It's been three weeks since we landed here on this new planet. It's really green where we are now. Teacher calls it a forest. I think that he's really anxious about this one, this 'mission'. It's almost like he wanted to tell me something but couldn't. Then he left. Just...left. He said he'd be back but it's been three days.
I'm scared.
It's not like I'm alone here or anything but its still scary. Z even seems more testy here than anywhere else. He's even been talking...or some form of it, I think. He makes sounds, some of them even sounding like he's saying my name.
I wonder when Teacher's coming back. I'm scared.
I have only three rules to follow while Teacher is gone. One, don't let anyone in. Two, don't leave the ship. And three, don't go into the back room.
… I've already broken one rule. Does that make me a bad person?
Xii watched out the window of the "captain's chair" that he usually occupied when Teacher was out for the day. His small frame trembled, the cold air that usually was absent in the ship finally breaking through the cracks that assembled the shoddy patches from other… adventures. A pair of Teacher's old boots leaned against one wall almost like a pair of sad hobos. Xii smiled sadly at them, resting his head on his arms. Even the long-problematic control panel was silent in this weird land. his horns flattened against his head, emerald eyes burning into the 'tree' right outside the window. He could've sworn it was moving.
The Vortian lifted his legs onto the counsel as he leaned back, mindful of the large red button that liked to open the ship visor. Even though he was sure that it wasn't supposed to. His horns jingled while he moved, 3 individual bell hanging down from the tips of each horn. He played with the edges of his blue shirt, pulling at the grey face printed onto it's soft surface.
"You know, Z, I kinda wish that Teacher had told me where he was going, at least," Xii got up from his seat, his horns bouncy once more. "Then maybe I coulda radioed him…"
The young Vort glanced to the old wooden radio that his Teacher had set up, the dust that collected on it dancing in the sunlight. In it's silver knobs, he could see himself distorted into something even more monstrous than usual. He'd seen other Vortians, of course, but he saw the way they looked at him. In his reflection, there were two odd 'quirks'-as Teacher had put it- that became even more apparent every time he looked into any mirror.
His grey fur was dusky, much fluffier around the collar than anywhere else. It bunched up under the blue shirt he was wearing, spilling over the collar. On top of the light color that most Vorts would consider 'handsome', there were dark marks surrounding his fur.
'A side effect', Teacher said. 'From an...accident.'
He didn't ask what the accident was. He already knew what it was. The answer was written in the eyes that he had, the acidic pools that glowed in the dark or could see very far away. That was the biggest reason Vortians looked at him funny, he knew. His eyes were different. His eyes weren't Vortian, but the eyes of a horrid creature that had plagued his race since the moment a contract for an armistice was made.
His eyes were that of an Irken.
"Hey, Z?"
There was a shuffle from behind the curtain, one that told Xii that the other was rocking against his tube again. He took it as an invitation to proceed.
"When do you think that Teacher is coming back? I mean, it's been like...forever since we've last seen him. You think he's dead?"
A rattle from the tube indicated a 'negative'. Xii smiled in the direction of his friend, Z's sounds of movement having soothed him since he was two and the other creature had gotten decidedly more...active. Back then, he'd use the back area as a hideout when Teacher wasn't around, dropping down behind the little tube to play with the wires and robot parts that still twitched if he poked them. He'd lean against the cool glass on those days, feeling eyes on his back as Z watched over him.
Another rattle brought him back to the present, light fading from the ship this odd planet's sun set, marking yet another day of Teacher's absence from the ship. The Vortian's face soured from that thought, another rattle getting his attention. He bounded over to the tube, smiling at the slightly miffed shape he could make out, only a vague pair of eyes and some limb shape but he knew this shape as Z, so Z it stayed.
"Let me guess, you want me to go to bed?" Xii hummed, smirking with his hands behind his back. "I will... after you tell me what you do all night!"
Z's eyes widened, a dark swoosh of the goo suggesting he shook his head. Another hard glare was directed at the Vort, a claw tapping him through the glass before pointing off to his room. It always interested him that Z always knew where everything was, despite having never ventured forth from the tube.
"Awwww! But Z!" The crestfallen Xii whined, making a great show of it, too. "I wanna talk to you some more! And lookee!"
Xion tapped the elder's glass, a crack showing in the impenetrable wall keeping them apart.
"You have a leak! Dontcha wanna let me fix it with my duct tape?"
Z's eyes widened even more than before, his head shaking twice as fast. He was more insistent this time, Xion rolling his eyes at the trapped member of the ship.
"Fine. What's gotten up your butt today? Sheesh…"
He wandered off, the door to his room sliding shut with a small, audible 'click'.
He didn't get to see the sick smirk on Z's face as the trapped member of the crew started to kick the crack until it got wider, wider, wider...
A/N: Should I have put more horror into this? Yes, yes I should've. But you know what? OH WELL!
