Thruul's breakfast was delicious as always. Viktor, in a gracious mood that morning with the warm food in his belly, even let the alien pat the top of his head briefly. One would think Viktor had just hugged him with the way he had acted after that.

"He is warming up to me," Thruul fake sniffed. Viktor squinted at him. He still didn't know if these aliens could cry or not.

"Of course he is. You are making him fat," Vok'Rul grumped. He was just grouchy Viktor had used his body as a landing pad when he had jumped onto the bed to wake him up. In Viktor's defense, the bed had been really lumpy. He had no clue what had been blanket or alien.

"I'm malnourished," Viktor said, just as Thruul came to his defense with a boisterous, "He was treated so poorly!"

"Thruul gets me," Viktor raised his hand for a high-five. Bemused, Thruul simply blinked at him. "Aw, do you guys not have high-fives? What are you doing with your lives?"

Vok'Rul tilted his head, opening his mouth to no doubt ask what a high-five was before Rukka, Kac, and a sleepy Nohkka came in.

"Excellent, skewers are my favorite," Rukka said, sitting heavily in a chair and immediately picking up one of the meat skewers and tearing into it with sharp teeth. Kac dropped a half-asleep Nohkka into Vok'Rul's arms, despite the alien's protests, before taking a seat next to her partner and eating at a more sedated pace.

"Hello!" Viktor greeted with a wave. Rukka grunted her acknowledgment, mouth full. Kac tilted her head at him, giving him a small smile.

"Nohkka, want some breakfast?" Vok'Rul prodded the sleeping kid awake. Nohkka grumbled something incomprehensible. Kac made a dismissive noise.

"Don't bother, Your Majesty," Rukka elbowed her with an annoyed grunt. "She ate her fill on leftovers before we came over. Though, it was mostly sweets."

"After my own heart," Vok'Rul cooed to the bundle in his arms.

"When do we go?" Viktor asked. "It's games and stuff today, right?" He had to admit that he was a little curious about what kind of games the Vokkrus had. Though, the only type of 'game' he knew these aliens had were the arena fights. He suddenly grew nervous. "There won't be like... an arena, will there?"

"No," Vok'Rul growled firmly. "No, there's no arena. No animal fights." Viktor's shoulders loosened.

"Good," was his weak reply. Thruul shoved another skewer next to him, much smaller than the ones made for the other aliens. Viktor half-heartedly chewed on it.

"We will go soon, little one," Vok'Rul told him, looking like he wanted to reach out and touch him but was unable to with Nohkka in his arms. "There'll be a little area for mammals... I think."

Rukka sighed.

Viktor managed to stay awake for the entire drive up to the festival venue. He had slept rather well last night, uninterrupted by nightmares. It was a pleasant change, one he was definitely willing to accept. Vok'Rul coerced him to sit in his arms the whole ride (the bastard had bribed him with one of the starfruits), and he got to enjoy the view.

He had to admit that this planet was rather pretty.

"Hey," he piped up, looking up at Vok'Rul, who was speaking idly with Rukka, Kac, and Thruul (the alien had been peer pressured by the three to come along, and he looked terribly awkward crammed into the limo with the rest of the aliens). "What do you call your planet?"

"Oh! I suppose I never told you. Our planet is called A1-308."

Viktor frowned. "But... that's not a name."

Vok'Rul tilted his head. "Of course it is! We are the 308th planet in the-" the translator whirred loudly in his ear. "-Andromeda Galaxy. Thus, our planet is called A1-308."

Viktor mouthed the words. He pressed his hands into his eyes. "Oh, my God," he said.

"Kohgrash, are you alright?" Vok'Rul rumbled with concern, pulling his hands away from his eyes. "Do you have something in your eyes?"

"I'm fine." He was only just realizing that they were like, 3 million light-years away from Earth. No worries! "A1-308 isn't much of a name, though. Not to me, at least."

"Your planet is called dirt," Vok'Rul said with an amused scoff.

Viktor crossed his arms, weirdly offended on his planet's behalf. "So? It's also called Mother Earth! And Gaia!"

