Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The second to last pure, yet not quite so sane, human ❯ Chapter 4

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer. All Last pure human stuff belongs to TwistedHilarity, I’m not trying to steal anything. Gabriel however is mine.



Gabriel sat up quickly, silent as the grave, like some creature out of a horror movie. His head hurt like hell and he could feel a large throbbing knot near the middle of the top of his forehead.

Maybe his unicorn horn was finally coming in?!

Well no…probably not…

That would be cool though.

Blinking his blurry eyes to them Gabriel had to wonder where the hell he was or how he got here. The bed was nice and comfy though, that had to count for something.

Ok now wait….the last thing he remembered was falling out of the window, riding the giant kitty man, well no that sounded dirty, he was more certainly not riding any kitty men.

Maybe it was a dream?….after all he was in a nice big bed, damn thing was huge! But come on…giant kitty men? Michael was going to love that one…

Gabriel was just about to lay back down and to sleep again, he was probably going to woke up in a few hours anyway, stupid tests. He swore if that asshole Tom flicked his ear or pulled his hair one more time as part of some bullshit reflex test….then he was going to kill the man with his own clipboard, Gabriel wasn’t quite sure how but he could get the job done…

Because he really cared.

As he was laying back however he just happened to glance over to the right, and there it was.

The biggest.

Most muscular.

Tightest piece of bronzed ass he had ever seen! It was a little arousing actually…

“Holy shit!” Gabriel exclaimed, and the ass stood straight up, quickly putting on some kind of loin cloth, who the hell wore a loin cloth anyway? And turned around, revealing that the ass was, in fact, a giant…red headed, Gabriel had always liked red heads, kitty man.

Good god…this one was even bigger then the other two!

Gabriel’s eyes darted around the room, searching for a weapon, a knife, a table leg….a fucking thumb tack, anything! Gabriel sprung up, going from a sitting position to standing on the bed in one move. He didn’t see any doors or even a window, he’d been in and won more then his fair share of brawls in his life but he didn’t like his chances going toe to toe with Kitty the Goliath.

But before he could even move the red head brought his hands up, palms out, the classic “I’m no threat” stance. Which might have been more reassuring if he wasn’t like…nine fucking feet tall, seriously what the hell did these guys eat?!

“H-Heello” The kitty man said. Hey that made sense!

“Hello?” Gabriel replied hesitantly.” You speak English? Cause that would be really nice right now.” The cat man chewed lightly on his lip, which looked absolutely adorable for some reason.

‘Um…know…..little.” Cay boy said, holding his thumb and index fingers up, short tiny distance away from each other. “Rough…ummm..” The cat fumbled. Gabriel nodded his head.

“Yeah I get it, you have the vocabulary of a three year old.” Gabriel quipped. “Well damn…now what?” Gabriel thought for a minute, someone had to have taught him right? Of course that might not have been true but it was worth a shot. He was a big ass alien cat thing right? So he probably had his own language. “Who taught you?” Gabriel asked as plainly as he could. The red head just sighed and shrugged.

**“Do you understand me? Do you speak Hinta?”** The cat said, which didn’t make any sense. Pretty voice thought….

“Well what do we have so far? Not a whole lot Gabe, we are in a room with the sorta English speaking giant cat guy, no discernable exits and one fuck of a sore body, leading experts agree that getting the hell out of here ASAP is probably the best course of action.” Gabriel thought. But how to get out? And would the big ass, it was a nice ass though, cat man let leave?

“Umm…Find.” The red head said as he pointed at Gabriel, looking rather frustrated. “Find, want help.” He said has he pointed at himself then back to Gabriel. The human raised an eyebrow.

“You want me to help you find something?” Gabriel asked, what did he looked like some kind of finder guy of finding? He didn’t even know where the hell HE was. But the huge man just sighed and shook his head, his eyes narrowed in thought as he did the cute lip nibbling again, his huge arms crossing his bare chest.
Was he some kind of kitty man stripper? He looked like it, being mostly naked and all that but somehow Gabriel didn’t think he had somehow been arranged a big kitty man lap dance, though that would be kind of cool, he’d never really had one before, well Michael had given him his version which tended to involve Gabriel’s cock in Michaels tight ass, not really the same thing, but so much less frustrating, and the kitty would probably totally crush his legs.

Though Red did have a body worthy of a big ole gay “Oh. My. GAWD.”

Gabriel’s attention was drawn back when Red cleared his throat.

“Zonta.” Possible stripper said, pointing towards himself, before he pointed at Gabe and waited.

“You talking some kind of alien kitty crap?” Gabriel grunted. Eyes widening slightly in disbelief the kitty brought back to himself.

“Zonta.” He repeated, tapping himself on the chest, then pointed back at Gabriel. “Arre yooou talcking sum…kind ooof kitteee crayp?” The giant said hesitantly.

“No I am not talking kitty crap, you’re the cat not me, don’t mess with me Red cause I’ll….I’ll…I’ll chew your knee caps off if I have to.” Gabriel scoffed, honestly the nerve of these giant kitty man strippers…..

Suddenly the cat was kneeling in front of him, it happened so fast it startled Gabriel, making him jump, causing him to come crashing down on his ass on the bed.
Crap cracker! How did he move that fast?!

Gabriel was about to punt Red in the face, which would have been a shame as it was a rather gorgeous face now that he was able to get a closer look at it, when Red tapped his chest with both hands and said. “Zonta” and then put his big hands on Gabriel’s shoulders, which was kinda scary, cause they were big ass kitty hands, dude could probably pop a basket ball with one hand.
Gabriel just looked at Red, trying to decide how much this was about to hurt, Red however just tapped his chest again and repeated, a little more urgently. “Zonta.” and once again put his hands back on Gabriel’s shoulders.

Gabriel suddenly felt very….very stupid.

Reaching out Gabriel placed his palm against Red’s very warm, very muscular chest and said.

“Zonta?” The big cat, Zonta it seemed, nodded emphatically, which only made Gabriel feel even more like an idiot, Feh….lets see kitty boy decipher a complex chemical composition!

Placing his hand on his own chest Gabriel said. “Gabriel.”

Zonta’s eyes narrowed a little, his lips moving as he sounded it out in his own mind.

“Gabeiral, Gabreal, Gabriel?” Gabriel nodded as the man nailed it easily, which was kinda annoying, Zonta’s name was simple, just two syllables, Gabriel however wasn’t as easy, figures he would have to be some kind of intellectual wouldn’t it?

Hey he had hit his head pretty hard, so he had an excuse for not getting what the hell the man was saying….he wasn’t an idiot damn it!

“Mmmm…Zonta find Gabriel, Zonta want help Gabriel.” Zonta roughly explained.

Determined not to look like a moron again Gabriel let that swirl around his head for a moment, that could mean a few things after all.

“Zonta.” Gabriel said, putting his hand on Zonta’s chest. “Find Gabriel.” He continued, putting his hand back on his own chest. “Zonta wants to help Gabriel?” Zonta nodded again, moving his hands off of Gabriel’s shoulders and gently sliding them up Gabriel’s face, cupping his head in his larger hands.

Gabriel’s gut clenched, the guy could totally crush his head if he wanted to.

“Zonta want to help Gabriel, Zonta no hurt Gabriel.” Red headed Zonta insisted, which kinda made Gabriel relax a little, but he was still leery, when was the last time someone wanted to help him? The last time someone wasn’t trying to bash him around or kill him?

A long fucking time, was the answer.

It certainly didn’t help that he had only be awake for like two minutes before a giant kitty had laid the giant kitty smack down on his cute ass. Oh and one must not forget the large kitty cock that he had apparently wished to shove in Gabriel’s cute ass.

Boy it would be nice to not have to worry about getting raped, so far he had managed to avoid it though, still he’d like to be able to sleep or walk around without having to worry about an impromptu rough filling.

Zonta’s hand shifted a little, pressing against the still throbbing bruise high on Gabriel’s cheekbone, Gabriel hissed slightly in pain and Zonta’s hand shot away as if he had been burned.

Zonta looked startled, what did he think Gabriel was so fragile that a little touch would hurt him?

It was kinda cute, Gabriel pulled his hair away from his face, showing off the bruise, just to let Zonta know that it wasn’t his hands that caused the pain.

Zonta however looked horrified, innocent much?, and gently touched Gabriel’s face.

“How….how?” Zonta asked, Gabriel shrugged and took a hold of Zonta’s hand, curling his fingers into a fist and pressing it against his bruise as if the red head was throwing a punch. Zonta’s eyes narrowed in anger then, and for a moment Gabriel was worried that he had managed to piss the big man off somehow, but Zonta just touched him again, gently, so very gently, it was weird for a creature that looked so powerful to be so….kind.

**“You poor thing, how could they do that to you?”** Zonta said, which made no sense, but sounded rather pretty. “Zonta no hurt Gabriel, Zonta help.”

Gabriel chuckled.

“Either you’ve got to learn more English or I have to learn whatever you speak….probably be better to learn your stuff eh?” Gabriel said, it made sense, if he could understand everyone then he could probably get around better. “But I’m not so good with languages, so bear with me kay? That’s Max’s territory, not mine.” At the sound of his brother’s name though Zonta’s ears perked up, which was so fucking cute and he began to speak.

“Zonta know Max, Kasan find Max, Kasan help Max.” Gabriel just looked at Zonta….did he mean?

“You….You know my brother? You know Max?!” Gabriel excitedly exclaimed, jumping up on the bed again.

“Zonta know Max, Max at Zonta home.” Zonta said. Gabriel clasped his hands together, brimming with happiness, oh this was perfect! He wouldn’t have to look everywhere for Max, and probably get beat up some more, if this guy had already found him, Gabriel didn’t know what a Kasan was, but if Max was safe….

The thought occurred to him that Zonta might not be talking about his Max, or be confused, but he pushed it away, he’d seen the registry for all the colonists, and Max was the only Max on the list, well other then some eighty year old aerologist, and really that guy had probably croaked already.

Plus it was hope, and hope was one of the few things that kept Gabriel going day to day.

