Life Debt and an End

Finding One's True Self: Part 20

By Xan Steel

It had been several days since Lady Iris had been brought into the medical center for recovery, as her parents had been notified by Detective Ohm personally, and waited for them at the Medical Center as they informed him when they were arriving. 

Her mother was grief stricken as she came up to Ohm, demanding to know where her youngling was and what had happened. Her mate and father to Iris did his best to hold her back and pull her into a tight hug as she cried, saying she couldn't lose her only youngling. "Shhhh relax Ryeena, I'm sure the detective will explain everything." He said trying to comfort her. 

"Please forgive my emergency summons, but I felt it was necessary since it concerned Lady Iris." He held up a picture of male that she was with that attacked her for them to see. "Do you know this male?" He questioned. 

They both looked at the image. "That's her current suitor, what happened?" Her mother tearfully replied. 

Ohm sadly didn't have a gentle way of putting what he was about to say, "Please forgive me as I have no other way to tell you, but apparently, they had an altercation, and he threw her over a hotel balcony from fifteen stories up into the Brine." He responded softly. 

If fur could change color, theirs would be white right now. "No." She began as her voice went quiet as she shook her head weeping deeply, "Not my little one." she whispered.

"Luckily for her, she had a savior." Ohm finished as he held up a few more photos that had been snapped showing Rubicant jumping over after her. Her mother broke down thanking the Master someone was there for her as she held on to her mate tightly while her tears flowed unhindered. 

Her father looked up at Ohm with tears running down his face. "Did he, did he save her?" he asked with an urgency in his voice.

A nurse walked up to Ohm. "Detective the Doctor said she's ready for visitors now." 

“Ah, thank you," Ohm replied in a happier tone.

Two weeks had passed since Rubicant rescued Lady Iris, and he wondered how she was doing. Since he hadn't heard anything about her in the news, which he figured was a good thing, only because it would likely be major news if she had died. He wanted to visit her but wasn't sure if he should, or if the Medical Center would even allow him to see her, being that he wasn't family. Regardless he was hoping that she was all right.

After a long, uneventful day, he decided to retire for the evening to his room and continue studying, since it would be a week more before Altair would visit him. After a couple of hours of studying, he leaned back in his chair and did a major body stretch, yawned and scratched various spots before getting up and going to the brewer to make a pot of Forest Brew. He loved the stuff compared to the other blends. For him, it was a deep rich earthy taste, lightly bitter, jet black, and he was pretty sure this was their version of coffee here. As the Brewer finished, he poured a cup and then returned to the table with it, and just as he sat down there came a light knock on his door.

'Now who could this be at such a late hour?' He thought. 

He got up out of the chair as he put the cup down and quickly put on some clothes. He headed to the door, and once there he opened the door and froze as he stared into those beautiful galactic blue eyes. Iris stared into those mysterious black eyes of his wanting to get lost. 

They stay like this for a long while, and it wasn't until an attendant walked down the hall and saw them, and walked passed them while making a comment about how a male would welcome an attractive female in for the night. At which point her inner ears and face under a thin layer of newly grown fur turned red, as he gave an embarrassed look with his ears folding back and welcomed her in.

He closed the door and turned around only to she her sitting on the floor on her knees. It reminded him of the first time Julyna had sat like that. His ears remained folded back as he looked at her with a sad face because he remembered that he never apologized to Julyna for snapping at her about it. 

She picked up on his unhappiness as her ears folded back completely as she hung her head in shame for not anticipating his thoughts. After a moment she chanced a look up after not hearing him say anything or being hit as punishment and saw his handpaw being offered to her. She was confused by the gesture at first but then softly took his handpaw. 

He gently pulled her up on her feet and then slowly guided her to the bed and had her sit on its edge. It was soft and cushy to her but was he showing her that he wanted to mate with her so soon. He knelt down in front of her to look at her better. He watched her start to remove the top of her dress at the shoulders and stopped her while replacing the dress straps gently. She was completely lost on what to say and do. He had saved her life, so she owned him, and the only way she knew to repay him, was to be his mate, but what she sensed from him confused her.

"I'm glad you're doing better." He said gently with a soft smile. His voice was like velvet to her ears causing her to shudder while blushing again softly. 

