HOME | DD

Description
All’s Fair

Chapter Fourteen: The Fine Print

~<+3~

    There wasn’t exactly a nice place for Sirra to rest in Kaiser’s apartment, and nothing that under the circumstances would he have presented to her if he had better. Unfortunately, Kaiser did not have better than his floor to offer Sirra.
    He frowned and looked down at her, wrapped up in his favorite navy blue overcoat and several layers of blankets. She lay on a makeshift mattress made of pillows, which Kaiser seemed to have an excess of. Sirra looked more at peace than she had when Kaiser had first picked her up from the compound and she also seemed to be showing more response to the stimuli around her, like Sideos’s loud laughter and Groove childish voice, to which she furrowed her brow and her antennae twitched in annoyance.
    Kaiser looked up from the sleeping girl on the floor and to Sideos, who was sitting at the table, drinking vodka while making the odd comment about how whisky was better and waiting for Sirra to wake up.
    It momentarily crossed Kaiser’s mind that if Sirra did indeed bear the child of the purple eyed killer at his table, Sideos would, without question, kill her. It didn’t take a control brain to know that Sideos would be enraged at the idea of being exploited and tricked into doing the thing that seemed to disgust him the most. He wondered if he would protect her or not since Sirra deserved what Sideos may have had in store for her. Though Kaiser was sure he would have defended her if the need arose, regardless of what she deserved.
    “It wouldn’t kill you to look a little less at home in my apartment.” Kaiser growled at Sideos.
    “You should kiss her, Kai!” Groove said suddenly and loudly, jumping on Kaiser’s back and seizing him by the neck. “Then she’ll wake up! It always happens in the fairytales!”
    “No!” Sideos shouted over Groove’s enthusiastic voice, which prompted Groove’s antennae to flatten against his head and his expression to sag in sadness almost instantly. “I don’t want to see Kaisy cramming his tongue down Sirry-Su’s throat!”
    “Then leave mein house!” Kaiser said, thankful for the excuse to get Sideos to leave. “’RAUS!”
    Sideos stood up, taking a swig of vodka. “No, no, no. You wanted to here about this smeet thing and so do I, so I’m here to stay and annoy you until she wakes up.” He grinned wickedly at his enemy.
    Groove looked up at Sideos blankly and then looked back to Kaiser. “You should kiss her, Kai!” He repeated brightly. Kaiser growled and threw Groove off of his back and stood up.
    “I will NOT kiss her!” He said loudly, like he was proclaiming it, “Not until I know the truth!” It hurt a little inside to deny affection to her, but yet, he knew that he’d be preserving his pride and perhaps he’d be hurting Sirra as well, Tallest knows he wanted to do anything to emotionally punish his loved one.
     “Maybe you should hit her with something,” Sideos suggested suddenly, “That might work?”
     “I am not hitting her with anything!” Kaiser retorted, even if he knew it might work, he’d never do anything Sideos suggested. “We’ll wait until she comes out of this on her own!”
     “Booooring.” The purple-eyed killer complained loudly, “You’re so boring Kaisset.”
     “I am NOT bo-“ He was suddenly cut off when Sirra gave a loud moan and all eyes turned to her.
     “Sirra…” Kaiser’s voice grew softer and quieter in a way that he could only ever use when addressing the girl before him.
     “Kaiser?” Her voice was so weak and small that Kaiser almost didn’t resist the urge to rush and grab her and hold her, but his stubborn anger at her did not cave in, and so he simply stood, stone-like, looking down at her with the only emotion playing just lightly behind his eyes.
    “Morning sleepy head!” Sideos announced in his loud, brash way as he bounded over to the girl, “Have a nice time in dreamland while we saved you?”
    “Leave her be, Sid!” Groove frowned at the taller irken, “She’s had a really rough time lately and I doubt she needs YOU annoying her!”
    “Oh. My. Tallest.” Sideos retorted at the smaller killer, “You sounded just like Kaiserino!”
    “Shut up the both of you!” Kaiser commanded before turning back, again with a stone expression, to the female he both loved and hated and sitting back down to be level with her as he spoke. “Sirra? Are you awake?”
    “Mmmmm,” Sirra seemed to squeeze her eyes before she opened them just a little bit, “I’m dreaming…” She whispered and then shut her eyes again, “I hear Kaiser and Sideos and Groove together all at once, so I must still be dreaming…”
    “Oh no, Sirra!” Groove chirped, “We’re all together! Just because of you actually!”
    “Agh!” She moaned again, “This is a stupid dream!”
    “No, no! It’s not a dream!” Groove persisted. “It’s real! Kaiser and Sideos and I went on a huge adventure to save you! I got to blow up stuff! And Kaiser got to dress all sharp! And Sideos…” Groove looked up to Sideos for a moment before quickly looking back to Sirra. “And Sideos got to be Sideos!”
    Sirra groaned and blinked, bringing her hand to her forehead as she began to take in her surroundings. It was so dim, and the colours of the walls weren’t helping making her surroundings brighter. The only illumination came from a light above her somewhere, and it was a rather dull light, but enough to make her head hurt, if only slightly.
