Hello everybody & welcome to yet another chapter of "Of Two Worlds"! I do hope all you readers enjoyed my last chapter, though, in my vote, it was kinda boring (0.o). I also hope you will like this chapter! Now, before I forget, there is one question at the bottom I want everyone that reads this here story to answer. Now, for the appropriate credits so I don't get into trouble with copyright stuff... Stuff I own: Plot & OCs; Stuff I DON'T own: Any characters that aren't OCs, music I use in these chapters, & the places these characters live in. There... now that that's out of the way, Zero the fox I would like to thank you for that review, & the answer to your question is at the bottom also! Now, on with the story!
Meldalvyna's POV
As we walk to the zoomer elevator next to the race track, Jak unwraps his arm from around my waist & follows me onto the track, the scent of curiosity wafting from him. He walks to the center of the track with me, a sort of determined, curious look on his handsome face. As I get into starting position, I look at him to see a wanting look in his eye, like he wanted to ask me something, but wasn't sure he should.
"What is it?" I ask him, the look making me both curious & worried. Jak shakes his head quickly in the realization he was being spoken to, as if he had been spacing out.
"Oh, um, nothing too important," Jak responds, trying to cover up what ever it was he was thinking. I tip my head to the side, giving him the 'oh really' look, & the 'oh sure' smile, making it blatantly obvious I wasn't taking his response for an answer. Jak takes a deep breath, knowing I had him pinned, & that he wasn't going to get out without giving me a proper answer.
"Fine. Light was wondering if, one, he could meet you, & two, you could show him how to fly better & faster," Jak says with a bashful huff, almost like an uncertain laugh. The notion that Light wishes to be taught by me how to fly catches me off guard.
"Um... sure, I guess I could... I mean... yeah... I think I could teach Light how to fly better & faster," I stumble, my mind moving too fast for my mouth to keep up with. Jak gets closer & hugs me, planting a gentle kiss to my forehead in thanks.
"By the way, before Light takes over, I just want you to know he glows blue & his eyes glow white, usually when I just change into Light on someone without telling them what he looks like first, they get thrown off kinda at first," Jak says while taking a step back, a laughing shy smile on his face.
Suddenly, Jak's skin does exactly what he said it would, but I couldn't see his eyes. Two huge wings that looked like tentacles with a barely visible sheet of blue silk between them sprout from his back, glowing a light blue just like his skin, each wing made up of four tentacle-like ribs. Jak's eyes finally open, revealing a bright white glow replacing his normally ocean blue eyes, like spirits at midnight. Jak is now replaced by his Light Eco alter.
"Hello Light," I say quietly, put in awe by scent of calmness comming off him, his presence seeming to demand both respect & tranquility.
"Hello Princess Meldalvyna," Light returns nodding his head in greeting, his voice stern, kind, & respectful, not too much unlike Jak's, but definitely less gruff.
"Call me Meldalvyna, in a way, I'm your girlfriend too," I say, politely reminding him of his partial relationship with me. Light makes an 'oh yeah' kind of expression, nodding his head gentily in response.
"So, shall we begin my training? I can fly next to you along the track so you can guage my skill, & work from there," Light suggests, standing next to me, a kind smile on his face.
"Okay, we can do that, come on," I say, leaping into the air to hover a few feet above Light's head. With a powerful flap of his own, Light lifts into the air with a shaky sort of grace & starts to fly forward when I motion ahead of myself with my hands. As we fly slowly around the track, I notice several things about how Light flew that made it difficult. Several minutes of flying later, we land together, Light's landing harsh & stiff.
"How did I do?" Light asks, looking to me once I land.
"Well, let's start off with your take off. You'll want to jump as high as you can, & beat your wings at the peak heighth, & you should jump at an angle so at the top of the jump, your stomach is facing the ground, unless you want to hover over the ground, which then you angle your wings inward & towards the ground, giving you lift," I begin, Light nodding as I explained. With a deep breath, I continued on with my explination.
"While flying, it is important to do almost an elongated rowing motion with your wings when you flap, like your scooping the air under your wings from infront of you, angling upwards & towards the front on the up-stroke, then transitioning to downwards & behind you on the down-stroke, not leaning your body forward, & don't hold your arms out to the side, it may seem to make you more aerodynamic, but all it does is slow you down, so just hold them close to your body," I continue, going through the motions with my wings & arms for example, Light's only reactions being nodds & the occasional 'oh' or 'huh'. With yet another deep breath, I push forward.
