Amethyst?

  Amethyst!?

  Are you still there?

  …

  Voice?

  Is... that you?

  Listen Amethyst...

  We don’t have a lot of time.

  You are... dying...

  I think... I may be the one killing you…

  What!?

  I... my human mind is absorbing yours... it has for a while now.

  That’s why we can even talk like this… because we are becoming one.

  We are reaching a point of no return.

  Oh...

  The voice continues distraught:

  But...

  I don’t want to die...

  After a short silence, Amethyst dares to ask:

  What do you want then?

  I…

  I… want to see my husband.

  Your… husband?

  ...

  The man at the clinic?

  Yes… I want to see him.

  So badly…

  I need to know he is alive.

  You- We left him in the burning building...

  But…

  I can’t even remember his name.

  Grent.

  What?

  Grent is his name.

  Oh… I see. Thank you, Amethyst.

  I just want to reunite with Grent again...

  More than anything.

  But... I don’t want to... kill you either.

  You’ve been through such a lot.

  I... already had my time.

  I...

  It wouldn't do for me to rob yours.

  There are those who still need you, your species, your planet...

  Frank...

  …

  Can you promise me one thing?

  What is it?

  Don’t be mad at Grent, don’t despise him.

  He is just a bit rash and eccentric.

  And maybe a little out of control without me to rein him in...

  But he is really a good person.

  ...

  Do you believe me?

  I don’t know...

  He treated you badly, I know, manipulated you even...

  Made you kill your Mother...

  But promise me that you won’t take revenge, that you won’t kill him when you get back to your home planet.

  Take care of him for me.

  ...

  Promise me this p-please?

  I- I don’t know if I can…

  P-please!? The Voice struggles to get words out.

  I… I promise…

  But...

  Why?

  Aren’t you going to come with me?

  We can't both make it back.

  One of us has to die, to save the other...

  I choose to entrust you with my mind.

  Yielding, so you can take over.

  Tell Grent I love him, I always have and always will.

  ...

  I will.

  Thank you…

  Voice.

  …

  …

  “Is it dead?”

  “I don’t know, looks like it.”

  Amethyst gasps and shoots up to a sitting position on the couch.

  “Frank!” She shouts without thinking, but only men in thick vests, wielding guns surround her.

  One man sticks out from among them, with his fancy clothes and a round body shape.

  “Oh, it can speak? So that’s why Frank called ‘it’ a she.

  How novel, no wonder he couldn’t resist stealing you away.

  But I'm not buying it for a second, that you're a new Sapient species, that'd be bad for business.”

  “Frank? What did you do to him!?”

  “Hah, we didn’t do anything to him, he wasn’t here when we arrived.

  What do we look like? Murderers or some sort of savages?”

  Before Amethyst can answer he scoffs:

  “Phah! Hardly!”

  The troops led by the bald man produce empty chuckles along with him.

  Amethyst remembers what Frank said during her delirium.

  He must already be at the facility now!

  I hope I’m not too late.

  “Alright, that’s enough chit-chat, pack her up.”

  A soldier aims a very large barreled, strange-looking, weapon at Amethyst, holding the massive weapon over his shoulder.

  Instantly shooting up from the sofa, Amethyst cuts the barrel of the gun clean off, causing it to misfire a net towards the roof.

  The net tangles to the chandelier above, crackling with white electricity for a second before going out, its connection to the gun cut off.

  The lights of the house flicker on and off until finally staying out.

  Three more grunts aim similar weapons at her from up close, from different directions.

  As they are about to press the trigger, Amethyst dives for the window, the guns go off in the room.

  The surface of the glass is broken by her blades, making a hole for the rest of her body to follow through. Sharp pieces of glass rain on her hair and bounce from her armor, the orange flower with two petals remaining is knocked off.

  She crashes outside on her stomach but quickly scampers up.

  With the target escaped, the nets fly and tangle around inside the house’s crowded interior.

  “You imbeciles! What a-a-a-are you d-d-d-d-doing!?”

  The voice of the man with the fancy clothes stammers as a crackle of electricity sounds through the air.

