A woman will engulf the dreams.
Stelle (pronounced Steel), a former Krimson Knight, and a bunch of ex Krimson Guards ran a small, yet highly profitable detective agency in Spargus. Of course, today, business was kind of slow. While lying in the lounge, she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey Stelle! Look at this, you've got work!", said a hyperactive man. Stelle was so bored and at the same time tired she could barely look up.
"What is it Bravo?", she asked half-asleep.
"You have orders to ... exterminate someone", he said excited but quietly. Stelle jumped up and grabbed the paper Bravo was holding in his hands.
"Why didn't you say so?!! This is big!" She raced to her car. Before she started the ignition, Bravo jumped in with her.
"Stelle, can I go with you?", he asked.
Stelle had a stern yet playful look on her face.
"I don't know. It takes time to be an assassin, a detective, a bounty hunter a blah blah blah and a......",she said with a look in her ocean colored eyes. "All at one time." Bravo clasped his hands and begged with everything he had. (which is sort of pathetic but he was hopelessly in love with her so he didn't think so.)
"I'll be good! Please! Please! PLEASE!" Stelle started the car. "Okay. But as long as your quiet.", she said sternly.
The paper that Bravo received gave coordinates and places that they might find their target. While looking at the addresses listed on the paper, something fell out on his lap. He looked down at it. It was a picture and a bounty written across the back.
"Hey Stelle! I found something.", he yelled.
"You don't have to scream, I hear you. What'd you find?", she asked. Bravo handed her the picture.
"This might be who you have orders to kill." Stelle gave him a sharp look. "Oh, do you think?!", she replied rudely. What's this?" She found the bounty and the name of her client on the very bottom of the back of the photo.
"This guy who I have to do in , he must be worth a lotta dough. It's sort of a shame really. This guy looks too cute to kill."
"Does it have the name of the victim?", Bravo asked with curiosity. Stelle looked at the front of the photo.
"Not the whole name, but it just says "Jak." We'd better hurry. With this much green , the new swimming pool in the back will be totally cool and totally ours!!!" She gunned the engine and headed for Haven City.
While searching through Haven City, Bravo spotted Jak at the very top of the old fortress.
"There he is!! There he is!!", he yelled. Stelle dropped and parked her car.
"Look!", she screamed just as loudly and got in Bravo's face, "I told you that you could come with me if you, were, QUIET!!!!!" She screamed so loudly that several windows broke around her.
"You know, you have the prettiest eyes.", Bravo said nervously. Stelle looked away from and scoffed.
"We have to stay undercover until he's alone.", said Stelle.
"Why not just go in and start shooting?", replied Bravo.
"You might have a brain after all Bravo. I love that plan." Meanwhile, up on the top of the old fortress, Samos was stating a problem to Jak and Torn.
"I don't know if my power is enough. And I'm not sure if your Dark Eco powers are safe enough to run this machine.", said Samos with worry. "Unless you find your light eco powers there might not be enough energy to go through the city." Ashelin ran to Samos with important news.
"We lost contact with the Northern side. The power must be gone.", breathed Ashelin.
"If all else fails, we could always get your rat to run on a treadmill.", laughed Torn.
"Oh yeah?!", Daxter yelled. "Why don't you make me?!" Torn pulled out his small sword.
"Okay." Daxter ran back to Jak's shoulder. "Forget what I just said."
Stelle and Bravo were climbing up the fortress wall.
"Tell me again. Why are we climbing on the side of the wall Bravo?", Stelle asked as she pulled herself along.
"Well,", Bravo started. He stopped, because they were at the roof.
"Time to use my bungee!", Stelle said happily. She buckled Bravo to her and dropped. By the time they were at the middle of the fortress wall, Stelle and Bravo shot up, but a little too far. Stelle landed first. Then Bravo fell on Stelle's butt.
"Uh, tah-dah!!", Bravo screamed. Stelle was flat on her face and couldn't see what was going on, but she could hear it.
"Who are you two?", Jak asked with a frown.
"Who wants to know?!", Stelle muffled. She looked up and scowled at Bravo who was still sitting on her butt.
"Stelle! Stelle Nemitarra?!", Torn and Ashelin shouted. "Yeah that's me. I got orders so I came here.", she retorted.
"And we have an energy crisis.", Samos stated.
"And I'm sitting on a beautiful girl's buttocks!!!" cried Bravo.
"Get off me, stupid!!", Stelle yelled as she pushed him off of her and got up.
"Jak, by orders of a certain so and so, I have to defeat you.", Stelle said professionally. Bravo stood behind her. "That really means she has to kill you.", he said.
"Look, I have nothing against you, but I do have confirmation.", she started as she pulled out one of her four guns. "This is nothing personal really, but I have a bounty to collect."
