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And ENJOY right here!

Marco~

I was laying on the couch in Neil's apartment, staring at the TV across from me that was running old cartoons. Neil was sitting at one end, so I was laying with my head on his lap. He was stroking my face, brushing my hair back out of my eyes, but the curls made it bounce back.

There was tension between us, and it was obvious why. Neither of us were single and we'd just made out with each other, twice. So I felt bad, even though my girlfriend is a b*tch and I'm pretty sure she cheats on me every chance she gets with nearly every guy in school. I didn't know if it was the same for Neil though. But neither of us said anything.

Tyler would be back any minute, and I was ready to jump up the moment the door opened, but for now I was enjoying just being here alone with this godly man.

“He should be back by now...” Neil wondered aloud, mostly to himself, as he glanced up at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. I looked at it too, just to check the time. It was 12:30am, luckily I'd called my mum and told her I was sleeping over here tonight, because Neil said I could. But it was concerning that Tyler was still out, he wouldn't stay out this late without letting someone know where he was, he wasn't like this.

“Um... should we give him a call?” I offered, arching my back and holding myself up with my arms. Neil looked at me and placed a hand in my hair just behind my ear, ruffling it a bit.

“Yeah, if he's not back in ten minutes I'll call,” he said, still watching me. I was feeling pretty frisky tonight, like a new Marco who took risks and chances, so I leant forward and pecked Neil on the lips, before settling back down in his lap. I kind of felt like a dog at the moment, but I didn't mind.

Max~

He was kissing me, and it didn't matter if he didn't remember who I was. I kissed him back, holding him closer. I wanted so badly for Tyler to remember me, that I didn't think of the fact that if he didn't, I could always make him fall in love with me all over again.

Tyler pulled back and looked into my eyes, frowning.

“Why did I do that?” he asked himself, but out loud. Why did humans do that? It was so weird.

“Because deep down you know we're dating, you just don't remember it?” I suggested, Tyler smirked.

“As if,” he laughed and shoved me away, going back to the pizza. I reached out and grabbed his wrist, making him stop. He looked over his shoulder at me and frowned. I wanted to tell him everything, I wanted to force him to remember me. Maybe if I just told him about the things we'd done together. Maybe he'd remember.

“Kias?” he said and I blinked at him. Kias? Who... oh, right, I'd told him my full name. I shook my head and laughed.

“What's that? Some nick name?” I chuckled, “You call me Max.” Tyler's eyes went wide and I froze, did he remember? Did the name click?

“You're Max?” he asked me, turning to face me properly. I accessed his mind then to see what he was thinking.

This guy is Max? But who's Max? Why is that name so clear in my mind? I don't even know this guy. I don't understand any of this.

My heart sank and my hand fell from his to my side.

“Right,” I said and then turned. I went to the hatch door and opened it, then stalked out into the darkness. I needed some fresh air to clear my mind.

Thunder rumbled in the sky above me and lightning flashed across it, lighting up the night. From a clear night sky, to this? It wasn't uncommon. My body effected the electricity in the air here on Earth.

I found a rock and sat down on it, resting my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands.

It was okay, it was. Tyler was alive, he was safe with me, he was okay. He'd regain his memory soon, and then everything would go back to normal, obviously. But I couldn't pretend that the fact he didn't even know who I was hurt like a punch in the gut, because it did.

Marco~

I looked up at the clock. Neil was in the kitchen on his mobile, pacing back and forth waiting for Tyler to pick up. This was his fourth attempt, still no answer. I was starting to get a sinking feeling in my stomach and Neil looked extremely distressed.

“Dammit,” he growled, hanging up and tossing his phone onto the bench. I watched him go to the fridge door, yank it open, stare inside for a few minutes, then close it without taking anything out and stormed out of the kitchen and down the hallway. I leaped up off the couch and went to the front door, opening it and looking out. But there was no sign. I knew there probably wouldn't have been, but I needed something to do, and I hated feeling useless.

“Should we call the police?” I asked Neil over my shoulder. He grunted from the next room, and I took that as a maybe.

I pulled out my phone and decided to call Vee, after that I'd try Gunner, then I'd find a way to get in contact with Max. I wondered who would have his number?

Tyler~

Kias... I mean Max, turned and left, leaving the hatch door open. I ran to the door frame and looked out, watching him disappear into the dark.

“MAX?” I shouted after him, but he didn't reply and he didn't return. Why did that make me sad? I didn't want him to go. I wanted him to stay here and kiss me.

I waited ten minutes, watching the lightning and thunder roll around in the sky, before I got bored and moved away from the door. I left it open, just in case Max came back any second, but I wondered into the first room I'd seen, the room I'd woken up in.

