We are a Rainbow

Chapter Four

Written by Cartman's Girl

Jozef rolled over on his bed. It was small and cramp, but it served its purpose. He yawned loudly, scratching at his antennae. He was dreaming again… his real escape from working all day, and tonight was a nice dream…

Oh the colours… so many colours. Red, green, blue… colours he didn't even know what to call. All swirling, then turning into an actual rainbow mass and hurtling themselves into something's eye. Then there was screaming and silence.

He sat up, blinking a couple of times. Shaking his antennae he rubbed at his eyes and face.

"That was confusing." He muttered, suddenly the door slammed open in his room; sort of crushing his foot in the process. "OWW!!" he rubbed his foot painfully, glaring at who opened his door. It was Lall, another slave.

"Jozef, want some news?" he asked quietly. Jozef blinked, tilting his head to the side.

"What is it?"

"Mr. Beja's dead." Lall said. Silence flooded into the room, Jozef was shocked. Mr. Beja was dead… that meant they'd be sold again, to a possibly meaner Cordan. His thoughts were cut off by Lall.

"He left you this." He threw a parcel wrapped in brown paper at Jozef, and walked out of the room. He didn't care what Jozef got, he didn't care for the blue eyed tall one. Besides, he'd find out soon enough. Jozef stared at the parcel on his lap. A… gift?

"Wow…" he'd never gotten a gift before; he picked up the tag and read it aloud. "Jozef, this was given to me years ago when I was still thin... but could never wear due to the colours hurting my eyes… I hope you enjoy wearing it." He blinked. Hurt his eyes? He eyed the parcel, now afraid to open it.

"Oh come on it's a gift… it can't bite. Can it?" Jozef gave in and pulled the string and the paper fell open. His eyes widened. It was… a full suit. It had a jacket, with a robe to go under and a vest, special belt for his waist… and the colours! There was every colour of the rainbow on it, and even more so!

Shutting his door he pushed his bed up against it to disallow anyone to walk in on him. He pulled his ragged clothes off, and began dressing himself. Pants, under shirt, followed by the white vest that clasped over his chest. It had golden ridges and red buttons on its front. He smiled, and then pulled the robe on. It was a yellow hue, with patterns of colours spilling over it.

Then the belt, it was red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo and violet. It fit snugly, and actually morphed itself to suit itself to his thin waist. Lastly the jacket went on, golden lining and the patterns were hard to describe. The sleeves had red dots on pure white, then rainbows and splashes of colour in patterns all over it.

"Ooohhh…" he said quietly as he looked in the mirror Mr. Beja had given him. He looked so… dignified. He'd never looked so impressive before!

~*~

Mr. Beja's parting gift to me meant more then anything in my possession… I was never one for material possessions but this jacket… the robe, the whole suit… it seemed to spark something deep within that had been dormant since my capture.

~*~

Then it happened. Light happened to shine in through the window, the suit seemed to react and light up. It seemed to let off waves of colours of light, bouncing off the mirror and illuminating the room even more. Jozef had to shut his eyes slightly, they were strong. But not as painful as one would expect.

"I can see why it hurt…" he said, rubbing his eyes. Wait. Mr. Beja had told him how sensitive to bright light Cordan's were, that's why their houses and buildings were mostly dark, obviously who gave him the present hadn't known how delicate they were to light.

He quickly undressed again, putting the suit into its bag again and under his bed. He had a feeling it would come in handy one day. Once he was back in his normal gear, he headed out of his room and down the hall. All the slaves were sitting around, not sure what to do.

Soon other Cordan's arrived, taking Mr. Beja's body away to be buried. The slaves couldn't be present; they weren't family and they WERE slaves after all. Jozef felt slightly hurt at that. Mr. Beja was more then a master to him, he was the closest thing to a father figure he'd ever had.