"I suppose we will have to come to terms with our respective planets' names, then," Vok'Rul conceded. Viktor made a noncommittal noise.

He spent the rest of the ride in sullen silence, trying not to think about the fact that they were apparently in the Andromeda Galaxy. He failed miserably. It would certainly explain why the stars here were all different.

The car rolled to a stop, and Nohkka, who had woken sometime during the trip with a fevered excitement rushing through her, barreled out of the car, stepping on almost everyone as she crawled out.

"Ow," Viktor complained as she climbed over Vok'Rul and him in her haste to get out. Her short tail smacked him in the face.

"Nohkka," Kac scolded.

"Sorry," Nohkka responded automatically, not sounding sorry at all. Thruul chuckled.

The venue looked much different today. Gone were the stalls from the previous day. Only a few informational booths remained, passing out fliers and pamphlets to passing aliens. They wandered their way over. Vok'Rul took a pamphlet, handing it to Viktor, who opened it with curiosity. He couldn't read any of the text, but the symbols and pictures gave him a big enough picture. Plus, there was a cute little map.

"Look," he pointed at a dorky symbol of a human's face on the map. It was located in the northern part of the park. "Human!"

"Would you like to go there first?" Vok'Rul asked him, glancing down to squint at the map before turning his attention back to Nohkka. She was trying to run off from her parents, eager to start participating in the games.

"I kinda wanna see what's all going on," Viktor said after a second. "Hey, d'you know if Blacksmith and Pedro are gonna be here?"

Vok'Rul stared at him for a second before he said, "Oh! Trosk and Shrrsk! I'm not sure."

Viktor hoped so. He wondered if Nikolas was going to be here, too.

They followed Nohkka around, who wanted to stop at every game possible. Rukka and Kac looked resigned but content, as if this happens every year. Viktor thought it probably did.

He had a good view from Vok'Rul's arms, who was still carrying him despite the sedated pace they had. The crowd was thick, and despite the few aliens who recognized Vok'Rul and hurriedly gave him some space, he was still jostled here and there by eager individuals.

If Viktor thought he had seen diversity in the aliens yesterday at the building, he saw hundred times that today. Yesterday, all he had seen were adult aliens, young and elderly, but adult nonetheless. If there had been children there, he hadn't been able to see them. Now, however, it was more like he had stepped back into the school.

The crowd was mostly comprised of adults still, but there was a sizeable portion of children. Hatchlings, Viktor supposed with a small smile. Some were Nohkka's size, who he guessed to be around five or six years old compared to a human. There were larger ones, but Viktor had no clue if that was just their height or if these aliens followed a similar life cycle pattern to almost everything on Earth. Or did they have stages, like a frog?

"Whoa!" Vok'Rul suddenly said, tightening his arms around Viktor as he wobbled unsteadily on his feet. Viktor quickly glanced down, heart leaping in his throat to see a familiar animal caught between Vok'Rul's legs. "Come back here, little Flyhk," he said, crouching down to grab the creature by the collar around its throat. Viktor stiffened, an involuntary noise of protest escaping him. "It's okay, Kohgrash, he won't hurt you."

"Star! Get back here!" an alien marched right up to them, looking disappointed. Viktor glanced at it, noting with some surprise that it seemed to be aged somewhere in its teens. They were orange-hued with short, stubby horns and a long, winding tail. They were holding a snapped leash in their claws. "Thank you for stopping her, mister - oh! Greetings, O Vokkra," the young alien gave a stiff, awkward bow, looking incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

"It is of no consequence, young one," Vok'Rul said with amusement, letting the younger alien grab hold of the creature's collar. Unlike Oorah, this creature - Flyhks, he guessed - was bright purple, unnaturally so. It looked like it had been dyed. Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth, looking around erratically and excitedly. Viktor didn't take his eyes off it. "Did your leash break?"

