The main entrance to the Intergalactic Resources facility is guarded by two men.

  Clad in uniforms textured with a digital camouflage of gray, brown, and black, differing from the greens and light browns of IWV's.

  Three steps of gray stone stairs lead up to them, a small roof of stone sheltering their heads, held up by round pillars of equally bland color.

  The entrance’s materials don't match the rest of the building, but it manages to capture the same apathy and simplicity regardless.

  This entryway meant for pedestrian traffic, would have been completely deserted if not for the guards, a stark contrast compared to the landing site before.

  A dirt path leading down from it, trampled in the middle of red grass and small swaying pink flowers, proving it had its busy moments too.

  Amethyst touches down on the trail, in full view of the guards.

  Her unfurling wings shatter, raining shards onto the dirt, faintly clinking against the pebbles and sinking amidst the blades of grass, making for quite the entrance.

  Pineapple jumps to the ground from Frank’s lap first, before Amethyst sets him down gracefully on his feet.

  Despite them being caught unaware, the guards quickly level their laser rifles and aim at them.

  “It’s you! The man and the purple menace!” The young army man on the right of the door shouts, blond short hair bursting out from under his cap.

  Pineapple growls dissatisfied with the lack of recognition for him.

  “Don’t you move,” A man wearing black sunglasses, which completely hide his eyes, orders them.

  Not receiving any extra attention despite its protest, Pineapple sits down to spectate and see how the scene unfolds.

  “At ease, we aren’t hostile, we just need to have a word with the Director of this place.” Frank calms the men with his hands held up in front of him.

  “You think we’d just let you waltz right to her?”

  The left guard looks them down from over his black sleek shades, revealing his dark brown eyes, a deep scar running over his left eye.

  “What kind of guards would that make us then, huh?”

  “We will not harm her, I promise,” Amethyst says.

  The bespectacled man flicks his weapon’s battery off from safety, his buddy following.

  They raise their guns from their hips up to their shoulders and sharpen up their focus as they both take aim at Amethyst.

  “You should leave.”

  “We aren’t going anywhere until we meet her,” Amethyst says back.

  “Come on now, don’t you want to capture us? Take us to the Director, and if she still wants to detain us after she hears us out, then so be it.”

  “You’re just willingly giving yourselves up?” The bespectacled man asks.

  “We are?” Amethyst asks confused.

  “Trust me, it’ll be fine.”

  Frank says to the guards: “You’ll get to do your job in the end, just take us to her before jailing us and it’s a win-win.”

  “I don’t know…” The young green-eyed man looks at his pal.

  “Are you really entertaining their idea, Sam? Larsenia is too important to waste her time with them-”

  “She’ll want to hear what we have to say.”

  “We can do this the hard, or the easy way,” Amethyst says thinking this phrase appropriate for the moment.

  “The bladed insect has a point. Or do you want to fight her, Douglas?”

  “I suppose... if they’d want to harm the Director, they’d just go through us first without any sort of dialogue... And it’s Doug.”

  He pinches the bridge of his nose and slightly shakes his head.

  “Fine… we will escort you there. You better keep your word.” He lowers his gun, puts the safety back on, and gestures to the double doors, a different, darker, shade of gray than the rest of the entrance.

  “So, being difficult is enough to thwart the great Douglas.” Sam blurts out.

  “Whose side are you on?”

  The black shades stare at Sam, his reflection answering with just a shrug.

  Pineapple stands up and stretches in large motions, its double tails, fluffy like cleaning dusters, vibrate along with the enjoyable act.

  “Thanks,” Frank says and takes the lead, pushing open the double doors, which reveal a beam of metal in the middle. He almost walks right at it.

  Moreover, the doors are loaded with springs, so they flap right back closed as he retreats from the near collision.

  “What a truly terrible door,” He says as he instead walks through the right one and holds it open.

  Pineapple takes the opportunity to zoom inside, stopping a few meters in, he observes the wide corridor busy with traffic opening before him: people, workers, walking and running, carrying packages, driving around on small machinery.

  What a perfect opportunity to run right in the thick of it, darting past the bewildered workers, zigzagging between their legs.

  Soon they'd all run after him in a frenzy, keeping up the chase and chaos for as long as he liked, until he'd finally 'accidentally' end up in a dead end.

