Chapter 1
Krono set the
ship to auto-pilot and walked to the back where the others sat around at a nice
dinner table eating and talking. He sat
down next to Saturnus who had already proceeded to fix a plate for him. “Sorry guys... there’s a little problem.” He broke into their conversation, quieting
them down. “There aren’t enough rooms
for all of you so some people will have to share. This is the smaller of the two ships that my
father stole from Queen Uno.” Krono
informed them. “You’ll have to find
roommates…” Cupid yawned, stretching his muscular arm over Vixen’s
shoulder. From either side of Nova, Dai
and Apollo glared at each other before gripping Nova’s arms. Both Nova and Vixen cringed and looked to
Krono for help. “…Preferably of your own
gender!” Vixen peeled Cupid’s arm off
and Nova sat still until they released her.
Lynx looked around
the table at all the couples; whether happy or not, she still envied them. Even little Si and Otto seemed to like each
other. She felt lonely. “I guess I’m the only one who has nothing to
worry about.” She returned to her book,
without finishing her dinner.
“I’m sure you
will find that special soul mate soon!”
Nova said to encourage her. Lynx
didn’t bother to look up, but stuck her head further into the pages to hiding
her blushing cheeks. Nova sighed and
started to play with her food using her fork, when she noticed Apollo hadn’t
touched any of his food. “Are you
alright?” She asked touching his hand
that trembled as it held his fork.
He pulled his
hand away. “Yeah, yeah... just one less
thing for me to worry about…”
“Worry about
what?” She asked innocently.
Dai placed his
arm around her shoulder leaning back in his chair. “He knew you would have chosen to stay with
me.” He whispered loud enough in her ear
for Apollo to hear.
Nova
frowned. “Oh... Dai…” She pushed him back playfully. “You’re just joking right?” She looked back to find Apollo gone. “…who would I choose?” She whispered to herself. Once dinner ended everyone appeared to
already know who to stay with. Nova
stopped in front of a vacant room and pushed the door in. In the dark hallway, she could hear a
struggle in the shadows. Two people
seemed to be arguing about something, but she could not see who it was. “Who’s there?”
“Alright,
alright... I will...” Son-Shi said as he
rolled out from the shadows.
“You will
what?” Nova asked him.
“Oh, um…
nothing…” Nova leaned down into his face with a big smile. Adjusting his collar, he felt a little
nervous with her looking at him. A
cigarette bud hung from his lips, which seemed strange for a little monkey to
do. He tried to appear as adorable as he
could so he tossed out the cigarette bud.
“Well actually… Nova... Apollo wants... I mean I was wondering...”
“Would a cute
little monkey like you want to stay with me in my room?” She asked him.
“No, not
me...” He shook his head with his eyes
stretched. Nova failed to hear his plea,
as she grabbed him up and brought him into her room. Out of the shadows, Apollo walked up after
they entered the room. With his foot he
stomped out the cigarette Son-Shi tossed away.
He couldn’t tear himself away from Nova’s door; he placed his hand it,
gently, as if he was touching Nova instead.
Resting his head on the door, he laughed at himself for trying to use
Son-Shi as a mediator to tell her his feelings.
In his line of business and for the sake of his soul, there was no room
for feelings. It was for the better; if
Hydra discovered that he had feelings for her it might be the end of him. Thinking about Hydra made him shutter; he
hoped that hellion god would never find him again. Still, he wanted to protect Nova in case
something hideous like Hydra appeared or something worst – Dai. He pulled a chair up to the door, leaned
against it, lit a cigarette, and blew a smoke ring in the shape of a heart into
the air.
***
In the middle of
their rest, the ship shook violently tossing Apollo to the floor. He woke up with a start, running to the pilot
seat, to find Syria passed out in the co-pilot seat. He noticed the dashboard flashing wildly with
red warning symbols; one, in particular, for engine malfunction. Sand from the Desert Planet mixed had shot up
into the motor damaging the engine of the ship.
Veering out of control, the spaceship hit the outside wall of a space
dome. He grabbed Syria around the collar
shaking her violently. “Wake up!” The ship jerked forward, as it entered into a
small hole in the side of the dome. Into
the passageway, they passed pieces of debris being thrown out of the space
dome’s garbage shoot. He watched
helplessly as they spiraled toward a forested area of a colony.
Most of the ship
is made out of shock absorbent material that helps give each passenger a smooth
ride; so, inside of their rooms they feel nothing and hear nothing. With Syria unconscious, Apollo was the only
one who knew about the dire circumstance.
He dashed back to Nova’s door; stumbling over the chair, he began
banging on the door. “Shiva, Shiva, wake
up!”
Her eyes
fluttered open with every bang on the door.
Unable to hear or see what was going on outside of the ship, Nova was
confused about why Apollo wanted to come into her room so frantically. “Apollo...? Dai isn’t in here... just me and...” She rolled over to find Son-Shi gone. In his place laid a brawny, dark skinned,
afro-haired man lying in the bed next to her.
It was the man she had seen with Apollo a few times before. But what was he doing in her room? She screamed, just as Apollo broke through
the door. Nova rushed into his
outstretched arms. The ship crashed
against a massive tree, ripping a hole into Nova’s room. The afro haired man woke up, but a branch of
a mighty tree slashed through the wall striking him over the head rendering him
unconscious. Still holding on tight to
Nova, Apollo plummeted from the ship with Nova in his arms and the other man by
his side. The rest of the ship descended
on an aimless path across the jungle until it landed several miles away. Apollo watched it crash with all the others
on board as he faded into a slumber. He
could just barely see two tall angels, Luna, with a mask of the moon and Samus,
with a mask of the sun carrying Nova and him down safely to the jungle floor.
