Chapter Text
Their voices are just barely legible over the sounds of derisive giggles and paper balls thwapping into his magazine.
“Let’s put a magnet in one!”
“Ooh, this’ll hurt…”
Ken’s fingers clench a little tighter to the edges of the pages. These guys, his tormentors since high school began, think they’re real smart. Total class acts, the epitome of Japanese high school boys. They think every idea they conjure to inconvenience or humiliate him are the most brilliant ideas to ever grace a human mind. But there’s always one thing they never remember.
Ken hears the sound of paper being crumpled and folded. Then, a whistling as something flies through the air. He waits, for just a hair’s breath, before dodging quickly to the side. The weighted ball spins right through the empty space where his face once was, and bounces harmlessly off the wall.
He has lot of experience with bullying.
Ken glances over the top of his magazine, for just a moment. The looks on their faces range from surprised to indignant to disappointed, before they quickly flip back to unbothered. The gaggle of guys finally turn away from Ken, heads leaning together as they chatter about whatever, like they had never been bothering him in the first place.
Ken huffs, but goes back to his pages. At this point, he doesn’t have the mental energy for them. Besides, the bullying doesn’t spark feelings of loneliness so much anymore. After all…
‘Yeesh, what a bunch of scum…’
He’s got a new friend.
Her voice first reached him when he was alone.
It was after another long, lonely school day, when he’d shut himself in his room, as he always did. It’s not like he had anywhere else he could be. No after school activities, no one to invite him to hang out, no reason to be anywhere else but his small, lonely apartment. Just him and all of his alien accoutrements.
Which is why Ken immediately flipped when he heard a voice ring out clearly in his head.
‘Hello? Anyone there?’
“GWAAH!” Ken startles, a screech leaving his mouth as his jolting movement tips his desk chair back and sends him sprawling onto the floor.
He lays there for a moment, almost hyperventilating, wondering if he’s so starved for contact he’s starting to hallucinate when it comes again.
‘Hellooooo? Can someone hear me?’
The voice is light. Young and… feminine from what he can tell. Sounding a mix of both annoyed and… nervous? No, anxious. He’s familiar with anxious.
It’s then Ken notices the voice hasn’t come back. The sudden drop of fear that comes with the idea of this… strange encounter vanishing before he even has a chance to explore it finally shocks him into responding.
“H-hello?” He says aloud, into the empty room.
It’s quiet for a moment, and Ken almost despairs, before that sensation of a… presence crosses his senses again.
‘Hello! Was that for me? Can you hear me?’
“Y-yes, I can hear you,” Ken stutters. “A-are you… wha-?”
Ken struggles to put to words the questions he wants to ask. The idea that someone is… speaking to him through his mind, it’s ridiculous! It’s downright…
….
Paranormal.
Ken gasps, his heart starts to race in his chest. Is this… is she…?!
“A-are you… an alien?” he squeaks out.
There’s a pause, before the voice starts laughing.
It’s not laughter in the usual sense, there’s not a real sound carried to Ken’s ears. Instead, he feels a sudden wash of surprise and joy cover his mind, and suddenly Ken thinks he understands what it might be like to have synesthesia. The sensation has him thinking he’s seeing colors dance across his vision in a pattern that matches how one’s chest would move if the voice were laughing for real.
The feeling’s gone almost as soon as it comes, and Ken finds himself missing for a second, before he hears the voice again.
‘I mean, I guess I am at this point.’
The voice’s name is Momo, and she’s got personality to spare.
Since the day she made contact with Ken, she’s been a constant presence in his head. Seeing through his senses and commenting on every aspect of his daily life.
Thoughts on his food (ooh, that looks good), opinions on his clothes (you can’t do, like, anything to spice that up?), and, of course, choice words for his bullies (God, what a bunch of ass wipes! Somebody should punch them in the mouth!).
She seems to fill up space in his life, despite not having a physical presence, her boisterous voice piling over his inner monologue, pushing out the dark thoughts until there’s no room for anything but her anymore.
And Ken’s on cloud nine.
Mastering holding a conversation in his mind was difficult at first, but now that he has the hang of it, he can converse with Momo anywhere, anytime, even in the middle of class and no one knows! He’s always wanted a friend. Asked and prayed for one in his lowest moments, even, and now his wish has been granted with a friend who’s just for him.
An alien friend!
Not that he can get Momo to talk about that aspect much…
Anytime he broaches the topic of exactly what she is, how she works, or even where in Earth’s atmosphere she’s located, she answers with vague, cagy responses and usually ends up dodging the question or changing the subject on him.
‘So, what kind of alien are you?’
‘Hmmm, a chatty one, I guess.’
‘That’s not what I meant…’
‘Well it’s what I am, so there!’
‘How are you even doing this?’
‘Psychic powers, obvi.’
‘Sorry to say, those are not normal here on Earth.’
‘I know.’