  Right in the peak of their joy, when they'd finally think they caught the troublemaker, he'd turn around and zap them all with his radiance and make his escape.

  ...

  For the time being, the fantasy itself is enough for the alien cat, as he sits down elegantly to wait and wash up in the meantime, while his servants engage in some meaningless conversation.

  Sam’s face lights up, somebody finally agrees with him about the state of the door.

  “Right? Who thought it was a good idea to put that metal there? A real hazard I say!”

  “It’s supposed to be a two-lane door, you enter from the right while those leaving can use the left door…” Doug corrects him.

  “Oh.”

  “You are not supposed to fling both of them open, like some child who can't control themselves.”

  The sheer disappointment in his voice is enough to carry through his feelings, even with his hidden eyes and neutral expression.

  Frank feels a sting of shame, this wasn't the first double door he had opened with such disregard.

  Amethyst carefully steps up the narrow stone stairs and crouches underneath the roof.

  “Can I remove it though? I don't think I will fit inside otherwise.”

  “Can you?" Sam asks surprised.

  “I wouldn't mind getting rid of it, I have the right to fling open both doors if I want to!”

  Frank silently cheers on Sam's brave and inspiring conviction, deciding against voicing it himself.

  “Just watch,” Amethyst swooshes her hand blades into flames.

  “Hey, don’t-” Doug reaches out to stop Amethyst, but too late.

  She swings at the top of the metal beam, a clean cut, but a bit too long.

  “Sorry, I cut the other door a little too”

  A small slit on the left door, which oozes molten plastic, slowly melting the gap bigger.

  His hand stops in the air before it reaches Amethyst, the perpetually expressionless face replaced with an astonished gaping mouth.

  He quickly retains his composure and mutters under his breath:

  “Damn kids, the lot of 'em”

  “Amazing!” Sam exclaims leaning forward.

  “Wait, I’ll hold the other door for you”

  He slips past Amethyst and pushes the left door open too.

  “Okay go!”

  Amethyst crouches further and reaches the bottom of the beam, cutting it with ease, it falls inside with a clang and a clatter.

  “The door is finally fixed!”

  The other guard grunts and pushes his sunglasses deeper onto his nose.

  Before Amethyst can walk inside, Doug shows up to her side and grabs her arm.

  Amethyst turns to look at him bewildered.

  “Don’t even think of pulling any more tricks with those blades of yours,” The black screens stare at her.

  “But I don’t do tricks?” Amethyst answers confused.

  He lets go of her and cuts in front, kicking the steel beam loudly, it launches to the right and hits the wall and Frank's big brown boots.

  “Hey!”

  “Sam, take the rear,” he shouts as he walks on past Frank without a word or a glance at him.

  “Yes sir!” Sam shouts back.

  Doug stops ahead at the wide corridor's edge and waits, Pineapple looks up at the man curiously.

  Sam follows Amethyst intently as she lumbers past him and through the door without difficulty, other than having to stay constantly hunched.

  They gather on the threshold to the wide and taller main corridor, some colored lines snake on the ground as guides, seven lines for left and right, each a different color, fourteen in total.

  The halls are well-lit with lamps sunken into the white ceiling, walls a surprisingly light gray color.

  “Alright Pineapple, you're coming with me,” Frank says and picks up Pineapple, holding it against his chest.

  The cat looks up at him long and hard, but surrenders to its fate.

  Doug gestures for them to follow and takes the lead to the right.

  Sam keeps the rear, they march through the crowded corridor, however, they are given plenty of space ahead of time.

  “W-what is it doing here!?”

  “They finally caught one!”

  Some of the passersby's gossiping reaches the group's ears.

  “Aaagh!” One man screams and runs to a room along the corridor to hide, slamming the door loudly.

  “Now to the right,” Doug gestures with his hand showing the way.

  They obey and take a right to a narrower corridor, the orange, red, and white line as their floor-bound companions.

  Only a few personnel walk along this corridor, their clothes being fine and clean, unlike the overall wearing workers, however, they too eye the strange group with barely concealed curiosity.

  “Next left.”

  They walk down an even narrower corridor, just wide enough for Amethyst to walk in normally and still have room for a person to walk past her.

  Only the white line left to keep them company, the sole survivor of its fourteen brothers.

