Buildings crumbled, people screamed, laser blasts whizzed past her face. She drew her serrator, ready to defend her family. She saw her parents out of the corner of her eye, running forward towards the enemy, backed by several soldiers. She ran after them, gripping her weapon tight, eyes focused on her foe: General Val Morando.

The traitorous General screamed orders to his soldiers, his sharp teeth bared. He seemed more animal than man. He had his weapon held high over his head, like nothing could hurt him. Aja rushed at him, yelling, her blade poised to kill. He dodged with a cruel laugh, swinging his serrator her way. She barely managed to duck, yelping as he swung again. She kept on with her assault, determined to end the villain who threatened her home. She slashed again, and missed. She was sure she should have hit him by now. It was like he was a ghost or something.

The General slashed again, and she crumpled, wounded. She couldn't tell how bad it was, or really feel where it was, but she suddenly couldn't move. She watched as Morando turned on her parents, reaching with his bare hands towards their chests. She tried to yell, to scream, to tell him he better leave them alone, but she was unable to make a sound. Morando dug his hands into her mother and father and chuckled wickedly. How was he doing that? He couldn't possibly be strong enough to do that!

He started to pull, laughing maniacally. The world around them went dark and silent. Her parents didn't fight back. They just stood there.

Why weren't they fighting back?

They should be fighting back.

Why would they just let him do this to them?!

Why weren't they fighting back?!

Morando ripped their cores out of their bodies and crushed them, still laughing. Aja still couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't do anything to stop him. He turned towards her and grinned triumphantly.

Aja woke up with a jolt.

She blinked a couple of times and looked around the room Mother had given her, dark and silent. She sighed, pushing the nightmare to the back of her mind. Faint morning light streamed through the window, and if she listened hard enough, she could hear Varvatos quietly milling about the house, trying not to wake her or her brother. She curled up under the covers, trying to get a little bit more sleep before she had to get up and get ready for this human school she had to attend. Finding that she couldn't, she grudgingly arose, stretching as she made her way into the living room. The house Mother had designed as a disguise was actually kind of nice, in her opinion.

"My Royal, you are up early." Varvatos remarked upon seeing her sitting at the kitchen bar.

"Mmmhhmm." She mumbled, staring absently at the marble tabletop. She was putting off her transduction for as long as possible. Luug pawed at her leg, grring and rrrffing adorably. She remembered the nightmare and pushed it back again, putting her head down on the table. The cold marble was uncomfortable against her forehead, but she kept it there.

"Are you alright?" Varvatos asked.

"I'm fine. Just tired." Aja said plainly, not lifting her head. Then why did you get up early? She expected the commander to ask, but he didn't. The following silence was mildly awkward. Varvatos Vex was usually quite obnoxious and loud, and though the princess often wanted him to be quiet, his lack of words wasn't exactly calm, like most people. It was more tense, serious, like if he were to make a sound it would spoil his ambush plan or something.

Why does he always behave like he's in battle? Or about to be? She lifted her head and stared at him, though he didn't see it because he was busy messing with the light switch, which was by far too small for his large, three-fingered hands. She figured she might have laughed, had she been in a better mood. She watched him struggle for several minutes before finally walking over and turning the light on herself, which earned her no more than a disgruntled mumble from the taller Akiridion.

"Ruff!" Luug barked, most likely demanding food. The little dog was often very expressive, and most of the time, knowing what he wanted was easy. Aja knew Varvatos never gave him enough, so she fed him herself. Besides, keeping busy helped her forget the nightmares she'd been having ever since their escape from Akiridion-5.

She wished the king and queen would regenerate faster. Her parents, in stasis and unavailable right when she needed them most. Just her luck. She pushed the thought away and decided she'd procrastinated long enough, making her way to the ship's transduction chamber just as her brother walked into the living room. He didn't give her as much as a glance as she walked by; he looked tired and a bit irritated.

The hidden part of their ship that wasn't disguised welcomed the queen-in-waiting with it's usual blue glow, reminding her of home. Though her time here on Earth had been very interesting so far (magic existed here, trolls lived underground and a school kid named Jim had magic armor), she couldn't help but long to go back to her planet, even though her life there had been boring and princess-y. Even here, Varvatos was reluctant to let her be more of a warrior, despite training her rigorously.

She stepped into the transduction chamber, taking on her human disguise. Having only two arms still felt weird, and she doubted she'd ever get used to it. At least she felt a little better now that she'd been up for a while. She was usually the optimist among the three of them (four if you counted Luug, though he was optimistic anyway), and she didn't want to change that just because she was having a rough morning.

