Connor and Brie both just stared at the bay of monitors which basically were monitoring nothing but an empty house now. Connor finally sighed and spoke again, “so, they disappeared themselves off somewhere? Wonderful” he added sarcastically, before adding “but where?”

“I’m pretty sure the point was for us not to know that” Brie mumbled.

Connor shook his head again, “yeah, well, we better figure it out. Because, if they’re not here, then that means they’re no longer going along with this experiment.”

“Ya think?” Brie repeated.

“And this experiment, and them agreeing to it, were the only things keeping them from being hunted down. Ring a bell?”

Brie sighed sadly then, “it’s just not fair. They never asked for these abilities.”

Connor scoffed as he stood, “yeah, well, I think you’re seventeen years and nearly sixty dead bodies too late to now have regrets about us playing god. Aren’t you?”

Eventually, Sky and Star once again gained some awareness of their surroundings, following their intense lovemaking. However, what they expected to see when they looked around the room once more, and what they did see, were two drastically different realities. Still catching their breaths, they each opened their eyes at last and both startled more than a bit. Star scrambled to quickly move off of him, putting a more than jarring end to that extremely intimate contact between them. Her fingers immediately grasped for covers that were no longer there.

Sitting up, just as startled, Sky’s fingers also reached out for some way for them to cover their flushed and sweat-dampened bodies, which were both still trembling in the aftermath of their passion. Only, the only thing their fingers came in contact with was a shimmering metallic surface that somehow did still feel soft to the touch, against all logic. Even more illogical was that this surface seemed to be surrounding them on all sides, floors, walls, and ceilings of what could barely even be distinguished as a room at all, and seemed more like a ‘chamber’ of some kind.

“Where the hell are we?” Star’s voice shook with the question.

“I think the ‘us getting dosed with something’ theory is a slight bit more believable now that we’re being held prisoner by our mad scientist parents” Sky breathed his response, both of their dark eyes darting around to try to even distinguish any sort of door or window or any other detail nearby, only to find none.

“Well this is some drug then” Star breathed, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them to try and preserve some modesty, despite all else.

Sky also mimicked her motion as the two continued to look around, trying desperately to determine what fresh hell this was. At this point, they both expected an army of scientists to drop down from above with whips and command them to get back to their earlier activity again. It’s not like that sort of thing hadn’t happened to them before; many times before.

That was when their millions of imagined fears were interrupted by a voice that had no discernible gender. “No, you have no need to fear us making any demands of you. We heard your call, and came to your aid. That is all.”

Both were even more startled as they turned their eyes in the direction of where the voice seemed to originate from. Only what greeted them was something they did not even have any words to describe. The most accurate description they even could manage was that there before them was what appeared to be some kind of being, made of pure light, with no human features at all, aside from just the vaguest outline of a humanoid form.

“What the... what?” was all Sky managed as he and Star just looked on in shock, even squinting slightly at the light being put out from this otherworldly companion of theirs.

“Heard our call?” Star managed, in the same broken voice as before.

Then it spoke again, just as gently, “it’s hard to make our words make sense in your words. But yes, lost children. We heard your soul calling out to us and knew we had to find you. Save you from whatever you were so frightened of.”

That was when Sky leaned toward Star, speaking furtively, “yeah, I definitely think we’re tripping hard.”

“Lost children?” Star repeated it’s words, trying desperately to make sense of them.

It answered, “the two you were made from; they were stolen from us, long ago. We never thought we’d find them again. Only when we heard your call, we knew it was them. At least part of them. The soul that made yours” it finished in what sounded like actual sadness, from a literal ball of light.

“Hell, let’s just go with it” Sky murmured to Star before turning back to speak to the light-creature, “you keep saying soul, singular?” he cleared his throat, trying to get his head around any of the situation he was now in, “if two were stolen from you, or whatever” he shook his head, “wouldn’t that be souls, plural? I mean, I never made it past ninth grade English either, but...”

It then answered with what was almost confusion, “I don’t understand. Two beings. One soul. That’s how it’s always been. Like it is for the two of you.”

Star let out a small sound of disbelief at the entirety of the situation before she had to speak again, “so you’re telling us that your kind... what we partially are...” she allowed, “that in your world, everyone literally is someone else’s soul-mate?”

It then seemed to smile, if it had had a mouth, “yes, you know the word” it then continued, “the two that made you, they were soul-mates. Of course the two of you would be as well. It’s just strange that the other half they made you with, didn’t seem to know that til recently. So strange. We’re born knowing it. Knowing who we belong to; who we belong with. Who we can’t live without.”

