Transformers: Fractal Web (section: 2)
By Waspinatrix (waspinatrix@hotmail.com)
Legalese: Transformers, Autobots, Decepticons, Cybertron, Energon, Vector Sigma, the Matrix, Primus, Metroplex, Springer, Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Unicron (or Unicrom), Perceptor, Sweeps, StarScream, ThunderCracker, Charr, Prowl, the Arialbots, Spike Witwicky are all property of HasKen and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Buster Witwicky, Mutants (Homo Sapient Superior), and the Mutant Registration Act are properties of Marvel Comics and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Mara Benedict, Sarai Benedict, Anthony Benedict, Marcus Benedict, Charles "Charlie" Reagan, Lourdes Maria Maza, FlameDancer, WhirlBlade and NightShade are copyrighted to me 1992-2000. This story is not to be redistributed in whole or part without my permission. Nor are my characters to be used without my permission. Reviews, questions and critiques are always welcome. Happy bidding, er.. reading. :D
Phase Five: Game Start
(Part 1)
Sarai turned as Charlie screamed with anguish. She saw the look of horror on Prowl's face, as her vision washed away with a tidal wave of heat from behind. She tried to scream as she felt herself cooked to death. My daughter!... Prowl!... She thought with remorse -- her life incomplete as she surrendered to the inevitable...
A presence enveloped her, shielding her from oblivion, yanking her backwards, body and soul dragged, falling through a vortex of madness. God? She wondered, as she passed out under the deluge. Sarai woke -- inhaling sharply!
"Shhh, you're alright," Charlie soothed as he gently guided her back to her pillow. Sarai could hardly see in the dimness of the room.
"Oh God, Charlie, I had the worst dream! You were--"
"It wasn't a dream, Sarai," Charlie interrupted her as he turned on the bedside lamp. Sarai sat-up, blinking against the glare.
"What do you -- Charlie! What happened to you?" She demanded as her vision cleared. She reached out to touch Charlie's face, and stopped... Her hands, they were *both* flesh! What was going on? Charlie clutched her hand in his own.
"Sarai, I brought you back. It took twenty years..."
"I --"
"Died twenty years ago."
"I -- Oh God! Mara.." She was interrupted, as she caught sight of Charlie's distraught face. Fear constricted her throat, not wanting to hear the news she felt coming. Her voice raw as she forced herself to ask, "Mara?" Praying it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.
"She's --" Charlie felt his voice faltering, unshed tears blurred his vision. He had tried so hard to keep his promise, now he was paying for failure, with interest. He had to be the one that shattered Sarai, if only he had succeeded! "She died moments after I brought you forward in time.
"She had gotten involved in a battle, and was hurt badly, needing to be bionically reconstructed. William refused permission. She apparently committed suicide..." He couldn't go on. Separating himself from her, he withdrew, ashamed, grief-stricken.
Sarai wept. What kind of hell was this to wake up to? To suddenly re-exist, for her to life change with a blink of an eye? Mara, her only daughter gone?!? Had everything changed so radically, was it all gone? She looked up to Charlie. "Prowl?" she asked, "Is he --"
"I'm sorry.." He couldn't bring himself to tell her of one more death.
"Why Charlie? What did I do to deserve this?" She demanded. The sound of glass breaking startled her and she shied away. Charlie sat down, dropping his shattered glasses. Sarai stared at the broken frames, and realized that they were smeared with blood.
"I'm -- Please forgive me, please!" he begged, burying his face in his hands, "you don't deserve this. Anything but this!" He didn't deserve to be in the company of this angel.
Regretting her harsh words, Sarai reached out to him. He had always been there for her, in the orphanage, when she needed her humanity restored. He had always worked miracles, somehow keeping her messed up life together. How could she be so petty? She chastised herself, as he accepted her comfort. Together they cried for their mutual losses.
***
(Part 2)
Charr, burned out and brittle, a husk of what it once was. Desolate rock, scrubbed raw by the poisonous atmosphere, jutted and thrust out of the dust, like jagged hands clawed in pain and pleading for salvation; the stark silence of the damned and dying. The natives long extinct, Charr's only inhabitants were the Decepticons, exiles from Cybertron.
Galvatron surveyed the skyline. Clouds, brooding black, heavy with their caustic rains rose ominously over the horizon. Nightshade stepped forward at Galvatron's beckoning gesture. Her cloak or black and white feathers gently fluttering in the chill breeze. She knelt, and averted her optics with proper decorum.
