My god, its final exam week, and i'm at the edge of my nerves! XS. Hopefully i won't fail any. Recovering my PS4 depends on it. Wish me luck!
Well, leaving that topic aside, enjoy the chapter!
Lost
Chapter 10- The Mendigo
The Hothian Base, that night...
"I must say, I'm impressed," Iraa had said upon seeing how 'well-behaved' they were in comparison to the 'last ones'. "And given I have an even… better leverage, you can have your egg back."
Ever since the egg was constantly changing in hands between Masouri, Foxtrot and Echo. The Irkens and Dib would wonder why they were so zealous about it; sure, it was the offspring of an Indokuro, perhaps the best hybrekt ever designed (as the kryvtors put it). In fact, Larb had been tempted to steal it a few times already, but he never got the chance.
On the other hand, some more 'productive' individuals, such as Tenn, were more interested in learning just who these 'Hothian' people were. They hadn't learned much other than they seemed to be desperate to get off this planet. So she decided to employ her 'stealth skills' to steal a journal or something. Surely these guys must have something like that, right?
The chance arrived that night. Four guards armed with somewhat-primitive spears (seriously, they have a seemingly fully-functional base and they used cavemen sticks as weapons?) came to them and stared leading them back to their cell. Tenn spotted what seemed to be a tablet of some sorts hidden amongst a guard's layers of clothing. She made sure to be close to that one as she pretended to trip; like she predicted the impatient fella took her by the arm and dragged her quickly to catch up with the others, moment she took advantage of to silently slide the tablet out of his pocket and underneath her uniform.
When she was shoved inside the windowless cell again and the door closed shut, Tenn waited for a few more minutes until she was certain they were truly gone before taking the tablet out, to the delight of the others. It lasted only for a few seconds, however; the damn thing had a password.
"On the bright side, if it has a password it must mean it's got pretty important stuff, right?" Stink pointed out, trying to lift the mood up a bit.
"How are we supposed to figure out the password of somebody we don't know who happens to speak another language!"
"I thought you said your PAKs were not working because of the famous virus the Sobrekt used on them." Dib pointed out.
"Actually, the virus doesn't affect the PAK's universal translator," Foxtrot explained with a yawn followed by some coughing. He was laying on his back and looking up at the ceiling. "It would be a nightmare to communicate."
"But we have never encountered these guys before, so their language, whatever it's called, is not in the databases." Purple added bitterly. He snatched the data pad from Tenn and took a good look at it. He noticed it didn't seem to have a camera, meaning it was probably an old model, at least by this species' standards. Who knows, the only known information about 'Hothians' was that their equipment DID work for a yet unexplained reason. Irk, if only Red were here, he was an ace at hacking stuff.
Wait a minute, wasn't the Dib-hyooman good at that too? He must be if he could keep up with an Irken even if said Irken was Zim. "Hey, you."
"My name is Dib, for the hundredth time."
"Whatever, think you could hack into this thing? I'll give you a donut."
Did he really think a simple donut was worth that much? Then again, Dib didn't get to eat much than half a hot-dog; the other half was eaten by Echo when he offered her a try. "Okay, let me take a look." He was given the pad and he started pressing buttons. Bless Tak's ship, he had been able to learn quite a few alien languages in his spare time. It took him a bit longer than usual because he wasn't used to this one in particular, but eventually he overrode the password, and to get some extra points he changed the language setting to english. "Done."
"Finally!" Purple snatched the pad back and starting searching through it.
Dib frowned. "Hey, what about the donut you promised?"
"I'll give you one the next time we're taken back to the ship." He ignored the Dib-hyooman's grunt (and additional comment he whispered to his 'borrowed' camera) and entered what seemed to be a notes app. There were many entries titled in dates.
"I knew it, they do have a diary!" Stink said triumphantly.
Skoodge tried to take a peek at the screen. He was at the back, however, and his fellow and taller invaders were blocking the view. How sad. "What does it say, My Tallest?"
"I'm trying to read if you'd shut up." Purple snapped as he entered the latest entry...
Day 204,825.
The prisoners seem to be progressing with the vessel. The boss returned their.. Egg now that we have a better leverage. Too bad. Some of the others, me included, haven't had scrambled eggs in a long time. Anyway, once the ship is repaired we will finally leave this forsaken planet….
