A S T R A

I dug my feet in the sand, fighting against the hands on my body.

"Please, just let me check she's alright!" There were two Rays on each side of me, they'd used their superspeed to catch me off guard but getting me into the ship was going to be a whole different battle.

"I thought the moon was subdued?" One of them growled, trying to yank me up as I was now using the sink like a rock tactic and had made my body so heavy that they had no choice but to carry me. Or try to. "Why is it fighting?"

They both huffed and dropped me, letting me sink to the floor. I thought for a second they were going to let me go when one of them grabbed the braids at the back of my hair and yanked it hard. I squealed grabbing its hands when it pulled my head back to lock eyes with its black pools of complete emptiness.

"We have instruction to get you to earth," It tilted its head, "The sun mentioned nothing about leaving the members of this planet alive."

I blinked, a sick feeling rising up my throat. "What?"

"We will return to the Sun and inform them of your disobedience, they will send a response that your companions will not be able to handle," It tilted its head, "Everyone and every being that is alive on this planet will die. Will all this be worth it then?"

I felt my resolve break, I wanted to check on Sol-needed to know if she was alive or not, but I would be checking on a corpse if I let them do that. My bottom lip trembled as I searched for a response, "I was promised her save travel out of this galaxy, I was told-

The other one spoke, "That deal expired when you killed the Rays that offered it. This is the new deal, get on the ship, stay on Mars. It's simple, choose one."

My legs found their strength to pull me back upright, they moved to touch me, but I raised up my hand, "I will manage getting on just fine," I assured them, as I took in the structure before me. I'd never seen such- understandably so. It was painfully golden and difficult to stare at for long periods of time especially in direct sunlight.

Every edge of its design was sharp, the points looking almost weapon like with how thin they were. I didn't have to get in it to know it was fast, probably the speed of light considering the arrogance of the Sun. It was plainly decorated on the inside, quite a letdown compared to its exterior if you asked me. I took the first seat in front of me, the one facing the door that had a long window that was the only piece of light coming into the ship as the door closed. Until one of the Rays went to the other wall and pressed their palm on it, lighting up the ship as the neon white lights ran in lines all over the wall of the ship, bending into patterns that formed a large sun in the centre of it. When the Ray dragged its hand down, a door I hadn't seen before slid open, revealing one other Ray that I assumed was driving the ship.

They were all identical, nothing to point them out from one another besides their skin that darkened with age. I felt for them in that sense, I'd never met another moon but now that I had I knew I was created specifically for earth and the moons that lined the other planets were different even in name.

I eyed the Ray that had come to sit next to me, even when meant to be relaxed it was ridged with its boney pointed shoulders and hollowed face. "I apologize for the force we used, in actuality we would have never hurt the organics of this planet even the outer-galaxy alien you brought here, that would put us in trouble with her Sun," It admitted quietly.

The revelation had my body relaxing but there was no need for a reply considering they had already won. The other Ray had finished whispering in the driver's ear and came to sit at the far end of the ship and as soon as it was seated the aircraft began to lift of the ground. It ascended slowly and I took in my last breath as a free creation before the ship began to tilt back.

Then it tilted forward, then it tilted back again, then it tilted forward.

A loud sound began to ring from the captain's corner and the Ray yelled something in another language, before hissing and letting go of the controls. It was no longer in control of the ship. I curled my fingers at the bottom of the seat to gain balance as we continued to sway for a moment before we stopped. I felt the Ray beside me shoot a glance at me accusingly as if my powers had any reign over whatever was keeping this ship running.

And I didn't.

It was Tempest.

Or at least I thought it was her, I could see her from the window on the door, dangling with a ring on sand on her waist but she didn't look scared. Instead, she looked like she'd been trying to catch my attention for a long time and once she had she gave me a cheeky wave before pointing at the door and mouthing something.

Open it.

I was on my feet and the Rays jumped into action, the other one moving across the room in the blink of an eye o restrain me as I tried to get to the door. They were fast and they had the numbers over me, that I would admit. But unfortunately for them we'd discovered something outside that they'd clearly not accepted, who was stronger.

Even with both on my back I pushed through, barely making it as my body strained against their weight. One tried with my hair again whilst the other tried wrapping their limbs against my legs to slow them down but it didn't stop me from making it there. Like I'd seen previously I made a wild guess and reached for the space beside where I'd seen the door open and pushed against the Ray's to lay my palm against it.

And the door was open.

The ring around Tempest's waist disappeared and she fell into the mouth of the ship, diving for one of my attackers and tackling him to the other side of the ship. The cracks on his skin went dark and Tempest didn't waste time in jumping into eh controls room where I soon heard a struggle against the driver.

The Ray on my back tried to get me too my knees and I lost balance for a second, the wind from the outside attacking my face as I struggled against him. I'd lost my footing enough to nearly fall out completely, my head popped out long enough for me to lock eyes with the fastly approaching green alien on a wave of sand before I was dragged back into the ship.

I fell back on the Ray, and we struggled on the floor with it beneath me until sand began to pour into the ship. The hold the Ray had on me released and I looked to see it being restrained by ropes of sand that dragged it out of the ship. I breathed heavily as I stared at the ball of sand that parted to reveal Sol who ran to me as soon as both her feet were in the ship.

One second, she was Infront of me and the next she was being tackled into the wall of the ship, by the Ray I'd thought was dead, I was focused however on the syringe it had in its hand. It was no longer surprised and was using its speed as an advantage to dodge Sol's attacks. When it swung for her midsection, I stepped in, blocking the blow with my hand.

Sol's eyes dropped to my hand, widening as the area from my fingertips to my elbow turned to stone to absorb the force of the hit whilst protecting myself. Her lips parted, "What the-

The Ray had also been caught off guard by me stepping in, giving Sol enough time to grab it and with her bare hands throw it out of the ship. The door of the driver's area had been opening and closing during the last Ray's fight with Tempest but it opened once more just as the Ray fell through it, landing on the other side of the ship. Before it could recover from the fall an arrow cut through the air, burying itself in the middle of the Rays forehead.

The Rays dark eyes slowly panned to me before they widened and I flinched as it burst into bright light, leaving no evidence it'd been there to start. "Fuck that was hard," Tempest whistled, sliding to the floor as she began to pant.

I looked at Sol who was already looking at me, her eyes happy. "I told you we would get out of here," She reminded me, grinning. I lifted my hands to her lips, gently pressing my thumb against her fangs.

"These are new?" I commented, deciding not to speak on the fact that she'd almost grown four inches since the last time I'd seen her. Her upper right hand reached up to wrap around my wrist, her fingers curling into the snapped handcuff on my wrist before pulling it off as if it were a simple bracelet.

Then her eyes went droopy, I lunged to catch her as she stumbled into me, struggling to keep herself upright. "Are you hurt?" I asked as she pulled away from me trying to stable her swaying body. My eyes ran over her form before zeroing in on the syringe in her waist. "Oh my-

Her eyes dropped to what I was looking at before frowning and pulling the weapon out of her body. "Oh that's why I feel so," I caught her again as she fell into me. "Don't worry," She assured me her words slurring. "I'm very good with poisons." Contrary to her words her body went limp in my arms as soon as she finished her sentence and I sunk to the ground with her in my arms. I reached to grab the discarded injection, lifting it to the light to examine the white liquid that was still dripping out of it.

It was empty, whatever its contents were, were now coursing through Sol's body.

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