Mars: An Elseworlds Story
Chapter 14
()
(Two months later)
After rereading the same sentence for the third time in a row, J'onn gave up, closing the book with a soft sigh. He just couldn't concentrate as well lately. The reason why came to him and he shot a sulky look at Bruce, who was sleeping.
Bruce was hiding something from him.
And it was starting to tick him off. If it was a harmless little secret, he could have ignored it. He'd have been a bit curious, perhaps, but nothing he couldn't handle. Except it wasn't. It was something HUGE, he could just tell.
J'onn had a feeling he knew what it was too, if the light bruises on his skin were anything to go by. Bruce tried to hide it but...
He knew.
It was depressing and infuriating at the same time. They'd been through so much already and still Bruce refused to talk to him about such things.
Why? Why couldn't Bruce just trust him?
()
Xish'ilh didn't dare look back behind him as he raced forward, Bruce running right besides him. A month ago they would have been tiring right about now, having been at it for close to twenty minutes, but their bodies were starting to grow used to running for their lives on a daily bases.
It had all started when he'd taken the blow meant for Bruce, thus landing himself on Tib'zh and Iloyu's black list. Of course, when the human had started talking again, Xish'ilh had every intention on ignoring him but...
"There!" Bruce hissed, as they ducked into a narrow crack between two buildings.
He'd never really gotten around to it. Yes, hanging with the human had earned him a label as an outcast from his other peers, and they were constantly a target for Tib'zh and his gang but...
It was fun.
There was no way they could take on those huge guys on their own. Not only did Tib'zh and Iloyu out-rank them as far as muscle strength went but they also had friends. Six of them (affectionately dubbed goons 1-6) that were fast and just loved to hold them down...
Eight against two? Bruce and Xish'ilh weren't suicidal.
So they took to running away. No it wasn't a very brave thing to do. They'd tried doing the brave thing and had quickly learned their lesson. Not only had they lost but their k'nichtkas had been pissed. It had taken a lot of convincing to keep them from storming the yvidn'm to seek retribution.
Bravery didn't get them anything but trouble; running away would have to do for now. It wasn't that hard; Iloyu only had about an hour to burn once yvidn'm ended before he had to get to work and Tib'zh didn't like to do anything without his brother present. Which meant he and goons 1-6 would then leave them alone and they'd be safe until the next day.
Their success on giving the bullies the slip varied. Lately it seemed like they were losing more and more. Either the bullies were getting better or they were getting worse.
Today though seemed to be a lucky day, as they ran right past the small space they were hiding in without so much as a glance.
The two breathed a sigh of relief but didn't leave just yet; there was still about thirty-five minutes left until Iloyu had to leave. Plenty of time to be spotted and pounded upon. So they'd probably be stuck in this place for a while.
"Don't know why you just won't turn yourself invisible." Bruce muttered, rummaging around in his bag.
Xish'ilh shook his head, well used to this argument by now. It was something they constantly argued about. Yes he could turn himself invisible and thus lose the bullies, but then Bruce would be stuck dealing with them by himself and well...
That seemed...
Cowardice.
Not to mention cruel. Yes it hurt when they were caught but it wasn't a big deal; if Bruce could handle it then so could he.
Besides, there was still a part of him that liked pissing the human off.
"I'll turn invisible when you do."
That got him a scowl. "I'm working on it."
"Meh." Pulled out his own books and got comfortable, sitting on a few boxes. "Okay...I saw you digging through your notes during History...?"
Bruce pursed his lips together, his thoughts turning away from the bullies and onto more important matters. "The dates she mentioned coincide with another important event."
"That uh—treaty thingy?"
"Right. I was wondering if..."
And they stayed there for close to an hour, going through their work. Usually they did this in the Aqi but they already had everything pulled out and they didn't feel like moving. Besides; it wasn't that dark, really. And this way they didn't have to worry about being bothered.
Xish'ilh had taken to helping him with yvidm'n about a month ago and with his help Bruce found himself able to keep up. He wasn't able to get high marks like J'onn did, but he managed to score slightly above average. He wasn't quite sure when they had turned from enemies to friends but...
He wasn't complaining.
()
Tib'zh let a malicious grin cross his face as he and his brother started narrowing in on Xish'ilh and the human. They had been trying to catch up to them for the last couple of weeks and now, now they had them.
Saw a glimpse of fear pass through their eyes and smirked. "Look what we found..."
"Turn invisible!" The human was snapping to Xish'ilh, who already had his eyes closed tightly, preparing himself for the beating that was sure to come.
