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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind
- Thread starter Ankh-Morpork Guard
- Start date
trexmaster
First Post
Woohoo !
Happy B-Day mister AMG !
Happy B-Day mister AMG !
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 210: Friends and...More?
Shadow had stopped moving. In fact, she’d near frozen, a look of confusion and shock on her face. Though her eyes were looking up in Jyren’s general direction, it was fairly obvious no one was currently in...or at least, that whoever was there was busy trying to sort things out. Which was, of course, very true. While she had a heated and confused mental argument with the small part of her that was still distinctly Marix, somehow she stuttered out a series of words that were almost a sentence, “You...you uh...you what...?”
If Jyren said anything, she didn’t hear it. The link sure wasn’t helping at the moment, either. And neither was Marix. In fact, Shadow wasn’t being helpful to herself, either. While her mind was an insane mess of a thousand different thoughts and ideas that all, in the end, led to the same thing in a roundabout insane way, Shadow somehow noticed that Jyren was standing there looking...a bit like he’d done something wrong.
The expression written across his features was something she could only compare to what Tobias looked like when he knew he was pushing his luck. It was most used during the flurries of ‘why’s. But that was not something one usually saw on Jyren’s face. And though Shadow continued to stand there and stare in confusion, Marix took hold with what needed to be done. Shocking Shadow, she found herself leaning forward(...and up slightly, but that was dutifully ignored) and gently resting her cheek against his.
Quietly, to make sure that no one else around them(who had stopped to stare, but this, too, was ignored) could hear, she whispered, “I...I...I love you...too...”
By the time the words were out, she was already yelling at Marix for taking of advantage of the situation and doing something stupid. What was she saying?! This wasn’t right! He really was out of his tree! She was too! They all were!...so what was the problem? Did that really make things bad? If they crazy, why not be crazy together? What did THAT mean?!
Well...they were stuck together for life. And despite everything, they did get along fairly well...and he was...somehow, that thought faded away. What appeared in its place was a simple question. Wasn’t it too late? She’d already said...said...that...so what good was trying to convince herself otherwise when it really was too late to convince anyone? The question stopped all thought processes, as there was only one answer to that. There wasn’t any point in trying to convince herself otherwise anymore.
And then she realized he’d said something. Blinking and jumping slightly as she was rocketed back into reality, Shadow asked quickly, and in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual, “What was that?”
“Ah...um...they’re all staring at us again,” Jyren mumbled into her ear, which happened to be almost exactly at his mouth, since she’d stopped leaning up a moment earlier. Her ear twitched and flattened for a moment before her eyes darted back and forth. They were all staring. Intently. With grins.
“Come on,” Shadow’s hand on his shoulder slid down to his arm, and she quickly turned to literally drag him out of the center and away from all the attention. Surprisingly enough, it worked. While some still stared, many just went back to dancing or talking or whatever they were doing before. Quickly and somewhat roughly, Shadow dragged Jyren out of the main crowd. When they were out of the largest portion of it, she quickly looked both ways for a place where everyone couldn’t stare. Why, she didn’t know. But the link and her thought both confirmed it was a good idea at this point.
Her eyes locked on the window at the far side of the huge, domed room. With a quick glance to Jyren, who nodded at the mutual thought passing through the link, they both darted for the window. There was a series of doors lower down when they got there, and they exited the interior to find a large, pearly white balcony. Most notable, however, was that it was empty.
Jyren let out a sigh of relief as the collective sounds of all the talking inside were drowned out by the closing door. Shadow did the same, but shivered slightly at the cold as she walked over and leaned out across the railing to look over the huge city.
For a moment, Jyren stood back and stared. Then, when she caught onto this through the link and she managed a mild glare over her shoulder at him, he mumbled an incoherent excuse and wandered over to stand next to her. Neither of them said anything, though. Neither of them knew what to say. So, they simply looked out over the city and the star dotted night sky above. Or at least, that was what Jyren was telling himself.
More so than not, he found himself glancing down to the side to look at Shadow. She was doing a good job at not doing the same, but every so often, he’d catch her eyes moving and she would panic. The panic was only noticeable through seeing her tail twitch and the short burst of insanity through the link before it faded into the nor normal confusion.
One thing he did notice, though, was that she was still shivering. And after a moment of a short, one sided argument with himself, Jyren decided to try something. Very carefully, and very slowly, he reached over to put an arm around Shadow. When his hand touched her shoulder, however she jumped, made a surprised squeak, and took a large step out of the way. Honestly, it had been a reflex caused out of surprise more than anything else. Carefully, Shadow looked over to see the same lost expression as before on Jyren’s face, and she knew he was wondering why he’d done the wrong thing.
She heard him sigh before Jyren turned to look back over the city. There was another internal argument with Marix before Shadow was almost literally pushed to step back over again. Somewhat cautiously, she also reached over to rest an arm around his waist. It got nearly the same reaction out of him, but when he realized that, a grin appeared on his face. He tried again to bring an arm around her, but this time she didn’t jump away, and instead stood there at least a little tense. A little being a complete lie, of course. She was tense enough to probably jump out of her skin if he moved again.
A few more silent minutes passed. Jyren was surprised, though, when he heard Shadow’s voice very quietly break the silence and ask, “So...what happens now?”
Glancing down to her(not that he hadn’t already been, of course), Jyren managed a very slight shrug, “I um...I don’t know...is anything supposed to?”
Shadow thought on this for a few moments. It was a good question. But she still didn’t have an answer to it, and so shrugged just as he had, “I don’t know, either...I mean...there has to be something different between being friends and...and...”
Though she trailed off into silence, Jyren nodded slightly, “I think there is...”
“What is it?” she asked, looking up and searching his eyes for the answer, as the link was still useless. It was a genuine question. She really wanted to understand all of this insanity. Of course, it didn’t occur to her that it might not be something that simple.
Biting his lip, Jyren tried to think, and then reached up to tap his forehead, “You feel that right...?”
After realizing that he meant the link and not tapping on his skull, Shadow nodded slowly.
“I think...I think that’s it...”
Shadow thought about it. Was that what all that insanity was? All that stuff that just didn’t make sense? That was the difference? Maybe...well, why not? But she couldn’t figure out anything else to say, and so they fell into silence again. This one didn’t last nearly as long, though, and it was Jyren that broke it this time.
“You want to go back inside...?” he asked very slowly, “You’re um...shivering still...”
A quick glance behind them and then Shadow looked back and shook her head, “I’ll be alright...you should be glad you get to wear so much, though. I still don’t understand why I can’t have sleeves or anything close...”
Jyren couldn’t help glancing over her again when she said that, and mumbled lamely, “You look...good...”
She blinked, a little surprised, but somehow managed to only go slightly red, “Thank you...” a pause, then she grinned and the red faded again, “You know we’re never going to live this down, don’t you?”
That got a short laugh out of Jyren and he nodded, “It um...could be worse, right?”
“You’ve seen my family,” she said, nodding back behind them, “If it could get worse than them, I’d be amazed.”
Jyren nodded again with a grin, but noticed she was still shivering and, for some reason, latched onto that for a third time. Or at least, he tried to. But just as he was about to say something about it again, his stomach growled...loudly. That got a large grin on Shadow’s face and she nudged him slightly, “You could have just said you were hungry, you know.”
He mumbled something that probably wasn’t a sentence and went a slight red colour. Still grinning, she poked his chest again and motioned back behind them, “Fine, come on...we can get some food and then escape to our room so they don’t keep staring at us all night. We’ve got at least a few hours to figure things out...”
“A few hours...?” he asked a stupid question as she took his hand and they walked back to the door.
She nodded, for once looking slightly sad about it, “In the morning, I’ll find Nine and end this.”
Shadow had stopped moving. In fact, she’d near frozen, a look of confusion and shock on her face. Though her eyes were looking up in Jyren’s general direction, it was fairly obvious no one was currently in...or at least, that whoever was there was busy trying to sort things out. Which was, of course, very true. While she had a heated and confused mental argument with the small part of her that was still distinctly Marix, somehow she stuttered out a series of words that were almost a sentence, “You...you uh...you what...?”
