Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 262: Fuel for the Fire

It was amazingly infuriating just how thick the metal on the doors was. But finally, Jyren’s lightsaber finished cutting a hole about the right size for him to get through. Kicking the slab of metal inwards, Jyren immediately watched as Shadow, sans-lightsaber as far as he could tell, fell back into an open door. Ket’s sword was moving in a blur as he moved in after her.

Calling on the Force yet again, Jyren ran as fast as he could, lightsaber held up and ready to simply cleave Halpak into two pieces. It took barely a fraction of a second to reach the other end of the corridor, but Jyren caught sight of a sudden flash of movement from Ket. He had...turned his head just slightly. And a second later Jyren’s danger sense screamed at him. Instinct took over when his legs forced his body to stop moving, and both his arms extended to catch himself on the door that suddenly slammed shut in front of him.

At the speed he was going, that wasn’t nearly enough to stop himself, and so his face still hit the metal door. When the dizziness passed, Jyren cursed and glanced to a panel near the door that was cut and still spewing out sparks. He didn’t have to know how these systems worked to know the door was jammed. And the only way it could possibly have closed that quickly was if Ket had used the Force to close it on his own.

As he pulled back to begin cutting through a second door, the blue-green glow of his lightsaber bounced off of something near the corner of the room. Jyren glanced down to see the hilt of Shadow’s weapon sitting there. Now far too angry to even reach down and pick it up the old fashioned way, Jyren simply used the Force to call the second blade into his hand, activating it immediately.

Growling yet another curse, he dug both of the lightsaber blades so far into the door that he could only see the hilts. He was halfway through the door when a jolt of pain shot through his shoulder, and it took Jyren another short moment to realize it had been felt through the link. But he wasn’t dead...that counted for something at this point.

A hole was cut into the door within the next few seconds, and Jyren didn’t even bother to kick it in, instead simply charging through himself. And when he got through, he stopped.

“Sithspit,” Jyren cursed under his breath, finding no sign of Ket or Shadow at all. The room looked to be some kind of square shaped mess hall, with oddly shaped benches and chairs strewn about here and there. And there were four other doors beyond the one he’d entered from. Four doors, all closed, and absolutely no clue at all to which one Shadow and Ket had gone through.

[Which way?!] he shot the thought through the link with an ice that usually only came from Shadow. No response came. Shadow was obviously too busy defending herself to actually give Jyren any kind of clue to where he needed to be so he could stop being so useless. Angrily, Jyren kicked a nearby chair across the room.

The Force was providing no clue at all, which to Jyren could only mean that Ket was hiding their presence just to keep Jyren away. He didn’t stop to consider the possibility that he was far too angry to focus long enough. Didn’t, wouldn’t, and at this point, couldn’t. This was his fight as much as it was Shadow’s now, and he knew exactly why Ket was splitting them up...but that didn’t mean Jyren liked it at all. Besides, now that he wasn’t trying to stay alive, he actually had time to think about it.

Jyren picked a door off to the left. He ran over to it, half ready to simply cut the damned thing through right away. But seeing a small panel that looked to be intact, Jyren used the Force to hit a small switch that was there. In an amazing moment, the door actually opened. Jyren found himself looking down a small corridor that looked to end about twenty odd meters down in a T-shaped junction. Heading that direction in a run, he deactivated Shadow’s lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. He was not in the mood to deal with the both of them.

Reaching the end, he looked both directions. To the right was another long corridor with a bunch of doors on both sides at what looked to be regular intervals. On the left it looked the same...but he could swear there was a long gash in one of the walls. At any other time, Jyren would have grinned. This time, however, he simply headed that direction as fast as he could, glancing at each of the doors as he passed and looking for more marks or any other signs of where they had been. Wherever they were, they were moving very quickly.

But soon he found himself heading for the door that was at the end of the corridor. There, he opened it the way it was meant to be open instead of pried open via lightsaber. When the door hissed open, it revealed an absolutely gigantic chamber that Jyren could only think was a hangar. There was a catwalk in front of him that ran parallel to the corridor that came to an abrupt end. A couple of other catwalks crisscrossed an area at least ten meters above the deck below, which was empty except for pieces of equipment that were probably involved in fueling, loading, and similar tasks. And on either side up on the catwalk level were two large rooms with big windows that looked to be control rooms. Jyren somehow missed the absence of an entrance to space.

He missed that fact because of a sound. A loud crash off towards the right had his eyes darting across the catwalk to two familiar figures. Shadow had been backed into a corner at the far end of the hangar, but quickly ducked and rolled under a strike at her neck, grabbing the meager railing on the other side and using it to swing down before dropping the entire distance down to the deck below.

When Ket started to follow her, Jyren charged to intercept, “Hey!”

It was stupid to announce an entrance like that, but if Ket hadn’t heard Jyren’s footsteps charging across the catwalk then the Alraxian had gone deaf. Ket turned to face him, and had a half second to bring his metal sword up to parry a very strong attack from Jyren’s lightsaber. The chipped sword caught Jyren’s blade before Ket put all his strength into throwing Jyren back. It didn’t send him back anymore than a single step, but it was enough for Ket to jump completely over Jyren and slash at his back.

This time, Jyren wasn’t fast enough to defend himself. The pain of the metal sword slicing across his back was dulled by the anger that had been building up for the last few minutes. Jyren let out a growl, but that was his only reaction except for turning to swing his lightsaber in a long arc meant to remove Ket’s legs from the rest of his body. Ket against parried this, but then suddenly his head jerked forward from a strong punch that Shadow delivered from the rear. It was the only time they were able to really surprise Ket. The Alraxian recovered from the shock of the strike and it was immediately back to the frantic series of strikes against the two Alraxians currently flanking him. Slowly, Jyren was being backed into the same corner Shadow had been in, but he took a turn to continue backing up towards the nearby control room.

He was on the defense for a reason. Yes, he had seen Shadow literally deflect Ket’s metal sword with only her arms, but Jyren did not at all like seeing(or feeling) that, so he was doing his best to keep his attacks in rapid succession so that Ket’s sword was always on him. Not that Ket left himself open, but it allowed Shadow more flexibility in her own defenses, which were getting stronger and more vicious with every passing second.

The Force flowed through all of them, strengthening tired limbs and soothing pained injuries...all the while pushing them harder and harder. For Shadow and Ket, it was controlled and used as they had been taught all those years ago. For Jyren, however, it was fueled by the annoyance and anger at everything Ket had done...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 263: It'll Be Okay

The control room within the large hangar was almost identical to those Jyren was used to seeing. Consoles everywhere, a few chairs attached here and there, and just enough room to allow for commanders and other higher-ups to move in and crowd the place. And despite the fact that this was scaled for the much larger Mrrakesh, it was still not designed for any kind of fighting. Even the corridors of the ship hadn’t taken the beating that the control room had taken in only a minute.

