Separation

Disclaimer: I do not own Samus, Ridley, Houston, or Metroid.


Ridley decided that today would be the day.

Today would be the day that he told Samus Aran that he, Ridley, was madly in love with her.

He had practiced it hundreds of times. "Samus, there's something I want to tell you...something I've wanted to tell you for...oh, years now," he would say into the mirror. "I...I...love you, Samus."

He imagined a multitude of scenarios that could spin out from his utterance of those words. Most often, he imagined her recoiling in disgust -- he was, after all, a dragon, and as a rule, was pretty much incompatible with humans.

But deep in his heart, Ridley was a romantic, and sometimes allowed himself to ponder Samus accepting and enjoying his affections. He knew it was insanity, a human girl falling in love with a dragon like him.

But he could still dream.

He made the promise to tell Samus his feelings every month or so. But this time he knew deep down that there would be no last-minute chickening out.

He was waiting in the park, in their usual spot by the fountain. When she came into sight, Ridley sharply inhaled. His heartbeat increased in pace slightly. She always had such an effect on him. Her radiant beauty was a stronger intoxicant and stimulant than anything he could buy or steal.

Ridley's resolve was only reinforced by Samus' appearance. Today, if anything, she seemed even more beautiful and happy than usual, with a large smile adorning her face. Ridley was definitely going to tell her.

She finally reached him and they began walking. That was what they did -- walk and talk.

"Samus, there's something I want to tell you..." Ridley began. He gulped. No going back.

"There's something I want to tell you too, Ridley. Can my news come first?" she asked. How could he say no?

"By all means."

She turned to him, both stopping. She took his large scaly hands into her small silken ones. Her beauty, in Ridley's eyes, seemed to increase instantly until he knew that he would always remember her as she was right at the moment.

"I'm getting married."

Ridley managed to keep a straight face as everything inside of him collapsed, exploded, disintegrated, and basically turned worthless.

"Isn't that great news?" she asked.

"...Yeah, yeah, great news. Congratulations," Ridley finally managed to sputter after a moment's hesitation. He put as much emotion (not much) into it that he could muster.

"So...who's the lucky guy?" he followed up with.

"Houston. Remember him? We went to school with him."

Ridley remembered him far too well. He was ruggedly handsome, a good ship mechanic, a better shot, and an excellent womanizer. Samus had mentioned that he had moved back into the neighborhood a few months ago, but he didn't think much of it. Samus hadn't mentioned seeing him after that one time...that didn't mean she wasn't seeing him without telling him, though.

He remembered one time finding out she had a boyfriend after she showed up in tears at his house. It turned out that Samus had missed her period, and the guy had insisted she get an abortion. She left him immediately, and stayed with Ridley for a few days. Those days stood in Ridley's mind as four of the -- no, THE four -- best days of his life.

When it was later discovered that she was just a few days late, the guy attempted to return to Samus and tried to have everything the way they were. After a threatening appearance by Ridley one night, the guy never tried to call her again.

Ridley was snapped out of the reverie into the past by Samus in the present. "Er, what did you say?" he sheepishly asked.

"I said, would you do me the honor of giving me away? You're the closest thing I have to a family, since we've practically known each other all our lives and I'm an orphan and all."

Ridley's mind was blank for nearly a full minute. When he suddenly grasped the enormity of the question, it was all he could do not to burst into tears on the spot. He managed to retain the stoic facade on the outside, and reply with a, "It would be my pleasure."

"Great!" she said. "Now, what was the something you wanted to tell me?" she asked.

"Oh...it was nothing, really."

"That's cool. Hey, I've got stuff to do -- wedding stuff -- so I'm going to have to cut today short. Alright? Bye!" she said without waiting for acknowledgement from Ridley.

He made it the four blocks, porch, front door, staircase, bedroom door, to his bed before losing control and sobbing uncontrollably for hours.

~~~

"Ridley, you may or may not know I've been keeping an eye on your performance for the past few weeks," his boss said without preamble.

"Excuse me, sir?" he replied.

"I've noticed a marked change in your performance that started about three weeks ago. In fact, three weeks exactly."

Three weeks ago was when Samus dropped what Ridley privately thought as the M-Bomb.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I've been under a lot of stress and..."

"Nothing to be sorry about, Ridley. Your performance is up by 41%. I'm impressed. And...my superiors are impressed. You'll be getting an evaluation in a week and a half, and after that...well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?" Still, his boss smirked knowingly and gave Ridley a nod and a wink.

"Right, sir. I'll try to keep it up."

~~~

"So, have you received news about your evaluation yet?" Samus asked.

"Yeah...they're offering me a new job."

"That's great!"

"...It's on an orbiter in the Barnard's Star system."

Samus' face fell when she realized what that meant. "So, you'll be leaving?"

"I don't know if I'll be taking the job yet. I'm still thinking about it."

"You know, you should do what you want," Samus commented.

"I will."

Samus then changed the subject. "Have you prepared your tux yet?" She was referring to Ridley's specially-tailored tuxedo. He had had it made for formal occasions, when his bare suit of scales just wouldn't do.

"Yeah, it's all ready for next week."

