Pax RP

ES looked up, and saw to her horror that her other half was still dissipating into the pinpoints of light that were coming her way, and the pool was still flowing from the both of them.

"Put your tendrils away!" she heard GS call from above, her voice echoing across the gap "or I'm going to drop you, you're too heavy!"

ES did as she was asked, and didn't argue. She didn't try and pull up either, because she didn't know how good of a purchase GS had and she didn't want to send them both tumbling down.

On the other hand, if they stayed like this for much longer then there'd be no more GS and they'd go tumbling down anyway.

The evil woman looked down at the floor far below, afraid, then she looked up at her good half, determined to hang on even as she began to fade from view, becoming points of light that floated down to her evil self.

"Let go" ES told her, she wondered if they would share injuries in any way.

"No, I can't do that. I won't! You'll die"

"We'll both die if you don't let go now. Let. Go."

"No!" GS told her, determination flickering in her eyes she began to pull her dark side up. ES didn't know where she was getting the strength from. Yet she seemed somehow confused. "I won't let you. I won't let my halfs last act be to hurt someone. Not even my dark side. It's not right" She pulled up some more, until finally, she managed to introduce ES's tendril to a solid rock behind her and her evil half desperately pulled herself up.

ES stood up in time to see her lighter half stood in front of her, almost completely faded away now.

"This is what should be" she said, smiling, and dissipated into a dazzling, sparkling light show that blinded ES as they rushed towards her.

When she opened her eyes again, she was neither completely dark nor completely light anymore. The two halves had become a whole, as they should be.

She was completely Swix now.

And now she understood the confusion.

Swix stood there, blinking, feeling two sets of memories recombine as the rest of her had. Now she understood many things she hadn't before. Including why she had looked betrayed when she'd seen who it was that had pushed her.

His name was Raes, and he lived in the settlement just outside the Sacred Grounds. He'd recombined himself fairly recently, and he had met her lighter half on the road.

He was concerned about the balance being tipped as much as anyone else, but unlike anyone else he'd determined that they had to break their most ancient rule, non-interferance in recombination.

It was for the greater good for them, he'd said. But she'd stopped him there and told him that she would have this go right, as it should be, even if her darker half should have grown more. Because that was the whole point of them splitting in the first place, to grow and learn. The balance would attend to itself, it always did.

She'd left to find a place where her dark side couldn't pick a fight shortly after, believing that Raes would take her words to heart and not interfere.

Apparently she was wrong as it was Raes who'd yelled and pushed ES off the cliff, interfered and in the process showed his feelings to be strong enough to break their law and go against a friends wishes.

The now complete woman looked down at herself, she could see very little difference after the recombination, save one. The dress she wore was still black, however the tear had become a pattern as that too had become whole, and showed white fabric where previously there was nothing. The trim too had become white, so like her, her clothing was no longer light or dark but both.

Swix turned around to see the familiar face of Raes staring at her in disbelief and disappointment, and narrowed her eyes at him.

Raes took one, then two steps back before he turned and fled towards the good dwelling place.

Swix turned herself and started walking back down the hill to where the tear in the ground stopped and so would allow her to pass and track Raes. She was the one who'd been wronged-even those who lived in the evil villages did not break that rule-and so she was going to choose his punishment for that. Noone else had seen what he'd done though so she had to catch up with him before he managed to hida away somewhere.

It was night now and travelling through the wilds of this world alone in the dark was unwise. Raes would have to find somewhere to make camp soon. She would travel through the darkness until she found him.

After the humanoid bypassed the crevice she took a more direct route back out, it was nearly midnight by the time she came across Raes's fire and Raes himself, curled up near the flames as closely as was possible for him.

Swix didn't make camp herself, didn't even figure she should wait until the morning. She snuck up behind Raes as silently as she could manage, and called forth the dark tendrils from her back.

Swix sent them towards the dozing guy, until they were close enough to wrap around Raes's mouth and wake him with a start.

The recombined good guys eyes opened wide with fear and she felt him try to put his hands up to his jaw. 'Try' because another of her extra limbs had coiled around his wrists so that he could not spring anymore surprises on her.

She forced him into a sitting position and only then stepped out of the shadows to glare at him until she felt him squirm uncomfortably under her displeased gaze.

"You know who I am" she stated rhetorically, but he nodded anyway "Do you have any idea what it was you could have done? What you could have cheated us out of?" she asked again, and saw his nod was a little slower now. "and yes, I understand what your reasons were for doing it-that's why I'm not letting you talk-but that still doesn't excuse you from taking it that far" she saw his expression harden and his eyes narrow when she said this "nor does it excuse you from ignoring a friends explicit wishes over something important"

Raes's eyes widened in surprise once again, apparently he hadn't been expecting her to care about that. Which is exactly what she had suspected.

"So" she told him, forcing him to his feet now "you're coming with me for a walk in the dark. I like the dark, I'd be willing to bet you don't"

The woman grinned at him, then turned and walked away from the comforting glow of the fire into the danger of the night, dragging a most unwilling companion with her.

The two of them walked through the night, through the Sacred Grounds right up to the very edge of the shining city Raes had come from. Swix's grin had disappeared the minute she'd turned away from her captive, truth be told she didn't find any of this amusing.

They walked into the mornings light, through the sunrise that the woman found she could now truly appreciate for it's beauty.

When they reached the entrance to the good settlement Swix stopped, took a deep breath, and then approached it and the guards keeping watch.

The guards did exactly as they had before, even up to the point of stating that she shall not pass. She waved an arm dismissively once again and pulled Raes forwards until he was standing next to her.

The two guardians were understandably alarmed at seeing Raes in that predicament so raised their weapons at their fellow humanoid. The woman raised her arms to show that she wasn't here to fight them.

"Release Raes" one of them demanded before she could say anything. She lowered her arms and gestured for them to listen.

"Before I do that I think you should know two things. Firstly, i'm leaving now. And secondly, Raes here tried to interfere with my recombination by pushing my dark half off a cliff when he saw that side of me was stronger. As you can see he failed, but he still violated our most ancient law. Now, I was going to take him back to the evil settlement with me, but I changed my mind., because he was a friend. He did go against both of our wishes but I think he would be... better off, here than there. I had to make sure I could tell you what happened before he could. Because let's face it" she said with a wry smile "it's highly unlikely that you'd believe me over him"

The guard on the right, who wielded a melee weapon reminiscent of a spear looked towards the bound and gagged guy with a sort of pleading in his eyes. "Is this true?" he asked his fellow. Raes blinked, then nodded once and looked away. The look of pleading turned to one of disappointment.

Swix pulled Raes forwards and was just about to remove her tendril from around his jaw when she seemed to truly notice the guard with the spear for the first time since she'd got back.

"You're the guy who gave up his lunch yesterday because you knew I'd be hungry. I never did say thanks" she said, then "Thanks". She unwrapped both tendrils binding Raes and then, as though to make up for her show of courtesy pushed him so he stumbled to his knees in front of the gates.

She turned then and left them to it, heading for the evil settlement before she left for Pax once more.

'He wronged you... and you're showing him mercy?' the Collectors silken, sultry voice echoed through her mind once more.

"I know why he did it. Besides, he was a friend-"

'To your good half whilst you were split'

"That makes him my friend. I don't expect you to understand"

'... You know Swix, now you've become one again there are parts of you that make me sick'

"I'm happy to disappoint you C" Swix said, and simply continued walking.

((Finished ^_^. Thoughts, comnents, confusion-all are welcome))