  “Stop,” Doug holds out a hand. “I’ll get the door.”

  He knocks on the door twice.

  “Director, you have visitors.”

  “Come in!” A muffled voice of a lady sounds through.

  “Better brace yourself…” Doug says back and opens the door, stepping to the side with it.

  Frank steps into the room holding Pineapple, followed by Amethyst.

  The Director is a young-looking woman with long blond hair and glasses, donning a white shirt: a mix of typical office attire and an army commander’s uniform.

  She abruptly stands up upon seeing them.

  “We are here to talk,” Amethyst says.

  The director sits back down, surrounded by a U-shaped table, filled with monitors, papers, and handheld devices.

  Despite the sheer amount of stuff, the office appears orderly.

  She lays her hands on the table reserved and stares at the invaders in her office.

  With a thoughtful look in her blue eyes and a hint of irritation on her cheekbones, a moment passes in silence.

  “Go on then, speak.”

  “We would-”

  “Not you, the purple one,” She cuts off Frank without hesitation.

  “Please leave my planet.” Amethyst talks back sternly and meets the Director's challenging gaze.

  “Why should we do that? We own it.”

  “Because you are not welcome here.”

  “That’s unfortunate but not grounds for us to abandon all of our investments, the millions of dollars poured into this facility and the operation. We acquired this asset legally.”

  Her interest in the conversation seems to waver as she sizes up Frank and Pineapple in the middle of her speech.

  “This is the Tyrchid’s home... my home, do you want to mess with the... ISSA?”

  Amethyst parrots what she heard before.

  “Is that so?” She adjusts herself, rolls on the office chair to the side, and half-disappears behind a monitor, typing on the keyboard right before her.

  “Well, to be honest with you, the application is submitted, we are giving you ahead notice to avoid any galactic repercussions,” Frank chimes in and pets the sleepy Pineapple in his arms.

  Larsenia focuses her visible eye on Frank as he speaks, but does not respond.

  The clicking of a keyboard fills the air again.

  Frank takes out his communicator and checks the galactic standard time it is set on.

  “In fact, why don’t you tune into... let's say channel 888 news right now.”

  The director projects the channel's broadcast on the left wall from her computer with impressive speed.

  “Reportedly, women over the age of 35 have an increased risk of catching the Dust Sentence -virus, spreading throughout Metropolis once again. It was first seen about ten years ago, diminishing in active cases steadily since however it has made a new resurgence-”

  Larsenia slams the keyboard and mutes the broadcast.

  “Are you mocking me? H-how could you tell I was really that old?” Larsenia's cheeks are puffed up she gets up from her chair, pink spreading on her face.

  “Guards!”

  “No no! 35 isn’t even old! In fact, I’m- no that’s not the point!”

  The two guards surround them from both sides, Doug instantly grabs his arm and starts pulling him towards the door.

  Amethyst glares at Frank, disappointed.

  “Just- just hold on a minute, that was just unfortunate timing! How could I have known exactly on the dot what they’d report and when!” Frank fights against Doug's pull.

  Larsenia is not convinced and Sam grabs Frank's other arm, Pineapple wakes up and jumps off his lap onto the floor.

  “L-look, they’re just about to cover it! Just unmute it, please!”

  Larsenia slowly sits down, a single finger descending on the keyboard, and a key clacks.

  The guards still hold Frank but stop pulling him away.

  “And our next story is from the Intergalactic Sapient Species Association,” The left of the two news reporters say, a man, by the name of Ur'kai, according to the text on screen.

  He's well dressed in a black suit with a snazzy lime and lemon-colored tie.

  His rough big red hands lay on the table, very slightly gesturing with his speech, though the scene is more so dominated by the black curved horns on his head in the shape of a G.

  All traits of the human subspecies, known as Ashen—not a Demon, calling them as such was a grave offense.

  The right news anchor, a bald woman with modest makeup, slightly red lips, and long black lashes adorns her striking orange eyes.

  This beautiful tanned woman wears a simple red dress, a blurb reveals her name to be Ninnha, as she continues the broadcast:

  “ISSA has received a new application from a new Sapient species, though it is not yet approved, their representatives will soon embark to Midnight Iris to meet this new Tyrchid species in their own habitat.”

