Chapter 29:

Two days later... Date: January 2nd, 2100.

I wasn't prepared for fighting at all, at least not in close-quarters combat. Lyna had taught me how to use a rifle, how to handle the recoil and hit my targets. I had only started moving onto pistols by 2087 and I still wasn't fully acquainted with those weapons. Now Samara was in front of me, teaching me how to use my fists, or at least attempting to.

Due to there being an uneven amount of people on this ship, Lyna was facing up against Vodnik and Jovian, but was allowed to use her biotics. Samara wasn't using them on me, since she was focusing on training me in hand-to-hand, while Lyna and the others were actually sparring. A camera was recording all of their movements, so I could study them after the day had ended.

Back on Earth, I had advanced to a solid blue belt in Tae Kwon Do, but many years had passed since I used those skills, decades even. While my implants prevented human aging, I still failed to recall some of my skills from the late 2000's. "I trust we are not going to sit here and stare at each other all day, Kyle Terrah. Please, attempt to strike at me." Samara's voice jolted me out of my thoughts and I squinted at her. I slowly stepped forwards and determined how close I would need to be to kick the Asari justicar in her gut. With one quick movement, I lashed out, my foot sailing through the air. It never even had the chance to touch its target. Samara had grabbed onto my foot, slowly letting it fall down to the ground. "Try again, Kyle. Don't go for a kick so early, especially for your initial attack. What you may have learned on your planet will be of little use against Morinth. Use your arms, stop depending on just your legs to win your battles."

I nodded to the justicar, a smile spreading across my face. "Alright, Samara," I replied, steadily approaching her. She stood there, her incredibly calm demeanor being a bit unnerving. I brought my wrists up to guard my face, wiggling my fingers in unison, sort of relaxing them and allowing my reflexes to determine the fate of this fight for me. In no more than an instant, I brought one fist down and aimed for Samara's gut. My eyes caught her deflecting my strike, and there was nothing that I could do about it except improvise. Samara was focused on my arms at this point, so I provided a distraction, with my left arm sweeping out to hit her block away. She caught onto this before I could even act on my actual attack. Having my wrists in her grip, I tried to swipe my leg under her feet. Again, she caught on way too quickly, letting one of my fists go for a moment to deliver her own attack. She was still holding my dominant arm, so I picked at her fingers, trying to loosen her grip enough to break free. Unfortunately, this also left me exposed. Her free fist caught me in my solar plexus and I doubled over, holding the area where I was hit for a moment. I definitely needed to learn to ignore that, or brace with my abs because right now it felt like a bull had just kicked my liver into tiny bits. The breath had been knocked out of me. Samara had already initiated a secondary attack, bringing her leg up to my pelvis and kicking it, hard. If I had weaker bones, she would have broken it right then and there, but she only managed to bruise the bone. She sent me tumbling to the ground from both of the hits. I stayed still for a few moments, regaining my breath yet again. I knew that it'd take at least ten seconds for me to properly stabilize my breathing again, so I distanced myself from Samara. I inched backwards, holding the area where I was hit. Now it was time to truly improvise. While she approached me to deliver a final blow, I took the opportunity to strike. My timing was near-perfect, as I offhandedly grabbed onto Samara's shin, using my strength to pull her onto the ground with me. Her balance would be disturbed right before her foot touched the ground. She protected her stomach, to where I tried to get a punch in, but was blocked multiple times. Eventually she kicked me away with a strike to my pelvis. Groaning from the pain, I pushed myself off of the ground at the same time she did. Only one thought was on my mind, and that was to get her on the floor again, so I used all of my weight to tackle her down to the ground. From her being slightly dazed, I pinned her arms to the ground with my knees and delivering a quick punch to her nose. Not enough power was behind my strike to break it, but it certainly was enough to hurt her.

She didn't have much reaction to the punch, only grunting when I went in for another strike. From here, I knew I was screwed. I forgot about her legs and just how flexible Asari were. From where I had been pinning her, she raised her knees up and brought them both against my back, sending me onto the floor and making my face scrape against the harsh grooves of the metal. She held her nose for a few moments, coldly glancing at me. "Feigning an injury will only get you so far, Kyle. While I didn't expect that, I suggest that you not use such a technique when dealing with adversaries outside of this vessel."