Conversation lulled. Then, "Ridley, me getting married, that's alright with you, isn't it?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't be," he replied. He had gotten good at disguising his feelings.

"I value your opinion, Ridley. If you have anything against Houston, I'd like you to tell me now. Nevermind that bit where the priest asks about 'Speak now, or forever hold your piece.'"

Ridley shrugged. "I could tell you some rumors I heard about him in school, but that was years ago. I'm sure they have no bearing on who he is now." All the while he said that, 'WOMANIZER' was flashing in fifty-foot tall neon signs inside his head. He ignored it.

"Good," she said, and then hugged him. He reciprocated, with a bare second's hesitation.

~~~

"Who gives this woman away?" the priest asked.

"I do," Ridley responded. Saying 'I do' at a wedding with Samus was one of his biggest fantasies. He never thought it would turn out to be his worst nightmare.

The wedding went on pretty much according to schedule. The priest said the things priests usually said, and Samus and Houston exchanged unbearably mushy vows.

"...Speak now or forever hold your peace," the priest said, jarring Ridley's interior monologue of distaste at the situation.

Now was his moment. He could deride Houston as a womanizer, proclaim his love for Samus, and let come what may. He looked to Samus first, as he did with much in his life.

She looked even happier than she did that one day in the park. The day she had inadvertently destroyed his world. He saw as she looked upon Houston with all the love he would never experience from her, and realized that he could never crush her happiness like that. He bit his tongue, hard enough to draw blood.

"...Then by the power vested in me..."

Ridley made his decision. He couldn't stay and watch every day as Samus loved Houston. It would drive him mad.

He would be going to Barnard's Star.

~~~

"I've decided to go to Barnard's Star," he wrote. "There's been some private stuff I haven't talked to you about, that I have to think about or run away from or something for a while. This new job will help with that."

He wrote down details of how they would correspond. Video feed would be impossible, but e-mail would be highly doable.

"Samus, you are my best friend, and I don't know how my life could exist without you in it. Please write often."

He hesitated, swallowed, then signed it. "Love, Ridley."

He taped the note on Samus' front door, and boared the taxi he had waiting. "To the spaceport," he instructed the cabbie.

~~~

Samus entered the park she and Ridley used to frequent so much for the first time in three years.

At first, she had kept up constant correspondence with her dragon friend. One letter every other day. Then, it slid into once or twice a week. Then she was lucky if she mailed a letter once a month. Finally, he was only sent semi-personalized Christmas and birthday cards. Samus now deeply regretted letting the chasm in their friendship grow so much. As of that morning, she was officially single again.

She knew full well of Houston's past reputation as a womanizer, and at first thought it to be gone from him presently. However, in the past six months she had been suspecting him of sneaking around on her and sure enough, after some detective work, discovered him in bed with another woman. He had grown indignant from her accusation (wearing nothing but a sheet, no less, with his mistress looking on) and grew more surly as the argument raged. Finally, he slapped her.

Samus paid him back with a black eye, broken nose, half a dozen missing teeth, and a compound fracture in both his legs. The divorce had been finalized two weeks later -- that day.

The worst part was that she didn't really have any friends other than Ridley to whom she could come to and cry on their shoulder. She had a few female coworkers, but they weren't really friend friends -- not the way she was friends with Ridley. She began to remember the good times she had had with her departed friend. It was like a mental photo album.

~~~

The first time they had met was when they were both young. Samus was just playing as children are apt to do when she heard strange noises from nearby. She investigated, and found a trio of older boys picking on the young dragon.

"Hey you big jerks! Leave him alone!" she called. Ridley's tormentors turned to her.

"Oh, it's a dragonlover. Hey, dragonlover, what are you gonna do, huh? Buzz off, or you're next." The older kids then dismissed her, turning back towards their prey. Their last mistake.

Samus looked down and noticed an egg-sized rock near her foot. She picked it up and, without thinking too much of it, chucked it at the one who jeered at her. It hit him square in the neck. He swiveled and grasped the back of his neck in pain. "You little BITCH!" he shouted. "Get her!" he called to his cronies. They advanced upon the younger Samus. Samus scooped up another rock without looking and hurled it at the closer of the two. It hit him square in the crotch. He fell down, grasping his wounded manhood and curling into a fetal position. The other hesitated, looking fearfully from Samus to the ringleader and back again.

"What are you waiting for, you doofus? Get her!" his higher-up implored. Hesitatingly, he started to move slowly towards Samus, wary of what else she might do. Suddenly, she scooped up a third rock and tossed it almost quicker than the eye could follow. Almost. The young lad was quick enough to dodge, and fell into a bush. "Idiot," the ringleader muttered under his breath. He bent and picked up the rock she had originally tossed at him. "Okay, you throw rocks good. Let's see if you can CATCH!" he shouted. He tilted his arm back and just as he released the rock he was shoved forcefully to the ground. The rock sailed harmlessly over Samus' head.

The head bully rolled over to see what had knocked him for a loop. Standing over him was Ridley, in full furious glory. His wingspan stretched as high and wide as he could get it put Ridley at about ten feet wide and eight feet high (but of course he was shorter and narrower with wings folded behind his back). To the bully's four and a half feet, this was a truly frightening sight. Urine stained his pants as he pulled himself back with the palms of his hands, dragging his ass, until he was what he deemed a sufficient distance from the foreboding creature, wherein he pushed himself to his feet and made haste to his home.

