Subject: [PW!] Suffering for the blind Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 06:42:08 GMT From: "Marco262" <marco262@vilbrSBandt.net> Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Mist swirled and jumped, creating a dance of ghostly figures. Darian shot through the twisting tendrils, disrupting the ethereal shapes and blazing a chaotic path through the vapor. The breath caught in his throat. He could feel the ground beneath his feet, slightly damp from he fog. Somewhere, in he back of his mind, he wondered why it was so flat, so lacking of bumps or rocks. He spat a tendril of hair from his mouth, and panted for air. That small break in his breathing cost him dear oxygen that his aching muscles needed. His long hair plastered against his face and neck, wet from the fog and his own sweat. His head jerked to the side and his feet skidded as he struggled to change direction. He had seen it again. A dark shape running through the mist, always just ahead of him. Four legs gripping the dirt, a long sinuous tail keeping balance in its all out run. Darian struggled to accelerate, but his muscles would not respond. His lungs burned and he gasped in the humid air. His voice came out a strangled sob. "Par...*gasp*...Pardus..." His muscles on the verge of collapsing, Darian poured an extra ounce of energy into his pace. He had none left. The figure still raced forward, and was swallowed up by the clouds. A wordless cry escaped Darian's lips and tears streamed down his face. Out of the gloom ahead, a long, dark shape was taking form. Darian leaned back and dug his heels into the ground. He stopped right on the precipice, his toes hanging off the edge. His body teetered and he flailed his arms to stay up. He wailed as gravity won the battle and he began to pitch forward into the dark, bottomless pit. His shirt tightened around his neck, and his descent stopped abruptly. A tug on his sleeve and he fell back onto the ledge. He wailed again, for loss of his dear friend. "Darian! Wake up!" Darian sat up. His eyes focused on the face of Lisa Charity, an inch from his own. His frantic breathing slowed and he realized where he was. A shaft of moonlight broke through the clouds, illuminating the two sleeping bags in a forest glen. Lisa had abandoned hers, when she heard the Darian's subconscious sobbing. She'd tried to wake him, becoming more and more desperate as he refused to wake up from his torturous nightmare. "I-I heard you yelling...Are you okay?" Darian stared into those eyes with a half-conscious, psychotic wildness. Those eyes that saw nothing else but him. Those eyes that were a mirror that always showed him beautiful. The eyes that, right now, were filled with worry and compassion. The eyes that Darian's could never emulate. He stood up, his sleeping bag catching around him. He struggled with the zipper for a moment. It finally off, he stalked off into the woods, ignoring the tears that formed at the corners of Lisa's eyes. Darian thwacked away at the brush as he blindly fled the scene. The red light dimmed in his eyes and his body sagged. He slumped down against a tree and rested his head on his knees. His back shook as he was wracked with sobs. The energy drained out of him as he reconnected with reality. Half-asleep again, he shook his head against his knees. <Why do you hurt her so much?> Darian raised his eyes. Tears blurred his vision, and he wiped a sleeve across his eyes. "I don't know. I know she loves me. But I just can't seem to give anything back." <Do you love her?> "How can I love her?" Darian slammed his fist against the tree. "She doesn't even know me! I can't let myself fall in love! I could be taken away, and I'd never see her again." <And now that they are gone?> "I have to watch her die." Silent sobs began to make his body shake again. "She's going to get old, and I'm going to watch her die." The youth's shaking subsided slowly, and Queue the Unown watched him slowly fall asleep. He would not remember his talk with that "inner voice." No one ever remembered any of Queue's Questionings. The shiny Unown floated away to the back pack where it spent its time as a stuffed toy, satisfied with its questioning tonight. TBC... A bit more soul searching for Darian. Once I pinpoint where he and Lisa are psychologically, I may be able to come up with a decent plotline. *sigh* Until then, more character development when I feel like it.