Gabriel grinned happily at Zonta, and the kitty man smiled back, and the smile was….oh my god, it was so damn sexy, not in a…overt way, but it was so innocent, so….utterly honest. Their eyes met and a moment of intensity passed between them, and then the cat blushed and averted his eyes.

Which was so damn hot.

Suddenly the chain around Gabriel’s neck twitched and his good mood disappeared, he looked down to see Zonta touching his locket, anger tore though him.

No one touched Michael!!

Gabriel snarled and he was just about to drive his fist into the big cat’s throat when Zonta looked back up at him, their eyes meeting once more, the red head’s were filled with curiosity and all around warmth.

“What this?” Zonta asked, tapping Michael gently. Gabriel took a deep breath to calm himself, this guy wasn’t trying to take it away, he didn’t know, he’d been kind and gentle the whole time.

Clearing his throat Gabriel brought the locket up and opened it, revealing Michael to Zonta.

“Michael….” Gabriel said softly, his voice cracking slightly. Zonta lifted the little locket up a bit higher, looking at the picture of the boy inside.

“Michiceal….” Zonta said. Gabriel smiled bitterly as he eased the locket out from in-between Zonta’s fingers, closing it as he said.

“Michael, its Michael.”

“Michael…” Zonta said and Gabriel nodded. “Where Michael? Zonta help find, Gabriel, Zonta find Michael?” There was a sweetness in his voice that made Gabriel start to choke up, nothing but warmth and desire to help.

“Can’t….” Gabriel spat.

“Can’t? Why?” Zonta asked as Gabriel began to shake.

“They killed him, my Michael, my Tiger lily.” Gabriel sobbed.

“Kiiil?” Zonta repeated obviously not familiar with the word.

“Kill.” Gabriel stated, drawing his finger across his throat, the classic slit throat gesture. Zonta gasped lightly, taking a hold of Gabriel’s shoulders, causing the smaller man to look up at him.

“Who? Who kill Michael?” Zonta asked harshly.

“They did….oh my poor baby….I couldn’t…I couldn’t save him.” Gabriel sobbed, trying to hold it back, trying not to get emotional. But suddenly he found himself being pulled into Zonta’s chest, the man’s big arms wrapping around him. For a moment Gabriel almost panicked, fearing the worst, but the kitty man just held him, stroking his hair and speaking in soft gentle tones, Gabriel couldn’t understand what was being said, but he understood the feeling behind it.

And then it came, the tears, the gut wrenching pain. Gabriel tried to stop it, but he’d never really been given time to mourn Michael’s death properly, never given time to grieve and he certainly was never comforted over the fact. Clutching at the giant red head Gabriel began to cry, his chest heaving from it.

The heat from Zonta’s body was comforting, the man smelled so good, and he was so gentle, arms that could easily crush the life from him simply held him snuggly, that soft sweet voice whispering kind comforts. He was so strong….it took a minute but Gabriel realized his legs had given out on him and Zonta was holding him up. He’d never been the one seeking comfort before, he’d always had to be the stronger one, the rock in which to cling to, it felt good to let go…to be weak for a little while.

Zonta kinda reminded him of Michael, the innocent smile, the kind eyes. A lot bigger though….

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zonta did nothing but hold the weeping human, he didn’t know who this Michael was to Gabriel, a brother, a son, a lover, a best friend and to be honest he didn’t care, he just found himself wishing he could take it back, he’d never even met the other man but he found himself wishing he could have saved him all the same.

“Shhh…its ok Nikea….your safe….oh I’m so sorry little one….so very sorry.” Zonta whispered as he softly massaged the human’s scalp. He hadn’t understood what Gabriel had meant when he said “they did” was that some kind of human word for Kyashin people? Or was it someone else?

Zonta’s heart ached at the thought that his people might have been responsible for the death of someone important to such a beautiful little creature. It infuriated him, why would people do things like this?

Soon Gabriel’s sobs began to lessen, but Zonta could feel the wetness of his tears on his chest, he wasn’t sure if he should let go or not, so he didn’t, he just kept his arms tightly around little Nikea, until the man began to pull back. Zonta slowly released him, looking down on the man as he wiped his wet, red eyes. Zonta was about to open his mouth, to try to communicate with the man again, God knew he wished he had spent more time learning Max’s language, it was a cold comfort to Zonta that he couldn’t have known this would happen, when Gabriel’s stomach suddenly growled.
Gabriel gave him a sheepish look, looking rather embarrassed, whether it was from his tears or his hunger. But the man made no attempt to request food or anything else. That bothered Zonta, did Nikea think he would deny him? He probably did…and Zonta’s gut tightened painfully again, he wasn’t sure how big human’s were supposed to be, but he wouldn’t put it past Gabriel’s former captors probably had denied him food.

Smiling down at Gabriel, Zonta lifted him, only to gently set him down on the bed. Motioning for him to stay Zonta went over to the panel Zuma had told him about earlier, pressing it firmly. It only took but a few seconds before Zuma’s strong voice echoed out from it.

“Yes?”

“Uh…Zuma? Would it be possible for us to receive a meal? The little one is hungry.” Zonta said, he was still a little raw over the idea that one of his fellow Kyashin might just be responsible for killing one of Gabriel’s loved ones.

“Of course Prince, it will only be a few moments.” Zuma said. “How is your little one?”

“Not good….not good at all.” Zonta reported. “Zuma….I think….I think one of our people killed someone very important to him.”

“Indeed?” Zuma growled.

“I couldn’t get much out of him, I can’t understand what he was saying, but his grief seems so…new…so fresh. It saddens me to say it but I have the sneaking suspicion that his captors are probably responsible.” Zonta snarled, it just pissed him off so much.

“Dishonorable wretches.” Zuma spat. “Food and drink will be on its way shortly Prince.”

“Do you think you could meet me at the door? I’m not sure how well he could handle another one of us entering the room, he might panic. He already seems a little….skittish, his eyes dart about the room almost continuously, as if he’s expecting to be attacked.” Zonta said.

“That will not be a problem, I understand and it shall be done.” Zuma stated. Zonta would have said more but the connection went dead, indicating Zuma had walked away from it. Sighing to himself Zonta turned back to face Gabriel, it was strange the way the human looked at him, so intently, as if he was watching every move Zonta made, just waiting…and waiting. But what was he waiting for? Those eyes made Zonta want to fidget and blush, he wasn’t used to being looked at like that

It was a heated stare, one that made Zonta a little nervous, he had had to look away earlier when their eye’s had locked, Gabriel’s eyes had looked so…lost…so beaten, that Zonta had nearly forgotten himself, he’d wanted to make that go away, to heal the pain he saw there. He had wanted to press his lips to the adorable little creatures own, to lay him back on the bed and show him that Kyashin’s could bring him something other then pain, to bring Gabriel something good into his life. Zonta could tell the man had been through a very harsh time, as he had moved and spoke Zonta could see scars upon him, see bruises and welts.

It made him want to vomit.

But he wasn’t sure how the little one would react, and he wasn’t sure where the urge had come from within his own self. The hot burning, nearly painful spike that had rushed through Zonta had worried him somewhat, his own Heat was not due for quite some time, but if Tisu was anything to go by then a Kyashin could actually will his or her Heat to come much earlier then expected. At first he had thought that perhaps that would not be a bad thing, to take Gabriel as his own consort, Kasan had Max, so surely Zonta could have Gabriel.
Two things had crushed that thought utterly, one was he had just met the little human, Kasan had had no other choice but to take Max, either to claim the human or die. Zonta did not have that pressure upon him, and he felt that it would be unfair to force such a thing on Gabriel without the man’s consent, plus he just didn’t know anything about Gabriel, perhaps they would not even get along, there were so many things that could go wrong that Zonta was ashamed that he had even thought about it, allowing his instincts to rule him like that.

The second thing was the fact that there was a very real possibility that Nikea had been violated. It made his body quiver in rage to think that the human had possibly had such a disgusting thing forced upon him, but he had to face facts, the man had been held against his will, beaten and starved it seemed, a loved one murdered, so why doubt that he may have been raped? If they could perform all those heinous acts, why not one more?

One interesting thing was how he hand mentioned Max, did the two know each other? Gabriel had become quite animated when Zonta had, tried to at least, told him that he knew Max, that Max was with Kasan and at his home. Perhaps they would friends….maybe even family? It was somewhat hard to tell, they did look similar but he didn’t think he could go by that, he didn’t really know what the average human looked like. Either way it seemed like getting the two humans near each other was probably a good idea, Max could actually speak with Gabriel, they could get information out of like that and maybe Max could help him teach Gabriel how to speak Hinta. Zonta found himself very much wanting to converse with the man, there were many things he was curious about and maybe it would do Gabriel some good to have someone friendly to talk to, granted if he and Max knew each other then he would have Max, but there was nothing wrong with having more then one person to go to. Plus Zonta didn’t think Kasan would be letting Max out of his sight very much for a while, so the two probably wouldn’t get much private time.

Zonta was about to go and sit next to the little human on the bed, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, maybe just throw and arm around him, when there was a firm knock at the door. Gabriel stiffened, and Zonta finally got a good look at how much lean, corded muscle was on the man, it was strange to see one that small in such shape, but Gabriel was alert, his eyes locked on the source of the sound, he was also inching his way slowly towards his metal case.

Zonta did his best to gesture that everything was alright and swiftly went the door, opening it with a simple touch he wasn’t surprised to see Zuma standing there, close enough that Zonta could see him, but hidden from Gabriel’s view. The scent of food curled up Zonta’s nose and his stomach growled, he hadn’t eaten all day either. Zuma chuckled.

“Well then it looks like I was right to prepare a large meal.” The ex-solider said.

“Thank you Zuma, I would invite you in but just your announcing your presence has set the little one on edge….” Zonta confessed, feeling a little guilty for ordering the man around under his own roof.

“Its no problem Prince, I understand, I just hope things go well.” Zuma said as he handed the large tray to Zonta. Graciously Zonta accepted the tray, but before he could say more Zuma smiled and took a step back, his hand tapping the panel that would close the door. Zonta just started at the closed door for a moment, before turning back to face Gabriel, who has moved his way all the way over to his case and had his hand on it.

