She released a breath slowly and looked up at Hale. He was right: she needed to calm down. Her frantic emotions were making the situation worse and more dramatic than necessary. Sitting down was another good suggestion made by Hale, even if her seat was a rock. She wanted to act strong around Hale, but she was still dizzy from the explosion, although she didn’t want to admit it.

Hale stood close to her. He was irritated, seen by his clenched jaw and fists. But when he gazed into her eyes, Pandora saw his concern for her emphasized by the messiness of his hair and desperation in his eyes.

Pandora glanced at the dead men and then turned back to Hale. Yes, she believed the bodies of those men deserved a proper burial. She believed that with her whole heart. But Hale wasn’t going to back down on the ultimatum he had given her. And Pandora needed him... for his ship and piloting skills, of course. Hale was a necessary part in her attempt to save her home-world. He didn’t know it at this time. But he was.

So, she had to make a difficult choice. She would have to leave the broken bodies of those men there, decaying. She had to choose Hale because, by choosing him, she was choosing her people.

Right when she was to tell him her choice, she saw a frightening image behind Hale.

It was Jake, sauntering towards them. He held a devilish smile, and his eyes seemed darker than they were before. His hands carried a pistol, which he had aimed at Hale.

Pandora screamed Hale’s name.

But Jake already had shot. And the blast had pierced Hale’s head.

The light in Hale’s eyes was fading fast. Pandora grabbed his shoulders and shouted his name over and over. When he started losing his balance and falling forward, she had to let him go. She couldn’t hold him up herself. His body slammed against the surface of Dunwar.

She dropped to the ground and cradled his head in her lap. She placed her small hands on hole in the back of his head and closed her eyes.

Jake laughed at her. “You know, you’re the reason he’s dead.”

Pandora kept her eyes shut and concentrated on Hale’s fading spirit. He was starting to let go.

“Hale’s always had one problem. One thing that makes him let his guard down. Ever since I’ve known him, women like you make his head spin. He won’t admit it, but he loses focus completely around you,” Jake revealed.

Pandora tried to block out what Jake was rambling on about and everything else going on around her. Pandora’s entire focus was on Hale’s injury. She had to focus, or she would lose him. With her gift, she could feel the damaged matter inside his head and reached out to it. She manipulated each atom back into place and stimulated them back to life.

Throughout this process, the hole was closing atom by atom until it was no longer present, and his brown hair grew over the space on the back of his head.

Before Pandora opened her eyes, Jake grabbed her waist and picked her up in his arms, ending her trance-like state.

“Hale was an idiot for not returning you to your father. Do you know the price your father is willing to pay for you?” Jake said.

Pandora bit his arm and kicked him wherever she could.

“You didn’t strike me as a fighter really,” Jake sneered.

Pandora bit him a second time and that’s when he dropped her. As soon as she hit the ground, Jake grabbed her wrists and started dragging her.

“If you keep this up, I might have to hurt you,” Jake fumed.

“Go ahead. It’s not going to… stop me… from trying to… get away.” She struggled to say each word as she fought back.

Pandora regretted not being trained for any type of self defense or combat. But she had another thing going for her. She wasn’t the type to give up. Not when something was worth fighting for.

Jake must have grown tired of dragging her. He let go of her wrists and held her down by her neck.

He made a fist with one of his hands. “I said I didn’t want to hurt you.”

He threw his punch, which didn’t hit her. Instead, he slipped and fell on his face. Pandora heard a snap, most likely from a broken nose.

Jake screamed, nearly bursting her eardrums. And then he tried to stand up. And he slipped again. It was almost as if the ground had frozen over.

Pandora began to shiver. It can’t be, she thought. Still laying down with her gaze on the sky, she touched the ground with her fingertips. It was cold like ice.

She carefully sat up. It was ice. A patch of ice that trailed from... Hale.

He was standing.

* * * *

He inhaled air into his lungs and released it back into the atmosphere. He moved his fingers. He felt the dirt and rock under his face. He turned himself over and opened his eyes. He could see the grey sky and wispy clouds trailing across the open space.

Hale smiled. He could see. And he was too relieved to think of how it was possible.

He scraped his nails across the ground and could hear the sound caused by friction. He sighed blissfully. Hale felt renewed. He could breathe again. The tension that had remained in his mind for years was released.

