Kauvara was most usually one not to be fueled by resentment
or to meddle in other people's affairs. In fact, if it had been anyone other
than the two oafs in question, she would have told Dr. Death that he was on
his own. Being that it was Zhani and Magus, however, she only felt it fair to
get in her digs. They had caused her a lot of trouble, after all, whether they
had meant to or not.
She had let herself into the room, finding everything
just as the doctor had left it. Rose still slept soundly on the bed and it didn't
look like anything had been disturbed. Satisfied with this, she had gone back
to her own room to retrieve a few things, just in case she needed them and returned,
casting a cloaking spell on herself and becoming effectively invisible as she
stood in the corner of the room and waited.
The minutes ticked by with nothing and the starry
Kau remained motionless, wondering where Zhani and Magus were. It wasn't very
professional of a kidnapper to knock his victim out and then leave her there,
she scoffed. Her hope had no sooner begun to dim, however, than she heard voices
in the hallway and froze. Footsteps paused outside and then the doorknob rattled
as Zhani and Magus entered.
"I'm just saying it's more than I would have
liked to stay, and if you had just cooperated...." Zhani was muttering at his
companion.
"Oh c'mon, it was a good episode," the
Pteri snickered. "And you laughed at those videos just as hard as I did."
"Hush," the shadow Uni snorted disgustedly,
apparently not liking to be reminded that even he could be something other than
high-and-mighty sometimes.
"Besides, it's not like she was going anywhere,
ya know?" Magus continued as they sauntered into the room. Zhani stopped short,
looking puzzled. "What's wrong?" the spotted Pteri inquired.
"...I didn't leave her like that," Zhani
said quietly, his voice heavy with suspicion as he stared at Rose sprawled across
the mattress.
"Did you leave the door unlocked, you moron?"
Magus snarled, shaking his head. "Goodness, and you treat ME like an idiot."
"Shut up. Her roommate must have come in and
found her and gone off to get help. That's all," Zhani spat. "Now help
me carry her."
Kauvara felt her annoyance flare as she set
eyes on the duo, remembering them well....the beady glint in the Pteri's eyes,
the snide way the Uni's mouth curled. Despite her efforts to contain it, she
felt rage bubbling within her at the two. What was happening to this poor Uni
now was likely the same thing that had happened to her apprentice a month ago.
"Where'd Sloth say he'd pick her up?" Magus
grunted as he grabbed a hold of Rose's ankles and lifted as Zhani picked her
up under the arms.
"He said to leave the kennel next to the dumpster
behind the shuttle depot and then to report back to base," the Uni replied
curtly. "Now come on. We've got nine more to go after this."
"Oh, no you haven't...." the Kau snorted from
her invisible post in the corner, her eyes narrowing.
"Did you hear something?" Magus asked conversationally
as they bumbled unevenly toward the door carrying Rose.
"No. Keep moving," Zhani commanded. "I
want this pink nag out of my sight as soon as possible."
Kauvara wasn't quite sure what had been the
final straw for her...the fact that they were about to get away with something
so underhanded, the mention of Frank Sloth's name, or Zhani referring to Rose
as a nag. One thing was for certain though, she had had enough of them both.
Withdrawing a nanka bottle from the cluster of items she had grabbed from her
room she smiled mysteriously.
"Lights out, boys," she declared, dropping
the bottle to the floor with a tinkling of broken glass. Almost instantly, the
room was filled with impenetrable darkness. As the two males cried with dismay,
Kauvara held up two more bottles, her sorcerer's sight seeing the Pteri and
the Uni perfectly as they stumbled over one another in frightened confusion.
Smiling mysteriously, she crossed the room, muttering a spell under her breath
as she approached them.
As she finished, the two of them straightened
and became as rigid and still as statues, staring vacantly ahead of themselves.
The Kau smirked, delighted the spell had worked and not backfired on her as
her magic sometimes did. "Now then..." she said quietly, uncorking both bottles.
"This is a delayed gift from me, that Uni on the floor there, my apprentice,
and anyone else you've ever ever inconvenienced. Just repeat to yourselves....it's
all a bad dream." She grinned, putting a bottle to Zhani's lips first and the
other to Magus's beak.
