“I’m sorry…”

Instead of a stabbing pain, I heard a clanking noise and opened my eyes to see the knife thrown across the pavement. I looked at Luhan and shook my head. “Luhan! Why can’t you just listen to orders for once?!”

Tears dampened both our cheeks as he leaned his forehead against mine. He put his shaky hands up and I slipped mine into them. A forced smile fought against his tears.

“If you die, then I have to die to,” he choked out. “Because now you’re all I have to live for.”

“But we can’t be together,” I closed my eyes, wishing he understood. “If you stay with me you’ll always be in danger.”

“I know,” he bit his bottom lip. “But I’d rather risk my life to be with you, than live a day without you by my side.”

“Luhan, please,” I whispered.

“I love you, Phoebe… Celeste… whatever your name is and wherever you’re from; I love you regardless!”

He pressed his lips against mine. As much as I wanted to kiss him back, I knew it would only be encouraging him. I put my hands on his chest and pushed him away from me.

“Don’t! It’ll only make it harder,” I cried.

“Nobody has to die Phoebe,” he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Do you love me too?”

“That’s not going to-,”

“Do you love me too?” he asked sternly.

I stared back at him and slowly nodded my head. “I do…”

A smile spread across his face and he put a hand on the side of my neck. “Then no matter what happens, we’re going to be together. Whether we die within the next hour, or we live together for eternity, I’ll never leave your side.”

Our lips met again and this time I didn’t stop him. For some reason I believed Luhan’s words. I trusted him, even though I’d been trained to do the opposite.  

We broke apart and I smiled with shaking my head. “Falling in love with each other like this is by far the stupidest, most dangerous thing we could do, but right now it feels like the best thing that has ever happened in my life.”

He returned the smile and was about to reply when I felt a sharp pain in the side of my neck. “Phoebe!” Luhan’s face got became written over in panic.

I put my hand up to feel the dart sticking out of my skin. Within seconds my vision began to blur and Luhan’s voice sounded like it was coming from miles away. I was so drowsy that I didn’t even have the energy to fight the sleepiness with Lay’s healing. Finally my eyes closed and all consciousness was gone.

---------------------------------------

My ears were the first to respond to my new surroundings, picking up on odd machinery sounds and murmurs. Next were my eyes. Even though they were open, everything looked glazed over and fuzzy. My hands wandered across the floor which was cold and metallic feeling. As my eyes began to focus, I saw steel bars in the foreground, surrounding me on every side. In the background were tables, machines, and Anon feet. I lifted my body off the floor, but only got as far as sitting up before I was hit with a pounding headache. 

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.” I looked up to see the leader Anon standing outside my cage with a smug grin on his face. “It must be hard to believe; the fact that we finally captured you.”

“Ughh,” I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall.

“It was quite easy actually. I just did a quick snipe, took care of your boyfriend and you were mine!”

My eyes shot open and I jumped to my feet, grabbing the wall to keep myself from falling over. “What did you do to him?!” I screamed.

“Oh, don’t worry, it was nothing too terrible. I personally think being thrown off a cliff is less painful than being burned to death. We really gave him the easy way out.”

“YOU KILLED HIM!!!” I screamed, thrashing between the bars in an attempt to grab the leader and choke him to death.

He took hold of my flailing wrist and twisted it backwards, causing me to shriek in pain.

“Not so strong anymore are you,” he scoffed at me. “You won’t regain all your energy for some time thanks to that dart.”

“You have me, why couldn’t you just leave him alone?” I glared at him.

He pulled my wrist further in response, making me cry out again. “He would’ve died on that barren planet anyway. So again I say, I only did him a favor.”

Finally he released his grip on my arm and I fell backwards against the wall, grabbing my hand. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down; focusing on Lay’s healing power. Thankfully some of the pain subsided.

“You think after all of this I will just give you what you want,” I shook my head. “You sure are something.”

“I’ll give you one chance to cooperate like a good girl,” he raised an eyebrow. “If you choose to be difficult, I’ll have to force the answers out of you. Now, what planet is currently the most powerful planet in the universe?”

The answer screamed inside my head, but I kept my mouth shut and stared at the ground. “I’d rather go down with pride than be a traitor.”

“Fine,” he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked my cell door. “We’ll do things your way.”

He stepped into the barred cage and grabbed my arm. The thought of an escape crossed my mind, but I knew better. Now that I was on the Anonymous ship, it would take a fully thought out, elaborate plan to get out of here in one piece.

The Anon pulled me across the room to a strange looking machine. He shoved me into the chair and locked in my wrists and my feet.

“This isn’t a physical torture, so you don’t have to worry about your appearance getting ruined.” He explained as he lowered a helmet over my head.

“Wow, thanks for thinking about me,” I rolled my eyes. “It really touches my heart.”

Suddenly a loud irritating buzzing sounded in my ears.

“What the heck is that?!” I exclaimed, trying to break my hands free and put them to my ears.

“Even if you could plug your ears, it wouldn’t help,” the Anon spoke as I squirmed in irritation. “It’s a metal sound wave, designed just for the mind. The more you think about it, the more painful it becomes.”

I tried to think of anything but the high pitched ringing; my planet, powers, Luhan… but every time my mind returned to the sound.

When it finally shut off I gasped in relief. I hadn’t realized that I’d been holding my breath and my knuckles were white from balling my hands into fists.

“I’ll ask you again,” he brought his face up to mine. “What is the most powerful planet in the universe?”

I glared at him as the answered tucked at my mind. Rather than words, all that left my mouth was spit which ended up in his face.

“Well,” he stood back up, wiping away my saliva. “Maybe you’ll answer now.”

The ringing returned and I cringed once again. My mind searched for anything else to think about. For being one of the most knowledgeable species in the galaxy, my mind sure seemed blank.

“Just tell me and it’ll stop,” he prodded. “It’s that easy.”

“I- I’ll never tell you,” I struggled, fighting against myself.

“Just one name will set you free from this irritation, gnawing at your mind and driving you to madness.”

I closed my eyes and tried desperately to think about Luhan. My mind created scenarios of how he could still be alive and what he was doing right now. My lips quivered, begging to release the three syllable name.

“You can do it,” the Anon smiled evilly. “Almost-,”

Suddenly everything jolted, sending him flying across the room. Sirens began to sound and the smell of smoke filled the air.

“How can we be hit?!” he exclaimed. “What could’ve hit us?!”

I struggled to break out of my shackles, but the Anon hurried back over to me and turned a knob on the machine. The piercing sound increased, making me gasp and squeeze my eyes shut.

“Tell me now!”

Smoke filled the air while the squealing filled my mind. Every part of me begged to tell him the answer. It was such a simple answer; so small, yet so precious.

“A- Ah- I…”

A door suddenly burst open, stealing both our attention. My eyes widened in shock when I saw the person’s face.

“How…” the Anon leader stared.