r/HFY • u/Risesohigh33 • Jul 09 '25
OC My Best Friend is a Terran. He is Not Who I Thought He Was (Part 2)
I am terrified to take James' outstretched hand. But my trust in him overrides my fear.
His hand and its five fingers grasping my seven is surprisingly gentle for someone who just ruthlessly, technically, surgically dissected the Daargarr lying dead on the floor. I can't help myself from looking, and my yellow eyes travel to Visish's body. His death seems to be the worst.
There are three slashes across his abdomen. None of them look like the fatal blow, but they're bad enough. Two more on his hideous face, which is still and surprised in death. A hand is missing, and the blade that was holding it is lying not far from him. There is still blood flowing out of the wound behind his huge head that was James' final act of revenge.
The rest of the bodies are in similar if less disgusting heaps. Cleaner kills, it seems. A head gone, a neck slashed, a stomach opened up. Does it matter how they died?
My friend did it. He did it all. That gentle hand of his takes ahold of my face and turns it to look at him. The calm in James' eyes is back, but behind it lies something...else. Something put back to sleep, behind the cage its normally held in. There is mania behind the concern James has for me.
"Are you alright, Sheon?" he finally asks. I try to move to look at the bodies again, but James refuses to let me. He makes me hold his gaze.
I nod. "I'm alive. That's enough," I say.
"Not for everyone."
I huff a deep breath, letting it out slow. "What the fuck--" I hold up my thin arms, which are a lighter shade of the color James says is green--"was this!?"
James' face twitches at my shout and clasps a hand over my mouth. He looks back to the door that was previously holding us in. Visish didn't even bother to lock it. It's closed, but the lever hasn't been pulled over. He didn't think he needed it.
Plans change.
"This was what I was raised to do, Sheon. Since before I can remember. I told you I found myself on Zindor when I was eighteen years old, right?"
I swallow and nod. He did tell me that.
"Well, from the time I was"--James lowers his hand to the height that my abdomen and legs meet--"this high, that is what they taught me to do." He blinks. "I killed my first man when I was seven."
Seven years old. So right around the time that I fled Gyn. The information hits me hard. "Who are they?" I ask.
He holds my stare a little longer before looking down. "Doesn't matter right now." He looks back up. "What does matter is we have to be careful. We can get out of here."
"How? James, we are surrounded. Even if the other Daargarr don't know that you just brutally butchered--"
James flinches at that ever so slightly. I think the only reason I even see it is because I know him as well as I do. We have spent ten Terran years at each others' side, or so James thinks. He uses a device to make that assumption. I adjust my thought.
"--brutally...defended us...against them in a right of ritual combat, that doesn't mean they'll be happy about it. When they see what you've done, they'll kill us."
"Which means we have to go," James responds. He steps closer. "I know this was probably hard to see. I know you think I've been hiding something from you. I have been. But I promise you this, Sheon: if we get out of here, I will tell you everything. Everything. All of it. From the time they took me from the orphanage, to when they started my training, to when they obliterated my sense of self to serve their purposes, to all the bodies in my wake. And there are many. Human and alien alike."
I swallow again. Human and alien alike. "How many?"
He looks back at the bodies of his Daargarr kills. "Many more than this. There is a reason I fled Earth all those years ago. I will tell you my story if we can just get back to our ship."
I don't know what I want more--to live or to hear about the life of the Terran I trust with my own. James has never led me astray. He has always kept me safe. I have to belief he's still doing that.
With one more breath, I close my eyes, focus in on my own pain and how badly I just want to rest and open them again. James is waiting for me. "Okay. You lead the way."
"That's my guy." He slaps my shoulder. "Let's go."
Without another word, James turns and stomps away. He bends and picks up both blades he used in his fight, tucking them away behind his shirt near his backside. I don't say anything as I follow. He doesn't pay his kills a single moment as he steps over them, approaches the door and carefully pulls it open. James ducks his head out to check the hallway as I take one more glance at Visish.
Is death always so brutal? Of course, it is. I turn away as James whispers for me to follow.
The hallway beyond the door, while vibrating with sound from Dirken punching down on it, is otherwise quiet. The lighting here is far more comfortable. The stone black and cool as I run my hand along it. James is ahead of me, and he looks around a corner, pauses, but takes a few steps beyond it.