Stelle began shooting at Jak, but Ashelin knocked the gun out of her hand. Bravo tried running after Jak and Daxter and he did apprehend them for a while. He would of succeeded if Torn hadn't jumped at him and pinned him to the ground. Stelle jumped back from Ashelin. Her long blue hair flowed in the coming winds.
"I don't have orders to kill you, Ashelin, but I would be happy to.", Stelle laughed viciously.
They fought violently, jumping and flipping around. Bravo was running away from Torn and squealing like a baby, until Samos stopped them all.
"Stelle, I can see that your a very intelligent woman.", he started.
Stelle walked toward him with her long Neo Blade.
"Keep talking.", she said with an interest.
"We really don't want to fight, we need all the help we can get. Since you and your partner are very strong, instead of fighting against us, fight with us.", Samos added.
Stelle put her weapon away, but she looked at the picture. Then the bounty and at the picture again. Then she looked to Jak. She frowned.
"Look at this bounty!", she whined. With a big sigh she ripped up the bounty and threw it in the wind. "All right, I'll help you. You must be worth more than a swimming pool for this kind of cold, hard, flippin' cash."
Bravo walked over to Stelle.
"If you wanna cry on my shoulder, I'll let you.", he said.
"Didn't anyone tell you,", Stelle started, "The one and only Krimson Knight never cries."
"Yeah, I guess so. But you sure do whine a lot!", Bravo replied. Stelle frowned.
"So. I'm supposing you need transportation if I'm not mistaken. And maybe a place to hide out.", she started.
"That's right.", agreed Samos.
"Well, I have everything you need.", she said.
Stelle pulled an abstract object from her pocket. As she held it to the moon, it blinked.
"What's that thing?", Torn asked. Stelle smiled and looked at him.
"You'll see." A rumbling noise shook the fortress to the very foundation as a giant hover car lumbered and froze in mid-air.
"Come on!", Stelle commanded. "If we're to continue, then this is the only way to go!" They all jumped in the giant craft, and Stelle pushed forward, back to Spargus.
At the detective agency, Stelle and Bravo gave the others a chance to rest.
"Hey sugar berry, how about you and I go see the sights?", Daxter asked Stelle slyly.
"Sorry, I've already seen them.", she told him. Then Bravo cut in.
"And besides, Stelle is my woman!! Stelle gave Bravo a confused look.
"Yeah, you wish!", said Stelle. Then she had a clever idea. "How 'bout you go then.", she asked.
"How can we trust you?", asked Jak.
"Hey! I wouldn't have given this much of my things if I was gonna double cross you.",
"I guess that makes since.", said Torn. "I'll go then."
"Here, take these keys for my leaper.", Stelle said as she handed them to Torn. Bravo yelled to him as he started the leaper.
"Don't forget to come back before sundown. You'll miss my famous five alarm chili!!"
As Torn drove away, he mumbled a "yeah right." While driving around, Spargus, a part of Stelle's leaper fell apart and it came to a complete stop. Torn got out and followed the rolling piece. It rolled into a bush, but it bumped into a set of toes that was in there. Torn looked curiously into the bush after he picked up the piece. The little toes in the bush wiggled nervously, but curled up when Torn touched them. Finally, he just pulled back the bush to discover a young woman with long, blue hair that resembled Stelle's hair. When he saw her face just slightly as the woman turned away from him, Torn realized that she looked just like Stelle without a confident expression and stripes on her face. She was pretty nonetheless, but quite nude, and herself curled up tight like a hedgecat. Torn took pity on the woman, wrapped his coat around her. She looked up a little, but then she retracted again. Torn picked her up and put her in the leaper. By looking at her, she hadn't slept, or eaten for weeks. In Spargus, the medical attention was far from perfect, so he decided to take her to Haven, but he made a quick stop by Stelle's detective agency and got Ashelin. The young woman retracted even more when Ashelin sat next to her. She even started to puff in a sort of jealous way. Ashelin tried to make a conversation with the woman, but all she and Torn could hear were nervous, angry, puffs. When Ashelin touched her to calm her down, the nervous puffs turned into annoyed clicks. Loud clicks.
"Maybe we should just leave her alone.", Torn insisted. "The doctor can find out what's wrong."
While driving to the hospital, Torn had a small flashback. When he went to tell Ashelin and Stelle what was wrong, he could have sworn he saw Stelle smile suspiciously. Like she knew something but wouldn't tell. When they got to the hospital, the doctor put the woman in a gown and examined her with Torn, Ashelin and the male assistant in the room. She stared blankly at the wall. The doctor asked many questions. Most of them Torn couldn't answer. The male assistant looked at the woman with a sly look. The woman knew the male assistant was going to do something strange. She started to feel dizzy. Drooling and moaning, she was moving like a drunk. The doctor was worried and tried to give her a shot. That turned out to be a mistake. Her ocean colored eyes turned blood red and quickly she jumped off of the operation table. With a sharp turn, she bit the doctor's leg. Torn got the tranquilizers and used a gun to shoot a dart in the woman's leg. That was also a mistake. She grabbed the dart out of her leg and let out a loud, high frequency scream. Everyone covered their ears but they could still hear her. Everything in the room that was glass, including bottles, light bulbs, syringes and cabinets broke from the sound. Torn shot another dart into her shoulder this time and with a thud she fell to the floor, asleep.
