Hayden:

I woke up on a table after my mind and body went on a hellride. It was dark and I don’t remember blacking out here in this room.

To be frank, I don’t remember much of anything.

Who I was. Where I was.

The earliest was in a pod, pulling out a long tube that kept me breathing under all that gel. Then the screams as the people around me burned. I wondered why I wasn’t. Dazed, I wondered barefoot...and then…

I wasn’t alone laying here. I think I was carried, but it was hard to be sure. My leg burns from the effort of moving it, but I have to.

There was a stranger here.

I slid off the table as he rested against the entrance, careful to not make a sound.

I stole his blaster and I clicked it on.

He met me with wide eyes when he woke to the sound, silver as coins. He raised his hands.

Kohl:

“Don’t move so much, those stitches--” I began but he shoved me back with the blaster until I had nowhere else to go.

“Tell me who you are, or I’ll shoot you.”

I stared at him. “Kohl Darling. I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Why are you here then?”

“It was a detour. I collect rocks for a living now, I guess. I was a farmer before the whole space thing…”

He arched a brow which elevated his already pretty face. Even in the low light I noticed the soft features and the blonde wavy hair he pushed back to get a better look. “You’re dotless.”

“I’m human.” I motioned to him. “And you are?”

“I don’t know,” He sounded honest.

“A name?”

Silence answered as he lowered my blaster, not ready to hand it over quite yet. I stayed where I was when he moved back.

Then as soft as a whisper he says, “Hayden.”

“Nice to meet,” I offered a smile. “May I have my blaster back?”

Hayden:

I always hear the man of many colors. I don’t see his face. But that wasn’t why the thought of him made me anxious. The reason was close, but I can’t reach it.

There was this “Kohl” I need to figure out first.

He’s tall with a more muscle than I have, his face too shadowed to see more than a strong jaw and scruff with a gentle smile I was not expecting.

It was easy to put your guard down around him.

“No,” I told him. “I’m keeping it.”

It was bulky as hell, but it was his and he seemed insecure without it.

“O-kay, well like I was trying to say, those stitches aren’t the best. I'm not here to hurt you."

“That’s comforting.”

“Any idea what happened here?” He asked.

“It was wrong to tell him…” said the voice. The man of many colors. “...he’s going to…”

I shook my head slowly, though he could barely see it with the light we had. “I’m as clueless as you are.”

There was a rumble from a beast. The ship. Everything in here with us hummed from the vibrations.

And a voice from the intercom above proved it. “Warning, warning, unstable section drop!” 

“What’s it saying?”

“The section is letting go…”

There were so many bodies in the most horrific manner. But we didn’t have the time to pay our respects.

If we were planning to.

Kohl out reached his hand for me to take. “Let’s go.”

Hesitantly, I took it, being pulled close to him. My leg made it difficult to keep up with him as we raced down the hallways.

The ship was straining all around us, whining from being crushed like a tin can. We made it into a plaza, decor rattling on their mantels and picture frames fell from their posts in clashes.

Here, throats were cut, splattering blood on the pure white pillars. I only saw guards and people in my clothes. Where were the others?

Kohl pulled me along, an arm around my waist as we headed for the closest elevator. Gravity started to fracture, crushing furniture while making some fly, only to fall when gravity grew heavy again.

I felt myself start to float away, holding onto Kohl to keep me grounded. He obliged and embraced me, which was weird since we know nothing of each other.

He did all the running while I held on for dear life, praying to the universe that none of the floating objects flatten us.

I buried my face into his neck so I wouldn’t see out demise.

Bodies joined in, which was worse in a way.

Kohl:

I saw the elevator. And it felt miles away.

I ran as fast as I could with my boots giving me enough fake gravity to actually move. I held onto Hayden, who in return was strangling me.

He squeezed around my neck, hiding from the chaos that began simultaneously. The screen appearing above my wrist warned me, Low oxygen imminent. Helm on please!

So maybe it wasn’t fully Hayden’s fault that my lungs screamed for more air.

A body crashed beside me with a force mimicking a fall from a skyscraper, with the result almost the same.

Another splattered in front of me. I had to jump to avoid it.

Helm on please!, said the screen.

I activated it, boosting on the artificial gravity while I was at it.

I had failed the first time I tried to enter the program. I wasn’t a test taker and frankly I wasn’t sure why they wanted a boy from the third ring of the Empire to join in the first place.

I was a farmer.

My parents ended up in a lesser boat.

But they gave me another chance. And I had yet to prove it to them that it was a wise decision to do so.

Losing a ship wasn’t the step towards that. It was my only way out and now I’m stuck here with him.

Hayden.

Like I said, I don’t regret saving him. I just wish there was a way to save us both. Currently, the solution to that was not to be crushed along the way.

I’m trying.

The whole system was collapsing like they lost the motivation to function. The liumating titles were dead, making it harder to tell if something was heading to take us out. The only light source now was the elevator that beckoned us.

Its door was starting to close.

I tossed Hayden inside before rolling in myself, getting caught as the door sealed itself within the shell of the moving box.

I had to tear my suit to get free. The ability for a space walk was now gone, but the computer on my wrist was as happy as ever to see oxygen levels rise.

In the light, boxed in. We now saw ourselves for the first time.

Hayden:

I pushed the up button.

Kohl was greedy with his breaths, deactivating his helm and tying the torn upper part of his suit around his waist, exposing a tank top underneath.

Still no dots.

His hair was the color of a starless void and I was correct about the eyes. They were dull and forgettable. That’s the truth.

His face, though, was not. Everything fit, down to the small mole on his cheek that was a shade or two darker then the rest of his skin. He was surprisingly handsome.

“Never, EVER, want to see that...again,” He leaned over with his hands on his knees.

“Your ship…”

“Yeah,” he knew what I was about to say. “We’re stuck here.”