"Yeah," the alien said sheepishly. "Star is strong when she wants to be." Viktor made a derisive noise. "Aw! Is this uh... Kohgrash! That's his name! You know, my parents were awfully touched by your adoption of him, so we went to the same store and got a pair of them!"

"What?" Viktor said, dragging his eyes away from the Flyhk and looking at the alien instead. "Vok'Rul! Did you hear that? They've got someone I know!"

"Wow! He's all excited! It's like he can understand me!" the alien said cheerfully. "Oh! My name is-"

"Hey, Carrot! You catch that mangy fleabag?!" someone achingly familiar yelled.

"His name is not Carrot, you idiot," came an annoyed voice. "Look, he's over there."

Viktor nearly killed himself trying to get out of Vok'Rul's arms and avoid the Flyhk at the same time, dropping awkwardly to the ground. Pain zinged up his leg, but he ignored it and focused on more important things. The Flyhk yelped in surprise, which made Viktor jump in fright, baring his teeth defensively at it.

"Ouch, Kohgrash," Vok'Rul grumbled, shaking out his hand where his leash had twisted around it. Carrot giggled.

"Ezekiel!? Aiko!" Viktor shouted, jumping and waving his arms after making sure the Flyhk wasn't going to attack him.

"Oh shit, that's the kid!" Ezekiel came into view, holding onto Aiko's wrist as he pulled her through the crowd of aliens.

They wore matching grins, eyes sparkling with happiness. They were less haunted than the last time he had seen them, over three, almost four months ago. Aiko's hair was shorter, choppy, and uneven as if she had taken scissors to herself. Ezekiel had bandages plastered on the side of his face. They both wore cloth bandanas around their necks, light orange in color.

"Viktor!" Aiko shouted. Viktor barely had enough time to open his arms before he was tackled to the ground by them both.

"Oh! I am so sorry, Your Majesty! Comet, Eclipse, knock that off! Let Kohgrash go!" Carrot said. Viktor barely heard him over the laughing and sobbing in his ears.

"Don't worry, young one," Vok'Rul dismissed the alien's worries. "That's how they greet each other."

"Oh my God, kid, look at you!" Ezekiel said, allowing the three of them to sit up. Viktor's smile was dopey. He was pretty sure his ribs were bruised. "All healthy and shit!"

"Thanks," he laughed. His eyes were watery. "I didn't think I'd see you guys again."

Aiko gave him another hug, squeezing him tightly. "Us either," she sniffled.

"Oh, there's the fleabag!" Ezekiel said. "Carrot, I told you that leash was falling apart. But do you listen? Nooo!"

"He can't understand you, idiot," Aiko replied idly, pulling back to squeeze Viktor's face in her hands. Her thumb brushed against his latest scar. She frowned at him. "What's this from?"

Viktor shrugged, bringing up his hands to pull hers away from his face. "Long story. Hey, Pedro might be here, too! And Nikolas! I've seen them a few times after Vok'Rul got me."

"Really?" Aiko said. Ezekiel was still waving his arms at Carrot, pointing at the Flyhk and the leash. "Hey, numbnuts! The others might be here!"

"Really!" Ezekiel echoed, turning away from Carrot, who was just watching him with amusement. The Flyhk jumped on him the moment his back was turned. "Aw, fuck, you stupid dog!" Viktor's heart leaped into his throat and immediately started to make his way over to help. Aiko's firm hands on his shoulders stopped him.

"Hey," she said gently. "That thing is a pet of the family we're in. I don't think it's got a vicious bone in its body." True to her word, the Flyhk just started licking and whining at Ezekiel, who cursed up a storm, trying to push it off.

"Sure," Viktor said skeptically.

Ezekiel eventually got Star off him, assisted by Carrot, who was looking increasingly flustered that this was happening in front of Vok'Rul. The older alien looked nonplussed, a small smile playing on his face as he watched Viktor's interaction with the others. Ezekiel slapped Viktor on the back heartily, causing him to stumble forward slightly.

"So, what'cha doing here, then?" Ezekiel asked, looking around at all the aliens.

Viktor frowned, "Don't you know? It's this annual festival. Today's theme is games and stuff."

