"Look, Kohgrash, what is that?" Vok'Rul asked, pointing out of the cockpit window.

"Huh?" Viktor looked up from his breakfast - some kind of leafy, veggie salad - toward the window. He wasn't really expecting to see anything. For the last six or so days, his view has been the same; dark nothingness. Sometimes, they'd streak by a star and its planetary friends, but they went by so fast in the Drive that it was merely a blink of light. There and gone again in a fraction of a second. Now that they were in his Solar System, he didn't really think anything would change.

What he saw wasn't just empty space, though. It was beautiful.

Jupiter shone proudly through the window.

For a second, Viktor couldn't do anything. The fork clattered onto his plate as his muscles slackened with shock and awe.

"Spirits! Shut the window!" he heard Vok'Rul exclaim. Someone hastened to comply with his request. "Are you alright, Kohgrash? Is it having some... weird human effect on you?"

"No!" he said loudly - or as loudly as he could get. Thankfully, the alien listened, freezing on the spot. "No, no it's not that. It's just... it's beautiful."

And terrifying. Completely, utterly terrifying. Viktor was the tiniest grain of sand compared to Jupiter.

The Red Dot wasn't visible, but its red and white bands, swirling around the planet made sure there was no mistaking it. Viktor could see neither top nor bottom of the planet; it was that big. Seeing the real thing in person, right in front of him, was overwhelming. This wasn't some ball on a piece of paper. This was a planet.

"I suppose it could be rather pretty," Vok'Rul said slowly, voice raised in just the right way he used to appease politicians. He ruined it by saying, under his breath, "if you're blind."

"Hey," Viktor rebuked, tearing his eyes away from Jupiter to glare at Vok'Rul. The alien smiled sheepishly. His eyes traveled back to the planet. They were slowly drifting away from it. "Can we get the others up here?" He wanted them to see this. He wanted to share this experience with another human. Viktor loved Vok'Rul and all that, but these aliens had seen more planets than he probably ever would. Seeing Jupiter was nothing to them.

The others made it up here in record time. Thruul, who had gone to fetch them, looked rather smug at getting them up here. Viktor immediately grew suspicious when they all looked wild with fear and concern.

"Viktor!" his dad shouted, rushing up to him. He grabbed his shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Viktor assured him, shooting a suspicious look at Thruul. "What did Thruul tell you? I just wanted you guys to see this."

"Whoa!" Nikolas gasped. "Jupiter."

"He told us- wait, what? Jupiter?" Oskar asked, finally looking out the window. His mouth opened in shock.

The others had pretty much the same reaction as he did. They watched it in silence for a long time, simply taking in the view. Viktor couldn't describe it in enough detail to do it justice.

Soon enough though, it traveled out of sight as the ship corrected its course toward Earth. They were going slightly faster now, apparently. Viktor couldn't really tell the difference, but Captain Ghhvresh told Vok'Rul they had used the gaseous planet as a boost to travel faster. They didn't want to waste fuel, as they had used more than expected traveling through the Drive.

"Worry not, O Vokkra," she reassured quickly as Vok'Rul's face quickly flickered through multiple expressions of sheer panic. "We have enough to go home; we just weren't expecting to travel so slowly. Our capacity and weight will be much lower on the return trip, as well. It will be smooth sailing, I promise you that."

Vok'Rul simply nodded, meeting Viktor's eyes. The teenager gave him a reassuring smile, but he wasn't sure if it helped too much. They were both rather reluctant to bring up the topic of returning.

"Oh," Viktor suddenly said after thinking about what other planets they might see, attracting Vok'Rul's attention. The alien had been sullenly looking out the window with a nervous air about him. "I should probably mention-"

Bright flashing lights filled the entire room as a loud, wailing beeping warned the room.

Warning. Warning. Multiple objects ahead. Course alteration is recommended.

"-the asteroid belt," he finished lamely. His throat closed up in fear. The memory of running down the hallways, delirious with blood loss and klaxan, was far too fresh in his mind.

"The what?" Vok'Rul asked, dismayed. "Ghhvresh, what is the situation?"

Captain Ghhvresh stood over the navigation console, peering at the flickering screen with intense concentration on her face. "My lord, there seems to be an elaborate ring of small, rocky asteroids dead ahead. It is rather large."

They couldn't go around; the asteroid belt was rather expansive, and finding a route through would probably tack an extra day onto their journey. Viktor suggested going up and over, but that proved unlikely, too. The Conquest wasn't built for much vertical movement out in space, it turns out. It'd take too much fuel.

Grumpily, Vok'Rul told Ghhvresh to trigger the shield, which made her give him a grumpy look in return. The shield, apparently, was one of the last resorts to use, and since Vok'Rul was on board and held the highest rank out of everyone on the ship, he had to verbally give the captain permission to use it. It was hard to charge and repair, so it wasn't used too often.