If Jyren said anything, she didn’t hear it. The link sure wasn’t helping at the moment, either. And neither was Marix. In fact, Shadow wasn’t being helpful to herself, either. While her mind was an insane mess of a thousand different thoughts and ideas that all, in the end, led to the same thing in a roundabout insane way, Shadow somehow noticed that Jyren was standing there looking...a bit like he’d done something wrong.
The expression written across his features was something she could only compare to what Tobias looked like when he knew he was pushing his luck. It was most used during the flurries of ‘why’s. But that was not something one usually saw on Jyren’s face. And though Shadow continued to stand there and stare in confusion, Marix took hold with what needed to be done. Shocking Shadow, she found herself leaning forward(...and up slightly, but that was dutifully ignored) and gently resting her cheek against his.
Quietly, to make sure that no one else around them(who had stopped to stare, but this, too, was ignored) could hear, she whispered, “I...I...I love you...too...”
By the time the words were out, she was already yelling at Marix for taking of advantage of the situation and doing something stupid. What was she saying?! This wasn’t right! He really was out of his tree! She was too! They all were!...so what was the problem? Did that really make things bad? If they crazy, why not be crazy together? What did THAT mean?!
Well...they were stuck together for life. And despite everything, they did get along fairly well...and he was...somehow, that thought faded away. What appeared in its place was a simple question. Wasn’t it too late? She’d already said...said...that...so what good was trying to convince herself otherwise when it really was too late to convince anyone? The question stopped all thought processes, as there was only one answer to that. There wasn’t any point in trying to convince herself otherwise anymore.
And then she realized he’d said something. Blinking and jumping slightly as she was rocketed back into reality, Shadow asked quickly, and in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual, “What was that?”
“Ah...um...they’re all staring at us again,” Jyren mumbled into her ear, which happened to be almost exactly at his mouth, since she’d stopped leaning up a moment earlier. Her ear twitched and flattened for a moment before her eyes darted back and forth. They were all staring. Intently. With grins.
“Come on,” Shadow’s hand on his shoulder slid down to his arm, and she quickly turned to literally drag him out of the center and away from all the attention. Surprisingly enough, it worked. While some still stared, many just went back to dancing or talking or whatever they were doing before. Quickly and somewhat roughly, Shadow dragged Jyren out of the main crowd. When they were out of the largest portion of it, she quickly looked both ways for a place where everyone couldn’t stare. Why, she didn’t know. But the link and her thought both confirmed it was a good idea at this point.
Her eyes locked on the window at the far side of the huge, domed room. With a quick glance to Jyren, who nodded at the mutual thought passing through the link, they both darted for the window. There was a series of doors lower down when they got there, and they exited the interior to find a large, pearly white balcony. Most notable, however, was that it was empty.
Jyren let out a sigh of relief as the collective sounds of all the talking inside were drowned out by the closing door. Shadow did the same, but shivered slightly at the cold as she walked over and leaned out across the railing to look over the huge city.
For a moment, Jyren stood back and stared. Then, when she caught onto this through the link and she managed a mild glare over her shoulder at him, he mumbled an incoherent excuse and wandered over to stand next to her. Neither of them said anything, though. Neither of them knew what to say. So, they simply looked out over the city and the star dotted night sky above. Or at least, that was what Jyren was telling himself.
More so than not, he found himself glancing down to the side to look at Shadow. She was doing a good job at not doing the same, but every so often, he’d catch her eyes moving and she would panic. The panic was only noticeable through seeing her tail twitch and the short burst of insanity through the link before it faded into the nor normal confusion.
One thing he did notice, though, was that she was still shivering. And after a moment of a short, one sided argument with himself, Jyren decided to try something. Very carefully, and very slowly, he reached over to put an arm around Shadow. When his hand touched her shoulder, however she jumped, made a surprised squeak, and took a large step out of the way. Honestly, it had been a reflex caused out of surprise more than anything else. Carefully, Shadow looked over to see the same lost expression as before on Jyren’s face, and she knew he was wondering why he’d done the wrong thing.
She heard him sigh before Jyren turned to look back over the city. There was another internal argument with Marix before Shadow was almost literally pushed to step back over again. Somewhat cautiously, she also reached over to rest an arm around his waist. It got nearly the same reaction out of him, but when he realized that, a grin appeared on his face. He tried again to bring an arm around her, but this time she didn’t jump away, and instead stood there at least a little tense. A little being a complete lie, of course. She was tense enough to probably jump out of her skin if he moved again.
A few more silent minutes passed. Jyren was surprised, though, when he heard Shadow’s voice very quietly break the silence and ask, “So...what happens now?”
Glancing down to her(not that he hadn’t already been, of course), Jyren managed a very slight shrug, “I um...I don’t know...is anything supposed to?”
Shadow thought on this for a few moments. It was a good question. But she still didn’t have an answer to it, and so shrugged just as he had, “I don’t know, either...I mean...there has to be something different between being friends and...and...”
Though she trailed off into silence, Jyren nodded slightly, “I think there is...”
“What is it?” she asked, looking up and searching his eyes for the answer, as the link was still useless. It was a genuine question. She really wanted to understand all of this insanity. Of course, it didn’t occur to her that it might not be something that simple.
Biting his lip, Jyren tried to think, and then reached up to tap his forehead, “You feel that right...?”
After realizing that he meant the link and not tapping on his skull, Shadow nodded slowly.
“I think...I think that’s it...”
Shadow thought about it. Was that what all that insanity was? All that stuff that just didn’t make sense? That was the difference? Maybe...well, why not? But she couldn’t figure out anything else to say, and so they fell into silence again. This one didn’t last nearly as long, though, and it was Jyren that broke it this time.
“You want to go back inside...?” he asked very slowly, “You’re um...shivering still...”
A quick glance behind them and then Shadow looked back and shook her head, “I’ll be alright...you should be glad you get to wear so much, though. I still don’t understand why I can’t have sleeves or anything close...”
Jyren couldn’t help glancing over her again when she said that, and mumbled lamely, “You look...good...”
She blinked, a little surprised, but somehow managed to only go slightly red, “Thank you...” a pause, then she grinned and the red faded again, “You know we’re never going to live this down, don’t you?”
That got a short laugh out of Jyren and he nodded, “It um...could be worse, right?”
“You’ve seen my family,” she said, nodding back behind them, “If it could get worse than them, I’d be amazed.”
Jyren nodded again with a grin, but noticed she was still shivering and, for some reason, latched onto that for a third time. Or at least, he tried to. But just as he was about to say something about it again, his stomach growled...loudly. That got a large grin on Shadow’s face and she nudged him slightly, “You could have just said you were hungry, you know.”
He mumbled something that probably wasn’t a sentence and went a slight red colour. Still grinning, she poked his chest again and motioned back behind them, “Fine, come on...we can get some food and then escape to our room so they don’t keep staring at us all night. We’ve got at least a few hours to figure things out...”
“A few hours...?” he asked a stupid question as she took his hand and they walked back to the door.
She nodded, for once looking slightly sad about it, “In the morning, I’ll find Nine and end this.”
Finally finished reading through the whole story hour to date. Took about a week of on-and-off work. But, I have to say, that was AWESOME. Absolutely, completely, amazingly, freaking awesome. Major kudos to you and your group for being able to both hold that campaign going and getting this typed up here in all its glory for us to read and share.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Apologies for the lack of updates the last couple of days...I seem to have come down with something. Not exactly a cold but bad enough that I can't get myself to write(or sketch for that matter).
Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow and be able to get back to posting daily updates.
Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow and be able to get back to posting daily updates.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 211: One Last Night
They were all back to staring the second Jyren and Shadow were back inside. One would think it would be something that could be ignored after it happens so often...but Jyren found that it was just the opposite. The longer it lasted, the harder it was to resist the urge to scream, find a corner, and hide out for a few years. The next best thing was what was currently happening. He was being dragged through the crowd by Shadow fast enough that he couldn’t actually make out any of the eyes.