"Festival? Huh. That would explain why Carrot was all excited to get here. Hey, Aiko, where are the parents, anyhow?" Ezekiel asked, scratching his head.

"How do you know it's an annual thing?" Aiko asked instead, ignoring Ezekiel. The man pouted.

"Oh!" Viktor perked up, tilting his head and pointing to the translator in his ear. "Translator! Pedro helped make it, believe it or not."

"Damn," Ezekiel whistled, leaning in to get a better look. "And it works?"

"Most of the time," Viktor said. "Sometimes it gets finicky. But that's usually just for names. Me and Vok'Rul have been talking nonstop!"

Aiko made a thoughtful noise, peering up at Vok'Rul. The alien waved enthusiastically. She waved back, bewildered. "That's interesting," she hummed.

Two unfamiliar aliens pushed through the crowd, looking a bit frazzled. "Oh, Karrosk, there you are," one of them breathed a sigh of relief, walking over to her son.

"Hello, Mother," Carrot smiled at her, gesturing to the Flyhk, Aiko, and Ezekiel. "I caught Star!"

"O Vokkra," Carrot's other parent greeted, bowing low at the waist. "I hope that today finds you well, Your Majesty."

"Certainly," Vok'Rul hummed, glancing fondly at Viktor. "My mammal once knew your pair. He is quite happy to have reunited with them."

"Oh!" Carrot's mother said in surprise, looking at Ezekiel and Aiko. "How delightful! We were rather moved by your selfless act and decided to adopt some mammals as well. We are quite fond of the little creatures."

Vok'Rul, who was quite pleased that his attempt at showing his people kindness had worked, smiled brightly. "Would you like to join us? We are headed to the mammal section of the park."

Viktor opened his mouth to complain that he wanted to see the other alien games but closed his mouth with a click when he realized that he probably wouldn't be able to see Aiko or Ezekiel for a while if he did that. "Hey, guys, we're going to go to the human part of the park. Wonder what kinds of stuff they have over there."

"We'll come, too!" Ezekiel said excitedly, pushing away the Flyhk from trying to slobber all over his face.

"We wouldn't want to intrude," Carrot's other parent said demurely. Vok'Rul waved off its worries.

"Nonsense! I do not think your mammals would be easily parted from my Kohgrash, anyway."

"Of course," Carrot's mother said, a bit reluctantly. "Karrosk, would you mind retrieving another leash for Star?"

Vok'Rul made a noise that stopped the aliens from moving for a second, "Here, you can take Kohgrash's leash. He has excellent recall. It would just be in my hands all day. Kohgrash, come here, little one."

Viktor huffed, edging around Star like it was a bomb ready to go off. Vok'Rul easily unclipped the leash from the back of his harness, which had been dragging uselessly on the ground by then. The aliens reverently took the leash from Vok'Rul, looking unsure and flustered.

"Geez, it's like he gave 'em a million bucks instead of a flimsy piece of rope," Ezekiel noted. Vok'Rul's tail twitched in a way that told Viktor he was holding back laughter.

"Does he even know what a million bucks is?" Aiko asked, noticing the gleeful expression on the alien's face.

"Whatever," Viktor grinned, grabbing Aiko and Ezekiel's hands and pulling them in a northern direction. "Let's go! I wanna see what they have set up!"

He was a ball of energy. He didn't know if it was the good sleep he had the night before, Thruul's delicious cooking, or the happy excitement he had at seeing Aiko and Ezekiel again, but he wanted to blow off some steam. Plus, he figured, if anything it would be funny to see what the aliens had come up with.

The aliens followed behind Vok'Rul and the trio of humans, starstruck. Rukka, Kac, Thruul, and Nohkka eventually circled back, having realized they had lost the pair. Ezekiel let out a startled curse upon seeing Thruul before letting out a sigh of relief when he realized it wasn't the ringmaster.

"He's dead," Viktor cheerfully told them. Their mouths dropped open.