Two consoles were simply destroyed masses of burnt and smoking metal, and at least one chair had been reduced to half its original size. Another console took a strong hit, this time from Shadow’s fist and so only was dented(though severely) as Ket ducked under the swing at his face and returned the attack with a kick to Shadow’s gut. The force of the blow sent her back two steps before she hit the console covered wall behind her with a loud metallic thud.

Ket did not follow up on his attack, however, as his attention immediately reversed direction to parry a lightsaber strike from Jyren. Ket’s metal sword caught the bright glowing lightsaber before batting it up and out of the way(and, of course, it then cut across the ceiling and the top of one corner of the wall). But again, Ket was unable to press any kind of attack as Shadow had recovered and was after him again.

His arm was up to block another swipe at his face, and then he quickly twisted to the side to avoid a kick. This time, though, he did not turn to allow Jyren to distract him. Instead, Ket spun his sword around before swinging it inwards at Shadow’s extended leg. She did not have the time to avoid the strike, and then there was a sudden extremely sharp pain that shot up through her leg as the sword cut all the way to the bone. Even though she quickly remorphed the deep cut when the blade was removed, the shock of the intense pain was still there, and caused a momentary lapse in Shadow’s(and Jyren’s, due to the link, as he had nearly fallen over from the shock going through his own leg) actions.

Ket was not one to simple allow such an advantage to simply disappear. Not this time. He pulled his metal sword around again, and swung with all of his strength to take Shadow’s head off. It was the only surefire way to end this, and he had the chance...finally.

“NO!” the voice from behind Ket was so sharp and hate filled that for a moment, Ket swore there was a fourth in the room. Instinct jerked his head back to look, though the his metal blade still arced down towards Shadow’s neck. But it never reached its target. Ket had a short fraction of a second to see a mass of blue lightning explode out from behind him before he was hit and launched off of his feet. The lightning burned and tore at Ket’s flesh as it launched him through the glassteel(or something close to it) window overlooking the hangar below. There was a loud crack as his spine hit it and the entire thing shattered, and at least a few separate flashes and loud explosions from consoles that also had to have been hit by the searing hot energy.

And then the lights in the control room went out. Ket was still flying back from the impact of the lightning when he quickly realized he should have hit the hangar deck by then. He glanced down to note he had not actually dropped at all, then quickly realized that the artificial gravity had also been a casualty of the explosion of...whatever that was. But out of the darkness of the control room, there was movement. A blurry blue-green blade shimmered and spun around before Ket saw Jyren dive out after him, floating quickly and pulling his lightsaber back to swing with all his strength.

Unable to hold any footing, Ket simply reacted the only way he could and brought his metal blade up to parry Jyren’s strike. The lightsaber hit hard, so hard that it actually changed Ket’s direction and finally started to send him down. Jyren managed another quick and hard swing before he continued on in the other direction. Ket hit the deckplates fairly hard, but was able to right himself and turn to face Jyren’s direction. The young Alraxian had hit the wall at the same time Ket had ‘landed’, and had spun around to launch himself off of it and straight for Ket again.

Ket again blocked a vicious strike before Jyren’s entire body slammed into him. The momentum sent the two of them to the opposite side of the hangar, and in another second Ket hit the wall hard, with Jyren slamming the other Alraxian into it even harder for good measure. And out of the corner of his eye, Ket saw the blue-green light moving fast...too fast for him to be able to do anything about it.

“Jyren, don’t!!” Shadow’s voice yelled out from a position where she was floating in an attempt to get to them. But only Ket heard her. His eyes looked over Jyren and straight to Shadow in the last second before the bright lightsaber made his entire world go white before it became nothing at all. Ket Halpak felt no pain when Jyren’s lightsaber removed his head.

Shadow reached one wall and then pushed off of it to reach Jyren, doing her best to avoid looking over to the now free floating head. She stopped herself by latching onto Jyren’s shoulders, immediately growling into his ears, “What are you doing?!”

She then noticed he hadn’t actually moved. His arm was still across his body, lightsaber glowing after its finishing strike, with his other gripping Ket’s tunic tightly. And he was shaking. The sudden panic that shot through the link drowned out the anger that had risen in Shadow at Jyren’s actions. Part of her still wanted to scream at him...to yell at him for something he didn’t need to do. But another part that had been kept hidden away for a very long time resurfaced and she embraced him as best she could to try to calm him down. Quietly, she whispered, “It’s okay...it’ll be okay...it's over now...”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 264: Aftermath

It took an eternity, but finally, Shadow managed to get Jyren responding again. After an even longer time she got him away from the hangar and they headed back to what was definitely the main bridge. It wasn’t all over. There was still the matter of the war droids. But it took far too long to actually reach the bridge again, as Shadow was forced to nearly carry Jyren the entire way. She was ignoring the burn marks and cuts across the walls as she retraced their steps. This was not the time to dwell on what had happened...at least, not for her. One of them had to remain focused.

Reaching the still lightless bridge nearly a half an hour after Ket had been killed, Shadow looked around to attempt and identify things. But the few consoles she could see under the windows were nothing like she was used to. It was nearly identical to the controls of the ships in the rest of the galaxy...something Jyren should be familiar with.

“Hey,” she said quietly, poking him in the side as she took his arm off of her shoulder. She turned to face him and looked up into eyes that were far too out of focus for him to be actually seeing, “Hey...come on, Jyren. I need your help.”

He didn’t react, and so she attempted another strategy. [We don’t have time for this now. Please...wake up, Jyren.]

His eyes glanced down to her, and though she didn’t feel like it, she forced a weak smile on her face. Shadow was no expert on making anyone feel any better, but at this point, she wasn’t above at least trying. When she came to decide he was finally paying attention, she motioned over to one of the center consoles under the largest of the window sections, “I need you to bring the systems online. Find out what you can about the rest of these ships and how many droids there are.”

Slowly, Jyren nodded, and she helped him over to the console. For a moment, he just stared at it, but then seemed to find the right thing and hit a couple of switches. On the window, a series of glowing symbols appeared. Jyren looked up and stared at it with confusion on his face. Shadow ignored it a moment and instead focused on trying to remember how to read Mrrakesh. It had been a long time.

“The middle one,” Shadow said, pointing to it but not actually touching the window. Jyren glanced from her and then to the symbols. After a moment, he reached up and touched it, and the entire ‘screen’ shimmered before another series of symbols and a couple vertical bars appeared.

Looking it over, Shadow relayed the information, “I think the ships are all slaved to this one.”

