Tainted

Chapter 3

"Lard Nar? Lard Nar." Lard Nar kept hearing his name. He was wondering if it would ever get old, but he'd rather hear it than 'Captain' a hundred times. Because at least hearing his name was more personal.

Lard Nar slowly inched his eyes open to see some standing next to him. As his eyes gave in more details, he noticed that it was Liyana, the nurse that was taking care of Spleenk. "Liyana? What's going on?"

"You dozed off again, Lard Nar," she said.

Lard Nar looked around and noticed that he was still on the bridge. It was empty, probably because everyone was still asleep. Though another thought popped into his mind and his eyes shot towards Liyana. "Please don't tell me that I hurt anyone this time," Lard Nar said as he sat up properly, rubbing his eyes with his small hands.

She shook her head. "No. Actually, I'd like to think that you slept very soundly. You must've calmed down a lot since yesterday."

Lard Nar nodded. "Yes, I have," Lard Nar said. "Ever since you told me that Spleenk was going to be alright, I guess I didn't really have anything to worry about. And besides… I think I'm too tired to stress out about it anymore."

Liyana smiled a little bit, letting out a small chuckle. "Well, that is good to hear. And I have good news for you. Spleenk is now awake and is currently recovering very well. He's a little sick, but that's something to be expected when exposed to heavy toxins. Would you like to see him now?"

Lard Nar nodded again, slipping out of his Captain's chair. "Yes, I do. Thanks for waking me, Lyana."

"You're welcome," Liyana said as she began to lead Lard Nar down the hallways of the Resisty. She looked at Lard Nar, and then looked away. Then back to Lard Nar. "I don't believe I've ever really seen someone act like you have, Lard Nar."

Lard Nar gave her a strange look as they continued walking down the hall. "What do you mean?"

She chuckled a bit awkwardly. "I apologize, that came out wrong. What I mean is how you're handling this whole situation with Spleenk. I know that you two are friends and that you are close, but I've never seen someone be so… concerned before. It's enlightening to me."

"I guess most people have forgotten what it's like to have a friend," Lard Nar replied, looking straight ahead. "And I guess I shouldn't be talking… I didn't make very many friends while I was working as an engineer on Vort. Most people considered me to be too… serious whenever I was brought into a social situation. But that's because I was constantly distracted, lots of thoughts going through my head about my work and other things going on in my life."

He cleared his throat. "But then Spleenk came along into our little group and signed on to be a general assistant to my engineering faction. He's very good at what he does, but he was known for slipping up a lot. So naturally, he was ostracized from most of the group, too. And I guess… I guess we found a connection there. He didn't care if I acted all serious around him whenever he felt like being silly. He would just continue being his fun self and… it made work feel much less… dreary. And every time he would screw up, I'd be there to defend him or fix his mistakes. His gratitude every time was so glorifying."

He took in a deep breath. "He… he was actually the person who stayed with me as my faction got blown to bits by the irkens. That was the first time I've ever cried… and I've done a lot of it since. He held me and, even if he didn't believe it himself, told me that things would get better."

He looked at Liyana, who was a bit frozen. Contemplating all of the things that Lard Nar just told her.

Lard Nar chuckled, wiping away a tear that managed to escape from his eye as he relived some of his past memories. Though, it felt good to tell someone. "I'm sorry, I just went completely deep with you. I didn't mean to go into that much detail."

Liyana shook her head as she looked up at Lard Nar. "No, don't worry about it. Spleenk almost reminds me of my friend on Vort. I just… wish that she'd still be around to see that I made it and am doing fine."

Lard Nar rubbed her arm gently with his own. Sometimes he forgot that everyone on the Resisty had their own personal Irken destruction stories. All of them as dreary as the next. Many of them may be physically strong, though very few could honestly admit that they were mentally stable. They had irken scum to blame for that. "I'm sorry for your loss." He thought for a moment. Lard Nar was still the serious Vortian that he was several years ago, though now he had a great deal of sympathy for his companions. "If you, or any of your friends on the Resisty need someone to talk to, then you can talk to me. You don't have to think of me as your captain all of the time. I can be your friend, too."

And that was the first time that Lard Nar actually admitted to wanting to be a friend, not a captain. It felt refreshing to him.

Liyana nodded as she took a deep breath, giving Lard Nar a strong look to show that she, too, was recovering. "Thank you, Lard Nar. I'll keep that in mind." She led him the rest of the way to the medical bay and they entered together.

Lard Nar turned the corner and looked at the room with all of the medical beds and equipment and saw Spleenk. Lard Nar looked at Spleenk with a sense of awe. He was actually sitting straight on the bed that he had been constrained to for the past few days. He still looked relatively weak, but he was strong enough to have a small conversation with Shloonk, who was already doing most of the talking. They were telling jokes and doing light laughing. Lard Nar chuckled, happy to see Spleenk's smile again.

He walked over to the two of them and Shloonk looked over at him as he approached. "Hi, Lard Nar! How are you feeling?"

"I am well, thank you," Lard Nar said. "Shloonk, do you think you can give me and Spleenk some privacy? The bridge is empty anyways, and it needs to be watched for a little bit."

