"Kohgrash! Kohgrash! Kohgrash!"

The chant was neverending, reverberating in his ears. The beat of their claws and tails scraping against the wood and metal of the stands went in time with his erratic heartbeat. The lights that shone on him were bright and blinding, always seeming to find his eyes no matter how hard he looked away. They beat on him like a sun, skin already prickling with sweat.

The pit was different this time. There were no obstacles - no fallen logs, large rocks, sticks, or anything - along the edges or the center. It was just Viktor and the sand.

He didn't know what his opponent was this time. He knew he had been brought out first.

"Kohgrash! Kohgrash! Kohgrash!"

The gates shrieking against each other stopped his rhythmic prowling. Stiffly, he turned his body to the other entrance, watching impassively as the ringmaster came stalking in. He only started to feel wary when nothing else came in behind him.

The ringmaster, without warning, started running at him. He crossed the pit in five long steps. Viktor threw himself out of the way, feeling the alien's claws scrape against his back. He howled in pain, anger, fear. He had never fought an alien before.

The ringmaster quickly closed in on him. Viktor's small stature and rusty moves were no match for the alien's large, painful claws closing around his midsection. They dug painfully into his sides, easily slicing the skin like he was made of clay.

His head was about to fall off from his body with the force that the ringmaster shook him with. The alien threw him harshly to the ground. Viktor cried out in pain before he could help himself, scrambling to get back to his feet. The sand underneath him was gone, warped into the cold stone of the warehouse.

"Kohgrash! Kohgrash! Kohgrash!"

"Stop," he pleaded, barely audible over the chanting of the crowd - how were they in the warehouse? - and his own thumping heart. "No more." The ringmaster growled with amusement.

"Kas tih, Kohgrash," he heard Vok'Rul say. The tall alien was standing regally in one of the cells, hands clutching the bars.

"What?" he wheezed, clutching his ribs with one arm. The ringmaster shifted, and he quickly averted his gaze from his friend and to his enemy.

The ringmaster grabbed him again, on his shoulders. He was shaking him harshly. His claws were piercing his skin."Kas tih, tas tih!" he shouted in his face, lips twisted into a vicious sneer. The voice that came out of him was Vok'Rul's.

Viktor's confusion, fear, and pain quickly launched him into the waking world. Vok'Rul's face took up his entire vision. The weak moonlight that streaked through the windows threw shadows across his face, and Viktor, half-asleep and still scared out of his mind, saw the ringmaster instead.

"No," he whimpered. He struggled to get away from the alien, but his claws were still grasping his shoulders tightly, painfully. "No! Go away!" he screamed when he found his breath. His legs were bound - blankets, when did they get blankets? - but he thrashed as hard as he could.

He knocked the alien's hands off him, throwing his fist out as hard as he could. It connected. He heard a startled cry of "Kohgrash!" and he couldn't help but feel triumph.

In the next moment, his triumph was replaced with fear as his head was pinned to the ground by one large hand. Viktor let out a wordless growl, reaching up. He punched the alien's wrist and arm as hard as he could from this awkward angle. It didn't seem to help.

Something cold pressed against his ear. Loud buzzing filled his head.

"Kohgrash, please! You're alright! You are not in any danger!" someone - Vok'Rul - cried. His hand was still pressed against his head, effectively pinning him to the ground.

"Vok'Rul?" Viktor asked, holding himself stiffly even as his voice was flooded with hope.

"Yes," the alien's voice was choked with relief. "Yes, Kohgrash, it's just me. Just me and you. We are in our home. You just had a bad dream. Nothing you saw was real."

Viktor forced himself to relax. After a moment, Vok'Rul's hand left his head. Both of their breathing filled the room. Viktor's was stuttery as he tried to calm himself. Vok'Rul simply took deep breaths. They were silent for a long time.

"Sorry," Viktor managed when the silence was just too oppressive to bear. "Sorry I keep waking you up. Sorry I'm such a mess-" he cut himself off, feeling his throat starting to close.

"Do not apologize," his voice was quiet. "May I hold you, little one?"