"If I was driving this ship, I'd just weave through all of them. Wouldn't even have a scratch," Ezekiel said. Viktor shot him a look.

"You're gonna offend Ghhvresh," he hissed. He glanced at her surreptitiously. It didn't seem like she had noticed, thankfully. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to get kicked out of the cockpit. Who else could he squeal about space to? Not Vok'Rul. The alien had already been to space. Like, a lot.

"Oh," Ezekiel said quietly, actually looking chastised for once. They could say what they liked about Ezekiel, but Viktor knew that he actually had some compassion locked up somewhere in that brain. Pea-sized it might be, anyway.

The shield flickered to life with an orange hue and a deep hum. Soon, Viktor heard quiet clanking in the distance as the ship descended into the asteroid belt. Other than that, it was smooth sailing. They were getting closer and closer to Earth with each minute. Elation and nervousness warred inside him.

The lights and alarm tapered off when they had brought up the shield, much to Viktor's relief. His shoulders dropped from his ears.

They were in the asteroid belt for a long time. Viktor grew used to the quiet chattering of the cockpit crew, Vok'Rul, and his friends, along with the bangs and scrapes of the asteroids outside. Occasionally, one would smack loudly into the side of the ship - a large one, no doubt - and the humans, save Oskar, would jump in surprise. It was pretty cool, though, other than the sudden, loud noises. The asteroids slid off the shield like water. Viktor got himself comfortable in his seat and watched the show.

Like rain, the somewhat soothing tapping of asteroids tapered off as they exited the belt. By that time, lunch had been brought up to the cockpit, courtesy of one happy Thruul. Vok'Rul ate his next to the other alien, sneakily stealing his food (Viktor was pretty sure the other alien knew given his little smile every time he looked at the leader). When it counted, Vok'Rul wasn't really stealthy.

Viktor felt the sharp sting of anxiety in his throat as he watched his friends eat their lunch. Such a simple action left him reeling. The fear of this ending was overwhelming. He never wanted it to stop. He wanted to continue sitting in this ship, drifting through space with his friends - his family - forever.

But there was no such thing as happy endings, at least, not for him.

"Your Highness," Ghhvresh said after they had finished their lunch. "We will be upon the humans' planet within two hours."

Two hours. Two hours until they could possibly be blown to pieces by every government in the country. Two hours until Viktor could no longer pretend that he was going back on the ship to A1-308. That this wasn't a vacation. That he and Vok'Rul would no longer spend their days together.

Someone clapped him on the shoulder lightly. He looked up to see Pedro smiling softly at him. Viktor tried to return it, but it probably came out as a grimace instead. The older man squeezed his shoulder.

"Blacksmith and I are working on a communication system between our planets," he said, unprompted. Viktor frowned at him. "It'll take a really long time, but it's better than nothing, right?"

"Our planets are millions of lightyears away," Viktor replied, trying to smother the bloom of hope before it could hurt him. Pedro shrugged.

"Blacksmith seemed pretty confident. Plus, she said they have it set up with other planets in their galaxy. Intergalactic communication was the next step going forward for them, anyway."

Viktor didn't want to hope that he could still talk to Vok'Rul. He knew, realistically, that after the alien left, Viktor probably wouldn't see him again. Vok'Rul was the leader of a planet; there was no way he'd be able to step away for a visit to Earth any time he liked. And when Viktor was old enough to leave the planet by himself, what guaranteed that there'd be a way for him to go visit the alien? Maybe Vok'Rul would forget about him. Hoping against that would just hurt him.

Maybe the plan was to drop all the humans off, apologize, and leave. Forever. His heart dropped at the thought.

Would there be an alliance of some sort? Would the Vokkrus offer up some of their technology in good will? Viktor realized that he should've asked Rukka about all this before leaving. Vok'Rul probably had some sort of idea about what was to happen, but Viktor was a little hesitant to put any sort of trust in him regarding that. He had good reason.

"It'll turn out alright, kid," Pedro reassured him. "I- I was gonna wait to tell you this, but I'm going back with Blacksmith. After all this."

Viktor felt his stomach fall to his feet. "What?" he asked faintly.

Pedro's lips pursed as if in pain, and he nodded sharply. "I think you heard me," he said gently.

"But..." Viktor whispered, looking at the man with wide eyes. Pedro was always there for him. He had comforted him in the arena, offered him a place of solace when they had been surrounded by nothing of the sort. To think that he'd be lightyears away without a way to contact him was... it was just awful.

Sure, they hadn't been able to contact each other during their time as 'pets,' but it had all worked out in the end, hadn't it? The thought of not seeing Pedro whenever he'd like - he had always been one request of Vok'Rul away, after all - made him ill.

