Her vision was clouded like fog when her eyes slowly opened. Faint indigo light streamed through her window near the end of her bedroom. She rubbed the dried tears away as she lay in the center of her bed. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep, but seeing the dark light from her window, she assumed the time was past midnight at least. Still under the covers, she wondered exactly what had woken her up since she wasn’t a light sleeper most of the time. A bad dream perhaps? If it had been, she didn’t remember it. To reposition herself, she turned on her back and sealed her eyes shut again. The moment she did that, she heard a dull knocking sound… coming from her window. She forced her eyes open and blinked them until they cleared. Near the right side of the window lurked a dark silhouette of another person. Something tapped on the window three more times.

Pandora slipped out of bed and stepped across the room, the coldness of the floor biting her feet. Hesitantly, she approached her window and kneeled on the seat cushion in front of it. She smiled, realizing who was waiting for her on the other side. After unlocking the window, she swung the glass doors open.

“How long have you been waiting there?” Pandora asked.

Hale stepped down off the window sill and sat beside her. “Only a few minutes. I know you just woke up, but I have everything ready for us to leave.”

She dashed over to her closet and took out her biggest suitcase.

“Uh, Pandora, don’t worry about bringing anything. I doubt those clothes will be very practical for where we’re going. I’ll take you shopping and you can buy whatever you want.”

The idea of going shopping with Hale was wonderfully… normal. Nothing about their relationship had been normal. They rarely found a moment when they could just be. Leaving her old world would lead to having a somewhat regular life with Hale. She hoped.

She walked back to him. The dark light outlined his form as he held out his hand to her. Taking his hand, she realized this was the beginning of their future together. He helped her up onto the window sill. Just below the window, a step down, was his ship, a small Elani cruiser. She was pleased with the ship her father provided Hale. While it wasn’t the best or newest, the ship was the same reliable model her father had used for many years. She remembered it well. This cruiser was definitely nicer than both of Hale’s previous ships, and the Elani were quite well-known for their ship building.

Standing on the window sill, she held onto the side of the window and watched Hale leap down onto the cruiser held up by its powerful engines. Hale opened the top hatch, and then he walked back to Pandora to guide her down to the ship. She first climbed down the ladder inside the hatch, and Hale followed her. The ladder brought them to the back of the bridge. With a viewport extending beyond 180 degrees from left to right, the bridge appeared to be more spacious than his other ships. The various control boards spanned around the front half of the room. Facing the the central control board were the pilot and co-pilot chairs with two seats behind them.

Hale sat down. “What do you think?” He half-grinned at her, and then turned to the view.

She took the seat beside him and said, “I’m surprised by my father’s generosity. He still could have given you a newer model if he wanted to.”

“It’s honestly perfect. I never buy new ships. Not anymore at least. With the way I fly, I’ll be lucky if I get four months with this one,” Hale noted.

“You’re a good pilot. So, shouldn’t you be able to avoid wrecking it?”

“I could,” he said. The engines thundered violently from his touch. “But sometimes the situations I find myself in don’t exactly go as planned. I’ll try to do better though.”

Pandora took his right hand in hers and clutched it tightly. “I’ll make sure of it.”

He nodded only. Her attempt to be humorous didn’t seem to translate to Hale. His gaze was telling of the turmoil he tried to hide from her. Lately, anguish, concealed behind his overflowing want of her, was what she often saw within his eyes. She thought they had solved the problem of his grief. He told her the secret he was keeping. What else was making him suffer through so much pain? Although she wanted to comfort him, she didn’t have the energy for that as of now. She had to focus on gathering enough strength to save an entire planet.

Hale pulled up a map projection of the city and set the destination of the navi-computer. He pressed the accelerators and sent the ship through the city.

Though she had lived here her entire life and thought she knew every wonder Elani had for her to behold, the magnificence of night sky illuminated by city lights was proving her to be completely, infinitely wrong. The sights she had witnessed from her lone bedroom window suddenly looked to be in her reach. The expansive viewport of Hale’s ship let her see nearly every onyx, crystal-shaped skyscraper around her. The city lights were no longer so far away that they appeared as tiny stars like they had from her window. The patters of lights coming from the thousands of windows almost hypnotized her.

She leaned further in her seat to get a better view of the sky. The night sky was filled with darkness, save for the two shining moons. The vibrant colors of the aurora streaks bent through the darkness. What made this night even more incredible was that Hale was by her side and held her hand tightly with interlocked fingers.

