U.S.S.A HellField

Chapter 10 Love lost

Alice held onto me for what felt like forever, I thought back to when we last ate together at home; the day before we left. The smell of our food reminded me of when things were normal when we could be together with nothing to keep us apart. I took off my right gauntlet and then held her hand in mine, If only I could figure out how to take the other gauntlet off, maybe in due time. As rough and calloused as her hands had become, they still looked and felt like hers, It was difficult to explain even to myself why. I noticed there was something different about her right hand...no, her arm. It was covered in more tattoos than her other, then I remembered, this was the one I held onto in a dire attempt to pull her out of that portal that had accidentally torn off. - "Alice...about your arm, how did It come back?"  She let go of my hands. Curious about what she was doing, I saw she was holding onto her right arm, she seemed self-conscious about It.- "When I got here my arm was missing from...well you know, then almost immediately, my arm grew back spontaneously. God, It feels like it's been a lifetime since then."  A lifetime for her but only a few days for me.

I brushed her long blond hair out of the way to get a better look at her face, which had darkened either due to her transformation or neglect.- "I think you could use a haircut, you're a bit shaggy, also some shampoo,"  I said not minding my words. Her face flushed red. The look and smell of her hair was something she was self-conscious about.- "What? Is my hair that bad? I haven't had the chance to bathe in almost a year."  She said flustered while holding several locks of her hair. -"Oh no,  it's not that bad, honestly."  I said not wanting to offend her. She let out a sigh of relief. -"It's alright, not like anyone would let me inside their home to let me bathe or anything."  She said sounding dejected. -"Hey, there's something I want to show you."  I gently took her hand and led her to another room. I opened the white wooden door, inside was what looked like a typical small bathroom, with a few odd amenities in the room. Alice's eyes beamed with wonder, it was a look I always cherished whenever I saw it.

"And one more thing."  I reached into one of my back pouches and pulled out a bar of soap wrapped in alien decorative paper. I undid the wrapping, revealing a shimmering blue soap bar with multi-colored specs. - "Is this for me? It's beautiful." She said, taking it in her hand. - "They didn't have any shampoo or body wash in bottles, so this was the best I could find."  She took it in her hand and sniffed it, the look on her face told me she liked how it smelled. The best I could describe it as was a mix of some unknown floral scent with a hint of citrus. - "I remember this smell, there's this blue flower that grows around here that smells just like this, that fruity scent reminds me of lemon. Thank you, Damien."  

As I turned to leave her alone to bathe, Alice nudged my shoulder. - "Um, would you care to join me?"  She said seductively, letting her robe fall to the floor.- "I...I can't, I'd end up breaking the tub and besides, I need to focus on something else. So I'll uh go..."   I closed the door. I heard a quiet Hmph come from the other side. I'm sorry Alice, but there are more important things at the moment. I put my helmet back on as I was waiting for Alice to finish. Ten minutes later, Alice was finished with her bath. She came out with nothing but a towel on her head, for the first time since seeing her again, I took notice of her new figure, her skin now had a warm, clean luster. As she removed the towel from her head, her hair had mostly returned to its original golden sheen while having been cut short, it was messier than normal but it suited her new look. - "Damien, your heart is beating very quickly is something wrong...oooh?"  Metis said now realizing what I was looking at. 

-"Hey, there's something I want to talk to you about."  Alice looked at me curiously. "It's about how we're going to get off this planet, that job I did made a lot of money but I'm not sure if it's enough to get us off-world. I hate to ask you this but considering your 'changes' you'd be able to help me with bounties, I'm still not 100 percent right now, so will you help me?"  She took a moment to think about it, Alice rarely decided on a whim. She was silent for a few moments then popped her head up. - "I'll do it, fighting alongside you was the most exhilarating thing I've ever done in my life, it was incredible. I never enjoyed violence at all but now I almost seem to crave it, does that make me a bad person?"  I wasn't sure what to say, I was so used to it at this point that I never took a moment to think about it. - "No, none of this was your fault, if it's anyone's it was mine. This urge for killing you have, I don't know exactly where it comes from, but it's something you have to learn to live with, for the time being, maybe I can find a way to cure you."  I put my hand through her dangling hair, she never had long hair since I'd known her. This was a welcomed change.