Using a crate to help myself up, I took a large breath. "I improvised and so it was a draw. We both went down in the end."

"Morinth would have killed you there, you wouldn't have been able to touch her. Now, again."

[/-\]

Off in another section of the ship, Vodnik and Jovian were teaming up against Lyna. Vodnik definitely would have been able to beat her in a one-on-one scenario, but she was using biotics, and Jovian insisted that they worked together. She held her own with her biotics, but due to her reliance on them, it was only a matter of time until she burnt herself out. Lyna had an easier time countering the strikes from Jovian, but Vodnik was a whole other story. Each time she was focused on Jovian, Vodnik came up from behind her and brought her down to the ground. The same went visa-versa.

She grit her teeth as she pushed herself off of the floor, choosing her target. This time, it was Vodnik that her focus landed on. As a huntress, she was trained to move quickly and not be spotted by anyone, so she biotically charged into Vodnik, plowing her entire body into his upper chest and sending him staggering backwards. Human martial arts overruled Lyna's biotic abilities, as Vodnik moved forwards and chopped her in her neck, causing her to cough and stumble back from the stunning blow. He quickly approached her and swiftly delivered a punch to her throat again. In an attempt to stop him from striking her neck again, she detonated her biotic barrier, sending Vodnik down onto the floor. Grasping at her throat, she coughed, slowly moving away from Vodnik.

Despite the temporary injury caused to her throat, Lyna wasn't out of the fight yet, but neither was Jovian. The Turian came up behind her while she was still recovering and grappled her from behind, locking his arms under her armpits, therefore performing a full nelson. Vodnik rose up off of the floor and began sprinting towards the grappled Asari. Lyna was running low on energy, so she started fighting without the use of her biotic powers.

However, Vodnik wasn't deterred by her decision. In his eyes, Lyna was making herself more vulnerable, something that would get the fight over with as soon as possible. This wasn't Lyna's plan. She was going to try to end the fight as quickly as possible, especially since she was low on energy. In a split second, she brought both of her legs up as Vodnik was about to strike her. Her feet connected with his upper chest area with enough force to send him stumbling back, and for Jovian to temporarily lose his grip on her. Wiggling out of his hold, she prepared for the next bit of strikes. She had previously been using her biotic powers as if she was invincible, as if she could use them all day, but now? Now she was becoming tired beyond belief and as a side-effect, her timing became poorer and poorer as the fight went on.

Vodnik was to her left, Jovian was to her right. She knew she couldn't focus all of her power on one man, so she started going for evasion tactics. She turned her back to Vodnik, who would quickly take advantage of that, but not before giving Lyna the false sense of security. Lyna sloppily struck Jovian in his gut and he attempted to retaliate, but Lyna moved quickly, still having barely enough energy to fight without her biotics. Right as saw Jovian's incoming fist, she dropped to the ground, making Jovian completely miss her and carry his attack on into Vodnik's stomach, who had been preparing for a strike to her spine.

A grunt came from the Human once he was hit, and Lyna quickly pushed herself up from the ground, turning the tables on the Turian who had always had her attention before, cracking her hand into his spine. She screamed from the pain of bone colliding with plates. This horribly hurt her, and was why she needed biotics to protect her squishy exterior. The throbbing pain in her fingers distracted her long enough for Jovian to retaliate, grabbing the huntress by her scalp crests and hitting her in her open gut.

Lyna coughed as the air was struck out of her, kicking Jovian in the knee to let her go. That only turned her onto Vodnik, who grabbed her by the arm and twisted it enough to bring her to her knees in pain, utterly making her submissive to him. She yelled from the sudden brutality and stared up into Vodnik's eyes. He didn't show any mercy, as he brought his open hand up to her throat and started a blood choke. She squirmed and tried to get away from him. A span of ten seconds seconds felt like a lifetime of agony for the Asari, before she fell limp in Vodnik's hold. He'd instantly let go of that area, allowing the blood to flow to her brain once again.

Jovian turned his head to his Human ally, recomposing himself and letting out a sight as he looked at Lyna's unconscious body. "She put up a good fight, Vod."

"'Good' would be an overstatement. She gave up way too quickly. To be honest, I'm disappointed in her," Vodnik replied.