"Taking turns is another thing. You don't want to try to turn horizontally, remember, gravity & inertia together is your friend, so use it & lean in the direction you want to go while flapping, & for sharper turns, you can arch your back & push your chest in the direction you want to go once you've leaned in order to make it a bit tighter & faster, & trying to increase or decrease altitude is exactly the same, other than that, you're alright for a beginner," I finish with a huff, going through the motions with my body to make my explination a bit clearer, Light nodding the entire time.
"What about landing, I've always had trouble with that part," Light says before I could continue my long-winded flight lecture. I stop dead in my tracks, realizing that I hadn't really thought of how he was supposed to land.
"Oh, that. Hm... well, you'll definitely want to slow down while angling yourself downwards, a lot, before landing, which means you'll want to angle your up-strokes & down-strokes infront of you & downwards, but still do the scooping motion. Once you've slowed down enough, you'll want to put yourself in a standing position & give a few smaller beats to lower yourself to the ground softly," I respond, giving a soft smile as I finally finish off my explination & beginners' tips on flying.
"I do believe it would be best if you trained me in lessons, so that I may practice each part of what you told me just now," Light says, a thoughtful expression on his face, his hand on his chin in contemplation. I nodd my head with a smile, shrugging my shoulders in agreement to his suggestion.
"I must be going now, Keira is almost here, see you again when you wish to train me," Light says quickly, walking closer to me, giving me a swift hug & a swifter kiss to the forehead, the action gentle & loving. Before I could return the gesture, Light steps back & touches his forehead with his fingers as his glowing blue skin & white eyes return to Jak's tan complection & blue irised eyes in less than a second, a white-ish blue cloud lifting misting from his skin near his head.
"So, how'd it go?" Jak asks when he opens his eyes, an almost sleepy smile on his face.
"Good, we plan on doing lessons so he can work on his flight with me actively teaching him, if it's alright with you," I answer nodding my head lightly as I speak. Jak nodds in response, shrugging his shoulders in agreement to the suggestion, saying 'sure' without speaking.
At that moment, Keira appears on the zoomer elevator with a blue single-person Freedom League zoomer next to her, the lift soundless as it descends to the ground, a smile on Keira's face as she catches sight of us on the track. The rest of zoomer training goes without a hitch, & I am promised to receive a driver's license in a week or so as Jak & I leave for the gun range still owned by the Freedom League, forgetting to tell me how fast in miles-per-hour I had flown the day before. I pass the final test of my gun training in flying colors, & once done, Jak & I head for the Naughty Ottsel.
Jak pulls to a stop just outside the door to the bar, an other zoomer taking the spot where Jak parked the last time we visited the Naughty Ottsel. Helping me off the zoomer, Jak gives me a swift kiss to the cheek, only to wrap one of his arms around my waist once my feet are firmly on the ground.
The automatic doors open infront of us after we knock & reveal ourselves, as it was after hours on a weekday, releasing the strong scent of various alcohals & cigarette smoke into the harbor air. As we walk in, I see Torn sitting at the bar, looking straight at us, a tumbler in his hand full of a dark-colored alcohal.
"Torn, what brings you here?" Jak asks with a curious smile on his face when we make it to the bar table.
"I had a feeling this is where you two'd be when you finished training. So Meldalvyna, how'd you do?" Torn asks, a small smile on his face as his face turns to mine.
"I passed both final tests, & Keira promised me my proffesional driving license in a week or so," I answer while pulling my hood down, relaxing into the familiar atmosphere with a smile on my face. Torn congratulates me, giving me a Freedom League officer's badge to pin to one of my arm plates. Daxter leaps up onto the counter next, a huge smile on his small face.
"Jak, Meldalvyna! What's happinin'?" he asks, a goofy tone to his voice.
"Nothin' much, Meldalvyna just completed her training, so we thought we'd come here to celebrate a little," Jak replies, smiling from his childhood friend's antics, squeezing his arm around my waist a little as he speaks. Tess then jumps onto the bar counter. Upon seeing us, she leaps from the counter onto my shoulder & gives my head a 'hello' hug, then does the same thing to Jak.
