Meant to Be 02
Feb. 21st, 2007 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrSadly, only one chapter. I apologize. I forgot I had a work party tonight and I spent all of yesterday starting a new fairytale and S & S.
I think Tygs beta'ed this chapter. >_> Did she? Huh. Well, I'll blame her anyway if there are any. Hee hee hee.
Also, please to be kicking Raoul on your way through the story. He is a Very Disobedient Character who refused to do as the author bid him.
Chapter Two
Custom Class star Ship 98147892, the Shangri La
“High Chancellor, we should be reaching the light gate in twenty minutes. You have various incoming calls from the Palace.”
Pyotr smiled faintly. “Yes. One from uncle, one from Dr. Bikendi, another from Tresnor if he’s arrived, and probably one from Lady Jundel, possibly two or three from my poor secretaries. Ignore them, Atelic. I will deal with all of them once we’ve arrived home.”
“Yes, High Chancellor,” Atelic said with a brief but elegant bow. “Speaking of all your callers, I did receive a report two and a half minutes ago that all parties have safely arrived.”
“That would be why they’re all calling me,” Pyotr said with a chuckle. “My men protect me from threats; I do wish they’d protect me from my allies occasionally.”
Across the room, seated on a dark brown sofa, a wiry man with dark brown hair and goatee laughed. “Pyotr, we can only protect you from so much – especially when you do things knowing these allies will want to have your head.”
Pyotr gave a brief smile. “They’re always pleased in the end.”
The man chuckled again and gave up with a lazy hand motion. “So what is your plan upon arrival? Will I need my riot stunner?”
“Perhaps,” Pyotr murmured, flicking through messages on one of his data screens, wincing slightly at the colorful one from Dr. Bikendi. “The good doctor is perhaps a trifle put out with me.”
“Right. Atelic, have my riot stunners pulled out of storage, would you?”
Atelic rolled his eyes. “Raoul, I am not indulging your weapon fetish.” He turned back to Pyotr and sketched another bow. “My Lord, if you’ve nothing further…”
“Let me know when we’re landing so I can don my armor.”
Atelic nodded and turned neatly to stride from the room.
On the couch, Raoul grumbled good-naturedly. “I do not have a weapons fetish.”
“Just as I am not obsessed with my work,” Pyotr replied dryly.
Raoul chuckled and subsided, drumming his fingers idly on his thigh. He was dressed much like Pyotr, in the blue uniform of the IG, with the markings of the Authorities, but he’d discarded the jacket some time ago. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing the surprisingly tight muscle beneath, completely at odds with his wiry frame. Half-fornarian, Raoul lacked their gray coloring but possessed the deceptively thin build and magics.
He toyed idly with the stunners strapped to each of his thighs, then moved automatically to check the one in a shoulder holster and another at the small of his back. On his right wrist was a bracelet made of simple gold chain, with the infinitum symbol carved from black onyx.
Pyotr laughed softly. “So restless. I am sure there will be something for you to do on Zero.”
Raoul grunted. “I am amazed you’re listening to the Grand Chancellor this time.”
“I am afraid I must concede to his logic,” Pyotr said reluctantly. “More than a few officials are displeased with my stance on this matter, and I alone know every element of our argument at present. At least that much will finally change when we reach Zero.”
“If Dr. Bikendi doesn’t kill you first,” Raoul said with a grin. “What did you do to him this time?”
A faint smirk curved Pyotr’s mouth. “Matched him.”
Raoul’s jaw dropped. “Pyotr, how in the stars did you manage to match him of all people. That should be impossible.”
“Yes,” Pyotr replied calmly. “It should. Once Dr. Bikendi calms down, he will see how vastly important he has just become.”
“That man hasn’t calmed down since he was born.”
Pyotr chuckled, but made no reply.
On his desk, a data screen flashed before the face of Atelic appeared. “My Lord, we’re approaching the light gate. ETA currently stands at fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you, Atelic,” Pyotr said, then slowly began to shut down all his data screens, saving his work and preparing it for transfer to his office on Zero.
