Blue Nexus #88 - The Shore

Previously on: "Blue Nexus": Lacrosse season has begun, off to a fairly decent start for Kyle and Andreus, who have been absolutely prohibited from using magic and keep a close eye on one another. Kyle, though, still suffers from the battle with the interdimensional monster, the Starlan, and cannot access his Nexus abilities. At a party after the game, Ven, Kyle's new alien girl friend, started drinking and Kyle encountered a young member of the villain organization, the Toxics. After a heated discussion, Ven attacked him in a drunken stupor and Kyle, trying to stop her, took a bit of a tumble down a steep cliff, leaving the fate of the party, and Ven, unknown. 

            Kyle picked himself up from the foliage and rubbed off some dirt he’d accumulated from taking his tumble off the cliffside. He couldn’t hear voices up above, but there weren’t lights at the cliffside anymore, either. Kyle fearfully took out his phone. Only one crack running along the side of the screen, nothing too bad. It was about two in the morning, so either the police came and made everyone call it quits or they just decided to pack up and head out.

            But what about Ven, and that kid, the one that was a junior Toxic member? Kyle slid his phone back into his pocket and replaced it in his hand with the Zanderia communicator.

            “Anyone at the base?” Kyle asked.

            “Hey, Blue Nexus, what’s going on?”

            Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Prism, you’re awake?”

            “Pulled the short straw this weekend,” he said. “I’m on the graveyard shift. But what are you doing awake, aren’t you an East Coast guy? Shouldn’t someone else have taken over for you?”

            “No, I just…listen, you got any way of somehow tracking down members of the Toxics?”

            “You in a chase?” Kyle heard the clacking of fingers on a keyboard on the other end of the line. “Lose someone?”

            “I was just out and ran into one in a crowd, I’m not sure where he went.”
            “Got a name?”

            “That’s my problem.”

            Prism went silent for a moment. Kyle brushed himself off and rushed down the side of the cliff to the highway that sloped around the hill. He started walking up the road, listening for any coming traffic. He kept his head low so nobody would recognize him just in case.

            “Doesn’t seem like anything’s been reported recently,” Prism said. “At least not within the last few hours, and definitely not around you. Yeah, no criminal activity to report on, you should be good. Seems like the cops got called for a public disturbance, but it was just a noise complaint. Nothing too crazy.”

            The party. Kyle nodded. “Great, thanks. I’ll make sure to keep my eye out for him.”
            “You’re still powerless, right?”

            “Yeah, so, I’m not sure what I could even do if I ran into him. Probably just have to call the cops or something.”

            “Well, if you need any help, you know where I am.”

            Kyle grinned. “Yeah, thanks Prism. Have a good watch.”

            Kyle ended the communication and slid the communicator away. He continued up the hillside road. A little chill nestled into the air, and he was ill-equipped for it. He allow the Demon magic to slither down his arm and keep it a little warm then rubbed his hands together.

            What were the chances Ven was still awake? Kyle checked his phone again with no recent messages. He texted her, waited a moment, called her, but got nothing in response. Kyle reached an intersection at the road and jogged over to where the party had been at the cliffside.

            All that remained of it was some ashes in the bit bonfire pit and tire tracks, as well as heaps of trash. Kyle grimaced. No signs of Ven anywhere, either. He wondered how she’d gotten around telling Dani that Kyle just vanished but it was likely she was far too trashed to be able to form words, anyway. She may have even gotten thrown out for trying to start a fight with the Toxic member. Kyle rubbed his temple, his head still pounding from the tumble.

            Those drinks really hit her hard, Ven had to be looking at a rough morning coming up. Kyle sighed and stuffed his hands in his pocket, sniffling in the cold. He looked around once again, kicked at some fallen branches, then started along the road again. Without his powers, he couldn’t fly so it was down to good old walking.

            The area remained solemn and quiet. No cars passed him along the road while he strolled through the night. Clouds were few but the thin light pollution from the town did not allow him to see all the stars he may have if he were at the beach or somewhere else. A light breeze tugged at him and made his cheeks go red, stinging his eyes and bringing water to them.

            Kyle sniffled and sighed, noticing the proper part of town up ahead, as well as the road that took him around that part of town, through some back, older roads, and then to the suburbs, where he could finally rest a bit. He stopped, though, before he turned, and just stood before his town, Adelita.

            What few lights there were came from the major businesses that’d been long-since closed. The local businesses had dim lights on but nothing too serious. Nobody walked around town this time of night. Maybe a few people would be out and about in the neighborhoods to walk their dog or get a really early morning jog in before work. Kyle rubbed his Demon arm and continued down the road, keeping his head low.

            His footsteps seemed to echo around wherever he was. He scuffed his feet a few times from the dreariness of the fall and almost tripped on accident a few times. He held his phone in his hand pretty tight in the off-chance Ven decided to text or call him, but she had to be asleep by now. No use trying to communicate with her yet.

