NOTES:
This whole thing is just fighting and being lovey-dovey)
There is some very mild FxF in this chapter
This chapter is in Larra’s POV
I just experienced the scariest thing of my life. Then, I found out that the cause of that scary thing was my sister’s old best friend that casually showed up out of nowhere after 5 years. Now she wants me to come with her to go into space? Yes. Yes, she does. But did I say no?
“So, what do you mean by a spaceship?” I ask, walking through the forest with Sofie and Ictha.
“A spaceship is a spaceship. What else would she mean?” Ictha answers for Sofie. Ictha then places her hand on Sofie’s head, an old habit.
“Like, the kind that goes into space? Are we taking a plane to NASA first?”
“Like the kind that goes to another universe.” Ictha says that so nonchalant, as if it’s a normal thing to travel universes. She always acts like that.
“And you couldn’t have told me that already?” I glare at my sister and Ictha.
Sofie stars to pout and complain. “Larra!! You know I missed her so much! There’s no one other than you that is really important to me, and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one on your priority list, so I thought it would be fine if you came with me and Ictha. Sorry, I should’ve asked you and everything, but I was scared you would decline, so I thought that bringing you to the spaceship could convince you…”
“Sofie,” I say, covering her mouth, “you’re muttering again.”
“Oh- sorry! But, you understand, right?” She starts messing with the hem of her shirt, which annoys me so badly for some reason. Just like her muttering annoys me.
I stop walking. “Yeah, yeah. Isn’t it illegal to do stuff like this without a professional though? And we’re all minors. Too young to go into space.” I’m oddly calm with this, unlike usual things. I guess I haven’t had a great life on this earth, so another earth could be better. Then again, it could be much worse. It could be unsuitable for us.
“I’m nineteen. And I’ve been using the ship for about four and a half years. I’m pretty sure you won’t die.” Ictha’s comment makes me and Sofie both look at her surprised.
“But I thought you were our age!” Sofie better not go off on a rant again.
“Don’t you remember? I was in your grade, but I’ve always been about two years older than you.”
“Sorry…” Sofie is still messing with her shirt. “I… tried to forget about you after a year when I realized you probably weren’t coming back. Obviously, I failed and still remembered you, but…” She trails off into silence.
“‘But’ what?” I ask.
“Huh? Oh- there was no but. Sorry.”
“You say sorry a lot.” I start walking again, air-pushing the others to lead the way.
“We should be just about here.” Ictha says, pointing into the distance. We walk a bit more and start to see the spaceship, partially covered with tree branches and extra leaves.
“Woah… it’s a lot smaller than I imagined.” Sofie says, running to the spaceship. “Is this how they all were? I mean, with the other aliens. Did they look different?”
I overhear Ictha mumbling under her breath: “‘other aliens’?” It probably offended her. She’s from our planet so I understand, but then, she wasn’t on this planet for years. She then speaks out loud, “Well, this one is a mini craft. It’s kinda like one of those tiny emergency kayaks on cruise ships, except that it’s a spaceship.”
“There’re bigger ones? Like how big?”
“I don’t really remember, but probably over fifty times bigger than this one.”
I walk up to the ship while they talk, being unnoticed unlike any other day. I climb one of the trees and peek into the window, being super impatient. Once I’m done snooping, I jump down and walk back over to them. “Hey, so, we haven’t eaten. We also don’t have our stuff.”
“Oh! Shoot! Yeah, but we walked so far already… I don’t wanna go back!!” Sofie complains, pouting once again.
“I have it covered.” Ictha turns and walks towards the ship, looking around for something. With her still searching, I feel a tap on my shoulder.
“Yeah?” No response. “Sofie?” I turn around to see a person about half a foot shorter than me. “Woah, who are you?” I turn to Ictha, about to ask if they know each other.
“Oh, there you are.” Ictha walks back to me, Sofie, and this random shortie. “Do you have it?” The person nods. Ictha turns to me, the same expressionless face she’s been giving me all day. At least since I saw her. “This is who fixed my spaceship. She got food, water, and other necessities.”
“Wait, it’s a SHE? She looks like a boy with her pixie cut.” I look at that girl and completely disregard personal space, messing with her hair. “Got an undercut with some bangs in the front? Interesting choice, I guess.” She doesn’t even move, just letting me touch her hair.
The girl suddenly walks off, soon coming back with multiple scuffed boxes. “Here… this has water, food, and others. There’s some stuff to keep you entertained in there too.” She sounds like a twelve-year-old.
“How old are you?” I ask, wondering why she was wearing an old high school uniform but sounded like she was a middle schooler.