Samus quickly closed the distance between her and the dragon, who had receded back into himself. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Ridley responded. "Why did you help me?"

"Because I'm not an assoholic," she quipped. Both tittered at Samus' use of the swear word.

Suddenly, there was a rustling behind them. The second boy had finally disentangled himself from the bush. He looked fearfully at the couple of Samus and Ridley. Both adopted menacing looks on their faces. "Hey, hey, look, I didn't want to do anything, it was Dean. Dean always makes us do bad stuff. Please don't hurt me, okay?" pleaded the former lackey. Samus and Ridley exchanged a look, wordlessly decided, and lunged at him simultaneously, screaming as loud as they could. The lad ran off even quicker than his pal Dean, and Samus and Ridley broke into laughter.

A few years down the line, Samus would use her natural throwing ability to win a few Little League championships, along with Ridley, her new best friend and star batter. Many years after that, Samus would find out that the reluctant bully, the one who she and Ridley had scared off and laughed about, had become a priest.

~~~

She purchased a hot dog from a cart vendor and proceeded to the bench where she and Ridley had sat so many times before. She kept her wallet out, though, as she wanted to look through it. It was mostly full of junk, but she came across a film strip, the type you get from sitting in a cramped booth. Samus smiled fondly as she remembered the day the strip had been taken.

~~~

The day previous, she had shown up at Ridley's doorstep at 7 PM, in the middle of a soaking rainstorm, with nothing but the clothes on her back. Ridley took one look at her quivering form and ushered her inside. He led her to his bathroom and handed her a warm fluffy robe he kept on hand for humanoid visitors who needed one. After changing, he set her up in the guest bedroom, where he held her as she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning when she had awoken, she discovered Ridley had fallen asleep along next to her. She smiled, then remembered the circumstances that had led her here. She awoke him, and informed him that she suspected that she was pregnant. When she told her boyfriend, practically the first word out of his mouth had been 'abortion'. Ridley's eyes narrowed in rage. "Where does he live?" he asked.

"Ridley, no. I don't want you to do anything like that...yet," she added, with a sly grin. Her reptilian friend returned the gesture.

"Well, then let's go to the mall today," he countered. Samus agreed, and two hours later they arrived.

First, they went to a baby store, where Ridley held up infant-sized pink and blue t-shirts to Samus' flat stomach. "Which do you think it'll be?" Ridley queried. Samus just shrugged. "I hope it's this," Ridley said, holding up a specially-tailored outfit for newly-hatched dragons of his species. Samus giggled.

The salesperson approached, then stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what looked like interspecies procreation. "Are...you two...uh..." he stuttered out. Samus and Ridley exchanged a glance and a wink.

"Yeah, this big scaly hunk totally knocked me up!" Samus exuberantly stated.

"This is our third one, too!" Ridley added.

"The thing is, he bent me over like this," Samus began explaining, as she bent using a nearby display for support.

"Then, I walked up from behind her and shoved -"

The salesman had had enough. He ran to a door marked 'Employees Only', hand clutched over his mouth. The two friends dissolved into laughter, sinking to the ground for nearly ten minutes. After they finally started calming down, the manager walked into view and began speaking to them. "I apologize if the actions of certain employees," she said, glaring towards the 'Employees Only' door, "have reflected poorly on this establishment's policy of openness to interspecies consentual relationships. To whit, please accept this gift certificate for fifty dollars off your next purchase." The woman smiled as she presented them with the certificate.

"Gee, thanks, but we're not really -" Samus was cut off.

"No need to explain, young one. You see, I, too, know the joys of a nonhuman lover..." Samus and Ridley beat a hasty retreat before the woman could gross either of them out.

Their next stop was the bookstore. Samus picked out several titles on parenthood, and Ridley grabbed a violent pulp novel. The clerk at the register gave them a curious glance, but nothing more as he rang their books up.

At the food court, they stopped briefly to get some ice cream cones. After finishing them, they saw a photo booth nearby. "Ooh, Ridley! Let's get our pictures taken!" Samus exclaimed, already heading for the small booth. A few minutes of work later, they had both wedged themselves into the booth into a position where both their faces would be in the photo. Said position involved Samus sitting on Ridley's lap. They did several poses -- normal, wacky, picking on each other, mock-fighting each other, and finally the friendship position, with arms around each other's necks.

They made one more stop in the mall. The pharmacy. Samus picked up a pregnancy test; Ridley, a chocolate bar. When they got home, they set both on the counter of the kitchen and forgot about them the rest of the day, as they watched horrible TV shows and mocked them. Ridley made dinner, three whole roast chickens. Samus ate a few pieces off one chicken; Ridley gobbled the rest down whole.

That night, they made the conscious decision to sleep together in the same bed. Samus wrapped her arms around Ridley, he wrapped his arms around her, and off they went. Just before Ridley went out completely, he almost could have sworn he felt a kiss from Samus. But the day was too tiring, and he slipped further into slumber, forgetting all about the occasion.

The next morning when Ridley woke up, Samus was absent from the bed. He heard sounds coming from the bathroom. He ventured in.