‘You do?’
‘I mean, the way you freaked out was kind of a dead giveaway.’
Then she’d laugh at him, and he’d blush and stutter and try to fling out a comeback that would just make her laugh harder until he’d get swept up in her feeling and join in.
It was nice.
…Who is he kidding, it’s great, actually.
Tonight, it’s quiet in his mind. Momo’s presence is a light feeling somewhere in the back of his skull, not saying anything, but still with him as Ken hums softly while finishing up his homework for the evening.
He’s still feeling pretty good.
Showing up those bullies during break really raised his spirits, and of course, getting to bitch with Momo in his head about them afterwards was great too. With his chronic loneliness feeling finally patched over, Ken’s soul felt light and free for the first time… ever, and he can’t help but soak in it.
Still, thinking over his strange, psychic friend has him curious and… somewhat pensive again. He hasn’t broached personal topics in a while, so maybe…
‘Hey, Momo?’ Ken asks, mentally.
‘Hmm?’ she responds.
‘Can I ask… why are you talking to me?’
He can feel Momo pause. A sudden, lurching sensation that reminds Ken of all the times he’s hesitated to take a step forward in his life. He starts to feel guilty.
‘I-I’m sorry, I know you don’t wanna talk about it, we can-‘
‘It’s fine,’ Momo says, interrupting Ken’s thoughts. ‘I… I trust you.’
That has something warm and soft flooding through Ken’s stomach, and he can feel his face start to heat up.
‘O-oh… really?’
‘Pft, yeah. Think I’d have stuck around this long if I didn’t at this point?’
‘Well, ah… th-thank you, Momo…’
‘Sure. Anyway, you asked a question.’
‘Y-yeah, answer however you feel comfortable!’
‘I told you it’s fine, stop freaking out. I’m talking to you ‘cause… you’re the only person who’s ever heard me.’
‘…Really?! H-how?!’ The idea that he, plain, ordinary, Ken, is the only person Momo’s been able to contact with her telepathy has his mind spinning with questions and theories, and the barest of hope that maybe it means he’s someone special.
‘Yep. Don’t know why, I guess I am kinda far away. It takes a lot of concentration for me to reach my powers this far.’
‘It… it does?’ Ken feels guilt creep back again. She was spending energy and effort to be with him like this? Was he inconveniencing her?
‘Hey, I can hear those thoughts, ya’ know! Bad Okarun, no self-deprecating!’
Ken laughs aloud at that.
Okarun. A nickname. One chosen by Momo especially for him.
It had come about as an accident, really. Ken had been so enamored by the mere concept of Momo that he’d neglected to introduce himself, so Momo had resorted to making up something to call him in place of his name.
It slipped into her thoughts in one conversation, and when he questioned her, she said;
‘Your brain is so stuffed with the occult all the time; it’s like all you ever think about. So, I came up with Okarun. It’s like, occult and -kun smashed together! Cleaver, huh?’
And she’d refused any attempt from Ken to tell her his real name, so it had stuck.
Not that Ken minded, he’d never had a nickname before.
Ken’s laughter calms, and his mind turns over what Momo said for a moment.
‘If it’s taking a lot for you to cast yourself this far… maybe I should come to you?’
He feels Momo freeze again.
‘T-that’s…’
‘If you’re uncomfortable with that, I-‘
‘No, Okarun, it’s not that. I… it’s complicated. There’s… things I haven’t told you.’
‘…Like what?’
‘Like… I can’t.’
‘Can’t what?’
‘I can’t leave where I am. I… don’t even really know where I am.’
There’s a feeling creeping into Ken’s stomach. Something dark and sickly, like tar covering his insides. It feels like dread.
‘I’m kinda… trapped.’
Momo’s explanation of her situation is still vague and missing details. Ones she refuses to share with Ken because ‘it would just make things more confusing and harder for you to process.’
Ken’s not sure how much he believes that, but… well, Momo trusts him, so he’ll trust her, too.
‘I was… taken by some other aliens a while ago. They’ve kept me locked up ever since. They’ve only taken me out to run tests or poke and prod me for what ever reasons, so I’ve barely seen what’s outside my cell. I think it’s their spaceship? Gotta be something like that.
‘Anyway, the only thing I had to even interface with the outside world was my powers, so I just kept practicing reaching out with them, trying to stretch the range as often as I could. I felt other humans’ minds but, no one ever responded when I reached out. No one but you.’
Ken’s struck dumb by the whole idea.
An alien kidnapped by other aliens? Well, he supposes that makes some sense. If not all humans are good people, it only follows not all aliens are good, either. Some might take advantage of other species for their own gain. Plenty of alien abduction stories portray cold, calculating researchers leaving the victims forever traumatized.
And the idea of Momo, kept in some cold, dark place where she can’t even see the open sky makes his heart ache and a spark of anger burn somewhere deep, in an untouched part of his soul that’s never gotten the chance to make itself known.
