Welcome back again ladies and gents and first let me say a big thank you for all the love I'm getting from you all and I'm loving all the messages I keep getting regarding the shipping of the characters and it took me a bit of hard thinking to decide what to do but then I thought hang on a minute, why follow the rules and why not mix things up and really complicate your lives and probably blow a couple of minds along the way lol.
So I'm affectionately calling this the spanner in the ship-works chapter and I truely hope you all like the route I have decided to travel there's a lot more to come, this does come from the Hunter Hunted universe so you can expect more than a few twists and surprises to come, keep the messages coming the love and passion you guys all feed me feeds my passion are reminds me every single day of the power of a tale and why I do this, plus who doesn't need a little love in their life right? I know it's all I've ever wanted but never seem to find but this man will keep looking, plus from what I've seen it's not just my world that could use a lot more of it but the world as a whole.
But enough rambling on my part this is GhostNobody saying love and be good to each other, signing off and saying on with the show...
Chapter 12: Run Rabbit.
"Fuck, they found us!" Reaper yelled from behind Macha and Missy, both girls turned though to be fair Missy didn't have much of a choice as she was was on Macha's back, a couple of hundred yards behind them a black river was rushing towards them along the rails.
"Oh shit! we gotta move!" Macha yelled in both their heads, she turned on her heels and took off but had only gone a few yards before she realized that Reaper had been left behind, try as he might he couldn't keep up with the blistering pace of the Xeno hybrid queen, she growled to herself in frustration, "Fuck it, got no choice." She grumbled and with a swift and fluid movement she coiled her long tail around his waist and flipped him off his feet and onto her back behind Missy but facing rear.
"Whoa, what the fuck!?" he exclaimed, suddenly finding himself mounted on her back like a jockey, "I run, you shoot!" she yelled to him, Reaper's nerves reconnected and he nodded, clamping down with his legs and using her dorsal spines to steady himself, there was now a decent amount of weight on her back and she knew it would slow her down somewhat, not to mention tire her out quicker.
"Ok, roger that, get your sweet tail in gear girl!" he yelled to her, bringing his weapon up and beginning to volley shots in their direction, she could hear the distant screeches of anger and frustration as Reaper's shots found their targets and caused them to fall from the rails or took them out all together.
She set a blistering pace running on all fours as fast as she could, it wasn't exactly comfortable to run like this but needs must when the devil drives and he was fully at the wheel here.
She could feel the large human male bouncing up and down with the movements of her body and she could feel the tightness of the grip of his legs as he clamped down tightly onto her flanks and leaned his body against one of her dorsal spines to steady himself so he could shoot without falling off.
"How far to the safe place?" she called to Missy.
"Not far! Keep going till you see a big blue building shaped like a doughnut on your right!" Missy called back.
This confused Macha, "What the fuck is a doughnut!?" she called.
"Seriously!? A big circular thing!" Reaper called back, still firing, she growled angrily, it wasn't her fault she didn't know what a bloody doughnut was, this bloody human was as frustrating as he was enticing, both in equal measure.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud from their left in the distance and Reaper yelled out in surprise, "Someone's shooting!" he yelled back as there was another series of thuds, the shots railed through multiple Xeno's causing a whole wave of them to fall from the narrow rails and to the floor far below with a series of screeches and thuds.
Reaper turned his head to where he believed the shots to be coming from and zoomed in his eye, that's when he saw something that made him smile all over his face, "It's my team! It's Whisper!" he yelled, waving his arm in signal of recognition to them, he saw someone wave back, given their size it could only be Tank. "Shall we head to them?" Macha said to him.
"No! Keep on course, I don't want to lead the crazy Xeno's following us right to them, we'll hook up with them later on, undoubtedly they've got searchers out looking, most likely Inferno, and if anyone can hunt me down it's that girl, fuck, she could probably find me in a snow storm if I was a snowflake," he said.
Macha got a sudden flash through her mind, an unusual emotion welled up around the edges at the emotion in Reaper's voice when he spoke of this female, even though she'd never met this female it was like she instantly did not like her because he respected her, was this what they called jealousy? She scrambled through Tyler's memories and emotional references to find out and to her surprise that's exactly what it was, she was jealous of this female, but why? It wasn't like she had a claim on Reaper, hell, half the time she wasn't even sure if she liked him or not.