“And the droids?” Jyren’s voice was almost surprising to hear, as it was the first thing he’d actually said for over half an hour.

“It looks like these are all of the ships...” Shadow trailed off a moment and sighed, “I think they’re all here.”

Though he didn’t say anything else, Shadow picked up on a thought that appeared through the chaos that was still engulfing the link. Latching onto it and making sense of it, she nodded, “Can you plot the course?”

Jyren looked up at the odd symbols, “Read them for me.”

It took another half hour. After confirming that all of the ships were definitely slaved together, the only trouble was reading through the subsections to find the way to plot courses and then Jyren was able to work things out from there. When it was done, his eyes shifted from focusing on the symbols to the nearby Alraxian star.

“It will take an hour,” Jyren spoke very quietly as the scene outside the viewport began to shift.

They stood there in silence then, Jyren simply staring out as the star came into the center of the viewport. Shadow watched it a moment before sighing to herself and looking over to Jyren. The obvious things had been solved...but there was still a handful of others that needed to be dealt with. Later, though.

“Lets go,” she said, bringing an arm around his waist to walk him back to where the X-Wing was. Even for Shadow, the next few things were simply a blur. Unimportant and easily glazed over as her mind was dwelling on the other things. The next thing she knew they were back in the X-Wing and she was shakily flying them out of the hole and back to Alraxia below. Thankfully, none of the ships around them fired their weapons, but that was one of the smaller things Shadow had made sure was disabled while the course for the ships was set. She could fly the thing straight, at least.

“They’ll come for the ships, won’t they?” Jyren’s voice made her jump, as it broke the(admittedly uncomfortable) silence without any warning.

Though she had a slight idea of what he meant, Shadow was not ready to believe he’d been digging through all her thoughts just yet, “What do you mean?”

“The Mrrakesh,” he clarified in the same deadpan, half-whispered tone, “They’re going to come for these ships.”

“They’ll come for more than that,” she whispered, now angry at herself for not hiding those thoughts in the link. It was not something he needed to worry about. It was her problem. She was the Empress now.

But Jyren also quickly picked up on what she had hinted at, “An alliance?”

“That’s what they’ll call it,” Shadow said with a slow nod as the X-Wing slowly began its descent through the planet’s upper atmosphere, “But the Empire will just become a property of their Coalition.”

She said ‘the Empire’...she meant herself. But at this point, those two were one in the same. Jyren let out a long sigh, the loudest noise he’d made yet, “And there’s nothing we can do?”

“It will ensure peace,” Shadow whispered, trying to convince herself of that as much as anyone else.

“So make your people slaves instead of letting Halpak slaughter them?”

Blunt words...forceful, and with a touch of venom attached. Especially in the ‘your people’ part. Especially since Jyren sure as Hell meant himself more than anyone else. It silenced Shadow for a long time. Even though it was utterly tactless, he was right. He was right and she knew it before he’d even said it. She turned to look over the mountains below as they passed over them. There had to be a way...some loophole or...

Her mind latched onto something. An idea that would be pushing everything, but could possibly work. In front of her, she saw Jyren’s ears swivel back in her direction. Obviously, he picked up on it through the link. So very quietly, she said, “I have an idea...”

Like everything through the entire flight, the majority of the conversation was held through the link. Emotions and feelings relayed the necessary information far better than any words could.

“And...you’re sure it would work?” Jyren finally asked, sounding more like his old self again. There was at least a genuine sense of surprise, bordering on shock, that was seeping into his tone.

Shadow shook her head, “I’m not but...”

“But its worth a try.”

She nodded. It was worth a try. Was worth a try and... “It would make our people feel stronger if we are all unified.”

“So this is going to have to be public?” Jyren nearly whimpered. So he was as worried about it as she was.

But again, Shadow could only nod, “I don’t like that anymore than you do...but after everything that has happened and all that we’ve said and done...they expect it anyway. And we’ll have to no matter what...my mother would have...have seen to it...”

Jyren nodded slowly, and then mumbled very quietly, “So do we get to start using my name or are we still stuck with BlueIce?”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 265: Home Again

The Palace was still a mess. But thankfully, the handful of Tam’day’u were clearing the building of war droids level by level. They were amazing to watch. Coldly efficient...like watching a dozen Shadows. Jyren had sat and watched quietly on a viewscreen of sorts that the Palace Guards had set up, but finally turned away and walked out to a nearby balcony to look over the rest of the Palace.

Shadow stood back and watched him quietly for a few minutes before going back to the guard and making sure everything was going smoothly. She didn’t mean the Tam’day’u, of course, as she knew that was working fine. Instead, she was inquiring about the course of Ket’s fleet and the return of many of the Kanyaks from the Alraxian ‘fleet’, if it could be called that. Slowly, everything was returning to something close to normal.

At least something things were...others...Shadow sighed. Others didn’t look like they would ever go back to anywhere near normal. Obvious things like the simple fact that she was now Empress were surprisingly easy to get used to. It was the smaller things...and, mostly, it was Jyren. Other than that very short conversation aboard the X-Wing, he’d been silent. The link was being blocked, too...that was the most worrying part. Time and time again he’d yelled at her for doing exactly that, and now he was doing it. She wished her mother was there. She would know what to do...what to say...

Running a hand through her hair, Shadow sighed again and looked past all of the guards and other people to the balcony where Jyren was. Never in her life had Shadow ever expected to actually miss her mother. Her father...of course, but the Empress? She’d been so...so...she’d been exactly what Shadow had needed. At the time, it was impossible to see that, but even she had been a child once.

Shadow. That in itself was childish. A name given to her by the smugglers all those years ago. And yes, she had been Shadow. The clone was Shadow...but...but ever since merging with Marix she knew that it was impossible to ignore the simple fact that she was Marix BlueIce. That was going to be even more true now. Shadow was not the Empress. In fact, only Jyren knew her by that name here. Marix was the one who was supposed to lead these people. She was the one who was supposed to be doing all of this...and truthfully, when it came right down to it, Marix was not all that different from Shadow, especially now that the two personalities had been given time to merge to the point where there wasn’t any extra internal arguments.

So says you now. Marix’s voice popped into her mind right on cue.

Shadow rolled her eyes. You’re just being difficult.

There was no response of any tangible nature to that. If a Knight hadn’t stepped over to alert her to the arrival a large portion of the Kanyaks, the little debate might have gone farther. But now there were things to set her mind to, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a familiar profile stepping out onto the balcony to where Jyren was. Hopefully that would help, as she couldn’t think of anything to do anymore.

* * * *​

Navik Keros slowly walked over to where his son stood leaning on the cream white balcony and looking out over the expansive Palace. He had arrived barely five minutes earlier, having immediately tracked down Jyren the second he heard his son was there. He wanted to embrace the boy right away, but while Navik was no expert with the Force, he was intelligent enough to read emotions that were plainly obvious.

