Welcome back to Fire in the Snow! I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter and I am really excited for this one because it's going to be a big reveal session! Have fun and I love you all!
MY BETA READER IS ON VACATION! THIS CHAPTER IS NOT BETAED AS OF 2/26/2020 AND WILL BE UPDATED ON 2/27/2020 TO FIX ANY REDUNDANCY OR SPELLING MISTAKES! THANKS!
Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, major character death, mentions of past abuse, perilous themes, suggestive themes, brief heavy language, and general adult content.
ONE CYCLE IN THE RECENT PAST
"Ow, shit!"
Red dropped his soldering iron and brought the charred tips of his sensitive fingers to his mouth when he felt the sting and burn of melted flesh overtake his senses. Damn. Not again. He reached up with a discouraged pout and tugged his safety goggles free, tossing them angrily to his mattress and flinching when they hit the harsh titanium of the wall and cracked cleanly along the cheap lens. He shook his head and flattened his antennae when he heard sudden, lethargic movement down past the hatch, listening intently for a few seconds more as someone rummaged lazily through their food supply then retreated into the darkness to have a quick midnight snack before snoozing once more. As soon as their door swung closed with a soft click, Red groaned, slinging his chin into his palms and gripping at his bone structure when his already unbearable frustration went on the fritz and boiled up into his scarred chest to remind him that he was nothing more than an appalling failure. He was the laughing stock of the Universe in his mind, a dunce unable to figure out basic chemistry and wiring to finally put together everything he needed to relieve the rest of his team.
He couldn't have them around anymore…this mission was getting far too dangerous.
They all knew in the back of their razed, weary minds that they were on the road to nowhere, preparing for an elongated death sentence that would surely come should they pursue their fated attacks on the Callnowian Empire before turning on their own regime to undermine everything that Del had done. For the past several months, Red had inconspicuously watched every flutter of Skoodge's hands as he meticulously tightened nuts and bolts on the ship, had eyed Tak's navigation skills from over their breakfast table as she lazed them through the cosmos, and had stolen a few of Zim's horrendously scrawled notes on instructional bomb making to figure out the dubiously complex venture for himself. It wasn't that he didn't need or want them all around; in fact, he cherished their presence as a collective and found solace in the laughter they shared over every transmission blunder their idiotic Tallest gave to the public over their personal devices and relished in the adrenaline he felt when he caught sight of the thrilled glimmer in Tak's gorgeous eyes as they were engaging in a risky heist together. He'd pilfered so much in the past cycles, stocking up on everything he may need for the shift away from his currently four person team; food, caloric drinks, raw sugar for emergency rations, bits of metal, dormant plasma cores for the ship, jugged bathing bromine, clothing, identity cards, pens, stationary, and the like. It was getting difficult to hoard everything in his tiny twenty by twenty, cramped quarters at the top of the ship, but he had somehow managed to keep most of his venture a hushed secret from the others while they celebrated and drank below. Tak merely thought that he was giving in to his innate sense of commonplace greed, while Skoodge and Zim were so caught up in their own strange prizes and little victories that they hadn't noticed the sheer weight increase of the ship over the past few months. He needed to teach himself everything he could possibly know about how to survive and upkeep his surroundings by himself…and he needed to get rid of his team.
There was no easy way to do this. Red had attempted the gut-wrenching, horrific conversation a few times in the past as he lay stagnant and cold next to his then girlfriend while she wrapped a protective arm over his bare chest and whispered sweet nothings against his antennae, thinking she was bringing him a sense of balmy comfort when she was only hammering the final rusted nail in her own coffin. She didn't understand, or maybe she did on some level and chose to hear what she wanted, tuning him out completely with light kisses smeared against his cheeks and careful fingers tracing his jawline into the night before he would give up the venture altogether and roll onto his side to stare at the far wall until she fell gently asleep and allowed him to leave. The mornings were always the same. Tak would get up and wonder where he had escaped to only to find him scrawling feverishly in one of his many primitive notebooks to tick off every failed attempt and sink further and further into the bottomless, yawning pit of despair that was beginning to consume him. Then, much to his hollow, heartbreaking displeasure, Red had tried driving her away with a sudden fictitious personality shift and his abrupt 'need' to fight about any and everything he could find. At first, Tak thought it was all a ridiculous joke, shaking her head in amusement when he would snatch candy away or complain that she had stolen the wrong kind of cereal and that he refused to eat something so disgusting. She put up with it a lot longer than Red had been expecting, chipping away at his morality and cracking him at a soulful level when she would glare back and try to make him see reason he already knew was there but could never acknowledge for the agonizing terror that she would stay.
In hindsight, he should have abandoned them all on a populated moon somewhere and been done with it. But, there was no going back from that now, was there?
Their relationship deteriorated to nothing more than unfeeling, tension-laden sex and impersonal stares across the cockpit on the rare times he came by to wordlessly toss snacks in her direction, wanting to cry when she would pull away and silently shudder across his worn mattress to relieve herself from the familiarly distant touch she had once craved like saccharine honey now festering within her like an oozing gash of pus and muck making her sick to her stomach. He could see it. The monumental effort it took her to take what he still felt cynically obligated to give surviving through her undying need to make things work for them and mend the passionate, fiery exchange they had once shared. She would never know that all of the torment and strife she had been unwittingly tossed into like a ragdoll was an intensive, compassionate effort to save her life and her soul from the catastrophic destruction Red was hurtling towards in his lonesome.
