Kira kept her face buried in her knees, allowing the darkness to soothe her frayed nerves. When the cell door had opened and two aliens had been shoved into the cell, she'd been certain that she was dead. She had barely been able to fight off one alien, she had stood no chance against two.

Looking at them, she could tell that they were apex predators of whatever species they were. Even though they had restraints on their hands and legs, she did not doubt that it wouldn't stop them from killing her with very little effort. Praying that she wasn't about to die horribly in some forsaken cell light years away from Earth, she had shakily stood and tried her best to communicate that she wouldn't attack them if they didn't attack her.

To her shock, they had given her suspicious glares, one of them even going so far as to growl at her before moving to the other side of the cell. She had stood firm for another minute or so, just to make sure that they weren't trying to lull her into lowering her guard. Then her legs had given out on her and she had had to sit so that she wouldn't collapse.

Wrapping her arms around her knees, she had done her best not to cry, knowing that it would only aggravate the persistent ache from her bruised face. Although the bruises had eased a little, it still hurt to eat or breathe with her bruised throat. And that didn't even include the blood from her bloody nose and split lip. She wished that she could wash the dried blood off, but since water was the only thing she could manage to swallow right now, she couldn't afford to waste it.

Allowing her eyes to drift close, she allowed herself to doze. After all, if they were going to kill her, there was nothing that she could do to stop them anyway.

X

She didn't know how long she had drifted for, hours at the very least, when the sounds of two sets of steps moving toward her roused her. She held very still, hoping that they weren't planning on attacking her. Even though she couldn't see them, she felt them looming in front of her. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, although it didn't make any difference, she just hoped that they made it quick. If she had to die, she didn't want to suffer first.

To her surprise, nothing happened.

After several interminably long moments, she heard a gentle drumming sound from right in front of her. It was all she could do not to look up and see what the sound was, but the past two months had taught her that several species of aliens considered eye contact extremely aggressive and would either bolt or attack. Her breath hitched a little as she tried to decide if it was the sound of an incoming attack or if they were trying to get her attention.

When she didn't respond, the drumming sound came again but this time it was accompanied by a soft, musical trill that caused her to relax fractionally. After a second, she caught herself and tensed, bracing herself for a blow. They were clearly trying to get her to let down her guard so they could attack her. However, in the silence that followed the gentle sounds, there was nothing, no shifting air or rustle of cloth to indicate that they were moving.

Then, the drumming sound came for a third time, a little bit louder and quicker this time, although it was still accompanied by the soft trill. She sucked in a breath as she realized that they weren't going to go away, no matter how long she hid from them. The only option left was to face them head-on and hope for the best.

To her surprise, a soothing rumble started up, almost like the purr of a cat. She froze for a long moment, wondering if she was hallucinating. After all, there was no way that a cat would be in the cell with her, so far away from Earth. Shaking away the useless wish for comfort, she reached up and pulled back her hood a little bit, so she would be able to see them clearly. She had noticed that direct eye contact had deterred some of the aliens, so maybe she would be lucky and that would be the case this time as well.

Steeling her nerves, she slowly uncurled and met their gaze. For a long moment, none of them moved or breathed. Then horror filled their faces as they studied her, then the one with cat ears hissed in alarm, causing her to flinch back. The feathers on the one who had a pair of what looked like angel wings fluffed up, making him look even larger and more intimidating.

The winged one said something so fast that she wouldn't have been able to keep up, even if she had recognized the language. It was one that most of the aliens seemed to use, some sort of universal language. But other than a couple of random words that she'd picked up over the length of her imprisonment, she had no idea what they were saying. The cat-eared one reached over and caught the other's hand, seeming to soothe them.

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Since neither one of them were looking at her, she took the opportunity to study them. They were both larger than her, about the size of what an adult man would be back on Earth. Although they appeared to be humanoid, they were clearly not. The one with dark hair had cat ears and a long tail and although she couldn't see them now, she could've sworn that his gold eyes had slit pupils, like a cat's were.

The other alien had golden blond hair with an enormous pair of wings, their feathers an eye-catching mixture of golds, yellows, and oranges. Whatever the cat-man said to the alien-angel only seemed to alarm them more, their feathers fluffing up even further as they kept glancing at her.