"You first!"
"I can't!"
"Exactly!"
That was why they were such fun to beat up; it was so easy to corner them. The human was weak and couldn't defend himself and Xish'ilh wouldn't leave his side. They could run for a while but that only made it more thrilling when they finally did catch them.
Picked the human up by his collar and shoved him against the wall, his ego purring in satisfaction when it winced in pain. "This," He drew back his fist, "is going to hurt."
()
Ow.
"You know..." The Martian stated once Tib'zh and Iloyu had left, painfully pulling his body into a sitting position. "she could have at least told us she was leaving the planet." Looking up at the sign hanging on the Aqi door, which said that she was going off planet and would be back in a few days, he growled.
They stopped by the Aqi nearly every sol! It was their safe haven, the one place besides home that they could go to without having to worry about the goons showing up.
Well they were going to have to find another place so hide out in now.
The growl turned into a groan as he took in the hole in his bag.
It was torn again. His k'nichtka was going to have a fit.
Bruce snorted. "Tell me about it." He wiped his nose and grimaced as his hand came away covered in blood. "Is it obvious we just got beat up?"
Took in the swollen lip, black eye and bloody nose and nodded. "Yes."
They both sighed.
"Naculh is going to be pissed."
"So is K'nichtka."
They sat there for a long time, neither of them wanting to go home. Because once they did...their k'nichtkas were going explode. B'ivnors would be called in, k'nikas interrogated and then their reputations would be ruined. Of course, they didn't really have that much of one to begin with. Running away from bullies practically every sol and spending most of their time in the Aqi didn't make them the most popular people but at least no one thought they were sissies who went sobbing to their parents just because of a few hits.
At last, Bruce stood up, offering his hand down to Xish'ilh and helping him to his feet. "Well...let's get this over with..."
()
Just when he was starting to think that maybe, just maybe God didn't quite hate him as much as Bruce thought he did...reality decided to prove him wrong.
On the way home he hadn't been able to come up with a sufficient enough lie and had been debating on whether or not he should break into tears while walking through the door, when he realized that it was quiet. Meaning...
Nobody was home.
And had breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to deal with Lhed Xojil's yelling or Naculh's over protective ranting about her 'poor k'nika'. Well...not tonight anyway. Headed towards his and J'onn's room, with the intention of cleaning up—only to freeze.
L'helum was sitting on J'onn's bed. And staring right at him.
He didn't look happy.
"Well don't you look colorful?"
Closing his eyes, he flopped over onto his own bed, trying hard to ignore the Martian. Hopefully he'd just leave him alone.
"How long as this been going on, Bruce?"
Ignore it, ignore it...
Eventually he'd give up and just--
"Well, if you'd rather talk to k'nichtka, I can always go get her."
And that was when he remembered that this wasn't J'onn he was dealing with, it was L'helum. Who didn't play fair. The crying thing wouldn't work with him; he'd probably just chuck something at his head to make him stop.
Felt the mattress next to him dip slightly and scooted away. He didn't really trust the m'nkte to sit that close to him without trying something...
"You said the bullying stopped."
"I lied." Bruce muttered.
A hand pulled him up harshly, making him lock eyes with the alien and he flinched at seeing the anger in those gold orbs. "Why? Why do you keep insisting on dealing with these things on your own?!"
He tried to pull away and scowled when he couldn't. He hated being this weak. "I didn't want you to make such a big deal out of it!"
A growl. "Someone is beating you up! So excuse me if I'm a little concerned!"
"I can take care of myself!"
L'helum scoffed. "Really? And how's that working out for you?"
Bruce gave his arm another yank and the Martian let him go, watching as he stormed into the wash room, sliding the door shut with a loud wham!
He sighed. That hadn't gone well at all. He'd left work early so he could try and talk to Bruce in a calm and soothing manner.
But when he'd seen the black eye and bloody nose..well...he'd lost it.
The door slid open a crack. "You going to tell Naculh?"
I should tell her. He's obviously not capable of handling this on his own. But... He shook his head. "No."
A slight pause. "Thanks." Then the door was closed, leaving L'helum in the room alone.
Another heavy sigh. Well, He'd found out what was going on...
Now what?
()
There were about six nau'kis (lasting three sols each) that took place every year on Mars. Four centered around their gods, C'eridyall, H'ronmeer, Lord L'Zoril and the Unmentionable One. One centered around peace between the other planets in the galaxies and showed the different cultures out there. The last one marked the end of the year and the beginning of the next. Each one was different and entertaining; plus yvidn'm was out the entire time.
