A Heart for Music

[saerwen]

Nerons displeasure with the disgraceful screech was so evident that Jaedon thought if it had been any clearer it would have bitten her hands off. "Oh great, here goes... Bye, bye violin." She thought to herself. She was amazed when Neron made no action to take it back, but rather, gathered himself and turned to her, to instruct her further. Finally the errors would be corrected, and maybe she could succeed in producing a few well played notes.
When Neron took her hand to correct her fingering she was sure that she stopped breathing. She didn't know why though. Maybe she was just nervous with excitement. She was sure that she would start shaking soon if she were. She just knew that she couldn't stand to give up on the beautiful instrument yet, not with so little effort, so little time. She had longed for this kind of experience all of her life, and now she finally had it, but if she was not careful she was sure that it would fall apart.
Yet again, he had taken her other hand to help her understand how she needed to approach the instrument. Jaedon was sure that she would not sleep for a week after this because it set her on end so. As he pulled the bow across the strings Jaedon heard the note come out clear and pure, so pure. She closed her eyes for a moment to let the music sink in. She jerked herself back to reality and opened her eyes as she felt him pull away from her. She looked up as he motioned for her to try again.
She took a deep breath, not wanting to disappoint again. She tried to remember every feeling that he had given her as he had demonstrated to her. She made sure that everything felt right and then pulled the bow across the strings again, and then shifted the bow to bring it back, trying a different note. This time it didn't screech that bad, only at first as she adjusted quickly to find the perfect pressure and feeling. She stopped and looked to the "professor" to see if he approved.

[Neron]

Neron waited for a dreaded screech to rip through the air once more, but instead some decent notes hung on the air instead. A sigh of relief came from him. "Good.. much better though it still needs some work." A faint smile crossed his lips, " Pretty good for a first time." As he looked at her a sudden wave of tiredness rushed over him. His smile wavered and faded. What was he doing? A serious look came over his eyes as his feet finally carried him over to the window. Teaching a girl, no not a girl, the girl that had caused himself so much anger recently. The girl that had caused him to loose so much sleep, and here he came to the music room to try and escape and she had shown up. Sure she had been nice and he had felt more comfortable around her than a lot of people recently. To comfortable.

His gaze lingered out the window, though if you had asked him what he saw he couldn't have answered. His thoughts had overtaken him. Ever since that night where he had met Jaedon she had been walking in his dreams. Though not walking, more like killing them. Every time he wanted to rest she was there speaking those barbed words that gave him a strange feeling. Something he had never heard before. If Miriel hadn't been there both Jaedon and he little friend probably wouldn't have seen another night. That's how things worked with him. Make a person mad and you will have to deal with a mad person, make a killing dragon mad, that will be the last thing you ever saw. "Yes, if Miriel hadn't been there." His thoughts drifted off. "I wouldn't be as tired as I am, I would have these strange feelings." His face grimaced slightly. "If she hadn't been there..." a small voice echoed inside of him, "You never would have enjoyed this evening, you would have been banished most likely and had yet another person that you have killed. Plus you never would have gotten to get to know her." He turned to face Jaedon. "That's true.." His voice was almost inaudible.

Walking towards her he held out his hands. "That's enough for today." There was a seriousness in his gaze, only more intensified by the tired look of his face. Deciding against waiting for her to move her gently took his violin and bow from her hands and turned away from her. It wasn't a grab nor was it to gentle, it was just a man taking back his possession.

