Butterflies of the Dark Star

38 (REVISED)

Nova waited inside reception when the doctors cleared out the patients by severity. Beside her, the holomap dimmed with the facilities of the space station, each one losing their light. Legs bouncing, she bit on her tongue and kept time. No one came to deliver news of Neo's well-being, and Ulin long disappeared to help with the shutdown — or impede them for their friend.

It changed nothing of her plans.

Nova snapped to her feet when Neo walked out of the bulkhead into the sterile parts of the medical tower, a hand on his side when he gave her a tired smile. Across stars. Across time and space. Nova swallowed despair and set it to the torch with hope in her heart to reach him, to hug him. "Are you feeling better?"

Neo smiled and tapped his chest. "Much better."

Maybe? Maybe. Nova squeezed but let him go when he winced.

"Sorry, still a bit sore," he admitted. "I'm glad you waited for me. Where are Ulin and Izerva?"

"I know you'd never let me live it down if I didn't wait," Nova teased, but it haunted her. "Ulin's running interference for me. Izerva got called by Admiral Mythrai to discuss options on how to handle the sudden wave of aggression spreading." Nova stopped when his brow twisted and he lowered his head. "Are you... blaming yourself?"

"No—Well, not exactly." Neo sucked in his lips and rubbed the top of his head. "I... I don't remember a lot of what happened in that attack. It's foggy. I know I used my anomaly suppressor, but I don't think it had any effect other than making things worse—so..." He dropped his hand to his injured side. "It just doesn't make sense to me. If it is the anomaly causing this, I feel like there would be substantial evidence to support that. As you've noticed, I haven't shown similar signs of aggression, and when Miss Zynaia checked in on me earlier, she showed no sign either. In conclusion—"

"The senior scientists and anyone close to the anomaly isn't showing the aggression," she finished, and he beamed. He's right, that confirms that one of the... creatures is involved in this. If I had to guess, it's the original creature — and the other one soon manifested, clashing with it. After one of the clashes, the original monster disappeared, or is it more to say that it's coming from inside? She brushed her thumb across her lips and tested the limits of the loop each time. "I'm going to head back to Thuni. I want you to stay here and rest up."

Neo lunged forward when she went to turn from him, but pain creased his brow. "Wait-Wait," he said in quick succession. "Think about this for a minute. You know they're shutting down the facility. You believe the core has something to do with this and anomalies are sort of my thing, my whole shtick." He pointed at himself with two fingers. "I can help. I'm fine."

"I don't want you to..." Nova faltered. Get hurt, over and over. Die, again and again where I can't do anything.

His brow furrowed with dismay. "I know you're mad at me for doing the exact thing you warned me about, but I have to make it up to you, somehow. I won't get in the way of whatever you need to do, but I need information to make sense of this."

Stars, I'm not angry at you, Neo... just this situation. Her words of assurance never left her throat when it rippled with a snarl through the monster looming over her shoulder. Heat washed between her ears, and she pushed her palms into them to stem the tide of rage. "Thuni went back for it. I was hoping it wouldn't take too long for me to catch up."

Neo narrowed his eyes. "You hoped, but you didn't think he would?"

"As I said earlier, you're the one who stopped me from chasing after him," Nova argued.

"I told you I don't remember that," he threw back. "All I do remember is... when we were on the western platform and then my mind went blank after." He opened his fist. "And then I woke up in eastern medbay."