He wasn’t feeling the constant guilt that always reminded him of his past. He wasn’t thinking about how alone he had been his entire life. He wasn’t wondering if there were a single person in the galaxy that actually loved him.

He experienced nature with all of his senses for the first time. But this moment wasn’t meant to last.

His old life was calling him back. Old feelings and memories returned in a flash. And guilt made its home again inside his heart.

In the background, two voices yelled at each other, one male and the other female. He recognized them.

Hale jumped to his feet and looked ahead to see Jake holding Pandora down on the ground by the neck. He knew he had to act now. He didn’t reach for the pistols holstered on his waist or any of his hidden knives. He reached out his right hand and exhaled, releasing some of his anxiety.

Ice spread over the ground in a thick layer, in a wide strip from Hale to Jake.

He stood and watched Jake fall twice and break his nose. But that wasn’t enough punishment for Jake. The fact Jake had almost hit Pandora triggered Hale. He strode over to them in long steps and kicked Jake over.

Jake, now lying on his back, writhed in pain. Jake clutched his gut where Hale had kicked him. In bewilderment and fear, Jake looked up at Hale.

“How—how are y—you a—alive,” Jake stammered.

Hale didn’t respond with words. He grabbed the collar of Jake’s suit and pulled him up to his feet.

Hale stared into Jake’s eyes with deathly rage. And Jake was afraid. Hale saw his fear. Jake watched literal flames surge within Hale’s pupils.

“What are y-you?” Jake’s voice rasped.

“You won’t live to find out,” Hale whispered.

Hale’s free hand held a small flame that grew with his rage. He touched Jake’s shoulder with the flame, that began to spread and consume. Jake passed out from shock. At least he wouldn’t feel anything.

Hale dropped Jake’s body and walked away. He picked up his helmet. His back was facing Pandora, but he knew she was coming to him. He could hear her footsteps.

“Hale, are you okay?” Pandora placed a hand on his shoulder. “How do you feel?:

“I’m fine.” He pushed her hand off him. “Aren’t you afraid of me? Everyone else would run after seeing what I did.” She had seen his curse that he hid from everyone. He had used it to kill a man in front of her. Why did she want to stay?

“Look at me,” she ordered.

Hale faced her and stared into her eyes. The vividness of her violet irises was irregular to him... but so magnificent. Even in the dim light her eyes held within them an ethereal glow that challenging the cosmos. Inside, he was trembling. He attempted to hide it by keeping his face expressionless. And the facade would have worked if she weren’t Pandora. Lorelei would have bought it.

“That feeling right there. The only reason it’s there is because you’re like me,” Pandora said gently. “I feel the same thing.”

Hale turned his head to the side, looking at the ground instead of her. “I don’t know what you mean by that. All I know is there’s something wrong with me. There always has been.”

“Are you talking about your powers?” Pandora asked.

Hale sighed dejectedly. “I wouldn’t refer to them like that.”

“What would you call them then?”

“A curse,” he answered.

“Really?”

“I guess sometimes they’re useful, like today. But I’d rather be a normal human,” Hale admitted.

Pandora reached for his hands and wrapped her fingers around them. “But you’re not human.”

Her cold hands soothed him unexpectedly. “Well, what am I then?”

“An Elani, like me.”

The seriousness in which she spoke made him realize she wasn’t trying to tease him. Pandora was being honest with him. He broke down the walls held up by his expressionless face fell by showing his fear.

“I come from a planet called Elani where everyone has a special gift. Having two powers like you do is extremely rare,” she said.

Hale stepped back, pulling his hands away from her. “I know you’re telling me the truth, but I don’t know how this is possible. I don’t have a single memory of Elani.”

“I wish I knew how you ended up out here. I promise that you came from Elani too.”

“So if both of us are from ‘Elani,’ that means you also have powers.”

“Yes,” she replied.

“What are they then?”

Pandora grinned. “I only have one gift, but I think you can figure it out.”

Hale crossed his arms and huffed. Couldn’t she just tell him. “Fine.”

“Think about what happened today,” she suggested.

Hale traced over the days events in a few seconds and slowed at the moment he started losing his senses. He remembered waking up on the ground and watching Jake betray him.

