Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Sector eighteen

in the storage area of star fox one, two figures sat cross legged on the cold floor.

the first was the one hundred twenty century old creature who still believes he's human. facing him was a kid about ten years old.

the kid had blue eyes and hair. On top

of her head two cat like ears moved restlessly while behind her back a tail stood up to attention in contrast to the calm expression she had on her face.

"Blue, no matter what happens... don't move" the man said, stuttering and almost biting his tongue.

"... un..." the blue haired girl nodded. Her body was tense and rearing to escape.

swallowing loudly the human slowly extended his hand toward the cat eared girl. his fingers shaking and sweat running down his forehead, he carefully reached for the girl's neck.

hey eyes shot wide open and her cheeks blazed red, but a moment later she began to relax, submitting herself to the man's hand

"purrrrrrrrrrrrrr" Blue released a purring sound as Seven scratched under her chin

'it... IT WORKS!!!!!' Seven was screaming inside, feeling like another achievement has just been unlocked.

'they surely act like cats, even though they shouldn't have any connection to relation to them'

"Hmmmm…."

Blue froze all of a sudden

"such a cute little kitty, right?" With her face close to Blue's, another cat eared girl spoke in an emotionless voice.

'C'mon, Iris, stop bullying her'

"I know you can see me, how long do you plan on pretending that you don't?"

Blue was terrified. That's understandable, any kid her age would be if they had a ghost floating around them. Seven wanted to tell her the whole story about Iris but… he was afraid her tongue would slip in front of Lilia.

'Hey, I've been thinking for a while' seven spoke telepathically 'why are we keeping you a secret from Lilia? Wouldn't she like to hear her best friend is still around?'

'um, she can't see me, remember?' when the little cat-girl is around the two made a habit to communicate silently 'how would she feel if you suddenly said hey, remember the friend you had and who's now dead? Well, she's been here with us all along!!'

'yeah, something tells me we had this conversation before'

Iris used to talk out load but then they learned there are people who could see and hear her so they started to act carefully.

Instead of floating around when they are in public she tries to walk on her feet -still floating but looks like she's walking- she had to make sure she doesn't pass through people or objects too. That way if anyone who has the potential to be Verta's successor passed by them they would only see a normal female Herara.

'Come to think of it… if Hir and Blue are potential successors, wouldn't that mean you can move in in either of their bodies?'

'Hmm…. I wonder…'Iris moved away from Blue 'it all depends on the energy, the big guy is slowly running out of it, and we don't know if this one has any'

'why not give it try?'

'And what would you do if I get stuck there? Oh, that's probably what you are aiming for huh?'

'Sadly, I can't afford that'

Iris was his personal Zesionien language translator, if she's gone no work would be done. As much as he wanted privacy, for obvious reasons, the risk was just too high.

"Now, let's get to the main topic" Iris said, making sure Blue hear it all.

'sure sure…'

Coughing in hiss fist Seven looked Blue in the eyes

"Blue, I heard from Lilia that you can see ghosts, is that right?"

The question appear to have taken her by surprise. Her ears and tale dropped, and her eyes went down to the floor. She didn't answer, probably because she was afraid.

She wouldn't admit she could see Iris right now, that would make the effort she put in hiding it meaningless.

Seven put a hand in front of his face and whispered

"Hey Blue, do you want to hear a secret?"

When she saw him smiling the little girl's eyes sparkled and she slowly nodded.

"You can't tell anyone, do you understand?"

"…un" she nodded again.

"The truth is…" seven took a deep breath, keeping his voice as low as possible "I can see her too"

It might have been a little vague for her, but in a few seconds her eyes widened again

"Hir can see her too, you know Hir right?"

"…un…" she nodded again.

"You see, Blue, this girl isn't a real ghost"

"…um… gurl?"

"Female" Sevens clarified "this female you always see floating around is actually the real Verta"

"… un… Seven?"

"what is it, Blue?" he tried to keep his smile under control. A few month ago she was too scared to even stay in the same room as him, but now the two were having a conversation, and she called him by his name. Seven was about to jump in his place.

"Um… isn't Verta a huge monster… and with a lot of fluff like the males?"