"Yeah, and we were toying with her from the beginning! Seriously, she might put this entire mission in danger. At least she won't be so cocky anymore, even though I enjoyed letting her ass think that she could beat us."

Vodnik shrugged his shoulders and picked Lyna up by her arms, moving her body to a corner. "You are about as overconfident as she is. Try to keep your bravado in check, Turian."

[/-\]

'Night' had begun to set in throughout the ship, marking day two of our three day journey to Cyone. We had already gone through the Mass Relay, which I had been on the bridge to observe. Since Sirius had been flying the ship, we had a few sparring sessions here and there as the vessel's subspace engines guided us towards the Asari colony of Cyone.

Lyna, Vodnik, and Jovian had gone to bed. Samara and I were the only ones that were awake, so we had been catching up. "I feel like we didn't get to talk very much during our sparring time, Samara. What have you and Vodnik been up to for the last… Twenty years or so?"

Samara had been meditating in front of me, so once I started speaking, she respectfully whisked her biotics away and tilted her head at the question. "We were tracking Morinth throughout the galaxy, Kyle Terrah."

"Yes, yes, I know that. I'm just wondering, what exactly happened in all of those years? Sure, you tracked her, but how? What did you come across? What planets have you been to? How well have you been working with Vodnik? When did Jovian join your crew?"

"Fair enough. I'll start with my partnership with Vodnik. After you and Lyna departed for Omega, Vodnik and I went for Tuchanka. He had been worried about running low on his ammunition, and seemed to prefer his Human weaponry over anything else. It wasn't my place to complain, as Tuchanka was a short trip away, after all. We met up with a fairly nice Krogan there, Gatatog Varek if I remember correctly. Now, Varek took us to his clan leader, Gatatog Uvenk, a less than pleasant man, but we struck a reasonable deal with his weapons manufacturers. Bullets for food, weapon mods, scrap metal, anything that would be easy to get anywhere in the galaxy for us, but not so much for a clan of Tuchanka-based Krogan. Vodnik eventually got a reloading machine, but we still need Uvenk to produce casings, bullets, primers, and gunpowder. After making a few runs back and forth from the Citadel and Tuchanka, we had enough bullets for Vodnik to last a couple of years. We began tracking Morinth again, and with the coordinates provided by your AI, we located her on Lorek. Apparently she'd been seducing various Batarian suitors. There were enough of them that she was in a continuous feeding cycle. She had convinced them all that she was a goddess who would provide for them, protect them even," Samara calmly said, but her expression turned sour after that.

I raised an eyebrow at her sudden change in emotion. "Are you feeling alright, Samara?" I asked, genuinely concerned for the justicar.

She nodded, putting a single hand onto the table. "I am, my apologies. Anyways, we were close to catching her, to finally ending this… Something wasn't right when we arrived. The Blood Pack was there, along with their leader, Gesark. He greeted us, stating that Morinth was no longer on the planet, though I could tell that was a lie. That's when the fighting started. I won't go into much detail, but we had to run. She employed The Blood Pack to help her. Make no mistake, The Blood Pack generally is an easy foe, but in this instance, we were no match for them. Coupled with Krogan warlords and Morinth's own power, we were beaten again and again. We found The Blood Pack on a few more worlds, where Morinth had resided previously, but had no major luck in finding her again... Until we met Jovian on a backwater planet called Malharb. It wasn't an official colony, but still habitable. The tide began to turn in our favor. He was a simple mercenary, in a similar situation as you and Lyna. He was cheap, but had a lot of energy, a lot of potential. He was untrained and highly confident. Vodnik and I helped him train in combat until we were all ready. Training him took a few months, continuously putting him through the same scenarios as you and Lyna went through today. Vodnik thought he'd die on our first mission, but that wasn't the case, Jovian was tough and he really took a beating well. His skills coupled with Vodnik's and myself were nearly unbeatable, until we faced down Morinth herself for the second time. She had led us in a giant circle, leading all the way back to Lorek. With all the power that she had siphoned from those Batarian suitors, she beat us. She had been waiting on a ship beforehand, to take her away to another planet, but it was late. We had reached her first and she was so incredibly powerful. Jovian tried to bring her barriers down with continued fire, so did Vodnik, but we were flanked by Vorcha, who managed to sink a couple of rounds into Vodnik. Jovian nearly got his neck snapped by a Krogan, and I nearly was ripped apart into single molecules by Morinth. We barely made it back to our shuttle, so a new plan was enacted. We would find and recruit you and Lyna, and of course, you know the rest."