So, instead, he simply stopped next to his son and also leaned forward on the balcony. Jyren didn’t even seem to react. After waiting a moment and receiving no form of acknowledgment, Navik attempted to see if the boy hadn’t gone deaf, “I’m glad you’re alright, son.”

Jyren tilted his head and glanced over to his father out of the corner of his eye. Well, at least that was something. Carefully, Navik reached over and resting a hand on his son’s shoulder, “Jyren, you’ve averted an all out war and saved our people...gods, you even got the girl! What’s wrong?”

That seemed to at least slightly get through, as Jyren finally turned away from the view and looked to his father. He opened his mouth to say something, but Navik could see him lose the words. Jyren sighed, closed his eyes, and then reached to his belt. Still without a word, he removed the lightsaber and extended it to his father.

Again, Navik did not need the Force to get the idea, and shook his head before firmly saying, “No, Jyren. I won’t take it. That was your mother’s gift to you, and you know how important that is far better than I do.”

“And I don’t deserve it!” Jyren yelled suddenly, and loud enough that all conversation in the adjoining room silenced as heads turned to see what was going on. Most of them didn’t understand Basic, but the volume was enough to get attention.

Navik Keros held his calm voice as he again shook his head, “No, son...you do deserve that. Your mother would be proud of everything you have done...of the man you’ve grown to be. I am proud of that. And, if the rumors I have heard are correct, Marix is, too.”

It almost got through. Almost...but Jyren was so much like his mother. Stubborn to the end. This time, he forced the hilt of the lightsaber into his father’s hand, “I don’t! I’ve misused that damned weapon enough!”

Knowing that pushing anymore would simply make things worse, Navik very slowly took the weapon from his son’s hands. Then, somewhat abruptly, he embraced Jyren tightly. Very quietly, Navik said, “I am proud of you, Jyren. I just wish your mother was here to say the same.”

He then turned let go of the slightly shorter Jyren before turning and walking back into the main room to find the Empress. Yes, there were many other things that were probably very important, but right now, it was his son that mattered right now. His damned stubborn son. Navik could only hope that Marix didn’t kill Jyren for that...the Force knew his mother had driven Navik insane because of that more times than he could count.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 266: Changes to Come

Shadow had spent a chaotic and long hour trying to figure out what to do with the Empire. She wanted to avoid it...but it wasn’t something that could be avoided, especially after an attack on Alraxia and the death of her mother. But at least most Alraxians were alive and, generally, well. But now they were no longer hidden. It was obvious now that the coordinates for their homeworld would no longer be hidden from the Mrrakesh as it had been for thousands of years before. And it meant they were vulnerable...and so the people looked to her right away for something that she didn’t know how to provide: safety.

At least the Palace was nearly clear of those war droids now. The Tam’day’u were at the lowest levels now, and slowly the reports were seeping through the network of their exploits. It was at least doing something to improve their image among the ‘normal’ Alraxians, though many were still obviously terrified of the idea of trained killers running free in the Palace...even though they didn’t know that the new Empress was one of those trained killers.

And she had made some important decisions. Shadow was proud of that, but at the same time wasn’t completely sure how they would go over with the people of the Empire. And then, rather conveniently, she ran into Jyren’s father. Or rather, he ran into her.

For a half second, the older Alraxian looked like he was going to apologize, but when he realized who it was he’d nearly barreled over in the hallway, he stopped and grabbed her arm rough enough to cause the guards following Shadow to start reacting. Shadow nearly reacted violently, too, but when she caught something in Navik’s expression, she quickly waved the guards back and let him drag her to a more private section of the hallway.

“You were looking for me?” Shadow asked slowly, glancing down to where he was still gripping her arm. Not that it hurt, of course.

Navik Keros nodded before releasing her arm, “I am...sorry if you’re busy.”

“No,” she said shaking her head, “I could use a break. How do you do this all day?”

“You get used to it...” he responded with a shrug. He was an ambassador, yes, but that was close enough to what she was doing to be worth asking questions like that to. But instead of him saying anything about why he was looking for her, Navik went silent. In fact, she did, too. Both had a few thousand things to say but neither could think of what to say or when.

Finally, Shadow spoke up, “Listen, I wanted to ask you a few favors.”

“A few?” Navik raised an eyebrow and his ears swivelled around slightly.

She nodded, “You are a diplomat and uh...the only one I know. I want to ask you for some help on some important things we’re going to need to do in the wake of what’s happened today.”

A very neutral, or rather, diplomatic, expression passed over the older Alraxian’s face. For a long moment, he studied her. Then, finally, said, “You are going to leave, aren’t you?”

Shadow was stunned, so much so she wasn’t able to hide the look on her face. He hadn’t even used the Force for that. She’d have noticed that! Then how...? No, that didn’t matter. And so, Shadow slowly nodded, “I...I am not ready to be Empress. And Jyren is not ready for this either...we also...have something we must do in the other part of the galaxy.”

“So what do you need me to do?” Navik asked after another moment. He seemed to accept her reasoning without any questioning at all, but of all people, it wasn’t too surprising he seemed to understand. She barely knew him, to be honest, but she could tell he wasn’t completely daft.

“Obviously, I’ll still be Empress even if I’m not actually here...but...” Shadow paused a moment to try and find a good way to explain things before giving up, “The one person that would sit here in charge in my place I refuse to allow to rule. She has...already betrayed us enough to get that power and I will not give it to her willingly. You know the leaders of the other species within the Empire...I...I want you to set up a Council.”

That got a reaction from Navik. His eyes widened and there was a look of surprise plainly obvious before he said quietly, “You know that what you are saying sounds very much like the old prophecies and stories, yes?”

Shadow nodded and couldn’t help a slight grin, “That’s where I uh...got the idea.”

Navik smiled and laughed slightly, “It is a good idea, and I will do what I can. But that still does not solve all of the problems. I hear the Mrrakesh know where this planet is...you know as well as I do they will hunt us down unless...”

“Unless I marry their Prince,” Shadow grumbled, “Yes, I know.”

Silence. Navik stared at her as he waited for her explanation as she most definitely had a plan to get out of that...he could see it in her eyes. And finally, Shadow glanced back to the guards who were staring from a distance with questioning gazes before turning back to Jyren’s father, “We need more Knights...and they need to be more than simply border patrol.”

Navik Keros caught on to her train of thought immediately, “The Curs—...the Tam’day’u, yes? You are suggesting we build an army?”

