Page 35 of Interstellar Love Song (Villains in Space #3)

MICAH

This is all my fault.

The Planet Eater—no, Musaa— had been clear from the start. They did not approve of stellar collision bonds, mainly because they didn’t want Stellarians poking around in their collective well.

Because an unbonded Stellarian chooses violence.

Yes, Ondor, Valla, and the other bonded True Stellarians had existed for thousands of years with the ability to access this communal resource, but the Musaa had silenced them through fear tactics.

Meanwhile, the memory archives were safely forgotten on the moon, and the old Astrum Force Command had successfully hidden the existence of stellar collisions from their own kind in the name of destruction over creation.

The Musaa’s favorite thing.

Then I came along, abducting my own damn self into space by creating a tether to Ziggy’s Celestial Cube—doggedly pursuing my man until he had no choice but to accept his life sentence to our stellar collision bond.

The ticking time bomb of our dangerous connection…

It was because of me that Ziggy took down Astrum Force so his fellow Stellarians could be free, but now this freedom meant they had an enormous target on their backs. They were the top dogs of the galaxies before I came along, but now something scarier had taken notice.

And there’s nowhere to hide when your opponent is operating in multiple dimensions.

All of the above would have been bad enough, but then I went and made things worse by running my foolish mouth—antagonizing the big dog like a yappy little ankle biter.

This is all my fucking fault.

“Stop it,” Dre gritted out, gripping my chin the same way he did to Gabe—the same way Ziggy did to me—but it did the trick. “This is not your fault.”

“Not at all,” Gabe vehemently agreed, although I could feel the fear coming off them as well. “We’re the ones who snuck into the collective well to snoop?—”

“Because I asked you to!” I wailed. “I thought I was so fucking smart, staging a distraction with the Hydrassians, but the Musaa is omnipresent, dudes! There’s no fooling a god?—”

“The Musaa is no more a god than you or I,” Leeloo scoffed, messaging someone with their Celestial Cube— Photon Hex —before meeting my gaze. “You have outsmarted this creature before and you can do it again?— ”

“No,” Ziggy spoke up, his voice firm even as it shook. “I do not want Micah facing off with that monster.”

It’s my mess, though…

“We will face it together,” Leeloo decisively replied, tucking their cube into the folds of their robe.

“Honnor has already sent Star Units to surround the battlefield in Via Lactae, and says the supes on Earth are mobilizing. The Xuni have answered the Hydrassians’ call through the collective well and I will now leave to gather my Eki.

I may have another species to call upon for aid, but I do not wish to promise anything until I speak with them. ”

Okay.

We’ve got this.

My family’s got…

“WHAT ABOUT MY FAMILY?!” I shouted, wrestling my way out of the twins’ hold, nearly choking on terror. “What about Zion and… our families?!”

I’ve doomed everyone!

“Breathe, My-kuh.” Leeloo’s calm voice cut through my panic. “And replicate the breathing apparatus you created for yourself. Send the twins home with enough for your loved ones and also give one to me. I will have the Eki get started on mass production in case Earthlings need to be evacuated.”

My mentor’s clear directives helped ground me, even if they didn’t solve the larger issue. I nodded and blew out a slow breath before quickly getting to work, crafting several copies of my throat stent-style apparatus and dividing them up .

The twins gave me a long group hug before star hopping home, promising to mentally check in as soon as they got a feel for the situation.

Leeloo wasn’t the hugging type, but I got a shoulder squeeze and another reminder that I wasn’t facing this alone before they disappeared to rally the Eki troops.

That left me and Ziggy. The instant I looked at my man, I could tell he was in worse shape than I was.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, Zig…” I reached for him, grunting when his entire weight fell into my arms. “I was so deep in my own head I didn’t even check in?—”

“No, I’m sorry,” he mumbled against my skin. “You are there for me every time I spiral, yet I can’t seem to control myself enough to do the same for you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, sunshine..”

Oh, Space Daddy.

I slid my hand down to palm his baby bump, feeling our rebellious little creation push back.

There you are.

“It’s because you have a living creature inside you, making your hormones go haywire.” I grinned at him when he pulled back and rolled his eyes. “If it makes you feel better, it’s very human of you to experience this emotional rollercoaster—from what I’ve heard, at least.”

Since my sister Rose never shuts up about it every time she gets pregnant.

“I hope you know I am incredibly happy to be having a child with you,” Ziggy insisted, as if I hadn’t picked up on the pure joy radiating through our bond for days. “I just don’t enjoy feeling like I won’t be able to defend you if…”

He trailed off and shuddered before resting his forehead against mine, surrendering to his big feelings. We stood like that for a few minutes, synchronizing our breath and our heartbeats—bringing each other back to baseline as only we could.

Until our ignorant bliss was interrupted by an incoming mental message from Gabe.

“Contact has been made with the Musaa. They want to talk to Micah.”

Of course they do.

It was both incredibly thoughtful and thoughtless that Gabe had included Ziggy in the telepathic group chat, but it did save me from having to break the news.

Deep breaths.

“No.” Ziggy repeated, his voice breaking. “I refuse. I… I won’t survive watching you get swallowed up again. Please…”

Fuck.

“What if I promise to come back if I do?” I asked, separating so I could smile up at him.

