~32~

"I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT!"

I hear the scream come from behind me right as I tip out of my door.

"What??" I turn in confusion.

But it was already too late, I was just a few feet away from plunging full body into the water when-

An electric whip lashes out in the blink of an eye and curls around my waist. Stopping me dead from falling in as my hair was mere inches away from touching the water.

"If you're willing to die, we're not." Dion said as he held the other end of the whip, with one arm positioned against the door as he held my entire weight on his other arm.

"Mel, please! Come back inside. I-I'll tell you ANYTHING you want to hear!!" Leo's voice pleaded as he seemed overcome with fear and anxiety.

"Why are you begging?? She's coming back inside whether she likes it or not!" Dion says to him.

Leo gives him a look.

"I want to at least pretend to give her the illusion of choice," he snarkily fires back.

Dion rolls his eyes and yanks on his whip, resulting in all of us tumbling back into the ship where he swiftly got up and shut the door.

"I don't know WHAT'S your deal and jumping out of open doors..." He grumbles under his breath as he engaged my door's lock. "The appendage of that creature sent to you is still out there swimming around. The moment your unprotected body touches the water, it WILL know and it WILL come and rip you to shreds and devour you. It's much faster in the water."

"The whole point of jumping out was to DIE anyway. I don't really care how I go out," I fire back.

Leo then quickly kneels in front of me.

"Listen, I KNOW a lot has happened in the last 24 hours, and you may be experiencing what I believe is called a....mental breakdown? But you gotta talk to us Mel, or we won't know what the problem is and how to fix it!"

"Talk!?" I incredulously yell. "All I've BEEN doing is talking, asking questions, but NONE OF THEM GET ANSWERED!!"

I fix my gaze on the floor, unable to face the two as I let my emotions completely run wild as I couldn't even pretend to try to contain them.

My body mildly shakes as I sit there in place, and Leo desperately tries to comfort me the best he can while dealing with these foreign, literally alien, emotions of mine.

"Okay then," He swiftly says with zero hesitation. "-ask me 3 questions. Absolutely anything you want and I swear I'll answer them truthfully. No lies, half-truths or deflections."

"Why only 3?" I raise a brow, but continue looking slightly at the floor.

"Because isn't that the magic genie number?" He replies dorkily with slightly raised hands, hoping to lighten the tone of the conversation.

I couldn't help but lightly chuckle.

"You're so stupid," I say as I wipe a tear and look up at him.

"Only for you," he smiled softly back.

"Are you sure about that?" Dion snarkily interjects, as he raises an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said no more lies. You're always stupid-"

"Dionysus I swear to the Great Ones-" Leo points up and seethes at him.

I couldn't help but laugh at them.

They both give me a confused look.

It took me a moment to catch my breath and calm down from my sudden burst of uncontrollable laughter down to mild giggling.

"Oh God, I'm truly going insane..." I say once I've fully calmed down from the laughter.

Here I was, covered in tears, yet laughing my ass off minutes after an impromptu suicide attempt, while still in my tatared bathrobe.

At least it wasn't a towel.

"You're not insane. Just tired and delirious." Dion quietly speaks up as he slowly walks over. "The exhaustion from your illness, the drugs, physical activity, inadequate rest location, and recent emotional confrontations are finally taking their toll on you." Dion comforts as he also kneels next to Leo. He reaches up an arm to touch my shoulder but retracts it quickly.

I was about to feel hurt when I remembered my earlier words, and how Dion was also taking that into consideration.

I scuff to distract myself from that thought.

"Since when were you an expert on human biology and physiology?" I ask.

"Since you broke down and cried in our arms that first time," he answered straightforwardly. "I hated feeling helpless and not knowing the cause, so I spend a lot of time reading and studying different things that affect the human body and in what ways."

"That's so corny yet so sweet," I say as I lean back and sit on my ass, crossing my legs under me, but subtly shifting them to the side a bit. "And all for little ol me?"

"You say that like you're not worth the effort?" Leo says, crossing his legs in front of him as he fully sits down as well.

I was quite for a moment.

"I thought you guys abandoned me...." I then said solemnly after a moment. Pulling my knees up and in, hugging them close to me for some sort of comfort.

"Oh....Melody" Leo leaned in closer to me but made sure not to make any physical contact. "That would never happen. Ever. We're sorry for making you feel that way...."

"I actually need you guys to stop calling me Melody, it actually turns my brain to mush," I hid my face in my knees as I confess.

"Good mush or bad mush?" I hear Leo ask softly.

