Two Sides of One Coin

by Mariah Sarona

Two sides of one coin, Ying and Yang, Push and Pull, Life and Death, one cannot exist without the other, this is where it begins. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Cause and Effect, this is what got me into this situation. Karma. Actions have effects in the future. My name is Mariah Sarona, and this is my story. ((First story, please review))

4. Chapter 4

Secrets/Oceans

I groaned as I forced my eyes open to take in my surroundings. 'Where am I?' I thought as I looked at the clearing that I was in. It seemed to be in the middle of a forest.

Oh! You're awake! I thought you'd never wake up! I heard Duneblitz's hooves hitting the fallen leaves of the forest.

'It's not like I was dead, it's nice to know she cares though.' I smiled.

Of course I care, I was the one who forced you to go in there! She whinnied as she came up to me.

'Wait, I didn't saY that out loud, did I?' I wore a confused look on my face. Duneblitz looked as if she realized the same thing. 'No waY. I have telepathY now?' I thought as my eyebrows furrowed.

I guess you do… What happened to your eyes? She stared at me.

'What? What's wrong with them?' I put a hand over my left eye.

She shook her head. Follow me, you have to see it for yourself.

I tried to stand up but a spike of pain through my back made me fall flat on my face. She ran back over to me to inspect my back and she gasped. I felt wood sliding against flesh as she pulled out a splinter as big as my middle finger covered in my blood. A small pool of blood was forming around my abdomen and torso. Strong spikes of pain ran up and down my spine as she pulled out another one. I ignored my blood and closed my eyes instead. She pulled out six more splinters before backing off.

Um… Is it okay if I ask you something? Duneblitz asked me.

"That depends on what it is, if it's about mY blood I would rather not. But ask awaY." I sighed.

Nevermind then. Duneblitz trotted off.

I tried to stand again and winced, but stayed on my feet. I followed her as she led me through the forest and came out to the ocean. She gestured to the water with her head. I walked to the shore and picked up the water in my hands. I gasped at what I saw, instead of my normal orange surrounding black, I saw white surrounding blue irises with a black dot in the middle.

I silently stood up, the water draining from my hands. I nonchalantly flicked my sunglasses out and put them on. I got the bandages I had in my sylladex, I never left my hive without the bandages ever since my FLARPing days with Vriska, Aradia, Tavros, Weylin, and Terezi. I was on Team Charge with Tavros and Aradia while Weylin was on Team Scourge with Vriska and Terezi.

'Do You mind helping me with this? Just hold the bandages in Your mouth and hand it to mY opposite hand.' I thought while I unwrapped it. After some fumbling we finally got used to it and got done. I put the bandages on thickly so that even if I walked for a while it would hold up for a couple hours. I washed my shirt in the sea water so that no one would see the blood. I put it back on and thought, 'Thank You Duneblitz, I appreciate all of Your help, but I must continue. I wish I could staY and chat, however, what friends I do have will worrY about me…' I sighed, 'Who am I fooling? TheY probablY won't notice I'm even gone. Either waY, this is where we must part waYs, Farewell Duneblitz, I hope You have a good life while I'm gone. Perhaps I shall return.' I started to walk away while she stared at me but I stopped when I heard her say,

Another troll?

I whipped around to see someone I didn't expect to see,

"WeYlin?" I asked bewildered.

"hEyA, sArOnA, rIgHt?" The tall troll asked me. I nodded my head still trying to shake the pain that still stung at my back.

"Yeah, that's right. WeYlin?" I asked in turn.

"yEp!" Weylin said doing a front flip landing next to Duneblitz. "aNd tHiS tHiNg iS sO cUtE! aBwA bWa bWa!" He snuggled Duneblitz like a child trying to hug a struggling pawbeast.

Tell him to get off of me! Duneblitz screamed in my head.

'Ow! No need to scream! WhY can't You do it?' I asked putting a hand to my head.

He's too psychically dead! Now get him off of me! She struggled to get out of Weylin's grasp.

"WeYlin, she doesn't like it when You do that." I stated as I walked over to the pair.

"iT's a sHe?" Weylin let Duneblitz fall from his arms like a sack of potatoes. "iF yOu sAy sO. sO wHaT aRe wE dOiNg iN tHiS gAmE? hAvE yOu hEaRd fRoM kArKaT?" Welyin asked.

I pulled a piece of paper out of my Sylladex and showed it to Weylin "You see this piece of paper? This is how much I care about him." I grinded out. He looked over the blank piece of paper. "In other words, I haven't heard from him."

"oK oK! bUt wHaT aRe wE dOiNg hErE?" He asked stressing the question pointing to the ground. "sHoUlDnT wE fInD a hIvE oR sOmEtHiNg? i gOt a wHoLe bUnCh oF gRiSt."

I heard a ping from Trollian while he said this and I pulled out my combooker.