He sniffled before burying it beneath a huff. “I don’t see how you can possibly promise that, given the circumstances.”

Because you’re stuck with me forever.

“Okay,” I laughed, even as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. “What if I told you I left a piece of me inside you? Similar to what you did before Astrum Force Command tried to return you to the stars.”

When you came back to me.

Ziggy squinted, suspicious ‘til the end. “Is that true? I don’t believe the piece you used to create the stellula works as a tether…”

“Who says I didn’t leave a little extra Eki in ya?” I shot back, needing him to believe this—even if I wasn’t completely sure it was true.

Due to my heritage, I wasn’t able to truly leave my skinsuit—or split my essence between vessels—the way Stellarians could, but I felt our connection anyway, like a physical thing.

I was convinced it was our blossoming stellar collision bond that led me back through the ether when Bron tried to kidnap me—the same connection that drew me into Ziggy’s orbit the day we met.

I need to believe this too.

What I also believed was that the Musaa wasn’t a true black hole.

While I’d seen Tarkare’s moon get spaghettified as it neared the point of no return, it had snapped back like a rubber band once the Musaa changed its mind.

This wasn’t a collapsed star with a mindless gravitational pull accidentally devouring anything that passed its event horizon.

This was a sentient being who clearly had a plan and the power to decide who went in and who came out.

And who they’re thinking about swapping out…

All at once, I realized what I needed to do to fix this galactic mess—even if what I was thinking half-terrified me. The only issue was that my man was not going to like my admittedly loose plan.

“I need to get to the mirror universe,” I murmured before bracing for impact.

“WHAT?!” Ziggy barked, stumbling away and clutching his chest as if I’d stabbed him. “You… you can’t seriously be considering allowing the Musaa to capture you.”

“This needs to be an inside job, Zig,” I pleaded as he rigorously shook his head. “And I really think I can do more damage once I’ve taken a look under the hood.”

“But that’s exactly what they want!” Ziggy exclaimed, visibly—and energetically—starting to freak out once again.

My sweet, anxious danger baby.

I smiled as reassuringly as I could through my frayed nerves.

“I actually don’t think they do. Since this universe discovered stellar collisions, whatever the Musaa has created on the other side more closely matches their vision of utopia.

The last thing that god-complex motherfucker would want is to throw a loudmouth shit-stirrer like me into the mix. ”

Ziggy looked confused, and rightfully so. “Then… how do you plan to get inside?”

I chuckled humorlessly. “I’ll take the childhood skills I honed placating volatile, violent narcissists with humble apologies and shaky promises, then make it up as I go from there.”

My stellar collision stared at me for a long moment before nodding once, clearly resigned to both our fates.

“Very well. As much as I can’t bear to let you go, I understand why you need to do this.

You were born to be a hero, sunshine, and thanks to you, I now know that sometimes means sacrificing yourself for the greater good. ”

You still don’t see what I do…

Stepping closer, I placed my palms on his armored chest, relishing the familiar vibration of his resonance, broken as it now seemed.

“I may have been born a so-called hero, but you are the reason I actually am one,” I replied, sliding my hands up to cup his face.

“I have never met anyone as heroic as you, Ziggy Andromeda, even if you stubbornly refuse to agree with that. I would recognize you anywhere and I will come back to you.”

Whatever superpowered wall my man had erected to hold back his emotions crumbled as tears began streaming down his face.

“Please,” he gasped, gripping my face between his hands as well. “Please, just… don’t die.”

“Bad bitches don’t die, Zig.” I brushed my lips over his before deepening our kiss, licking away his tears. “And besides you, I’m the baddest bitch around.”

I even have a certificate to prove it.

Ziggy pulled back again, his gaze searching my face as if memorizing the details. “I love you, Micah.”

“I know,” I replied, just to make him crack a sad smile. “I love you, too.”

“Where should I go while you handle… this?” he haltingly asked. “I-I don’t think I can stay here… ”

“I would never expect my partner to sit this one out!” I grinned, depositing one more kiss on his freckled cheek.

“You’re going to star hop to the archives and borrow the Musaa’s bottle before hopping it to the twins.

That way, you can access the collective well together—you know, to keep an eye on me while I’m in there… ”

If you can.

The truth was, I wasn’t sure if being inside the collective well would make me more or less receptive to outside communications. I also didn’t know how long I’d even be in the well before being spit out on the other side.

Never tell me the odds.

In the end, I had no way of proving my hypothesis until I tested it, but my words had done the trick. Just the idea of being able to reach me visibly melted away some of Ziggy’s tension, which relieved some of my tension as well.

This isn’t goodbye.

“Directives received, Commander.” My stellar collision pulled on his helmet before straightening. “I won’t let you down.”

I wished I could say the same, but he was gone before my shaky promise could be spoken.

It’s probably for the best.

I checked that my Photon Lance was still in its holster—for maximum juice boost—sent off a quick message from the Lodger’s communicator, then star hopped to the skinsuit closet to grab my Eki robe.

If Imma go down in a blaze of glory, it might as well be as an official space wizard.

Then, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and followed the invisible strings that connected all things in the universe toward the big, bad disturbance in the force.

Never, ever tell me the odds.