I have no room for complications. Specially traitorous asshole complications.

The doctor coughs gently at her desk. Finally realizing he is staring at me, he shakes off the whirlwind of emotions and squares his shoulders. Assuming a blank expression, he walks purposely towards me.

"Well, knowing you, I don't see the need for any preamble. I will place my hands on either side of your head, on your temples, then I will touch my forehead to yours. It will be... Um, what's the word?"

"Peculiar, perplexing, weird, disorienting?" The doctor speaks from her chair—obvious disgust in her voice. Whatever was about to happen. She wasn't a fan.

"What's her problem? Jealous girlfriend?" I raised a teasing eyebrow at him. He has to hide a smirk, ducking his head.

"Hardly Zea. She just hates anything she doesn't understand."

"Hey, none of my business. It looks like it's your problem." I can't hide my smug smile.

I am just screwing with him, but it lightens the awkward tension that had remained after his weird stare.

"Ugghh. Seriously. It's rude to communicate telepathically in front of those who can't. You do know that, right?"

I roll my eyes. She is jealous. What is wrong with females. Now, if she is jealous because she wants to speak telepathically too, that I can sympathize with. Jealous over Ufrik is silly because she can have him.

Granted, in hindsight, we are just silently staring at each other almost nose to nose, smirking and snickering.

I can see how that would be misinterpreted. It almost makes me burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. Instead, I just give Ufrik a knowing look and decide to get things moving.

"Ready."

"Right."

He places his hands on my head, and with one last intense look into my eyes, he brings his forehead to mine.

What happens, I can't explain. The best way to describe it is that I enter Ufrik's mind. Not just a connection, I am not just aware of his presence or thoughts. I feel his emotions, see his memories and relive moments of his life with him.

The Doctor had been right. This is perplexing, to say the least.

In turn, I feel Ufrik inside my mind too. Not sure how else to describe it. If you could be mind raped, this is how you would do it.

Ufrik seems to have some control, but he is struggling. I feel his emotions, so I know his current frustration level is high.

"Zea. Relax. Please. And stop sifting through my mind. I will focus on the memories you need to see. Shit woman! You are a lot stronger than I expected. I should have known. I need you to give me control here."

Easier said than done. It goes against every fibre of my being. Never give up control over to anyone. It is a code I have.

Nevertheless, he said this was the easiest way to explain. What is the worst that can happen? Will he see my deepest darkest fear? Been there, done that. Fuck it.

"I will try."

I focus on relaxing, letting Ufrik come into my mind. I stop probing him, and in turn, he can bring me the memories I need to see.

Like a living movie, my mind lights up with a million images. At first, it makes no sense. All messy and erratic. Slowly they start to come together, merging and a movie, in fast forward by a few tics, started to play out before me.

Then it's like I am sucked into the moving images, and I find myself reliving Ufrik's experiences.

I stare at myself floating high in the air. The wind whips around me, my hair flailing wildly in every direction, my white skin glowing so brightly it hurts to look at me, and my eyes are liquid gold fire.

In all truth, I am extraordinarily magnificent. Beautiful and horrifying all at once.

I stand there gaping at myself until I finally see it—the melon-sized ball forming between my hands.

There is a slight glow of energy all around my figure high in the sky. Almost like I have my own little protective energy sphere. But where it is a soft halo of light, shimmering perfectly around me, the ball of energy between my palms is an angry mass of crackling and hissing fury. Ready to bring destruction and death to whoever it touches.

I look like a goddess, all white and glowing, about to exact her justice on the living below.

I almost look at pure and, dare I say, holy. Until you see the look on my face, it is twisted with a mixture of panic and rage. It looks wrong. It doesn't suit the rest of the person that is supposed to be me.

I suddenly remember I am reliving this moment through Ufrik's memory when his own emotions slam into me.

Or had it all been his emotions?

I am overwhelmed with concern for myself and what I am doing. I had just found myself... No, he had just found me. Ufrik was worried after two decades of looking for me. He was going to lose me.

Desperation like I have never felt before takes hold, and I reach out, no he reaches out, with all his mental strength trying to reach me.

"Zea! Stop! You're losing control. YOU NEED TO STOP!"

She, or me, cannot hear him. Or maybe she does. She turns to him at that moment. Concern touching her face for half a second.

She opens a connection to him, forming a mental link. The energy she is storing slams into him, dropping him to his knees.

He feels the energy she carries. It passes between them through the connection. Had he the power she did, he might have been able to help bear the load.

Maybe even help her collect more, but that is not the case. Instead, it feels like it is melting his insides. It burns and rips through his mind and body, making me fear this is the end.

If they stay connected, she is going to fry his brain in just minutes. With the connection open, he screams in his mind at her.

"Aaarrghhh. Toooo much Zzeaa! STOP! You're killing... Aaaaaaggh!"

The connection instantly breaks. It is a relief he needs. Wiping blood from his nose, he looks up just in time to see Zea throw the ball of energy at the computer-generated holograms.

