Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

There wasn't any clock, of course not, but still in his head he imagined one ticking. Not that he had ever measured his life by one, but when he was forced to be still for so long, he started replaying spinning hands in his head, and he thought of the planets moving always away from each other, and –

The ship hummed. Constantly. Like a soft purring.

He rubbed his cheek on the wall. He also ripped out some of his fur, and unraveled the bandages on his leg without realizing it. He traced patterns in the floor and along the walls, and again, and again, and again –

His stomach grumbled, and his tongue felt dry, and he looked down the halls expecting any minute for Dominator to burst in, with new ideas about how to hurt him.

Every way to free himself he tried: yanking on the chain, trying to slip his foot free, chewing on the metal. It made his gums raw before he gave up.

And finally, he fell asleep.

He dreamed that he was running from something - some unknown thing - but that no matter what he did, he was plagued by exhaustion, he could barely open his eyes. His head screamed for him to run run run but his eyes grew heavier and heavier –

Familiar wicked laughter rang through the darkness, and a scream strained to emerge from his throat, and he knew he needed to move now but his eyes finally slipped completely shut and –

He jolted awake with a cry.

Lightening horns reared in matching arches over him.

"Please, no!" Wander kicked backward weakly, and his ankle snagged on the metal chain.

"Please, no," Dominator mimicked, and laughed. "I didn't even do anything yet, jeez. You're so twitchy."

That didn't slow his heart rate. But… she was right. She was just kneeling nearby. His eyes traveled towards. She had in her hand several leaves of lettuce, which dripped fresh spring water onto the cooled lava floor.

Was that… for him? It wasn't poisoned, was it?

"Anyway," Dominator added, "I decided I didn't want you dead. I was eating dinner and realized things would actually be pretty lame around here with you being all losery. I mean, I do have Hater – ugh – and the Zbornak and one of those weird eye guys… but like, nobody else is as hilariously pathetic as you. I want to make it clear I don't need you. I don't need anybody. You're just entertaining. And I want to keep you around because it gets boring around here."

That tore his attention away from the lettuce. "Please don't hurt them - Hater, and Syl, and Peepers. I'm here an' I'll do just fine, Domi, I can take it – you don't gotta hurt them -"

"Well, I gotta hurt someone." Her eyes flitted to the side. "I miss destroying stuff, you know?" She met his gaze and smiled twistedly. "It's like, if I go too long without wrecking something, I get all, you know-" she pointed at her temple and rolled her eyes.

"You gotta destroy stuff t'feel happy?" Wander said miserably.

Dominator huffed. "Well, no – I'm happy no matter what! Jeez, what is there not to be happy about? It's just-" she struggled for words, then fury crossed her expression. "Just shut up! It's fun messing with the lives of stupid little people like you, that's all. Now do you want the lettuce or not?" She waved it impatiently.

Wander nodded frantically, stomach grumbling. But reaching for it meant getting closer and she had just spelled out the fact she was keeping him to hurt him. What if this was just a trick?

No, you have to trust her; you have to show her you can believe in her.

He stretched out a trembling hand. Dominator's eyebrow quirked, and fear flooded through him – it was a trick after all! He flinched back so fast that it jarred his shoulder.

"Wow." Dominator laughed. "You can't even do this much, can you? You can't even reach out to take some food from my hand?"

"A-are y'gonna hurt me?" Wander squeaked.

Dominator rolled her eyes. "I mean, I wasn't planning on it right now because I'm running out of things to break on you. But I totally can."

"N-n-no!" Wander laughed nervously. "Y'don't hafta – really – I don't want to – I don't think I can take much more of that, Domi-"

"Well, if you can't handle it, then I guess I'll just have to pay more attention to our new arrivals, won't I?"

"Wait, NO!"

She appraised him coolly. "Isn't that what you're saying? I mean, and you're right! I really made you useless. Your leg's busted, half your fingers don't work, you've only got half your teeth, like…" She scrunched up her face in distaste. "At this point, you're really only good to kill! But I have three fresh new toys waiting in cells! Man, what am I doing with you…"

New protests rose to Wander's lips, to beg for the lives of his friends, but he paused. What was Dominator doing with him? She had brought in Sylvia, Peepers, and Hater, but all were presumably unharmed (Dominator would have gleefully told him immediately if any one of them were hurt). That meant she'd locked them all up and then left to search for Wander, rather than spending time tormenting them.