In a moment, the two of them were back to the gigantic series of tables that held an uncountable amount of food. Lots didn’t even accurately describe how much food there was. So, for a moment, Jyren just stood there and stared at it all. But, for the second time, his stomach growled in protest of his not-eating and, again, Shadow heard it. She grinned again prodding him along in front of her while he held two plates.
At first, he didn’t even know what was happening, but soon there was food appearing on the two plates. As quickly as she could, Shadow was pushing him along and finding the ‘best’ foods she could. Of course, best wasn’t accurate, as everything was good and it was more a matter of what she could reach or not. Five minutes, and both of the plates were piled with so much food that Jyren was actually having trouble holding them.
As Shadow then started pushing him off towards the exit...well, around the back wall to hide them from the sight of the parent’s. None of them would like it if they left, most likely. But, thankfully, Shadow picked up on the idea that Jyren was nearly dropping the food, and took one of the plates while she led him around the long way. They shared a mutual grin while sneaking right behind both of their fathers, probably no more than a couple meters behind the two men and neither of their tails even twitched.
Very slowly, they snuck out the main exit, seemingly unnoticed. Well, except for the two guards at the door who watched them both still sneaking past once they were out in the hallway. The guards glanced to each other, shrugged, and one grinned slightly.
When Shadow made it around the first corner outside of the main chamber, she let out a triumphant, “Ha!”
Jyren grinned as he followed her, but watched in slightly confusion as she starting hopping on one foot down the hallway in front of him, “You alright...”
She grumbled something over her shoulder before managing to get one of the high-heeled shoes off with one hand, then switched feet, yelping suddenly at her bare foot touching the cold floor. She got the other shoe off, danced around from foot to foot again, then looked to Jyren, “Stop standing there! This is cold!”
He held his grin, but stood there and didn’t move, “What if I like this spot?”
Her eyes formed a mock glare, “You want to find out just how cold this floor is?”
The threat would have been more...well threatening if she wasn’t still bouncing from foot to foot every few seconds. Still grinning, Jyren said, “I’m quite comfortable, actually. Besides, you look like you’re having fun.”
And then the inevitable occurred. Shadow pounced. However, Jyren had just enough time to sidestep to the left, laugh, and run as fast as he could down the hallway in front of him. Behind him, Shadow yelled a curse and he could hear her feet chasing after him, and feel her annoyance at the cold through the link. All in all, he was winning.
Making two turns(following Shadow’s own remembering of where their room was supposed to be), Jyren found another very long corridor ahead of him. He glanced behind him a moment to see Shadow barrel around the corridor, then realized she was actually catching up. Quickly, he turned back and continued forward.
Then something hit him in the back of the head. It hit hard, with a sharp point against his skull. It did nothing but just hurt, and when he glanced behind him to see what it was Jyren knew he’d made a mistake. Shadow’s second shoe hit him square in the forehead, sending him stumbling back in surprise more than pain. But he lost his balance(and the plate he’d been carefully running with), and the next thing he knew he was on his back and his head was spinning.
Just as he started to sit up, he heard an “HA!” and then was pounced. This time, Shadow found her mark, and his head found the soft mix of food and floor that was now scattered across the ground underneath him. As Jyren’s vision slowly came back into focus, he saw her idly sitting over him and picking off pieces of food to eat. Deciding it was the best thing he could think to do, he groaned.
That did get a reaction. She raised an eyebrow and actually looked down to him. But instead of a question, she picked some brown thing off from next to his head and shrugged, “You’ll live.”
He groaned again.
Rolling her eyes, Shadow sighed, “Fine. Fine...I’ll make sure you aren’t completely broken.”
She leaned forward while reaching to lift his head up off the floor. With her free hand, Shadow idly picked away at the food his head had landed on, forgetting completely about the fact that he may or may not have a concussion. He’d live. And besides, some of the best stuff hand landed under him...
There was a muffled whimpering noise. Slowly, she looked down. Then, she made the same whimpering noise...noticing where she’d pulled his head up to while trying to lean over him. Carefully and slowly, Shadow sat back up and let his head down, her face as red as his...in fact, most of both of them had gone red. Slowly, she mumbled an apology, “I uh...didn’t know that...dresses um...did that...”
They both looked past each other for a long moment. Then, finally, Shadow got up and pulled him to his feet. Ignoring the food all over the ground, she picked up her plate(which was now only half full as she’d been eating things while chasing after him), and quietly led the way back to their room.
It was huge. Well, huge compared to the room in the Palace. In fact, the room was actually three rooms. One, a large, semi-circular living area, with furniture, interesting pieces of art, and a large window near the opposite end. That alone was larger than the room in the Palace. Off to the left, Shadow found the bedroom, which was just as big, and just as packed with a gigantic wardrobe(likely fully packed with clothes), a desk, and another door that likely led to the washroom. That wasn’t even mentioning the bed, which was, as with everything in this place, huge. Shadow idly placed the plate down on the desk as she wandered around, looking over every section of the place as she used to do looking for dangerous areas or listening devices. Not that they were likely to be found, but it had become habit.
Jyren had just stood back, finding that he was staring at her but not actually doing anything to change that. Once she had finished, Shadow sighed and sat down on the bed. She glanced up to Jyren just as he sat next to her, but then went to staring down at the floor, “I’m sorry.”
She couldn’t see his face react to that, but she knew he was surprised. He stuttered out a series of non-words before making sense of his thoughts and asking quietly, “For what?”
Shadow shrugged and motioned around them, “For this...” she then reached over and poked his leg gently, “For that...most everything, actually.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Jyren said, still not completely understanding what she meant, but trying to fill in the holes through the use of the link “I...I’ve told you before I do kind of...well...I like this body. It still takes some getting used to but it isn’t all that bad and...and the rest of this, well...at least we aren’t stuck in it alone.”
She blinked slightly, then very carefully looked over to him, “We will be.”
“You really aren’t going to let me go with you after Nine, are you?” it was less a question and more a stating of fact by this point.
With a sigh, Shadow nodded, “You can’t come with me...Nine will...she...she will go after you to distract me. And I...I cannot do this if I have to worry about you.”
“We’ve done things like this before,” Jyren said, trying for the last time to convince her to let him fight, too.
But Shadow shook her head, “Nine is different. You just have to trust me on that...and...and someone has to stay here and protect our family.”
He bit his lower lip and managed a slow, forced nod, “I...I understand. I still don’t like it...but I understand.”
Silence. A silence that was becoming all too common lately. It was unnerving. It was so quiet that it was loud. It was...it was starting to drive the both of them crazy. But neither knew what to do about it. Well...no, there were ideas. It was easier, though, to just ignore them and let the long silences continue. But not this time.
This time, Jyren acted. He reached down to rest a hand on Shadow’s face before leaning down and kissing her.
They were all back to staring the second Jyren and Shadow were back inside. One would think it would be something that could be ignored after it happens so often...but Jyren found that it was just the opposite. The longer it lasted, the harder it was to resist the urge to scream, find a corner, and hide out for a few years. The next best thing was what was currently happening. He was being dragged through the crowd by Shadow fast enough that he couldn’t actually make out any of the eyes.
In a moment, the two of them were back to the gigantic series of tables that held an uncountable amount of food. Lots didn’t even accurately describe how much food there was. So, for a moment, Jyren just stood there and stared at it all. But, for the second time, his stomach growled in protest of his not-eating and, again, Shadow heard it. She grinned again prodding him along in front of her while he held two plates.
At first, he didn’t even know what was happening, but soon there was food appearing on the two plates. As quickly as she could, Shadow was pushing him along and finding the ‘best’ foods she could. Of course, best wasn’t accurate, as everything was good and it was more a matter of what she could reach or not. Five minutes, and both of the plates were piled with so much food that Jyren was actually having trouble holding them.
As Shadow then started pushing him off towards the exit...well, around the back wall to hide them from the sight of the parent’s. None of them would like it if they left, most likely. But, thankfully, Shadow picked up on the idea that Jyren was nearly dropping the food, and took one of the plates while she led him around the long way. They shared a mutual grin while sneaking right behind both of their fathers, probably no more than a couple meters behind the two men and neither of their tails even twitched.
