War Of Worlds

Hidden in Plain Sight

    "And once they're done, we can strike," the deep voice said.

Chris was walking along the dark tunnels, feeling somewhat lonely. Something he'd never felt before. That was until he heard two voices talking in a dark, empty corner.

He was about to mind his own business and walk along. 

Until he heard their names.

   "And once they're dead, we can set it off."

Chris peeked his head around the corner and continued listening. To everything. 

I have to tell Nova. I have to go back to the palace and-

He felt a sharp pain in his side. 

   "He'll die with the secret."

Then everything went black.

»»»»»»»»»»

  After eating breakfast (that Nova made, after she refused to let him eat the breakfast prepared), Ethan sat on the couch scrolling through his smart pad. He figured he would wait until dinner. There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered.

 He figured he'd try and find Nova. And after what seemed like a year of looking through the enormous palace, he finally found her.

Nova was painting. It was an entire wall, erupting with all shades of blue, purple, pink, grey, you name it. Nova had spent years working on with painting. She never could find the right way to finish it. And now, she did.

It was after a few minutes that she noticed Ethan watching her paint.

    "Oh. Hey," Nova said, walking over.

    "What's up?"

    "Not much. What's this?"

She sighed as she put her hands on her hips and studied the painting.

    "Something I thought I'd come back to."

    "I've been painting it for a while."

    "That's not the only thing," Ethan commented as he gestured towards her.

It was then Nova realized she was covered in paint. She studied her shirt and arms.

   "Crap," She mumbled.

   "I look like a box of crayons."

   "Yep," Ethan said as wiped some off her face, only smearing it more.

    "What am I going to do with this painting?" Nova asked, looking upon her art.

    "It's looking...bland."

    "It could be anything in the galaxy," Ethan told her.

Galaxy.

Using that, she went in with her hands to continue painting. Using her hands to spread the paint across the wall, she added some finishing touches.

    "Better?" Nova asked as she stepped back to admire her work.

    "Better."

Nova looked down at her colorful hands. 

    "Good luck with that," Ethan said as he looked at her fully painted hands.

She touched his shoulder, leaving a big purple mark.

   "Good luck with that."

He gave her a look that said Very funny.

He looked to the side and saw one of her paintbrushes on the floor. He used one of them to flick some paint on her (already colorful) body.

Nova laughed as she attacked him with more paint, and him to her, until they were both showered with so many colors they could blend into a rainbow.

  "We are so immature," Nova said as she calmed herself down from laughing.

Ethan was covered with paint from the neck down. Nova was covered with paint basically everywhere.

Suddenly an imaginary light bulb clicked on in Nova's brain. She walked over to grab the ladder from the corner as Ethan gave her a confused look.

She planted the ladder in front of the painting.

    "Could you stable it for me?" She asked Ethan as she carefully climbed up the old ladder.

She always hated climbing up ladders. Even this relatively short one. There was always the delusional part of her mind telling her she was going to fall.

She climbed up the ladder and used her wet hands to give her painting a final touch.

   "There," She said as she stood up straight, forgetting she was on a ladder.

Nova immediately lost her balance, and she felt her tumble on top Ethan to the floor. She opened her eyes to see Ethan staring up at her.

  "Sorry."

Ethan didn't say anything. He just smiled, not a sarcastic smirk or a half smile, one of his real, authentic smiles where his eyes lit up with the rest of his face.

  "Stop looking at me like that," Nova told him, breaking the silence.

  "Like what?"

   "That.. that.. that look," Nova said.

    "It gets really irritating."

Ethan just raised one eyebrow in amusement.

   "Irritating, is it?"

    "Very."

  He nodded sarcastically, forcing Nova to laugh even though she didn't want to. She was enjoying this. Forgetting everything that was going on. Also forgetting this extremely awkward position and that they were still on the floor-

 Nova studied Ethan. He actually looked quite ridiculous; his hair was all chaotic, but almost in a neat way. That's when Nova realized the paint on Ethan's neck. She had completely forgotten about the paint covering her hands.

   "My bad," She said, gesturing to his neck.

He nodded as if he wasn't paying attention. He was paying attention to her eyes. It seemed as if they spent thirty minutes on just staring at each other alone. Then, at the exact same time, they kissed each other. 

  Nova's heart soared with the movement, the passion, the perfection, everything. Even though this had happened plenty times before, it felt like the first time in a trillion years. Suddenly Ethan turned around and held on to her waist so that he was on top, and she was on the bottom. Nova wrapped her arms around the back of his neck so she would be more stable. They kissed for a while longer until they separated for air, still millimeters apart.

 Ethan smiled as his eye glimmered, making Nova smile as well before they kissed again. This kiss was deeper, setting Nova's skin on fire. He pulled her body closer to him so there was no space between them as they continued to kiss. They continued to kiss for a while until finally Nova pulled away, still wrapped in his warmth.

You know, I could stay like this until dinner.

Nova's eyes melted into panic.

Dinner!

    "Crap," Nova said as she scrambled to her feet.

    "We need to take a shower before this paint dries. The dinner is going to start soon," Nova told Ethan.

Nova hurriedly rushed out of the room to get to the bathroom.

I'm going to be late. I'm going to be so so late. I'm never late to dinners. Princesses aren't supposed to dinners.

And this stupid paint will never come off. I'm going to look like an army of preschoolers attacked me or something.

After Nova finally finished taking a shower, she ran down the halls to get to the dining hall. She opened the door to see Ethan already there.

And... Him.

   "You're here."