The girl just stares at me. Not the social type I presume, just like me. “…I’m sixteen. Turning seventeen soon. I think. I’ve been counting the days, but I think I lost count with being out here by myself for so long.” She looks down at the box before shuffling to Ictha and giving it to her.
“Thanks for the supplies.” Ictha walks to the ship and puts some sort of code in the side, triggering a door to open and a part of the wall flaps down. She walks inside and sets the box down.
Outside still, the girl starts to walk away. “Hey, wait up,” I call to her, “Would there be enough supplies for you as well? If so, then maybe you could come with us. Also, what’s your name? I’m Larra.”
When the girl turns around, I feel like I can see the sparkle in her eyes as she looks into mine. “Yeah… there’s plenty. And my name is Mary.” She smiles and hugs me out of nowhere. “Thank you!”
“Now wait a minute. I don’t know if Ictha will let you. It’s her ship.” I take a step back and ruffle Mary’s hair before walking to Ictha. I could hear little giggling and the sound of hopping mixed with the crunching of leaves coming from behind me as I walk off.
Sofie jogs to me from the spot under a tree she was sitting. “Hey, Larra.” She smiles. “Are there any more boxes or did Ictha get them all?”
I look around a couple times, scanning the area. “Nope. Looks like they’re all in there.” I walk into the ship and to Ictha. “That girl is alone out here. You think she could join us? She said there’s plenty supplies.”
Ictha stands there for a moment, thinking about my question. She sighs. “Yeah, sure.” She turns around and gazes over the controls for the ship.
I turn around to Sofie. “Could you go get that girl? Her name is Mary.” Sofie nods and runs off, soon bringing back the girl. “Here she is!”
Mary has another box to bring, carefully setting it down under the controls counter with the other boxes. She stands up and bumps her head. “Ow!” She rubs it with one hand, clenching the other into a fist.
“You okay?” I ask as everyone looks over to her.
“Yeah, I’m okay. That just hurt a bit…” Mary walks over to Ictha and tugs on her sleeve.
Ictha breaks out of her previous trance over the controls and turns her head. “Yes? What do you need?”
“Are there any seats here? I didn’t see any while repairing the spaceship.”
“Yeah.” Ictha walks to a wall, it looking relatively empty, and pulls a handle. It turns into a chair with cushions and all. “These are connected to the wall so be careful when you sit.”
“Thank you.” Mary sits down and dangles her feet off the edge.
I lean my head towards Sofie, looking at Ictha and Mary. “I feel like she likes everyone but me.” I glance at Sofie after saying that.
“She likes you too. There’re just some people she’s more… fond with.” She smiles slightly, admiring Ictha.
I walk over to Ictha (most would call it a march) and put my hand on her shoulder. “So, are we leaving any time soon?”
“Be patient.” Ictha says, looking down at me as if in disgust. “I’m waiting for the ship to fill up.”
“What? First of all, don’t look at me like that. Second of all, how is it filling up? There’s no gas station or whatever it’d be.” I cross my arms and look at her smugly.
“It takes resources from wherever it’s at, at the molecular level.” She looks away, obviously rolling her eyes once I can’t see them. “And don’t give me attitude. I don’t care if we used to know each other. This isn’t the Larra I knew.”
I don’t budge physically, but it feels as if she just shot down all my walls emotionally. “I’m not the only one who changed. We all did.”
“Not me.” Says Sofie.
“I’m less quiet, as you can see, and you’re mean now.”
“That’s only me and you.” Ictha comments.
“Yeah…” Sofie whispers.
I sigh and turn around to walk out. “Just tell my when you’re fucking ready. I need a fucking break from you two.” I stomp out and sit in the grass under some tree.
I hear leaves crunching, then a quiet, “shh!” I look up to see Mary walking towards me.
“What’re you doing out here?” I pull my knees to my chest.
“I wanted to see if you were okay. You kinda got mad in there.” She gives up on being quiet and runs over to me.
“Well, I want to be alone.” I turn my head away.
When she stops next to me, she sits down. “Well, it’s not good to be alone.” She pauses for a moment. “If you need someone to talk to, I can be that someone.” I ignore her.
I hear more footsteps. Mary didn’t get up. Someone else must be here. I look over. “Oh.” It’s Sofie. She’s come to check on me too?
“I’m sorry Ictha is being so mean.” Sofie says.
“Whatever” I say.
“I talked to her. She didn’t really say anything though.”
“Why are you coming to me then?”
“I thought you might wanna know about it.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Oh, she did say, though, that we will be leaving soon. You should get ready if you need anything.”
“What would I do? Take a sample of earth as some type of souvenir?” Idiot. There’s nothing for me to do.