Very slowly, they snuck out the main exit, seemingly unnoticed. Well, except for the two guards at the door who watched them both still sneaking past once they were out in the hallway. The guards glanced to each other, shrugged, and one grinned slightly.
When Shadow made it around the first corner outside of the main chamber, she let out a triumphant, “Ha!”
Jyren grinned as he followed her, but watched in slightly confusion as she starting hopping on one foot down the hallway in front of him, “You alright...”
She grumbled something over her shoulder before managing to get one of the high-heeled shoes off with one hand, then switched feet, yelping suddenly at her bare foot touching the cold floor. She got the other shoe off, danced around from foot to foot again, then looked to Jyren, “Stop standing there! This is cold!”
He held his grin, but stood there and didn’t move, “What if I like this spot?”
Her eyes formed a mock glare, “You want to find out just how cold this floor is?”
The threat would have been more...well threatening if she wasn’t still bouncing from foot to foot every few seconds. Still grinning, Jyren said, “I’m quite comfortable, actually. Besides, you look like you’re having fun.”
And then the inevitable occurred. Shadow pounced. However, Jyren had just enough time to sidestep to the left, laugh, and run as fast as he could down the hallway in front of him. Behind him, Shadow yelled a curse and he could hear her feet chasing after him, and feel her annoyance at the cold through the link. All in all, he was winning.
Making two turns(following Shadow’s own remembering of where their room was supposed to be), Jyren found another very long corridor ahead of him. He glanced behind him a moment to see Shadow barrel around the corridor, then realized she was actually catching up. Quickly, he turned back and continued forward.
Then something hit him in the back of the head. It hit hard, with a sharp point against his skull. It did nothing but just hurt, and when he glanced behind him to see what it was Jyren knew he’d made a mistake. Shadow’s second shoe hit him square in the forehead, sending him stumbling back in surprise more than pain. But he lost his balance(and the plate he’d been carefully running with), and the next thing he knew he was on his back and his head was spinning.
Just as he started to sit up, he heard an “HA!” and then was pounced. This time, Shadow found her mark, and his head found the soft mix of food and floor that was now scattered across the ground underneath him. As Jyren’s vision slowly came back into focus, he saw her idly sitting over him and picking off pieces of food to eat. Deciding it was the best thing he could think to do, he groaned.
That did get a reaction. She raised an eyebrow and actually looked down to him. But instead of a question, she picked some brown thing off from next to his head and shrugged, “You’ll live.”
He groaned again.
Rolling her eyes, Shadow sighed, “Fine. Fine...I’ll make sure you aren’t completely broken.”
She leaned forward while reaching to lift his head up off the floor. With her free hand, Shadow idly picked away at the food his head had landed on, forgetting completely about the fact that he may or may not have a concussion. He’d live. And besides, some of the best stuff hand landed under him...
There was a muffled whimpering noise. Slowly, she looked down. Then, she made the same whimpering noise...noticing where she’d pulled his head up to while trying to lean over him. Carefully and slowly, Shadow sat back up and let his head down, her face as red as his...in fact, most of both of them had gone red. Slowly, she mumbled an apology, “I uh...didn’t know that...dresses um...did that...”
They both looked past each other for a long moment. Then, finally, Shadow got up and pulled him to his feet. Ignoring the food all over the ground, she picked up her plate(which was now only half full as she’d been eating things while chasing after him), and quietly led the way back to their room.
It was huge. Well, huge compared to the room in the Palace. In fact, the room was actually three rooms. One, a large, semi-circular living area, with furniture, interesting pieces of art, and a large window near the opposite end. That alone was larger than the room in the Palace. Off to the left, Shadow found the bedroom, which was just as big, and just as packed with a gigantic wardrobe(likely fully packed with clothes), a desk, and another door that likely led to the washroom. That wasn’t even mentioning the bed, which was, as with everything in this place, huge. Shadow idly placed the plate down on the desk as she wandered around, looking over every section of the place as she used to do looking for dangerous areas or listening devices. Not that they were likely to be found, but it had become habit.
Jyren had just stood back, finding that he was staring at her but not actually doing anything to change that. Once she had finished, Shadow sighed and sat down on the bed. She glanced up to Jyren just as he sat next to her, but then went to staring down at the floor, “I’m sorry.”
She couldn’t see his face react to that, but she knew he was surprised. He stuttered out a series of non-words before making sense of his thoughts and asking quietly, “For what?”
Shadow shrugged and motioned around them, “For this...” she then reached over and poked his leg gently, “For that...most everything, actually.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Jyren said, still not completely understanding what she meant, but trying to fill in the holes through the use of the link “I...I’ve told you before I do kind of...well...I like this body. It still takes some getting used to but it isn’t all that bad and...and the rest of this, well...at least we aren’t stuck in it alone.”
She blinked slightly, then very carefully looked over to him, “We will be.”
“You really aren’t going to let me go with you after Nine, are you?” it was less a question and more a stating of fact by this point.
With a sigh, Shadow nodded, “You can’t come with me...Nine will...she...she will go after you to distract me. And I...I cannot do this if I have to worry about you.”
“We’ve done things like this before,” Jyren said, trying for the last time to convince her to let him fight, too.
But Shadow shook her head, “Nine is different. You just have to trust me on that...and...and someone has to stay here and protect our family.”
He bit his lower lip and managed a slow, forced nod, “I...I understand. I still don’t like it...but I understand.”
Silence. A silence that was becoming all too common lately. It was unnerving. It was so quiet that it was loud. It was...it was starting to drive the both of them crazy. But neither knew what to do about it. Well...no, there were ideas. It was easier, though, to just ignore them and let the long silences continue. But not this time.
This time, Jyren acted. He reached down to rest a hand on Shadow’s face before leaning down and kissing her.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 212: The Morning After...
It was a long night, but not nearly long enough. Neither Jyren nor Shadow got any sleep worth counting, and it seemed that the sun was peaking into the window of the bedroom only minutes after they’d first entered. But it had been all night. And it was over. Slowly, the mood was changing between them as the inevitable was beginning to rear its head.
Shadow was going to go off on her own, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. It had been a subject gone over far too many times that night, but the situation had never changed. Jyren knew it wouldn’t, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and fight it to the last moment. And now, the last moment was being reached.
“You realize that me going wouldn’t actually change the fact that if you screw up we both die, right?” Jyren asked, not pulling any punches at this hour as they were getting dressed.
Shadow finished pulling on her tunic and idly glanced over her shoulder to him, “And that’s more likely to happen if you’re there with me. We’ve been over this already. I know you don’t like it but...this is my fight. Not to mention you’re the only one I’d trust protecting our family.”
He rolled his eyes, grumbling as he was fighting with his own tunic...the collar, specifically, which was too high and too tight and itched and...he sighed and grumbled actual words, “A day ago you were wishing death on our parents and Toby...now you’ve changed your mind all of a sudden. I think it’s an excuse so I won’t steal the show and ruin this whole matriarchal society.”
Shadow caught his grin, but just rolled her eyes right back and turned to give him a critical look, “Your trousers are on backwards, Jedi Boy.”
Jyren’s grin faded. He glanced down, went red, then mumbled something about having wondered why he had been having so much trouble with his tail. As he quickly fixed this problem, Shadow pulled on a belt and continued speaking, “Besides, a lot of things have changed since yesterday.”
Trailing off with a slight smile on her face, Shadow looked at herself in the mirror again. She now wore a flat tunic of a colour that was almost jet black but just a slight shade lighter. Her hair was also simply let loose, not in some horrible style as it had been the night before. It felt good to not be all dressed up and just be...herself. And comfortable. Though truthfully, the dress wasn’t all that bad...
Glancing behind her, Shadow looked at the piece of clothing which was still on the floor near the bed. She’d be killed if anyone saw it down there like that. One little wrinkle in the thing was bad enough, but on the floor like that? That was a death wish. So, she walked over and picked it up, straightening it out as best as possible and folding as well as she could before placing it on the bed.