I tapped my fingers against the table, looking into the Asari's eyes. "Wehw. Tha-... That's quite a story, but do you mind telling me how you and Vodnik got along?"

"How we got along? What do you mean, Kyle?" Samara asked, leaning forwards in her seat and folding her hands together.

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is did you two have a friendship of any kind? Did Vodnik tell you anything about his past? How well did he follow The Code? Did following you give Vodnik any special privileges?"

Samara gave me a cold stare for a few seconds before sighing. "A friendship? We've been working together for about two decades. I'd say yes, but he's still been reserved. Throughout everything we've been through, I still don't think he trusts me enough to talk about his past with, but he trusts me with his life. Meanwhile, his relationship with The Code has been rocky at best. He has enough respect for me to not cross any lines, but he borders on them enough to where I have to warn him at times. He will do anything to get information, torture if he must. So far, he has not killed an innocent being, but he has come close to harming innocent people. The Code allows him to live, but he walks a thin line on a daily basis. I should note that Vodnik's species is widely speculated in galactic news. No one knows who he is, yet they speculate that I've uplifted him off of some world. You two may have become icons for peace and hope in the galaxy, were it not for the rediscovery of three new alien species. News has shifted from us to your friends over at The Inusannon Federation."

"Oh. Well, that's certainly a lot more exciting than the political bullshit that Lyna and I have been doing. Anyways, while we wait for our next training session tomorrow, I want to ask you something." Samara gave me an inquisitive look, urging me to continue. "What do you think about them? The Inusannon Federation?"

"They seem much more powerful than any other species that I've seen. They seem imposing, and their use of artificial intelligence is even more so. The woman that you and Lyna were with while speaking to The Citadel Council, she didn't give off a positive aura, even through video. " Samara calmly said. Her hands were out in front of her, clasped together with her blue fingers intertwined.

I raised a brow at Samara's reply, ceasing my tapping for the moment. "You too? Svesa's generally a good person, except she has an odd way of warning people. Maybe a bit socially awkward as well," I tried to explain, but Samara just looked at me as if I was crazy.

"You will forgive me if I don't take your word for it. She gives me an uneasy feeling."

In an attempt to break the tension, I came up with an idea. "Do you want to do a secondary sparring session? I know, I know, it's late, but I was holding back on you before. I didn't want to hurt you too much. Though if you'd like to go again, I'll gladly take you up on it." Of course, I was bluffing. I knew I couldn't take Samara, but I'd gladly try. This was the point of training, after all.

"I take it you want a challenge, Kyle Terrah?"

"Sure, it's not like I'll break a leg," I replied, cracking my knuckles as I stood up from my seat.

Samara summoned her biotics, cocking her head to the side. I stepped back, completely unprepared to fight against a biotic. Yes, I wanted a challenge, but this was a bit too much of a challenge. The justicar squinted at me while her hands were behind her back. "Very well. You have kinetic barriers, correct?"

"Yeah, but what the hell are they going to do against biotics? I don't know if you noticed, but all I have are my fists," I hissed, leaning towards Samara, desperately trying to look imposing.

My argument was discarded, as I saw her approaching me. Sirius quickly activated my kinetic barriers before Samara could strike me.

'Are you sure this is a wise idea, Kyle?'

Wise? Probably not, but it'll pass the time.

'She's too powerful. I recommend you cease this until you're more experienced.'

Hey, Sirius. Do me a couple of favors, alright? I have augmentations, cybernetic implants. Put them to use. Secondly, shut up and let me focus.

I was on the defensive, constantly attempting to block Samara's punches, though a few got through to drain my kinetic barrier. I saw one sailing for my face, so I swatted that hand away as quickly as I possibly could. Using my leg, I brought it back and swung it sideways, hitting Samara directly in her side with my shin.