"What did I tell you?" Masouri inquired. "They want us to fix our ship so they get to escape while we rot here. Well, the only way they'll be able to get me away from my baby is to get it off my cold, dead claws!"
"Your... baby?" Dib raised an eyebrow
"What? You're going to tell me you haven't gotten attached to your own ship?"
Well, he couldn't argue with that.
"Wait a minute, day 204,825 since what? How even long is that?"
"Only one way to find out…" Purple scrolled all the way to the first entry; it took them a while due to the other 204,824 notes. How much space does this thing have?
Day 1.
Our world as we knew it has ended. I was of the lucky ones who managed to survive. A burning falling rock came from the sky and changed everything("Sounds like what wiped out the dinosaurs", Dib-hyooman commented.). Great black clouds have covered the sky and the temperature dropped; for the first time in my life I see snow down in the valley. It has never snowed down here.
Day 5
The clouds won't part to allow sunlight in. I'm getting worried. The few crops that weren't obliterated by the falling rock, which I have dubbed the obliverator (Purple had to admit, it did sound fitting for a meteor that ended all life), have started to wither from the lack of sunlight. I'm rationing what little I have, but it will not last long.
"Okay, so technically their planet went through the apocalipsis," Larb pointed out. "That certainly would explain the layer of clouds blocking out the sun. An asteroid the size of the Massive could have vaporized the planet's rocky surface and spread out the dust into the atmosphere. With no sunlight, there's no photosynthesis."
"What about the cone-shaped trees? Those looked pretty alive to me." Bob pointed out.
"They were sick, at least that's what I think. If you recall their bark was dark, dry and the leaves were falling off."
Day 12
Thank the gods, I found more survivors. We decided to join forces until we can figure out what to do next, or find a way to survive. We chose a fella named Iraa as the leader; he seems to be more experienced in leadership, anyway. Besides, he was the one who brought us all together. He speaks in an almost fatherly way.
"Would you mind lowering your voices?" Echo groaned in a harsher tone than she intended. "I'm not feeling well."
"Me neither…" added Masouri with a sneeze.
Tenn and Purple exchanged a subtle glance. This had been happening for a while now. Since yesterday the Sobrekt seemed to have coughing fits and they were less active than one would expect of a kryvtor. Were they sick? If that was the case, perhaps it had to do with what they just learned about the meteor sending powdered debris into the planet's atmosphere.
Purple had a hunch as to what was going on. In these kind of events dust isn't the only thing that becomes airborne. There is also whatever substances the planet has to take into account. Carbon dioxide, sulfur, those kind of things. And since the clouds covering the planet acted like a literal greenhouse that kept all the toxins from escaping into space, the contaminated air and lack of fresh oxygen would poison all living things trapped inside… That's what he heard happened to the 'dinosaurs' on Earth.
This meant their scaly 'allies' would succumb to this eventually if they didn't get out of here soon. And if that happened they wouldn't be able to fix the Ibris. If they didn't fix the Ibris the Irkens would be stuck here forever, where they would eventually run out of donuts. Again.
"Hey, you need somebody to look after that egg so you can rest properly?" Skoodge spoke without thinking, not only earning looks of disbelief from the Sobrekt, but from his fellow Irkens as well.
"You think we're entrusting this egg to you?" Foxtrot question, raising a non-existing eyebrow.
"The little fella is not a bad alien… Even for an Irken," Masouri surprisingly defended Skoodge. "I think he can be trusted. Besides, I can tell neither of you wish to spend all night watching after the egg, right?" He yawned. Fixing the engine had taken more effort than he initially though, plus lately he hadn't been feeling well and though they didn't say it outloud he could tell his teammates weren't either. They needed to get some sleep.
Echo and Foxtrot exchanged a glance before the latter sighed in dismay. "Fine. Just explain to him what to do."
Purple noted how that mere positive comment about him was enough to almost send Skoodge into tears again. These shorter ones and their softie feelings; then again maybe they could use this to their advantage. It was the first time they had an hybrekt egg at their disposal.
Once Masouri was done explaining Skoodge how to keep the incubator running (it wasn't that hard, all he had to do was to make sure it stayed at the same temperature without getting too cold or too hot), he went to sleep to the Sobrekt's side of the 'cell'.
"I have no idea what you did, Skoodge, but you have him eating from your hand." Bob pointed out.
"I didn't really do much… I just suggested using the batteries from the camera for the Foodinator." the short Invader pointed at the device, now back on Dib's hands as he continued to record his 'evidence'..
