Chapter 16 - The Rescue

As we arrive at planet Sin we find multiple enemy ships in ruins drifting aimlessly through space.

And more of them trying to leave the atmosphere, but every-time it looks like one is about to get away it gets hit by crimson lightning and explodes.

Azaria. "Well looks like we've got a new secret weapon. "

Chloe. "No, my husband is back. And now we turn the tide of this war. I need to go planet side and help."

Zoe. "I'm coming as well."

Then I heard them behind me, almost in unison, "so are we." I look around to see the twins standing there."

Chloe. "That might not be the best of ideas, the last time he saw the 2 of you you tried to kill him and Zoe, he might not be too welcoming and it might end badly for both of you."

Crystal. "You need all the help you can get, and I'm sure he will be able to see we are not the same people we were back then."

Azaria. "She has a point, you go and help him, I will order the fighters to give air support."

Chloe. "Mother, no, we have seen that our weapons are ineffective against them."

Azaria. "Conventional weapons."

Chloe. "Mom you don't mean to use the anti matter cannons?"

Azaria. "I am, if his crimson light can destroy them then it means an anti matter charge can as well."

Chloe. "Mom...."

But it's too late. My mom gives the order the activate the anti matter generation weapons and charge all of them, I can feel the ship shaking as the dark matter harvesting docks opens up to draw in dark matter from the vacuum of space to convert into anti-matter.

I watch in shock as my mother goes from the queen of peace to warrior.

Azaria. "Target all enemy crafts and fire at will."

We watch for another minute as the screen lights up with thousands of enemy crafts heading our way and just then the targeting system activates and you can see it tracking ships and then multiple beams would fire in their direction, beams so dark, so black that space looks light compared to them, as the beams burn through their targets the ships just vanish into nothingness as the anti matter converts all matter into nothingness.

I turn around and made my way to the hanger where our ships are still stored. We all enter to find my ship and Sins ship waiting for us.

Zoe. "So which one are we taking?"

Chloe. "His ship."

Zoe. "Don't you think he will be a bit upset at us using his ship without permission?"

Chloe. "No, it's our ship and with what he can do I doubt he would ever use it again."

We all run into his ship and as it detects us it starts to power up by itself. I grab his wrist gauntlet and put it on as it helps to link to the controls.

Crystal. "So why are we taking this one again?"

Chloe. "It's got weapons we need, and it's smaller and will therefore be easier to pilot through that." I point at the screen showing the swarms of enemy ships flying around.

Christine, "you want to fly though that? I changed my mind, I'm staying."

Chloe. "Too late."

We already left the hanger and we are making our way down to the planet's surface, I'm having a hard time dodging all of the enemy ships as they are everywhere and they keep firing at us, luckily this ships hull is designed to absorb the energy output from energy weapons and then use it to charge our alpha blast cannon.

Zoe. "Uhm Chloe. "

Chloe. "Not now, I need to focus. "

Zoe. "I know, but why is there a red light flashing on this screen next to you? Are we going to die?"

That's when I look and I see it's the notification that the alpha cannon is ready to fire. I look at her and smile, "no, we are not dying, not here. " that's when I press it and in a flash of light most of the enemy ships lose power and starts falling towards the ground, some burning up in the atmosphere and others exploding as they hit the ground.

Zoe. "Okay. What was that?"

Azaria on the transmission, "I also want to know."

Chloe. "There will be time for bed time stories later mom, where is he?"

Azaria. "We are trying to track him, but his moving to fast, he seems to be all over the place and everywhere at once and nowhere at all."

Chloe. "How is that possible? We can track anything up to the speed of light."

Azaria. "I don't know, but it seems that the more he fights the more powerful he becomes."

Chloe. "Any of our people on the ground hurt?"

Azaria, "strangely enough, not one. We are receiving strange transmissions from them."

Chloe. "Strange?"

Azaria. "Yes, they are cheering him on."

Chloe. "From the most feared being in the universe to the most admired warrior in a few hours. "I could just smile.

Since we can't track him down I decide to land the ship where the most action is, hoping he would come to us, as we exit the ship we immediately come under heavy fire from enemy energy weapons, as we prepare ourselves to get killed from the firing weapons they suddenly stop and the sky around us goes crimson red, the next moment there is a blast of crimson lightning in all directions and the enemy fire stops.

We all crawl out from behind the walls where we were hiding and look around us, a few seconds ago this area was crawling with enemies, flooded by their ships, and now there is no sign of them.