  Larsenia’s eyes widen in surprise and everyone in the room immerses themselves into following the news.

  “As is tradition, all ISSA documents and applications are public information and handled post haste.

  Just like here on Channel 888, you can trust us to be on top of all current affairs, as you dear viewers are right on time for this galaxy's first coverage!"

  Ur’kai speaks with a rough but excitable voice, smirking a charming sharp-teethed smile.

  “Here you see the first ever picture of a Tyrchid, it was provided to them with the application.”

  The camera pans to the left of Ninnha, and she presents a picture of Amethyst.

  She's in a white cage with a fierce look in her eyes, just about to strike the force field with a flaming blade.

  “Not to worry citizens, the applicant described that this picture is of a misunderstanding and the Tyrchid in question is no longer imprisoned.

  Though clearly not happy about this situation, let’s not get off on the wrong foot shall we?”

  “If any Tyrchids are watching right now, we hope that this incident does not sully our future relations” Ur’kai quips as the view returns to show them both again, the picture having disappeared.

  The camera zooms backward and the two news anchor's chairs automatically spread further apart, a graph appears in the middle of them.

  “A period of much economic and cultural growth always soon follows after a new species is officially granted their protection and made an official citizen species of our galaxy.”

  She gestures with her hand to the many lines and blocks on the graph, showing positive spikes when new members have joined, with an overall upward trend over time too.

  “Opening up easy ways for the new species to build relations and establish trade, a beneficial arrangement for all involved if there ever was one” The Ashen adds.

  “I think I speak for all when I wish the Tyrchids good luck so that they can join us soon as a new sapient species. We will welcome you with open arms!”

  Ninnha symbolically opens her arms, showing off her red nails.

  “Hope to see you in the Metropolis soon!” Ur'kai performs a gesture somewhere in between a hat rise and a salute.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Next, a new discovery has just been made on the ruined Earth’s excavation site-”

  Larsenia mutes the broadcast again and intently turns to look at the visitors in silence, her arms resting on her desk.

  “Frank… what was that picture of me?” Amethyst whispers.

  “Sorry… I didn’t have any good ones and I was in a hurry…”

  The director holds her head and slowly shakes it.

  She looks back at the visitors and adjusts her glasses further back up her nose.

  “Well, it seems you have us beat then..." A heavy sigh escapes her lips.

  “Very well, who do I owe the displeasure of being outwitted by?”

  “Frank,” He brings a hand to his chest.

  “Amethyst,” Amethyst mimics the same gesture with her blade.

  “Frank… Amethyst...” She looks at each of them.

  “You have my word, we will depart within the hour... however, there is a condition.”

  “What is it?” Amethyst asks.

  Larsenia raises to half-standing from her chair and looks over her desk at the yellow cat struggling with the whims of evolution, unable to scratch behind its ear with its back leg, the cone being in the way.

  “Give me that cat.”

  Pineapple freezes in place at the mention of its name, before perking up and looking up at Larsenia.

  “Why would you want Pineapple?” Frank asks, as the cat jumps on the table of its own volition, right before Larsenia, whose face lights up.

  “What an amusing name, it really suits you, a cute name for a cute cat.”

  She pets the cat’s silky smooth fur and practically starts glowing as Pineapple nuzzles against her hand.

  “You know Pineapple is really bad-natured, he’ll attack you for no reason, is proud and selfish...”

  Larsenia scratches Pineapple behind its ear, and it starts to purr.

  “He’s also really loud and annoyingly bright at the most inconvenient of times.”

  “Oh?” Intrigue shines through Larsenia’s voice.

  Pineapple turns to look at Frank, smugly, before prancing around on the table and brushing against Larsenia’s arm again.

  “A-anyway, we can’t possibly give you Pineapple” Frank steps forward and quickly picks up the happy purring cat, too busy to notice while being doted on by her.

  It resists and swishes with its legs in the air during the lift.

  He holds it with straight arms to stay out of its claws' range as the cat growls deeply.

  Larsenia's expression turns sour as Frank takes Pineapple away.

  “Hmph, I was just kidding, I-I hate cats and all cat-like creatures.”

  Pineapple struggles harder in Frank’s lap, its nails drawn and swishing at the air, at Larsenia now instead.

