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Ajliso clutched the two necklaces dangling from her neck.
They were hidden from everyone, as they were tucked into the collar of her slim
space suit. She breathed deeply, an old memory crossing her mind…
“Our mother gave us these?” asked Ajliso keenly,
poking at her necklace. She looked at her sister.
“Yeah,” her twin replied, showing no signs of
interest at the necklaces.
Sensing the disinterest in her sister’s tone
of voice, Ajliso said, “I bet it’d look brilliant if we washed these, you know.
Maybe it would match your dress.”
The twin tossed the necklace to her sister. “Go
ahead.”
Ajliso took the necklace rather groggily, rethinking
if she should be bossed around by her two-second-younger twin. She did it anyway,
washing hers and her sister’s necklace. They fit together perfectly beside each
other, forming the two curves at the top of a heart. Ajliso wondered which other
piece fit at the bottom…
Soon, she found out it belonged to her mother.
Ajliso walked into a store one day and found the bottom piece, determined to
buy it. In the end, Ajliso had two necklaces and her sister had one, which she
had most likely thrown away already.
On another day, Ajliso chuckled sadly to herself,
she had helped her twin with the world domination project. Her sister wanted
a machine to make every Aisha in Neopia have four ear stalks.
Thinking her twin would give something back to
her, Ajliso drew out a basic but complex plan on blueprint. She handed it to
her twin, and she took it without a single thank you, depressing Ajliso…
Aglyco. That was her name. Aglyco was the name
of her twin, the attempted world dominator, most likely content at this exact
moment. Unlike Aglyco, nobody in Neopia but Rosch and Eyelle knew about Ajliso.
That was why she was not in their records, nor ever would be…
Ajliso closed her eyes, breathing in the last
bit of air, and for the first time, believing that this monster world was merely
an illusion. It was.
***
Eyelle gasped as he watched the alien Aisha make her way from the odd building.
She had no oxygen tanks or suppliers, nor did she have a strap around her waist.
In fact, she looked exactly like a regular yellow Aisha, if she had not had
an extra pair of ears.
“Ajliso!” Eyelle squealed, for he could now
talk without the translator. He called his missing friend’s name a second before
he realized it was not her.
The Aisha turned around to look at Eyelle, her
deep blue eyes looking directly into the Shoyru’s. He hoped with all his heart
that this Aisha knew Ajliso, where she was, and they that could save her.
“Hi!” the Aisha said sweetly, her voice unfamiliar.
“Hello,” Eyelle forced himself to say, his heart
thumping loudly.
“My,” the Aisha said. “What are you two doing
out here, considering you both look plenty young? Would you like to come into
my office?”
Eyelle could feel his heart racing, as he nodded
intently. Perhaps this Aisha could help him, whether she knew Ajliso or not.
Perhaps she could just be the Neopet he needed.
The Aisha lead him into her building, flicking
on the light by the side of the doorway. The lights turned on to show the many
strange objects in the room. They were polished, glimmering and shining in the
incandescent lights.
“I guess a little introductions would be quite
pleasant,” the Aisha said gleefully. “I am Cheyenne, the alien Aisha.”
“I’m Eyelle,” the Shoyru said. He then pointed
to his Doglefox. “That is Rosch.”
“Nice to meet you, Eyelle and Rosch. Now,” Cheyenne
said, “what is it that you two would like?”
“Ajliso,” Eyelle replied simply. “We want to
save Ajliso, wherever she is, whatever she’s doing.”
Cheyenne seemed to ponder for a minute, then
smiled. “I have just the thing for you, if you’d like. It’s a time machine,
really, but it can transport you to anyplace you’ve been to in your lifetime.”
Eyelle gasped, and followed Cheyenne’s hand as
she beckoned toward a large metal cylinder with buttons covering most of the
insides.
“It would take about a week to get it up and
moving again,” she explained. Then she sighed, adding, “I wish I could have
used it a few years ago.”
“Why can’t you?” inquired Eyelle.
“I can’t change the face of history after years
of being written,” Cheyenne said sadly. She shook her head. “Well, I won’t charge
you anything, but just to liven things up, could you promise me to allow me
to meet this Ajliso when you’ve done?”