"My Lord Galvatron?" she asked. The Decepticon leader ignored her for the moment, he would acknowledge her in his own time. Cyclonus, standing on Galvatron's right, shifted uneasily.
Galvatron sensed his second in command's mood. Don't worry, Galvatron thought, your precious NightShade is still of use to me. Without shifting his gaze, Galvatron spoke, his rich, imperial voice holding an air of casualness, "a new warrior is joining Decepticon ranks. Wait here, welcome him, show him around then bring him to my chamber."
NightShade listened to the hidden nuances in her Lord's command, hearing the urgency between the lines. "Yes Lord. When is he due?" She asked, as her optics discretely locked gazes with Cyclonus, a thin wire of tension vibrated between them -- there would be a future confrontation. Galvatron seemed to enjoy the strife he generated in his minions.
"Excellent..." Galvatron purred, gesturing to the entourage. He glanced down at the female Decepticon. She was admirable in her manor, and a capable vassal; pity she was female, a most weak and useless form... Cyclonus would want to stay with NightShade. Galvatron looked at his second, and Cyclonus reluctantly deferred to his superior, leaving with the rest of them to return to the citadel.
NightShade sighed as she watched them fly into the distance. Turning her attention to the horizon, she gauged the coming onslaught of acid rain, it'd be soon. She sighed. The Decepticons were rabid and foul to the fuel pump. Cyclonus was sometimes more of a liability than an asset in the careful balance she had to negotiate for the Autobot cause.
Lightning - a blinding flash, struck nearby. Startled, NightShade could feel the static electricity strike and dissipate, like a wave, as she instinctively shielded her face with one arm. The immediate thunderclap made her cringe. Squinting her optics NightShade understood why Galvatron had found it beneath him to greet the warrior in person, it was female.
The stranger had an exotic, alien beauty, with hint of organic, her black and scarlet hair falling down her back like a cloak. Her frame was willowy and slightly smaller than NightShade. Her hide bi-colored, glossy crimson and jetblack, like fresh blood and a moonless night. She shifted, observing her surroundings, that was when her sinister techno-demon visage came into view. She had long tapering spikes on her knees, elbows and shoulders. Taloned fingers, shielded by knuckle blades. A pair of svelte horns crowned her head, gracefully curving around before veering out to form wicked points.
As the demoness turned, her azure optics locked onto NightShade. NightShade read the glare, fresh anger, determination simmered just below the surface of this creature. NightShade grew wary, not sure what this stranger's attitude would portend too, but it wasn't good...
"Welcome. Please, come quickly before the rains come," NightShade said urgently as she indicated the distant fortification as their destination. The new arrival seemed about to speak, and stiffened, a look of shock, then frustration crossed her face, followed by an unreadable expression. As if suddenly aware of NightShade's presence, and pressing situation, she gestured for NightShade to lead on.
"Where are you from?" NightShade asked, more affable as their brisk pace brought them out of danger. There was no reply.
*
~Unicrom-!~ The anguished cry burned through Galvatron, causing a pang of empathy to pierce his fuel-pump. He knew that tone. How often had he used it himself, how many times had he privately borne the scathing humility of losing control and chains of pain, enough to understand the rage imbedded in that tone...
Soon after, the warrior that Unicrom had promised arrived. Galvatron leaned back with a relaxed elegance to receive the harbinger of hope. He was disappointed at the sight of her. A female, with a marked organic look no less... Appalling! Her form gave no hint as to what her secondary mode might be, if any at all. Masking his reaction, he rose and descended from the dais.
"Who are you?" he asked, his manner imperialistic.
*
Mara knew this Decepticon instinctively, he was the root of her life-long sufferings! ~You killed my mother!~ her mind screamed, thoughts focusing into a coherent projection of thought. Galvatron looked puzzled, as if he'd heard her, but didn't understand the comment. Mara snapped with outrage and lunged at him.
Galvatron caught the hellcat by the wrists before she could do more than scratch his face. Mara's mouth opened in a silent pantomime of screaming, she couldn't stand his look of insolence. She summoned the lightning, intending to strike him down -- Fire frayed every nerve in her body. Mara fell, exhausted, dangling helplessly from Galvatron's steel grip.
*
Fuming, Galvatron aimed his cannon at her head. A warning sting pulsed through him. ~Desist,~ Unicrom whispered, ~she is not to be harmed.~ Galvatron relented. Pitching her to the floor to vent his frustration.
"Who are you?" he demanded, not at all pleased with the situation.