“Its ok sweet thing, there is no danger.” Zonta murmured as he walked closer, smiling pleasantly as he approached. Gabriel seemed to relax slightly when he smiled he noticed. Catching a hold of an end table with his foot Zonta pulled it closer to the center of the edge of the bed, setting the tray down upon it.

Zonta silently thanked Zuma and his consort for there was a large variety of food on the tray, in addition to a jug of water, there were meats, cheeses, more then a few types of grains, and some fruit. Slowly Gabriel moved a little closer, sniffing lightly, it must smell good to him to, but Zonta was a bit saddened at Gabriel’s behavior, he reminded Zonta of a skittish, frightened animal. The little human was a person damn it! He shouldn’t have to act like this.

Taking the lead Zonta caught a hold of a little piece of bread, bringing it to his lips he took a bite, Gabriel watched him as he chewed it.

“See little one, nothing to be afraid of, its food.” Zonta said.

**“I can’t understand you, you know.”** Gabriel said, but then his eyes narrowed a little. “Zee illle un, notting to be ‘fraid of, iz foud.” Zonta’s eyes widened slightly as Gabriel tried to pronounce his words, he probably had no clue what he was saying but it was kind of thrilling to have him try. He was a bit rougher then Max had been, but Zonta’s ears buzzed lightly at the sound of his voice, it was so….precious.

“Food, Gabriel, its food.” Zonta said, pointing at the contents of the tray.

“Food….” Gabriel repeated, taking one of the pieces of meat into his and chewing on it gently, it was rather cute to watch. Gabriel swallowed and said. “Food?” Zonta nodded, little Nikea seemed to be grasping the meaning of the word, and that was good, at least he could ask for food if he was hungry.

It was tempting to try and learn more of his language, Zonta was rather curious about it, but it was probably more practical to teach him Hinta, after all hopefully thing would work out and Gabriel would be around friendlier Kyashin, including Zonta and his family, and he would need to be able to communicate with them as well.

“Food?” Gabriel said as he pointed at the jug of water. Zonta rocked his head back and forth in a -Kinda- gesture. Carefully he poured Gabriel a cup, setting it in front of him, Gabriel himself had moved to sit on the bed near the little table.

“Water.” Zonta said as the human lifted the cup to his lips, taking a small sip.

“Wayer….water.” Gabriel said. Zonta clapped his hands together.

“Yes! Water.” he gushed. Gabriel took another big bite from the meat.

**“Alright thanks, its good and all but I’m not in fucking kindergarten so don’t do that.”** Gabriel said. Zonta had no clue what he had just said, but it sounded cute.

“Your welcome little one, eat up.” Zonta whispered as he sat next to Gabriel, grabbing a piece of fruit and began to nibble on it. After he finished with his first piece of meat Gabriel made a small pleased noise in his throat and then began to dig in whole heartedly. Zonta watched with a little amazement, the little human was just mowing down.

“Gabriel.” Zonta said, causing the double color haired human to look up at him. “Not so fast Nikea, you’ll make yourself sick.” Gabriel just looked at him, confused, so Zonta reached for a slice of meat, taking a bite and chewing it slowly. “See…slow down, I don’t want you to choke.”

Gabriel must have gotten the hint because he blushed slightly and looked away, but he did slow done a tad. Zonta made a small comforting purr in his throat, poor thing, he was probably worried Zonta was going to take it from him, or was just so hungry he couldn’t help himself. Zonta placed his hand on Gabriel’s right shoulder, rubbing it slightly to try and reassure the human.


Minutes passed, Zonta remained content to pick at the tray, more focused on watching Gabriel eat then anything else. He was impressed at home much food the man could pack into himself, if he always at like this then he could probably give Zonta’s brothers a run for their money in an eating contest. Apparently finished with what he was going to eat from the now decimated tray, Gabriel brought his cup to his lips and began to drain it with large, noisy gulps. It was a rather big cup, Gabriel’s hands didn’t even fit around it very well, but Zonta watched as he emptied it completely before setting it down on the tray.

Zonta had to stop himself from laughing out loud as Gabriel let out a very large, very loud belch. The human covered his mouth afterwards, tilting his head to the side and looking at Zonta over his shoulder and through his long locks. Zonta had to grin at that, full and toothy.

“You are so utterly cute Nikea.” Zonta proclaimed. Gabriel gave him a soft smile, one that caused Zonta’s breath to catch in his throat.

**“You have a wonderful smile Zonta, so innocent, so warm….I wonder what it would be like to be able to smile like that again. You should do it more often.”** Gabriel said. Zonta could only understand a few words here and there of what was just said, but he blushed all same. He didn’t know why, it was just that the rich sultry tone of Gabriel’s voice made his stomach tighten up.

Without warning the little human hopped off of the bed, Zonta watched as he pushed the table back to where it sat originally, and then began to walk around the room, he was letting his fingers glide along the walls, examining pieces of furniture around the room, and other little things.

It was a little puzzling, just what was he looking for? Suddenly Gabriel lifted one of his arms, sniffing at his arm pit, the human wrinkled his nose distastefully and a light clicked on in Zonta’s head, was that it? Was he looking for a place to get cleaned up?

Chiding himself for not thinking of that sooner, Zonta eased himself off of the bed, heading over to the wall and pressing in on the panel that would uncover the shelves he needed. Through all this little Nikea watched closely, his eyes taking in every detail.

Pulling one of the jars off the shelf and a few wash clothes Zonta set them on the table near Gabriel, the human looked over at them and then back to Zonta, raising an eyebrow at him quizzically.

“Oh that’s right you don’t know what the are for do you?” Zonta muttered to himself. Dipping one of the washcloths into jar, Zonta let a tiny bit seep into the cloth before bringing it out and scrubbing his arm with it. “Its for cleaning, see?” He said, holding the cloth out for Gabriel to take. Hesitantly Gabriel took it from him, shooting Zonta a sideways suspicious look, which made Zonta smile slightly.

Carefully Gabriel dipped the cloth in just as Zonta had, before bringing it close to his skin.

**“If this stuff burns me I am soooooo going to be pissed.”** Gabriel muttered as he rubbed the cloth against his arm. A few little swipes and he took it away, staring at his arm. **“Hey the dirt is gone….ooh it tingles…”** Soon Gabriel began scrubbing away at his arms, mumbling to himself the whole time. **“I wonder what its made of? Ohhh I wish I had a microscope, perhaps its hydrogen based? It seems to seep into my skin…interesting.”**

After he finished with his arms however Gabriel stopped and began to stare at Zonta. The stare continued for several moments, till Gabriel sort of cocked his head to the side and made a small gesture with his hand. Zonta just stared at him, what was he trying to say?

Gabriel rolled his eyes, and drew a little circle in the air with his finger.

**“Look your cute and all, but the last big kitty that saw me naked tried to shove big kitty cock in cute Gabriel ass, and I like you so far, so I’d hate to have to add in new holes to your body kay?”**

Blushing, Zonta got the idea.

“Oh my…s-sorry.” He fumbled as he turned around, giving Gabriel his back. Over the next few moments Zonta could hear cloth and metal rustling and rattling, things hitting the floor. He wanted to look, he was curious as to how Gabriel got those clothes onto himself.

**“Ok I don’t know how this stuff works, but I am so going to find out. As a matter of fact, if anyone asks? I totally invented this. I wonder what other things in this place I can study? Still….no shower? How am I supposed to do my hair? Don’t tell me you guys are afraid of water or something.”** Gabriel said as he was doing…well whatever he was doing, Zonta couldn’t tell. After a like five or six minutes Zonta heard Gabriel clear his throat, turning around Zonta caught sight of Gabriel tightening down the straps around his arm. Zonta blinked, Gabriel’s skin looked so soft and pale, poor thing…didn’t he ever get any sun?

Gabriel flicked his hair back, staring at Zonta once more. Oh goodness what now? Sighing Gabriel took a few locks of his hair in between his fingers, shaking it. Again Zonta felt like an idiot, he was smarter then this! His hair, of course he would want to clean his hair too, the poor thing probably hadn’t been able to clean himself in God knows how long.

Walking over to the shelf again Zonta pulled a jar off of it, handing it to Gabriel. The human accepted the jar of blue oil, looking at it, before pointing at it and then pointing at his hair. Zonta nodded and Gabriel sighed, before sticking one of his hands into the jar, setting it down on the table as he did, and began to work it into his hair. Zonta watched as Gabriel began to meticulously work the substance into his dark locks. Finishing and slicking his hair back Gabriel looked at Zonta again.

**“Ok…so how do I rinse? Helllllo? Are you listening to me? Rinse? Hair? Hey!”** Gabriel said, Zonta scratched his nose, boy that sounded like a lot of questions all in one shot.

**“Wait…Gabriel wait.”** Zonta said, soon it would sink into Gabriel’s hair and then he could lay down without worrying about it getting all over the sheets.

**“Wait?! Hydrophobic much? I want to rinse this stuff out!”** Gabriel snapped, as his slid his fingers into his hair. **“Its not going to get its…..hey….its dry? But…..where did it go?”** Zonta grinned as the little human began to play with his hair, obliviously not understanding how the substance worked and Zonta found himself looking forward to showing little Nikea his world.

Apparently done with his cleaning Gabriel yawned suddenly, stretching his body out. **“Man…I haven’t been awake long enough to be tired….ugh, stressful day though, my head still friggin hurts.”** Gabriel groaned, startling Zonta as he cried out in pain, working his shoulders around a bit while he rotated his head Gabriel growled, annoyed by something. **“Friggin hell….I’m so sore….ugh….what I wouldn’t give for a hot tub or something.”**

It only took a second but Zonta quickly understood the problem, taking a step forward Zonta caught a hold of Gabriel, scooping him up into the air, earning him a startled shouted from the human, and heading over to the bed, sitting down on it and scooting backwards towards the wall as he set Gabriel down between his spread legs. Before Gabriel could move Zonta placed his hands on the man’s shoulders, beginning to kneed the muscles of his back and shoulders. The human’s smaller size actually made it much easier, Zonta could cover even more area at one time.

**“What are you- oohhh…oh yes….mmmmfuck….oh that feels good.”** Gabriel sighed, his body beginning to rock slightly in time with Zonta’s ministrations.

