When I regained consciousness (and was starting to wonder if I'd get brain damage from the amount of fainting I was doing), I realized that yet again, I had no idea where I was. Damn Roger, he was getting annoying by now!
I slowly got up and yelped as stiff muscles protested. Limping, I got to the door. It was locked. I chewed my lip for a moment, wondering how to get out of this one, before I realized what to do. Standing back, I called on my telekinsis and ordered mentally, [Open!]
The door swung open.
It was too easy, I knew that much. But right now all I wanted to do was get Roger, gut him or do worse and find a way out of here and back to Pirate's Swoop, hopefully getting Neal along the way. As I wandered through the labyrinth of corridors, I began to feel more and more lost and slowly panic grew. But I pushed it back stubbornly. I had survived worse than this!
As I turned the corner of yet another corridor, I slammed right into a door. Staggering slightly, I watched the stars do bouncy jigs. Wait, can stars do jigs? I blinked the dancing stars away and looked at the door. There was no handle. Oh wait there was.
I turned it and slowly pushed the door forward, until I could just about slip in. I flung myself down on all fours and crawled forward. The huge room was nearly all dark, except for a light shining down on the center of the room, where a figure stood, apparently waiting.
I have a bad feeling about this, I thought frantically, but nevertheless I continued to crawl forward towards him. He didn't seem to see or hear me. Finally, I stood up and walked towards him. He swung around to face me, something unreadable in his eyes. "Roger," I said formally.
"Rachel," he replied, nodding. I felt my eyebrows shoot up, as my emotions were tossed around inside me. Why was he so damn calm? Why wasn't he snarling at me, or threatening me, or just.. well acting like himself? Doubt was growing larger and larger inside me. I fought the urge to gnaw my lip.
"Well," I said at last, flinging out my arms. "Aren't you going to blast me, or threaten me, or just kill me now? Might as well get it over with."
He looked at me. I was aware there was something very, very strange in his eyes that was making me uncomfortable. "Do you want me to?" he asked quietly.
I snorted. "Since when do I ever get a say? I never had a choice getting kocked out and ending up here. I never got a say when I found out I had magic. I never had a choice when I found out I had parents here. And I never had a say when you began terrorising me. Believe me, now would be a very bad time to start."
If I didn't know better, I think he looked even.. even ashamed. What was going on here?
"I suppose you wouldn't," he mumbled a last. "Look, would it change anything if I apologised?"
I choked. "Are you all right?!" I cried. "Roger, you're beginning to scare me, so just kill me now and it'll be all over - for both of us." I felt my arms fall back to my sides.
Somehow we ended up just staring at each other... just staring at each other. I was wishing I knew a name for what I was seeing in his eyes. For that matter I wished I could see what was in my own eyes. Something didn't feel right. As if we weren't supposed to be fighting.
Then it happened. Something... tugged inside me. For a moment I saw it, a small thread that connected me to Roger. Then it blazed golden and disappeared - and so did Roger and I. And at that moment, when everything was dissolving and I felt sick, I disovered a word for what had been in his eyes. For what had been for me.
Love.