~Mara,~ her weary words impaled with a backbone of arrogance as they locked glares. She saw no recognition, no meaning to her name in his optics. The fantasy of revenge hinged on her desire to see that flash of comprehension, perhaps even regret before she gutted him. He had to care if she were to feel vindicated. She would make him care. Her optics flashed, her decision made. She bowed her head, breaking optic contact.
~Please forgive me,~ the thought demure, her calm a startling contrast to the blind-rage she had moments ago... Galvatron relaxed his guard slightly, seeing that he had won this battle.
*
NightShade observed the unfolding drama. Galvatron and the female seemed to hold a dialog, even though the female never uttered a word. Perhaps she was telepathic... There would be much in her next report...
***
(Part 3)
"NightShade," Cyclonus called to her. Looking over to him she smiled warmly at him as she joined him. Though she would only admit to it as part of her duty, she genuinely cared for this Decepticon. His feelings were mutual, and he had felt relief to hear that the new warrior was female...
Cyclonus offered her a portion of his energon. NightShade great fully accepted, her own rations pathetically small; barely enough for her to function efficiently. "Thank you," she murmured as she settled in the shelter of his embrace.
He watched how she consumed the life-giving energon, slowly, careful not to waste one drop. Cyclonus often wondered if she got enough fuel, but NightShade never complained. Once he had asked her and she was elusive, saying she received what she needed.
NightShade spoke of what happened between Mara and Galvatron, frowning as her imagination speculated the possibilities. "Cyclonus, she's dangerous," she said, turning to face him, " foe her to challenge Galvatron, she's either stupid or more powerful than she seems. And she strikes me as anything but stupid. Be wary of her."
"I will. I promise."
***
(Part 4)
Sarai still marveled at her new cybernetic limbs. She hadn't looked so human in three -- no, the reminded herself, twenty-three years. The new limbs meant she had to be careful, she could feel pain again, and there was, to her anyway, a noticeable reduction in strength when compared to the old limbs. Some how Charlie had retained the hover and flight capabilities without detracting from the flesh and blood appearance of her prosthetics when he reconstructed her.
"Good morning, Sarai," FlameDancer greeted. Sarai looked at the female Autobot, hovering at optic level.
"Hello..." She said. There was something about the female in front of her, something familiar about her...
"I'm FlameDancer."
"You're the one who pulled me from death!" Sarai exclaimed in a sudden moment of clarity. She had mixed feelings about her life, but one thing was clear to her: "Thank you for risking your life for mine."
FlameDancer nonchalantly shrugged it off. She seemed to cavalier about the danger she had transversed. Sarai put the impression to the side, as FlameDancer distracted her with a question.
"I'm going to Lookout Point. Would you like to join me?" Her tranquil blue optics clouded slightly as they focussed for a moment on the spaceport beyond, to a time before her death, an irretrievable past...
"I would," Sarai said.
*
The vista of verdant mountains below and eternal blue skies above invoked a poignant sense of nostalgia with its vast expansion of emptiness. "Do you ever feel like you're left behind?" Sarai asked, her gaze focused on the beauty below.
"Constantly," FlameDancer breathed, drawing her knees beneath her chin. "I know what it's like to be ripped out of the flow of life and be jammed back in backwards, the niche of reality built with memories warped and strange."
Sarai nodded, agreeing with the apt description. The thoughts turning to Prowl, she said, "I just wish I had a chance to say good-bye."
"She died well," FlameDancer said, assuming that Sarai meant Mara.
Sarai laughed an empty, bitter laugh, "in that light, they all died well." She murmured, remembering her parents, her foster father, her beloved, and her daughter. They were all gone -- taken from her. Loneliness waxed, and her eyes fell to the steep drop below. FlameDancer turned to her.
"To take arms against a sea of troubles..." she said, correctly reading the body language of her small companion.
"Hamlet, I know him well," Sarai said, making eye contact with FlameDancer. Smiling ruefully, "Charlie and I --" She paused. She had been so caught up with her own grief that she never thought about Charlie, how he must have suffered. "Poor Charlie!"
"Grief can be illuminating," FlameDancer commented, "bring on a sober mind, even insight."
Sarai swallowed, glancing once more over the precipice. Wondering if Prowl knew, now with nothing holding her back, if asked again, she would chose to give up her frail humanity to be with him. She sighed, saying cryptically, " I knew he would die. I sensed it when he chose his world over me." She stopped just short of saying "and Mara." It was still a bitter memory, best kept private.