[saerwen]

Jaedon nodded in agreement with Nerons statement. There was no way that it couldn't need some work done. She had just touched the instrument for the first time in her miserable life. This was her highlight. She blossomed under his compliment. Music was something that made her happy, and if people thought that she did good in any area of it she would jump up and down. She watched Neron, and noticed that all at once his countenance seemed to have fallen.
She waited for a long time for him to speak, watching him. Then he spoke under his breath as though to himself, but she wasn't sure.
Then, in one statement, her entire world died. "enough..." That word seemed to linger as she glanced down at the instrument with a lusting desire. He took it from her with almost no emotion at all other than a strong sign that he thought she had been holding it for too long. Jaedon was yet again tempted to get angry, but she didn't. Not yet at least. She sighed as she reached behind her to where the forgotten piece of music had been laid and began to study it. She rose and walked over to the piano, hit a key and then walked back to the chair. She slowly started to hum the tune, starting on the note that she had played previously. She tried to deal with the deprivation of the violin by contenting herself with her own voice. She played with the music as she slowly hummed it out, recording the sound and the words in her head.

[Neron]

That strange feeling started gnawing on his stomach as he took the instrument away from Jaedon. The look on her face, total utter disappointment, why did that make this feeling arise in his heart? a sigh passed his lips as he slipped the violin back into the velvet lined case. His fingers caressed the surface, he wasn't the only one in the room anymore with a love for this instrument."Perhaps we can continue tomorrow or whenever we are both free." A key from the piano rang out suddenly. He jumped slightly, his body turned to see what that was for, when his foot got caught on the chair his violin was on and he lost his balance. The sound of his body meeting the floor created a muted thud.

Soon his dark for came back to an upright position, this time a dense sensation surrounded him, one that darkened and provoked the mood. Cursing under his breath he brought the velvet cover over the violin and shut the lid securely. He didn't dare look at Jaedon.

[saerwen]

Jaedon had not thought that her actions would cause such a reaction, but she could not help but start giggling as she saw the man fall down. This was the second time that she had watched this man and all of his un-gracefulness come flying out. It seemed to be so out of character. He seemed so smooth, so steady, and then these sudden outbursts keep bringing that image down. Jaedon tried so hard to stifle her laughter, and she continued to fail so horribly that she was sure she had to find another remedy. She decided to try holding her breath. Maybe Neron wouldn't notice. When she had finally calmed her uproars, she just smiled and looked at Neron as he pulled himself off of the floor and went on packing his instrument in its case. Jaedon could tell that he was purposely avoiding eye contact with her.
"No as smooth as you would like everyone to think, eh? I wonder if that big head of yours makes it any worse..."

[Neron]

Neron cringed at the giggling he heard as his face flamed red, not so much with embarrassment as with anger. His hands turned into fists, clenched as tightly as they could, as his body shook with anger. Yet everything was under control, he wouldn't let his anger get the best of him. Yet just when he thought all was going well she had to make that stupid comment. Little did she know what it would bring on.

Whirling around successfully this time his figure faced his now enemy. Eyes that once were serious and docile now were alight with a bright fire, and slitted like a snakes. "You think that's funny don't you? do you think I chose this blasted, cursed form? I hate it just as much as I am beginning to hate you! Who do you think you are?" His eyes flicked back and forth between normal and slitted, it was as if he was trying to fight back, trying but failing. Even his palms were starting to bleed from his nail biting into his hands. "Did I laugh at you when you changed into your usual form or when you were so weak you fell helpless to the ground?" His voice seemed between a hiss and a roar. "control yourself, control yourself." The voice went unheeded as his eyes remained slitted. "Perhaps you would like to see how smooth I am in my true form" He brought himself to his full height as he glared icily at her.

[saerwen]

