The next morning I was a mixture of nerves, excitement and in an almost permanent state of shock which had lasted all through the night. I got exactly zero seconds of sleep. My mind wouldn't stop working enough for me to fall asleep.

I carried a duffel bag stuffed with my most near and dear clothes. My snowflake necklace was on my neck, I had on my favourite grey long sleeved sweat shirt with a hoody and jeans. This is my lucky combination.

Hopefully good things would happen today.

"Towards the exit," one of our guards said, directing us towards our left.

I saw that most of the people around me were dressed in long sleeves, hoodies and jeans. Those who had children had them bundled in winter clothing as well. Younger ones were held close to the chest, a little older ones were clutched protectively.

But most of them had just bags to accompany them, like me. No one had much to carry.

I noticed that, surprisingly, the guards were dressed like they usually were. In their black uniforms.

To be distinguished? I didn't know.

When we assembled near the entrance, I saw dad and Ren walk out through the corridor that lead to the men's cabins. Their eyes immediately spotted me and they headed straight to me.

When they were close enough, I took their hands in both of mine.

We took a deep breath together, hoping for the best.

That's when I noticed that my dad was carrying a really large cloth bag over his shoulder.

"Um dad?" I said, throwing a pointed look at the bag that seemed to weigh a lot.

"Books," he said in reply, a sheepish grin lifting his face.

Ren and I shared a look and rolled our eyes.

Of course he'd carry only books.

The head guard, Frederick, stepped up to the front near the exit and clapped his hands to silence the low buzz of conversation.

Immediately everyone went quiet, curious as to what he was saying.

"The C'Riel will be here in a few minutes. Please follow their instructions without question. If they say jump, you will say how high. Do you understand?"

Wow. Okay.

At the murmur of acceptance, he started talking again.

"Remember, we are at their mercy because we will live according to their rules. Do not subject yourself to their punishment or their attention. Be safe. Be smart. Not only are we going to adjust with their kind we will even have to adjust with our own. We are not the only survivors. People are being rescued this very moment around the world."

Shock prevailed as we considered the possibility that more of us existed. We always thought that more survivors should exist. This was confirmation that they did. Excitement caused a little buzz of conversation to ensue again.

"Remember," Frederick said a little louder, drawing our attention back to him, "We are at their mercy."

I heard a woman sob softly as she clutched her child to her chest. I saw no man next to her. She was a single mother. Alone. Dropping my father and Ren's hand, I slowly moved towards her.

When I pressed a hand to her shoulder, her watery eyes met mine. I realised she looked too young to be a mother. I didn't remember seeing her around, which meant we probably had different cycles. Because most of us were from different places cooped together in these survival cells, we slept and woke up at different times. Just like our guards who took rotations as well. This was why our artificial light was always on. Except in our cabins of course.

"She's my niece." The girl explained, showing me the little baby bundle, who was fast asleep.

"She lost her mother-my sister-a month ago to the disease. Her father died before she was born." The girl sobbed. She looked just a little older than me. But the burden of having to take care of a child that wasn't her own weighed her down, making her look years older.

"I will help," I said, then pointed to my father and Ren, who had their eyes on me, "So will my family."

Her eyes went from me my family and back. She took a deep breath, her back straightened and she rubbed her tears away.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Amour." I said, holding my hand out.

"Kylee," she said, then nodded to the baby, "Jasmine."

"Hi Kylee, would you like me to carry Jasmine for sometime?" I asked.

Kylee bit her lip, like she didn't dare consider it. I saw as she gave in to the fight that was happening inside her head.

"Yes, please." She said and gently handed the child over to me.

Jasmine was small, but most kids nowadays were. She was maybe a year old, give or take a few months.

The little girl, opened her eyes and blinked. Her eyes, obviously, went straight to my hair. She wrapped the strands that lay over my shoulder in her fist, mesmerised.

Kylee let out a small laugh, "I like it too." She said.

Throwing her a grin, I jerked my head towards the direction I was heading. She followed.

My father pressed a kiss to my head and I assumed it meant he was proud of me. Ren just smiled at me and Kylee. Kylee returned the gesture hesitantly.

We maintained a low conversation as Jasmine continued to tug at my hair, when Frederick spoke again.

"Form a line. The ship is here."

My heart thudded as the sound of the hatch opening was heard in the silence. It was a sound we usually never heard, so we listened. It was the last time we would ever hear it.

As soon as the door lifted, sunlight, harsh and brutal filtered in. The people in the front shuffled back, hiding from its punishing rays. It would burn our skin, poison it, if we weren't careful. This was why most of us had worn long sleeved shirts.

We were all contemplating how long we'd have to expose ourselves to the sun and how long we'd have to hold our breaths from the lack of oxygen, when a large shadow appeared right outside.

All of us stilled.

A large black spaceship with blue beaming lights around its extremities landed right in the centre, blocking out the sun. The ship was soundless, except for the air it stirred around itself.