***
By Waspinatrix (waspinatrix@hotmail.com)
Legalese: Transformers, Autobots, Decepticons, Cybertron, Energon, Vector Sigma, the Matrix, Primus, Metroplex, Springer, Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Unicron (or Unicrom), Perceptor, Sweeps, StarScream, ThunderCracker, Charr, Prowl, the Arialbots, Spike Witwicky are all property of HasKen and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Buster Witwicky, Mutants (Homo Sapient Superior), and the Mutant Registration Act are properties of Marvel Comics and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Mara Benedict, Sarai Benedict, Anthony Benedict, Marcus Benedict, Charles "Charlie" Reagan, Lourdes Maria Maza, FlameDancer, WhirlBlade and NightShade are copyrighted to me 1992-2000. This story is not to be redistributed in whole or part without my permission. Nor are my characters to be used without my permission. Reviews, questions and critiques are always welcome. Happy bidding, er.. reading. :D
Phase Five: Game Start
(Part 1)
Sarai turned as Charlie screamed with anguish. She saw the look of horror on Prowl's face, as her vision washed away with a tidal wave of heat from behind. She tried to scream as she felt herself cooked to death. My daughter!... Prowl!... She thought with remorse -- her life incomplete as she surrendered to the inevitable...
A presence enveloped her, shielding her from oblivion, yanking her backwards, body and soul dragged, falling through a vortex of madness. God? She wondered, as she passed out under the deluge. Sarai woke -- inhaling sharply!
"Shhh, you're alright," Charlie soothed as he gently guided her back to her pillow. Sarai could hardly see in the dimness of the room.
"Oh God, Charlie, I had the worst dream! You were--"
"It wasn't a dream, Sarai," Charlie interrupted her as he turned on the bedside lamp. Sarai sat-up, blinking against the glare.
"What do you -- Charlie! What happened to you?" She demanded as her vision cleared. She reached out to touch Charlie's face, and stopped... Her hands, they were *both* flesh! What was going on? Charlie clutched her hand in his own.
"Sarai, I brought you back. It took twenty years..."
"I --"
"Died twenty years ago."
"I -- Oh God! Mara.." She was interrupted, as she caught sight of Charlie's distraught face. Fear constricted her throat, not wanting to hear the news she felt coming. Her voice raw as she forced herself to ask, "Mara?" Praying it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.
"She's --" Charlie felt his voice faltering, unshed tears blurred his vision. He had tried so hard to keep his promise, now he was paying for failure, with interest. He had to be the one that shattered Sarai, if only he had succeeded! "She died moments after I brought you forward in time.
"She had gotten involved in a battle, and was hurt badly, needing to be bionically reconstructed. William refused permission. She apparently committed suicide..." He couldn't go on. Separating himself from her, he withdrew, ashamed, grief-stricken.
Sarai wept. What kind of hell was this to wake up to? To suddenly re-exist, for her to life change with a blink of an eye? Mara, her only daughter gone?!? Had everything changed so radically, was it all gone? She looked up to Charlie. "Prowl?" she asked, "Is he --"
"I'm sorry.." He couldn't bring himself to tell her of one more death.
"Why Charlie? What did I do to deserve this?" She demanded. The sound of glass breaking startled her and she shied away. Charlie sat down, dropping his shattered glasses. Sarai stared at the broken frames, and realized that they were smeared with blood.
"I'm -- Please forgive me, please!" he begged, burying his face in his hands, "you don't deserve this. Anything but this!" He didn't deserve to be in the company of this angel.
Regretting her harsh words, Sarai reached out to him. He had always been there for her, in the orphanage, when she needed her humanity restored. He had always worked miracles, somehow keeping her messed up life together. How could she be so petty? She chastised herself, as he accepted her comfort. Together they cried for their mutual losses.
***
(Part 2)
Charr, burned out and brittle, a husk of what it once was. Desolate rock, scrubbed raw by the poisonous atmosphere, jutted and thrust out of the dust, like jagged hands clawed in pain and pleading for salvation; the stark silence of the damned and dying. The natives long extinct, Charr's only inhabitants were the Decepticons, exiles from Cybertron.
Galvatron surveyed the skyline. Clouds, brooding black, heavy with their caustic rains rose ominously over the horizon. Nightshade stepped forward at Galvatron's beckoning gesture. Her cloak or black and white feathers gently fluttering in the chill breeze. She knelt, and averted her optics with proper decorum.