Hours passed, Apollo
could feel cold water being poured down his throat. He could see two hands wrapping a bandage
around his head. When his eyes cracked
open he saw Nova’s face; it looked more beautiful than the faces of the two
angels that saved them. Nova’s golden
hair sparkled in the sun as she leaned over him, to tie the cloth tight. He reached up gently and pulled her down to
him, pressing his face into her shoulder.
With a deep breath, he breathed in her fresh scent, allowing himself to
be lost in her embrace. He realized what
he did, letting her loose. “I’m sorry.” He said.
“It’s
alright.” Nova said. Unfazed, she finished wrapping his head. She crawled up next to him, leaning against the
tree. Apollo let his hand wander along
her hair, to her chin and finally down to her collar bone. He touched her necklace of the little silver
heart. With his fingernail, he popped it
open to find the picture of Venus’ family.
“It’s my grandfather, grandmother, and mother... or is it my uncle? They think it was my brother in this picture
and not my mother. My uncle was stolen
away from his father and mother as a baby.”
Apollo felt pain from the words “stolen from his father and mother”
because the same thing had happened to him. “My mom received this necklace from my grandma
who had turned into an angel. She didn’t
know she was her mother at the time. She
was young when grandma gave it to her.
Later on mom gave it to me. It’s the
only picture I have of them. We lost all
the old photos when the cottage was destroyed.”
“I wish I knew
who my mother was.” Apollo sighed touching
Hyperion’s face.
“Really you
don’t know who your mother is?” He shook
his head letting go of her necklace. She
sprung up with a smile. “Then I’ll help
you find her...” She knelt down and
grabbed his hand. “I promise… you’ll find her someday...”
He stared at her
a long while, surprised by her words.
After sometime, he sighed and looked away. “Sure... I’ve tried my entire life… I doubt
I’ll find her that easily.”
“Come on…” she
bounced up. “You can’t give up hope that
easily.” She said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw
something moving in the bushes. “What
the...?” Apollo sat up and looked in the
direction of her gaze. A gargantuan
creature slithered from the brush. The
colossal serpent slid into the clearing watching them closely. Apollo rose up in front of Nova pulling her
along behind him as he sidestepped away from the snake. Nova observed from over Apollo’s shoulder as
its red eyes followed them. The serpent
reared back to strike, but as it projected forward to strike a man landed on
its tail to deter it. It spun around
hissing at the man. He swung a pole
colliding with the snake’s scaly face.
Other brown skinned people with aboriginal clothing emerged from the
bushes scaring the large snake away by waving their primitive tools. Apollo took a sigh of relief, while Nova
gripped tighter to his shirt, when the head of the native people approached him. The man drew his weapon on them; Apollo
placed his hands up and spoke in a foreign language. “What did you say?” Nova asked him.
“I think I told
them we’re friendly... hold on...” He
said something else in their language, but it caused them to explode in
conversation. The angered man raised his
weapon to lash out on him, when the afro-headed man descended from the trees
catching him by the arm.
He stepped
before the people speaking in the same language that Apollo attempted. After conversing for a while with older man
for a while, he spun around laughing to Apollo.
“I thought I taught you enough of the language to know the difference
between ‘We are friendly’ and ‘We are manly’.”
He laughed hysterically, slapping him on the back like a familiar
friend. “As if those words didn’t
challenge the alpha male enough, you could have left off the second statement.”
“What did I
say?” Apollo asked.
“I’m manly, even
more manly than your mother.”
“I guess being
away for so long I’ve gotten some words mixed up…” Apollo blushed with embarrassment. “I was trying to say, we were friendly and
gentle like a mother.”
“Now that is
funny!” Nova laughed.
“Oh Nova, I
didn’t see you just then.” Afro man
said.
“No, you just
saw her all night is all.” Apollo
grumbled.
“Oh, you’re not
angry about that, are you?” Nova studied
the stranger; he seemed so familiar. She
wanted to figure out who he was and how he ended up in her room. “Are you
really angry? Hey, it’s not my fault
she...”
“I’ve got
it!” Nova interrupted their conversation. “I know what happened. You came into my room, ate that adorable
monkey, Sushi-San, and took his clothing… and stretched it out… a lot…”
“It’s S-O-N -
S-H-I, short for Son-Hou-Shi. It’s the
name of an ancient god of monkeys.”
“Well whatever,
the problem is you ate him! You killed
my pet! I mean… friend!” She grabbed his afro, developing a small ball
of light in her hand; his afro started to glow.
“You’ll pay for eating my friend!”
“Hold on!” He yelled.
“Watch this!” Before their eyes,
he metamorphosed into a spider monkey.
“I am him...” With a cheeky
smile, he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Huh...?” She frowned, letting go of his hair to give
him a big hug. “He coughed you up!”
Apollo and
Son-Shi slapped their foreheads. “Maybe
she’ll figure it out later?” Apollo
suggested.
“Somehow I doubt
that.” He said being squeeze by Nova’s
firm grip. “Venus and her children are
known for their strength, but they are lacking in other departments…”
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