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Flay just stared at herself and wished she had a mirror. It would be incredible to see herself in some other color than white.
Deepest Night. Chapter 7.
Black May Become White
"I don't like you." Flay told the charcoal colored rat standing in front of her. Shadowshiv smiled,
"I'm not particularly fond of you either, you know," she replied coolly. The two were standing in an empty room that resembled a dungeon. Luxa had given them this room to train in. Flay wasn't overly pleased with the idea of learning shadowmelding from the rat who was responsible for her mother's death.
"And just because you're teaching me," Flay continued stubbornly, "won't change any of my feelings toward you." This having been said the white rat slouched against the wall, eying the other female suspiciously.
Shadowshiv met Flay's cold grey eyes, "Your posture is almost as bad as Ripred's," she observed caustically. Flay merely shrugged. Shadow sighed as she looked Flay up and down. It had been so easy to hate the white pup before; she was the daughter of the Bane, and could easily start another war. Now, however, things were different. If Flay truly was a shadowmelder that meant the two shared a special connection. This was true for all of the outsiders, the oddities. Ragers, melders, seers: they all stuck together, because that was the only way they could survive. "I've never met another shadowmelder before."
"How'd you learn then?" Flay asked, a slight hint of curiosity was hidden under her monotone voice.
"My mother recognized the signs early on," The rat responded, "an old rat that lived down the river from us knew of the shadowmelders and past her knowledge onto me. I had to teach myself, but it was not too difficult."
"So do you mind telling me exactly what's going on?" This was the subject she was really curious about, finding out why her body did such odd things.
Shadowshiv laughed a warm laugh that contrasted with her dark disdainful voice. "How old are you? Nine months?" Flay nodded, and Shadow laughed again. "Well Flay, you're lucky you're not in the gnawer's lands. This point of your life would be hell. Some of your symptoms are fueled by your adolescence. Your mood swings being the main one. You've finished growing, however, and normally you wouldn't eat so much."
"I know all this." She spat impatiently. Shadow glared at her and Flay sank into an ill-tempered silence.
"Fine. Um…" Shadowshiv grasped at a way to explain what she had to say, "Think of a fire. It must be fueled or it will die. But if you put too much fuel in it, and do not use the fire, it will burn uncontrolled and consume you. This is what happens when you go into those 'dark moods.' This is why you are constantly hungry. You must fuel your fire, and you must use it, lest it overwhelm you."
Flay nodded. The explanation made sense to her, but she still didn't actually believe that she was a shadowmelder. How could you disappear into the shadows with white fur? "Show me something." Flay commanded abruptly. She would attempt to meld and then when she failed prove that she wasn't actually a shadowmelder. Simple.
A smile twisted onto Shadowshiv's face, almost like she had been expecting the request for a demonstration. Without pause she made a small gesture with her right paw, half closed her eyes, and turned ever so slightly. Immediately she seemed to break apart into wisps of smoke, and then there was no trace. Shadowshiv. Now you see her. Now you don't. A few seconds later, the smoke colored rat emerged from the darkness that covered half of the room. "Now you try." Shadow said half joking. She received only a raised eyebrow in response.
"It's not that hard," she told her trainee, "take a deep breath and close your eyes."
Flay gave her a disbelieving look, "Forgive me if I'm not exactly comfortable with my eyes closed in a dark room with you." The white rat flicked her tail pointedly as if underlining her words.
Shadowshiv laughed again, "You really don't know how uncommon this is do you? Shadowmelders are incredibly rare, and there's no way I would do anything to hurt you."
"You were pretty keen to hurt me before," Flay retorted angrily.
"It's different. Now," Shadowshiv snarled, "you're going to do what I say." Flay rolled her eyes and turned away. "Don't make me get Ripred in here." The older female threatened. Flay grimaced as she imagined the grouchy scarred rat coming in to chastise her. With a heavy sigh, Flay closed her eyes.
"Excellent," Shadow told her with a smile, "There are two ways to learn how to shadowmeld. I'm going to teach you the easiest. I want you to picture the shadows in the corner behind you. Darkness is fluid, like water, so imagine the shadows flowing from the corner toward your body and up through your fur."
Flay did as she was told. As she did so she felt an odd sort of tickling feeling run through her. She shivered trying to get rid of the sensation, but all it did was run further up her back toward her head.
"Well, that's one way to do it." Shadowshiv mused as she stared at her young student. Flay opened her eyes nervously and turned to the other rat. "Look at yourself," Shadow told her with a kind of amused smirk. Flay warily looked down to her white fur, and let out a squeak of surprise.
"What the hell?!" She cried and turned to Shadowshiv as if suspecting some kind of trick. Her fur, all over was an inky black color, reminiscent of her mother's coloring. Flay ran one black paw through her fur as if trying to see if it was real or not.