"I have never seen a person react like that before.", the doctor said nervously and holding his leg. "I'm afraid this poor woman is definitely disturbed."
Torn felt bad for the woman, and he's never had too many moments like that. Even asleep, she looked sad. Like her ghosts haven't been put to rest yet. She was still beautiful in body but had low self-esteem. Torn may have been tough on the outside, but as long as no one knew his thoughts, he'd be okay.
"That poor woman. She needs help.", he thought as he looked at her tear stained face. "I wish there was something I could do. I can't explain it, but there's something familiar about her that I can't place."
That night in his luxury apartment that he kept in Spargus, Torn thought about what happened that night at the hospital. How unexpectedly and viciously the woman attacked. In bed, he lay awake, staring at the ceiling and thinking about her. When he dosed off, he had a dream about the luxury cruise liner he was on as a Krimson Guard commander when the Baron was still alive. There was a beautiful woman who, at the time, was the princess of Haven. She was on the boat with her older brother Kano, and her mother and father, the king and queen. While on guard, he would normally go off course just to catch a glimpse of her. But what he didn't know was that every time he took off his helmet, the princess would look at him too. Torn didn't know that she was in love with him, but he was in love with her. On that fateful day, the Baron took over the ship violently, and the princess's family just disappeared, they met face to face for the first time. Torn was assigned to guard her until the Baron returned. The princess was scared as she just balled up in a small corner in fear of her life.
"It's all right.", Torn said as he tried to calm her down. "I don't wanna hurt you."
He pulled his gun and knife out and put them on the floor. Then he walked over to the shivering princess and looked into her eyes. While he held her arms, she held onto him too.
"You'll be okay. I'll help you.", Torn said while still holding her arms.
"How?", the princess asked with curiosity. "I'm staring into the eyes of a cold mask."
Torn forgot the he still had his facial armor on and took it off. As soon as the princess saw his face, she wrapped her arms around him. It felt as if she wouldn't let go. Torn had to calm her down again and he held her in his arms.
"I really hate to see you like this.", he started. "I wanna help you get out of here."
With a quick move, he kissed her. Something he thought he would never do. Then they kissed again, just as he remembered as he dreamed, but something different happened this time. The princess's tongue shot into Torn's mouth and it was forked like a snake. He tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. As he looked in her once calm and beautiful, but now horrific eyes, he saw her now bony fingers shoot towards his eyes. Before they hit, he woke up with sweat trickling down his face. His sheets were soaked with sweat also.
"What was that all about?!", Torn thought. "I remember seeing that woman before. The princess, Stellilina Vallatairre. The woman at the hospital looked almost like her, but she can't be."
There were rumors that the king and queen had more children but never mentioned them. One rumor: Stellilina had a twin, but she was never known. Could that have been her twin in the hospital? Torn had to know. So he went there the next day. He found her in a social room huddled in a corner. She wouldn't talk to anyone. Torn walked over to her.
"Hi. Do you remember me?", he asked. "I brought you here."
The woman didn't say a word. She just stared at him. He looked deeply in her eyes and just hoped a repeat of his bad dream didn't occur. Suddenly, one of the men in the room walked over and pushed Torn out of the way. Just when Torn was about to respond, the doctor pulled him out of the room.
"Let's just see how she interacts with others.", he told him.
The man sat next to the woman and put his arm around her. That made the woman ball up even tighter.
"Hey? What's your name? My name's Norm, please to meet you. I'm a psychopath how about you? If you are, you're a pretty one. I'd like to marry you, do you wanna marry me? You're so cute!", he said quickly.
He tried to pry more into her but the woman wouldn't say anything. Then Norm tried to physically pry into her by feeling her all over and trying to kiss her. That made her squeal loudly and she tried her best to get Norm off by trying to run away, but Norm just grabbed onto her and wouldn't let go. Finally Torn couldn't take it. He walked into the room and made Norm let go by kicking him off. Then he took the poor woman and walked over to the doctor.
"I'd like to take her.", he said to the doctor.
"Well, she seems to respond more to you.", the doctor said.
When Torn looked at the woman, she was no longer afraid. She was standing up straight and looking at him, but with a more confused look. As if she was saying, "Thank you" or "Why did you help me?"
"I guess you can take her. But,", the doctor started, "I want to see how she's doing periodically."
