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JASH
My dragonbone dagger started to dig into my scales as I quickly covered the distance to Rayya. The night was silent with no hint of bandits so I shouldn’t be holding on so tight. Kaoc, I should just put my dagger back into its sheathe.
But I couldn’t.
The only reason my legs could move was because I held the weapon. If Alex had been returned to me how should I react? Should I apologize or just break down in his arms? What if this wasn’t the same Alex as before?
Recently echoes of both Alex Casey and Saga Anderson had been shown to me. That wasn’t coincidence. It was a means of being prepared for what happened next. Suddenly the scent of Alex’s blood filled my lungs and nearly made me gag.
I finally stood close to Rayya. She had a stoic look on her face which filled me with dread. If she looked that way she was worried that my momentary happiness was on the verge of being shattered. After I saw no outward wounds, I managed to sheathe my dagger.
My gaze went from her to the various bandit corpses scattered around. They had attacked in a smaller group than before which showed either desperation or stupidity. We would have to raid their hideout to make sure and steal any rations to give to the town of Falkreath.
Where was the gunshot wound? There! One bandit’s throat had a hole in it which was clearly caused by a bullet. It was as if Hircine himself closed his hand around my heart and nearly made it impossible to breathe. I had only counted three figures and made sure to avert my gaze from them before I could notice anymore.
I didn’t want my illusion of Alex having returned broken. I didn’t want the truth to be anything but my own selfish wants and needs.
With a ragged breath, I looked up from the corpses to the three figures in front of me. I cast Magelight three times so that a bright light started to circle their heads. Each of them was familiar to me. Each of them had a place in my heart.
Saga Anderson looked as if she had just walked across Oblivion to get here. Alan Wake looked nervous as if he were continuing to second guess whatever had lead him here.
Alex Casey.
Alex had a smile on his face that was a pure sign of happiness. A nervous smile etched itself onto my lips as he tended to be more reserved than this. While not my husband, just another echo, his smile was like my husband’s in that it didn’t look like he tended to show any outward joy.
Outwardly he had a sense of happiness and calm, but I could tell there was something different happening underneath. He wanted to rush towards me and ignore the rest of the world. I knew that because those feelings were gripping me and threatening to pull me underneath.
The Ring of Hircine felt like it had started to pulse which created a pleasant feeling on my thumb. A slight sound indicated to me that Rayya had begun to watch for any trouble. It was highly unlikely more bandits would attack but other dangers existed in Mundus.
Alan seemed to struggle to open his mouth. What news had he to tell me? It couldn’t be good as he wouldn’t be nervous otherwise. Did he know why my husband had be erased from existence as if he had failed to achieve CHIM?
“We’ve been searching for you, Jash.” Alex said and managed to keep the excitement out of his voice. “Though you look…different from last time.”
“I’ve been searching for you too, Alex.” I replied as my throat tried to strangle me. “A different Alex, though. Or maybe you. I lost my husband and know it’s pointless to look for what can’t be found.”
Alex remained stoic but I could see through the illusion. I had been with my husband for nearly a decade and you learn a lot about a person during that time. You even begin to recognize things about themselves that they can’t see.
He wanted to know if him not being the man I married was a concern to me. He worried if his search for me was fruitless.
“I do not know if that matters, Alex.” I said and watched him become calm once more. “I pray to Hircine that it doesn’t matter.”
Saga stepped forward and it seemed like she was about to defend him. What did the dryskins of Earth call them? Wingman? Yes. She was about to be his wingman.
“This is the original Alex Casey.” Saga said and my mind started to race. “When you were being flung through realities, we saw you. It looked like you had jumped from a building but were still breathing so we rushed to you. Alex was the first to reach your side and tried to help.”
“But I disappeared before he could?” I asked.
“He managed to touch you right before you disappeared. Until Bright Falls, we thought we had just been working too hard.”
This was the Alex that had made sure our destines were entwined with one another. He was the one that had begun this journey between us and I wished that I could give him a better ending. But the Jash he had been connected to wasn’t me.
She had died a long time ago as had countless other versions.
I looked over the man that didn’t look different enough from my second husband. He deserved his Jash but that could never be. He deserved so much more than I could ever give him.
Did I deserve to repair his grieving heart?
“All this time I thought our fates had been entwined due to me wanting to stop you from being possessed by Scratch.” I said with a forced chuckle. “But our destines being entwined from an interaction much earlier makes more sense. It explains how we were able to reach each other time and time again.”
Rayya’s hand gestures were hard to see in the dim light. But she had served me for so long that I could be blind and still tell what those gestures meant. She was nervous about being out here in the night. She was used to guarding both me and Alex Casey but the other two were new to her.
Then there was the fact that the night air was beginning to dig into my scales in an uncomfortable manner.
“We were in the middle of dinner before the bandits attacked.” I said. “Llewellyn the Nightingale will prepare you something. Rayya will have no trouble waking him up.”
“Is he your servant?” Alan asked.
“He’s my personal bard that decided to turn in early for the night along with Gunjar. The latter is my carriage driver. Will you join us for dinner so we can talk in a more comfortable environment?”
“I could do with a good meal after everything.”
I turned to Saga who just nodded. But if she was anything like that one I had met in Bright Falls, she was secretly excited. Strange things tended to excite her.
With a smirk I grabbed Alex’s hand and lead everyone back to the patio. For a moment I worried that I had acted too much like a hatchling but…but by morning Alex might be gone once more.
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