And…there was something else.
Something. Something he didn't understand.
Tak was beautiful. She was soft yet rugged at the same time with an ability to think and rationalize deadly situations beyond anyone that Red had ever met in his days. He loved having her around and didn't want to picture his existence without her since they'd met in the medical dungeons of Ipi's home, if he was honest with himself, and enjoyed seeing her grow and change as an individual into the powerhouse of a woman she had become. But…their first time was a fluke. He couldn't deny that he found her advances appealing and infinitely comforting in the frigid arctic winds of the Callnowian countryside and the exhaustion from their reconnaissance trek had set his mind into a swimmy, woozy lack of inhibitions and rationality. He wanted it. She wanted it. However, come dawn, he no longer felt the burning desire to hold her or feel her close to him.
It was a mistake and that something crept back into the woven fibers of his concealed personality to tug and hitch him apart like a thin strip of fabric.
Red had known since his admittance into the Academy that his preferences were a bit more than atypical in their society. He felt an urge for softness and kindhearted compassion, for vibrant talks about life and the swelling staccato of dance as he waltzed along and held someone close, and felt the yearn to settle down and find someone who cherished every piece of his broken personality and attempted to glue each jagged fragment together to finally come to a solidified whole.
What he didn't feel the urge for was a woman.
It wasn't wrong for him to love a man. Irk had become a wildly open and much more progressive society that allowed for all forms of love and companionship as long as a partner was approved by the Control Brains and heads of state before a relationship was officialized, but there was something within Red that told him to keep his hidden interest a secret. He'd watched others in the Academy, stared at their peaceable sleeping faces at night as they bunked in the gloom and grew fascinated with the amazing dips and subtle sharpness to the male physique he itched to run his hands over. He'd kissed a few of his classmates in the showers, usually on obnoxious dares from his snide friends to get under their skin and humiliate them, but couldn't deny the feeling he got when he approached his flippant, fleeting crushes and connected with them in such a profoundly intimate manner, even if they wanted to punch his lights out when it was all said and done. It ate at him…oh how it ate at him. Tak had known of his interests and experimentation, but had expressed a belief on more than one occasion that it was probably just harmless fun and, once he had been with a woman other than the nauseating forced relationship he had been given with Sen, he would come to realize the fullest potential he had as a man and give up his pointless fantasies.
No. Red was gay. He knew he was but he kept quiet and focused on the mission. He merely blamed their relationship on one too many shots of hot, spiced whiskey to keep warm and a need for companionship to push away the numbing, depressive ache caught in the pit of his stomach. He loved Tak as a friend…nothing more.
Irk, he was overthinking again, wasn't he?
He peeled his hands away from his jawline with a heavy sigh, staring blankly down at the, what, fourteenth failed attempt at constructing a viable explosive? If he could master Zim's area of expertise, he would finally be ready to abandon them somewhere where they would be safe and could live without the prospect of losing everything they held so dear to their spooches. He decided to try again, dimming the powerful radiance shimmering from his lamp before taking up the soldering iron and flicking it on as it leaked a tiny stream of molten metal and splashed perilously to his table to leave deep, pitted streaks. No. He could do this.
He could do this.
THE HARROWING PRESENT; IPI'S MANSION; CALLNOWIA
He could do this!
H-He could do this!
Red kept a tight hold on Purple's shellshocked form as they darted and careened past terrified, wholly puzzled science drones of all ages and races, slipping and sliding around exam tables loaded with sharp tools and throbbing organ specimens to keep up with the dominating path Zim was recklessly paving. He tore over equipment and grabbed for lone hydrogen tanks, tossing them over their collective shoulders and firing with heated PAK lasers back at the volatile, swirling gas until it ignited in an explosive display of grisly, charred flesh and excoriating, blood-curdling screams of pure agony that drew menacing cackles from his deranged smile. Red felt his shallow breathing race a mile a minute as he collided with a Callnowian phlebotomist, spilling vials of gooey, precious blood to the floor as he skidded past and tried with all his might to keep himself somewhat mentally sound for the sake of the unraveling novice struggling to keep up behind him. Every heavily scarred muscle in his overworked body burned and strained with every sharp corner rounded and sterile tray avoided as Purple faltered and raked his claws along the opulent wallpaper in an effort to slow them down. No, they couldn't afford to stop now! Red thought fast, spinning dexterously on his heel and snatching him around the waist as he panted and labored against the lack of muscle tone he'd been so viciously gifted with after cycles of torrent abuse, throwing out his PAK legs as Zim covered them from the front and tore through swarms of violently screeching guards and heavy, blistering canon fire. Red ducked down and heaved, slinging Purple up over his shoulder before he could protest and taking off on his stout mechanical extensions after the tiny demon setting every noxious chemical he could find alight to paint his own gorgeous, personal inferno of hell raging around them like a firestorm.
