"Here, put these on, I told Mardock about how you are with a big crowd of people. These should make it so everyone in the crowd disappears and this thing cancels everyone's noise except for the people programmed to it, try them on." Xavier hands me a pair of earrings and a small skin-colored dot. He presses the dot to my forehead and helps me with putting the earrings in.

     "Does it work can you hear me, Hope?" Xavier asks me. I shrug my shoulders.

     "I don't know I can hear you talk and my vision seems to be the same." Jax and Xavier look at each other.

      "Once we start walking out, it'll work don't worry. Try not to freak out as much okay? It'll take a minute or so to get used to." Jax says to me while walking to the door and opening it.

     My heart starts pumping faster and you can notice it with my dress. Xavier takes my arm and links it with his. We start walking out into the concrete hall and go down along the thin hallway. Jax walks in front of us, holding a long metal object, almost like a blaster from Star Wars.

     "Watch your surroundings around you two Wang, SitBits could attack tonight," Jax says moving the blaster closer to his chest. I look at Xavier for an answer.

     "The planet I was talking about earlier, Dazora, the one that doesn't like us. SitBits are the life forms that inhabit that planet. The stadium is heavily guarded tonight so there's nothing to worry about." Xavier reassuringly says to me while giving my arm a light squeeze.

     We stop at a large heavy set of doors, and my nerves as well as anxiety are off the charts. Another soldier joins Jax in front of Xavier and I and two more behind us. I see Jax and the soldier next to him talking and looking back at us.

     "Xavier, I don't know if I can go through with this, honestly I feel like I can't breathe, I feel like crying, I don't know what's happening with me." I look at him for help.

       "It'll go away here in a few, trust me. Besides, it's not a long walk. Once we open these doors the stage is in the middle of the field, about a two-minute walk at max alright? I'm right here with you." Jax looks back at us and gives Xavier a head nod. The doors slowly start to open. I feel my mouth fill with saliva as if I'm going to vomit, but I don't and we start walking.

     It's quiet, extremely quiet. We enter out of the tunnel and I look around. The concrete making-up seats are empty, completely empty as if they cleared the stadium in the short amount of time from my small room to when I was walking out. I hear Xavier give a small chuckle.

     "Don't be so shocked Hope, I told you that you wouldn't see or hear anyone. Have faith in me." He teases me. I look over at him and smile.

       "Don't start with the puns now dork." I tease back. We both smile at each other before looking back at the large metal structure in the middle of the field. Jax looks back at me.

     "They love you, you know. Like it's hurting my eardrums how loud everyone's screaming. Everyone's standing up just to get a glimpse at you!" He yells back at me. I smile and give him a nod.

     We reach the stage, Mardock is standing up but turned around. He's much taller in real life than in the picture, taller than Xavier at least by five inches. He wears a dark blue suit with something glowing all around him, armor maybe? Jax walks up the stairs and Xavier and I follow behind. My heart beats a million times a minute as I'm about to meet this man that I'm supposed to marry. Jax steps to the side and Xavier takes me up to him. Mardock turns around and looks at me.

     I was transported somewhere else, I was in a stone-walled room standing next to a 4-post bed while Mardock paces the room back and forth. He looks at me and walks my way. He stops a couple of inches in front of me and pulls me in for a hug. He squeezes me tightly while kissing the top of my head. I hug him back and nuzzle more into his chest, the sweet smell of lavender engulfs me.

     I was back to reality. Mardock and I were staring at each other. Xavier takes my hand and gives it to Mardock's open one, not realizing what just happened.

     "Treat her well sir, she can be stubborn at times, believe me." Xavier quietly jokes. Mardock smiles at him and takes my hand into his while looking back at me.

     "Hello, Hope. You don't know how happy I am to finally meet you." He says in a hybrid accent that sounds like it's a mix between today's age and how people talked in the 18th century, but I know that it's because I'm in a whole other galaxy. Xavier gives him a nod and goes to be at Jax's side.

     "Shall we sit?" He asks me. I couldn't find my voice anywhere in my anxious-filled body so I just nodded my head to give my answer.

     He chuckles softly and leads us to two almost throne-looking chairs. He helps me sit down before taking his own seat. I look around at the empty stadium once more to make sure no one is in there, but I know that there is, my chair is vibrating from silent screams that I can't hear. 

     "I hope you take our technology to your liking. I wanted you to be comfortable as much as possible." He speaks so softly as if he's talking to a toddler almost asleep. He stands up and walks to the front of the stage.