He wants to help her.
‘No.’
Momo’s voice is harsh in its presence as she cuts through his thoughts.
‘But-‘
‘No, Okarun, I can’t let you do that.’
‘But I’m the only one who knows you’re there!’
‘Yeah, and they’re a whole bunch of strong as hell aliens!’
‘Wasn’t the whole point of training your powers so you could get out somehow?!’
‘I mean… I guess. Who wouldn’t want that, being trapped like this? But I’m not letting you risk yourself for that, it’s too dangerous!’
‘So you’re really fine with just being a voice in some guy’s head forever?’
‘…I could be… I think.’
‘Momo. I don’t need to read your mind to know that’s a lie.’
She goes quiet. Ken’s worried for a moment he might have spooked her off, before her voice comes back, sounding uncharacteristically gentle and vulnerable.
‘… You’d do that for me?’
‘Of course.’ He responds without hesitation. ‘We’re friends… right?’
‘Yeah, friends.’
And Ken can feel how much she’s beaming at that.
They spend the rest of the night brainstorming. Not that they get very far.
Ken’s only a teenager still, his abilities and resources are limited, but he’s determined to make this work, to find some way to set Momo free.
Momo’s abilities are strong, but the cell the aliens keep her in (the Serpos, as she calls them) neutralizes her powers and keeps her from breaking out. The only bit of her power she can get through is her telepathic consciousness. If Ken can just find her and open the cell, she can probably take care of the rest.
So, they decide that tomorrow, Ken will start a search of the city, using Momo’s telepathic connection like a radar to tell if he’s getting closer or farther away from her. Once he’s located the alien spaceship, they’ll figure out step two.
It leaves Ken exhausted, and he falls into his bed feeling tired but giddy. It’s gonna be scary, but… if they can get through this, he might get to meet his friend soon, in the flesh!
But, of course, nothing can ever be so simple.
Ken’s woken from a dead start by a panic that’s not his own.
Momo’s voice is loud in his head, insistent and frightened.
‘Okarun! Okarun, help!’ She’s screaming, panicking and trembling in his mind.
“M-Momo?! Momo, what’s wrong?!” he finds himself speaking aloud, the chaos of the moment confusing his sleep adled brain.
‘They’re leaving, Okarun, they’re leaving!’
“L-leaving?! Momo, who’s leaving?!”
‘The spaceship! They’re leaving Earth!’
Okarun dashes madly through the city.
He’s barefoot and still in his pajamas, the grit and gravel from the concrete roads digging into his skin.
But none of it matters, cause he’s about to lose Momo.
Her panic is centered in his mind, a cloud of swirling emotions rather than the steady, confident words he’s used to. Just this urgent pulling, forever spurring him onward at a desperate run. The only thing that keeps his hope burning is his own sheer stubbornness to not let this happen, and the sensation that he is getting closer.
Momo’s weight in his mind seems to grow with each kilometer he eats up under his feet, like her grip on him is getting surer and surer as he goes. If only he could reach out and grab her from here, pull her out of the grasp of her captors…
‘O-Okarun!’ It surprises Ken, he hasn’t heard her speak in some time. ‘I think… I think we’re close!’
A whooshing sound causes Ken to look up, and the boy sees a black shadow move across the night sky, its figure only visible where it blots out the stars. His heart leaps in his chest. That’s it, that’s gotta be them!
‘Momo, I see it!’ he calls in his mind. ‘I see the ship!’
‘Okarun…’ her voice is sad now, broken. It tears at Ken’s soul. ‘We’ve taken off. It’s too late…’
‘NO! No, it’s not! I’m coming, Momo, I promise!’
She doesn’t answer him. She’s still there, tucked into his mind, but it feels resigned, as though she’s just soaking him in as she waits for the inevitable.
But it won’t… he can’t let that happen.
Ken takes a short cut, hopping a barrier and jogging down an overgrown road through a neglected part of the city.
His lungs ache, his feet are sore, and he’s definitely slowing down, but he can’t stop, he won’t stop, not while he can still see the ship crossing the night sky.
The road leads to a tunnel, abandoned, with keep-out signs and police tape crossing the entrance. He pays it no mind, tearing past the roadblocks like they don’t even exist.
The tunnel is dark and long, but he can see the other end, and the ship has just come into view, smaller now than ever. It’s leaving, gearing up to take off somewhere across the galaxy where he’ll never reach Momo again.
That spark of anger rages against the thought. He can’t let this happen. He won’t let this happen!
You wont? Won’t what?
I won’t let them take her! I’ll save her! I promised!
You want to save her?
More than anything.
And what would you sacrifice? To save her?
Anything.
Heh heh heh… Then you’d better RUN!
Something… flares in Ken.