"W-What are you doing?! I can take care of myself!" Purple demanded over the boom of another rifle burst colliding with the wall to their left and sending shards of gold dust and titanium beating back to sting at their skin. He covered his face and coughed, yelping when his protector dipped suddenly to avoid a slew of blinding green ammunition aimed at his PAK. "You're only slowing yourself down, Red!"
"No, you were slowing us down when you couldn't keep up, idiot!" Red growled hectically back, fumbling to a stop as Zim threw open a rusted service door and barked something inaudible over the commotion. "Would you just shut up already and let me do my job?!"
"Pardon me, Mr. High and Mighty! Sorry I keep getting in your way and causing so much trouble for your stupid face and your stupid mission!" Purple slung his arms around Red's neck for leverage as he vaulted through the hatch and slammed it shut, quickly forgetting his petty fight as a group of Callnowian guards slammed into the metal and attempted to use their key cards to unlock it. "R-Red! Red, the door, the door! We need to-"
"Let Zim handle this." Zim mumbled from below, waltzing forward on cocky feet as he sifted through his PAK for anything he could use to jam the hinges, finding nothing and moving to weld the steel to the frame for a temporary fix. "Finally, some peace and quiet at last. Now, let's go, and keep your irritating voices down for once."
Red took the lead, retracting his mechanical extensions and gingerly setting Purple to the chilly ground as they ascended the grubby back service entrance. Zim had passed off his pistol but kept his senses sharp and alert, quivering antennae rocketing into every moist drip and clank of metallic friction echoing through the hopefully empty stairwell. The sounds of the guard could be heard pounding ruthlessly at the door from below as they scrambled frantically to find an Irken capable of melting Zim's rugged, unpracticed handiwork, screeching into wavering headsets for backup that would hopefully come from a different direction than up. Purple followed close at Red's heels, intermittently digging his claws into the canvas of his belt when every tiny pinprick of a faint sound would catch him off guard and toss him back into the terrified mindset of sudden death and organ squeezing torment they all faced for performing something so horrendously perilous. The danger and dread hanging in the air was palpable and stung at raw cheeks like buzzing electrical currents desperate for a way to ground themselves, setting pulses to tempos beyond the healthy norm and mollifying train wrecked minds to nothing more than the instinctual need to survive and make it back out into the light of day. They had to get out of here. They had to make it to the twentieth floor and strangle the truth out of Ipi before Sen was somehow able to find her way back on her sliced feet to come after them. Gross. That was the last thing Red wanted to see, his ex-fiance's severed tendons dangling against the floor as her obliterated face snarled and shuddered violently after them all through the horrific shadows to bring forth the deepest, most disturbing nightmare imaginable. They'd turned to zombified versions of their former selves, unable to feel pain or sickness and driven on by the very greed that probably prompted them to do whatever they had immorally concocted and shot into their unfortunate flesh in the first place. But now wasn't the time for scientific exploration or pondering; now was the time for action.
Zim raised a swift hand from behind, bringing it to his lips and halting the group in their hushed tracks as they watched with bated breath when he narrowed his eyes and crept up a few metallic stairs. He paused, listening intently and motioning for Red to shroud Purple when he swore he heard some kind of movement creeping along through the busted out fluorescent lighting. Wait what was-
Bang.
Red froze, antennae ringing before he turned away with a startled, unbelieving shout of terror as something warm and wet bounced and sprayed against his clammy skin, painting him with the agonizing suffering he knew he would draw a close to Lavender Fire someday. Brilliant pinks and churning magentas dripped down his trembling front as he took a deep shuddering breath and caught sight of his now completely headless comrade spilling over the edge of the stairwell and oozing with eddying color and amorphous shapes he could no longer make out as a cohesive whole. Heat. Nausea. Disoriented dissociation. Plasma fire from above. The door caving in below. They were trapped here, destined to die alone and cold as Red collapsed hard to his knees and immediately cried out when his hands landed in the puddle of indistinct life that had been pumping luminously through his friend's veins just moments before he was snuffed out and carried away like peaceful steam. Zim…Zim was dead? First beautiful, strong Tak had been sliced open by the unfeeling canon blast of Sen's emotionless fleet. Intelligent, happy-go-lucky Skoodge had been riddled with holes and burned to death as he choked on enough smoke to pop his delicate lungs. And now….n-now…? No. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be gone! Red didn't know where to look, staring down at the visceral, gut-wrenching carnage heaped over the edge of their high perch and leaking like a gooey, lazy waterfall of tissues and squirming platelets to the floor below as heavy boots ascended to their location. Purple landed at his side, frantically spewing something….s-something Red could no longer understand when he felt what little light remained in his dulled vision collapse and fade to nothing more than the phantom of what once was.
The mission was over.
They'd lost.
Red had lost his home. He'd lost his family. He'd lost any ability he had to return to the planet he loved more than anything in this callous, dammed Universe. His people had pinned him as a traitor and a defector to the state, and the only man he had left in this world was someone who had harshly rejected him hours before because they were still miles apart.
"Look at me!"
