Chapter Text
“Hey, hey it’s alright, Xefros, ”you lightly patted your new friend on the shoulder, now realizing that this was apparently very “pale,” but Xefros seemed to accept it.
“No, no it’s not,” he sobbed into your shoulder. “We’re not okay…” A large, grating and metallic buzz zoomed over them and Xefros immediately flinched, drawing away from the hug with a sharp gasp.
“Jaci, we need to leave—right now.” His eyes were tear-stained, but there was a desperate seriousness in his cracking voice that screamed urgency. He grabbed your hand and started tugging you through the alleys, tripping over a few tin cans and bottles. You didn’t really know what the big problem was, but you figured it has something to do with his frantic mumbling about “drones” and “the heiress.” You followed as best you could, trying your best to keep up with his strong legs, but you had difficulty. Bambi kept their best to chase after you, but they started falling a little behind.
“Xefros, what’s going on?!”
“We’re running!”
“I can see that!” You dodged a soggy box and ducked under a steaming pipe, almost hitting your head. The metallic rumbling was growing louder, echoing through the connecting alleys and shaking you to your core. You could hear the clanging of Bambi behind you, doing their best to keep up with the pair of you in the twisting path Xefros was dragging you through. The thrumming was so loud now, closer to a roar than the previous buzz.
A hulking, metal thing suddenly landed in the alley in front of the two of you, making the ground shake with its impact. It was large and imposing, with sharp metal spikes sticking out from its shoulders and an angry expression painted on its face. You felt your face pale at the sheer size of the thing; you were only as tall as its knee joint! Xefros skidded to a halt and you bumped into him just before he took a sharp turn to the left and continued running, dragging you along with him. This alley was smaller, too small for that thing to fit through, and you felt a small wisp of relief that was dashed to the grimy concrete when a plasma shot suddenly exploded to your left. You jumped over the crate that was knocked over by the blast and screamed. Xefros slowed a little and looked back at you to check on you, his own eyes wide with panic and fear, but you shoved him forward with a nod.
“Go—go!”
You could no longer hear Bambi behind you, and you didn’t want to look back for them. Together, you reached the other end of the alley and slipped between two dumpsters in a back doorway. You heaved air through your lungs, trying to catch your breath as more plasma shots fired around you. One hit the dumpster on your right and made Xefros lurch forward against the force, making him grimace.
“Are you okay?” You placed a hand on his shoulder and searched his eyes for confirmation, receiving a hard nod in return. Another Plasma shot rocked the dumpster on your other side, jarring you and making you gasp. Xefros quickly looked up at you in worry but you waved it off.
“What do we do now, Xefros?”
Xefros looked at you, his eyes wide with fear, but otherwise blank. He looked lost, and you didn’t know how to help. It hurt.
“We, uh… I-I-I don’t know, I just…” He exhaled and looked at you, clearly pained. More shots crisscrossed the alley as those things stomped around outside the narrow alley you were cowering in. You scooted a little closer to him and drew your knees up to your chest, laying your crossed arms over them as you leaned against his side. You felt him flinch, but he soon placed his arm around your shoulders.
Another blast rocked the dumpster on your left but you squeezed your eyes shut. This was probably where you were going to die. Right here, in the arms of an alien, on an alien planet, blasted or crushed to death by some alien robots all because you stupid father was never around to protect you from creepy monsters! And Jude! Oh, your baby brother, you didn’t even get to say goodbye! You felt your eyes well with tears and you sobbed into the crook of your elbow.
The door behind you thumped into your back and you jumped to attention, whipping your head around to see someone force the door open. They had messy, shoulder-length hair and most of their bare skin was wrapped in cloth bandages, including most of their face. They turned to Xefros.
“You Tritoh?” It was a little hard to hear them behind the wraps and over the din of the plasma blasts, but Xefros nodded shakily. “Come with me,” they grabbed Xefros’ wrist and hesitated before grabbing yours as well and pulled you through the door into the building. You wiped your eyes with your sleeve and looked around in the dim light, flinching at the blasts that shook some dust from the ceiling. You seemed to be in the kitchen of a closed restaurant. “You’re wanted.” Xefros paled a bit and tried to twist his wrist out of their grip but they released you to pull down the wraps on their face, revealing themselves to be a girl with a few warbled scars on her face.
“Not like that, Tyzias wants you.” Xefros looked at her, no longer struggling, but very confused. A loud boom sounded outside the building and you all flinched. She released Xefros and turned back to the two of you. “Come on, it’s not safe here.”
“What about Bambi?” You looked to Xefros and he looked to the mystery troll.
“Who, your grimalkin? I’ve already taken care of them.” She closed her eyes and waved away the question unworriedly.
You exchanged a look with Xefros, at a loss of what to do. He turtled his neck into his shoulders and kind of… Whined?
“Where are we going?”