“No!’ Shadow snapped suddenly, “No army! I...I know it will sound like that, but it cannot be. You know that as well as I do. The Tam’day’u can easily train Knights in combat techniques necessary in defending our people from the Mrrakesh. Building a defense force is something we can’t ignore at all. Especially not now. They will come.”

“So you don’t plan to marry their Prince?”

“Of course not,” she responded immediately and then calmed her tone, “I’ve found a loophole...I will...Jyren and I...”

When she trailed off and shuffled her feet while turning a slight red colour, Navik smiled and reached over to put a hand on her shoulder(which made the guards nearly jump), “From what I have seen, the two of you will be fine...you shouldn’t be embarrassed.”

Biting her lip, Shadow very slowly nodded as she stared down at her feet, “Well um...the Mrrakesh, as I think you probably know...they wouldn’t have a problem with that. They’d just ignore it and move on. Jyren would be thrown aside or simply killed and I and the Empire would just become property of the Mrrakesh. But if Jyren and I...if we ah...before the Mrrakesh arrive...our people will not allow anything like that to happen.”

Navik’s smile grew. She was right. The Mrrakesh had no problem with Shadow already having a mate at all. That situation was easy to deal with, as Jyren could be killed or Shadow could simply be taken away without any trouble. And, in fact, they likely would have been able to do it while her mother was still Empress. But now Shadow was the Empress of the Alraxian Empire. She was the figurehead, and the Alraxian that all the others in the Empire looked to. And Alraxians did not have more than one mate. It was why Kato fought so hard to get Jyren. If Shadow and Jyren were publicly married and the news was spread across the Network right away, it would be impossible for the Mrrakesh to do anything without causing an incident...and, amazingly enough, they would likely want to avoid such a thing as much as the Alraxians...especially if the Alraxian Knights were better trained and armed.

“You will make a strong Empress one day,” Navik said, squeezing her shoulder softly and nodding, “Until then, please just continue to be a strong woman like your mother and keep my son safe.”

As he spoke, he extended metallic object in his other hand to Shadow. She looked down to see Jyren’s lightsaber and then gave Navik a confused look, “That’s...Jyren’s, right?”

He nodded, “He gave it to me, yelling that he didn’t deserve to have it. He is so much like his mother...I...I know when not to fight that stubborn attitude. If that is also any indication of how much he is like her, then I can promise you he’ll be wishing he had this later...so I think it might be a good idea if you held it for him.”

That brought a smile to Shadow’s face and she nodded as she took the hilt of the lightsaber, “That sounds like Jyren. I’m sorry that he acted like that to you...I don’t know what to say to him.”

“Just talk with him,” the older Alraxian said quietly while nodding past her in a very unsubtle way, “As I said, Jyren is...is just like his mother. Its amazing how much of her I see in him. He acts just like her. If you just go and talk with him plainly he’ll probably tell you what’s wrong.”

“Tell him plainly?” Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow very slightly and tilting her head, “Tell me his mother didn’t have as thick a skull as he does?”

Navik laughed and nodded, “Sadly, he got that from me.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 267: Control

Sometimes, it seemed like days would never end. This one, in particular, was the longest day that Shadow could ever remember. One thing to another...from Nine, to Kyren, to saving Jyren’s tail, to Ket, to putting the Empire back together, and now to dealing with Jyren being his impossible, moody self. She was honestly amazed that she hadn’t simply killed him after a few minutes of his attitude...or lack there of.

Maybe that was because he at least seemed to be listening to her, even if he wasn’t responding in any way, shape, or form. She had explained her ideas on what to do with the government of the Empire and the improvement of the Knights...not to mention something more important to Shadow: bringing the Tam’day’u back into Alraxian society. It wasn’t something she had outright mentioned to Navik, but it had been at least hinted at enough that she hoped he had gotten the point.

But it didn’t take long for her to have said everything. At first she attempted to simply give him a chance to finally say something, so she turned to look out across the Palace grounds from the balcony next to him. But the link simply stayed just as silent as the rest of him. He was just acting childish now, and she knew it. Trying to make a point. Or...or get sympathy. Or...or...she didn’t have a damned idea!

“Stop sulking like some damned child!” Shadow suddenly growled, punching his shoulder in a very unfriendly fashion.

It got his attention, though when he opened his mouth she already knew exactly what he was about to say, “I’m so—“

”NO!” Shadow snapped, almost screaming at him and ignoring the fact that they were probably being watched by so many Alraxians,. Claws extended now, she grabbed his shoulder and dug them in to yank him around and face her, “If you even attempt to finish that I swear I’ll throw you off this balcony right now!”

To his credit, Jyren’s only audible reaction was a sharp intake of breath to go with the wide eyed look frozen on his face...probably at least partially due to the very sharp claws that were dug completely into his shoulder. After giving him ten seconds to make sure he made the correct choice, Shadow’s voice quieted, though her tone in no way lightened, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

There was silence, but Shadow had at least expected it. She knew he wouldn’t open up that quickly, but instead of pushing him she simply left her claws in her skin as a reminder that he wouldn’t be able to ignore. And then, finally, his mouth changed from the gaping shock that had remained there and began to form words...it took Jyren’s voice another few seconds to finally start working, “I...I screwed up...”

“Damn right, you did!” she growled in response right away, but slowly retracted her claws. Her hand remorphed from the clawed form to the normal hand, but it remained on his shoulder...a softness contrasting so much with her voice that it left Jyren horribly confused. And Shadow could feel it...which meant he was opening up the link again.

But Jyren didn’t argue. He slowly looked down to the floor under them and nodded. He did not say anything, though, and it became obvious that Shadow was going to have to push him some more. But instead of yelling at him, she took a careful, if not slightly awkward, step closer so that he couldn’t simply look down between them and had to actually look at her. Calmly, in a voice that was not at all Shadow and very much Marix, she said, “If you try to keep everything hidden away again you’ll end up right where you were after Mare died.”

The shock and pain that shot through the link was no surprise was exactly what Shadow had expected...and hoped for. She may have been a twice trained killer and assassin, but Shadow knew that many times physical attacks were not the most effective. Anger faded quickly from the link as Jyren actually began to accept that she was telling the truth. He was doing the same thing...just like before...just like...

“And don’t even try apologizing now, either,” Shadow said quietly, cutting into his thoughts before they even reached that point.

He took a deep breath and, again, nodded slowly, “I couldn’t...couldn’t...I don’t know! I just...reacted. Just like you told me to...but I couldn’t...I don’t...didn’t...I couldn’t control it...and you were about to be...”

“So you don’t think I can protect myself without your help?” Shadow asked, cutting into his thoughts again to something that had been driving her crazy about him for a very long time now.

“No! I...no...” he sighed and attempted to find words despite the fact that he was cornered and had no escape.

