Changeling

I usually say 40 is old cos as they say "Life begins at 40." (The beginnin of the end) Lol. XXX

Lol! Kk. 40 is old.

Just wanted to leave a comment promising you that I am going to read all of this as soon as I can, I'm just struggling to juggle revision and every thing else in the world at the moment.

Ok, thanks. I haven't been able to write it for a while, anyway

I blacked out soon after, and by the time Sky found me, I was slipping in and out of consciousness. I couldn't bring her face into focus, on recognise her voice clearly: the only way I knew it was her was through the strong Atari presence she emitted.

"What happened to you, Ariana?" she asked sorrowfully, shaking her head.

Her eyes were wide as she knelt beside me, placing her hands upon my skin. She should have known it wouldn't work. She should have remembered my instinctive, irremovable block. But she too was working on instinct, so shocked by the sight that she'd reflexively attempted what she'd always attempt in such a situation, with another - she was trying to heal me.

She closed her eyes, focusing, trying to force more energy and life into me in order to make the wounds close. But, obviously, nothing would happen. Eventually, she realised, slowly moving her hands away. It wasn't working. It'd never work. There was no way she could save me, not that way. No easy way.

As soon as she'd thought of that option, she pushed it away, rejecting it out of hand. She couldn't....she just couldn't. She refused to take that option, to do that, knowing what it'd mean. There had to be another way....but there wasn't. Either pass on the burden to Ariana too, or let the girl die. And she couldn't do either.

"I.....I'm sorry, Ariana. Truly, deeply sorry.....if there was any other way, I'd take it. But there isn't.....just know, I did this to save you. Only to save you......no matter what the rest will undoubtedly say afterwards....."

"What....what you...doing?" I struggled to ask, only bare words forming. I still couldn't get my eyes into focus, and her emotions were so complex and kaleidoscopic that I couldn't even start to interpret what I sensed from her. Regret, desperation, grief, anger, pity and sympathy......

I didn't get an answer. Whatever she was doing or about to do, it was capturing her entire mind, leaving no room to answer me. Or maybe she just couldn't explain.

From the angle I was lying in, I couldn't see what she did next. She moved out of my line of vision for a second, and when she came back, my eyesight had worsened again. I wasn't sure if I could see a red blur in the palm of her left hand, or if I was just imagining that. She placed that hand onto me, over the worst of my injuries. I could dimly sense blood seeping into the wound.

"What....what are you doing?" I asked, more strongly this time. I tried to struggle, instinctively pulling away, but I didn't have a hope.

"Saving you," she whispered.

But I didn't hear her. I was already going under, my senses reeling as energy poured into me an endless river, overwhelming and intense. I felt like I could do anything. I was holding the entire universe inside me. Impossible really wasn't a word in my vocabulary. It reminded me of the time I'd first accessed, the time I'd begun the change, but it was even more powerful.

Reality eventually returned to me, as the surge of sensations slowed, but didn't completely fade. I could still feel like I could do anything, I just had to reach out a bit, now.

"What....what did you do, Sky?"

There was infinite regret in her face as she answered.

"I gave you some of my blood. I'm really sorry....but it's all I could do. It did save you, it let you heal yourself.....but....."

But?!

It's really good, Lowri! Absolutly love it.

Thanks yeah, slight cliffie ending. Nothing compared to the last few, though

Yh, your getting better.

It's awesome.

Getting better? I have ideas for more cliffies in future

"But what?" I asked with confusion in my tone. She hesitated over the reply.

"It'll....change you...."

I laughed at that.

"Sky, I'm already changed. I can't change anymore."

She shook her head.

"Yes, you can. And you will. I wouldn't have done it if I'd had any other option."

"What...what will it do? Will it make me one of you? Old blood?"

"No, not quite...."

"Not quite?" I asked, confused. Wasn't it either old blood or new blood? No in-between....

"I know, I said it's only old or new. That's how it is, naturally. But if someone of the old blood gives some of their blood to a new blood, it'll change them. Alter them. Make them end up somewhere between the 2."

I was silent, shocked. What did this mean? I....I wasn't new blood anymore? What was I? Did I have any humanity anymore, even in my past?

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her regret sincere and genuine. I could sense it. Taste it. Stronger and more powerful than ever before.

"No....don't be..." I answered slowly. "I mean, you did save my life."

She smiled.

"That I did. Feel free to repay me one day," she said lightly. I wasn't sure how serious she was on that.

"What exactly will it mean for me, though? What'll be different?"

She hesitated, seemingly chewing over her answer in her mind before she voiced it.