Raoul stood and crossed the room in a few long, easy strides, picking up Pyotr’s coat from where he’d put it on the back of the chair and helping him into it, smoothing down the soft folds of the formal black and silver uniform. “So, oh brave and stupid High Chancellor, from whom should I be protecting you?”
“My uncle and Dr. Bikendi,” Pyotr said dryly. “You have permission to incapacitate them both.”
“Oh, I would love to see the face of the Grand Chancellor should I ‘incapacitate’ him,” Raoul said, laughing hard enough to shake. “Sadly, I do not think ‘Pyotr told me to’ would get me out of trouble.” He looked speculatively at Pyotr. “Then again, he probably hears that a lot…”
“Perhaps,” Pyotr said idly. “When we arrive, there will be quite a bit of chaos.”
“Don’t I know it,” Raoul muttered. “You’d better be armed with more than that simple stunner, Pyotr.”
“No one is going to attack me in the Palace of Eternity,” Pyotr said stiffly.
“Yes, they would, but I’m more concerned about the docks.”
“I do not think—“ The ship rocked violently, cutting his words off, sending Pyotr crashing hard into Raoul, both of them hitting the floor hard. Around them the ship continued to buck and shake.”
“What the stars?” Raoul demanded. He pinned Pyotr to the floor, using his magics to stick to it, keeping them from suffering damage as the ship raged out of control.
Pyotr’s eyes flashed as his in-lens worked. “Atelic! Atelic! Bridge, answer me!” He snarled when he got no reply. “Let me up, I’ve got to transmit the emergency codes. What the stars…”
Reluctantly Raoul obeyed, levering himself up and helping Pyotr up, then carefully moving them to the desk. Pyotr called up his screens typing furiously, eyes seeming to glow as his in-lens worked furiously.
“Explosion originated in the main engine rooms. Right as we hit light. I think there’s another.” Pyotr’s expression was grim. “Someone close had to have done this. I think something went wrong though, because I’m not dead yet. Transmitting emergency codes and last coordinates now.” He hit a few last keys, then went abruptly still.
“Now what?” Raoul asked, but knew.
Pyotr grimaced. “Now we explo—“
His words were cut off by a blinding flash, then a flash of pain in his head.
Then nothing.
Unknown Planet, Unknown location
Raoul sat up with a groan, then held a trembling hand to his aching head. A second later he pulled his hand away and stared in confusion that it was red and wet. He blinked hard, forcing his mind to overcome the pain, to focus, to think.
Blood. His head was injured. Probably not too badly if he was conscious, if only just.
Where was he?
Why was he here? He should be on a ship…
Ah.
He swore as everything came flooding back.
An explosion. The bomb had gone off right as they’d hit the light gate, or so Pyotr had surmised. Something had gone wrong, though, because it hadn’t killed them instantly. Probably why the bastards had placed a second; messing around with light gates was always a highly tricky business.
So he wasn’t dead. Which meant he could be anywhere.
Thinking that did nothing for his headache.
Fuck.
Groaning in pain and frustration, Raoul reached out for something to hold onto. His hand landed on what felt like a tree, and he absently realized he was damned lucky to have been dumped on a planet with air he could breathe.
Stars he hoped he hadn’t fallen into a bad vid and wound up on an underdeveloped planet.
Heaving himself to his feet, Raoul immediately regretted it. He swayed heavily on his feet and then fell back down hard on the ground. Great, first a sore head and now a bruised ass. Snorting at himself, he gave up standing for the time being and finally took a real look at his surroundings.
Lots of green stuff. Stars, please let him not be on a primitive planet. He would cheerfully kill for even a Soul dealer right now. A Vrill in a full snit. Anything to prove he was not going to be making fires with sticks or whatever the hell primitive planets did.
He looked at the bracelet still on his wrist, hoping and praying that the tracking device inside still worked. That reminded him he might still have his stunners, and a slow, painful check requiring entirely too much moving turned up three of his four stunners – and all of them working.
