I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

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THe LeaDeR oF THe SLaVeRS

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Everyone is staring at me. I don't even need to look around to know it, I can feel their eyes on me. I must be quite a shock from them to see, considering that up until I'd given myself away I was effectively invisible to them.

The large blue Danian Elco tilts his head, and his antennae wave around a little. One of his four hands grabs me by the wrist, and another wrenches my knife from my grip.

Elco shoves Hawki at another Danian, then turns to me. Two of his hands hold my wrists, and the other two hold my shoulders.

My heart is beating so hard it hurts. My lungs heave and hyperventilate. I feel trickles of sweat run down my skin, but my body feels like ice.

Elco's mandibles click together, and he says, "Hello again, handsome."

If I'd been in a better state of mind, I would have probably been able to snap back with some witty remark. In my current state, all I can manage in return is a weak, "Hello?"

Elco tilts his head to the side again. "What is a Human like you doing in a place like this?"

I don't say anything. I need time, I need time!

I feel Elco's grip tighten, and he turns and drags me from the crowd. "I asked very nicely," he says before slamming my back against the stage. "What are you doing here?"

Ow, my back... I clench my teeth together and try my best to ignore the pain.

Elco glances up, then looks back into my eyes. "You tracked that Human here? I could tell you were following her earlier. Such a responsible prince, trying to make sure his fellow Humans are safe."

I force my face into a stern expression and firmly say, "You're aware of my station. Obviously you know what will happen if you don't get your slimy hands off me this instant."

"Ah yes," Elco drawls, "the Mipedians, both Human-Mipedian and true-Mipedian, will be quite angry with me if they find out what's happening here." He lets go of my left shoulder and- Ow! He slapped me! "As you can see, I'm not worried at all, Human," the Danian taunts.

My face stings, but I can live with that. I need him to waste more time so Odu-Bathax can stop all of this. "That was an interesting slap," I say, forcing my voice not to shake. "You take lessons from a wet fish?"

Elco blinks. "Was that meant as an insult?" he mutters. Then he shakes his head, and his smug expression comes back. "No matter. You see, you're not getting out of here now. We can't exactly let you go, considering what you saw."

My stomach lurches as Elco lifts me up and throws me onto the stage. I tuck my my arms and legs in so I roll, then spring to my feet. I see a blue figure lunge at me-

Stars dance in my vision. I'm on the ground, the Danian pinning me down. Elco's mass restrains my legs, while two hands spread my arms and a third presses on my chest.

"You may start the bidding over," Elco announces as his fourth hand rummages inside the nearby bag. "I've altered my decision. Prince Osiris of the Mipedians might make for a excellent servant, once the proper documents are forged, of course."

"F-fifty ambers," stammers the mandiblor. "Starting at fifty mandiblors."

The bidding starts. Elco draws his hand out of the bag.

There's another one of those parasites in Elco's grip. It's the first time I've seen one this close. Two huge eyes surrounded by smaller ones, two huge mandibles clicking away, six wriggling legs. The parasite stares at me and squirms, trying to leap from Elco's hand to my face.

"I can feel your heart, Human," Elco whispers. "I see the look on your face. You're scared, terrified."

Elco lowers the parasite, puts it closer to my face. It squirms and strains towards me. I can hear the tiniest of squeaks coming from its body. I can still hear the auction, but the words have no meaning.

Elco breathes, "You shouldn't have stuck your neck out, Human. You should have cut your losses and ran. But you stayed, and now you'll belong to me."

The parasite's close enough to poke my skin with its mandibles. My body chills as I feel the tiny pinpricks.

Elco glances up at Ashley. "When the auctioneer closes the bid on her, I'm going to infect you. This parasite will enter your body when 'sold' is said."

I tear my attention away from the parasite and glance up. I can barely see Ashley, staring at me, looking as terrified as I feel. Come on, Odu-Bathax! Where are you?!

Elco withdraws the parasite a little. "Still, it's a shame I can't have you while you're a Human. I like my meat soft, you see, but you'll cause to much trouble." He lowers his face towards mine. "Still, I might as well take this time to see what flavor those lips of yours are."

Okay, no, that's enough creepiness out of you. I even forget my fear for a moment. I inhale deeply and spit as hard as I can, catching Elco full in the face.

Elco wipes his face on his arm, then says, "Still got some fight in you, hm? Well, listen."

I can't help it, I listen. I hear the auctioneer say, "Nobody going to go for two hundred eighty-five? Two hundred eighty-five? All right, then, two hundred eighty going once!"

My breath catches in my throat. Elco laughs and starts to raise the hand with the parasite in it.

"Two hundred eighty going twice!"

The hand raises higher. The parasite squirms and clicks its mandibles at me. My heart races.

"Going three times..."

Elco raises the parasites high above his head. "You're mine."

I hear a rush of air, and the parasite suddenly explodes in Elco's hand. A rain of yellow gore falls down. Some lands on my face, some lands around me, but most splats against Elco's body.

Elco's head begins to turn. There's a red and yellow blur, and suddenly the Danian's weight is off of me. I quickly push myself to a sitting position and see-

Maliph! Maliph is wrestling Elco on the other side of the stage! I've never been so happy to see him before ever!

I turn towards the crowd. It's in an absolute uproar. Danian and Mipedian soldiers are pouring out of the tunnel from the outside, and many of the criminal Danians are surrendering on the spot.

...Where's Maliph's sword?

I turn back to Maliph and Elco and spot the sword a ways away, smeared with yellow parasite guts. Did Maliph throw it?

