Some Notes: After much deliberation with myself, I decided to make this chapter the start of "Understandings" rather than making "Misunderstood" overly gigantic.

It will end one day I swear... just not today.

Blunders Happen

How could this happen... again?

Laes was lying face-down on the cold tile floor near the energy beams that were acting as a barrier to keep him imprisoned in a small room.

He'd spoken to the counsel about how Irkens weren't all bad, and that they deserved to be treated as people rather than as failed experiments. He brought up how the Irkens had been allowed to advance and grow their own society for over two thousand years, so suddenly deciding to reprogram them seemed a bit hasty and controlling on the Invaders' part.

He said more things too before they told him to stop speaking.

Soon after the meeting he was teleported into this... prison cell.

He was a prisoner again. Why? Was it his destiny to be a prisoner?

With a sigh, he rolled onto his back and looked up at the plain grey ceiling.

Then he remembered both Bann and the Tallest had been with him.

He jumped to his feet and got as close to the glowing white bars as he dared.

He peered into the hallway. There weren't any guards.

"Have you decided to stop moping?" A strong female voice questioned.

He glanced right and left, but there still wasn't anyone in the hallway.

"I'm in the room beside yours."

"Oh..." He couldn't see into the cells besides his. The walls separating them were made out of a non-see through material. "How do you know I was moping?"

The person beside him answered: "It's a natural reaction when one is first imprisoned."

"This is the third time I've been imprisoned actually..." Laes admitted, and he suddenly felt like moping again.

"I find this information doubtful. Once you enter this prison, you will never leave."

Laes balked. "Never leave?" he repeated.

"Yes. No one ever leaves this place."

"Oh um... that's... really troubling actually..."

"Sorry. I'm afraid I've forgotten how to comfort others."

Laes let out a sigh as he sank back to the floor.

"That's ok... but I'm a little surprised I can hear you... I thought the rooms would be sound proof."

"New-comers are often paired with a long-term prisoner this way, as we are not permitted to be in the same room."

Her voice sounded like it was getting closer. She was probably standing close to their shared wall and the energy field... or maybe there was a hidden communication system somewhere and she was standing closer to that?

"Though I am surprised we've been matched together considering I've been here for quite some time, and they've never allowed me to speak to a new prisoner until now."

"I see..." Laes looked at the wall. "Uh... why is that?"

"Because the point of pairing a new prisoner with an old one is to help the new prisoner accept their fate, and I'm considered a high level threat."

"I see..." he repeated, fidgeting a little.

A part of him wanted to ask what she did to make her a threat, but another part of him argued it wasn't any of his business.

Maybe he should introduce himself. That would make this meeting a little less awkward probably.

Since she was likely going to be the only person he could talk to for a while, it would be better to start things off on a good note.

"My name is Laes." He shifted a little closer to the wall. "So um... what's your name?"

"Laes? Hm... that's an interesting and unfamiliar name," she commented. Then she answered, "my name is Masala."

He should probably also confirm she was an Invader rather than making assumptions... he was already picturing her as an Invader, though he didn't know much about Invader culture to know if it was normal for them to imprison their own kind or not.

"Are you and Invader?" he asked before he could remember that Invaders didn't call themselves Invaders.

"What is an "Invader?" She asked.

He buried his face in his hands. "I mean... um..." he didn't know what they called themselves... "The uh... people with wings... and uh black eyes... and...the um... green and blue colors?"

What else could he say about them?

The person on the other side of the wall chuckled.

"Is that what your kind calls us? Then yes, I suppose I am an Invader. However, it should be noted that not all Invaders have wings."

"Oh. Sorry." He shouldn't have assumed that.

Every Invader looked like they didn't have wings most of the time... but maybe some of them really didn't.

"Now I'm curious what you are," Masala admitted. "My people do not normally imprison other races. You must have done something very noteworthy to land yourself in here."

"I'm Vortian."

"Vortian you say? ... so they did return to that side of the universe..." she let out a sigh. "I told them returning there for petty revenge disguised as moral obligation wouldn't be a wise decision... and since you're here now, I assume I was correct."

Laes moved himself closer to the wall so he was nearly touching it. Then he turned around and leaned back against the rock like material.

"So... I'm trapped here for the rest of my life...?" he asked, hoping to understand his situation a little better even if it wasn't a very good one.