Once they had passed the city, they came to they came to the barren, mountainous land surrounding the city. There were no types of greenery in sight, only purple rocks with a sheen that sparkled at the slightest ray of light. Even under the moonlight, the land shone.

The entrance to the caves became larger as they flew. It was much darker than she remembered it being. Usually there was a discernible rosy pink and lavender light streaming from the entrance in the midst of the darkness. From here, she saw no light.

Hale landed the ship a couple hundred meters from the entrance. Pandora was devastated with the weakness of life that she sensed from Elani. Her home was much worse off than she had felt or imagined before. Elani’s weakness caused her to doubt her own strength. How could she be sure she was powerful enough to save her home?

Hale pulsed his grip on her hand to bring her attention to him. “Everything is going to be just fine. I believe in you.”

His perceptiveness to her emotions caught her off-guard. He couldn’t have known how much she needed to hear some words of encouragement. Though she smiled, she couldn’t hold back her tears.

“I couldn’t have done any of this without you, Hale.”

He had gotten out of his chair and knelt before her. “You definitely could have, but I’m glad you didn’t have to.”

She leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “Me too.”

He pulled her along with him as he stood up. His embrace was her ultimate place of comfort. She almost broke down again, but now wasn’t the time. She had to keep her strength.

They left his ship shortly after she had calmed down. Her body shivered as she made the first step on the rocky terrain and a faint jolt of energy passed through her. She had spent too long away from her home. Hale seemed completely unaware of the sensation she felt when he took his first steps on the ground. She led him to the opening of the caves. Up close, the entrance was brighter than it had appeared from a distance. It sloped down into the ground, making it difficult for them to walk on without slipping. Hale prevented her from falling at least three times. Her sandals were equally as slippery as the ground, but she didn’t have enough time to pick out the right shoes for their excursion.

The rock inside the cave shined more brightly than the surface of the land. Along the walls and floor were deep cracks from which emitted pink light. As they went deeper into the cave, the light grew brighter, and soon they saw the Elani crystals, glowing in colorful hues. The crystals ranged widely in their size. Some were extremely tiny; others were taller than Hale. The crystals grew all around the entrance tunnel.

“They used to be more vibrant,” Pandora mused.

Hale squeezed her hand, but said nothing in response. His silence was concerning. She hoped it was the stress more than anything. She felt it too, probably more than he did. If she failed to save her home, it would be entirely her fault. That was the burden she would carry alone.

After walking for about half a mile, they reached a large room within the cave. The ceiling was at least ten meters high with hundreds of long crystals hanging from it. The walls were hidden almost completely by crystals. This room held more of them than any other place that the Elani knew of. And most importantly, it was the home of the most powerful crystal on Elani. This crystal was round, wide, and grew in the center of the room. Its color was a combination of shades of blue, violet and magenta. The smaller crystals paled in comparison from the majesty of the central crystal. But it was only natural because the central crystal was what gave Elani its life and what gifted the people with great power and beauty.

Pandora staggered toward the crystal. She remembered a time when it was bursting life. She touched the crystal with her fingertips, and her heart crumbled because it was cold, close to death.

“Do you think you can fix it?” Hale asked.

“You mean heal it,” she corrected.

“Whatever.”

“I have to try. Just stay back. I don’t know what could happen.”

“Wait? You could get hurt?”

She looked back at him and sighed. “No one has ever done this before. Anything is possible. I think it will be okay, but just in case it’s not, I don’t want you to be harmed.”

“Pandora—”

“Please don’t try to—”

“What? Talk you out of it?” He shook his head. “I’ve long given up on that. I wanted to say I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. I can’t lose you.”

“And I refuse to lose you, Hale.”

He stood next to her and held both her hands. “Even though everything is going to be fine, I still think this is necessary.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, almost too tightly. She did the same to him because she wanted to be close to him. Then he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She trembled from his kiss. While her heart beat quickened, she relaxed this time. And by the time he stepped away, she had become more sure of herself and her gift.

All her life, she had healed injuries and kept people from the grasp of death. She had practiced using her gift for as long as she could remember. And now because of the new energy flowing through her blood, she had the strength to save planets… in theory at least.