She shrugged it off and continued to power onwards, "There! That's it!" Missy yelled, pointing at a large round blue building off to their right a ways.
"We have to lose our entourage first or their going to find a way in after us!" Reaper called, still shooting into the black river following them, Macha looked around and an idea struck her.
"Hold on tight!" she yelled, and with just enough time for Reaper to sling his weapon across his chest and to hold onto her spines and he whipped up her tail to add additional support, turning on a pin head she dashed left and jumped from the rails lading with a thump, jolting both her passengers as she turned on the rooftop and dashed between the tall stone buildings, she took them through a series of tight turns and narrow gullies before leaping up onto a wall and running vertically up it.
"Whoa, shit!" Reaper exclaimed, not only finding himself now nearly lying flat on her back with his chin resting on her hips but also facing vertically down towards the ground.
She braced Reaper with her tail and clung motionless to the wall, flattening herself against the concrete, moments later, a line of zombie Xeno's rushed through the gap in the buildings, not even a single one pausing for the briefest of seconds to look up, it took a minute or two but as rapidly as they had arrived all of them filtered past till only they remained.
Once she was sure they were gone Macha climbed back up, slowly and quietly, she stepped up onto the ceiling and walked along on all fours back the way they'd come, "Ummmm, not that I don't appreciate the view here because trust me I admire a fine feminine alien rear as much as the next human man, but umm do you think you can let me up?" Reaper said in a slightly muffled voice that caused Macha to flush and quiver as she felt his hot breath pass over something rather sensitive under her tail and that's when she realized she'd pretty much tied him down to her back with it.
Quick as a flash she unraveled her tail from around him and he sat up with a whoosh of breath, "Heh, didn't know one of those sweet treats you wanted from her was bondage?" Missy said with a big grin plastered over her young face that made Macha confused and Reaper turn cherry red.
"Fuck me, you're too young to know about shit like that!" he exclaimed, she snorted huffily.
"Am not and I've had a lot of time on my paws since all this happened, I like to read, though I will admit that last comic shop I hit wasn't like all the others, lots of them seemed to be about tying up school girls for some reason, and that's before what was happening to those Yautja girls with those tentacles, I mean what is it with Yaujta girls and wandering into places full of octopi and squid and tentacle monsters, plus what the hell is with those skirts?" she said and Reaper snorted a laugh while trying to bite his tongue.
"Just what kind of comic shop did you rob?" he chuckled, she shrugged.
"Dunno, didn't have any of my favorites either way, but I did learn what bondage is," she said with a grin.
"What's bondage?" Macha asked, and as Missy filled her lungs to launch into a most likely highly detailed explanation Reaper jumped in first.
"A conversation for another time, lets get safe first as it's getting dark and I don't know about you two but I'm one step away from being as dead as that fucking lot," he said, pointing to the Xeno's in the distance. Missy huffed, not liking having the wind knocked from her sails, but she nodded in agreement and with that she took a huge running jump and they headed for the giant blue doughnut building.
"Wow, what is this place?" Reaper asked, looking around the odd building.
"It's an interspecies hotel, people from all over the universe used to come to here to stay," Missy said, Reaper looked surprised.
"How come you decided to leave this place and chose to live in a factory instead?" Reaper asked, Missy shook her head.
"Too hard for me to secure, I'm not exactly a warrior like you, and even if I had a gun I don't know how to use it," she said, Reaper looked thoughtful.
"Are there many of them in here?" he asked and Missy nodded.
"Nowhere close to what's out on the street, but there were too many for me to slip around after a while, so I left," she said, Reaper looked at Macha who was watching him carefully.
"How about you, big girl, you up for helping me clean this place out and securing it for the time being?" he said.
Macha looked thoughtful and she rubbed her mandibles and her chin, "the way I see it we don't need to secure the whole building, just the top two floors, then we just barricade the stairwells and seal up the doors so nothing can get to us," she said.
Reaper nodded in agreement, "smart, I like it, we should also raid the kitchens, see if we can get anything to eat," he said, Missy gave a bright smile.
"Ummmm, if it's still here I already did that, I just couldn't carry it all out of here, but I spent three days clearing the kitchens out, it's all in one of the rooms on the top floor, it's basically a two bed suite" she said, Reaper grinned.
"Nice job kiddo, that's going to save us a lot of work, alright then Macha let's you and me get to work securing these floors, Missy you go open up your stash," he said.
