The aftermath! And the end result! If this shit ain't romantic, I don't know what is…*bites lip*
Not necessarily the end, but I'm actually fresh out of ideas for the moment…*twitch*
Anthony and Darren woke up the next morning at their normal times, freshened up, ate, and left to catch the bus into work, without going to greet Kisa first. Though it tore Darren up inside, he felt it was for the best he not speak until he got a grip of himself.
Anthony hovered close by the entire time, for the big, burly prawn to draw reassurance from if needed. They didn't speak; there was nothing to be said, but Anthony did pat his friend on the shoulder every so often, letting him know he was still there. Work was but a blur; while Anthony was relieved when their shift finally ended, Darren barely remembered the day at all…
The sun shone through the tent walls, and Jack stirred. He opened his eyes a crack and saw Kisa's face millimeters from his. With a start, the previous night's activities came crashing down on him.
Oh, hell… he thought. Blinking to clear the fuzziness from his mind, he looked around to see it was already midmorning. He began shifting, trying to cautiously, silently extricate himself from her embrace, but she shifted and her arms – which were wrapped around his back – pulled him down close.
Damn it.
He wanted to get out – to get away – but couldn't seem to find the strength to escape the gentle touch of her caresses. Her tendrils drew little shapes on his chest plates, and he suppressed a shiver.
A part of his mind screamed at him to get away, terminate their association before she hurt him, like everyone before her. Yet at the same time, another part of his mind forbade him to do anything except lie next to her and enjoy it. He wanted to pound the ground in frustration at his inner turmoil, but instead found himself stroking the top of her head. She purred quietly and opened her eyes.
"You're still here," she chirped, and brought his head down for a kiss.
"I find myself trapped," he replied, and kissed her back.
"Trapped how?"
"You have me pinned. I can't stand that. But for some reason I don't want to go…"
She gurgled softly in amusement, sensing his inner turmoil. "Would you like me to release you?"
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. She slowly pulled her arms back, flowing across his sides and chest. He crawled out of the nest on all fours and stood, bracing himself against the wall support.
"Do they teach breeding techniques in the military?" she clicked. "You were… last night was… incredible."
Jack scoffed and bowed his head. "No."
She rolled over and placed her head in her hands, looking at his back. He knelt next to the nest and found his loincloth, and he tied it securely into place.
"I've never… done anything like that before," he told her. "I just… Like you told me to. I lowered my guard and let my instincts tell me what to do."
Her eyes widened. "You have very good instincts."
He didn't reply. Instead, to her surprise, he sank to the ground and began to cry.
"What's wrong?" she clicked in alarm.
"I don't know!" he wailed. "I can't help myself!"
She crawled over to him and was about to wrap her arms around him when he crawled away from her. "I feel so terrible," he groaned.
"What for?"
"What I've done to you…"
"Jack, don't be!" She crawled after him, latching onto his foot and stopping him. She pushed him onto his back and clambered onto him. "I have no regrets. You shouldn't either." She bit his neck playfully, and he relaxed, forcing himself to stop weeping.
He decided to go all out and gave her a big hug, squeezing her to him, and he purred, drawing strength and comfort from her closeness. After a full minute of nuzzling each other, he let her go and they stood.
"Thank you," he whispered. Then, a bit louder, "I'm going to go and put my weapons away."
Her expression took on an air of concern. "You're not going to go get yourself killed, are you?"
He looked at her with an amused expression and a twinkle in his eye. "No." And without another word, he ducked out.
Kisa joined Warren and Prue in their scavenging through the debris that was slowly filling the compound, and spent the rest of the day as she normally did. She didn't see Jack at all for the rest of the day, but wasn't overly concerned for him.
They were still foraging when Anthony came looking for them.
Alone.
After exchanging greetings, Kisa asked, "Where's Darren?"
"He was whining about something last night," Warren noted. "Never found out what."
"I need to talk to you about that," Anthony clicked. "Why don't you two-" he indicated Warren and Prue – "Go freshen up and break out the card deck? Maybe we can play some poker!"
"Uh, all right," Warren chirped. "What will we wager?"
"I traded a few things for a few other things," he explained, "and was able to collect enough of these shiny token things to make it worthwhile."
Warren looked at him skeptically. "How many?"
"Hopefully enough. A few hundred, but you would know better than I… Anyways, I'll bring them over shortly."