Pain went throughout my body as I clenched my teeth, jumping around on one leg for a few seconds. Samara took advantage of this by kicking my other shin and knocking me to the floor. Now the both of them were really hurting, but I pushed myself up and knew that I was going to fight harder, trying to block an incoming strike from Samara with my wrist. It was no use, all I did was hurt my arm and let her get a free strike on my hip. I stumbled back from the blow, spotting a shorter blade resting against a crate. It had to belong to Vodnik, so I started to reach out for the blade, not having anything to counter Samara's biotics before. I decided that this would be my best chance by a longshot, but I didn't even get the chance to pick the blade up, as Samara grabbed it with her biotics and threw it to the other side of the room. It clattered against the wall and then the floor, leaving me with only my fists.

I was lucky enough to duck under one of her fists, but unlucky enough to be hit in the stomach by her boot.. This sent me onto the ground. I wasn't out of the fight yet. I simply refused to give up. Bringing my leg up, I bended my knee and thrusted straight out into gave Samara's pelvic area. She only gave a small grunt as she picked me up with her biotics, holding me in midair. Samara could have done this at any point in the fight, but I had a feeling that she was merely playing with me. I couldn't do anything from here, and my kinetic barrier was slowly degrading from the force that she was putting on it.

In a moment of ingenuity, I pulled up my omni-tool's display and sent an overload onto Samara's body, stunning her just long enough for her to drop me to the ground. I rushed forwards, hoping to end this in my favor, but Samara recovered faster than I had thought. I tried to stop myself, but the last thing I saw in this fight was her heel colliding with my upper chest, shattering my kinetic barriers and sending me tumbling onto the floor.

Samara whisked away her biotics, reaching her hand out to me in order to help me up. Taking her hand, I shakily stood up, coughing and holding my chest. Sirius hadn't piped up yet with any reports of internal bleeding, so I knew I was fine. She patted me on the back, which surprised me. "Get some rest. We'll arrive on Cyone tomorrow, and I'd rather not have you wandering around with sleep deprivation."

I nodded towards the Asari, turning away from her in defeat and heading back to mine and Lyna's quarters. The walk didn't take long, and once I arrived, Lyna was sitting on the bed, seemingly waiting for me. "Your little fight with Samara woke me up," she pouted, slightly scooting forwards to get a better look at me. "Come closer."

Shrugging my shoulders, I stepped forwards into the light, looking down at Lyna. Her blue skin was glistening in the low-lit room. "Sorry about that. I wanted to test my skill."

"You mean you wanted to be beaten to a pulp by Samara? Got it," she sarcastically replied.

From where I was standing, I could see that she had cuts, scratches, and many bruises. It wasn't bad, but her wounds were definitely noticeable. "Save it, Lyn. Let me have a look at you," I ordered, kicking off my shoes and sitting down next to Lyna. I took her left arm in my hands, observing all of the scrapes that she had, even running my fingers over one of her bruises.

"Ach. Can you kindly not?" she asked, flinching every time I touched one of her wounds. "Goddess, that really hurts. Please, please, please let go. I'm fine, really. Only a few minor scratches."

"...Did you even treat these?" I took a closer look, squinting as I looked over them once again. "Fuck's sake, if I was a doctor, I'd be scolding the hell out of you right now. Who knows what sort of bacteria is on the floor of this ship?"

Lyna shook her head, pulling her arm away for a moment, then resting it on the top of her knee. "You know, if you get this upset over a few scratches, what are you going to do when I'm actually wounded? Seriously, you have to realize that we're about to go into a hunt for an incredibly dangerous criminal, a demon among my people. The likelyhood of me being wounded beyond a few scratches is very, very high, Kyle."

"I'll take care of you to the best of my ability. I took basic medical classes back on Earth, and I'm sure a couple of extranet articles describe Asari biology in incredible detail. I'll be a medic if I have to for you, Lyna."

Lyna squinted at me, seemingly thinking about something. Eventually she shrugged and laid back on the bed. "I'm sure you can find something on the extranet. Remember back in 2076… Or was it 2077? I can't remember, honestly, but back around the time that we were on Aite. You healed Xen from… what was it? A polonium bullet? If you can do that, then you'll be able to close off a wound."

