Her hands were still shaking. Pandora found no way to stop them. She held them out watching them twitch and vibrate uncontrollably. She realized that she hadn’t valued her health and ability to control her body enough. It was a terrifying sight for her to watch her hands shake when she was trying with all her might to stop them. When she would relax her arms, they would still shake the same. She had no control, but she was remaining calm, or as calm as possible considering the circumstances. She had to because of Hale. He was already panicking and on the verge of a breakdown. The fear in his eyes made her afraid for him. He looked to be in more pain than she was.

Pandora tried to remain positive and believe that these were only temporary immediate reactions. But it was becoming clear that was nothing more than wishful thinking. Her body felt as if was burning like fire which grew hotter with every second. She was supposed to feel cold, considering her surroundings. But she didn’t. She felt too hot, which scared her.

“Isn’t there something we can do to help her?” Hale asked urgently.

“I already said that we should do nothing. We don’t want to make her symptoms more severe,” the old man replied.

Defeated, Hale accepted that answer. He returned his full attention to Pandora. He scrutinized her body as if he was studying some type of specimen for an experiment. Pandora stepped towards him and rested her head on his chest. She couldn’t deny that she was afraid too. She needed to be held by him. He happily fulfilled her need and held her close to his chest. As the moments passed by, however, she felt less and less of him and his warmth. And soon enough, she could barely feel the ground beneath her feet. She felt as though she was sinking, but when she would look down at her feet, she saw the fur mat she was actually standing on.

Hale helped her stay up. “What’s going on?”

Pandora gripped his shoulders to keep from collapsing. But even that proved difficult because she couldn’t feel what she was grasping onto. “I can’t feel anything at all. Not even the ground.”

Hale led her over to a chair and helped her sit down. “Just make sure to keep breathing.”

He let go of her, but she started leaning over to the side. Right as she fell, he caught her and held her upright by her shoulders. She looked up at him and blinked several times attempting to clear up her blurry vision. That didn’t help, and it continued to blur more.

“Pandora, what the hell is going on? Answer me?” His voice should have been loud, but to her ears his words came as nothing more than a whisper. But he looked like he was shouting.

She wanted to tell him that she couldn’t hear him. But is was as though she had forgotten how to speak.

* * * *

Hale wasn’t able to keep her head from hitting the back of her chair when she passed out. He didn’t expect that to happen. So he did nothing but watch. Her neck was uncomfortably arched backward, and it pained him to look at her. He carefully lifted her head up and alined her body so that the back of the chair would keep her head upwards.

Holding two of his fingers up to her neck, he felt a faint pulse. But that did little to dissipate his anger. He used all the strength he had to not explode into flames that very moment. The one he loved most was suffering. She had been wrong. The experiment wasn’t safe. This time he was devastated that he was right all along. He didn’t want to be right.

Hale shook her gently. “Pandora, please. You need to wake up.”

“We should move her to the bed,” the man instructed.

“She’s going to wake up any moment.” Hale nearly choked. “She has to.”

“I’m sure she will. We just need to be patient. Just move her so that she doesn’t fall over.”

Hale picked her up out of the chair and held her in her arms. His heart ached seeing her body so lifeless looking. He lowered her onto the bed. He kissed her forehead and brushed wisps of hair out of her face. Hale kneeled beside her and honed in to the sound of her breathing. He waited for her next breath continually. A few minutes passes by and nothing changed. She wasn’t waking up.

“Get over here,” Hale demanded.

The old man was there in nearly an instant and motioned for Hale to step aside. The man checked her pulse and then gently lifted her eyelids. “I was afraid of this.”

Hale stopped breathing. “Afraid of what?” He didn’t care that his voice cracked from desperation.

The man turned to him with a solemn countenance. “Please remain calm. Reacting like that won’t help her.”

Hale crossed his arms and released a sigh slowly. “What are you afraid of? I need answers. Please. Is she going to be okay?”

“Not if she stays here,” the man admitted. “She’s fallen into a coma.”

A wave of heat surged through his body. His anger levels spiked and were only intensified by his great fear of losing her. As he looked at her, she appeared lifeless, save for her faint breathing. Nothing would ever wash this image of her from his mind. He figured it would haunt him when he closed his eyes because this was how she would look as if she were dead. He never wanted that image in his mind. She was always so alive, and his rage burned hotter, as he compared her now to the way she usually was.

He moved closer to the bed and held her hand between both of his. Her hand was still warm and soft. He wondered if she would ever touch him again. He shouldn’t have been thinking selfishly, but he missed her. Everything had been lost in a fraction of a moment. They had been so close to her goal. Hale didn’t know where to go from here. She wasn’t waking up. He wasn’t a doctor or anything like that so he couldn’t help her. He couldn’t stop thinking that she might not wake up. What would he do if she didn’t?

That would mean that her mission was over and that he would return to his other life of deceit, death, and seemingly infinite amounts of debt. He had let that part of him fall by the wayside ever since they crashed on Vaanu. Pandora had helped him forget for a little while the darker part of himself. He had felt freer with her. But that wasn’t the only thing she did that he was thankful for. Without her he wouldn’t know what he really was. He would have gone on thinking that he was just a messed up human. But more importantly she let him have a little taste of whatlove was. Hers was completely unselfish and accepting. She challenged him to be a better person everyday. She gave him hope, which was a dangerous thing.