Sky just shook his head, “so the half of us that’s human; that’s the half that made us fight what you’re all born knowing, and keep fighting it, for fourteen years?”

It then spoke again, sadly once more, “it’s very cruel, them diluting who you are, mixing you with this other part that makes you forget and even fight the knowledge that you should have had all your lives. The strength you would have always had would have been unknown to you. Your lives there in that place, after what they did to you... they must have been... terrible” it added even more sadly.

Sky and Star bit back tears then when hearing their lives described in such a way, accurate though it was. Though Sky was the first to speak, “yeah pretty sure we’re more human than we are soul-mate, ball of light people. Cause terrible’s an understatement.”

It continued then, “but your soul, it found the truth, despite everything. You know you’re soul-mates now. And now you can be stronger, better, what you were always meant to be.”

Sky scoffed again, “that may be true, but as we speak, the ones who did this to us; they’re trying to undo it. Get rid of the part of us that’s... whatever you are.”

There was then more tension and dread in it’s voice, “no wonder you called out to us. That would be...” it seemed at a loss for words.

“Terrible?” Sky offered.

“Yes, definitely terrible” it agreed sadly.

Sky sighed just as sadly, “yeah, so what are we supposed to do about it? Stay here in this... weird silver room... talking to a ball of light for the rest of our lives?”

“You want to go back? To the people who diluted you? Who made you forget what you are? Who want to undo what you are?” It asked, seeming confused by the idea completely.

Star interjected, “well not specifically back to them” she sighed, “but we can’t exactly stay here for the next sixty years or so. Wherever here even is” she added as she took a look around again.

It replied again, seeming to understand more then, “so you want to go back, but you need it to be safe for you to go back?”

“That would be nice” Sky replied, though his tone showed that he doubted that that would be a real possibility.

It continued, “and it won’t be safe as long as anyone knows that you are partially us?”

“No kidding” Sky agreed, then moved on, “thanks to the stuff we can do when we, become one” he decided on, “they want us dead now. Or at least to take away the stuff we can do...at those times.”

It then seemed distracted by part of Sky’s statement, “you can only make things happen when you...combine?”

Sky and Star both looked a bit startled by its question. Sky spoke again, “I take it that’s not how that’s supposed to work either?”

“They really have diluted you” a sad pause before it continued, “well, combining our life essence with our soul-mate; it definitely makes us even more capable of amazing things. But just being near each other should be enough to do most of the things we can do.”

Star spoke then, “so, we really could use our powers, without-- by just being near each other?” she reworded.

It gave its next answer, “more contact does improve our abilities, but it’s definitely not necessary.”

Sky then interjected, “well that; you need to teach us that.”

That was when Star turned to him, “then what?”

“Then we can do whatever the fuck we want” he told her with an almost hopeful smile.

“Of course I want us to be able to use our powers whenever we need to, but our powers are the reason they want us dead, or powerless, or both. I think us getting even more powerful, and using them even more; it probably isn’t the best plan for self-preservation, in the long run.”

“Well, not having powers isn’t exactly good for our life expectancy either. I mean, do you really trust that they’ll just let us go, even if they do get rid of these abilities? Really?” Sky asked pointedly.

It then interrupted their discussion, “it seems like what you two actually need is to be your whole selves, like you were meant to be; abilities and all. But you also need for these other, humans, to not be threatened by what that is, so you can continue to live among them.”

“Yeah, well good luck to us” Sky replied, “the entire motto of the human race is: I don’t understand it, let’s kill it.”

It seemed somehow amused and saddened at the same time, “it seems like a strange race to want to be part of.”

Star sighed as she looked down, “it is. But it’s all we’ve ever known. And obviously we are more human than... not” she said as she gestured to she and Sky’s still nude bodies where they still kept their knees to their chests and tried to maintain some bit of dignity throughout this strange conversation. But she soon continued, “so it is where we belong, believe it or not. We just have to figure out how to survive there, being what we are, and doing what we can do.”

“So how do we do that?” Sky asked both his companions, not sure either actually had that answer.

It then thought a moment before replying, “I suppose what you need to do is possibly make those that know what you are... make them no longer know. Then you can start over. You can have your powers when you need them, but no one else has to know about them, or where they come from.”

Star spoke up with narrowed eyes, “are you talking about making them forget what we are?” she shook her head as she and Sky looked at each other in more than a bit of shock at the prospect of that.

“Can we really do that? Make them forget?” Sky had to ask, just to clarify.

It then looked back their way and gestured to the strange room they were in, “doesn’t your soul always find a way to give you what you need, exactly when you need it most?”