"Well…" she probably meant their fur, seven told himself. The word fluff was ruined, thanks to some guy using it to censor every naughty word he couldn't say on his videos.

But seriously, how would he explain that? The beast he fought was a giant tiger covered in white and blue fur, which by Herara standards means it's a male. No one would expect a cute Zesionien female to be inside.

"I went to all the trouble to look like this, but people are still scared of me" Iris explains it in her own way, pouting behind Seven.

"She isn't a bad person so try to get along with her, okay"

"… no…"

When Blue rejected his request with that one word Seven almost fell on his back.

"Um… Blue…"

"Seven is a liar"

Iris turned around just in time to see a speech bubble with that sentence stabbing Seven in the heart.

"Lilia showed me her old photos" Blue seemed a bit angry, her brows furrowed "I know about Iris, Lilia told me she died"

"Is… is that so…" Seven felt like crying.

"un… I don't know why she's a Herara now, but she is Lilia's friend, she is a ghost!"

"Oho~ so you can see me after all" in the blink of an eye Iris sunk into the floor and reappeared behind Blue.

Terrified, the little cat-girl unintentionally jumped into Seven's arms restoring all the HP he lost from her previous attack.

Seven looked around then up at the two exits that lead to this place. When he was sure no FBI agents are about to break into his house he hugged Blue's shivering little body and slowly c.a.r.e.s.sed her head.

"C'mon now, stop bullying her" he said with a beaming smile.

"tch...." cl.i.c.k.i.n.g her tongue the ghost disappeared into her corner in her host's mind.

'Man…. This isn't going the way I expected'

Seven never expected Blue to hit him that hard. The story he told her was the truth, at least half of it. He thought a kid her age would believe him easily but Blue listened then presented an argument that shattered his.

'The kid got potential' he smiled as he continued to slowly brush her hair. A few minutes later the shivering stopped and before he noticed the little cat-girl was fast asleep.

Seven was about to take Blue to her room when he felt a slight tremor through the ship.

'oh, it seems we've arrived'

….

"captain!" When Seven entered the bridge Logan greeted him cheerfully "good timing! We've just-"

"shush" Seven interrupted him, putting a finger in front if his lips.

Lilia was there and immediately noticed blue curled up like a newborn as he held her in one arm. That put a smile on her face.

It was only recently that Blue began to open up to Seven, and as a result he looks a lot more cheerful.

Seven walked over to Lilia and handed her the sleeping kitten after which she took her to her room and quickly came back, Aley followed shortly after her.

"… well, what can I say…."as the ship advanced the light coming in through the windshield slowly brightened the room.

The source it came from wasn't the giant sun in the distance but rather the glowing sphere orbiting the planet they were heading to.

"This is Imar nine" Logan explained "the ninth planet in the Imar solar system"

"so they are named after their rank…" Seven always wondered what was the meaning of the number in its name.

"Imar is the name of the sun" Aley spoke "there are twelve planets in this system, named after their order starting from the closest to the sun"

"so this one is the ninth huh… isn't that a bit far?"

'earth was the third in our solar system, does that mean Imar is hotter than our sun?' for no particular reason Seven was reminded again that Gorgola was about the same size as the sun.

"The first five planets are constantly burning, even though they are made of ninety percent water" Aley went on with his explanation "the other three aren't suitable for life a.s.s well. As you can see, the ninety one has that large moon, the rocks that make most of it absorb heat and direct it toward its core. When it gets the furthest from the sun while rotating around its planet the heat is discharging"

"Impressive" Seven nodded.

"as I remember the mined rocks from that satellite and used them in the construction of powerplants. Not only is the temperature of the planet reduced that way, the heat they absorb is used to provide the essential energy all around the planet!" Logan added.

"Hmmm…."

Imar nine was more of a blue planet than earth itself. Most of its surface was covered in water. It had three major continents, two in the north covered in ice, and one near its equator line.

"So, are we going to Iceland or Greenland?" Seven said jokingly, knowing only the ghost in his head would understand him.

"Only the Jalid could survive the northern continents" Logan answered with a laugh "Astragali is in the central continent"

It didn't take them long to reach the destination however when they landed the sun was facing the other side of the planet.