Elco flips on top of Maliph and wraps all four of his hands around his throat. He leans into Maliph's face and roars. A roar I interrupt by grabbing Maliph's sword and swinging it down on the Danian's head.

I expected it to bounce off. I thought the sword would deal a glancing blow. Ideally it would have knocked the Danian out, otherwise it would have simply distracted the Danian long enough for Maliph to gain the upper hand. That's... not what happened. I've been working with those blunted training swords for too long.

The blade cleaves through Elco's exoskeleton. It wasn't quite like slicing butter with a hot knife, there was more resistance. Still, one moment, there was Elco's head, and the next, there were two halves of Elco's head.

Elco's body slumps to the side, wrenching the sword from my grip. He hits the ground, jostling the sword free. Now joined with the yellow smear of parasite remains are gray clumps, pieces of what have to be Elco's brain.

I... just... killed him...

My logical mind tries to tell me he deserved it. My emotional mind tries to tell me to be glad that a person like him is dead.

I vomit. It tastes like acid.

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"I remember my first kill," Maliph says while he sits next to me. "I reacted much the same way."

I'm sitting on the end of the stage farthest from where Elco's corpse still lays. There's lots of activity around me, but I'm not seeing it. Five minutes. Has it really only been five minutes? It feels like an hour.

"Osiris?" Maliph asks. "Michael? Are you okay?"

"I wasn't trying to kill him," I mutter. "I should have used the flat or the pommel, not the blade."

Maliph stares at the ground with me for a moment, then gives my shoulder a shake. "Hey, you saved Ashley from getting infected. Cheer up a little."

I glance over at Ashley. She's bundled up in a blanket, shivering, though I don't think it's from the cold.

"Has Sett been told?" I ask.

"He's on his way," Maliph replies.

"Good." I look out at the crowd. Several Danians are being led out in chains. "How many arrests?"

"Around sixty." Maliph pauses for a moment. "Five were killed while resisting arrest."

"Did we lose anyone?" I ask with trepidation.

Maliph shakes his head. "Everyone's accounted for."

Suddenly my view is obscured by a huge Danian. "Osiris, man of the hour," a deep voice laughs. "Who would have thought a Human would be the one to crack this case open, even if he is a prince."

I look up. It's Odu-Bathax. How odd that the creature who killed me in two past lives is now praising me. "Hello, Odu..." I mutter.

"It's Odu-Bathax," the Danian corrects. "I thought you'd know that. I hear I'm quite prominent in that entertainment program back on Earth."

Probably best not to mention that he's portrayed as a bit of a villain sometimes. "I always called you Odu in my head."

Odu-Bathax shrugs and looks over at Elco's body. "A bit of a shock to learn one of the slaver leaders was Elco. I always thought his wealth came from his excellent service. I was a regular customer for a time. Excellent mouth of his."

Thanks for the mental image, Odu-Bathax. "Nobody ever checked where all his money came from?"

"Well, yes, we did." Odu-Bathax mutters. He scratches the back of his head. "The thing is, nothing was suspicious. I guess he over-reported the number of his clients."

"Enough about his clients and his service and all that crap!" I snap. "I don't care where you Danians shove your penises when you're horny, just leave me out of it!"

Odu-Bathax stares at me slack-jawed for a second. Maliph quickly says, "He's under a lot of stress from accidentally killing Elco."

"That was an accident?" Odu-Bathax laughs. "You sliced all the way through to his vocal cords!"

"I was trying to knock him out," I mutter.

Odu-Bathax almost doubles over with laughter. "I'd hate to see you actually try to kill someone then! An accident!"

Odu-Bathax staggers away, and soon it looks like he's retelling the story to another group of soldiers. I turn to Maliph. "If I ever get that excited about someone dying, just kill me."

"Is that an order?" Maliph says with a raised eye ridge.

I sigh. "No, it's not. Just... make sure I never get like that."

"Ashley!"

I turn to the sound of the voice. Sett dashes across the room over to his wife. "Ashley! Are you hurt? They didn't hurt you, right? I'm going to kill them if they did."

Ashley hesitantly looks over her shoulder at Elco's corpse. Sett follows her gaze and mutters, "Someone beat me to it." Then he hugs Ashley. "I was so scared... I thought I'd never see you again..."

Ashley hugs him back. "I kept praying you'd find me. I'm so sorry..."

Maliph nudges me. "Look. Look at that. Don't think about that Danian, think about that. You made that happen. You made it possible for them to see each other again."

"And you made sure I was Human enough to see it," I add. "Thanks for that."

"It's my job," Maliph counters. "I'm supposed to save your life in an overly dramatic fashion."

I stare at him. "You didn't wait until the very last moment just for fun, did you?"

Maliph laughs so hard he falls off the stage. "No, no, no! It was legitimately down to the last second!"

"Good," I mutter. "Because if you did, I'd have fired you."

Maliph picks himself off the floor. "Are you feeling better?"

"A bit," I mutter.

"Well, I have to get off my a** and get some work done." Maliph gives me a light punch to the shoulder. "Take care, Your Highness."

As I watch Maliph leave, I mentally correct everyone. It wasn't just me, Hawki help too. As well as Phelphor. Hell, I wouldn't have been able to even find this place without him, much less get in.

{iS THe M'aRRiLLiaN WoRTH BeiNG PaRaNoiD oVeR?}

What was that? Ah, it doesn't matter anyway. There's no way Phelphor's a threat to anybody.

{Ha! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! i DiD iT!}

I stand up and head for the exit to this disgusting room. I need to get out of here, get some sleep, maybe hold Isis for a while.

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uP NeXT: THe CeLeBRaToRy NiGHT

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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