"........good mush." I say after a moment of silence, burying my face even further away from them.

It must be the delirium speaking. No way on EARTH OR TITAN I'd be speaking like this otherwise.

No sober woman with any shred of self-respect would be caught dead admitting her feelings in such an uncute and unsexy way!!!

"Can I ask you something else?" I hear Leo ask next.

"Shoot." I reply. What more dignity did I have left to lose?

"Do I have your permission to hold you again?"

I feel my gut sink straight out of my stomach. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. I wanted to disappear from the spot instantly. But I knew I wasn't quick enough to get to the door for a second attempt to jump into the water before Dion catches me. And he'd probably chain me to his hips afterwards to hinder any further attempts.

I take a deep, steadying breath.

Tired or not, I need to think and be rational.

I look up at Leo, straight into his shiny reflective golden eyes, and brace myself.

"You can-" I see him light up and practically jump at me. "-BUT!" I raise a finger to halt his movement, "You have to answer my 3 questions first!"

I literally see this form deflate a little, but he still gave me a lopsided smile at being bested at his own game. And I grin triumphantly in return.

"Alright then, let's get this over with so I can get my hug. Ask away!" He leans back on his heels till his sitting back down on his ass, raising a knee up as he lounges an arm over it and looks at me in that relaxed yet oh-so-confident manner of his. Like he owned the very room he was in.

I was about to open my mouth and begin rapid firing questions till I swiftly got interrupted.

"Uhm-" Dion jumps in hesitantly.

Me and Leo look at him.

"You might wanna....get comfortable, first? Maybe??" He points down at my appearance hesitantly.

That's when I clocked my look.

My robe was a dishevelled mess.

Crinkled, frayed, burn holes from the fight and all. I'm surprised it's still able to cling to my body and cover anything.

"Oh yeah, that...." Leo said, also registering my appearance.

"We'll wait for you to.....fresh up?" Dion says, taking a moment to think up the right words at the end.

"But I JUST shoooooweeeeeered!!!" I whined as I marched back into my bathroom, grabbing the nearest shirt, jeans, and underwear, that HADN'T been incinerated, on my way back into the bathroom. With the boys snickering mischievously behind me.

"Oh, right!" I hear, and I turn my head over my shoulder to see Leo fiddle with something in the pouch of one of his pockets.

I stood at the bathroom door and stared at him expectantly.

"We heard you were out of hair conditioner, soooooo, THINK FAST!!" Leo pulled a bottle out of the small flab in his space pants and quickly tossed it towards me. "I promise there's no Eldridge Space Monster inside. THINK FAST!" He adds cheekily as he tosses it towards me.

I look at the bottle of miracle lotion for my hair as it soured through the air and almost cried when I caught it.

"Ah...wha.....uhm.....Eldritch." I somehow managed to thoughtfully correct. Still looking at the small gift in my hand.

My last bottle barely had two drops of conditioner left, and I miraculously made it work. Having a WHOLE new bottle made me want to weep to the heavens with joy.

"And when you're done with that, we can check out to see if this works!" Dion pulls out a small jar of what looks to be skin cream.

Exactly like the one the monster was sent in.

My body instantly reacts.

"I SWEAR this doesn't contain an eld...ritch monster!!" Dion quickly unscrews the jar and shows me the harmless light pink cream instead.

I calm down. Only slightly.

"You were right, a-about what you said on stream a while ago, we don't know human skin composition very well without an up-close look. So this is our best, as you say, guestimation, of what should soothe your skin!" He ended his sentence hopefully, like an excited kid who started science class for the first time and was eagerly awaiting the results of his first experiment.

As I readjust my hold on the, now numerous, things I was gonna take into the bathroom with me, Leo and Dion begin to banter.

"Can't believe you stole that from me!" Leo whispered to Dion in protest as I turned again to leave. "You don't even know what Elridge even is!!" He seethes.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who made you say it wrong." Dion teases as he fires back. "Don't crucify me for waiting to know how it's properly said and sniping it from you." He then winks at him.

"You thief!!" Leo accuses with a murderous pointing finger. The gold of his skin turning a deeper hue.

Dion laughs bright silver shimmers at his slightly smaller companion and turns back to me. "Let us know how it goes, Melody!"

"O-okay then...." I quickly run into my bathroom holding onto the items I was given, closing the door soundly behind me before I do something incredibly stupid.

Like running straight towards them and hugging them mercilessly for the gifts.

Because I desperately wanted to.

But the deal was NO hugs until I got answers. Which I didn't know would simultaneously affect me almost more than them.

