YT - Star People AU - Chapter 5

   Mark was practically jumping on his seat as his mother entered the room, leaving the cooking aside for a moment to go talk to Jack. The Star boy smiled wider than before, spilling how thankful he was with so many formalities, Mark noticed even his mother got lost between some words. She waved him off with a smile, asking what his thoughts on some chicken dumplings were. Jack honestly said he never even heard of such food but would be happy to try it. Mark tried not to think of what a terrible life it would be without chicken dumplings…

   “Very well, I'm very sure you’ll love to eat anything after so long.” The woman said with a smile. “Wait here, I’ll bring it to you.”

   “T-thank you, but there’s not the need ta…” He was promptly ignored, and became silent.

   “You cannot even move your legs.” Mark smiled, patting the bed beside Jack’s, he would have patted his legs, but it would probably be weird. “We won’t force you into walking around just now.” He lifted a hand before the boy could say something. “Enough of being thankful! We get it already!”

   Mark said this as a joke and seriously hoped Jack have gotten it. Jack laughed, what meant he had understood it, even though his cheeks turned bright gold.

   “Sorry, guess I have been raised way too politely...” He threw back, much to Mark’s surprise, who laughed wholeheartedly. And as he stopped, he noticed the boy was staring at him with worried eyes. “Yeh seem restless… Are yeh okay?”

   “Ah, yes.” The red haired man said hurriedly. But he noticed his leg bouncing up and down, what made his whole chair shake. “I’m sorry… It’s just… I know you practically crashed down on our planet right now and you're pretty lost, and I’m really sorry for all of this.” He gave the pale boy an awkward smile. “But I can’t help but find this simply… Amazing! I mean… You came from space and all…”

   Mark was slightly scared of offending his guest, there was so much he wanted to know, so many questions he wanted to make! He didn’t want to lose his chance just because he was being a huge ass nerd over a space traveler and consequently making him mad.

   But instead of seeming annoyed or mad, Jack just smiled.

   “Yes I did.” He tilted his head a little bit to the side. “I take it yer people don’t know about our existence?”

   “Uh… I wouldn’t say that. We know, but most people, well…” Mark hesitated. Now that was probably going to insult the boy. “Most people take you, Star People, for nothing but fairy tale…”

   Jack blinked once or twice, as if taking long to process those words, making the red haired man nervously bounce his leg even faster.

   “Oh.” He said finally, before laughing with a crooked smile. “Well, then yer people should really be thankful fer the existence of such ‘fairy tales’.” He wiggled in the bed to sit in a better position, his cheeks getting darker in color as Mark raised an eyebrow to him. “Yeh may not know it, and I don’t really know if I should tell yeh that, but we are everywhere in the cosmos around yer planet. Our empire is vast and yer planet may even be a part of our territory without yer own knowledge.” Mark’s eyes widened and Jack raised his hands up. “But don't worry! We would never do anythin’ against yeh!”

   “Oh, no, it’s okay…” Mark was amazed. So the book was right, the Star People lived all around the cosmos in an universe-sized empire.

   “We just, yeh know, keep an eye on everythin’… We just interfere when we are needed…” Jack said this almost in a whisper, his blue eyes losing focus and staring blankly at his gold and green boots.

   Mark waited, for what he wasn’t sure, but he simply stared at the unfocused boy. But before he could say something, his brother appeared by the door, holding a tray with their mother’s deliciously cooked meal.

   “Lunch’s here.” Thomas smiled entering the room with the woman trailing right behind him.

   Jack’s vague blue eyes focused on the trail right away, and for a second he seemed to shine as he smelled the food. He thanked profusely as Thomas put the tray right over his legs, he wiggled around and stared at the food, as if eating it with the eyes before actually trying it.

   “I hope you enjoy it.” The lady said, she was confident about her cooking skills.

   “Thank you…” Jack whispered with a smile but he still stood there, staring at the chicken pieces. He even tilted his head to the side, like a curious puppy. This made Mark remember about Chica… It was weirdly late, Thomas had probably already put some food for her.

   “Is everything okay?” Ms. Fishbach asked, confused.

   “Oh, y-yes, everythin’s fine!” The Star boy finally seemed to notice what he was doing. He grabbed the spoon and dipped it on the broth. “I’m just not used ta material food…” The small family looked at each other, all of them confused by the meaning of those words. But anyway, Jack already tasted the food, so he went for small spoonfuls, till he decided that he indeed liked it. “Hm! It’s… It’s delicious!”

   Mark laughed at his mother’s pleased smile and sweet “thank you” as she watched the boy practically gobble the broth down with big spoonfuls. He was indeed hungry as hell! In no time his plate was empty, and it seemed like he was questioning either to actually lick the plate or politely ask for more.