There was a pause as she made them drink the
contents in their stupefied state, and then the two of them began to contort
and change. Kauvara watched in satisfaction as the once regal shadow Uni and
sleek spotted Pteri were slowly replaced by greenish-gray hulks. At last, before
her stood two mutant Chias, still deeply entranced by her spell, their rheumy
eyes empty.
"Now then, gentlemen, what was this you were
saying about Sloth? Why not show me this kennel you were planning on packing
that Uni in and we can discuss it further...?" the Kau smirked, herding the
two of them out of the room as they shambled with forced obedience in the direction
of the lodge room they had come from.
***
"Hmph...I could have sworn that flea-bitten excuse had said he was giving
me a Uni" Dr. Frank Sloth remarked as he paused before the iron kennel cage
three hours later behind the shuttle depot, regarding the two groggy mutant
Chias inside with mingled contemplation and resentment.
"Blorg?" one of them burbled sleepily.
"Mm...oh well....two for one. Can't be petty,
I suppose," Sloth sighed, turning to look over his shoulder. "MEAT!! Get
over here!" he barked as an enormous mutant Grundo shambled toward him, its
antennae twitching questioningly. "Take that back to the labs," he commanded,
pointing at the cage.
"For me's to squeeze!" the Grundo declared happily,
flexing his fists as he reached for the cage.
"No," Sloth said sharply, swatting the
Grundo's upper arm. "Gently. If you squash those like you did the last, you'll
take their place."
"Hrrrmmm?" the Grundo grunted.
"Laser, liverlips. Pain," Sloth snapped.
Understanding dawned in Meat's eyes as he gingerly picked up the cage, careful
not to disturb the two Chias within and carried it with ridiculous care down
the alleyway back in the direction of the transport pod they had arrived in.
"Zhani and Magus should be back at base by now...if they know their rears from
their elbows at least..." the doctor prattled as he followed after his slave
idly.
One of the Chias, seeming to have shaken whatever
had been sedating him began to scurry about in the cage, rattling the bars,
and frantically staring out at Sloth with feral intensity. "BLOOG!! BLAROOGOLAFLAGAROO!!"
it exclaimed. Sloth wrinkled his nose at it in distaste and pretended not to
hear. Zhani, puzzled and outraged, attempted a few more times to explain the
mistake Sloth was making...when it became apparent that the scientist had no
intention of listening, he groaned and slumped against the bars of the cage.
He couldn't remember precisely what had happened
to land him in the current state he found himself, but he was certain of one
rather odd thing...if he never saw another Kau again, it would be too soon.
EPILOGUE
Rose quietly packed up her things as the
last day of the retreat drew to a close. Since she had awoken from the stupor
the sleep serum had put her in, she'd not spoken to much of anyone, keeping
her feelings of hurt and betrayal to herself. They wouldn't understand...none
of them would, she decided.
Across the room from her, Dr. Death had long-since
finished packing his bag and was leaning idly against the wall, his nose buried
in a novel he had brought with him and hadn't had a chance to do much reading
of as he waited for her to finish so they could lock the room and turn in both
keys at the same time. However, while he read, half of his attention was focused
on Rose and her unnatural silence.
As she folded her towels and set them into the
suitcase, one of her elbows struck the metal rim with a faint thunk, making
her wince. "You all right?" the Techo muttered, not looking up.
"Not that you care, but yes..." Rose sighed.
"Are you still hung up about that Zhani jerk?"
Dr. Death scoffed, turning the page in his book.
The Uni drew in a deep breath, pausing in what
she was doing. "Can we not talk about him please?" she asked, her tone an interesting
mix of meekness and anger.
The Techo felt a stab of pity for her, which
he quickly shook off again. "He's not worth being upset over..." he offered
with a stiff shrug.
"It's not really HIM I'm upset over," Rose
replied, sighing again. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, doc. Just never
mind it. I'll be fine." She offered him a half-smile that was so incredibly
forced on her part that it was painful to look at.
"I'm just saying, you're a better person than
that is all..." Dr. Death muttered. "Don't let one bad apple ruin the bushel."
Rose, who had been carefully folding her bathrobe, now threw it in a haphazard
wad into the suitcase with frustration and stood rigidly, looking at nothing
in particular as she stared straight ahead of herself.
"....do you know how long it's been since I've
been on a date, doctor?" she asked him, a slight waver in her voice. There was
a long pause. "How long?" he asked disinterestedly, taking the bait when he
realised she wasn't going to keep speaking unless he did.