I get my answers first, and THEN we cuddle. I mustn't be weak. I needed to fight against my newfound deep craving for physical contact!!!

But as I steeled my spine and walked into my bathroom while kicking the door behind me, through my bathroom mirror I caught a reflection of Dion moving closer to Leo. But my door closed before I could see whatever action was performed.

Did he hug him? Or just hold onto his shoulder for support?

A VERY tense situation just occurred, so it would make sense for Dion, who was always hyper-aware of others' emotions, to offer strength to his partner.

Partner....

WAS he just his partner.....or something more?

Like an ACTUAL partner???

Clashing and conflicting thoughts collided and refused to let me know peace.

I don't even remember what I did in the bathroom as I moved strictly on autopilot.

I freshened up a bit and put on my fresh clothes to distract me from my turbulent thoughts.

The softness of my clothes' fabric anchored me down to the here and now once more, and I am able to breathe calmly once again, then I swiftly turn around to open my door.

Just as I'd hoped, I opened my door too fast, on purpose, for them to react on time, and I see Dion hurriedly jump away from Leo.

Guilty!

I keep my face neutral and angled to the floor, so as not to give away anything.

I can do this.....

Three questions.

Let's go.

"1. Why do you want me to remain on Titan so badly?" I decided to stay on business, and finally get the long-awaited answers I've craved for weeks now. "2. What are your intentions with me?"

"And the 3rd question?" Dion prompted.

"I'll reserve that one until my first 2 are answered," I cockily respond.

Leo smirked at me, almost with a sense of pride "Always so clever, contrary to what other people may believe."

My heart did summersaults but I kept my facial features stone cold.

But that probably didn't do much considering they could probably hear how fast my heart was racing, or how tightly my guts wound around each other in anxious knots.

"Okay, no more running away from the topic or deflection," Leo gave Dion that all-knowing 'telepathic' look they share, then turned back to me. "The reason why we need you here..."

Leo had taken up the role of leader in the conversation so effortlessly, and Dion lets him without a single complaint or objection.

It's something I'd noticed long ago, and also wondered about the story behind THAT.

But one question at a time.

Leo walked up to me and sadly looked down at my hands, the look on his face was evident that he really wanted to grab hold of me, but respectfully didn't and made no attempt to.

The gesture touched me immensely.

"Melissandra.....my people are dying. And the fate of my entire race probably rests solely on your shoulders."

I felt like I'd been shot straight through the head with a bullet. My eyes grew wide and stretched the very boundary of the eye sockets they were situated in.

"Our intention is to see if you are the possible missing key needed to help save us." He continued, as my ears still rang at the fate of an entire alien race resting on my shoulders part.

What?? HOW!?

How was I, a random girl from Earth, supposed to save an ENTIRE unknown alien species hidden in the waters of the moon of another planet!?!?

The math wasn't mathing.

Leo moves in front of me to get my attention, but I'm pretty sure my eyes were glazing over.

"B-but before you freak out, what's the third question so we don't lose track of things?" He says quickly, hoping to not lose me to my imminent spiralling thoughts.

"T-third question??" I was barely able to concentrate. The room felt like it wanted to spin.

"Yes. Ask us anything." Dion also moves forward to console, walking closer while holding an empathetic tone because he could probably see and hear my chaotic mental state from my voice and demeanour.

"Uhm....well....." My throat goes dry and closes up.

Think. Think! THINK!!!

Why was it so hard to think!?

"We promise we'll answer truthfully," Leo was starting to sound worried, probably assuming my lack of being able to speak was from fear or worry of not getting an answer, and not because my brain was actively malfunctioning on me.

I closed my eyes tight and just screamed it out.

"3. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU TWO!?" I blurted while pointing at them accusatorly.

My eyes fly wide open in shock at my own words.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit-

I see Leo and Dion instantly freeze at my question.

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!!!

"I-i-i-it's just I can't seem to figure out what your relation to each other is!!" I quickly try to backpedal.

I sounded frantic as I bring up both hands, flinging them around, and started mildly awkwardly laughing hysterically.

"Like, are y'all partners in crime? Work colleagues? Just friends? Blood related brothers-"

"BROTHERS!?" Leo yelled out disgustedly.

A quick peek at Dion also revealed repulsion all over his face.

Leo then took a sassy confident stance in front of me with one hand on his hip and the other one pointing a thumb at Dion behind him.

"He IS NOT my brother!" He confidently says.

I breathed an unknown sigh of relief. At least that answers that-

"He's my boyfriend!!"