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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1986125" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 137: First Date with Destiny - Smalltalk and SoulsearchingTitus’ mind slowly slid out of the black nothing of unconsciousness into a more hazy and unclear world of reality. And his eyes weren’t even open yet. His back hurt. Badly. In fact, he had this feeling that it should probably have been broken and he shouldn’t have been able to feel his legs. Wait...could he? Hmm...yes, those were legs. His neck ache some, but not nearly as bad as his back.    He could hear sounds. Distant and vague, though. Somehow, Titus had a feeling that it was more because his ears weren’t working all too well. Or maybe that was his brain. Now that he thought about it, his head hurt too...back of his head. What had happened? Mentally he retraced the last few moments that he could remember. Clones were coming down to kill them...Akan had...gone all...blurry. Then bam. And now his back hurt. He didn’t need the Force to tell him that Akan had done something. Considering his current condition, whatever Akan had done probably wasn’t good. Titus knew the Dark Side well enough to feel the strength of it around him, though it was fading. Slowly fading, but fading.    More sounds. This time they were making more sense. Voices. What were they saying? Calm. Move past the pain, focus through it. Focus. Focus on the voices.    “Did he bring you here?” the first voice was close, very close to him actually. And very familiar. Shadow? Yes...    “He helped, yes,” a second voice a little farther behind the first. But...it sounded the same. Shadow talking to herself? It wouldn’t be the first time, but why move around when she did so? He searched for the strength to open his eyes, but couldn’t find it yet. Patience. Calm. Listen. Listen and try to make sense of it.    “I never thought I’d see again,” the first Shadow said again, still close.    The second Shadow was moving when she spoke, moving a little closer but doing so slowly, “Why are you stalling? We should leave this place.”    “You sound anxious to die,” responded the first Shadow, sounding slightly closer than before.     “I’m not,” the second Shadow had stopped moving from the sound of it, and she didn’t sound all that happy either, “But everyone dies eventually.”    It was as the second Shadow voice was finishing that Titus managed to get his eyes open. When he did so, he looked straight up into two silvery purple eyes. There was an odd curiosity in Shadow’s face...but where was that scar on the side of her face? And...why was there white hair everywhere? His eyes focused more. It only took that small change for him to see the old familiar face, and his managed a quiet whisper, “Marix!”    She smiled warmly, an expression that had never been seen on Shadow’s face. If that didn’t prove that it was Marix, then nothing ever wood. Nodding slightly, she said, “Its good to see you again, Titus. Even if the circumstances are...somewhat complicated.”    “Somewhat?” Titus grinned, trying to sit up, but a hand held him down.    “I once told you that there are some things that you humans won’t ever understand about us,” Marix said, sitting back and no longer crowding his view. After Titus nodded, she finished by saying, “Then sit back and rest. There are things now that must be dealt with.”    Marix started to move out of his view, but he quickly asked, “Jen?”    Marix stopped, looked to him, then off behind her, then back, “Your...companion is alive. She is still unconscious, but give her time. As I said, rest, friend. Rest.”    And then Marix stepped over to her clone and her...nothlit. Shadow watched Marix carefully. Currently, Akan was still in about as good a state that Titus was in. While they were both awake and mostly aware, Akan wasn’t exactly working at full capacity. In fact, half would have been generous. He had started babbling on about things that literally didn’t make sense and mostly weren’t even words, so Shadow had silenced him in the best way she could think of. She started scratching his ear. So Marix BlueIce and her clone sat cross-legged opposite each other, though Shadow had a head resting in her lap and there was a faint purring sound. It wasn’t something that could be complained about, as the sound was oddly soothing for all of them.    The two of them sat simply listening to the sound for a long moment before Marix said, “What is it that is so important that you had to find me for?”    “Ket Halpak,” Shadow said the two words as calmly as she could, though for both of them it evoked feelings of anger.Somehow, Marix hid these feelings better than Shadow ever had been able to, “What about him?”    “He is alive, and he is up to something.”    “That’s it?” Marix raised an eyebrow.    But Shadow shook her head, “No. My...our...your...Alyx found me a few months ago on Corellia. He says there is trouble with the Mrrakesh. Not the normal trouble. More border raids...dangerous raids. He asked me to come back. He said mothe— the Empress requested it.”    “You mean me,” Marix said flatly.    Again, Shadow shook her head, “No. No they came for me.”    “They think your me?!” a low growl started to grow in Marix’s throat, “So you truly are attempting to steal my life!”    “No!” Shadow snapped, surprised at how loud she got. She went silent, trying to calm herself by focusing on scratching Akan’s ear. Then, finally, she said, “They know the truth. I don’t know how, but they do. Alyx said that it didn’t matter that I was a clone...they needed the Enai back. They figured that...that as long as I didn’t know, it wouldn’t cause any trouble.”    “But you do know,” Marix said, watching Shadow carefully but not looking as angry anymore.    Shadow nodded, “Yes...and Alyx nearly killed me.”    “Nearly?”    “You know he’s not a fighter,” Shadow responded, fighting back a grin.    Marix looked to be fighting the same grin, and she nodded slowly, “That is all?”    “It is all that he doesn’t know,” Shadow said, nodding down to Akan and slowly stopping the ear scratch, “You will let him live, yes?”    “You’re not like all the old stories of clones,” Marix said, leaning down to inspect Akan idly. She nudged his face with her nose in a bored way, then poked him until he grumbled and weakly swatted at her hand, “I will honor your choice.”    “Thank you...” Shadow then moved Akan’s head off of her lap and slid back before getting to her feet. Marix also got up, but instead stepped over to find a piece of one of the cloning tanks that had shattered. It took a couple of minutes, but Marix found a small sharp of the durasteel tank, ignoring the dead body within, and then stepped back over to Shadow. There were no words and no delay. Immediately, Marix thrust the piece of durasteel deep into Shadow’s neck. Shadow grunted, shook violently, and then stumbled back to the ground.    Behind them, Akan cried out in pain. Marix’s eyes widened and she quickly ran over to him, kneeling down and placing her hands on either side of his head. Shadow would have to be dead before the transfer could be done...and then the pain on his face faded. Dead already?! Not possible! Marix turned to where Shadow had fallen. Her eyes widened at what she saw. Shadow wasn’t dead. In fact, she was...was...metal. Completely. All over. Even her tail! And ears! And....and...    “Y-y-you shouldn’t be able to do that!!” Marix yelped, stumbling back slightly and staring in amazement.    Shadow sat up slightly, her tail thumping on the floor in a loud metallic clank. When she spoke, her voice was straight and hauntingly unnatural, “I...I forgot about it, actually.”    “How did you...? How can you...? What...?” Marix continued to trail off into pointless and unfinished questions before her eyes widened and a grin suddenly appeared on her face, “That’s so cool!”    Shadow’s body slowly morphed back to her Alraxian form, the metal fading into skin. After it had finished, she shrugged and looked a bit embarrassed. Marix let go of Akan and just stared blankly at Shadow. Then, after deciding there wasn’t anything else she could think to say, mumbled, “This is going to be...um...complicated, isn’t it?”    Shadow nodded and Akan groaned. This time, his eyes opened. He looked up to see the scar-less Shadow which had to be Marix and then suddenly attempted to look down and away. But looking down meant having to look completely across her before reaching the floor. He got to her neck before realizing it wasn’t going to be necessary...and it also explained why he was colder. She was wearing his jacket...and trousers. Sure, his morphsuit technically served the purposes of both of those but...but those kept him warm!In the silence that was caused by Marix trying to figure out what to do, Akan sat up. He looked over to Shadow, noticing the odd expression on her face. It wasn’t something he could really put words to, but it was very obvious she was avoiding looking at him. [What’s going on...?]    Shadow bit her lip and looked right past him to Marix. Then, after realizing there was no way around it, ‘said’. [Marix isn’t too different from me. Its not something that we can fight, anyway. I won’t kill her. She is the original. She deserves life more than I do.]    