"Under normal circumstances yes... but since you aren't one of my people, it's difficult to say what will happen to you."

"What are your people called?"

He might as well learn the answer to that question since he'd been curious about it for a while now.

"We simply call each other "my people," she answered.

Well... that would explain why he never picked up on their actual name.

She continued, "we do this purposefully whenever we are away from our planet. We also won't use the name of our planet."

"It sounds like you want to keep yourselves a secret or something."

She chuckled again.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but we do experiment on, use, and eat other races," she told him.

There was no hint of any feelings in her words when she said this.

"Even though we usually offer some form of compensation, we are still killing people. Not everyone can accept this, and there has been violent resistance in the past."

Invaders had more trust issues than the Irkens did... but it sounded like they had a pretty good reason for their paranoia.

"Sevai told me a lot about your people though," Laes admitted, slumping a little more against the wall. "Does that mean he's in trouble?"

"Of course, but he has been in trouble since the day he was laid. It was only a matter of time before he ended up here unfortunately..."

"Oh um..." it sounded like this Invader knew Sevai pretty well. "Can I ask why...?"

"It's because he's my son."

"You're Sevai's mother!?" Laes blurted.

When he realized how loud that was, he covered his mouth.

"I conceived him and hatched him unlawfully," Masala explained. "If he had still been in the larva stage when they found us, he would have been detached from his host and destroyed... fortunately he was fully developed by the time we were discovered."

"Oh wow..." Laes lowered his hands and pressed his fingers together.

"Our time to talk is nearly done for today," Masala noted.

"How can you tell?" he tapped his chin and frowned. "And how can we understand each other?"

"Because when I first arrived here, the watcher would speak to me for around this amount of time... and they must be using a translator over our cell's communication system."

There was nothing else to do in this room... There was no bed, no bench, no clocks, nothing at all. It was just a small empty room. He was going to die of boredom without someone to talk to.

"Don't worry, we will be able to speak more tomorrow," she tried to encourage him.

"But what am I going to do for the rest of today?" Laes questioned.

"Sleep. Ponder the meaning of life. Exercise. Reflect on the actions that brought you here. The choice is yours."

After she said this, she stopped talking.

"Masala?" he tried, turning a bit and placing his hand on the wall like he could somehow push his words through it or something. "Masala?"

He lay on his side and brought his legs up close to his body. Maybe he could sleep for a few hours if he tried hard enough.

–

Red returned to the Fortress of Pain with a canteen filled with some kind of desert plant juice. He tried some and it tasted mostly like water, so he figured the Invader would be able to drink it.

He also had some bandages that his followers found near the holding pen of pain.

There was no one in there right now.

It was likely with all of the turmoil going on between the Empire and the Invaders that this planet had been at least mostly abandoned. No one would be coming here to train right now anyway...

He threw open the doors by accident. They weren't as stuck as they had been before.

Sevai was lying face down a few steps away from where Red had left him. It looked like the Invader had tried to go somewhere but had quickly given up.

"What were you trying to do exactly?" Red asked as he approached Sevai.

"I was trying... to walk..." the Invader breathed.

"Oh. Well," Red knelt down beside him. "Maybe don't try doing that again until you can actually do it."

He brought out his metal limbs and used them to carefully roll Sevai onto his back. Then he withdrew them and leaned forward. He slid an arm underneath the Invader, below his shoulders, and pulled him into a sitting position.

"I want you to drink this," Red told him as he twisted open the canteen. He held it up to Sevai's mouth, and the Invader took a small amount then turned his face away.

Sevai swallowed before saying a soft "thank you..."

"We're in a desert," Red reminded him, and he held the canteen close to the Invader's face. "Drink more."

"No thank you..." Sevai responded as he raised a hand to push the canteen away. "I'm not thirsty..."

Red's eyes narrowed. "I know it's not the greatest tasting stuff, but you've lost a lot of blood and it's hot." He held out the canteen again. "You should drink more so you don't start hallucinating or something weird."

Sevai gave in and took another small sip.

Then Red placed the canteen on the ground and began to unravel the bundle of bandages he took out of his pocket.

"Just keep in mind I'm not a medic, and I only have two fingers on each hand."

"Why do you...?"Sevai questioned as his eyes focused on one of the Tallest's hands. "The rest of your people have three digits."