"It doesn't really matter, what matters is that he trusts you for a reason I cannot comprehend," Purple muttered. Once he was certain the kryvtors wouldn't hear them(confirmed when Dib-hyooman started recording Foxtrot from upclose and even managed to open his jaws without a reaction), he whispered. "Be sure to subtly extract as much information about the indokuros as possible."
Skoodge blinked. "My Tallest?"
"You know, how they train them and all of that. It'll be even better if you get him to tell you what DNA they use to create them."
"I don't think he's that naive, My Tallest." Larb pointed out.
Irk, if only they had full access their PAK tools they could try to extract some DNA from the Indokuro embryo to start making their own hybrids. Despite Skoodge's protests, Purple carefully took the incubator and took at look at the black egg. Sweet Irk, it was heavy, which probably meant the embryo was close to finishing its development. If they were fortunate they would witness its hatching.
Well, at the very least they'd get to at least study the hybrekt's early development.
Somewhere in the Wilderness, at the same time...
If Red thought the Indokuro caused Ilk nightmares, it was nothing compare to this abomination.
It was a tall beast covered in ashen gray fur, with arms of disproportionate length that nearly touched the floor with its long claws. Two long, curved horns with various shorter protrusions grew from its head, much like the deer-beast in that Earthen film Ilk would watch often as a smeet. Its elongated head, however, was frightening enough to give even him nightmares. Its sunken yellow eyes and hole-like nose made it look like a deer-thing skull.
He decided to call it a mendigo because it reminded him of said cannibal beast from Earthen fauna*.
It was hard to believe such a frightening-looking creature was doing a tug-of-war with Zim, GIR, Captain and Fury over the covering Zim had brought a while ago like kids throwing a tantrum. The latter two were probably just helping their 'idol' out,
"FIND YOUR OWN BLANKET, YOU FILTHY BEAST!"
"Okaaay, this is weird…" Ilk whispered awkwardly. Her glance was shifting between Zim and the mendigo.
"Zim, just leave that stupid blanket!" Red yelled. A smelly duvet wasn't worth getting killed, after all.
"Don't worry, My Tallest, Zim will get the blanket back for you!"
Oh, sweet mother of Irk! Did that little Irk-damned defective do the opposite of what he was told?! "You know, you should me more appreciative," he heard Blue say. "It's not everyday you find such a loyal soldier."
"Who asked you?" Red snarled at him. "You have no idea of what it is like to deal with him on a constant basis! In case you haven't noticed, he attracted that mendigo in the first place!"
Blue exchanged a confused glance with Lena before both said in unison. "Mendigo?"
The sound of cloth ripping apart brought their attention back to the skirmish. The blanket had been torn in half by the opposite forces of both sides. Zim yelled at the mendigo. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID, YOU FOUL BEAST!" The Mendigo responded with a roar of its own. Zim took out his sword. "I SHALL SMITE YOUUU!" He ran towards the beast, jumped towards its head…
...And the mendigo's jaws closed on him, swallowing the little defective whole.
GIR burst out into a hysterical wail. "MASTAAAAAH!"
Red stared agape at what just transcurred. He didn't need to look at the others to guess they were probably the same. It took him a few seconds to process what just happened. Did that thing just…? Did it really happen? Zim was…? He was finally…? Oh, sweet irk! Sweetest irk!
Sadly, the ecstasy didn't last long. Captain and Blue had taken out their weapons. The former growled in a low voice. "Hitorken Zim, I swear I will avenge you!"
"Are you serious?!" They ignored him and gave battle cries-or rather, battle roars- as they clashed against the mendigo. "Just forget it about it!" He barely stopped Ilk by the arm when she was about to join in. "Ilk, where do you think you're going?!"
"We have to help Zim!"
"Zim is gone, Ilk! And frankly I'm glad he is!"
He heard Lena gasp from behind. "How can you say that?! He might have been a walking disaster, but he still was a living Irken!"
Red groaned. "Okay, okay, I'll make a holiday in his honor. Happy?" In honor of his blessed demise.
Ilk wasn't satisfied. She picked a bunch of snow, shaped it into a ball and threw it at the Mendigo's head. The creature stopped right when he was about to eat Fury's head and turned towards them, its sunken eyes glowing in anger*. Oh, great, now it would come after them! Red barely managed to grab Ilk and Lena's hands and lead them away as the mendigo threw Fury on top of Captain. That certainly was going to hurt in the morning.