Warren looked at Anthony and Kisa while Prue jumped around them playfully; he shrugged and led the hyperactive prawn away.
"What's up?" Kisa chirped. "Where's Darren?"
Anthony pulled her to the side of the dirt roadway. "I'm not sure how to say this, so I'm just going to say it." He squared his shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You broke Darren's heart last night."
Kisa eyed him suspiciously. "Oh?"
"Don't be coy," he chattered scornfully. "We've known each other too long. You asking me to have your fellow nestmates stay at my place? Then when we all left, and Jack stayed behind? Darren forgot something there, I never found out what. But he came back to me and was crushed; said you had offered yourself to Jack, and that he had taken you."
Kisa stomped a foot in the ground angrily. "Damn it! Does the entire district know?"
"Keep your voice down," Anthony told her. "It's only me and him. I aim to keep it that way. But you know how he feels about you."
Her eyes took on a soft, faraway look.
"He loves you in a way that… well, I really don't know how to explain it. But it's powerful, and deep. And when he heard you two, and saw – I'm assuming through a hole in the tent – it was devastating to him."
"I never meant to hurt him," she clicked softly.
"Of course not," Anthony corrected. "It's not your way. But he's barely said two things aloud since last night."
Kisa looked concerned; there were times it could be hard to keep him quiet.
"Do you think I should go talk to him?" she inquired.
He grasped her arm for emphasis. "It would probably be a very good idea."
"Where is he?"
"When we returned he told me he was going for a walk, and then vanished into the crowd of disembarking Poleepkwa."
The day had gone by faster than he could have realized. He barely remembered work; not that there was much to remember. All he did was move half-assembled ammo cases from one conveyor belt to another, and inspect them for defects. But it did succeed in distracting him – to a small degree – from the numbness he felt inside.
After getting off the shuttle bus, Darren tapped his friend on the shoulder. "Going for a walk," he clicked, pointing in the direction of the setting sun, and ducked & disappeared. He sauntered around the periphery for a time, walking past the garbage piles, and past several of the concrete bathing pools. He thought he recognized Warren, but it was just a lookalike.
Along his travels, Darren found shiny metal implement humans called a fork. He picked it up and carted it around with him, keeping his face expressionless as other prawns gawked at the enormous tortoise-shelled Poleepkwa. He found a small rise and climbed atop it, and stood staring for long moments watching the sun set. Just as it dipped below the horizon, he looked around the compound, mildly pleased by the view it offered. He spotted one of the other Ice Walkers among the populace in District 10, and the familiarity sent a shiver through him.
Sinking to the cool dirt, he shuddered as the tears began to flow in earnest. Taking the fork in one hand, he drove the end with four points into his other palm, scratching the tough skin. Pulling back, he did it again, harder this time, and was rewarded with a jolt of pain.
Pain…
He drove the fork into his hand repeatedly, weeping softly but savagely the entire time, until blood was flowing freely. The first thing he had felt all day.
Good.
He continued mashing himself until he could barely move his tentacled fingers. With an angry growl he tossed the fork away as hard as he could. He watched it catch the last of the light before disappearing from view. With a sob he lowered his head into his hands, ignoring the fire that crawled up his arm from his abused hand. Blood smeared his faceplates, dripping into his eyes and down his tendrils to fall to the ground, but he didn't care. All he could see was their bodies locked together…
He wanted to scream. He wanted to die. He wanted to be with Kisa, but he wanted her to be happy no matter what. He wanted to kill Jack; but doing so would make Kisa unhappy, and he didn't want that. His tormented mind went on and on and on, regardless of his shuddering, trembling body sitting atop the hill or the blood mingling with the dirt between his knees.
He thought he heard her say his name, but when he heard nothing – not that he wanted to hear anything – he wailed softly, mewling doubtless the same way the prawns from MNU's labs had when they had been taken apart, cut up, and immobilized on trays for their savage experiments.
"Darren…" the wind seemed to say in her voice. "Oh, Darren…"
He was about to scream at the wind to be silent and stop mocking him when he felt soft hands wrap themselves around him. A head pressed into his shoulder plates and he could feel tears dripping down.
"Oh, Darren…" she hummed softly.
He looked down and saw a pair of pale prawn arms hugging him fiercely.
"Darren, I'm so, so sorry," Kisa clicked as she wept.