That would teach the bastards back home to make fun of his ‘expensive, pointless, and showy’ upgrades. Petting his main stunner fondly, Raoul stowed it and took another look around – this time for any sign that he wasn’t the only one of the crew to have crashed here.
Except it seemed he was.
Raoul wholly resented whoever was behind this for not being smart enough to get it right and leave him stranded on some unknown planet with the worst headache in the IG. When he figured out who the bastards were, he would be teaching them all new levels of pain.
Gingerly he held a hand up to his head, hissing as that caused the pain to flare up, bright and sharp and dizzying, enough he almost vomited. Okay, no more touching the head wound.
No sign of other crewmen, not from this vantage point anyway. Stars, if anyone else had landed here let it be Pyotr…
Raoul had the sinking feeling he was the only one to have crashed here…wherever here was. Time to find out, vomit-inducing pain or not. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed hold of the tree he’d used before and slowly, bit by bit, pulled himself up.
He stood still, taking several deep breaths, making sure the world was holding still before he finally tried to take a step.
When he didn’t immediately pass out – though he’d sort of been hoping – he tried another. Several steps later, he wished more than ever that he could just pass out, but fear and training kept him persevering.
Not that he had any idea where he was going. He hadn’t exactly been prepared for a Hike Through Primitive Forest. No, his itinerary had been ‘save Pyotr from his own machinations’. Which, when he thought about it, was infinitely harder than trekking through a strange forest with a head wound.
He stopped abruptly as he came around a particularly large tree.
A path.
Raoul almost cried. Signs of life. Stars, something was better than nothing.
He stubbornly ignored all the doubts and fears and problems that tried to assault him and after a moment followed the path in what he judged to be a northerly direction to judge by the angle of the light. North good, right?
As he continued walking – stumbling, really – the path widened out, smoothed, eventually bleeding into another that showed the deep ruts of frequent use by wagons. He really hoped that was just what they preferred because they were cheaper and required less high-tech maintenance.
Groaning, almost sobbing, wanting nothing more than for the pain to go away for just a few minutes so he could think more clearly, Raoul pushed on. He almost gave up when he realized he’d have to climb a hill, but damn it he’d protected one of the most powerful men in the stars for nearly two decades. He’d just survived not one but two explosions set off mid-light jump. One stupid hill was not going to defeat him.
Still, it was a near thing.
Cresting the hill, Raoul stared at the people below. Human, he thought. At least in appearance. Almost a golden tone to their skin. They were dressed simply, like…farmers or something equally primitive and picturesque. Raoul felt his heart drop into his stomach. Had he really landed on a primitive planet?
Then the largest of the three men pulled a stunner out and aimed it at his head.
Raoul laughed in delight and held his hands up in a show of surrender – and promptly passed out.
Unknown Planet, Unknown location
Cold.
All he felt was cold. The sort of deep, chilling freeze he had not felt since he’d been a child.
Pyotr moaned softly, barely able to feel the heavy flakes of snow clinging to his face.
Where…
So tired…
He tried to make his mind work, but the cold sapped everything.
Winter…
Though he tried to stay conscious, knowing somehow that it was crucial to staying alive, Pyotr could not muster the strength. He slipped back into the darkness, vaguely grateful to escape the terrible cold.
Warmth.
Pyotr slowly opened his eyes, seeing nothing but snow all around him.
Everywhere. A world of white. He shuddered as it brought back memories long buried, though never forgotten.
Tredad. Could it be? How?
Something touched his face. Hot. He tried to jerk away but realized he couldn’t move.
Soft sounds. Someone speaking?
Groaning low, Pyotr forced his head to turn, but could see nothing but hair. Long, dark-gold hair bound in a braid.
Hot fingers touched his face again, and Pyotr moaned. “What…” the word seemed to take hours to say.
“Quiet. Even half frozen you can’t hold still.”