    She sniffled and slowly sat up to look around some more, seeing that indeed Sideos, Kaiser and Groove were surrounding her. It seemed like such an odd place to be in, especially since last she remembered, she was at a table with Rhytt across the way as he fiddled with the dial on the remote that induced her hallucinations. Suddenly, her memories came flooding back and she moaned in exasperation and her forehead fell onto her knees.
    “He’s gone.” Kaiser managed to say. It was the least he could say in comfort. After all, part of him had been begging to help her, to say anything that would help soothe her, if even a tiny bit. He couldn’t deny though that the other half just wanted her to suffer in confusion, but after 7 months of cooling down, there was enough of him to take pity on her. “Rhytt’s gone.”
    Sirra looked up at Kaiser’s blank expression and she finally realized that the smell from her dream was the one from him. Perhaps, just maybe, fate had decided to cut her a break too and had sent Kaiser back to her. She blinked and stared at him for a few moments before she flung her arms around his neck and curled into his lap, not letting go of her sweet Kaiser and doing her best not to cry. “Kaipetshe!” She choked out, holding him closer.
    Kaiser couldn’t help but allow a smile to come to his lips at her touch, but he quickly covered it up and didn’t hold her back, though he was dying to. Instead, he decided to get straight to the point, which was what he was dying to know. “Sirra, wh-“
    “Kaiser’s I’m so sorry ! I’m so sorry, I am!” She let go of him but seized his hands and looked him straight in the eyes. “Please! I’ll do any-“
    Kaiser’s eyes narrowed and he mustered a glare at her. “Have you the slightest idea how infuriated I am with you?!” He raised his voice slightly, but still allowed her to hold his hands, not daring to pull away. “It wasn’t enough that you did what you did, but it’s worse that you got yourself kidnapped! It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant experience when Sideos showed up on my doorstep telling me that you were being held hostage by a group of insane bounty hunters!”
    Sirra frowned when she realized that Kaiser was still mad at her and an instant fear filled her that he would throw her out like he did last time. Her eyes watered even more and she looked down in shame at hers and Kaiser’s hands, biting her lip.
    “Wait, wait, wait. I’m only here for one reason.” Sideos reclined back in the chair that he had pulled up next to Kaiser. He looked down at Sirra with suspicious eyes. “Your lover-boy here blew his top when I showed up and fuckin’ pounced on me the second he saw me.”
    “Awww, Kaiser was happy to see you!” Groove injected, causing Sirra to glance at him with wide eyes before Kaiser let go of one of Sirra’s hands to hit Groove into a pile of boxes. Groove squealed as chemical beakers broke and boxes toppled over him.
    Without looking at her, Kaiser brought his hand back to Sirra’s where it fit comfortably. Not wanting to draw much attention to it, Kaiser spoke up. “Sirra, Sideos has absolutely no recollection of the claim you’ve made that you were bearing his child.”
    ’Fuck.’ Sirra’s mind buzzed and finally reality hit her. She was sitting in an apartment with Kaiser and Sideos, and if Sideos knew that she had drugged him, Kaiser would have let him rip her to shreds. She looked to Kaiser with pleading eyes for a moment before looking up to Sideos with a completely different expression. “Well I would think not. Sideos wasn’t the father. I don’t even think I’ve seen him in the past 9 months.” She said in a far too casual tone.
    “See?! I TOLD YOU!” Sideos exclaimed, changing his sitting position to a more relaxed one quite quickly as if he had been relieved to hear was Sirra had to say. “I would never do ANYTHING even remotely similar to anything intimate. It’s not my bag, ya dig?” He suddenly smirked, “So! Why was Kaiser under the impression I had?” His voice went back to being suspicious again.
    “OH!” Sirra quickly looked over to Kaiser. “I was really angry…with…him?” She ended her statement in a questioning way as if she was still getting her lie straight. “And I wanted him to feel pain. So I thought of the most horrible thing that I could, and obviously it worked.”
    Kaiser looked over to Sirra, now understanding that everything she was telling Sideos was a complete and total lie. His heart sunk. For a moment, he truly thought that he may have been mistaken, but whatever hope he had quickly drained out. He felt like crushing her hand in his grip and slapping her but at the same time he couldn’t, and he would allow her to keep her lie because he knew that it was probably the only thing that would keep Sideos from brutally killing her.
    “It did.” Sideos snickered. “Look at your pathetic ex. He’s torn himself up from it all.” His mouth snaked into an evil shark-like grin. “I have never seen the ‘mighty’ Kai-lee so low.”
    Sirra looked over to Kaiser, and though he refused to look at her, she could tell that this situation was extremely painfully humiliating to him. To now be living in a rather dirty looking apartment that smelled so strongly of alcohol and pollution from the city after being on top of it all. To have his enemy show up and be making himself at home while taunting him about his state…
    “You can go now, Sideos, now that you have your answer.” Kaiser muttered angrily.
    “Well, I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page.” His grin faded as he stood up. “You say I rape someone again and I will tear your throat out. I mean it, serious tearage will happen to your gullet area.”