“That’s it Nikea….do you like that? You do have such horrible knots in your back, poor thing….well no worries, I’m rather good at this.” Zonta purred.

Zonta smiled as the little human began to turn into so much clay under his hands, he was rather enjoying himself, it had always been something of a game to him, to see what type of noises and reactions he could coax from a person and little Nikea was making the most delicious noises.

Zonta’s grin grew wider, flashing a bit of his teeth as he allowed his hands to leave Gabriel’s back and shoulders, moving up into his hair, massaging his scalp. Zonta purred in his throat a little as Gabriel’s groans changed from the ones that he had spouted while Zonta attended his back.

**“Oh my fuck….oooh…ugh feels good….you evil wicked kitty….you know what this does to me don’t…you?”** Gabriel sighed.

**“Zonta no hurt, Zonta….”** His mind dug through the list of words he knew. **“Freend.”** He hoped he got it right, he knew it was kind of silly to keep saying the same thing over and over, but he wanted Gabriel to understand and besides the man seemed so….nervous. Although Zonta couldn’t quite blame him, he was after all over two feet taller then the man.

**“Friend….”** Gabriel muttered, which sounded a bit different then what he had said, was he being corrected?

**“Friend.”** He repeated, testing out the word. Gabriel nodded, his head still under Zonta’s hands, humming an agreement.

Time passed as Zonta continued to kneed and rub the human male, after a while Gabriel’s noises began to lessen and his breathing started to get deeper.

“That’s it Nikea…just relax.” Zonta murmured. “You poor thing, you really were so knotted up, I’m amazed you could even move.”

**“You have such a pretty voice….” Gabriel whispered. “Can’t understand you though.”**

Zonta hummed pleasantly in his throat, he wasn’t totally sure what Gabriel was just said, but he liked the way it sounded. Just be chance Zonta happened to look down over Gabriel’s shoulder, and his eyes caught sight of a good sized bulge in the crotch of his clothing that was definitely not just a fold in the cloth. The sight actually made Zonta’s stomach tighten a little, he had not….expected such a reaction, and his face was beginning to burn from the blush that was growing in his cheeks, he hadn’t been trying to do that, he wasn’t like his twin Aosh, he wasn’t a leach. He loved Aosh to death, but the man was so…so…incorrigible.

So distracted was he that Zonta unconsciously tightened his fingers as he went to remove them from Gabriel’s hair, resulting in him giving the bulk of the human’s hair a something of a drawn out, yet light tug. Gabriel gasped and for a minute Zonta was afraid he had hurt him, then Gabriel’s body trembled for a second as he let out a long tight breath.

**“Do that again kitty and I’m either going to turn around and end up sucking you off, or sliding myself into that giant kitty mouth of yours, or some variation of both.”** Gabriel whispered.

“That…sounded rather heated, I hope he isn’t angry with me, though…he didn’t sound it.” Zonta thought. His hands trembled slightly as he went back to working on Gabriel’s neck, back and shoulders. He wasn’t sure what else to do, he suddenly felt rather….nervous.

Perhaps his scalp was sensitive? Aosh had often talked of some of his -conquests- and how some of them had liked it when he had gripped their hair firmly, often controlling their head with it.

Zonta wasn’t completely lacking in knowledge about such actives, he wasn’t a virgin, he was just….chaste. He didn’t see the point of being so promiscuous. Not that he didn’t have urges, but he didn’t let him rule him, plus he could satisfy himself easily enough, besides he always had so much to do. His brothers, Aosh especially, constantly teased him about how deeply he could get lost in a book…

Well it wasn’t like it was a bad thing that he had a broad range of interests, his studies were very important to him. He would worry about more….carnal pursuits when it came time for him to take a consort.

Tearing himself away from his thoughts for a moment Zonta noticed how loose and malleable Gabriel had become, just one step away from sleep.

“Hard day Nikea?” Zonta said softly. “Stupid question I know…” Reaching up Zonta tapped a small button above them, specially designed lids lowering over the light ports, extinguishing them and sending the room into darkness.

Using his right hand Zonta gently eased Gabriel down on the bed, so that he was laying on his side in front of Zonta, the red haired Kyashin laid on his side as well, pulling Gabriel back against his chest and absentmindedly curling around the smaller man. As Zonta moved his arm down to drape over the man’s waist, Gabriel suddenly tensed, which wasn’t what Zonta wanted at all, he and Aosh had always slept together during upsetting times, taking comfort in the presence of one another. He had hopped the same would apply to Gabriel.

“Everything’s alright Gabriel, sleep my little friend, you are safe, I promise.” Zonta whispered into the top of Gabriel’s head. Normally he would prefer to sleep on his stomach or back, but this way if anyone came into the room they would see Zonta, but Gabriel would be hidden by his much larger body.

Minutes passed as Zonta allowed his hand to trace little circles on Gabriel’s stomach, his clothing was so strange….and all those buckles and straps? What were they for?

It was then Zonta felt a light tugging at his hair, his braid had fallen across Gabriel’s body when he had laid them down and had ended up in the human’s hands.

Zonta continued to just lay there, waiting patiently as he felt Gabriel slowly begin to relax, his hands playing with Zonta’s long braid. Normally he would have taken it out and brushed it before heading to bed, but this would save a little time when he awoke tomorrow, and hopefully he wouldn’t have to fix it to much. Plus if it comforted Nikea then he was happy.

Zonta found sleep tugging at him as well, he to had had a long day, before any of this had even happened, he had managed to travel nearly the entire distance in just one day, and he was a big lagged by the experience. Slowly he began to sink his head down into the pillow, Gabriel’s own breathing beginning to deepen as well. That made Zonta glad in a way, if he was right about the little human’s past, then Gabriel probably had not received a good nights sleep in a while.
Zonta allowed his eyes to close and he took a deep breath, Gabriel’s scent curling up his nose, it was a nice smell, even without the scent of the oil that had seeped into his hair and skin, but Zonta could just swear that he could just faintly smell something….edible, vaguely like….fruit….

Odd.

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A loud crash jolted Zonta awake, Gabriel came up like a shot, vaulting over Zonta and landing perfectly on the floor. Blinking, Zonta shook his head, trying to dissipate the grogginess he felt. He felt horrible….

“Goodness….how long did we sleep?” Zonta thought. It sure did not feel like it had been all that long. Looking over Zonta could see Gabriel in the dark, the human’s body was stiff, his hands twitching at his sides.

“What is the meaning of all this?!” Zuma’s commanding voice boomed. “Storming in here in the middle of the night.”

Well that answered the sleep question.

“We are looking for someone, someone we think might be here.” A new voice rang out.

“Yeah…a big red head and a little freak.” Another joined. That one sounded familiar to Zonta, it sounded like the man he had flattened in the alley and at his declaration Zonta’s blood chilled slightly. They were still looking for Gabriel? That didn’t make any sense, what did they want with him and why wouldn’t they choose to flee to avoid incarceration? Granted if they didn’t know of his identity that could explain it…

Sliding off the bed Zonta caught a hold of Gabriel, lifting him put and placing him back onto the bed. Gabriel shot him an annoyed look but said nothing, choosing to crawl across the bed towards his case instead.

Quietly Zonta made hi way over to the wall where Zuma had shown him the little peephole, before sliding it open and looking through.

He could see four men in the main lobby, the one he had whacked in the head among them, his hand bandaged.

“I do not know anything about what you are talking about.” Zuma said.

“Just tell us what we want to know and we’ll leave.” The one Zonta had struck said, slurring his words a bit, obviously still suffering from the effects of the blow.

“I say again, I do now know what you are talking about, I have not seen a red haired person and a, as you say, little freak.” Zuma replied.

“And we don’t believe you, don’t interfere with our business, we have witnesses that state they saw a tall red haired man enter this building carrying something.” The man in the middle of the four said.

“Well congratulations, there must be at least ten red haired men in this town, any one of them could have delivered something. Now leave.” Zuma growled.

“We will leave when we have the two we came for….” The middle one snarled.

“Excuse me? I know for a fact that not one of you are a member of our towns guard, so any search your may be conducting is both illegal and lacking authority. Now go…before I alert the REAL guards of this town.” Zuma spat.

“Maybe we will just knock on a few doors, maybe someone else saw something useful to us.” The man on the left stated.

“You’ll do no such thing! This is my establishment, and I wont have you going around pestering my guests with your nonsense.” Zuma informed.

“Well maybe we’ll just do it without your permission.” The big one on the right spat. “Maybe we’ll put your ass on the ground!” He leaped forward then, sending Zuma crashing to the floor with a huge right hook.

“Tauma! What do you think your doing? Not here, not like this!” The one in the middle hissed.

“Fuck that! My two younger brothers are dead….I want the little shit!” Tauma yelled, planting a foot right into Zuma’s ribs. The aged solider slid across the floor, yet didn’t make a sound.

Damn it….Zonta growled, he couldn’t just stand here and watch Zuma be beaten…he had to do something! Maybe if he showed himself, stated this authority and offered to give them a chance to avoid serious imprisonment he could stop this. Surely they wouldn’t attack a crown prince…that would be paramount to suicide after all.

And if they did attack….well he would have to hope that his six months mandatory combat training would be enough. He wasn’t exactly a stranger to conflicts…but he had always had backup, his brothers usually, or the action was relatively light.

But four large men, one with a grudge against him for sure, and the other seemingly out for blood, with unknown intentions and desires…..

Not his kind of odds at all.

Tauma took a step towards the fallen Zuma and Zonta was about to try to sneak out of the room without attracting any attention, no way in hell was he going to get poor little Gabriel tangled up in this, but before he could do any of that Zuma’s right hand shot out, curling around a long silver bar that was holding up a rather fake looking plant. In one lightning fast movement Zuma was on his feet, the bar, now more like a staff, slicing through the air before catching Tauma right in the jaw. The bigger Kyashin rocked to the side, crying out in pain, but before he could do anything Zuma drove the tip of the staff right into his solar plexus, Zonta could hear the air rushing from Tauma’s lungs, twirling the staff around so fast it was a mere blur Zuma struck again, sending the staff crashing right into the other side of Tauma’s face. The big man did a complete 360 spin before collapsing to the floor, the one Zonta had struck suddenly rushed in, but Zuma brought the staff spinning upward, before slamming it down onto of the man’s already wounded head, not to far from where Zonta had hit him before actually, and he to sank to the floor.

