Metroid: The Last Aurealian *REWRITE*

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

That night I lay sprawled on the couch, comfortably in a loose pajama shirt and flannel looking over the photos with Skye curled next to me on the floor, peering over my shoulder as I flitted through them. Each depicted my Aunt in various locations around Daiban City with the date it was taken on the back and a quick description from Anthony.

The lost Aurealian seemed comfortable in human form as though she were born in it, smiling for the camera and striking a pose without even meaning to, brown hair burning red in the sunlight, eyes red as a fireball, lithe and beautiful.                           

  She must have been amazing to hang around with, a bright star of optimism wherever she went and a wellspring of wisdom spanning half a millennium. The things she must've seen, the experiences she's had were beyond imagining, yet here I am in her shoes. An exiled Aurealian living human formed in the Federation's capital city.

"I wouldn't call you an exile." Skye said, examining a picture of Kara standing against a building in Center City holding a fresh-made pretzel, gazing humorously at the photographer through shaded sunglasses. 'Kara's first Diaban pretzel. Says she's never eaten anything so good in over two hundred years. Wait until we take her to Phendrana Creamery.' (Said creamery being the best ice cream parlor in the entire city, the second store only a ten-minute walk from Headquarters.)

"You weren't forced off your home planet by an old tradition with the penalty of death."                                                                                                     "Not by a tradition, by Mother Brain." I said. "I'll never go back to Zebes again, unlike her, there's nothing for me to return to." I sighed, suppressing the grief of the family I've lost.  Despite not being told, was easy to figure out. My colony was killed By Mother Brain and her army of Space Pirates, along with the last known Chozo colony during their invasion of Zebes, and somehow Silver Eye and I managed to escape, sole survivors hiding in the Brinstar Caves. I didn't need explanation; I knew what happened to my parents and I'm content living the rest of my life without knowing the details.

"At least she went before her entire family did, she never felt grief being the sole survivor of her kind." I held a photo of Kara on South Street, smiling before a snazzy array of inspiration restaurants and eclectic shops dressed in casual attire of jeans, open toed sandals, a red blouse with her hair in a ponytail. Three men and two women huddled together with her for a group photo, all smiles as the moonlight shimmered on their jovial faces. 'Night out with the guys. We finally got her to come!'

"She still must have felt alone, being the only one of her kind among a planet full of strangers." Skye noted, reading the Anthony's lettering. "I bet it took her a while to get comfortable around everyone, even with the Commander."

"Maybe not." I said, looking at a photo of her in front of the Titanosaur skeleton in the main lobby of the Natural Science Museum. A guide in one hand and a leather shoulder bag on her right. 'Who needs a tour guide when you've got an Aurealian who's seen it all?"

"Every photo I've seen I got the impression she was extremely outgoing and friendly. Some of them date back to when she first arrived on Daiban and she's just as bubbly in them as she is in later ones."

"She could be just posing for the camera." Skye said.

"I don't think so." I disagreed "It takes a tremendous effort to conceal your true emotions without looking cheesy. Her expressions are genuine, and remember, she spent centuries alone roving the universe before coming here, I'd be dying to make new friends after so long." I spotted smaller words beneath Anthony's bold lettering. It looked thin and stunted, made by a hand not used to writing. 'I'm not that old Anthony!"'