The trip to Vok'Rul's home was uneventful. The vehicle that he had arrived in was driven by another alien, who had spoken no less than three words upon discovering that Vok'Rul had entered a pet shop and came out with an untrained, semi-feral young human. Viktor was placed in the spacious backseat, carrier door facing Vok'Rul as he settled on the other side. This was nothing like the truck and van-like vehicles he had been put in before. He barely felt the rumble of whatever powered these things underneath his feet.

Viktor was subdued. He had barely gotten the chance to turn around and look at the others before Vok'Rul had wheeled his carrier out of the gate. They looked sad. He was sad. He didn't want to be here.

But he had no choice. He hadn't had any choices ever since he had been abducted.

Vok'Rul, his owner, Viktor thought with disgust, spoke to him softly throughout the whole trip. He seemed nice so far, at least. The only one that had taken the time to speak with him had been Lilac, and Viktor had no idea where she was now.

When the vehicle stopped moving after a while, Viktor peered out of the carrier door with interest. His mouth dropped open when he saw the big mansion in front of him. He had never seen a mansion in real life back on Earth, but the building before him certainly qualified as one. The architecture wasn't like anything he had seen back on Earth. The exterior was dark brown, shiny, and most interestingly seemed to be iridescent. There were marble-like patterns on the exterior that shifted with the view.

When his carrier was removed from the vehicle by Vok'Rul and set on the ground, Viktor could see that the grounds of the mansion never seemed to end. They were surrounded by a larger-than-life fence. It was probably twice the height of Vok'Rul. It would be no easy feat to climb over that thing.

Whoever Vok'Rul was on this planet, he seemed to be pretty important. This place reminded Viktor a lot of the White House. There were a few aliens lingering around the gates, likely eager to catch a glimpse of him.

The tall alien brought Viktor into the house. There were three much shorter aliens waiting at the door. Vok'Rul said something to them, and they bowed, exiting the house. Viktor guessed they were some sort of house staff since they started bringing in the various supplies that Vok'Rul had bought at the store. Vok'Rul pointed in some direction, and they started walking toward it with him in the lead. Viktor was trailing behind in the carrier. He was getting pretty cramped in this thing.

While the room they had left had looked rather proper and more expensive than Viktor had ever seen in his whole life, the room they had entered looked a bit more like home. This must be Vok'Rul's personal quarters. It looked lived-in. He could almost hear Ezekiel say something snarky about the decor. His heart twisted, and he tried to ignore the burning behind his eyes.

For the first time in months, he was completely alone.

Viktor sat impatiently in his carrier, an almost empty bowl of jerky on his lap. He had completely cleaned out the treat bag earlier in the trip, which he regretted now. Damn instant gratification! It was the only sweet thing he had had for seven months now. Or maybe it had been eight since they got here. He didn't know.

The aliens bustled around him. When he cared to look outside the carrier, he could see that he was placed in what must have been the living room. It looked frighteningly like a normal home back on Earth, but everything was scaled to be about twice his size. Couches that were probably normal-sized for Vok'Rul would require a running headstart to get on top of. A large table with various chairs sat on the other side of the room. If Viktor stretched, he could see that the wall on the other side of the table was a half wall. It probably led to a kitchen.

Viktor was inspecting the rest of the room when a large face appeared in front of him. The breath left his lungs when he recognized the broad, flat face in front of him.

It was the ringmaster.

He let out a piercing scream, pushing himself back into the carrier. He grabbed for the dish in his lap and chucked it full-force at the cage door. It rattled loudly in the enclosed space. The ringmaster jerked back, surprise written over his face. It was only then that Viktor realized there was no scar traveling across his face. The alien in front of him didn't even resemble the ringmaster all that much when Viktor took another look at him. The only similarities they shared were their noses.

The alien retreated from his field of view when a sharp yell punctuated the air. Viktor saw Vok'Rul's legs and tail appear in front of his cage. The alien quickly got up from the floor, bowing lowly in front of Vok'Rul. There was a lot of loud shouting and hissing from the taller alien. So much so that Viktor had to cover his ears with his hands, hoping to drown it out. His erratic heartbeat did a pretty good job of covering up the noises. The argument stopped suddenly, and Viktor pulled his hands away to hear distant footsteps receding into the distance. Well, at least they were gone.