“Yes.” That wasn’t Sofie. It wasn’t Mary either.
“When did you get here?! Don’t mind that—I obviously want to be alone! Why do you all keep bothering me?!”
“Take some dirt or something. It can be a souvenir; maybe help you cope.”
“Cope? Cope with what?”
“Insanity. I changed. As well did my sanity.”
“You’re so weird.” I shake my head.
Sofie steals back my focus. “It’s getting dark. Please just come back inside.”
I push her face away. “I like the dark.”
She stands up, waiting a few seconds before walking back to the ship. Mary follows.
“What are you still doing here?” I ask bluntly.
“It’s too cold. And it’s getting dark. It’s only going to get colder.” Ictha turns. “Just…” She sighs. “Come back in or whatever.” She walks away, slowly disappearing into the dark. I didn’t even realize how quickly the sky turned until she walked away.
About ten minutes later, I get woken up by Mary, her eyes looking directly into my soul. Out of pure fear, I shove her off of me. “What the fuck?!” I take a deep breath. “You scared the shit outta me…”
“Oh… sorry.” She stands, offering a hand. “We’re leaving. Have a nice nap?”
“Kinda.” I take her hand, ending up too heavy to be pulled, and I accidentally pull her down with me. “AGH!”
“Sorry!” I feel her hand moving my hair out of my face. “Are you okay? I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
“I just hit my head.” I feel a bruise on the back of my head. After feeling around where the bruise is, I drop my head, sighing. “Why are you still on me…?”
“What?” There must be something wrong with Mary, considering how she doesn’t realize that sitting on me is weird. “Oh.” Finally, she climbs off me.
I swing myself up and to my feet. “It’s time?”
“Yeah.”
“C’mon” I leave Mary behind, slugging towards the spaceship. I can hear her footsteps catching up to me. All of a sudden, something grazes my hand. My fingers… My walking loses its rhythm as I feel her fingers intertwine with mine. This was new. My chest feels weird. As if it was floating… but also weighted down. Like I said, weird. I should just leave it. I don’t wanna make her feel awkward. I turn my head to look at her face. Nope. I can’t. She’s smiling, ear to ear, obviously enjoying herself. She looks so fucking cute. No- wait. What am I thinking? Never mind.
Once at the door, I pull Mary inside, never separating our hands.
Ictha’s eyes immediately avert to our holding-hands, and she squints, clearly judging. I roll my eyes and walk to my sister.
“Larra! Thanks for…” She looks down, eyes only, at my hand then back to my face. “…for getting over that mood!” Mood swings much. Sofie. Not me.
“Hey!” I hear Mary yell; her hand being ripped away from mine.
I turn, just to see a very angry Ictha. “Why did you do that?” I demand.
“Don’t get attached to new people. Trust me.” She looks back down to Mary. “You too.” She moves Mary behind herself, creating a wall between.
“I can do what I want.”
“Not if she dies. You can’t miraculously bring her back to life. Expect to die out there. Or leave.”
“I thought you told me that we wouldn’t die.”
“I was saying you wouldn’t die from my flying skills.” She leans down, hands on her hips, smirking. “I never said anything about man eating monsters who can AND WILL eat you alive. They’ll start by plucking off your fingers…” As she continues, I can see Mary horrified behind her.
I slap Ictha. “Shut up! You’re scaring her. If you care for her so much, why are you scaring her? I don’t care if you weren’t trying to, so don’t even try to use that excuse.” I look back to Mary who’s relaxed slightly. “And she’s the one who grabbed my hand. I didn’t do anything.”
“You let her.” Ictha straightens. “It still counts.”
Mary runs in between us. “Please just stop! I grabbed Larra’s hand. It was my fault.”
Ictha gives up, sighing and averting her eyes to the wall.
“Can we all just stop fighting for once and leave?” Sofie chimes in.
Ictha closes the door and starts up the engine. Or so it seems. “Sit.” Despite not wanting to do as she says, I comply, knowing it’s for my own good. The entire aircraft starts levitating. I can’t see out of the window, but I can feel it tipping from left to right. It also has the feeling of an elevator.
“This is scary…” Mary says, grabbing my hand again. Luckily, Ictha isn’t looking. I move my hand to the palm up position so she can hold my hand better.
“You can close your eyes.” With my free hand, I pull her closer to me. “I’ll hold your hand as long as Ictha doesn’t do anything about it this time.” I say, eyeing Ictha.
“Okay…” She shuts her eyes tight, squeezing my hand. I start to feel very light. We must’ve left the atmosphere.