“I, I wanted t-to thank you, for rescuing me." She said excitedly and nervously. Her voice was a bit higher than Julyna's but lovely nonetheless. 

Rubicant moved back a bit and sat in the chair at the small eating table. She was unsure of what to do next and instead sat there watching him for any hints. He was very different from any other male she had been with in the past. Though she never mated with any of them, they still treated her as though they had. "You know..." He started to say. "I'm not opposed to mating with you, but I would like to get to know more first. I'm a bit old-fashioned in that aspect." He finished softly. 

She blushed again knowing he wanted too. "You saved my life, and by that alone, I am your mate, as I have no other way to repay you for your selfless deed." He looked at her realizing that what she was talking about was a life debt. 

He leaned forward in his chair and looked into her beautiful eyes. "You don't owe me anything." He began softly. "I did what I did because I could no longer stand by and watch the abuse. I had been idly sensing the two of you for a while, and when he started to push you over, I was on my feet trying to get to you." He finished. 

She hung her head, ashamed that she couldn't protect herself from her ex-mate and that another male had to step in, and this one treated her like a friend. Her parents had raised her to honor the one that saved your life. You were indebted to them. Be they male or female. You had to give yourself unconditionally to them. She started to cry in front of him, which concerned him as he leaned in and gently caressed her cheek. "I'm sorry if I upset you." He said sincerely. 

She took his handpaw into her own and cuddled it as she struggled to speak, "I don't know what to do. You're not a typical male making demands and mistreating me." 

He sat next to her on the bed and pulled her into a hug. "You've never had a friend before?" He questioned. 

"A friend? I've had friends in the past, but with all the moving my family does, I never get to keep them for long. So I started looking for a companion instead someone I could keep with me instead of losing them when we moved." She went silent for a moment before continuing with her voice having a bit confidence. "My parents raised me to give myself to the one that saves my life." 

"A life debt," Rubicant softly stated.

She nodded at his statement. "But you don't want me, and now I don't know what to do," she finished.

He thought for a moment, "I never said I didn't want you, all I said was that I wanted to get to know you first. I'm not the type to jump into a relationship before knowing someone. Let's start off as friends and see where that leads." He said with a reassuring smile and hug.

 She turned to look at him. He was very handsome, but something else about him caught her mind, something akin to a duality. She wasn't sure if she should ask him about it, but he projected a warmth of friendship that she began to understand. She figured it was a good starting place as any for them, but in her mind, she already belonged to him, and she would wait until he was ready for her.

They spent the weekends together of the course of a few weeks, as she didn't have school then. She managed to persuade Rubicant to go a few nightclubs she knew of for some dinner and dancing. During this time he came to the conclusion that she was a bit younger than him, not that it a big deal. It just meant he had the adjust himself for more 'rigorous activities,' and less studying on the weekends. He admitted to himself that she brought new life into his life as he went out with her. She was lively, energetic, and to be honest a ton of fun to where he started enjoying life again, something that hadn't happened since before he could remember.

Rubicant told Altair and Julyna about her when they visited him. They thought it was wonderful that he had saved her, and said to him that relationships built on life debts weren't all that rare. He had stated that he wanted to start off as friends to see how things grew between them. Not to mention he wasn't sure how they would handle it because he did love them. Julyna was happy for him and said that she would like to meet her one day. Altair was just as happy for him, but mostly because Rubicant said he loved him, which meant he wasn't turned off to going further with him down that path. He was also interested in meeting this female, as having someone as lively as she, could make things more energy driven in their relationship. In the end, it made him happy that they were ok with Iris as he liked her and hoped he could continue getting to know her. 

As the cycles passed, they grew closer together, even after she left for the Academy, managed to graduate and get assigned to Julyna's ship as a medical assistant. She managed to meet Julyna and Altair during their off-duty time finally and realized just how much all three of them cared for one another. She was a little jealous but understood when he explained how they ended up together. She had never actually given any thought to having multiple partners, but she wasn't against it just didn't know what to expect from it. The only thing that still bothered her was this feeling of duality she got from him. Even though she gave herself to him, he still hadn't told her about it, and it worried her because she felt like it was holding him back.

One evening she went to visit him during one of her meditation sessions. It was a night they regularly went out dancing, but tonight he wanted to have a nice relaxing stroll along the shoreline at the resort. 