"Hey guys, I see you two have gotten a bit more friendly around each other," Tess says after looking us up & down when she jumps back onto the bar counter, a teasing smile on her small face. With a defiant smile on my face, I tip my head enough so that it touches Jak's, careful not to stab him with one of my horns.
"You couldn't be more correct, Tess," Jak says, sporting a devious smile of his own & a playful glint in his eye.
"Woah, wait a minute! You two are... you're... Jak, you sly dog! I knew you had feelings for Meldalvyna!" Daxter exclaims with a huge smile on his face, just now noticing our positions & understanding what we meant. Torn quirks an eyebrow at us, a smile on his face nonetheless.
"You know, I had a feeling you two were together when you came to the HQ this morning, I just wasn't so sure, so I didn't say anything," Torn says, the smile evident in his voice. Before either I or Jak could say anything back, a knock at the door sounds out in the room.
"Who's there?!" Daxter calls out loudly. I pull up my hood incase the person on the opposite side of the door was someone I hadn't yet met.
"It's Ashelin!" a female voice responds from the opposite side, the name taking me back.
"Ashelin? Baroness Ashelin?!" I think to myself, surprised that the Baroness herself would come to the Naughty Ottsel.
"Ashelin! Come on in!" Daxter says with a smile as he presses a button under the bar counter that unlocks the motion-activated door, Jak unwrapping his arm from my side.
The door opens to reveal a strong looking woman with black tattoos on her face that went down to her neck with checkering that stopped near the ends of her ears like a KG, her red hair pulled into tight cornrows that extended off her head to fall to her shoulders, & eyes that were as green as emeralds. The woman had on a blood red belly shirt on that didn't leave much to the imagination to what lay underneath it with a navy-blue, long-sleeved jacket bedecked with accents of red that extended just barely past the reach of her shirt. Her pants, the same color as her jacket, had gaps on the outside of the legs, as well as brown belts with a red gem per belt & metal bars just above & below her knees, a gun holster with a pistol inside strapped around her left thigh, & the straps of a black thong appearing from underneath her pants on her hips. The main part of her boots were the same color as her pants & jacket, but the toe was red like her shirt, & had a silver spike sticking off the toe, & had white soles. This was definitely Baroness Ashelin.
Jak's POV
"So, how'd it go?" I ask when I awake from Light's control, sleepily smiling when I notice her looking at me with a smile of her own.
"Good, we plan on doing lessons so he can work on his flight with me actively teaching him, if it's alright with you," Meldalvyna responds, nodding lightly as she speaks. I nodd in response while shrugging my shoulders, gesturing to her that it was alright with me.
At that moment, I catch sight of Keira descending on the zoomer lift with a single-person, standard Freedom League zoomer next to her. She smiles when she catches sight of us on the track. I resist the urge to put my arm around Meldalvyna, wanting to get Keira guessing if Meldalvyna & I were together as well, & stand where I am, not wanting to tease my ex & childhood friend. Meldalvyna passes the final zoomer tests without a single mistake, & Keira promises to have Meldalvyna's Freedom League driver's license in a week or so as we leave for the shooting range. Meldalvyna passes the final gun test in a flourish of perfection, & leave the gun range for the Naughty Ottsel to celebrate.
Five minutes later, I pull to a stop outside the Naughty Ottsel just outside the door, my usual parking space already taken by a zoomer. I hop off the zoomer when I shut the vehicle off & help Meldalvyna down from the machine, giving her a quick kiss to her cheek as I help her to the ground.
Wrapping my arm around her waist once her feet are on the ground, I knock on the door to the Naughty Ottsel, & Meldalvyna & I reveal ourselves when asked who we were, as it's after hours since the Naughty Ottsel closes early on weekdays. The strong scent of alcohal & cigarette smoke blasts into the night air of the harbor. Upon entering, I immediately notice Torn sitting at the bar counter, a drink in hand & his back to the counter, one elbow propped on the wooden countertop.
"Torn, what brings you here?" I ask the Freedom League's Cheif of Arms with a smile on my face when we make it to the bar counter ourselves.