Flipping the staff over his forearm Zuma pointed it at the man who had been in the middle, a blade sliding out of the tip of the staff as Zuma seemed to depress a hidden button. It was then Zonta recognized the weapon, it was a Sia-toa, a battle staff that was largely a ceremonial weapon these days, but at one time had been a very feared weapon, especially in the hands of an expert, which Zuma was swiftly proving himself to be. Not only was it lightweight and very solid, but it held within it several hidden compartments that could contain all manner of nasty surprises.

Still pointing the uncovered blade at the middle man’s throat Zuma growled.

“Leave.”

The last man, who had been silent the entire time, went to move in, only to be stopped by the sound of a weapon being readied to fire. Zonta couldn’t see where the sound came from, or what made it exactly, but he did hear the voice of Zuma’s consort as she said.

“You heard my mate, pick up your trash and leave.”

Shooting Zuma a disdainful look the remaining two collected their fallen companions and made their way out the front door. The middle man paused, looking back over his shoulder.

“You’ve just brought all kinds of trouble onto yourself.” He snarled, and then he was gone.

“Sure sure….and by this time tomorrow you’ll be locked up so tight you wont even be able to sneeze.” Zuma quipped. The aged warrior turned to stare at Zonta, obviously knowing he was watching and gave him the all clear sign. Zonta moved, preparing to head out and apologize to his hosts for causing such trouble under their roof when Zuma spoke.

“Save it Prince, heh…just go back to bed. That was rather fun actually.”

Zonta rolled his eyes….really…fun huh? Not his kind.

Turning back to face Gabriel Zonta held his hands up, trying to smile his best smile.

**“It ok….no…..no danger.”** He said, hoping he was getting the words right. Gabriel looked unconvinced, left hand resting on some sort of latch on the case. Zonta walked back to the bed, sitting down upon it as he looked at Gabriel, the human made no move to leave his spot so Zonta laid himself back down on the bed, resting his head in his hand as he watched the little flower faced human. He continued to smile lightly, trying to show Gabriel that everything was alright, it seemed like the loud crash and all the yelling had upset the poor thing, possibly dredging up all sorts of bad memories.

After a few minutes Gabriel released his hold on his case, but did not attempt to lay back down, or even relax, he was alert, his eyes roaming over the room, even the slightest noise seemed to draw his attention. Sighing Zonta patted the space in front of him, inviting little Nikea to return. Pursing his lips Gabriel did slowly began to crawl back, returning to the space in front of Zonta, but instead of laying back down to sleep he turned to face Zonta, likewise propping his head up on his hand, and stayed that way, simply staring into Zonta’s eyes.

Why was he staring? Was there something he wanted?

Then Zonta watched as Gabriel’s tongue darted out, sliding over his lips in a slow circle, wetting them, before dragging his upper teeth across his bottom lip as his tongue retracted, it was such a sensual little gesture that Zonta’s face flushed with heat and he swiftly averted his eyes.

Gabriel laughed then, a rich sweet sound, and then turned over, laying on his stomach and stretching his body out. Then Zonta felt a little foolish, for a moment there he thought Gabriel was flirting with him or something, but that was just silly. Gabriel wasn’t like that, Zonta had only known him for a short time but something about the man gave him the impression that he was just a sweet, innocent little thing. His size was part of it, but it was the flower that really gave him that feeling, it was such a…delicate, gentle little thing.

Besides why would Gabriel flirt with him? He wasn’t Aosh, besides it was silly to think man would have some kind of…lustful intentions for him.

**“I like that hair.”** Gabriel whispered. **“Hehe…I wonder what it would be liked to sink my hands into it….”** Zonta smiled and scooted closer, curling around Gabriel once more, he hadn’t understood any of that, but it was cute sounding none the less.

“I’ll have to make this meeting of mine go fast….I don’t want to spend one second more then I have to here….not after all of that.” Zonta thought as he closed his eyes again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gabriel tapped his fingers together as he sat on the bed, staring at the empty wall in front of him. Zonta had left a few hours ago, to where Gabriel wasn’t sure exactly, all he knew was the big cat had basically told him to stay here, he would return later, and not to leave until he came back. Which made Gabriel a little nervous, he had absolutely no clue where he was or how to get along. Plus where was Zonta going? And why?

At least that’s what Gabriel thought he meant, he wasn’t totally sure. The man’s English left much to be desired, though it was better then Gabriel’s own Kitty-lish. The room was a lot nicer then any other he had been locked in, the bed alone was a prize.

It had been weird to sleep with Zonta like that, but Gabriel wasn’t going to complain, the cat was warm and considering Gabriel had once slept sitting up in a filth filled basement so he wouldn’t have to sleep with his head in the muck, it was a definite step up.

Food wasn’t a problem either, Zonta had brought in like…five trays of stuff, each with its own jug of water. So he didn’t have to worry about getting hungry or thirty.

Huge change there.

There was a large assortment of food too, meats, breads and what he assumed were fruits and vegetables.

But the best of all was the crème filled pastries.

Fuck YES.

He’d had a complete joygasm after he had bitten into one only to have a flood of sweet cream fill his mouth, oh that sounded so dirty, he couldn’t remember the last time he had had something sweet, so that’s what he had done for the last few hours, pick through the food, sampling whatever caught his eye, moaning in utter delight every time he stumbled onto another pastry.

But now he as all nice and full, dirty again…damn Gabriel, so what to do? It wasn’t so much that he was bored, he’d sat longer with less, but he was still nervous and he didn’t want to have a bunch of tension build up in him, that could make him jumpy.

Again though…what to do? He supposed he could break down and organize his case, he had only taken a brief look before, it would probably come in handy to know just what was in there.

Or he could jerk off….that helped relieve tension too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zonta growled to himself as he made his way back to Zuma’s, that had taken entirely to long, it was dark already. Why did diplomats always have to be so long winded? It was like every word out of their mouths was designed to delay and distract.

Which is exactly what they had done, even suggesting that they end the meeting and resume tomorrow, which was something that Zonta refused to allow so he had used that moment to his advantage, spewing out everything he had wanted to and was supposed to ay. That had sorta stunned everyone, but it had also gotten everyone moving again, so that almost four hours later they had finally concluded their business. Zonta wasn’t sure what was more annoying, how long it had taken or the stupid reason it was called in the first place.

Kasan owed him.

Big time.

After what seemed like a lifetime Zonta finally reached Zuma’s, trudging in the front door, stopping long enough to greet Zuma’s consort, he really needed to find out what her name was, before returning to his room and flopping on the bed.

Gabriel squeaked lightly as Zonta’s weight bounced him up into the air slightly. Zonta chuckled at the look Gabriel gave him, it was rather precious.

**“What now?”** Gabriel asked, which Zonta actually understood.

**“Go home, home to Max.”** Zonta answered, the sooner the two humans were brought together the better, at least that was his opinion. He just hoped that Kasan’s consort was the Max Gabriel thought he was. But even if he wasn’t Max could at least communicate with Gabriel, much better then he could, and having another human around would probably help both human’s adjust to their knew surroundings.

Zonta was sure he could easily convince his Father to allow Gabriel to take up residence within the palace, the man had no where to go and knew no one after all, he might not even have to ask, knowing his Father.

**“To Max?”** Gabriel repeated, Zonta smiled.

**“To Max.”**

Gabriel smiled then, looking relieved and hopeful. Which made Zonta feel warm inside, it made him feel good to know he was helping someone who was in dire need of it. Pulling himself further on the bed Zonta began to stretch, his joints and back popping audibly as he did. God how he hated to just sit in one place like that for so long, it wasn’t the same was when he would read, he always made sure he would be nice and comfortable when he curled up with a book.

Zonta nuzzled his face into the bedding under him, just a few minutes more, then he would get up and speak with Zuma about the transport to get them home, he just needed a little time to relax.

Suddenly Zonta felt little hands rubbing the back of his neck, he groaned and shifted positions slightly, opening up his neck more. The kneading grew deeper then, small yet strong fingers working into his flesh.

“Uhnnn…oh my…oh you have to stop Nikea, if you don’t I’m going to fall asleep.” Zonta groaned. But the hands didn’t stop, instead choosing to continue a slow, methodical attack on Zonta’s sore neck. “Oh your…so sweet…ah….”

Groaning Zonta reluctantly rolled over and sat up, removing the hands from himself. Gabriel gave a big cheesy grin when Zonta looked over at him. Zonta rolled his eyes and muttered. “Your evil…”

What Zonta really wanted to do was roll back over, pull little Nikea close and go back to sleep. It had been nice to sleep like that, Gabriel just seemed to fit perfectly against him. But he couldn’t do that so he eased himself off of the bed and stood, walking over to the door Zonta tapped the panel that would open it. As the door slid open Zonta turned to face Gabriel and said. **“Bee back.”**

Gabriel just nodded, Zonta was kind of surprised at how patient Gabriel was, he would have thought the man would have become bored and tried to leave the room by now, though Zonta was glad he had not.

Pausing for a moment to make sure the door closed behind him Zonta made his way down the hall, hopefully it would not be to difficult to find Zuma….

As luck would have it just as Zonta entered the main lobby Zuma came walking through the front door, looking a little dirty and carrying what looked like to be a small length of wire. Zuma nodded when he saw Zuma.

“Ah young Prince, I did not know you have returned yet. Is there anything I can do for you?” Zuma asked.

“You’ve already done so much.” Zonta thought. But said. “Not to be rude but I was wondering about that transport you had mentioned…”

“Yes that, well say no more, give me but a few moments to get myself into better condition and then I will go arrange it. I am sorry that your stay was not more pleasant.” Zuma said.

“And I am sorry to bring such a burden onto you, your consort and your house.” Zonta replied.

“Nonsense, I am only glad that I have been able to aid you.” Zuma countered, setting the section of wire down on the main desk, Zonta could see now that it was razor wire, with nasty pointed blades running along its surface. Curiosity poked at him and he could not help but ask.