Jaedon was a little startled by his anger, but waht was even more unsettling were those eyes... Eyes that continued to flicker back and forth from something beautiful to haunting. Both had a beauty, but one was so abnormal to her that it made her tremble. Neron was a dragon, and she knew this well. Not many creatures would have eyes like that. However startled she was by his out-burst, Jaedon was not going to let him throw his fit over a simple joke and get away with it. This was a test, a test of her strength as well as his. She felt ready for the challenge, she had had no one to play games with in a long time, and so she started her fun again. She formulated biting words in her mind as fast as his came out.
"Hey, don't get up on your high horse over a simple joke. You must have absolutely no sense of humor what so ever. I am sick and tired of you lording your power everywhere!" Jaedon was about to burst, and so, instead of changing forms, she channeled all of the anger into forcing her way into Nerons mind, even if it was in the smallest corner, she would find her way in, and she would start to tear him apart from the inside out. "It's true you didn't laugh, but that is simply because you don't know how! Forgive me if I have the ability to have fun you pompous brat. And contrary to your opinion, there are other kinds of strengths in this world than those of the body, of magic, but you are too numb-skulled to even think of that, aren't you?" Jaedon could feel herself fighting in...crawling in, like the sneaky little black thing she was. She hated her personality when she was like this, but it was who she was. She didn't have the strength to fight this will. Her will. It was like a monster in the back of her mind, arising only when the chance for a good fight came around. She would trade who she was in any second. She knew what it was like to hate yourself, but this guys nerve to think that no one else understood his problems... It was insulting to her intelligence. "If you want to humiliate yourself and pop into your true form be my guest. Then I would have a reason to laugh, seeing as how you wouldn't fit would you? And you would have trouble recovering from that form. Come on, I dare you Neron, give me a reason to ridicule you. Oh wait, do I need one? Or do I have one already?"

[Neron]

“Lording my power? You are one to talk, look at you? Look at what you did with Miriel always throwing your weight around and manipulating people!” His voice hissed as his skin seemed to turn darker. “You say there is more to the world than magic and those of the body, prove it, let’s see if you can find something that is more important to you. After all I guess I should tell your best friend that you find something more important than her life and the risk she took was only idle play. Let’s see how that works out.”

Then a presence in his mind caused him to let out a blood curling roar, this time his voice no longer normal human like. It had coarseness to it, a deepness, a mixture of dragon and human. "Get out of my head you cursed witch!" then an idea came to his mind and a sinister smile formed on his lips. "No...stay..you want something to ridicule? Something to laugh at? Do you want to know who I really am? Well then be my guest.” He opened a small port in his mind a small door into who he was. But if Jaedon went in she would go to a place no one had been before, and know things even Miriel didn’t know. He stood waiting, shaking with emotion, with hatred. Everything about him seemed to be nothing by a dark shadow with bright green eyes piercing through, smoke seemed to be coming from his palms and it swirled about him, only adding to his appearance.

[saerwen]