"Sure!" Shloonk said. "See ya later, Spleenk. Come by my quarters when you're feeling good enough to walk. We'll play some games together." Shloonk eagerly floated away and Liyana left along with him. She wanted to go talk to some of her Resisty friends, anyways.

Lard Nar watched them leave, and as soon as they were gone, he turned around and hugged Spleenk. It was such a spontaneous move, but it was something that he had been wanting to do ever since Spleenk was admitted to the medical bay. "I'm sorry."

Spleenk blinked. "About what?" His voice was a bit raspy, but stronger than Lard Nar expected. Spleenk wrapped his arms around Lard Nar, curious about why he was hugging him.

"I shouldn't have made you come with me to that planet," Lard Nar said. "It's my fault that you got hurt."

Spleenk blinked again and extended his arms so that Lard Nar was no longer breathing into his chest. They looked at each other. It had been a while since Spleenk had seen Lard Nar so upset. "Why do you think this is your fault? I'm the one who shattered my visor with a pickaxe."

It was so obvious, and yet Lard Nar still felt uncomfortable about his role in Spleenk's accident. Lard Nar dearly wanted to tell Spleenk how special he was to him, but he knew that it wasn't the time to say that. "I'm just glad to see that you're alright, Spleenk. You… you scared me so much. I must've had some internal problems when I saw that pickaxe hit your helmet."

Spleenk smiled a bit. "You were accidentally concerned about me?"

"Of course I was, you idiot!" Lard Nar exclaimed. He calmed down a bit. "Why wouldn't I, Spleenk? I have never felt closer to anyone more than I have with you." Lard Nar was breathing heavily and quickly, having trouble dealing with his emotions. Due to past events, this was a commonality for him, though this was the first time that he did it in front of someone else. He tried to calm himself down, taking deep breaths. He then wrapped his arms around Spleenk again, resting his head in his chest.

Spleenk looked down at Lard Nar. He felt a little queasy earlier, but there was a small sense of warmth going through his body. He and Lard Nar had always been friendly with each other, but they'd never been this open about it. "I'm okay," was all he said. For how much he had been through, Spleenk was surprisingly calm.

Lard Nar eventually detached himself from Spleenk and took a few steps back. "I apologize if I seem suddenly so clingy, Spleenk. But I feel like I haven't been entirely treating you right ever since we started the Resisty. As much as I saw you as a friend, I saw you more as a crewmember, and I shouldn't have. You're a friend, a clo-….-…-…"

Spleenk eventually tuned the rest of Lard Nar out as he rambled on. He knew that Lard Nar just wanted to explain himself, but Spleenk was happy. He was happy that he knew someone was actually this concerned over his well-being. Just like on Vort, he felt like he didn't make very many friends on the Resisty ship. He was friends with Shloonk, but he never really understood what Shloonk was talking most of the time since he talked so fast.

But then there was Lard Nar, almost at the point of tears, as he spoke several words a minute to prove to Spleenk how much their friendship meant to him, and that's all Spleenk needed to hear. He stood up from the bed and picked Lard Nar off of the ground and brought him close to his chest.

Lard Nar was surprised as he was initially buried into Spleenk's chest and tried his best to look up. "Spleenk, what are you doing? I wasn't finished."

"You didn't need to say anything else," Spleenk said. It was now his turn to say a few things. He put Lard Nar on the bed, making Lard Nar almost slightly taller than Spleenk, but not quite. "Lard Nar, I do a lot of scary things on this ship that I am not comfortable with. You have seen me freak out in the middle of the bridge a lot of times, and I have sometimes considered leaving the Resisty."

Lard Nar blinked. He wondered where Spleenk was going with this. "Why haven't you?" Lard Nar asked.

"Because you are here with me," Lard Nar said. "If I left, then I would have nowhere else to go. I do not have any family, and I do not have any friends, Lard Nar. But in the Resisty, I have some friends and family." He coughed a little, Spleenk's queasiness coming and going as he spoke. "I don't leave when things get scary because you are always there to calm me down. And the longer that I stay here, the less afraid that I am."

Lard Nar smiled as he listened to Spleenk's words. It was almost surreal to think that someone could actually depend on him to make them feel better. He was hardly capable of taking care of himself sometimes. "You stayed because of me?"

Spleenk nodded. "Ever since you picked me as your partner in your engineering faction, I wanted to go wherever you go, Lard Nar." He looked away for a moment. "That's why I wanted to go down to that planet's surface with you. I was glad that you picked me and not someone that would be more capable. I wanted to prove to you that I have changed. But then I messed up."

He paused for a moment, his smile slightly fading. "Everyone messes up, Spleenk," Lard Nar said with a low, soft voice. "The fact that you're willing to do that much for me… it's admirable. I don't want you to do that again. It'd be painful for both of us, but it's nice to know what lengths you're willing to go to make someone happy. I wish I knew more people like you."

Spleenk smiled a little bit. It was such an innocent little smile, almost like a child's. "No. There are many weird slip-ups like me." He paused for a moment. "And I do not wish I knew more people like you. Because no one can ever be like you."

That's when something clicked for Lard Nar. Spleenk had never spoken like that to anyone else. That's what was so special about their relationship. They were unique, and they cherished each other because of their uniqueness.

And he never wanted to see Spleenk any differently. He gently grabbed Spleenk's cheek with his right hand before leaning forward and giving him a kiss on the lips.