She then saw Jyren’s suit in about the same condition, but before she could reach down to fix that, too, Shadow became very aware of struggling sounds from Jyren’s direction. That couldn’t be a good thing...it took her a moment to decide looking was a good idea, and she saw a scene that made him look like he was almost strangling himself.
It took Shadow another moment to realize he was fighting with the high collar on his tunic. He caught that she was watching him and mumbled, “...I hate these stupid high collars. They itch and they hurt and I can’t look down without choking myself...and its too tight...how do you people live with these?!”
Shadow sighed and walked over to him, reaching up to adjust the collar for him, “It’s a wonder you haven’t gotten yourself killed with that lightsaber by now with your skills...”
“I can dress myself fine, thankyouverymuch,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, but was smart enough to stand there and not move as Shadow fixed the collar, “I don’t see why you people need such dangerous clothes, though.”
Rolling her eyes again, she patted his neck, “Its to hide the chip you keep forgetting you wear back there, dear. Now are you sure you’ve got all your clothes on straight or do I need to make sure?”
There was a pause where Jyren was either thinking about that or trying to come up with some sarcastic comment. If it was the latter, he didn’t find one, instead just shaking his head but saying nothing. Shadow smiled and motioned towards the door, “Come on, lets get some food.”
But when she started for the door, she noticed that Jyren didn’t go anywhere. Stopping just two steps later, Shadow turned back around and asked what had to be asked, “What is it...?”
At first, he just shrugged. Then, smart enough to remember the link provided at least some insight for her, Jyren gave in and asked an honest question, “Why couldn’t this have happened months ago instead of now when you have to just run off like this?”
Ah. That. Carefully, Shadow walked back over to him and somewhat awkwardly drew him into a hug. She spoke in a quiet voice, “For one...we were children.”
“Well, yeah but...” he trailed off, returning the hug as he tried his last fight against reality, “...I should have said something a long time ago.”
“I should have, too,” Shadow admitted, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes, “But neither of us did. And besides, it might not have meant a thing then. You were still very caught up with Mare and I...well...I barely understand any of this right now, so I know it would have gone right over me before.”
“So we get a few hours and then that’s it?” Jyren asked, voicing a thought that was as much hers as it was his own.
But Shadow shrugged, “A few hours is better than not at all, right?”
“I guess...” he trailed off again, but then a grin slowly found its way onto his face, “You owe me two weeks in a remote part of the galaxy if we make it out of this.”
“Only two weeks?” Shadow started to grin, too, “You really aren’t a good negotiator, you know that?”
Jyren was going to make another comment. In fact, he got half of the first word out before a loud explosion drowned out the sound of his voice. Neither of them had a chance to reach before there was another, and then another, the entire floor shaking under them each time. And it didn’t stop. It just kept going as the two of them stood there in shock.
They knew what it was. They could feel it. And now, perfectly timed as usual, Ket’s attack had begun...on all places, the Capital world. Half the Empire away from Alraxia, where it had been expected. But now it was too late to think about things like that. Now it was too late for anything. In a moment, they were both running down the hallways to find and exit to at least see what exactly was happening.
It was a long night, but not nearly long enough. Neither Jyren nor Shadow got any sleep worth counting, and it seemed that the sun was peaking into the window of the bedroom only minutes after they’d first entered. But it had been all night. And it was over. Slowly, the mood was changing between them as the inevitable was beginning to rear its head.
Shadow was going to go off on her own, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. It had been a subject gone over far too many times that night, but the situation had never changed. Jyren knew it wouldn’t, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and fight it to the last moment. And now, the last moment was being reached.
“You realize that me going wouldn’t actually change the fact that if you screw up we both die, right?” Jyren asked, not pulling any punches at this hour as they were getting dressed.
Shadow finished pulling on her tunic and idly glanced over her shoulder to him, “And that’s more likely to happen if you’re there with me. We’ve been over this already. I know you don’t like it but...this is my fight. Not to mention you’re the only one I’d trust protecting our family.”
He rolled his eyes, grumbling as he was fighting with his own tunic...the collar, specifically, which was too high and too tight and itched and...he sighed and grumbled actual words, “A day ago you were wishing death on our parents and Toby...now you’ve changed your mind all of a sudden. I think it’s an excuse so I won’t steal the show and ruin this whole matriarchal society.”
Shadow caught his grin, but just rolled her eyes right back and turned to give him a critical look, “Your trousers are on backwards, Jedi Boy.”
Jyren’s grin faded. He glanced down, went red, then mumbled something about having wondered why he had been having so much trouble with his tail. As he quickly fixed this problem, Shadow pulled on a belt and continued speaking, “Besides, a lot of things have changed since yesterday.”
Trailing off with a slight smile on her face, Shadow looked at herself in the mirror again. She now wore a flat tunic of a colour that was almost jet black but just a slight shade lighter. Her hair was also simply let loose, not in some horrible style as it had been the night before. It felt good to not be all dressed up and just be...herself. And comfortable. Though truthfully, the dress wasn’t all that bad...
Glancing behind her, Shadow looked at the piece of clothing which was still on the floor near the bed. She’d be killed if anyone saw it down there like that. One little wrinkle in the thing was bad enough, but on the floor like that? That was a death wish. So, she walked over and picked it up, straightening it out as best as possible and folding as well as she could before placing it on the bed.
She then saw Jyren’s suit in about the same condition, but before she could reach down to fix that, too, Shadow became very aware of struggling sounds from Jyren’s direction. That couldn’t be a good thing...it took her a moment to decide looking was a good idea, and she saw a scene that made him look like he was almost strangling himself.
It took Shadow another moment to realize he was fighting with the high collar on his tunic. He caught that she was watching him and mumbled, “...I hate these stupid high collars. They itch and they hurt and I can’t look down without choking myself...and its too tight...how do you people live with these?!”
Shadow sighed and walked over to him, reaching up to adjust the collar for him, “It’s a wonder you haven’t gotten yourself killed with that lightsaber by now with your skills...”
“I can dress myself fine, thankyouverymuch,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, but was smart enough to stand there and not move as Shadow fixed the collar, “I don’t see why you people need such dangerous clothes, though.”
Rolling her eyes again, she patted his neck, “Its to hide the chip you keep forgetting you wear back there, dear. Now are you sure you’ve got all your clothes on straight or do I need to make sure?”
There was a pause where Jyren was either thinking about that or trying to come up with some sarcastic comment. If it was the latter, he didn’t find one, instead just shaking his head but saying nothing. Shadow smiled and motioned towards the door, “Come on, lets get some food.”
But when she started for the door, she noticed that Jyren didn’t go anywhere. Stopping just two steps later, Shadow turned back around and asked what had to be asked, “What is it...?”
At first, he just shrugged. Then, smart enough to remember the link provided at least some insight for her, Jyren gave in and asked an honest question, “Why couldn’t this have happened months ago instead of now when you have to just run off like this?”
Ah. That. Carefully, Shadow walked back over to him and somewhat awkwardly drew him into a hug. She spoke in a quiet voice, “For one...we were children.”
“Well, yeah but...” he trailed off, returning the hug as he tried his last fight against reality, “...I should have said something a long time ago.”
“I should have, too,” Shadow admitted, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes, “But neither of us did. And besides, it might not have meant a thing then. You were still very caught up with Mare and I...well...I barely understand any of this right now, so I know it would have gone right over me before.”
“So we get a few hours and then that’s it?” Jyren asked, voicing a thought that was as much hers as it was his own.
But Shadow shrugged, “A few hours is better than not at all, right?”
“I guess...” he trailed off again, but then a grin slowly found its way onto his face, “You owe me two weeks in a remote part of the galaxy if we make it out of this.”
“Only two weeks?” Shadow started to grin, too, “You really aren’t a good negotiator, you know that?”
Jyren was going to make another comment. In fact, he got half of the first word out before a loud explosion drowned out the sound of his voice. Neither of them had a chance to reach before there was another, and then another, the entire floor shaking under them each time. And it didn’t stop. It just kept going as the two of them stood there in shock.
