Elianna

I watch as everyone boards the emergency pod and fastens themselves into their seats, Luna and Arctus taking each other's hands and giving one another a look; that felt too intimate for me to be witnessing as we began to take off. I completely forgot Caia was next to me until I felt her hand on my shoulder.

"You good?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah, flying was never really my thing," I say, smiling back at her, before tightening my harness as I feel the pod begin its descent to Earth.

"I'm here if you need a hand to hold, or anything else you may need Eli." Kane says from my other side with a wink, in which I respond by merely rolling my eyes. You'd have thought after me rejecting him a thousand times before now he'd have taken the hint.

"Gross." I hear Caia say, and I try to stifle my laugh, though it is quickly muffled when the pod crashes through Earth's atmosphere and begins to rattle and shake uncontrollably.

"This doesn't feel right," one of the triplets say, Stella I think It was, but I can't be sure, I squeezed my eyes shut as soon as we broke through the atmosphere.

"It's totally normal, I promise. We're just coming into the atmosphere; it'll stop in a minute." Caia, the voice of reason, tries to calm Stella but as soon as the pod jolts violently, causing one of my harness straps to snap, and Mikael to fall from his seat I know that this isn't normal.

"Shit!" Kane shouts as his arm shoots out in front of me to stop me from the same fate as Mikael, who I can see now has blood trickling from a gash on his forehead. He quickly regains his position back in his seat, wrapping his hands in his harness in an attempt to keep him in place.

"I agree with Stella, this is definitely not normal," Mikael shouts over the uncontrollable rattling of the pod. I lean forward to try and glimpse out of one of the windows in order to try and see what was happening and that's when I see the smoke and the giant ball of flames coming from the back of the pod.

"We've lost the engine," I say, turning to Caia who shares my same expression, fear. I look across the pod and see Arctus has wrapped Luna up in his arms, preparing for the doom that awaits us on the ground.

"You'll be okay!" Kaleb says from the other side of Caia and she gives him a small smile, along with a nod.

"You shouldn't be here Kaleb," she says and he narrows his eyes.

"I know our Mother and Father will feel better knowing that you're not going through this alone," he says and she takes a deep breath.

"Looks like we're in for a rough landing," I hear Kane say as his arm tightens across my body, securing me in place. I give him my best grateful look before leaning my head back into my seat trying to mentally prepare myself for what is yet to come.

"It'll all be okay. I love you." Is the first and last thing I hear Arctus say to Luna before everything turns to black.

++++

Carson - EARTH

"Beer pong?" Jamie says and I narrow my eyes. 

"It's too early for beer pong," Tyler says and I laugh. 

"We're college students, it's literally never too early for beer," Jamie says as I lie back on my bed with my feet resting on the headboard as I throw a ping pong ball up in the air, catching it in my hand as it falls back down. The storm hasn't stopped all morning; the thunder rumbles across the sky, quickly followed by yet another flash of lightning and I look over to the open window.

"Shitty weather forever ruins my plans," Tyler grunts and I take a deep breath. If Tyler isn't moaning, he's sleeping.

"Anyone going to shut that?" I ask as Tyler and Jamie look at each other before shaking their heads in unison and I let out a scoff as I stand up and walk towards the window. "You're both lazy."

"Sorry Mom."

"Please don't ground us, we'll do better," Jamie says and we all laugh.

"I hate you both," I say and Jamie gasps.

"Told you we were adopted," he says and I smirk before tugging on the window as I hear a loud bang.

"What the hell was that?" I ask, peering through the window trying to find whatever it was that made the loud noise. The sky is almost black; clouds upon clouds blocking out any ray of sunlight.

"Probably the thunder," Jamie says and I glare at him. 

"That sounded nothing like the thunder dude," I say and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Maybe it's Aliens," he says and I furrow my brow as I launch my ping pong ball at his head. He lets out a groan and rubs his hand over his forehead.

"Or maybe it was a bomb," Tyler says and Jamie gasps. "Or maybe it was just your imagination, come on Carson, grab a beer from the fridge and lighten up."

"I'm gonna go have a look," I say and Jamie jumps up from the floor.

"You're insane, it's pouring down out there, knowing our luck with the weather you'll be struck down by lightning, or maybe another bomb," he says and I grab my jacket.

