When the morning came, Iris got up. She had a bit of a headache, and knew she shouldn’t have drank the alcohol, but she was slightly confident today would be a good day. Shawn was supposed to be arriving in a few days, clearing a species of medical abnormalities normally took a few days. Either way, she was preparing for a party that she had coming up. Calmly, with a slight hum, she took towards the kitchen area of her house. The first thing she decided to do was get herself something to help wake herself up a bit. She had missed the other drinks her planet had to offer, such as a coffee like drink that was designed to help with any pain you were feeling, such as a headache. As she reached her machine, and got ready to press a button, she noticed the blood on her finger. “That’s odd, when did this happen?” Either way, she walked over to her sink and washed the blood off. Perhaps she had a cut? No, it didn’t seem that way, once she managed to finally get the dried blood off of her, she noticed there had received no cut whatsoever.

“Hmm, something is strange around here” Iris commented “Maybe it’s just the jitters of moving into a new home”. As she looked back towards her bed, she noticed a small napkin on her bed, being that it was quite contrasting to the design on her bed, it was easy to spot. “Okay, what did I do last night?” She commented before trying to think back. After a few seconds, her mind drew blank. “What happened last night. I recall drinking what my sister delivered for me, but…” She walked over to the bottle and read the label. “Warning, ingestion of Winestorr’s extra strength alcohol above two medium sized glasses will make you unable to remember events that happened. It is also highly noted that ingestion of over three glasses triggers sensors in the body that desire dominance and a tad bit of chaos.” She commented. “Well, I wish I would have known that before drinking like...” Her voice trails off as she cannot remember how many glasses she actually drank. Of course, looking as how it’s almost fully drained, she makes a safe estimate it was at least five.

She then turns to look over at the napkin. “I guess while I’m over here I should throw that away” Iris then walked over and scooped up the napkin, only to notice something both joyous and horrific. On the joyous side, it was Shawn! He had for some reason come far earlier than expected. On the horrific side, she deduced that Shawn had likely arrived sometime last night after she had begun drinking, which means a number of things could have happened to him. Combined with the fact that he was barely breathing. Immediately, she dropped what she was doing and opened up the napkin. She could see the bloodstains on the napkin, and when it was fully opened, she was in shock. His entire left arm was missing! As she noticed this, she felt completely awful. “I’ve got to fix this…” She murmured, almost tearing up at this sight. This was more than likely her fault! “I will fix this…” She adds before clicking a few buttons to unlock a door on the far right side of the wall. Iris walked inside, a look of determination on as she laid Shawn gently on the counter...

A few hours later, Shawn awoke, in some kind of futuristic lab that thought shades of white and blue were the only two colors imaginable. He assumed he was back at the doctor's lab. He could feel his left arm, making him come to the conclusion he had just had a very realistic and horrific nightmare. He felt a little sore, but just brought his arm up to his face, just to confirm it was there. He had just witnessed and felt it be torn off. To his surprise, and utter horror, his left arm was now completely robotic. This caused him to shriek slightly, confirming everything that happened to him last night was absolutely real. No dreaming about it. Suddenly, the massive face of Iris came into vision, and he sulked away a little “What do you want!? Wasn’t crushing my left arm enough!?”

Iris looked down with guilt. “I don’t know what to say, none of that was supposed to happen. Please, Shawn, forgive me for what happened”

“How can I forgive you!? You took me away from my home, enslaved me, and then you tore my arm off after I only slightly screwed up massaging your feet.” Shawn replied “Tell me how I can forgive you for that”

“Shawn… I was drunk.” Iris begins, Shawn tries to interrupt, but Iris talks over him “I know that might not sound like a great defense, but our alcohol is far different than yours”

“Explain” Shawn commented, arms crossed

“As you might know, we don’t have the same resources that you do. We don’t have soda, or milk. We only have what we call alcohol by using specific fruits of our land to make something reminiscent to it. Since, we occasionally desire the taste of something more exquisite. It’s more expensive, more potent, and as a result, has similar yet even more powerful effects” Iris comments

“Where’s your evidence at. It takes more than the word of someone who crushed my arm, who I don’t even know if you’re still recovering from the effects of your drunken rampage” Shawn replied.

Iris walked away before returning with the bottle in hand. “Read it” She said to him softly. Despite the slight resentment she felt from Shawn not believing her, her guilt was more overpowering. Shawn read the warning, just as Iris did.

“So, you knew and you still drank it. Leaving me at the mercy of your drunken self!?” Shawn exclaims, reading this “I could have died!”

“Maybe if you’d let me explain!” Iris yelled before shying away.