A large black door slip open and elongated to the edge of our exiting door.

All of us let out a collective breath, glad that we didn't have to get assaulted by the rays of the sun.

That was when a tall figure dressed in a black bodysuit that covered him from neck to ankles (actually he had some kind of shoes on so I couldn't really tell) with a translucent mask on his face stepped forth.

When he did, all of us let out a gasp of surprise.

He was...

There were no words. I wasn't too close to the exit, but I could still catch sight of his features.

Beautiful took on a different meaning.

He was tall. Way taller than me or Ren and we were the tallest. He had a good head and a half over Ren. His dark as night hair fell over his forehead and curled around his ears. His jaw was so sharp and strong it could have cut stone. His body suit made him look...wow.

"Single file please," the dark headed alien said. He didn't have an accent, but he did speak a little slowly.

They knew our language, clearly.

A line formed and they trudged towards the ship. My eyes were glued to the alien as the crowd in front of me moved forward.

I stepped in line as well, when Kylee tugged on my shoulder and took Jasmine out of my hands with a small thankful smile. I returned it with a wink and took her hand in mine.

As I continued forward, my eyes back to the alien, standing tall amongst the slouching humans who walked toward him and into the ship. His eyes looked over the crowd, surpassing me. His eyes stopped and flashed back to me. I glimpsed a look I couldn't name on his face before it went back to an emotionless mask.

His eyes had been on my hair. They slid to my eyes.

That was the first time I ever looked into his eyes and I don't think I would ever forget it.

They looked like fire. His eyes had a ring of an amber hue of fire over dark pupils as they almost glittered.

I met his gaze head on, unflinchingly. He must think we are just as different as we think he is. The closer I stepped to him, the more I could feel the weight of his gaze. I don't know why he was looking at me, but I knew why I was holding his gaze.

For one, his eyes reminded me of fire, something that I hadn't seen in almost a decade and half. And secondly, I was a red head. If he thought I would look away first, he better have another thing coming.

I would not be the first to look away.

I even turned my head to hold his unwavering gaze when we passed him on the way in.

His gaze was...

Fire. Amber. Blazing. But curious.

I only stopped looking when someone stepped in our way and blocked our gaze.

I turned forward and looked at Ren's back as he was right in front of me. Dad was to my right and Kylee to my left with her hand in mine.

We were made to sit in seats that pressed against the wall of the ship. To our shock, the seats we sat on shifted to contour around our bodies so that we would feel comfortable. They stretched or contorted based on how we moved. We were told to strap on our seat belts, but it occurred automatically. The belts slipped off the wall behind us and smoothly locked itself across my chest in an X, locking onto the bottom of my seat.

None of us spoke.

But while all this happened, I noticed that the aliens' eye colours and hair colours were...recurrent.

Their eye colours were either amber like fire, a blend of blue and white like the sky, a dark blue that seemed to swirl like water and a deep maroon, almost brown (maybe mud? Soil?). It seemed like the elements we had had on Earth.

Their hair colour however, wasn't as exciting. It was either black as the night or a kind of blend between gold and blonde. I guess the alien's fascination with my hair colour made sense.

The aliens who had the same coloured hair had the absolute exact same shade. Not even a different hue to distinguish.

However their features were all different and every single on of them were a kind of beautiful that could be intimidating.

The alien I'd seen first and had the staring-competition with stepped in the middle.

"Remain seated at all times," he said, his voice just like the rest of his kind was smooth and sounded rich and cultured. But when they spoke, they spoke a little slowly, enunciating more than we did.

His eyes slid to mine, trailing over my hair and my features to land back to my eyes.

I met his and was tempted to raise an eyebrow but I didn't. I don't know why.

He then turned his head to look towards a door opposite to the door we'd entered from, and turned his back to us and slipped quietly into the door.

Every single one of them had translucent masks on that didn't look like a sturdy material exactly. Rather it looked like a flexible smooth plastic stretched over the black band that surrounded it. The face mask covered the front of their heads and stopped at their chins.

I saw more than one alien cast more than a single glance towards me.

"Guess your hair makes you a celebrity." Ren muttered to me, having sat to my left.

I threw him a wry grin.

"Unless they decide they want it and chop it all off," Ren said.

I threw him a are-you-serious-right-now look which he returned with a smirk. He was trying to make me laugh and I appreciated it.

I felt the ship lift smoothly off the ground and suddenly I felt a slight pressure against my skull before that was gone and I felt nothing.

It didn't even feel like we were moving.

I looked towards the window like slot that was opposite me, and could see a blur of colours.

I would never see Earth again.

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I'm so glad I had this written down last year. I have no idea what I would've done otherwise. :) I hope you're intrigued. Who's excited that we've met the hero?

*excited squeal*

Thank you, the few of you who've voted and commented. Means a lot to me!

Until next time, my Unicorns!