Nohkka squealed with delight upon meeting Ezekiel and Aiko, patting their heads and proclaiming their adorableness. Then, she latched onto a flustered Carrot, who seemed to be torn between gushing about his pets and being respectful toward Vok'Rul's niece.

The part of the park dedicated to humans was large. Tall fences, temporary and likely not stable at all, framed the area. Inside the fence were flattened grass, large trees, and flowering plants. Viktor, from his rather limited view of the place on the ground, could even see stretches of sand. He wondered what alien beaches looked like.

"Wow, looks like a little slice of heaven," Ezekiel said, tone getting an edge to it that made Viktor bend his legs slightly. "Aiko, what if -" Viktor ducked just as Aiko reached over him to slap the man on the back of his head.

"Finish that sentence, and I'll feed you to the dog," she threatened, though she had a slight smile on her face. Ezekiel sighed, loudly and dramatically.

"One day, kid, one day," he said, dropping his arm on the top of Viktor's head and using him as something to lean on.

"I forgot how annoying you were," Viktor responded dryly. "Ugh, you smell terrible." He gagged, pushing the man away from him.

"They don't have my Dove soap here, what can you expect?" he cried, grabbing hold of Viktor and trying to shove his face under his arm.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna puke."

Aiko came to his rescue and yanked him away, smacking Ezekiel again for good measure. "Boys," she said disdainfully, rolling her eyes. "Look, that's where we go in. There's already some people inside." She pointed at a large archway. It had some swirly text on it.

"Kohgrash, you gonna play now? I wanna play, too!" Nohkka declared, barreling into him from behind. Viktor stumbled forward, throwing his arms out to steady himself.

"Nohkka, by the Spirits," Kac sighed. "What did I say earlier?"

Nohkka pouted, wrapping her arms around Viktor and squeezing.

"Vok'Rul," he wheezed. "A little help here?"

"Come, Nohkka, don't you want to try the other games? I saw hrrr-" Viktor winced as the translator grew loud in his ear, sending a spike of pain through his skull, "-earlier. That's your favorite game!"

"Okay!" Nohkka agreed easily, releasing Viktor and happily following Kac to the game.

"She's so cute," Aiko told him, smiling after the pair.

"Yeah, cute when she isn't squeezing the life out of you," Viktor grumbled, rubbing his chest. "Thanks, Vok'Rul."

"You're welcome, my little Kohgrash," he responded.

"What's all that extra stuff on the end of your name?" Ezekiel asked, squinting up at Vok'Rul. Viktor shrugged, feeling his face warm.

"Doesn't matter. Look! We're almost inside. Let's go!" Viktor started pushing them into the enclosed area, ignoring their questions.

"It is safe here, Karrosk," he heard Carrot's mother reassure him. "We can leave them unattended. O Vokkra, you have our deepest thanks for allowing us to walk with you. We wish you and your mammal well."

Vok'Rul rumbled a reply, but Viktor was too enraptured by the inside of the mammal enclosure to pay much attention to him. It was still early in the day - though they had not come quite as early as they had yesterday since there was no paperwork for the alien to do - so there weren't many humans milling about, but there were at least thirty. Congregated together, they were standing under a tree, soaking up the shade.

"Kohgrash!" Vok'Rul called. Viktor turned around curiously, holding up his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. "Remember, be careful!"

"Okay!" Viktor gave him a thumbs up before muttering under his breath fondly, "What a worrywart."

"Awww," Ezekiel cooed, dodging Viktor's punch to the gut. "Look at you with your character development and shit. I thought you'd be miserable with him, considering you were all feral and," he held up his hands like claws, biting with exaggeration, "fight-y."

"Stop talking," Viktor mumbled. Aiko ruffled his hair good-naturedly.

They walked up to the group of humans, who waved them over with friendly 'hellos.' One of them, a blond, blue-eyed man, threw out his hands and said, "Welcome to the second annual meeting of Earth's Survivors!"

"Dave, we are not called that," a skinny black-haired man shouted.

"Shut up, Chris!" Dave yelled back with a grin. "Don't listen to him. He's just mad he isn't in charge."