   “Geez, beside the crash you must have had quite a journey to end up this hungry.” Ms. Fishbach giggled, grabbing the plate from the boy’s hand. “Here, I’ll get more for you. Thomas, maybe we can bring the pot here, can you help?”

   Thomas agreed.

   Jack eagerly licked off the rest of the food on his lips and cheeks, apparently embarrassed when he caught Mark staring at him. But the man wasn’t even paying attention to the mess that was the boy’s face, his mind was wandering far away from there.

   “What happened to you?” He ended up letting out, almost without noticing.

   Jack looked up from Sam, who had jumped on the trail, and blinked once or twice, his blue eyes blown wide in surprise.

   “I…” He hesitated, locking eyes with the little eyeball. It flashed encouragingly. “It’s a long story…”

   “You don’t need to tell!” Mark hurried to say, lifting his hands in a peaceful manner. “I was just thinking out loud. I mean, I would like to know what happened, why you ended up here with us, but you don’t need to tell if you don’t want to, or if you can’t…”

   “No.” Jack said, his voice so strong, Thomas and his mother stopped on the door for a second, before deciding to enter. The older man rested the pot on Mark’s desk. “I guess I have ta tell yeh all. Yeh deserve ta know, after all yeh did for me.” He accepted the plate of chicken with a smile and left it on the trail, he wasn’t going to eat it yet. “I guess I can start by who I am in the Star Empire. I’m a lieutenant of our military, more precisely, I’m a Star Charioteer, and Sam here is my chariot.” The eyeball, that had jumped from the trail, looked up at the family from underneath his elbow. “We usually work as sentinels, keepin’ an eye out fer any trouble and handlin’ them. There is also a group of us that is responsible for helpin’ ships that end up stranded or without fuel.”

   “But this time it was different. We were called ta help two of our War Golden Galleons. The kingdom of Altair asked fer help, after havin’ their external harbors attacked and taken over by Darkness Galleons, so our ships were sent, together with the best of our men. Compared ta the enemy ships, with our huge galleons, they would probably have their ass kicked, but apparently the Darkness People had some tricks hidden up their sleeve…”

   He stopped, looking down at the full plate. He took a sip of the broth while Mark made a mental note to search about Darkness People on his book.

   “That’s what I heard when I was called together with other charioteers ta go help.” Jack continued, playing with the spoon. “Our chariots are fast, they can travel thousands of light years without problem, so we got there in no time. They were surrounded by three Darkness Galleons, but the third one was huge! I couldn’t see too much, as we had ta enter on action right away. But it was weird, the ships seemed so dark, way darker than usual, and so did the Grims and the Nameless...” He took another sip, thinking about how to continue. “But it was when their captain appeared that things… Got worst…”

   “Hey…” Mark reached his hand, laying it on Jack’s shoulder as soon as he saw the crystal clear tears appear on his eyes. “It’s okay…”

   “No, it’s not…!” Jack said by gritted teeth, wiping away the tears before they fell down, he seemed at the same time enraged and sad. “He probably… He killed my friends… He whisked them off their feet and forced them ta enter their chariots against their will! I don’t think any of yeh know what it means, but it’s the same as bein’ forced ta kill someone you love or… Defile their body or somethin’!” His voice was so stern and deep, it was as if listening to a complete different man. Mark was genuinely shaken by those words, but the only thing he found himself able to do was pat Jack’s shoulder. The Star boy took a deep breath, apparently trying to stop crying. “I’m… I’m sorry, I just…”

   “Shh, it’s ok.” It was Mark’s mother who said it, calm and tender as any mother would do. “We can see it was something really serious. We’re sorry for this.”

   Jack simply nodded, finally acknowledging Sam’s nudges against his side. The eyeball seemed as sad and scared as the boy, but they weren’t hiding their feelings as much as the pale star. Jack grabbed Sam, completely forgetting everything but them, and lifted the green star to his eyes level; they touched “foreheads” and the young man closed his eyes, both lost in a moment of their own.

   Mark understood what was happening between them right away. So being forced together with another star was some type of traumatic experience, and taken that Jack had violently fallen down to Clilion inside Sam, it meant they had probably been forced into such a thing. But they weren’t dead, they were alive, sitting on the bed in front of the man.

   “So… The same happened to you?” Actually, it was Thomas who asked, being careful with his words.

   The Star sighed deeply, letting the tears spill down his face, even Sam was crying, big balls of tears.