(Terezi)GC: H3Y S4RON4

(Sarona)IF: HeY Terezi, what's up?

GC: K4RKL3S S41D TH4T YOU BLOCK3D H1M, SO, 1M SP34K1NG FOR H1M

IF: Please don't pollute mY trollian with his name.

GC: WHY 4R3 YOU M4D 4T H1M :?

IF: WhY don't You ask him? He would remember. After all, we talked about it the last time he talked to me.

GC: W3LL

GC: 1 W4NT TO L3T YOU KNOW TH3 ORD3R TH4T H3 G4V3

IF: I don't take orders from him.

IF: UnfortunatelY

IF: I am no longer on Your team.

GC: :!

GC: 1'LL T3LL YOU TH3 N3XT ST3P SO TH4T YOUR3 NOT GO1NG 1NTO TH1S BL1ND

IF: Go on

GC: 1 W4S HOP1NG YOU WOULD L4UGH, C4US3 1'M BL1ND?

GC: YOU N33D TO F1ND 4NOTH3R PORT4L TO GO THROUGH :[

IF: Thank You Terezi

IF: I greatlY appreciate Your help

GC: 1T W4S MY PL34SUR3

GC: 4FT3R 4LL

GC: YOU 4R3 MY 4PPR3NT1C3 OF JUST1C3 :]

IF: See Ya later Chief!

I smiled as I put away my combooker.

"Terezi just gave us some vital information. We need to find another portal." I smiled at Weylin. "So, WeYlin."

"oRtHel, cAlL mE oRtHeL. bUt wHaT aRe wE dOiNg hErE?" Orthel shook his hands in the air for emphasis.

"OkaY, Orthel, there is no use in just standing around, as You have pointed out. We need to get moving and find a portal to go through." I explained.

I started walking and I checked to see if he was following. He was and I walked along the coast. My back ached and my head hurt as I continued down the coast, every now and then pushing my sunglasses up. Every now and then I would glance back at Orthel. This time, he was juggling? Woah! He's acting as if it was nothing! I shook my head at his antics and continued looking for portals. I stumbled as my foot caught on a large rock. I nearly fell flat on my face but Orthel was quicker. He swooped down and caught me in the rib cage before I hit the ground.

"cArEfUl tHeRe, dOnT wAnT tO gEt dIrTy." Orthel smiled and after setting me back to my feet as if I weighed no more than a paw-beast, he went back to juggling.

I decided to try to get more information from Sollux… Alright. I admit it. I just want to talk to him, get to know him better.

(Sarona)IF: HeY Sollux

IF: Is anYthing going on?

(Sollux)TA: not much

TA: diid Terezii get ahold of you

IF: Yeah, but I don't see anY portals around here.

TA: maybe you have two 2ee your deniizen fiir2t

IF: Denizen?

IF: What's that?

TA: the guy who ii2 iin charge of where you are at

My face paled, leaving it a grayish white color. We have to go back there? I don't want to, but, it's either me, or the universe. For the good of the universe, I'll go back there. I guess.

(Sollux)TA: what world diid you land iin anyway

(Sarona)IF: The Land of Islands and FantasY

TA: ah

TA: who diid you get partnered wiith

IF: Orthel

TA: oh

TA: iive got two go, AA ii2 about two do 2omethiing wrong and apparently ii have two 2upervii2e her

IF: OkaY, I'll talk to You later.

I tried to captchalogue the combooker but my think-pan was too frazzled because of the thought of the Denizen. I glared at it and tried again. A loud sound caught my attention to my right. I looked to there to see that there seemed to have been an explosion in the tree-line. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what had happened. Not only do I have telepathy, but I can also alter my environment. Awesome. Juuuuust awesome. *Sarcasm*

I continued on my way trying to act like nothing happened. Maybe Orthel didn't notice? Nope, he dropped one of his juggling clubs.

"wOaH… mIrAcLeS…" He picked his juggling club back up and started juggling again.

Miracles? Well… At least it keeps suspicion off of me. Sunset is coming… I have to go see that flipping dragon again. No offence to Chief but, I really hate dragons now. Might as well check up on her.

(Sarona)IF: heY chief!

(Terezi)GC: H3Y S4RON4

GC: WH4TS UP?

IF: I just wanted to check up on You

IF: Wouldn't want mY dear friend to get killed You know.

GC: TH4NKS! :]

GC: 1M DO1NG F1NE, K4RKL3S 1S G3TT1NG FRUSTR4T3D.

IF: Umm… I'm sorrY to ask but…

IF: How is Your lusus?

GC: GOT H1T BY 4 M3T3OR. :[

IF: SorrY, I shouldn't have asked.

GC: CUR1OS1TY 1SNT A CR1M3

IF: So what Karkat said is true…

IF: EverYone's lusi are dead…

GC: UNFORTUN4T3LY.