They knew what it was. They could feel it. And now, perfectly timed as usual, Ket’s attack had begun...on all places, the Capital world. Half the Empire away from Alraxia, where it had been expected. But now it was too late to think about things like that. Now it was too late for anything. In a moment, they were both running down the hallways to find and exit to at least see what exactly was happening.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 213: Bigger, Stronger, Faster...But Still Insane
Chaos was putting it too simply. The bombardment...or at least, what Jyren assumed was a bombardment, didn’t let up at all. He followed Shadow through the hallways, running as fast as they could and trying to find someone. Anyone, at this point. It took two long, deafening minutes before they found a small group of Alraxians who were heading towards their left.
Quickly, Shadow grabbed one of the male’s arms and looked him in the eyes, “Where are you going?”
The Alraxian stuttered a moment, obviously still in a state of shock. When there was another explosion that couldn’t have been far off, he jumped and then found his voice, “W-why aren’t you off the planet by now?! We’re going for the last of the ships!”
Shadow and Jyren exchanged a quick look and an identical thoughts. It had only been a few minutes, and there was only one ship left? To Jyren, this was more of a surprise. He didn’t know there were so many all around, but it was still amazing to think how quickly most of the Alraxian’s had gone.
“What exactly is happening?!” was Shadow’s next question.
Again, the Alraxian stuttered, but didn’t take as long to find words this time, “I-I-I don’t know! They say it’s the Mrrakesh attacking! Probably the only one’s who know for sure are the Empress and the Knights.”
The Knights. Quickly, Shadow asked a third question, “Where are the Knights?”
“I saw a group heading towards the south end...” the Alraxian pointed down from the direction Jyren and Shadow had come from.
She sighed, but nodded and looked to Jyren, “Go with them to the ship and get out of here.”
Two steps past him to head for the Knights, and Shadow was stopped by Jyren grabbing her arm. She turned to look at him, seeing the expression on his face she’d been dreading. He knew that she had to go. She did, too. And it would have been easier if she had just gone and nothing had been said. Pretend it wasn’t happening. But Jyren had stopped that from being a possibility now.
“I have to,” she whispered, the words drowned out by another explosion. Not that Jyren didn’t know what she was saying, of course. A few more seconds passed before he nodded, squeezed her arm, and then let go. She actually hesitated for another second before turning and heading the other direction.
Jyren would have stood there and watched her run the other direction if the other Alraxian didn’t grab his arm and say, “Come on, we’ve got to go.”
He turned, and the two of them took two steps towards where the rest of the group had run off to minutes ago. Then, there was another explosion. This one, though, they only half heard. The second half was so loud that their ears couldn’t pick it up, and even if it could, the roar of the ceiling collapsing in drowned out everything else. Large pieces fell, and Jyren barely managed to get them both out of the way .
But it wasn’t the ceiling collapsing in that provided the real danger. It was what fell in with the ceiling. In the hole made by whatever had happened, Jyren watched two slightly shining forms drop down. He recognized them immediately. Two of Ket’s war droids. And they were down in a second, dropping on top of the chunks of the ceiling that had fallen between them.
And they weren’t dropping and standing there like in all those holodramas. They were moving right for Jyren and the other Alraxian, the large bladed-right arm already in mid swing by the time they’d landed. Quickly, Jyren pushed the Alraxian back and out of the way of the first droid’s slash, while at the same time ducking and rolling away from the second’s.
Getting to his feet, his lightsaber was already in hand, and he was still thanking the Force that he had it with him. The snap-hiss of the blade echoed through the corridor at the same time as another, distant explosion. The blue-green light reflected off the two droids as they focused on what was obviously a threat to them. And Jyren was confident. Last time he’d fought with these things felt like years ago...he’d been shorter, weaker, and didn’t have the advantage of knowing what the droids were capable of.
Now, though, things were different. He was no the same height as the droids, and so they no longer looked nearly as intimidating as before. It was amazing how much that helped to be able to look them in the...well...where their eyes would have been if the faces weren’t so skeletal. But there wasn’t much time for thinking, as the droids weren’t the kind to stand around and let him destroy them. They were going to kill him, and in their little droid brains, there wasn’t any other outcome.
Thankfully, the Force allowed for more possibilities than droid circuitry. With a quick , vertical slash, Jyren took of the blade-arm of the first droid, while sidestepping the second’s swing to cleave him into two. Drawing on the Force, he reached out and extended a hand towards the one-armed droid as it began to reform. But before a new arm replaced the old, an invisible wall hit it and crushed the metal against the wall behind it.
Which left Jyren to duck under a strike from the remaining war droid before lopping off its head without any trouble. Breathing heavily, he realized how easy it had been compared to last time. Deactivating his lightsaber, he turned to see that the other Alraxian was staring at him with a shocked look.
Jyren couldn’t help a grin, though the constant explosions didn’t exactly help. The Alraxian said something about going back to the ship, but for some reason Jyren didn’t actually hear it. Something was bugging him. Something was wrong. The droids? They had been easy...but no. No, that wasn’t it. Shadow, then? Maybe...she was alright. He could feel that. But...still, that didn’t feel right.
What was it?!
For some reason beyond his understanding(which he would later attribute to destiny or something mystical like that), he checked his pockets. Nothing. Nothing. Why was nothing bad? He wasn’t wearing the suit anymore so there shouldn’t be anything in these pockets...
That thing the Jendari had given him! It was still in his jacket pocket. His suit’s jacket pocket. His eyes widened. Quickly, Jyren looked to the Alraxian and pointed towards wherever it was they were originally going, “Go on without me! Tell them to wait if they can, but don’t wait on me if you have to!”
When he turned and started running back towards the room(and, ironically, the same direction Shadow had gone), Jyren heard the Alraxian yell in his direction, “Wait! What are you doing?!”
Turning the corner and already out of sight, Jyren yelled back the only answer he could think of, “I have no idea! Now go before my insanity spreads!”
Chaos was putting it too simply. The bombardment...or at least, what Jyren assumed was a bombardment, didn’t let up at all. He followed Shadow through the hallways, running as fast as they could and trying to find someone. Anyone, at this point. It took two long, deafening minutes before they found a small group of Alraxians who were heading towards their left.
Quickly, Shadow grabbed one of the male’s arms and looked him in the eyes, “Where are you going?”
The Alraxian stuttered a moment, obviously still in a state of shock. When there was another explosion that couldn’t have been far off, he jumped and then found his voice, “W-why aren’t you off the planet by now?! We’re going for the last of the ships!”
Shadow and Jyren exchanged a quick look and an identical thoughts. It had only been a few minutes, and there was only one ship left? To Jyren, this was more of a surprise. He didn’t know there were so many all around, but it was still amazing to think how quickly most of the Alraxian’s had gone.
“What exactly is happening?!” was Shadow’s next question.
Again, the Alraxian stuttered, but didn’t take as long to find words this time, “I-I-I don’t know! They say it’s the Mrrakesh attacking! Probably the only one’s who know for sure are the Empress and the Knights.”
The Knights. Quickly, Shadow asked a third question, “Where are the Knights?”
“I saw a group heading towards the south end...” the Alraxian pointed down from the direction Jyren and Shadow had come from.
She sighed, but nodded and looked to Jyren, “Go with them to the ship and get out of here.”
Two steps past him to head for the Knights, and Shadow was stopped by Jyren grabbing her arm. She turned to look at him, seeing the expression on his face she’d been dreading. He knew that she had to go. She did, too. And it would have been easier if she had just gone and nothing had been said. Pretend it wasn’t happening. But Jyren had stopped that from being a possibility now.
“I have to,” she whispered, the words drowned out by another explosion. Not that Jyren didn’t know what she was saying, of course. A few more seconds passed before he nodded, squeezed her arm, and then let go. She actually hesitated for another second before turning and heading the other direction.
Jyren would have stood there and watched her run the other direction if the other Alraxian didn’t grab his arm and say, “Come on, we’ve got to go.”
He turned, and the two of them took two steps towards where the rest of the group had run off to minutes ago. Then, there was another explosion. This one, though, they only half heard. The second half was so loud that their ears couldn’t pick it up, and even if it could, the roar of the ceiling collapsing in drowned out everything else. Large pieces fell, and Jyren barely managed to get them both out of the way .