Jaedon was filled with rage when she heard Nerons reference to what had happened the night that she had first met him. She could hardly believe the audacity that he had to bring it up again after she had already given a perfectly good explanation for her actions. He had no idea why she had done that. Neither he, nor Miriel knew why it was that she did those things. They could never gues why, not unless they themselves traveled into her mind and dug up all of her mysteries. How dare he presume that she would put her friend in danger simply to satisfy a longing for power! He knew nothing of her character, how dare he say such a thing!
"I thought that I had already explained myself on this issue, but I must have been mistaken." Jaedon had made sure to calm herself and keep herself quietly focused. She spoke with a tersely constrained voice, not betraying her true feelings. "Miriel knew exactly what she was doing. She knew as well as anyone else that there would be a large cost in order to cast that spell, and that she might have a few problems with it. I knew all too well that there would be problems as well, but I also knew that I would be the one to absorb the shockwave if the spell were to have failed. Miriel would have been saved because she is immune to fire. Surely someone like you can understand that." Jaedon said the last part like she was talking to a five year old. "And even more than this, you have no ground to accuse me of being power hungry. You have no idea what my motivations were, and therefore you cannot dare to presume that I would put my friend in danger for the simple pursuit of power. I have other reasons that you couldn't possibly understand. You cannot know my mind, then or now."
Jaedon gazed into his eyes with dark thoughts, she was continuing her mental assault on him. His outraged scream was an all too obvious sign to Jaedon that he had discovere her pressence in his mind and that he didn't like it. Witch... Jaedon smiled a malicious smile as he said exactly what she expected to hear. So many had called her that in previous years. When his own face contorted with an evil grin Jaedon couldn't help but begin to wonder if she had made a flaw, but then she decided that this was going to be good fun. She felt his mind open to her, he wanted her to come and invade him. This could only mean one thing... A trap. Jaedon knew that she was going to go in, but she wanted to make sure that she could escape if she needed to. She knew that if Neron had set a trap for her, then he was more than likely going to try and send her into a coma by trapping her in his mind and then shutting down all thought. Jaedon made a shield around herself, a sort of wormhole to the outside world if she needed a quick escape. This would make sure that nothing terrible bad happened.
After her defenses were firmly in place, Jaedon decided that it was time to delve into the unknown region that was laid in front of her mind. She was nervous and curious. Why would Neron let her in? What kind of game did he have waiting for her on the other side? Would she see things that she wished she hadn't? What would she see? Pushing these questions aside, she made herself relax. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Mentally, she was ready, physically, she needed to be calm. After she was sure that everything was ready, she set her will to work. Her eyes opened to reveal the brilliant emerald color being swallowed up by red-edged black. It looked as though blood had started to spread through her eyes and was leaving its darkest stain with an irksome beauty that both served as appealing and disturbing. Her skin seemed to darken, her black hair fell over her face casting a ghostly shadow on her greyish looking skin. She stared at Neron with this ghastly visage, one that was as haunting as his own. She would let him see her true power now, and she was sure that he would not be disappointed. She stepped through the opened door of his mind to find what was on the other side, waiting for her.

[Neron]

Neron smirked once more as he saw her true power, she was going to continue. "Let it begin then." He could feel her stepping into the place in his mind, through the opening. His eyes closed as all concentration focused on what was about to happen.

The door behind Jaedon snapped shut and seemed to meld with the rest of his mind, black and as strong as dragon scales. "I hope you enjoy the ride, my friend." His voice echoed in his mind, if there were other people in the room they wouldn't have heard anything. "You better sit back and get comfortable, you will be here for a while." Then everything in his mind went blank. Thought died and everything went quiet, a pin could be heard dropping and it would have sounded like a gunshot.

Neron's body now was completely surrounded in smoke, it seemed as though the room itself had darkened into night. Even the sunlight that streamed through the windows had no power over the inky blackness. The smoke that came from him was unique, it neither harmed instruments, had no scent, and didn't effect breathing besides making you slightly sleepy. No longer could he be seen, it was as if he was trying to hide himself from what was about to happen.

After a minute of no thought Neron broke the silence, "You wanted to know who I was, you wanted to ridicule me, well then this should give you enough information to make fun for the rest of my life. Enjoy.

[/i]

And so the memories began

Everything in Neron's mind went black for a moment then like a movie light slowly started to appear, slicing through the darkness like a knife. It's light at first was blinding, but then it slowly started to reveal a scene. Two dragons stood over three eggs. Light was shining from their eyes, happiness it could be called, or satisfaction. One was a large blue dragon with eyes a pale silver like the moon on a clear night. Her wings were striped with the silver lacing along the membrane that connected the structure of her wing. The other was of a larger size and instead of being blue was a deep forest green. His eyes were of the same color and had a steady and wise gleam to them. Both the green and silver eyes were gazing down at the eggs at their feet, it was their first offspring and they were due to hatch soon. "Natioa look at the them" The green dragon spoke, his voice was as deep and smooth as water.
"Look one is hatching!" The blue one spoke. Sure enough one of the eggs, green and silver striped started to hatch. Before long a deep green dragon with silver strips and green eyes stood before them. It's wings were undeveloped, rendering the dragon helpless. The blue dragon nosed it "You shall be called Pieri, a dragon of peace."