    Kaiser had half the nerve to scream something about if he ever laid a hand on his Sirra again, he would kill Sideos painfully, but he kept his mouth shut. “I never want to see you again.” He growled, staring at Sideos.
    “The feeling’s mutual.” Sideos assured him as he opened the door. “Though I’m sure you’ll see me again, Kaisy.” He winked and an odd, knowing look came into his eye, “We still have to kill one another.”
    “Ja, ich werde, Sideos. AUF WEIDERSEHEN, JETZT ‘RAUS!” He yelled at the door and heard it slam with Sideos’s chuckle, which grew into a biting, victorious laugher, following it and drifting down the hall until it faded from his antennae, and yet, he knew it’d take much longer for it to fade from his mind.
    Kaiser looked over to Sirra, and this time locked eyes with her. “Where’s the child?”
    “Don’t worry, I took care of it. He’s gone.” Sirra shook her head and looked up at Kaiser. “You knew I was lying?”
    “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together…besides, Rhytt mentioned that wretched spawn. I would be fooling myself pretending like it didn’t happen.” Kaiser looked down at his and Sirra’s hands in thought.
    “You could have told him I was lying.” She told him with a shaky voice, on the verge of crying. “You could have told him that I drugged him and-“
    Kaiser placed a finger to Sirra’s lips to silence her but his own voice remained overflowing with maliciousness and anger, and yet, a tiny fluttering of his own inner pain and sorrow. “I could have. And you deserve it, I hope you know! You deserve the worst punishment anyone could have after the way you’ve betrayed me!”
    Sirra’s shoulder’s shuddered and she looked down, squeezing her eyes shut. She knew what was coming. She knew he would tell her to leave and that he would rather die than be with her, and the thought of not being with Kaiser killed her, especially after seeing him after going without him for so long. She bit her lip and brought her arm to her eyes, as if to shield Kaiser from seeing her tears.
    “Kai, no…please…” She broke down and flung herself into Kaiser’s lap, sobbing hysterically at the idea of being without him. She hugged his middle and her hands gripped the back of his jacket. “Please! Please don’t leave me! Please! Let me come back, let me stay! I’ll do anything! I love you!”
    Kaiser stiffened and he looked down at Sirra in disbelief as her words set in. She… she loved him… no one had ever loved him before. And yet, he felt closer to her than he’d ever thought possible but still, his heart burned in flames of betrayal. She may love him, but he would still not forgive her. There was a brief silence before he said, “No you don’t! If you did, you wouldn’t have let Sideos rape you!”
    “I didn’t let him, Kai!” She looked up at him and wiped away her tears. “Yes! I drugged him because I wanted him to be humiliated! You would have wanted to as well if you were in my situation. All he was doing was taunting me! And the best weapon I had against him were the drugs in my pak. I never wanted him to go after me! I did my best to get out of his way and I failed.”
    Sirra was becoming desperate. If Kaiser sent her out the door now, she’d climb the stairs and jump off the building without hesitation. Otherwise, her life would just be miserable, and she would have absolutely nothing to live for. “Please believe me, Kaisy…I do love you. I really mean it.”
     It was probably the last card she could play, and though she was sure Kaiser didn’t feel the same, Sirra had to think it was going to work. She sniffled and wiped away more of her tears. “I really do.” She repeated again to reassure him that she did feel strongly for him. Perhaps if he knew that, he wouldn’t leave her.
    Kaiser studied the eyes of his horigkeit kätzchen intensely. He didn’t believe her, and he couldn’t. She was a first class liar, she was skilled in the art of getting her way, and it seemed like she was ready to make any claim to have him keep her. It was odd, Kaiser couldn’t imagine why she wanted him, and yet she seemed like she was bent on convincing him to keep her.
    Kaiser had every intention to keep Sirra, and he had every intention of doing so from the beginning, but if he allowed only her to beg for forgiveness, he could use it to his advantage and get what he wanted. And still, the words ’I love you!’ echoed all around him and couldn’t let him say no to her. And though he loved her back, he would let her suffer a little more and wait to say it.
    “Alright! Alright…na ja…” He trailed off, rubbing his temples. He was a good actor too, he had to admit. “You can stay.”
    Sirra gasped in happiness and she hugged Kaiser tightly. “Thank you, Kaiser! I’m so sorry! I promise, I’ll make it up to you!”
    “Damn right you will!” Kaiser snapped, pushing her back so that he could make his terms and conditions for taking her back in. In the background, he heard Groove groan in pain and begin to come to after being slammed into a bunch of boxes. “I have a whole list of things you have to do!”
    Without question, Sirra nodded. She would do anything to have Kaiser take her back in, anything, even if it meant surrendering some part of herself. Kaiser was worth it. She supposed that this was what was love was, where you needed to be around the other to breathe, where you would give up anything and everything without a second thought, just to allow the other to be happy. Sirra indeed loved Kaiser, and now that he was offering her happiness again, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to have it back.
    “First thing, you can never sleep with any other man except me.” Kaiser declared proudly like a king who was coming up with ridiculous terms of surrender for his sad and defeated enemies.