Red stared down at his white, insipid knuckles as he unintentionally ignored the panicked voice twirling around his quivering stalk and brought a trembling, unsteady hand to his cheeks to try and mop away the blowback of misty blood that had clouded his already wavering, distorted vision before Purple grabbed him ruthlessly by the shoulders and reared back. An authoritative, open-handed smack stung vehemently across his face followed by a smooth palm brushing away the pain as his eyes flew wide and his autopilot was slammed off. Iron clung to the atmosphere as the stench of fresh blood took over his senses and caused him to heave a ferocious cough, restarting his system completely as his bewildered crimson gaze locked onto the viciously unwavering, indomitable flash of crazed amethyst singeing his soul and drawing him in towards everything he never realized he would need.
"Pur…Purple what-"
"Get up and give me your gun! It's just you and me now, and I'm a better shot!"
Purple didn't wait for Red's disconcerted, stuttering response, reaching down to where his pistol had clamored to the grating beneath their feet before flipping the safety and squinting expertly down the sight, firing a single, thunderous streak just as an Irken guard rounded the level above and went to shout something back to his squad. He planted his feet firmly on the step and grabbed for his friend's shoulder to forcibly tug him up to his feet, maneuvering them around the heartrendingly devastated body of tiny Zim paling and turning to nothing more than a half-formed, stiffened cadaver with every passing second. Red finally got his head back in the game as he fought off his pallidly petrified tears in favor of intimidation when a second squadron rounded the curve of the stairwell from below, screeching in foreign languages that were quickly translated to accented Irken when Purple trained his pistol to the offensive cornering them from above.
"Stop and throw down your weapon! We have orders not to shoot!"
"Not to shoot?! You killed one of my teammates and you wanna come in here and talk to me about peace?!" Purple's tone was alarmingly hot and guttural, a twinge of nervousness and horrified anxiety drowned out by his need to stand his ground like a caged animal. "Back off or I'll do exactly what you did to my friend!"
A stocky spokesman hustled his way to the front, shoving aside rigid guards and huffing when they glared back at him with an overwhelming intensity that set them all on the dangerous edge of spilling. "You're here to see Prime Minister Ipi, are you not?" He called back, keeping his own plasma pistol aimed directly between Purple's eyes as Red continued to collect himself. "She requested we take out the dangerous one! The explosive's expert you decided to drag in here and proceeded to let overpower our medical team!"
"Your medical team?! You mean the assault on our own people and the bloodletting these monsters have been putting us through for some project?! Tell me what's going on right now or I swear to Irk I'll use my artistic talent to paint the walls with your brains!" Purple was beginning to lose his cool, his fear rising like yeast through every crevice in his body as he tried to remember what little his awful captors had taught him about being a leader. Mediation was key if they were going to get out of this alive. "How about this? We both lower our weapons and you call a truce with your men. I'll pass you my gun and come with you to negotiate my terms with your Prime Minister."
The officer blinked his vast, bug-like gaze and shook his head before baring his teeth in distrust, obviously clueless to the sheer extent of the violence that had been thrust against their own people by the blatant look of unease soiling his expression. "I don't believe you! The damage you've caused already is in the millions and I'm not about to take any more chances with you two! You're coming with us right now and I'm not taking no for an answer!"
Irk, did this guy even listen to what he just said? Purple weighted his rapidly spiraling options, glancing over his shoulder to where Red had tentatively thrown his fists before his face to prepare for hand to hand engagement, bracing himself and tensing for the first of many offensives he was sure would come and litter his body with more unneeded, seemingly ugly, scars. If they fought, they would surely be overpowered and brought to death. But, if they gave in, even for a bit, they had a minute inkling of a chance to make it up to Ipi and get her alone. Maybe…just maybe they could salvage this mission yet. He locked eyes with his friend, nodding him on before throwing his arms wide and flinching as the swarm held their breath in tandem before relaxing in a stunned silence as he dropped his pistol over the edge of the stairwell, listening to it hit every mottled rung on the way down and finally bounce to the metal floor below.
"There. I pose no immediate threat to you or your team and I'm practically defenseless. You'll be able to see if my PAK legs are ready to burst, but I promise on my life and the sanctity of our planet that I'll keep them tucked away as you lead us on." Purple kept his demands short and resolute, scanning his opponents face and noting every gleam of turbulent unrest flashing behind his steely gaze as he thought. "Now that we're on the same page, why don't you take me and my friend here up to have a mature, rational talk with the Prime Minister so we can sort out this whole misunderstanding, hm?"
Red was stupefied by the poise and overbearing, resounding force pouring forth from his teammate as the officer wavered in his boots and whispered a few hushed mummers into his headset, noting the undeniable secretion of commanding pheromones even he was confused about. Soon enough, one by one, each and every sizzling barrel was pulled away from the unbending authority pounding through the proverbial brick wall of the moment and turning it to dust, nodding Purple forward as he reached down and took Red by the wrist to drag him on behind his continued display of fictitious prowess. He could feel his fingers trembling dangerously around his joint, hitching his claws into every vein and muscle he could feel and using Red's body as an anchor in the madness they were willingly thrusting themselves into as they gingerly left behind the last remaining memory of Zim's physical life and followed closely behind the menace that would lead them towards their uncertain, diabolical fatalities.