School will probably be nice today. She stepped down from the chamber and tried to put a smile on her face. Gym class will be lively. Maybe Jim needs some help with some really interesting magic thing today. Or maybe he wants to learn more about Akiridion-5. There she was, thinking about Jim again. She kept telling herself it was because he was just interesting, with his Trollhunter status and magic amulet, but when she really thought about it, Douxie was a wizard's apprentice, Claire could wield a shadow staff, Toby had a Warhammer and a little creature called a gnome (she still wasn't sure about the little guy, though), and Blinky and Aarrrgggh!! and NotEnrique were trolls. Everyone was interesting. So what made Jim more interesting?

She came back into the living room and was hit with the smell of pancakes cooking. Again. They were fine, but they were about the only thing the Blanks knew how to cook, so they were definitely getting old. Krel was already sitting at the bar and eating, something he usually did after putting on his transduction, but hadn't bothered to do yet this time.

"There's a girl who keeps staring at me in history class." He was saying. "I can't figure out what she could possibly want. Is she mad at me? We don't take math together, how could I be a rival?" He seemed deeply frustrated.

"She must like you, little brother." Aja said cheesily as she sat down beside him. He huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Me? Nobody notices me. Except that guy Seamus. He keeps bugging me about getting the A's." He said, stabbing his food with his fork absently. Aja kept herself from giggling and leaned towards him.

"Well she noticed you. She probably thinks you're rather handsome." She teased. Krel batted her away with the back of his hand, and and she dissolved into sniggers. He promptly got up and walked towards the entrance to the hidden part of the ship.

"I need to get my transduction." He used as the excuse. Aja grinned to herself, knowing she'd definitely gotten under his skin. She frowned a little, however, when she realized he would most likely take very swift revenge if he ever found out how much she thought about Jim. He'd say I like him, She figured. But I don't. I definitely do not; not like that. The Momblank violently slapped a few pancakes on the plate in front of her, laughing hysterically. She reared back, ignoring the Dadblank's cheap remarks, and waited until it was safe to settle back down into her seat again before eating. They really need some good names. And better manners. "Blanks" just doesn't sound very nice.

She ducked as another pancake went flying. Maybe the manners part is more important.

"Hey! Be careful!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

~~~~~~

School was pretty boring. Boring classes, boring teachers, and concepts only humans seemed to understand. Krel flew through math class as usual, and Seamus of course looked all grumpy about it. Aja was good enough at math, and usually wound up with a B, but it wasn't her favorite thing by far. Most of the information Miss Janeth was sharing just bounced off until the bell rang for the next class.

"Hey- hey Aja!" Jim called while they were in the hall.

"Hm?" She turned to him, studying his serious yet nervous expression.

"There are some rumors going around about this enormous wolf in the woods that some troll apparently saw on a salvage run, and I was thinking, maybe, you'd want to investigate it with us? If you want to. You don't have to." He whispered.

A wolf. She knew what a wolf was. She'd studied a few Earth animals one time when she was bored. Jim said this was an enormous wolf. That sounded dangerous.

"Of course I want to help!" She whispered back. "It's so boring sitting around the Mothership. An 'enormous wolf' sounds lively!"

"Okay, great! We're going out tonight. We'll come get you." Jim whispered, then he ducked into the history classroom. Smiling to herself, Aja followed him and found her seat. Krel was seated next to her. He tapped her shoulder and subtly gestured to a girl who was sitting towards the back of the classroom, situating her backpack under her desk.

"She's the one. She keeps staring at me. Watch her; it's true." He whispered. She looked back at the girl. She didn't look very nosy or dangerous; she wore a simple green hoodie, blue jeans and plain sneakers. Her hair was long and very dark brown. Her eyes were brown, too.

"She looks nice." Aja said quietly, not worried in the slightest. Teenage humans always found an interesting individual of the opposite sex to stare at, from what she'd observed.

"Well, I don't like being stared at." Krel argued. "It ruins my focus."

"Maybe you should talk to her." Aja suggested, crossing her arms casually. Her brother's face flushed the slightest shade of blue, and she momentarily feared he was going to give away that they weren't just normal humans.

"I'll think about it." He mumbled, then class started.

I better be careful not to make him blush again. If he gets too flustered, everyone will think he's holding his breath. She smiled a little. Blushing. I knew he wasn't just creeped out because she was staring at him. She stole a glance back at the girl he was complaining about. Sure enough, she was intently gazing his way. She didn't exactly look like she liked him, though. It was more of an intense fascination, and that left Aja completely confused. Krel looked rather un-fascinating in his human disguise. That was the entire point. Mother had made sure they would be invisible. Attracting too much attention could blow their cover.

But one girl wasn't too much attention, right?