Special thanks to Khalthar for beta reading this and showing me how to improve my writing. it's a big help to me!
Hmm, i'll have to add little forewords to all chapters after this.
Anyway in this chapter, Alaric and Ja'anya are recovering from Sil'cais' attempted raid. And i use the word 'raid' loosely, as you can see what happen to the bastard last chapter.
Alaric and Ja'anya are healing themselves and the bond that is yet to come between them is growing.
Slayer Chapter 5
A slight rest of several human hours later, Ja'anya had rigged Sil'cais' ship to self destruct and after that they had resumed course. They were back in Ja'anya's bathroom tending to their wounds. Ja'anya suffered only minor scratches and the plasma burns on her body had really been meant to incapacitate rather then kill, so most of her attention was on Alaric. He was out cold for the duration of blowing up Sil'cais' ship and her treatment of him. She sutured his cuts, surprised that he had taken all that punishment, and somehow survived. Then she cleaned him up and wrapped new bandages on him, replacing the blood stained, tattered ones that he had previously. Going berserk like that had taken a lot out of him and she was surprised that his body was healing perfectly in such a short time
'Seems logical that if his family line has been had to adapt to the harshness of war. It was possible. He's more surprising then I first believed.' She thought wonderingly.
She looked at the puncture wound on his chest, where Sil'cais' dagger went digging into his lung. It had nearly sealed up on its own. All she had to do was stitch the entry wound up and his lung would heal fine on its own.
She was tending to her plasma burns, smearing on a restorative salve when she noticed Alaric stirring and grumbling somewhat groggily. She watched as Alaric heaved to one side, holding his head and mumbling loudly. It looked like he had a bad headache. She walked over and helped him up. She looked at his flushed face and saw that his eyes were back to their normal dark red color.
Alaric looked up and down Ja'anya, secretly relieved that she wasn't dead. He took a deep breath and he coughed hard, doubling over with a hand on his chest. He coughed up clotting blood, no doubt from his lungs. Ja'anya gave him several pats on the back and he waved a thanks.
"You're still alive." He said in relief as he looked back at her.
"Yes, I am." She assured him, before gesturing to something next to the sink. "Unlike him."
Alaric saw that Sil'cais' severed head was the object in question. He walked over and picked it up by the dreadlocks. Ja'anya walked over and looked at it with a smile on her face.
"Your trophy." She said with some pride in her voice.
Alaric didn't show any sign of enjoyment at this. He wouldn't have bothered taking the head, because he would rather have left the bad blood to rot. But he understood the significance of it. On the plus side, it would serve as a trump card if any other Yautja tried to kill him.
"Well, maybe there's an advantage taking his head." Alaric said, looking at the frightened expression on the bad blood's face. "I certainly made an impression, pun not intended."
Ja'anya raised an eyebrow. "Pun?" She asked in slight confusion.
"Joke." Alaric explained. "Relevant since he looks absolutely scared to death."
Ja'anya gave a quiet chuckle as she got the joke.
Alaric placed the head back down and sighed. Thank god I didn't completely lose it, he thought thankfully. I don't want to take the Rage out on anyone who doesn't deserve it. The first thing he did was to grab a surgical blade lying nearby and he sat down on the floor. Ja'anya looked on as he carefully scraped away one of the tattoos on his forearm with the blade. He showed no pain as the tattoo was slowly being scraped from his skin. In fact he was smiling.
"Another piece of justice dealt." He said. "My family can rest a bit more easily now."
And maybe the nightmares will subside for a little while, he added in his mind.
Ja'anya watched with a raised eye and continued to check him over while she administered a regenerative serum into his chest to speed up healing, especially since he had taken a dagger hard to his chest. Soon, in place of a jet black tattoo, there was a rune shaped patch of nearly exposed muscle. The tattoo had been cleanly removed.
She watched in silence as Alaric disposed of it in a bowl next to the sink. Ja'anya handed him a vial of clear liquid.
"This will clear up any scarring." She told took the vial and thumbed the cap off. He carefully put on a sizable amount, wincing slightly as he could feel it touch his flesh. He smeared it around to get an even coverage. He could feel the salve seep into his cuts and plug them, forming a tight seal. He was then handed a bandage and he wrapped it around his arm.
When he was finished, he looked at his blood soaked, and stained pants.
"Well, these are gonna need a serious wash to get the blood stains off." He said to himself.
Ja'anya looked at him and smiled. "That can be arranged" she said."I need a wash, and cleaning myself." She got up and went over to the bath, which was essentially a hollowed space in the deck, ten feet square at the far wall underneath a view portal, before running the water, filling the basin with the clear liquid. Alaric continued examining his wounds as it was being run. His body had often surprised even him on how much punishment he had been able to take. Maybe his heritage had something to do with it.
