Zarah woke up to a very nauseous feeling. Sweat merely streamed along her back of the neck. It was as if she would have been in some kind of kiln, it was so hot, so tormenting hot. After sweeping the gauze of soporific away from her vision, she gave a try to move around. In vain. And the reason for this all was that she was wrapped at least into ten warming blankets, in addition that she was buried somewhere invisible into the hug of Warp, who was still in the land of dreams. His metal arm was there to arrest her movements more than ever.
But the heat was not the only factor there was to create the torture. Her every body part was hurting. The previous day she had been given quite a portion of painkillers, but now their influence had gone with the blizzard. And her mind was one big twister. What had actually happened? There was the desultory recollection of her going to get water... and then all black. Only some shorthanded nightmare-like flashes, some kind of blue spots hovering around her... some soft voices, like thuds of molten snow falling down from a roof... coldness... and now the pain, in addition of Darkmatter's heavy heart beats and exhales reaching her ears.
"Uhh... W-Warp... will you turn over a bit, it's too warm here..." she produced a raucous hack. Then there was the astonishing where that sore throat had come from. And her mate only continued his snores, almost embracing her even more tightly.
"Warp..." she couched again, this time being granted with results. The male blinked his eyes and fastened his regard to the little woman.
"Zarah! My babe li'l sweet tiny Za!" he almost yelled, starting to wrap the blankets more firmly around her. "You li'l thingie are all cold!" And her resisting sentence was muffled by a long, hard kiss on her lips.
"Mpfff... Waff--mmff Wamff..." she tried to mumble in his stormy clutch. The resists after some minutes made Darkmatter loose her a bit.
"W-What is it, babe?" he whispered, looking her straight into her weary eyes.
"Uh... I'm suffocating to this blanket pile..." she moaned. "W-What has happened...? Why am I..."
Getting now some sense into himself, Warp took some heating coatings off her. When he was ready to take her back into his enfold, he came across with the ache she experienced. Tenderly he put her into a half-sitting position, to rest against his side.
"W-what happened...?" she inquired again.
With an awkward expression on his face, the big alien quietly summarised the horrid occurrences. Gradually Choi began to reflect more details, like the hysterious fear she had had the other day, yesterday's bandaging in the tent... and something that had happened in the previous night. For that moment, Warp was smoothing her locks, whispering softly into her ear, "It was better for you that you never saw the things around you... It was better for you to be unconscious in that cave. You wouldn't have recovered from that shock, li'l babe... But now... I won't let you anywhere alone any more", his husky voice turned severe, "Wherever you'd go, I'll keep my eye on you. I won't let anything like this happen any more, never! Do you understand, you'll wake me up even in the middle of the night, if you want to go to take a snack or water. Your Master won't allow things like this any more. I don't wanna lose you..." After giving her then some mild kisses on her neck, he assured once more, "Do you understand what kind of horror this has been to me?"
"I... I'm sorry... I..." she sighed back, being not able to find the right words.
"No... it wasn't your fault..." he admitted, before she cut him short.
"W-Warp? L-Last night, did you... d-did we... I remember that you..." she reached the expression of his eyes a bit worried.
A heavy, a bit solemn exhale came from his side. "I... I know I maybe shouldn't have... b-but... you..." shaking his head he nodded, "I shouldn't have done that, because of you being so weak and all... I'm sorry."
She therefore pressed her cheek against his shirt, whispering back, "No, don't be sorry." Giving a light smile as the conclusion, he understood that he had done nothing wrong, just his onus as her loving and tender Master.
"Now... you'll just rest. I'll do the rest", he resolved and put her back to lie under the quilts.
Warp did not withdraw from Zarah when the hours went by, but got a ranger to bring the food and other things straight into his tent. Choi was in such a condition that the journey would not be continued still in days. She was in the need of a lot of rest, medication and someone to soothe the post-traumatic images that rolled as fragmented collections in her synapses. He gave furthermore a piece of neutron star to the scolds of the doctor, who wanted the girl to be brought into the med tent. But despite the lucky saving, bitterness filled Darkmatter's mind, when Zurg came to groan the last night's news.
Rolling his eyes, Warp could nothing but snort, "Your sonny has gone finally off his rocket or how would I nicely express it. He has asteroids and space trash spinning around his head. Can't he at all understand what the best is for him?"