"Sure.", Torn agreed.
He took her home with him. To keep things from the deep end, he tried to make a conversation, but still the woman wouldn't reply. Torn was baffled of why she stayed so silent. It's almost as if she vowed to herself that she could never speak again because of the perils and tribulations she's experienced. Finally, he came to the conclusion that she was incapable of talking. Of course the lady could make the simplest sounds, but speaking was totally vacant in her. Day after day, she stayed quiet, while Torn still had those horrible dreams, mostly about her, and just couldn't take it anymore. From her hacking Torn to pieces, killing off all of his friends, or, the removal of his eyeballs. He wanted to find out why, but had a sudden thought. If he wanted the woman to talk, obviously Torn had to show her kindness. He took her to get a makeover, and when he saw her all dolled up, he knew he saw her before. Somewhere. Torn took her to a park and tried to reason with her. He realized that he grew fonder of her everyday. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad to hide it if it didn't hurt him so much. Submitting to the pressure, Torn held the woman close and bared his soul. He finally saw her smile. Is that what he needed to say? He wouldn't have confessed his love if he didn't mean it. The woman snuggled up to him. She just couldn't keep the smile off of her lovely face. Right under a tree, Torn stared into her. He had a guess that she was as lovely on the inside just as she was on the surface. Finally they made out under that big shady tree until it was almost dark.
"I guess we should head back now.", Torn said smiling.
The woman nodded and stood up. That night, Torn sat in his living room and just drifted to sleep. He found he was in his bed, but besides seeing the woman's now happy face when he turned around, he saw the woman with blood all over her face and a closer look revealed it was Ashelin's blood, for her dead body was under the woman. It's as if she was eating Ashelin and when she saw Torn looking at her, she roared at him. It sounded like a roar but at the same time it sounded like a woman shrieking in fear. Suddenly, he woke up. Torn walked down the hall to his bedroom where the woman was sleeping. He thought she would be evilly laughing or showing contentment of Torn's torture, but instead he found her shivering like something spooked her terribly. He woke her up and she started to scream. At that moment, he got in bed with her so she wouldn't be lonely. In the morning, he woke up with the woman in his arms and realized he didn't have another nightmare. The woman wasn't shivering anymore, but he figured the shivering must have been happening while he had the nightmares, in her entire stay. With a small yawn, the woman woke up and almost questioned herself quietly when she found herself in Torn's arms. He smiled at her, and was about to whisper sweet things in her ear until his phone rang. It was Ashelin, and she said that there was an urgent council meeting and it would be good kudos if he could attend. It was really about the energy crisis.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave.", Torn told the woman.
She whimpered and her face turned to sadness. Torn tried to keep her from crying, but he turned to his closet. Something he thought he would never hear was her voice.
"Don't go.", she said quietly.
"Don't worry, I'll be back in an ho.."
Torn paused and turned around slowly. He saw the woman sit up straight and hold his hand.
"What did you just say?", he asked.
"Don't go.", she said just as before.
"You spoke! You opened your mouth and words came out!", Torn yelled. "Could you always talk?!"
"Yes.", the woman answered plainly.
Her voice was as sweet as a melody. It sang inside Torn's mind like a song.
"You saw them?", she asked.
"Saw what?", Torn asked, still captivated by her voice.
"The dreams! The dreams that haunt me.", she said sadly.
Torn put his arms around her and put his head on her chest.
"What were they all about?", he asked.
The woman held Torn's head against her and sighed heavily with grief.
"They were about me.", she told him. "They weren't your dreams. It's like I channeled them to you somehow. I can't understand it myself. But I do know, that these dreams are telling us something. Our worst fears, something that we're all afraid to be, or too frightened to look at. I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry."
Her eyes seemed to water, as if she was to cry. Torn felt bad. He had to do something for her and fast.
"Come with me.", he told her. "I can't leave you alone now, not even for an hour."
As he turned around to get dressed, he had an important question to ask of her.
"I forgot to ask. What's your name? You do have a name, don't you?", he asked.
The woman hesitated to respond, but she just took a deep breath and looked at him.
"My name is.... My name is.... Stellilina.", she said quietly but nervously..
"Stellilina!?", Torn yelled. "Stellilina DeAnna Vallatairre?! You're the princess?!"
"Yes.", she said sadly.
"You don't have to be ashamed of your name.", Torn told her.
"It's not my name exactly.", Stellilina explained. "It's my lineage. The people of Haven and Spargus are really supposed to think that I'm dead, but I'm not. What will they do if they found out I was alive? I don't think I'm ready for that just attention yet."
"I won't tell anyone.", Torn promised as he helped her up.
"Thank you.", Stellilina said as she smiled with relief.
With that, she kissed him on the cheek and after both of them got ready, they went to the council meeting.
The End
R&R please!!! Look out for the sequel in late July!!