“Back to Outglut, Tyzias is waiting for you at our meeting spot to talk to you in a more secure location.” The mystery troll rewrapped the cloth on her right hand as she spoke, putting off an air of calm despite the ruckus outside.
You looked again to Xefros who looked very confused but pretty desperate.
“Can you get us there safely?” he asked, his voice shaky. She finished wrapping all the way up to her elbow and nodded firmly, her face serious and stern.
Xefros looked back at you and you nodded.
“... Okay, what do we do?”
She wrapped her face back up, leaving one eye out in the open. “You follow me— closely. I won’t fight a drone for you, but I’ll wait a little if you fall behind.”
You and Xefros nodded in understanding.
“Good.” She started to lead you through the counters but she stopped and turned back to you, “By the way, my name’s Polypa.” Then, she turned on her toes and started weaving through the counters towards a walk-in cooler that was hanging open, its door hanging from only one hinge. As you followed, you could see a boot print on the inside where you supposed Polypa had kicked it. Inside were towers of shelving, all of it filled with different kinds of alien, vegetable-looking things. She lifted up a sewer cover in the middle of the room and propped it up on her knee as she beckoned the two of you closer.
Xefros put a hand in front of you and hesitantly slipped down in front of you, shaking a bit of rust from his hand after touching the top rung. He grimaced a little but he steadily lowered to the bottom of the ladder before calling up to you, “It’s okay, Jaci, come on down.”
You looked to Polypa who offered you a little nod and tossed her head a little in the direction of the hole. A loud boom shook the building and you jumped.
“Hurry!” Polypa grabbed your wrist and pulled you forward to the grate, supporting you as you started climbing downward. She followed as soon as there was enough room and replaced the cover. “Make sure to look down, there’s rust on these rungs and you don’t want that in your eyes.”
You followed her instructions and looked downwards into the darkness, barely able to make out Xefros lifting up his arms to catch you if you fell. You felt his hands on the back of your arms as you touched the ground. Water ran somewhere, and by the smell, you assumed this was a sewer. You heard Polypa’s feet touch the ground and saw an extra dark shadow move past you. Or maybe it was closer to you? You couldn’t really tell, it was so dark.
“Now what?” you asked.
“Now you follow me, and quickly.”
You sensed some movement and saw some moving shadows, but now that the cover was sealing away the sparse light from before, you just couldn’t see much.
You tried to start walking, but you were grabbed by two sets of hands and stopped from moving.
“What are you doing?!” Polypa whispered frantically.
“Wha-” You were turned around on your heels and given a shake on the shoulders.
You could see the hint of angry yellow eyes in front of your own and you widened your eyes to make them out. “I’m trying to walk, what-”
A hand pushed you back and you stumbled into Xefros. “You almost fell right off the ledge into the water! What the hell?”
“Oh, I didn’t know.” You felt your face burn in embarrassment, but you were distracted by another boom that made the walls around you rumble. Some dirt fell on your face.
“... Can you not see?” That was Xefros, still holding your arms from behind you.
“You guys can?”
There was a little silence before Polypa sighed, followed by the tell-tale clap of skin on skin.
“Tritoh, hold onto her—carry her if you have to. Let’s go.” You heard some footfalls echo around you and Xefros’ hands gently pushed you forward. You started walking blindly, hearing the crunch of grit underfoot mingling with the quieting booms above your heads. No one spoke, and you figured it was because they were as stressed as you were. Just once, you would like to go a day or two without running for your life. Xefros’ hands continued to gently guide you along the path and you only sometimes tripped over a rock when he forgot to warn you ahead of time. By the sound of Polypa’s breath, you guessed that she was getting a little impatient, and you didn’t blame her. She was probably only here to get her money, and you being a nearly helpless alien that needed assistance just to walk didn’t help matters much.
Eventually, the sounds of those metal monsters died away and were replaced by the normal car noises that one would expect when in the sewers under a city. “Okay, here we are,” Polypa muttered, mostly to herself. Xefros stopped pushing you forward and dropped one of his hands. The shadow’s of your companions flitted around and then a grating noise rang out through the tunnel, much like another manhole cover being moved. Xefros’ other hand slid down from your upper arm to your hand, pulled you forward, and placed your hand on what you figured was the rung of a ladder.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said, and you could clearly imagine his typical nervous smile.
You smiled, “Thank you,” and started climbing, making sure to look down to avoid getting any of the grit showering down from Polypa’s feet in your eyes. Polypa grabbed your hand and pulled you out onto some concrete. Thankfully, you could see now with the help of some neon sighs overhead. Actually, they looked rather familiar…
Xefros popped his head out of the sewer and immediately looked up at the signs and cocked his head. “Hey, isn’t this where we hid Bambi?”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Polypa mumbled. She ran to the edge of the alley and peeked around the corner. “Ok, here it comes.”
“Here comes what?” you asked. A teal car-looking thing rolled up to the opening of the alley and rolled one window down. Inside was another troll with messy hair and a tired expression on her face.
“Get in,” she said plainly.