Horrendously unedited but I promised an update and it's long over-due.

LOUIS WAS TALKING at such a hurried pace that I was having difficulty keeping up with what he was saying. As he went round telling me what all the nick-knacks were in his room - most of which had fancy sciencey-alien terms thrown in - I had to ask him to stop all together and speak slower. At times it was like he forgot we were two completely different species.

"I'm sorry," he gushed, "I guess I got a little excited. Nobody usually wants to hear what I have to say."

"It's fine," I promised, "but when you're as tired and disorientated as I am, it's a little difficult to keep up."

He just laughed and turned to pull out a char from under his desk. He swivelled it round and gestured for me to take a seat, which I gratefully did. Then, with a deep breath he said, "From the top!" Shuffling a one-eighty he faced the bed propped against the farthest corner of the room. "The bed," he announced, "but not as you know it. It has all the framework of a regular - human, I'll add - bed, only the framework is made of stilium, which is one of the strongest, indestructible metals on Junito-"

I chuckled and asked, "Why would you need such a sturdy bed frame?" I raised a suggestive brow and he had to double take to understand what I was referring to.

"Funny," he muttered, scowling. "I may be a prince and I may be able to have whomever I choose for a night of rowdy pleasures but I'm still a gentleman, Earthling. I can't even begin to comprehend why you would think so little of me."

I just laughed harder and promised him that wasn't the case at all. "Oh, Loudrix, how defensive you get."

"Well, no wonder when you're attacking the most innocent of my words!" He seemed thoroughly exasperated and I had to force myself to calm down and not take the piss out of anything else he said. Truly, I was interested in what he had to say but trying to cure a mischievous mind was a difficult task. 

"I'll stop now, promise."

He cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway. The ship too, is made of stilium. Finest metal in the universe. And as I mentioned and you've no doubt noticed, the bed before you is very different to ones on Earth. Allow me to demonstrate." And then the prince turned from me and made his way over to the frame in three large strides. I noticed how much more confident he was now that he was in a more comfortable, familiar room. Staying in the cells would have driven both of us mad eventually.

"Am I supposed to be amazed at the framework?" I asked as he remained motionless at the side of the bed. 

With a grin over his shoulder, he fell forwards. At first I was afraid he was going to collide face-first with the metal slab of the frame and hurt his nose even further, but instead it were as if gravity had reversed, for he was suddenly floating above the bed with his limbs spread like a starfish. He seemed to float higher and higher until he was stuck about a metre in mid-air, spinning and flailing about until he was facing me with a wide smile. Once he'd assumed a comfortable position and he could see me clearly, he clapped his hands twice and was surrounded by a brightness from below on the frame work, like he were in the spotlight. 

I hadn't realised my mouth had been hanging open until I went to speak. "Whoa," was all I managed. 

"I know," he mused, swivelling onto his side, his head in hand. "Comfier than squirming around on a human bed until you can find the appropriate position, no? And the lights? Those detect the temperature your body is craving to be warm and comfortable as you sleep and it adjusts to the correct one."

"That is pretty awesome," I agreed, nodding as I stood and made my way over to him. I raised my hand out to hover within the light and was shocked to find an invisible force pushing up against my palm. "Weird," I muttered to him, grinning as I took a few steps back. "If I take a runner will I float too?"

Louis nodded. "Yep, but let me move over."

I waited patiently for him to readjust his position before making my move and running towards the bed, jumping at the last moment to find myself propelled upward, floating in mid air beside him. It was the most surreal feeling, like being weightless, untouchable. If I could have described what I thought floating through the clouds was like, that would be it. For a moment I felt fearless, like all my troubles were below me - us - and nothing could ever harm us again. But everyone's flaws catch up to them in the end and I was broken out of my wishful thinking when Louis slid his hand into mine and asked, "Are you not mad at me for dragging you into this mess?"

I turned my head to look at him. His eyes, so crystal clear and often filled with hope were ever so dull, like the clouds we were floating on had suddenly turned grey and drenched all meaning of happiness and optimism. It was a sad sight, one I couldn't bear to continue looking at. With a sigh, I cast my gaze to the ceiling and said, "Not at all."

And then we were enveloped in a comfortable silence. It felt like the hundredth since we'd been taken prisoner, like all to be said had already been said and all to do had already been done. But Louis had always been the one to ask questions more than I, to want a deeper knowledge of what he couldn't comprehend.

He turned onto his side again and asked me, "What was your nightmare about?"

I knew it had been coming but I'd been hoping he'd forgotten all about it by the time we'd made it to his room. Fully aware that he was rather clever at reading expressions, I realised there was no point in lying to him. 

"I dreamed you had lied to me the entire time and that you were actually a crazy scientist who had been experimenting on me from the moment you arrived."

"Oh," was all he managed, as if he had been expecting anything but. "I was evil?"

I nodded. "Yep. You cut my fingers off and put them in glass jars. It really scared me, I won't lie to you. All the time I kept wondering where my friend had gone and why he would do such a thing when all I'd done was help."