Viktor didn't want to be held. His skin was tingling like he had just gotten shocked from his collar for five minutes straight. He felt like he needed to claw his way out of it. It felt too tight on his body, choking him.

But he knew it would be nice, eventually. Vok'Rul was warm. Safe. So he nodded mutely.

Vok'Rul's sleep clothes were soft. Viktor buried his face in them, unable to look at Vok'Rul even through the dim light of the room. He was filled with shame.

It had been months since he had gotten out of the arena. Why wasn't he better, yet? Sure, he had been in there for a while and constantly made to live on edge, but he wasn't living like that anymore! He just didn't understand why he couldn't live normally.

He didn't know he was crying until Vok'Rul softly said, "You're leaking."

It startled a laugh out of him, wet and shaky. "It's called crying," he informed the alien, angrily wiping at his eyes.

The alien hummed, low and deep in his chest. "Do you know why I went to the pet store that day I got you?"

Viktor mulled it over for a moment. "Because... you wanted a pet?" he guessed, confused.

"Partly," Vok'Rul said, shifting into a more comfortable spot on the floor. Viktor's legs were draped over the alien's tail as it curled around them both. "It was mainly because I was lonely."

"That is a common reason," Viktor offered, still confused.

"Most Vokkrus - that is my species, by the way - most Vokkrus are solitary creatures apart from the time they share with their partner and hatchlings. However, this has changed in recent times. More and more Vokkrus are spending time with their spouse outside of the necessary time - raising hatchlings and whatnot. Companionship is easy for most to find, nowadays." Vok'Rul's voice wasn't happy, Viktor supposed, but it wasn't bitter, either. "I am the Vokkra, leader of this planet."

He hesitated here, holding Viktor tighter to his chest. Viktor rested his head against the alien, listening to his odd heartbeat and his story.

"It is difficult for me to find companions, little one, that do not have ulterior motives. Political power, mates, better supplies... it is all I could do to find honest staff. I am lucky in that Rukka was my hatchmate. Vokkrus are usually born one at a time. Siblings are rare, even after a previous hatchling has grown. To spend time with your siblings as much as I do with Rukka is even rarer."

Viktor was an only child. It had been lonely growing up, sometimes, especially when his dad would retreat into himself after the death of his mother. He hadn't been able to understand why his dad had been so sad all the time. He knew loneliness.

"When we found your planet, I was ecstatic. Of course, we thought we were doing you a favor. Taking some of the dominant species away from a dying planet was surely enough to show my people that simple kindness is a virtue. But my species is violent by nature. I am sure you know that, though," Vok'Rul's voice trailed off.

"Why'd you wait so long to get a pet if you were so lonely?" Viktor prompted after it seemed like the alien was going to stop talking.

"I was uncertain. By the time I finished giving your species rights and protections, it had been months since you had arrived. I had seen many humans, happy and unhappy in the care of my species during that time. I suppose... that I was worried mine would be unhappy, too."

Viktor frowned. He definitely hadn't been a ball of sunshine when he had first come here. "What changed?"

Vok'Rul rumbled, reveling in some private joke with himself. "You, Kohgrash. You changed my mind."

"How'd I do that?" Viktor had only met the alien once before their encounter in the pet store, in the vet's clinic.

"I had never met a human who had been so thoroughly abused," Vok'Rul said, lifting his claws to stroke Viktor's hair as the teenager stiffened at the words. He continued speaking before Viktor could deny his claims of abuse. "The organization that took you was the only and largest underground crime ring that my planet carried. There are still fragments, yes, but it is gone, now. It was the only one of its kind. You and your pack of humans are, by my knowledge, the only ones who have ever suffered so."

Viktor didn't know how to feel about that.

"Most of the humans I had met were frightened, yes, but hardly any showed the sheer amount of hostility you did. It was a little charming. I had been checking on your and the other humans' health. If one of you had died-" Viktor shuddered at the thought, unable to even contemplate one of his friends dying due to the arena. "-then the consequences for those involved would've been much more severe."

