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This story was first and foremost inspired by a friend of mine at the time by name of ChibiXzaide. The original concept of Kiros was hers, as well as the idea of Irkens in slavery. It was her dream that I based this on. Though we've fallen out and I continue to write this independently, I still want others to acknowledge that she is the creative genius behind this. I wouldn't have written any of this if not for her.

"Kiros…" I suddenly was broken from my momentary dominance over the human by Maya's quiet voice, and with a quick start I glanced a little furtively over my shoulder to her, my antennae lowering somewhat and a bit of a sheepish smile coming unbidden to me as I thought for a split second that she would be angry with me for being so rude to her friend, no matter how much he'd deserved it. But no, when I saw her face, practically glowing with pride as she grinned faintly, standing up and pulling me into a tight hug. I tensed up a bit automatically, wondering why she seemed so happy… It wasn't as if anything I'd said had been any more than the truth, after all, and since she hadn't looked like she was going to stand up for herself, well… someone had to do it, and she was my friend, after all. My only friend.

You could call it paying her back for all the help she gave me, but really I just did it because she needed the help… I think…

"Thank you so much…" She kept me in the hug with the strength that almost made me want to try to pry her arms off and ask what was wrong with her, but that would have been pretty rude, even I could tell that, and with a heavy sigh I gave up on hoping that she might let me go all that soon, just letting myself relax the tiniest bit. Apparently somewhere in my rant at Salamander I'd done or said something that she was grateful to me for… maybe I'd ask her what it was later. At least with her clinging to me like she was it wasn't as cold to just be standing there. I could feel my back tingling as the chill air of the room began to seep through me again, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling, but where he arms were around me the chill didn't reach; only a comfortable warmth.

But I had to admit; this was pretty awkward, too… If I had a choice between either having a human clinging to me, or being cold…. Well, I'm not sure I could say which one I would choose.

"You're… welcome…?" I offered, even my voice having become a bit flustered and tentative as I wasn't quite sure if I should be saying that when I didn't know quite what she was thanking me for yet. But I felt that I had to do something, so even more awkwardly, I raised a hand, gently patting her back a bit. Though to my slight relief and a bit of dismay, as her arms loosening had that unpleasant effect of allowing the cold to seep in again, she let go at my movement, looking to me with an expression that I could only deem as some version of smugness. Why were humans so hard to read? It was almost as if they had all these expressions just so they could mean the complete opposite most of the time, just to make it hard for me to read them…

"Any chick out o' the egg could see that 'e's not a slave, now, mate," Salamander broke through the moment with a voice that felt as if it were rocks embedding themselves into my skin as slowly and jaggedly as possible, and as I turned my head to glare at him, all my confusion immediately turning to hostility and annoyance, he sat back with a thoughtful expression, putting his fingertips together to complete the picture and locking Maya in his ice blue gaze. In that moment I saw something different about this otherwise smart-assed human…. There seemed to be a serious side to him after all, a side that had a mind behind it that could easily run circles around the best other humans had to offer. For the first time since meeting him I felt a small flicker of apprehension towards this creature. I should have known earlier, when I had seen him take on those gang members. He was more dangerous that he chose to let himself appear... Suspicion clouded my gaze, now, as well, I knew it; Maya had always said that no matter what I did, my eyes always gave me away.

"No, 'Mander, he's not. And for as long as I've known him, he never has been." Maya answered quickly and surely, her words ringing truly and her voice back to that strong, nearly defiant tone that I had grown so used to hearing in the past few months. I turned my head to her for a moment, watching her as she seemed to spontaneously regain that spark of life that made her emerald eyes so fiery, her countenance turning from a small, confused and scolded human girl to that of a natural born leader, someone who could command armies if she chose, because she believed for what she was fighting for. As I watched her, she raised a hand to flip back a stray lock of her brown hair, the movement very nearly challenging Salamander to disbelieve her statement.

Leave it to Maya to stare down anyone who gets in her way…I thought smugly, twitching one of the muscles on my head so that the sweeping scythe at the end of my antennae flicked in the air with a quick, nearly indecipherable movement. If my eyes really did display what I was thinking, then I hoped Maya could see how proud I was at that moment to see her so much like her old self. Heh… it was odd to think that I'd ever be proud of a human, much less want them to know that. Living in that house… it had changed me, I guess. I'd never known anything really good in my life that I could remember until then… I'd always been so suspicious of everybody and everything.

