Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2204750" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 206: Our Own Private WorldEventually, Jyren risked heading back into the main cabin. He found that his father and the Empress were still involved in some conversation, with Tobias idly sitting between them and watching curiously. Why Toby was actually sitting still, Jyren couldn’t understand, but he figured it couldn’t be all that bad. Cole was watching him. In fact, it was a very serious look, and when he noticed that Jyren was looking at him, the Emperor started nodding to his right.    This continued for a couple minutes before Jyren realized what Cole might be hinting at, and slowly, Jyren looked that direction. Shadow was laying back in a chair, eyes closed and feeling asleep. Ah. So that was it. With a sigh and a nod to Cole, Jyren walked over and had a seat next to Shadow. At the shift in weight, she was immediately awake, though her eyes stayed closed and she only shifted slightly.    However, through the link, she said flatly. [Oh...you.]    Jyren forced himself to not react, simply leaning back and closing his eyes, trying to ignore that they were being watched again. When his eyes closed, though, something slightly odd happened. The link grew slightly stronger, and he could feel the Force doing something, and suddenly he could see. Standing in front of him, a blank white nothing surrounding her, was Shadow. He stood not far away, and glanced around to see the white nothing became a flurry of colours and random images behind him.    Somehow managing to ignore how...odd it was, he took a few steps forward and said quietly, “Look, Shady...I’m sorry. I really am.”    Staring at him, she said nothing for a long moment, then, “You’ve said that before.”    “I...I know...” he hung his head and sighed, the colours behind him shifting to a much softer and somewhat depressing tones, “I’m sorry for a lot of things. But I do mean it...I made mistakes, and I’m trying to admit to them. I just...just want you to be able to let me in.”    “This is in, Jyren,” she said simply, motioning around them, “I have let you closer to me than anyone has ever been. And yet, every single time I let you in, you wound me. And I, you, it seems. I am beginning to question the wisdom in letting you in, in the first place.”    Jyren bit his lip and looked back up, the colours behind him going slightly wild as a thousand thoughts ran through his mind. He latched onto one, and then said softly, “No one gets along perfectly...you just have to...to work through the problems.”    Shadow nodded, “Which is why I’ve let you in again, against all sanity. Look around me. See this? I have control. Look at you...you have no control over your emotions and thoughts at all. They run wild and you act without thinking. Its gotten us both into trouble, and gotten us both hurt.”    “So has your controlled way of working,” Jyren added at the end of that, as delicately as he possibly could without sounding insulting.    To his surprise, she nodded again. And then, the white nothing behind her became a familiar sight. It was her room...their room...whatever. Idly, she walked over and had a seat on the bed, “If you do not learn at least some control, you are going to get us both killed.”    To that, Jyren could only nod as he walked over and had a seat next to her on the soft bed...the soft bed that wasn’t even really there. Odd...shaking off those thoughts, the world behind him shivered and she caught a glimpse of the two of them from a couple nights ago. The same image that had been spreading through the Empire like wildfire. But it was gone in a second, and she raised an eyebrow at it, “What was your home like?”    The sudden change in subject surprise Jyren. It was so surprising that he found himself answering before thinking about it, “It was...empty. It felt nice, but at the same time, it hurt. I don’t ever want to go back there.”    “You mean you’re not going to show me you’re home?” there was a slight grin tugging at the edge of her lips at that as she tilted her head to look him in the eye.    “I...I just don’t really want to go back,” he mumbled, sounding more like Tobias than anyone else.    Shadow’s face became as stern as her voice, “I want to see your home.”    Then, behind Jyren, she saw that...that image again. The two of them...she shivered at the thought and then decided it was worth bringing up, “Are you having trouble? That is the second time you’ve...I’ve...that has appeared.”    Realizing that his thoughts were displaying themselves so easily, Jyren went a deep crimson. As did the world behind him. Quickly, he said the only thing that he could think of, “I...I’m sorry!    “No,” Shadow shook her head, “No, its alright. I...it was...I had never done anything like that before...it was kind of nice.”    He froze. When she saw him freeze like that, Shadow started to worry she’d done something wrong. But slowly, he looked over to her with a somewhat terrified expression on his face. His mouth opened, but he didn’t managed to speak at all. And then he opened his eyes.    When Jyren’s eyes opened, the real world was back. Just that easily, he was back in the cabin with Shadow sitting next to him. Slowly, she opened her eyes and managed to look apologetic, still slightly worried that she’d done something wrong. In fact, fairly sure she had. However, after politely ignoring the fact that anyone else was in the cabin, she leaned over and hugged him again, saying quietly, “You’re forgiven this time.”    Then, Shadow rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep. Jyren sat there somewhat lost for a few moments before glancing up to see that things were back to ‘normal’. His father and the Empress were talking again...Toby was idly playing with some toy between them. And...and Cole. The Alraxian was grinned proudly, and, when he thought that no one but Jyren was looking, he gave him a little victory sign.    The Empress caught it, though, and just rolled her eyes.((Little thing for you guys. I've started an <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=126356" target="_blank">Art Thread</a> down in the Art Forum that I'll be updating pretty regularly, and a good amount of the content will probably be Story Hour art. Currently, I've put up that picture of Jyren's mother, though its not finished yet.))</blockquote>

Verification