It’s hot, and wild, and thrashing against the confines of himself. Red rings his vision as the tunnel seems to stretch, the other side and that dark silhouette of the ship becoming a pinhole target on his vision.
Then…
It snaps.
He zings forward, nothing but a bolt of red and fury, tearing through pavement, foliage, and space itself, before his legs brace against the ground and he jumps.
Ahead, high in the sky, a small team of Serpoians stand about various consoles and screens, pressing buttons and pulling levers in ways only they understand.
One spins in his chair, turning from the ship’s front windshield to another Serpo sitting behind him.
“Corse charted for the base ship, Captain.”
“Good, begin the countdown,” He orders. “It’s been a long excursion, the sooner we can disembark and get into some real beds, the better.”
The first Serpo returns to the console, pushing at another leaver that activates the ship’s humming engines. The room vibrates with energy, and the large, gray tube sat in the middle of the bridge whirs to life. Another Serpo watches a screen next to the tube.
“Battery levels are stable.”
All seems well, until one Serpo in the back speaks up.
“Ah, Captain?” He sounds confused, and slightly nervous. “We’ve got something on the radar. Fast moving object approaching the ship?”
“What?”
The captain leaves his post, walking over so he can peer over the Serpo’s shoulder at the monitor. A red dot blinks on the screen, steadily approaching the marker for the ship. It’s very unusual. They’re completely unknown by the humans, so no one should be targeting them…
“It’s probably a bird…” the captain muses.
“It’s too fast for a bird, sir.” The Serpo responds.
“Hm… a meteor?”
“Too low,” another ship hand comments.
“C-captian, I really think-“
The Serpo never gets to finish that thought.
A red comet rips through the ship, tearing through the back in a straight line up through the bridge, and right into the central battery.
There’s a bright flash of impact before everything explodes.
Powerful winds toss Serpoians left and right across the space, teal explosions rip more holes into the ship’s hull, letting in torrents of air as the aircraft depressurizes. Alarms blare and lights flash as alerts cry of compromised systems destroyed by the impact.
And in the middle of it all, as the dust clears, the gray battery tube stands completely shattered.
A few chunks of metal creak and fall in the aftermath, more teal lighting sparks from broken tubes and severed wires, and just on the other side, some huge, black shadow lies crouched, curled in on itself and breathing heavily.
The figure unfurls, its body kicking off sparks of red and teal energy. White hair flickers unnaturally over a pale face with red eyes, blood red markings trace from its hairline down to an enormous black jaw studded with teeth. Long, gangly limbs grip something tightly, cradled close to its chest.
A murmur of some kind stirs the calming air, and the figure looks down.
A human girl lays in its arms, clothed in some kind of futuristic hospital gown. Her hair is brown, with hints of cherry red, and falls in a long, matted cascade down her back. Her eyes flutter open slowly, squinting up at the figure while they take a moment to focus. They’re a deep red, like wine, and the figure feels its own gaze captured in them.
The girls face twists into surprise, before calming into an uncertain recognition.
‘…Okarun?’
Ken feels her presence in his mind and almost deflates with relief.
“Momo,” he says aloud, barely registering the new depth to his voice. “I made it.”
She smiles, and Ken feels her laugh flood through his head again.
‘You did.’
A sharp clattering draws the pair’s attention to the other side of the ship, where a Serpoian pulls itself out of a pile of wreckage. Its body bares scrapes and bruises, but it manages to stand, strange eyes flaring in anger.
“You!” It points one long finger at Ken’s now hulking form. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you will not be leaving this ship alive!”
Three other Serpoians spring up, taking offensive stances behind the leader, arms posed, and hands flexed dramatically.
Ken growls, the instinct welling up inside him from an unknown source. He feels… powerful, but also so out of control, like he’s hanging onto his sanity by a thread. But none of it compares to the need he has to rip these assholes to shreds.
He takes a step forward, then feels the energy leak out of him.
Ken falls to one knee, still gripping Momo tightly.
‘Okarun!’ she calls out in concern.
White hair shifts back to black, and the red in Ken’s eyes fades to brown as his body begins to shrink. And he feels so… heavy.
“Heh, not so scary now,” The lead Serpo taunts. “All are helpless in our Serpogramatry powered Awesome Zone!”
The line of Serpos stand in matching poses, hands outstretched. The air around Ken seems to vibrate from the invisible force pressing down on him from all sides, and in the end, Ken can’t resist it. He falls to the floor, back as his normal, plain, human self, dressed in now tattered pajamas and glasses with twisted frames.
The lead Serpo motions to a subordinate.
“Restrain him, we’ll figure out what to do with him once we’ve stabilized the ship.”
The Serpo moves to approach, before another force, this one much stronger, sweeps out in a wall against them.
The Awesome Zone buckles instantly, and the line of Serpos find themselves launched back and pressed into the ship wall. All around them, loose bits of debris are swept up and start pelting the wall they are now stuck to. The Serpoians panic, trashing about against invisible binds as they try to avoid the shrapnel now rocketing towards them.