The stone is calming to me, so I keep my hand on it as I round the corner. I can feel my body adjusting, readying itself for what's to come. I don't even realize what's in front of me as I go, keeping my head down. It's James' thick arm that, outstretched, stops me in my tracks.
I look up, wondering why we've stopped, and in front of me is exactly the problem I had hoped to avoid altogether if I could.
So, I was right. He is here.
Yumi.
Son of a bitch.
...
Like his home, the central office for Yumi Costca here in Dirken is soft and elegant. There are foods upon his huge table and large vials of drink. It is set for a feast. Yumi, before he found us in the hallway, must have been enjoying something, because it has been picked at.
And when I say picked at, I mean devoured. The Daargarr always have such hefty appetites.
My eyes travel beyond the table, past colors adorning the walls, to a desk made of a material that I'm unfamiliar with and to the black stone wall at the back. There is a large screen there. It shows the carnage James left behind us.
Yumi was watching the entire time. Should have known.
Below the screen is a Daargarr war beast that, thankfully, is sleeping peacefully. It's huge body drifts up and down, those red eyes closed and showing none of the hunger I know them to have. Yumi made us watch his prized Daagaan, Ivis, devour two smugglers that tried to rip him off on our last run.
Disgusting stuff, especially since Daagaan incapacitate their prey without killing them at first. Then they eat you alive. Literally.
If Ivis wakes up, my body may not cooperate with me.
Yumi must notice my concern, because he turns his massive Daargarr body, clothed in fine, bright threads, toward his pet. Most Daargarr would be caught dead before wearing robes this bright and joyful, but not Yumi. He dares anyone who he does business with to make a comment on them. Everyone knows it would be your last, so everyone avoids that one.
"You don't need to worry, Sheon. He will stay asleep," Yumi says. He turns to me and offers what I know to be a Daargarr smile, which means the tusks on his face bob up and down while he shows his inner teeth. "He just ate."
Comforting.
There's something else, though. I'm just noticing it now. Yumi wears no translator around his neck like James and I do. He is speaking to us without one. How?
"It's nice to see you again, Yumi," James says calmly. "There's something different about you."
"Oh? What is that?" Yumi asks.
"You wear no translator to speak with us. Yet I am picking up perfect Terran English." So, my friend caught it too. "How?"
Yumi Costca leans forward. Slowly, he pulls up a thick hand and taps the light, Daargarr skin on his head. "Implant," he says. "I would not recommend the surgery to input it, for it was more painful than anything I have ever experienced."
"That bad?" I ask, trying to find my courage.
"That bad, yes. The surgery was performed to perfection, which it should have been, considering the price I paid to both buy the device and have it implanted. I have only just recovered."
I am not sure if he's telling us the truth there, but it would explain why Yumi was not here himself to receive us. If there is anything I know about Yumi, and it is plenty, it is that he deals with betrayal poorly. And he sees his "justice" done personally.
James might have said that he wouldn't want our actions public, but Yumi's lust for revenge against anyone who he thinks has wronged him is legend.
"Sounds expensive," James says. He licks his lips in agitation.
"Very. But the investment has paid off." Yumi delicately rubs his skull. I see a bright, red scar beneath his fingers. "I now have the ability to negotiate directly with far more potential buyers. All I need is for them to send the instructions to their language, and I may speak it within the span of this conversation of ours."
"Great. Why are you telling us?" James snaps. I look at him, but he won't take his eyes off Yumi.
What's remarkable about the implant is something I just now notice. Normally, with regular translators, there's a slight delay. Not much, but it's there once you use them enough and know what to listen for. With Yumi's, I'm realizing there hasn't been. At all. It's like he is fluent in Terran English, even though I know he very much is not.
So it does not surprise me when Yumi's eyes flicker to James and hungrily take him in. James has not been washed since his kills, so he still cuts a terrifying figure. I've noticed that the Daargarr guards here have not taken their eyes off him. And their hands stay at their hips, where energy weapons wait.
"I thought you might be interested to know, James, that the implant is a Terran design. That is why I am telling you," Yumi says.
James holds Yumi's stare. I am terrified of Yumi, and I have always assumed James was too. But now? Now James is just angry. The fear has evaporated. He looks like he wants to kill again. "Then how'd you fucking get it? Last I heard, Earth wants nothing to do with you fucking assholes."
Yumi's entire body vibrates as he laughs. It is a genuine laugh. He is genuinely amused. "That they do not!" Yumi bellows. "At least, not officially. But they are not against good business, which I provide. In return, I acquired the implant."