    Sirra flinched. Although it wouldn’t be all that hard, she realized that reaching euphoria through being raped and then killing her rapist would no longer be possible. She watched her freedom rush out the door with haste and she slowly nodded in agreement, thinking over and over about how Kaiser was worth it.
    “Secondly, I demand that you at least have a bit of modesty. You have no shame in pubic, none whatsoever. It’s appalling.”
    Sirra could feel all of her freedom floating out the window as she sat and listened to Kaiser’s demands. She truly would have to give up most, if not all of her freedom. She had long accepted that if it was what it took, she’d be willing. “Alright. I understand.” She said, looking down.
    “You’ll have to become more accustomed to a quieter lifestyle. You can’t go so wild.” Kaiser’s eyes narrowed. “You might have been able to get away with that type of lifestyle if you were with Sideos, but unfortunately, our child will need and deserve better.”
    Sirra looked up and cocked her head, thinking she’d misheard him. “Child?”
    “Yes! I demand we have a child! I want one to rival Sideos’s. It shall be my ‘Better-Than-Sideos’s-Kind-Kind.’” Kaiser said seriously, ignoring the fact that Groove was stumbling around moaning like he was sick.
    Sirra was confused. She thought Kaiser hated children, and especially after what she’d just done, she would have thought that starting a family would be the last thing on Kaiser’s mind. Not to mention she had only just given birth to one, although that seemed too long ago now, yet she wouldn’t dare tell Kaiser her body wasn’t exactly in the best of shape to have another kid.
    But yet, should she even utter these things she knew Kaiser would leave her on the spot.
    A slight fear arose within her, being a mother in full wasn’t exactly on her schedule, or even in her nature, and she thought that Kash would be the end of the children she bore. But having a child with Kaiser seemed easier than keeping Kash and being a single mother would have been, even if she knew that it’d be a much harder road for herself than for Kaiser.
    Not wishing to seem distracted, she mustered a smile. “You make it sound like it’s a contest.”
    “It’s an arms race, but with smeets. That’s what I decided to compare it to while I was wandering around that damned prison trying to find you.” For the first time in months, Kaiser smiled and looked down at Sirra and gave her a brief moment of a loving gaze before turning away.
    Sirra bit her lip, she was aching to say ‘But…’ yet she knew that if she did Kaiser would come down on her like a crashing ship and she’d never see him again.
    Instead, Sirra quickly changed the subject. “I can’t raise a smeet in this place, though. This isn’t…exactly…child-proof…” She looked around at the surroundings, wondering how Kaiser even survived with his lung problems in a place like this. It was highly unsanitary. “What happened to our old house?”
    “I BLEW IT UP!” Groove said after the longest time of being silent. “I BLEW up the house upon the request of Kai!” He held his head and swayed slightly at the influx of pitch in his voice. “It was pretty! Some of Kai’s chemicals exploded and made really pretty colours!” With that, Groove fell over on the floor with a thud.
    “I forgot Groove was here…” Sirra said quietly, looking over to Groove for a moment before looking back to Kaiser, not paying too much attention to the ‘slain’ Groove.
    “I blew up the old house.” Kaiser admitted, acting as a translator for Groove, though Groove didn’t really need one.
    Sirra felt like grabbing him and demanding to know why on Irk he had blown up their perfect little abode, but she just offered him a confused expression. “…why did you blow up the old house?”
    “The old house…” ’Reminded me of you and I couldn’t stand being tortured by the memory of you and knowing I wouldn’t have you ever again.’ “…the old house sucked.” Kaiser answered in a monotone, practically smacking himself with the stupidity of his excuse.
    “…okay…” Sirra said slowly. “I can’t raise a smeet here, though, Kaiser. It’s not even fit for you to live in here. I can’t imagine how bad it’s been on your lungs.” She touched his cheek with her hand and Kaiser unconsciously grasped her wrist to make sure she kept the warmth of her palm against his cheek.
    “We’ll get a new house. We’re not stupid, we’re two of the best killers that Irk spat out. We can get a new and better house, somewhere far off.” Kaiser resolved, thinking in his head how he was going to get that done.
    Sirra looked up to Kai with an almost timid expression and a shy smile. She would have to modify herself so much to make everything work perfectly, and the idea of raising a child still made her nervous. At least with Kash she could just give him up and have it over with. But Kaiser was demanding that she drop her wild personality and become a full time mother, which she had no clue where to begin with learning.
    At least with Kaiser at her side, it wouldn’t be impossible, but it would mean that so much would change. At least in exchange she was going to be able to stay with Kaiser. She sighed in defeat. “I agree to your terms then, Kai.”
    “I know you do.” Kaiser’s smile twisted into a grin. “After all, you can’t deny that we have the best make-up sex. I didn’t think you’d deny much for that.”
    He provoked a giggle from Sirra, which had to be one of pure glee and bliss. She was just thankful Kaiser had given her a second chance at all, and to seal the deal on a light note couldn’t stop her from showing a bit of the happiness in her. She hugged him happily and took in his scent, instantly feeling comforted that she wasn’t leaving.
    Kaiser didn’t hug her back but instead looked over to Groove with annoyance. “Groove, get out of my house.”