The suite was luxury, a five star to be sure, there was a living space in the centre and technically the suite was three bedroom, but Missy had piled the third bedroom high full of cans and packets of all the food she'd scavenged turning it into a storage room.
So, leaving Missy there to sort the room out, Reaper and Macha headed out to clear the other rooms, as it turned out, the top two floors were clear but, judging by the sounds traveling up from below, the same could not be said for any of the lower floors, so, rather than push their luck, Reaper and Macha retreated up and began removing furniture from the rooms to build an inpromtu barricade in each of the four stairwells, in fact it took all of it as the top two floors were reserved for the suites and that cut down on the availability of rooms to clear out, but between them they managed it, though the sight of a heavily armored human and a hybrid Xeno queen carrying a double bed complete with mattress to jam into a stairwell till it was blocked to the ceiling with furniture forming an immovable wall of crap was not lost on Reaper and he found himself smiling at Macha more than once, he had to admit he never imagined himself working hand in hand with a Xeno queen, but here she was and boy was she a whole lot of woman, strong too, he was under no illusion that she needed his help to be carrying the beds and furniture.
Once they were finished they retired back to the room that Missy had been sorting. She had pulled out tons of food and blankets for the beds, currently she was wrestling with a rather large can nearly as big as she was while a smaller one sat to her right, Reaper's eyes shot up when he saw it, "Wow, you thinking of throwing a party, Missy? That is a whole lot of chunky steak mix," he said, she grinned at him.
"Oh, this isn't for us, this is for Macha, big girl like her must have a big appetite, that one there is for me and you," she said, pointing at the smaller can, Reaper glanced at Macha.
"She is not wrong, but that is more food than I have ever seen! In the human lab where they kept me they only fed me what was needed too keep me alive," she said, a sudden pang of guilt flashing through Reaper, he realized that he hadn't really spoken to her about her origins but something told him it wasn't going to be a story he was going to enjoy, but one he was going to need to hear.
"What happened to you Macha?" he asked, albeit kinda bluntly, but for the most part he found people tended to speak openly when they were put on the spot and not given time to think up a dodge, it worked this time too.
"They kept me in a lab, ran...tests on me, tried to find out how I worked, what I could do, what hurt me, ohhh they especially liked that part," she said, the sadness in her voice obvious for all to hear if you could indeed hear it outside of your head, Reaper felt a shot of grief pass through him, to think that someone would want to hurt another sentient race for nothing more than curiosity or plain ol' sadism, stuff like that made his blood boil, he'd busted up more than his fair share of illegal labs specialising in genetic testing and illegal breeding, some of the things he'd seen in those labs would stay with him for the rest of his days.
"I'm sorry Macha," he said softly, and the big female Xeno took her eyes off the food can and looked at him in surprise.
"For what exactly? It was not you that did those things to me," she said, he nodded in agreement.
"No, but it was my kind that perpetrated it, things like what you went through are one of the very things that me and my team fight against, we were set up to fight for and to protect all sentient life, regardless of what shape or size or package it comes in," he said, Macha looked a little indignant at that remark and seemed to be deciding if he had insulted her or not but Reaper caught it this time, his countless times jamming his size 13 boot in his own gob with Inferno had helped with that, like the time he'd been practicing unarmed combat with her and he'd wound up flat on his back with her sat on his hips pinning him down and locked up tight, an easy victory for her, now, while having a chance to say something cool and flattering to her about her victory or her form what he came up with was "Damn Inferno, I bet the guy who ends up with you is going to need to come to me for cybernetics advice on having his hips and ribs replaced," oh yeah, so totally and utterly smooth as sandpaper in the fucking desert.
Result one very sulky Yautja female who all of a sudden became weight conscious for about a week, till he managed to concoct an apology that informed her that he was actually trying to comment on how powerful her muscles were and wasn't anything to do with her weight, though it took a good kick in the arse from Ice to get him to see what he'd done.
"Not that there's anything wrong with the package you come in Macha, I'm more than positive that you'd be considered a beauty queen among your people," he said, that seemed to lift her sprits.
"Nice save," Missy whispered, hiding a smile and Reaper breathed a little easier, Macha rubbed her mandibles, she seemed to be smiling about it.
"Beauty queen? Does this mean you think I'm beautiful?" she asked, really rather bluntly, revering the point of someone speaking truthfully when put on the spot.