‘Pheh, some Awesome Zone.’
The feminine voice ringing in their minds draws all the Serpos to the other figure, now visible without Ken crouching over her. The girl sits on the floor, one hand gripping the male human’s shirt and the other one outstretched towards them.
True fear fills the Serpos’ eyes.
“Th-the human girl! She’s out!” one chokes out in panic.
The other aliens shriek and cry, desperate pleas from cornered animals.
Momo’s eyes are cold as she watches them struggle.
‘Y’know, one good thing about being trapped in a battery for ten years is you get a lot of time to practice. And imagine what you’ll do once you get out.’
The pressure on the aliens increases, and more panicked cries ring out from the girl’s captives.
“L-listen, please!” The lead Serpo stutters, trying his best to sound remorseful. “W-we have a good relationship with humans, we can make some form of amends!”
‘Hmmm…’ Momo places a figure to her lips in thought.
‘…No.’
She flexes her hand into a fist.
The wall shatters.
The entire right side of the ship breaks apart, panels sliding free from each other as though they had never been bolted together in the first place. Glass breaks and shatters, scattering like glitter across the night sky, and the Serpoians scream as they are launched into empty air.
Momo watches them go as she leans back against the opposing wall of the bridge. A chuckle of wry laughter fills her mindscape.
‘Ah, I’ve waited a long time to do that. Impressed, Okarun?’
She turns, expecting a gush of compliments and a barrage of questions from her friend, only to see him still lying flat on the ground.
‘…Okarun?’
Momo pokes the boy’s back, but he doesn’t move. Then, she reaches out to shift his head so she can see his face. Closed eyes and a relaxed expression great her, and Okarun lets out a soft snore.
He’s dead asleep.
Another alarm blares, flashing red light filling what’s left of the bridge.
“Ship integrity compromised,” A computerized voice states. “Losing altitude.”
Momo’s hair whips wildly around her face, the open side of the ship allowing turbulent air to whisk in. She feels the floor list as the ship begins to tip, sinking down through the sky.
Great. The ship’s crashing, Okarun is still out, and she… well…
Momo looks down, eyes tracing to where her legs end at the knees, the wires that once hooked her to the inside of that battery spilling out form the stumps like multicolored spaghetti.
She’s a sitting duck.
‘Well, shit…’
Ken’s awareness comes back slowly and in pieces.
He first feels the ground beneath him, hard and solid, and by the texture under his hands, some kind of asphalt. Then he hears the wind whistling by his ears, accompanied by the sounds of crickets and rustling of leaves. There’s also the sound of something… heavy being tossed around?
What… what was he doing, anyway?
It comes back in a rush.
“Momo!” He shouts as he sits up.
The environment is strange and unfamiliar, dark and hulking, strange shapes jutting up in unidentifiable silhouettes. He looks around franticly, until he feels a familiar weight in his mind.
‘Okarun! You’re awake!’
“Y-yeah, I’m up,” Ken stutters, not bothering to keep the thoughts internal. “Where are you?! Did I… was that all a dream…?”
‘Oh, definitely not.’
There’s an ear bleeding screech, and Ken looks over to see a wall fall away. With its absence, moonlight is finally able to seep through. There’s a figure there, now silhouetted in the glow. Long, tangled hair, a slim build, strange, flowy clothes.
Ken blinks, then rubs his eyes a few times before looking back up.
“…Momo?” he asks tentatively.
The girl gives him a blinding smile.
‘In the flesh!’
“Momo!”
Ken dashes forward, enfolding the girl in his arms. The impact squeezes the breath out of her, and the girl almost tumbles off her perch. Her arms flare out stiffly at first, eyes wide in shock at the sudden contact, before she slowly lowers them to encircle Ken’s back. Nervous hands fiddle with the fabric of his pajama shirt.
“I’m so happy you’re here.” Ken says through sniffles.
Momo relaxes when he says that, letting herself lean into the embrace. Her first one in ten years…
‘Yeah, I’m happy you’re here, too.’
“B-but, um,” Ken pulls back, furiously wiping at his eyes. “Wh-what even… what was that? Where were we? How did I…” Ken looks down at his hands and then back up to Momo. “And you! You’re human?! Why- H-how did you, I… and we’re… We’re on Earth, right?!”
Momo grabs his face, squishing his cheeks between both hands.
‘Enough!’ Her thought rings through his head, pushing out all the swirling questions that had been filling the space before. ‘I get you’re excited, but I can’t answer all at once, yeah. One question at a time, please.’
“A-ah, right, um, sorry.” Ken scratches at his neck, feeling shy.
Momo just smiles and shakes her head at him. ‘All good.’
“R-Right, questions, um…” There’s so many Ken wants to ask, but he forces himself to sort out what’s most relevant. “Oh! Ah, where are we?”