Well… I still was suspicious… just not as much.

"Then you know what this means, don't you?" his words were even, his posture never changing as the atmosphere of the room sudden got quite a bit more serious. Ugh, I felt like I was some sort of spectator in a particularly important game of chess… except I was just a cold Irken standing in a freezing room lit by a bunch of pitiful candles. Yeah… that was a strange mental picture… even worse to think that this may be one of the most important discussions I ever heard in my life.

"Of course I do, I'm not an idiot." I was amazed at how calm her voice was, now…. Still challenging, still strong…. But just… calm….

"This was the one we'd been looking for since 'e got out… I assume, mind you, that 'e requested that you not give out 'is whereabouts. Otherwise you'd be in more than a spot 'o trouble anyway. But after the reports died down an' all I thought 'e'd just been cut down by a street gang or got caught out in the rain…. You found the free Irken…" He fell silent for a moment, his thoughtful look deepening as he seemed to brood over that, "Maya, I always knew you'd be great… wonder if you ever knew 'ow great you're gonna be…."

So maybe I had been wrong in thinking that I was confused before, because hadn't that insufferable male just been threatening to take her right out of the InRA for what she had supposedly 'done'? Wait, no… he had thought that I might have been a slave, but that still didn't explain why he said something like that. Yes, Maya would be great… but nothing in her greatness had anything to do with me. And even if it did, where was he going with it, and would he get to the point anytime soon? This conversation was just all around uncomfortable, not to mention that despite the towels, my back was still quite wet from the greenish fluid I'd been laying in… I was only glad that the stuff didn't turn to water in the air. Or perhaps I was just too numb to feel it if it did?

Ugh, no… nothing could make me too numb to feel that.

"How the hell do you know my name!?" My mind snapped back almost as quickly as my gaze snapped over as Maya yelled that out, her eyes wide and her posture suddenly rigid. I immediately brought my attention fully back to the situation on the instant, feeling the muscles that controlled the movement of my antennae contract tightly to bring them standing on end. The cold of the room intensified again, suddenly feeling as if it were emanating from my bones as I felt the shock of the realization bring its full force upon me. Salamander had never been told Maya's real name in all the conversations I'd heard, and unless she had told him sometime during when they'd talked before, he shouldn't have known it at all. And judging from Maya's reaction, she definitely hadn't told him a thing. That was probably due to that 'confidentiality' that all of the members of the InRA held in highest regard.

And it didn't help that Salamander was still sitting there, looking very seriously at Maya. I felt myself grow slightly nervous as I saw how intensely his icy blue eyes gazed at her, my own eyes searching the room for routes of escape should things turn ugly, as I knew that they easily could. It was a bad situation in that case, as with the ice storm still raging outside, even if Maya could escape, I couldn't, and going out into those temperatures was just asking for some form of death, even for a human. I knew that we would both fight him, but I also knew that we would both lose, too….

It wasn't a pleasant thing to be contemplating.

Breathe Kiros, just breathe…

Salamander's sudden warm smile was something I wasn't expecting.

"Who d'ya think looked over your application into the organization, hm?" his reply was smooth, and as I just rose a brow, I both felt and heard Maya beside me suck in a sharp breath. I hoped for a small moment that the effect was simply caused by surprise, and not anything harmful, but as I was more focused on making certain that this other human made no wrong moves, I couldn't exactly spare a glance to her, as much as I may have wanted to make sure she was still alright. There was still something that I didn't trust about him, and nothing in the world could make me forget that hawk-like gaze from before, how cold his ice blue eyes had been as he stared at her… "I'll tell ya one thing, Maya… you've been the focus o' the inner circle for quite some time now. And as o' today… well, welcome to it."

As I was still puzzling over those words, he moved to stand, and though I was still highly suspicious of him, at the moment he didn't seem to want to hurt either of us, so I just narrowed my eyes to make it clear that he was 'on parole' as the humans said, radiating as much quiet hostility as I could muster up. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Maya look about as puzzled as I was, though she at least would have more idea of what Salamander meant by his words. Being in her home only three months, I had heard of the 'inner circle' only in passing on the InRA site, and no one there had known much about it other than that's where the orders came from. I supposed it was necessary for secrecy, but it still seemed wrong. There could be all manner of ulterior motives from a secret ring of higher ups.