"You're not in charge," an exasperated, red-haired woman said.

"Second?" Aiko asked, hands on her hips. "Where did you meet before?"

"When we first got here," Dave responded, looking a little confused. "It was around this time of year, though it's a little difficult to tell with the minimal seasons this planet gets. Of course, we'll probably be getting some new members this year since these aliens have had a year to buy us all, or whatever. As pets! I definitely didn't think I'd be going from my nine-to-five job to an alien's pet in a year. It's kinda nice, though. No more bills to pay!" Someone scoffed but Dave continued like he didn't hear it. "What's your guys' story then? You all together?"

Viktor shared a glance with the others, wearing a matching expression of skepticism. "Uhh," he said, shrugging. "You could say that. We were just, uh... bought out like, four months ago."

"Wow! You sure spent a long time together, then! Well, welcome to the meeting! We'll start when we get a few more people, but all we do is share what happened to us. There'll probably be a lot more to tell after a whole year, though!" Dave laughed as if he had just heard the funniest joke ever. The three of them stared.

"How strange," Aiko said after Dave walked off to welcome some more people to the group.

"Tell me about it," Viktor mumbled, scratching the side of his face as he looked around.

Now that he was in the enclosure, he could see what the aliens had deemed appropriate for humans to 'play with.' It looked... all over the place. He wondered who had planned it. Maybe Rukka? No, he thought, she would've been more put together than this.

There were odd little sticks in the sandpit, which Viktor thought could be used to dig something out. Balls of all shapes and sizes littered the grass. Some people were already organizing a game of catch, though it looked like it was more of an excuse to tackle each other to the ground. There was some rope tied around the limbs of a tree that someone was trying (and failing miserably) to climb. Along the fences, where most aliens were lingering to watch their pet human, were some of those hovering cars that Nohkka and Viktor had used. He suddenly regretted her departure.

He easily spotted Vok'Rul, who was chatting with Rukka on the other side of the fence. He waved. The alien waved back.

There was some sort of obstacle course in the middle of the clearing. Hoops, ramps, pedestals, and even slides were scattered about in no apparent pattern. He saw some people over there, checking it out. They seemed to be laughing uproariously. Viktor couldn't blame them. It looked like one of those dog show courses. All it was missing were plastic tunnels and those tall sticks the dogs used to weave in and out.

"Well," Aiko said slowly. "It's something."

"I feel like I'm in a petting zoo, and I'm the animal," Ezekiel complained.

"My dad's in a zoo," Viktor said offhandedly. "Hey, wanna see if they've got something to eat?"

"What?!" Ezekiel shrieked.

"Viktor, a zoo?"

"Yes, they exist on this planet. Food, now!" Viktor decided, heading toward Vok'Rul. Aiko and Ezekiel peppered him with questions the whole way there. Stuff like 'what does an alien zoo look like,' 'why did some humans get put in zoos and others were taken as pets,' 'how come we didn't get shoved into a zoo,' and 'how do you even go to the bathroom when everyone is watching you.' Viktor was thankful that Aiko wasn't afraid to smack Ezekiel for his stupid ass questions.

Vok'Rul directed them to the little food buffet they had set out in the park. He also gave him some of those pear treats. Vok'Rul was awesome.

The buffet was near the entrance, hidden under a raised piece of fabric that had a cute little human on it eating to their heart's content. Which would be nice and all, if the food wasn't mostly jerky.

"What the fuck is this?" Ezekiel asked, picking up a lumpy piece of bread.

"Bread... I think," Viktor squinted at it. "I had some lemon bread yesterday. It's pretty damn good. Pass me that yellow fruit."

Aiko tossed it over without looking, too busy tearing into a piece of jerky.

After eating their fill, it was time for Dave's meeting to start. More and more people slowly filtered in, some were overjoyed to see more humans while others were mostly confused about what they were all doing there. Turns out, the human population that attended last year's festival had been pretty small, almost nonexistent. Only ten or so had been in attendance, scared and worried for the future. But now that humans had more or less settled into the alien's way of living, more and more kept showing up.