Ken looks around, they seem to be surrounded by a hollow shell of sheet metal and plastic.
‘In terms of general location, we’re on Earth.’ Momo states. ‘To be more specific, we’re sitting in the wreckage of that Serpoian ship.’
“So… we did it? We stopped them?”
‘Yep!’ Momo flashes up a peace sign.
Ken lets out a shaky breath, dropping to the floor as his knees start to feel a little weak.
“That’s a relief! I was… I was so scared they were gonna fly off with you…”
Momo’s next thought comes in tinged with lingering anxiety. ‘I was scared, too. Thought my only chance was slipping away… But, you found me! Very impressive! Y’know, you coulda’ told me you had powers.’
“P-powers?”
‘Yeah, that supper form you used to ambush the ship! Wicked stuff, man!’
Ken’s memories return. The voice, the snapping, the ungainly body, the overflowing tide of power…
“That… ah, that’s… that’s new…”
‘It’s… new?’ Momo questions, head tilting to the side.
“I’ve never done that… before tonight.”
‘…Seriously?’
“Seriously.”
‘Huh…’ Momo tilts her head again, finger pressed to her lips in thought.
Ken feels a little self-conscious that he’s got nothing else to give her, but the situation has him just as confused. Unable to think on it any longer, Ken’s mind wanders to his own observation.
“You know, Momo, we’re right next to each other now, you don’t have to keep using your telepathy.”
That gives Momo pause. She blinks at Ken, before looking away nervously.
“Is something wrong?” Ken asks.
Momo takes a steadying breath.
‘Okarun, I um… telepathy is the only way I can speak.’
Ken blinks. That was… an unexpected bit of information.
“R-really?”
Momo nods.
“Oh… were you… born like that?”
She shakes her head.
‘The Serpoians weren’t exactly… gentle wardens.’
Then, she raises her legs…
And Ken sees the wires.
Cold runs through his chest.
“Oh, Momo…” he finds himself crawling forward, hands coming to hover just over the stumps of her legs. “D-did I…? When I… ripped you out…?”
‘No!’ The thought comes out so strongly Ken almost topples back from the force, but he feels Momo’s hands against his cheeks again, a gentle hold this time rather than a squeeze. ‘No, no, no, Okarun, this was not you. The Serpoians took my legs a long time ago, the wires were gonna have to be torn if I was ever going to leave.’
“…Does it hurt?”
‘Not at all,’ she gives him a reassuring smile. ‘I’ve got no real feeling down there, anyways.’
“Still…” Ken’s thought trails off as a wave of exhaustion falls over him.
He yawns and looks up at the sky.
“How late is it?” he wonders aloud.
‘Dunno,’ Momo comments, her head also tilted back to watch the clouds. ‘They never gave me a clock…’
Ken looks around at the ship’s dead husk.
“…We should go home.”
That jolts Momo a little. ‘Right… home…’
A thought crosses Ken’s mind. “Oh… do you… have a home?”
Momo’s human. A complete paradigm shift from Ken’s initial perspective, but he finds he’s not disappointed by the discovery. It’s still Momo, in the end, and if Serpos are a measuring stick for most aliens, maybe he doesn’t want to be friends with them after all.
Ken’s question gives Momo pause, and when she responds to Ken, he can feel waves of her despair leak across the telepathic bond.
‘I… don’t know. It’s been so long… I don’t even know where this place is compared to home…’
Ken panics a little, the idea of sending Momo into tears making him want to throw up.
“I-It’s alright, you can stay with me! And then we can figure out what to do next later, after we sleep.”
‘…Are you sure?’
“Positive. It’s just me at home, anyway, so there won’t be anyone to ask questions.”
Momo takes Ken’s words in, then nods. ‘Okay, let’s go.’
“Right!”
‘But, um…’ Momo raises her leg, the wires dangle in the breeze.
“Oh! It’s okay, I’ll carry you.”
It only takes a few minutes of trudging before Ken realizes he can’t do this. There’s no way he can haul himself and Momo all the way back to his house, not on the amount of energy he’s got left.
They’ve only made it back to the abandoned tunnel, before Ken can tell from the shaking of his arms and legs that he needs to stop before he collapses and drops Momo on the ground.
“M-Momo, I ah… I need a break.”
She responds with an affirmative mental touch, and Ken crouches to let her gently slide to the floor. Ken kneels, panting with his hands clutching his thighs. He feels Momo touch his shoulder.
‘Are you okay?’
“I… I’m alright, but… I don’t think I can get us home tonight…”
‘Urgggh, what are we gonna do?’
Ken looks to Momo and can tell from her drooping eyes and slouched posture that she’s exhausted, too. They went through a lot tonight, and Ken knows from biology class that adrenaline can have some wild effects on the body.
