Stars Above The Willow Tree

Chapter 14 - Ball Bearings

***Happy St. Patrick's Day!***

 Willow gritted her teeth and dug at the ball bearings, her fingers slipping uselessly over the groove. She sat back and glared at the black bands around her wrists, then slapped at them both.

"Come on!" she yelled at them, her eyes darting to the bulb of water and bowl of food sitting on the bench outside the cell. Her stomach rumbled and her mouth was parched, her lips stinging around the edges.

It had been six hours. She'd picked up the casing more than once and thrown it across the cell, scattering ball bearings all over. Then she had to hunt them all down and put them back.

She sat back and rubbed her eyes with her palms, groaning.

"What are you afraid of?" Dethrhhek's voice sounded above her.

She looked up to see him leaning against the glass, arms folded.

"Right now? Dying of dehydration," she said, licking her lips and trying to work a little moisture back into her mouth.

"Really?" he asked, pulling something out of his pocket. "Is it that or does it scare you to see the blackness of the battlesuit moving over your skin?"

She looked at him sharply and glared. Was that it?

Willow closed her eyes and pushed herself to her feet and paced away from the glass, then back again.

"I don't know," she said, spreading her arms and letting them fall back to her sides. "Maybe? I mean... every time I see it I feel like I'm back in that cabinet. Fuck... I can even taste it."

She grimaced and scratched at her wrist with a shudder.

Nodding, Dethrhhek moved toward the door to the cell and it unlocked automatically. He pushed it open and stepped inside, looking down at what appeared to be a pair of lenses in his hands.

"I thought this might help, so I had Aurora print them," he said, holding out some kind of lenses.

They were clear and oblong and would press against the skin like swimming goggles, though they were more curved than those usually tended to be. There was just one problem.

"Ok, how are these supposed to stay on?" she asked.

"Just put them on, they'll stay."

She looked at them for a moment, then put them over her eyes. They sealed to her skin like magnets and the room brightened, color leapt up at her and when she looked at Dethrhhek, he shimmered with light.

"Holy shit," she breathed. "You are beautiful!" she blurted.

He smiled and it was radiant. "Look at yourself," he said.

She looked down at herself. "Woah" she breathed. "I do have stripes!"

"Told you."

"They're purple!"

"I tweaked them a bit. I see them as blue, but look at the battlesuit receptors."

They were hot pink.

Pulling up the pant leg of her jumpsuit she saw the bands around her ankles were pink too.

"Oh... okay. Um, yeah that's a little easier to look at," she said.

Then she looked up at him and said, "I'm still not gonna fuck you."

He laughed and cupped her face in one large hand. "Of course not," he said, his smile suddenly predatory. "I'm only dreaming about it."

Willow rolled her eyes.

"Look," she said, pulling away from his touch, "I know I'm something new and interesting, but I'm not—"