Then everything went black as it seemed a slide was being changed. The whiteness blinded once more, but seemed to fade into another picture once more. This time it was night and seemed to be weeks if not months later. Neron's wings had finally developed and it seemed like the little dragon could do nothing more than run around flapping, tripping, and jumping around the cave entrance. Natioa sat there, her silver eyes no longer held the happiness as before but now held utter sadness. Her attentions seemed distracted even though she watched her son run around like a fool. "Momma! When will dad be back? He's been gone for so long!"
Natioa's gaze grew deeper with grief. "How many times must I tell you, he won't be coming back. Nor will you brother and sister. They were killed by the hunters don't you remember?"
Pieri gazed at her and for once sat down with a plop. His head tilted slightly as he looked at his mother, "Does that mean I won't see them anymore?

[/b]"
Natioa's eyes seemed to sparkle as they filled up with tears. "Yes Pieri...that is what that means."
The moving memory suddenly froze with Natioa pulling her son close and enveloping him with her wing to hide her tears from him.

"You see.." Neron's voice echoed through his head. "My father had been out hunting for the family while my mother watched us hatchlings. He was attacked and severely wounded. Dragons never were known to be very friendly creatures to the humans, and they had heard that dragon scales had a magical power to them. Well he had enough strength to come back to where we were, a mistake for he was followed. My mother fought for her husband and children, but she only managed to be able to save one, me. My father, sister and brother all died there that day. It was about 5 or 10 year before my mother soon was captured and killed by the hunters. She had heard of a spell being made called a skin that allowed dragons to appear human. "Go and learn. " Those were the last words that came from her mouth. Once she died I went out and killed everyone of the hunters without mercy. No longer was I known as Pieri dragon of peace, but I changed my name to Neron, dragon of revenge. Dragons, when effected greatly can take one that color of their feeling most prevalent in their heart. So from that point on I was a black dragon."
[/blockquote][/i]

[saerwen]

Jaedon seemed to have found herself in nothing but a black abyss. It truly was nothingness, cold and disturbing. The wormhole that she had formed as a protective fallback was still there, but barely, she had to continue to fight to ensure that she was not swallowed by Nerons thoughts. This was taking the least amount of effort from her. She heard Nerons thoughts echoing loud and clear in her mind, as though he had spoken them straight into her mind.
Jaedon stayed in the darkness waiting for what he was going to pull on her. Slowly a light came out of the dark behind Jaedon. She turned around to face it, expecting it to be something with ill intensions. It was a blinding, piercing light that seemed to cut into Jaedon herself just as it sliced through the darkness in Neron's mind. She had to shut her eyes to protect her from the pain that came with the light. When it calmed and became a little softer Jaedon looked up and saw that she was inside of Nerons memories. The began to play, like often she had seen before, like old movie clips, tattered because of forgotten details. However, even though they still held the smae quality, Jaedon could tell that Neron remembered the things that she was seeing quite clearly. He had it all, but he never looked at it. That was what seemed so old about it, he never looked at them, they were like buried treauser that he had taken from the darkened parts of his mind.
Jaedon stood and watched, marveling at his memories. So vivid, they must have haunted him for some time in order to be this well preserved. As the story unfolded, Jaedon could tell that the story would not end well. The sad look on the mothers face betrayed it first. She had seen that type of visage before. It was the look of a broken-hearted mess. Jaedon felt for Neron, and she knew that he had pains from these memories. But he was not alone. As he decribed how he had changed, Jaedon thought of what he was like now, and ow well the new identity described him. She was unsure what else she might find in this tattered mass of mind, but she was sure that it would not be a welcoming sight. She decided that she could bear it, and so took another deep breath as she prepared for what came next, still wary of becoming too comfortable.

[Neron]

The blackness seemed to last longer this time in between the moving reels of his memory. If it had been a theater Neron would be seen holding the next reel in the movie with uncertainty. Should he show her this side of him? A thought passed through his mind, he had forgotten that she could hear it. "She wanted to see it, show her." And so the next part of the series started. This time the bright light lasted a shorter time, for he remembered this much better than the other memories.