“It might feel weird right now. Gimmie a sec.” I watch her flip a switch. “Gravity is back on. Soon it might seem like you’re about to pass out. Just stay where you are.” She was right. Not much later, I start to feel lightheaded. Different than no gravity. My vision starts to dissipate into darkness. The next thing I know, I can see again. Nothing really changed.
“What just happened?” I ask.
“You went through a wormhole. Well, all of us did.” Ictha looks back towards Mary. “Since you two are so in love… tell her she’s good to open her eyes.”
“You can do it too.”
“Oh, so now you want me to?”
I scoff, turning to Mary. “Hey, it’s over. You can open your eyes now.” She opens her eyes slowly, releasing a stressed breath when she realizes everything is fine.
“Is it over?” Mary asks.
“Yeah.” I turn to Ictha. When are we gonna get to a different planet?”
“We should be just here.” Ictha points out the window. “The wormhole takes us straight to a planet.”
Sofie looks at Ictha incredulously. “Can’t you go to a different universe without leaving a planet?”
“Don’t question me. I guarantee I know more than you about this.” Ictha says.
“Don’t talk to my sister like that.” I interfere.
“Shut up. I really don’t care.” Ictha says.
Ictha refocuses on the planet that’s pulling us in. I watch her press some buttons. Soon enough, we land a forest. I know it’s a hideout place, but there’s animals, people hunt, and kids play there. It’s weird though. It looks like the wood is made of stone and the leaves are made of leather. It doesn’t seem like there even is grass.
“We’re here. Everyone get up.”
“But why? We just sat down!” Sofie protests.
“Because if we don’t, we don’t get food. If we don’t get food, we starve. You wanna know what happens when we starve? We die. Now get up.” Ictha turns off the controls and walks to the door.
“What happens when we don’t find what we need?” I ask, standing up.
“Then we try again. Different planet. We will find something eventually.”
“Fine.” I raise my hand that isn’t basically attached to Mary and hold up two fingers. “I believe you.” I roll my eyes.
“Don’t mock me.” Ictha opens the door, and it suddenly becomes cold.
“Woah- what the?” I look out the door. “Its not as cold as Canada, but I was honestly expecting it to be warm based on what this place looks like.”
Sofie walks up to Ictha. “So, when are we going?”
“We can go now.” Ictha looks at me. “You’re staying here to watch the ship. Me and Sofie will search, okay?”
“Fine.”
The two girls walk out. While Sofie decides to be nice enough to wave to me, Ictha just stomps out like she hates everything. I close the door and go to sit back down with Mary.
“You good?” I ask. Mary looks scared still.
“Mhm. This is just different. Scary.” She stands. “Can I sit with you?”
“But you just were.” I raise a brow.
She sighs nervously. “Um… never mind!” She runs to the other side of the spaceship and sits under the desk-counter thing.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing! I just wanna sit here! I like the floor…”
“Bullshit.” I stand up and walk to her. Once I get there, I crouch to her level. “What’s wrong?” No answer. “Fine. Don’t answer. But I’m sitting here.” I sit next to her with my back against the support walls that hold up the counter. “If and when you wanna talk, I’ll be here. I’m gonna take a nap, so wake me up if you need anything.”
“Mhm.” Mary just sits there, staring at the floor, while I doze off.
Only like, three minutes later, I wake up to Mary sitting infront of me, staring into my eyes. “Hello…? You could’ve woken me up.”
“I didn’t want to. You’re tired.” She was right. I yawn, rolling my eyes.
“I’m fine. Now what do you need?”
“…” She does a great job staying quiet. Not like she’s supposed to. Next thing I know, she’s inching herself towards me.
“Y’know you can just tell me what’s wrong.” I sigh. She positions herself so that her back is facing me. I’m honestly just curious at this point. She leans back, laying on me in-between my legs. Because, yes, I sit wide legged. I feel like I can’t breathe. She isn’t even that heavy. That weird feeling is back. The mix of being very light and very heavy. Mary looks up at me, smiling wide. “Is this what you wanted earlier? You could’ve just asked me.” Just let her be weird. She must’ve not been around people in so long.
“I know… I didn’t wanna.”
“You’re so weird.”
“So are you!” She crosses her arms.
I put my arms around her. “Now I wanna stay here.”
“Me too.”
Both of us are weird.
NOTES:
I might have issues with hair. I have designs of the characters, I just obv can’t show them. Ictha has shoulder length hair and straight bangs. Sofie has just longer than shoulder length hair. They are the main ship (not in this chap tho). Larra has/had half shaved hair for a while. Mary has it cut super super short in the back. They are obv shipped. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MEEEEE
[OUT IF AO3] please dont ship Mary x Larra. It is not cannon anymore and the ages are too separated now for minors to be together.