Akan’s eyes widened a moment before he moved back to glare at both of the other Alraxians, “What the hell is wrong with you?!” he finally yelled at Shadow.    “She is the original!” Shadow snapped back.    “You’re not just some clone!” Akan bit back just as quickly, and Marix couldn’t help but be surprised, “You know you’re more than just a clone, Shadow! You are an individual! You have a life of your own!”    But to Marix’s surprise, Shadow continued to fight against him, “It was stolen from her!”    “And there’s nothing that can be done to change that, Shadow!” Akan yelled again, completely ignoring that Marix was sitting right next to him. He paused, then spoke in a calmer, but still very angry voice, “To me...us, you are the original.”    Silence. Shadow didn’t know what to say. As usual, Akan wasn’t going to listen to reason and it was making things far more complicated than they had to be. But Marix was stunned. How could a clone have this effect on anyone? Shouldn’t this Akan, no matter his original form, be diving in to kill the clone? Did he not realize the insult in his words...calling a clone the original? But he was right. Marix sighed. She hadn’t come here so long ago because she followed her people’s traditions blindly.    Quietly, Marix spoke up, “There is another way.”    Akan gave her a curious look, but Shadow shot her a shocked and almost hurt expression. Marix met Shadow’s gaze, saying, “He is right. And...and it is wrong to just kill you, no matter what our traditions may say. You are an individual. You’re something no one could have ever predicted, and not even I have the right to take that from you.”    “But we can’t both...exist,” Shadow mumbled, looking helplessly between Marix and Akan. Didn’t they understand? No, Akan wouldn’t. But Marix should! She should know...why was she agreeing with Akan of all people?!    Marix looked to Akan. In a familiar motion, Marix bit her lip. There was a look of deep thought on her face before she asked Akan, “You mean what you said?”    An odd question...it was the kind that Shadow asked when she didn’t completely understand a situation and was trying to make sense of it. Usually it was because of species cultural differences, and Akan had a feeling this was for the same reason. Interesting how close these two were...but he nodded finally, “Of course. I don’t mean to insult you or anything...from all I’ve been told you’re a great person but Shadow is...is...Shadow.”    To his surprise, Marix nodded. She then looked back to Shadow and said, “I won’t kill you. It would be more a crime than what our people attribute to cloning. You didn’t choose to be a clone, but you have created your own life. I won’t steal that from anyone, especially you.”    “You want us both to live...?” Shadow sounded a little hopeful this time.    So it came to this. Marix looked down at the floor, and Akan knew what that gesture usually meant with Shadow. There wasn’t something else. Something that she didn’t want to say but she’d been cornered and there wasn’t any choice left. So Akan asked, “What is it?”    Marix turned to Akan with a panicked expression and he couldn’t help a slight grin, “You uh...do the same things she does,” he mumbled, motioning to Shadow.    That actually got a smile on Marix’s face. A real one, not like anything he’d ever seen before. After taking a deep breath, she looked over to Shadow, “There is something that you need to know...the clones, the younger ones like you. They were...were built with a defect.”    “A defect?!” Shadow whimpered slightly.    Marix nodded, “To control you. It was the reason the first clones never worked. So they...they made an adjustment. The life span for a clone, from what I overheard, is a little under five years.”    “Five years?!” Shadow yelped, leaning forward an whimpering again, “But I’ve already lived...at least...at least four!!”    “There’s still one thing we can do,” Marix said quietly, and both Akan and Shadow stared right at her waiting for an answer, “Two as one.”Shadow’s eyes widened, “No...no that wouldn’t work! Not with a clone! Not with...with all of this!”Marix looked to Akan, to Shadow, then back to the Voorts. The two humans had finally sat up and were watching quietly. It seemed that Titus had explained to the woman the need for this to stay an Alraxian matter. Then, turning back to Shadow, Marix shook her head, “Its all there is. Unless you’d prefer to die from young age.”    “Two as one...” Shadow repeated. It was at least five minutes before she looked straight into Marix’s eyes and nodded, “Two as one.”</blockquote>

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