"I was aided by Sirius and in a bunker full of Inusannon technology! There are no guarantees that I'll be able to do the same on a fucking battlefield." I scowled at Lyna, who gave me a coy smile in return. I had no idea what to say to her.

She took hold of my arm, bringing me down onto the bed. "We should get some rest. After all, we'll have another day of fighting tomorrow, and well, I'd rather not lose again."

"Mm. I can agree to that," I replied. Soon after, we both curled up under our sheets, and I went off into my dreams again.

[-]

I was cold. Scratch that, I was freezing, but this made sense as I was only wearing blue jeans and a light performance jacket. My teeth were chattering as I hiked through a snowy landscape that was only vaguely familiar. I looked around at my surroundings for a moment, seeing that no one was with me. The only things that I could see were a frozen wasteland and a far-off light. Upon realizing that I was all alone, I called out, "Hello? Is anybody out there? Lyna? Vodnik?" The only answer was the echoes of my voice, bouncing off into the mountains. I frowned and looked back towards the light, which could have been a fire. At this point, I'd take anything other than this frigid temperature. Even the burning flames of a forest fire would be more welcome than this, so I began pressing on.

The harsh environment had taken its toll on me. The beginnings of frostbite and hypothermia had set in. My skin was just beginning to redden and tingle, and any time I stopped, I felt overwhelmingly cold, with the nipping pain biting at my flesh. The light that I had been seeing wasn't a fire, but instead a small town near an ocean. It wasn't developed at all. I looked back, just to see if there was anyone behind me; there wasn't. I sighed and started to approach the town. An M14 was slung around my shoulder and my usual weaponry of an ISYLR and Phaeston IV was nowhere to be seen. The rifle was really heavy, for me, especially in my current minutes passed and I saw something, something that I hadn't seen for a very long time. It was a truck, specifically a GMC Sierra. Its headlights pierced my eyes, which were previously adjusted to see only the night sky, so I covered them and looked away, shielding myself from such brightness. A door opened and then slammed shut. Footsteps soon approached me, coupled with smaller pit-pats. "Ya look like shit, stranger," a man said, taking my nearly frozen arm and studying it. "What do ya want with Barrow, Alaska?"

At least that confirmed my suspicions of where I was at, Alaska of all places. "No, I'm-" I coughed, interrupting myself and quickly covering my mouth. "I'm human…"

"What kinda drugs are ya on, boy? We're all human on God's Earth," the man said, giving me a pat on the shoulder. "What's yer name, boy?" He had a heavy southern accent, clearly not from Alaska. Maybe he had moved here… I wouldn't know.

"I'm Kyle," I replied. I didn't mean to seem threatening, but this sure did scare the man. Hell, his dog even barked at me. I stumbled backwards as he let go of my arm. The man held his hands up in fear, sort of in a surrendering position. "...Can you tell me the date? I've been hiking through the woods for a few weeks now and I'm really confused."

"Uh, uh. November 20th. Don't mind my truck, fellas. I like the oldies!" he exclaimed. I noted that he stated that there as more than one of me, to which I turned around again. Towering above me was Svesa, who put one of her hands onto my shoulder, patting it.

"This may sound a bit strange, but what year is it? We've been lost for a rather long time," she spoke, her voice not having that synthetic undertone. In fact, it was single-toned, nothing distorting it.

"Ah, I understand! 2152, don't worry lady, ya haven't missed the new year."

Svesa offered a light smile at the man. "Thank you. Could you take us to your home? We have nowhere to stay, and we will leave when the day rolls around," she said. As I watched her spoke, and as my vision adjusted, I noticed that she had a bit of an abnormal appearance to her. Her 'horns' were gone, her ears were fully poking out, resembling the shape of a knife, and instead of her skin being a blend of grey and purple, she was resembling tanned skin. Svesa's bio-luminescent scarring was also absent, replaced by that of black tribal markings.

"Th-.. It's winter here, lady. Day isn't due for another two months," he tried to explain, but Svesa wasn't having it.

She sighed and wrapped one of her arms around my waist, pulling me close to her, even putting a kiss on my head. This only further confused me. "We're both freezing our asses off. Could you take us to a hotel or something? I don't want my mate to die out here."