He needed to tell her about the real him, and it scared him. She picked up on this feeling of dread from him, and as they were out of listening range, she turned to him and looked into his eyes. "Rubi, what's wrong? You've been awfully quiet tonight." 

He looked into her galactic blue eyes, which glowed in the light of the twin full moons with a tremble in his voice. "I wish, I wish I could be here physically with you." He said softly as he gently stroked her cheek. 

She sensed him trembling a great deal mentally and spoke in a loving manner. "Rubi, we'll meet someday I know it." 

He sniffled as she felt his body tremble, was he crying? She looked harder at him and saw wet streams going down his cheeks. She reached up and gently wiped his tears away. "Iris, you are the most beautiful female I have ever laid my eyes on, and I'm so sorry," he finished.

Iris's ears folded back from his comment, but she didn't understand what he meant by 'being sorry.' He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. In the course of a few seconds, she knew everything about him. He wasn't a real Derlenian. He wasn't even in the same galaxy. He was running away from an abusive home and wanted to be as far away as possible, and that he was in love with her.

When he finished, he leaned back scared that by coming clean about himself to her, that she would walk away even though Julyna and Altair didn't. To his surprise, she just looked at him and smiled. "Is that what's been bothering you, sweetie?" He nodded to her. "I've had a feeling since the day we met, that you were different, and you know what?" He shook his head. "I still love you, and want to be with you." She finished as she leaned in and gave him their first kiss. She would do everything she could to bring him to her somehow.

His body suddenly went rigid, as he pulled her back away from his body. "Rubi, what is it?" She watched him look down at his chest as she noticed the tip of a long blade coming through his chest. He fell to his knees as she called out to him trying to get him to respond to her. 

Iris was then suddenly backhanded hard enough to send her backward onto the ground. The pain was intense on her muzzle, but she shook it off and started to get up looking at who hit her. Fear came over her as she saw her ex-mate repeatedly stabbing Rubicant. 

She watched in horror as he gave one final stab and managed to damage the power core, causing it to electrocute Rubicant as he screamed out in pain. For the first time in her life, Iris felt anger rip through her being as it broke through every mental barrier the GrandMaster had placed on her. 

She got up and screamed as she ran toward him bashing into him hard, to force him off Rubicant causing him fall in the sand. He turned to look at her as he saw her standing there shaking all over. 

"YOU WHORE!" he yelled. 

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY RUBI!!" she screamed at him.

Rubicant's body jerked and spazzed under her as she heard the deep computerized voice speak, demanding encapsulation. 

"YOU BELONG TO ME! I WON'T LET YOU BE WITH HIM OR ANYONE ELSE!" He yelled as he got up and started heading toward her. 

She cried out in anger as he got closer and lashed her arm and handpaw out like a whip in his direction. He was suddenly hit full force from her mental energy. Never before had a Derlenian displayed this level of mental power. If Sandra had witnessed this, she would say that she used some level of Psychokinesis. 

The fight had suddenly become a very different level. The male turned and looked at her again, as he saw Iris's long hair fan out behind her like a pair of wings, as he was hit again and sent backwards. 

He could hear her screams of rage and anger as he got up again. Had she lost all control of herself and her ability? He yelled in anger at her, "YOU DUMB BITCH! YOU'VE LOST IT!" She screamed out again, as he was sent flying into a nearby tree and held there as he struggled. With what little control she had left, she walked over to him as he continued to struggle. 

"I'm gonna kill you!" He struggled to say to her. That was the final straw for her, as she forced herself into his mind, and began to very painfully tear his memories to shreds. He screamed out in pain, and after a few moments, he begged her to stop, because at this point he didn't know what or why this was happening to him. 

She continued her assault as a voice spoke to her mentally. "Stop!" it pleaded. She didn't. "Stop this!" it pleaded again. She continued still. "Damn it stop this now!" the voice demanded, causing her to finally snapped out of it and pulled out of Ex's mind, as she left him with just his childhood memories. 

He fell to the ground and was out cold, as she backed away from him. Scared that she had lost control like that, and of what she did to him, she turned away and went back to Rubicant only to find the damaged unit he was using, and a message scrawled in the sand. ‘I love you.’ She knelt down next to the husk and gently picked up the blade her ex-used to attack him, and broke down calling out Rubicant's name.