"It's our tradition. Every Tallest has their thumbs cut off. It's to show we have power or something."

"Over two thousand years ago my people only had two fingers..." Sevai raised one of his hands eye-level. "We spent a lot of time researching how to alter our DNA to grow our thumbs... it's made things much easier..."

"You guys used to only have two fingers?" Red questioned, placing the bandages down beside him. "I wonder if that's where the Control Brains got that idea from."

"It could be..."

Sevai cringed and let out a small whimper when the Tallest began pulling on the soiled bandages covering his wound. He wrapped one of his arms over the Tallest's shoulder plates and pressed the side of his head against the Irken's armor.

Red's antennae flattened, and he stopped once the bandages were loosened.

"Could you stop cuddling me? It's gross."

"Sorry..." Sevai responded, but he didn't move away.

Red waited for a few moments, then he rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? How can I change your bandages when you're obstructing my movements like this huh?"

"This position is more comfortable..."

"You've been repeatedly stabbed. You can't even be comfortable right now, so let go."

The Tallest waited another few moments. He'd never gotten the impression that Invaders were this clingy... was there something in that plant juice maybe? Hopefully not.

Whatever. The Invader wasn't actually touching him, so he could deal with it.

He began unraveling the bandages which were heavy with the Invader's blood.

When he exposed the wound, he noted how open and raw it was. It was still bleeding too.

"Did your people fix this at all?" Red questioned, scowling as he pulled off the Invader's shirt before reaching for the fresh bandages lying nearby.

"Enough to keep me alive..." Sevai responded softly.

Red looked down at him. The Invader's eyes were closed. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes and how little he was moving, Red figured Sevai was probably exhausted.

"I don't have enough skill to close this wound with just my PAK torches," Red admitted.

He carefully began wrapping the bandages around the hole in the Invader's chest. It needed to be closed otherwise it would never stop bleeding probably.

Sevai gasped and squirmed in discomfort when the Tallest pulled the wrappings tight.

"Stop moving around so much," Red insisted. He paused, waiting for Sevai to calm himself. "You're going to make it bleed worse, and I'm not going to help you anymore if you become a dried-out corpse thing."

"M-My apologies..." Sevai stammered.

Red finished wrapping the bandages. Then he removed the Invader's arm from his shoulders and carefully lay Sevai on the ground. He didn't think he would be able to make the bandages stay on the Invader's wings, so there was no point in trying to wrap those.

He picked up Sevai's ripped shirt and folded it a few times. With more care than he ever thought he would ever use on anyone ever, he lifted the Invader's head and placed the folded shirt underneath.

"You really need to see a professional medic," Red decided, rubbing a hand down his cheek.

His metal limb had pierced Sevai's chest cavity deeper than he thought.

It was either that or Sevai's people had purposefully made the injury worse.

Should he mention it? Nah. What good would that do? Besides, it was totally possible he stabbed the Invader worse than he thought he did since he wasn't thinking clearly at the time.

Why was he treating Sevai so nice anyway? He held the side of his head and scowled. The Invader could have some useful information. Was that the reason?

He nearly recoiled in disgust when he felt the Invader grasp his arm. Ugh. He jerked his arm away and sucked in a breath, trying to calm himself.

Actual physical contact was disgusting. Sevai, advanced or not, was still a gross creepy alien parasite creature.

"Can you stay...?" Sevai spoke. His eyes were open, but they weren't exactly looking at him. Hopefully the Invader hadn't caught some kind of desert fever. "Please...?"

Calming himself wasn't working. No one, not his followers or anyone outside of the Empire, had ever grabbed him so brazenly.

"If you keep grabbing me like that I definitely won't!" Red spat as he tried to rub the gross off of his arm. "You don't touch me! Understand!? I'm not your dlarn property!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Sevai stammered.

"Yeah well, I don't like being touched," he stated as he rose to his feet.

He walked away from the Invader back towards the entrance then leaned against the wall. The doors were wide open, but there didn't seem to be anything interesting going on outside.

He should probably try getting a hold of the sergeant. He was sure he had that guy's number filed away in his PAK somewhere. The sergeant would probably be able to find him a medic from one of the other Hobo planets.

"Why do you keep touching me anyway?" Red asked since he was a bit curious why the Invader was acting so strangely.

Sevai didn't answer right away, so he crossed his arms and waited.

