Since my beta reader has a lot of pressure on her in real life, I'm going to go ahead and post chapters. I will replace them with her awesome beta-ness should things settle down for her... or I might eventually stop being lazy and proofread them myself. :p I truly do not want her to feel pressured or overwhelmed, so I don't want her to feel like everyone's waiting on her to beta. She can make the choice to catch up, or to take up from where she gets time again as she so desires when the time comes. Hopefully knowing that there's no stress, expectation, or pressure from this direction will help her feel comfortable doing things at her own pace. *HUGE HUGS* for Dasque. I hope RL calms down for you quickly, dear lady.
Part 53: Simon Versus the Darkspawn
"Open up," she said unceremoniously. When Simon did, she stuck two fingers covered in Pip's blood into his mouth.
"Ugh," Simon complained. "That's disgusting!"
Whatever she might have said in response was torn from him as the world dropped away and he was plunged into a nightmare.
"Simon?" It was Pip, but he was small again, squatting fearfully at Simon's feet.
Simon realized he could see again and that was how he knew he was in the Fade, or somewhere like it. He looked up to see a crowd of Darkspawn converging on them. He pulled his sword and shield out. Terrified, the tiny, newly-hatched sized Pip scampered up his leg and body to cling to his neck.
Hampered by Pip, Simon fought the oncoming Darkspawn. For what felt like hours, he hacked and slashed and parried. Exhaustion and pain pulled at him, and his wounds were extensive. Still they came, until at last, he feared he would fail Pip and they would both die.
As despair set in, he found himself focused solely on staying alive—keeping them both alive, really. When he ran out of Darkspawn abruptly, he looked up. And up. And up.
Another Pip towered over him. This Pip was blackened, shredded by his own battle with the Darkspawn. He was huge, and Simon instinctively realized this was his current, true size in life.
But this wasn't the loving friend he had come to rely on and treasure beyond words. This was a monster. This was a Pip that terrified Simon. He exuded evil as he turned to stare malevolently into his restored eyes.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" the Archdemon-Pip drawled. "A tasty morsel and the shred of an old life. How very droll."
"I was too late," Simon said. Despair rolled over him in waves and he sank to his knees. The world was doomed, and it was his fault. Pip was far larger than the other dragons. They might, maybe, stand a chance against him, but it would be a devastating fight.
"It's not the other dragons that have to fight me," Archdemon-Pip told him. "It's you. And you must do it burdened by your love for me and by your foolish faith that I would never betray you."
Simon realized he meant the small Pip that was wrapped around his throat and hampering his movements.
Archdemon-Pip altered and shifted into his human form. He raised his staff and cast a glyph at his feet.
Simon pulled his bow and arrow out, glad that the Fade didn't play by life's rules—or he wouldn't have had them anymore. He fired at Pip until the glyph faded, ignoring the biting sting of the spells Pip cast at him.
When Pip cast a glyph and a rejuvenate on himself, Simon cast Cleanse, wiping it all away. The human-Pip snarled, casting several fireballs at Simon, who withstood them stoically. He hammered at Pip through the onslaught, finally hitting him with the shield so hard it knocked him backwards.
Before he could climb back to his feet, Simon was on him, hacking and slashing.
Human-Pip managed to get up, and froze Simon in place. Simon knew that he was near death. He felt a tear escape his frozen eye, and he reached out to the Pip on his shoulder with his mind. "I'm sorry, dear Pip. I'm so sorry. I love you."
From a great distance, he felt darkness coming as another bolt of fire ripped through him. Then fire filled his vision again, but he could close his eyes. He did, waiting for the fierce burning that never came.
He opened his eyes to see Pip standing in the Fade. He was in Dragon form, wounded but alive.
His head swung towards Simon. "Simon is alive."
"Yes," Simon agreed. "Unfortunately." He winced as agony blew through him when he tried to sit up. "I'm not sure how…" He let it hang between them as a question.
"Pip saw Simon's love for him as a burden to Simon. Pip thought Simon could accomplish more without Pip. But in the end, when Simon was dying, he showed Pip something important and helped Pip become himself again."
Simon clasped his head as pain shot through it again. "And what did I show you?"
"Simon showed Pip that love is not a burden. Simon showed Pip that Simon's love is why Pip is powerful and strong." Pip reached out and nudged Simon slightly with his nose.
At Pip's touch, Simon found his pain eased. He reached up and patted Pip's muzzle.
"Is Simon ready to go back now?"
"Did we win?"
"Yes. Simon and Pip won." There was a smile in Pip's mental voice.
"Okay. Let's go back, then," Simon agreed.
