Red wound along the halls, down and down to the prison. Dungeon, really, now that I think of it. Well, I’ll just say "prison", like the whole bathroom thing! Okay? Cool, so Red wandered down, Moose not too far behind. For a minute, Moose remembered that time
when her true memory was gone... She had tailed him like this, but for different reasons.
She shook her head and walked on. Red rounded a corner and came to where Kao and Aex shared their fate, as in, their cell Aex was gone at the moment so Red went to the bars.
"Hey, Kao," he whispered softly, "Hey, wake up." There was quiet movement and a face pressed to the bars.
"What is it, Red?" she asked, her voice cracking half way through. He smiled and reached a tentative finger through, "Are you coming home?"
"I thought I was."
"No! Never! Kao, this is not your home! Upstairs, in the light, is where you belong!"
"Right... Why am I down here then?" she asked. He withdrew his finger and she stared at him from the black.
"You have to make up your mind. From what little Kro has told me and the snippets of news, you have someone else."
"Oh?"
"Her name is Moose, Lindsay Moose. Make up your mind, do you want me or will you stay with her?" Her silver eyes disappeared into the back. "It isn’t fair to toy with someone’s emotions like that! Like this! Maybe," she chuckled, "Maybe, I’ve gone soft in this cage. But you have to take one of us and leave the other to rot. It’s the way peoples, Irken or Earthen, hearts work. Don’t play with us, it’s never fair."
He stared into the blackness, Kao’s eyes had closed and she would not speak. His head bent against the bars and rested. He held on as if to rip the iron from its hold.
"Kao...," he whispered. Moose turned on her heels and fled.
Maybe it was like when Mri ruled her thoughts. All this twisting and turning.
Moose ran back, heart racing and tears streaming. So what was it she had thought? He had forgotten Kao? Even the stupidest Irken knew they had been an "item" once upon a time. What did she want to think? He might…. No, he won’t now! She screamed at herself. So Kao had known Kro as well? Kro had even said, they were close, Moose and Red. Ha ha, she laughed inwardly, an Irken and an Earthen? How stupid of her! She kept going and stopped at a door opened just slightly. She peeked in (knowing she probably
shouldn’t…) and saw Purple and Kro together.
Of course, she had Purple. What had he led her away for? So they could catch up on lost
time, right? She continued down. Both heads turned to stare at her.
"What happened?" asked Purple as the girl rounded a corner.
"Probably..." Kro licked her lips. "she followed Red down to Kao’s cell and saw." Purple
sighed sadly and both retreated back to his room.
"HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID!" shouted Moose and pounded the pillow.
She stopped and hugged it, Red’s pillow. There was a soft knock and the door clicked open. Zix stood there, sad smile on her lips.
"Found out, huh?"
"Yea," one more punch, "I was so dumb! I knew he always liked her!" Zix sat down next to her and smoothed the red comforter.
"Maybe, you need to tell him. Maybe he needs to know to forget other lovers. Hmm?"
"No, he’s fixed on Kao. Besides" Punch! "doesn’t HE want an IRKEN?"
"Everyone is different. You’re in love with someone who isn’t your species, right?"
Moose stopped and looked at her. Zix gave her a crooked smile. "Give him time. Ask him, talk. See what’s goin’ on in his brain. You never know until you ask."
"You never know you can’t until you try," said Moose miserably.
Zix stopped and turned around, magenta eyes blazing fire, "Look, maybe you don’t know what I’ve dealt with
before! You think my hand has always been the Royal Flush? No! I loved a man once; I didn’t have the guts to tell him! I watched and waited and hoped! One day, I did tell him! But he refused me! Then, he left! GONE! He wasn’t there! He was everything to me, and
I never had the guts to say so!" Zix paused for breath, "NOW, I hear he’s in prison! Possibly DEAD! I can’t tell him again or change his mind ever because he’s imprisoned for life!" she was screaming now, "I NEVER HAD THE GUTS, AND NOW I CAN’T EVEN TELL HIM I LOVED HIM! Tell him or he might become the lost love I still dream about! TELL HIM, DAMMIT!"
Moose stood and Zix watched her leave. The door slammed and Moose was away.
Zix fell back on the bed, "I hope you do it right this time." She whispered, "Tell him he’s everything, because you may never have a second chance. Tell him, Moose..."
M E A N W H I L E (somewhere on Earth):
"I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HUMAN-ARGH, AR-FILTH!" Zim shouted at the vid screen. Once again, he had called the Tallest and was ranting and raving to them.
"I like filth!" said Gir and clapped his hands. Purple raised an eyebrow and whispered something to Red.
Red shrugged, "Zim, how late were you up last night?" Zim had HUGE baggy circles under his eyes.
"I lost count of the hours..." replied Zim, trying to look innocent.
"Clock said four in the mourning! IT SAY FOUR IN DA MORNING!" screeched Gir, looking up from his moose. Purple stared at the robot and nodded.
"Um, that's great, Zim.... Keep watch on that planet. Whatever it was.... Uh, yeaaaa..." said Purple and the
screen winked off.
Nothing ever works out for the main character in a TV show does it? Zim sighed and
wandered down to his lab as the "Scary Monkey Show" came on, to Gir's happy shrieks.He switched on the main computer and logged on.
He sighed to himself, the Tallest probably thought he had been up playing games or something the night before.
He hadn't.
Zim had been closely watching a planet, one called Diater. It was a planet honed for war, the inhabitants, incredible. They weren't very tall, but.... What they lacked in height, they replaced in fighting. No one out of their species could fight one and win; they were armed to the teeth.
Literally.
They were three feet or so in height, huge arms like a gorilla's, metal armor on every inch of their body. In every war they fought in, the Lupians were their allies. Always.
And the strangest thing was happening, ships on their planets were disappearing every day or so. Before his eyes, five launched off the planet's surface.
Sweat drenching his face, Zim called, "COMPUTER!"
"And then I said-Huh?" said the computer (obviously, it had been talking to some of its cyber buddies).
"Computer, hack into the main Diater system and open the channel of the leader making his speech!"
"Subtitles...." He murmured and they flashed up in black script at the bottom of his screen.
He was making a speech about... ERG! Would he EVER get to the point? Here we are, thought Zim as he stopped and began again. It was one sentence that made his face pale incredibly.
"PAKE! Pake Te mamousus, hirana pkae IRKENS!!! BWAHAHAHA!"
Translated by the computer, the leader was yelling:
"REVENGE! Revenge to the hideous, monstrous, evil IRKENS!! BWAHAHAHA!"
Zim stared at it for a minute and turned on the communication channel again. Purple’s agitated face appeared, "WHAT?" he demanded.
"Um, you need to see this..."