“Might in inquire what the wire is for? One would think with a business such as yours you would want people to get in.” Zuma casually looked down at the wire.

“Oh this? It is not for me young Prince, you see a friend of mine owns and operates a series of warehouses and one in particular has been broken into a few times over several months, with various things coming up missing, nothing to massive thankfully. Now it is fenced off but obviously they are climbing over that, so he and I decided that looping some of this….-special- wire through each link might just deter the vandals, but we ran out before we could finish. When we ran out, this piece ending up just sticking out near one of the posts, and I felt it was a danger to the general populace for it to be doing so, and I could not get though to the next link, to short you see, so I just cut it.” Zuma explained.

“Ah I see.” Zonta muttered.

“Well I had best get motivated, I’m sure you are in a hurry.” Zuma said as he made his way into a backroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zont a tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Zuma to return, he had thought to simple wait out in the lobby for the ex-solider, he had felt it would be easier to wait for Zuma to get back, then go get Gabriel, cover him up and take him out to the transport, rather then have Zuma enter the room and possibly startle Gabriel, he knew Zuma would mean well but his plan all along, based on experience with Max, had been to keep it as one on one as he could, at least until all the trouble was over.

But he had not planned to be away from Gabriel for near this long, granted Gabriel had seemed to do well with his first, hours long, absence but Zonta still felt bad about leaving him by himself so much. He wished he had asked Kasan how Max did with frequent absences, just saying “Well how could I have known?” Seemed completely unacceptable at the moment.

Zonta debated back and forth about what he should do for several minutes, he shifted his weight left and right, unsure of what the right course of action was and he was just about to go back and check up on Gabriel, if only to try to explain just what was going on when he heard the main lobby door open and relief flooded his system.

“Ah Zuma!” Zonta said as he turned around, only to have his relief turn into a small bit of uneasy fear.

For it was not Zuma that stood there, it was the big man Zonta had watched Zuma knock out, Tauma. Zonta opened his mouth to speak, maybe he could trick him into thinking he worked here or something, but he was cut off.

“Where’s the freak?” Tauma growled.

“Excuse me? I’m not sure what your asking.” Zonta replied, somewhat proud that he managed to keep his tone calm and neutral, giving nothing away.

“Don’t bother lying to me, I’m not in the fucking mood.” Tauma snarled. His eyes were full of rage and Zonta could plainly see the bruises and welts where Zuma had struck him. “Were. Is. The. Freak?” Tauma asked again, a bit of spittle flying from his lips.

“Have you looked in the mirror lately? It’ll answer your question.” Zonta supplied, no way in hell was he going to let a person like this anywhere near Gabriel.

Tauma chuckled, but there wasn’t any humor in it, as he stepped forward, reaching around behind him and pulling about a large knife.

“Guess I’ll just have to cut pieces of you off until you tell me.” Tauma casually said as he tested the edge of the blade with his thumb. A bit more worry trickled into Zonta stomach, the man was bigger then he was, thicker through the shoulders, not as large as Tisu or his Father, but still big.

“Do you know how I am?” Zonta asked as he began to circle away from Tauma, who in turned began to circle him.

“Don’t care.” Tauma spat.

“My Father is the Lord King, do you know what that means? What will happen to you for threatening me?” Zonta asked, he hoped he could reason with the man, even the most unsavory types had a limit to the amount of trouble they wanted to get into, if he couldn’t…..

“Oh and I’m supposed to believe that, nice try.” Tauma scoffed as he swiped at Zonta’s middle with his knife, which Zonta dodged easily, he had always been fast.

“Its true, you were in my uncle Shovak’s old building, do you really want to have your life taken from you for following his schemes?” Zonta growled. “Think about what your getting yourself into.”

“Huh…so you do know what I’m talking about.” Tauma sneered and Zonta resisted the urge to kick himself, the brute had threatened him before anyway so what did it matter now? “Suppose you are who you say you are, so what? And no, this isn’t for Shovak either, I’ll gut that bastard if I ever see him again, fucker left us high and dry, after everything he promised. But none of that matters to me now, because you see….my two little brothers are dead, so I’m not about to rest until I make that little freak scream. I’m going to hurt him in every way I can, fuck I might just invent a few new ways to do it. Whatever happens after that doesn’t matter to me and it’ll be worth it either way.” Tauma snapped, lunging for Zonta with the knife once more, Zonta dodged his strike, ducking under the man’s arms, elbowing him in the back as he rushed past.

“Perhaps your brothers would be alive if you had all had the sense to stay out of such vile machinations.” Zonta said, trying to think of a plan, he didn’t like his chances fight the obviously insane brute, not when he was armed. “I know not how they died, but it wouldn’t have happened if you all had stuck to honest work.”

“Shut up! What would you know about it!” Tauma snarled, trying to stab Zonta in the stomach again, Zonta dodged to the right as he saw the movement, unfortunately this time it was only a faint…

Zonta cried out in surprise as Tauma was right on top of him the moment he finished his movement, shoving his hands down against the brute’s forearm Zonta was just able to keep the knife from plunging into his belly, but the force of Tauma crashing into him knocked Zonta backwards, he struck the main desk hard, the edge digging into his kidneys and he was forced to flip backward over the desk in order to dodge Tauma’s next knife swipe.

Unfortunately his foot caught on something and caused him to land, rather painfully on his ass. Kicking with his heels Zonta scrambled backwards, trying to retreat from the advancing Tauma. Twisting his body Zonta lurched to his feet, only to have Tauma hook his foot around Zonta’s ankle and yanked it out from under him, Zonta came crashing down face first.

Flipping onto his back quickly Zonta had just enough time to grasp Tauma’s wrists as he brought the knife down, Zonta stiffened his arms to keep the knife from entering him. Tauma snarled as he applied more of his weight, trying to force the knife down.

“This is insane!” Zonta thought as he pushed up with all his strength, then an idea formed in his head. Twisting away as much as he could he then switched his tactics, pulling down on Tauma instead of pushing away.

The brute cried out as he whipped forward, the knife clanging off of the stone floor beneath them, Zonta hoped it had been enough to make Tauma lose his grip on the knife but he wasn’t taking any chances. Tauma’s head was still near the floor but Zonta did not have the leverage to push his attacker off of him, so he settled on raising his left arm up and driving his elbow into the back of Tauma’s neck repeatedly.

He was hoping it would be enough to render the brute unconscious but as Tauma cried out in pain he wrapped his arms around Zonta and heaved him up, before slamming him back down onto the floor. The back of Zonta’s head bounced off the stone floor, he saw stars for a moment and just as his head began to clear Tauma’s foot came onto his throat, Zonta swallowed hard as he tried to push it off and it wasn’t until he saw Tauma’s arm coming down that he realized the man still had his knife.

Suddenly there was a flash of movement at Tauma’s side and Zonta caught sight of something metallic looking, stretched between to small hands appear between Tauma’s legs. The knife wielder shrieked, the knife clattering against the floor, as the hands yanked upward, pulling he taunt cord into Tauma’s groin, his screams grew higher and more frantic as the cord was dragged back and forth jerkily, its speed being hampered as it caught on flesh. Zonta crawled backward as blood and ragged bits of flesh splattered on the floor, swiftly pooling into a growing puddle.

Sputtering and hyperventilating Tauma dropped down to his knee’s, causing the blood to splash as he landed.

Then Gabriel popped into view, a wild grin on his face as he wrapped his weapon around Tauma’s neck. It was then Zonta realized just what the -cord- was. It was Zuma’s piece of razor wire from before!

Tauma managed to raise his eyes up to glance at Gabriel, his eyes wide in pain and fear, Gabriel made a loud braying noise, half laugh, half shout as he pulled back on the wire hard, blood running down Tauma’s throat as the tips dug in.

Zonta could only look on in horror as Gabriel brought his knee up, shoving it between Tauma’s shoulder blades as he leaned his weight back…and….and then he began to pull the wire back and forth, dragging the sharp, wicked blades through Tauma’s flesh, the Kyashin tried to scream, a choking garbled noise. Blood and more bits of torn flesh were pouring down Tauma’s chest as the wire went deeper still disappearing into the ragged fore that used to be Tauma’s throat. The screams change then, turning warbled and distorted, a wet, horrible noise that made Zonta flinch and pull his arms and legs in.

Finally Tauma’s whole body shuddered one last time, as he managed to utter a disgusting rattling noise and went limp, his head flopping back farther back then it should.

Gabriel grunted as he shoved Tauma forward, releasing his hold on the wire, Tauma hit the floor with a wet splat, splashing a little blood onto Zonta’s legs.

A low giggle escaped Gabriel as he rubbed his hands gingerly, the little human had blood splatters on his arms and legs now. Gabriel mumbled something Zonta couldn’t make out, Zonta couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“Look what you did….” Zonta whispered, he wanted to get up, to move but his body wouldn’t listen. Gabriel looked over at Zonta, he cocked his head to the side, much like a curious animal would, then his expression turned sad and he flipped his hair back over his shoulder.

**“Guess the honeymoon is over huh?”** Gabriel said dejectedly.

And then he was gone, darting out the front door and into the night.

A few minutes past before Zonta was able to get his legs under himself, shakily he stumbled away from the ragged mess that had been Tauma, he felt pity despite the circumstances. He had never seen anything so brutal, he felt like he was going vomit.

Managing to hold down the contents of his stomach Zonta leaned against the small wall behind the reception desk, it didn’t go all the way to the ceiling, instead being more of a shelf and having little knickknacks sitting on it.

Zonta caught the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching behind him right before rope was pulled tight around his neck, Zonta jerked forward, trying to get away, but he was harshly pulled back. What was going on!?

“You messed me up, I remember you, you hit me, messed me up, doc says I’ll never be better, you’ll pay for that.” A familiar voice slurred.

Zonta thrashed, trying to get free, the rope was to tight and he was to close to the wall to try and turn around and he was being pulled back so hard it was causing his feet to leave the ground, so he couldn’t get a good position to try and kick off and get over the wall, there was nothing for him to grab a hold of to pull himself over either.