"I'm not exactly sure....you're the only mixed one I've met, and there aren't many accounts. It might vary with each individual too. But I'd guess you'd inherit more skills, probably some from my family. And your senses, both human ones and Atari, will be enhanced. And you'll need more control over your emotions."

"And.....my humanity?"

She sighed.

"Ariana.....you weren't human anymore, anyway. Even before this. You're Atari."

I nodded.

"Yeah, I know that. I've accepted that."

"But it will make you....less human, I suppose. Or maybe more Atari is how it should be phrased."

She hesitated then, deep in thought. She seemed to be questioning whether to add something, to say more. After a moment, she shook her head. I didn't think to ask what the issue had been. As far as I was concerned, I trusted her, and if she chose not to tell me something, I probably didn't need to know.

Issue?

Sorry for the late responce! Tis really good, Low!

Thanks

And I couldn't explain it all at once

I know.

Read most of it, on P7 at the moment, and I'm really liking it so far. Can't yet tell if I prefer it to Forbidden, which I love, as I haven't yet read enough, but it's definitely up there. Really good stuff, love the character of Sky. She reminds me of Elan a bit, maybe that's just me. Anyway, yeah, keep it up!

Thanks Yeah, there is some ressemblence. But a lot of my heroines end up reminding me of each other

Next chapter???

Sorry, I haven't really been in the mood for writing recently

Whyyy?

Exams mostly

After that, we'd returned to the freehouse, and I have to admit that I'd been too frightened to leave the building for several days following. It was completely irrational - a phobia triggered by the traumatic flashbacks I'd suffer if I'd ever try to set foot outdoors. Pathetic really. I tried to force it away, telling myself to get a grip, but it wasn't that easy.

Apart from that, I was also trying to cope with my altered self: learning to control the new skills, the increased sensitivity and emotional affect I had. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it than that, more than I knew. It felt like there was some strange heavy responsibility creeping up behind me, ready to seize upon me and crush me. But every time I'd feel so, I'd shake myself and tell myself to drop the paranoia, reminding myself that if there was anything so vital, Sky would surely have warned me. Wouldn't she?

The days passed slowly, pretty much the same as they had before that incident. I trained and practiced and kept to myself in the house while watching the various guests passing through. A small group of travelling old blood had arrived yesterday, stopping briefly in the city, and they were now cloistered away with Sky. I wondered what that meeting would be discussing. All other inhabitants of the freehouse, both human and Atari, chose to ignore it, turning a blind eye and almost acting as if it wasn't occurring. I guess I should have acted the same way. After all, it was old blood business, none of my concern. But was it? After all, I had their blood within me now, didn't I? Did that mean it did concern me now? Was I one of them?

It'd been a foolish decision really, to listen in. Foolish, stupid, reckless. I'd been frightened of being caught, but that hadn't been enough to stop me. I hadn't thought of fearing what I might learn. I hadn't thought of the risk of learning the exact weight of that new burden upon my head.

"I noticed you created yourself a visar, Ashford."

That was the first statement I succeeded in hearing. I didn't recognise either the voice or the term, but I already disliked the callous tone the man was using in speaking. His disdain was vivid, and it awoke a reflexive defensiveness in me. Sky too, from how she answered.

"She's no visar," she replied brusquely.

"But she contains your blood," the man replied, yet again a statement not a question. "And she is not one of our kind. That means...."

Sky interrupted; her tone angry.

"It isn't like that! I didn't give her my blood to make her my visar! I did it to give her healing!"

Obviously I couldn't see any of them in the meeting, but I could easily imagine the others rolling their eyes at that. Most seemed doubtful, and I could hear one whispering something which sounded like he was accusing it of being typical.

"Enough of Ashford and her oddities," dismissed another speaker, who hadn't said a word yet but whose tone held authority and seemed to indicate this was the leader here. "We all know what we have come here to discuss."

"Yes. The prevention of the destruction of our race by those humans."

"We have already decided upon our choice of action...."

"And my opinion on that choice has not and will not alter," Sky interrupted, her tone even more brusque. It was clear that she was rejecting this action, and had been doing so for a while. I wondered what it could be - she seemed to loathe it.

"You know it's necessary...."

"And you know it's unacceptable. I will not permit you to make such a sacrifice."

"It is no sacrifice...."

"It is! How can you say such a thing?" she asked, disgusted. I could hear the scrape of a chair as she got to her feet and dismissed them. Then I had to move away before they exited the room and caught me. I returned to my own room, my thoughts filled with turmoil.

What sacrifice???

I'm guessing a visar is basically a posh word for her bitch?

Great chapter, Lower!!!!

Thanks and the "sacrifice" is likely to be the theme of this arc. And yeah, "visar" is the Atari term for a bitch an old blood earns by giving that person their blood.

You can be my visar.

Sure