"What, really?"

"Yeah, I'm not lyin'! Fell flat on his face! Never tried not to laugh so hard in my life," Ezekiel guffawed uproariously.

"Huh?" Viktor asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. There was straw stuck to his face from where he had been sleeping. He had been having the most wonderful dream before he had been rudely awoken by Ezekiel's donkey laugh. What an ass.

"Kid's awake!" Ezekiel crowed, slapping at Aiko's arm through the bars. She flipped him off.

"Shut the hell up, you monster. We're sleeping." Aiko grumbled.

"Not my fault you guys were all asleep when I came back last night. I was telling Pedro that the ringmaster got up and tripped over some other alien's tail. Tail dude got all huffy and stormed out after the ringmaster shouted at him."

"What's that gotta do with me, man?" Viktor yawned, rubbing at his arms to try and warm them up. He always ran a little cold, and the straw bed certainly didn't help. He managed to get extra straw from Lilac by looking particularly pathetic and shivering violently when she was nearby. The others never let him live it down, but hey, it worked, hadn't it? At least he wasn't sleeping on the floor with a sprinkle of straw.

"Thought you'd enjoy it," the other man said cheerfully. "Not every day you see that big lard fall on his ass."

Viktor couldn't help the cheeky grin on his face. Definitely not every day you see that. "Yeah, sounds like it would've been something to see."

As the months progressed, the planet started going through what must have been its seasons. The sun started to dip lower earlier, which meant longer nights to fight. Cold frost had started to line their bars, and they had struggled to sleep without nearly freezing to death before Lilac had convinced the ringmaster to put heat in the warehouse. Or at least, that was what they had assumed she had done since she had shouted at the ringmaster until she was blue in the face. Lilac and the ringmaster must have been friends to allow her to shout at him so. He had grumbled and ordered heating pads to be placed in their cells. They didn't get very warm, probably being the cheapest they could go, but they could sleep without worrying about their toes falling off. It probably helped the ringmaster's mood that they were much better at fighting the next few days after they had been installed.

Viktor had grown throughout the months they had been stuck here. His shoes had no longer fit him and had been almost worn down to the seams regardless. He had taken them off and stored them in the back of his cell, unwilling to part with them. They could come in handy. As it was, he was now fighting barefoot. It made for some interesting battles. He was no longer able to easily kick with his foot which had resulted in aiming with his shins or knees. It was tough adjusting, but Viktor managed.

He had outgrown his clothes a while ago, the rags just barely fitting on him due to the lack of food. Still, they covered him, even if they were ragged, dirty and ill-fitting.

It had been seven months. Nikolas was still scratching tallies into the wall with the sliver of zipper that remained.

"Do you think that yelling alien is gonna come back? Maybe I'll get to see the ringmaster get yelled at," Viktor asked, getting up to his feet to start his morning exercises. They helped him stretch before a fight as well as keep him warm.

Ezekiel shrugged, already going through the motions of push-ups. Aiko was still lying in her straw bed, eyes stubbornly shut. Pedro was trying to wash his hair in the water trough. Viktor jumped in place but couldn't see Nikolas. Probably still sleeping. "Nah, probably not. Looked real mad."

"Oh well," Viktor muttered, only pausing in his stretches to look up at the warehouse door as it opened. Lilac walked in, her tail dragging behind her. She was humming a soft tune. The animals in the other cages started to stir at her voice, whining and howling to get their food. Viktor watched as she gathered the dishes. Some of the animals she tended to even let her pat them on the head. He huffed, going back to his exercises.

"Your girlfriend would probably pat you on the head, Viktor," Ezekiel singsonged, laughing as Viktor shot him a glare.

"If I had anything to throw, you'd get nailed right in the face. She's not my girlfriend. She's a whole alien. Nasty," Viktor said, reddening a bit. "It's not my fault I know how to woo the ladies into extra straw. How's the floor for ya?"

Ezekiel didn't have anything to say, so he just stuck his tongue. Viktor rolled his eyes. "Reallll mature, Zekey. I'm the kid here, remember?"

Ezekiel opened his mouth to argue but yelped instead when Aiko smacked him over the head with her empty dish. "Hey! I need this head," he said sulkily, rubbing his skull.

"Your fault for being so damn loud," Aiko snipped back, wringing her arms back to smack him again.

Lilac rushed over at the metallic twang and subsequent yelp from Ezekiel, waving her arms and chattering in her language. Viktor heard the word kora and dropped into a crouch, shuffling against the bars closest to Pedro, mind filling with fear. Pedro, who had stood up when Lilac walked over, rested his hand on his head, offering as much comfort as he could. The older man was blocking Viktor's form with his own body from Lilac's sight. His throat felt tight, enough so that he felt as if he could hardly breathe. His stomach flipped with fear, watching with wide eyes as Lilac started speaking firmly in her language to Aiko and Ezekiel.

They looked worriedly over at Viktor. Lilac had never had reason to dole out punishment to the humans; there had always been someone else in the room. She was kind, though, surely she wouldn't hurt Viktor?