C'eridyall's Nau'ki was taking place currently, and Xish'ilh somehow managed to talk Bruce into coming along with him. Sure, some of it was a bit corny (being about love and all...)and in his opinion H'ronmeer's was the best out of all of them but she still had some interesting things. Besides; it was something to do.
But as they raced through crowds of people, trying hard as hell to lose their predators, Xish'ilh couldn't help but wish that they'd stayed home. It just wasn't fair. Yvidn'm was out. They were free of tests, b'ivnors, homework and other k'nikas. So why, why couldn't they be free from bullies too?!
It just plain sucked. They ducked behind an empty booth and the Martian pouted. The nau'kis were always one of his favorite times of the year. And now, because of his relationship with Bruce, he couldn't even enjoy that. He was growing tired of it. Of getting pounded on, of constantly being harassed and having to run for his life...
Xish'ilh bit his lip.Why was he doing this anyway?
Looking up, he locked eyes with Bruce and gulped, knowing from his eyes that the human had just heard his thoughts.
"I understand."
"Bruce, wait--"
Not wanting to stay around to hear how sorry the Martian was, he took off, his throat burning. But then he realized that he'd ran right past the goons and couldn't concentrate on that anymore. They were right on his trail, and catching up, fast. He sighed. This had been more fun when he'd had someone running alongside him...
()
It was time to move on from Krypton. He'd stayed there for close to a decade now and things had been going smoothly. The people no longer looked at him with fear or disgust and he even had a few 'friends'. His home was nice, and held quite a few trinkets that he'd gathered up over the years.
So then why did he have to leave? Well he didn't have to. But he needed to.
You see, Aje was bored.
Lately he'd fallen into a routine. Which meant things were normal and he just hated for things to go that way. Normal was boring. There were no adventures, nothing new or unusual. Just plain boring normalcy. Ugh. It was enough to make him want to cry. So, he'd gone with some people to C'eridyall's Nau'ki. It was on Ma'aleca'andra, a place he'd never been to before and he thought maybe he could settle down here for a while.
He thought wrong. Mars didn't seem to be any different from Krypton, not really. They had their buildings and markets and people. The language was very easy to pick up, unlike Kryptonese which had taken him months to learn. The sky was pretty, perhaps, but nothing that stood out. Just another civilization. He sighed depressingly, his fingers tapping on the table as he sat behind one of the booth displays, mentally cursing for allowing himself to be tricked into coming along.
It'll be fun! Interesting! Something new and exciting!
Aje snorted. Liars.
Was about to stand up and leave when suddenly a small form dashed behind his booth. "What the--"
"Shh!"
A bit miffed at being ordered around, he complied, blinking as he saw three people go running past them. When the strange creature didn't move, he nudged it with his foot. "They're gone."
It came out of hiding and Aje was able to get a good look at him. Kryptonian? He supposed it could pass for one but...it was rather scrawny...
"Bruce!"
Watched the creature's eyes narrowed as a small Martian came closer. Bruce? That wasn't a Kryptonian name...
Then what was it?
"Bruce I'm so...I didn't me..." The Martian fell silent and Aje felt a small measure of pity for whatever it was he'd done. It must have been pretty bad if he couldn't even apologize for it. The strange shook his head.
"S'okay Xish'ilh, I'm getting tired of this too..." Without so much as a backwards glance, the two walked off together, chatting amongst themselves.
Grinning, Aje left the booth and started towards his ship. He had quite a few things to pack if he wanted to be settle in by nightfall...
()
Run run run run run run run run run!!
That was the only thing going through Xish'ilh and Bruce's minds as they raced across town, trying hard to lose the goons. It seemed today that they were being exceptionally smart and therefore impossible to ditch. They'd been going at it for close to thirty minutes now and they were starting to get tired. They couldn't go to the Aqi just yet. Stupid z'tyal'ik had yet to return from her little off planet trip. And of course it didn't occur to her to hire some other people to take over while she was gone..
Noooo that would have made their lives too frickin easy!
Xish'ilh took a sudden turn, dragging Bruce along with him and they watched as the goons continued on, oblivious to their hiding spot. The two sagged to the ground in relief. They did it finally. Safe. They were safe.
"How boring."
The safe feeling left; to be replaced by fear and disbelief. Bruce jumped and looked around for the speaker, only to frown. There was a person sitting on the roof. How...how could the goons not notice him? He was unbelievably tall. Goons...
The strange man hopped down from his perch, stretching in a loud manner. "I've been following you around for the past week and all you two seem to do is run." A yawn. "Don't you ever think about sticking up for yourselves?"