Hopefully they would finally make it out with answers…if they could formulate a plan.
Red was like a space heater under his touch, forcing Purple's chilly fingers to sweat as he meandered up and around the final level and was ushered through a brightly lit sunroom. They had gone all the way to the top, blasts of temperature-controlled warmth flooding through the hatch and smacking him square in the face as he squinted against the dryness he was met with. He tugged Red along, keeping him close for comfort and analyzing everything he could through his boiling dread for what was potentially to come. Plants of all sizes and genus hung from hand painted planters and soaked up the pale rays of the natural sun spanning the city of Bornau below, lighting up the long, narrow room and causing it to flourish with the illusion that they had just stumbled upon an ethereal, forgotten forest. A gargantuan living wall of spongy moss and fluttering vines crept along to their left, and fragrant, mouth-watering herbs spanned the length of the almost corridor like section to their right, peeking up from tiny geometric planters and giving off the richest of scents. Red broke free, tugging lightly away and brushing shoulders with Purple as the rest of their brutish escort moved off and locked the reinforced hatch behind them, leaving them like flies in a den of spiders to be devoured and sucked of their sweet, life-giving nutrients. Then there was the silence.
Harrowing, deafening silence.
"What is this place?" Purple ventured a bit of courage, taking a step forward and glancing down when his one bare foot made contact with a carpet of living grass craning up to kiss at his skin and almost nullify the stinging wounds that had razed through his delicate form. "If we weren't in life threatening danger, I would say this is pretty neat."
"I dunno, I never made it up this far when I was living here. I heard a rumor that Ipi was into horticulture because the plants were dying off under the snow but I had no idea that this existed." He responded apprehensively, swallowing thickly when the hatch behind them latched and immediately beginning to formulate a plan of escape before they were joined with unexpected company.
Purple didn't feel right, a deep throb of unsettling disquiet ripping through him like he was nothing more than tissue paper as he continued on and caught sight of two tailored suits pressed to perfection and laid out on a single table. They'd been color coordinated, one with a bright violet bowtie and the other with a stoic ruby tie and amethyst clip to suggest that under all that red there had once been something else. How passive aggressive was that? Purple reached out, brushing a single, shaky finger over the gorgeously expensive fabric and pulling free the jacket, admiring the tailoring and feeling a pang of alarm hit him when he noticed that his birth name had been stitched under the collar in finely embroidered, lavender thread to contrast deliciously with the stark black of the lapel. These had been made a while ago and every stitch had already settled into its final resting place amidst the silk lining, setting Purple's mouth to water with the idea of stepping into something silky smooth and no longer tattered. Red finally worked up enough gumption to follow, examining his own set and clicking the buckle on his belt as he hatched an idea and worked it off, tossing it to the side and not caring when it landed in an exotic shrub. He began to work off his respirator and undershirt, using whatever clean edge he could find to wipe Zim's nauseating blood from his skin as he tried to drown the sensation of hopeless despair that came with every passing second without his family by his side. No…he couldn't let them down now. Not after everything they had done and every place they had been through. This was their moment, and whatever happened here would be their legacy.
"You're not seriously going to put that on, are you? What if Ipi has put some kind of tracking in this stuff?" Purple hissed, flustering when he felt the back of his neck flush on impulse as Red finally stripped himself free of his underclothes and set to work on his pants. He turned away and glared at the living wall of magenta moss instead, rolling his eyes at the telltale rustle of fabric hitting the floor and knowing deep in his spooch that Red was probably naked.
"Nah, don't worry. I just looked them through with my ocular implants and I don't see anything out of place. It's all fabric, pretty nice fabric at that, and I was thinking we could use this as a fake status symbol to blend into the crowds and get into places after we mess with Ipi. Or we can sell it and hightail it outta this place in a nice rental ship to go after Del. Either way, this could be useful." He explained hastily from behind, unfolding the crimson undershirt someone had pleated and pressed for him. "I think we would be stupid not to take her up on her offer, don't you think?"
