The sight of Elias kneeling in front of me, using the scraps of his shirt to wrap my ankle is something my brain is incapable of processing. He'd made it clear from day one that he didn't want to hurt me, but somehow it isn't until now that I fully believe him. This Elias, the one who gave me his jacket, made me food, and protected me, isn't the one my father had warned me of. The differences don't line up.I close my eyes, waiting for him to snap, and reach for my neck. He doesn't though, and the worst part is I know he won't. I don't know how to deal with Elias' kindness. Heavy silence fills the cave as Elias tries to rub warmth back into my hands and arms. Elias hands me a metal water bottle, filled to the brim with hot water, pestering me until I drink the entire thing. My teeth stop chattering after an hour, and the snowstorm outside has only gotten worse."We should go deeper into the cave," Elias says after a couple snowflakes drift near us. He leans closer into me, pressing his hands into my forehead and neck. "How are you feeling, Mira?""Better," I answer after some hesitation. Elias is appeased by my answer, and in the next moment I'm hauled up into the air and against his chest. Part of me wants to demand he put me down, but the other, more traitorous aspect of myself wants to bury my head in his shoulder. My ankle isn't broken. I'm more than capable of walking by myself, but I don't say anything.I take a peek over his shoulder into the bag he brought, and my jaw drops. Chunks of metal, broken off ship parts, and chips are layered neatly within the bag, along with MRE packets, more metal water bottles, purifiers, and even a book.With my added weight, Elias had carried no less than 250 pounds through the snow for god knows how long. Not a single drop of sweat dots his brow, and I wonder if he had been modified with strength, or if this was something he had worked for at the gym."Why did you bring so much junk?" Along the cave walls, vines and greenery fall from the ceiling and drape every surface. Large yellow fruits hang from the vines, glowing, and growing in number as we continue deeper."Junk?" Elias just laughs. "Take a closer look at what I brought, Mira."There are stacks of wires, scraps of metal, lithium ion batteries, an antenna and router- "Router? You're going to make a wifi source?""We're making a wifi tower. I don't have half the brains you do," he says in jest. "I trust you remember how to make one?"I just scowl at him, because making a wifi source out of scrap from a wrecked ship is something we both know is a stretch. But it isn't like we're drowning in options, and I have to admit it might be our only shot at calling for help.We reach the end of the cave, and I pause, taking my surroundings, slack-jawed. Greenery drapes the walls, and soft moss lines the ground beneath us and in the far corner, sits a pool of water. Dim, yellow light fills the room, coming from the berries."How did you know this was here?" Elias sets me down on a patch of moss, then moves over to start unpacking our things."The rhodium you and your friends tried to take was an investment towards the terraforming of this planet, Kepler-2810d. I wouldn't be a very good investor if I blindly invested without research." He reaches up, then grabs one of the glowing berries from a hanging vine."Those are edible?" Glowing things in nature, never spelled out safe. Elias looks amused that I asked, and shakes his head sadly."Unfortunately not edible." Then he walks back over to me. "Take off your clothes.""W-what?" Immediately, I grab my layers and hold them tighter to my chest. Had I misunderstood why he brought me to this cave? Was I going to have to fight him after all?"I'm going to wash your hair," Elias says without blinking. "These berries are the human equivalence to shampoo. The salt in the spring will also help with the bruises from the crash."Oh.I glare at him, and he smiles, fully aware he's fucking with me. I touch my hair, and wince at how brittle my strands feel. A bath in the warm spring sounds like absolute heaven."I can wash my own hair," I tell him, using the wall as I pull myself to my feet."I know," Elias extends out a hand, and I take it begrudgingly as he leads me to the spring. The rocks surrounding the water are slippery, and the pool looks to be the size of a modern day hot tub, 7 feet in width and length. Before I can say anything, Elias has already turned his back to me, walking a few feet away to pull more glow berries from the vines.Wearily, I let his blanket and coat drop my body, and I slide into the water. The water is lukewarm, nowhere as hot as the springs we have back on earth, but it feels like heaven against my skin. The water is deep enough to come up to my collarbone, standing, but I find a rock along the wall to sit on, easing the pressure of my ankle.The water is a pale blue, just murky enough to not be opaque. The salt burns my ankle, but feels amazing everywhere else. I breathe out a long sigh, closing my eyes and resting my head against the stone.The rustle of clothes above makes my eyes pop open, and I turn to see Elias picking up my discarded blanket and jacket, folding them up and placing it on dry rock. He has several glow berries in his arms, and he piles them down beside my head. I turn to take one of the berries, but Elias pushes my hand away."Just sit back and let me do the work," Elias says, crushing one of them in his hand. "You've worked hard enough today." Worked? I try to search my brain for any instance today where I did any work, and draw up blank. I'm so speechless that I don't realize he's doused my hair with water, and has begun rubbing the mashed up berries into my hair.I stifle a groan, because gods, that feels good. His fingers massage into my scalp, soothing tension I didn't even realize was there. Any sort of protest I have, dies a quick death. It feels so good, that for a moment I forget that I'm supposed to hate him, and I forget he's done terrible, and cruel things.Yet I'm not sure if I believe that anymore. The hands delicately washing my hair, can't be the same hands that killed dozens of researchers and children. Elias, who cracks jokes and buys his cats blue and yellow toys because they're colorblind. I don't know who to believe anymore. My father, my only family and support in the universe, or Elias' actions and words from ever since we met."How do you know Lewis Bronson?" The question is out before I can stop myself, and at my words, I feel his hands freeze for a second, before they resume lathering."I don't," he says after a pause. "At least, not well. I was a boy during the few times we met."The idea of Elias not as he is now, but as a child, is a shocking one. I'm not sure why I never considered the possibility that Elias could have been grown in a lab like me. Even with that new tid-bit of knowledge, I know he's lying."You think I'm lying." Elias says it as a statement, and there's no anger in his voice, only a muted kind of acceptance. "Just what has," he pauses, then spits the word like it tastes vile in his mouth, "Bronson, told you of me?""That you killed your creators, and that you went crazy. That you killed innocents, including children."Elias doesn't say anything, and for a second I think he's going to laugh, and admit to each one of the crimes I've laid out for him. "And would you even believe me if I told you otherwise?"I want to say no, but that's not entirely true. I opt to stay silent."I killed the researchers," Elias says in a hard tone. "But I didn't kill anyone else, Mira."My first instinct, of course, is to call him a liar. But I have no basis, other than my own prejudice, so I say stay silent again. The unspoken truce we've held ever since entering the cave has shattered, and tension fills the air so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Elias finishes rinsing my hair of the glow berries, then stands. He grabs the folded coat and blanket, then passes it to me."I'm going to bathe, you should get out unless you want to bathe together." Yeah no, hard pass. I snatch the clothes out of his hand, and wait for him to turn around. When he does, I hop out of the water, shaking out my hair before I dawn his ridiculously oversized jacket, then wrap the blanket around my body.With a huff, I return to my place from before, and lie down facing the wall. Faintly, I hear the sound of clothes rustling, and I'm not at all curious. I don't care what he looks like naked. He's probably extremely ugly.A tendril of hair falls into my eyes, and I brush it back, in awe at how soft my hair feels, and how good it smells. Did Elias wash women's hair often? Is that why he was so good at it? The thought makes something bitter coil in my stomach, and I stop that train of thought immediately, deciding I don't care how Elias spends his time. I tug the blanket around my body closer, forcing my eyes shut. I don't care at all.