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<blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4090520" data-attributes="member: 10079"><p><strong>Chapter 570: Crazy</strong></p><p></p><p>“So that’s that, then. I’ve finally gone off the deep end...” Marix shook her head and closer her eyes to stop herself from seeing what was in front of her. Or at least, what her ‘eyes’ were saying was in front of her. It wasn’t in front of her, and those weren’t eyes telling her that. She was asleep. She’d fallen asleep about an hour previous after finally getting fed up with getting no where in interrogating Qroal. That meant that everything currently being presented to her was a dream.</p><p> </p><p>Dreams were rare for Marix, as she normally had a firm grip on nearly every aspect of her mind. That was why she could tell it was a dream. Such a rare occurrence meant it was easily identified. Well, there was that, and then...</p><p> </p><p>“I believe I was the first crazy one in this family, thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>After an annoyed sigh, Marix gave in and opened her eyes again. Her so-called eyes told her that she was in a small room, not much larger than her quarters on Loki. There was, however, no furniture or even a door. In fact, the only other thing in the room with her was the source of that every familiar voice.</p><p> </p><p>Jyren sat against the wall across from her, arms folded on top of his knees as he casually peered over them at her. Though what he’d just said was one of those sarcastic comments he seemed to love spouting at every inappropriate moment, the words were stated in a matter-of-fact kind of way that almost made him seemed bored.</p><p> </p><p>“You do not have the monopoly on psychoses, Jyren,” Marix grumbled at him, not at all liking this kind of dream after the day she’d had. Series of days, really. In case her words weren’t enough, she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, as if this was all the fault of some of this creation of her mind.</p><p> </p><p>Jyren just shrugged slightly. The fact that he didn’t argue proved to her that even her mind couldn’t bend to the insanity that was necessary to create an accurate representation of Jyren. His eyes closed a moment later and he spoke up in that same bored voice, “So are you just going to stand there and glare at me or did you actually want to be helpful for once in your life?”</p><p> </p><p>She should have felt insulted by that. In fact, the only reason she wasn’t was due to her rational mind telling her this wasn’t Jyren yelling at her, but more likely that part of her own mind that had been the link for so very long. It was practically him, anyway. Practically, however, wasn’t completely. She wasn’t about to start yelling at herself...not yet, at least.</p><p> </p><p>Instead, Marix decided to keep her guarded approach and find a way to get herself to wake up and out of this self-created hell, “Is it too much to ask that I just get a few hours of quiet, restful sleep for once?”</p><p> </p><p>“Apparently,” Jyren might have been nodding, but it really just looked like he tilted his head slightly. His eyes seemed to stare off into nothing for a moment before turning back up to look straight into hers. It was a sight she sorely missed, “Don’t blame me for you showing up here, though. I just live here.”</p><p> </p><p>That was an odd statement. Well, at first. But then again, he did ‘live’ there. This part of Jyren would always be there, carefully buried away in her mind so that she didn’t get distracted like...like this. When Marix woke up, she was going to be back on a very badly injured, unconscious Kanyak with a Yuuzhan Vong locked two rooms away. And, if she slept long enough, finally at the Gateway and some semblance of sanity. Now she was going to have to deal with this, too. It seemed that this wouldn’t ever go away. Then again, she shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was. A link was a very powerful thing...quite literally, half of her was dead. Of course it wasn’t going to just be forgotten completely.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine,” she said the word quietly to herself before walking over next to Jyren and having a seat against the wall at his side. Turning to give him a sideways glance, Marix decided to just give in to whatever this was supposed to be, “Obviously this is for a reason, so get to it. What am I supposed to get out of this?”</p><p> </p><p>Jyren shifted then, letting his arms slide off of his knees to his side. Then, very inelegantly, he allowed himself to fall just enough so that his head dropped onto Marix’s shoulder. He took a couple of moments to find a comfortable spot there before saying softly, “Can’t you just be happy for once?”</p><p> </p><p>For some reason, the idea to just ignore the insanity of her dream and be happy with it had yet to occur to Marix. It wasn’t a half bad idea, actually. Idly, Marix leaned to rest her head on his. It may have been a dream, but that was real enough for her. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing...maybe it wasn’t insanity. Maybe her mind was finding a way to defend against going crazy by presenting her with exactly what she needed, if only for a few hours while she slept.</p><p> </p><p>“You know I’m going to have to wake up relatively soon...” eventually, Marix found herself saying that. There was a great deal of sadness in the way she said it, too. Of course, that wasn’t terrible surprising.</p><p> </p><p>Jyren, as always, provided an obvious, but impractical, solution, “You could stay this time.”</p><p> </p><p>That got a smile on Marix’s face. A real one. Maybe her mind really could create an accurate version of Jyren. Or, rather, perhaps there really was much more of him in her than she’d ever really understood. Either way, it didn’t matter too much, “If I stay, Loki’s not going to drop out of hyperspace and then I’m going to end up dead, too. That...and, well, you know the rest.”</p><p> </p><p>Turning things around yet again, Jyren did something very much unlike him. He was silent and obviously thinking about how to respond to that. He didn’t just blurt out something stupid. Instead, he pulled himself up again and managed to look her in the eyes with a smile, even if it looked a bit forced, “Take care of yourself out there, Marix.”</p><p> </p><p>The smile on her face didn’t fade. Marix nodded and rested her forehead against his, suddenly forgetting none of it was real, “I will...and I’ll make sure to tell the twins you love them, too.”</p><p> </p><p>“Definitely getting soft on me,” finally, Jyren’s smile looked genuine, “Come back when you can.”</p><p> </p><p>She didn’t tell him she would. It was technically talking to herself, so it wasn’t necessary. But even if it had been a real conversation between them, she wouldn’t have said it. While Jyren may have always found words to be so important, he did still understand that some things didn’t need to be said. Some things were just understood.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe Marix was crazy.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe she’d finally just snapped and that was it.</p><p> </p><p>But that didn’t seem to matter anymore.</p><p> </p><p>When Marix woke up not long after, there was an actual smile still on her face. Despite everything that was going wrong, despite the galaxy falling apart around her, Marix was smiling. It was, of course, taken into account quickly and disappeared as she made her way to the cockpit to bring Loki out of hyperspace and finally get him some real medical attention.</p><p> </p><p>But, inside at least, she was still smiling.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe crazy wasn’t so bad...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ankh-Morpork Guard, post: 4090520, member: 10079"] [b]Chapter 570: Crazy[/b] “So that’s that, then. I’ve finally gone off the deep end...” Marix shook her head and closer her eyes to stop herself from seeing what was in front of her. Or at least, what her ‘eyes’ were saying was in front of her. It wasn’t in front of her, and those weren’t eyes telling her that. She was asleep. She’d fallen asleep about an hour previous after finally getting fed up with getting no where in interrogating Qroal. That meant that everything currently being presented to her was a dream. Dreams were rare for Marix, as she normally had a firm grip on nearly every aspect of her mind. That was why she could tell it was a dream. Such a rare occurrence meant it was easily identified. Well, there was that, and then... “I believe I was the first crazy one in this family, thank you.” After an annoyed sigh, Marix gave in and opened her eyes again. Her so-called eyes told her that she was in a small room, not much larger than her quarters on Loki. There was, however, no furniture or even a door. In fact, the only other thing in the room with her was the source of that every familiar voice. Jyren sat against the wall across from her, arms folded on top of his knees as he casually peered over them at her. Though what he’d just said was one of those sarcastic comments he seemed to love spouting at every inappropriate moment, the words were stated in a matter-of-fact kind of way that almost made him seemed bored. “You do not have the monopoly on psychoses, Jyren,” Marix grumbled at him, not at all liking this kind of dream after the day she’d had. Series of days, really. In case her words weren’t enough, she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, as if this was all the fault of some of this creation of her mind. Jyren just shrugged slightly. The fact that he didn’t argue proved to her that even her mind couldn’t bend to the insanity that was necessary to create an accurate representation of Jyren. His eyes closed a moment later and he spoke up in that same bored voice, “So are you just going to stand there and glare at me or did you actually want to be helpful for once in