Samus was slouched on the floor, pregnancy test in hand. It read negative.

Ridley went to comfort Samus.

~~~

Later in the evening, Samus returned home. She was going to surf the Net and find out how cheaply she could travel to Barnard's Star. As her hand reached toward the doorknob, she realized too late that it was actually somewhat ajar. The door flew open, hitting her in the head and knocking her to the ground. Out stepped Houston. Dazed, Samus looked up at him.

"Houston...whaa...how?" she mumbled. Her ex smirked.

"Modern medical technology, bitch," said he, grinning widely as he spoke, showing off his full row of teeth. "Yep, doctors can fix just about anything these days, lickety-split. Especially black-market doctors, who specialize in nanotherapy." He grabbed Samus by her hair and threw her forcefully through the doorway into her house. He walked in behind her and delivered a few swift kicks to her prone form. "You should never have fucked with me, bitch," he said, in a much more serious tone. He picked her up and tossed her across the room, where a wall stopped her arc. She scrambled up -- faster than Houston expected -- and ran into her bedroom, locking the door behind her.

She was still confused from the blow to her head. That's why she didn't call the police. She dialed the only number she could think of -- Ridley's. Of course, due to the massive distance between her home and Ridley's post on the orbiter circling Barnard's Star, the call would not be live. In a little over an hour Ridley would receive it.

"Ridley," she began. "It's Samus. I'm at home, Houston's hurt me pretty badly. Please -" But before she could finish, the lock on the door splintered and Houston strode into the room, his face now devoid of all emotion.

"I was gonna go easy on you," he monotoned. "But now...you have to be punished."

He closed the distance between them in three long paces, and pulled a knife out of his pocket. Samus tried to dart around him again, but he once again seized her hair and tossed her back. She once again struck her head, sending her further into disorientation. Houston bent down and split Samus' shirt down the middle with one swipe. She frantically tried to paw him away, but he shook off her efforts and followed suit with her bra. He violently grabbed one breast, squeezing and twisting it hard. Samus cried out in pain, only to be cut off as Houston shoved her head toward his and claimed her mouth in an intense kiss. She struggled still against his efforts.

One of her legs, which was free, happened to swing up and connect to his crotch. His hand automatically grasped and pulled her hair again, as the immense pain shot through him. After a few moments, he fought down the worst of it, grinned humorouslessly at Samus, and delivered a hard punch to her nose. The crack of it breaking was audible as her blood began to flow out. Samus' protests mostly stopped.

She only tried to fight back once more, when Houston cut off Samus' jeans. Flailing wildly around, her hand found a decorative ornament that had fallen off a nearby shelf from the force of Houston's attacks on Samus. The ornament, a solid ceramic egg, was a gift from Ridley on Tacky Gift Day (a holiday of their own invention). She hefted it and swung it as hard as she could down onto Houston's head. He slumped off of her and she managed to scrabble up and was nearly to the door when she was felled by a sharp pain in her knee. Houston had thrown his knife, and he aimed very well.

She hadn't crawled very far at all when Houston reached her, grabbed the knife, and twisted. Samus uttered one last, long, loud howl of pain, and then fell silent for the rest of Houston's stay. She remained silent as he tore the panties from her, as he forced himself inside her, and again, and again, and once into the other way.

He pulled his jeans up. "See you later, hun," he jeered.

An hour later, an audio transcript of the entire attack arrived on Ridley's phone.

Thirty-five minutes after that, he was on the fastest ship back home.

~~~

Ridley watched her silently for hours as she lay shallowly breathing under the veil of the oxygen tent. The list of her injuries constantly replayed itself in his head. Broken ribs, several concussions, severe damage to her genitals, dislocated arm, broken legs. He recalled with misery his reason for allowing the union between Houston and herself go on unimpeded: She looked happy. She sure as shit didn't look happy now.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, for what had to be the hundredth time. A tear rolled down his scarlet, reptilian face as he wondered what may have happened if he had objected that day. Would he and Samus be in love? Married? Would she have never spoken to him again? Would she have gone on to marry Houston anyway? Moot questions, as the result of his cowardice lay before him.

~~~

The hours fused into days. Ridley watched Samus gradually get better. The bruises faded from her skin. None of the doctors or nurses bothered him; he didn't get in their way, and really, you don't want to agitate a dragon three times your size.

One day, the nurse (in Samus' room as she was making her rounds) made an offhand comment to Ridley. "The lunatic that did this to her, that, uh, Houston, the police have him trapped."

For the first time in...well, a long while, Ridley looked away from Samus. "What? Where?" he asked.

"Oh, the mall downtown." Ridley knew it well. It was where he and Samus had spent the day together.

"I'll be stepping out for a while," he casually said as he stood, his legs and ass complaining about having sat for so long. "I have someone to kill."

~~~

Houston kept the gun pointed at the crowd at all times now. It was a lesson he learned from the three ex-heroes who lay nearby, their blood congealing on the marble floor of the mall. Never let your guard down, he told himself.

He had kept mostly to alleyways and sewers, but foolishly stayed in the city. He really should have left the first chance he got.

