Loneliness

The soft light of morning caused the prince to wake up and he had to rub his eyes in order to get used to it. His body felt heavy and the dryness in his mouth made it seem like he had been walking in a desert for days. He wanted to get up and drink some water, but the silver haired girl laying on his arm kept him from doing so.

He began to wonder if last night actually happened or if it was some strange, alcohol-induced dream. The woman in his grasp confirmed it was real, but he still tried to reason that it was some kind of mistake. Remembering her flushed face, he wondered if she was too drunk or if he had taken advantage of the situation. Did she hate him now?

Pulling him from his thoughts, the last noise he wanted to hear rang through the room - a communication from Tyrant Kruos. If anything could pull him from the bed that morning, it was, unfortunately, that.

He gently took his arm from under her and slipped away, stretching his body out before he went to the computer.

"Prince," the androgynous voice rang through the speaker, unimpressed.

"Yes, your highness?" he responded, keeping his voice in an even tone, not giving away his annoyance.

"You have business to attend to off-planet. Be ready within the hour."

With a click, the communication was over. He turned around, crossing his arms as he fell into contemplation. He wondered how much Varya was going to hate him if he left like this. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine exactly how it felt to have her body pressed against his. The worst part was that he wouldn't know if she deemed it to be a mistake until he could return. There was no telling how long he might be gone.

Brushing past his thoughts, he knew he had no choice but to leave and hope the woman in his bed didn't regret their evening together.

It hardly took any time for him to shower and get his spandex suit and armor on. He reached into the closet and grabbed a communication device he could wear on his wrist. During missions like these, it was likely Lord Kruos wouldn't be there and he would be the main point of contact for subordinate troops.

Only having a few minutes and feeling that there was nothing else he could do, he set a bottle of water on Varya's bedside table for her to drink when she woke up and sat next to her. He observed her peacefully sleeping form for a moment before brushing her hair out of her face. He felt selfish for wanting to see her blue eyes just once more before he had to leave.

"Varya," he said quietly.

She started to stir.

"I have a mission off-planet. I don't know when I will return."

Her eyes opened and she squinted. After a moment, she frowned at him, memories of last night coming back. She was thankful he told her, but disappointed that they wouldn't be able to talk about the previous night. Was it even on his mind? He was acting normal.

As much as she wanted to be insecure about her morning appearance, she decided to be bold and express what was on her mind. She sat up and one of her hands went to the top edge of his armor.

"Kiss me," she said.

His eyes widened. Was she still drunk? He wasn't going to miss the opportunity and he leaned forward. Their lips connected in a chaste kiss, but he felt like he said so much through it.

When he pulled back, she said, "Be safe."

Words so caring had never been directed at him before. It was never something he desired and witnessing others experience that level of care never affected him at all. Yet, the way she said it with no hints of deceit being expressed through her face made his chest feel heavy.

He lifted a gloved hand and stroked her cheek. He had too much to say, but no articulation to say it.

"Of course," was all he mustered up.

He had nothing else to add and started towards the door. With one last glance at the woman in his bed, he was gone.

The prince was gone for a week.

Each time she heard noise at the door, her heart would start racing, but it would always just be a servant there to clean or bring her food.

Without Basileus there to keep her mind off of her current reality, she felt herself starting to fall into sadness. Realization struck her that she was starting to rely on him for her happiness, but she felt there was no other choice.

Even inventing didn't have any interest to her. She had finished the clock which sat on her workspace in the corner, but motivation beyond that was not appearing.

Varya began to question why she had to suffer so much. When they first met, the prince told her to live for her parents, but mustering up energy to simply move felt too hard to do sometimes. She didn't want to know where that path of sadness led.

On the third morning of the prince being away, thoughts of her parents led her to one of the last things her dad had said to her. With a tool in her hand, she could do anything. Determination to remain close to her father set in and she started to brainstorm, refusing to waste away. Using the pen and notebook she was given to study the universal language, she started ripping sheets out and scribbling basic ideas she had floating around in her head.

A few scraps of paper later, she turned from the table she sat at and saw the pile of metal scraps stacked in the corner with the meager tools she was given. The tools she had as a child put these ones to shame. It frustrated her to no end that she would never be able to prove her technical abilities with such poor working conditions as these.

Her eyes drifted up as she tapped the pen against her bottom lip in thought. The tattered tapestry with Planet Basileus's royal crest on it came into mind and she thought of the prince again - not that he had been out of her mind for very long in the first place.

If the prince was going to plague her thoughts all the time, she might as well use him to inspire her. Using an extra pen to put her hair in a bun, she turned around and began sketching ideas again.

It took another hour and many pieces of paper for her to have sketched something actually doable. At lunch, she asked a servant if they could bring more tools and any kind of broken down tech they could find.

Fortunately, the servants had taken a liking to her and, whenever she had a request, they would take it upon themselves to fulfill within the best of their abilities.

++

Meanwhile, on a dwarf planet just outside of Planet Ptoma's solar system, the ground was littered with bodies.

Basileus had been called with a small group of low class soldiers to eradicate the beings of the planet because word of their rebellion had reached the ears of Emperor Kruos.

The unadvanced civilization that existed there consisted of beings very short with white hair covering every inch of their body. Their hair was so long that it made it impossible to see where or what type of limbs these beings had.

As soon as the prince stepped foot onto the dwarf planet, his fire aura erupted from his skin. He yelled for his men to show no mercy and they all rushed forward.