Page 75 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

“Good.” Chozo’s lips inched up, but his eyes still carried that sorrow.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

He hesitated. “Just… remain safe and happy, Simone. You must always be okay. Can you do that for me?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Chozo glanced into the distance. Though he looked like a child with his flailing arms and small torso, his voice cracked like it bore the weight of a lifetime of pain. “You were my first friend.”

Simone bit down on her bottom lip. She hadn’t been a good one. The moment she met the other humans, she’d been so excited that she’d basically forgotten about Chozo.

She should have checked on Chozo after she and Zar were finished with each other. Instead of being carried to bed and laid out like a damn princess, she should have gotten on her feet and found the kid. Made sure he was okay. Maybe then he wouldn’t be sitting here looking like a forgotten puppy.

“I’m sorry, Chozo,” Simone said.

“No. Do not be sorry.” Chozo paused. “Do you know what I was doing three sun rotations ago?”

“What?”

“I was staring at the ceiling thinking about what I would do when I became free. The creatures I would meet. The food I would eat. The friends I would make.” He laughed softly. “I always had these dreams when they were cutting me open and taking blood from me.”

The grotesque image of Chozo bursting open on a table in some grimy lab made Simone want to thump her chest.

“Do not be upset for me.” Chozo held her hand. “Because all my dreams came true.”

“Chozo…”

“I got to ride a Plutonian zapten. I ate something other than bland food created to keep my blood clean for the tests.”

“From now on, I’m going to stuff you with tasty treats. I heard Emma’s great with desserts and I’m a boss at making a feast with very little ingredients.” Her stepfather expected a five-star cuisine when he came home, even if he’d barely given her enough money to buy groceries. At least something about that time in her life would come in handy. “I’m warning you, Chozo. I’m going to get you fat.”

“Will you?” Chozo asked hopefully.

She nodded.

“Thank you, Simone.”

“What are you thanking me for?” She wiped the tears that spilled down her cheek and scoffed at her own weakness. Two cry sessions in one day? How weak had she become here on this planet?

“Can I… hug you?”

“Of course.” Simone threw her arms wide.

Chozo hesitantly inched up to her. She dragged him closer and wrapped him in a warm embrace.

His body felt so strange against hers. Zar was the first alien she’d wrapped her arms around, but he was more humanoid and so it always felt like she was touching a human with rough skin and a tail.

With Chozo, there was no reference for her to draw on. With his mask, his boneless torso and his thin, reed-like arms, he was completely new. And that made him completely special.

“You should go back to sleep,” Chozo said.

Simone scooted to the side and gestured to the space on the mat beside her. “You want to bunk with me?”

“Zar won’t like that.”

“Zar doesn’t control me.”

“Just for a little then,” Chozo said, falling next to her.