Stelle (pronounced Steel), a former Krimson Knight, and a bunch of ex Krimson Guards ran a small, yet highly profitable detective agency in Spargus. Of course, today, business was kind of slow. While lying in the lounge, she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey Stelle! Look at this, you've got work!", said a hyperactive man. Stelle was so bored and at the same time tired she could barely look up.
"What is it Bravo?", she asked half-asleep.
"You have orders to ... exterminate someone", he said excited but quietly. Stelle jumped up and grabbed the paper Bravo was holding in his hands.
"Why didn't you say so?!! This is big!" She raced to her car. Before she started the ignition, Bravo jumped in with her.
"Stelle, can I go with you?", he asked.
Stelle had a stern yet playful look on her face.
"I don't know. It takes time to be an assassin, a detective, a bounty hunter a blah blah blah and a......",she said with a look in her ocean colored eyes. "All at one time." Bravo clasped his hands and begged with everything he had. (which is sort of pathetic but he was hopelessly in love with her so he didn't think so.)
"I'll be good! Please! Please! PLEASE!" Stelle started the car. "Okay. But as long as your quiet.", she said sternly.
The paper that Bravo received gave coordinates and places that they might find their target. While looking at the addresses listed on the paper, something fell out on his lap. He looked down at it. It was a picture and a bounty written across the back.
"Hey Stelle! I found something.", he yelled.
"You don't have to scream, I hear you. What'd you find?", she asked. Bravo handed her the picture.
"This might be who you have orders to kill." Stelle gave him a sharp look. "Oh, do you think?!", she replied rudely. What's this?" She found the bounty and the name of her client on the very bottom of the back of the photo.
"This guy who I have to do in , he must be worth a lotta dough. It's sort of a shame really. This guy looks too cute to kill."
"Does it have the name of the victim?", Bravo asked with curiosity. Stelle looked at the front of the photo.
"Not the whole name, but it just says "Jak." We'd better hurry. With this much green , the new swimming pool in the back will be totally cool and totally ours!!!" She gunned the engine and headed for Haven City.
While searching through Haven City, Bravo spotted Jak at the very top of the old fortress.
"There he is!! There he is!!", he yelled. Stelle dropped and parked her car.
"Look!", she screamed just as loudly and got in Bravo's face, "I told you that you could come with me if you, were, QUIET!!!!!" She screamed so loudly that several windows broke around her.
"You know, you have the prettiest eyes.", Bravo said nervously. Stelle looked away from and scoffed.
"We have to stay undercover until he's alone.", said Stelle.
"Why not just go in and start shooting?", replied Bravo.
"You might have a brain after all Bravo. I love that plan." Meanwhile, up on the top of the old fortress, Samos was stating a problem to Jak and Torn.
"I don't know if my power is enough. And I'm not sure if your Dark Eco powers are safe enough to run this machine.", said Samos with worry. "Unless you find your light eco powers there might not be enough energy to go through the city." Ashelin ran to Samos with important news.
"We lost contact with the Northern side. The power must be gone.", breathed Ashelin.
"If all else fails, we could always get your rat to run on a treadmill.", laughed Torn.
"Oh yeah?!", Daxter yelled. "Why don't you make me?!" Torn pulled out his small sword.
"Okay." Daxter ran back to Jak's shoulder. "Forget what I just said."
Stelle and Bravo were climbing up the fortress wall.
"Tell me again. Why are we climbing on the side of the wall Bravo?", Stelle asked as she pulled herself along.
"Well,", Bravo started. He stopped, because they were at the roof.
"Time to use my bungee!", Stelle said happily. She buckled Bravo to her and dropped. By the time they were at the middle of the fortress wall, Stelle and Bravo shot up, but a little too far. Stelle landed first. Then Bravo fell on Stelle's butt.
"Uh, tah-dah!!", Bravo screamed. Stelle was flat on her face and couldn't see what was going on, but she could hear it.
"Who are you two?", Jak asked with a frown.
"Who wants to know?!", Stelle muffled. She looked up and scowled at Bravo who was still sitting on her butt.
"Stelle! Stelle Nemitarra?!", Torn and Ashelin shouted. "Yeah that's me. I got orders so I came here.", she retorted.
"And we have an energy crisis.", Samos stated.
"And I'm sitting on a beautiful girl's buttocks!!!" cried Bravo.
"Get off me, stupid!!", Stelle yelled as she pushed him off of her and got up.
"Jak, by orders of a certain so and so, I have to defeat you.", Stelle said professionally. Bravo stood behind her. "That really means she has to kill you.", he said.
"Look, I have nothing against you, but I do have confirmation.", she started as she pulled out one of her four guns. "This is nothing personal really, but I have a bounty to collect."
