To The Ends of The Universe (ONC 2024 ✔)

Chapter 14: Disaster

"Eileen-'

"No, Ursus, please." She met his gaze. "Let me speak."

Ursus sighed. "Alright."

"When we arrived in Lumanora and that centipede nearly killed you, it made me feel completely useless. There was nothing that I could do to stop it. I don't have your strength or agility. I'm just—" She looked at her hands. "—I'm just human. That's why I wanted to play my part in the cave. I wanted to prove that I could be useful." She sighed. "It made everything worse. So much worse."

"And I played my own part in that as well," Donovan smiled at her. "I wasn't easy going and I feared that you two would keep Pavel off track and mess everything up." His gaze softened on Asuria. "You see why now."

"Yeah," Eileen nodded. "I do." She smiled. "Apology accepted." Donovan chuckled before he stood up. "Wait, here I'm going to get something." As he disappeared behind the curtains, Ursus squeezed her hand.

"Hey, I'm sorry for making things worse." Ursus started. "I should have been honest from the start. I've been so worried about protecting you while trying not to hurt you and it's been stressing my body and the bond out." He placed a tender kiss on her hand. "You're a human, Eileen but you're my human. You're my other half, and we should have been working as a team instead of trying to prove our worth to each other."

Eileen nodded. "I should have told you." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"I had a feeling but instead of talking to you about it, I just blamed myself." His gaze softened. "I'm sorry too." Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her into a hug. Closing her eyes, she nuzzled into his chest. "I love you."

Ursus chuckled. "I love you too."

The curtains shifted, revealing Donovan again. Eileen's eyes widened as he placed two portal orbs onto the table.

"While diving, I found three portal orbs. My mother was a merchant so I had some familiarity with Lyria tech. When I tracked down your brother, he was able to pull up the portal jump information and pinpoint your last location to earth."

Donovan grabbed one of the portal orbs. "I don't know much about the royal family but even I could tell he missed you, horribly." Donovan tossed the machine back and forth between his hands. His gaze flickered to Asuria. "I heard he wasn't fond of the whole hybrid system. So I offered him one of the portal orbs if he helped to get rid of the whole system when he became king."

He shook his head. "I don't want my family to grow up constantly having to look over their shoulders like I had to." He grabbed Asuria's hand. "Not when I had a chance to change things."

Asuria's gaze softened. "You should have just told me." Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Do you know how worried I was?"

"I'm sorry for making you worried." He pressed his forehead against hers. "I knew you would want to come though." He cupped her bump. "I couldn't take that risk."

Asuria's gaze softened. "We're bonded, Donovan." Her eyes softened. "We face things together."

"I know." He kissed her lips. "And I'm here now." Asuria's gaze softened before she pushed herself up. "Alright then, you can help me prepare dinner for everyone here." Grabbing his hands, she pulled him to his feet. At the love in their eyes, Eileen chuckled.

Someday. She glanced at Ursus. That'll be us.

****

After dinner, Asuria offered them a hard sleeping bed made from reefs and dried lumber. Not quite used to the stiffness, it wasn't long before Eileen found herself stirring from sleep. Movement shifted beside her before her eyes opened to see Ursus sitting up. He ran his hand through his hair. A small sigh left his lips.

"Ursus?"

His gaze flickered to her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." She sat up. "I'm not used to these hard beds." She hit the bed frame, earning a solid thud in response. "Besides, I'm thinking."

"About?"

"Can you show me how to use those blasters?" She met his gaze. "I want to be able to start defending myself." And not have to constantly rely on you to be by my side. It wasn't fair to him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, I want to learn." She watched him reach down beside the bed. "Here." The smooth metal was cool to the touch. Just like a gun, Ursus showed her a small little button. "You see this? The blaster is registered to my fingerprint. I'm the only one who can fire it."

"Really?"

"Yep, but if you were to hold your thumbprint here." She watched him press her thumb on the space. "Three, four, alright lift it." She lifted her thumb as he pressed the space three times.

A click followed the blaster as it glowed a bright light. "New person register." A voice automatically replied.

"Now it should register your thumbprint." He pointed to the blaster. "You always want your thumb on that button as you fire. It's basically the safety that's found on your home guns. It won't fire unless your thumb remains on that button."

"And that's it?" She frowned. "I just fired?"

"Well there's knock back and setting changes but all balster reset to the lowest setting after use." He nudged her playfully. "Besides, I don't think you need to know all that just-"

Boom! Light flashed across the horizon. A scream ripped from Eileen's lips as Ursus pulled her into his arms. Waves of heat smacked them. The night sky turned a dark red. "What's going on?"

"Ursus, Eileen!" Donovan yanked their curtain away. A hot ball of lead dropped at his next words. "The hovercraft just exploded!"