Red's faulty reasoning only further infuriated Purple's already enflamed nerves, making him feel unbearably awkward as he tried to figure out what to do with his hands. Red, the arrogant, obnoxious, all-talk-no-bite, fake General who turned out to be something so much worse was standing naked behind him. Naked. Irk, shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! The word bounced and reverberated through Purple's overflowing skull like a destructive jackhammer, breaking up every inhibition in his conditioned thoughts like ancient, brittle concrete and leaving behind an distinctive wonder to…Dammit! They were in the middle of a warzone and they'd just lost three others and this is where his mind chose to go?! Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe he could blame it on the forced pheromones he'd urged his sputtering PAK to secrete to paint himself as nothing more than a brutal commander in the presence of those who were about to main him. Maybe. Then, he felt it. An itch. An itch unlike any other forcing the world to dull to a slow, vacillating tangle of disastrously stunning colors intensifying in hue and only amplified by the desert-like heat flushing his system of whatever toxins had been lingering just under his skin. He began to sweat under the pressure of something he didn't quite understand, his own body releasing the stagnant scent of Red's oil-based cologne clinging to his tattered clothing and hugging his body gently like the embrace of, dare he say it? A…mm…a lover? Ew. Gross. Never in a thousand cycles would he accept someone so risky and annoying into his life as anything more than a friend at best. He sneered and brushed off the familiar scent he'd come to recognize from his days trapped as a secret prisoner aboard the Massive, catching a tiny whiff of vanilla here, a twinge of citrus there, but never being able to scent the complete picture with his inquisitive antennae until they had met in person; how he hadn't pieced together that it was the boastful, egotistical apparition of nihilistic perfection before, he would never know. Ah, perfection may be too strong a word. Flawlessly flawed? Yeah, that sounded better and gave Purple a bit more wiggle room with what he really meant, even if he was still unsure himself. Red had always been there, an elusive shadow lurking within the shadows of the very sickening, pathetic monsters that wrapped their crude claws around Purple's dainty throat and squeezed until he turned white with a perilous, pitiless lack of hydrogen. He was there when he was forcibly taken, when he was shoved in the dark for days on end, and…huh. Purple blinked, reaching up to smooth a guilty palm over his ruffled, temperate cheek as a peculiar notion hit him.
Maybe it wasn't Red's fault he didn't intervene.
It was insane, asinine, and something Purple had been sure he would never be able to completely let go of, letting it fester and boil within him since their meeting and knowing that Red had the strength and the capability to break every single one of Lire's disgustingly long fingers before they intruded within in him and broke down his psyche for good. But, he had let it happen. He had let it happen and watched from the gloom not because he was too concerned with his own political advancement to hear Purple's muffled cries behind the hands of all those who wanted to suffocate him, but because he knew Purple would surely be killed should he step in and attempt to stop the ordeal from happening. Lire had a duty to keep him alive and never go far enough to end his breath, but should he sniff out any inkling of a perception that Purple was involved with a traitorous rebel like Red, he could have been executed on the spot. He had bided his time carefully and bit his sharp tongue for over six long months of agonizing torment until he saw an opportunity. Fortunately, Purple had pulled him down from that tree outside the capitol and kept him from freezing to death. If he hadn't…maybe he wouldn't be free.
Maybe…
"Hey, Red?" He mumbled, once again fighting the terrifying urge to turn around and look him head to toe before he slogged his suit on.
"Yeah?"
Maybe…
Tell him. Say it right now before you don't get a chance to redeem yourself. "I know we haven't known each other for a while, but I'm sorry I haven't been as welcoming as what I should have. I know you've been through a lot, and I've found a way to fight you no matter what you say so, um, I'm sorry." Purple's voice was a ghost of a whisper, caught up in a jumble of nervy opinions and risky condolences combined with the flutter of insects invading his spooch.
Maybe…just one look.
One. A deep, reassuring inhale.
Two. Heels brushing fluttering grass.
Three. Frozen stares lock against one another.
Four. Regret.
Five. Regret? Or something much worse?
Red had gone completely rigid mid-tug, pulling up his soft, overly expensive slacks as Purple swallowed thickly around the lump forming in his throat and immediately lamented his actions. His friend had gone to say something, mouth hanging awkwardly agape and wholly transfixed on the blatantly obvious, questioningly prying stare eating away at the horrendous number of scars tearing through his body and painting him like stars and vast nebulas on a map. He was so young and boisterous but he'd already seen better days, just under 250 and treading dangerous knife fights and gunshots to the side coupled with plasma burns across his thighs from the overabundance of hot magnesium from failed bombs he'd dropped onto his sensitive skin. Huh. Purple had been sure Red had tanned, but richly darker complexion must be natural at rest, his piercing gaze calming and following every curve of his body from his broad, stocky shoulders to his defined abdomen and down...down between his thighs to…
Purple choked on his own tongue as he sputtered and realized exactly what it was he was staring so inelegantly at, eyes flying wide and snapping up as Red frowned and snatched for his jacket to cover himself with a hot pout, watching as Purple scrambled about and tried to look inconspicuous. He grabbed for his own set and began to horridly, and clumsily, shuck his soiled layers, too embarrassed to pull free his boxers and working on his pants in a fit of mortified compunction. Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did he have to do something like that? Why did he have to do it at all in the first place?! Was he diseased? Was he so overcome by the adrenaline fueling him that he decided to break the boundaries he himself had set by invading another man's privacy so intimately? Irk, he was a total fool. A complete, utter, ridiculously savage fool.
He worked on unbuttoning his shirt in discomfited silence, slowly getting dressed through the humid mist transpiring from the thousands of plants around them and tugging everything on before straightening his bowtie and dutifully flattening his collar. It was restrictive, but it would do for now in order to keep the peace and keep Red in the dark about his shady intentions…whatever they were. Finally, he turned back, keeping his humiliated gaze to the two polished black boots that had been set up for them as he lowered himself down to the ground and began to sling them on over his slim pantlegs, waiting for Red to reem him in half like a phonebook for his insolence and surprised when the anticipated, blistering violence didn't come. Instead, after finding a tiny bit more courage and choking down his own wounded pride, he glanced back up under his drooping antennae and blinked when he was met with a smile and a kindhearted hand extending down to help him back to his shaky feet.