Stelle began shooting at Jak, but Ashelin knocked the gun out of her hand. Bravo tried running after Jak and Daxter and he did apprehend them for a while. He would of succeeded if Torn hadn't jumped at him and pinned him to the ground. Stelle jumped back from Ashelin. Her long blue hair flowed in the coming winds.
"I don't have orders to kill you, Ashelin, but I would be happy to.", Stelle laughed viciously.
They fought violently, jumping and flipping around. Bravo was running away from Torn and squealing like a baby, until Samos stopped them all.
"Stelle, I can see that your a very intelligent woman.", he started.
Stelle walked toward him with her long Neo Blade.
"Keep talking.", she said with an interest.
"We really don't want to fight, we need all the help we can get. Since you and your partner are very strong, instead of fighting against us, fight with us.", Samos added.
Stelle put her weapon away, but she looked at the picture. Then the bounty and at the picture again. Then she looked to Jak. She frowned.
"Look at this bounty!", she whined. With a big sigh she ripped up the bounty and threw it in the wind. "All right, I'll help you. You must be worth more than a swimming pool for this kind of cold, hard, flippin' cash."
Bravo walked over to Stelle.
"If you wanna cry on my shoulder, I'll let you.", he said.
"Didn't anyone tell you,", Stelle started, "The one and only Krimson Knight never cries."
"Yeah, I guess so. But you sure do whine a lot!", Bravo replied. Stelle frowned.
"So. I'm supposing you need transportation if I'm not mistaken. And maybe a place to hide out.", she started.
"That's right.", agreed Samos.
"Well, I have everything you need.", she said.
Stelle pulled an abstract object from her pocket. As she held it to the moon, it blinked.
"What's that thing?", Torn asked. Stelle smiled and looked at him.
"You'll see." A rumbling noise shook the fortress to the very foundation as a giant hover car lumbered and froze in mid-air.
"Come on!", Stelle commanded. "If we're to continue, then this is the only way to go!" They all jumped in the giant craft, and Stelle pushed forward, back to Spargus.
At the detective agency, Stelle and Bravo gave the others a chance to rest.
"Hey sugar berry, how about you and I go see the sights?", Daxter asked Stelle slyly.
"Sorry, I've already seen them.", she told him. Then Bravo cut in.
"And besides, Stelle is my woman!! Stelle gave Bravo a confused look.
"Yeah, you wish!", said Stelle. Then she had a clever idea. "How 'bout you go then.", she asked.
"How can we trust you?", asked Jak.
"Hey! I wouldn't have given this much of my things if I was gonna double cross you.",
"I guess that makes since.", said Torn. "I'll go then."
"Here, take these keys for my leaper.", Stelle said as she handed them to Torn. Bravo yelled to him as he started the leaper.
"Don't forget to come back before sundown. You'll miss my famous five alarm chili!!"
As Torn drove away, he mumbled a "yeah right." While driving around, Spargus, a part of Stelle's leaper fell apart and it came to a complete stop. Torn got out and followed the rolling piece. It rolled into a bush, but it bumped into a set of toes that was in there. Torn looked curiously into the bush after he picked up the piece. The little toes in the bush wiggled nervously, but curled up when Torn touched them. Finally, he just pulled back the bush to discover a young woman with long, blue hair that resembled Stelle's hair. When he saw her face just slightly as the woman turned away from him, Torn realized that she looked just like Stelle without a confident expression and stripes on her face. She was pretty nonetheless, but quite nude, and herself curled up tight like a hedgecat. Torn took pity on the woman, wrapped his coat around her. She looked up a little, but then she retracted again. Torn picked her up and put her in the leaper. By looking at her, she hadn't slept, or eaten for weeks. In Spargus, the medical attention was far from perfect, so he decided to take her to Haven, but he made a quick stop by Stelle's detective agency and got Ashelin. The young woman retracted even more when Ashelin sat next to her. She even started to puff in a sort of jealous way. Ashelin tried to make a conversation with the woman, but all she and Torn could hear were nervous, angry, puffs. When Ashelin touched her to calm her down, the nervous puffs turned into annoyed clicks. Loud clicks.
"Maybe we should just leave her alone.", Torn insisted. "The doctor can find out what's wrong."
While driving to the hospital, Torn had a small flashback. When he went to tell Ashelin and Stelle what was wrong, he could have sworn he saw Stelle smile suspiciously. Like she knew something but wouldn't tell. When they got to the hospital, the doctor put the woman in a gown and examined her with Torn, Ashelin and the male assistant in the room. She stared blankly at the wall. The doctor asked many questions. Most of them Torn couldn't answer. The male assistant looked at the woman with a sly look. The woman knew the male assistant was going to do something strange. She started to feel dizzy. Drooling and moaning, she was moving like a drunk. The doctor was worried and tried to give her a shot. That turned out to be a mistake. Her ocean colored eyes turned blood red and quickly she jumped off of the operation table. With a sharp turn, she bit the doctor's leg. Torn got the tranquilizers and used a gun to shoot a dart in the woman's leg. That was also a mistake. She grabbed the dart out of her leg and let out a loud, high frequency scream. Everyone covered their ears but they could still hear her. Everything in the room that was glass, including bottles, light bulbs, syringes and cabinets broke from the sound. Torn shot another dart into her shoulder this time and with a thud she fell to the floor, asleep.