"I can safely say you are the most beautiful Xeno queen I have ever seen," he said, thinking that he'd executed a rather good dodge, when in fact what he'd just done was set himself up royally, because if she wasn't looking at him before she sure as shit was now.
Macha's eyes locked onto Reaper's with a look that could only be one of pure surprise and joy, "smooth," Missy said happily, and he turned to look at her questioningly.
"Well if you find her that attractive you'll be very happy with the sleeping arrangements," she said, and Reaper's heart did a flip flop in his chest.
"Say what now?" he said.
"Well that room in there only has a single bed and I didn't use it the last time I was here, but seeing as now there's three of us, you two love birds can have that room and I'll take the single," she said smugly, making both Reaper's mouth and Macha's mandibles fall open.
"M-M-Me a-a-and h-h-h-him? Sleeping? Together?" she exclaimed, pointing at Reaper, he felt a jolt of anger and hurt at that one.
"Hey what's that supposed to mean? What's wrong with me?" he asked flatly, staring at her as he did, she balked, realizing her words were hurtful to him and nasty considering that he had just paid her a wonderful compliment.
"Nothing! There is nothing wrong with you! You are a most enticing and beautiful male human, definitely on par with the most beautiful one I have ever seen, and I even had plans to try and make him my mate, he was the only human before you who treated me with kindness," she said and then seemed to bite her tongue as she realized what she had just said out loud which also dumb struck Reaper into silence.
Missy grinned all over her furry little face, "Then it's settled! You two can take that room and cuddle the hell out of each other, just don't you take advantage of her Reaper, if those comics I read are anything to go by the first night a girl spends the night in a boy's bedroom he's preprogrammed to try and lure her into something dodgy, so don't you be trying to bondage her or something, she's a maiden so be a gentleman!" she said in a matter of fact voice, and Reaper stared at her like an escaped mental patient dressed as a unicorn or something, plus by the look on her face Macha was feeling something similar.
They cooked the cans of steak with a plasma powered hob that had it's own power supply thanks to the fact that Missy had gone out and found a portable plasma generator for it when she'd lived here before, in fact, Reaper couldn't believe how smart this young girl was when it came to survival, however, when it came to working out people and how they worked, not so good if she thought that his initial instinct would be to drag the big Xeno Queen into the bedroom, tie her up and have his wicked way with her.
Though he couldn't exactly deny right now as she was bent forwards over the large hot can of chunky steak, tucking in like this was the first meal she'd had in months but then that could likely be the case, but still he couldn't exactly switch off the masculine instincts which kept drawing his eyes to her very surprisingly feminine rear end as she bent forwards over the can and swished her very long tail about happily as she used her inner mouth to find the large chunks of hot meat in the gravy.
She didn't seem to like the gravy much but thanks to her long tongue with it's mini mouth she could go chunk fishing, though in order to do so she needed to bend over the can a lot and Reaper, no matter how hard he tried to find something else to look at his eyes kept finding themselves running over her soft looking night black rear and he actually found himself on more than one occasion wondering just how soft it truely was.
That's when he caught Missy smiling at him again over her steak and rice, "What?" he asked and she grinned even broader.
"Oh nothing, just watching you enjoying the view, you know, if you ask her real nice I'll bet she'll let you touch it," she said, causing Reaper to nearly choke to death on a mouthful of rice and steak.
Macha turned her head while chewing to observe them, causing her long dreadlocks to swish, "Touch what?" she asked, not missing a bite as her voice was in their minds, not their ears.
"Oh, I think Reaper wants to touch your bum, what with the way he's been staring at it the last twenty minutes," she said and Macha's eyes snapped to Reaper and now her mouth paused.
"Staring at my bum!?" she exclaimed, and Missy nodded.
"But not in a bad way, he looks really happy when he's looking at you, I think he fancies you," Missy said, blatantly loving just how many shades of red Reaper was going, Macha's head snapped to Reaper again.
"That true? Do you believe I am attractive?" she asked bluntly, Reaper was well and truly on the spot now and for a brief moment he thought about lying but then he remembered the big queen could walk into his mind if she wanted to so it would be pointless, so he steeled himself up.
