Fantasy Vs Reality | The Withering

35: Finding Earth- Part 1

DO NOT-

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A few hours must've went by because Kay found herself waking up in her chambers. Had she fallen asleep in the dining room? Awkward. Who carried her back? She shrugged and decided to get ready for the trip to finding Earth. How they were going to find it, she wasn't sure, but she would help in any way she could.

Kay grabbed a few things from her room including a few snacks, a warm-looking jacket that she never recalled seeing before, and a digi-phone that was left there. She put it in the pocket of the jacket and waited. She remembered the Neon Empire pin she was given at her initiation and grabbed it, pinning it to the jacket as well.

She paced for a while, lost in her own thoughts until a knock came at her door.

"Come in." she said as she stopped pacing. Her heart skipped a beat when Coal stepped inside. She realized she was nervous. The last time she'd flown in a small craft was when she was driving it. She shuddered slightly and smiled.

Coal smiled in return, he looked healthier than ever. His right eye was even opened up ever so slightly, "Are you ready? I've already sent Storm to the Docking Bay." 

Kay nodded, "Let's go. The longer I wait the worse this anxiety is going to get." She chuckled nervously and Coal patted her on the back, grinning slightly.

"Don't worry, you're gonna be just fine. You don't have to worry about driving this time." he laughed, making Kay feel slightly better. His laugh was dry and hoarse, making it almost contagious. 

They walked down the hall together and they stepped inside the elevator to take them to the Docking Bay. As Kay sunk herself into the jacket, Coal noticed it because he said, "You know, us animal folk look pretty good in clothing from my stand point."

Kay blushed, "Go put some pants on then, you naked weirdo."

Coal began to laugh maniacally loud. Obviously animal folk didn't need to wear clothing, but Kay had to admit it was suddenly weird now that she realized humans used to wear them all the time. "That... was probably the funniest shit I've ever heard coming from a former human!" Coal continued chuckling to himself. His eyes were watering from the amount of laughing he had done.

Kay shook her head, smiling, "Maybe we need to change your culture up a little in the future, yeah?"

"Perhaps!" Coal replied, beginning to laugh again as the elevator doors opened, "We seriously need to rethink our ways of life now that we've got you on board!" He rubbed his eyes free of the tears and he stepped out of the elevator. Kay followed, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

As she followed Coal across the massive hangar, she saw several people gathered outside around one of the crafts. She saw Storm, Marcus, Simon, and to her utmost surprise, Ember. She looked like she was doing very well. Her eyes were bright and she was smiling. However, there were bandages wrapped around her waist.

When Kay got to the team, she was quickly put into a suit similar to the one she wore in Sector T's spaceport. She put the jacket she had on over her suit. Marcus did his best to avoid talking for too long to speed things up. Before Kay could say anything to anyone, they were already firing up the engines and getting ready to set off, away from the Omineon.

Everyone sat in tense silence for the first few minutes, and then Marcus spoke, "Alright gang, here we are. We are looking for Earth. If you can figure out what exact quadrant we are in within Sector Y, let me know as soon as possible. Coal will keep to the wheel for the time being, and when he gets tired we'll switch out."

He took a breath and then gestured to Ember, "As you all know, Ember is coming with us. She volunteered herself to come along in hopes to be useful since she is now doing better thanks to Jacob and Sylvia's teamwork to cure the dark... ooze... goopy stuff."

Ember giggled, "Whatever it's called, there are no more traces of it on me. So here I am! Ready to help you guys find Earth!"

"It's good to have you back in action, Ember." Coal said from the pilot's seat in front, "It's been a while."

"Only almost two weeks! You guys are so spoiled with our technology." Ember smiled. She looked happy to be out on the field again. Kay however, felt tense about it. She had been doing so poorly for so long, the sudden switch in her health was off-putting. 

*     *     *

Hours began to drag by and Kay's nervousness began to grow as they trudged along. They figured out what quadrant they were in... whatever that meant, and they were beginning to narrow down where Earth was. Ember, at times would shout at in over-excitement where to take a turn or where to change degrees in different directions. At this rate, it wouldn't be too long before finding it. They just hoped the Vexel and Fifi were too busy looking for the Omineon and didn't spot the tiny craft sailing through space.

As the hours dragged by, everyone messed with their digi-phones. Marcus seemed to be in constant communication with the ship via some type of encrypted transmissions so they couldn't be intercepted as easily. He sounded like he was talking to Orion because whoever he was talking to over the transmitter, he was calling them "Starshine." 

As quadrants were narrowed down to parsecs, and parsecs continued being narrowed down to lightyears, the craft suddenly shook. Everyone looked up from their devices slowly, eyes wide.

After a few silent moments of searching, Marcus' widened and yelled, "Bogies incoming! From the look of it, they're Vexel! Five of them!"

"Fuck!" Coal hissed, he slammed the craft into the fastest setting and it shot forward at a faster speed.

Marcus leaned over Coal's shoulder, "Find the nearest star system and find a place to hide there! They can't have the vials!"

"Already ahead of you, Cap." Coal growled angrily, "These guys have a lot of nerve being so persistent with hunting us down!"

"They must really want these vials..." Storm whispered to Kay.

Kay did not realize some of the vials were brought with them. Kay hoped bringing them wasn't a horrid idea... as it looked to be right then.

Shots were fired from behind them and the Neon craft did a barrel roll, dodging the attacks. Storm unbuckled and moved to the back. She pulled down a strange set of controls and began to spin them around as if taking aim. Within seconds she whispered, "Sorry." and lasers shot out of the top of the ship. 

One of the ships was hit and blown to bits, making Kay cover her mouth. They just... killed someone! She tried not to think about it, and forced herself to think about how to be useful. She looked out the window she was sitting next to and called out to Coal, "To your right! Two of them closing in!"

Coal shot the craft upwards, spinning violently and swerving. He turned straight into an asteroid field as Storm continued firing. They had made it inside another star system, and they were losing their chasers because of how flawless Coal was flying through the field. 

As they slowed, Coal turned the craft swiftly and landed rather harshly on a particularly large asteroid. He killed the lights on the ship and just sat there for a long while, waiting. Storm put the controls away and sat down. Hiding was their best bet, if they were caught now... any hopes of finding Earth would be lost.

As they sat there... they didn't notice Ember had begun twitching.