Red looked back and saw the mendigo catching up. Okay, running wouldn't do, one step from that monster was like twenty Irken steps. There was only one thing to do. "Lena, take Ilk and run!"
"My Tallest?!"
"I'll fend him off, you two get away!"
"But dad-!"
"GO!" He watched as Lena grabbed Ilk's hand and went into some trees. When he was certain they were at a safe distance he looked up, holding the sword just as Captain had told him, just as the mendigo came to a stop in front of him, baring its needle-like teeth. This was one of the situations in which he wished he hadn't let his combat abilities rust so much.
After a quick analyzing of the mendigo he figured those horns must be very sensitive, considering they seemed to be part of its body. He bet they would bleed if they were broken.
When the mendigo lunged with open jaws-which he was smart and quick enough to avoid activated the plasma blade on the sword and managed to slice the base of the horn with one swift blow. The mendigo shrieked in pain and responded too quickly for him to do something to dodge; the beast's outstretched claws struck his sides and sent him flying against a tree.
It the pain of the sharp tips having somehow gone through his armor and pierced his flesh wasn't enough, Red barely had time to turn himself around so his shoulder would get the hit instead of his PAK. He yelled in pain felt his bones crunching as he slid to the snowy ground, gritting his teeth and clutching the bleeding wounds with his good arm. He wanted to move, but his entire body was hurting, particularly his right shoulder. Usually his PAK would have taken care of it, but the bloody Sobrekt virus combined with whatever made technology useless here had left his already-frail body like a piece of glass.
Before the mendigo could move any closer, a missile exploded against its sides, temporarily knocking it backwards. GIR landed protectively in front of Red with all his weapon systems activated; the Irken noticed the robot's eyes were glowing a fierce crimson. He had gone into duty mode. Since when did the malfunctioning SIR have a duty mode, anyway?
"Emergency protocol: protect the Almighty Tallest." Gir stared intently at the mendigo as it got back on its feet with a shake of its head. "Analyzing threat. Unknown species, carnivorous, over six meters of height. Sentience level: very low."
A blue flash dashed through the night air. Red managed to see Blue jumping unto the mendigo's head and driving his plasma blade into its head with a loud battle cry; how come he didn't mind the pressurized stream of green blood that shot out of the hole and into his clothing Red didn't know. The mendigo shrieked, but it grabbed Blue by the waist and threw him against ground with such force it knocked him out. The monster's attention went back to Red.
"Analyzing status of fallen ally: knocked unconscious by non-fatal contusion on head." GIR glanced at the mendigo's bleeding head. "Analyzing status of threat: bleeding out from semi-fatal wound on skull." GIR turned around to face Red. "Permission to terminate with threat, sire."
Red blinked. Was this the same SIR unit who had kissed his mouth a while ago? "Granted." He coughed.
GIR saluted and ran towards Blue's unconscious form to pick up his plasma kunai. Dodging the claw swipes and hopping unto the mendigo's head with great agility, GIR dove the kunai even deeper into the open wound. The mendigo gave one last shriek of agony before collapsing unto the ground, staining the snow around its head with blood.
GIR retrieved the blade from the creature's head and hurried towards the injured Irken. "Are you alright, My Tallest?"
"No...!" Red winced. "Go wake the lizard up, would you?"
"Yes sir!" GIR walked over to Blue and rubbed his hands to charge them. "Clear!" He sent volts of electricity through the kryvtor's body.
Blue jolted awake. "WHAT THE-?!" He noticed he was half-charred, and GIR looked... different. "What happened?! Where's the monster?!"
"Threat has been terminated, kryvtor-ally. With all due respect, I borrowed your weapon to do so." GIR returned the blade to its owner.
"Okay..." Just when he thought the little robot couldn't be weirder. He noticed Red was laying down against the tree, clutching his... "By the ancestors! Irken, are you okay?!"
"Idiot, aren't you seeing me?!" Red snarled, only to grit his teeth in pain when his shoulder stung again. Blue decided to let the insult slip this once; he had called worst things to whoever was near when injured himself.
The rest caught up soon after. Captain was leaning unto Fury to keep himself on his feet, while Lena and Ilk went pale when they saw Red's state. Both were instantly by his side, with the former starting to check his state.
"What happened?" Captain asked in a pained, almost hoarse voice when he felt the scent of blood.
