Really, Teekay should have gotten some help with this situation sooner. It had all started a couple of days ago when Teekay realized that he had been sleeping not with his normal partner but with a large sack of goo. Not only had said sack of goo ruined a large part of their bed but it seemed to contain Teekay’s partner, who seemed to be completely unaware of what was going on.
Or at least, he had been until his partner had abruptly woken up about ten minutes ago, ruining the rest of the bed and repeatedly switching between confused cursing and confused complaining.
“Would you, uh, like some breakfast at least?” Teekay asked, trying to calm things down.
“NO!”
To Elkay’s credit, he had at least tried to clean up the mess his horrible goo sack had made and was now in the shower, desperately washing goo off his skin. But the complaining and cursing were getting a bit tiresome.
“What is GOING ON? How LONG have I been asleep?”
“Since the first of the month.”
“And what is the date now?”
“The fourth.”
Elkay fell silent, then suddenly shouted very loudly. Teekay worried about what the neighbours would think.
“I HAVE BEEN ASLEEP IN A GOO SACK FOR FOUR DAYS?”
“Uh, yeah.”
After that exclamation, Elkay fell silent and remained silent for a long time. Teekay could hear him moving around and showering off, but he could tell something was genuinely wrong. He hadn’t actually seen Elkay wake up from his strange, inky sack, he’d had his back turned the entire time. He’d just caught glimpses of Elkay.
The water in the shower turned off, and Elkay stepped out of the bathroom. Teekay glanced over his shoulder and gasped.
“Why the fuck am I a Skyavok now?” Elkay growled, standing in the doorway, completely naked aside from his natural armour. “Why. Am. I. A. Skyavok?”
Teekay continued to gasp, eyeing Elkay up and down. He tried to shake his head and clear his thoughts, but he found himself still staring blankly at Elkay, astounded by how amazingly beautiful he was.
“Uh…”
“What. Happened.”
“I think… this may be to do… with all the stuff you missed…”
“What stuff?”
“The… uh…” Teekay stuttered. “I think it’d be better if you just… read the news or something. It’s pretty big and… horrible…”
Elkay took a deep breath, a vague attempt to calm himself down. “Teekay, I love you dearly, but whatever you are doing, stop it and tell me the truth. Because I need some answers. Mostly to the question of me suddenly changing species.”
Teekay hesitated and sat down at the table, hinting that Elkay should do the same. Elkay wrapped a towel around himself and sat down opposite Teekay.
“What is going on?”
“The Lord of the Void has taken over the Rethavok and is now ruling over them as High General.”
Elkay blinked. “What?”
“Kenon, the Voidlord, is now the leader of the Rethavok.”
“How?”
Teekay shrugged. “No one really knows. Every single Rethan just instantly fell in line, because he is mind-controlling them all somehow. And now everyone else is walking on eggshells around them because we have no idea whether the Voidlord is content with just his control over the Rethavok or if he wants to expand.”
“So…” Elkay trailed off. Teekay’s words had shocked him, to the point that he didn’t know how to react. “Does anyone know what… what happened to Rethais?”
“He’s apparently dead. Anyone not under his control has been killed… Not many vok so far, but… well, enough.”
“Oh…” Elkay sighed, then slumped on the table, sighing a little bit more, his sighs turning into sniffles and tears.
Teekay hesitated, then placed his hand on Elkay’s shoulder. “Do you… need some time…”
“No…” Elkay sniffed. “It is all… a lot to… have happen… And I missed it all. I could not-”
“Please don’t blame yourself!” Teekay interrupted. “Please, please don’t blame yourself! There was nothing you could have done! And you… probably turned into a Skyavok so you wouldn’t get mind-controlled by the Voidlord… If anything, you are probably more capable of helping now than if you were still a Rethan…”
Elkay picked himself up, wiping the tears from his eyes. “That… makes sense… But I… I think I need to lie down and… sort things out for myself…”
Teekay nodded in agreement. “That’s fair. I’ll be here if you need me.”
“Thank you…”