Shawn realized this was getting him nowhere “Listen, I’ll forgive you if you un-enslave me and let me go home, alright?”

“You can’t go home” Iris replied, voice slightly cold.

“What do you mean I can’t go home!?” Shawn asked

“When I brought you here, it was a one way trip. It is true, I lied to you. I deceived you a bit.” Iris began “They would never let me send you back. Even if I wanted to.”

“Who is they, and why can’t I be sent back?” Shawn asked

“They is the ones who rule this land. They sent me on a mission to collect information from Earth. We have one simple rule on scouting missions like this. Anything that we take with us can never go back. We can never let any species know of our advancements. We have technology that could devastate entire universes. End billions of lives. There are empires who’d use that stuff willy-nilly until they blew up everything in sight” Iris answers

“Suppose that makes sense. But, why even bring me here?” Shawn commented. His hopes of going home had been crushed. Iris scared him half to death as he looked upon her. But, as much as he resented it, he had to deal with it.

Iris teared up a little. “The life of someone like me is pretty lonely. Sure, we have the nice place, we occasionally have the nice parties with all the other heroes of our people, but this is the female only sector. Most of the men here don’t think they’re at our level, since most are never really in the specific category I’m in. I’m a scout, sort of perched right between being too low for a political leader, but far too high for anyone common. As a result, since there are really no male scouts, I would likely live a life without a companion. And, when I grew attached to you, it reminded me of how lonely I’d be here. I didn’t want to be lonely.” A few tears streaked down her face “I sort of, developed feelings for you. Even if I shouldn’t have…”

Shawn wanted to be mad. She had tore off his arm. But, he couldn’t bare to see anyone cry about being lonely. After all, he’d spent most of his life lonely, it wasn’t fun. “You promise you won’t let something like what happened with my arm happen again?” He asked

Iris got on her knees, looking onto the the table. “I promise, I promise.”

“Will you never drink again?” Shawn asked

“I will never drink another ounce of alcohol so long as I live” Iris replied

“Will you ever be able to take me to Earth again?” Shawn asked

Iris looked down “I cannot promise you that, but if I am ever given the chance to take you to Earth, I shall”

Shawn sighed “Then, I guess I can forgive you. But, you’re going to have to re-earn my trust.” He flexed his robotic arm. “This is going to have to take some getting used to”

Iris bore a slight smirk “Thank you Shawn, you don’t know how much this means to me”

Shawn thought for a few seconds before pointing at her “Wait! Are you going to treat me more like a slave or a companion?”

Iris paused “I mean, if you’re thinking make you do whatever I say, likely not. I won’t demand you to satisfy me or anything. I promise that was only a drunk thing. Slave is really just a title, you’re more like my tiny little friend that I’m going to take care of”

Shawn sighed in relief “Good, I think I could adjust to that. Just bear in mind, it may take a while”

Iris nods “Of course. I understand. What happened to you last night must have been traumatic. I’ll do whatever I can to help you get over it”

“I suppose I should start by stepping on your hand” Shawn comments, as Iris’s palm opened up on the table. Shawn stepped forward, and though his feet moved onward, his mind begged him to turn. To throw himself off the table and end it. To just do something to spite her. But, he couldn’t force himself to do such things as the nightmares of last night haunted him. The visions took over what was actually happening as he carried forward, but he was unrelenting. He gently touched the flesh that had both treasured and tormented him and used his strength to get onto her opened palm. After this, he took a huge breath and looked up at Iris’s face. It still scared him, but he could see the kindness he had seen when the two had first met. It was a small set in what was likely to be many in his new life. He hated that he had to accept it, but it was the only choice he had.

“Feeling better?” Iris asked

“A little” Shawn replied

Iris began to take him into the main room. “Shawn, I do have one thing I have to tell you. There is one slave like thing I do need you to do”

Shawn twitched with fear “What is it, my queen?” He said before smacking himself. “Sorry, instincts from last night”

“As is the normal in my culture, I have to host a small party. They’re likely going to expect you to be a butler to them as for me as well. I apologize in advance. It’s not something I want, but if I don’t do it, I’ll be stripped of status and likely lose you as well.” Iris commented

“I’ll do my best” Shawn commented, sinking as far as he could in Iris’s palm. He was visibly shaking.

“Shawn, we’re going to have to work together. I promise you, I’m going to do all I can to keep you safe. You’re going to have to trust me and do exactly as I say.” Iris comments, with Shawn nodding nervously. “If you disobey, my guests might expect me to take action. I won’t, and if I refuse, some of them might find it necessary to do so instead.” She then looks out the window. “Specifically, my sister…”