Pyotr shivered, but he didn’t think it was because of the cold this time. Why, then? His thoughts wouldn’t work. “Cold.”
A hot hand lay on his forehead. “I would imagine so,” the voice said dryly. “One would think, ‘Winter,’ that you would be tougher than this in the snow.”
Pyotr went stiff, knowing something was strange about what the voice had just said. Moving with painful slowness, he forced his head to move again, eyes following up the length of the braid…
To see a face covered against the biting cold. Nothing but a hint of eyes staring back at him, and suddenly he knew why the voice was hard to understand. “Who…”
The man laughed. “Indeed. I should leave you here.” But even as he spoke, the man stood and moved out of Pyotr’s sight.
Despite himself, he drifted off to sleep again.
When he woke again, Pyotr could think. He could move.
He sat up slowly and looked around the sparse room in which he lay. One giant cabin, with the bed in one corner, the kitchen in the other, a sitting area in the center…
Pyotr froze as he realized he knew the layout. The special materials used to fight against the terrible, unending winter…of Tredad.
He was on Tredad.
Everything came rushing back to him then. Something had gone wrong with the assassination attempt. Instead of killing him, it had tossed him wildly about and dumped him on Tredad.
By all rights that should have been enough to kill him. Precious few planet in the IG were as cold as Tredad, and none of them suffered the unending winter for which Tredad was famous. Only the life which thrived belowground made it possible for anything to inhabit the planet.
He would have to get in contact with Zero somehow…a glance around the room showed none of his equipment, and it would not have survived both the tossing about space and a crash landing in Tredad anyway.
At least someone had rescued him. Given how rarely anyone ventured topside if they did not have to…it was nothing short of miraculous that he was alive.
With that came the realization that he was lying in the bed of a stranger completely naked. Not there would have been any choice, his clothes would have been soaked through, but Pyotr hated to think he’d be greeting his rescuer completely nude.
Even as he thought about it, the door in the floor swung up and a man hopped up with the practiced ease of someone who’d lived the unusual Tredad lifestyle for some time.
Pyotr felt his breath catch in his chest as the man shucked off his protective gear.
Long, gold brown hair and fine skin. A face and body that could only ever be described as beautiful…or perhaps bewitching, for that was always how he’d felt around this man. Amber eyes, sharp and piercing, met his coolly. “You’re awake.”
Pyotr could only stare, unable to believe what he was seeing. “Jade.”
I think Tygs beta'ed this chapter. >_> Did she? Huh. Well, I'll blame her anyway if there are any. Hee hee hee.
Also, please to be kicking Raoul on your way through the story. He is a Very Disobedient Character who refused to do as the author bid him.
Chapter Two
Custom Class star Ship 98147892, the Shangri La
“High Chancellor, we should be reaching the light gate in twenty minutes. You have various incoming calls from the Palace.”
Pyotr smiled faintly. “Yes. One from uncle, one from Dr. Bikendi, another from Tresnor if he’s arrived, and probably one from Lady Jundel, possibly two or three from my poor secretaries. Ignore them, Atelic. I will deal with all of them once we’ve arrived home.”
“Yes, High Chancellor,” Atelic said with a brief but elegant bow. “Speaking of all your callers, I did receive a report two and a half minutes ago that all parties have safely arrived.”
“That would be why they’re all calling me,” Pyotr said with a chuckle. “My men protect me from threats; I do wish they’d protect me from my allies occasionally.”
Across the room, seated on a dark brown sofa, a wiry man with dark brown hair and goatee laughed. “Pyotr, we can only protect you from so much – especially when you do things knowing these allies will want to have your head.”
Pyotr gave a brief smile. “They’re always pleased in the end.”
The man chuckled again and gave up with a lazy hand motion. “So what is your plan upon arrival? Will I need my riot stunner?”
“Perhaps,” Pyotr murmured, flicking through messages on one of his data screens, wincing slightly at the colorful one from Dr. Bikendi. “The good doctor is perhaps a trifle put out with me.”
