Staring down the barrel of Leo's gun, I stand perfectly still and don't even breathe.

"I knew you guys were avoiding me, but damn. Didn't know you'd straight up assassinate me," I dryly try to joke. The chuckle forcing its way out of my lungs sounding very static and fake.

Despite my imminent threat, and demise, I don't move.

I knew, down to my CORE, that he wouldn't hurt me.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? MOVE!! RUN!!! FIGHT!!!!!" The General absolutely howled at me through the screen. Ready to pop out and seemingly fight on my behalf if necessary.

But I stayed put.

He wouldn't.

He wouldn't.

He wou-

Leo pulls the trigger.

But the energy beam that shoots out glides over my shoulder at light speeds, barely grazing past my right ear, and hits the small box that had fallen on the floor.

"Melody! MOVE!!"

Dion comes bursting through the door next with an energy shield, reaching out an arm as he hurriedly spoke to me.

No thoughts in my head, I reach back out and grab his arm.

He pulls me tight into him as he slams his shield down in front of Leo as his gun finishes shooting at the box.

A second goes by as nothing happens, making me peek over Dion's biceps. But then all hell broke loose when the package explodes an oily black goo, with hot acidic properties that breaks out and suddenly begins to pour EVERYWHERE!

Dion's shield expands into a circular dome. A bubble, if you will, that's electrically charged and zaps back the oily monstrosity.

The black tendrils that expanded and separated from one another lashed out and attacked everything in its path.

It almost looks like....like....

"YOU SENT ME A PIECE OF THAT MONSTER!?" I yell at them.

"Not us. Someone pretending to BE us who wants to hurt you did." Leo swiftly answered, bringing his gun back close to him while switching some dials and reloading the chamber by pulling a giant mechanism below. "I'll explain later, but we need to take care of this NOW! Before the rest of it shows up."

I don't even know which part of his statement to focus on. Someone being out to get me, more people existing on this planet (which, duh. But still!!), the fact that the rest of the monster could show up......

But it was the I'll explain later that pissed me off the most.

"No, you won't..." I grumble under my breath as I hide my face from him.

BAM! BAM!! BAM!!! The tenticles incessantly attacked and tried to break through our shield to get to us.

"Wha-?" Leo looked back and asked through the chaos, but couldn't fully be allowed to focus on me.

SWISH! SLICK! BZZZZT!!! One tendril goes down as it tries to swipe an attack, but gets violently shocked instead.

"Leo! Now's your chance!!" Dion called from above.

Leo looks back, sees whatever opening it was Dion was indicating, and fires his gun again. Dion moves his shield briefly out of the way at the perfect time to give Leo a clear opening to take the shot.

A different, brighter, more white light jets out and seems to stun the creature....appendage....thing??

It spams at the direct hit and seemed to wither in pain. Breaking all appliances and furniture it came into contact with.

Once all its black tendrils seemed to go limp, and the ones that had been attacking but then fell on our shield; slid down the side and fell to the floor, Dion flips his shield around, shrinking it, and twirls it like a frisbee on his forearm.

The once giant shield that emanated an equally giant ass forcefield to protect us now shrunk down to the side of an armband that completely encases his forearm.

A panelled screen appears on the top and Dion swipes across it in a gesture that makes another forcefield-looking bubble pop out from it.

This bubble looked like the one the package came to me in. And it was currently spreading around and gulping up the limp remains of the black ink demon all around us.

Smaller bubbles would separate from the big one, to encase stray ink blobs scattered around various surfaces of my ship. But would float its contents back, and would reattach the stray wanderers, plus itself, back to their respective giant masses.

It was honestly fascinating to watch.

But then I get distracted by a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey," it was Leo trying to call my attention, "uh...sorry. But what was it you were trying to say back there?" He tried to ask.

My mood instantly soured.

I didn't want to ask questions I knew I wouldn't get answered.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." I quickly dismissed his inquiry with a bratty huff.

"But I-"

He gets interrupted by a completely engrossed-in-the-task-at-hand Dion, who walks between us while typing away at his armband.

"We have the tëlukq'tkûm fully stunned, contained, and subdued. We have about 15 earth minutes to send it back before the main mass starts looking for it."

As much as Leo's passiveness to tell me anything was annoying, Dion's current obliviousness was downright infuriating!!!