A cop had found him. He managed to strangle the cop -- a rookie -- before he could draw his firearm. His partner had seen him, and Houston had darted into the nearest place he could -- this shopping mall.

He knew he was fucked. Any demands he made the police would supply, but sabotage somehow. Like, the getaway vehicle would be rigged to say it was full of gas, when in reality he wouldn't get three blocks.

His only option was to draw time out in here as long as he could. If the cops busted in, he would kill as many hostages as he could before being overwhelmed or shot himself.

He was just about to suggest that one of the hostages fetch him a cup of coffee when the skylight imploded in a furios red streak. The blur stopped inches in front of him.

"You," Houston sneered.

"Yes, me," Ridley sneered back. Houston raised the gun, but Ridley was much quicker. He brought his reptilian mitt over Houston's mammalian one and squeezed as hard as he could. The bones in his hand splintered first; then the gun itself was rendered inoperable. Ridley turned sideways. "Get out of here, now," he called to the hostages. They didn't have to be told twice.

When the last of them had cleared out, Ridley released his vise grip. The broken gun slid out of Houston's ruined hand. He gazed at it in terror, then to Ridley. "Let's go for a ride," the dragon said to him. Without giving him time to form a response, Ridley grabbed him again -- his left leg this time -- and shot into the air again, through the broken skylight.

~~~

Forty minutes of Ridley pumping his leathery wings as hard as he could brought them out to the desert. It would take years to find somebody out here. If at all.

They were near a cave large enough for Ridley. He landed outside, dragged Houston inside. and tossed him to the wall across from him. The dragon noticed some dried wood, left out here some time ago for no visible reason. He started a good fire, so that the cave would be illuminated. It being summertime, in the daylight, in the desert, Houston began to sweat like mad. Ridley, however, was perfectly comfortable.

For over an hour, Ridley just stared at Houston, without blinking. Houston began to feel very scared. Without thinking, he bolted for the mouth of the cave.

A blinding pain shot through his leg. He looked down to see the tip of Ridley's tail protruding from his left kneecap. "This is where you got her with the knife, wasn't it? The knee." Ridley seized Houston's shoulders and pushed his tail further through the gaping injury, then flexed it. Houston cried out in incredible pain as the tail's flex tore the leg completely off below the knee. Copious amounts of blood began to flow.

"Tsk, tsk, we can't have that," Ridley said, observing the blood. "Then our fun would be over too soon." Seizing a blazing piece of wood from the fire, he shoved it into Houston's stump as hard as he could. The wound cauterized, but at the expense of doing even further damage to Houston's leg.

"Oh, and while I'm in the neighborhood..." Ridley cryptically remarked. Houston felt with relief as the angry dragon gently removed the still-flaming chunk from his leg. Then agony was reborn again, worse than ever, as Ridley drove it into Houston's crotch even harder. The double-pain of having his testicles both smashed and incinerated caused Houston to lose all control. He vomited, and shat his pants. That little detail was only present in the furthest corners of his mind, though.

After several minutes, Ridley withdrew the wood -- now merely hot to the touch -- from Houston's ruined genitalia. Although the region was now physically numb (all the nerve endings destroyed), the ghost of pain still haunted the hell out of him.

Finally breaking down, Houston began sobbing. "Please, have some mercy on me..." he gasped. Ridley looked askewedly at him for a moment, then began heartily laughing for a full minute. When he stopped, the laughter literally stopped in its tracks. Houston was growing even more afraid of the situation.

"You want me to show you mercy? Fine. Since your definition of mercy is "Viciously beat someone, rape them, and leave them for dead", I believe I will do just that." Ridley began delivering blows to all over Houston's body with the wood he had used to deliver a fiery vasectomy with. After several minutes of this, the wood finally splintered, and Ridley tossed it to the side.

"Well, that's the beating part done. Now, for the raping part."

Ridley set Houston up into a posture in which his ass was sticking up into the air. He too late realized what was happening (like it would have mattered anyway). Ridley sent his tail flying through the seat of Houston's pants, shredding through the anus, and effectively destroying his intestines. He pulled the tail back out, dragging some of the intestines with it. "Oh, there's that bleeding again," Ridley observed. He picked another piece of wood from the fire.

Houston's throat was already too sore from previous screaming to make little more than a whispery moan. After a few minutes, Ridley deemed this new wound cauterized as well.

"Houston, old buddy old pal, I hate to say it but I've got to go. Before I do, though, there's just one little -- two, actually -- two little things I'd like to do."

He seized Houston's left arm one arm above the elbow and one below, and bent it in exactly the opposite angle it should go. A very audible *crack* resounded through the cave, followed by Houston finding his scream again. The process repeated itself when Ridley moved onto the right arm.

Ridley then dragged Houston a hundred feet outside the cave, in the open. Vultures were circling overhead.

"Bye, Houston. Play nice with the birdies!" And with that, Ridley was off.

~~~

Ridley washed up, then returned to the hospital. A nurse stood guard outside the door. "What's happened? Why are you here?" he asked.

"Ms. Aran has finally woken up," she replied. Ridley brushed past her as he entered the room. She stood in front of the doorway. "She's not to receive any visitors until the doctors have finished --" She, herself, did not finish as Ridley abruptly shoved her to the side.