But it wasn’t the ceiling collapsing in that provided the real danger. It was what fell in with the ceiling. In the hole made by whatever had happened, Jyren watched two slightly shining forms drop down. He recognized them immediately. Two of Ket’s war droids. And they were down in a second, dropping on top of the chunks of the ceiling that had fallen between them.
And they weren’t dropping and standing there like in all those holodramas. They were moving right for Jyren and the other Alraxian, the large bladed-right arm already in mid swing by the time they’d landed. Quickly, Jyren pushed the Alraxian back and out of the way of the first droid’s slash, while at the same time ducking and rolling away from the second’s.
Getting to his feet, his lightsaber was already in hand, and he was still thanking the Force that he had it with him. The snap-hiss of the blade echoed through the corridor at the same time as another, distant explosion. The blue-green light reflected off the two droids as they focused on what was obviously a threat to them. And Jyren was confident. Last time he’d fought with these things felt like years ago...he’d been shorter, weaker, and didn’t have the advantage of knowing what the droids were capable of.
Now, though, things were different. He was no the same height as the droids, and so they no longer looked nearly as intimidating as before. It was amazing how much that helped to be able to look them in the...well...where their eyes would have been if the faces weren’t so skeletal. But there wasn’t much time for thinking, as the droids weren’t the kind to stand around and let him destroy them. They were going to kill him, and in their little droid brains, there wasn’t any other outcome.
Thankfully, the Force allowed for more possibilities than droid circuitry. With a quick , vertical slash, Jyren took of the blade-arm of the first droid, while sidestepping the second’s swing to cleave him into two. Drawing on the Force, he reached out and extended a hand towards the one-armed droid as it began to reform. But before a new arm replaced the old, an invisible wall hit it and crushed the metal against the wall behind it.
Which left Jyren to duck under a strike from the remaining war droid before lopping off its head without any trouble. Breathing heavily, he realized how easy it had been compared to last time. Deactivating his lightsaber, he turned to see that the other Alraxian was staring at him with a shocked look.
Jyren couldn’t help a grin, though the constant explosions didn’t exactly help. The Alraxian said something about going back to the ship, but for some reason Jyren didn’t actually hear it. Something was bugging him. Something was wrong. The droids? They had been easy...but no. No, that wasn’t it. Shadow, then? Maybe...she was alright. He could feel that. But...still, that didn’t feel right.
What was it?!
For some reason beyond his understanding(which he would later attribute to destiny or something mystical like that), he checked his pockets. Nothing. Nothing. Why was nothing bad? He wasn’t wearing the suit anymore so there shouldn’t be anything in these pockets...
That thing the Jendari had given him! It was still in his jacket pocket. His suit’s jacket pocket. His eyes widened. Quickly, Jyren looked to the Alraxian and pointed towards wherever it was they were originally going, “Go on without me! Tell them to wait if they can, but don’t wait on me if you have to!”
When he turned and started running back towards the room(and, ironically, the same direction Shadow had gone), Jyren heard the Alraxian yell in his direction, “Wait! What are you doing?!”
Turning the corner and already out of sight, Jyren yelled back the only answer he could think of, “I have no idea! Now go before my insanity spreads!”
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 214: We Fight Alone
It was stupid. Stupid and insane. Crazy even. So much so that it was even crazy by Jyren’s standards. He should be going the other way. He should have been running with the other Alraxian male to find the last Kanyak and leave before the chaos got more chaotic. But no. Jyren was going the other direction, back to a room that, by the sound of some of the explosions, might not have even been there anymore. And he still had no idea exactly what was happening.
Yes, Ket’s droids were there. And yes, the bombardment was continuing, but that was it. What was bombarding, and how many droids there were was completely beyond anything he knew. But, from the sound of things, a very large amount of ships had already left. How that had happened, he didn’t know...but not knowing things was strangely comforting.
The more he knew, the more insanely stupid running back for a tiny little item became. Slowly, the shakes and echoing sounds of the explosions began to die down...but that was more worrying than comforting. From Jyren’s knowledge of tactics, a bombardment would usually last until the majority of ground troops were down. But this was another part of the galaxy, and the troops were droids. So whether he was correct or not, Jyren couldn’t know, but that didn’t change the fact that it was still worrying.
And then, just as he reached the door to the room, there was a deafening explosion that couldn’t have been far off at all. The building shook enough that Jyren was thrown to the wall and nearly onto his face. Standing there for a moment, claws slightly dug into the wall, he looked ahead to see half of the hallway had collapsed inwards and sunlight was creeping in. There was, thankfully, no sign of any droids. But outside, distantly, he could hear a sound very similar to blaster fire.
Telling himself there was nothing he could do about that, and knowing that time was definitely a factor in this, Jyren forced himself to ignore the other things and get the door to the room open. It took using a lightsaber to cut a hole in the door to get in...and Jyren couldn’t help but notice that the sense of life he usually felt in the building was gone. Normally, that would hint that there were little people within...but since most Alraxian ‘technology’ was simply living things, he knew it was much more likely that the building was simply dead.
It was odd to step into the room and find it pretty much exactly as it had been left. Quickly, he ran over to the jacket from the night before which was tossed on the floor near the foot of the bed. Kneeling down, Jyren picked it up and scrambled through the two pockets.
Nothing.
Nothing?!
That wasn’t right...there should be something! Something. Something...where was that damned thing?! As quickly as he could without losing track of his thoughts, Jyren ran through the events of the night before. The Jendari gave him the small cube. He thanked them and pocketed it...pocketed it. Didn’t his trousers have pockets?
His eyes scanned the room for them. Where in the name of the Force did they end up?! He found them a moment later half under the bed. How they got there, he didn’t know, and probably didn’t want to know, but that’s where they were. Again, he searched pockets. All of them.
Nothing.
Nothing again?! He hadn’t been drunk, he should be remembering! He did remember! Well, everything except where the damn cube was. How could he possible forget the night before?! Alright. Not in the jacket. Not in trousers. Where else could it be?! Again, his eyes scanned the room. Where would it have gone?! He didn’t have time for this!
Getting to his feet, Jyren ran over to the large, half open wardrobe and opened the other half. Scouring through it, he found a fairly good sized pack. Not having time to search things, he got the pack open and went across the room just piling things in it. From his clothes from the night before, to Shadow’s nicely folded dress on the bed(which ended up unfolded by the time it was in the pack), to everything that had gotten scattered around the room in the night. And then, finally he found the small, slightly transparent cube.
It had taken taking all of the sheets off the bed and to find it...buried under one of the pillows. Again, he decided it was best not to figure out how or why it had ended up there. Quickly, he stuffed the thing into the top of the pack, closed it, and through the thing on his back.
In another second, he was back out in the hallway and running as fast as he could, even using the Force to push his body faster. Retracing his steps and then following the direction where he had been told the ship was took less than a minute at that speed. But when he reached the exit of the hallway to the outside and the awaiting Kanyak, he froze.
The sky was black and brown with ships of various makes and designs. The pearly white of the city was now an ashy grey, with smoke pocketing many sections and the bright sheen of metal droids almost everywhere. Many of the ships were still setting down, and just as they did, droids disembarked and charged out in various parts of the city. Some didn’t even land, with droids simply dropping from ten or fifteen meters up and landing in a run as the city was taken. There was blaster fire everywhere, and Jyren quickly noticed it was coming from the droids. It was nearly impossible to find any Alraxians or anything living that was being shot at
But they Kanyak on the platform dead ahead of him was still there, a ramp down and four Alraxian guards looking a mix of panicked and ready looking in all directions for any droids that would be nearby. When they saw Jyren, they frantically waved him over, and instinct took his body over so he simply ran at them without thinking about it. But he made it halfway across the platform before stopping again.
The link distracted him. Through it, he could feel Shadow’s calm demeanor suddenly change to one of worry. Immediately, he looked down a level below to see her standing with at least fifty other Alraxians. He could even see the emerald hair that indicated Kyren next to her. They were standing waiting on something, and Jyren could hear the same sound they could...metal footsteps pounding louder and louder.