"I had a feeling this is where you two'd be when you finished training. So Meldalvyna, how'd you do?" Torn asks Meldalvyna turning his attention to her, a smile on his tattooed face.
"I passed both final tests, & Keira promised me my proffesional driving license in a week or so," Meldalvyna answers while pulling down her hood, a relaxed smile on her face. Torn gives her a short congratulation, handing her a Freedom League officer badge to pin to one of the arms of her Freedom League armor. A second later, Daxter leaps onto the counter with a huge smile on his face.
"Jak, Meldalvyna! What's happinin'?" he asks, a goofy tone to his voice. Unable to resist the urge, I decide to surreptitiously tease him.
"Nothin' much, Meldalvyna just completed her training, so we thought we'd come here to celebrate a little," I respond with a smile at his antics, & my own of course, tightening my grip slightly around Meldalvyna's waist as I talk. Tess then jumps onto the bar counter next. Upon seeing us, she leaps from the countertop & onto Meldalvyna's shoulder, giving her head a quick squeeze before repeating the same greeting on me.
"Hey guys, I see you two have gotten a bit more friendly around each other," Tess says after looking us up & down when she jumps back onto the counter, a teasing smile on her small face. A sort of evil smile crosses Meldalvyna's face as she leans he head so that her forehead touched mine.
"You couldn't be more correct, Tess," I say with a devious expression, taking the hint Meldalvyna was giving me. Daxter's jaw drops as he realizes the meaning of what I had said, causing both Dark & Light to snigger in the back of my mind, Tess' eyes widening in revelation as well.
"Woah, wait a minute! You two are... you're... Jak, you SLY DOG! I knew you had feelings for Meldalvyna!" Daxter exclaims when he finally connects all the dots, a huge smile on his face. Torn quirks an eyebrow curiously at us, a questioning smile on his face.
"You know, I had a feeling you two were together when you came to the HQ this morning, I just wasn't so sure, so I didn't say anything," Torn says, a smile in his voice, but I knew what his facial expression meant. He held the one expression I've learned to hate, the expression of unacceptance, attempting to cover it up with a forced smile. Just as I'm about to confront him about it, the sound of a knock at the door rings out across the room.
"Who's there?!" Daxter calls out loudly to the person on the other side of the door. Meldalvyna pulls up her hood, securing her identity incase it is someone she hasn't met yet.
"It's Ashelin!" a female voice calls back, no doubt belonging to the person it claims to be.
"Ashelin! Come on in!" Daxter says with a smile as he presses the unlock button for the door, & I unwrap my arm from Meldalvyna's side, since like Torn, she more than likely wouldn't accept my relationship with Meldalvyna. Less than a second later, the door wooshes open to reveal the Baroness herself, dressed in her usual garb.
"Hey guys, how've you been?" Ashelin asks once inside, a smile on her face. A collection of different responses filter out of the other people in the room except for Meldalvyna & I, as I just shrug with a small smile on my face. Torn stands from his seat & walks up to Ashelin, giving her a quick hug, only to walk her to the bar counter & to a seat next to where he had been sitting a second before, giving me a suggestive smile as she passed bye. Upon sitting down, Ashelin looks at Meldalvyna, a curious look on her face.
"Who are you, if you don't mind me asking, I can tell you're a friend, or else you wouldn't be in here," Ashelin asks Meldalvyna, a sickly sweet tone of curiosity to her voice, leaning forward, trying to see into Meldalvyna's black hood.
"I'm Meldalvyna, a new friend of Jak's, & a new recruit of the Freedom League, you must be Baroness Ashelin Praxis," Meldalvyna responds in a low voice, the only evidence of her head turning being the shape of the opening of her hood shifting in Ashelin's direction. A flash of recognition crosses Ashelin's face as a small, forced smile crosses her red-stained lips as the room quiets from the evident rising tension.
"Oh so you're the Meldalvyna I've been hearing so much about, & yes, I'm the Ashelin you speak of, but don't worry, I've been a friend of everyone in this room for quite a while. Go ahead & take down you're hood, I've heard from Torn here what you look like, but I still would like to see you for myself," Ashelin says now standing, her faux smile now replaced with a real one.
"If you wish, Miss Praxis," Meldalvyna says, pulling off her hood as she speaks. Ashelin's expression doesn't even budge as Meldalvyna's face is revealed to her, the lack of surprise in her face making me curious.