Holy fucking stars. She just killed them all.

Panic blooms in his chest. He screams at her. Not caring who hears or not. But no one hears, not even her. Then the world explodes.

The next thing I know, I am waking up in my gel pad. Wrists still bound by the brutal cold steel. I feel my muscular arms pull hard on the chain.

Right, I am still in Ufrik's memory. This is challenging. I feel everything he does. See everything he does. Essentially I am him.

It is all so real, making it hard to remember this is just a memory.

The gel slowly liquefies around him. Dripping away to be sucked into a vacuum drain under his feet.

When his arms finally come free of the goo, he strains hard against the chains. All of a sudden, the steel bracelets on his wrists just let go. He falls forward, crashing to the floor on his knees, with the sudden freedom. Pain shoots through his joints on impact. He pays no heed.

Jumping up with more strength than I would have given him credit for, he moves fluidly into a sprint from his kneeling position.

As he runs around the tube holding the gel pads, he ignores the others, as they, too, fall free from their constraints. He jumps over the Dukri as she tumbles to the floor in front of him.

Just as he reaches my pad, an alarm sounds through the coliseum—a voice following it shortly after.

"Do not panic. Please go to your designated escape pods in an orderly fashion. This is not a drill. I repeat, do not panic. Go to your designated escape pods immediately."

That is not a good sign. Ufrik's adrenaline spikes through the roof as he considers the thought that we may die here if he doesn't hurry.

Coming to a stop in front of my prone naked body on the floor, he doesn't slow or stop to check for vitals. He scoops me up, throwing my dead weight over his right shoulder. My hands dangled down his backside as he sprints to the nearest exit.

I feel her or my hands smacking Ufrik's bare backside every time one of his bare feet hit the floor, as her arms swing with the rhythm of his run.

He comes to a door with a digital security lock on it. Pressing his hand to the lock pad, the computer scans his face and hand simultaneously. The door slides open silently.

Running into a private hanger, he doesn't even bother looking for clothes or check for other survivors.

He runs to an unmarked one-person fighter, throwing my unconscious body into the cargo hold behind the pilot's chair as he jumped in. He takes a moment to secure my body like luggage, taking the cargo straps and securing them over my legs and arms, as he positioned me into the fetal position while I lay on my left side, back to the pilot's chair.

A feeling of panic, concern and dread overwhelms him. He shakes it off quickly, forcing his gaze from my fragile state to focus on the task at hand.

Starting the tiny spacecraft, built for speed and death, he plugs in the coordinates he wants and takes the craft to the airlock.

After that, the memory speeds. What was probably hours, even with the warp, takes only a minute. Or maybe the memory just skipped a considerable uneventful timeframe?

Either way, Ufrik soon is docking the fighter in a large ship, a very high-tech cloaked ship, in a far of part of the galaxy. The ship's insignia was one I didn't recognize. Ufrik's mind called the ship The Matriarch.

The last thing I see through Ufrik's eyes is him placing my still naked, unconscious body onto the bed that I still reside in, in this med bay.

He stares at me for some time, and through his memory, I feel his soul aching with gut-wrenching concern and regret.

He admires my peacefulness in sleep. My face looking softer, more feminine. His hand absentmindedly strokes my newly bald head, fingers trailing down my cheek to touch my lips. He leans in close, whispering softly to me,

"You can't leave me, Zea. I just found you. Remember, I have your answers."

At the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, he quickly composes himself. He does not want anyone here seeing the truth. It would be dangerous. He had to keep up the image these people have of him for both of us.

I had just made out the doctor's voice, but the memory is already leaving me, Ufrik breaking the connection before I can see more or probe his mind for further details.

Something tells me I should have heard what she said—nothing I can do now.

I am confused. Why had he shown me that? To know he didn't trust people here? That there was more going on?

Because honestly, he could have just as easily told me everything I had just seen. Then I wouldn't have had to feel his emotions—especially the ones concerning me.

Yet maybe he needed me to know he cared for my well-being? His emotions had been raw, honest. There was no denying that.

I suppose that lent him some credibility. Nonetheless, that begged the question, one I didn't dare say aloud in front of the Doc, as my suspicion for her disliking our mind speech had changed.

"Why am I so important to you?"

Gold eyes locked with gold, he swallows a visible lump in his throat as his eyes roam every last inch of my face. As if he is committing every freckle, wrinkle and line to memory. Trying to hide a shaky breath, his eyes tell a story I am not willing to see, but I can not look away.

"That Zea is something I am dying to tell you. But not until we escape from here." A telltale twinkle creeps into his eyes. A sure sign that mischief and mayhem are sure to follow.

Uncertainty flips in my gut. For stars sake. Now what?

Forgetting that Ufrik seems to hear my every internal muttering, my eyes narrow when he barely swallows a laugh.

"Escape?" Why do I need to escape? And from where or who?

He has the nerve to wink.