"Yes, you are attractive to me," he said, trying to make his voice stop shaking by making it sound matter of fact but he couldn't look her in the eye while he spoke, but he did see Missy's smile grow even wider, Macha now looked flustered and at a loss for words, she looked at Missy who made a 'go on' gesture to her.
"Well if your going to look at me then I demand the same right!" she said, crossing her arms on her chest and sitting back on her haunches looking at him very intently and Reaper felt his skin literally turning into molten lava on his bones.
"I-I-I never said you cannot look at me," he stammered.
"No, I wish the right to look at you without armor on, I do not wear armor so neither should you!" she said, Reaper froze, never in his life had any woman so bluntly expressed a wish to see him naked before, not even Inferno, and even Missy's mouth fell open at that one.
"I err ummm well, I'm flattered and all but err we've only just met and I errr..." he began but Macha fixed him with a hard stare that broke his stammering list of excuses dead.
"Yes we have only just met but this has not stopped you from admiring what makes me female so I should have equal right should I not?" she said.
"Well, she's got you there," Missy said.
"Now hang on just a minute! I did not look at that what makes you female I just looked at your pretty bum!" he exclaimed in protest but true to form his mouth ran away from his brain while talking to the opposite sex and he realized what he had said a second after his words left his lips, he saw Macha trying to look over her shoulder as if trying to see her own bum, but as par normal it was Missy who spoke up.
"Bold move admitting it out loud your braver than I thought! Well you know what they say, an eye for an eye or I believe in this case a bum for a bum, its only fair isn't it?" she said with that evil grin plastered all over her face, he was beginning to believe this kid was actually evil.
Before he could voice his opposition to that idea Macha answered, "Indeed! Missy is right! It is only fair," she said, a sudden odd thought coursed into his mind and he looked at her square in the eyes, marvelling at the deep and powerful intelligence that shone like an inner light behind them, it took his breath away as he realized that he'd been looking at her as a Xeno queen first and a woman second, but she was a woman, no matter how big or strong or truely terrifying she was, under it all she was a woman with the same insecurities and truely incredible strengths.
"Ummm, why do you want to, really?" he asked softly and his question seemed to startle the big queen and her eyes flitted between various points around the room.
"B-B-Because you are very beautiful to me and I wish to admire you, is that wrong? To want to look at another being? To admire the beauty of another living being and to feel like I'm not so completely and utterly alone, is that wrong?" she asked with a voice that was filled with deep longing and a genuine sorrow, not to mention a truly powerful sense of grief that punched him right in the heart, her words had proved his train of thought, just like under all his strength all his skill he was just a man, a simple uncomplicated scared man, just like under all her strength her terrifying power, she was a woman, one who was not used to being looked at as such.
"No it's not, not at all, you have as much right to your sexuality as anyone and after what you've been through, which is something I can't imagine and if I'm truely honest nor do I want to, you have a right to explore your feelings to see the world as it truely is, I guess I'm just grateful that in a sense you asked and didn't try to take and given what you've experienced I wouldn't have blamed you if you did after what my kind did to you, I'm just glad you know how to not only tell us apart but see that we're not all dark evil creatures," he said.
Reaper's words touched Macha in a way that not even Tyler's had, it was like she could see his soul burning in his chest like a beautiful light, suddenly a soft sound that sounded like laughter filtered through to her from the bedroom and she turned to look, she saw something she had not seen since she was nigh on a hatchling, something that had given her hope and strength for what darkness was to come, something she could not ignore, "Ummmm, thank you Reaper, for your kind words, ummmm, please excuse me a moment, I errrr need to use the bathroom," she said and with that she turned away from the pair and headed into the large bedroom, closing the door behind her as she went, leaving both of them sat there mystified.
As she closed the door and turned back to the room the sight that greeted her filled her with a truely incredible wonder, for in her bedroom, dressed in a long open necked flowing red gown stroking what appeared to be a tall black animal and holding what appeared to some form of black avian on her shoulder was the same human woman she'd seen when she was a hatchling.
"It seems you've done well for yourself, my beautiful name sake, but then I always knew you would," the woman said in a voice so soft it sent a shiver from the top of her skull to the tip of her tail.
"Who are you? I know your not really here because I can see through you, that grey smoke around you, what is it? And how do you know me?" Macha asked quickly, the woman smiled and laughed softly.