Description
All’s Fair

Chapter Fourteen: The Fine Print

~<+3~

    There wasn’t exactly a nice place for Sirra to rest in Kaiser’s apartment, and nothing that under the circumstances would he have presented to her if he had better. Unfortunately, Kaiser did not have better than his floor to offer Sirra.
    He frowned and looked down at her, wrapped up in his favorite navy blue overcoat and several layers of blankets. She lay on a makeshift mattress made of pillows, which Kaiser seemed to have an excess of. Sirra looked more at peace than she had when Kaiser had first picked her up from the compound and she also seemed to be showing more response to the stimuli around her, like Sideos’s loud laughter and Groove childish voice, to which she furrowed her brow and her antennae twitched in annoyance.
    Kaiser looked up from the sleeping girl on the floor and to Sideos, who was sitting at the table, drinking vodka while making the odd comment about how whisky was better and waiting for Sirra to wake up.
    It momentarily crossed Kaiser’s mind that if Sirra did indeed bear the child of the purple eyed killer at his table, Sideos would, without question, kill her. It didn’t take a control brain to know that Sideos would be enraged at the idea of being exploited and tricked into doing the thing that seemed to disgust him the most. He wondered if he would protect her or not since Sirra deserved what Sideos may have had in store for her. Though Kaiser was sure he would have defended her if the need arose, regardless of what she deserved.
    “It wouldn’t kill you to look a little less at home in my apartment.” Kaiser growled at Sideos.
    “You should kiss her, Kai!” Groove said suddenly and loudly, jumping on Kaiser’s back and seizing him by the neck. “Then she’ll wake up! It always happens in the fairytales!”
    “No!” Sideos shouted over Groove’s enthusiastic voice, which prompted Groove’s antennae to flatten against his head and his expression to sag in sadness almost instantly. “I don’t want to see Kaisy cramming his tongue down Sirry-Su’s throat!”
    “Then leave mein house!” Kaiser said, thankful for the excuse to get Sideos to leave. “’RAUS!”
    Sideos stood up, taking a swig of vodka. “No, no, no. You wanted to here about this smeet thing and so do I, so I’m here to stay and annoy you until she wakes up.” He grinned wickedly at his enemy.
    Groove looked up at Sideos blankly and then looked back to Kaiser. “You should kiss her, Kai!” He repeated brightly. Kaiser growled and threw Groove off of his back and stood up.
    “I will NOT kiss her!” He said loudly, like he was proclaiming it, “Not until I know the truth!” It hurt a little inside to deny affection to her, but yet, he knew that he’d be preserving his pride and perhaps he’d be hurting Sirra as well, Tallest knows he wanted to do anything to emotionally punish his loved one.
     “Maybe you should hit her with something,” Sideos suggested suddenly, “That might work?”
     “I am not hitting her with anything!” Kaiser retorted, even if he knew it might work, he’d never do anything Sideos suggested. “We’ll wait until she comes out of this on her own!”
     “Booooring.” The purple-eyed killer complained loudly, “You’re so boring Kaisset.”
     “I am NOT bo-“ He was suddenly cut off when Sirra gave a loud moan and all eyes turned to her.
     “Sirra…” Kaiser’s voice grew softer and quieter in a way that he could only ever use when addressing the girl before him.
     “Kaiser?” Her voice was so weak and small that Kaiser almost didn’t resist the urge to rush and grab her and hold her, but his stubborn anger at her did not cave in, and so he simply stood, stone-like, looking down at her with the only emotion playing just lightly behind his eyes.
    “Morning sleepy head!” Sideos announced in his loud, brash way as he bounded over to the girl, “Have a nice time in dreamland while we saved you?”
    “Leave her be, Sid!” Groove frowned at the taller irken, “She’s had a really rough time lately and I doubt she needs YOU annoying her!”
    “Oh. My. Tallest.” Sideos retorted at the smaller killer, “You sounded just like Kaiserino!”
    “Shut up the both of you!” Kaiser commanded before turning back, again with a stone expression, to the female he both loved and hated and sitting back down to be level with her as he spoke. “Sirra? Are you awake?”
    “Mmmmm,” Sirra seemed to squeeze her eyes before she opened them just a little bit, “I’m dreaming…” She whispered and then shut her eyes again, “I hear Kaiser and Sideos and Groove together all at once, so I must still be dreaming…”
    “Oh no, Sirra!” Groove chirped, “We’re all together! Just because of you actually!”
    “Agh!” She moaned again, “This is a stupid dream!”
    “No, no! It’s not a dream!” Groove persisted. “It’s real! Kaiser and Sideos and I went on a huge adventure to save you! I got to blow up stuff! And Kaiser got to dress all sharp! And Sideos…” Groove looked up to Sideos for a moment before quickly looking back to Sirra. “And Sideos got to be Sideos!”
    Sirra groaned and blinked, bringing her hand to her forehead as she began to take in her surroundings. It was so dim, and the colours of the walls weren’t helping making her surroundings brighter. The only illumination came from a light above her somewhere, and it was a rather dull light, but enough to make her head hurt, if only slightly.