“Right. Atelic, have my riot stunners pulled out of storage, would you?”
Atelic rolled his eyes. “Raoul, I am not indulging your weapon fetish.” He turned back to Pyotr and sketched another bow. “My Lord, if you’ve nothing further…”
“Let me know when we’re landing so I can don my armor.”
Atelic nodded and turned neatly to stride from the room.
On the couch, Raoul grumbled good-naturedly. “I do not have a weapons fetish.”
“Just as I am not obsessed with my work,” Pyotr replied dryly.
Raoul chuckled and subsided, drumming his fingers idly on his thigh. He was dressed much like Pyotr, in the blue uniform of the IG, with the markings of the Authorities, but he’d discarded the jacket some time ago. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing the surprisingly tight muscle beneath, completely at odds with his wiry frame. Half-fornarian, Raoul lacked their gray coloring but possessed the deceptively thin build and magics.
He toyed idly with the stunners strapped to each of his thighs, then moved automatically to check the one in a shoulder holster and another at the small of his back. On his right wrist was a bracelet made of simple gold chain, with the infinitum symbol carved from black onyx.
Pyotr laughed softly. “So restless. I am sure there will be something for you to do on Zero.”
Raoul grunted. “I am amazed you’re listening to the Grand Chancellor this time.”
“I am afraid I must concede to his logic,” Pyotr said reluctantly. “More than a few officials are displeased with my stance on this matter, and I alone know every element of our argument at present. At least that much will finally change when we reach Zero.”
“If Dr. Bikendi doesn’t kill you first,” Raoul said with a grin. “What did you do to him this time?”
A faint smirk curved Pyotr’s mouth. “Matched him.”
Raoul’s jaw dropped. “Pyotr, how in the stars did you manage to match him of all people. That should be impossible.”
“Yes,” Pyotr replied calmly. “It should. Once Dr. Bikendi calms down, he will see how vastly important he has just become.”
“That man hasn’t calmed down since he was born.”
Pyotr chuckled, but made no reply.
On his desk, a data screen flashed before the face of Atelic appeared. “My Lord, we’re approaching the light gate. ETA currently stands at fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you, Atelic,” Pyotr said, then slowly began to shut down all his data screens, saving his work and preparing it for transfer to his office on Zero.
Raoul stood and crossed the room in a few long, easy strides, picking up Pyotr’s coat from where he’d put it on the back of the chair and helping him into it, smoothing down the soft folds of the formal black and silver uniform. “So, oh brave and stupid High Chancellor, from whom should I be protecting you?”
“My uncle and Dr. Bikendi,” Pyotr said dryly. “You have permission to incapacitate them both.”
“Oh, I would love to see the face of the Grand Chancellor should I ‘incapacitate’ him,” Raoul said, laughing hard enough to shake. “Sadly, I do not think ‘Pyotr told me to’ would get me out of trouble.” He looked speculatively at Pyotr. “Then again, he probably hears that a lot…”
“Perhaps,” Pyotr said idly. “When we arrive, there will be quite a bit of chaos.”
“Don’t I know it,” Raoul muttered. “You’d better be armed with more than that simple stunner, Pyotr.”
“No one is going to attack me in the Palace of Eternity,” Pyotr said stiffly.
“Yes, they would, but I’m more concerned about the docks.”
“I do not think—“ The ship rocked violently, cutting his words off, sending Pyotr crashing hard into Raoul, both of them hitting the floor hard. Around them the ship continued to buck and shake.”
“What the stars?” Raoul demanded. He pinned Pyotr to the floor, using his magics to stick to it, keeping them from suffering damage as the ship raged out of control.
Pyotr’s eyes flashed as his in-lens worked. “Atelic! Atelic! Bridge, answer me!” He snarled when he got no reply. “Let me up, I’ve got to transmit the emergency codes. What the stars…”
Reluctantly Raoul obeyed, levering himself up and helping Pyotr up, then carefully moving them to the desk. Pyotr called up his screens typing furiously, eyes seeming to glow as his in-lens worked furiously.