"Ja'anya, can you answer me something?" He asked.
"Yes, what is it?" Ja'anya asked as she turned.
"Is this blood making my hair glow?" He asked, pointing to his hair.
Ja'anya looked at his hair and indeed it was glowing a bright green in places where Sil'cais' blood had landed. She found it slightly comical and couldn't resist giggling.
"I'll take that as a yes" He said with a rueful scratch of his head.
"I think glowing hair looks suitable for you." She said. "In battle anyway."
"Maybe, but it itches more then anything else I've ever gotten in my hair." he commented, scratching his head harder.
By now, the basin had filled with shimmering water with warm steam gently rising off the surface. Ja'anya had stripped off her skirt, which was the only thing left on her, and had sunk into the bath, relishing the warmth of it as it covered her sensitive and injured areas.
Alaric had averted his eyes to give her some privacy. He was busy going over things in his head. He went over the fight with Sil'cais and what he had done to ensure victory with Ja'anya at risk.
'You knew it was risky going into a Rage when she was there, he thought. There is always the chance you could not stop. If you did kill her then you are trapped in space permanently.' He sighed.
'Alaric…'He scolded himself. 'You mustn't go into the Rage when innocents are near. But then if you didn't, she would be another victim to that piece of shit. You had no choice but to stop him right then and there.' He suddenly realized a little thing. 'If I was in rage, then how did she calm me down? I can barely remember what happened in that state, apart from what she told me.'
He turned around to Ja'anya who was busy washing her dreadlocks
The water in the bath only reached just above her waist when she was standing. It appeared that she had submerged herself in the bath as she was glistening in the light. Her back was turned to him as she washed herself and Alaric caught sight of the dark contrasting stripes on her back. Casting aside admirations for her beauty for the present, he asked her a question.
"Ja'anya." He began hesitantly while getting her attention. He sighed as he tried to think of the proper way to phrase what he needed to say. "You could have easily gotten killed with me in the Rage. How did you manage to avoid me killing you?"
She looked at him curiously while fingering her dreads. "Rage?" She asked. "You said that, right before you pulverized him."
"Yes I did. Now, you're either very brave, or stupid to even get close to me while I'm in that state." Alaric told her seriously.
"You will have to enlighten me about this state of yours. I wouldn't want you to go crazy like that on board the clan-ship." Ja'anya replied quickly.
Alaric thought about this. Should he tell her about his family's secret? This was something that he had never told anyone, ever. Not even his wife had known about it. But since she had been caught right in the middle of it and came out unscathed then maybe it would be the wise thing to do. She deserved an explanation. He sighed.
"Alright." He relented. "I'll tell you." He then raised a finger. "But on one condition."
Ja'anya wadded to the edge of the bath and sat down, crossing her arms on the bath's edge.
"What I am going to tell you is something that my family has never revealed to anyone." He cautioned her. "I need your promise that you will not tell anyone about it, under any circumstances. Not without my consent at least."
Ja'anya nodded.
He walked over with his harness and sat down at the edge of the bath, crossing his legs. He pulled at a large pouch on his harness. When it opened, he reached in and pulled out a worn, leather bound tome. On its cover was his family's rune. He flicked it opened very carefully and skimmed a few pages looking for that right entry which he found after a few moments. Ja'anya noticed how old the book was and the way Alaric was treating it. That book obviously had great sentimental value to him.
"Well," Alaric started, closing the tome. "the Rage is an inheritable trait that passed down through my line. When a slayer is near death, or stays in battle for extended periods or allows himself to enter the rage, a transformation happens. A slayer loses control over his primal instincts and enters a berserker-like state in which his strength, speed and endurance is increased exponentially. When a slayer is in this state rage he is almost impossible to stop, save for the embrace of someone fairly close. Then the rage dissipates." He looked at her as he put the book back in the harness before slinging it aside. "Personally," he said. "I don't know you managed to quell the rage since I hardly know you."
He sighed.
"I don't know, maybe I was thinking subconsciously about my wife and that was enough."
Ja'anya thought about that. The way she had hugged him after he had slain that bad blood. She had a hunch that had something to do with him calming down. She wondered if he had remembered that.
"Well, I did somewhat hug you after you won that fight." she said, slightly embarrassed.
She looked up at him. He looked lost at that.
"Do you remember that?" She asked.
Alaric tried to remember. Being in his enraged state makes things difficult to remember. But he did remember feeling her wrapping her arms around him. Then the rage started going away as he returned the favor before passing out. Maybe it was Ja'anya who had quelled his rage, not his wife's memory. Alaric looked at her, into her violet eyes. "Yes." He said. "I recall that."