Shadow at least spared him the humiliation of going on further with it and instead got straight to the point, “I am not helpless, Jyren. I do not need you to protect me at every turn,” she paused a moment to let it sink in before adding, “And you aren’t either...and don’t need me to protect you.”

To her surprise, Jyren’s mind didn’t even think about apologizing this time. He simply nodded again. Shadow watched him for a long moment before letting out a long breath, “You made a mistake, and a serious one at that. Ket was much more valuable alive than headless. But its too late for that now. What is done is done, and we will deal with it...together.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?” Jyren asked slowly, searching her eyes for some hint but finding nothing at all, “You can just completely ignore that I lost control and murdered Ket. You can completely ignore that I enjoyed it! I don’t have your control! I can’t...I...dammit, maybe you’re right and there isn’t a Dark Side, but how do you explain what I did, then?!”

Shadow waited a very short moment before responding, “I never said there wasn’t a Dark Side. What I said was that the Dark Side is not some evil, external force...it is in you. Your lack of control is exactly the problem. But you can learn control, Jyren. Don’t you understand that? You have fallen...and yes, you can lay there on the ground and just crawl away, or you can get back up and learn from your mistake.”

“I still can’t under—“

She cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth and shaking her head, “I know this is a lot to ask...but can we please let this go for now? I’m a bit...overwhelmed right now with everything else and it would be very nice to have one less thing.”

Silence. Then, slowly, Jyren nodded again, and Shadow could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a smile tugging at his face. Still in a quiet voice, Jyren said, “Thank you.”

For some reason, Shadow could not fight back a smile, no matter how out of place it seemed to be in such a day, “You know that’s something you never, ever have to say to me.”

It amazed Shadow how good it made her feel when a smile appeared on Jyren’s face finally, “I know...but when has that ever stopped me?”

“You were smart enough not to apologize just a few minutes ago,” Shadow said with a grin as she nodded to the balcony off to their side.

He laughed somewhat nervously, “You would have actually thrown me off the balcony, too, wouldn’t you?”

There was no pause at all, only an honest nod from Shadow, “You know you didn’t need to ask that...” she trailed off then, and slowly realized that it probably hadn’t been the best thing to end on. And so, linking her arm with his, Shadow tugged Jyren slightly towards the room again, “Come on. I think your father deserves better treatment than you gave him.”

((A couple things...first, sporadic updates are due to the fact that I'm not at home(sadly, not at GenCon either) for this week. Second, this part is, if you couldn't tell, drawing to a close. When it reaches that point, I'm going to be slowing down from a daily(or close to it) posting schedule to something likely to be every other day. Why is this? Well, I'm going to be starting another Star Wars Story Hour once this part is done...I'll post more about that as we get close to the end of this part.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 268: Almost Normal

Slowly, the daylight faded and the Alraxian star set below the horizon. As day turned to night, the remainder of the refugees from the Capital arrived at Alraxia and were given a place to stay within the protection of the Palace. There were whispers and rumors that spread throughout all of the people in the Palace about the Tam’day’u and the other changes that were coming. But somehow, things seemed to be returning to a state of normality...or at least, as close as things could ever come back to what the people considered ‘normal’.

Shadow looked out the small window next to the bed in her...their room. It was one of those few pieces of normal left. The room was unchanged, even after so many years of being away from it. And still, after such a long day with so many things that would never return to how they had been before, the room was the same. Part of her was at least slightly surprised that there had been no fuss about she and Jyren being moved to another room. She was Empress now, after all. And her mother had one of the most elaborate rooms in the entire Palace, if not the entire Empire. But, thankfully, there seemed to be more important things to do than moving the new Empress to a new room when there would probably be a long argument involved about it.

Through the window, she could see the lights across the section of the Palace she could see slowly going off. Good. If people could sleep, then that was definitely a good sign. Distantly, Shadow wondered if she would be able to. The rational part of her immediately answered that...yes, she would be able to sleep. Considering that the night before she had slept possibly an hour tops, she would definitely sleep.

But had it really only been a day? Or did that even matter? She could still very clearly remember the night ‘before’...back on the Capital with Jyren. It had been an amazing night. But then...then the chaos of the invasion afterwards. And then everything went blurry. Yes, there were short naps here and there during the entire day, but she hadn’t actually slept for...for...for however long it had been. Maybe it was only one day. One long, long day...

“You alright?” Jyren asked as he stepped out of the small washroom running a hand through his hair and tilting his head to see if there was anything particularly interesting that she was looking at outside the window.

Shadow glanced to him for a moment before looking back outside, “As much as I can be right now..” she trailed off, then quietly asked, “How long has it been?”

There was a short pause as Jyren used the link to figure out just what she meant. When he’d figured it out, it then took another moment for him to stop and really make sense of the blur of time. Then, finally, he had a rough answer, “Nearly...three days now.”

“Three days?!” Shadow didn’t bother to hide her surprise at that.

Jyren nodded slowly, “Close to it...you were...you were gone for a while. And we slept a good while back on the Capital before we got off the planet.”

She could find no worthwhile response to that, and simply nodded. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes as they simply enjoyed being able to be there together without having to worry about being killed. It was...calming. Amazingly calming, considering everything. As Jyren leaned over to carefully bring an arm around her, he picked up on a thought that darted through the link. That got a slight sigh out of him, and he said quietly to one of her ears, “We’re not done, are we?”

Shadow, still somewhat tense about the whole...Jyren...thing, very slowly returned the gesture and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Somewhat annoyed he had caught onto that thought, she shook her head, “We’re done today, Jyren. And...hopefully, for at least another week.”

“Its better than nothing,” he said after a moment. But, he knew as well as she did, that it wasn’t over, and there was still at least one loose end left to tie up away from the Alraxian Empire.

She nodded, and opened her mouth to voice her agreement, but stopped when she heard a sound. It was quiet...almost inaudible. Shadow’s ear that wasn’t currently against Jyren’s shoulder swivelled around to attempt to make sense of the noise she was sure she was definitely not imagining. She focused on the sound for a moment. Soft...near the door...near the floor, actually...almost like...like scratching. Constant. It kept...

“Oh gods,” she mumbled without even realizing she’d said anything. Jyren glanced down at her for a moment before picking up on the sound and then immediately knowing what it was.

Where she grumbled, he grinned and nudged her, “I’m going to let him in.”

It wasn’t surprising to hear Shadow sigh dramatically. She pulled away from him and looked up with that flat, slightly angry expression on her face. Of course, she didn’t say anything, as Shadow knew that her mouth would betray her and she’d say something nice. Jyren caught this and his grin only grew. This time, he nudged her over to the washroom, “Changing in there will at least buy you a few minutes.”