Viktor was desperately struck with the urge to ask Vok'Rul what had happened to the ringmaster, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get the words past the lump in his throat.

"I wasn't able to get you out of my head," Vok'Rul said, a smile in his voice. "I went to see you in the pet store, under the guise of inspecting the place. But I knew that I would be unable to return if I left without you that time.

"Rukka had warned me against the trouble of having such a pet. Troubled, abused, volatile... I was determined, though, to help you. If I could not show my people that kindness, honest kindness, would be rewarding, then maybe I could just convince myself of it. So I took you in. And I do not regret it.

"It matters little to me that you interrupt my sleep with your night terrors, Kohgrash. It does not hurt me that you do not wish to be carried all the time, or that you slap my hands away when I pet you. I do not mind when you glare at me or make my office a mess," Vok'Rul told him. His voice was still quiet, thick with emotion. "I do not care because you are mine, and I could never be angry with you."

Viktor's eyes were wet again, and he didn't try to stop the tears this time. He simply nodded, not trusting his voice to be steady if he spoke. Vok'Rul pressed his forehead against Viktor's, squeezing him close.

It was almost unbelievingly reassuring to have those words spoken to him in a language he could understand. If Viktor wasn't held so securely in Vok'Rul's arms, he'd probably be unable to support himself.

They were quiet for a long while after that. Viktor composed himself while Vok'Rul just offered him comfort. It was nice. Sometimes, Viktor could hardly believe the difference that had taken place in three months.

He was healthier. He had gotten weight back on his bones. His wounds, which had constantly been torn and given anew, had closed and scarred. He was still tired, yes, but he had a safe place to rest, now. He wasn't fighting nearly every day. He wasn't being beaten nearly every day.

He had nice clothes, nice food, nice everything. Viktor couldn't find the words to tell Vok'Rul how grateful he was, but he wasn't even sure if the alien would accept them, anyway.

"What do you dream about?" Vok'Rul's voice sliced through the quietness of the room. Viktor, who had been relaxed in his arms, if a bit tired from his tears earlier, stiffened slightly.

"The same stuff," he replied eventually, slowly. He waved his hand in a vague gesture. "You know."

"I do not know," Vok'Rul informed him. Viktor huffed, chewing on his lip. Well, he supposed, if Vok'Rul could tell him all that stuff about himself, the least Viktor could do was return the favor.

"I dream about the rrr- about him," he stressed the word, stumbling over the ringmaster's name. "And- and the fighting."

"Ah," Vok'Rul said, voice unhappy. "You do not need to worry about Krrkh anymore, Kohgrash."

"Yeah, I know," he muttered, self-deprecating. He felt sick with the knowledge of the ringmaster's name. Krrkh. He hoped it meant something disgusting and insulting. "I'm here, and he'll never be near me."

"No, Kohgrash. He is dead."

Dead, dead, dead. The word repeated in his mind like a broken record. It was incredibly hard to believe, let alone comprehend. The ringmaster... couldn't really be dead, could he? He was larger than life. He tormented Viktor for months, for a whole year, practically. And Viktor...

Viktor couldn't -

He couldn't -

"Breathe, Kohgrash, breathe!" Vok'Rul demanded. His claws pressed against Viktor's chest, and he sucked in a breath, wheezing.

"W-What? What did you just say? I mean, that - that can't be possible, it's..." he trailed off, looking at Vok'Rul. His eyes were wide and vulnerable. He probably looked wild in the moonlight.

"It's true, my little Kohgrash," Vok'Rul whispered. "He stood trial in front of the Mirror, and It saw him unworthy."

Viktor's head swam. It was true.

"Mirror...?" he echoed faintly.

"It is an ancient artifact. I am not sure when It was made," Vok'Rul frowned slightly. "Some say It is connected to the Spirits that pulled together our planet from the debris of our previous star. Some say It is another being entirely."

Alien religion. Alien religion plus a sentient Mirror that judged aliens?