     "For this special event, I will explain why this is the most extraordinary person to ever come to Maliv and a duty of mine to fulfill to my people." He speaks out to the empty crowd.

     It sounded like Superman hitting the Earth, like in the movies. A big crash that I can hear even with the earrings. Jax and Xavier go to look up at the sky as does Mardock. Jax points the blaster up into the sky and looks down through the scope of it. Xavier runs out towards the empty stands. Mardock grabs me and shields me towards the back of the stage and down some stairs.

     "Go down all the way and go into the door, I'll be right behind you." I watch as he pulls a smaller blaster from the inside of his suit jacket pocket.

     I look down the spiral stairs and start my way down. My heels clank on the cement steps with each step that I take.

     After a couple of minutes, I finally reach a steel-looking door and open it. It's hard to pull open but I get it to where Mardock and I can squeeze into it and be able to seal it shut. I look around the cement-walled room. Single beds lined one wall as crates and chests filled the other, there were a couple of doors at the adjacent wall from the door. I look behind me and don't see Mardock anywhere. I look at one of the crates and run over to where they are. Opening them up I see the same blaster Mardock had, in fact, the crate was filled to the brim with them. I pick one up and inspect it. I hope Xavier and Jax are going to be alright. I don't know what I would do if Xavier got hurt.

     I hear the door move slightly, I raise the blaster up toward the door and see Mardock quickly closing it locking the door up. I slowly lower the blaster. He looks at me and then at the blaster.

     "It's okay, you can put it back. I just had to make sure my people were going to be alright." He calmly reassures me.

     I look around the room once more. I put the blaster back into the crate and go to the closest bed to me and sit at the end of it. Mardock watches me the entire time before making his way and sitting down on the bed next to mine, sitting at the foot of it.

     "I guess now we can properly introduce each other now," he sticks out his hand to me, "my name is Aravan Mardock, I figured we might as well get into the first name business to start things off, right?" He chuckles a little. I look at his hand and slowly lift mine to shake his.

     "Hope, Hope Anderson, but I guess you already know everything about me, right?" I giggle a little. He stares into my eyes and smiles at me.

     "Your voice is, it's beautiful, I... words can't describe it. The way you laugh, it's just, everything about you is beautiful." Aravan now holds onto my hand, I look down at it and pull it away after realizing it. He looks down at his hand.

      "I'm sorry, your skin is just so soft, so delicate, like a flower petal." He looks back up at me.

     "I just, I can't wait to get to know you as time moves forward with our lives." He gives me another smile while looking me up and down.

     "You look like a true queen in that dress, very elegant indeed." I begin to smile at his compliments.

     "Is it alright if I take off my heels? My dogs are killing me." I begin to unzip the heels. He looks at me confused.

     "You have dogs for feet? Or is that Earth language?" He asks me. I take off the heel and look at him and laugh while unzipping the other heel.

     "No, it's slang, it means my feet hurt. I'm not used to wearing heels or wearing dresses, I like, well, long-sleeved shirts and hoodies and also sweatpants, comfortable clothes." I watch as he quickly gets up and runs to one of the doors and opens it. The door blocks my view so I can't see what's inside.

     A couple of seconds later he comes out with a pair of gray pants and a large long-sleeved gray shirt. He runs over to hand them to me. I look at him and give him a small smile.

    "You can get dressed in the door next to the one I just went into, it's a bathroom." He says sitting back down and taking off his own shoes. I give him a nod and go to the bathroom to get changed.

     I open the door and was greeted by a smaller room with technology that looks like nothing that should be in a bathroom. I close the door behind me and get changed.

     Once done I open the door and look at Aravan who is now examining the crates and boxes.

     "These supplies should last us a couple of months but it won't be that long." He says looking back at me. He again looks me up and down and smiles.

     "You could be wearing rags and I still think you would look stunning." He walks over to me and reaches out his hand to me. I look at it and back to him. He slowly puts it back down.

     "You'll grow accustomed to it, shall we lie down for a bit, as we'll chat." I give him a nod and go back to the bed I was sitting on.

     I lie down and face his bed, Aravan does the same so we're now staring at each other. I don't know why, but having Aravan lying next to me makes me feel like I'm home, like I'm supposed to be near him. I almost feel like I can be with him. He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth. 

     "I think it's time to tell you why you're here, why it's an honor and a duty for you to be here and marry me."