Silvery rays of moonlight gently shone down on the rocky underwater terrain. All was peaceful and quiet as the night the aliens first began to invade earth, but unlike that very night, as Noel glided over the area to inspect it one last time for tonight, she knew for now all was going to be well.
Once the rift had finished imploding and set free all the captured humans, Noel and Caleb did the best they could with their abilities on Steven and Lori so that they would also share the very same abilities as them. Next, they explained how to use of said abilities to the two, very much like the turtle had done to them at the beginning of their journey. And after that came the tedious yet necessary job of giving protection to every single person around them.
Of course, initially Steven and Lori were skeptical over whether they could be of proper help when they had just now received these abilities and thus, in their words, would most likely be more than amateurish with them. But Noel and Caleb assured that they too were no better than them when they started getting the hang of it at first, and the only way to improve was through trial and error.
“So yeah, don’t be let down or anything because you can’t pull it off the first several times.” Noel told them, “Just keep trying, no worries.” And with that, all four of them went straight to work.
Every now and then while giving protection to every dazed-out person and snapping them out of the alien trance (whom they told to take shelter in the many cave-like areas underneath the jagged rocks and that they’d explain everything later), Noel and Caleb took several brief pauses to glance at how Steven and Lori were doing on their own. Not that they were let down to see them try and fail over and over again since they were still getting used to their newfound abilities, but they did wish they could get the hang of it soon enough.
“Feels strange.” Caleb muttered, “To think like over a week or so ago we were just like those two under the guidance of the turtle, and now we’re in the position of giving these abilities to others and instructing them on it, as well as sheltering them from the dangers still out there…”
Noel looked at Caleb wide-eyed. He was indeed right, their past selves never would’ve so much as imagined they’d ever find themselves doing a thing like this. Yet here they were, actually doing it.
“Though it’s crucial that we indeed do it, because no one else can…” She replied.
Caleb took a moment to think, and spoke again, “Maybe it doesn’t have to be that way now that we’re not alone anymore… by that I mean – don’t think badly of me for saying this – if we can eventually learn to make a stand on our own against the aliens, maybe everyone else can too.”
Noel also paused for a moment after hearing Caleb’s timidly worded speculation of their situation. Now that he mentioned it, she could understand why he would say something of the sort. As much as they had saved this many people from becoming alien livestock, they had also gained as many more companions who could potentially aid them in destroying the rifts.
“I see where you’re coming from, I don’t blame you. It IS a hard mission that we knew would be overwhelming for just two people from the beginning. Anyone would want any sort of assistance possible to make it easier.” Noel assured Caleb with a pat on the back. “But to be sure of that, we definitely have to explain everything to everyone here, not to mention ask if any of them want to take up the job. The last thing we wanna do is to put any unwilling people in danger.”
Looking somewhat relieved to hear Noel’s understanding reply, Caleb gave a slight grin and said, “Right… though none of that’s gonna be possible if we don’t finish what we’re doing right now.”
With that, they wasted no more time going back to providing protection to everyone and having them take shelter under the terrain. They found it to be slightly harder than when they did it to animals, but that couldn’t make the two extremely determined young adults give up for anything. On top of that, the sight of Steven and Lori gradually getting better at using their abilities – albeit over the course of several hours – was nice to see, and they sincerely congratulated them on it.
It took them several more hours to leave nobody unprotected, by which it was nightfall and all four of them were completely worn out. However, since the full job here was yet to be done, they grit their teeth and went on with it; after well-deserved rest and a meal of lured-in fish (Steven and Lori needed much convincing from Noel and Caleb to eat it despite still having memories of the aliens forcing them to eat raw shark or whale meat while captured), they mentally made an announcement to everyone to explain everything they needed to know about the alien invasion.
“That felt like speaking to an audience through a microphone inside my head.” Said Noel. She and Caleb slightly rubbed their temples from the mild strain it put on them to speak into the minds of this many people at once. “Wasn’t sure if we could manage it, but it’s a relief we could.”