"I have never seen a person react like that before.", the doctor said nervously and holding his leg. "I'm afraid this poor woman is definitely disturbed."
Torn felt bad for the woman, and he's never had too many moments like that. Even asleep, she looked sad. Like her ghosts haven't been put to rest yet. She was still beautiful in body but had low self-esteem. Torn may have been tough on the outside, but as long as no one knew his thoughts, he'd be okay.
"That poor woman. She needs help.", he thought as he looked at her tear stained face. "I wish there was something I could do. I can't explain it, but there's something familiar about her that I can't place."
That night in his luxury apartment that he kept in Spargus, Torn thought about what happened that night at the hospital. How unexpectedly and viciously the woman attacked. In bed, he lay awake, staring at the ceiling and thinking about her. When he dosed off, he had a dream about the luxury cruise liner he was on as a Krimson Guard commander when the Baron was still alive. There was a beautiful woman who, at the time, was the princess of Haven. She was on the boat with her older brother Kano, and her mother and father, the king and queen. While on guard, he would normally go off course just to catch a glimpse of her. But what he didn't know was that every time he took off his helmet, the princess would look at him too. Torn didn't know that she was in love with him, but he was in love with her. On that fateful day, the Baron took over the ship violently, and the princess's family just disappeared, they met face to face for the first time. Torn was assigned to guard her until the Baron returned. The princess was scared as she just balled up in a small corner in fear of her life.
"It's all right.", Torn said as he tried to calm her down. "I don't wanna hurt you."
He pulled his gun and knife out and put them on the floor. Then he walked over to the shivering princess and looked into her eyes. While he held her arms, she held onto him too.
"You'll be okay. I'll help you.", Torn said while still holding her arms.
"How?", the princess asked with curiosity. "I'm staring into the eyes of a cold mask."
Torn forgot the he still had his facial armor on and took it off. As soon as the princess saw his face, she wrapped her arms around him. It felt as if she wouldn't let go. Torn had to calm her down again and he held her in his arms.
"I really hate to see you like this.", he started. "I wanna help you get out of here."
With a quick move, he kissed her. Something he thought he would never do. Then they kissed again, just as he remembered as he dreamed, but something different happened this time. The princess's tongue shot into Torn's mouth and it was forked like a snake. He tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. As he looked in her once calm and beautiful, but now horrific eyes, he saw her now bony fingers shoot towards his eyes. Before they hit, he woke up with sweat trickling down his face. His sheets were soaked with sweat also.
"What was that all about?!", Torn thought. "I remember seeing that woman before. The princess, Stellilina Vallatairre. The woman at the hospital looked almost like her, but she can't be."
There were rumors that the king and queen had more children but never mentioned them. One rumor: Stellilina had a twin, but she was never known. Could that have been her twin in the hospital? Torn had to know. So he went there the next day. He found her in a social room huddled in a corner. She wouldn't talk to anyone. Torn walked over to her.
"Hi. Do you remember me?", he asked. "I brought you here."
The woman didn't say a word. She just stared at him. He looked deeply in her eyes and just hoped a repeat of his bad dream didn't occur. Suddenly, one of the men in the room walked over and pushed Torn out of the way. Just when Torn was about to respond, the doctor pulled him out of the room.
"Let's just see how she interacts with others.", he told him.
The man sat next to the woman and put his arm around her. That made the woman ball up even tighter.
"Hey? What's your name? My name's Norm, please to meet you. I'm a psychopath how about you? If you are, you're a pretty one. I'd like to marry you, do you wanna marry me? You're so cute!", he said quickly.
He tried to pry more into her but the woman wouldn't say anything. Then Norm tried to physically pry into her by feeling her all over and trying to kiss her. That made her squeal loudly and she tried her best to get Norm off by trying to run away, but Norm just grabbed onto her and wouldn't let go. Finally Torn couldn't take it. He walked into the room and made Norm let go by kicking him off. Then he took the poor woman and walked over to the doctor.
"I'd like to take her.", he said to the doctor.
"Well, she seems to respond more to you.", the doctor said.
When Torn looked at the woman, she was no longer afraid. She was standing up straight and looking at him, but with a more confused look. As if she was saying, "Thank you" or "Why did you help me?"
"I guess you can take her. But,", the doctor started, "I want to see how she's doing periodically."
"Sure.", Torn agreed.