Momo rubs her face, expression despairing, and Ken’s heart tears at the sight. Who knows how long she’s held out in her prison…
The need to protect and look after her writhes within him like its own animal, and Ken musters up just enough energy to rise to his feet again.
He scouts the area, though there’s not much to see. The tunnel is overgrown and crumbling, water drips from a hole somewhere in the ceiling. But his eyes catch on something tucked away in an alcove. He jogs over to get a closer look.
A mattress, yellowed with age but relatively clean sits tucked away from sight. A few ratty blankets and old tarps lay scattered across it. Possibly once a bed for a homeless person, but tonight, it’s their saving grace.
Ken returns to Momo, who’s watching him from where she’s still kneeling on the floor. Not like she can go anywhere of her own volition, anyway.
“Hey Momo, I know it’s not the best set up, but there’s a mattress there in the alcove. It’s quiet and hidden, there’s blankets too… we can sleep there tonight, if you’re okay with that.”
Momo follows Ken’s line of sight. While, physically, all she can muster is a drowsy blink, her thoughts carry sensations of relief and gratefulness to Ken.
‘That sounds perfect,’ she says.
It’s a short shuffle to bring Momo over to the mattress. Ken carries her bridal style and struggles to keep himself from morphing into a tomato. Now that things are calm, he’s suddenly unable to ignore that he’s holding a… very pretty girl his own age. He finds his eyes darting to anywhere but her. Surely it’s rude for him to look at her like this, the last thing he wants to do is make her feel uncomfortable.
He feels something poke his cheek.
‘Hey, what’s up with you? Why are your eyes doing that?’
“N-no reason!” he stutters.
He can feel Momo’s piercing gaze on him. ‘You’re lucky I’m too polite to go digging through your deeper thoughts.’
The comment drags a few questions Ken previously forgot back to his mind.
“How does the telepathy stuff work, anyway?”
Momo thinks for a moment.
‘It’s like… using a telephone, I guess. I reach out, and when I touch a person’s mind, it’s like dialing their number. Then, if they pick up, I can hear any surface level thoughts they’re projecting to the world. There’s deeper thoughts, too, the sort of subconscious ones that people only think to themselves, but I have to actively draw those out, and that feels kinda… invasive.’
“Oh, well… Thank you for respecting my privacy.”
‘Of course! I wouldn’t do that to a friend unless it was like, life or death or something.’
Ken plops Momo onto the mattress, and the girl immediately falls back, the springy cushion flexing under her weight. Ken feels weary satisfaction bleed through their connection.
‘Aaaah, a real bed… it’s been so looong!’
“If you’re happy with this, just wait until we get to my place. A bed with an actual bedspring and headboard.”
‘Uuuuugh, don’t say that, I’ll never get to sleep!’
Ken laughs.
He quickly gathers up the scattered blankets and piles them on top of the mattress and Momo. It’s early spring, so the night air isn’t freezing, but Ken still worries about her being cold. He doesn’t stop until Momo is just a pair of eyes and a head of messy hair, blinking up at him from under a thick coating of covers.
“I-is um, is that good?” Ken asks, suddenly self-conscious.
‘Ah, maybe we can take off a layer or two… or five.’
After a little more shuffling and discarding of blankets, Ken finally settles into the mattress himself, heavy limbs seeming to anchor him to the floor. He’s definitely not getting up again tonight…
He positions himself so he’s sleeping practically on the edge of the mattress, back turned to the girl he just saved, and it’s not long before he feels annoyance creep over the bond.
‘Hey, what are you doing? Why are you all the way over there?’
“I-I’m giving you your space!” Ken asserts. “I-It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”
Momo scoffs in his head. ‘You’re such a dweeb sometimes.’
“S-sorry…” he stutters out.
‘It’s fine.’
But Ken feels this sort of… emptiness come from her. It’s a feeling he’s uncomfortably familiar with, in his own dark times when he lay alone in his room at night, feeling his loneliness more acutely than ever.
Ken turns over, and even in the dim light, he can see Momo’s crestfallen face. Her brows are furrowed, and her eyes are tight, she looks on the verge of tears. It opens a pit in Ken’s chest, and any embarrassment or nervousness he felt being so close to such a pretty girl flees in an instant. He scoots a little closer to her.
‘Momo?’ He reaches out in his mind. Something about this moment makes him nervous to speak aloud. ‘What’s wrong?’
Momo shakes her head like she’s trying to rid herself of dark thoughts.
‘It’s nothing, I’m just…’
She looks up, her eyes meeting Ken’s, and he can see unshed tears building inside.
‘I didn’t think I’d really make it out…’
The sight spurs Ken to act. He reaches out, enfolding Momo in his arms once again as he pulls her into his chest. He feels the girl stiffen for a moment, before she returns the embrace, holding onto him just as tightly. Her forehead finds a place against his shoulder, and Ken feels her body shudder and sigh as she relaxes against him.
‘…The Serpos took me when I was six.’
