Ch. 9 - Kisses

She lifted her head from his chest and stared at him for a moment before rising slightly to find her mark on his lips . He kissed back . And they waited for a moment there , in the dim halls holding each other before Cor stepped back . It was a jagged movement , pain rushing all over him . He wondered if he would be able to make any demands or requests in return for his swift and amiable surrender in the state he was in , but if they were reasonable , they would want more of a reason to not go through the extra work of eliminating two lives on Earth -- at least for now .

He was still staring into Luna as he reopened the connection between him and the chief undercover officer , his old boss Whelm Ber .

Not aloud , but to Ber he answered the command .

I will come to you and surrender myself , but the girls have to stay and be treated . They're both hurt .

It took Ber a second to respond , You know those two are a liability and a risk to their planet now . You've given them information .

I haven't told them anything confidential , and they are sworn to secrecy already .

More seconds passed , Cor held his breath , too engrossed in the internal conversation for air . Luna's eyes seemed to beam up at him , opening him up and sliding off all his secrets .

A traitor like you -- your words have no weight. But for now, I will take care of them and send them back . Come to these , a graphical display of the building was shown for Cor with a red dot marked at the specified location , exact coordinates , I will be waiting .

The conversation came to an end and their connection was cut .

" Cor . " There was so much pleading in her eyes , he couldn't tell if she'd said it aloud or not , " What happened to not leaving my side ? "

His entire body gave him away , the strained straight of his back and shoulders chipped away by her words as his eyes became less sharp and ready for whatever was to become of him . He let a firm hand find its way to her shoulder as he breathed out quietly .

" Just stay here , OK ? "

She shook her head , tears rolling down her cheeks even though she was trying so hard not to blink . Cor made a weak attempt at brushing the tears away with his palm before kissing her cheek and pulling her into him .

" I'm sorry . I'm so sorry . If I hadn't -- "

" Just stop . I'm so lucky to have met you . You're sweet and thoughtful and very useful for cleaning around the apartment . " It was a playful jab that lightened the mood , if only a little . She pushed herself from his arms gently so she could look into his eyes , now letting tears stream down his face , too , she had to wipe his away with a reassuring smile . She let the hand rest on his cheek as she moved into him .

This third kiss they shared was more intense than the others , they had become fully wrapped up in each other even if it had only been for a few sweet seconds , and it was so comfortable and fleeting . When their lips parted , it only made this ordeal a lot worse -- the uncertainty of it all, especially with Cor terribly sick . Could he even stand up for himself right now ? Even stand straight to look his boss in the eyes ?

She'd only wished they could've met under better circumstances -- which would be any other circumstance than the one they had toppled into .

" I need to go . "

A peck on the cheek was all he offered as he departed down the long hallway , turning a sharp corner out of Luna's sight . She stood for a moment , in a daze of worry and pain and longing . Then she suddenly realized she had no idea what the heck to do now .

" Do I just ... " She walked along the hallway , towards where Cor had disappeared off to , " Stand around here ? "

She had completely tossed the idea of staying put out the window as she peeked around the corner to where Cor was walking , hand against the wall to support his weak body .

She reasoned that it should be fine if she tagged along in the background , even though she wanted to grab Cor and carry him to safety herself -- if she could . Cor would just talk her out of it , though , when no real harm could come from staying in the shadows . He'd been the one to say it was too dangerous to go alone anyway , and yet his battered body shambled its way down the hall . She'd decided to help him if he tried to do too much in his feeble condition -- that seemed fair .

There were a surprising number of turns in the hall , like its intended purpose was to be a maze and someone just decided to make it their headquarters because it looked cool . By the time Cor and the girl trailing behind were deep in the ship , Luna having lost her way completely , they reached a large open expanse of mostly nothing but monitors , desks , and keypads with only a few people rushing around .

As Cor made his presence known , stepping only a few feet into the room before he fell and fainted from fatigue right at a distraught computer tech's feet . Luna saw him start to fall and was already reaching for him .

" Cor ! " She practically leaped from the hall to his side in horror at how bad his condition had progressed . As she tried to get a response from him , a tall figure loomed overhead . Built like a tank , eyes set like stone and boring into her , stiffly pressed uniform -- darkly colored and different from that of the other men wandering . This was Whelm Ber .