Keep it cool. Keep it cool. Keep it cool.

I desperately chanted to myself so I didn't blow a gasket.

Leo gives me one more concerned look before following Dion to what was left of my door as they disposed of the tiny section of body parts similar to the monster I'd faced.

Once they stepped out I was left to face the damage that was done to my ship.

It...was....bad.

My bed was completely broken in half. A ventilation shaft had been ripped entirely out of the ceiling. My metal walls had dents and holes in them as wires poked out, swung down, and sparked sporadically from all sorts of damage inflicted on them.

My small kitchen sink was fully dislodged from its mount on the wall, and I hear water trickling from my bathroom, indicating that there might be a broken pipe in there somewhere as well.

And my precious microwave was no longer with us, as what remained of its carcass laid obliterated on the floor before me.

I slowly look back to my cracked computer screen, which was now tilting to the side off-axis.

Everyone on the other end of the video feed stared at me with their mouths hung WIDE open.

"I-I can fix it!!" I desperately try to plea. More to convince myself than to them.

[BULL-FUCKING-SHIT MELISSANDRA!!]

[We can always crowdfund and fundraise for her again? Send the supplies up to her ourselves! We done it before-]

[^ Bloody how!? The government dropped her ass!! HOW DAFUQ ARE WE SUPPOSED TO HELP!!!]

[JOIN THE RALLY AT CONGRESS GOING ON RIGHT NOW!! We're protesting them banning Mel. Even if it happened for a few minutes, it still wasn't right and we plan to protest!!]

[^ I'm in if I'm allowed to set something on fire :3]

[Deal!!🫱🏽‍🫲🏽]

I quickly move my hand over to my sizzling and melting keyboard to subtly turn off the comments/live chat before I get blamed for inciting a national emergency. A sweetly fake smile plastered all over my face the entire time to maintain a facade of everything being just fine.

The looks I was given would be comical in any other scenario. Do bad it was given during this one.

Carol was the first to move.

"A-are you okay?" Were the first words out of her mouth. Concern etching her entire features.

A pause descends as I freeze momentarily from her actions. Almost not believing my ears for a moment.

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

At least someone cares......

"I'm f-fine," I try to reassure her, reaching up one of my hands to rub my other elbow. "Just a tad sore and-"

"You stupid little girl."

The words were said with such venom and malice that my eyes raced to find who said it.

The General looked at me with so much contempt and disgust I involuntarily took a step back. That level of disdain caught me off guard.

"Just look at the state of yourself! Look at your ship!? You're helpless right now, and you still have the audacity to pretend everything is fine!?" He seethes.

I couldn't understand the reason behind his vitriol.

Yes, one can argue his actions all stem from the need for my betterment, and to keep me safe and alive.

But he didn't need to be a dick about it!?

"That's not fair!" I fire back at him, taking him aback a little by my bold upfront confidence.

I take a grand step back and flamboyantly indicate to my surroundings.

"THIS!" I fling my arms out around to emphasize the chaos of my room, "Isn't my fault! NONE of it is!! I have only ever been a victim of my circumstances!!"

"There she goes again with her EXCUSES-" He begins to roll his eyes but I cut off his sentence.

"YOU ACT LIKE I'M THE CAUSE OF THE TSUNAMIS AND WHIRLPOOLS AND THE VERY RECENT ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON MY LIFE!?!?" I yell back.

The General visibly balks.

That seemed to shut the guy up, as he gulped and readjusted in his seat when realization finally hit.

"W-we have no proof that your presence on Titan isn't what's causing all this-" He desperately tries to pivot the topic and counter my point, but the General gets swiftly interrupted.

By Dion of all people.

"No it isn't." He quickly peaked his head into my room to disprove. "This shit hole has always been like this."

He pops back out next to Leo, who looks at him concerningly.

"I don't think you know what 'shit hole' means," Leo said next in a mildly worried tone.

"What? I heard a former US president address foreign less developed countries like that. Is it not a good thing, that means a country is smaller? I believe his name was Dump or something...."

I cringed and made a mental note to make sure to properly scream (lovingly) at Dion to delete any info he'd learned about foreign affairs from 'President Dump'.

But I turned my attention back to my screen.