As he headed over to the door, Shadow quickly escaped into the adjoining washroom. The door closed just as Jyren opened the main one. It irised open to reveal Tobias, sitting there on the floor in the hallway and feebly pawing at the door. He didn’t look all that much better, but the fact that he was back in normal clothes and not stuck in a medical bed was extremely good to see.

At seeing Jyren, Tobias’ eyes lit up. Jyren expected the child to pounce and climb up onto his shoulder as usual, but Tobias proved that he was still not completely better. He padded in and hugged Jyren’s leg tightly, purring loudly the entire time.

“Hey, little guy,” Jyren said quietly as he reached down to pick Toby up. Tobias simply purred and clung to Jyren when he stopped moving. He then realized that the child was at least partially asleep...that expression was one that was far too easy to identify on anyone. When Toby didn’t say anything, Jyren asked, “You snuck out of the nursery, didn’t you?”

There was a slow nod from Tobias, another obvious sign he wasn’t completely awake. He’d have at least attempted some kind of lie if he was awake. Jyren smiled and idly scratched Toby’s ear, “Its good to see you again, little guy.”

“‘s good t’ see ‘ou, too...” sounded a muffled voice from Jyren’s shoulder.

Jyren moved across the room and sat back on the bed, yawning and glancing off to the close door where he knew Shadow was hiding behind. To Toby, he asked, “You feeling better?”

“Uh-huh,” the same voice replied, though now Tobias was crawling around to sit the pillow and rest his head on Jyren’s shoulder...or at least, he was trying to. Jyren was then completely lost as to what to say, and so he did the best thing he could think of: be quiet and try not to wake Tobias up anymore.

And then the door opened. Jyren noticed Toby’s ears twitch around immediately, and he glanced over to see Shadow peeking out as if something was going to attack her. Toby didn’t move...and so Shadow took two steps out before stopping again.

Still, Toby didn’t move. Shadow let out a deep breath and then carefully tip-toed over to the bed. She got halfway under the blankets before the inevitable occurred. Jyren felt the ‘weight’ on his shoulder disappear and glanced over to see a Tobias-shaped(and coloured) object had suddenly latched onto Shadow’s arm and was purring extremely louldy.

Shadow groaned, but the sound was hard to hear under Toby’s purring. She flopped back onto the bed with a sigh and glared up at the ceiling. Jyren grinned. [Back to normal.]

[Shut up and go to sleep.]

 

[trexmaster]

WOOHOO ! An update for my BDay ! Thank you, thank you, thank you !

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 269: Reunited

Morning came slowly, allowing for a very long and well deserved sleep. Tobias, however, did not. Far too soon after sunset he was wide awake and bouncing around the bed yelling for someone to wake up. Where the weak and injured child had gone was anyone’s guess, but it was suddenly much more apparent that Tobias had just been tired the night before. If he wasn’t fully recovered, both Jyren and Shadow were very afraid of what he would be like when he was.

Finally, though, Jyren got up. This was not by choice. There had, in fact, been a very long series of words exchanged through the link before he was determined the loser and was forced to get up. What exactly happened, though, even Jyren wasn’t completely sure of...which was probably why Shadow won.

But Shadow wasn’t in bed much longer after Jyren disappeared with Toby. There was still something she’d been putting off that needed being done. And so, she was up and dressed not an hour later and stretching while trying to figure out exactly how to go about things. It was probably going to be another long day.

She did her best to ignore the guards that followed her...though they were intelligent enough to keep at a distance. They were as uncomfortable with the situation as she was. In their eyes, she had gone from the single most dangerous threat to the Empire to...well..to the Empire itself. A reversal like that, even when it was expected in the sense of ‘one day’, was enough to throw anyone off.

Outside, the Alraxian star was already starting the day off nice and warm. At least that was something. Alraxians moved back and forth across the courtyards, though everyone stopped at least for a second to stare at her. It was...unnerving, to say the least. But Shadow did her best to ignore, despite how long it was making this short walk feel.

But then, finally, she reached the small flower-like pad where Loki sat. Or rather, was. Not that he could ever really ‘sit’, as it were, but now Shadow couldn’t even come to see it as anything close to sitting. He just...he was just there. Unconscious. Dead, if you wanted to get right to it. But...not dead. She sighed and ran a hand over the large nose of the ship. After standing there for a few minutes, she patted the hull and walked over to step inside.

The next four hours were spent in the rear sections of Loki that were strictly off limits at all times. This was because his internal organs and other vital ‘systems’ were located. Shadow spent the entire time very carefully fixing the wire-like structure of Loki’s neural network. Nine had...ripped it apart. It had been a careful and yet downright brutal. She had torn up his higher functions, effectively turning off Loki’s brain while keeping other things, such as the drives, shields, and controls, working and operational. Shadow had taken a look at it when she had first gotten Loki back after Nine was killed...but there hadn’t been much time.

She was forced to do a quick look over to make sure at least the basics were working before making a quick jump to the small space station where she picked up the Tam’day’u. But now she had time. And...from the looks of it, there was the possibility of actually fixing it and restoring Loki back to his former self. Four long hours...and as far as Shadow could tell, everything was reconnected in the correct place.

Which left only one thing to do...but that happened before she could even ask ‘Loki?’. Mumbled ‘words’ sounded through her mind as Loki began right away asking a thousand questions. At first he was terrified, but slowly she managed to calm him down. And then came the part she had dreaded...Shadow was forced to explain to Loki all that had happened. He seemed to accept it all easily enough, but one thing bothered her.

“Loki...” she mumbled, now in the cockpit and finishing assisting him in a check to make sure everything really was okay, “Why didn’t you say anything when I told you I...um...was a clone of Marix?”

There was a pause. Then. [I...already...knew...]

Shadow blinked. Then, after another few seconds, she closed her gaping mouth and blinked again, “You...you knew? How?!”

Loki performed the mental equivalent of shuffling his feet and staring at the floor idly. [Marix was...I...she...she would have been older.]

Ah. Shadow slunk back in the pilot’s chair and nodded to herself. He was right. Marix had been the one who had left Loki on Corellia all those years ago. And when she came back with Jyren to retrieve the ship, Shadow was the exact same age that Marix had been when she left. Loki wasn’t an idiot, and had probably figured that one out quickly. Which brought up another question...

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

[You were just...so much like her. And I missed her...I...I couldn’t say anything.]

For some reason, that made Shadow smile. She reached up and idly patted the ceiling above her, “Thanks, Loki.”

[It is good to have you back, Marix.]

She nodded again, “Its good to have you back, Loki.”

And then they were silent. It lasted for a few minutes as the two of them thought about the things that had been said. From the sound of things, no damage had really been done. Loki accepted and understood all that occurred and took it far better than she had expected him to. In fact, he was taking it all in much better than she was.