"I'm not going to lie," Shadowshiv said as she gazed at the adolescent, "I didn't expect that at all. But at least now you can't deny it." This having been said she laughed for a third time. Flay just stared at herself and wished she had a mirror. it would be incredible to see herself in some other color than white. The young melder was about to ask how she was supposed to turn herself back when someone rapped on the door.
Shadow and Flay both looked up at the servant that entered the room. "Miss," the man greeted bowing to Shadowshiv, who smirked appreciating the title, "I hope I am not interrupting anything, but Ripred desires your presence in the Council Room." The servant's gaze drifted to Flay and then snapped back to Shadowshiv. Flay could barely contain her shock, it took her a few moments to realize that he didn't recognize her.
"Alright, I'll be there," Shadowshiv dismissed the servant with a flick of her tail, "I'll bet you liked that."
The last comment was directed to Flay, who nodded fervently. Without another word, Shadowshiv began walking out the room toward the Council Room. Flay followed her but her mind stayed in that room playing over and over the lack of reaction from the servant.
-----
The two arrived earlier than expected, and the Council was not in the room yet. Shadowshiv swept into the room with an air of arrogant pride that would have made Luxa jealous. Not everyone had been informed of her arrival and subsequent conversion; Howard gasped, and Nike looked furious. Shadow met their angry looks with cool disdain.
Flay, on the other hand, entered the room vaguely unnoticed, merely a black rat who appeared to have followed Shadowshiv to the Council Room. "Shadow, who is this?" Ripred was the first one to notice her and as soon as these words left his lips both Shadowshiv and Flay began to laugh. Flay's low velvety laugh was a dead giveaway and immediately Ripred looked closer at her, "How the hell did you turn black?" he demanded angrily.
"The question," Flay replied, "is how do I change back to normal." For this she looked to Shadowshiv.
"Figure it out yourself," Shadow replied petulantly. A small smile crossed her face as her apprentice scowled at her. She wasn't trying to be difficult, she was just curious to see if Flay could do it without her help.
For a few minutes the young rat glared at the other female before closing her eyes. It took her a little while, but soon the black coloring fled from her fur and retreated into the dark corners of the room. The transformation was something akin to seeing someone doused with water. Everyone's eyes unconsciously widened, except for Shadowshiv who was regarding Flay with a small measure of pride. Ripred, of course, hid any emotion that he might have felt, and it was doubtful he was surprised in any way. He had seen so many things in his life, this was nothing.
"That was unbelievable," Erin said quietly. Gregor and Luxa nodded mutely in agreement, but Ripred continued to look unimpressed by Flay's ability.
"Yes, lovely. You are even more of a freak than before. Let's get some cake and celebrate," he mocked in a fake happy voice. Flay glared at the scarred grey rat. Gregor watched the two in their contest of wills with an expression of impatience on his face. Flay fought with Ripred more than he did! It was funny the first few times, but the two were beginning to get on his nerves. Before he had time to say anything, and, trust me, he planned to, another rat entered the council room.
"Did I miss something?" Preypounce asked. The scene she had walked into was very confusing. Luxa, Gregor, and Howard all looked slightly annoyed. Erin looked defensive and still a little awe-struck, and Flay and Ripred were glaring daggers at each other. It also didn't help that the grey female hadn't been informed of Shadowshiv's presence in Regalia.
"Yes," Flay told her, "You've missed a lot."
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A mere half an hour later, the Council was gathered in the large room. Everyone settled down into their seats and a middle aged woman with a sharp face stood up to address those assembled. The woman was Naomi, the head of the Council, and she was replacing Vikus.
"Luxa?" Gregor whispered quietly, "Where's Vikus?" His question had been an innocent one and he was shocked to see tears rolling down her pale face. "Luxa?" he murmured and put his hand on her shoulder.
A delicate finger wiped her tears away and she turned toward the boy, "He fell to another stroke. He resides in the hospital now, and cannot move." The young queen spoke quietly and apprehensively as if talking about him would somehow make his condition worse. Gregor gave the sorrowful girl's shoulder a comforting squeeze and brushed her cheek with his lips as gently as he could. Luxa leaned into his warm body and readily took what comfort it could give her.
Naomi appeared prepared to give a speech, but Ripred butted in from where he was slouching on a bench. "Before we get started I'd like to remind everyone that every second we waste is another second until an entire species is annihilated. Now that I've got that off my chest, would you kindly tell us which obscure poem you've chosen today?"
The sharp-faced woman scowled openly at him, she put her hands behind her back in an effort to calm herself and replied tightly, "We have examined every inch of the prophecy room and found no prophecy to guide us." Several people around the room looked to each other in dismay, and Ripred let out a mocking exclamation of, 'Say it isn't so!' Naomi stood stoically through all of this and then raised her hand to silence the small crowd. "Which is why," she told them, "this matter should be taken into the utmost consideration."
