Lonely walked behind Pandora, who was holding the map. While she was trying to figure out a distraction plan, he was struggling to stop his hands from shaking violently. He hit the heels of his hands against the sides of his head; it calmed him slightly, but the shaking didn't stop. Lonely guessed that the adrenaline had finally worn off in the few moments of not running for his life, and now his body was responding to everything that had happened. He grabbed the collar of his green hoodie; it was tough to breathe now. Spiraling, he kept moving, but his legs felt as if they were about to give out.
Then, he heard her hum. A tune that sounded ancient, something soothing, something he could focus on to pull him out. Almost immediately, Lonely could breathe again.
"Is your name really Lonely?" Pandora asked, glancing back at him.
Grimacing, he shook his head; the words wouldn't come out of his throat.
She frowned, "Do you know your name?"
Again, he shook his head. Lonely desperately did not want to be reminded of the fact that he almost found out, but shooed foe away before he could hear the full thing. They rounded a right corner and kept walking straight, Pandora keeping a sharp eye out, and Lonely trying not to have another anxiety attack.
After a few minutes, he finally got words out of his throat, "Why did you leave your home?" before he felt his throat tighten again. He glanced into a cubicle as they passed. It was empty, but a photo of a blue-haired humanoid creature with horns was pinned on the wall. On a hanging clipboard on the outside wall, Lonely could read a name, "Chandler Queen.".
Pandora pushed him inside as heavy footsteps shook the floor. They hid in one of the corners, waiting until the giant had passed. When it had passed, Pandora stood up, brushed herself off, and glared at Lonely, "I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay, you don't have to," he shrugged before she grabbed his hoodie collar and yanked him to his feet. He yelped in surprise and brushed himself off, "Wow, you're strong."
"Are you being serious? You're not going to make me tell you?"
Lonely gave her a puzzled look, "Why would I do that? It's your business, I was just making conversation."
She paused, "Oh," then she slipped out of the empty cubicle, leaving Lonely to chase after her.
They made a few more turns before Pandora stopped them. "The ship graveyard is on this next left, I say we find our ship and cause some chaos."
Lonely grinned; he'd been wanting to cause some chaos. When he had grinned, Pandora saw darkness in his eyes, the same Eos had seen back on ancient geese when Lonely had punched Eros, the emperor's ward. It was the darkness of vengeance, some odd, deformed version of justice that all humans held in their minds, and it was terrifying to those who'd never seen it.
"You fly, I'll shoot," he held out his hand. She shook it and smiled devilishly, "Sounds like a pretty good plan."
The junkyard was piled high with old starships, the Starlin comet placed at the very top. Lonely grimaced as he looked at the mountain. He was never much of a climber; he could barely make it halfway up the rock wall at the zoo last year. Well, it seemed like last year in his mind.
He thought for a second before turning to Pandora, "Do we need to climb, or could we knock one of these things" he pointed towards a crunched ship at the bottom of the pile, "and send the whole thing tumbling?"
"It would risk drawing attention and potentially damage the ship. Plus, I don't know how we'd dislodge it without getting buried," she reasoned. Nodding, he knew there wouldn't be a way to avoid climbing. His frown deepened as he tried to calculate in his mind what the best path would be, but Pandora just took a few steps back before sprinting towards the base. She jumped at the last second and landed on the wing of a gold shuttle about twenty feet up.
"HOW WERE YOU JUST ABLE TO JUMP THE HEIGHT OF A STREETLAMP!?" he called in astonishment, waving his arms.
Pandora peered over the edge and looked at him with a puzzled expression, "You can't?"
"NO!" Lonely was absolutely baffled. The gravity seemed around the same as the other planets, minus Whispwood. How could she have done that?
"Have you tried?" she asked.
He didn't want to try; he knew he couldn't do it, but something in her voice. Sighing, he took a running position before launching himself at the pile of space rubbish. He flew into the air, waving his arms wildly before crashing onto the top of the gold wing. Lonely landed face-first at Pandora's feet. She offered out her hand and pulled him up.
Shaking, he had one hand on her shoulder, trying desperately to hold back puke, "How-What?"
"Gravity is different on each planet. It may feel normal here, but it's much easier to jump high," she shrugged, "Now come on, let's keep going."
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