"Another one…" Red muttered under his breath.
"Your shoulder is dislocated," Lena whispered in worry. She carefully removed Red's hand from the wound. She gasped. "R-Red…!"
"What's wrong, Lena?!" Ilk asked in despair.
"Those wounds are very deep and they are bleeding too much; he's having an hemorrhage. We need to close it!"
"Great, why don't we go to the pharmacy in the corner…?" Red muttered again. "Oh, wait, we can't because it's a damn Irk-forsaken planet!"
"Dad, save your energy!" Ilk snapped with tears in her eyes.
They heard a plasma blade activating and something slicing through flesh coming from the mendigo's body. A sharp, glowing green blade cut out from within the flesh and hide, and a familiar Irken, all slimy and covered in green blood, emerged victoriously from within the corpse.
"HAHAHA! I, the Almighty Zim, have defeated this terrible monster all on my own!"
GIr's eyes changed back into cyan. "MASTAAAH!" His arms wrapped around Zim's waist. The little robot clung to Zim like a tick despite the invader's attempts at pushing him off.
Red couldn't afford to move his arm and smack his forehead without sending another wave of pain throughout his body, so he merely gave a loud, irritated groan, looking up in disappointment. Should have known it was too good to be true.
Thankfully the camp was not completely destroyed if you don't take into account there were lots of sickly-looking tree debris around. The fire was still burning, at least.
The issue was to take Tallest Red back there without moving him too much lest he lose five more liters of blood (Captain had even made a comment regarding Irken blood color, apparently he used to think it was green). Lena had Zim-who finally gave up in trying to get GIR to let go- bring one of the blanket halves to carry Red back to the camp in the manner of an hammock. While he did so, Lena snapped his dislocated shoulder back in place, earning another high-pitched scream of agony.
Once he was carefully laid down next to the fire, Lena removed yet-another torn part of her long skirt from the wounds, placed in an attempt to stop or at least decrease the bleeding, and threw it aside for now. It didn't do much.
"Daddy, I'm here!" Ilk cried, holding her father's hand tightly. He managed to give her a weak smile.
"It's okay, sweetie, I've had it worse…" his voice was hoarse and tired, his eyes were only half-open and he was so pale his skin almost looked yellowish.
"My Tallest, don't worry, Zim is here!" Zim had just grabbed his other hand. Lena noted how his voice has changed from the 'I'm superior than everyone else' to a more despaired one. Was he trying to get a similar gesture? She would have giggled at how Red actually reacted to that if the circumstances weren't so dire.
"Go back to your exile on your little backwater planet, you annoying defective."
Lena looked at Zim anxiously. Ilk had mentioned during one of their chats that Zim had no idea his mission was fake nor that the Tallest hated his guts; in fact, Ilk herself was also staring at her with wide, worried eyes.
His reaction was not what they expected. "NOOO! MY TALLEST IS DELIRIOUS! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!"
Lena blinked, and quickly glared at Captain and Blue when she noticed they were trying not to laugh, especially when Zim started running around the camp in a panic frenzy, yelling at the top of his lungs along with GIR; the latter was merely mimicking his master. Damn it, he was going to attract more of those things! "Zim! Do you want to save your Tallest's life?"
Zim instantly stopped and saluted. "Anything for my Tallest!"
"Good. Grab your bucket and bring me warm water." That would keep him busy for a while. The river was freezing cold and it would take Zim about an hour or two to figure out he'd have to warm the water himself.
"On it, doctor! GIR, let's go! Fury-beast, come to Zim!" To Lena's astonishment Fury did just that. He ran over to Zim, allowed both him and GIR to get on his back and then ran off. She subtly glanced at Blue, but he didn't seem bothered by what just transpired.
With Zim taken care of for the time being, Lena proceeded to remove the torn chestplate and armor around the waist. Her antenna went flat as she felt blood rushing to her face. She never imagined she'd see her Tallest undressed, not even under such circumstances. Lena noted a few scars across his chest, probably from his days as a soldier. Despite his unusual body structure, courtesy of becoming the Tallest, Lena found his frame... attractive.
"Can't you just stitch him up and be done with it?" Captain broke her out of her daze, sounding a bit impatient. "I mean, I've heard you Irkens heal quickly."
Lena frowned. "Usually we do, with our PAKs, and allow me to remind you that you put a bloody virus on them! Thanks to it I can't access to the tools I'd need to stitch up the wound, and even if I did the PAK's healing isn't working because of… whatever messes up with technology here!"