Three doctors with clipboards stood around the bed, attempting to interview her. He shoved the doc at the head of the bed down to its foot, paying no attention to their protests. What he saw made his heart sink.

Samus' eyes were open, yes. But they may as well have been closed. No real life or emotion shone in them; her eyes, which were once like a lush forest in the height of spring, had been sapped of all their vim. They now more closely resembled the tacky neon green that had been a popular shade in the 1980s.

Her entire face was slack, actually. Her mouth hung open a little bit, and if Ridley squinted he could see a bit of drool pooling at one corner. No joy was in it.

"Samus?" he probed. "It's me, Ridley."

To his surprise, she actually moved, though after a moment's delay. Her head tilted a little so that her eyes were pointed in his direction. It took another few moments for her eyes to finally find his. "Oh, hi Ridley," she said in a dull monotone. At that point, the doctors had given up on ejecting Ridley, as he wasn't really interfering with their examination.

Ridley took Samus' hand into both of his and squeezed it. She did not squeeze back.

~~~

Ridley spent the next several days babying Samus. He fed her, called the nurse when she needed something (though he would have to guess, as she never said when she needed something). After he noticed a foul smell emerging from her bed, he berated her as gently as he could, and ordered her to inform him when she had to go to the bathroom.

The first day or two, he would just hand her the bedpan and step out for a few minutes. Then, he decided to get Samus moving again. Against her doctor's wishes, Ridley began gently forcing Samus to try and use the bathroom a few feet away. The first time, when Samus reached for her bedpan, Ridley informed her of his desire for her to get walking again so she could use the room's bathroom. Samus actually stretched out a little for it, but Ridley withdrew it from her reach.

In retaliation, Samus promptly messed herself, and Ridley lost his patience.

"Look, Samus, I only want you to do what's best for you. But if you don't want to cooperate, then I guess I'll just leave." He caught the look on her face in the corner of his eye, and he stopped cold. For the first time, her mouth was shut, and her eyes had a bare glimmer of something in them -- sadness? Worry? Regret?

"Don't go," Samus intoned in the same -- or was it? -- monotone. "I'll do better,"

Ridley smiled, then called the nurse in to clean Samus up.

And, the next time she had to go, she did do better. With a little help from Ridley, she staggered into the bathroom. Two days later, she was walking on her own. The doctors were impressed with the recovery of her mobility.

~~~

A week later, Ridley was pushing Samus through the greenhouse (donated by some philanthropist a number of years previous) on her wheelchair. While she was getting better with walking, her doctor didn't want her standing or walking for an extended period of time, in case she might have a nasty fall.

As they both contemplated a row of purple flowers, an intern apporached them. He informed Ridley that Samus' doctor, a man by the name of Hale, wanted to talk to her. They followed the intern up an elevator and through a short maze of corridors to a sterile-looking and sterile-smelling office. The office only contained a desk, a chair (upon which Dr. Hale was sitting) and a stool (for Ridley). Hale offered Ridley the stool, and then began explaining why he had them come.

"After a few tests, I've come to a sad conclusion, one I always dread telling my patients." He paused, gulped. "I'm afraid you'll need to undergo a hysterectomy, Samus. It's a procedure where we surgically remove the womb because it has been irreparably damaged, and poses a risk to the rest of your body. Do you understand?" Samus nodded. "Good. We had an...opening, and the procedure can be done tomorrow before noon." Samus nodded again. Hale sighed. "I am truly sorry, Ms. Aran, but there is no other choice. Even if we didn't remove your womb and it managed to not get infected, it would be very unlikely you would ever bear children again." Samus nodded thrice. Hale mumbled something about another appointment and left.

Ridley moved in front of Samus' chair and took her hands in his. "We'll be alright, Samus," and squeezed her hands. She nodded a fourth time in the same defeated manner. But she did squeeze back.

~~~

The next day. After noon.

Hale was studying the womb he had removed from Samus. It was in pretty bad shape.

He began to dissect it. He looked at it through a Magnifier. He gasped as he noticed --

He did a few chemical tests on the womb and a blood sample from Samus. When he finished, he leaned back in his chair. "Jesus," he uttered.

~~~

Hale walked in as Samus and her dragon friend were watching something on TV.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," he announced.

They turned to him.

"It seems...it seems you were pregnant -- a week and several days -- when we performed the hysterectomy."