            Everything came to a blur from the time he got home, went to sleep, and woke to a buzzing phone on his nightstand. He was still the in clothes he wore to the party and smelled pretty bad. Kyle groaned and sat up, pulling his phone along with him. Kip? What’d he want?

            Kyle slid his finger along the screen and put it on speaker. “What’s up?” His voice couldn’t be groggier.

            “Did you really just wake up?” Kip’s voice asked, bouncing throughout the rest of the room. Kyle yawned and stretched.

            “Yup,” Kyle said. He sighed and leaned forward again, swallowing a lump in his throat and chasing it with the bottle of water next to him. He set it back down, nearly missing the nightstand.

            “Dude, it’s like eleven in the morning, how late were you out?” Kip asked.

            “Today’s Saturday, right?”

            “Yeah, why?”

            “Then what’s the big deal with me sleeping in a little? It’s a nice thing to do every once in a while. I’m not missing anything, am I?”

            “Well, apparently you were at some party last night and then suddenly vanished. Dani was telling me all about it. I was about ten seconds away from going to your place and making sure you weren’t dead.”

            Kyle raised an eyebrow, stretching his arms a little more. “Is she with you now? Dani?”

            “What? Yeah, she’s here.”

            “Put me on speaker, then, I need to ask her something.”

            Kyle swung out of bed and got a good stretch out of his legs. He let out a low-rumbling roar from deep within himself as his muscles reached out and then relaxed. He shook himself off and leapt up once before settling down.

            “Hey Kyle, what happened last night?”

            “Decided to walk home, got in a little argument with Ven—ronica. Veronica.”

            “She did seem a little upset,” Dani said. She paused. “And drunk.”

            “Very,” Kyle said. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she is right now, would you?”

            “No, I’ve tried calling her and she hasn’t answered. I think I might know where she went, but, it’d only be a guess.”

            Kyle glanced to the Nexus bracelet on his wrist. “Where?”

            There wasn’t anyone parked where Ven’s car was. The entire lot was empty, devoid of any life. Some of the other lots along the beach were packed, but that was the more popular spots by the rocks or the areas where the waves were more prominent. Kyle stepped out of his grandparents’ car and started for the wooden walkway, listening only to the crashing of waves upon the shore up ahead as well as the clip-clap of his flip-flops on the ground.

            His dead Nexus bracelet swung loosely between his fingers. He flipped it end-over-end and then caught it and slid it back onto his wrist. A chilly ocean breeze swept over the hill and caught his sleeveless arms by surprise.

            Kyle climbed the wooden steps quickly, holding his phone tight in his hand once more. He dashed across the walkway and slowed up as it sloped down and he came into full sight of the shoreline below. The waves were rather calm, but the wind breeze brought things to a bit of a chill. Kyle stuffed his phone in his pocket when his eyes fell upon a certain red-haired individual sitting on a blanket at the edge of the hill.

            Kyle stopped before the bridge let off, watching her, unsure of what to say, or what to do. He’d thought of hundreds of different ways of approaching her and making up, or just trying to get her attention and not have her scream at him. He thought about what he’d done wrong, if he’d done anything wrong, and how to ask about why she ditched him. At times he got angry and screamed in frustration in his car, and at times he just shook his head in confusion.

            Each of those emotions bubbled up inside him, and at once, he moved without thinking. He removed the Nexus bracelet from his wrist and cast it like a frisbee over to Ven, where it landed right next to her. She looked to it in surprise, and then to Kyle.      

            “What is this?” she asked.

            Kyle clenched his fists. “The Blue Nexus bracelet,” he said in time with a wave crashing upon the shore.

            Ven leaned forward a bit, trying to hear what he said. His heart thumped in his chest. Kyle caught his breath and stepped forward.

            “Something my parents gave me before they left,” Kyle said. “Or died. I’m not sure yet. I’m still looking for them, hoping that bracelet can lead me to them. It’s something that’s really special to me.”

            “Why’d you throw it at me?” Ven asked.

            Kyle shrugged. “Honestly it was the only way I could think of actually getting your attention.” A lie. A great lie. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his shorts. “Do you mind if I join you?”

            Ven chuckled and looked back to the shore. “You want to hang out with a drunk?”

            Kyle grimaced and vaulted over the railing, landing on the solid sand. He approached her and took to his knees. He grasped the Nexus bracelet next to Ven, then set it back down.

            “I hope you didn’t have too rough of a morning,” Kyle said.

            “I had to come here to recover,” Ven said. “I was hoping to not really run into anyone. How’d you find me?”

            “Dani said you might come to the beach, she said you really liked it,” Kyle said. “I figured it had something to do with your physiology from back home.”

            Ven nodded, still not glancing at him. “We have three Suns back home but none of them at this stage, or as large, as yours. We draw our energy from the sun. Nothing that gives us incredible abilities or anything, but…I guess we’re like Earth plants, in a way.”

            “Makes sense. But aren’t you a little cold?”