"So he's going to die?"
Lena panicked and glanced at Ilk, grabbing her hand. "No, Ilk. I promise you, I will save his life." She heard an annoyed groan and looked down at Red. "Would you mind lowering your volume? I can't sleep…" he whispered, closing his eyes. Now he was delirious from the blood loss.
"Doctor, may I make a… suggestion?" Lena turned towards Blue. There was a look of uncertainty in his face, but right then any ideas were welcomed, no matter who they came from. She nodded curtly. "If you cannot stitch up the wound, we have another method. Have you heard of wound cauterization?"
"A bit." Lena said. She knew only some vague details about it: it was a primitive practice consisting in putting a hot red piece of metal in a wound to mitigate bleeding and damage. However, the Irkens did not use that unorthodox method, for usually their PAKs did the job.
"We always use it on the battlefield when there are no medics available. It should stop the bleeding until we get access to medical equipment." Blue continued.
"Blue, this is not a battle-hardened soldier, this is an Irken we're talking about." Captain countered. Lena heard Red muttering that he was one, just very mellowed out. "I'm not sure his weaker body will bear such a extreme method."
"If you have a better idea, I'm listening." Lena told him curtly. His silence said more than enough. She looked down at Red. "Red, listen, we're going to try something… unusual with your injuries. Is that okay?"
"Mm-hmm." he said, shifting a bit in place.
"Doc, I don't think he's in the mental faculties for that." Captain commented.
Sadly he was right. She bet Red would have protested like hell if he were fully conscious. She nodded grimly. Blue took out a throwing knife from one of his pockets and went to the fire to heat its tip.
"Ilk, listen carefully," Lena took a hold of Ilk's hand again. "What we're going to try is going to hurt your dad very, very much. I need you to hold his hand very tightly, okay?" Ilk nodded quickly. Lena offered her a sympathetic smile before glancing at Captain. "You hold him down by the shoulders. Carefully, I just fixed a dislocated one."
"You don't need to tell me twice, doc." Captain did as told.
"Get your scaly hands off me, lizard-snake." Red growled.
Lena noted the frown on Captain's face at the word 'snake', but he said nothing. She guessed it held a sort of negative meaning in Sobrekt vocabulary. She spotted Blue coming closer with the hot-red knife, but she held up a hand to signal him to stop. There was one more thing she had to do. She tenderly took Red's face in her hands and looked into his eyes. "Red, I need you to trust me. This is going to hurt, but it will stop the bleeding. Do you trust me?" She thought it would take her a bit longer to convince him, but to her surprise he nodded.
"It's alright, my dear. Like I said I've had worst injuries…"
Okay. Taking that as a granted permission, Lena accepted the hot knife from Blue and signaled to hold Red's legs down. As she stared at the glowing hot metal blade she almost doubted, but there was no time to hesitate. Lena took a deep breath and brough the knife down to the wound.
True, he had obtained many injuries throughout his life as an Irken soldier, then Elite, which made him familiar to pain of many kinds. From the mild pain that lasted for only mere seconds like punch or kick blows, or being struck in the back when he didn't respond fast enough, to the more lasting pain of plasma shots burning his skin, blades and arrows piercing his flesh, among other things. Being a seasoned warrior, of course, he could put up with it.
A red hot blade touching an open, bleeding injury, however, made all those experiences look like mere smeet scratches. It felt like his skin was on fire and the blood was the oil.
Gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut, he tried his best to keep the blood-freezing scream inside his throat, but the longer he felt the knife's tip the harder it was. Eventually his jaws were forced open by the volume of the yell. His limbs automatically flailed in response to the sensation, trying to flee or at least get it to stop. But he was held down tightly by the Sobrekt on both shoulders and legs; try as he might he could not escape their grip.
Red could feel a gentler hold on his left hand. It was accompanied by frantic whispers. His antenna were twitching uncontrollably trying to pick it up, but he was in so much pain he could not distinguish any coherent words coming from the smeet to his left… who was she again? He could not remember…
For how long was he forced to endure this torture? Hours? Days? He couldn't tell anymore. But eventually the blade was removed from his skin and the wretched burning left with it. Bless Irk. His side was aching terribly, but the falling bits of frozen water falling from above helped a bit. Brrr! It's so cold out here, somebody bring a blanket!
