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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2132114" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 184: FreedomThe rest of the Alraxians all stepped back and out of the way, giving both Akan and the young boy facing him a good amount of room. There was a strong silence that permeated the room, broken only by the constant hum of Akan’s lightsaber, firmly resting in his hands in front of him. No response came to Akan’s comment, but he wasn’t surprised.    And then the boy charged, claws unsheathed as he moved. Akan took a quick step to the left, taking one hand off of his lightsaber and reaching out with the Force, calling it to him and focusing it. The boy didn’t get within a meter, as a giant, invisible grip took him and tossed him off to the side and across the deck with a loud, echoing thud. But the young Alraxian didn’t seem to be phased at all by the attack. Just as he hit, he rolled up and got to his feet again, then charged forward.    Akan attempted again to call upon the Force and toss the young assassin off to the side, but this time his opponent had been expecting it. He demonstrated considerable training in the Force by shrugging off Akan’s second attempt. Realizing he was going to have to defend himself the old fashioned way, Akan quickly brought both hands to his lightsaber and brought it up just in time to stop the young boy. Or so he thought. Akan should have expected what happened, but had been so into the moment that he simply reacted in the way he would have if he was fighting with anyone else.    But this Alraxian, as with all of the others in the room save Kyren and himself, was not like anyone else. The boy didn’t even look at the blue-green blade humming in front of Akan, staring right past it to Akan’s eyes. He charged straight through the blade, losing the tip of his left ear, and entire left shoulder and arm in the process. And the boy’s face didn’t even show any slight hint of pain as his right arm slashed across Akan’s chest, leaving deep claws marks there before Akan brought the hilt of his lightsaber down hard on the back of the boy’s head.    The young assassin crumbled to the deck next to his severed arm and shoulder, somehow still breathing. Despite being Alraxian himself, Akan was still amazed at the trauma that their bodies could take and still survive. Lightsaber still humming and now resting at his side, Akan turned back to face the older Alraxian, “What was the point of that?”    The older man looked from Akan to the still breathing body down at his feet. Calmly, he reached out with a free hand, and Akan could feel the Force flowing. Akan glanced down to see the bodies’ head snap violently to the left, and the breathing suddenly stopped. Flatly, the older Alraxian said, “Failure is not an option,” he then calmly looked to the metal Marix at his side, “Commander, take him down.”    She simply nodded and took two steps forward. But she didn’t move, standing there staring at Akan with the two black, lifeless eyes. Seeing what was coming, Akan deactivated his lightsaber. The hum gone, it was truly silent in the large room. As usual, Akan broke the silence, saying simply, “I won’t fight you.”    Slowly, Marix’s silver metal head turned to face the old Alraxian again. He glared and pointed to Akan, “Take him down.”    Suddenly, there was a flash of movement, and Marix was right in front of Akan, her hard fist digging into his stomach. He gasped, stumbled back slightly, but just gripped his lightsaber tighter and gritted his teeth before planting his feet again and standing up straight, “I’m not doing this.”    Violently, she lashed out with her other arm, backhanding him hard across the face and this time sending him straight to the hard deck next to the corpse of the boy. There had been a loud crack from his jaw, which had definitely broken from the hit, but as he looked up again, expecting to see the inevitable strike while he was down...Akan saw something different. Standing over him and staring down emotionlessly was not a metal being. It wasn’t a bright silver, shining Marix. It was Shadow...in the flesh, literally. Her two silvery purple eyes watched him, and just for a second, Akan saw a flash in them...but it was gone before he could be sure he’d seen it.Leaving his lightsaber there on the deck, Akan slowly got back up to his feet and stared down into Shadow’s eyes again. Her head tilted up slightly so she could meet his gaze, and yet still there was that blank, nothingness on her face.    “Commander!” the old Alraxian growled from behind her, but her ear didn’t even turn his direction. And the two of them stood there, Akan staring straight into her eyes and trying to find something he recognized. Something that he knew. And Shadow...Shadow doing something he couldn’t read. From behind them, the old man’s voice roared, “Commander, finish him!”    