He blinked at hearing them groan. "What?"
"Let me guess." Xish'ilh cleared his throat. "You're weak. Stop running. Stop being a coward."
Bruce rolled his eyes, adding, "Maybe they're misunderstood and just lack companionship. Maybe all they need is a friend."
"Oh! Oh! Or maybe he'll tell us that we should give 'em the ol' one-two!" The Martian mocked, punching the air for emphasis. "Because that'll REALLY show 'em!"
"Or my personal favorite..." The two shared a look. "TELL someone."
The tones they spoke in had him smiling sheepishly. "Heard it all, huh?"
A snort. "Oh yeah."
He didn't really know what it was about them that made him follow them around. They were boring.
But there was one thing that kept bothering him... "Hey...hey you." He nodded towards Bruce. "What are you?"
Bruce shrugged. "Human."
His jaw dropped. Human?! With the little...sticks and...arrows and...animal skins?! Human? No...they were the laughing stocks of the entire galaxy! Humans were weak and dumb. It wasn't their fault; they were just children as far as evolution went...they changed so slow though. What took them centuries only took most decades...
Tilted his head to the side, taking in this...human. His eyes were an interesting shade of blue, sparkling with irritation and intelligence. His body was...scrawny...but was starting to shape up. Probably due to all the running he and his friend did.
Human.
Wow.
Boredom was gone.
"Human..."
Xish'ilh snickered as the stranger almost fell over in shock. "Yeah, human." His eyes twinkled mischievously. "And he can mind talk too."
"No way!"
Bruce shot his friend a dark look, shaking his head. "Yes, way." He shifted his bag on his shoulder. "Come on, Xish'ilh. We better get home."
"Wait! I'm Aje!"
They waved. "Sure, Aje. See you later."
They weren't interested in him. But he was in them. Very interested indeed.
()
"You know...I can probably help you with this little running problem of yours." Aje stated one day, from his usual perch after watching the two of them escape their pursuers yet again. They no longer jumped at his presence, but they didn't view him as a trustworthy person just yet. So they'd only talk to him for a few minutes before leaving. Not nearly enough to satisfy his everlasting curiosity. More. He needed to know more.
Human. Bruce was human. How did he manage to get here? How was he able to survive? He spoke Martian almost perfectly with nary an accent. Were it not for his outside appearance he would blend right in. He was human yet he wasn't. Bruce was different.
And Aje needed to know more.
"Oh really?" Xish'ilh stated and Aje had studied them long enough to realize that it was the Martian who did most of the talking.
He nodded. "Yep. Haven't you wondered how I'm able to follow you without you knowing it?"
They watched him leap down from his spot and when they blinked, he was gone.
Searched around for him yet didn't see him anywhere. Suddenly he appeared again, back in his spot and they gaped. "Woah! How'd you do that?!"
Again, it was Xish'ilh who spoke up and Aje had to fight the urge to pout. Wasn't the little human interested? "Ah ah, that's my secret."
"What else can you do?!"
Keeping his gaze on Bruce, he taunted, "Why, are you interested?"
Blue eyes locked with his and he was amazed at the fire that burned in those orbs.
"Can you teach us?" Bruce asked and Aje wasn't even aware he was nodding until the human had smirked.
Was slightly annoyed yet at the same time amused. He responded with a smirk of his own. "Okay then! Off we go!"
"Now?"
He scoffed. "No silly. I'm just going to show you where I live. We start tomorrow!"
()
Bruce wasn't sure why he told J'onn what Aje was planning on teaching him. If anything he should be telling Naculh or maybe Lhed Xojil. Not J'onn. But there was a part of him that insisted that he let his friend in on what he was doing. J'onn had kept his mouth shut even though Bruce was pretty sure he knew what was going on. A few times he had even covered for him when Naculh had started to ask too many questions.
He didn't like lying to his k'nichtka and Bruce appreciated what he was doing for him. So maybe that was why he had decided to include him in on what was going on.
"I don't like it."
And that had threatened to snap his patience right there. He quickly got a hold of his temper; something that was getting harder to do as the sols passed. Hopefully Aje could help him with that too.
"I know." Bruce flexed his fingers in an effort to keep from balling them into fists. "But I'm tired of letting those m'nktes walk all over me."
J'onn placed a hand on his shoulder and just like that the anger melted away. The Martian wasn't trying to be difficult, he was just worried. Okay, he could deal with that.
"You could always tell k'nichtka what's going on."
That got him a sigh. "Do you really think that's going to stop them?"