He jumped when Vok'Rul's face appeared in his view. He bared his teeth in anger as the alien started speaking to him. Fuck this place. It was heart attack after heart attack.

He heard Vok'Rul sigh, placing a hand on the carrier to heave himself up. Viktor felt the carrier move, and he looked out in suspicion. He was wheeled into the kitchen, which was across the half wall, as he suspected. Past the kitchen was a hallway with a set of spiral stairs at the far end. The steps were huge and probably came up to Viktor's waist if he was standing next to them.

He hoped they weren't going up the stairs, if only for the fear that he'd have to get dragged up the stairs like a suitcase. He did not want to get bounced around in here.

They went up the stairs.

Thankfully, Vok'Rul decided to lift the carrier into his arms. A bit dizzy at the sudden height difference (Viktor quite appreciated seeing the floor, thank you), he stayed very still. The large bulky nature of the carrier didn't seem to bother Vok'Rul, even though he probably had to maneuver the box in weird directions to get up the staircase.

Viktor was set a bit roughly onto the ground when they reached the top. Rubbing his head where he had smacked into the wall of the carrier, he peered out into the second floor of Vok'Rul's personal wing of the mansion. The alien probably spent most of his time up here. There was a large central room with three doors. The room had a comfortable-looking couch with a small - compared to the couch, anyway; it was huge to Viktor - table that had various papers and knickknacks on it. Across the couch was a circular disk. It was nearly see-through.

Viktor didn't have much more of a chance to look around through his limited view as the carrier began rolling towards one of the doors. It opened to reveal a rather spacious room with some of the odd red and brown plants and a large desk in the center. A similar see-through disk was on top of the desk. Viktor supposed that this must be their electronics. It was very different from the basic metallic ones they had on Earth.

The tinkling of jewelry clued him in on Vok'Rul's movement. He stepped in front of the carrier, lightly thumping the top to open the door. Viktor was still plastered against the back of the carrier. In their journey up the stairs, the dish he had thrown had slid back to him. He clutched it in his hands as Vok'Rul peered into the carrier.

Vok'Rul spoke quietly, probably saying 'oh, Viktor, so sorry to keep you in this cage and bringing your entire species to my planet. We are fixing it right now!'

As if.

As it were, Vok'Rul was muttering his name and other words he had yet to decipher. Then, the alien disappeared from view, keeping the carrier wide open. Just as Viktor was about to shuffle forwards to peek out, the alien appeared again. He set the navy-colored blanket he had seen him carrying in the pet store half on the floor and half into the carrier. Viktor had let out a sharp 'hey!' when he saw the alien's hands reaching into the carrier but relaxed as he saw what they were doing. Some shuffling and Viktor saw that a pile of treats was getting poured onto the blanket. A dish full of water joined it.

Dirty tricks, Viktor thought.

He was thirsty. Extremely thirsty. He hadn't drunk anything since last night before he went to sleep, and it was well into the day, now.

It seemed that the alien was doing his best to make Viktor comfortable. He was humming a tune as he shuffled about the room. Viktor couldn't quite see what he was doing and didn't want to risk peeking out to see. His voice was much deeper than Lilac's, as well as smoother.

After a few minutes of mysterious shuffling around the room, Viktor decided he couldn't take the suspense anymore and decided to peek his head out of the carrier. It didn't help that all he had else to do was think about the others and how he would most likely never see them again in his life.

He slowly crawled out of the carrier, kneeling just outside it. He reached over to the water dish, grabbed it, and dragged it over. He winced as he spilled some water on the blanket, glancing at Vok'Rul warily. He wasn't paying attention.

Viktor drank his fill, smacking his lips with an 'ah' of relief. His throat felt much better.

The shuffling stopped. He lowered the dish from his face to see Vok'Rul right in front of him. He jumped, nearly dropping the dish. Vok'Rul smiled, teeth long and sharp. His shoulders were shaking.

What the fuck! He was getting laughed at!

Viktor scowled, putting the dish down, grabbing a fistful of small treats, and chucking them at the alien. He retreated back into the carrier, because he wanted to, not because he was nervous or anything.