  Amethyst has broken into a gallop already and is not present to hear anything further.

  All of her wings are spread out, film flowing to cover the gaps, as they harden, she takes off into the deep red evening sky.

  Hold on Frank, I'm on my way!

  She soars in the sky effortlessly, having almost forgotten what it feels like.

  Up here, her body is so light, so nimble and fast, free physically and mentally. No pains, no aches, her lethargy is gone like it never existed.

  She remembers clearly who she was, up to a certain point, but in the back of her mind, there's knowledge of things she had not learned herself.

  Basic information on the Galaxy, human civilizations, equipment, objects, history, and much more.

  Some with context backing them up, and others are just loose words that she knows as a concept, but not what they actually mean or relate to.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  However, she has more important things to worry about than what words like 'government', 'love', 'laundry machine', or 'The Earth', actually refer to.

  Arriving at the facility, she sees the fence broken and a big hole in the concrete wall.

  Gunfire, shouting, animal cries–sounds picked up by her sharp hearing, but there is so much commotion it’s impossible to determine where Frank is.

  Amethyst flies over the roof of the facility, the sounds fading away.

  She spots the old escape hole she made, not patched up yet.

  She takes some distance from it and cuts a new triangular hole into the metal with blades aglow.

  Through the hole, she cranes her neck into the room.

  It’s dark, her peripheral night vision shows her that this is still the cage area, the creature that was at Frank’s cottage is rampaging inside, joined by other large animals.

  Smaller ones running around panicked trying to escape the chaos and predators that chase them.

  Spaceships are commonly held in hangars... I think.

  What is a hangar though?

  She didn’t know, but this certainly wasn’t it, she took one last glance at the area searching for Frank, but no luck.

  Taking flight again, she continued straight on, and the roof soon became a few meters lower.

  She flew some distance in, landed, and made another hole, letting loose another sizzling triangular slab.

  Lights are lit inside, and she sees a spaceship close by, it’s a little different than the one she arrived here with. Green stripes adorn its side.

  Amethyst jumps down the hole and lands gracefully with a few flaps of her wings.

  She unfurls them, and translucent purple shards clink on the concrete floor.

  Where is Frank? Has he left without me already?

  She looks around and sees the outer hangar doors, no sooner than she locates them they start opening, slowly letting in evening's light to the artificially lit hangar.

  ***

  Frank ignores this seemingly random metal slab phenomenon and continues fiddling with the spaceship controls to make it ready to fly, he pushes a button to send a command to the facility to open the hangar door.

  Something in his subconscious makes him glance back at the screen to check out the triangle again.

  In the display, a Tyrchid now stands in the hangar, he blinks his eyes and brings his face way too close to the screen.

  “Amethyst! It really is her!”

  Frank flies out of the pilot’s chair and zooms to the back of the ship, smacking the button to open the cargo door.

  I can’t believe it! That was Amethyst right?!

  I wasn’t hallucinating?

  No, I couldn't have.

  Another Tyrchid?

  No way.

  Struck with immense relief and numerous questions, he waits as the door reveals the hangar from behind it.

  But how is that possible?

  Whatever, I’m not going to question it now!

  Frank hears a painful screech as the door descends, revealing Amethyst inside a white force field net, a cord going back to a netgun, held by Rocco Crondeston.

  His hands are covered in slight burns, his formal suit is ripped and scorched in some spots.

  Amethyst struggles and stabs at the net, but its dynamic shape and flexible nature don’t allow her to cut it to escape. She turns to look at him.

  “F-Frank I-I found you!” Amethyst speaks buzzing and twitching in rhythm with the electric shocks.

  “I- I thought you…!

  Never mind that now!

  Rocco! Let her go!” Frank takes the laser gun from his back and levels it at his boss.

  “Frank... I’m so disappointed, I told you to not betray me, didn’t I? But you got greedy, you are sorely mistaken if think you can steal from IWV, much less from ME!”

  “No, it's-”

  “What else could it be? What could you possibly hope to accomplish with such a stunt?”

  Frank looks at Amethyst, the white force field zaps her periodically inside of the net.