Slowly, or perhaps the movement was only made slow by the seriousness that permeated the moment, Salamander extended one hand to Maya, and I recognized an attempt at a handshake. As Maya began to raise her own arm to take his hand, I felt the twitch in my skin as my antennae lowered down, slowly flattening themselves against my head. Bristling? Bristling was a gentle term for it, really… but I held my tongue with an effort. Something in me was just flaring… I think I seriously wanted to bite the guy.

"Arthur… Arthur Atrieyu, at your service," he said as he took her hand with a firm grip, shaking it once before letting go. Unconsciously, I let out the breath I had been holding, having been waiting for all manner of horrible things to happen in that small instant, and silently wondered why Salamander… or Arthur, as he had just revealed, would do such a thing as tell his real name to someone who could easily turn him in… Not like Maya would, but the question remained; how did he know that she wouldn't? "Me and m'dad are the founders of the movement… and we both want you in on it. Maya, you are the single most determined person I've ever set my eyes on, and you really feel this cause. I can tell you do. I could from the beginnin'."

I remained silent. I wanted to look over, wanted to see what reaction Maya had. But I wouldn't let myself do it. I just kept looking at Salamander… Arthur… all thoughts running through my head focusing on how he could use this a thousand different ways to turn it against us, could spring and ruin all forms of tentative truce we seemed to have gained over the past few minutes. I couldn't even feel the cold anymore; I wasn't sure if that was a bad or good thing. Everything in the silence was just….

Breathing…. Even the ragged sound of breathing…. Sensitive hairs along the entire length of my antennae picked up the tiny air currents, the disturbances that were classified as breathing. I could hear my own, past the blood rushing through, my heart thumping against my ribcage. Salamander's breathing was short, deep, but almost too quiet to make out…. The breath of someone waiting, holding their breath…. Wanting to know….

Maya's had ceased altogether….

That, out of all things, made me look over to the girl, panic flaring in my mind. Impossible things flit through my head in that split second. Could she have died standing right there next to me? The thought was numbing, and it was with great relief that I saw she was still very much alive. Alive and starting at Salamander like he was some sort of crazy demon from the abyss. For some reason or other, I felt a tiny glimmer of satisfaction at that, but it was gone in an instant as I remembered that in looking over to Maya, I had let my guard down, had allowed Salamander a chance to attack. Mentally, I grimaced, wincing down, but that image in my mind was only displayed by a sudden blink on my part, my gaze snapping right back to where it had been. I couldn't afford to be careless. Not when so much was on the line.

"I guess… that means our lives are gonna get a whole lot more interesting from now on, Kiros…." It took me a full five seconds to actually realize that she was talking to me, but the familiar yet somehow more prominent movement of the thin but strong muscles under my scalp showed me that my antennae had automatically risen at my name. Interesting? I had a feeling that was putting it mildly. Harrowing, death-defying…. Maybe terrifying, yeah…. Interesting was just such a general term. But, nonetheless, the words brought with them a small sense, a flitting moment, where it felt like everything was just…. normal. And it was for that that I found myself giving my friend the tiniest smile. It was genuine, though, and I hoped that's what counted. I don't think I could have managed a bigger smile with how stressed I was at the moment.

"I guess…." It was the first time I'd spoken since just after my outburst, and the words felt strange to say, like it was someone else doing the talking, and I was just sitting at the sidelines, watching the goings on. In a way, I guessed I was… I mean; look at what was happening in front of me! This was something…. Big. I think I could sense it in my inner being. Maya was becoming more than just something great stuck in a less-than-great spot in life… she was getting a chance to become a legend. I was just… well…. standing here watching it all.

I wasn't even sure if I was a part of it…. Did I even want to be? The question bumped around in my head a bit, turning, twisting to every angle. In a way, it brought a sense of shame to me as I remembered some of the events of my sleep, and some of the earlier memories I had of my Grandmother. Everyone kept telling me that I was the one destined to bring the Irken race back to freedom. Everyone kept calling me Prince… but what kind of Prince would sit and watch while the very race that had enslaved his people took the lead in freeing them?

