Far Away - Chapter Eleven

Chris grunted as he slammed into the curved wall and slid to the floor. For a moment, the lights inside the Zerellian ship dimmed as his head swam and threatened to pull him into the dark.

The alien left Chris lying in the lowest point of the bowled holding cell, bleeding. Chris dully watched as the door shut behind the worm, wondering after if it was really a 'worm' with razored tentacles and an armored face and legs, with the ability to make an electrical current. Chris hadn't known that. Something to update their database with. And slime. Why did they all slime? Is that why he was lying atop a drain and the ship was all curved? Did the slime conduct the current?

He listened to the slime draining away below him, wondering how much blood was swirling away. The grate dug uncomfortably into his side.

He struggled to sit up and shift off the grate. His one arm ached whenever he moved it, and he could see the slices in his skin through his buster armor. His foot was probably broken again from being pulled and flung by. His good hand quested carefully down his leg, and he whimpered from his raw throat at the movement.

Chris knew his thoughts were staggering from place to place, he had to get his head together. He heard clattering nearby. Had to focus. Even as his body twitched in the aftermath of the electrical shocks.

But that was a lot of blood. And slime. Like the slime in Danny…

"Chris!"

Chris thought he had gone unconscious or the blood loss had completely obliterated his brain. It had to be a figment of his imagination squatting next to him – a shard of the broken, still-born dream coming to taunt him a final time from the drain vent. But God, did it have beautiful green eyes.

Then the figment's hand touched his shoulder carefully, sending a shock of pain through him and let him know he was definitely awake. "Chris? Chris, please, answer me."

"D…Danny?" he whispered. He took in the drain grate tossed aside and the slime caked on Danny's knees and hands and smeared across his buster armor.

The hand on his shoulder shook, and the blaster in the other trembled and fell from Danny's red gloved-fingers. "Chris?" Chris' hand raised and closed around Danny's wrist, and he could feel the pulse racing.

Danny was awake.

His breath racing and his face pale and dark circles sank his eyes, but he was awake. He was awake.

"Oh thank God," Chris blurted, his good arm flinging around Danny's neck and pulling him in. All the anguish of the last few days mounted into a tidal wave that overtook his current physical hurts and swept off his self-control. "Danny… Danny…" He sobbed into Danny's neck, crying out from desperate fear and frustration and pure, primal pain. "Danny!"

Then he felt Danny stiffen.

All the emotions ebbed instantly, forced back into their little box with a tight lid called control. Chris had to force himself to stop crying and release Danny, who hesitantly sank back to a kneeling position in front of Chris. "What… what are you doing here?"

Danny tried to give a quirky grin, and it failed. "Saving your sorry butt, bu…buddy."

Chris took in Danny again – pale, shaky, breathless, deprived - and swore. "Danny, you're sick! You were unconscious-You just woke up. Can you even stand?"

"Not long," Danny confessed, and the slight twitch of a smile was genuine. That almost made Chris' heart stop. "But Cathy's grandpa said… he said you were captured. I couldn't stay in that stupid bed even when they tried to make me."

Chris' vision kept tilting, making it harder to keep his thoughts straight. "And…you came here to rescue me?"

"Honestly… we're not to that point yet." Danny's eyes roved over him, taking in the ruined buster armor and torn clothing, bruised skin and blood running down his face and arm. "Oh… crap. We're screwed."

As if to agree with him, his A-scan went off. Danny drew it out, but didn't have time to check before the portal opened behind them and an alien yell echoed in the holding cell.

The Zerellian advanced, the sharp feathered tentacles extended. Chris wanted to shove Danny out of the way, knowing neither of them could even fight, but Danny planted one hand on either side of Chris' head against the wall and braced himself.

Chris stared at Danny's eyes, locked on his own. He could feel their breaths, his own slow drawl mingling with Danny's pants, strangely chilled against his cheeks.

Chris saw the tentacle in his side vision. "Danny-" he gasped out. Danny flinched.

But the tendril carefully wrapped around his waist. Both their eyes opened wide as Danny was lifted. Chris' brain connected long enough to flash back to Danny disappearing into the worm's mouth, his own screams echoing off the protecting bubble-net -

Chris staggered to his feet, ignoring the shooting pain up his leg. "Let him go!" But he was ignored as the alien-…

"Is that thing sniffing you?" he demanded in disbelief.

Danny shoved both hands against the alien's face, trying to distance himself from what seemed to be its nose trying to nuzzle his chest. "I don't-can a worm purr?!"

Chris struggled to grasp Danny's A-scan and activate it, thumbing through the settings. The readings came off as… pleased. The other readings started to come up as the Zerellians gathered – around another, smaller alien reading.

Chris lowered the A-scan in shock, staring at the place where the abnormal reading had come from. "Danny?" He distantly recalled something Cathy had relayed to him from her grandfather. "Danny, they're… they think you're one of them."

"Great! Terrific! Just get them off!" Danny screeched as he struggled to free himself.

The door blasted open, and Sam's strong voice called out, "Chris!" then "Danny?!"

Chris' brain decided it had enough of this weird dream and shut off. Chris' knees buckled and he went down, feeling vaguely annoyed that Cathy's weird gibberish interrupted Danny's voice yelling his name frantically, pleading-

The voice followed him into the dark.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: There actually was a scene between the last chapter and the beginning of this one, but my friend pointed out it wasn't great. So it got cut.

Anyways, thanks to Xiaolin101 again for the messages. She's currently the only reason I'm updating more frequently during school... hm.

A question posed to me: Why Chris/Danny? Cause. The way I got introduced to MBC was my friend and I were flipping cartoon channels, and the screen said my name. So I stopped and we watched it. The character had my personality and name, right down to the scar on his eyebrow. My friend said it freaked her out how similar it was. So I watched and loved it. And Chris kind of reminds me of my boyfriend.

But I tried to keep an even balance between the 'missions' of the MBC and the development in character... cause relationships, ANY relationship especially outside the standard heterosexual lifestyle, are HARD to develop.