"Wow, Flora." Louis sounded genuinely hurt, as if I were accusing him right there and then of being a monster. "I didn't think it would be quite as horrific as that. If I'd had a similar dream I sure wouldn't have trusted you ever again. I understand how it must feel but you know me, Flora. You are my friend and I am yours. I wouldn't ever do anything like that to hurt you."

I knew deep down that he was telling the truth but no matter how hard I tried to rid the horrific images of my nightmare from my mind, they seemed to come creeping back to blind me, living behind my lids as to forever haunt me with the idea that I'd been living with a psycho for months and had finally fallen into his trap. Klaru's words about his 'true intentions' nagged at my mind too, not further helping me shake the ridiculous suspicions. Louis was my friend and I sure as Hell would have known long ago if he were using me in anyway. Which he wasn't.

"I know." My voice was hushed and not at all convinced by my words that I had to clear my throat and repeat myself. 

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" he inquired, arching a brow.

I just sighed loudly and scowled at the ceiling, angry at myself for letting something as stupid as a dream or Klaru's poisonous words to have me even suspect the idea of Louis being unfaithful to his claims. We were friends, good friends. 

"I'm sorry, Louis. I'm just tired and over-thinking everything. I don't want to be thinking too hard about anything right now, not at this very moment when we're trapped with each other and our thoughts. It's just the tiredness and such that's getting to my head. Not to mention that I'm trying to become accustomed to the change in air. Well, there is not air, is there?"

He chuckled and shook his head before asking, "Yeah, how's that going?"

"Not too bad, I think," I honestly answered. Nothing ached, there was no uncomfortable swelling or additional bruising, just the occasional shortage of breath or dizzy spell which passed within a few seconds. I had no idea how long the alien blood would remain in my system but for the time being it was doing a pretty damn good job at keeping me alive.

And Jason too, I hope.

There had been no word on Jason since my melt-down. Louis hadn't brought him up again, no doubt trying to save me the pain of knowing I was the reason he could potentially have been killed, or tortured. It was a sickening feeling, knowing you were to blame for putting another's life in danger and your best friend of all people. There had been one point where I'd been unaware of myself hitting my head off the bars until Louis had to put a hand on my shoulder to stop it. I'd been so lost in thought, so angry at myself that I'd been completely out of it. 

"You're losing your mind in here, aren't you?" Louis had asked and I'd only been able to nod. 

"Tell me, Loudrix," I began, sitting up, slightly apprehensive that I'd fall through the invisible barrier holding me up, "if you hadn't been ever so obsessed with the idea of finding human life you may not have ended up in this mess. Would you have changed anything?"

"No."

"Nothing at all? This is your life we're talking about," I protested and he just huffed.

"What would life be if you're not perusing your dreams, Flora?" He shuffled himself round and plopped off of the bed, making his way over to the curious looking box covered in buttons. It almost resembled a rather complex fidget contraption and when I asked Louis what exactly it was, he just smiled at me over his shoulder and pressed a small triangular green button. 

A small beam of light blinked to life with a sudden click-click-click, reminding me of an old film projector. The light shone towards the ceiling and instead of revealing an image, a blank white square materialised before my eyes and I looked to Louis, clueless.

"So, what is it?" I pressed.

He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily before pressing another button and then I finally understood - it was a hologram or something in relation. I found myself ogling at the 'screen' flashing in the air before me and just as I was about to ask what exactly it did, an image appeared. It was an image of family of three; mum, dad and son. Louis' family, I knew straight away. I looked closer at the small child, chubby cheeked and sparkling a brilliant azure blue, a smile forming on my lips as I looked at a younger Louis. 

"How old were you?" 

"About ten, perhaps? It was such a long time ago but I distinctly remember it being taken around my tenth birthday because for every decade in a royal's life, there is a grand ball takes place. You should have seen my twentieth," he laughed, shaking his head. "Honestly? I don't recall the majority of it."

I nudged him playfully and jokingly scolded him, "You, drunk? Please, you're not strong enough to handle drink."

"Junito beverages are rather delightful compared to that atrocious concoction you allowed me to try on Earth," he shot back. "And let's not forget that your drinking problem was the start of all this madness."

For a millisecond I felt the faintest sensation of guilt rush over me but it was quickly subsided for a shrug that meant 'oh well.' Like he'd said, it was what it was and all we really had to focus on at the moment was surviving long enough to make it out of the unfortunate mess we'd - I'd - got ourselves into. 

Just gonna fill you in on why I've been quiet and not posting a lot recently (and why in the up-coming months I may disappear for a bit). I found out a few weeks ago that my dad is dying from lung cancer and I honestly don't think he has long to live, so as you can imagine things are really, really shit right now. So I apologise for how short and shit this chapter is but I've been using my free time to go to the hospital as much as possible so this chapter was a rushed mess, sorry. Thanks for reading, as usual.

Space joke: I'm reading a book about anti-gravity - it's impossible to put down!

Cazza