Caleb snorted a little and agreed with a tiny hint of sarcasm, “At least we get to experience for ourselves what it feels like to be professor Charles Xavier, that’s bloody intriguing to me. Especially now that we have to hear what everyone has to say about what we have to ask them next.”
Sure enough, under a certain amount of concentration Noel could hear everyone’s thoughts on what they were just told. However, she was surprised to see it wasn’t at all a bunch of incoherent noises like listening to a group of people talking over each other. Rather, she could still understand every individual thought, despite there being so many of them at the same time. Even better, unlike the particular X-Men character Caleb had referenced, it didn’t hurt to listen to them all either.
Also listening, Caleb mumbled, “That’s about the reaction I was expecting – plenty of confusion and disorientation.” After a long pause in which he and Noel waited for all the kerfuffle to settle down, he spoke again once it seemed calm enough again, “Should we ask them the question now?”
“I think so, I can even hear some asking the obvious of what we can do about this.” Said Noel. Instinctively clearing her throat, only to be mildly snickered at by Caleb due to there being no need to do that, she proceeded to tell the people in great detail what they could do to send the aliens back to their home planet so their world could be at peace again. When she was done, Caleb brought up the rest by explaining what would become of them if they did nothing and tried to just hide; how the aliens would eventually hunt them all down again even with their immunity to mind control (especially since they were big in numbers now) and more.
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“We can’t survive this if we don’t stick together, we learned that ourselves from personal experience.” Noel added. “Therefore it’s essential that we all become one in the face of danger and do what we can to save ourselves, as well as many other people who could still be out there. Whatever action you choose to take, we’ll more than respect it, so we ask you to take your time to think carefully about it before acting out. But always remember – if none of us act then we’re all doomed anyway, it’s either that or grasping the one chance we have at putting these aliens in their place.”
When Noel’s sentence had finished, Caleb almost immediately followed it up with, “On top of that, from all the times we’ve fought the aliens there’s something we learned about them, or at least a darn good assumption. These creatures have evolved for many ages to only use their shapeshifting and mind-controlling powers to hunt their prey and nothing else. Due to that, despite the massive physical strength they still possess, it’s possible that their abilities to fight prey for themselves or even thwart them have significantly decreased over time, since they never had to use them till now.”
Noel took a moment to think about that, looking back on their encounters with the aliens such as the lizard-like creatures, the crabs, the sea snake, and the electric eel. All of them had been pretty dangerous, yet when she actually thought about it, for a species as intelligent as them, and with such advanced abilities, their physical combat skills had been rather simple in comparison. Dare she say, not too far off from what animals on earth did when they either attacked their prey or defended themselves from enemies. And wasn’t it she herself who figured out that even with all their menacing physique, the aliens could be outsmarted by means of thoroughly thought-out tactics and plans?
“Just something I thought would reassure y’all a bit.” Caleb finished. He then turned to look at Noel, who was wearing a wide-eyed, surprised face at his speculation. He shrugged a little and told her in response, “It was a little thought I had after the ballsy move you pulled on the eel. For a so-called intelligent life form, that thing really went after you like how any other animal would with their target. Same with the sea snake – aside from its incredible camouflage, its attack behavior felt like something I’ve seen dozens of times on National Geographic.”
“Guess that would also explain how the turtle always came up with the best ideas for our survival.” Noel replied thoughtfully, “Being one of the smaller and weaker ones of its kind, it probably always had to look out for itself to survive, thus learning to acquire all the necessary tactics and knowledge for it.” To which Caleb added, “Like what all of us here will need to do too.” Before letting Noel continue, “All while the bigger and stronger ones fell victim to their greatest strength also becoming their greatest weakness, for the reasons you just explained.”
Caleb nodded. “Survival of the fittest, my ass.”