He hesitated a moment before glancing to the side with a masking pout of distain before taking his friend's forthcoming palm in his own and entwining their fingers. His strength was impressive and welcome, a single sweeping tug pulling him to a stand before politely dusting him free from the splotches of dry soil he'd collected.
"Sorry…a-again. I-I mean sorry for both things! I'm sorry I was so rude to you before and called you a creepy stalker and I'm also sorry I accidentally," Purple paused, a bit guilty that he had to lie, "a-accidentally saw things I shouldn't."
There was a swift silence before Red chuckled and gave a flippant shrug, moving past and examining his new look in the reflection of the impressive window spanning the length of the back wall. "You don't have to be upset about something like that. I accidentally saw you naked back in the ship, so we'll just call it even now." He glanced over his shoulder and flashed his jittery friend a genial beam, letting it quickly dip into a stoic, furious frown when he heard the hatch swing open and gently shut once more.
Purple let his breath hitch, spinning and taking a step back to follow Red's potent glare and freezing cold in his tracks when he was met with five tiny slits of black eyes blinking respectfully back with pungent, white iris' darting this way and that as their owner examined the room and the mess that the two had made with their tattered outfits before looking back. She was tall, lean, and bony with gnarled knuckles covered in expensive gemstones and gold bands pilfered from Empires she had taken in her clutches from long ago and stomped under her long feet crammed impressively into two high leather boots. Her robes were modest and clean, flowing white trailing down into a shapelessly formed tunic decorated with the finest sashes of silver silk and trimmed with what Purple could only assume were diamonds based on the absolutely cosmic shine they gave off and dotted with a stunning golden embroidery depicting scenes of warfare and Callnowian excellence down the hem of her skirt. Her dark brown skin was tanned like suede with age, and her thin lips were curled into a natural, but disturbingly unsettling, sharp-toothed smile as her claws clutched at a snack platter and offered it down to the petite table.
"Ah, I trust you've made your journey safely?" The woman asked, rubbing at her sore, arthritic joints and reaching up to adjust the polished gold of the diamond headpiece perched daintily atop her braided mess of sentient, wavering locks. "I've been waiting for you two to arrive together ever since the Flesh Treaty was drafted at that quaint little desk your Tallest and I shared. Please, won't you come and eat something?"
Purple felt a sharp pang of grumbling hunger rip through his spooch at the sight of opulent candies drawing him in like the finest liquors he'd ever seen, each wrapped to perfection and each a different, unique flavor ready to melt over his tongue. He glanced to Red who had shoved his greedy hands deep in his silken pockets in an effort to keep them out of the overflowing tray as his mouth watered dangerously in response to the honied smell of sugar. How long had it been since they'd eaten? Hours? Days? Everything was beginning to run together and leak to the floor like ink spilling from a wet page and distorting every memory Purple clutched to.
The woman waited a moment longer, her smile refusing to fade as she gave a convivial laugh in response to the lack of trust thrown back at her wrinkled face like a slew of batons. "You two are so sweet, aren't you? I saw what you did to my daughter and, I have to say, not many can handle her like you can, Styx. Thank you for coming back and knocking some sense into that wild little thing."
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Red mumbled under his agitated breath, shooting straight when the Callnowian turned back and craned her magnificent hearing forward, extending a scaly hand forward and beckoning him over.
"Come here, darling. Let me have a look at what you've become." She asked shortly, her demeanor changing slightly as her hands dipped into the gargantuan tray and plucked a sweet morsel free, unwrapping it as she would a lover before pressing the cherry goodness to her lips and taking her time with it when her snakelike tongue flicked forward. "A few of my men have told me you go by Red now. You charmer, how did you know that was my favorite color?"
Red gave a fake, overexaggerated gag and shuddered when she popped the crimson candy into her mouth without breaking firm, unwarranted eye contact. "Heh, long time no see, Ipi." He felt his jaw lock when the bony Prime Minister strode forward and swiped a finger between his eyes, thinking a long, hard moment and shaking her head with the tut of her tongue. "What? What the hell did you see?!"
See? Ipi could see through touch?
Purple followed her now obviously dead stare as she prodded at Red once more, scenting her surroundings with her thousands of long black feelers and running them up over his face as he sputtered and clawed them back. "Oh dear, you were once so handsome. It's a shame you're covered in so many ugly imperfections and clouded by so many unsightly thoughts. So much death and destruction, so much uncertainty and heartbreak. I see that you're still dealing with your secret fantasies and curiosities that gave my daughter so much trouble before, unlike your beautifully perfect friend." Ipi turned and straightened back up, urging Purple over with an indulgent, undecided sigh.
Terrified, he followed Red's lead and did as she asked, moving over on light, apprehensive toes and holding his breath when her chilled middle finger swiped down between his eyes to read through everything he knew but could never say out loud for fear of others knowing the true, unmasked personality hovering underneath the glowing skin and prized eye color. She curled back, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut when she ran a stunned claw the length of the healing scar spanning over his eyelid and breaking him like a porcelain doll, much to her immediate displeasure. Red slunk over, taking Purple by the waist and positioning himself inbetween the two as a buffer when Ipi shook her head in demanding disappointment, running the length of his inadequacies in the air before balling her long fingers into irate fists. In an instant her demeanor changed from something kindhearted and grandmotherly to politically savvy and distastefully furious.