Pandora kneeled down in front of the crystal. She placed both of her palms and every finger on the side of the crystal and reached out to its dying life force. She sensed it crying out to her and struggling to hold on. The life contained in this magnificent crystal was a very old power, older than she could fathom. She felt as though it had been waiting for her. Closing her eyes, she blocked out all other forms of life except for herself and the crystal. This would be no small feat. She extended her own life into the dying energy of the crystal. Little by little, she gave up her strength for the sake of the other life. She couldn’t sense how much time passed as she sat there. Pandora had placed her own mind in a trance. As she grew weaker, the crystal grew stronger. And she held on until the the very end, until the crystal’s life was completely replenished.

It was done

The crystal was only filled with light and life. The darkness and death that had slowly invaded it was been erased by her.

Her vision began to fade, and her senses numbed. The last thing she had been able to view was the crystals on the ceiling before everything went dark.

* * * *

For one moment, he took his eyes off Pandora to glance behind them. He didn’t like having his back to the entrance. Call him paranoid, but he didn’t feel safe here. He was distracted by everything going on around him and his own thoughts which left him uneasy. He knew he was more vulnerable because he couldn’t focus. Pandora didn’t seem to be worried about their surroundings, although that only alleviated his concern partially. He was agonizing about what would happen to her from healing the crystal. Would it be too much for her body to handle? Neither of them knew. And after all of this, there was something else, heavy on his heart, he needed to tell her. Something that would change their future for the rest of their lives.

He turned to Pandora again, expecting to see her still working on healing her precious crystal. But instead she had collapsed on the ground.

He cursed and ran to her side. He called out her name repeatedly, loudly and placed her head in his lap. Taking two of his fingers, he checked for her pulse on her neck. He sighed in relief because her pulse was still strong. He tapped both sides of her face and continued to say her name.

Finally, after about three minutes, Pandora’s eyes fluttered open. Her eyelids were open just enough for him to see the new golden brilliance of her violet eyes. He still wasn’t used to seeing the gold streaks.

“You passed out,” Hale said as calmly as possible. “Just keep breathing in and out.”

She nodded and followed his instruction. Her chest rose and fell in a graceful rhythm. She reached for his hands that cupped her face and placed hers over them. They stayed like this until she felt strong enough to sit up on her own.

“I can’t believe it’s all over, Hale. I just can’t believe it.”

“You did it. And I’m so proud of you.” He kissed her cheek.

“Thank you for staying with me through it all.”

“I’ll never regret it.”

After several minutes of allowing her to rest, Hale assisted her with standing up. Because the rocky ground was a terrible place to sit, he wanted to return to the comfort of the ship. Hale scooped her up into his arms and held her close to his chest.

She laughed. “Are you really planning on carrying me the whole way?”

“Of course. You’re lighter than you look.” He hoped she caught on to his joke.

She raised an eyebrow, forcing back a smile. “Oh, really?”

“I’m kidding.”

“Good.” She smiled widely.

She only weighed probably five to ten pounds more than one hundred. He could easily carry her back to the ship. The whole way there, Hale tried to focus on only her and enjoying the moment and being able to carry her in his arms. He held her the same way he might hold his bride as he carried her to their home on their wedding night. He wished it could be her. But he knew he would never marry.

He supposed he believed in having a soul mate. He would never feel as strongly for someone as he did for her. It was an impossibility.

Reaching his cruiser, he finally let Pandora down. He tapped on the mini screen on his armor gauntlet that he had earlier connected to his ship, and the entrance ramp lowered. Although she protested, he assisted her with walking to the bridge. He even buckled her into the copilot seat.

“I feel okay now, Hale.”

“I don’t care. I want to help you. You have to take it easy.” He noticed her flinch. He hadn’t thought his tone to be too stern. But he wasn’t at a place where he could worry about that. He gripped the arms of his chair to prevent his hands from shaking. He tried to force his face to look normal because he didn’t want her to know how terrified he felt.

“I promise to… if you tell me what’s bothering you now. You’ve been in a mood this entire time. Before we leave, I’d like to put all of these secrets behind us. You don’t have to keep anything from me.”

“I kinda have to tell you. But I wanted to give you a little while longer to recover.”

“I’m fine,” she retorted. “You can go ahead and get going. I guess.”

Hale let out a long, frustrated breath. “That’s actually what I have to talk to you about.”

“What do you mean? Hale, look at me,” she demanded.