your life?” She should have felt insulted by that. In fact, the only reason she wasn’t was due to her rational mind telling her this wasn’t Jyren yelling at her, but more likely that part of her own mind that had been the link for so very long. It was practically him, anyway. Practically, however, wasn’t completely. She wasn’t about to start yelling at herself...not yet, at least. Instead, Marix decided to keep her guarded approach and find a way to get herself to wake up and out of this self-created hell, “Is it too much to ask that I just get a few hours of quiet, restful sleep for once?” “Apparently,” Jyren might have been nodding, but it really just looked like he tilted his head slightly. His eyes seemed to stare off into nothing for a moment before turning back up to look straight into hers. It was a sight she sorely missed, “Don’t blame me for you showing up here, though. I just live here.” That was an odd statement. Well, at first. But then again, he did ‘live’ there. This part of Jyren would always be there, carefully buried away in her mind so that she didn’t get distracted like...like this. When Marix woke up, she was going to be back on a very badly injured, unconscious Kanyak with a Yuuzhan Vong locked two rooms away. And, if she slept long enough, finally at the Gateway and some semblance of sanity. Now she was going to have to deal with this, too. It seemed that this wouldn’t ever go away. Then again, she shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was. A link was a very powerful thing...quite literally, half of her was dead. Of course it wasn’t going to just be forgotten completely. “Fine,” she said the word quietly to herself before walking over next to Jyren and having a seat against the wall at his side. Turning to give him a sideways glance, Marix decided to just give in to whatever this was supposed to be, “Obviously this is for a reason, so get to it. What am I supposed to get out of this?” Jyren shifted then, letting his arms slide off of his knees to his side. Then, very inelegantly, he allowed himself to fall just enough so that his head dropped onto Marix’s shoulder. He took a couple of moments to find a comfortable spot there before saying softly, “Can’t you just be happy for once?” For some reason, the idea to just ignore the insanity of her dream and be happy with it had yet to occur to Marix. It wasn’t a half bad idea, actually. Idly, Marix leaned to rest her head on his. It may have been a dream, but that was real enough for her. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing...maybe it wasn’t insanity. Maybe her mind was finding a way to defend against going crazy by presenting her with exactly what she needed, if only for a few hours while she slept. “You know I’m going to have to wake up relatively soon...” eventually, Marix found herself saying that. There was a great deal of sadness in the way she said it, too. Of course, that wasn’t terrible surprising. Jyren, as always, provided an obvious, but impractical, solution, “You could stay this time.” That got a smile on Marix’s face. A real one. Maybe her mind really could create an accurate version of Jyren. Or, rather, perhaps there really was much more of him in her than she’d ever really understood. Either way, it didn’t matter too much, “If I stay, Loki’s not going to drop out of hyperspace and then I’m going to end up dead, too. That...and, well, you know the rest.” Turning things around yet again, Jyren did something very much unlike him. He was silent and obviously thinking about how to respond to that. He didn’t just blurt out something stupid. Instead, he pulled himself up again and managed to look her in the eyes with a smile, even if it looked a bit forced, “Take care of yourself out there, Marix.” The smile on her face didn’t fade. Marix nodded and rested her forehead against his, suddenly forgetting none of it was real, “I will...and I’ll make sure to tell the twins you love them, too.” “Definitely getting soft on me,” finally, Jyren’s smile looked genuine, “Come back when you can.” She didn’t tell him she would. It was technically talking to herself, so it wasn’t necessary. But even if it had been a real conversation between them, she wouldn’t have said it. While Jyren may have always found words to be so important, he did still understand that some things didn’t need to be said. Some things were just understood. Maybe Marix was crazy. Maybe she’d finally just snapped and that was it. But that didn’t seem to matter anymore. When Marix woke up not long after, there was an actual smile still on her face. Despite everything that was going wrong, despite the galaxy falling apart around her, Marix was smiling. It was, of course, taken into account quickly and disappeared as she made her way to the cockpit to bring Loki out of hyperspace and finally get him some real medical attention. But, inside at least, she was still smiling. Maybe crazy wasn’t so bad... [/QUOTE]
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