After a moment in which this revelation sunk in, Samus burst into silent tears. Her facial expression did not change; her body did not shake to and fro with sobs. The tears just cascaded down her cheeks and plunged onto her hospital gown. Then she did move, as she turned to Ridley, who instinctively opened his arms and held her as she silently wept for a long time.

~~~

Four days later, Samus was ready to check out. Ridley brought her some clothes from her house that she could change into for the trip home. He then escorted her outside. She turned to him in confusion. "Where's the car?" she asked.

A moment later, he swept her up in his arms and soared into the sky. Before, she used to love it when he took her flying. She would whoop and holler as Ridley performed countless aerial stunts. Now, she just clung tight to him and remained silent. Dejected, he took her straight home.

As Samus wandered through her house, she saw Ridley's belongings in her guest bedroom. "You're staying?" she asked, somewhat surprised.

"Well, yeah. I want to keep a close eye on you, and stuff. Plus, I...sorta got fired."

Samus finished reviewing her house and returned to the living room to watch TV with Ridley. He noticed that she hadn't even opened her own bedroom door, where she had told police the event had occured.

The days sort of fell into a routine after that. Ridley would wake up, Samus wrapped around him, and gently leave his bed to fix some breakfast and coffee. The latter's scent invariably awoke Samus, and they shared breakfast together while analyzing the day's comics page on the newspaper. Then Ridley would go off to work (he had gotten a job in the mall he and Samus had once shopped in for a pregnancy kit). Samus would walk to (or sometimes be flown by Ridley on his way to work) the library, and read until Ridley's shift ended and he escorted her back home. At home, they would talk about the day's events over a jigsaw puzzle they were working on. Then they would head off to Ridley's bed, since Samus refused to even discuss going back into her bedroom.

For nearly a month, things were...well, maybe not wonderful. Serene, maybe content. Were it not for Astrid Claudius, things may have stayed that way, perhaps indefinitely.

~~~

It was just after Ridley had left for his job at the mall, and just before Samus left for her indulgence in the library, when a knock sounded at the door.

Samus opened the door. "Hello, Mrs. Claudius," she greeted, devoid of emotion.

"Hello, whore," Samus' mother-in-law replied. She brushed past without an invitation.

"Still a bloodsucking bitch in name only, I see," Samus muttered.

"What was that, honey?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so."

Mrs. Claudius walked into the kitchen, where she removed the milk from the refridgerator, took a large swig directly from the jug, and put it back without even replacing the cap. Samus made a mental note to throw it out. "So, what brings you into town, Mrs. Claudius?" she asked.

"What always brings me into town, you whore? My son."

"First of all, Mrs. Claudius, Houston and I are divorced. Second of all, that fucking bastard raped me. Third of all, he's up and disappeared, and frankly I hope he's rotting somewhere."

"You lying bitch, Houston never hurt you, you just said that to get my boy in trouble. You hope he's rotting somewhere? You probably know, because you probably killed my baby boy!" Without hesitation, Samus threw a right hook, knocking Mrs. Claudius to the floor. The older woman reached up, felt her eye already growing puffy. "You bitch," she said, suddenly afraid. "I'll be calling the police...AND my lawyer!" She started to get up. Samus helped her, by seizing the collar of her coat and slamming her against the refridgerator.

"Listen to me, you fucking cunt. When I'm done talking, I want you to walk out that door, not a single goddamn word. I want you to get the fuck out of the city, and never return. And you will certainly not call the police, NOR your lawyer. If you do, I will tell them you came uninvited into my house, harrassed and provoked me, using my dead baby -"

"Your WHAT?" Mrs. Claudius interrupted. Samus slammed her against the refridgerator.

"- using my dead baby to incite me to strike you, and I will counter-sue you for every goddamn penny you have. With the money that I WOULD win, I will place a full-page ad on the front page of the top fifty newspapers in the galaxy and describe, in exquisite detail, everything your beloved son did to me at our last meeting. And at the bottom of this ad will be your picture and home address, and the statement 'I am Houston Claudius' mother, Astrid Claudius, and even though my son is a vile rapist, I don't think he's guilty because his wife is a whore.' So, in effect, you will divorce yourself entirely from my life, or I will divorce you entirely from yours. Your call, Astrid."

Samus finally set her down. The woman's fearful gaze held on Samus for a split second before she outright ran for the front door. When its slam reached her ears, she looked at her right hand. "That felt really damn good."

~~~

Now admittedly, this by itself would not seem to radically change the routine created over the month. But it was the start of a chain reaction, not unlike the one which occurs in a nuclear bomb moments before its detonation.

Three minutes after the charming Astrid Claudius vacated the premises, a detective for the city's police department knocked on Samus' door. Had Mrs. Claudius not make her presence felt in the first place, Samus would have been gone before the detective arrived. The detective didn't think the lead had any merit -- I mean, for chrissakes, how could a woman do THAT? -- but he still had to try and check it. Truth be told, if Samus hadn't been at home at that time, the detective wouldn't have pursued the lead any further.

But Samus was at home, and she answered the door on the first knock. She invited the detective in. He informed her that hikers had found a skeleton in the desert miles away, a skeleton whose dental records matched that of her ex-husband Houston Claudius. He told her that some partially-burnt wood in the cave bore charred flesh, which DNA testing indicated also belonged to the deceased Houston Claudius. Further in-depth testing on the wood found some sperm, the DNA of which was also identical to Houston Claudius.

In addition to the DNA evidence, the skeleton showed severe signs of trauma. Many bones were broken, but in particular severe signs of trauma were evident with the elbows (both were shattered), the pelvis (it appeared to have been shattered from the rear), and the left leg (forensics indicated that the leg was pierced with something at the knee, then torn off entirely).

Samus expressed she had no involvement with the apparent murder of her ex-husband. THe detective thanked her for her time, and left. Samus, numb, went upstairs to where she and Ridley were doing their puzzle. She sat, and began to work the puzzle out in her mind.