“Explosion originated in the main engine rooms. Right as we hit light. I think there’s another.” Pyotr’s expression was grim. “Someone close had to have done this. I think something went wrong though, because I’m not dead yet. Transmitting emergency codes and last coordinates now.” He hit a few last keys, then went abruptly still.
“Now what?” Raoul asked, but knew.
Pyotr grimaced. “Now we explo—“
His words were cut off by a blinding flash, then a flash of pain in his head.
Then nothing.
Unknown Planet, Unknown location
Raoul sat up with a groan, then held a trembling hand to his aching head. A second later he pulled his hand away and stared in confusion that it was red and wet. He blinked hard, forcing his mind to overcome the pain, to focus, to think.
Blood. His head was injured. Probably not too badly if he was conscious, if only just.
Where was he?
Why was he here? He should be on a ship…
Ah.
He swore as everything came flooding back.
An explosion. The bomb had gone off right as they’d hit the light gate, or so Pyotr had surmised. Something had gone wrong, though, because it hadn’t killed them instantly. Probably why the bastards had placed a second; messing around with light gates was always a highly tricky business.
So he wasn’t dead. Which meant he could be anywhere.
Thinking that did nothing for his headache.
Fuck.
Groaning in pain and frustration, Raoul reached out for something to hold onto. His hand landed on what felt like a tree, and he absently realized he was damned lucky to have been dumped on a planet with air he could breathe.
Stars he hoped he hadn’t fallen into a bad vid and wound up on an underdeveloped planet.
Heaving himself to his feet, Raoul immediately regretted it. He swayed heavily on his feet and then fell back down hard on the ground. Great, first a sore head and now a bruised ass. Snorting at himself, he gave up standing for the time being and finally took a real look at his surroundings.
Lots of green stuff. Stars, please let him not be on a primitive planet. He would cheerfully kill for even a Soul dealer right now. A Vrill in a full snit. Anything to prove he was not going to be making fires with sticks or whatever the hell primitive planets did.
He looked at the bracelet still on his wrist, hoping and praying that the tracking device inside still worked. That reminded him he might still have his stunners, and a slow, painful check requiring entirely too much moving turned up three of his four stunners – and all of them working.
That would teach the bastards back home to make fun of his ‘expensive, pointless, and showy’ upgrades. Petting his main stunner fondly, Raoul stowed it and took another look around – this time for any sign that he wasn’t the only one of the crew to have crashed here.
Except it seemed he was.
Raoul wholly resented whoever was behind this for not being smart enough to get it right and leave him stranded on some unknown planet with the worst headache in the IG. When he figured out who the bastards were, he would be teaching them all new levels of pain.
Gingerly he held a hand up to his head, hissing as that caused the pain to flare up, bright and sharp and dizzying, enough he almost vomited. Okay, no more touching the head wound.
No sign of other crewmen, not from this vantage point anyway. Stars, if anyone else had landed here let it be Pyotr…
Raoul had the sinking feeling he was the only one to have crashed here…wherever here was. Time to find out, vomit-inducing pain or not. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed hold of the tree he’d used before and slowly, bit by bit, pulled himself up.
He stood still, taking several deep breaths, making sure the world was holding still before he finally tried to take a step.
When he didn’t immediately pass out – though he’d sort of been hoping – he tried another. Several steps later, he wished more than ever that he could just pass out, but fear and training kept him persevering.
Not that he had any idea where he was going. He hadn’t exactly been prepared for a Hike Through Primitive Forest. No, his itinerary had been ‘save Pyotr from his own machinations’. Which, when he thought about it, was infinitely harder than trekking through a strange forest with a head wound.
He stopped abruptly as he came around a particularly large tree.
A path.
Raoul almost cried. Signs of life. Stars, something was better than nothing.
He stubbornly ignored all the doubts and fears and problems that tried to assault him and after a moment followed the path in what he judged to be a northerly direction to judge by the angle of the light. North good, right?