  “So you’ll still leave?” Amethyst asks hopeful.

  “Yes yes... Now please leave my office.”

  Larsenia brings a hand to her temples and massages them, her eyes closed.

  The guards escort them out of the door, as soon as it closes, a crackle sounds from the loudspeakers embedded and hidden somewhere in the walls.

  “Attention all personnel, Attention all personnel, this is Director Larsenia speaking, you are to evacuate this planet within the hour, take what equipment and resources you can with you.

  Do not panic, just be glad we are finally leaving this shit hole.

  “I repeat-”

  Ahead, personnel hurriedly run around in the previously tranquil three-line, wide corridor.

  “I trust you’ll find your own way out,” Doug says to them while walking away from them, not bothering to wait around for a response.

  “We’ll be fine!” Frank shouts after him

  “Looks like you'll go free this time,” Sam says dryly and goes after Doug.

  “Bye, Sam!” Amethyst waves after him.

  Frank is about to say farewell too, but something about Sam's tone makes him pause.

  Do I know him from somewhere?

  ...

  It can't be, he'd have to be as old as me by now.

  Both of the guards soon join the current of people and disappear, while Amethyst, Frank, and Pineapple are left alone in the corridor.

  The cat starts struggling in his lap.

  “You won’t run off to do mischief or go get back at Larsenia if I let you down?”

  The cat just stares at him silently.

  “I’m sure he won’t, Pineapple is a good cat.”

  Frank’s communicator starts vibrating in his pocket.

  “Okay down you go, someone’s calling me.”

  He dredges it out of his trousers pocket and looks at the caller’s name.

  A tired sigh is let loose as he thinks:

  It really is just one thing right after the other...

  “Amethyst, Rocco is calling me, the man who captured you back in the hangar.”

  Frank walks backward, deeper along the corridor, to escape from the noise of the wider one, and to make sure they are not clobbered by the door if Larsenia wishes to exit her office.

  “Him...? Are you going to answer it?”

  Amethyst follows after him, Pineapple underneath her, it seems to think it an interesting place to be, after all, she was the only one this could be done to, well, without tripping said person.

  Frank stops, midway to the next door, he fidgets around with the phone-like device before answering her.

  “Yeah, I think I should.”

  Amethyst walks close to Frank.

  “But what does he want with you?"

  “I have a pretty good guess.”

  The phone still vibrates in his hand and he finally accepts the video call.

  Rocco’s bandage-wrapped head greets them, along with his incandescent face.

  “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?”

  “What’s up, Rocco?”

  “You know full well what’s up! Don’t play dumb with me! You are behind that ISSA application!”

  “I sure am, just one visit to ISSA's public database would tell you as much.”

  Rocco's angry rant suddenly ends as this unexpected answer pulls him out of his thoughts.

  “What are you trying to pull? You know there are harsh sanctions for submitting fake ISSA applications!”

  Rocco asks, mostly calm now.

  “Fake? Do you not know Tyrchid’s are sapient?”

  “I highly doubt that, I-”

  Frank tilts the camera so that Amethyst's head appears in the shot.

  “Hello,” She smiles contentedly.

  “And besides, why are you even calling me? I thought we were pretty much done after last time. Can't let go of your favorite employee?”

  Rocco grits his teeth.

  “This is not over, you’ll see!”

  “I highly doubt that,” Frank copies his answer and smirks, though it is a smile devoid of ridicule.

  “Just you w-”

  The sound of a door opening and slamming shut is heard through the phone speakers, Rocco looks away from the camera.

  “Boss! The Space Coppers are here!”

  “FRANK! W-why!?” His face fills the whole screen, the red builds up on his cheeks before fading as his cobalt-blue eyes grow panicked.

  “How could you do that to us... Did it all mean nothing to you!?”

  His gaze restlessly darts between Frank, Amethyst, and somewhere off-screen.

  “No hard feelings Rocco.”

  “I’ll take you down with me!” He focuses on Frank again and points a fat finger at him.

  “Go ahead tell 'em all you know, I'm all clean. They freed me of all charges" Frank can't help but feel a little smug.

  “Even to what you did before we hired you?”

  “How do you-? O-of course.”

  Amethyst eyes up Frank without turning her head, a crack in his facade tells her the truth.