Reaching up he tried his best to slip his fingers under the rope, he was starting to panic despite himself and he was getting dizzy. Air! He needed to breathe!

With great effort he managed to pull it away a fraction of an inch, just to draw in a gasping third of a breath before the rope tightened further, crushing his fingers and cutting him off again. His vision blinked out for a moment and he almost dropped, but all he could think of at that moment were his brothers, his family, finding his body in a dumpster somewhere, Kasan would never forgive himself if something happened to him while on an assignment for him, and Aosh….God poor Aosh…it would just…just kill him to lost Zonta.

With a burst of strength Zonta surged up, thrashing wildly, trying to reach back over the wall, trying to grasp his attacker. He managed to curl his fingers into hair and he pulled as hard as he could, his attacker yelped in pain as Zonta tore a large chunk of hair out of his head, reaching back once more Zonta tried to get another grip, only to find his attack had moved and all he could touch was the top of his head the tip of his fingers and with one little jerk of his neck he could easily cause Zonta to lose that tiny grip.

Choking and gasping Zonta’s legs began to give out, causing his own weight to crush his throat even more.

“That’s right, sleep for me brother.” The slurring voice mocked.

Zonta gaggled, pawing at the rope at his neck, trying to call out, to call for help. Where the hell was Zuma?!

Spit flew from Zonta’s mouth as he gasped, his vision was spiraling, darkness creeping in. His lungs were burning and felt like they were going to burst. He was so dizzy…couldn’t think…

“Aosh…K-Kasan, Tisu…N-Nolluz, Jolan….Fa…Father…please don’t….don’t be an…angry with me…” Zonta thought.

And then everything went black.

And he thought no more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gabriel softly bitched at himself as he retraced his steps back to Zonta’s building, he couldn’t believe he had forgotten his case! It was damn risky to go back and get it, who knew what Zonta might do, but he needed it, he had taken a good look inside earlier, jerking off would have been fun, but not nearly as useful, and there was all kinds of stuff inside, a great deal of deadly substances, and antidotes to many of them, sedatives, painkillers, hell there was even acids and adrenaline shots.

In short, things that could come in handy.

Still….it bothered him how Zonta had looked at him, that horrified look. Why did he do that? The bigger guy was going to stab him wasn’t he? It actually hurt more then he would have thought.

Of course he was sure that the fact that he was bothered by someone looking at him more then he was about nearly cutting a guy’s head of with wire probably said something.

Ok so he wasn’t going to get a good job reference that was for sure.

He was glad he kept Zonta from getting hurt though…the big cat had been rather nice to him, he wished they didn’t have to part like that…not like that.

But what else was he supposed to do? First Zonta had left him in the room….again, that had frustrated Gabriel so damn much he had had to simply nod just to keep from twaping the kitty boy. Then he had been gone for a while….again, but all of a sudden Gabriel had heard two people talking, one of them sounded like Zonta, then he had heard a lot of movement, things getting bounced around. After a few moments he had heard Zonta cry out followed by a loud crash.

He’d ran over to the wall were Zonta had left though, and had sorta jumped up and smacked it where he had seen Zonta touch, after a few tries the damn wall finally opened and he was able to get up.

It wasn’t hard to follow the sounds, and he had entered a big room just in time to see a bigger guy pick Zonta up off the ground and slam him back down, he had seen the guy pick up a knife from the floor and go to stab Zonta.

Well he couldn’t have that now could he? The red head was cute….and gave nice massages.

He had spotted the barbed wire sitting on the desk, it had tore into his hands a little when he wrapped it around to get a decent grip though. His hands still hurt a little, but the bleeding had stopped. Just a few more scars….

It was kinda humorous about how this had been the second time he had mutilated one of the kitties genitals to get him to drop. Though it was their own fault, if they weren’t so damn big he wouldn’t have to do that.

Though it had pissed him off to see the guy trying to friggin shank Zonta. Seriously? What the fuck was up with these kitties?

But it was more then just being nice….Zonta…Zonta had Michaels eyes, those innocent sweet eyes, they were a different color but they were just the same….no…Zonta might be even more innocent then Michael had been.

It had been so cute when Zonta couldn’t continue meeting his stare last night, and all he had done was lick his lips and bite his bottom one a little.
So damn cute.

As Gabriel reached the door he recognized he took a deep breath, preparing to dodge like hell when he got in there, hopefully he could figure out how to open that door from the outside. Muscles coiled up as he entered the building Gabriel had to admit, he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him when he came into the big room again.

Sure the big guy was still laying there face down in his own blood and bits, but that was to be expected, as a matter of fact Gabriel would have been more then a little disturbed if he had gotten up again.

But no what really shocked him was seeing Zonta, pulled back against a little wall, his face red and agonized with a rope pulled tight around his neck. Zonta’s pretty eyes were rolling back into his head, tiny desperate gasps slipping from his mouth as he pawed weakly at the rope at his neck.

Then he went limp, and Gabriel’s stomach dropped.

For a second the visual changed and Gabriel saw a pretty blond hanging there….the same blond who now sat within the locket around Gabriel’s neck.

“He’s just like Michael…..you can’t have him…he’s just like Michael.” Gabriel whispered as he rushed forward.

Gabriel was no stranger to strangulation, it was a nasty, horrible way to die, he tended to save it for the REAL assholes himself, but he also knew he had MAYBE fifteen seconds to get Zonta breathing again at the most, after that and there would be brain damage or death, and even that was pushing the time.

“One, two…” Gabriel counted as he neared the desk.

“Three, four…” He was on top of the desk with a jump that would have made a Pro basketball coach proud.

“Five…six.” He jumped off the desk, sliding past Zonta and over the wall.

“Seven, eight.” He landed on top of the kitty man who was trying to kill Zonta, the man looked up, startled as Gabriel’s legs when around his face. Without a second thought Gabriel plunged his thumbs into the mans eyes, the soft orbs bursting just as quickly.

The man started to scream, didn’t they always? But Gabriel was already back over the wall, coming down hard on his knee next to Zonta. The rope was still tight around his neck but Gabriel was able to quickly remove it, the problem was big Red still wasn’t breathing.

Cursing Gabriel did his best to prop Zonta, trying to remember something he had learned ages ago, lets see…tilt the head back, make sure the airways are open and clear. He’d done a few summers as a lifeguard when he was a teen, an irony that was not lost on him, and he hoped he was getting it right as he did the best he could to administer CPR. A quick ear press to the chest reveled Zonta’s heart was still beating, which was good, so Gabriel took a deep breath, plugged Zonta’s nose, and let it loose into Zonta’s mouth.

“God damn it…let me be getting this right.” Gabriel muttered. A few breaths later Gabriel thanked whatever Gods were listening as Zonta took a gasping, ragged breath. He was still unconscious but he was trying to breathe.

Taking Zonta’s head into his lap Gabriel began to gently massage the man’s bruised throat, trying to make sure his windpipe stayed open, that was why Zonta sounded so wheezy.

“Breathe for me Zonta….come on man….I like you.” Gabriel muttered as he continued his ministrations. Fortunately every breath started to sound a little better, and Zonta’s color was returning to normal. Gabriel looked up as he heard movement, and saw the now blinded, whimpering attempted Zonta killer come crawling out from behind the wall. Gabriel watched him as he tried to crawl across the room, never blinking as the man tried to use the wall to guide him.

Gabriel gave Zonta little kiss on the forehead, before he pulled down a chair near the desk and flipped it over, resting Zonta’s head on the back cushion.

“You just lay there, breathe and look cute ok? I’ma handle this.” Gabriel muttered as he stood up, walking over to the crawling cat slowly. “With the big guy I was just trying to get the job done, you though? I’m gonna play with you. So I hope your ready cause Mr. Happy head says yose’a really gonna git it now.” Gabriel said as he pushed his hair away from his eyes.

Catching a hold of a plant holder looking pole Gabriel spun it around before jabbing it into the man’s ribs, hard. The man yelped in pain and tried to crawl away, Gabriel let out a rapid high pitched giggle as he whacked the man a few more times, the blind crawler was making desperate, pleading noises, which made Gabriel grin. Wasn’t that always the way? Big and bad before, not much now. Hmmm…but sights to show this one?

The man began to crawl faster, trying to get away as Gabriel walked over to the desk. He had him an idea….

Ducking under it a little Gabriel pushed his shoulder into the bottom of the desk, it was heavy but he was able to lift it. He turned with the desk on his shoulder, just in time to see the Zonta choker slip in the puddle of the other man’s blood, smacking his face against the floor. Gabriel let out a braying laugh, the man had reached the others body, and was touching it gently, before he stuck his hand right into where the others throat had been, squealing the choker pulled away, and sat up right against the wall.

“Perrrrfect.” Gabriel rumbled as he charged forward, ramming the desk into the man’s fast like a battering ram, crushing him between it and the desk. The choker cried out in pain, clutching his face has he dropped to the floor, Gabriel backed up quickly, prepping for another run.

*“Please…stop! I’m…I’m sorry….don’t hurt me anymore….”** The choker slurred.

“Silly kitty…I don’t understand you, now sit up punk, this things heavy.” Gabriel taunted. Took a few more moments but he did sit up again, trying to pull himself away. Gabriel charged once more, smashing the bastard against the desk and the wall, but the impact knocked the desk off of Gabriel’s shoulders and it hit the ground with a loud crash.

However as the man continued to plead and clutch his face Gabriel caught sight of something both familiar and interesting in one of the desks broken drawers.

“Oooh what’s this? Oh that’s a nice hammer, I like that, alright.” Gabriel said as he flipped the hammer looking thing into his hand by its handle. The handle was way to thick….but he could hold it.

Gabriel climbed up on the side of the desk, holding his hands high for a moment. “Macho man!” He yelled as he jumped off the desk, dropping his knee right on the back of the neck of the crawler. Clutching his neck the man rolled over, raising one hand up and waving it rapidly.

“P-please…..I….I’m b-eging you….I…I just want to go....home….it…it wasn’t….supposed to…be like this….he…he promised.” The man whimpered as Gabriel rolled away and onto his feet, circling around so that he was standing near the man’s head.

