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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2705164" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 298: Closer...Closer. Closer. Gods, it was getting closer!! Shadow’s eyes darted over her shoulder to look past Jyren and down the long, white corridor. It was out. They’d both heard the violent crash echo towards them when it finally escaped. And then they’d heard the noise...that horrid, bone-chilling noise that was supposed to be a roar but sounded so unlike any animal that it would cause even a Rancor to cower in fear. But no! They couldn’t stop...she wanted to. Jyren wanted to...but they couldn’t, and so she held her tight, almost painful grip on his wrist and continued running as fast as her human legs could take her.    The hangar! The door had taken far too many milliseconds to slide open but they were in! In and running even faster, Shadow’s leg’s screaming at her in protest as her Alraxian mind set forced her along...whether the body liked it or not. Jyren was keeping up so that she wasn’t dragging him, having the luxury of longer, stronger legs and having been more used to the weaker human form than she was. But he was keeping up...and he was smart enough not to be looking back as they felt the ground shake. Literally shake. Every few moments, they’d hear the noise, a crash, and small pieces of ice and frost would drift down from the ceiling.    The door...by the Force, where was the door?! Shadow’s eyes continued their frantic survey of the huge hangar, trying to find the way they’d gotten in to just get out. Out. Away from that thing.    “This way!” it was Jyren’s voice, but she didn’t as much hear it as know he’d thought it a moment earlier. Shadow didn’t give Jyren the chance he’d tried to take in turning towards the door...but he didn’t reverse their positions, as Shadow quickly turned and continued ahead. There was a distant driving feeling in both of their minds, but it was stronger in Shadow’s. Not only was there the natural aversion to just get away from the horrible abomination that was getting closer every second, but she had years and years of stories and legends to back up the innate fear.    And then there was another loud, extremely violent smashing sound behind them. Both Jyren and Shadow were stupid enough to glance back. They were both able to watch the white door explode outwards, flying against the wall far on the other side of the hangar with a loud bang. Their eyes were turning back to the way out, though, and they only saw a hint of the hulking, black thing that was breaking through where the door had been. Another horrid noise erupted from it, but by now the two of them had gotten to the exit corridor, with Shadow slamming her fist into the panel over and over until the thing opened.    They were in and running to the next door in a matter of moments, a violent wave of pure darkness charging right after them. The door behind them closed. They reached the next one.    “Shadow, its—“    ”I know!!!” Shadow snapped at the top of her lungs, no longer caring about temperature of any kind. The X-Wing was out in the open...they had to get it to as quickly as possible. It was up and over a nearby snow dune...and her legs were burning now. But, dammit, she was going to make it there!     The door opened with a hiss and a rush of freezing cold air that stung their now-uncovered faces. Shadow didn’t care. Jyren didn’t either. They ran out into the snow, gritting their teeth and just running. Before the door behind them had closed, there was a crash that they’d both heard before...and a half second later the door went flying out into the snow not far from them.    A plume of white snow shot up when the door hit the ground, but they ran through it as fast as their tired legs could take them, now drawing on the Force to push them on farther. And then there was the sound again...but it was different this time. It was in the open, allowed to echo out across the rolling plains of snow that covered Hoth...and it was close. Too close.    The Force screamed at Shadow and she didn’t even have to look back to know how close the creature was. So, instead of wasting that valuable time, she reacted. Using all the strength that her small human body could manage, Shadow threw Jyren around her and tripped him so he fell face first into the snow. She quickly began to dive down to follow him, but she hadn’t expected to have the time...and she had been right.    Halfway down to the freezing cold snow, a sharp, white-hot pain wrenched through Shadow’s body as the creature slashed its claws up the entire length of her back as it flew past. Hot, red blood splattered across the white snow behind her as she hit the ground, leaving a long trail of red as she rolled painfully through the snow. Whether she had cried out in pain or not, Shadow didn’t know. The pain was horribly intense. And feeling those claws rip through her back brought back images...feelings...she could remember what it was like. She could remember it all!!    But no! The Darkwing was gone from her! Jyren had done whatever he had done and it was gone! She was sure of it, and had been for as long as she had thought about it! But now...now it felt like it was right there again. Inside her and waiting...no, fighting to get out. But it couldn’t! It couldn’t because it was gone! Gone but...but still far too close!    Distant words snapped her senses back into reality, and she suddenly realized that she couldn’t feel anything below her shoulders. There was another noise from above as the Darkwing came around for another pass, but Shadow managed to decipher the words that Jyren had yelled at her.    Marix was left to panic and go crazy, dealing with the internal remembrance of a Darkwing...something that had never been her own memory. It was Shadow’s, and suddenly it was Marix’s, too. But Shadow pushed beyond it, her old stubborn self forcing her to grit her teeth and grind out, “I’m alright!”    Jyren knew she was lying. It was obvious from the trail of blood that led up to her body and the fact that only her head had moved. And that wasn’t even using the link...which Jyren was trying to ignore, as there was an intense pain flowing through it that Shadow’s body had numbed out. But he didn’t argue with her. There wasn’t time for it...he could see the great black form sweeping down after them again. And so he made a choice...whether she liked it or not.    As quickly as he could manage, Jyren knelt down and picked her up in both arms. He strained slightly from the extra weight, but was also glad that she was relatively small as a human. Not that he was much larger...but at this point, Jyren was willing to take anything the Force was willing to throw his direction.    After staggering a moment, Jyren got his footing and started running towards the X-Wing as fast as he could manage. They were halfway up the snow dune when Shadow could see the dragon-like form of the Darkwing sweeping right across the snow at them. But Jyren wasn’t looking back, and he quickly said(obviously to attempt to get her mind of the fact that she couldn’t move), “When we’re in the X-Wing, I’ll shoot it down!”    Ignoring the fact that they’d be lucky to get to the X-Wing in the first place, Shadow said through still-gritted teeth, “Just get out of the system!”    “The system?!” Jyren looked down to her a moment, “Don’t tell me they can survive in a vacuum!”    A pause...just long enough for the both of them to hear a heavy flap of the creature’s two gigantic wings, then Shadow answered, “There are stories!”    “Damn!” and then the Darkwing was on them again.</blockquote>

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