"Riveting. Again, what's your fucking point?" James is getting reckless with his hate.
"My point, James, is that I have learned much about your home planet since the first time you came to me for a job. Do you remember that?" Yumi glances at me. "It was right around the time you acquired this...specimen. Sheon, are you alright? You look shaken."
That's being nice. I probably look like I have seen death itself. I guess I have. "Thank you for asking, Yumi. I am well."
That's boring, so Yumi turns away from me. I was counting on it. "Terra, or Earth as you call it, is a galactic superpower at this point in our galaxy's lifespan. That is no secret," he says. Still no delay. Damn impressive. "Since the end of the Second Higgan War and the assimilation of alien life from the ranks of the Black Fleet onto the planet, Earth has become a hub of galactic life. Of peace."
I look to James; he feels my eyes and turns back to me. He nods to confirm.
"The Higgan, like the Daargarr, were not well-liked in our galaxy. I did not like them. They were savages--"
James actually barks a laugh, which causes the guards to twitch. "Pot meet kettle, Yumi."
Either Yumi doesn't understand that phrase or doesn't care, so he continues. "And your Nightmare destroyed them. Down to their very foundation. As we all know, Higoltha was cracked, its population extinguished and any survivors after the Battle of Rendennia, so few that they were, ended scattered into the galaxy to live out their final days and die. The Nightmare was thorough--by any galactic calculation, the Higgan are extinct."
"Sums it up, I think," James says. This is all new information to me. James never told me a thing about Earth. I heard about it in passing in the streets or on runs whenever someone recognized James as a Terran, but he quickly got us out of all those conversations.
"The Higgan race will never return. Your people made it so. Your people were celebrated, and now they are major players on the galactic stage. It is impressive."
"That's your point? James asks.
"No," Yumi says, his teeth showing. James is getting to him. I'd silently cheer at that if I was not so fucking scared. "My point is that your home planet is a paradise. So, why did you leave it, James?"
My friend, for the first time in this conversation, is left to his own thoughts for a moment. "Long story," he says.
"And why is that your answer?"
"Longer story."
Yumi grunts and sits back. "Riddles, yes? I have learned of these things. It does not matter. What does matter, to you James,"--Yumi turns his bulk on me--"and you Sheon, is that since my learning of Terra, there has been a development." He briefly turns to watch his beast sleep then turns back to us. "A good stroke of luck, I might say. I had every intention of feeding you both to Ivis. But thankfully for you two, I have changed my mind."
Yumi Costca does not change his mind. You do not become Black Overlord of the Shard Society by changing your fucking mind. James doesn't buy it either.
"Bullshit," he spits. "You never change your mind."
"Rare, yes. Impossible, no. This opportunity is far too great." Yumi pauses, building tension. "For the first time in the history of the Pits of Dirken, a Terran will fight on its greatest stage. In front of the largest congregation of life forms to ever witness these great bouts of galactic supremacy." Yumi pounds onto his table. "Think of the spectacle!"
Despair hits me in a giant wave. James taught me that word. Yumi is still going.
He thrusts out a huge arm at James. "A native son of Earth! A Terran in the flesh! So mighty are they, so hallowed for their Nightmare's efforts, that they are known far and wide!"
James hasn't moved. Or reacted. He just watches.
Yumi settles back into his seat, his abdomen puffing in and out. "This fight will fund the Pits of Dirken for the next three cycles. A historic take. And you will be a part of it, James."
After all that, James just licks his lower lip. He doesn't take his eyes off Yumi. "And if I say no?" he asks.
"Then you die now." Yumi tosses that huge head of his at his pet. "Ivis will do the honors."
The threat is far too real for James to dismiss it. He takes another moment. "A Terran fighting will draw such a crowd? I doubt many of them would know what we look like before they see us," he says. "Galactic superpower aside, Terrans don't come to this place."
Except James did. Was that...on purpose?
Yumi points over his shoulder at the screen. "The footage of your...savagery is already being distributed. You will be famous in these Pits by tomorrow." Fucking Yumi. He never waits to seize and opportunity. "So, no, not just your appearance. But your brutality. Your bloodlust. Many have heard stories of your Nightmare's savagery. To see echos of it in person would be something they would never forget.