"It is the dark side. It has taken the harnesses, now. But I shall not accept that. I shall find the cure for him and he shall turn to what he once was", Zora glared at his palms, sitting somehow lopsided in the corner of the marquee.
"Very well, then. But shouldn't those folks in Star Command start to track him?"
"I have given the orders to do that. And so has Commander Nebula agreed with my supreme intelligence. They have found already some energy traces that were left from his stolen ship."
"So, where's this Mr. Rebel Boy gonna go?" Warp looked at the Emperor his head atilt.
"Trade World, most possibly."
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Buzz Lightyear stood in the airy, cool drizzle of the Trade World night. A chilling wind whipped the otherwise so feathery raindrops against his face. The winter was gradually approaching this planet. Shivering in the queasy feeling of cold, he buttoned his stolen blue guard jacket more tightly and rose up the collars to protect his cheeks. He was standing on the sand yard of some abandoned factory halls -a place he actually knew quite well. In these same empty, hollow buildings he had once fought against Zurg's hornets, trying to 'save' Zarah G'Deneb from the clutches of the arch-enemy Darkmatter.
"Blast this weather..." he murmured and blew some warm air into his hands, rubbing them then together. "I can't possibly find a better hiding place for that ship... this is not the best one, but has to work, now."
The pilfered old-model speeded crouched beside some rusty barrels, in the dark shade of a half-collapsed guard hut. Nevertheless, who was very well able to compare there what was shadow and what was light since the large area was almost completely without illumination? Buzz had only a small laser torch in his hand to make his path clearer. The stars above there somewhere were in the arms of the massive rain clouds that waited for to fray upon the citizens. Some distant glow coming from the habitation gleamed around the black grounds. Puffing his last snort to the vessel, Lightyear decided to take a hike, and with long steps traipsed along the sand way. Killersville was his favourite destination, now.
"They'll send soon rangers after me. It can't be kept long in secret that I've fled their very secure asylum..." he thought while passing by some empty boxes. "By tracking the energy traces of that ship they'll retrieve me here... but I believe that's the edge. Killersville is prohibited area for space rangers, heh heh... or at least has been this far."
Buzz on the other hand, knew this disreputable place quite well. He had always been the person, who was able to break the certain rules of Star Command. So, precisely nothing had been there to oppose him, if he had wanted to invade the worst nooks of Trade World, being on the heels of some space scum. He had snuffed around almost every block here, being aware of the smugglers, con artists and counterfeiters. And someone of those he would need to meet, now. There was the lack of a sleeping place, more disguising clothes, food and the new identity. The name Buzz Lightyear would be buried somewhere in the depths of six feet. The Captain played with the idea, what would be the letters of his noveau signature.
"Hmm... Lightyear is way too sappy. Darkyear? Nah, let's just leave that prefix 'dark' away, brings too much association to certain displeasing persons... Hmh... Zenith... the name my Father once gave me... it tickles my nerves even more and more. Zenith... I'll become Zenith. Zenith uhm... I need a surname. Something that has a deep, glorious echo in it. What do I know about exotic names? Spock, Klingon, Goa'uld... no. Callisto, Io, Ganymede... no, my Mother was Ganymede. Purkkisoppa, Kaalikeitto, Kampela... no, horrible. Ahem... Deimos? That was one of the satellites of Mars. Yes... that sounds perfect. Zenith Deimos. No, Lord Zenith Deimos. Hehehe..."
Gradually Buzz began to catch up with his destination. His taps reached soon the backstreets of one gambler casino block, which was the gate to Killersville. The pulsating life of this galactic ghetto was swarming around him. The blaring holo-advertisements changing their tasteless figures on the roofs and walls of the buildings cast their screaming neon lights above the alien turmoil. The wet avenues reflected back the blinking, irritating rays of them. The row on the streets was deafening, as hundreds of different-race aliens wandered around, jostling each other to get forwards, selling illegal ware straight from their pockets, and occasionally fist-fighting in the gateways. A cool and indifferent expression on his face, Buzz swept his way through the underworld hullabaloo, which mainly resembled a chaotic dream. He guarded strictly his pockets, for he knew that even the holes in them could be someone else's fortune, soon. And not many time-sequences passed, after he felt a light jerk on his jacket hem. Quickly as a past-flying neutrino shower, he snatched the hand that was fumbling 'his' ownings. Beside him, as a captured creature, was a snake-looking, uneasily whining small robber.