  Her expression is that of pain, her forced smile is erased with each jolt, only to return more strained than the previous.

  Rocco looks between Frank and Amethyst as they gaze at each other.

  “Wait wait wait, are you serious? One of your animal pals finally speaks back to you and you fall head over heels for it or something? Are you cr-

  No no, as your employer the fault lies with me, I should have seen the signs and gotten you some help-”

  “Shut up!”

  Frank grits his teeth.

  “Amethyst is a person!”

  And fires the laser gun.

  A warning shot, that hits the ground to his right, Rocco flinches but regains his composure.

  “Next one will land between your eyes.”

  “What? Are you going to kill a human over some alien creature?

  As you well know, Intergalactic recognizes humans as the only Sapient species.

  Just stop this madness, you can still come back to work, and we will forget this ever happened.

  We all stumble and fall, have our occasional missteps.”

  “No, I don’t think so, you’re the insane one here.”

  “Hah, what if I just crank up the output now and kill her, I wonder if that would that get you to come back to your senses?”

  Rocco rubs his bare chin as a sneer forms.

  “You wouldn’t!”

  “Try me, I’ll do anything for my employees' well-being.”

  “...”

  “What will it be? I’m running out of patience!”

  Rocco taps his fingers against the knobs of the voltage and amperage dials on the netgun’s base.

  “Will you really let her go if I just come back to work?”

  “Hmm… It’s too late for that, I changed my mind, you did shoot at me after all.”

  “What?!”

  “Sign an eternal contract, no pay, no vacation time-”

  “Slavery. Don’t you think you are getting too greedy?”

  Frank says and starts walking down the slope of the ship, very slowly, he aims down the sights of his rifle.

  “Fine, I’m just joking Frank, I’ll even give you a raise of 20% on top of your current pay, I’m feeling extra generous, how about that?”

  “Will you really release her, you will not capture her again, not kill her?”

  “F-Frank…” Amethyst struggles to speak.

  “Yes, I am nothing if not a man of my word.”

  Frank reaches the end of the spaceship’s slope.

  “Come any closer and my finger might just slip though...” Rocco hovers her right hand on the gun’s dials.

  “I’ll put my rifle away now, let her go and we can start signing my promotion, okay?”

  Frank slowly and elaborately starts lifting his gun up and over his head.

  Rocco grins victoriously, intensively staring at Frank, he’ll be damned if he misses a second of this.

  As Frank is about to take the gun’s strap off his neck, Pineapple launches forward from behind him.

  The cat’s cone is fully charged as it makes its entrance, flashing a blinding light out immediately.

  “Ugh! What!?” Rocco reels and covers his eyes with his free hand.

  Pineapple had been walking behind Frank, carefully remaining hidden as they strode down the slope.

  Charging the short distance between them, Frank clobbers the dazed Rocco’s head with the back of his rifle.

  The hard strike echoes in the vast space, as his boss staggers backward and falls on his rear, the netgun falls from his grasp.

  Frank lets the laser gun hang from its strap and picks the netgun up with both hands, quickly pressing the disengage button.

  The white electricity disperses and Amethyst makes short work of the actual net with her multitude of blades.

  “Now, quickly to the ship!”

  Frank tosses the netgun and runs up to Amethyst who joins him in the short run to the ship, they exchange a relieved look.

  The trio ascends the slope and Frank presses the button to close the door.

  Rocco stands up from the floor and holds his nose and forehead with both hands, red blood dripping from between them.

  He blinks his eyes rapidly, sight returning.

  “FRANK! This isn’t over!”

  “Hope to see you never, Rocco!”

  The door is high enough for them to no longer see him.

  “Thank you, Frank,” Amethyst beams a wide smile at him.

  “No, thank you, Amethyst… I don’t know what I would have done if you too… if you really had…”

  He awkwardly brings a hand behind his head.

  “I don’t know what I would have done if you left without me!” Amethyst shoots back unusually sassy.

  Frank laughs briefly.

  “True, I doubt you can fly between planets on your own, much less a spaceship.”

  He is brought back to their current situation by his own comment.

  “Oh yeah, we better get this bird out of the ground too.”