"Okay," Viktor said slowly, feeling some of his voice coming back to him as he shook off the shock of the ringmaster's death. He still couldn't believe it. "Did It kill -" he paused. "How did he die?"

Viktor hoped, secretly, that the ringmaster suffered. He hadn't been a vindictive person on Earth. Most of the time, he would rarely even develop a grudge, let alone act on it. But with this alien, this bastard, Viktor hoped that he died a horrific, painful death.

Here, Vok'Rul's voice became sharper, much tighter. It was trembling with rage when he said, "The Mirror saw him unworthy, and so It enacted justice. He relived every vile act he committed as if it were being inflicted on himself. He was in a stupor for a month before the Mirror ended his life. I am unsure if you want the details," Vok'Rul hesitated, "but he essentially melted from the inside out."

"Oh." His voice was weak. "Oh."

Vok'Rul simply hugged him a bit tighter but said nothing else. After a moment, Viktor squirmed out of his hold, unsteadily getting to his feet.

"Can we..." he licked his lips, which were suddenly very dry. "Can we go outside?"

"Now?" Vok'Rul asked quietly, glancing out the window. It was still dark out. "Can you see in the dark?"

"No." Despite himself, he smiled, just a little bit. "No, I just... wanna clear my head. Get some fresh air."

Vok'Rul tilted his head, as if unfamiliar with the concept, but he nodded and stood up. He draped a blanket over Viktor, only murmuring an "it's cold outside," before they exited the mansion to wander around the gardens.

Viktor looked up. The stars were in unfamiliar patterns. Hell, he didn't even know if they were the same ones he would always look at back on Earth. He wanted to ask what galaxy they were in, but it was unlikely they shared the same names for them. Not to mention, he couldn't seem to pry his mouth open long enough to speak. Each time he tried, his teeth lacked together with a loud click.

"What," Vok'Rul said suddenly, making Viktor jump. The only sounds they heard were their feet against the stone paths and the slight wind rustling the leaves on the tree. Viktor pulled his blanket around his shoulders tightly, bristling against the cold. "Is your favorite color?"

Viktor had to think for a moment. He looked up at Vok'Rul, who was gazing around the flora with a small smile on his face. When Viktor didn't answer right away, he peered down at the human, yellow eyes slightly shining in the light.

"I like maroon," he finally said. "What's yours?"

"Hm," Vok'Rul scratched his cheek. "I like the color blue. It is not often seen, here."

Viktor wondered if their colors were the same. "Earth's sky is blue."

"Really?" Vok'Rul breathed. "How odd!"

"Your yellow sky is odd. Looks all polluted."

The alien gasped in faked offense. "How rude, Kohgrash," he said lightly, making sure Viktor saw his smile to know that he was just teasing. "Your planet is extremely polluted. It is a wonder you do not look like the Ghhorrah, extra limbs and all!"

"Ghhorrah?" Viktor repeated, butchering the growl in the first syllable. There were some words that had no translation, and they came through the earpiece unfiltered.

"That animal that attacked me at the zoo."

"Oh! Those snake creatures," Viktor said, eyes drifting to the exposed scars on Vok'Rul's arm. "I had that handled, you know. You didn't need to - to jump in front of me like that."

Vok'Rul made a grumpy noise. "It was much bigger than you. And venomous."

"And that video Thruul made you watch showed you that it wasn't an issue," he sniffed, pulling the blanket tighter around him. "I didn't like seeing you in the hospital," he mumbled, kicking at a loose stone. It didn't go very far and it made his toes hurt when he connected with it.

"I cannot promise you I won't end up back in a hospital," Vok'Rul rumbled, dropping his hand on Viktor's head and slowly ruffling his hair. "And I can't promise you that I won't risk myself to protect you-" Viktor made a grumpy protest, but Vok'Rul cut him off, saying "However, I will try my best. And I want you to try your best not to get hurt, either."

Viktor scoffed. "Most of what's hurt me are all these freaky creatures on this planet!" he protested.

"Hey," he said, his memory of the zoo coming back to punch him in the gut. "Hey! Vok'Rul! We gotta go back to the zoo!"