"...I'm frightened..." Sevai quietly admitted as he placed a hand over his bandages. "I have never been hurt without having access to medical aid... it's frightening for me..."

"Ok..." Red's antennae lowered a little. "So why are you touching me?"

"I suppose I'm seeking reassurance..."

Red squinted an eye. "From the guy who stabbed you? Really?"

Did Sevai somehow get brain worms at some point? There weren't supposed to be any in the desert. Or maybe it really was the desert water... if only he had something he could test it on, but him and all of his followers had PAKs, so whatever might be in the water would be filtered out if they drank it.

"You are the only one here..." Sevai murmured.

Red sighed. What kind of explanation was that? He couldn't even be that mad about it.

"I can give you a drone to cuddle instead," he offered.

Sevai closed his eyes. "That won't be necessary..."

"If you keep touching me I'll make it necessary," Red remarked as he pushed himself away from the wall and gave his full attention to the wounded Invader.

It seemed like Sevai was becoming more and more listless. It was hard to tell if this was from blood loss or the heat, but either way, the Invader wouldn't last very long.

Sevai likely knew he was losing strength, and if he didn't receive the proper treatment he would perish. That's probably why he was acting strange.

"I need to make a couple calls," Red told him. "I'm sure your people already know about this place because Zim 's been here before. They were also digging around in my PAK, so they'll most likely know there's a group of us here."

He rubbed his temples.

"I'll try to find someone to patch you up properly."

He lowered his hand and straightened up.

"For now try to get some rest. I'll be close by so you can shout if you need something."

Sevai managed a weak smile.

"Thank you Tallest..."

–

Several times Laes expected it to be the next day, but it wasn't, or it wasn't the right time of day.

He was pacing.

There was no way out. He'd tested the barrier a little while ago with his shirt and he ended up losing it somehow... it didn't look like the fabric fried or anything but... maybe it did?

Food had appeared in the center of the room a short time later, but it looked and smelled a little too much like "meat," so he tried tossing it in the energy field and it vanished too.

Being idle wasn't easy. He was too used to doing something, anything. That's just the way his people and his society were.

"You might not want to keep throwing objects into the energy field," Masala's voice echoed in the room much more clearly than yesterday.

Laes scrambled over to the wall. He was pretty sure she was on the other side of it.

"Masala," he said her name just for the sake of saying it out loud.

"You may not see any guards, but they are watching us," she explained.

He felt relieved hearing her voice.

At least now he had something to do besides think. He'd done a lot of thinking, but these thoughts hadn't been very happy ones. Mostly he was worrying about what happened to the Tallest and Bann... also he was hoping the Invaders wouldn't use his defiance as an excuse to kill his people.

"Today our confinement chambers will be briefly linked together," her voice sounded very calm. "I would suggest you don't try to fight back."

Wait... why would he need to fight back...?

The wall between them dissolved before he had time to think about it, and he quickly found himself lying face-up on the ground. He was stunned for a moment, but then he realized someone was on top of him, so he kicked and struggled as hard as he could.

"I told you not to fight me," Masala stated; her eyes narrowed and her words were firm.

She was pinning him to the floor. She was holding his arms down so he couldn't move them, and now she was sitting on his legs.

Cripes. What was Masala doing?

"W-why are you attacking me?" Laes stammered.

She was much larger than he was. There was no way he could overpower her.

"I was making sure you are not a threat," she told him as she let him up.

Laes scrambled backwards. Then he stared up at her with wide-frightened eyes.

She said she was dangerous, but he didn't think she would attack him like that... was she going to maul him? Oh galre.

She fixed the front of her dull red outfit then dusted off her hands. She looked very similar to the other female Invaders he'd seen, only she didn't seem to be wearing any technology. Her black eyes and antennae were the same. Her skin was slightly lighter and it wasn't as vibrant as Delarla's or Kachori's, but she was still more colourful than Sevai or any of the other male Invaders.

"I hope you can pardon my actions," she said, stepping forward and offering her hand. "My people are not very fond of me, so I assumed they were connecting our chambers together to cause me harm."

Laes stared at her hand for a few awkward moments before accepting it. She pulled him to his feet, and he immediately took some steps backwards to place some distance between them.

"Yesterday you told me my son has gotten into trouble... Does this mean you've spoken to him personally?" Her voice sounded a bit softer, and almost... hopeful? She placed a hand on her hip as she adopted a more casual stance.