He turned to her, in spite of the fact his eyes were tear-filled. He was going to tell her. But the consequences of that action were scorching his deepest dreams to ash. The perfect future with her would be forever out of his reach.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner. But I needed time to think about us and what should happen next. And I can’t take you with me. I can’t do that to you. My world would hurt you and be a bad influence—”

“No. I can handle it. You’re being ridiculous.”

“Let me finish. I wouldn’t survive watching you change into someone more like me. It would happen. Being around me has changed you. Part of me wishes I never thought about how it could hurt you. All I want is to be with you.” Hale looked down at his hands, unable to watch the sadness in her eyes. “But I can’t stay here; and you shouldn’t come with me.”

“Can we just talk about this more together?”

“I’ve already made up my mind,” he said.

Very quickly, Pandora’s mood shifted into one of despair as she curled up in the chair. Countless tears flooded down her cheeks. She continued to look at him, as though she wanted him to see the extent of her suffering.

And did he.

Each one of her precious tears cracked off another piece of his glass heart.

He didn’t want to show her his own suffering because it was probably more than she could handle at the moment. Because of his life choices, he had more experience with pain than she had. With every sob she released, he doubted leaving her again and again.

Hale imagined the thoughts that were probably circling in her mind. She might be thinking he didn’t want her. Or she wasn’t enough. Or he was better off alone. Any negative thought she might have about herself was completely false. He glanced over to her, and she looked even more devastated than before. Before they parted ways for good, he knew that there was something he must say. He needed her to know exactly how he felt about her. It was that simple. Now wasn’t a time to hesitate or be afraid. It was time to act.

He got out of his chair and kneeled by her side. “Remember how I said I can’t lose you—”

“Obviously you can.”

“No, I can’t. That’s why I can’t take you with me. I don’t want my world to change you into someone like me. You don’t need to change.” He clenched his fists in determination. “The person I’ve come to know as you is the one… I love.” He told her. Finally.

He expected to see a positive change in her expression, but instead, she started to cry more. She hung over the side of the chair and hugged his neck.

The darkness of night still consumed the sky when he brought her back home. He docked his ship in front of her window. Pandora had stopped crying by this time and crawled out of the top hatch of his ship. After she opened the window to her bedroom, they went inside.

He knew he couldn’t stay long. Opening the window from the outside probably triggered some kind of alarm. He did’t want to take a chance. Besides, he promised the king he would be gone by morning. All of these things pressuring him weren’t enough to make him leave in a hurry because of Pandora, who hadn’t said a single word the whole way back. She stood in the center of her room staring through her open window. She stared at the stars behind him only. Her anger was gone. Her sadness was gone. All that was left in her expression was solemn contentment.

Hale slowly approached her. He held out his arms, and she came to him. She rested her head on his chest. Though he wished he could, he couldn’t stay long. He couldn’t stay long enough for him to console her as she deserved. He had so many things he could say about how much she meant to him without the time to say them.

Running his hand up the curve of her back, he meant to comfort her and memorize how her body felt under his touch. She didn’t cry. Instead, she held him tighter. Had she had given up on changing his mind?

Unexpectedly, she skimmed her petal-soft lips over his neck to his mouth. Kissing her had become as natural to him as breathing… almost. She always managed to surprise him with her passion. No kiss was exactly the same with her. Only the result. She left him stunned and longing for her all over again. At the same time, they released each other’s lips. What had ended might have been their very last kiss.

He stared into her eyes, and she in his. In her eyes, he saw galaxies of dark violet and gold with more depth than the cosmos of the universe.

Maybe it was only because he was so overtaken by her. But he couldn’t deny what he saw.

He pressed a hand to her cheek. “Pandora, don’t forget that I love you. Forever.” As cliché as that line was, that’s all he wanted to tell her. All he could say was how much he loved her.

He stepped away from her towards the window. The only part of her he held was her hands. She trembled as and tears streamed down her face. She held on to him and tried to pull him back to her. He couldn’t stay. If he stayed here any longer, he would find himself collapsing on the floor to pick up the invisible pieces of his heart. He only held himself together for her because he could tell she was doing the same for him.

He didn’t care whether she said those those three little words back to him. He said that only for her. As she opened her mouth to speak, fists thundered on her bedroom door. She released his hands and turned to the rumbling door.

Hale made sure by the time she turned around he was already gone.

Saying goodbye would only make parting ways more painful. He had said goodbye in at least a hundred different ways, all without words.