"What?" Vok'Rul asked, confused at his human's sudden franticness. It was a complete turnaround from his earlier sullenness. "Why?"

"My dad's in there! He's in the human exhibit! We gotta get him out!" Viktor turned around to walk back to the mansion, tugging on Vok'Rul's hand.

"Your sire?" Vok'Rul seemed confused still but followed Viktor back into the mansion. "Kohgrash, it is the middle of the night. The zoo will not be open, now."

"What?" Viktor whirled around, almost slipping on the smooth floor. Vok'Rul reached out to steady him. "Listen, you're the leader of the planet, aren't you? Just break in. Tell them to open! Please?"

Vok'Rul huffed. "I cannot do anything I please, little one. We will go tomorrow. Though," the alien eyed him critically, and Viktor didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he puffed himself up regardless. He probably looked a little pathetic, cheeks red with cold and wrapped in a thick blanket, but he hoped it sufficed. "I do not know if the translators will be able to handle so many Vokkrus speaking. I suppose we will see." His voice was worried, and Viktor couldn't help the flicker of worry starting in his own chest. It would be miserable if they couldn't speak for another month. Even after just one day, Viktor was already starting to get used to chatting with the alien.

Though, his headache started to return sometime in the middle of their walk. He hoped that he would either grow used to these headaches or they would go away entirely. They were pretty annoying.

"Okay," Viktor agreed sulkily. "Tomorrow's okay."

Vok'Rul grinned at him. "Rukka probably will slice my horns off for skipping our meeting."

Viktor spluttered. "Are you pulling my leg with that horn stuff?"

"I am not touching you," was the confused reply. Viktor snorted.

"It's an expression. But will Rukka really slice your horns off?"

"She can try."

They bickered all the way back up to the wing. Viktor tried to explain that was he was talking about was assault, which Vok'Rul had mistook for 'a salt' and was confused until the teenager could figure out what he was confused about. Vok'Rul then explained that their horns were seen as what Viktor would see as his fingernails. Which made it way worse, he thought.

"But they're soft. Not like your claws," Viktor said, reaching out to poke the horns above Vok'Rul's eye. They were taking the stairs and the alien had lifted him up into his arms.

"Why would they be like my claws?"

"Like... because my fingernails are hard, and so are your claws? Why wouldn't your horns be hard, too?"

"Do creatures on your planet have hard horns?" Vok'Rul seemed utterly baffled on the subject.

"Yes? It's literally in the definition of horn! Hard!"

"I'm confused," Vok'Rul yawned, which made Viktor yawn.

"Stop, you're making me yawn." Which led them into a conversation about contagious yawns. Apparently, it wasn't a thing for their species. Vok'Rul got great pleasure out of fake yawning just to see Viktor do it, too. "Stop!"

"Okay, okay," Vok'Rul rumbled happily, dropping Viktor onto his bed. "Do you want to sleep up here?"

He nodded silently, lips pressed together. He wasn't even sure if he would be going back to sleep. He collapsed onto his back in the middle of the bed, taking pleasure in how comfortable and soft it was. Vok'Rul muttered something at him before he felt claws caressing his cheek.

"I'm taking these out, Kohgrash. Goodnight, little one," he said before plucking the earpiece from Viktor.

"Night," he mumbled, listening to the sounds of Vok'Rul dropping the devices onto the dresser with a clatter. The alien muttered to himself briefly before crawling into the other side of the bed. He nudged Viktor and said something else. Obligingly, Viktor rolled over. Something heavy draped across his back.

Vok'Rul's tail nearly covered his entire body. It was warm and solid, grounding him. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to go to sleep. He knew that if he gave himself the chance, his thoughts would be filled with the ringmaster.

The alien mumbled something, brushing his claws against Viktor's forehead. Viktor let out an explosive sigh, twisting onto his side underneath his tail. He listened as the alien dropped off into unconsciousness, slowly getting heavier and heavier on top of him.

Viktor didn't sleep a wink.

***

Vocabulary:

kas tih: it's okay

tas: you're