hurts me to tell you I don't feel the same (part XII)

(Continued from part XI.)

She caught up with them in the medbay. "There you are," she said, relieved. Justine just shook her head. "He isn't responding." She looked from Justine to the Duke. "...Hiro?" she asked. He just stood in place, staring at the med cell. No...staring at the stasis pod in the cell.

"Any luck with the glowy portal thingy?" She shrugged. "Well, it's...stable," she murmured. Justine frowned. "..Stable. That isn't as good as 'shut down'. Or 'banished'. Or 'made so it never happened'."

Unhappily, she nodded. "No, not as--"

A sensation as if all the air had been sucked from her lungs. While she fought to take a breath, sparkle surrounded her, and the next thing she knew, she was falling in midair, from the deep cobalt of upper atmosphere down into dawn. "ACK--" she managed, and then hit the roof of the Mystic in Carcosa. She heard several sharp cracks on impact, and just laid there a moment, breathing. Waiting for her bones to knit.

Hiro Secundus, damn and blast him, floated down as if he fell from a space station every day. That was one spell that would have been handy to know, she thought dourly. She stood, shakily, testing her balance. It hurt to inhale. Ribs always took longer.



"Ow," she finally said, looking at Hiro. "What--happened?"

"I fell," he said simply.

She nodded. That much was obvious. "Yes, but...why did I fall? And why did we fall into Carcosa?" She looked around. "That was...what was that??"

"Something ejected us from the medical unit," he said softly. "The station, actually..."

"Say that again, slowly," she said. She watched him swallow. "I feel sick," he said, his voice plaintive. "Em...I need to lay down..."

She nodded decisively. "You do. Back at the main house, or...somewhere up here?" He turned to her, his eyes wide. Wounded. She hurt, seeing that look in his eyes. "Em," he whispered. "Let's go somewhere safe..."

She nodded. "I can do that," she murmured. "I'm confused," he said. She touched one of his epaulets, reached out and pinched a section of local space, folding it in quick sections, reappearing back on ground level, in the garden. She flipped the folds, splaying her hand open, pulling Hiro in next to her. She kissed him gently, leading him to the bed bedecked with stars.

"Widow's son," he murmured. She kissed him again, soft press of her lips to his. "Queen of Heaven," he murmured in response. She sighed and nodded.



"Security questions," she said, her voice low, comforting. She pulled him into her arms, laying them both down, wrapping one of her legs over his. He looked at her, that wounded look. She'd burn down cities to take that look from his eyes. But she wasn't sure how to help him now.

"Who is Hiro Prime?" he whispered." She cupped his face. "Shhh...It will all make sense later," she said. "I promise."

He laid back on the bed, eyes unfocusing. "Okay..."

(Continued in part XIII.)