“Yes!” Eyelle exclaimed. “Yes, we’d be more
than glad to.”
“Alright then,” Cheyenne said, grinning. “I’ll
see you in a week, okay, little guy?”
The week past by rather quickly, as Eyelle and
Rosch both had a large amount of hope. They continued their daily traveling,
except with much more happiness and cheer. They also visited Cheyenne every
evening just to chat. It seemed everything was getting better, and when Ajliso
returned, it would have been even better.
At long last, a week past. Cheyenne gave them
a small slip of instructions for the time machine. Unfortunately, the ‘time
machine’ was merely a name, Cheyenne had once explained, because it could not
travel forward in time.
Eyelle and Rosch went inside the machine, their
hearts racing. Eyelle examined the paper thoroughly before pushing the small
buttons upon the surface of the machine. There was a combination of buttons
to press, and they followed the instructions as best as possible.
When they were at their last button, as Cheyenne
had detected, she said, “Good luck.”
Visions and pictures whirled around the two,
the colours mixed and puzzlement surrounded them. Eyelle and Rosch held their
breaths, as dizziness had begun to claim them. They closed their eyes tightly;
cool air rushing past them, as they finally landed on the grass.
Eyelle looked around. This was where Ajliso’s
supposed space ship was, and where he had last seen her. His eyes focused to
a figure lying in front of him. Ajliso was sprawled on the ground, a triumphant
smile on her face, clutching two necklaces.
“Ajliso…” Eyelle muttered, nearing her.
Ajliso smiled and picked herself up. “You came
back for me,”
Eyelle nodded happily, restraining himself from
doing back flips and jumping up and down. Rosch barked happily as a welcome
for Ajliso, who was more than glad to accept his licks.
“We have to go back now,” Eyelle said, looking
at the slip of paper in his paw.
“I’m glad that we do,” Ajliso replied with a
broader smile. “It wasn’t very fun here, battling a big Isha blob thing. No
doubt other monsters will be out for revenge, but it was fair enough.”
Eyelle nodded, looking at the paper. It gave
instructions of how to get back, which was to say the numbers of the buttons
he had pressed backwards, standing around where he had appeared. Each button
had a marked and clear number in the machine.
Eyelle, Rosch, and Ajliso stood on the clump
of grass. Eyelle called out the numbers loudly and clearly, as they zoomed forward
into the present time.
They opened their eyes. Many alien Aishas crowded
in the room, every one of them smiling broadly. Cheyenne was standing closest
to the ‘time machine’, as the three climbed out.
“Oh no,” Ajliso said. “This isn’t another trick,
is it?”
“Nope,” a gruff voice said, coming from the
side. They all turned to see the real commander. “We escaped from our
captors. Mostly thanks to you.”
“But -- how?” Ajliso stammered, surprised. “How
did you all get here? How did I help? What’s going on?”
Eyelle grinned. He had forgot to tell her they
had traveled back in time to retrieve Ajliso. As though the commander read his
mind he said, “Did you not know that you traveled a week forward in time?”
“I what?” Ajliso exclaimed in shock. Cheyenne
smiled. Eyelle pointed at her, and Ajliso understood. “Thank you.”
“After you had defeated the monster,” the commander
said, as though they had never paused. “Most of their guards and defense had
been terminated, which provided us more than enough time to escape. We came
here and saw this young alien Aisha, telling us everything.”
“Oh,” Ajliso said bluntly. “Well, it’s nice
to see you all. Does this mean that we’re all going… home?”
There was a deathly silence filling the room.
Eyelle had a prickle of fear and sadness flooding him. He would part from Ajliso,
yet again. Rosch made no sound, not even the faintest whimper. The alien Aisha
troops had heard of Ajliso’s adventure, and knew it was like departing from
home, as they all had done once before.
“It was merely your decision,” the commander
explained. “You may choose any path you wish, although in certain cases I would
immediately say ‘no’. This is a special case, as you have saved all of us, and
perhaps even the whole of Neopia.”
“Umm,” Ajliso said slowly. “That was a dramatic
cliché, Sir.”