~~~

Ridley opened the front door and called out. "Samus? You weren't at the library. Are you here?" Half-worried, he began searching through the house. He entered the puzzle room, noting with curiosity that the puzzle was finished. He called out for Samus again. He began to get worried.

Finally, he came upon the door to her bedroom, open. Shocked, he entered.

Samus sat on the bed.

"Ridley, we need to talk."

~~~

He sat next to her on the bed, with a foot or two separating them.

"A police detective came by the house today. He painted a very interesting picture. Shall I tell it to you?" Ridley already knew what the story would be, he knew it in his gut. He also didn't know that Samus wouldn't bother waiting for an answer. She didn't dissapoint.

"Two persons are in a desert cave. One is a rapist, and one is VERY strong. One of them builds a campfire. Then the torture begins. The strong person viciously beats the rapist, breaking a lot of his bones. He shoves a flaming piece of wood into the rapist's cock, making damn sure the rapist never lives up to his title again. He bends the elbows of both arms in a direction they should have never been bent. He pierces the rapist -- excuse me, EX-rapist's -- left knee with...something, and then rips it off entirely. Then he is left to die in the hot desert sun, confident that the desert will erase all traces of the act."

She turns to her life-long reptilian friend. "That's not the right order of events, is it? It doesn't really matter, though."

Ridley was in hell. "I...I..."

"You don't have to say it, Ridley."

Now confusion dawned in Ridley's mind. "Er...say what?"

"Why you did it."

Now Ridley was very confused. "Why did I do it?"

Samus took Ridley's larger hand within her own. She turned to him, looked in his eyes.

"Because you love me."

There was no anger, malice, fear, disgust, sadness, or any negative emotion recognizable in her voice. Anxiety shot through his body like a pinball. "How...how...how could you possibly...how long have you known?" he finally asked.

"Ever since I shat myself in the hospital. You stopped cold when you saw the raw need I had for your companionship. I couldn't understand how blind I had been all the years we've known each other." She paused for a moment. "That day, in the park. When I told you of my engagement. You were going to tell me then, weren't you?"

Unable to hold back the tears now, Ridley merely nodded. Samus began silently crying along with him. "How different things would have been, if you had given me your news first."

The words took a minute to sink in. "You mean...?"

"I don't actually know. I haven't even thought of you in that way until sometime last month. And now, with Houston's fate, it's all the harder to think."

They laid back on the bed, held each other's hands, cried silently for a while. Once they both dried up, they sat up again, breaking off contact.

"Tell you what: meet me at our spot in the park in three days. I'll have an answer for you then."

Ridley nodded, and left.

~~~

It was a bright, beautiful day. The sun was high in the sky, birds were singing in the trees, and Ridley had even gotten himself an ice cream cone. Today seemed so right.

Screech. Thump.

Ridley felt a hunch that Samus would say yes. They could move to Earth...yes, Earth, and live on an island. They would have a little garden which could grow year-round, and make love -- oh, to make love to Samus...he couldn't even imagine.

"Call 911!"

Hm, apparently somebody had been hurt. Ridley hoped they were alright. Today was too nice a day to be cooped up in a hospital. Maybe he should go check...nah, Samus should be here...any minute now.

Footfalls approached. Ridley turned...and was dissappointed to find it was not Samus. The man was staring directly at him, though. "Are you Ridley?" he asked.

"Yes..." he replied. A dark thought suddenly whispered itself in his head. 'Shut the fuck up,' he told it. 'No fucking way.'

"You're Samus' friend, good. There was an accident...car...follow me." The man had actually said more stuff between the words he heard, but they were the words he heard because he didn't hear any of the others. Fearfully, he followed the man.

She lay broken, half on the sidewalk, half on the street. She was bent unnaturally at the waist. A great deal of blood had pooled out from her already. Her eyes, still afire with the spark of life, met his. She managed a smile. Ridley's heart shattered.

He knelt next to her. "Fuckin' figures, huh?" she sputtered, then began coughing. Droplets of blood sprayed out onto the pavement.

"Don't talk, Samus, the ambulance will be here soon," Ridley tried to assure her. She shook her head.

"Don't think so, Ridley. There's blood in my lungs, I can feel it. I almost drowned once; remember that time at camp, when the counselor tried to teach me how to swim? And later, you glued poison ivy in his underwear..." Her smile broadened at the memory. "Even then, so protective of me."

"Samus, you have to save your strength..."

"Ridley, it's alright. It doesn't even hurt. See?" She did nothing. "My lungs are punctured, for sure, but poking them doesn't even hurt." She didn't realize she was paralyzed. She continued talking. "I've made my decision, Ridley, and I want to tell it to you before I check out. Come here." He leaned closer. "No, closer," she whispered. He complied. Their faces were inches apart. With the last of her strength, she lifted her head up and kissed him. Her head went back down. "I love you."

And she was gone. Her expression was peaceful, happy.

She really was happy now, wherever she was, Ridley figured. And if Samus was happy, then Ridley was happy as well.

The crowd which had gathered perceived Ridley's tears as stemming from sorrow. A few of them were, yes. But most of them were tears of joy. Samus loved him, and he loved her, and they were happy for one solitary moment in time.

Samus dying was one of his biggest nightmares. He never thought it would turn out to be the happiest moment in his life.