Noel and Caleb then heard a sea of murmurs fill their heads as the people began to discuss this matter either to themselves or with others. Leaving it at that, the two began to search for a place for them to also settle down for the night. While doing so, they more voices again from the people sounding like they were determined to go out there and lend a hand in destroying the rifts.
“Wow.” Caleb couldn’t help but exclaim at this, for the amount of those willing to take the risk was greater than expected. They did recall running across a lot of people in attires that seemed like either police or military uniforms, and presumably some firefighters, so they assumed these voices belonged to those particular people. A few other voices sounded like they belonged to those who used to be regular civilians like them, who were convinced enough already to get in on the action.
Still, Noel and Caleb figured it was best to let them think as much as they needed to before making any choices. Besides, just simply deciding to act was only part of the task; everyone still needed to get the right equipment and properly flesh out their merfolk abilities before doing anything.
With such thoughts going through their heads, Noel and Caleb finally found a decent area under the rocks for them to settle in, and entered it straightaway. They could immediately tell they couldn’t have found a better place to spend the night in when they made themselves comfortable on the seabed and looked above their heads. What greeted them was quite a sight – a single patch of sky visible beyond the rocky gap through which they entered was letting in a ray of moonlight beautifully illuminating the place, like a natural spotlight.
“Sweet spot we picked, am I right?” Said Caleb, admiring the view. Noel, however, was reminded of something else as they came in here and wondered, “Since there’s so many of us now, would it be better for us if we settled in one specific area rather than move around in a pack and risk exposure?”
Caleb wondered about that too before eventually answering, “You’re right - when we gotta stick together both figuratively and literally, moving in packs will only make it easier for the aliens to find and capture us all at once. Maybe we could use this as an outpost of some sorts, since there’s so many good hiding places under the rocks that most aliens won’t be able to enter. Imagine that, everyone will be able to practice their abilities, live out safe lives and shit until the invasion’s over.”
Liking the sound of that, Noel grinned a little. “That’s one out of the countless questions I have regarding our future answered.” She said, to which Caleb replied, “That makes all of us.”
It was true that their vastly altered circumstances still didn’t provide any surefire answers to what lay ahead of them. That said, looking around herself now, this time Noel had more hope for the unknown future than ever. Not only were she and Caleb no longer alone in a scary and dangerous world, but they had also seen for themselves how capable they were at fighting the aliens, even without the help of more skilled beings or any miracles. Most folks, if not all, would probably call her crazy for this, but she actually looked forward to what awaited them – most preferably looking forward to providing a happy ending to not just their story, but also everyone else’s.
And of course, Caleb heard every bit of this through Noel’s mind and said in response, “All of that sure sounds hopeful… but you know what gives me the most hope out of all?”
“Hm?” Noel asked.
“The thought of going through whatever’s next…” Caleb started, then paused as his face heated up at the thought of completing this sentence. But he took a deep breath and said it anyway, “…with you by my side.”
Noel felt like her heart missed a beat upon hearing that. She too blushed madly, prompting her to turn her head a little so Caleb wouldn’t be able to see it. Unknowingly she reminded herself of how they got together when this whole invasion started, and also how they’ve been there for each other throughout everything that happened since then. After all that, she couldn’t even imagine herself going through what was yet to come without Caleb by her side.
Once her blush went down enough for her to feel like facing Caleb again, Noel glanced at him with the happiest smile she’d worn on her face in weeks and said, “Guess that says a lot about ourselves…”
Caleb’s only response to that was an equally nice smile and a gentle holding of her hand. That was more than enough for Noel though, for at that moment their hearts spoke louder than their words. So long as they could keep being here for one another, they could continue to look at tomorrow and its unanswered questions with hope.
Would they be able to successfully banish all the aliens from earth? What would become of the survivors of the ordeal, as well as society, when this was over? Will life be able to carry on? Whatever the answers to those questions may be, they were no longer afraid to find out for themselves…
…as humanity’s last stand.