"For years, I felt dirty, like I couldn't wash enough." His whisper echoed throughout the cramped room. "Salvation isn't cheap nor easy and attainment is like water through your fingers."
She leaned forward, an intent expression on her young and innocent face. She longed to reached out, to comfort him with a touch, but was afraid he would recoil from her. So she let him pour out his soul.
"So much death ... starvation ... desolation. They say there is no horror like mankind. I say there is no horror like chaos ... for in chaos all things are possible." His head bowed into his hands and wept without sound.
She rocked back on her heels and let her gaze roam over the spartan quarters because his pain was too horrible to watch.
She too had experienced most of what he had. Some experiences were worse. Tomorrow was judgement day and for once in her life Robyn was terrified. Shay had killed a Caspian leader to save her life. Now he was facing a death charge. She could not for the life of her figure out why she cared soo much. Over the years she had hardened her heart, but ever since she met Seamus Harper, she had softened. Robyn laid her head back and fought the tears. She had met him on a desert planet. He had been kidnaped from the ship he had once lived on, called the Andromeda Ascendent. Robyn was the one who rescued him from the hands of the slave traders. And they had come to make a deal. He would be her engineer, if she could help him find the Andromeda. I has been 5 years now and they have yet to find the ship. Every time they found a lead, they would run into some of Robyn's past 'enemies' and they never caught the Andromeda in time. But some where along the line they eventually stopped trying and they excepted that they might be in this for the long haul. This was what really bothered Robyn. She had never asked him to get involved in her personal life, to have to experience what her every day life was like.
Actually, he had been the one to strike the deal. She had refused at first, but he stowed away on her ship. He won her over with pleading eyes and with the fact he had actually wanted to pay her back for saving his life. Not to mention he was an excellent engineer and she had a broken slipstream drive. He had done more than he could ever know to repay the debt he so instantly wanted to pay, yet he kept on giving. And, what had she given him in return?...
"Death and Destruction." She whispered silently to herself. No one....no one had ever affected her like him. Her heart ached to see him cry. She wondered if she was the reason he cried...
"I'm soo sorry, Shay." She said, looking at him. He looked up, his eyes red with tears. " It's all my fault. I should have never gotten you involved in this."
Harper crawled the small distance toward Robyn and put his arm around her. "I have never...ever regretted what little time we had together. These past 5 years have been great. I've never regretted them. And it's not your fault that we're here. I accepted all of this when I had decided to stay with you."
"You could have left any time...you knew that. Now look at us. We're both gonna die tomorrow!
Shay, I could get you out of here..."
"I told you Robby, I will not leave you here for something I've done! I just wished I hadn't..."
"Hadn't what?"
Harper looked at her and scrunched away. He buried his head in his hands and let out a sigh. Then he ran his hands through his unruly hair.
"It had happened when I was 13..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harper ran down the street with a loaf of bread in his hands. They were following him, the owners of the shop. Luckily his friend Jason saw him and helped hide him in an air duct. When they were safe they dropped down into the alley way.
Harper had always trusted Jason to be there for him. And Jason was always there. But what Jason had done surprised Harper...
Jason grabbed the bread and started to make a run for it. Harper tripped the boy and took the bread. Jason tackled him, causing Harper to stumble and the bread to fall out of his hands. Here they were, two best friends, fighting over bread! Some where along the line Jason pulled out a pocket knife. Harper, with surprising strength kicked Jason's hand, knocking the knife out of it. The pocket knife got stuck in a pipe, sharp end sticking out, on a garbage heap. Jason punched Harper in the stomach, making him double over. Jason grabbed the bread and was about to make another run for it, but Harper pushed him at the last second. Jason tripped and fell on the garbage heap. He coughed and blood trickled down cheek.
"Jason, Jason, I'm soo sorry. Please don't die!" Harper screamed, kneeling by his friend. "Please, Jason, pleeease..." Harper shook Jason wildly. But nothing made Jason move.
"Wake up!" Harper yelled "This isn't funny Jason! Please wake up!..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I had killed him Robby!," Harper said in between sobs. Robyn's cheeks were wet with tears. "And you want to know what I did!?" He said with anger.
With Robyn's stifled sob he continued "I took the bread and ran...I ran!! What kind of friend am I!"
"You're a great friend Seamus!" Robyn said and with all the courage she could muster she hugged him. They sat there and held each other. The door opened to revile the guard.
"It's time..."
Robyn's tear stung face turned toward the guard. She was going to get Shay out of there. She was tiered of seeing him suffer. If she had anything to say about it, she was going to make sure he got out of there. It was no more Mrs. Nice Guy. She'll be damned if she was going to let him die. She loved him. And she wasn't about to lose him...