Then I hear crystal scream, I look at her to see her pointing in the air, pale in her face, her sister stands next to her, also pale and shaking.

I turn around slowly, expecting an enemy ship to be there and kill us all any second now. But instead I saw him, he is in the air, just floating, flying, but in one place looking at us, as he comes down he lands in-front of me.

Sin. "You shouldn't be here."

Chloe. "We came to help."

Sin. "And I almost lost you, your blue light won't have any effect against their ships."

Chloe. "How do you know that?"

Sin. "That was my first attempt, I tried it."

Chloe. "Why? "

He then looks at me and I can see his eyes has changed, it's glowing crimson red, the crimson lines running all over his face and neck and hands, the rest of his body is covered by his armour. "Because I wanted to avoid becoming this."

Chloe. "It's not permanent, you are still you."

He then looks behind me and he sees Zoe and the twins. "Why are they here?"

Zoe. "I volunteered, you can do with our help."

He just looks past her at the twins. I hear one of them say in a shaky voice, "Uhm Chloe, I'm scared."

I move between him and them, "please don't hurt them."

He still looks at them. "I remember you, both of you, the last time I saw you, you tried to kill me."

Crystal, "please show us mercy."

He looks at her, "I'm not going to hurt you, but you shouldn't be here, don't you think? You placed your unborn child in danger. "

I look at crystal in shock, I never knew she was pregnant.

She just looks at him in shock.

Crystal. "How did you know?"

Sin. "You've been holding your hand over your lower midsection since you got out of the ship, and your blue light is fading."

Chloe. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I'm slowly walking up to her, she's almost crying now, " he is right, you can't put yourself or your child in danger."

Crystal, crying now, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to help."

Sin, "go back to Azaria's ship. " just then he lifts his hand and she is surrounded by blue light and she's gone.

Azaria. "Why is crystal back on my bridge?"

Chloe. "Sin sent her back, she's pregnant."

Azaria, "any more surprises?"

Chloe. "Let's hope not. "

He then walks over to Christine and looks at her, "why did you not stay with your child in the ship?"

Chloe, "how did you know she has a child?"

Sin, "because of this, grabbing her wrist and turning it around, I'm sure this is not the name of a girlfriend tattooed on your wrist."

Chloe. "Okay so we also have a child and so does Zoe. So does most of the pilots fighting the enemy in space right now. "

He looks at me, "good point. But the armour you are wearing won't suffice."

Chloe. "So you are going to send us all back to the ship, after everything we went through to get to you."

Sin. "No, but their weapons burn through Seleon armour like it's not even there, my armour is the only thing it can't even scratch."

Zoe. "Yeah Uhm the last time I checked they don't make that armor, yours is pure energy. It's not like we can recreate it."

Chloe. "She's right."

Sin. Smiling now, "is she?"

Just then a few of our ground fighters come running at us, but I notice that their armor also looks different, as they get closer I can make out that they are covered in similar armor to him.

I look back at him just in time to see him lift his hand and blast us all with crimson light, I expect to die, but when the light fades I look down and notice that my armor is now covered in crimson light, I look around me to see Zoe and Christine got the same crimson light armor.

Christine, "I don't understand, my sister and I tried to kill you, why protect us now?"

Sin. "The past is the past, forgive and forget, I've done much worse."

As he turns to walk away he gets hit by multiple energy weapons from the enemy, I look around to see multiple enemy ground crafts approaching all firing at him simultaneously and the blast throws him back up into the air and right through a building and as he goes through the building the building starts to crack.

Chloe. "Noooo!!!!!!"

Then one of my soldiers grabs me as I am also about to fly in his direction, yes I can also fly, I use to be the only one in my species that can fly, but now it seems he can as well.

The soldier pulls me back, "stay down, he will be fine, he took a few of those blast already, they catch him off guard every time he gets distracted to help someone, but he should be back any moment now, just a bit more angry then before. "

Just then I see the building burst open and a crimson line flash past us and the next moment all the enemy ground crafts explode.

I'm still looking around to find him when I hear him behind me. "Sorry about that, I hate been interrupted. "

I look around to see him standing there, "what just happened?"

Sin, "oh, they wanted to play so I played."

Zoe. "Well somethings never change, still the dark humor."

Sin. "I can't do this alone, but your blue light won't work, soooo..." and before we could react he hits myself, Zoe and Christine with crimson light. When he finally stops he walks over and kisses me. "Use it only when really necessary, otherwise you will end up like me. "

Zoe. "Cool. "Looking at her hands glowing crimson, "does that mean we can also fly now?"

