Onto New Horizons
This story can be read as a standalone, but it's highly recommended that you read The First She and The First Her.
“Oh, Ran, you really did it this time,” Terra sighed.
“How mad is he?”
A roar echoed in the background, and both sisters winced.
“Um… does that answer your question?”
Eve leaned into Terra to get a closer look at the tablet. “Step on it and drive the mothers out of here. Dad is mad enough to catapult into space and drag you back.”
One of the swords that was hanging on the wall clattered to the ground when the door slammed open.
“RAN!” their father growled.
“Aww shit,” Ran grumbled.
Eve placed the tablet on the table so she could get a wider view of the room. Her father stomped toward the tablet. Tendons and veins screamed against his powerful body, his golden eyes glowed, and she could swear that his horns were thicker.
She leaned away from the screen although the man was a whole planet away.
“Daddy, please calm down.” Terra begged. She tossed herself at him and palmed his chest to ground him. Seeing her struggle, Eve came to her rescue and wrapped her arms around Vrox. They couldn’t stop him, of course. He was a Commander for a reason.
If she weren’t so nervous, Ran would have laughed at the comical sight.
“What in the mothers...” Apollo entered the room. “What happened?” she yelled over Vrox’s roars.
“Ran happened,” Terra answered.
“Again,” Eve added.
Vrox pushed past his daughters and throttled the tablet.
“Turn around, NOW! Return to Ezron immediately. You better pray to the mothers, Ran, because when I get my hands on you, you will not see the fucking sun for a snowfall!”
“But…” Ran began.
“NOW!”
He kicked the table into smithereens.
“Dadd–”
“No. No ‘daddy’, no ‘please’, no batting eyelashes, no promises. I am past fucking compromise. You will return now, or so help me…” he roared again, at a loss of words, and stomped so hard that she heard rock crumble.
“Mom!” Apollo yelled.
Footsteps entered the room, and Kira appeared on the screen. “What is this ruckus?”
“Ran took the spaceship and hightailed it out of here…” Eve mumbled. “And I might have given her access to the ship.”
Vrox charged at her, and Eve ran off with a squeal. “I’m sorry, daddy! I didn’t know she would do this!”
“Vrox, Vrox!” Kira yelled. She threw herself in his way, knowing that he would catch her. When his hands found her waist, she cupped his face and connected their foreheads. “Breathe.”
“Breathe?! Look at what that little delinquent did this time! She ran off, Kira. She left!”
She palmed his chest, where she could feel his heart vibrating. “Breathe.”
“She is my daughter,” Vrox protested. “My princess.”
“I know. Mine too, but you will not bring her back by leveling the pyramid. Calm down, okay?”
He clung to her, looking torn between fury and worry.
“Good job, mom,” Eve chuckled nervously.
“You!” Vrox pointed. “Get out of here before I lock you away instead.”
Not needing to be told twice, Eve turned and dashed.
Vrox kept Kira pressed against him, as if she was his anchor to sanity, and continued to rant. “You will stop your games now, little girl, and you will return to my side where I can protect you.”
“That’s the thing, dad. I’m not litt–”
“Shut up and start driving back!” Vrox demanded. He wasn’t hearing it. In his eyes, she and her sisters would forever be his babies. Ran felt horrible for making him panic like this. She knew how much he loved his daughters and to what lengths he would go to protect them, but this argument was long overdue. She wasn’t as satisfied with life as her sisters. She had a never-ending itch for curiosity, and it wouldn’t tame until she explored the world.
“Ran, it’s not safe out there,” Kira tried to reason. “You need to listen to your father and return to Ezron. The world is a mean place. No one can protect you like we can.”
“I know it’s dangerous, but this is a rite of passage. I need to do this before I settle down and become a mother. With my training, I’ll be okay.”
Kira looked uncomfortable. She had always been more open to Ran’s adventures and less possessive than Vrox because she knew that Terrans weren’t as weak as they looked. Vrox’s paternal instincts were much more blinding.
"No. No. This is not happening," Vrox spat. He raised a finger, and pointed to the screen. "You will come back now. Do not make me repeat myself."
“I love you, daddy.”
“RAN!”
“You have my heart. To infinity and beyond.”
She disconnected the call. With a sigh, she checked the status of the engines, and then put them at full throttle.
Onto new horizons we go.
