Beyond Space & Time

It was pretty clear that they should go back to the Milky Way, as Wolfie had been so adamant to not come here to begin with. Atlas didn't feel like she could rest with all this negative energy but she had no choice but to follow Wolfie down to the planet.

Atlas wasn't resting at all. She was so on edge around Wolfie. She wanted to avoid him but also didn't want to leave his sight in case he got mad at her. So she sat where he could see him, and looked out at the scenery. This was a nice planet. It was like the countryside on Earth. But she could barely enjoy it when she was this bone tired.

Wolfie was twisting a knife of words round and round in her heart. Apologising? Saying she had wanted to leave? Laying on the guilt more and more? Wolfie was right... She was horrible. She had taken his trust and best intentions, smashed them to dust, and scattered them in the solar wind. Even though she had just wanted to help someone in need, Wolfie didn't know Atlas enough to realise that that was what she was doing, and instead thought she was being blindly disobedient. He didn't know her at all... Atlas wanted to run after him and hug him, because she couldn't ever be without him, but to respect his need for space she didn't. At this rate she knew she wouldn't get any sleep so she just decided to keep looking out the window.

Atlas was so lonely all night, but it felt even worse because this must have been how Wolfie felt when she left him. Poor Wolfie. Poor, poor Wolfie. She had to make it up to him, even though she had only done what was right. He could smell food cooking from up on the roof the next morning. A window opened in the roof and Atlas' head poked out. "Knew you were up here!" she chirped cheerfully. "Come down, I'm making breakfast. Their food stash is amazing!" She laughed and ducked back inside. Despite her huge smile, the bags beneath her eyes were dark and heavy.

Atlas had set the table up to be all nice and fancy, but minimal because there wasn't much here. She had cooked this planet's equivalent of bacon and eggs, with dark brown bacon and greenish eggs. It smelled amazing despite looking odd. She had even brewed a hot drink. "Good! You finally got down, I'm starved!" said Atlas, looking like she was itching to dig in.

Atlas practically dove headfirst into her food. "De deshishionsh no' mine," she slurred through her food. "Ish... Ahem." She swallowed before continuing. "I did something bad so now you get to decide if you want to keep me around. Don't let the fact that I want to stay with you dictate what you want."

Atlas' smile waned a bit. "C-come on, Wolfie," she said. "You know why I left, and it wasn't like I wasn't coming back."

"Assumed?" Atlas chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Uh, did you... Did you not read the note I left?"

Atlas' smile was completely gone now. "Th... Three days?" she murmured. "You didn't realise I was gone for... Three days?" No wonder the note had gone missing, it was probably scrunched up in the bottom of his bag after he'd been doing whatever for three days.

That didn't make her feel any better. But... "Wait. What bag?" she asked, suddenly confused. "I didn't put it in a bag."

Atlas' eyes got a brief hint of a sparkle at how pretty the bag was, but then she shook her head. "I-I don't know what that is... Anyway, it doesn't matter. You want me to stay with you?" she asked with a little less enthusiasm now.

Well, it had taken 3 days for Wolfie to realise she was missing but whatever... Atlas reached forward and put her hand on Wolfie's. "Then we'll stay together," she said, forcing a smile. "Wolfie... I'm so sorry. I just had to help her, I couldn't do nothing, and I knew I was going to return straight after it was done. You were right about focusing on this galaxy, though."