"BOO!" someone screamed into Ezekiel's ear. The man shrieked in fright, turning around with his fists up. Before he could swing, however, the other man caught his arms, laughing.

"Nikolas!" Viktor shouted gleefully, launching forward to give the other a hug.

"Hello," the Russian man said with a grin. "It is good to see you three again." He ruffled Viktor's hair, pulling the other two in a bear hug as well.

"You're such a dick," Ezekiel told him, hand over his heart. "I have PTSD, y'know. Not very nice of you to do that!"

"And you think I do not?" Nikolas responded with amusement. He sat down on the grass, prompting the other three to follow suit. He wore a pale red - almost pink - shirt with floral patterns plastered all over it along with pale beige sweatpants. He had a bright pink collar around his throat. The sight of it made Viktor's skin itch.

Ezekiel opened his mouth, no doubt to tease him on his appearance, but Aiko punched him in the arm, hard. "Oww," he whined.

"That is new," Nikolas told Viktor, gesturing to the side of his face.

"Yeah," Viktor sighed, meeting Vok'Rul's gaze from across the fence. The alien smiled at him. There were a few aliens surrounding him, holding a conversation with him. Rukka had long since disappeared, likely to find Nohkka and Kac. Thruul was listening politely at his side. "It's a really long story."

Dave cleared his throat loudly, yelling, "Hello! Hello everyone! Thank you for coming!" Nikolas snorted. Dave stood on some big rock a few people had rolled over, balanced precariously. Most people were sitting down, but there were a few standing with their arms crossed. "Lots of people here today! Glad you could all make it!"

"We didn't have a choice!" someone shouted. A laugh rolled through the crowd, which was probably seventy strong.

"Yeah, yeah," Dave waved the laughter away. "For many of you, this is the first time you've seen so many of us since we were taken from Earth. We had a meeting like this about a year ago, but there weren't too many of us. Now, though, there's plenty of people!

"It's been 397 days since we arrived on this planet. From what I know and gathered from everyone, this planet is extremely similar to ours. It has a daily cycle of 23 hours and 42 minutes," Viktor blinked in surprise. Has it really been that long? "This means that it has been 402 Earth days since we were taken."

A tense silence washed over the crowd before protests and loud exclamations erupted. Viktor stiffened despite himself, distantly noting that Aiko, Ezekiel, and Nikolas did the same.

"I knew it's been a year, but..." Ezekiel sighed in an uncharacteristic show of seriousness. "Jesus. And how long were we trapped in the arena?"

"Seven months and 23 days," Nikolas muttered.

Viktor blew out an explosive breath, swiping his hand down the side of his face. Aiko patted him on the back reassuringly. "Feels like a long time ago but not really," he said. The others nodded.

"Okay, okay!" Dave was saying, drawing the attention back to him. "I know that this news upsets a lot of people, and maybe some of you would've preferred not to know. But I think it's important that everyone does know about this. We don't know when we'll go back, but someday we will, don't give up hope for a second! Already, there have been loads of progress in communicating with these aliens."

Viktor supposed that this would be a good time to speak up and announce that he had a translator in his ear. He stood up awkwardly, anxiety curling in his gut.

"Where you goin', kid?" Ezekiel asked, staring up at him quizzically. Realization dawned on his face. "Oh! That translator thing, huh?"

Viktor nodded, feeling a bit faint at the prospect of speaking in front of all these people. It was different when there were just cameras pointed at him, or speaking in front of a bunch of aliens who thought his words were meaningless noise. He slowly raised his hand, waving it slightly to get Dave's attention.

"Uh," Dave said, probably caught off guard. "I'll take questions after this, don't worry!"

"No, I-" his voice caught in his throat as more than a few people turned their heads to look at him. He cleared his throat and spoke louder. "I actually have something important to add."

Dave floundered for a moment before gesturing for him to carry on. Viktor licked his lips, pushing back his hair to point at the black translator in his ear. "This thing in my ear is a translator. And it really works."