"We'll work on this communication stuff," Pedro was saying, seemingly unaware of his inner turmoil. Or maybe he just didn't want to embarrass Viktor. "And before you know it, we'll be talking again."

When Viktor didn't say anything - he couldn't, his throat was all closed up - Pedro gave his shoulder another squeeze. "Aw, c'mon, kid. I'm sorry. I just- the thought of going back to Earth, going back to my job I hate... On their planet, I'm doing something I'm actually good at. I don't even have any family that would miss me."

"I'd miss you," Viktor sniffled. Pedro grinned crookedly at him before hugging him tightly.

"Aw, damn," he murmured. "I'll miss you, too, kid. I think the plan is to have some yearly visits between our planets, so there's that at least."

The knowledge that there would be a way to visit Vok'Rul and his friends was reassuring. It didn't make him feel as helpless and lost. Viktor managed to give Pedro a smile.

"Try not to get a finger cut off," he joked lamely. Pedro ruffled his hair, and Viktor briefly felt the older man's lips press against the crown of his head.

"I'll try my best," he promised. "But this isn't goodbye. The aliens are, hopefully, going to be staying on Earth for a while, to sort things out."

Some of the tension Viktor harbored ever since stepping foot into the ship ebbed away. They'd be staying! For a little while, at least. That was better than nothing.

***

They saw the Moon first. Well, the backside of it.

"Sire, Captain," the navigation alien piped up. "There seems to be a large asteroid in our path."

Curious, Viktor shuffled toward the window, pressing his hands against the cool glass. He gave a little laugh when he saw the 'large asteroid.'

"It's just our moon," he explained. "Not an asteroid."

Vok'Rul looked out the window, making a noise of shock when he saw it. "It is quite large." The aliens' moon was tiny. It zipped back and forth over the sky multiple times a night.

"Oooh, lemme see!" Ezekiel exclaimed, pressing his face against the glass. He recoiled when he saw the celestial body. "Ugh! What the hell? It's so ugly from this side."

"Be nice to it!" Viktor admonished, offended on the Moon's behalf. It was pretty! Though, he was secretly glad this side wasn't facing Earth. Their side was definitely more interesting to look at. Speaking of Earth...

They could see it from here. It peeked around the Moon like a shy child, and as the ship circled around the celestial body, the Earth presented itself in its full glory. It was small from here, looking like it was the Moon hanging in the sky.

"Blue," he heard Vok'Rul whisper. His favorite color.

"And green!" Nikolas chimed in. "Though, you cannot see much from here." He was right; it was mostly blue and white. Clouds. Earth clouds!

Viktor couldn't tear his eyes away. He felt overwhelming happiness at seeing it again. His eyes might've teared up a little.

He sat down in front of the window, simply watching as they got closer and closer to their home. The others joined him. Vok'Rul lingered for a moment before he went off to speak with the captain. Viktor wasn't too interested in what they had to say. His focus on his planet was laser-like.

Aiko let out a soft sigh, "It's a lot different from the pictures." Faint hums met that statement.

Oskar said, "Prettier."

"Look," Ezekiel pointed. "You can see my house from here."

"Idiot," Pedro scoffed with a laugh. "Man, you're dumb as hell. I'm gonna miss you guys."

"We'll keep in contact, right?" Viktor asked them quietly. They were all adults, with lives of their own. They had been through a lot together, but Viktor wasn't sure if he would be welcome. He was just a kid, after all.

"'Course we will." The simple surety of Ezekiel's statement, combined with the vigourousness nods of everyone else, left him feeling a little silly to doubt them.

"Well," Pedro said awkwardly before going on to explain his situation with Blacksmith. The others were understanding, if a little sad, about their friend deigning to stay back. Pedro probably wasn't the only one who would be staying, though. There were probably humans back on A1-308 that hadn't gotten onto the ship, opting to stay put.

Claws settled on the top of Viktor's head, and he looked up to see Vok'Rul peering at him with the odd look on his face he usually got when he was deep in thought. "What's up?" he asked quietly.

The alien tilted his head at him, lips curling into a smile. "Let's get ready to land, shall we?"

Landing was... interesting, to say the least. The ship was large; certainly not small enough to fit in any city. So that left them only a few options for parking.

"Shall we land in the water? I believe it might be the safest option," Captain Ghhvresh mused out loud, pouring over the navigation panel. Viktor hummed, unconvinced.

"Is your ship waterproof? Also, that water has salt in it."

The alien paused, straightening to peer at him. He tried not to feel like a bug on display. "Salt water?"

"I don't believe our ship is waterproof, Captain," reported another alien. "Aqkopolis has a landing pad that we always used." Viktor briefly wondered what Aqkopolis was.