"I think Torn might've shown that video of Meldalvyna fighting to her," Dark says, a low growl to his voice rumbling through my skull.
"It seems he has, either that or she is good at hiding her surprise," Light agrees, adding in his own thoughts as well.
"My, you look exactly like Torn said. Welcome to Haven City & the Freedom League, Meldalvyna," Ashelin says after a second, a satisfied look on her face. Her tone said it all, Ashelin was treating Meldalvyna like she was a little kid, & I wasn't going to have any of it.
"You know Ashelin, you're speaking to a princess," I say with a grimace, not bothering to hold back my annoyance with the Baroness. Meldalvyna looks back at me, a curious, worried look on my face, no doubt noticing the anger in my voice. Ashelin's eyes widen before turning to Torn, an expression that angrily read 'forget something' on her face.
"I had no idea... heh... m-my apologies your majesty," Ashelin stutters with her eyes wide, bowing her head as she addressed Meldalvyna. Meldalvyna quirks an eyebrow first at Ashelin, then to me.
"Please, no need to call me that, though I would appreciate if you wouldn't talk to me like I was a child, I can smell the dislike for me on you, I am not blind in my senses, nor am I an idiot," Meldalvyna says with a small frown, making it apparent she had been picking up on Ashelin's dissing.
"And, given Jak & I's 'friendship', I do believe you should meet my mother & step-father, the Queen & King of the dragon city of Warfang, when they get back from their meeting with the Chronicler, to set up a treaty of peace between our two lands," Meldalvyna continues, her tone unwavering.
"Yes, when will they be back?" Ashelin asks, her voice a bit shakey.
"They won't be back for another four, so you'll have time to collect yourself before you speak with them," Meldalvyna says with a look that sets even me on edge. Ashelin nodds her head slowly a few seconds later, letting the information sink in.
"WELL THEN... that was definitaly a mood killer, I was ready for a huge brawl to start with all that tension. Why don't we all settle down & have a drink?" Daxter says with a shakey chuckle, a nervous quiver to his voice from the tension. Looking at Meldalvyna, I can see in her face she didn't want to be around Ashelin any longer than she had to.
"You know, I think we'll come back a little later in the week, maybe tomorrow, 'cause honestly, I don't want any fights to start, so I think it'd be best if we cooled down a little," I say with a forced tone of sincerity. Meldalvyna nodds while pulling up her hood, sending a snarl at Ashelin & Torn just before her face was hidden in the shadow of the recesses of her hood.
"Oh, okay then... uh... see you sometime this week, bye guys," Tess says, a dissapointed tone to her voice. All I do in response in throw a wave into the room as we exit the bar & into the night.
"Ashelin really isn't that bad once you get to know her... she just... isn't very easy around new faces, & I should know, we met with her having me in a headlock with a pistol pointed at my temple," I say to Meldalvyna once the door closes, trying to smooth things over with a bit of my own experience with the Baroness.
"I could tell Torn didn't like the fact you & I are together, & that Ashelin doesn't like me, Jak," she responds from on the zoomer, a frown on her face.
"Well, like you said, I don't care what they think, I still wouldn't have you any other way," I say as I get onto the zoomer, sending a supportive smile over my shoulder to her as she wraps her arms around my waist, kissing me lightly on the back of the ear.
"Thank you Jak for supporting me back there. I sure hope Ashelin is like what you said," Meldalvyna says softly as I start the engine, nuzzling her forehead into the area between my shoulder blades just under the base of my neck.
"Of course I'd support you, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't?" I say with a tone I could only describe as sincere. Pulling away from the Naughty Ottsel, I drive Meldalvyna back to the Haven Forest & Mountain Pass Lock, & all the way to her house, with my arm around her waist.
Author's note: Well, that chapter was a bit strange, & I had you readers thinking it was going to be all happy stuff, didn't I? Now, the question is: DO YOU READERS THINK I HAVE DARK & LIGHT INCLUDED ENOUGH IN JAK'S POV? Please, leave your answers in the reviews! Now, ZERO THE FOX, my favorite Jak power is Dark Jak, & honestly, Light Jak's appearance creeps me out a little (0.o). See you all next chapter!
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