Ja'anya decided to change the subject. "Tell me about your family?" She asked. "What was your wife like?"
He looked at her for a moment thinking of what to say. "Well, for one thing she was inquisitive like you." He said, crossing his arms. "She was also determined, it was very difficult to throw her off something once she set her mind on it." He grinned. "My son was the result of that." He mused. "The look in her eyes when she wanted a kid was really something."
Ja'anya processed the thought in her head. She immediately remembered one huntress on her clan-ship who had went on a bizarre sexual rampage when she was little. The reason for which is that she wanted a child of her own and she went from male to male until she got pregnant. Her father was one of the few males who had managed to get away by sealing himself in a quarantine room. Amazingly, she had ended up coupling with over a hundred males before she was finally pregnant. The males on the other hand had to be in care for several weeks to recover. That event was one of the most memorable things that ever happened on the clan-ship.
"Was she also mischievous?" Ja'anya asked.
"How do you mean?" Alaric asked in confusion.
Here goes, Ja'anya thought as she suppressed a grin.
Then, she grabbed him by the shoulders and with one hard pull he fell in, face first into the bath, making a large splash. The blood in his hair dispersed in the water giving it a slight glowing greenish tinge. He remained submerged for a few seconds, trying to recover from the surprise before he raised his head out of the water, his black hair completely hiding his face. He peeled his hair out of his face, as he shot Ja'anya a seething look. Ja'anya immediately thought that her prank was a bad idea until he started chuckling.
"Yep, definitely mischievous." He said with a laugh. "Though most of the time it would involve me sleeping."
Ja'anya chuckled at Alaric's sudden comical response. She sat back and watched Alaric sit back as well on the far edge and he put his head back and sighed.
This makes a nice change from freezing cold lakes." He said.
"You're not embarrassed by your sudden plunge?" Ja'anya asked him, reaching for something that was the equivalent of soap.
"I sort of thought something was going on behind your eyes, but I didn't expect that." Alaric admitted. "When you grabbed my shoulders, I was thinking 'I'm not getting out of the way of whatever was about to happen.'."
Ja'anya gave a curt chuckle. "You sound much like my brother." She said. "Did your marine brethren know about your...temper?"
Alaric rubbed his eyes and faced her. "In a way." He told her. "They don't know the exact truth, but they do know I have a breaking point." He scrubbed his head for a second to get some blood out of his hair. "And when my superiors knew I that had reached that threshold... well... they knew how and when to back off."
Ja'anya giggled at his analogy. It was simple and to the point.
They had shared the bath for roughly ten more minutes before Alaric heaved himself out. He took a lot of water with him, in both his hair and his pants. Ja'anya watched as he strained his hair into the bath. He was dripping water everywhere. It was a good thing there were several towels nearby so he could mop up after himself.
"Is this room a drier?" Alaric asked, pointing to a sliding door next to the bath while trying to dry his pants.
"It is." Ja'anya said.
"Brilliant." Alaric said, sliding the door open and stepped inside.
Ja'anya climbed out of the bath and picked up a towel, drying herself off as she heard Alaric try to activate the controls. From the sound of things, he was having a slight problem with the controls.
"Warm. Hot. Not cold! Hot!" He shouted as he felt the searing heat inside. "Ah, here we go."
Ja'anya couldn't help but laugh at Alaric's attempt to understand Yautja tech as she emptied the bath.
"Laugh it up, Ja'anya." Alaric muttered from inside. "Laugh it up."
Ja'anya had finished drying herself and wrapped her towel around her chest when the door slid open and Alaric came staggering out. He was flushed from the heat and looked comical as his hair had turned into a big fuzzy mane that stuck straight out haphazardly in every direction. He was busy flattening it as he shut the door.
"Don't start." He said, anticipating Ja'anya to laugh again. He yawned. "God, I'm knackered." He added tiredly.
Ja'anya was a bit tired too and they both thought the same thing. It was time for bed. Sparring for the first half of the day and then having to deal with a perverted bad blood in the second half made for an exhausting day. "Shall we retire?" She asked Alaric while gesturing to the bedroom. Alaric nodded and Ja'anya led the way, flicking the lights off as she went. Alaric noticed something in the sparring room as they walked past. He stopped so he could get a better look. He immediately recognized Sil'cais' so called 'trophy collection'.
Ja'anya came over to him. "Need I ask?" Alaric prompted.
Ja'anya gestured to him in a memorial manner. "His victims have a right to be buried by their families after being returned to them." She said heavily.
