[b][i][u]Retrospect[/u][/i][/b] The man looked out into the blackness of space as he quietly pondered his thoughts. His memories. All in the quiet air of the empty room. He thought back to that day. That last, and final day that he had ever really lived. ---------------------------------- "You know," the girl said, smiling as she looked up at the afternoon sky, "I've been thinking about... you know... everything. Everything that we've been through. And I just-" "Stop," the boy said, nineteen, about the same age as her, "I already know what you're going to say. You don't have to be ashamed of [i]anything[/i]. Okay?" She turned her head toward him, her green-blue eyes almost... what was it? Dreamlike? He couldn't remember. She let out a sigh of relief, and rested her head on his shoulder. They looked off of the high cliff, looking at the expansive grasslands and their bright colors. An amalgam of bizarre and bright colors that made it gleam with vibrancy and light. Orange, red, purple. Anything that would be considered foreign to that of Earth. "It's funny. I always thought that none of this was going to be possible. Yet, here we are. I almost can't-" she paused, hearing a strange sound as a shadow began to fill the valley. A massive starship, foreign looking in his memory as he could not exactly remember it's appearance, emerged from the sky. "What the -blam!- is that?" she said, fear in her voice. "I don't know. We need to get back as soon as-" he was cut off be the emergence of dozens of smaller ships, varying in size. They fired upon the city they had had their backs to before, leaving it burning and in ruins as time would progress. The two looked at each other in silence, equal fear in their eyes, as they tried to figure out what they were to do. That would be decided for them, however, as an explosion rang out and knocked the two off of their feet. It was a mix of ringing and disorder then, as something landed on the ground near them. The sound of an engine dying down could be heard as the smoke suffocated him, and strange, almost metallic creatures would be seen exiting the strange craft. He was now being... lifted by them. Just then he heard a scream. "Help! Please! Help me!" the girl said, kicking and screaming, with her hair in a tangled mess. "Let go of me!" The beings grabbed her and pulled her into the ship, and the boy screamed after her. Another one approached him, the memory of his metallic face seemingly faded from memory. It merely now seemed like a practically demonic blob. "What should we do with him sir?" one of them said, a raspy metallic voice coming from where his mouth might have been. "Take him," the one in front of him responded, his voice much deeper. "He seems to have some sort of... usefulness. The queen wants him alive." And that was the last thing he remembered. ----------------------------------- "Sir? Sir!" someone beside him said, jerking the General away from his thoughts. "Yes?" he replied, "What is it?" "Sir. We just had a ship without a scheduled flight depart from Hanger 14. Seventeen total casualties." "Drake." the General said, his face boiling with anger. "Follow him. I don't care if he has to die because of this, just find him. NOW!" "Yes sir." the low-ranking officer said meekly, as the General stormed out of the room. ------------------------------- He arrived a few minutes later in the central containment room, where the assassin that had taken the name "Caroline" was being held on a giant metal contraption. It was complicated, and there wouldn't really be enough time to quite describe it in its entirety. "What the -blam!- do you want?" she said, fury in her eyes as she spat at the ground. The General smiled. "I've come to tell you that your little boyfriend isn't coming for you, Caroline. Drake just left in one of our ships a few moments ago." Her face went slack. "You're lying." "I'm afraid I'm not, my dear." he said, slowly walking around the control room and making expressions/gestures so that she could clearly see his intent. "Of all the things I have lied to you about, this is not one of them. I'm sorry that things weren't different. Well who am I kidding? I'm not sorry. Drake is merely another bandit scumbag living like parasites on our planets and taking them as their own." She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell at him and say that all of this was complete bullshit. But she couldn't. She could only find the urge to cry. And then suddenly things began to change. There was a sound, maybe some sort of explosion, and the entire ship went into lockdown. Something was wrong. [i]Listen closely, [/i]a familiar female voice, possibly hers, said in her mind, [i]You're going to get out of her. When the machine deactivates, run. Run as fast as you can. Don't bother with anything else. Just run. A ship will be waiting in Hanger 12.[/i] She didn't know what this voice was, or what it wanted, but it was her best shot. The machine disengaged, and the path out of there was open. All she had to do was run. -------------------------------------- [url=http://example.com]Dojo Woods, Sometime Later[/url] A Frontier ship flew through the sky, operable yet damaged. It made quite a spectacular landing as it crashed into the trees, and eventually settled. A lone pilot emerged from the wreckage, not as hurt as last time, and started to shout. "-blam!-!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, sadness and anger overtaking her. She repeated the phrase, and soon collapsed at the base of a nearby tree. The only thing she had the energy to do was to merely sob. Not once had anyone had been truly kind to her... except for whatever that strange voice was, and it didn't seem they would show up anytime soon. [spoiler]Open to everyone. Comment in how you feel is appropriate[/spoiler]