"I'm aware," Ghhvresh sighed, reaching up to rub at her temple. Viktor felt a bit bad. "Our landing mechanisms might prevent water from entering our ship."

"You could try the desert?" Viktor suggested.

"Land in Antarctica!" Ezekiel shouted across the room.

"We aren't landing in Antarctica!" Viktor yelled back, feeling his throat constrict with the force painfully. Landing on ice wouldn't be the best idea.

"Antarctica?" Ghhvresh repeated, mystified. She shook her head, getting back on track."Desert? We have deserts back on A1-308. Our ships can handle that terrain."

"Excellent," Vok'Rul praised, looking pleased and slightly anxious. He probably wanted this to be over and done with. "Where shall we land?"

"Um," Viktor said, turning around to look out the window. They were getting closer and closer. Half of Earth was shrouded in darkness and seeing the lights twinkle up at him made him smile slightly. From this side, he could see the Philippines and most of Asia and Australia. "The Sahara Desert?" He really shouldn't be the one to make these decisions.

The radio flared to life from the communication console, making Viktor jump in fright from the loud static.

"-is the ISS," the radio crackled, projecting a female voice. She sounded slightly afraid. "State your intentions!"

"You did not tell me you had astronauts!" Vok'Rul exclaimed excitedly. Viktor waved his hand at the hand briefly, shuffling toward the console before the aliens could reply to the space station.

"Wasn't important," Viktor frowned at the console, barely able to see over it. "How do I work this thing? We've gotta reply."

"Why? I broadcasted the message to the governments, like you said," Vok'Rul said, stepping over to lift Viktor into his arms. The new view was appreciated. The alien leaned forward, shooing the Vokkrus working the console away with a nod.

Viktor gave Vok'Rul an impatient look. "They probably didn't get the memo. They're in the International Space Station. They deserve to know. Work your magic, Vok'Rul."

The alien huffed, ignoring the other Vokkrus' mumbles of surprise at Viktor's brash words. He tapped a few buttons on the console before gesturing for Viktor to start talking.

"Uh," Viktor said into the microphone, words suddenly fleeing from his mind. He had no idea what to say. "Hello?"

"Hel- Is that a kid?" the woman sounded startled. "This is the ISS. You are approaching Earth. Please state your intentions with us."

Viktor licked his lips, "I'm Viktor, and I'm aboard... The Salvation. I'm with the aliens that came to Earth over a year ago."

The radio stayed silent as he explained that they came in peace and that there were around fifty million humans on board, ready to go home. He wondered if they were broadcasting this to Earth, and wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be true. When they finally answered, it sounded like they were being fed responses from the planets' governments, robotic and cordial.

"Salvation, you may land. We request the captain of your ship exit first. Land at these coordinates."

The radio went silent, then, and Viktor let out a sigh of relief. No missiles!

"What are these numbers? And these letters?" the navigation alien asked the captain, waving her over. Ghhvresh peered at the screen, bemused. Viktor poked Vok'Rul and the alien headed over dutifully. Longitude and latitude stared up at him.

This language barrier was going to be a pain in the ass.

***

The Vokkrus had spacesuits. They weren't like anything Viktor's ever seen before. Granted, the only spacesuits he'd seen were the classic lumpy jumpsuits, complete with a giant fishbowl helmet. These suits were way, way cooler.

Vok'Rul showed him a small disc, explaining to him that they placed this on their chest and twisted it to turn it on, quite like the translators. Instead of switches, their universal - well, worldly, he supposed - way of turning things on seemed to be twisting things. Once the disc was placed on their chest, it immediately latched onto their clothing - or armor in some Vokkrus' cases - and emitted a pulsing, hazy red light. It traveled across Vok'Rul's chest and slid down his sides. Eventually, it covered the entire alien and fizzled out of sight.

Viktor swiped at the alien, feeling his fingers buzz as he passed through the invisible shield surrounding him. He retracted his hand back sharply, not liking how similar it felt to electricity. It didn't hurt, exactly. It just felt like a static shock you'd get when touching a doorknob after rubbing your socks against the carpets. "This'll protect you?"

"Mhm," Vok'Rul hummed, positioning it so it sat squarely in his chest. He turned it off, and the shield flickered back into view before collapsing back into the disc with a little buzz.

Thruul approached them, then, muttering under his breath to Vok'Rul that he'd better get his clothing in order before putting on the suit. Vok'Rul gave him a grumpy look - Viktor didn't blame him; the jewelry took forever to put on by himself - but acquiesced. The others followed the trio out of the cockpit, claiming they needed to gather their things. Viktor waved at them.

This wasn't goodbye, not quite yet. He dreaded the moment it would come, but for now, Viktor was content watching Vok'Rul twirl chains of gems and metal around his tail while exclaiming about Earth's beautiful blue hue.