Likewise, once she left Wander alone in the hallway, she had evidently ignored the new prisoners. And now, returning back to Wander, she still left them completely alone.

Did this mean she had…. Some kind of fixation on hurting him in particular? But she had never shown preferences before like that -

Wait, but maybe that wasn't completely true. Yes, she destroyed planets without a second thought, but in every encounter with Wander, she… she aimed to hurt, not kill.

"I guess you just look most pitiful," Dominator concluded, shaking some of the water off the lettuce. "You're so tiny and fluffy. Obviously that's why you're the most fun to mess with."

Was that really it? Was that the reason why? No…. it didn't explain everything. And it didn't take into account her loneliness. Why can't you just be friends with me?" Wander strained to say.

"Aww, we are friends. Best best best friends!"

"No!" A very rare anger clawed up his chest, and his hackles rose. "That's not what friendship is all about! Friends are always lookin' out for friends, and they're helpful and kind and – golly, friends are really wonderful, Dom, and if you'd jus' let me show ya-"

Dominator rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm bored already. Shut up about friendship before I rip out your tongue."

Wander opened his mouth, then closed it. Dominator wasn't in the habit of making threats she didn't follow through on. Meekly, Wander nodded.

"Good." A lava hand clamped down around his body and yanked him closer. The chain around his ankle rattled. "Now how about you eat this stupid lettuce I brought you? Seriously, you're so ungrateful. I know you're hungry."

His heart thudded like a frightened rabbit against her fingers.

But… he could show her in actions, not words. Trust. Yes, this was scary. This was beyond scary oh grop she was going to rip into him and tear out his insides and – no no. Trust.

"Hello, anybody home? Man, I didn't mean shut up altogether! You can answer questions!"

He could do this.

"Is everybody around me a complete moron? Seriously, who just goes entirely silent in the middle of the conversation? We were talking! I was asking you a-"

Wander whuffled his lips over the edge of the lettuce. Dominator went quiet. Wander began to nibble.

A pleasant munching noise replaced the silence. In any other situation, a happy murmur would have bubbled up from his throat. In this situation, he was too terrified for outward displays of happiness. But it was really good lettuce – crunchy and delicious. How does Dominator even have this?

Wander nibbled through a quarter of the leaf, and still Dominator didn't say a word. And that – that was a little unusual. A little too much silence. The fur down his back and neck rose. Normally she was pretty talkative. Not talking was unpredictable: she could be thinking or feeling anything. Just to be on the safe side, he needed to catch a glimpse of her expression, to see if she was planning on murdering him in some horrible way.

But, glancing at her meant looking up from the floor. It meant confirming the fear pumping through his blood. It meant being face to face with someone who really really wanted to hurt him. An inadvertent whimper squeezed up through his throat. To his shock, Dominator responded with a soft, almost child-like murmur.

At last he flicked a furtive glance at Dominator.

He stopped chewing. Tension clamped down on his every muscle. Oh. That wasn't a good expression. That was a dangerous, dangerous expression. It was exactly the one she had worn when she started choking him before - this funky expression hazarding around affectionate.

Except – it was all wrong. It wasn't the kind of affectionate Sylvia showed; it wasn't like kind hugs, wasn't like waking up beside your favorite buddy to start a new adventure, wasn't like escaping together from danger and grinning at the friend you loved the most, it wasn't the grateful smile of a villain-turned-good – no, it was nothing like that. It was nothing at all like that.

He didn't have any time to prepare before she surged forward and smooched him again.

Wander yowled and arched away, pushing away her face with his good hand. "Whoa, D-Dominator, what was-!"

"Stop that," she growled, and lava forced his wrist behind his back. "Just, shut up and stop moving –"

"Wh-why are you doin' th-mfh!" He thrashed as her lips connected with his yet again. Stubbornly, he twisted his head to the side, and Dominator got a face full of fur.

"Blugh!" Dominator shook her head and spat. "Gross why do you have so much hair. It gets everywhere. And I told you to stop moving!"

"L-look, Domi, I don't like ya that way – I mean, we can be friends, but I don't – I don't feel that way, I –" he squirmed. "Do you? I-if you keep wanting to – to do that – then do you-?"

Dominator rolled her eyes, "What, like-like you? Am I supposed to use your naïve terms?"

"Well, love me?" Wander squeaked.