"Uh... sir... I just saw a spot on your sleeve and was gonna wipe it clean..." the alien smirked.
Buzz frowned at him from under his black brows. "You don't know with whom you're dealing with. Don't ever try to pick the mighty Lord Zenith's pockets!"
The serpent was going to utter something, but soon was flying in a semi-circle in the air, landing to a nearby trashcan after his short passage. This had been Lightyear's not-so-nice response to him before he was already on his way, towards the murkier parts of this planet.
"Craters, I need to find a place to stay!" a frustrated curse was spat out of Buzz' mouth. He was by and by becoming tired to his futile stroll. "A couple of months pass and they change everything!" He had to admit that he was somewhat lost. From his last visit (as a space ranger), he had recalled there being somewhat a more secure motel in the middle of this district, called "The Pulsar". But in the place of that penthouse were now only ruins, as if a plasma bomb would have hit it. Black, charred concrete pillars and some iron bars were sticking out of the collapsed remains, like some untidy fangs. Therefore, the Captain was obliged to continue his way, hunger already croaking in his stomach.
"Alright. We try straight 'The Black Hole'. It's not a convenient place, but at least I'll get supper."
The drizzle had unexpectedly turned to heavier drops. The heavens shot the city with icy missiles from the cloud mass. The rain drummed the roofs in a melancholic symphony, the howl of the wind playing a flute solo. The hectic life on the alleys however did not die to this, the characteristic medley only kept on going. The mental hospital refugee turned to a tiny, empty-looking lane, to make a shortcut to this one bar he had previously thought. This rather long and steeply between two slum houses delineated redbrick street worked as a sort of a wind-tunnel, so that all the wet buckets coming from up there, got splashed right on Buzz's face. Swearing crackling syllables, he attempted to push his head into the light blouse. He did not notice a small shadow that was coming straight towards him. The wee being, carrying a large box, collided with the sturdy man, making them both fall into the puddles onto their hinterlands.
Getting his senses back after the bump, Lightyear spotted himself sitting in a mud hole, completely soaked. The accident causer was in front of him, as well lost, his box now open and its inners scattered to bathe in the messy water. The fire of frenzy made now the eyes of the Captain almost red. He got quickly up from the ground and was to collar the unlucky one. But a scared voice, honouring in it, got him to cancel his threat.
"I...Is that you? Sir... Sir Lord Zenith?" the foam-extinguisher-sized alien almost bowed.
Buzz narrowed his eyes a couple of times. That voice? That voice calling him with the name almost no one in the Galaxy yet knew? What was this all about?
Through the haze he then suddenly recognized what was the pint-sized object cringing there. It was one representative of that grub race that had worked on Planet Z. What the astro-turf was it doing in Trade World? Puzzled he bent himself lower to leer at this obviously former lackey of Zurg.
"You know me?" he raised his brows.
"Uh, sure, your Highness! Of course I know Lord Zenith when I meet him! Of course your Highness won't remember me, but I was once serving your breakfast when you still lived in our home", the beetle answered.
Lightyear had forgotten his indignation because of being so surprised. "But... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you live in Zeta Quadrant?"
The insect wiped a pungent tear away from his eye. "Oh, home sweet home... if there only was a home. The men from Star Command came, tore down our homes and factories. Then they started to put up fast camps for us, and build new buildings, ordering us to work on the new-ploughed fields. The brains were sent to different planets to fill some tasks over there..." he kept a pause and sighed, "Many of us got used to their new posts and those green-white chalk houses that were put up over the ruins... many of us started to serve Star Command. But not of us all. We miss the Empire, although our Dark Lord was not always on good mood and was not always treating us the best way. So... some of us fled Planet Z and came here, to begin a new life..."
Buzz listened to this all in disbelief. Was there a grub colony living somewhere in Killersville? That would be too good to be true. But before he was able to throw in a comment, the creature continued his flood, "...We have settled here down, waiting for something to happen. We miss truly our deceased Lord... as I said, he was not always kind, but... and in secret, we have waited for you to return."