But Loki just had to go and ruin the wonderful moment by ‘saying’ in an almost evil way. [...so you and that human friend of yours are—]

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Shadow growled dangerously.

[—officially mates now?]

He finished it. That bastard ship finished the sentence. She went red. A deep red colour that got a mental chuckle out of Loki. It didn’t take long before she started shaking very slightly, but she said nothing. Of course, that couple only tempt Loki to push farther. [I must say, I always saw it coming...you really did take far too long. It could not have been that hard to simply ask him to sleep wi—]

“SHUT UP!” she yelled, banging her fist against Loki’s hull with all of her strength, “If you even think about finishing that sentence I swear I’ll disconnect you!”

Silence.

Five minutes of silence passed...Shadow sunk back into the seat again, fuming to herself but slowly calming.

Ten minutes. Then...

[I don’t care what they all said, I always knew you’d attract a mate eventually.]

“Damn you, Loki!”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 270: The Greatest Fear

The day was not spent simply cleaning up and returning to life as normal. That would have been expected, and, truthfully, Jyren really felt it looked that way. But that was because he spent most of the day entertaining Toby(and, by default, the other children who joined into a swarm). It meant that he only saw a few Alraxians moving back and forth across the courtyards as they had before any of the chaos had erupted. But Shadow knew what was going on...she knew because it was at least partially her fault, which was why she hid in Loki for most of the day even though the Kanyak seemed to be acting far more sarcastic than ever. It was good to have him back, at least. She couldn’t have stood losing someone else.

But, as a single mind, the Alraxians of the Palace were making the necessary preparations for that night. It was truly amazing how quickly people could work when they were trying to get their minds off of things. Not that many of them had encountered any direct loss due to the attacks, but with the way the Network worked amongst them, losing the Empress was like losing a part of oneself. And their new Empress was not filling that void. There were even rumors that she never would, but those were batted down in favor of a more positive attitude towards the night ahead of them.

The Alraxian star was slowly sinking below the distant forest when Jyren first came to realize that something was most definitely up. He was on his back and the children of endless energy where pouncing all over him, trying to hold down any limb that moved to attack them when three of the nannies arrived to round them all up. At first, Jyren didn’t think anything of it, and was actually relieved for the rescue...but then he caught sight of that Redstar again.

She was standing off near one of the trees and watching him with a neutral expression. After the horde of young Alraxians were herded off, Jyren walked over to the Redstar and raised an eyebrow, “What are you doing out here?”

“I speak Trade,” she answered with a shrug, “And you recognize me. It makes things easier.”

Jyren really didn’t like the sound of that, “Makes things...easier?”

She looked at him as if he was an idiot before nodding behind her to the Palace, “Come with me.”

Somehow, there was no arguing with that tone. And so he followed the Redstar through the corridors of the Palace, noting suddenly that they were very empty considering that everyone should have been back already. That, and Shadow was completely silent through the link. Before, she had at least felt angry and annoyed, but now...nothing. When they reached one of the hundreds of identical looking doors, Jyren couldn’t help but notice the two guards flanking it.

They both looked at him through the corner of their eyes, but the Redstar simply pushed him through the door and past them. The room was filled with Alraxians. At least ten of them, and they were all staring at him. Biting his lip, Jyren very carefully asked, “What’s this about...?”

The part of him that was still the kid on the streets in Corellia wanted to bolt and run. Well, no...all of him wanted to bolt and run. Something about this just felt dangerous. Very, very dangerous. A couple of the Alraxians gave him confused looks, but no one answered him. In a second, he was swarmed by the group and found himself having his clothes changed.

This had only occurred twice before. [Shadow! Dammit, what are they planning?!]

It wasn’t until a very interesting looking ‘suit’ of sorts was being put onto him that there was a response. [You know as well as I do what’s going on! And don’t you dare complain at me! You thought about it before I ever even mentioned it!]

[That doesn’t count!] he ‘screamed’ back over the link as the collar was tightened far too much.

[It damn well does with our link!] Shadow’s response snapped back.

The collar was adjusted, and the entire thing got smoothed out and ‘fixed’ all over. [You’re the Empress, dammit! You can stop this!]

No response. That, in itself, was terrifying. When his fear had shot through the link long enough, Shadow finally sent back a response...though it was more like a hushed whisper than the previous yelling. [...they need this...]

[They need?!] Jyren, however, was still yelling, though now the terror was starting to sink into the mental voice. [What does this have to do with anyone else?!]

[Everything...] came a mumbled-like response. [I’m the Empress, remember? So...yeah...everything.]

Jyren sighed outwardly, which got him pushed roughly around for moving too much when everything was being put just right. One of them tried to go for his hair, but he glared at them enough that at least that was left alone. [Why are you so diplomatic all of a sudden?!] he paused, then realization slowly dawned on him as an interesting type of shoes were put on. [...Marix, right?]

There was a mental shrug. [You could...say that. But she...I...we...are not so separate anymore.]

[...but there’s no way Shadow would ever, ever give into anything like this so calmly.] Jyren said flatly.

A mental nod. [Yes, but...I’ll be honest. Ever since ah...ever since we grew up and um...especially since that night a few days back she has um...well...] there was then a mental sigh and a long pause that unnerved Jyren some more. He half expected to be told that Shadow was actually Kato, or something equally insane. Instead, he got. [Shadow will always be a child. That can never be changed. So I...um...Marix...is more dominate now as she...I...would have grown up anyway.]

Jyren blinked. Not a normal blink, but the kind when one is trying to put pieces together from completely different puzzles. By now, though, a good amount of time had passed and he was being escorted out of the room. Jyren deliberately avoided glancing over to a mirror. [So you’ve been...Marix...the entire time?]

[No!] Shadow’s response was almost too quick. [Er...yes! I mean. No, but...yes...and...] the sigh could be felt through the link. [It is complicated.]

[So I gathered.] Jyren sighed back as he rounded a corner, now with the two guards flanking him along with the Redstar and one of the other attendants.

As a large doorway came into view at the end of the hall, a voice came through the link that sounded as if it was trying to be comforting without really knowing how to. [I um...even though I’m...Marix...or...however you think of it I still um...lo...still...yeah...]

The words didn’t make it through, but the feeling did. It was something, at least, and got a smile on Jyren’s face that was probably misinterpreted by those around him. As the large door irised open to reveal a gigantic chamber with thousands a large, open walkway down the center and hundreds of Alraxians flanking it and looking at him, Jyren sent the same feeling back over the link. [I know. And thank you...I...love you, too.]

With a glance to the two guards and a deep breath, Jyren started in.