Shadow blinked, then her arm suddenly shot up and grabbed Akan by the neck. He stood perfectly still as she slowly began to squeeze his neck, crushing his throat slowly. But she didn’t use her claws. It wasn’t lost on Akan as he began to gasp for breath. Shadow could have killed him in a second if she just unsheathed her claws straight into his throat, but she just choked him, slowly and almost unsteadily. Akan watched as her hand began to shake, and then suddenly she released her grip.    Very softly, almost whispering it, Shadow said, “No.”    “What?!” the old man hissed, taking a couple of steps forward.    “I said no,” Shadow spoke calmly, her voice slowly rising with each new word. She turned calmly around to face Faban Sunrunner, openly showing him the emotion on her face. The glare, “I am no longer yours, Faban. I am to be your Empress. And this he your Emperor. You will free me, or I will end this myself.”    “Yes...” gasped Akan. Sure, she’d only crushed his throat, but it had still hurt and he was still trying to catch his breath, “No killing Empressess or Emperors...its not allowed,” his voice then lowered a moment, and he whispered, “That you in there this time...?”    Ignoring Faban, Shadow turned back to face Akan. She smiled warmly, something he had only seen on her face a few select times, and put a hand on his shoulder, “The one and only. I...I’ll have to explain later.”    “No!” Faban roared again, “No, this is not how it works! You are the Empire’s! You are mine!”    “I am the Empire, Faban!” Shadow snapped, spinning around again. If it had been any other time, Akan would have grinned from the fact that he could see Faban clearly over Shadow’s head. Shadow would have also probably elbowed him in the gut for that, too. But she stared across the room at the older Alraxian, as did all of the others in the room, and said calmly, “You will free me, now.”    A snarl on his face, Faban looked back to the other Alraxians, “Tam-Day-U! Neth lath bellak!”    The rank of Alraxians all turned to face Shadow. The two that had been holding Kyren’s unconscious body simply let him drop to the deck. But Shadow just glared at them all, her arms spreading out slightly in a very protective motion as she stood in front of Akan. In Alraxian, she hissed, “Disregard order.”    All of them froze again, their bodies losing the tense, ready to pounce feeling as they waited. Faban, of course, screamed at them to kill the two of them again. But Shadow shook her head, again speaking in Alraxian and saying something that Akan couldn’t understand...again. But this time, they all turned to face Faban. Akan couldn’t help his grin.    Seeing his situation, Faban sighed heavily. He then looked back to Shadow, a hate filled look in his eyes as he growled, “Very well. You are free.”    He then turned and stormed out of the large room. Shadow looked to the others and told them to go and eat and sleep. They all nodded as one, then also retreated, leaving only Shadow, Akan, Kyren, and the corpse of the young boy in the room. Shadow gave a satisfied purr, and smiled slightly. More to herself than anyone else, she said, “For once, I’m grateful to the Empire that made me what I am.”    Suddenly, she was attacked. Or at least, that was her first impression. A moment later, she realized that it was just Akan hugging her tightly. Very firmly, he said into her ear, “Don’t ever...ever do that again.”    “What...? Stand up for myself? I suppose you’re right, I will get into a lot of trouble for this...” Shadow trailed off, slowly realizing that he was crushing her slightly. Awkwardly, she mumbled, “Um...you’re...hurting me.”    Akan went a deep red, his mind catching up with his actions, and quickly let go of her, “Sorry...”    She just nodded, kneeling down to look at the body of the boy. Sighing, she rested a hand on his forehead, “He never had a name. But he is better off now...the Force will take care of him.”    Standing up, she patted Akan on the shoulder before stepping over to pick up the unconscious Kyren, “I assume Hermes is with you. Let’s...let’s go home, Akan.”    After lifting up Kyren without too much trouble, she walked past Akan to lead the way out. They walked to the door to leave the room when she stopped. She stopped, and she turned to face Akan again, a smile slowly finding its way onto her face again, “Thank you.”    Again, Akan went red, though he wasn’t completely sure why. Weakly, and slightly shakily, he mumbled, “Um...you’re welcome?”    But she was already walking again, and Akan had to jog slightly to catch up. He couldn’t wait to be out of this place...though the link still didn’t feel right. At least Shadow was back. And something was very definitely different in her now. The smile had proven that. So maybe it wasn’t all bad...</blockquote>

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