But now he was gone, and without knowing it had brought Jozef back into reality. Back to the memory of what had happened, what would continue happening to Irken's long after he'd die himself. Narrowing his eyes, Jozef swore something that day. Swore on the memory of his Mother and Mr. Beja that the Cordan's ruling would NOT last forever.

He'd make sure of it.

~*~

But of course we were sold again… more Cordan's came, grabbing we slaves. For once allowing us to bring ONE article of possession we owned. I carried my bag, and due to my antennae white balls they wouldn't dare taking it from my hands. I guess being dubbed insane had its perks…

~*~

"I'll take her." Said a feminine voice, gesturing to Queenie. Jozef blinked arms still around his parcel where he was chained to the floor. He looked at Queenie. She… she was being sold separately?

"Glad to know I didn't have to wait here all day." Queenie muttered. Jozef reached out with one hand, trying to reach her.

"Q-Queenie?" he asked.

"Oh what is it?" she asked, glaring at him.

"I… I don't want you to go…" Jozef said quietly.

"Well tough bread sticks, I'm being sold now. I guess we'll never see each other again. Pity." Queenie did smirk slightly though. No more idiotic Jozef around her 24/7.

"I… I'll miss you…" he said, eyes lowering.

"Whatever." She lifted her gaze as the seller was gesturing to her now. "Well bye Jozef." She walked off, leaving Jozef with his eyes to the floor. Tears were welling up now; his chest felt like it was on fire. He looked up to see her vanish through the giant doors, and she was gone.

"…I love you…"

~*~

It was like witnessing the death of my Mother all over again… she was gone. So quickly. I felt she would have been around with me forever… I was hoping we'd have smeets' together one day, to hold her in my arms to protect her from the rest of the world…

But now she was gone. Why…? Why was it that… everyone I seemed to care about was taken away from me? Is this a punishment? If so, what have I done? Well sure. I've killed a Cordan a few times, ripped one's ear off, caused trouble…

I don't think that meant I could be beaten emotionally over and over again…

I still love Queenie… but it is true this wasn't the last time I'd see her.

~*~

The rest of the day was a stained blur to Jozef. He heard voices, but didn't pay attention to what was said. The slaves he'd worked along with for the past 20 odd years were sold. Wow. 20 years had passed… it had seemed so quickly to him. It seemed only yesterday his pak was bored onto his back, and balls seared onto his antennae.

He shuddered at the memory. Why couldn't he forget them? Why, why, why. No one wanted to buy him now; the white balls were a curse yet again. Maybe he'd be taken away to be killed, yeah that'd be his fate. Jozef sighed, lowering his head to the ground and rested it there.

"Why must I be left alone…" he muttered to himself. No one answered; it was a rhetorical question of course. Jozef slowly sat up again. His tear streamed face was pale now, he felt sick to the stomach. Life was sucking very much now.

Suddenly a Cordan rushed up to him, skidding to a halt far enough so if Jozef did attack, he'd be held back by his shackles.

"You, uh, Jozef?" he asked, beady black eyes looking sort of like he was in awe of the tall one.

"Ugh." Jozef grunted in response.

"You used to work for a Mr. Beja right?" Jozef lifted his head now, staring at the Cordan blankly. He nodded. "Well… we just found his will and… well… he sorta left everything to you." Can you imagine the stare he got?

"…meaning?" Jozef asked.

"Meaning… you know own everything he owned. You're… you aren't a slave now. You're… free I guess." The Cordan could barely say these words; they tasted like bitter ash in his mouth. A free Irken? With money, power, wealth? That was just WRONG.

"Wow…" Jozef lifted his head to the cold metal ceiling and dull lights. Then. A small smile was born on his face. It began growing, until Jozef was grinning from antennae to antennae. "YES!!!" he screamed happily.

~*~

I could never express the thanks towards Mr. Beja… he had literally granted my one wish. Freedom. But mine wasn't enough… I saw Irken's around me that day. Mothers with smeets', and sometimes they'd be separated… I didn't only want my freedom.

My kind deserved it. And I was the one to bring it to them.

[To be continued!]