Needledrop

23

Tattoos

Wynnona

I smile warmly at her as she pulls me along, standing in front of me as the song changes. The chaotic beat slows to a softer one, couples all around us grabbing hold of one another to dance. More sway in my opinion but I'm crazy. She places my hand on her hip, taking the other in her hand as she places her hand on my shoulder. She steps closer to me, allowing me to lead her in our dance. I twirl her, bringing her back to press against me as I dip her in a fanciful fashion. I revel in the small giggles she lets out as well as the wide smile she gives me. The song ends but I don't want to let go of her.

The rest of the night is spent with the two of us dancing along to the beat of every song, stopping only to get some water, or what I think is water, into our systems. After hours of dancing, the party is over. Everyone has left except for us and the cleaning staff. They are cleaning the mess left behind by the people as well as cleaning everything out of the room, placing it back in storage. Athena rests her tired head on my shoulder, leaning against me for support as she fights off sleep. Her arms weakly rest on my shoulders as I lean against a wall, her heels in my hand with my other around her waist.

"What's taking her so long?" I ask aloud, glancing over to Giovanni who is in the same predicament. He is seated across from me, on the ground with a sleeping Jake in his lap. He pulls his sleeve back, careful to not wake Jake as he checks his watch.

"It's about one in the morning in your time Wyatt." Giovanni yawns. "In other words, it's sleepy time." He slouches into the wall, resting his head on top of Jake's. I smile at him as I look over at the other two couples, both of which are asleep. I turn my attention pack to Athena when she pulls away from me, looking at her hand. The blue stoned ring on her hand starts to glow then slowly starts to disappear.

"How can the stone be over?" I ask as I study her eyes. She opens her painted lips to respond when her eyes move to something behind me. She raises a delicate hand to point and I turn, hand going to her waist protectively. My eyes land on the queen, flanked by her butlers.

"I am not wrong." The queen says as she starts to make her way to us. Giovanni shakes Jake awake before scrambling to his feet. "It is rare that I am. But it would seem you have managed to do so." She never breaks eye contact with me. She raises her hand to me, one I take. The ring on Athena's finger disappeared swiftly. "You can count on my people as you need them." I kiss her hand respectfully before shaking it, sealing her dedication to the Allies.

"You won't regret it your highness." I promise her. She gives me a steady pointed look.

"I'd better not, or it will be your head on a spike outside my palace." She threatens. I bite my lip to stop a smile. I bid her robots good luck killing me if we fail. I don't however plan to fail. We say goodbye and wake up the others. We make our way back to my ship, everyone going their separate directions for the night. Athena leaves to our room and I go to the control room, Star jumping off my shoulder into the seat beside me. He lets out a little fox yawn, falling asleep after I take his cute tie off.

I fall back into my seat, my feet aching in my shoes. I start up the ship, lifting off the planet to leave. We make it out of the atmosphere, hitting the coordinates for the Allies base the ship jumps into light speed. I reach down to untie my shoes, kicking off the foot traps. I scratch at Star's ears absentmindedly as soft footsteps come up from behind me. I turn to find a very tired Athena leaning against the doorframe. She is in the long old shirt I used to sleep in that falls off one of her pale shoulders. Her white hair is completely loose as she runs her hand through it. It looks like she's taken off her bra, wearing only underwear and the long shirt. She smiles at me, padding over to fall into my lap. She nuzzles into my neck, lips brushing my shoulder. In this form, no make up, hair down, in nothing but one of my old shirts she looks the most beautiful to me.