  She had seen Frank lie so many times, she'd started picking up on some of his cues.

  “Why... this can’t be happening,” Rocco despairs and covers his head with his hands, grasping at hair that he doesn't have.

  The phone drops from his hand onto the table, showing only the soothing light blue ceiling of his office.

  “If you plead guilty maybe they’ll let you get off easy and put you in the open wing of Hadel, I hear the planet is quite beautiful actually.”

  “I… I thought you were on my side… that you understood me… I see how it is now...”

  Rocco's voice is heard quieter from off-screen.

  “Two can play that game.”

  He cuts the call and stands up from his lavish leather chair.

  “Talk to me Bruce, how far are they into the facility?”

  “Inside at least, I don’t know-”

  Bruce is interrupted as the closed door behind him slams into his back, sending him face-first on the floor.

  He barely manages to prevent his head from smashing against the hard pastel blue floor, causing everything else to painfully hit it instead.

  “Rocco, I presume?” A man dressed in a decorated Police uniform enters from between two burly men who broke down the door.

  His nameplate reads: Chief Aldricht. A young man, who looks barely eighteen.

  “Take them in.”

  The groaning Bruce is ripped up from the ground and his arms twisted behind his back.

  “Aghh that hurts-!”

  Steel cuffs are fastened around his wrists, still the number one choice for all restraining needs.

  So this is how it ends…

  Rocco stands still with empty eyes, as he is cuffed too, showing no resistance.

  Aldricht approaches him and walks behind him as he is held in place by the other policeman.

  “You should know better than to sign up for an organization of my uncle.”

  He kicks Rocco from behind and he falls to his knees, barely avoiding falling further.

  “Or well, the wrong uncle. I guess the mighty Crondestons never could recover from that day...

  Father really did an excellent job.”

  As Rocco drops to his knees, his mind returns to a hospital room, all too familiar to him.

  Inside, two iron frame beds, a window that overlooked the town, and the continuous, never-ending, beep of heart monitors.

  The rancid smell of musty sheets and stifling air vividly comes back to him.

  Couldn’t even wait for your son on his big day.

  This isn't enough?

  …

  I see.

  He covers his face with his hands but tears do not come.

  …

  Instead, his face only contorts in seething anger.

  His whole body feels hot, as does his face, maybe his tear canals were completely dried up, arid, and dusty as the desert climate outside.

  Maybe it was something else.

  Rocco stands up but does not look at his parents.

  His ears ring with the constant single beep, deafeningly playing without end.

  The blood rushing in his ears grows louder and overwhelms the sound, making his loud heartbeat the reigning champion of the discord.

  Hanging his head like his neck had no bones, he takes a swaying step, with each step towards the door his stride steadies and his head rises.

  He slams the door open, it hits the back cement wall so hard it slightly comes off its hinges.

  As he steps through, it swings back, and the nameplate “Crondeston” falls down, covering the floor with small glass shards from its protective glass.

  Hurried footsteps echo from the bend of the white corridor behind him, he walks the other way for the exit and passes by reception.

  “How were your parents doing?” A sprightly young lady peeks from behind a monitor, sitting at a wooden service desk.

  This sincere comment completely paralyzes him, his head clears as the red escapes his face.

  “Honestly? The best they’ve ever been,” He fails to procure a fake smile.

  “How delightful to hear.”

  She beams a smile so divine, it wrenches his heart, almost squeezing a tear loose.

  He looks away and quickly leaves the hospital as the receptionist’s phone rings.

  “Mister! Mister Crondeston!” The woman runs after him and hails from the entrance, between the automatic glass doors.

  But the man already has quite the head start, his black locks flowing in the wind in his wake.

  “Come back, your parents-!”

  He keeps on walking through the sandy parking lot underneath the scorching sun and ignores the receptionist’s pleas.

  “They- They’ve…” her voice trails off.

  ***

  Rocco is kicked again and he free-falls on his face.

  His teeth strike against the blue tile floor, producing a terrible sound, followed by his wounded forehead right after, amplifying the pain tenfold. He bites his lip to stop himself from screaming.

  The taste of blood fills his mouth, his tongue automatically runs over his teeth and follows the trail, locating an empty space between his upper row.

  “Nothing to say? No pleas? No begging? Aren’t you the silent type” Aldricht continues to taunt him.