Now that I looked at it properly, it was clearly a sick bay. There were all kinds of advanced medicinal equipment laying around, and charts too. I walked up to the big screen I'd seen the heart on and tapped an arrow pointing to the left. The blank screen flashed to the one of the heart again, it was repeating what I'd seen, and the bits I'd missed. First the heart looked empty, plain, then it flooded with purple liquid. It pulsed a few times, but didn't start up. Then it suddenly jumped to life and vanished. The video ended there.

I pressed the back button again. This time it was a body covered in a whole lot of red. Slowly the red changed to orange, then green. The body was fixed.

Did this... all happen?

“Tyler, you died... I brought you back.”

Max had said that to me when I'd woken up. This... body on the screen... wasn't me, was it?

I stared at the monitor, wondering what on Earth this all meant. Or not on Earth, because I was in a spaceship. I heard a rattling in the room behind me and whirled around, hoping it was Max finally coming back.

"Hi-" I said as I entered the next room. But that's all I got to before my jaw dropped and I froze dead in my tracks.

"Surprise," a strange black lizard thing said, standing in the hatch doorway. It was gruesome, like nothing I'd ever seen before. Huge lizard eyes and slimy black flesh. It took up the entire door frame, and even then it had to crouch. I stumbled backwards in shock, tripping over my own feet and crashing into the wall behind me.

The... the... thing! It came towards me, licking it's huge teeth with it's bizarre yellow tongue. If it could smile, then it would be right now, and it was smiling at me.

"Max?" I asked, hoping. But deep down I knew it wasn't. Max was a good alien, he cared about me, he wouldn't scare me like this. Plus he was a good kisser, and this guy looked like he wasn't. Not at all.

"Guess again," the alien slithered in it's grotesque accent. A shudder ran through me and goosebumps ran up my arms. I needed to find a weapon. Max, get back soon.

I saw something long and pointy sticking out from behind something. I dived for it, grabbing the end with both hands and yanking it out of the wall. Without hesitating, I swung it and caught the alien in the side of the head, forcing him to stumble to the side. I didn't wait, and lunged the pointy end right into his chest, deep through the skin. The thing shuddered, then melted right there on the spot. I screwed my face up in disgust and backed away from it, but I didn't let go of the weapon in case there were others.

I was right.

Max~

I stood up suddenly, feeling something shift in the air. Something felt... off. Something wasn't right, the scene felt different.

I turned towards the spaceship, seeing a faint light in the distance. Tyler was there, but for some reason it didn't feel like he was safe anymore. Running there like this wouldn't be fast enough. I pressed the stud in my ear and shifted, then raced towards the light in the darkness.

But when I reached the ship, there was no sign of anything. Not even Tyler.

“TYLER?” I shouted in panic, rushing into the craft and running through all the rooms looking. There was nothing, but there was a pile of black sludge on the floor in the main room. The Martians have been here.

I was only gone a second, wouldn't I have seen their ship flying around or something? How did this happen?

I ran out of the spaceship and looked around. I could hardly see anything, even with my alien night vision.

No no! It felt like I was losing Tyler all over again. I couldn't handle it a second time. No, not this, please not this!

“Max,” I heard a faint whisper in the distance. My head flicked in the direction of the sound and I saw two eyes looking back at me through the dark from about 100ms away. I ran to him, reaching him and pulling him into a tight hug.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, and sighed with relief when he shook his head 'no' into my shoulder. I realised I was standing in something and looked down. Dead Martian.

“What happened?” I asked him, looking into his gorgeous eyes.

“I killed them,” Tyler said simply, still a little in shock. “Max, I killed two aliens. I could do something courageous. Maybe what you said about me was true after all.” I smiled.

And slowly he would soon remember.

“I'll take you home,” I told him and lifted him over my shoulder. It's funny, he didn't seem at all surprised by the fact I was still in Juperian form, not human.

Neil~

I was sitting on the couch, head in hands, leg twitching from panic. My phone was pressed cold against my forehead, thinking that now was a good time to call the cops. It was 1:30am.

The front door opened and my head snapped up. Tyler walked in casually, like nothing happened, a smile on his face.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?” I screamed at him, leaping off the couch and lunging at him. I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him half to death.

“Sorry, I got sidetracked,” was all he said, simple as that. Marco stumbled in from the other room, saw Tyler, and screamed.

“DUDE!” he said, throwing his body at us.

“Are you staying over?” Tyler asked him, ignoring me.

“Absolutely,” Marco replied and they rushed off to Tyler's bedroom like it was no big deal. I slammed the front door shut and clutched my chest, sliding down to the floor. Cold sweat dripped from my brow and I licked a drop up with my tongue on the side of my mouth.

If he thought he was going to go unpunished for this, he was dead wrong.

YAY FOR PROGRESS!!!!

Mouki out~

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