My superpower is just for you

21

Zoe awoke in her dorm at the academy, a stark contrast to the battlefield she last remembered. Grace sat by her side, eyes red and swollen from crying.

Frantically, Zoe checked her communicator, finding that two days had passed since the memorial for Eli. "What happened? What's going on?" she demanded, her voice shaky and raw with emotion.

"Zoe, don't be scared. The Star War is over," Grace managed to say before a tear rolled down her cheek.

"We won, right? Everyone's back, right?" Zoe's heart raced with anxiety.

"Everyone made it back except Eli," Grace hesitated, "And... Blake is missing."

Zoe felt a numbness spread through her; tears wouldn't come. "How can that be? Did they search properly? R970 is vast!"

"R970 is gone," Grace whispered.

Gone? How could an entire planet just vanish as if it never existed? The place where they had worked and lived together for months, where they had watched countless sunsets, couldn't simply disappear.

Zoe sought out Felicia, who refused to see her. She finally cornered Sean Quinn, who reluctantly shared the events post-battle. "When we sobered up, the deputy leader ordered us to board the warship for battle, but instead, it turned back. We stormed the main cabin looking for Blake, only to find he wasn't on board. A small black hole appeared near R970 that day, swallowing both R970 and the Tarkshan planet."

Sean Quinn handed Zoe a letter from Blake, marked "For Zoe's Eyes Only."

Holding the letter, Zoe walked back, feeling the weight of every step. The academy's corridors, once filled with the promise of new beginnings, now echoed with whispers and pitying glances, reminiscent of her first day but under a vastly different context.

With a heavy heart, Zoe faced the daunting reality of a future without Blake, struggling to grasp the sudden emptiness his absence had created in her life.