There was a searing heat that filled the cave, and that was what woke Matt. He felt dazed at first, unsure of exactly what had happened, but there was screeching noises and commotion. He sat up and squinted toward the bright flashing light. Two were speaking to him at the same time. Arianna, insisting he wake up or he would die. And the alien, bewildered and amused.
"You choose this as a friend, Matty? Yet you reject me? This violent creature? I've never been so violent."
This was untrue, of course. The alien had a long history of violence, even toward Matt. He'd once gotten in a fist fight with her, and had been told later that he'd been lucky to survive. As it was, the fire didn't seem to be bothering the alien. Much.
"You've scorched my outfit, you stupid dragon. And fried my hair," the zeta said to Arianna. In one movement, she backhanded the dragon and the force behind her hit was strong enough to throw off Arianna's flame, unfortunately, it blew a lot closer to Matt than he was comfortable with, and he could feel the heat from the flame burning his skin. He rolled and dodged the flame.
"Don't hit her!" Matt cried at the alien, staggering to his feet. He quickly observed the situation, spotted Duncan in the far back corner of the cave. Between him and Matt stood Arianna, and just to his left stood the zeta, who was in no way backing down to Arianna's fearsome roaring and flames. And just behind Arianna's front claws, Matt could see his sword what had been lying close to Duncan, earlier. He dodged at it and grabbed it's handle, scraping it across the floor with a shower of sparks and spinning to level it at the zeta. Arianna blew another flame and he bravely pushed the tip of the sword into the flame so it was glowing hot.
"Leave," Matt said, his tone steady as he approached the alien with the hot tipped sword levelled in front of him. "I don't want to hurt you."
"That's cute!" the alien giggled at Matt's sword and blinked her eyes against another one of Arianna's breaths of fire. "This creature is irritating. Like an annoying fly." She swatted at Arianna again and knocked her sideways.
"Hey! Don't hurt her!" Matt shouted. "I'll falsetto," he warned.
"Matty, why are you sticking up for such a violent creature? You like it! I think I'll shoot it," she said, pulling out a laser.
Immediately, and without further warning, Matt took a deep breath, difficult to do with all the smoke in the cave, and let out a high pitched, piercing note, holding it for nearly thirty seconds. The alien immediately dropped in pain, curling into a small ball and holding her hands over her ears. "Ow! Stop!"
And then she was crying. And Matt could only stare, feeling a genuine ache that he'd hurt her. She slowly pulled herself to her feet and glared at him. "You've made me very angry, Matty," she said, drawing her hand back and hitting him across the face, sending him flying. "I'll be back. I think I'll go back to your time. I'll kill Dom. And there won't be a single thing you can do about it. Oooh I just love being properly evil. Ta for now!"
"No!" he cried, but she'd already disappeared. Tears threatened to fall and his rising panic caused his chest to rise and fall rapidly. He looked around the cave. She could never make a quiet entrance. Ever. She always had to wreak havoc when she showed up. As if there wasn't enough going on as it was. And she always picked the worst times. Not that there was ever a good time for her to show up. It just seemed like she would pick a touching moment, or an incredibly important conversation, or the best was when he was just about to get laid. She would just show up.
But she was gone for now. And it could be weeks before she showed up again. Or only a few days. It was very unpredictable with her. He knew she was probably still watching though. He bit his lip against his fear. He desired nothing more than to curl up in a ball and just deal with the onslaught of emotions she'd brought on for him, but he had to make sure that Arianna was okay and that Duncan was okay. He stood and carefully sheathed the sword, unaware of the large bruise that was forming on the side of his face.
"I'm weally sorry…" he said to the room of the cave in general. "She's a pain in the arse…"