Alaric understood what she meant. There would be many loved ones who had never found out what had happened to their friends, daughters, or mothers. At least now they would be able to learn what happened, and to pay their final respects. There were over fifty skulls of Sil'cais' victims in her sparring ring. Ja'anya pulled his arm to lead him to the bedroom. The bedroom door slid open and they both stepped in. Ja'anya shut the door behind them. Alaric looked at the bed, noticing that the stain of star shaped grease he left this morning was gone. Ja'anya must have changed the sheets when he was recovering from his rage.
A thought came to his head.
"Well, what are the sleeping arrangements?" Alaric asked. "I've hogged your bed for the last week for obvious reasons."
Ja'anya looked at him.
"It is my bed," She started. "But I am willing to share it."
Alaric was immediately shocked by the thought. Sharing a bed with a member of the race that ruined his whole life? But then she did help him when he was injured back on Floria VII. She allowed him the means to hunt down those murderers. Even more, she had indirectly led him to that bastard Sil'cais. He decided that, in a gesture of faith, he'd let this one slip.
"You sure you want to share your bed?" He asked her. "With a human?" He added dubiously.
She simply nodded. He sighed as he walked up to the bed's right side, looking at it. "What side do you want?" He asked trying to sound casual.
Ja'anya went next to him. "I'll take this side." She told him as she indicated which side she would sleep on.
Alaric nodded and he, somewhat gingerly, raised the sheets and sat himself down on the bed before shuffling over to the opposite side. Ja'anya unwrapped her towel and placed it on a stool. She sat down fully exposed and crawled into bed before she pulled the sheets over herself. Alaric had averted his eyes again. Getting in bed with a naked female Yautja was something that Alaric would never, could never have imagined himself doing. He was trying to be calm about this, but it wasn't easy. He figured that her people must sleep 'au natural'. He found it hard to keep a straight face but if there was one thing he could well, it was masking his emotions. He had spent his entire life doing it.
"Goodnight then, Ja'anya." Was the only thing he said before rolling over on his side.
"Sleep well, Alaric." Ja'anya said back.
By some cue, the lights went out and the ship was plunged into darkness. The only lights were the stars shining through the viewing portal. Ja'anya laid herself down with a content sigh. Her body welcomed the comforting feeling the mattress gave and the sheets that covered her. Alaric had already dropped off, judging by his breathing. Alaric had to be one of the heaviest sleepers she had ever known.
Alaric dreamed of the day's events and now his nightmares had returned, but in a positive note. He saw himself battling Sil'cais in a ring of fire. Axe met sword as they both battled to the death. The tortured forms of his family were present in the flames. Alaric fought with the combined strength of his ancestors as he unleashed a furious, never ending barrage of blows against the bad blood. Then with a mighty swing from his large axe, Sil'cais was decapitated in a shower of flame as he turned to ash. The ashes swirled around Alaric before they soared to his family, engulfing them in a dust storm. Alaric saw as they were slowly healed of their pain, only a small part but it was an improvement. They were now not as tormented as before. Their charred flesh was replaced by cuts and bruises. Alaric felt a burning sensation in his right arm and he looked at it to see one of the runes vanish in a blaze. Then a lithe figure ran from the flames to embrace him in its arms.
He awoke suddenly. He looked around warily as his still groggy mind registered the fact that he was on his back and that he felt a strange but almost comforting pressure on his chest and shoulder. There was also a soft and gentle, but deep rumbling purr coming from his left. He looked to his left and he saw a surprising but sweet sight. Ja'anya was sleeping peacefully with her head on his shoulder and her left hand firmly on his chest. Her soft purring was what he could make out as a secure, protected happy purr.
'Brilliant', he thought with a light tone of annoyance.
He tried to gently pry her arm off him, but when he applied the slightest bit of pressure, she quickly tightened her grip. Ja'anya's mandibles flexed as she gave off a small whimper and shifted her head closer to him. He then felt a leg wrap around his. Alaric then decided at that point not to try anything else. It was obvious that Ja'anya felt safe in his presence, especially after what had happened today. She had been almost raped and would have been murdered by one of the most hated bad bloods in her race's history. She wouldn't be alive if it hadn't been for him. Maybe this was her subconscious way of thanking him. Either way, Alaric chose to let her be.
'Oh well.' He thought idly. 'Might as well get some sleep. I'll let her have her way this once.'
He sighed as he closed his eyes and slowly drifted back to sleep. He didn't know it, but sometime after he dozed off again, his right hand came to rest on top of Ja'anya's and lightly grasped it. Ja'anya shifted in her sleep again and let off a long happy purr of purest content as her hand clasped his.