Inside of my head, I was incredibly confused. Svesa acting like this, calling me her mate? It was far too weird. The man took a deep breath, looking up at Svesa for a moment before nodding his head. "Ya got a fuckin' weird way with words, lady. Get in my truck and I'll take ya to my house. There ya can warm yer… 'mate' up…" he paused on the later words, being careful with them so as not to offend Svesa or me, as if that would have mattered. "Ya can stay with me and my wife 'til yer boyfriend, husband, or whatever the heck he is gets over his minor frostbite."

The Sannokar gave a light smile to him, carefully leading me into the back of his cab and hoisting me up into it. I was dazed and confused, with Svesa now seated next to me and having me lean on her. "Thank you," she said as the man got into his truck. "What should I call you?"

"Me?! Ah, I'm Jim! How 'bout ya? Clearly ya ain't from 'round here, girly."

Svesa seemed like she was thinking for a moment. "Oh, er. I'm Sv-... Sevala Vrou…" she muttered, clearly coming up with a name out of nowhere.

"That's a weird ass name. Ya parents from Africa or sumthin?" Jim asked, looking back to her as he held the passenger door open for his dog, who hopped in, allowing Jim to close it.

Once he got into his side, Svesa was rubbing her head nervously, not knowing any of Earth's countries, so I whispered in her ear. "You're from the… Maasai tribe, in southern Kenya."

She nodded her head and pulled me slightly closer to her rather warm body. "Yes- Er, the Maasai tribe in south Kenya," she murmured, having a bit of trouble with the pronunciations. Luckily, her alien accent covered for her, being extremely foreign.

"Shit, ya don't look like yer from Kenya, but what do I know? Maybe yer mixed," he mused, shifting his truck into reverse and backing up for a couple of seconds. "No offense, but yer also fuckin' tall for a lady."

"Oh, um- I've been told that a lot. My father was…" Svesa trailed off, looking towards me for an answer.

"Icelandic, her mother was in the Maasai tribe," I finished for her. My voice was shivering, somewhat breaking.

The disguised Sannokar mouthed a 'thank you,' towards me before answering the man once again. She covered up her silence by bringing me closer to her, in an attempt to heat me back up. "Thanks, Kyle. I'm perfectly capable of speaking on my own. Anyways, I guess I got giant genes from my dad. Now my mate, he came down from the very same land and met me. What a coincidence that was!" she exclaimed, expanding upon her own story.

Jim gave her a small laugh, "Ah well. Y'all are welcome to stay the night, or however many nights ya need to heal up from the frost. Jus' be quiet. For the love of God and all things holy, don't go poundin' each other into another fuckin' dimension. If yer gonna fuck, do it silently," he warned, which Svesa simply stifled a laugh at.

She held up her hand, smiling as brightly as she possibly could. She was highly amused by this. "Jim, trust me. If we're going to be doing that, it'll be in a hotel, not in a kind man's house."

Chuckling, Jim nodded his head and finished pulling into his driveway. He had a nice little ranch house, with a few lights on inside of it. "Say, Kyle... I don't want to bother ya any, but where'd ya get that M14? It's halfway into the 22nd century, shouldn't that thing, ya know, be in a museum?"

I raised my eyebrow, fluttering my eyes and looking over to the rifle that Svesa had in her hands, keeping it away from me so she could properly warm me up. "His father was an old collector, I believe. Both of us have a love for antique weapons," she answered for me, still smiling up at the man.

"Ah, I gotcha," he paused, opening up his door, shutting his truck off, and then gesturing for us to hop out. Svesa popped her door open and grabbed me by my arm. I sluggishly stepped out of the vehicle, propping myself up against the Sannokar's waist. She wrapped an arm around me, using her other arm to carry the M14 by its stock.

[-]

I awoke after such a peaceful dream as compared to what I had experienced before. Not in a sweat, not with a shiver down my spine. Nothing. Lyna had nudged me awake, and I simply looked at her. "Lyna, I swear that I just had the weirdest dream…"

A/N: Honestly, this chapter shouldn't have taken as long as it did, but it came out well, and the fight scenes were a rather fun thing to write. For scene changes, I usually use [-], and for POV changes that are exceedingly rare, I'll use [/-\], otherwise it'd all be a bit jarring. Some dreams show glimpses into the future, others are just fantasy.