Murmurs of confusion and general unrest rippled through the crowd. Viktor pointed over at Vok'Rul before anyone could speak up. "See that alien? The really tall, red one in white clothing?" Viktor waved at him. Curious, the alien waved back, no doubt wondering why he was standing in the middle of a crowd. They were too far away to hear each other. "The one waving? That's Vok'Rul. He's, uh, the leader of the planet?" His voice pitched up in a question.

"Yeah!" someone familiar piped up. She stood and Viktor saw that it was Alex. "He let me borrow that thing yesterday. I got to hear what my alien was saying. It was pretty cool!"

There were more hopeful murmurs in the crowd, now. "Have you told them to take us back to Earth?" someone shouted.

"Yeah, when are we going back?" someone else yelled.

"What about all those people that died on the way here?" their voices were getting angry, now. "What about them?!"

"I didn't deserve to be locked in a cage for weeks! We aren't animals!"

"Uh," Viktor said, suddenly unsure what to do with a righteously angry crowd in front of him. "Well-"

"Hey, hey!" Dave shouted, loudly, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Give the kid a break! This is good news, everyone! The leader of this planet knows we're sentient! I'm sure everyone's working hard to bring us all home. Right, kid?"

Viktor, who hadn't had a conversation about Earth that wasn't fraught with painful memories and longing and hadn't even considered bringing up the subject of coming up with a plan to take them all home, just nodded. He felt sick.

"There you have it, folks. Think about it: a year ago today, more or less, we knew nothing about their language. And now we got a translator! We'll all be going home, soon!" His words seemed to perk up the crowd, who were looking less like they wanted to drill Viktor for answers and more hopeful, instead. Viktor gave a sigh of relief and sat down on the grass heavily. His legs felt like jelly. "Now, I feel like we should blow off some steam. Who's up for a game of American football?"

Aiko patted Viktor on the back as a bunch of people cheered and stood up. The crowd eventually thinned, shuffling over to an open part of the enclosure to either participate in or watch the game. "That was really brave of you, Viktor," she said consolingly.

"I just didn't think they'd get so..." he trailed off with a frown.

"So damn mean?" Ezekiel said. "Me either! Bunch of pricks! Like c'mon, this is supposed to be good news!"

"I did not know you had a translator, Viktor," Nikolas said to him. "When did you get that?"

"Pedro helped his alien make it for us," Viktor told him, counting on his fingers. "Probably... about a month ago?"

"A month?" Nikolas frowned. His voice dropped to a whisper. Viktor looked up to notice some people staring at him with confusion and slight hostility. "Why is it taking so long to bring us back to Earth? Surely, your alien knows we are sentient, now."

Viktor thought about the council of aliens and how Rukka seemed to struggle to win them over with her speech about humans. He thought about how long it had taken someone to notice the animal fighting ring they had been stuck in. He thought about the scorn and disgust some aliens looked at him with. "I think that... not everyone agreed with Vok'Rul's decision to go to Earth and get us. If he were to say he was wrong..." he hesitated, looking at the alien in the distance. "Well, I just don't think it'll end well. Plus, there's a bunch of politics involved. It sucks."

"Poor, poor Viktor," someone familiar said. "Politics will kill him, I'm sure."

Viktor turned around with a sullen glare, glowering at Pedro. But he was glad to see him. "About time you showed up!"

"Heyyy, Pedro! Long time, no see!" Ezekiel cheered, getting up to give the other a hug. Aiko and Nikolas joined him, squeezing the man half to death.

"Blacksmith, my alien, ran late," he wheezed. "We were here yesterday, too."

"So was I! Did you try the human foods?" Viktor asked.

It made him warm, despite the underlying fear of what had happened earlier, to have all five of them in one place. The atmosphere was lighter, much happier than when they had last seen each other in the pet store. Viktor's head hasn't been so sore since then, either. Everyone reached over to ruffle his hair, pushing him lightly on the shoulder in jest. The smile on his face never left.