"So many questions and so many more stacking up on top of those but none with simple answers my beautiful daughter, but I'll answer what I can in a way that I hope you'll understand," the woman said softly, she stroked the large black furry creature's long flowing mane and it made a soft whinny noise and raked one of it's large hooves gently across the carpet, leaving no sign of it's movements.
"Do you know why Tyler called you Macha?" she asked, Macha shook her head.
"Because I told him to look after you, I came to him in a dream told him who I was and that you were important to me and to the future, so I told him to protect you and help you, to use his kind and gentle nature to comfort you where he could until the time came for you to taste freedom and he did so beautifully, to answer another question, my name is yours young one, I am Macha, goddess of fertility and love, my people were the ancient celts of Earth, now I, like my brothers and sisters, wander the cosmos looking for those who need my guidance, in fact it was not I who found you but I was the one who took the mantle of guiding you," she said in the silk soft voice that flowed like a river of silk through Macha's mind.
"Found me?" she asked, looking at the radiant goddess as she lovingly stroked her beast, the goddess smiled knowingly.
"The one we call the Dream Walker found you, as he finds so many like you, his real name is Jack Mason and he's a Dream Warrior, but to us he's the Dream Walker, the most powerful of all the Dream Warriors and their leader, he's a kind and gentle soul who knows the power and radiance of love far better than any soul I have ever seen, in fact when I feel home sick or nostalgic for the days gone past I visit him and his family just to bask in the radiance of the love that exists on his world, a world they built with their own hands and determination to show the universe that love is beautiful and powerful in all it's forms and it seems to have seeped into the very fabric of the planet itself, oh Macha I hope you get to see it, it's like the garden of Eden, all the gods visit there from time to time, just because being there is so peaceful, when I think of how close that paradise came to being wiped clean of both life and love by the darkness it makes my soul run cold, but now it is a living paradise, a mortal heaven, guarded fiercely by the clan Mason and all they protect, in fact I sense the presence of one of Jack's decedents on this world at this very moment," the goddess said, her voice going through a whole spectrum of emotion ranging from joy to pride to darkness in one.
Macha just listened quietly as the goddess spoke as anyone would know it is not wise to interrupt when one of the divine is speaking, "now the Dream Walker takes it upon himself to not only protect those in need but to seek those he deems worthy and to ask us to intervene when needed, he saw something in you, something he wanted to protect but could not do so himself, so he asked me to come and see you for myself and I agreed and now I truely see what he saw, there is a radiance to your soul, young Macha, a beauty, the rarity of your kind is great, a Xenomorph Yautja hybrid is rare but one with the capacity to love as you do is even rarer and I believe he wanted to protect that, to make you strong to show you what you could be, not what they wanted to make you into, and it turns out he was right, thanks to young Tyler and his capacity to love others without discrimination, a gift he passed onto you and nurtured so that when the day came and you'd be free when your turn came to look at another you'd take it and not shy from it, well my young one that day is upon us, I sense the presence of the one who's soul has called for yours from the moment he was born, but I urge you not to rush this for as strong as he is, as powerful as he is, he's also fragile, he will need slow tender guidance, not a forceful approach, tease his mind and his heart will open to you, if you want him that is," the goddess said, slyly smiling under her long hair as she did.
"Y-You mean Reaper?" Macha asked, looking at her curiously and the goddess smiled.
"His true name is Aiden, but I advise you of this young one, you have a rival, one who seeks to claim his heart for her own, one who has longed for him for so very very long, one of Paya's children who walks this very soil at this very moment with such fire and determination to find him and protect him that even I must say it is truely beautiful to see," the goddess said, nuzzling her beast softly making it nicker softly as it returned the gesture.
"A-A rival? S-so what do I do? Do I kill her?" Macha asked, looking at the goddess forlornly and really not liking where this was going, the goddess turned and gave her a very wry smile.
"Well that will be for you to decide young one, you could do that but I warn you doing so would invite disaster and destruction, not only would it turn the wrath of her friends and comrades against you but it also has the possibility to poison not only Aiden's heart but the love you would seek to build with him" the goddess said rather darkly.
Macha's heart sank like a stone, these feelings that were building and growing inside her like feeding ever bigger sticks into a fire now had the potential to get washed out before it could become the true pure fire it needed to become.