It had been a long time since he had hoped for anything. All of his hopes ended when he was five years old… when he saw his own parents blood. Even after every horrible thing he had done in his life, that image still gave him nightmares. His parents death was exactly the moment when his hope died.

He wanted to know how Pandora did it, how she was able to resurrect his hope so suddenly. He hadn’t known her for very long. But he hoped for a future with her because loved her more than anyone he had ever known. How did that happen to him? For years he had sworn he would never hope for anything again except for paying off his debts. Now he hoped for many things with her. He longed to be beside her and hold her for all eternity. What they could have together would be infinitely more than her just satisfying his endless need for touch, which now he only wanted hers. Back on his ship, he had been so close to knowing her in every way imaginable to him. She wasn’t ready, which was disappointing. He understood why though. He realized what he wanted more was to have her in his life.

He looked at her deathlike state and he lost his all his remaining strength that he needed to hold himself together. He fell over onto the bed where she lay and closed his eyes. His throat turned dry, and he was shaking. Soon afterwards, his eyes felt damp. He lifted his head slightly and noticed wet spots on the sheets. The result of tears.

He was crying.

And after he accepted that, his tears began to pour down his face. The only other time he had felt endless sorrow like this when he lost his parents. He was angry that he was feeling it again: loss. He hated it. Why did the universe seem set on forcing him to lose the only person that he could possibly love.

Before long, his sorrow turned to anger. And his tears dried quickly. He pushed himself up, clenching his jaw too tightly as he looked at Pandora.

She had to wake up. That was that. There was no other option.

He rose to his feet and turned around to face the old man. He could feel the flames inside of him flicker outward from the palms of his hands. Hale blamed the man for everything. The old man had encouraged her to risk her life for the experiment. And yet, the man was the one standing, not her.

Hale couldn’t hold back anymore and bounded in the old man’s direction, fully intent on hurting him. He didn’t care how wrong that was. Pandora wasn’t able to watch him. With his hand full of flames, Hale reached out to pull the old man down, but in less than a second, Hale saw the ceiling of the cave instead of the man. Hale’s entire body hit the icy floor. What had happened? Did he slip?

Hale lifted his head and saw that his body was being anchored to the floor by thick green vines. Still raging with anger, he fought against them and tried to break through. But as he did, the vines grew thicker and tightened their grasp on him.

The old man stood over Hale. “Your anger isn’t going to save her.”

Hale hadn’t given in yet. He continued to push against the vines.

“It was her choice,” the man said.

Immediately, Hale paused fighting back. “You didn’t have to go through with it. This is your fault. Pandora would do anything to save someone!”

“You are acting as if she were dead. Perhaps, her body is resting.”

Hale grunted as he returned to fighting with the vines.

“Stop struggling and listen. If she truly is in a coma, I have no way to help her here. And your little fit is only waisting time that could be used to save her.”

The old man’s words were finally getting through to Hale. He was right. How could Hale help her in this state. He wasn’t thinking straight. Hale hated to admit it, but the old man was right. Hale stopped fighting and completely relaxed. He blinked his eyes to flush out his tears. He was ashamed by his behavior. His outburst made him look very foolish, very childish.

“Now, that you are done with the attitude, stand up. Get over yourself and help her,” the man snapped.

Hale did as he said, although he hated obeying orders from someone else. His actions had been too embarrassing for him to have an attitude about listening to someone else’s commands. Hale might hate him for going along with Pandora’s self-destructive plan, but it was clear the the man was trying to help Hale fix the situation. Hale waisted time worrying about the past. That wouldn’t help Pandora now.

“What am I supposed to do now?” Hale asked. He really didn’t know.

“You need to take her back to Elani. So, go back to your ship and fly there. Find a doctor.”

That was the obvious answer, but Hale needed to hear it out loud. “Can I carry her back to the ship?”

The old man pointed to a large wooden wagon. “You can pull her in that. It would be safer for both of you.”

“Where did that come from? It wasn’t there before.”

“I grew it. Just like all of those vines you couldn’t break during your tantrum,” he replied with a smirk.

Hale ignored the man’s teasing. He deserved it anyway. Hale went to Pandora’s side at the bed. He leaned over and kissed her cheek gently. He should have told her that he loved her when he had the chance. What if she never woke— no, he couldn’t think like that.

Hale picked her up carefully and set her in the wagon. He tore off one of the sheets from the bed and covered her with it.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Hale said.

“I have plenty. Don’t worry. Just get her to safety.”

Hale nodded and pulled the wagon carrying Pandora to the entrance of the cave. “I’d better leave now.”

“Yes, I wish you safe travels,” the old man said, waving goodbye.”

As he left the cave, Hale felt sorry for leaving the man behind. He was all alone on this abandoned planet. But he didn’t ask to leave. Hale wondered how the man could be content with so little. It wasn’t his responsibility to be concerned for the man though.

Hale looked down at Pandora, who looked as though she was only asleep. Her beauty astonished him every single time he took a moment to admire her. He could get lost in fantasizing about her. This was how she might look in the mornings when he would wake up before her. She was wrapped in the blanket, and her hair was spanned out all around her. But in reality, he couldn’t tap her gently on the shoulder to wake her up like he could in his imagination. She wasn’t going to wake up that easily.