“Bling! You’ve got mail!” Gabriel said as he jumped up, swinging the hammer down and driving it right into the asses forehand. A sick thud greeted him and the man’s hands began to flail in the air, alternately waving in front of him and clutching at his head. Wet gurgling noises replaced the pleading ones, which was just annoying, so Gabriel hit him again, harder this time.

He still didn’t stop moving around.

So Gabriel hit him again, nope still kinda of twitching, so one more hammer smash was in order.

Three more proceeded after that…just to make sure.

Dropping the hammer to the floor Gabriel used one foot to lift the mans head, and the other to push the hammer under it, just to make sure if the prick wasn’t dead, he’d choke to death on his own blood.

A quick check on Zonta revealed the kitty man was breathing better, though he had a nasty bruise blossoming on his neck, which pissed Gabriel off so much he ran back over and stomped on the chokers face, which along with a light rattling gurgle made the asshole stop twitching.

Yup…choked to death, how appropriate.

Rushing back down the hall Gabriel smacked at the wall until it opened again, quickly retrieving his case and strapping it to his back once more before hurrying back out to Zonta.

Scratching his head as he looked around the room Gabriel debated his options. On one hand he had seemed to freak the cat out and Zonta probably would try to beat his head in when he woke up. And on the other, Red had already had two people try to kill him, he might have been able to fight off knife boy, but if Gabriel hadn’t come back…..well Zonta would almost certainly be dead right now.

Assholes….fucking amateurs, you didn’t kill of the nice people of the world, dumb shits….

Growling Gabriel trudged over to Zonta.

“Well whatever happens….I can’t leave him here that’s for sure.” Gabriel said as he pulled the big cat into a sitting position, just barely managing to drape him over his shoulders, fireman’s carry style. With monumental effort Gabriel managed to stand up straight, grunted loudly as he did. “Good God!! What do you eat? ROCKS?!”

With his legs threatening to buckle Gabriel managed to get himself and “100 metric fuck-ton” Zonta out of the door and away from the carnage.

Good thing he didn’t do clean up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Making it through the backways with Zonta on his back like the big heavy ass he was, was not easy, but Gabriel had managed. He was getting tired though, his legs were literally shaking from the effort of each step and the thought he might be making progress until he saw it.

The ultimate evil of all evils.

Otherwise known as a hill.

“Fuck…fuckfuckFUCK!” Gabriel growled. No way could he go back, people where trying to kill Zonta back there….and probably him to now that he thought about it. Going around would take to much time so……he was going to have to go…..up.

Leaning forward to try and use Zonta’s weight for something OTHER then crushing his spine, Gabriel started to run…or almost run….more like a good paced trudge really. If he could get going fast enough he might be able to use the momentum to carry him all the way…..

“Well as it turns out….that plan sucked.” Gabriel groaned, he has pretty much run out of momentum about a third of the way up the hill, if that. Now he was just going to have to power through it….if he didn’t puke from overexertion first.

So began a long….loooong…agonizing trip up the side of the hill. It didn’t take long before everything in his body began to ache and Gabriel had to wonder just why the fuck Zonta had to be so damn big, heavy and solid. His knee’s were shaking so damn bad it wasn’t funny, but he knew if he fell down that was it, he wasn’t picking Zonta back up again.

So he needed to get onto the top of the hill from hell, because that’s the only way it could possibly have gotten there, while he had mega heavy ass kitty boy on his shoulders, it came up, straight from hell, just to fuck with him.

It started to become almost a mantra, just get to the top of the hill, get to the top, just get to the top. It seemed like such an impossible goal that when he finally got to the top, he almost couldn’t believe it.

However his legs decided to give out about then and send him crashing to the ground.

With Zonta on top of him.

And he didn’t get any lighter in the intervening period.

Groaning Gabriel managed to crawl out from under Zonta, and he was tempted to kick the big ass back down the hill, but then he’d have to beat himself because he had just lugged the damn cat all the way up here.

With a shaky hand Gabriel wiped the sweat off of his brow, his stomach was cramping so bad at the moment, and he felt like he was going to throw up….

As if on queue he started to heave, that was seriously the hardest thing he had ever physically done, he had run track, he had wrestled, and none of that had been half as difficult as what he had just done.

He’d be proud if not for the fact that he had no clue what to do now, or where to go.

“I’ll just….rest a while…that’ll be ok right?….Just a little while.” Gabriel moaned, ugh….everything ached….everything was cramping.

And it was still fucking raining….

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zonta woke with a ragged gasp, his hands coming to clutch his raw throat, coughing and sputtering he took in huge, deep breaths. He still felt dizzy…and now he was wet? Where was he? Looking around he realized he was outside…and it was raining. But how?

Then he caught sight of Gabriel, the little human was breathing hard, his body shaking. He looked exhausted, his head was down and his shoulders slumped.

What had happened? Zonta remembered the rope around his neck, remembered struggling just to breathe….and then nothing. Gabriel brought his head up, and their eyes met for a moment. Groaning the human dragged himself over to Zonta, who in turn froze as Gabriel’s hands touched his throat lightly, rubbing it gently. However the moment Gabriel’s fingers pressed inwards Zonta panicked. Wiping one of his arms out he caught Gabriel in the shoulder, knocking the human over and away from him.

Gabriel hit the ground, his head squishing into the mud before he rolled over a few times, coming to rest on his side. Grimacing he pushed himself up onto his knees.

**“Ok….I get it….I’ll stay away, I was just checking to see if there was any damage anyway….I guess not, you seem to be feeling fine.”** Gabriel muttered, his voice cracking a little.

Zonta looked Gabriel over, forcing himself to calm down, the human was a little muddy, but looked ok, his hands had some visible gashes in them, but that didn’t look series. He had his case on his back again as well.

Wait….his case?

He didn’t have it when he left.

Did that…did that mean he had come back?

Zonta’s mind started to churn, there were a few other ways into Zuma’s building then the front door, his would be murder proved that, so Gabriel could have gotten in through any one of them. But that didn’t explain why he was here, very much alive.

Had….had Gabriel saved him?
It was the only thing that made sense, he seriously doubted his attacker had let him go, if Zuma has showed up they wouldn’t be here. Zonta recognized where they were, there were on one of the many hills outside of town, maybe 2 miles from town.

But how had he gotten here? Gabriel’s legs were muddy, but Zonta didn’t have hardly any on him. His sternum felt like something had been pressing into him for a long time, he also saw he had little indentations in his skin, that looked just like…..the buckles that covered Gabriel’s upper clothing.

Zonta’s eyes went wide, had Gabriel carried him all this way? Well that would certainly explain why the man looked so spent, Zonta probably outweighed him by three hundred maybe even four hundred pounds. Then Zonta was torn away from his thoughts by the sound of Gabriel mumbling. Looking over he caught sight of the human, who was sitting up now, his knee’s pulled in tight, his arms wrapped around them with his head resting on them as he rocked himself.

**“This is so stupid….I don’t care what he thinks….I don’t! It doesn’t bother me one bit….I…I don’t care….-sniff-….what does he know…just a big dumb cat.”** Gabriel muttered, he sounded so upset…

Zonta took a tentative step towards Gabriel, the human was shaking so bad, but why?

**“I’m not a bad man….I’m not….I….I want to help people…..I wanted to cure cancer….cure AIDS….I worked so hard……they took everything from me….I’m not a bad man….”** Gabriel sobbed, which caught Zonta off guard, was…was he crying?

Wait….just why did Gabriel do what he did to Tauma? Had he been coming to Zonta’s aid then too?

“Gabriel.” Zonta said, the human looked up at him, but didn’t say anything. **“Gabriel…save Zonta?”** He asked.

**“Yes….that was the idea. I was just trying to help man….they were going to kill you…..I’m not a bad man…please believe me.”** Gabriel said.

Zonta had only understand a little of that, but he had understood the -yes- to his question.

Had that been it? Had Gabriel somehow gotten out of the room and saw Zonta being attacked, so he had tried to help in the only way he could? Tauma had dwarfed Gabriel, there was no way he could have beaten him off of Zonta.

And it would seem Gabriel had saved him from the man who had wished to strangle him to death as well. Gratitude welled up within Zonta’s chest, he had not wanted to die, it had scared him, pardon the pun, half to death. He had thought of everything he would leave behind.

And this little human had prevented that.

Zonta wasn’t sure how, wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but facts were facts, and now the little human was shaking and sobbing softly, rocking himself back and forth, holding himself.

Was it possible that he to was disturbed by what he had done? Upset over something he probably felt he had no choice but to do?

It certainly made sense, and matched the behavior he now displayed. Carefully Zonta sad down behind Gabriel, his legs stretched out on either side of the human. Gingerly Zonta pulled him backwards, wrapping his arms around him, and Gabriel let him. He did not fight, he did not become violent, he relaxed a little and that was all.

**“I’m not a bad man….they are bad men….maybe something is wrong with me…..but its not my fault.”** Gabriel whispered.

Zonta’s mind began to work, they would have to go back to town, it was risky but they had not choice, they couldn’t just walk back to the palace, especially not if someone was looking for them, because Zonta certainly didn’t fancy getting picked off in one of the many, many open area’s on the planet. They had to stay near people….where there were witnesses and people who could help them.

Plus he had to find out what had happened to Zuma, if the man was hurt or in trouble, then Zonta had to try and help him.

Plus Zonta needed to alert the authorities, especially after this attempt on his life.

He needed to get home, and he had to get into town to do it.

Zonta tightened his arms around Gabriel.

“Don’t worry Nikea, I‘m sorry I hit you….I…I’m still going to help you….I know not why you did what you did the way that you did it….but if you were coming to my aid…can I really fault you? Horrible things happen all the time, horrible things have been done to you, your Michael was killed….you defended yourself….you defended me when I needed help. You saved my life little one….I’m still going to help you.” Zonta vowed.

But first….they were going to rest here for a little while.

Even if it was raining….

And his ears were getting wet.

God he hated when his ears got wet.

Ok….and that’s that. I’d like to point out something about Gabriel’s rapidly changing emotions, its all part of his mania, how he jumps around like that. Just thought I’d point that out so there wasn’t any confusion or anything.

God I hope I did this chapter well….I’m a bit nervous about it.