"So what do I do? Please! I need this! As much as I hate it and the fact that it makes me feel so weak and powerless in the face of it I've touched his mind and I felt his heart, only the tiniest of tastes I admit but I need it, I don't want to live without it and as stupid as it sounds as I don't even know him really I feel like I do, that tiniest taste of his mind, of his emotions, of the pain that he endured and fought through showed me who he is, we're the same he and I, survivors, we've fought the darkness and won and I need him at my side, I need him, please Macha, tell me how," the desperate Xeno queen said, looking forlornly at the goddess who simply smiled at her.
"Let me ask you something, do you believe love is a simple thing? Or do you believe it's complex?" the goddess asked, Macha shrugged.
"I don't know, I'd like to believe it's simple but everything I've seen tells me otherwise," Macha said, the goddess nodded.
"The truth is it's only as complex as we make it really, let me ask you this, have you ever heard the human expression two is company but three is a crowd?" she asked, Macha shook her head.
"Humans love to say it because they believe it fits into their rules of what love is and should be, one man one woman, one woman and one woman, one man and one man, a pair made for one another, but personally I believe that when it comes to love there are no rules really, think about it, no one chooses to fall in love, it just happens, so how can one ascribe rules to something like that, It's not a box, or an object, it's a force of nature, something all species have fought and died for for time immemorial," the goddess said, switching her attentions to the bird on her shoulder.
Macha felt confused, "I don't understand, what are you telling me to do?" she said to the goddess who simply smiled at her.
"Let me ask you this, do you believe this others love is any less important or pure for this male than your own?" she asked, Macha thought about it hard but she couldn't say yes as she didn't even know her, so she shook her head.
"You'd be right, she loves him as fiercely as you do, maybe even a little more so because she has known him longer, but that doesn't make your love any less important than hers, so here is a path a lot less traveled to you and it comes in the form of a question, could you share?" she asked, and Macha's mandibles fell open at the implication.
"S-S-Share? As in share my male!?" Macha exclaimed, the goddess smiled wryly again.
"But is he yours? Is he your property? Is he an object that can be possessed and owned? Or is he a living, breathing, thinking, feeling being with his own heart, mind, and soul?" the goddess asked, and that made Macha stop and think, she shook her head.
"No, he cannot be owned, he is not a slave or property, he is wild and free, exactly as I would want him to be," she said fiercely and the goddess nodded approvingly.
"That is what I wished to hear and I believe you are beginning to understand, love has no boundaries, no walls, no fences, no lines in the sand, there is this far and no further because we never choose love, it chooses us and I see a solution so radical that it might very well blow your little mind, one I suggest because I see the potential in both of you to make it work and I'm not talking about him, but her," the goddess said.
Macha tilted her head curiously at a spark of realisation flaring in the back of her mind, "A-Are you saying what I think your saying?" Macha asked.
"Well, if you think I'm saying that not only could you both love him together as fiercely and as loyally as one another but also each other as well, just imagine it for a moment if you will young one, the three of you united by a mutual love, each fighting for the other, all loving together, no pride, no suspicion, no jealousy, just love, you love her as fiercely as you love him, and she loves you as loyally as she loves him, then he loves you both and binds the three of you together into a unit so strong no one could break it apart, there's a reason triangles are the strongest shape," the goddess said and Macha's mind exploded.
"M-M-Me? Love another female!?" she exclaimed in surprise, but as the thought swam through her mind it began to make an unsettling kind of sense, it was like everything she believed just shifted and morphed into something new and strange, the more times she said the words in her mind the easier it seemed to be to believe that not only could it be possible, but desirable, a world of joy and flavors to explore and so much love to be had, right at her fingertips and all she had to do was take a leap of faith, suddenly the prize seemed a whole lot bigger.
"Now she sees what was buried deep within, beautiful isn't it?" the goddess said, and Macha could actually see it, her future, she stood shoulder to shoulder with this powerful woman, both encircling and protecting their male as they leaned on each other for support and strength as he leaned on them both as he protected and loved them both equally, it was beautiful.
"Now comes the tough bit, convincing both of them this is the best way and the true way for you all, but don't you worry little one, I've enlisted a little help in that respect, should make the path an easier one to walk, not saying it won't be bumpy and rocky, but just think how wonderful it will be when not one hand reaches out to lift you up when you fall, but two," she said, but before she could answer the goddess turned and with one last smile was gone back into the ether, leaving Macha with her beautiful image, not two but three, now all she had to do was talk another woman into sharing her love, easier said than done.