"I told Del to send us someone untainted and unsoiled! But you…you're scarred and you've been touched by another!" She brought a hand to her throbbing temple with a heavy heart, groaning raspy and low before returning to her candy and rummaging about for something to soothe her frayed nerves. "I needed someone pure and untouched and that inexperienced youngling couldn't even do that."
"It's not my fault Lire decided to do what he did and taint me for a purpose you don't get to control me over!" Purple defended over Red's shoulder on a whim, trying to preserve what little reputation he had left. "I'm allowed to make my own decision and I'm happy I'm finally here to tell you to…t-to…fuck off!"
Red groaned when Ipi spun to the insult, slinking forward like a snake and hissing wildly in his direction. "Ipi, come off it. You've lost and we're here to take you with us, whether you like it or not. You talk big but look at you, you're literally a bag of bones at this point and I can club you to death with my hands if I want." He rolled his eyes when Purple clutched at his hand and growled a throaty, ominous growl back. "So, if you don't want to end up pulverized to dust, I suggest you tell me where the five thousand Irkens you kidnapped have been taken."
"The five thousand you say?" Ipi scoffed, her locks stiffening with her mood before contorting and writhing once more in the air. "You mean the ones we farm? You used to be part of them, so you should know where they've gone."
"Quit being cryptic and help me out here so I don't have to do this the hard way, you disgusting snake!" Red took a deep breath and willed his panting to calm when he labored to remain diplomatic. "I'll ask you again; where are they?"
Ipi paused, scooting free a chair and slinging an elbow up on the table to fiddle with her rings. "You're not ready for that answer, Styx. You've been through so much and all over this universe while we searched for you, all to hope that you stayed pure enough for me to use and here you are, a slut who frequented back alley stripclubs and experiments with men to his flippant desires while contemplating abandoning his friends. How low of you." She turned to blankly stare in Purple's direction before Red could retort. "And you, oh, I had high aspirations for your blood my darling. Unfortunately, you've been tainted by the scars of war, the hard hand of abuse, and you've been touched intimately by another man whether you realize it or not. Why do you trust him? He'll only lead you on to fulfill his own political agenda before dropping you like an insect like he's done to so many others in the past. Too bad your soul has felt the tug of affection and companionship. I ordered Del who ordered Lire to keep everyone from your room while we were cultivating you because if you felt the pangs of adoration, the hormones in your blood content would shift and become unusable. Shame. I guess I'll just have to filter your crop a few more times before I use it."
Woah, woah, woah there was a lot to unpack here. Red liked…he liked men? But he was in love with Tak, wasn't he? And what the hell did she mean he'd been touched by the affection of another man? Lire had only hurt him and maimed him like an animal meant for slaughter. Oh..oh no. She didn't mean Lire, did she? She meant the protective powerhouse smoothing his comforting thumb into his ribcage as he maintained his protective stance and refused to back down in the face of adversity for his sake. Ew…ew! No! He and Red weren't anything!
"I don't know what you're talking about! Your creepy hands don't know what they're talking about!" Purple snapped, pulling harshly away from Red's touch and almost tripping him in the process as he stalked around and threw a hot finger up in Ipi's seemingly ancient face. "You're gonna tell me where our people are or I'm going to strangle you!"
Silence.
"Tell me!"
"No."
"Why?!"
"Because they're nowhere anymore."
"What do you mean nowhere?!"
"We used them up. They're deceased."
Deceased.
Purple clamped a sickened hand over his mouth and took a stumbling step back as his fleeting, confident visage shorted out and shattered, instantly drawing tears to his eyes as he faltered and lost control of his senses. He brushed into Red who was equally as stunned, reaching out and slamming a hand into the wall for stability when he threatened to go down. Five thousand souls lost. Five thousand innocent Irkens of all ages and sizes murdered for the prospect of their eye color and their vivid pink blood siphoned through DNA tubes hooked to their PAKs and draining them away to nothing more than ashen, crippled piles of nothingness.
They failed.
They failed…
Ipi brought her withered hands together to unwrap another candy, smiling up at the stink of despondent depression wafting through the air and tangling with her mess of sticky, long locks as she giggled and chattered excitedly. "Don't worry, they didn't go to waste, my loves. They'll give so much life to my people and yours once my men are able to mix their sweet, sweet blood with our own."
Purple couldn't believe what he was hearing, flattening his antennae as the room began to spin and the heavy iron hatch swung open once more to reveal two heavily armored guards with jingling shackles clutched in their domineering fists. "What…what do you…"
"Don't worry, my adorable Nemi. Your blood will give me, and your Tallest, eternal life."
OH BOY WHAT A CHAPTER! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED, AND HAVE FUN UNTIL THE NEXT UPDATE LOVES! I LOVE YOU ALL!
Next update: Wednesday March 4, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)!