Gregor sat next to Luxa and stared at the councilwoman in shock. Every time he had been down here there was a prophecy. Every single time. They had even discovered a prophecy in a children's song just before the War of Bane. No matter how incomprehensible, or short, or long, or hard to read, or foreboding, there was always some kind of prophecy to guide them along the way or get them started. And she was just standing up there saying there was nothing? Gregor had been hard pressed for several months to decide whether Sandwich's prophecies were real or not, and even though he now counted himself as a skeptic the knowledge that there was nothing to guide him this time was a little disturbing.
Naomi was talking, but Gregor didn't hear her, he was a little preoccupied with Luxa. The young queen looked like a broken doll. Her eyes were glassy, like she was somewhere else at the moment. She was thinking, her mind racing, and leaving her body behind. "Luxa," Gregor murmured and touched her hand.
Luxa jumped slightly and turned to Gregor with her luminous violet eyes wide, "Oh," she moaned quietly, "Oh, this does not bode well." Gregor held her close, her face buried in his shoulder. He had pretty much gotten over his dislike of public displays of affection, and it didn't even bother him that Howard was a few short feet away. Howard wasn't even watching them, he, like everyone else in the room, was listening to Naomi's closing statements.
"--never have the sleepers come to our aid. In past times, they have even attacked us, being completely unprovoked. Who is to say that if we do abet them they shall not turn 'round and attack us while we are weak from fighting their battles for them." Naomi finished triumphantly. The woman was in her element: politics was the air she breathed and the earth she walked upon. Her cadence was perfect, and she emphasized just the right words to make her point. The councilor crossed her arms and awaited Ripred's rebuttal. It came quickly.
"Lovely speech. The only real meaning of course was in the last couple sentences, so I'll address that, I suppose," Ripred drawled conversationally. The scarred grey gnawer didn't bother trying to speak like Naomi, his low smooth voice was convincing enough…when it wasn't doused in sarcasm. "The gnawers have been allies with the sleepers since before the humans were here. Last time I checked, the fact that the humans and gnawers are literally bonded, that means the sleepers are your allies as well."
Naomi made an impatient gesture, slicing the air before her with her hand as if she could sweep Ripred's arguments away, "We do not know how to get to the Crystal Grotto. No human has seen a sleeper for decades." Gregor couldn't resist a small smile, he knew what the councilor was doing. She was trying to find a battle she could win, and against Ripred that was impossible. Gregor knew, very well, what fighting with Ripred was like. You never won. Ever.
"See, this is where having a gnawer bonded to your queen comes in handy," as Ripred said this Naomi blanched openly. It was known that the council did not approve of the bond, no matter how many political benefits it had. "The gnawers have kept ties with the sleepers, and I know exactly where the Grotto is."
"The sleepers have no love for humans, why would they allow-"
"Allow you to get anywhere near the Grotto?" Ripred finished for her. The argument was progressing, the council woman was frustrated, and Ripred was smug. "Well, you would have a gnawer with you of course."
"And who would that-" Naomi had meant for her retort to come out scathingly, but she failed miserably and is just ended up being cut off by Ripred once more.
"Me of course." Ripred leaned forward and grinned at her. His eyebrow raised ever so slightly as he waited for her reply.
Naomi didn't give in gracefully, and she would probably through a violent temper tantrum as soon as she was out of view, but she did give in. Just like everyone knew she would. "Fine. A group shall go tomorrow to inform the sleepers."
Ripred smirked victoriously and then as if a sudden thought had struck him. "Who's coming?" Erin and Flay, sitting on either side of the grey rat turned to him and smiled. "You two aren't coming!" The two just continued to smile. They were coming.
Aria: Finally I got this out!!!
Flay: I'll say something in a minute just let me get this dust off me...
Erin: Incase you guys forgot, she doesn't own anything except her OC's, the Sleepers, the Darters, and the Grotto, oh and the plot line.
Shadowshiv: Which means if she sees a fic about the Bane's insane daughter she'll snap your legs off and shove them through your ears until they touch.
Flay: Hey, I'm not crazy!
Aria: Yes you are, I wrote you that way.
Flay: -growls-
Aria: O.O -runs away-
Ripred: -to Aria- you cannot encompass my awesomeness in this pitiful story...
Aria: -still running- RIPRED IS GOD!!!!
Ripred: -eats an offering of shrimp in cream sauce- Damn right.
Aria: This chapter beta'd by Rojo, who rox my sox. -wink-
Shadowshiv: Sox? What the hell?
Ripred: Aria has also recently decided to take some of the censorship out of the story.
Gregor and Luxa: HURRAY! We can makeout!
Flay: Damn it feels good to be able to swear again...-pounces on Aria-
Aria: EEP. I'm so dead...more soon! Luff you all!
p.s. If anyone can tell me what the chapter name is from I'll give you a spoiler of your choice. Hint: it's in Coming Dark
&&..dead chick walking..