The effect was like having cold water splashed in my face. Shocking, chilling, and utterly painful.

I had to stop wasting time and be what I was born to be….

"Now that we're all here," I spoke with that same feeling of numb detachment. This was a great moment, a moment that could make or break me, as far as I was concerned… and it felt disturbingly like that moment… such a short time ago but so utterly long, when I had taken the baseball bat, had lifted it over my head and brought it down. Each syllable was like the wet, cracking impact of metal against flesh and bone. I wanted to stop, but even more, I wanted to speak, to be that leader everyone expected me to be… to let that bat fall until I couldn't even lift it anymore, "Maybe we can figure out how we're going to free the Irkens… I know we can do it… if no one else can."

I wasn't sure if the words were lifting a weight off of me or piling a new load on.

Responsibility…. There were certain kinds of responsibility. When I had been a slave, well…. I had been responsible for getting my job done. But that… that was just for me. I hadn't had to think about anyone else. Not my master, not the other Irkens, not the workers. I hadn't cared about them…. But this… this was a whole different type of responsibility altogether. It… felt like something important, like I was actually doing something that mattered for once. That feeling was so strange, but I think I liked it…. I liked doing something that would change my future, and maybe the future of others that had been like me.

I couldn't be the one standing on the sidelines forever.

Good job, Prince Kiros… step number one. Now you only have about a million more to go…

Eyes… I could feel their eyes on me, one pair emerald green like the leaves and the other as clear a blue as the ice that coated everything outside the house. I think I'd surprised them… but I wasn't sure what there was about it that could have. It was their purpose wasn't it, to free the Irkens? Maybe it was because I had deigned to actually include Salamander in on the 'we'; as little as I liked or trusted the human, I knew that I needed his help. It was painful even to admit to myself, needing help, but I'd had enough practice while living with Maya, and I figured I'd better get used to admitting it a lot more from now on.

As defiant as I could be, drawing myself up, I looked at them both. For a flitting instant, I wished I were a little taller…. Even Maya was a full three inches above me in height, and whatever effect I may have been going for seemed dimmed down by that insignificant fact.

I waited for them to speak.

"Now or never," Maya was the first to speak, those jade eyes gleaming with that inner flame, a flame that was fast becoming an inferno. Salamander himself was grinning, a slow grin that spread across his face with the same resolve as frost forming over and window. Something within me was boosted at the feeling that both of them would be in on this… that I wouldn't be alone in my plans, and I didn't have to be. It was with a decisive movement that Maya put her hand out, the soft, pale peach contours of it seeming strangely bright in the dim room, illuminated gently with the flickering flames of the candles placed all around. I found myself just staring at it, not quite sure what to do. Shake hands…? But no… it didn't look like that was what she wanted to do…

Salamander provided the answer, surprisingly, reaching out with his own hand and placing it on top of hers. For a moment, I was confused, and again I found myself bristling slightly, but the confusion took precedence, as the movement seemed… strange. Cautiously, I raised my own hand, reaching out, and placing it on top of both of theirs. Mine was very cold, I could tell that just from feeling the heat that wafted off from theirs, and I could feel Maya's gaze become flittingly worried for a second, before this time it was Salamander that spoke, towering over both of us, his flame red hair looking like actual fire as he stood in the candlelight.

"And the meek rose up to conquer the demon from the fiery pits of hell. Not because they were weak, no, but because together, they were strong," his intonation seemed much like some sort of prophecy, and my skin prickled with it. It was about us…. I wondered for a second if he thought we would succeed. I supposed he must; no one could afford to get into any kind of battle with the mindset that they would lose. It only made it more likely that you would, "For the Empire."

"For the Empire," Maya's words joined his, and I looked up from our hands, gazing into the pair's eyes, a grin growing on my face without any real intent to form one. This feeling was so rare; it felt, in this moment, like if I wanted to, I could just walk out into the ice, walk out and scream my defiance to this world and it's people, and they would crumble.

I had hope.

"For the Empire," I finished.

We have a lot of planning to do.

3 yes, indeed! Planning... oh how I wonder what will happen next