As he continued walking – stumbling, really – the path widened out, smoothed, eventually bleeding into another that showed the deep ruts of frequent use by wagons. He really hoped that was just what they preferred because they were cheaper and required less high-tech maintenance.
Groaning, almost sobbing, wanting nothing more than for the pain to go away for just a few minutes so he could think more clearly, Raoul pushed on. He almost gave up when he realized he’d have to climb a hill, but damn it he’d protected one of the most powerful men in the stars for nearly two decades. He’d just survived not one but two explosions set off mid-light jump. One stupid hill was not going to defeat him.
Still, it was a near thing.
Cresting the hill, Raoul stared at the people below. Human, he thought. At least in appearance. Almost a golden tone to their skin. They were dressed simply, like…farmers or something equally primitive and picturesque. Raoul felt his heart drop into his stomach. Had he really landed on a primitive planet?
Then the largest of the three men pulled a stunner out and aimed it at his head.
Raoul laughed in delight and held his hands up in a show of surrender – and promptly passed out.
Unknown Planet, Unknown location
Cold.
All he felt was cold. The sort of deep, chilling freeze he had not felt since he’d been a child.
Pyotr moaned softly, barely able to feel the heavy flakes of snow clinging to his face.
Where…
So tired…
He tried to make his mind work, but the cold sapped everything.
Winter…
Though he tried to stay conscious, knowing somehow that it was crucial to staying alive, Pyotr could not muster the strength. He slipped back into the darkness, vaguely grateful to escape the terrible cold.
Warmth.
Pyotr slowly opened his eyes, seeing nothing but snow all around him.
Everywhere. A world of white. He shuddered as it brought back memories long buried, though never forgotten.
Tredad. Could it be? How?
Something touched his face. Hot. He tried to jerk away but realized he couldn’t move.
Soft sounds. Someone speaking?
Groaning low, Pyotr forced his head to turn, but could see nothing but hair. Long, dark-gold hair bound in a braid.
Hot fingers touched his face again, and Pyotr moaned. “What…” the word seemed to take hours to say.
“Quiet. Even half frozen you can’t hold still.”
Pyotr shivered, but he didn’t think it was because of the cold this time. Why, then? His thoughts wouldn’t work. “Cold.”
A hot hand lay on his forehead. “I would imagine so,” the voice said dryly. “One would think, ‘Winter,’ that you would be tougher than this in the snow.”
Pyotr went stiff, knowing something was strange about what the voice had just said. Moving with painful slowness, he forced his head to move again, eyes following up the length of the braid…
To see a face covered against the biting cold. Nothing but a hint of eyes staring back at him, and suddenly he knew why the voice was hard to understand. “Who…”
The man laughed. “Indeed. I should leave you here.” But even as he spoke, the man stood and moved out of Pyotr’s sight.
Despite himself, he drifted off to sleep again.
When he woke again, Pyotr could think. He could move.
He sat up slowly and looked around the sparse room in which he lay. One giant cabin, with the bed in one corner, the kitchen in the other, a sitting area in the center…
Pyotr froze as he realized he knew the layout. The special materials used to fight against the terrible, unending winter…of Tredad.
He was on Tredad.
Everything came rushing back to him then. Something had gone wrong with the assassination attempt. Instead of killing him, it had tossed him wildly about and dumped him on Tredad.
By all rights that should have been enough to kill him. Precious few planet in the IG were as cold as Tredad, and none of them suffered the unending winter for which Tredad was famous. Only the life which thrived belowground made it possible for anything to inhabit the planet.
He would have to get in contact with Zero somehow…a glance around the room showed none of his equipment, and it would not have survived both the tossing about space and a crash landing in Tredad anyway.
At least someone had rescued him. Given how rarely anyone ventured topside if they did not have to…it was nothing short of miraculous that he was alive.