"Nearly a year and a half," she answered
icily. "And it's been even longer since anyone even pretended to like me." She
turned to face him then, her eyes shining unnaturally bright with tears that
hadn't yet fallen but threatened to. "You know, taking up this job has killed
my social life. I haven't really said anything about it or even minded it much
since I've enjoyed helping pets find homes, but as soon as most people hear
I'm associated with that--that PLACE--not to mention with you, most of them
walk the other direction."
"That's right, Rose, it's all my fault,"
he said sarcastically, still not lifting his eyes from his book. "Talk to anybody
in Neopia and I'm sure they can find some reason to blame everything wrong with
them on me."
"Way to put words in my mouth," she grumbled,
throwing in the last of her belongings and slamming the suitcase shut. "I'm
taking a few days off when we get back," she informed him nonchalantly
as she lifted her piece of luggage from the mattress.
"Are you?" he asked sceptically.
"Yes. I am. And don't think the agency won't
give it to me. You use up your sick time as soon as you get it, but I've not
taken time off for myself in months. I think I have at least three days' worth
saved up."
"Am I allowed to ask why or will you bite my
head off?" the Techo muttered, no longer pretending to read the book.
"Because I need to get away from things for a while," she informed him flatly. "The pound, the people, and you too."
"What'd I do?" Dr. Death asked, unable to dodge
the slight twinge of hurt he felt at her statement.
"You're part of my problem," she said matter-of-factly.
"And I'm not saying that to be nasty either, doc. Its true. You know, I do my
best to be friendly around you no matter how viscous you are to me and it just
wears me out after awhile to give and never get." She paused, slitting her eyes
and fighting with the rush of tears that wanted to overtake her. "....and just
when I think I've found somebody decent who DOESN'T treat me that way, that
blows up in my face too," she whimpered, her ears folding back.
"Nothing that happened was your fault. Nobody
knew what that creep was planning on doing. And it wasn't just you...it could
have been anyone in that situation," he said reasonably, setting the book
aside.
"I should have known better," she murmured,
gently pushing past him as she moved toward the door, dragging her suitcase
behind her. "Should've known he was lying as soon as he even acted interested.
Nobody could possibly like me."
"You used that same line of logic when you entered
the beauty contest, didn't you?" he asked quirking a brow. "And didn't you place
in species?"
"I placed because people thought I was funny.
Not because they thought I was pretty...and the lack of interest from guys in
general just proves that point. Now if you'll excuse me," she said sharply,
walking briskly from the room. Dr. Death stood alone for a long moment, looking
in the direction she had gone before gathering up his things and following after
her.
He caught up with her shortly in the hallway
as she stood, waiting for the elevator.
"You're only in that frame of mind because you're
upset," the doctor informed her as he came up beside her and set his bag
down.
"Are you suddenly a therapist now?" she sighed,
shaking her head in exasperation. "Just stop. Please. I know you're trying to
help, but all you're doing is aggravating me. You can't possibly even begin
to understand how I feel right now."
"Heh...you'd think if there was one thing I
knew about, it was being treated like garbage," the Techo snorted. "But
honestly, though, I DO know how you feel," he paused. "And I still think
you're wrong," he added quietly, looking at the floor with terrible concentration.
"What's there to be wrong about?" Rose asked
quietly. "It's true. Nobody wants to be saddled with a homely little bubblehead.
There's no man in his right mind who'd--" She stopped there. Not because she
didn't want to finish, but because she found herself unable to speak. The doctor,
acting more on impulse than on better sense, had leaned in, cutting off her
self-hating tirade with a soft, if not painfully awkward kiss.
His courage failing after a moment, the Techo
drew back just as the elevator arrived and dinged open, leaving Rose goggling
at him speechlessly.
"Colour me insane, I guess," he told her,
his composure betrayed by the tremor in his voice as he turned quickly and boarded
the elevator without further hesitation, not daring to look back at her and
expecting, really, to be screamed at at any moment.
Instead, she boarded quietly behind him after
a moment more of stunned silence. As the doors slid closed, she said only two
words.
"We'll see."
"...Guess that's the best I can ask for right
now." Dr. Death shrugged, stifling a smile as the elevator began its descent
down to the lobby.
The End | 