"Yeah... he..." Laes rubbed his arm nervously. "He never mentioned you..."

Masala smirked. "My people do not speak about the prison or anyone being held inside, regardless of our relations..." She sighed while glancing up at the ceiling. "There are many layers to this place... it would be impossible to find him..." Her eyes narrowed and she grumbled. "Those conniving petty Slaggorts..."

She let out a sharp sigh before focusing on Laes again.

"So what, may I ask, did you do to get yourself brought to this horrible place?"

"I uh..." Laes hesitated, glancing down at the floor. It was a shiny white colour with no dirt or stains of any kind. "I sort of helped an Irken friend of mine free his leader from one of your peoples' ships..."

"Then it's no surprise you're here," Masala said. "The Irken project effectively killed two of my relatives and turned the rest of my relations into unwanted members of society, so I have very little sympathy for the Irkens... however, I believe it would have been better for us to remain impartial to them rather than trying to correct an old mistake we couldn't be bothered to correct in the first place..."

She sighed again and placed a hand on her cheek. "How was Sevai doing when you saw him last? What are his interests? His personality traits?" She dropped her hand back down to her side. "I know I shouldn't ask, but I have been curious for a very long time."

Masala was a mother, and right now she was more concerned about her child than anything else.

Laes nibbled on his lower lip.

The last time he'd spoken to Sevai, the scientist had just been impaled after trying to speak to the Tallest...

He probably shouldn't mention that.

"I don't really know him very well..." Laes admitted.

"You know him better than I do," Masala remarked in confidence.

That... was probably true actually considering Sevai and Masala had been separated since he was born... hatched? One of those...

"Just tell me what he's like," she insisted, and the intensity of her gaze made him realize she wasn't going to let him dodge her questions.

"Well..." Laes gripped his formerly bad arm close to his body. "I thought he was a pretty friendly guy... He always smiled more than the other scientists did-"

"Could you not speak of him in past-tense?" Masala interrupted. Her expression didn't change, but she definitely sounded much more abrupt. "I know you're growing accustomed to the bleakness of your situation, but when you say it that way it sounds like my son has died."

"Oh. Um. Sorry," Laes apologized.

He thought for a moment to make sure his words were still in his brain. He wasn't panicking, so most of them were still there.

"He really likes sweet tea. He drinks it a lot. Maybe even too much, but I don't know how much Invaders usually drink so maybe it's normal. It seems like he really wants what's best for his people, but he also doesn't like to compromise on his own morals. He's friendly. Did I say that already? We talked a little about our cultures and we also argued about what should be considered "edible meat." He told me he likes arguing..." he paused and frowned. "Am I using past tense again?"

Masala was quiet for a while. She was probably trying to understand all the rambling he'd just done... finally she responded with a simple "I see."

Did she understand...? Should he repeat himself? Actually he should probably change the topic so he didn't accidentally somehow say Sevai got stabbed.

"So... uh... why are we able to meet like this?" Laes asked, motioning to the empty space where the wall had been separating them before.

"Because they enjoy tormenting me," she growled through her teeth.

Laes tapped two fingers together ruefully and lowered his head.

"Sorry..." if he was able to communicate better, maybe she wouldn't feel so tormented...

"They wanted me to learn my son is now within the prison without telling me themselves, the cowards!" she exclaimed, balling her hands into fists. She was trembling.

Then her muscles relaxed, she opened her hands, and she let out a sigh.

"I am to blame for his suffering..." she admitted. "I broke our laws when I decided to lay his egg... It was only a matter of time before they found an excuse to imprison him here..."

"He might not be here," Laes suggested in a small unsure voice.

"He is. That is the only reason they would allow you to speak with me."

There was nothing she could do for Sevai. She was a prisoner. She wouldn't be able to see him or speak with him... but if Bann and the Tallest were here... then one of them would be able to think of someway to escape... hopefully.

He should start thinking about it too.

More Notes: Of course Laes has to start off in prison. He's just that great at getting himself thrown in jail.

Also Red is overreacting to being grabbed, but considering the Invaders grabbed him, hauled him onto their ship, and strapped him to a wall, I thought he handled it pretty well. He managed not to kill Sevai anyway.

I will try to update this semi-regularly, but it's hiking season and the mountains are calling me, so I apologize if I forget.