    She sniffled and slowly sat up to look around some more, seeing that indeed Sideos, Kaiser and Groove were surrounding her. It seemed like such an odd place to be in, especially since last she remembered, she was at a table with Rhytt across the way as he fiddled with the dial on the remote that induced her hallucinations. Suddenly, her memories came flooding back and she moaned in exasperation and her forehead fell onto her knees.
    “He’s gone.” Kaiser managed to say. It was the least he could say in comfort. After all, part of him had been begging to help her, to say anything that would help soothe her, if even a tiny bit. He couldn’t deny though that the other half just wanted her to suffer in confusion, but after 7 months of cooling down, there was enough of him to take pity on her. “Rhytt’s gone.”
    Sirra looked up at Kaiser’s blank expression and she finally realized that the smell from her dream was the one from him. Perhaps, just maybe, fate had decided to cut her a break too and had sent Kaiser back to her. She blinked and stared at him for a few moments before she flung her arms around his neck and curled into his lap, not letting go of her sweet Kaiser and doing her best not to cry. “Kaipetshe!” She choked out, holding him closer.
    Kaiser couldn’t help but allow a smile to come to his lips at her touch, but he quickly covered it up and didn’t hold her back, though he was dying to. Instead, he decided to get straight to the point, which was what he was dying to know. “Sirra, wh-“
    “Kaiser’s I’m so sorry ! I’m so sorry, I am!” She let go of him but seized his hands and looked him straight in the eyes. “Please! I’ll do any-“
    Kaiser’s eyes narrowed and he mustered a glare at her. “Have you the slightest idea how infuriated I am with you?!” He raised his voice slightly, but still allowed her to hold his hands, not daring to pull away. “It wasn’t enough that you did what you did, but it’s worse that you got yourself kidnapped! It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant experience when Sideos showed up on my doorstep telling me that you were being held hostage by a group of insane bounty hunters!”
    Sirra frowned when she realized that Kaiser was still mad at her and an instant fear filled her that he would throw her out like he did last time. Her eyes watered even more and she looked down in shame at hers and Kaiser’s hands, biting her lip.
    “Wait, wait, wait. I’m only here for one reason.” Sideos reclined back in the chair that he had pulled up next to Kaiser. He looked down at Sirra with suspicious eyes. “Your lover-boy here blew his top when I showed up and fuckin’ pounced on me the second he saw me.”
    “Awww, Kaiser was happy to see you!” Groove injected, causing Sirra to glance at him with wide eyes before Kaiser let go of one of Sirra’s hands to hit Groove into a pile of boxes. Groove squealed as chemical beakers broke and boxes toppled over him.
    Without looking at her, Kaiser brought his hand back to Sirra’s where it fit comfortably. Not wanting to draw much attention to it, Kaiser spoke up. “Sirra, Sideos has absolutely no recollection of the claim you’ve made that you were bearing his child.”
    ’Fuck.’ Sirra’s mind buzzed and finally reality hit her. She was sitting in an apartment with Kaiser and Sideos, and if Sideos knew that she had drugged him, Kaiser would have let him rip her to shreds. She looked to Kaiser with pleading eyes for a moment before looking up to Sideos with a completely different expression. “Well I would think not. Sideos wasn’t the father. I don’t even think I’ve seen him in the past 9 months.” She said in a far too casual tone.
    “See?! I TOLD YOU!” Sideos exclaimed, changing his sitting position to a more relaxed one quite quickly as if he had been relieved to hear was Sirra had to say. “I would never do ANYTHING even remotely similar to anything intimate. It’s not my bag, ya dig?” He suddenly smirked, “So! Why was Kaiser under the impression I had?” His voice went back to being suspicious again.
    “OH!” Sirra quickly looked over to Kaiser. “I was really angry…with…him?” She ended her statement in a questioning way as if she was still getting her lie straight. “And I wanted him to feel pain. So I thought of the most horrible thing that I could, and obviously it worked.”
    Kaiser looked over to Sirra, now understanding that everything she was telling Sideos was a complete and total lie. His heart sunk. For a moment, he truly thought that he may have been mistaken, but whatever hope he had quickly drained out. He felt like crushing her hand in his grip and slapping her but at the same time he couldn’t, and he would allow her to keep her lie because he knew that it was probably the only thing that would keep Sideos from brutally killing her.
    “It did.” Sideos snickered. “Look at your pathetic ex. He’s torn himself up from it all.” His mouth snaked into an evil shark-like grin. “I have never seen the ‘mighty’ Kai-lee so low.”
    Sirra looked over to Kaiser, and though he refused to look at her, she could tell that this situation was extremely painfully humiliating to him. To now be living in a rather dirty looking apartment that smelled so strongly of alcohol and pollution from the city after being on top of it all. To have his enemy show up and be making himself at home while taunting him about his state…
    “You can go now, Sideos, now that you have your answer.” Kaiser muttered angrily.
    “Well, I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page.” His grin faded as he stood up. “You say I rape someone again and I will tear your throat out. I mean it, serious tearage will happen to your gullet area.”