            “No. Our Suns are tiny, my home-world is far colder than this.” Ven sighed. “Kyle, I really wasn’t looking for company today. You haven’t done anything wrong if that’s what you’re worried about. I messed up. I got kicked out because I tried to fight that guy, I got absolutely wasted…I embarrassed myself in front of everyone! What if I revealed I was an alien? What would’ve happened then? The government could’ve come and taken me away, and the principal wasn’t going to do anything and he’d just thrown you over a cliff!”

            Ven sat up, suddenly turning to face Kyle. “Oh, I completely forgot about that, are you okay?”

            Kyle waved her off. “I’ve taken worse falls before. I also got punched through a metal door by Andreus, whatever that guy did was nothing, really.”

            “You sure?” she asked, and gingerly touched what was probably a cut along Kyle’s neck. Kyle only felt the soft touch of her hand. He reached up and held it in his own. Ven quivered for a moment, and went to pull her hand away but wound up pulling Kyle close to her.

            He paused just before their lips connected, but went for it anyway. Ven didn’t hesitate on that either, pressing her lips and face against his own. Their fingers interlocked and they set their hands down. Kyle bowed his head and their foreheads touched. Ven sighed.

            “Really?” she asked, chuckling.

            “I’m not sure if we can count the one from last night,” Kyle said. “But I wanted to make sure we still got one this weekend.”

            “Kyle, you must be absolutely insane to want a girl like me.”

            “Why?”

            Ven leaned back. “You kidding? I had one drink and I was worse than some lightweight college student. I’m an alien. I’m living on the run, practically. Much as I appreciate you having the Demon powers, I don’t think they hold up against more than just two government agents.” She looked at their interconnected fingers. “And, I mean, like, we just met. Isn’t this moving a bit fast and all that?”

            Kyle looked at their hands as well, then back to the shore. “Life’s too short to move slow sometimes. We’re only two months from graduation and being thrown at the real world.” He stole a look down to his Nexus bracelet. “And you never know what that means. I’ve lived my entire life without anything really special besides Kip, Luke, my grandparents, and chasing after my real parents. But recently I’ve found stuff I can really hold onto. I’ve got Andreus and the lacrosse team and…” He almost said the Zanderia, but just sighed and shook his head. “I’ve got more now, and it wasn’t done by taking things slowly but by taking risks. Andreus and I wouldn’t be friends if I didn’t get on him about being a mage, and I wouldn’t be on the lacrosse team if I didn’t want to play the game as bad as I do.” Kyle finally looked up to Ven. Her eyes glistened in the sunlight. “I wouldn’t be here with you if I just ran away from the people that were going to take you away, and think about what all your friends would do then.”
            “Did you practice that speech or something?” Ven asked.

            Kyle chuckled and held her hand in his own, completely. “Just a few parts of this. But I want to do this.”

            “You really want to try and get in a relationship with an alien?”

            “I’m not trying anything. We’re doing this.”

            “You sound so committed.”
            Kyle got lost in her eyes for a moment, and then in his own thoughts. Mira swirled around there for a while. For so long his life, his romance, had been focused around her, and nobody else. He didn’t know a crush or romance without referencing it back to her.

            And what if Ven was right? She was an alien. She could be called back to her home world or her parents could call her back home to complete school there. Perhaps she was actually toxic to him and their physiologies would clash and they’d end up killing one another.

            Kyle felt the Nexus bracelet on his wrist. Nothing was impossible with that thing. It would heal him, it would allow him to travel to her world. He could find her. With the Nexus, he could be with Ven.

            “You scared?” Kyle asked.

            “To have an Earthling boyfriend? From what I’ve seen on social media you guys are the worst.” She placed her hand atop their interlocked fingers. “But I think there’s more to you than anyone else sees, Kyle, and I guess this is the only way to find out what those things are.”

            “I’m not a man of mystery, I’m probably the most boring person ever,” Kyle said.

            “Okay, fine, but you still ran all the way out here just to find me and check on me,” Ven said. “That takes something I haven’t seen in humanity yet.”

            She stood up and Kyle stood with her. She gestured out to the ocean, and Kyle followed her gaze.

            “I think it’d be cool to come out here with everyone once prom and all that crap is blown over,” Ven said. “What do you think?”

            “Sounds like a lot of fun,” Kyle said.

            Ven nodded. “Good.” She squeezed his hand, then looked back to him. Kyle smiled just knowing she gazed in his direction, filling him with a little warmth. “You wanna hang out here just a bit longer, though?”

            “For sure,” Kyle said and felt a small spark on his wrist. Ven smiled and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek, then sank back down to sit.

            Kyle did the same and flicked one last gaze to his Nexus bracelet, where a tiny blue line of energy coursed around it, pulsing with life once more. Kyle folded his arms behind his head and lay back, sighing.

            And for just those few hours, where he and Ven sat and basked in the lull of the waves and brightness of the sun, where he got no calls and no darkness washed over him, everything was right for Kyle. And he smiled.

Next time:  An messenger named Eltar comes from outer space to deliver some harrowing news to Kyle, and this time, he'll need quite a few friends to help him...IN SPACE in "Blue Nexus #89: Invitations (or, How Space GPS Works)"!