But he couldn’t remember how it got to that point. Why did he faint? He never fainted, not even when he was severely injured. Something else caused him to fall.

He realized that when he was helping Pandora after the explosion he had made a terrible mistake.

He had let his guard down. He hadn’t been aware of his surroundings. He let himself be distracted by her. And Jake must have taken that opportunity to.... No, that couldn’t be right. Did Jake shoot him?

There was no other explanation.

Jake must have also shot the only part of him that wasn’t covered in armor. The fastest way to kill. Jake went for the head. And he didn’t miss.

Hale’s jaw dropped. “Why aren’t I dead?”

Pandora shrugged.

“H—how? Y—you saved me, didn’t you?” Hale could hardly get the words out his mouth.

“I did,” she replied humbly.

“That’s your gift then? You can bring people back from the dead?”

“Not quite. I can’t bring people back once their spirit leaves their body completely. I healed you. You were still hanging on, and I was able to help you before it was too late,” Pandora said.

Hale stepped closer to her, avoiding her eyes purposely. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Pandora smiled at him. “You’re welcome. I was hoping to—”

Hale interrupted her. “We have to leave now.” He changed his tone back to his usual stern voice, one of complete seriousness. And his face became one of blank expression again.

He began his walk back to the village and acted as if that conversation had never happened. Pandora followed behind him.

The entire journey back, he was silent. He wanted Pandora to think that nothing had changed, that they were only two people thrown together by chance, and that he still found her annoying. But he knew she could see through his behavior. He hoped she would play along though.

When they returned to the village, the sun was beginning to set. Hale was relieved that they had made it back before dark.

“I’m going to make one last stop before we go,” Hale said.

“I thought you were in a hurry to leave?” Pandora retorted.

“It will take all of five minutes, if you can keep up.” Hale picked up his pace to a run.

Pandora grunted in exasperation and matched his speed. Hale stopped at a hut in a familiar alleyway. He broke down the door with a kick. It was Jake’s home.

Once inside, Hale ripped up a section of the flooring. He uncovered a shiny, rectangular case and clicked it open.

“What’s inside?” Pandora asked.

Hale waved a holographic card in the air. “His money.”

Pandora frowned. “You’re stealing from a dead person?”

“Like he’s going to need it where he is.”

Hale placed the card inside the case and walked out of Jake’s former home.

“Now, where are we going?” Pandora miffed.

Hale narrowed his eyes. “My ship.”

“Are you sure?” Pandora said mockingly.

Hale faced her. “Why are you acting weird?”

“I don’t know.” She let out a sigh. “I thought after we had that talk things might be different. You might be nicer.”

“It was just a conversation. Why would that change anything?”

“Because you’re Elani, like I am,” she replied.

“That has no bearing on my real life. What difference does it make now that I know where I come from?”

“Never mind, it’s not worth discussing right now,” Pandora mused.

“Good.” Hale began striding down the alleyway.

He was glad to end things there. She wasn’t someone he should open up to. He wasn’t into having friends or being friendly when he didn’t have to. He was under the impression that people were friendly to those whom they wanted something from. And he didn’t want anything from her. Well... for the most part.

He slowed his steps when he remembered that Pandora was probably exhausted. She wasn’t used to his way of life, being on the run, or explosions. She was royalty. A princess. Her persistence of keeping up with him amazed him.

Upon arrival at the ship, Hale opened the entrance ramp for Pandora. He didn’t follow her up.

Before she stepped inside completely, she turned around. “Are you coming?”

“In a few minutes. I have to check over my ship before we take off.”

Hale walked around the ship and inspected its exterior. He took extra time with the engines and exhaust systems. He did this to make sure no one had tampered with his ship. This was extremely necessary when on Dunwar.

After his thorough inspection, Hale went inside and closed up the ramp. He started the engines.

Prior to taking off, he decided to tell Pandora they were about to leave. She wasn’t in the bridge. He noticed the bedroom door was left open. He quietly stepped down the hall and looked in, leaning against the doorway. Pandora had fallen asleep and was lying on one side of the bed. Her head was barely on the pillow. Hale slid the door shut, half-smiling as he walked back to the bridge.

He would have to be extra careful during takeoff.