I COULDN'T SLEEP THAT NIGHT. I'd rolled this way and that, trying to get comfortable but nothing seemed to be working; the day's events had shaken me up pretty badly. Funnily enough, it confused me. Had I not been ecstatic to find Louis - to finally be able to be a part of something huge and exciting? Yes, I had been. Yet, there I was in bed, frightened after witnessing more of his people landing on our planet. Perhaps it was because I knew their intentions? The knowledge of them wanting to kill Louis was what had me on edge.

His people were supposed to be kind and selfless, or at least that's what Louis had told me. Part of me wondered why the Council were so evil. Not wanting to share information about other life forms out there? That seemed like complete rubbish. From what I'd heard, they were self-centred, snooty knobs who didn't want anything to change.

I sat up and dropped my head into my hands. I could feel the weariness within me, my body begging for sleep that I just couldn't provide. It was nights like this where I would often get up and have a cup of tea to help me nod off, but with Louis asleep downstairs, I didn't want to disturb him. After today, he probably needed more sleep than I did.

I couldn't imagine being the centre of attention in the way he was. Having your own people wanting to kill you? That had to be pretty daunting. A lot daunting, more like. To try and even think about how he was feeling wasn't possible. Was he more afraid than he was letting on? I sure as hell knew I'd be scared.

A noise sounded from downstairs. A loud thud. I peeled the duvet from my legs and wrapped my dressing gown around myself before I left my bedroom and descended down the stairs. There was a faint mumbling coming from the living room, as if a conversation were being held and I wondered if Louis was just talking to himself. Or ... had someone broken in? The thought made my blood run cold.

"Lou?" I asked quietly. If I had called him by his real name, and the intruder happened to be a Councillor, then he'd be in trouble. Precautions. 

No reply. 

I gulped as I carefully made my way down the stairs, reaching out to grab an umbrella sitting by the door, as if it could provide protection against an intruder. I tip-toed round the hall until I was standing in the doorway of the living room, my eyes scanning the area for any uninvited guests. But there were none.

The mumbling I'd heard was coming from the TV, an old black and white movie playing on the screen. Louis was on the couch, oblivious to the romance playing, hunched quietly over his hands. An odd sort of glow appeared to be emanating from his palms and I frowned. What was he doing? 

I crept closer and dropped the umbrella on the armchair beside me, glancing over Louis' shoulder to find that the glowing thing in his hand was probably one of the most beautiful things I'd seen. It was a small version of the solar system, spinning and glowing in his hand.

"It's beautiful," I said.

He jumped, the wondrous planet display disappearing from sight. He turned to look at me over his shoulder, his eyes wide.

"Flora!" he gasped. "You startled me."

"I startled you?" I laughed. "I thought people only said that in the movies."

"Only in the movies?" he questioned.

I just shook my head and said, "Never mind. What was that?" I nodded toward his hands. "The little galaxy thing?"

"Oh..." Louis said, smiling slowly. "C'mere."

He lifted a side of the blanket for me, and I slowly manoeuvred myself round to sit beside him on the couch. I thanked him and held the blanket closely around my shoulders. 

"So," I started, smiling at him, "are you going to show me what you were doing?"

He nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Look."

And I did, my eyes never leaving his hands as he pressed them together tightly. He sanded his palms together, a flickering blue light appearing between the cracks of his fingers. And then, he slowly parted them, revealing the little system that sat in the palm of his left hand. The planets shone and sparkled as they spun round, a smile of disbelief creeping onto my face.

"Wow," I muttered, reaching out to touch. Almost as if it were a hologram, my finger fell through the image. "That's amazing."

"It's not much," Louis said with a shrug. "At nights when I feel a little home-sick, I'll just conjure up an image of something that comforts me. Viewing the solar systems and galaxies around Junito just happens to be one of them."

"You can see different galaxies and such from Junito?" I asked.

"Yeah, we do have the ... how did you put it? 'Cool,' I think you said? Technology," he said, smiling at me. "I can see billions of planets over and several constellations away. It's rather beautiful."

"I believe you," I just said. "How are you able to do this, though?"

"Conjure this?" he questioned. I just nodded and he told me, "I may be stuck in a human body while I'm here, but I still posses my powers. Or, my 'cool' alien powers, as you'd probably say?"

