined himself calling her that. It wasn't an easy thing to think of a name for someone, especially one so important.
He thought of flowers, mythology, and more all the way to just what was popular, trying to find something that felt and sounded right for her. Nothing stuck. He'd thought of asking Jules but felt this should be something he did alone.
His face twitched with focus. He'd been at it for some time now and it had at least distracted him from the troubles of the present, but the cargo bay wasn't far off now. He wanted—no—he needed to find the name for her soon. He was so close. He felt only a syllable off now. Syllable by syllable, he mixed and matched until he'd finally found one that not only stuck to his tongue but also felt worthy as his gift of a name for her.
"Elena." He brought the word to reality for its final test, one he believed it passed.
"What?" Jules asked next to him.
"Elena," Adrian repeated. "A name, her name. A good one, I hope."
"Wait, you're actually going to name it-her?" Jules caught himself a bit too late to avoid Adrian's annoyance.
"The hell do you think?!" Adrian let his displeasure speak but soon regretted it, as it had been enough to wake her.
"Tsk tsk tsk." Jules shook his head. With her awake, he knew Adrian wouldn't do anything more than glare.
"Well if it isn't the girl of the hour." Adrian smiled at her and scratched the side of her head as she woke, much to her purred enjoyment.
"Sleep well? Well, I would have known if you hadn't. But hey, I have something to tell you." He looked over at Jules as they stopped before another airlock.
"Could we em…" He motioned his head towards the door. Jules narrowed his eyes, shifting his gaze between the two.
Without saying anything, Jules opened the door and moved past it, all the while keeping his narrow stare on Adrian, with it only deepening as the door closed and shut him off.
"Right then." Adrian said speculatively but looked and smiled at her.
"Well, I do have something important to tell you." He said, much to her growing interest as she continued to perk up. "I think I've got a name for you, even if you don't know mine yet, or if you even know what a name is." He laughed softly. "But I think you do, and it's more important to know your own first."
She rose up intently, her grogginess having quickly evaporated and her excitement palpable as she wriggled almost impatiently in his hands.
"Seems like you know what I'm talking about." He pet her side with his thumb, which she pressed into, having lost none of the joy she found in his touch.
"What do you think about Elena?" His heart began to race, hoping she liked it.
She stared at him contemplatively, tilting her little head from side to side as if rolling the name around in her head. Adrian already had the lingering belief that she could, in fact, understand him to some degree, and it seemed she did, in fact, know what a name was.
It hadn't taken her long to come to her decision of complete and elated approval as she eagerly twisted and turned in his hands, rubbing against him.
Adrian laughed and hugged her. Of all the times that his eyes had threatened it so far today, he finally let a single, joyful tear slip as he held her close.
For Elena, the time spent in contemplation hadn't been so much a test of worthiness as it was her taking the time to implant the name within her being and become familiar with its sound. Just about any name would have been fine with her, so long as it was coming from him.
She was bouncing at the idea of a name—his name for her! She could already imagine all the ways and times he would say it. Every moment with him, everything they did, it had all been so exhilarating, ignoring when she had been gawked at inside of that clear prison not too long ago. But to think it was only the beginning of it! If she kept thinking of all the future held for them, she might explode! She loved it all. Most of 'it all' was the warmth and love she held for him.
But what about him? Her excitement transmuted into curiosity. He'd given her a name and it was wonderful, but how could she not know his? It was unacceptable! She turned in his hands to face him again, extending her body to get as close to him as she could and let her feelings of curiosity flow freely to him. It was the best she could do at the moment. She understood him on a fundamental level but was still figuring out a lot of things. One of them being these words they spoke. A bit redundant if you asked her; all that needed to be said could be said quite easily without them, but she relented. It was the very least she could do for him as her beloved host, her bonded.
But in his eyes and in his heart, she saw a lifetime of love restrained. That gate was slowly opening, but she would make sure it was torn from its hinges, never to be shut again.
For Adrian, it was quite the peculiar thing watching her stretch her serpentine body up to meet him. Now that he noticed it, she was also somewhat smaller than average. But Adrian digressed. What was even more peculiar was what he felt from her. It was a sense of curiosity pointed directly at him. It made him feel a bit on the spot, and he wasn't immediately sure what the inquiry was for.
"Me?" He asked and received what felt like a positive from her. "What about me? Oh yeah, I already forgot." He chuckled, to which she huffed. She was quite the little character.
"Well, I'm glad you asked." He smiled at her. "I'm Adrian." Her little smile that was so sweet in his heart grew to match his own. "One Adrian A. Knight, at your service, little Miss Elena."
A wave of affection flowed from her. Every time she did, it drifted straight to the strings of his heart, playing songs whose wonderful music he'd never heard. It danced around him so spectacularly that he almost didn't know how to handle it or how he'd lived without it.
"Dang, maybe Jules was right about the princess treatment." He laughed the water in his eyes away. When he looked at her all he felt stood in contrast to any such prospects. There was nothing but boundless and unparalleled love and affection. This was, of course, hinted at with the slight traces of what he could only describe as psychic headshaking over such an idea.
Above everything, she was just delighted to know his name.
Their attention was drawn back to the door as it opened again.
"I half expected to see you bowing down to her."
"Keep talking, big guy." Adrian turned from them to wipe at his eyes,
"Will do. Richardson called, and he wants us over there yesterday. So, I hope you're done swearing your fealty, and let's keep moving."
With a shaky breath, Adrian resumed forward.
A concerned squeak brought his attention down to the young girl. He could hardly hide a thing from her, nor her from him it seemed. That was if she would even try to in the first place, or if the idea of hiding what she felt from him even existed in her mind. He imagined such an idea this early in her life would seem criminal to her. It was for the best like this.
Through his nerves, a delicate yet reserved smile shone through as he lightly stroked the aegean blue ridges that ran down Elena's head, much to her trilling delight. Adrian could swear her color was getting darker and more saturated.
They were close to the cargo bays now and he didn't know what to expect, but Jules had been relatively receptive to the entire ordeal. Receptive in this situation was rather subjective, but with what he could tell about the man, it seemed like a good sign. Either way, he'd make sure to keep in good spirits for Elena's sake. If there was ever an issue, it would be all good when he was with her.
/|\
A/N: I don't feel to be the best at what some would consider the "emotional craft," but I still give it my all.
It took me some more time to get this one out (even though it was already 'done' for a while) and, unfortunately, you can most likely expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future and the next few chapters
I hope you find patience with me, I'll be trying my utmost.