Those declarations broke Zenith's confusion, giving a boost to his glory-thirsting dreams to soar towards the stratospheres. So, he was not forgotten as the apprentice of Zurg? There were still persons in this universe that wanted the Z Empire to raise its claws again? Buzz' brains were now either floating in the pond of insanity or the dark side, it was not very clear for no one. However, he stood up from the ground, taking a menacing pose.
"Yes! Lord Zenith has come here, to dig up the lost kudos of the fallen Empire! And I'll declare it out now. I am the Son of Zurg, and the only and legitimate heir of his throne!" a megalomaniac grin spread across his face, his pupils reducing to tiny black spots.
The insect on the ground level shrunk back some gaits after hearing that chest-tone manifesto. His little limbs were shaking with fear and awe. No one had ever could have even imagined that the Emperor had scions, nor that Lord Zenith would turn out to be that one.
"S-Sir!" the insect joggled.
"Yes! And you, you'll lead your new Master to your home. I have come to gather you servants to serve me."
After that verdict, the humbled lackey got his feet fast, starting to lead the way to the block where his fellows lodged. Behind him, not caring any more about the rain, Buzz took long traipses, even stepping harder on purpose to make an image of might. If he had had a Zurgean teeth-plate helmet on, one could have been able to receive a similar gloat from him as his Father had once expressed on his best moments of evil joy.
"This was way much easier than I thought. I'll get a new home, servants and money in no time. These mindless dust-swallowers will treat me like some divine being. Mwa ha ha. But what comes to my Father, I will not tell them yet that he is alive. They can merit nothing from that knowledge, yet. It's enough, that they have a new Master."
After some blocks and corners, the diligent henchman had brought Buzz into the inner courtyard of a miry skyscraper. In every little window, there were different-coloured lights on, twinkling like pale stars through the foggy water tears. Silent voices echoed from here and there, telling that the colony was full of life. Indeed, there were so on 300 of those beetles living in this sole building. Meekly the guide held a door open to Lightyear, when he stepped into the staircase. The grubs that were for the moment climbing up and down the stairs stopped their doings and were just left to gawp the incomer. As Buzz majestically took steps up, a low hum of whispers filled the surroundings. Someone had identified the odd, robust male. Smugly Zenith slid his hand along the wooden handrail, feeling the warmth of it after the freezing night out there. He let his nostrils sense the soft odour of various foods that floated in the homey air. The result was that the crow-caws in his stomach increased.
"You'll prepare your master warm clothes, a bath and a dinner", he gave orders to his votary, while still climbing up. There was no functioning elevator in this penthouse, and therefore it took quite strong efforts to get to the upper floors.
Some hours more, and the Captain was lying in a hot tub, relaxing and letting the heat fill his muscles. After this, there would be a tasty meal waiting for him, at least what he had heard from the residents of this notch. In addition, assessed by him, there were some diligent grub ladies sewing him new clothes. Fast as they were, the garments would be fresh for him after he would have finished his sauna. Some moments more and he dived up from the water, wrapped the towel around him and stepped then into the dressing room. There, on a wooden chair, was folded a pile of qualities. Whilst he lifted the moist suit confident up, he noticed the singlet being a burgundy-red silk robe. Over it, he dressed another layer, an opalescent vest-like robe made from heavy black velvet, which left the sleeves and bodice of the red lower garment visible. All this fancy was gathered to be tight on the hipline, with a red, large silk belt.
From the large mirror of the chamber, Buzz now evaluated himself and his new appearance. It was festive, merely awe-inspiring. Although he was short for a grown-up man, this costume made him full of domination, so that this little height detail was unimportant. He danced a couple of swirls on the floor, cackling to his reflection. His blue-shiny black hair and beard were in the perfect harmony with the velvet, the crimson red contrasting with his sapphire blue eyes.
A large group of insects was waiting for their new Master behind the dressing room door, in a large hall. Suddenly the entrance creaked open, and in the soft-dark light of a red lamp crystal, stood Buzz Lightyear, in his complete novel varnish. Everyone bowed in obeisance, as his words reached the grub ears.
"Lord Zenith, the Son of Zurg, has returned! He has returned to continue the Dynasty of the Zurgean Empire, you all as his loyal humbles!"