I just laughed and nodded. "You're right, I probably would have said that. But you have powers?"

I could remember, back on that first night we had met, that I had wondered if he had any extra-terrestrial powers. I'd never really asked him properly about such things, and the fact that he was the one to bring it up made me happy. It meant he was beginning to trust me more each day.

"I do," he said. "And, I also have a few more things to tell you."

This piqued my interest. What else was there to know that I didn't already? I shuffled closer to him and waited for him to speak.

"Well, I have not been very honest with you, you see - I told you some things which were untrue."

What? I thought, frowning. "What kind of things?"

"Um ... well, for one; I am more than just a scientist."

I just looked at him and laughed. "That's not much of a lie. I'm more than just a worker in a shop, and you know that. I  knew you did more than just science stuff. Especially after you spoke of how your parents are pretty well known and your girlfriend is-"

"That's another thing I lied about. Klaru isn't actually what you would call a partner."

"So, what is she?" I asked, confused.

"She's more of a ... kind of an expectation. We're to be married, and have been since birth."

That was a surprise, hearing that something like an arranged marriage was still being held in modern times. Though, I wasn't so sure what modern times would apply to on Junito.

"So, she's your soon-to-be-wife?" I asked. "Again, that's not much of a lie."

Louis just shook his head and laughed. "I'm not being very helpful here. What I mean to say is that I'm very much like my parents - I'm important."

"And you're mature about it too," I added, smiling at him. My eyes fell on the solar system once again and I looked up at him and asked, "What other powers do you have? You can make little things like this but what else can you do?"

Louis opened his mouth, as if he were to say something more but soon shook his head. His palm closed and the solar system vanished. 

"I can completely camouflage with my surroundings, like the Starships can," he started. "Watch."

He wasn't lying - soon I was staring at what looked like my couch, when in fact it was him, disguised to look exactly like his surroundings.

"Wow," I said, "you're like a chameleon."

"A what?" he asked as he soon became visible once again.

"It's a creature that can change how it looks to blend in with its surroundings," I told him. "A lot like you can."

"Ah," Louis said. "Interesting. Do you want to know what else I can do?"

I nodded keenly, waiting for his next magic trick. Turns out, camouflage and creating illusions wasn't all he could do - reaching out to his true-self allowed him to return to what he really looked like; a sparkling, blue beacon. What fascinated me the most was his telekinesis, that he could move things with the power of his mind. It was intriguing watching him as he showed me all that he could do.

"If you had a power, what would it be?" Louis asked me unexpectedly. 

I just shrugged. "I'm not sure. I always like the idea of teleportation. That way I could jump from one place to the other and see everything there is to see."

Louis just watched me closely, his blue eyes fixed on my face. When I asked why he continued to look at me he just said, "It's interesting what humans long for. You're so passionate about seeing the world, aren't you?"

I just nodded pathetically. "I am. I'm practically reeking with desperation."

"Well, don't worry," he said, and with no warning, slung an arm over my shoulders, "you'll soon be seeing my world."

I just grinned like a mad-man. "I can't wait."

"I just hope that you are aware that things may be a little odd for you, much like how it was for me when I awoke here."

"I know," I told him. "I'm not stupid. Anyone going somewhere new will find it a little scary."

We spoke for another half hour, about Junito, Louis' powers and what I could expect when going to his home planet. Apparently the gravity on his planet was much different to on Earth, and when he explained the reason for his continuous falling when he first landed, it was because he wasn't so used to the limitations. On Junito, you could apparently leap and bound like a frog as opposed to walking normally. He told me it would take some getting used to. The air was not too different he promised, though transfer of DNA would be required when landing on his home planet.

"DNA transfer?" I asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means I'll have to inject you with the DNA of a Junite, so you can withstand our differences to begin with. As it slowly starts to wear off, you'll become used to our air."

"Ah."

Eventually we got round to paying attention to the movie on TV. It was near the end, and the all too cliché, long-awaited kiss happened between the two main roles. It got me wondering about Junites and their physical signs of affection. Did they kiss and hug like us? Make love and hold like us? Or were they more the type to voice their love through voice?

"Do you do that?" I asked, nodding toward the TV.