He heard Vok'Rul chuckle and sigh, straightening up from his crouch and brushing off his clothing. He heard him call his name, say something else, and move behind the carrier. There was a faint click and then silence for a long time. Viktor crawled out of the carrier, standing up when he saw that there was no one in the room. He let out a sigh of relief.

He picked up a few of the round treats as he walked around the room to inspect his surroundings. It was undeniably Vok'Rul's office, what with the alien computer (though it looked very odd), desk, and chair. The weird red plants were in pots and scattered throughout the room. There were large cabinets that probably held very important papers. A large window was directly behind the desk. Viktor couldn't quite see it from his height on the floor. Frankly, he felt like he was in a giant's home. Everything was massive.

Vok'Rul had moved some supplies in here, obviously for Viktor's use. There was a small closet on the wall farthest from the window. It was half-opened, and when Viktor peered inside, he was greeted with a cozy-looking mattress. It was a pet bed, of course, what with the slightly elevated walls, quite like a dog bed. It was long, though, and looked really soft. Viktor touched it. It would be like sleeping on a cloud.

He quickly walked back to the carrier, bundling the blanket in his arms. He dropped it onto the bed. All he needed was a pillow, and he could probably pretend he was sleeping in his own closet if he ignored the random boxes piled on one side. Everything that had been originally in here was shoved to one side, but there was still plenty of room for Viktor to sprawl out. It was dark, too.

"Awesome," Viktor said, hope starting to creep into his voice. He had really been worried that he'd be stuck in a cage and forgotten about. He had a whole, albeit shared, room to himself.

Outside the closet were some similar toys he had seen in the room at the pet store. There were other toys scattered around, though. There was even something resembling a Rubix's Cube of all things. It was spherical in shape and had only three colors on it, but Viktor picked it up anyway, fiddling with it. He was halfway through solving it when the door creaked open. He froze from his spot on the ground, looking up with wide eyes.

Vok'Rul looked delighted to see him out of the carrier, and he quietly stepped inside. Viktor stood up quickly, dropping the sphere on the ground. Now that he was out of the carrier, he felt a bit underdressed compared to the tall alien and his expensive house. His sleeves and pants were still too short on him, revealing unprotected skin. It bothered him in the arena, how easily accessible his ankles and wrists had been, how easily his tendons had been available for any tooth or claw to catch. Outside of the arena, it still bothered him. Sure, he no longer had to fight his way out of every interaction, but he didn't like the way that the clothing rubbed uncomfortably at his skin. He looked like a dirty stray Vok'Rul picked up on the streets.

Viktor would probably sell his kidney for a shower.

Viktor watched as Vok'Rul dragged the carrier out of the doorway and behind his desk. The sun was starting to dip low in the sky. The glare didn't seem to bother Vok'Rul, who settled in the chair behind the desk and looked out the window. He seemed to relish it. He wondered if these aliens were like plants and needed the sun. He scoffed to himself. There had been a kitchen downstairs. Their teeth suggested they were carnivores as well. Vok'Rul tipped his head in the direction of his scoff but didn't move further than that.

Deciding to ignore the alien since he seemed to be doing the same, Viktor picked up the Rubix's Cube sphere again, working on clicking its pieces into their correct colored rows. He idly rolled it around on the floor after he managed to complete it, feeling an odd sort of triumph. He had never managed to complete a Cube back on Earth, at least not without cheating his way through it using online guides.

Ah, how he missed the Internet.

He let out a sigh, head thumping onto the wall he sat against. He missed Pedro and the others. He missed having conversations with people who would be able to understand him. He missed Earth.

"Kohgrash," he heard Vok'Rul call gently. Viktor didn't bother looking over at him, staring fixedly at a point on the ceiling. That wasn't even his name. Viktor didn't even know what it meant. His name was Viktor. He'd never get called it again. "Kohgrash?"

The novelty of being in a new place had worn out. Viktor got up suddenly, hyperaware of Vok'Rul looking over at him, having twisted his chair to look at him. He walked into the closet, sighing as he collapsed into the bed. It smelled odd, like mothballs and the interior of the car he had been in. He grabbed the blanket and threw it over his head.

Maybe if he woke up tomorrow, he'd be back in the pet store with the others. Maybe he'd even wake up in his own bed, relieved that this had been all a dream and excited to tell others about it.

Maybe he wouldn't wake up at all.