Lilac noticed they were looking away from her and glanced over, frowning. Viktor shrunk lower, gripping onto Pedro's legs tightly. His hands trembled. He trembled. Lilac walked over to his cage, slowly, talking softly. When she didn't open the door or make any other move to harm him, Viktor slowly started to relax, his breathing starting to even out.

"Kohgrash," Lilac said quietly, stepping away from his cage. She said other words that were nonsense to Viktor and left, walking back to her pile of dishes and bucket of food. The humans stayed quiet as she gave the rest of the animals and them their food. Viktor had let go of Pedro's legs, smoothing out the older man's pants. Clearing his throat a bit awkwardly and scrubbing his face with his hands, Viktor walked over to his dish and started eating the mush silently when Lilac had left the room.

The happy air that had surrounded all of them had vanished, replaced with a thick, depressed tension. Viktor hated the way these alien words made him feel. He hated reacting against his will to stupid phrases. He hated this place.

His fingers scraped the bottom of the dish and came back up with nothing. He looked at the metallic bowl, seeing his murky, distorted reflection in it. His hair, which had once been cropping short, was near to his shoulders now. It was becoming quite the hazard in his fights, as some animals had almost bit down on it. His eyes were much duller, hardened with hate. He frowned at his reflection, which seemed to snarl back at him. Sighing, he shoved the dish against the flap angrily.

"I am sorry, Viktor," Aiko broke the silence, but he ignored her. "I didn't know she would come over."

Viktor sighed, long and loud. "It's okay," he grumbled after a long stretch of silence. It wasn't their fault that he was the aliens' punching bag.

There was no point in being angry with any of them. Viktor had earned the aliens' wrath by himself just as many times as the others did. Not being quick enough to exit the cell, not prolonging the fight well enough, not healing fast. Even if they all behaved perfectly, they would still find some excuse to torment the youngest of the humans. Ezekiel had mused once that they probably thought it was funny, especially his begging, after one particularly brutal beating that had left him laid up for a week, even with Lilac's ointment.

Eventually, the conversation started to pick up here and there, though Viktor only listened in. They talked about a lot of topics throughout the day. The NFL Superbowl dissolved quickly into how Pedro had gotten stuck in a blizzard on his way to a friend's house to watch it. This prompted Nikolas into explaining how he had once gotten stuck at school for two days before the snow cleared, which led to a spiral of heated discussions about school and their days roaming and wreaking havoc in high school.

Viktor was feeling a bit better, so he had sidled up to the bars and chimed in occasionally. He had never finished high school, and would probably never get to, considering they had been in this place for over half a year, but he had some silly stories to contribute.

Soon enough though, the sky began to darken, and they all began to get ready for the upcoming fight. They had no idea who was going to be up fighting; it seemed to be a random schedule. Viktor did stretches, trying to mirror Pedro who was doing the same, albeit with more finesse. They had all tried to teach him how to fight the best they could, considering they were all in different cells. Viktor considered himself a pretty alright fighter nowadays. His muscles were more defined than they had been, though that might be due to the starvation.

They all jumped when the door opened with a bang.

The ringmaster was much more animated than he usually was, face bright with a greedy sort of happiness. He waved his arms, gesturing and talking loudly to the pair of aliens following him. They looked a bit stiff, observing the cages with interest and some disgust. They were better dressed than the ringmaster, with some jewelry adorning their facial spikes and wrists. Their looks of revulsion were quickly hidden whenever the ringmaster looked back at them. Lilac followed behind at a sedated pace, glancing at the humans worriedly. She stretched her mouth in a reassuring grin (that did nothing to reassure them; that was scary as fuck), before puttering behind the aliens, speaking up sometimes.

"Kohgrash!" Viktor jumped at his name, looking over to the ringmaster, who had a claw pointed to the door. He glanced at Pedro, sharing his worries in one look. Why were there two unfamiliar aliens? Why was the ringmaster seemingly boasting? Viktor stepped over to the cage door obediently, hands placed protectively on his stomach. He kept his eyes on the ringmaster's hands, occasionally sneaking peeks at the unfamiliar pair.

The ringmaster spoke to the two aliens animatedly, and whatever he had told them seemed to intrigue them, as they looked down at him with interest. Viktor quickly averted his eyes. He swallowed the yelp of fear that bubbled in his throat as the ringmaster grabbed him by his collar, quickly attaching the stiff leash.

The ringmaster spoke something to Lilac, and she gestured for the pair to follow her. The three left the room. Viktor stood stiff-legged next to the ringmaster, trying not to tremble. The alien still had an iron grip on his collar. He was shaken roughly by the alien, glancing up at him in fright.

He said something in a series of grunts and clicks, completely incomprehensible to Viktor, but he got the gist. Make this fight a good one. Those two aliens were obviously important to the ringmaster.

He was shoved and pushed to the arena by the ringmaster, locked in before he could even take a breath. He blinked blearily at the sharp lights, the roar of the crowd swelling as they saw him. Viktor bared his teeth in response, which only made the noise louder. He looked over to the opposing cage, twitching as he saw what beast they had in store for him.

Prowling along the bars of the cage was Oorah.