    Kaiser had half the nerve to scream something about if he ever laid a hand on his Sirra again, he would kill Sideos painfully, but he kept his mouth shut. “I never want to see you again.” He growled, staring at Sideos.
    “The feeling’s mutual.” Sideos assured him as he opened the door. “Though I’m sure you’ll see me again, Kaisy.” He winked and an odd, knowing look came into his eye, “We still have to kill one another.”
    “Ja, ich werde, Sideos. AUF WEIDERSEHEN, JETZT ‘RAUS!” He yelled at the door and heard it slam with Sideos’s chuckle, which grew into a biting, victorious laugher, following it and drifting down the hall until it faded from his antennae, and yet, he knew it’d take much longer for it to fade from his mind.
    Kaiser looked over to Sirra, and this time locked eyes with her. “Where’s the child?”
    “Don’t worry, I took care of it. He’s gone.” Sirra shook her head and looked up at Kaiser. “You knew I was lying?”
    “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together…besides, Rhytt mentioned that wretched spawn. I would be fooling myself pretending like it didn’t happen.” Kaiser looked down at his and Sirra’s hands in thought.
    “You could have told him I was lying.” She told him with a shaky voice, on the verge of crying. “You could have told him that I drugged him and-“
    Kaiser placed a finger to Sirra’s lips to silence her but his own voice remained overflowing with maliciousness and anger, and yet, a tiny fluttering of his own inner pain and sorrow. “I could have. And you deserve it, I hope you know! You deserve the worst punishment anyone could have after the way you’ve betrayed me!”
    Sirra’s shoulder’s shuddered and she looked down, squeezing her eyes shut. She knew what was coming. She knew he would tell her to leave and that he would rather die than be with her, and the thought of not being with Kaiser killed her, especially after seeing him after going without him for so long. She bit her lip and brought her arm to her eyes, as if to shield Kaiser from seeing her tears.
    “Kai, no…please…” She broke down and flung herself into Kaiser’s lap, sobbing hysterically at the idea of being without him. She hugged his middle and her hands gripped the back of his jacket. “Please! Please don’t leave me! Please! Let me come back, let me stay! I’ll do anything! I love you!”
    Kaiser stiffened and he looked down at Sirra in disbelief as her words set in. She… she loved him… no one had ever loved him before. And yet, he felt closer to her than he’d ever thought possible but still, his heart burned in flames of betrayal. She may love him, but he would still not forgive her. There was a brief silence before he said, “No you don’t! If you did, you wouldn’t have let Sideos rape you!”
    “I didn’t let him, Kai!” She looked up at him and wiped away her tears. “Yes! I drugged him because I wanted him to be humiliated! You would have wanted to as well if you were in my situation. All he was doing was taunting me! And the best weapon I had against him were the drugs in my pak. I never wanted him to go after me! I did my best to get out of his way and I failed.”
    Sirra was becoming desperate. If Kaiser sent her out the door now, she’d climb the stairs and jump off the building without hesitation. Otherwise, her life would just be miserable, and she would have absolutely nothing to live for. “Please believe me, Kaisy…I do love you. I really mean it.”
     It was probably the last card she could play, and though she was sure Kaiser didn’t feel the same, Sirra had to think it was going to work. She sniffled and wiped away more of her tears. “I really do.” She repeated again to reassure him that she did feel strongly for him. Perhaps if he knew that, he wouldn’t leave her.
    Kaiser studied the eyes of his horigkeit kätzchen intensely. He didn’t believe her, and he couldn’t. She was a first class liar, she was skilled in the art of getting her way, and it seemed like she was ready to make any claim to have him keep her. It was odd, Kaiser couldn’t imagine why she wanted him, and yet she seemed like she was bent on convincing him to keep her.
    Kaiser had every intention to keep Sirra, and he had every intention of doing so from the beginning, but if he allowed only her to beg for forgiveness, he could use it to his advantage and get what he wanted. And still, the words ’I love you!’ echoed all around him and couldn’t let him say no to her. And though he loved her back, he would let her suffer a little more and wait to say it.
    “Alright! Alright…na ja…” He trailed off, rubbing his temples. He was a good actor too, he had to admit. “You can stay.”
    Sirra gasped in happiness and she hugged Kaiser tightly. “Thank you, Kaiser! I’m so sorry! I promise, I’ll make it up to you!”
    “Damn right you will!” Kaiser snapped, pushing her back so that he could make his terms and conditions for taking her back in. In the background, he heard Groove groan in pain and begin to come to after being slammed into a bunch of boxes. “I have a whole list of things you have to do!”
    Without question, Sirra nodded. She would do anything to have Kaiser take her back in, anything, even if it meant surrendering some part of herself. Kaiser was worth it. She supposed that this was what was love was, where you needed to be around the other to breathe, where you would give up anything and everything without a second thought, just to allow the other to be happy. Sirra indeed loved Kaiser, and now that he was offering her happiness again, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to have it back.
    “First thing, you can never sleep with any other man except me.” Kaiser declared proudly like a king who was coming up with ridiculous terms of surrender for his sad and defeated enemies.