Ken stiffens, but he stays quiet as she continues.
‘I’d had a fight with my grandma, did that a lot at the time. And I guess I just wanted to piss her off some more, ‘cause I decided to break curfew and run off the property in the dead of night. Didn’t go far, though, just to the rice field across the road. But I guess that was far enough…
‘I remember playing in the mud one second, and the next, they were just there, and I was surrounded… There wasn’t anything I could do.
‘They could sense my abilities somehow, even though I didn’t know I had them. Once they’d triggered them to activate, they decided to put me to use… powering their machines with my chi. It’s kind of fitting, I guess. My grandma spent years trying to tell me about how important it was to master my chi, and I spent years rejecting it. Then that same chi makes me a target for abduction… I should have listened to her.’
The sorrow tinging Momo’s thoughts washes through Ken, and he brings a hand up to run his fingers through her hair in a way he hopes is soothing.
‘Course, I didn’t make things easy for them. I was so determined to get back home… I was such a problem captive, that the Serpos took my legs so I couldn’t run. Then they took my vocal cords so I couldn’t cuss them out anymore. Then, once they finished that damn battery casing, they locked me inside so I couldn’t do anything.
‘I’d given up on ever escaping, ever seeing the sun again… until you.’
Ken feels her grip tighten on his shirt, and the desperation in her voice causes him to clutch her closer in return.
‘You saved me…’ she says.
‘…Of course I did, Momo,’ Ken replies. ‘I couldn’t just abandon you.’
Momo begins to cry. Her mouth is open in a silent scream, and Ken can feel the wetness of tears soaking his shirt, but there’s no audible sound. Instead, he feels it in his mind, warbling waves of both sorrow and relief, all the pent-up emotions Momo had pushed down in her struggle to remain strong flooding out now that the gates were broken.
Ken keeps stroking her hair and sending his own thoughts of comfort over their bond.
‘It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m here.’
He plays it on repeat as Momo cries herself to sleep.
The tunnel is quiet at night, but never silent. The creaking of frogs and trickling of water create a soothing curtain of background noise that would almost make the abandoned space pleasant, if not for the palpable air of pain and malice.
But still, in the middle of it all, two exhausted teens sleep the night away, wrapped up in a pile of blankets and each other. Their bodies are deeply entwined, the boy holding the girl close to his chest, their breathing deep and even as the world is blotted out by their dreams.
And, next to them, something else watches.
It looks like a girl, someone their age, but her uniform is decades out of date, and her body seems translucent where the light hits it at the right angle.
She watches the teens with wide, emotionless eyes. Slowly, she reaches out a hand…
“Tomi!”
A loud, gruff voice rings out, and the girl freezes with one hand extended. She looks over her shoulder to see a hunched figure meandering down the tunnel.
An old woman approaches, wearing a tattered, red kimono. Her hands are folded behind her hunched back, and large, bare feet with gnarled toes plick plack across the wet pavement.
“Don’t touch strange living folk, you don’t know where they’ve been.” The old woman says with a wry grin, her bulging yellow eyes glint with mischief under a curtain of bristling white hair.
The ghost girl blinks at the old woman before slowly lowering her hand. But she doesn’t move away. She stays crouched beside the mattress, watching the teenagers breathe.
“…He saved her.”
The old woman says nothing.
Around them, more ghostly girls fade into view, gathering around the sleeping couple in a loose semicircle. They whisper and chitter to each other in low, disbelieving voices.
“He saved her…”
“He really did…”
“Just like he promised…”
“Are there really men who do that…?”
The old woman scoffs.
“Alright you lot, that’s enough. Clear off, this isn’t a zoo.”
One by one, the girls slowly dissipate into nothingness, their tittering conversations continuing for just a moment after they’re gone. The old woman sighs as she looks down at the sleeping humans.
In most cases, any mortals foolish enough to cross into her territory wouldn’t leave with their souls intact, but when this scrawny little brat waddled into her tunnel, practically screaming with all his being about a girl he had to save, she’d been intrigued. It was the intensity of his desires, the pure selflessness he radiated, that had convinced the old woman to throw him a bone, just to see what he could do.
And he’d done it.
He’d made use of her power to practically fly through the air, tear a hole in the sky, and drag this strange anomaly of a girl down to Earth.
The old woman peered down at the boy, and she saw the core of power she’d given him, pulsating quietly in the center of his aura. Dormant for now, waiting for the moment it would be called on again. Then, her eyes drifted to the girl. She was powerful, her spirit stronger than anything the woman had felt before. It was the kind of power that wouldn’t go unnoticed.
Their trials were likely far from over.
The old woman smirks.
“Better count yourself lucky I’m feeling so generous tonight, boy. I’ll let you keep those powers for now, but you better be ready to fight like hell. That girl’s gonna need it.”
The old woman turns, then fades away, and the tunnel is quiet once more.