"Do what?" he asked. "Kiss?"

I looked toward him. "Yes. Is that something your people do on Junito?"

He just laughed. "Yeah. We're not too different when it comes to the affectionate things, Flora."

"Ah," I bit my lip as I asked, "Do you have séx in the same way?"

"Yes."

"Do you make babies the exact same way or does it involve some funky addition?"

He just looked at me and laughed. "We do it the same way. Which I presume is fertilisation of the female egg?"

I just nodded.

An silence fell between us. There were so many more things I wanted to ask. Most of which, I think we'd covered in the last few weeks and yet there was still so much more to learn and take-in. At least I could count on Loudrix for alien information that most likely wasn't false like half the crap on the internet. 

"How much do you miss home?" I asked.

When he glanced over at me, I could tell that the mention of home had stirred something within him. Sadness was in his eyes. "Very much. Though at the moment, knowing that the Council won't stop at anything until I'm dead does put me off returning so soon."

"I can't imagine why," I said. "Why are they so against your people finding out?"

He sighed deeply, almost as if he was unaware of the reason too. "I guess they dislike change. Many people do."

"I suppose, but is it any reason to kill someone? Especially if you're as important as you say you are? I mean, if you were royalty or some sort of politician, are they even able to kill you just like that? Not that I'm saying someone should be killed if they are a commoner, you know?"

He just looked at me. It was a knowing look, as if something I'd said had hit a nerve.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I wish I knew. After all, it would be considered treason if they killed a royal subject or someone of such importance."

"Yeah," I said, my eyes glued once again to the television screen. The credits were rolling, and my eyes were starting to sting. "Why were you not sleeping, by the way?"

"Hm?"

"When I came downstairs, you were awake." I looked at him. "Do you often do that?"

"I sometimes can't sleep well," he admitted, looking down at his feet. "Other times, I have horrid dreams."

"You suffer from nightmares?" I asked. He didn't strike me as the type to let nightmares effect him in such a way, nor did I expect him to openly admit it to me. "Do you want to talk about them?"

He just shook his head. "No. It's fine."

"Alright," I said. Then I slowly placed my hand over his and told him, "If you want to, I'm here to listen."

I made us some tea, hoping it would help the both of us with our temporary insomnia. Louis thanked me before taking the mug from me, sipping carefully at the piping hot liquid before flashing me a satisfied grin. 

Often when we sat just enjoying each others' company, I wondered what was going through his mind. Did he find it awkward? Amusing? Who knew, but I did know that I enjoyed it. I'd never really broadened my friendship group past three people, and I considered the alien as a friend. It was nice to have someone so determined like myself. Jason was, obviously, but Louis was different, quite literally. 

Then a thought crossed my mind. Louis had mentioned that killing a royal in Junito would be considered treason (which I'm pretty sure it was everywhere) and I wondered if he did in fact have royalty at home.

"Loudrix?" I asked.

"Mm?"

"Do you have a ruler? Like, a king or queen?"

My question seemed to have caught him off guard or he paused, cup half-way raised to his lips, his eyes facing forward on the screen. He cleared his throat and set the mug down on the table before he slowly looked over at me, an almost strained grin on his lips.

"We do. King and queen. Prince and soon-to-be princess of Junito," he told me.

"That's cool," I said, shimmying around to face him properly. "What are they like? Are they good rulers as opposed to selfish, stuck-up snobby ones?"

Louis just laughed, harder than I expected. "They are wonderful. The King is very into political things. The Queen ... more so into the science side of things. In fact, the Queen is the one who introduced her son to the scientific world. He likes that kind of stuff too."

His words seemed so familiar, almost like he'd said them before when he was telling me about life on Junito. I squinted at him, trying to think when I'd heard him say it before. I couldn't recall particular time, and I just squinted at him and cleared my throat. But his words did have a hidden meaning behind them and I, being the nosy girl I was, had to make sure that what I suspected was in fact true.

"What's the prince like?" I asked, still looking at him intently. 

He just returned the look, the same knowing one as before and said, "Why don't you tell me? Because after all, you are speaking with him right now."

Thank you for reading! x
Alien joke: What did the claustrophobic alien cry? "I need more space!"
Cazza