He took her home with him. To keep things from the deep end, he tried to make a conversation, but still the woman wouldn't reply. Torn was baffled of why she stayed so silent. It's almost as if she vowed to herself that she could never speak again because of the perils and tribulations she's experienced. Finally, he came to the conclusion that she was incapable of talking. Of course the lady could make the simplest sounds, but speaking was totally vacant in her. Day after day, she stayed quiet, while Torn still had those horrible dreams, mostly about her, and just couldn't take it anymore. From her hacking Torn to pieces, killing off all of his friends, or, the removal of his eyeballs. He wanted to find out why, but had a sudden thought. If he wanted the woman to talk, obviously Torn had to show her kindness. He took her to get a makeover, and when he saw her all dolled up, he knew he saw her before. Somewhere. Torn took her to a park and tried to reason with her. He realized that he grew fonder of her everyday. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad to hide it if it didn't hurt him so much. Submitting to the pressure, Torn held the woman close and bared his soul. He finally saw her smile. Is that what he needed to say? He wouldn't have confessed his love if he didn't mean it. The woman snuggled up to him. She just couldn't keep the smile off of her lovely face. Right under a tree, Torn stared into her. He had a guess that she was as lovely on the inside just as she was on the surface. Finally they made out under that big shady tree until it was almost dark.
"I guess we should head back now.", Torn said smiling.
The woman nodded and stood up. That night, Torn sat in his living room and just drifted to sleep. He found he was in his bed, but besides seeing the woman's now happy face when he turned around, he saw the woman with blood all over her face and a closer look revealed it was Ashelin's blood, for her dead body was under the woman. It's as if she was eating Ashelin and when she saw Torn looking at her, she roared at him. It sounded like a roar but at the same time it sounded like a woman shrieking in fear. Suddenly, he woke up. Torn walked down the hall to his bedroom where the woman was sleeping. He thought she would be evilly laughing or showing contentment of Torn's torture, but instead he found her shivering like something spooked her terribly. He woke her up and she started to scream. At that moment, he got in bed with her so she wouldn't be lonely. In the morning, he woke up with the woman in his arms and realized he didn't have another nightmare. The woman wasn't shivering anymore, but he figured the shivering must have been happening while he had the nightmares, in her entire stay. With a small yawn, the woman woke up and almost questioned herself quietly when she found herself in Torn's arms. He smiled at her, and was about to whisper sweet things in her ear until his phone rang. It was Ashelin, and she said that there was an urgent council meeting and it would be good kudos if he could attend. It was really about the energy crisis.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave.", Torn told the woman.
She whimpered and her face turned to sadness. Torn tried to keep her from crying, but he turned to his closet. Something he thought he would never hear was her voice.
"Don't go.", she said quietly.
"Don't worry, I'll be back in an ho.."
Torn paused and turned around slowly. He saw the woman sit up straight and hold his hand.
"What did you just say?", he asked.
"Don't go.", she said just as before.
"You spoke! You opened your mouth and words came out!", Torn yelled. "Could you always talk?!"
"Yes.", the woman answered plainly.
Her voice was as sweet as a melody. It sang inside Torn's mind like a song.
"You saw them?", she asked.
"Saw what?", Torn asked, still captivated by her voice.
"The dreams! The dreams that haunt me.", she said sadly.
Torn put his arms around her and put his head on her chest.
"What were they all about?", he asked.
The woman held Torn's head against her and sighed heavily with grief.
"They were about me.", she told him. "They weren't your dreams. It's like I channeled them to you somehow. I can't understand it myself. But I do know, that these dreams are telling us something. Our worst fears, something that we're all afraid to be, or too frightened to look at. I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry."
Her eyes seemed to water, as if she was to cry. Torn felt bad. He had to do something for her and fast.
"Come with me.", he told her. "I can't leave you alone now, not even for an hour."
As he turned around to get dressed, he had an important question to ask of her.
"I forgot to ask. What's your name? You do have a name, don't you?", he asked.
The woman hesitated to respond, but she just took a deep breath and looked at him.
"My name is.... My name is.... Stellilina.", she said quietly but nervously..
"Stellilina!?", Torn yelled. "Stellilina DeAnna Vallatairre?! You're the princess?!"
"Yes.", she said sadly.
"You don't have to be ashamed of your name.", Torn told her.
"It's not my name exactly.", Stellilina explained. "It's my lineage. The people of Haven and Spargus are really supposed to think that I'm dead, but I'm not. What will they do if they found out I was alive? I don't think I'm ready for that just attention yet."
"I won't tell anyone.", Torn promised as he helped her up.
"Thank you.", Stellilina said as she smiled with relief.
With that, she kissed him on the cheek and after both of them got ready, they went to the council meeting.
The End
R&R please!!! Look out for the sequel in late July!!