Carol was frantically packing up her things in the background as the Doctor Lady and Math's Guy were locked in a heated debate about religion and the end time and how 'we shouldn't let personal fairytales get in the way of our work'.

The doctor lady was really chewing the glasses guy out.

I train my glare back on the General who was floundering with how south this meeting had gone.

He notices my attention was back on them, and he tries to intimidate me again.

"L-listen!" He attempts one more time to assert dominance in the conversation by raising his voice. "You CLEARLY need our help. And it's obvious you're running out of options. If you actually swallow that useless pride of yours and beg us for help like a good little girl, MAYBE we might reconsider cutting you off and banning you from coming back home-"

Leo was suddenly in front of me, reaching out to slap the mute button on the call.

"You? Shut up." He points and yells at the General. "You're a pathetic excuse for an authority figure, and I hope bad things happen to you. But I can't go into specifics 'cause your species has a nasty habit of launching nukes at anything perceived as a threat."

Dion comes in next to stand in front of me, and they both sort of form a barrier between me and the General.

"If you people are so quick and willing to abandon her at the first sight of trouble, we aren't." He, Dion, said.

A slight flinch from surprise jerks out of me when they both turn to face me at the same time.

"We'll be your new home." They say in unison.

My heart broke into a thousand pieces.

"I-i-if you'll have us," Dion then flushed, as he realized the impact of his words.

"If your old one won't have you back," Leo finished his own sentence differently than Dion, side-eyeing his now embarrassed partner with a cocky grin of his own.

He, Leo, then knelt down, and reached out a hand to me.

It was then I became aware that I'd fallen to my knees on the floor.

Probably at the confessions made by the two.

Despite my screen being mute and the General obviously blowing a gasket in silent film, I see through my peripheral vision Carol yell something at the room with a raised middle finger and she slams the door behind her as she exits.

"Do you want me to....turn this off?" Dion asked at the mess he saw unfolding as well.

All I could do was silently nod and he turned off my stream completely. Taking with it the video chat and live stream chat.

We were alone.

Leo was still on one knee in front of me, patiently waiting for me to take his hand.

The offer of a new life waiting for me. With promises of the unknown waiting ahead.

And then it hit me......the unknown.

FAR too much was still unknown.

I feel my stomach plunge down from under me. Sick unending nausea overcomes my throat and tongue, as the bitter memory of weeks of silence experienced just very recently came flooding back to mind.

They say they'll be here, they'll be my new home....but how recently did they also cut off all contact with me?

The risk of entrusting everything to them, only to have it swept out from under me...could I reasonably take it?

How were they any better than the people I currently fought with back home?

At least the General openly showed me his vitriol and hatred....these guys seemed to smile and laugh when they lie to me.

How is that any better? How could I turn a blind eye and trust people who can drop me on a dime, and I had no way of chasing after them? Since they could breathe underwater and I couldn't.

FAR too much was still left unknown.

And I could very well still end up abandoned and alone.

I take a deep breath and steel my gaze as I look back up at Leo.

"No." I simply say.

He freezes.

Absolute shock takes over his features as I stick out and angle my knee to get up by myself.

Leo also launches himself up onto his feet and tried to come towards me.

"M-Mel? What's going on-"

"D-don't touch me!!" I cut him off as I back away swiftly from his sudden advances.

Dion quickly turns around from my computer screen to look at our commotion. Confusion overrides all his features.

"Melody??" He simply says.

I feel my heart twist as if a knife got plunged in.

Melody....

They always seem to call me that without even knowing now, it seems.

"Don't call me that!!" I yell at him, still backing away.

I begin to gasp, as air was suddenly getting difficult to breathe.

My thoughts were going a mile a minute as I feel my sanity literally slip away from me, and I finally explode all my pent-up feelings for weeks in one go.

"You're all just lying to me, you don't mean ANY of this. You say these sweet things but you'll just disappear again-" I cut myself off at the delirium of my words and look up at them.

The hurt and shock etched on their faces was too much for me to bear.

I grabbed my head and screamed as I felt like I was legitimately going insane.

Nobody wanted me. Nobody cared. I can't go home and I can't stay here. I'll die sooner or later so I might as well-

Lies.

Lies!

LIES!!!

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE TO DIE!!" I yell in hysteria as I run for my door and throw myself into the black waters below.