Before the alien-angel could attack her, the cat-man gave a firm rumble, seeming to give some sort of command. The winged one hesitated for a brief second but when the cat-man rumbled again, he took off in a flurry of feathers across the cell.

However, Kira wasn't able to track him as the dark-haired alien focused back on her. He seemed to study her for a long moment before saying something in a long string of incomprehensible syllables. He sounded calm but she had no idea if he was ordering her to do something, telling her that he wouldn't attack her, asking if they could eat her food, or something else. It was frustrating but she didn't dare allow any of her frustration to leak through, lest it cause him to attack.

Instead of getting irritated, he placed his hand on his chest and said slower, breaking apart the sounds. "Sho'ta. Sho'ta * *."

Her brain raced as she tried to pick the sounds apart. Was he trying to tell her his name? Something else entirely? Before she could decide, the winged one was back, a bowl of water carefully clutched in his hands. They talked back and forth for several moments before the cat-man flexed his fingers, claws that looked dagger-sharp suddenly appearing at the tips.

She scrambled backward, panic filling her veins. Did they mean to hurt her after all? Did he want to wash his hands before lashing out at her? She had thought that he was trying to communicate with her, had he just been explaining what he was planning to do to her instead?

The cat-man didn't attack, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. She struggled to breathe through her panic, trying to figure out what was going on. She watched after several long seconds, he reached ever so slowly toward his arm before using his claws to slice through his sleeve. He pulled off the fabric before extending his arm so she could see that he was uninjured.

Curling her hands into fists as shame washed through her, she gave a tiny nod, trying to control her breathing. She was so tired of being scared, of not knowing if someone meant her harm or not, of panicking over the smallest of things.

This set off a flurry of words back and forth between them, accompanied by a soft trill from the alien-angel. Was that another form of communication as well, the noises along with the words? If that were the case, she had no chance of replicating them, especially with how injured her throat currently was.

After a minute, the winged one turned to face her, tapping his chest as he let out a long string of words. The only one she could pick out was Zashi. Was that his name? Glancing back at the cat-man, she thought back to his words as well. Had he been introducing himself? If so, he was Shota and the other one was Zashi. Was she understanding them right?

She didn't make a sound but it didn't seem to bother them, the pair talking back and forth calmly, like they weren't scaring her just with their mere presence. As the cat-man, Shota, dipped the sleeve into the water, he started to purr. This seemed to amuse the alien-angel, Zashi, as he said something back, the sound light and holding just a touch of what seemed to be exasperation.

Shota shrugged and ignored him, staring intensely at her, causing her to shrink back a little. He didn't look like he wanted to hurt her but he was still focused entirely on her, or to be more accurate, on her face. Was there something on her face? Reaching up, she brushed her fingers over her face, wincing slightly as she touched the bruising. Ah, they were probably curious about why half her face was so colorful while the other was pale.

She jumped when Shota was there seconds later, a large hand wrapping gently around her wrist and tugging it away, a disapproving chuff escaping them. She stared up at him, frozen, wondering what was going on. With one last quiet chuff, he lowered her hand and placed it next to her other one before releasing it. Did he not want her to touch her face?

Once he seemed satisfied that she wouldn't touch her face again, he moved back a little so he wasn't looming over her. Settling next to her, he held up the damp cloth, making sure that she was watching him before reaching up and pretending to wash his face. He then gestured at her before doing it again, watching her expectantly for some sort of reaction.

Did he... want to wash her face? Maybe the smell of the blood was bothering him and he wanted to get rid of it? Not wanting to irritate him any further but ready to defend herself if he should attack, she gave a small nod of agreement. When he hesitated, she gave a little bit larger nod, ignoring the twinge of pain that lanced through her neck at the motion.

This seemed to be all the permission he needed and he reached over, bringing the cloth up and proceeded to wipe off her face with extreme gentleness. The cool cloth felt good on the injury and she leaned into it unconsciously, letting out a hoarse sigh of relief.

This had to be a dream, there was no way that two aliens were tending her injuries.

Still, it was a nice dream.