"I was joking when I said it was a bomb Jamie," Tyler says as I slip my shoes on, his eyes widening as I open the door.

"What an idiot," I hear him say before the dorm door closes, I run down the hall, heading to the stairs as a flash of lightning  fills the hallway with light. I bolt down the stairs as quickly as possible and push on the emergency exit door before running outside. The rain is quick to soak my clothes as I run across the open field, searching my surroundings for something that could have caused the bang.

"Hold up Carson," Jamie shouts from behind me, and I look over my shoulder to see he and Tyler running to catch up with me. A bolt of lightning shoots across the sky; and they both throw their hands over their heads as they crouch down towards the ground and I can't help but laugh at them both.

"How are you finding any of this funny? This storm is crazy Carson, you heard them say on the news we should avoid going outside," Jamie says, though I barely take in anything he says over the pounding of my heart as I continue to race across the waterlogged field.

The wind becomes so strong I can barely run against it. The rain batters down hard on my face and I have to wipe the rain from my eyes to see where I'm going. 

"Holy shit!" Tyler says and I pause on the spot for a brief moment when I notice the smoke coming from the woods.

"Come on!" I say, and Jamie looks at me like I'm insane. Who's to blame them, it's not exactly everyday activities to be running towards something that's not only made a loud bang, but is now giving off thick black smoke.

"It's probably because of the lightning or something," Jamie says, as I enter the woods.

"Or the bomb," he says under his breath and Tyler sighs as I let out a small laugh.

"Do you have to take everything I say so literally?" Tyler asks as he glares at Jamie. 

"He's like that typical blonde in the chick flicks, just a male version," I say and Tyler laughs as Jamie punches my arm causing me to let out a groan.

"We're just winding you up, dude," Tyler says when I hear a noise from the clearing ahead of us and I begin to run, trying to avoid fallen branches and muddy puddles as we go.

"Shit!" Tyler yells as Jamie bursts into laughter and I turn around to see Tyler face first in a muddy puddle and I can't help but laugh too. "It's not funny dude, these are new." The mud covers his face and he lifts himself up; wiping away the mud that covers his eyes.

"It's alright, the rain will wash that right off," I say and he rolls his eyes. "Come on, we're almost there."

****

"What the hell is that?" 

As I step into the clearing; my eyes widen as I take in my surroundings. Tall trees stand battered by the heavy rain that continues to fall, surrounded by a field of lavender. If it wasn't for the down pour or the thunder, or more importantly the big metal looking spaceship that had crashed through the trees, leaving a crater in the lavender it would have been beautiful. Thick, black smoke pours from the metal ship, making it almost impossible to make out any detail from this distance. I wanted to take a closer look but I was drawn back from my thoughts by my friends shouting over each other.

"Told you it was Alien's," Jamie says and I scoff. 

"Shut up Jamie!"

"Tell me that doesn't look like something from out of some Men In Black kinda shit," he says and I take a look around before spotting something not far from the wreckage and I slowly step towards it.

"Mother of god!"

"That's a fucking dead body!"

"What is it wearing?" I ask, taking a step towards it.

"Is that armour?"

"Yo, Carson, he has a cape too, maybe he's a superhero!" Jamie says and I just let out a breath as I shake my head at his stupidity. 

"Dude, don't fucking touch it," Tyler says and I narrow my eyes.

"I'm not gonna touch it, I'm just gonna make sure he's dead, and not just like overly drunk," I say and suddenly it vanishes, leaving nothing but a pile of ash.

"What the hell!"

"That's messed up, dude."

"Maybe it's a delayed reaction of being hit by lightning," Jamie says and I glare at him over my shoulder.

"You're seriously so fucking stupid, please, tell me how it is you got into college," I say and he just stares at me dumbfounded.

"There's seriously something weird about this," I say and Tyler squeezes his eyes shut as another bolt of lightning shoots across the sky, and I look up, the rain hammering down on my face, when suddenly I see something, or someone whip past and I quickly look to my right.

"Tell me you saw that," I say and they both look at me like I'm completely crazy.

"See what?" Tyler says and I walk in the direction that I see her.

"A girl; over there, she had blonde hair, how could you not have seen her?" I ask and he grabs ahold of my arm.

"Carson, I think we should head back," he says and I pull away.

"I know what I saw!" I say before running further into the forest, the rain refusing to ease up as I leave the others behind.