Monster

DISCLAIMER: yeah yeah.

I appologize for my much belated update. It\'s been an extremely busy couple of weeks. I intended last thrusday to do this but had work to do and lost track of the time with my boyfriend. I was away for the weekend and intended to do this on sunday when I returned. But instead I spent the night mourning over the death of my pet rat Hudini. So Monday was to be my update, but I ended up running all over god\'s creation to find a new rat companion and to inform the pet store that they sold me an ill rat. So today, this glorious day, I present to you my UPDATE.

I\'d like to inform anyone who is interested about my new story I\'ve recently posted called The World\'s Ablaze. If you like Monster please feel free to view my new addition also. But be warned, Monster is my PRIMARY story and will be updated more frequently than The World\'s Ablaze. But please, do go see it and tell me what you all think. I love to hear from all of you. ^^

I\'d also like to thank everyone for their patience in this matter, it\'s been VERY stressful for me for the past couple of weeks.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, thank you to Rho, BZLF, patty, rayn, Anon, and Plaid_Ninja for the wonderful compliments. Thank you to my (what I like to call) hardcore fans: Silver_Slumber, Tempest, and Elvra. I love all of your words and support, I do all of this for all of you. ^^

And now, what you\'ve all been waiting for...Chapter 10...

Please Enjoy!
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Alek strode strongly down the town street, he seemed a bit impatient and maybe even edgy but Kari wasn’t sure why he would be either. He had searched their room for money before he left, but to no avail. She had no coin either, but knew several good ways to make fast cash. She shook her head; she wasn’t going to do any of those ideas unless Alek told her to. She stole a loving glance at his tense back as they walked, she still wasn’t quite used to the idea of calling him by his name, or really seeing them as equals either. He stopped suddenly before her, almost making her run into his back. She looked to him to follow his gaze to a small ally leading behind a well-to-do looking inn. There sat a very well-to-do barn, which she was sure would have very well-to-do horses. She grinned almost evilly at the thought of stealing one, before she could change her mind she darted down the ally shooting Alek an ‘I dare you’ look as she went.

Shock met her at first but then he caught his bearings and followed her just as stealthily as she had gone. He had been contemplating it anyway, and would have most likely done it weather she had gone first or not. He was somewhat embarrassed by his hesitation however, where she had gathered the fortitude to go before him and he had not. He suppressed the want to sigh at this thought as they walked calmly to the stable, somewhat quickly but calmly, she was his responsibility now. He had to always keep his guard and always be ready to stand against those who would harm her. He had to be stronger than her. Alek knew that it would be harder than what he would expect. He knew her to be so brave and so strong, despite her vast weaknesses; she had strengths in aspects that many were extremely lacking in.

After a quick glance around, Alek opened the door and allowed Kari to enter. The air was musky and heavy with the smell of animals, but she didn’t mind it much. She went immediately to a red bay, she looked a little older than most the other horses but she was healthy looking despite the years. Alek chose the dark stud. Silence still pulled at them as they quickly saddled their animals and found bridals for them. Kari lifted her skirts slightly in a small attempt to mount before she realized that it wasn’t going to work. Alek watched in curiosity as she bunched her skirts and prepared to rip the side to allow more room for her to straddle the animal’s back.

“If you come with me Kari then you’ll become involved. You have time to leave you can get out, but if you come with me to find my sister, there will be no going back.”

Kari looked him dead in his gray eyes. She noticed then that they weren’t cold as they usually were; there was something there, something deeper than what she had been allowed to see before. She grinned and ripped her skirts in one quick jerk. That was her final answer, no turning back now.

“I’m already involved Alek, weather you believe me to be or not. And I’ll not run away like a child.”

She took a confident hold of the saddle as she pulled herself up and over, sliding her feet into the stirrups and wrapping the reins around her hand. A quick glance back at him prompted him to lead the way. A swift heal into their horses sides pushed them forward at a strong trot as they bolted from the stable into the yard out of the gate and into the street barreling straight for the town’s limits. Kari thought she heard someone yell out from the inn when they flew past but she dared not look, she felt that a single look back would suck her away from her new found freedom and forever away from Alek’s hold. She kicked the mare’s sides at the thought, bringing her even with Alek’s stud as they quickly distanced themselves from the town. It wasn’t until Alek reined his horse that Kari even thought to do the same. They were far from view now and well on their way, not to mention the fact that the horses were panting hard and somewhat foaming around their mouths, a clear sign of too much work.

Silence again, it plagued them like a bad cold now. It had always bothered her before, but now she was especially disturbed by it. She tried to think of something to say but found nothing of interest to open her mouth about, so instead she sat, almost sadly, and watched the dirt road before her.

“You never told me about your family.”

She jerked her head up and looked at him, almost stunned. Was he really asking about her family? She wanted to laugh at him but didn’t, not wanting to hurt this new thing they’ve recently found.

“Well, my father was a merchant and my mother used to work in an inn. Everything was all right for a while; they had five boys before they had me. It was the year when the plague hit that my mother died, I think I was five then. She had to stay in the house with my brothers while my father continued to support us. When she died he couldn’t take it I guess, we woke up one morning and found him drowned in the river near our house. He had rocks in his pockets to weigh him down. Some men came then, I’m not sure who they were, some of them had uniforms some didn’t. It was only a matter of weeks before all that was left was me; the men who had employed my father took the house and sent me to that god awful school. I’ve been there ever since really, I tried to run away a few times but after a couple beatings you realize it isn’t really worth it.”

A small smile touched her lips as she thought back to her childhood antics. She had always been a thorn in Kazaki’s side, and almost felt pride in being so. Alek took the smile as a good sign; she had had a hard life, just as he had. He wondered why the gods deal such horrid hands to people like her, why did they punish her for being born?

“When you die, what do you think will happen?”

Kari furrowed her brow and studied him a moment before thinking to answer.

“Why such a grim question?”

“Well, it is a grim conversation, and I’m curious. I’ve never died, time and time again I should have but, alas, this body denies me that rest.”

She giggled at his response, thinking him silly to ask the question.

“I’ve never died either, or at least not that I can remember. But I guess what would happen would be that your mind and your soul leave your body and go into another body. Like a baby’s body before it’s born to live again. Or at least, I’d hope that would happen.”

“Why don’t you believe in the True Belief, where you go to eternal happiness? Why do you wish to be born again and again?”

She thought a moment before answering this time, why did she wish to have an eternal cycle?

“Because, eternal happiness isn’t true. What labels happiness and sadness in life is when both are present. When one is removed and only the other remains, it no longer can be labeled as a ‘happier’ state but a constant one. A single and everlasting constant which cannot be defined because of a lack of a negative state.”

He chuckled at her response, finding it true but elementary.

“And so eternal life is better than eternal happiness? To live again and again, each time being either better or worse than the last. It will always have defined states because of the presence of both negative and positive experiences. But what of your soul and your mind? Will it grow weary with constant toil, will your mind become tired of human interaction or of learning? What will become of you then?”

“Then I will grow weary, and I will become tired of human interaction. I will become something great and beautiful and filled with something so strange to everyone because they go to pasture after death. I will become the monster, and thrive on observation and reactions of those who come near me. And I will truly know what it is to live.”

He smiled at her, taking in her seriousness as she stole a glance at the sky through her lush lashes. It was true, he had become something so much greater than human because of his body’s unwillingness to die. And it was she that would show him the way to that eternal bliss in his being.