“I wouldn’t have made it so if it was not for
your actions,” the commander said in his rough voice. “But it is your choice
whether you’d like to follow us or not.”
“Just tell me one thing. Do you have Eyelle’s
mother?” asked Ajliso, as Eyelle’s heart leaped.
The commander turned. The Aisha troops made a
pathway for a glamourous-looking Shoyru walked through, her face pale, but it
lightened when she turned to Eyelle. Her face then turned bright with excitement
and happiness as the two came together again as a family.
Ajliso smiled, as everyone followed after her.
Rosch barked and ran around the room cheerily. Suddenly, Ajliso’s grin faded.
She turned to the commander.
“Sir, please give me until tonight to make my
decision.”
“Very well,” the commander said. “Tonight.”
***
Throughout the rest of the day, Ajliso, Eyelle, Rosch, and Eyelle’s mother
had a fun time, chatting and doing various activities in Neopia Central. They
went in parks, shared stories, and ate together.
At last, night arrived. The stars filled the
navy blue sky, which twinkled at them. The silver sphere of the moon gleamed
beautifully above them.
Ajliso stood before her fellow ship members,
the commander, and Eyelle’s reunited family. They were amongst the plains, where
many Neopians did not wonder. It was a beautiful night, a gentle zephyr blowing
the grass gently.
“Do you wish to stay, Ajliso?” the commander
questioned.
Eyelle’s heart skipped a beat. He was looking
at Ajliso, trying to catch her eye, but she did not look his way. She couldn’t
go, she just couldn’t. With the events today they did together, he was almost
certain she would not go.
“No,” Ajliso said. “No, I do not wish to stay.”
Eyelle’s eyes widened. The troops looked at each
other and began to mutter, but fell silent after a few seconds. The Shoyru could
feel his heart tearing up, his stomach twisting and turning. No, she couldn’t
go. He wouldn’t let her. But something inside of him said it was her choice,
and it was her choice of whether to go or stay, and he could not keep her from
her chosen path…
“The spaceship is my home, and it always will
be. When I first signed up, I knew what years would be ahead of me, and I will
not abandon you now. I will continue to help Neopians, no matter what the cost.”
Ajliso said robotically, as though she were a machine being controlled and revising
the rules.
“If that is your wish,” the commander said.
“Then it will be done.”
“Please give me a few minutes,” Ajliso said.
She walked over to Eyelle and scooped him up in her hands, walking away from
the troops, Rosch, and Eyelle’s mother. She walked until the troops could no
longer be seen.
“Eyelle,” Ajliso said softly. “I –”
The Shoyru made no effort to hide his emotion.
Tears streamed down his cheeks, muttering, “Why? Why?”
“Eyelle,” Ajliso repeated gently. “You’re my
friend. I had the happiest times of my life here on Neopia, with you and Rosch.
I don’t want you to think that it was for nothing, because as long as you keep
the memories, I will always be here.”
Eyelle nodded. He wiped his tears quickly and
looked at Ajliso. She took a necklace from her neck and smiled. It was her piece,
the one that paired up with her sister’s. Ajliso explained to him about the
necklaces while putting it around his neck. It was much too big, but she assured
him that he would grow into it quickly.
Her space ship landed a few meters away from
her, the door opening and Eyelle’s mother and Rosch walking from it. Ajliso
turned toward the sky.
“It’s a beautiful night tonight,” she said.
She pointed up toward a group of stars. “If you ever see those, think of me.
If you ever need someone to talk to, remember that I will always be there, thinking
of you day and night.” She paused, as though she could not get the words through
her mouth. “And Eyelle…”
Eyelle turned to her.
“…goodbye.”
Ajliso went inside the ship, Eyelle’s mother
and Rosch running up to Eyelle. The ship rose from its position, Eyelle watching
it as it hovered into the air and shot up into space.
In the distance, in the form of the stars, Eyelle
could spot Ajliso smiling down at him. He smiled back to her, clutching the
necklace around his neck. He breathed in deeply, whispering,
“Goodbye.”
The End
Note: A special thanks to Peachifruit who allowed me to write this and use
one of her characters. I hope you have enjoyed the series!
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