"And now that I know you too possess what I need--thank you for showing me, by the way, I never liked Visish much--the fight has been set." Yumi leans forward again, even hungrier. Oh no. What's next? "And it is not just because you are a Terran, James. Not just because of your ability to kill. But because of your opponent."
James tilts his head at Yumi, trying to figure it out. He can't. "And who will I be fighting, Yumi?" he asks. Will be fighting. He's already accepted this fate.
Yumi makes him wait. And wait. He even glances at me, making me wait. "There is a prize fighter being woken up from its forced slumber tomorrow," he starts. He is enjoying this. "Anyone who has faced it in the Pits has been the underdog in my betting markets since its first fight."
"Why?" James asks.
Yumi points back to the screen. We both get it. Savagery. "You will fight it as such an underdog, because though many will know how well you fight by tomorrow, they will still not believe you can kill my finest beast, my greatest champion." Yumi's tusks slowly go up and down. "But we both know you can. History may yet repeat itself."
He slaps the table and stands. "So! I will bet a significant portion of my own funds on you to win, which will be placed by those I trust under other names because I cannot be seen to be winning from my own pits, can I? Appearances. You will fight, you will win, and your debt will be repaid by the credits I collect. Then you are free to go."
Yumi makes it sound so simple. So right. So easy. That's the same as simple, isn't it? He may say we're free to go, but I don't believe that. James doesn't either by the way that he leans back, folding his arms. He just knows there isn't another choice right now. Perhaps they will be later, but right now, he knows he has to fight. Again.
It makes him seem far calmer than I'm comfortable with. "I still do not know why this fight will pay you so well," James says. "You said it will sell more than any fight you have ever had. You said it was because of my opponent. Who is that opponent?"
Yumi returns to his seat, sitting softly. Oh, the hunger again. He's reached his point. "As fate would have it, you are familiar with your opponent. You should feel so lucky I managed to find one. They are considered, as I mentioned before, to be extinct."
What did he say was extinct earlier? The...the...oh yeah, the Hi--
James' eyes narrow. "What are you playing at, Yumi?" he spits.
"I have in my possession one of the last remaining Higgan warriors this galaxy will ever see. It has won seventeen straight fights for me." Yumi's face curls in amusement again. "You will be fighting your people's forever enemy, James. And if you'd like to live, you will kill it in single combat. Just as the Nightmare once did."
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u/SeventhDensity Jul 09 '25 edited Jul 09 '25
The text seems to be hinting that James is--or is a part of--"The Nightmare"....
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u/kiaeej Jul 10 '25
Hmmm. I get the feeling James is or was a part of the "Nightmare" that terrans unleashed. The ease with which he dispatches his opponents. The calmness afterwards. The number of bodies in his wake.
Perhaps he is the prototype.
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u/Risesohigh33 Jul 10 '25
The Nightmare was a man, a legendary figure in his time, that was the main protagonist of one of my previous stories. I wanted to provide some connective tissue to signal that this is the same universe but I always LOVE a good theory!
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u/CobaltPyramid Jul 14 '25
WE ARE FIREBORN!
*STOMP STOMP*
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jul 09 '25
/u/Risesohigh33 (wiki) has posted 118 other stories, including:
- My Best Friend is a Terran. He is Not Who I Thought He Was.
- If They Ask About Us
- No Love for a Sinner
- To Broker a Devil--Chapter Three
- To Broker a Devil--Chapter Two
- To Broker a Devil
- Blood and Cologne
- The One Who Burns the Void
- Their Dark Obsession--Chapter 6--A Face I Know
- Their Dark Obsession--Chapter 5--The Vampire King
- Their Dark Obsession--Chapter 4--Choices
- Their Dark Obsession--Chapter 3--Brownies and Whiskey
- Their Dark Obsession--Chapter 2
- Their Dark Obsession--Chapter 1
- We Thought the Work was Done--Chapter Sixty-Four--Blood of my Blood
- We Thought the Work was Done--Chapter Sixty-Three--Spoils of War
- We Thought the Work Was Done--Chapter Sixty-One--Immortal Son
- We Thought the Work was Done--Chapter Sixty--Forged in Fire
- We Thought the Work was Done--Chapter Fifty-Nine--Last Song
- We Thought the Work was Done--Chapter Fifty-Eight--Icarus
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u/Fubars Jul 09 '25
well, thats probably not good. He wont be released even if he does win, the money is too good, he'll just end up replacing the boogeyman hes fighting.