When he opened his eyes a bit, his vision was blurry. He could discern blurry dark shapes around him, but he could not hear what they said. One of the shadows, the one to his right, placed a hand to his forehead, causing him to tilt his head to the right to see who dared to touch him.
He saw her.
She was still as beautiful as the last time he saw her. That sparkling green skin as soft as the silk used for his pillows and blankets. Those curly antenna that reminded him of a dark nebula spiralling into a oval-shaped curl. And her eyes… Her beautiful azure eyes as blue as his favorite doughnut icing, along with those lovely eyelashes…
How could it be? He thought she was dead. Was he dead? Had she maybe come to receive him into the afterlife or something like that? Whatever the reason, his squeedly-spooch almost soared. With whatever strength he had he managed to lift his arm and brought his hand to her cheek. It was so warm and soft just like he remembered.
He called out to her in a weak whisper. "Miyuki…"
Everything went black.
Lena was left speechless. She knew Red was delirious, but she didn't think he was that much. He had just… touched her cheek-her PAK nearly sent sparks from the flurry of emotions that brought- and called her Miyuki… As in, Tallest Miyuki? Sweet irk, she wished a pile of snow from those trees would fall on top of her.
An uncomfortable cough from Captain momentarily distracted her. "Okay, doc, need something else?" Clearly he was trying to find a 'polite' excuse to leave. Blue had the same expression.
"Y-Yes…" She touched Red's forehead. A mild fever was starting. "Could you go make sure Zim hasn't drowned? That water would come in handy." The mention of Zim was enough to send both Sobrekt away for the time being.
"Is he going to be okay?" Ilk asked with a small sniffle.
"He'll be okay. He lost consciousness because of the pain, but he should awaken tomorrow." Lena explained softly. She took a closer look at the charred skin; it was a mess of pink blood and crust-like charred skin. The latter was a result of the blood having coagulated upon contact with the knife's heated blade, but like Blue had said the hemorrhage had stopped. Still, she better clean that up as soon as the water was brought to prevent infection. "Sorry you had to see your father like this…"
"I'm fine. I mean, dad is a soldier, I'm sure he'll get better," Ilk wiped some of the dried tears on her cheeks with her sleeve. "He's the Tallest, after all."
Lena couldn't help but avert her gaze. "Indeed, he is…"
"Are you upset, Lena?"
"No, it's not that… it's just he called me… Ilk, I know it's not my place to ask this, but is the Miyuki he mistook me with the person I think?"
Ilk nodded. "Dad met Tallest Miyuki when they were young. You could say she was his first love before… she died. You do have a bit of resemblance to her, you know."
"I've heard that sometimes…"
Soon Zim and GIR returned, accompanied by the Sobrekt. The former was about to put the bucket on top of the fire to warm it up when Lena quickly told him to bring it over the way it was. To her surprise, Zim complied without any loud rambling or yelled proclamation. He must have noticed Red was asleep and didn't want to evoke his wrath by waking him up… before long he had collapsed unto the ground, snoring lightly with his tongue sticking out. GIR followed suit; he made sure to fall asleep very close to his master, probably because of what transpired.
"You should go rest." Lena told everyone else. "It's been a rather long day, and you two will need to save up your energy." She glanced at Captain and Blue, who exchanged knowing glances. Fury was the first to collapse on the snow with a low growl.
"It's okay, I can stay up, I wouldn't like you to be alone…"
"Thank you, Ilk, but you're the youngest out of all of us, I can't ask you to stay up all night. Your dad wouldn't like that, would he?"
Ilk seemed to understand it. She squeezed Red's hand one last time before going closer to the fire. Lena watched as Blue offered the smeet one of the furry blankets he had made the previous day to stay warm; Lena exchanged a glance with Captain. He didn't seem bothered by the fact his subordinate was courting the 'Package' they were supposed to take back home. Lena glanced down at Red's sleeping face. She was certain he wouldn't be so cool about it when he found out.
Tearing yet another piece of her skirt and submerging it in the bucket, Lena spent most of the night cleaning Red's wound.
*The creature is inspired on the Wendigo, the cannibalistic creature from native american lore. Red calls it mendigo because he didn't exactly remember how it was pronounced.
*Frozen reference, when Anna throws a snowball at Marshmallow and angers him.
Next Chapter: Blue and Ilk start working out their issues, while the Irkens get an important Sobrekt history lesson...