Sin. "Yes, but don't push it, don't become me."

And in a flash his gone again.

Chloe. "I hate it when he does that."

Christine. "What, gives people part of his power?"

Chloe. "No, disappears without giving me a kiss."

Zoe. "Here we go again... get a room you 2."

Chloe. "We will, when this fight is over."

Christine. "I thought you lived on earth, yet you don't understand human sarcasm?"

Chloe. "Focus, we need to get in this fight."

I can see enemy craft exploding in the distance. So we all left and make our way there, just to find him all over the place, crimson lightning flashing in all directions, destroying ships all over the place.

Zoe. "Okay, looks like he has everything under control."

Chloe. "I said focus, get in the fight."

We eventually joined him and after what felt like hours the fight was over, I was about to take out the last enemy craft, but as I tried to blast it with crimson lightning my strike got blocked by a crimson shield. I look at him in shock, "why?"

Sin, "we need one alive, your mother said we don't know anything about this species or what they even look like, so this is our chance."

Chloe. "This is very unlike you."

Sin. "What is unlike me?"

Chloe. "Taking prisoners."

Sin. "Things change."

Just then he blasts the ship with crimson lightning, but not to destroy it. Just enough to disable it. The ship falls to the ground but is stopped by a blue barrier and in a flash it's gone.

Christine. "Where did it go?"

Sin. "It's on Azaria's ship in hanger AZ. The guards there will take care of the rest. "

Azaria. "You guys need to get back to the ship. Now."

Chloe. "Mom, what's wrong? "

Azaria. "The counsel ship arrived during the battle and they monitored everything, they want Sin dead. They are planning to use the gravity ... then the signal went distorted and we all fell to the ground as we got hit by a pulse of gravity.

I look up trying to see Sin, but we are all pinned to the ground, I finally see him and he is slowly getting to his feet, he looks around at us laying on the ground been crushed by the pulses from the gravity weapon, and then he waves his hand and all I see is a blue flash and the next moment we are all on my mothers ship on the bridge.

I jump up and look around, I can see Zoe and Christine slowly make it to their feet and then I saw Cyn our daughter there as well, also getting up, I didn't even notice her before. But my husband is nowhere to be seen.

I run to my mother. "Mom where is Sin?"

Azaria. "He couldn't get himself out, the beams target mark was set right on him."

She then shows me on the screen, it shows him trying to get up, he does manage, but the moment he tries to fly away another pulse hits him and his crushed against the ground.

Chloe. "Mom, please do something, it's going to crush him, you know he can't die, but it will crush every part of his body."

Azaria to the counsel ship, "this is high queen Azaria. This is an official order to seize and deactivate the weapon. "

Counsel ship. "This is the counsel, we acknowledge receiving your request."

Azaria. "It's not a request, it's an order."

Counsels ship. "We cannot comply, when you released him you set the most powerful and dangerous being free on the universe, this ends here. We have the weapon set to go to full power. "

Azaria. "Full power? That will destroy the planet as well. If it wasn't for him everyone in this colony would have been dead by now, he saved every life on this colony today and he captured us one of the enemy crafts with 2 pilots. "

Counsel. "We acknowledge the information and he has done a great a deed today, but he can't be allowed to live."

Azaria. "You do know that nothing can kill him. He will be badly injured and close to death, but he will heal."

Counsel. "We are well aware of that, but that will give us time to return him to his sell."

I keep looking at the screen, I can see him trying his best to get away, he isn't even fighting back, I know what kind of power he has and he can destroy the counsel ship with one blast, but he isn't even trying to fight back.

Azaria. "Fire at that ship?"

Chloe. "Mom? "

Azaria. "They brought it on themselves, I'm going down there."

Chloe. "Mom, you will be crushed."

Azaria. "It's a gamble, I know, but he has the power to safe me, if he does then he proves the counsel wrong, if he lets me die, then they were right."

Just then in a flash of light my mom is gone, I look on the screen to see her appear next to him in the circle, by now the ground has cracks everywhere, the planet is starting to crack and it's already been pushed out of its orbital path, I see my mother fall to the ground as the next pulse hits, I can see the pain on her face, just then he looks in her direction, and he stops trying to get up, he just lifts his hand towards her and in a blue flash she's back in the ship.

Azaria to the counsel, "please stop or I will destroy your ship, he has proven right now that he is willing to sacrifice himself to safe a life."

Counsel. "Then fire at us, but we will not stop."

Azaria. "Rest in peace."