"My Lord Galvatron?" she asked. The Decepticon leader ignored her for the moment, he would acknowledge her in his own time. Cyclonus, standing on Galvatron's right, shifted uneasily.
Galvatron sensed his second in command's mood. Don't worry, Galvatron thought, your precious NightShade is still of use to me. Without shifting his gaze, Galvatron spoke, his rich, imperial voice holding an air of casualness, "a new warrior is joining Decepticon ranks. Wait here, welcome him, show him around then bring him to my chamber."
NightShade listened to the hidden nuances in her Lord's command, hearing the urgency between the lines. "Yes Lord. When is he due?" She asked, as her optics discretely locked gazes with Cyclonus, a thin wire of tension vibrated between them -- there would be a future confrontation. Galvatron seemed to enjoy the strife he generated in his minions.
"Excellent..." Galvatron purred, gesturing to the entourage. He glanced down at the female Decepticon. She was admirable in her manor, and a capable vassal; pity she was female, a most weak and useless form... Cyclonus would want to stay with NightShade. Galvatron looked at his second, and Cyclonus reluctantly deferred to his superior, leaving with the rest of them to return to the citadel.
NightShade sighed as she watched them fly into the distance. Turning her attention to the horizon, she gauged the coming onslaught of acid rain, it'd be soon. She sighed. The Decepticons were rabid and foul to the fuel pump. Cyclonus was sometimes more of a liability than an asset in the careful balance she had to negotiate for the Autobot cause.
Lightning - a blinding flash, struck nearby. Startled, NightShade could feel the static electricity strike and dissipate, like a wave, as she instinctively shielded her face with one arm. The immediate thunderclap made her cringe. Squinting her optics NightShade understood why Galvatron had found it beneath him to greet the warrior in person, it was female.
The stranger had an exotic, alien beauty, with hint of organic, her black and scarlet hair falling down her back like a cloak. Her frame was willowy and slightly smaller than NightShade. Her hide bi-colored, glossy crimson and jetblack, like fresh blood and a moonless night. She shifted, observing her surroundings, that was when her sinister techno-demon visage came into view. She had long tapering spikes on her knees, elbows and shoulders. Taloned fingers, shielded by knuckle blades. A pair of svelte horns crowned her head, gracefully curving around before veering out to form wicked points.
As the demoness turned, her azure optics locked onto NightShade. NightShade read the glare, fresh anger, determination simmered just below the surface of this creature. NightShade grew wary, not sure what this stranger's attitude would portend too, but it wasn't good...
"Welcome. Please, come quickly before the rains come," NightShade said urgently as she indicated the distant fortification as their destination. The new arrival seemed about to speak, and stiffened, a look of shock, then frustration crossed her face, followed by an unreadable expression. As if suddenly aware of NightShade's presence, and pressing situation, she gestured for NightShade to lead on.
"Where are you from?" NightShade asked, more affable as their brisk pace brought them out of danger. There was no reply.
*
~Unicrom-!~ The anguished cry burned through Galvatron, causing a pang of empathy to pierce his fuel-pump. He knew that tone. How often had he used it himself, how many times had he privately borne the scathing humility of losing control and chains of pain, enough to understand the rage imbedded in that tone...
Soon after, the warrior that Unicrom had promised arrived. Galvatron leaned back with a relaxed elegance to receive the harbinger of hope. He was disappointed at the sight of her. A female, with a marked organic look no less... Appalling! Her form gave no hint as to what her secondary mode might be, if any at all. Masking his reaction, he rose and descended from the dais.
"Who are you?" he asked, his manner imperialistic.
*
Mara knew this Decepticon instinctively, he was the root of her life-long sufferings! ~You killed my mother!~ her mind screamed, thoughts focusing into a coherent projection of thought. Galvatron looked puzzled, as if he'd heard her, but didn't understand the comment. Mara snapped with outrage and lunged at him.
Galvatron caught the hellcat by the wrists before she could do more than scratch his face. Mara's mouth opened in a silent pantomime of screaming, she couldn't stand his look of insolence. She summoned the lightning, intending to strike him down -- Fire frayed every nerve in her body. Mara fell, exhausted, dangling helplessly from Galvatron's steel grip.
*
Fuming, Galvatron aimed his cannon at her head. A warning sting pulsed through him. ~Desist,~ Unicrom whispered, ~she is not to be harmed.~ Galvatron relented. Pitching her to the floor to vent his frustration.
"Who are you?" he demanded, not at all pleased with the situation.