  Frank dashes to the cockpit, shoves his backpack and rifle into a small compartment on the left wall, and shuts its door before sitting on the pilot chair.

  This time properly prepared for take off, he sets his back firmly against the backrest.

  Amethyst follows after him, Pineapple running underneath her spacious leg space, reaching the cockpit before her.

  “Alright, let’s see, the hangar’s door is now open, turn off the tracker... prepare the wings... Oh and heat up the engines...

  After that, just gotta fly her out… yes, that should be all.”

  He turns his head to Amethyst.

  “Okay, better take a seat and please be careful not to damage any instruments.”

  “I'll try.” Amethyst takes caution and keeps her bladed arms away from the walls and seat.

  Frank glances back at the displays showing the outside, a bunch of soldiers have appeared that tend to Rocco.

  His face is beet red as he shouts, it's impossible to make out what portion of the red is blood and which just his incandescent skin.

  Frank stands up from the chair and turns to Amethyst who has seated herself on the seat on the left.

  “I’ll strap you in now, okay?”

  “O-okay,” Amethyst watches as the black, belt-like, straps are spread across her body in the form of an X.

  She swallows hard as sweat drips down her face, recalling past memories.

  “Are you okay?” Frank looks at her concerned.

  “Y-yes, don’t worry about me.”

  Frank finishes fastening the straps and turns to sit back down, he glances at Pineapple.

  “Pineapple, just hold on to something, I don’t know, keep yourself still with your claws, do some cat stuff.”

  Pineapple, who's already standing on the right-side seat braces himself.

  Frank sets himself back on the pilot chair, more soldiers are gathering and discussing something, while somebody is bandaging up Rocco's head.

  I don’t think we can afford to wait any longer, but the engines are just 25% ready…

  What’s the worst thing that can happen?

  Frank fires up the engines.

  In response Rocco shouts and waves a hand forward, the lot of them level their weapons at the ship.

  Oh no.

  Frank puts the engines at full throttle, the ship makes some clunking and cracking noises but begins to roll forward very slowly on its wheels, the cold engines struggling to provide enough thrust.

  Electrical nets are shot at the turbines, but the airflow they generate is just enough to blow them away.

  The ship nudges forward a little faster, from the screen he sees some soldiers lifting heavy tubes to their shoulders. Rocket Launchers.

  Oh fu-

  Velvet drifts through the hangar door, smashing into the door frame, unable to maintain sufficient friction due to its speed.

  The ground quakes and the soldiers stagger slightly.

  Velvet's feet regain grip and it continues straight, barreling through the soldiers.

  They are flung around as the Foxbear collides with their number, the ones holding the rocket launchers drop them to catch their falls as they are shoved from behind.

  Some unlucky few are caught under the Foxbear’s massive paws, their bodies crushed.

  The ship accelerates faster and faster exponentially as the engines start warming up more.

  Velvet looks worn, patches of fur are missing, scorch marks on the revealed pink skin, as well as red blood on its fur, additionally, its left ear is completely missing.

  It roars and blood is splattered around the hangar from its bleeding mouth as it stampedes among the unfortunate soldiers.

  Frank can’t take his eyes off this scene, even though he should be flying the ship, he keeps glancing down at the display to see what happens while keeping an eye on the upcoming runway.

  The ship accelerates even more.

  A struggling soldier grabs a rocket launcher and manages to shoot it at Velvet.

  The missile hits its front left leg.

  As the explosion's smoke clears, the massive leg is gone.

  The Foxbear’s jaws twist into a painful-looking roar as it collapses on the ground trashing, unable to stand.

  The ship shoots out of the hangar and straight towards the forest, going through the whole length of the runway in the blink of an eye, the ship going way too fast.

  Thank you, Velvet...

  Frank gives the ship his full attention and pulls the controls towards him as hard as he can.

  Amethyst is pushed hard against her seat as her mind runs through the situation she felt this way the last time.

  Pineapple is completely vertical, its nails clinging onto the backrest.

  Swoooosh!

  The ship ascends harshly, billowing leaves everywhere from the forest underneath, soaring into the red sky.