IF: So… Who's your…

I shivered slightly.

(Sarona)IF: Denizen?

(Terezi)GC: MY WH4T?

IF: You know… The guY in charge?

GC: YOU S33M QU1T3 H3S1T4NT 4BOUT TH1S 'D3N1Z3N'

GC: 1S TH3R3 SOM3TH1NG WRONG W1TH YOURS?

IF: Sort of…

I thought back to the dragon, he seemed a bit short-tempered and stressed. He obviously won't want anybody interrupting him again. I was the example.

(Terezi)GC: HOW SO?

(Sarona)IF: He's stressed out to saY the least.

GC: HOW STR3SSED OUT?

IF: That dragon attacked me.

GC: 4 DR4GON? :!

IF: Yes, a dragon.

IF: LuckilY, I had a winged hoof-beast companion to pull me out.

GC: JUST WH4T L4ND 4R3 YOU 1N?

IF: Land of Islands and FantasY.

GC: OH! K4RK3LS 1S TRY1NG TO T4LK TO M3.

GC: DO YOU M1ND 1F W3 CONT1NU3 TH1S CONV3RS4T1ON L4TER?

IF: Go right ahead, see Ya later Chief!

I closed my combooker and turned to Orthel.

"Orthel, I know where we need to go. In all truthfulness, I don't want to go there. Nevertheless, we have to." I sighed.

"iF yOu dOnT wAnT tO gO tHeN wHy aRe wE? wE dOnT hAvE tO gO, wErE nOt tAkInG oRdErS fRoM aNyBoDy!" Orthel stopped juggling.

"We have to go there to go on." I looked to the forest. "In the middle of this island is a place called Thistlebreeze Village. I'm sure we'll find Duneblitz there and we can come up with a plan." I explained.

"wHoS dUnEbLiTz?" Orthel had a confused look on his face, though the clown makeup he had on made him look ridiculous.

"Umm… She's the winged hoof-beast that You met." I explained.

"oH. bUt wHaT aRe wE dOiNg hErE!?" He especially emphasized the question. I thought I already answered that. Oh, I get it now.

"We're here to save Alternia." I grinned, "Or destroY it."

Really? Duneblitz's voice rang out in my head. I whipped around to see she followed us.

"Duneblitz! Don't scare me like that!" I put a hand over my pounding heart. Orthel also turned to where I turned.

You want to destroy Alternia? Duneblitz asked confused.

"I guess so." I said simply. She seemed stunned at my answer.

"yOu cAn uNdErStAnD iT? mIrAcLes…" Orthel took off his top hat and raised his hand up in an extravagant way and put his hand into the hat. When he pulled his hand back out he had a bottle of Faygo. He uncapped it and took a swig of the candy red soporous substance. I shuddered slightly at the red color and focused on Duneblitz.

What is he drinking, and why did he say miracles? Duneblitz asked.

'FaYgo, it's a substance to get yourself sopored. He said miracles because it's his religion of sorts.' I thought.

Why do you need to go to the village again? I thought he scared you out of town. Duneblitz's curiosity spoke yet again.

"Didn't I just saY that? You were listening in, were You not? We have to go to the village to continue this crazY game." I explained.

Game? Duneblitz questioned, You see this as a game?! She whinnied with anger.

"It is. We started it and that's how I'm here. Karkat told me to plaY a game with Orthel, Him, Terezi, Gamzee, Tavros, Vriska, and someone called KanaYa called SGRUB. Orthel and I branched off of Karkat's team and created our own team. All in all, it's a game." I said pointedly.

"hEy, dOnT gEt mAd aT iT." Orthel intercepted. I took a deep breath and continued.

"I'm sorrY, I suppose I'm a bit on edge." I sighed. I started to take another step but froze as my back cried out in pain.

Sarona! You haven't healed yet, you shouldn't stress yourself! Duneblitz ran over to me.

"I'm perfectlY fine! I just need…" I winced and fell to my knee as another arrow barrage of pain ran down me back. I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes to ignore the pain. I opened my eyes shot open as I felt my shirt getting warm and wet. "I need… New bandages…" What I hadn't realized was that Orthel had shot to my other side and listened to a one-sided conversation.

"wElL sUrE! iVe dEaLt wItH bAnDaGeS bEfOrE!" He nearly shouted surprising me out of my wits. Before I knew what was going on my shirt was lifted in the back and the bandages were exposed.

"No! Not You! I meant Duneblitz!" I panicked.

"sToP sQuIrMiNg, i dOnT wAnT tO cUt yOu." Orthel held me still.

"Oh mY gosh! Please! Don't!" I shouted but was stopped from squirming by Orthel.

A/N: please forgive the cliffhanger. As usual, please review. I will continue this once I have at least one review or in two weeks. Thank you for reading.