Caught and Released

Home

A few days had passed, and the ship was ready to depart. Amarvus had spent the last two days packing, and the kids were trying to spend as much time with Daniel as they could. Soon enough, Daniel's last day on Satri arrived.

"Bye Daniel."

"We will miss you." The kids had him in a five minute long hug.

"I'll miss you guys too."

"Alright kids, let him go."

"Do not forget us, ok?" Oormilla sniffled.

"I couldn't if I tried." They gave him one last squeeze, then let him go. Punthia kneeled in front of him and gave him a short hug.

"You take care of yourself, now."

"I will." She ruffled his hair, "Goodbye, Daniel. You two have a safe trip."

"We will. I will be back in a few weeks. Take care." Amarvus hugged Punthia and the kids, "It is time to leave, Daniel."

"Goodbye, guys." Daniel was given one last hug, and they walked out the door. They were soon on the monorail, Daniel looking out the window at this world one last time. The ride seemed shorter than usual, and they were on the ship before Daniel knew what happened.

"Daniel, is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm really excited to get home. I guess I'm just going to miss this place."

"Ah, I understand." He gave Daniel a hug.

"Attention all crew, we will be departing within the next ten minutes. Please have everything put away and your patients are placed in a secure place. Thank you."

"Alright, time to get you settled." He picked Daniel up and placed him in bed. The take off was similar to the landing, a few minutes of turbulence before it smoothed out. Daniel was let out once they had left the atmosphere. "So, what would you like to do?"

"Can we go to the top?"

"Sure." They went to the top deck, countless stars past the clear dome keeping the air in. Amarvus sat in a chair and placed Daniel in his lap.

"Woah," They could also see Satri, the reds and teals dotting the planet in a beautiful display. Daniel let out a sigh, "I'm gonna miss this too."

"It is beautiful. Can you not see stars from your planet?"

"You can in some places, not so much where I'm from."

"Ah, well, we can come up here as many times as you like."

"Thank you," Daniel smiled and leaned against him, Amarvus starting to play with his hair. They stayed like that until Amarvus noticed how much time had passed.

"Come on, dear. Time to eat." They went back down to Daniel's room for lunch.

The next few weeks went by in a blur. They played games, stargazed, and generally tried to pass the time. One morning, Daniel was awoken by a hand gently shaking his shoulder. "Daniel, it is time to wake up. I would like to show you something." Daniel groaned but let himself be picked up.

"Where are we going?" Daniel was still half asleep as he was carried out into the hallway.

"You will see." Turns out, they were going up to the top deck. Amarvus put him on the ground.

"What's so important that you took me up here before breakfast?"

"Turn around," As soon as he saw what was behind him, Daniel let out a gasp.

Green and blue filled his vision. Earth. He was looking at Earth. Daniel stood there, speechless. He let out a noise between a laugh and a sob, staring at his home. He was almost home. He turned around to hug Amarvus, laughing. After a few moments, he finally began to notice other people around him, laughing and crying with joy at the sight of the planet. Amarvus turned him back around to look at Earth for a few more minutes, then took him back down for breakfast.

"Alright, big day," Amarvus pulled up a screen, "Daniel, do you think you could point out where you are from on a map? That would help us drop you in the right spot." He pulled up a map of Earth and handed it to Daniel.

"Kind of." Daniel zoomed in to the approximate area of where he lived. He showed Amarvus, who marked it with a black dot.

"Alright, I will send this out and we can drop you off after dinner."

"Wait, I'm not sure if people will react well to you guys. How can you get us back without someone seeing you?"

"We will go down in a smaller ship equipped with a cloaking device. No one will even know we were here."

"Ok, that's good." They kept talking for a bit before deciding to go back to the top deck for lunch. They spent the rest of the day up there, talking every once in a while, but mostly just enjoying the view. Soon enough, it was time for dinner.

"I can't believe I'm almost home."

"Me neither. Are you excited?"

"Very," The conversation was interrupted by the speaker.

"Attention crew, the landing craft will begin departing momentarily. Please be ready when your group is called. Thank you." Daniel finished dinner while Amarvus looked for something; the speaker calling something out every so often. He found it and went back to Daniel. He opened his hands, revealing the Daniel's trillus. "Here you go. Take good care of this, will you?"

"I get to keep this?"

"Of course, you do. You picked it out, after all."

"Thank you." The speaker interrupted the moment, calling out something that made Amarvus perk up.

"That is us! Are you ready, Daniel?"

"Yeah, let's do this." Amarvus picked Daniel up and with one last look at the room, they left.

They went down a few levels and through a few hallways. They came to a hallway with a few people in a line. Amarvus stepped in the line and set Daniel down. They made their way to the front of the line and were pointed to a door, which led to a room that looked like a smaller version of the monorail. Amarvus placed Daniel in a seat and buckled him in. "I have to fly us down. It should only take around twenty minutes. Do you need anything? I will not be able to come check on you until we land."

"I'll be fine. Thank you." Amarvus ruffled his hair.

"Alright. I will see you in a bit." He kissed him on the forehead and went further into the craft. Daniel felt them move, then a good bit of turbulence, nothing, more turbulence, then stillness. A door opened and Amarvus came through. "We have landed. How are you doing?" He asked as he unbuckled Daniel.

"Excited." Daniel hopped down from the seat and was led to the door on the opposite side of the craft Amarvus came from. It opened and Daniel was greeted to the sight of a forest. He stepped out onto the ground.

"There is a town not too far from here. You should make it there before sunset." Daniel turned back to face Amarvus.

"Thank you. For everything. You've helped me so much. I'm gonna miss you."

"Oh, I am going to miss you too, Daniel." He knelt down and Daniel gave him one last hug. He couldn't help the few tears that fell. The hug lasted for a long time, before Amarvus reluctantly broke it. He wiped the tears from Daniel's eyes and kissed him in his hair, "Now go on, I do not want you to be out after dark." Daniel sniffled, gave him one more quick hug, then started walking away.

"Goodbye, Amarvus."

"Goodbye, Daniel."

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After a few minutes of walking, Daniel stumbled upon a small town. He found a police station fairly quickly and walked up to the desk. "Hello. Um, is there a phone I could borrow?" The guy pointed to a wall lined with phones. "Thank you." He went over to the wall and picked one up. The first people he could think to call were his parents, and he started dialing. "Hey, Mom? Yeah, hi! I'm back."

A/N: Hello Again! Thank you guys so much for all the stars and views and comments! I never thought this thing would get to 1,000 views, but here we are. You guys are awesome! I have a good idea of what I want in the epilogue, but is there something you would like to see in particular? Let me know in the comments! Have a question? Leave a comment!