   “Yes…” And, suddenly, he scoffed, smiling ever so slightly. “But I don’t know how… I’m here, we’re here.” He opened his slightly puffed blue eyes, looking up at the green star. “We survived…” He looked up at the family staring at him with pity and sadness on their faces. “And… Most of it is thanks to all of yeh.” He bent his head down and his green hair would have touched his knees if he didn’t have a plate of food above it.

   This time, the Fishbach actually felt embarrassed of receiving all that thankfulness.

   “Please, my boy, we are pleased to help.” The lady of the house smiled, but her sons could see she was fighting back tears after the story and the boy’s emotive words. “Now, enough talking about these things don’t you think? You should finish eating.”

   Jack laughed and nodded, going back to his plate.

   “But thanks.” The boy looked up, confused, only to find Mark smiling at him. “Thanks for sharing this with us. I mean, we may be unable of doing anything for you nor for what happened, but anything you need, we’re here for you.”

   Mark tried not to chuckle as he watched the green haired boy’s face turn golden. He simply nodded again and continued eating.

   Following his lead, the two brothers went to the kitchen to get themselves some plates and returned right away to the room. Their mother rolled her eyes, and prepared a plate for herself, which she ate on the kitchen, just listening to the boys starting a talk now and then – it was mostly about the food, or about the place Jack had fell down, since the boy seemed interested on the planet.

   “So, uh, just to know, where did you come from exactly?” Thomas asked eventually as they finished their plates. Well, Jack had already finished his fourth plate and it seemed like he had just started.

   “Ye’re asking where my family come from or from where I came to get here?” Jack asked, eating his last spoonful.

   “Uh, where did you come from to reach Altair? By the way, where is Altair?” The older brother got up to get their guest a new full plate.

   “I came from Alnilam, its about… More than 27 light years away from here I think…?” Jack looked down at Sam to be sure, the eyeball flashed something for him. “Yeah, kinda that. And, if it was night and dependin’ on how far we are from it, I could point Altair fer yeh.”

   “That must be so amazing…” Mark said, after swallowing. “To live in space, among the stars and all… Flying on flying ships…”

   “Eh, it’s not really that amazing…” Jack said with a laugh, getting to laugh harder at Mark baffled expression. “I mean, yeah, it may be really amazing fer yeh, but that’s because yeh didn’t grow up in space.”

   “And how is it like?” This time, the red haired man completely forgot his lunch.

   Jack stopped to think. He had never had the need of telling nor explaining to someone how it was to live in space, jumping from moon to moon, planet to planet, star to star. He was born surrounded by that, he was a part of space since before he was even born.

   For a moment he wondered how it must be like to live with your feet locked on the ground of one single planet. That seemed like such a sad life… He kind of understood why these people would be so interested about what was out there.

   “I don’t know how it is, it’s just… A normal life?” Jack tried, he really couldn’t find words. “It’s just like… When you are born in space yeh have ta learn so much about it, after all, the cosmos is yer house, yer backyard, yer war zone, it’s everythin’ ta yeh and yer people. Yeh learn to understand how stars and planets work, yeh learn how ta distinguish a planet from star even from light years away, yeh learn how ta follow the lights as you go by… And then yeh just…” He shrugged. “Yeh just live yer life.”

   He shut himself up as he noticed the brothers staring at him, Thomas had and interested expression, while Mark seemed simpoly amazed beyond belief. Jack blushed, but those were the only words he could muster to explain what it was to live in space, I mean, he never truly learned what it was to live any other way, so basically…

   Suddenly a loud whining and a strong banging made all three of them practically jump in surprise. It was Chica, finally awaken and pawing at the wall just beneath Mark’s bedroom window.

   “Oh, that’s Chica, our dog.” Geez, Mark had even forgotten about her and how agitated she was towards the pale boy. She had been so terribly stressed because of him and now he was finally awaken. Maybe if they could finally meet face to face, she would rest or at least relax a little bit. “I think she wants to meet you.”

   “I would love to meet ‘er!” Jack smiled. “I love dogs.”

   It was funny to imagine that there were alien dogs out there, but as weird as it was, Mark couldn’t help but like it. He loved dogs no matter how weird they could be!

   He got up and pulled the curtains away, revealing Chica’s golden face to Jack. The dog let out a loud and long whine, ending it with a broken bark. While Jack just stared at her, his eyes blown wide and eyebrows almost touching his hair line, it was as if he saw a ghost.

   But before Mark could even explain that Chica wasn’t a normal dog, Jack was hunched on the bed once again, his face practically touching his knees and his hands put together over his hair, as if he was covering it or protecting it. Words of light spilled from his mouth as Sam shivered beside him.

   And all Mark could do was turn to his brother with the most confused expression he had ever managed to make.