She closes the transmission and orders for the anti matted cannons to all fire at the counsel ship. Everything goes black around us as multiple rays of anti matter fires at the counsel ship, the cannons eventually stops firing and we watch as the counsel ship collapses in on its own gravity till the weapon eventually stops firing the gravity pulses.

We look at the monitors to see him laying on the ground lifeless, not moving, bones protruding through his skin, he looks dead and unrecognizable, body crushed. He used his last bit of energy to safe my mom giving up the shield he created around himself to stop the beam from crushing him. We notice as a medical craft lands next to him, they collect him and they take off, another ship goes and collect the last survivors on the planet, and they retrieve his ship from the surface as well.

We all run to the medical lander bay and watch as they bring him out and carry him towards the onboard hospital, his body lifeless, I stand next to my mother, we are both crying, even Zoe and the twins are in tears, as I look around I see more of our people standing around all looking sad, all the people he saved today, our daughter walks up to the medical team and kisses him on the head, then drops to her knees and burst out crying.

We have returned home, and he is receiving the best medical care we have, he has started to regenerate, but due to his injuries he has sustained it has been weeks, he is still unconscious, but received a lot from of love return, word has spread and he has been receiving messages and gifts from all over our planet and from most of our other planets, there are still gifts coming in daily, people are coming up to the hospital daily to show their love and respect, the survivors he saved hasn't stopped trying to see him.

His mother has left her post with the Acturions and returned home and she won't leave his side.

My mother has received a lot of support for wiping the counsel out, seems our people hated them, she is busy creating a new counsel, one that will be fair and show compassion.

He has eventually recovered fully and once again we are about to wake him up, as always we are fearful of who will wake up, my husband or the being set out to destroy the universe.

We are all here, my mother, his mother, Zoe, the twins and a few of the soldiers he rescued, the doctor suggested we put his collar back on just incase he wakes up and it's the monster again, but my mother decided against it. She said, regardless of who wakes up, he needs to wake up and know he is loved, not hated or feared.

He slowly starts to open his eyes and he looks around the room.

Sin, "let me guess, I got injured... again. I recognize this room."

We all start laughing, it's my husband.

Zoe. "Yeah if you are not careful they might start charging you rent here."

My mother gives her a stern look.

Zoe. "Sorry, out of line. "

He looks at her. "You are right, they should put my name on this bed. " then he looks at my mother, "so what now? I know my crimes are still fresh in everyone's memories, so if I must go back to my cell then it's okay. But may I at-least spend one day with my wife before I go."

My mother looks at him confused. She then takes his hand in hers. "No prison for you, you sacrificed yourself to safe me, come, I want to show you something."

She helps him off the bed and guides him to the wall which immediately goes translucent. "Look out and at the streets."

I join them and take his hand in mine as we look down at the millions of our people in the streets all celebrating him, our entire planet stopped and watched as he woke up.

Azaria. "You are loved, you are a hero, the people love you. Tonight we celebrate and tomorrow you and my daughter get to take time away."

I lean my face against his and kiss him on the cheek.

He turns around and walks to a chair and sits down. "I'm no hero, that thing, that person is still a part of me, every waking moment is a battle, a struggle to not give into the darkness."

Azaria. "A battle you are winning, you got people who love you and who will help you through this."

Sin. Looking at my mother, "promise me that if I lose control that you will stop me, no matter what."

I could see the fear in his eyes, he has tears forming, I can see the guilt eating at him.

Azaria. "We will, but it won't happen."

She looks at me, and I immediately know what she's thinking and I nod at her."

We both place our hands on his head and all we say is. "Forget the past, forget the mistakes."

He immediately passes out and drops to the floor.

Chloe. "Mom, do you think it worked."

My mom looks into his memories. She then looks at me.

Azaria. "Yes, it did."

Zoe. "We still have a war to fight, and we can't do it without him."

Azaria. "You are right, but thanks to him the enemy has retreated for now, and thanks to him we now know who we are up against."

Most people left now, he is still sleeping, the memory wipe took, but I'm waiting for him to wake up. My mother has approved of us going on a month long vacation to an undisclosed location where we can spend some quality time together.

Our daughter has started to see her dad as a hero, but she is still skeptical. Specially since he has given others part of his power.

We will be leaving to our holiday spot tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to a romantic break with my husband.

I know we have a lot of enemies still lurking out there, but now we are ready for them.

Unfortunately we will first have to go and see the prisoners he caught before we can leave, but once we have seen them they will be transferred to an orbital prison. A transfer for which we will be present for security reasons.