Hey everyone, another chapter here, and I didn't take half a year to write it this time.

Artimus woke up strangely warm, a light humming in his ears. He didn't have to open his eyes to see the light; it felt like it was a bright as a star. He tried scrunching his eyes tightly, a futile attempt to keep the light out of his head. After a few more seconds he decided to open his eyes, not thinking it was worth trying to ignore it. He could see the source of the light coming from the roof, a large white line that blurred his vision when he looked at it. He could feel something warm covering his legs and lower stomach, looking downwards to see Varrek curled around him. A light smile touched his lips as he looked at the sleeping Xenomorph. He wasn't quite sure though, he just felt happy that Varrek was there.

A few more minutes passed, Artimus having leaned over to turn off the light, but besides that nothing of notice had happened. Artimus sat there, half asleep, just watching Varrek's slow breathing. He was hoping that Varrek would get his memories back; he was hoping that he would get his friend back. He couldn't help but let doubt cloud his thoughts, a slight sadness shadowing his thoughts. A frowned when he caught himself thinking about life without Varrek. Why did he care so much, if at all? Varrek was a Xenomorph, an extremely dangerous creature, why was he so desperate to remain friends with one?

There was a small voice inside him, protesting at his thoughts, telling him that Varrek was his friend. He nodded his head slowly, agreeing with this new voice. You know he's more to a simple animal. The voice said, forcing Artimus to agree again. You know he's not just a friend either though. Artimus shook his head, denying what the voice said; Varrek was just a friend, wasn't he?

Artimus jumped when he heard a loud knocking behind him, his head quickly turning towards the door. He felt as though his thoughts were making him guilty, trying to shake the nervousness that overcame him. What if however was knocking knew what he was thinking? Artimus felt his stomach constrict tightly, forcing himself to walk over to the door. He pressed a button on the wall, trying to tell himself that there was nothing wrong with the way he was thinking as the door slid up into the roof.

Artimus leaned against the door frame, looking at the nervous looking man standing outside. He was holding a stack of papers and his eyes kept glancing into the room, most likely to try and see Varrek.

"What do you want?" Artimus asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I uh- you need to, I mean, you're uh- required at the cells?" the man basically asked.

"Was that a question or a demand?" Artimus asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"Oh! No I- just"

"Calm down" Artimus said, letting a small grin spread across his face "I'm just joking around"

"Oh uh ok" the man said, looking down to hallway to avoid eye contact.

"You don't have to wait for me" Artimus said, gesturing in the direction that the man was looking.

The man just nodded his head, turned, and hurried off down the hall. Artimus looked back into the room, promising himself that he wouldn't be gone long. With that he stepped into the hallway and started off towards the cells. It didn't take him long to get there, and most of the people he saw didn't try to stop and talk to him, save for a few people telling him how glad they were he remembered everything.

Once he got to the cells he wasted no time finding the one that jones was in, he wasn't sure what he was going to say to him or do, but he would figure that out.

"I never meant for anything bad to happen" Jones said, before Artimus was even in front of his cell.

The cell had pure white walls, no light on the inside, a small bed, a toilet and sink. Jones was sitting on the bed looking through the thick glass in front of him.

"What did you want to happen then?" Artimus replied, holding his hands behind is back.

"I just wanted to help you" Jones said, briefly making eye contact before looking away.

"How would you be able to help me? I don't need help with anything"

"It's in your head you know, that's why it's so different" Jones said, when Artimus didn't stop him he continued. "It knows how to act because it's in your mind; it makes you see it different"

"You've been watching too many movies" Artimus said, shaking his head.

"You don't believe me" Jones said.

"You're right" Artimus replied "I don't"

"Just think about it, you would never let a Xenomorph run free on a ship, let alone come into contact with it, and then here you are holding hands with it!"

"Varrek isn't just a Xenomorph, he's smart, and he's different" Artimus argued, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Yes! Exactly!" Jones yelled, jumping up from where he was sitting. "It's smart because it can look into your mind!"

"He'ssmart because he can learn" Artimus said, putting emphasis on the 'He'.

"And where better to learn from then your mind, what more could one of these bugs want?" Jones said, sitting back down.

Artimus flinched slightly at the word 'bug' finding himself annoyed that someone would say that about Varrek.

"Don't call him a bug" Artimus warned.

"Or what?" Jones laughed "You see? It's so far into your mind that you're taking sides with it rather than a person"

"Have you ever seen a Xenomorph betray another Xenomorph?" Artimus asked, looking down at Jones.

"Have you ever seen one of those monsters try and do anything besides kill?" Jones countered.

"As a matter of fact I have" Artimus said.

"Oh really? And where is this miraculous creature? Because I sure as hell haven't seen it"

"He's asleep in my bed right now" Artimus said, letting a smug look cross his face.

Anger flashed in front of Jones' eyes.

"You think that thing is anything like a human? Have you already forgotten what that thing did to you? You nearly died because you thought that it would be fun to play with an abomination!"

"He was confused" Artimus said.

"And so his first thought was to kill you" Jones countered, jabbing his finger at Artimus.

"He was just trying to protect me" Artimus replied.

"By crushing your bones? Did you even ask the doctors how beat up you really were?"

"No, I-"

"You didn't think about how bad it was? You were nearly killed by that monster that is in your room right now, and you didn't even give it a second thought. Do you see now? These aren't your thoughts!"

"No" Artimus nearly whispered "It was just much simpler than that, I was more worried about my friend then myself"

Jones twitched slightly, his hands balling into fists.

"You've turned your back on humanity Artimus" Jones said "The path you're walking now; it's only going to lead to a Xenomorph's stomach"

Artimus didn't reply, he just let the words repeat in his head. Had he really turned his back on humanity? No, he was just leaving people like Jones behind, because people like him were the real monsters, not Varrek.

Artimus slowly made his way back to his room, letting his thoughts roll over in his head. He pressed his hand against the panel outside his room and walked in. He didn't bother looking around; instead just fell back onto his bead, letting out a long sigh. The silence after that only lasted a few seconds, being disturbed by a loud hiss from behind him.