He bit his lip for a few seconds, then shook his head. "No. Probably not."
It wouldn't solve everything and there was a chance it would only make things worse but...well...hadn't he wanted Bruce to trust him? To confide in him? If he didn't like what he heard...well then that was his problem.
Besides, if Bruce learned to defend himself it'd be one less thing he'd have to worry about.
J'onn smiled slightly. "Good luck."
()
Aje's house was...weird.
The inside was covered in strange shiny little trinkets that evidently all had a purpose as he'd snapped 'don't touch that!' at Bruce when he'd went to poke on of them. It was probably a good thing too. With his luck it would have shot him to Uranus or something...
One would think he'd learn not to touch anything shiny but...
Some just never seemed to learn.
At first glance it only appeared to have two floors. Yet when they walked down a staircase they quickly discovered that there was a wide basement like room. It looked like it might have been dark at one point but now it was lit up brightly, showing the large mat that was set up in the middle. Aje flipped over them, landing on the mat smoothly. They stared at him for a while until he grinned. "Well? Give it your best shot."
Bruce gulped. "Uh...wait...shouldn't we start with the basics?!"
"NOPE!"
Two seconds later they were on the ground.
"Again!"
()
(Three weeks later)
This was it.
Five minutes to go and then class would be dismissed. Their class was usually dismissed about a few minutes ahead of everyone else; due to the b'ivnor's second job. Those few minutes usually were enough to give them a head start over the goons. They wouldn't dream of taking said goons on in a fight yet, they weren't nearly ready. So they'd stick to running. Except this time, they had to high-tail it all the way to Aje's, who lived on the other side of the city.
It was enough to make Xish'ilh weep. Glanced over towards Bruce, and was puzzled. His friend wasn't looking at the clock like usual. No. He appeared calm and completely relaxed.
"Bruce--" The b'ivnor shot him a warning look and he tried again. "Bruce...are you okay?"
"Yeah. Why?"
He narrowed his eyes. "What are you planning?"
"I want you to turn invisible."
Xish'ilh sighed. Not this again. "I told you--"
"Trust me."
The Martian paused, considering it. The human didn't use that phrase much, but when he did...well...he usually had something planned. And his plans had a 98.9 percent chance of working. But what? They couldn't hide in the classroom. And Tib'zh and Iloyu would definitely be waiting for them outside...
So then...
The answer came to him and he pouted. "Aje taught you something, didn't he?"
"Maaayyyyybe."
A peeved look. "Why does he like you so much better then me?"
"Because I'm human."
Xish'ilh scowled. "That is so wrong."
"Tell me about it."
Was considering on doing so, until he remembered why he'd opened the link to Bruce in the first place. Should he do it? Well...if nothing else he could just stop being invisible. It wasn't like he was stuck in that form once he did change...
"Okay. Fine."
The b'ivnor dismissed them and he spent a few seconds cramming everything into his bag as quickly as possible. "Okay Bru—" He looked up and gaped, realizing he was completely alone in the classroom. What the—he ditched me! M'nkte!
Growling, he rendered himself invisible and stealthily sneaked out of the room, managing to avoid having the goons notice him. Then he started towards Aje's house, stomping the entire way there. Mjretvos Bruce! Trust me he says. Oh I'll trust him alright!
So caught up in his thoughts he screamed like a little tyfixl when Bruce suddenly jumped out of no where and landed right next to him. "GAH!! Don't DO that!"
His friend grinned. "So?"
"You ditched me!"
That got him a blank stare. "Please tell me you're joking."
"NO! You DITCHED ME!"
Bruce sighed, shaking his head. "I didn't ditch you, mjretvos."
Xish'ilh blinked and he was alone again. It took a few more seconds for it to sink in and when it did he sucked in a surprised breath. "Whoa. Aje taught you that?"
"Yep." He reappeared and the two continued on the way to Aje's house. "If nothing else we can just dodge them until we learn enough to--"
"WHOOP SOME SERIOUS IOT'LAZ!"
A sigh. "Not what I was going to say but...yeah."
()
I'm sorry. .. I'm not happy with this chapter. Not really. So...I'm sorry if you guys think it sucks. So sorry. / Gomen ne.
MARTIAN VOCABULARY TAHM!! WOOOTTTT!!
K'nichtka-mother, mom, mama, ma'.
K'nika-kid, child
B'ivnor-teacher
Aqi-library
Yvidn'm-school
Nau'ki- festival
z'yal'ik-bitch
Iot'laz- Ass
M'nkte- dick, jerk, asshole...