But Shadow wasn’t looking forward. She had turned up and was staring straight at him. In that moment, he didn’t care about what had to be done. He didn’t care about protecting the Empress or Cole or Toby...he just wanted to be down there fighting with her like he should have been. And he nearly jumped the twenty meters down to do it. Nearly.
[Please go.]
It was the most forced and pain he’d ever heard in Shadow’s voice...mentally or out loud. She was begging him. Pleading him to leave the chaos. Jyren managed to take one step forward, but was still staring down at her despite the insanity around them. Despite the yelling of the guards, two of which were charging over to drag him in. Despite everything.
[Promise me you’ll come back.] was all he could think to respond with.
Even from the distance they were at, Jyren could see the pain in her eyes when she didn’t respond. Ignoring that he was about to be literally carried off, he pressed harder. [Promise me!]
Her ‘voice’ came back so quiet that even in his mind, he almost missed it. [...I can’t promise you that...]
And then the two guards reached him, screaming and yelling in Alraxian. They grabbed Jyren by the arms and dragged him to the ship. Just before Shadow disappeared behind the platform below his feet, Jyren said simply. [I love you.]
But she didn’t respond. She didn’t have a chance. Just as he finished the last word, a swarm of droids rounded the corner and the chaos broke out. Jyren could only hear blaster fire and screams as he was pulled into the Kanyak and the ship left the planet.
It was stupid. Stupid and insane. Crazy even. So much so that it was even crazy by Jyren’s standards. He should be going the other way. He should have been running with the other Alraxian male to find the last Kanyak and leave before the chaos got more chaotic. But no. Jyren was going the other direction, back to a room that, by the sound of some of the explosions, might not have even been there anymore. And he still had no idea exactly what was happening.
Yes, Ket’s droids were there. And yes, the bombardment was continuing, but that was it. What was bombarding, and how many droids there were was completely beyond anything he knew. But, from the sound of things, a very large amount of ships had already left. How that had happened, he didn’t know...but not knowing things was strangely comforting.
The more he knew, the more insanely stupid running back for a tiny little item became. Slowly, the shakes and echoing sounds of the explosions began to die down...but that was more worrying than comforting. From Jyren’s knowledge of tactics, a bombardment would usually last until the majority of ground troops were down. But this was another part of the galaxy, and the troops were droids. So whether he was correct or not, Jyren couldn’t know, but that didn’t change the fact that it was still worrying.
And then, just as he reached the door to the room, there was a deafening explosion that couldn’t have been far off at all. The building shook enough that Jyren was thrown to the wall and nearly onto his face. Standing there for a moment, claws slightly dug into the wall, he looked ahead to see half of the hallway had collapsed inwards and sunlight was creeping in. There was, thankfully, no sign of any droids. But outside, distantly, he could hear a sound very similar to blaster fire.
Telling himself there was nothing he could do about that, and knowing that time was definitely a factor in this, Jyren forced himself to ignore the other things and get the door to the room open. It took using a lightsaber to cut a hole in the door to get in...and Jyren couldn’t help but notice that the sense of life he usually felt in the building was gone. Normally, that would hint that there were little people within...but since most Alraxian ‘technology’ was simply living things, he knew it was much more likely that the building was simply dead.
It was odd to step into the room and find it pretty much exactly as it had been left. Quickly, he ran over to the jacket from the night before which was tossed on the floor near the foot of the bed. Kneeling down, Jyren picked it up and scrambled through the two pockets.
Nothing.
Nothing?!
That wasn’t right...there should be something! Something. Something...where was that damned thing?! As quickly as he could without losing track of his thoughts, Jyren ran through the events of the night before. The Jendari gave him the small cube. He thanked them and pocketed it...pocketed it. Didn’t his trousers have pockets?
His eyes scanned the room for them. Where in the name of the Force did they end up?! He found them a moment later half under the bed. How they got there, he didn’t know, and probably didn’t want to know, but that’s where they were. Again, he searched pockets. All of them.
Nothing.
Nothing again?! He hadn’t been drunk, he should be remembering! He did remember! Well, everything except where the damn cube was. How could he possible forget the night before?! Alright. Not in the jacket. Not in trousers. Where else could it be?! Again, his eyes scanned the room. Where would it have gone?! He didn’t have time for this!
Getting to his feet, Jyren ran over to the large, half open wardrobe and opened the other half. Scouring through it, he found a fairly good sized pack. Not having time to search things, he got the pack open and went across the room just piling things in it. From his clothes from the night before, to Shadow’s nicely folded dress on the bed(which ended up unfolded by the time it was in the pack), to everything that had gotten scattered around the room in the night. And then, finally he found the small, slightly transparent cube.
It had taken taking all of the sheets off the bed and to find it...buried under one of the pillows. Again, he decided it was best not to figure out how or why it had ended up there. Quickly, he stuffed the thing into the top of the pack, closed it, and through the thing on his back.
In another second, he was back out in the hallway and running as fast as he could, even using the Force to push his body faster. Retracing his steps and then following the direction where he had been told the ship was took less than a minute at that speed. But when he reached the exit of the hallway to the outside and the awaiting Kanyak, he froze.
The sky was black and brown with ships of various makes and designs. The pearly white of the city was now an ashy grey, with smoke pocketing many sections and the bright sheen of metal droids almost everywhere. Many of the ships were still setting down, and just as they did, droids disembarked and charged out in various parts of the city. Some didn’t even land, with droids simply dropping from ten or fifteen meters up and landing in a run as the city was taken. There was blaster fire everywhere, and Jyren quickly noticed it was coming from the droids. It was nearly impossible to find any Alraxians or anything living that was being shot at
But they Kanyak on the platform dead ahead of him was still there, a ramp down and four Alraxian guards looking a mix of panicked and ready looking in all directions for any droids that would be nearby. When they saw Jyren, they frantically waved him over, and instinct took his body over so he simply ran at them without thinking about it. But he made it halfway across the platform before stopping again.
The link distracted him. Through it, he could feel Shadow’s calm demeanor suddenly change to one of worry. Immediately, he looked down a level below to see her standing with at least fifty other Alraxians. He could even see the emerald hair that indicated Kyren next to her. They were standing waiting on something, and Jyren could hear the same sound they could...metal footsteps pounding louder and louder.
But Shadow wasn’t looking forward. She had turned up and was staring straight at him. In that moment, he didn’t care about what had to be done. He didn’t care about protecting the Empress or Cole or Toby...he just wanted to be down there fighting with her like he should have been. And he nearly jumped the twenty meters down to do it. Nearly.
[Please go.]
It was the most forced and pain he’d ever heard in Shadow’s voice...mentally or out loud. She was begging him. Pleading him to leave the chaos. Jyren managed to take one step forward, but was still staring down at her despite the insanity around them. Despite the yelling of the guards, two of which were charging over to drag him in. Despite everything.
[Promise me you’ll come back.] was all he could think to respond with.
Even from the distance they were at, Jyren could see the pain in her eyes when she didn’t respond. Ignoring that he was about to be literally carried off, he pressed harder. [Promise me!]
Her ‘voice’ came back so quiet that even in his mind, he almost missed it. [...I can’t promise you that...]
And then the two guards reached him, screaming and yelling in Alraxian. They grabbed Jyren by the arms and dragged him to the ship. Just before Shadow disappeared behind the platform below his feet, Jyren said simply. [I love you.]
But she didn’t respond. She didn’t have a chance. Just as he finished the last word, a swarm of droids rounded the corner and the chaos broke out. Jyren could only hear blaster fire and screams as he was pulled into the Kanyak and the ship left the planet.
trexmaster
First Post
Whaaat ?! No post today ?!
<withdrawal symptoms starting to appear>
Must...have...more...SH...from...AMG
PS : Great writing, as usual
PPS : Hmmm... I'm starting to think about writing my own SH...have any advices AMG ?
<withdrawal symptoms starting to appear>
Must...have...more...SH...from...AMG
PS : Great writing, as usual
PPS : Hmmm... I'm starting to think about writing my own SH...have any advices AMG ?
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