  “…”

  Did you not wait for me…

  because...

  you knew all along…

  I’d fail?

  “Are you really even him? Everyone always goes on and on about how harsh Rocco is, how he’s angry like no other, were all of those stories just fabrications?”

  “...”

  Did you always know…

  I wasn’t going to make it?

  Rocco presses his eyelids tightly shut to prevent the tears.

  Though it's a useless reaction, he couldn't cry even if he wanted to.

  “Fine then, let’s go.” The chief finally says, the henchmen grab Rocco from his suit’s collar and pull him to his feet.

  “…”

  That I’d never be successful like you...

  “Don’t worry, we’ll make you talk yet, nobody will have any complaints about how you are treated if it leads to the arrest of the real CEO of Intergalactic.”

  Him…

  Maybe all is not lost...

  A faint smile spreads on Rocco’s lips as he is dragged away.

  ***

  As Rocco's call is cut, Frank stares at the phone with mixed feelings.

  He brushes them aside and quickly checks his notification bar.

  Two alerts from his email:

  “Application received and in progress” from ISSA, received only minutes after he sent the email back in Viridian Macula.

  They're frighteningly fast to act.

  And another email titled “Re: Viridian Macula’s IWV facility” A reply from the Galactic Police.

  He feels the temptation to read it right away, his finger trembles over the email's notification, but he instead forms a fist and pulls his hand away.

  Amethyst notices this, still standing right next to him.

  He pockets his communicator away, he'd rather read the replies at a better time.

  “That’s that then. Midnight Iris is safe again.”

  Amethyst beams a smile as her eyes meet with Frank's.

  “As is my family.”

  “Yeah…”

  Uncomfortable memories cause him to look away.

  The susurration of steps, talking, and occasional shouts of the facility fill the silence.

  Pineapple nuzzles against Amethyst's hard leg and then at Frank's soft trousers.

  “Frank… A-are you going to leave?”

  Warily Frank meets Amethyst's sad eyes.

  “Do you want me to? I was going to ask if I could stay”

  “But what about your old life? Your home?”

  “Well... life at Viridian Macula wasn’t all bad, but recently I just couldn’t stop thinking of how I’ve been stuck there for over ten years...”

  “You've really been there that long?”

  “Haha, yeah,” Frank awkwardly scratches the back of his head, ruffling his long blond hair.

  “Besides, Viridian Macula isn’t even my home planet, Metropolis is, I just work- or worked there. So I don't really have anything there for me anymore...”

  Pineapple attacks his leg playfully, biting through his pants and wrapping its paws around his leg.

  “You don't sound so sure...”

  Frank finally notices Pineapple and lifts it up to his lap, onto its back, the cat starts to swish at his hair, to pull the long locks.

  “If I'll miss something, that'd be my cottage... Building it was a lot of work, but it was all worth it.”

  Frank has a hard time retaining focus in talking with his hair being pulled.

  “Not your camera? Didn’t you like photographing?” Amethyst asks surprised and amused at the display before her.

  “Well yes, but I’ve been thinking about it and the reason I loved it...”

  Frank separates some strands of hair from Pineapple's grasp.

  “I think it’s because I had to immortalize these creatures that I’d never get to see again otherwise.”

  Pineapple looks up at Frank, straight into his eyes as he scratches its stomach.

  “But I don’t need that if I live out here, all of Midnight Iris is here for us to explore and experience, that isn’t going to go anywhere.”

  He shifts his gaze to Amethyst and smiles warmly.

  “And neither are you, I’d hope.”

  “No, of course not, I just got here, silly.”

  Amethyst carefully brings her hand close to Pineapple who stops moving and looks a little terrified.

  She gently pets its stomach with the back of her wrist once and then backs off.

  “So what’s next now that we are both home? Wait for ISSA?”

  Pineapple keeps on staring at Amethyst like something truly unforgivable just went down.

  “Oh, actually I made a promise, there’s something I gotta do.”

  “A promise? To who?”

  Frank attempts to console the terrified Pineapple, but the cat remains stiff and unresponsive, despite his best petting.

  “You’ll see, come with me,” Amethyst teases and turns around in the corridor, her sharp legs clacking against the hard floor.

  “I think it's high time we left this place already.”