    Sirra flinched. Although it wouldn’t be all that hard, she realized that reaching euphoria through being raped and then killing her rapist would no longer be possible. She watched her freedom rush out the door with haste and she slowly nodded in agreement, thinking over and over about how Kaiser was worth it.
    “Secondly, I demand that you at least have a bit of modesty. You have no shame in pubic, none whatsoever. It’s appalling.”
    Sirra could feel all of her freedom floating out the window as she sat and listened to Kaiser’s demands. She truly would have to give up most, if not all of her freedom. She had long accepted that if it was what it took, she’d be willing. “Alright. I understand.” She said, looking down.
    “You’ll have to become more accustomed to a quieter lifestyle. You can’t go so wild.” Kaiser’s eyes narrowed. “You might have been able to get away with that type of lifestyle if you were with Sideos, but unfortunately, our child will need and deserve better.”
    Sirra looked up and cocked her head, thinking she’d misheard him. “Child?”
    “Yes! I demand we have a child! I want one to rival Sideos’s. It shall be my ‘Better-Than-Sideos’s-Kind-Kind.’” Kaiser said seriously, ignoring the fact that Groove was stumbling around moaning like he was sick.
    Sirra was confused. She thought Kaiser hated children, and especially after what she’d just done, she would have thought that starting a family would be the last thing on Kaiser’s mind. Not to mention she had only just given birth to one, although that seemed too long ago now, yet she wouldn’t dare tell Kaiser her body wasn’t exactly in the best of shape to have another kid.
    But yet, should she even utter these things she knew Kaiser would leave her on the spot.
    A slight fear arose within her, being a mother in full wasn’t exactly on her schedule, or even in her nature, and she thought that Kash would be the end of the children she bore. But having a child with Kaiser seemed easier than keeping Kash and being a single mother would have been, even if she knew that it’d be a much harder road for herself than for Kaiser.
    Not wishing to seem distracted, she mustered a smile. “You make it sound like it’s a contest.”
    “It’s an arms race, but with smeets. That’s what I decided to compare it to while I was wandering around that damned prison trying to find you.” For the first time in months, Kaiser smiled and looked down at Sirra and gave her a brief moment of a loving gaze before turning away.
    Sirra bit her lip, she was aching to say ‘But…’ yet she knew that if she did Kaiser would come down on her like a crashing ship and she’d never see him again.
    Instead, Sirra quickly changed the subject. “I can’t raise a smeet in this place, though. This isn’t…exactly…child-proof…” She looked around at the surroundings, wondering how Kaiser even survived with his lung problems in a place like this. It was highly unsanitary. “What happened to our old house?”
    “I BLEW IT UP!” Groove said after the longest time of being silent. “I BLEW up the house upon the request of Kai!” He held his head and swayed slightly at the influx of pitch in his voice. “It was pretty! Some of Kai’s chemicals exploded and made really pretty colours!” With that, Groove fell over on the floor with a thud.
    “I forgot Groove was here…” Sirra said quietly, looking over to Groove for a moment before looking back to Kaiser, not paying too much attention to the ‘slain’ Groove.
    “I blew up the old house.” Kaiser admitted, acting as a translator for Groove, though Groove didn’t really need one.
    Sirra felt like grabbing him and demanding to know why on Irk he had blown up their perfect little abode, but she just offered him a confused expression. “…why did you blow up the old house?”
    “The old house…” ’Reminded me of you and I couldn’t stand being tortured by the memory of you and knowing I wouldn’t have you ever again.’ “…the old house sucked.” Kaiser answered in a monotone, practically smacking himself with the stupidity of his excuse.
    “…okay…” Sirra said slowly. “I can’t raise a smeet here, though, Kaiser. It’s not even fit for you to live in here. I can’t imagine how bad it’s been on your lungs.” She touched his cheek with her hand and Kaiser unconsciously grasped her wrist to make sure she kept the warmth of her palm against his cheek.
    “We’ll get a new house. We’re not stupid, we’re two of the best killers that Irk spat out. We can get a new and better house, somewhere far off.” Kaiser resolved, thinking in his head how he was going to get that done.
    Sirra looked up to Kai with an almost timid expression and a shy smile. She would have to modify herself so much to make everything work perfectly, and the idea of raising a child still made her nervous. At least with Kash she could just give him up and have it over with. But Kaiser was demanding that she drop her wild personality and become a full time mother, which she had no clue where to begin with learning.
    At least with Kaiser at her side, it wouldn’t be impossible, but it would mean that so much would change. At least in exchange she was going to be able to stay with Kaiser. She sighed in defeat. “I agree to your terms then, Kai.”
    “I know you do.” Kaiser’s smile twisted into a grin. “After all, you can’t deny that we have the best make-up sex. I didn’t think you’d deny much for that.”
    He provoked a giggle from Sirra, which had to be one of pure glee and bliss. She was just thankful Kaiser had given her a second chance at all, and to seal the deal on a light note couldn’t stop her from showing a bit of the happiness in her. She hugged him happily and took in his scent, instantly feeling comforted that she wasn’t leaving.
    Kaiser didn’t hug her back but instead looked over to Groove with annoyance. “Groove, get out of my house.”