With that came the realization that he was lying in the bed of a stranger completely naked. Not there would have been any choice, his clothes would have been soaked through, but Pyotr hated to think he’d be greeting his rescuer completely nude.
Even as he thought about it, the door in the floor swung up and a man hopped up with the practiced ease of someone who’d lived the unusual Tredad lifestyle for some time.
Pyotr felt his breath catch in his chest as the man shucked off his protective gear.
Long, gold brown hair and fine skin. A face and body that could only ever be described as beautiful…or perhaps bewitching, for that was always how he’d felt around this man. Amber eyes, sharp and piercing, met his coolly. “You’re awake.”
Pyotr could only stare, unable to believe what he was seeing. “Jade.”
no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 01:50 am (UTC)I have waited for that meeting since the end of Kidnapped.
Thank you so much.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 02:39 am (UTC)Though, I take it Pyotr and Raoul landed on different planets, since Raoul wasn't on his way to becoming an ice-popsicle? ::blinks:: How did that happen? Are they close to each other?
The last scene made me seriously happy/excited/thrilled because it's JADE. And naked Pyotr, woo! And I'm just dying of how that's going to go, and how things are going to go with Raoul, and who sabotaged the ship, and if they meant to kill or do the tossing people around thing, and the conference - though maybe that has something to do with it? Since I think it mentions that Pyotr alone knows everything about the Draconis argument... and I worry for the poor violet draconis and his completely displeased match. ^_____^ So yes, whatever happens next should answer something in the way of questions, hopefully. ^______^
One random lurker and a boatload of happy ^_^
Date: 2007-02-22 02:54 am (UTC)>>sees the shiny<<
Jade...Pyotr naked...meeting up again finally *__*
Just wanted to express my appreciation for your work
>>melts into a pile of goo and drips back into lurker hole<<
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Date: 2007-02-22 03:05 am (UTC)TWO romances developing so far! Excellent!
Jade's back! And he's hot as ever! And Pyotr's naked!
...Naked! *nosebleeds* Heh, Jade plays knight-in-shining armor to Pyotr. Love, love.
Ah, this seems more transitional than anything else, but still top fare!
"'Pyotr, how in the stars did you manage to match him of all people.'" <---Should the period be a "?"
Yippeee!
Date: 2007-02-22 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 04:22 am (UTC)I guess the palace people will have to figure out how to get along on their own. Can't wait to check in on them. Poor Val... I hope he is okay. *pets*
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Date: 2007-02-22 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 10:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 11:00 am (UTC)*pets poor, confused pyotr*
I'll be your protector, sweets.
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Date: 2007-02-22 05:42 pm (UTC)YAY JadexPyotr! There must be some way to make it work. Somehow. I have faith in your writing.
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Date: 2007-02-22 11:04 pm (UTC)He was supposed to be a nice, quiet, temporary bg character that bit the dust when the ship blew. Instead he developed a personality and vehemently refused to die. So, now I have an extra char and no idea what else he has planned.
Hee hee. Thankee.
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Date: 2007-02-22 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 08:11 pm (UTC)To go in roughly chronological order, before I start squeaking fangirlishly - I think I like Raoul. So determined, even though he seems - from the sound of it - to have a fairly major concussion. Although I can't help but wish that it really was a pre-space-age world. I know it's been done innumerable times, but I think it would have been funny.
And Pyotr - oh my god, and Jade! Are they going to get together? Even though Jade is a - presumably recovering - psychopath? And does he still have pretty nails, even on Tredad? If I tried to speak right now, the extraordinary level of excitement I feel over this development would probably make me sound as if I'd inhaled a large amount of helium.
Good day to you, and I hope very much to see more of this soon.
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Date: 2007-02-22 11:31 pm (UTC)*is an incomprehensible puddle* Jade, Pytor, the crash. GYAH!!!
*flying tackle glomps* All I want to do is squeal in fangirlish madness, so I'm gonna have to come back later when my brain has resolidified. But damn do you rock. *________*
Also, I heart Raoul. ^_^
*is happy goo puddle*