"No," she spat. She leaned in closer, and Wander cringed away from the intensity of her red eyes. "I don't know. What if I do?"

"W-well, golly, that's wonderful," Wander whimpered. "C-cause, love is a real good thing, an', well…" his argument stumbled to a halt, because he couldn't convince himself of what he was saying. Dominator had kissed him before, but it hadn't stopped her from hurting him; it hadn't changed her behavior at all. Maybe she was in denial about her feelings? Maybe she didn't know how to love someone? Despair filtered in, because he knew deep down it wasn't that, it couldn't be that, but he wanted it to be, because then he could do something –

"It is pretty cool," Dominator said conversationally. "I've never like, wanted to hurt one specific person so much before. And kiss them, I mean, what is that about?" She scrunched up her nose. "Especially because you're so – so lame, you know? You're like a furry broom or something." She tossed a feral grin at him. "But, it's kind of fun, right?"

"Uhhh-" Wander frantically looked down the hallways as if any minute, something would come to save him.

"I mean, I could get used to it." Clawed fingers dug into the back of his skull and held him in place.

"No, Dominator, th-this isn't what love is, it's –" he shuddered as she silenced any remaining words. She kissed with clumsy inexperience, and it occurred to Wander that maybe she had never done this before. That alone could be endearing, or something positive, but Wander was too terrified out of his mind to appreciate it.

Because she also kissed with no regard at all for him. She didn't ask or need for him to reciprocate, nor did she tailor her actions to make him comfortable. Each caress, each curious lick was aimed for her own exploration, her own pleasure – she held Wander in place like a doll or a puppet, and clearly had no desire to treat him as anything but that.

This time, there wasn't any escaping, and her teeth were sharp and the lava encased him and her body pressed close - everything was getting frighteningly claustrophobic and of course he was okay, he could deal with it, this was no biggie, nothing too scary – everything was fine – everything was going great – nothing was wrong nothing was wrong he was fine nothing scary this was completely okay

His back struck something hard. Spots flared in his vision making it really hard to see anything but through some dizzy haze he glimpsed strange patterns of purple red – oh. The ceiling.

Then green and teeth and –

She was on top of him, oh Grop, and her hand was flat over his entire torso, squishing his ribs to the floor. He couldn't breathe, and he really, really didn't want to be here right now. He needed to be anywhere but here -

Then, she stopped.

Wander felt her draw away. A shudder worked its way down his spine, and his eyes flitted closed. He didn't want to be awake. He didn't want to feel anything. Maybe, maybe she would leave him alone… at least for an hour or two….

"ACHOO!"

The noise made him flinch in fright. His eyes sprang open, and he sat up, heart pounding.

"What the….?" Dominator muttered, nose scrunched up and eyes watering. "I didn't think – ACHOO!"

Wander cringed away. What if this upset her? What if she got mad and started hurting him again? What if she hurt him while smooching him?

"This only happens when-" her eyes narrowed.

The next sequences of events Wander had difficulty processing. Firstly, something that was a lot of big and a lot of blue collided into Dominator and the two rolled over each other in a strange mess of limbs.

Secondly, there were flowers. Everywhere. Dozens and dozens of pink petals floating like dust motes in the air.

Finally, a giant eyeball appeared in his vision.

It was yelling at him. "-out of here, go go go!"

"Peepers?" Wander said.

"NOW!"

"I'm –" Wander glanced back to the chain around his leg. To his shock, the end of the chain was a melted mess. His eyes drifted back to Peepers' hand, where a red blaster was gripped. Oh. A petal comically landed on Peeper's head.

"Oh, for the luvva-" Peepers holstered the blaster and scooped Wander up. "We're getting outta here!"

The world zapped back into focus. Dominator and Sylvia were fighting on the floor, exchanging swears and scratches and punches – but Peepers was already fleeing down the hall with Wander in his clutches.

"NO!" Wander screeched, "We gotta go back, Sylvia!"

"Will be perfectly fine on her own!" Peepers yelled. "Hater will be her backup, and they're both evacuating as soon as you're off this ship!"

"No, Sylvia!" He slipped from Peepers' grasp, took two steps, then crashed to the floor. When he looked up, he glimpsed a horrible picture frozen in his mind; Dominator on top of Sylvia, expression twisted in murderous rage, and her lava hand reared back with every finger a deadly sharp point –

Peepers seized Wander and ran.