~Mara,~ her weary words impaled with a backbone of arrogance as they locked glares. She saw no recognition, no meaning to her name in his optics. The fantasy of revenge hinged on her desire to see that flash of comprehension, perhaps even regret before she gutted him. He had to care if she were to feel vindicated. She would make him care. Her optics flashed, her decision made. She bowed her head, breaking optic contact.
~Please forgive me,~ the thought demure, her calm a startling contrast to the blind-rage she had moments ago... Galvatron relaxed his guard slightly, seeing that he had won this battle.
*
NightShade observed the unfolding drama. Galvatron and the female seemed to hold a dialog, even though the female never uttered a word. Perhaps she was telepathic... There would be much in her next report...
***
(Part 3)
"NightShade," Cyclonus called to her. Looking over to him she smiled warmly at him as she joined him. Though she would only admit to it as part of her duty, she genuinely cared for this Decepticon. His feelings were mutual, and he had felt relief to hear that the new warrior was female...
Cyclonus offered her a portion of his energon. NightShade great fully accepted, her own rations pathetically small; barely enough for her to function efficiently. "Thank you," she murmured as she settled in the shelter of his embrace.
He watched how she consumed the life-giving energon, slowly, careful not to waste one drop. Cyclonus often wondered if she got enough fuel, but NightShade never complained. Once he had asked her and she was elusive, saying she received what she needed.
NightShade spoke of what happened between Mara and Galvatron, frowning as her imagination speculated the possibilities. "Cyclonus, she's dangerous," she said, turning to face him, " foe her to challenge Galvatron, she's either stupid or more powerful than she seems. And she strikes me as anything but stupid. Be wary of her."
"I will. I promise."
***
(Part 4)
Sarai still marveled at her new cybernetic limbs. She hadn't looked so human in three -- no, the reminded herself, twenty-three years. The new limbs meant she had to be careful, she could feel pain again, and there was, to her anyway, a noticeable reduction in strength when compared to the old limbs. Some how Charlie had retained the hover and flight capabilities without detracting from the flesh and blood appearance of her prosthetics when he reconstructed her.
"Good morning, Sarai," FlameDancer greeted. Sarai looked at the female Autobot, hovering at optic level.
"Hello..." She said. There was something about the female in front of her, something familiar about her...
"I'm FlameDancer."
"You're the one who pulled me from death!" Sarai exclaimed in a sudden moment of clarity. She had mixed feelings about her life, but one thing was clear to her: "Thank you for risking your life for mine."
FlameDancer nonchalantly shrugged it off. She seemed to cavalier about the danger she had transversed. Sarai put the impression to the side, as FlameDancer distracted her with a question.
"I'm going to Lookout Point. Would you like to join me?" Her tranquil blue optics clouded slightly as they focussed for a moment on the spaceport beyond, to a time before her death, an irretrievable past...
"I would," Sarai said.
*
The vista of verdant mountains below and eternal blue skies above invoked a poignant sense of nostalgia with its vast expansion of emptiness. "Do you ever feel like you're left behind?" Sarai asked, her gaze focused on the beauty below.
"Constantly," FlameDancer breathed, drawing her knees beneath her chin. "I know what it's like to be ripped out of the flow of life and be jammed back in backwards, the niche of reality built with memories warped and strange."
Sarai nodded, agreeing with the apt description. The thoughts turning to Prowl, she said, "I just wish I had a chance to say good-bye."
"She died well," FlameDancer said, assuming that Sarai meant Mara.
Sarai laughed an empty, bitter laugh, "in that light, they all died well." She murmured, remembering her parents, her foster father, her beloved, and her daughter. They were all gone -- taken from her. Loneliness waxed, and her eyes fell to the steep drop below. FlameDancer turned to her.
"To take arms against a sea of troubles..." she said, correctly reading the body language of her small companion.
"Hamlet, I know him well," Sarai said, making eye contact with FlameDancer. Smiling ruefully, "Charlie and I --" She paused. She had been so caught up with her own grief that she never thought about Charlie, how he must have suffered. "Poor Charlie!"
"Grief can be illuminating," FlameDancer commented, "bring on a sober mind, even insight."
Sarai swallowed, glancing once more over the precipice. Wondering if Prowl knew, now with nothing holding her back, if asked again, she would chose to give up her frail humanity to be with him. She sighed, saying cryptically, " I knew he would die. I sensed it when he chose his world over me." She stopped just short of saying "and Mara." It was still a bitter memory, best kept private.
***