Darren was speechless. He stroked her arm with his good hand and felt the numbness inside begin to subside, as if her presence was a light that was driving back its darkness.
"Kisa, I…"
She put one hand over his mouth to silence him as she crawled on all fours to squat in front of him.
"I didn't want you to know – I didn't want anyone to know," she clicked. "I just felt so alone, and knew Jack felt the same. I just… it was almost spur of the moment. I felt that we needed each other, to remind each other why we fight to remain alive, why we do what we do, even in the bleakness that is this planet. I didn't want you to get jealous and get into a fight. I didn't want to hurt you…" Her smaller frame shuddered as she cried.
"Kisa…" he wrapped his big arms around her. "You've clearly given yourself to whom you think is the superior Poleepkwa."
"No," she retorted. "After my eggs were burnt to the ground, Christopher helped me… put myself back together. I promised myself I would never feel such pleasure again if it meant risking that kind of pain. Which is why I never… gave myself to you, or anyone else." She shook in his grasp, and pushed them to a horizontal position. "I was afraid."
Darren purred in understanding and nuzzled the top of her head. She bit his neck gingerly, not wanting to send the wrong message, but so distraught over the pain she had caused him she could barely bring herself to care. She allowed her full weight to fall on him, and felt his strong heart beating against her ribcage.
Cooing softly, she hugged him close, enjoying the vibration the thumping of his heart and rasping of his breath sent through her smaller figure. It felt good to have her hug him again, even though he felt she had dirtied herself by lying with Jack.
As if reading his mind, she looked into his eyes. "Don't hate Jack," she clicked. "I think I gave him what he needed, just as he did to me."
"What did you give him?"
"The strength to go on. And I'll do the same for you, when I think you need it the most." She rested her head against his chest, and he pondered what she said. They lay there for several minutes until she said, "We should really get back to the tent." Slowly, she stood and stretched, then helped him rise. Silhouetted by the rising moon, they hugged each other close, and she led him down the incline, back to their humble abode.
"I'll stay with you tonight," Kisa clicked as they approached the tent.
Darren thrummed with joy.
"I won't be breeding you," she cautioned, and his expression fell. She laid a hand on his cheek. "You don't need that from me tonight. Besides, I much prefer feeling your presence all around me, and you're actually big enough to be able to do it."
His expression rose again and he chirped happily at her compliment. She led him into the tent, where the others – except for Jack – were gathered around the small table.
"Oh, good, you found him," Anthony clicked.
Kisa immediately went for the roll of gauze; bandaging Darren's mangled hand, she led him past the others into the nest. Flapping everything to freshen it somewhat, she lay down and gestured for him to join her.
"Are you two not joining in?" Warren inquired.
"No," Kisa replied.
There was a moment of silence and they watched Darren's head disappear behind the partition and shelf. "Would you like us to leave?" he added.
"No, no, don't mind me," she chirped, and Darren purred affectionately, nuzzling her neck and inhaling her aroma. "We're not doing anything. I just need to be held for a moment. You can go if you want to, but I just want to lie down for a minute. Play your game."
The others resumed playing until Warren screeched, "Prue! No peeking! Leave them alone!"
"I was just curious," the young prawn mewled.
"Yeah, sure, with that thing sticking out, I'm sure that's ALL you were."
Kisa and Darren gurgled softly with laughter at what part of Prue's anatomy they were doubtless referring to. She pulled Darren's arms around herself when it seemed he wasn't going to do it himself, and she allowed her eyelids to close. She pushed herself backwards, forcing him into complete contact with her, and she purred again, prompting him to purr in return. He lowered his head and stroked hers with his tendrils, pecking affectionately at her.
"You're not doing this out of sympathy, are you?" he clicked softly.
"Of course not," she thrummed. "If I didn't like you, if I didn't want you around, do you think I would show you my back? Let you hold me and touch me the way you do?"
"Oh." He thrummed contentedly, and drew himself even closer.
Before long, the lights went out on the other side of the partition and Anthony went home. Warren crashed on the couch, Prue on the chair, when it seemed Jack wasn't showing up. Kisa seemed to be asleep moments later, her slow, steady breathing lulling at Darren like the most delicious seduction.
He pecked her once more on the head, stroking her antennae softly.
"I love you," he chirped before closing his eyes, and allowing himself to drift off to sleep…