These memories were of his fighting past, him killing mercilessly the hunters that had caused him so much pain. But he didn't stop there as soon as anyone caused him to get angry they died. Flashes kept going and going, it seemed an endless list, no one was spared from his fury. But there was one flash that seemed to be most prevalent, and significant

[/b]

The light faded into a picture of Neron standing outside a village, his black hair almost completely covered his eyes. It was years later, he had mastered the accursed skin so that he could hold it for longer than two minutes. There was a blurry circle around him, they seemed to be shaped like humans, but more in a blob like form. Neron seemed to be hiding this detail from Jaedon, not letting her see the whole picture. The blobs that circled Neron became closer, a knife was seen then another. Slowly they started advancing on him. Unlike the aggressive blobs, Neron stood in the center, fists clenched, eyes glowing a bright green. A blob approached with a knife but standing about five feet away it paused. "Leave this village, you aren't wanted here...you you....demon!" The knife quavered a bit. Then it steadied out, "You are no longer wanted here, we've heard about you." Neron didn't move.
"Quite a way to ask, a forced removal hmm? Do I really look that dangerous?"
"Don't let him trick you men, this guy is one of the most wanted around.." The blob spoke loudly to the others before addressing Neron once more,"Just leave ok? You're not wanted. We don't want to have to kill you"
"Kill me? We'll see about that. So you believe the tales from the other villages, I thought you were at war with them. Interesting how quickly they become your most reliable sources."
Another blob spoke up, his voice was deeper and seemed to have a rushing current of anger in it, "Listen demon, I don't know what you are trying to do with these lies. I know who you, or rather what you are."
"And how would you know that?"
"You killed my wife and child in your last rampage."
"Ah yes.." Neron's mouth twisted into a smirk, "I remember her. You should have seen her face."
The sound of a knife whirring through the air sounded, and before Neron could move a knife was planted so deep in his arm only the hilt could be seen. It was the deep voiced ones knife. With a grimace Neron observed the knife, but he pulled it out without even wincing. Anger shone in his eyes. Yet as he held the knife in front of him he stared at the blood stained blade. "That will cost you."
"How dare you talk about my wife like that! You will be the one to pay!"
"Will I? I think you will be joining your wife in the underworld sooner than you think."With that Neron flicked the blade in the direction of the blob. It hit him right in the chest, a death wound. The other blobs stood for a moment in astonishment.
"GET HIM!" The rushed upon him. He managed to block and deflect most of the blows, but as he whirled around to block another hit he lost his balance and landed on the ground. All you could see were blobs all around him, covering his fallen form. This didn't last for long for soon the whole lot was thrown back as a large black dragon suddenly seemed to have grown from the midst of them. Blood streamed down the dragons side and one of its forelegs. A roar rumbled in the air like thunder as the dragon's green eyes blazed with pain and fury. The blobs were thrown here and there like dolls. It wasn't long before they no longer moved on the ground. But the dragon wasn't done, now on a rampage he stretched his beautiful wings, lifting himself into the sky. Fire streamed from his mouth, sending the whole village alight. No one survived.

Then all went black again, nothing was seen. He didn't try and let Jaedon see his restlessness, his want for someone. He had been a wanderer, and rouge. He not only hated others but he hated his form as a human. No matter how much he tried to master the stupid skin he couldn't help tripping over his own blasted feet. In his dragon form he was graceful, powerful, mighty, and a warrior, but in his human form... But he didn't show this to Jaedon to ask for pity, he wanted her to hate him, after all she might as well, everyone else did, besides Miriel. Now she knew the truth, she knew everything about him, even his true name.

Now more memories played and no thought entered his mind, it was as if he was no longer alive. So deep had he sunk within himself that he was unresponsive to everything. Not even enough to let her out.
[/i][/blockquote]

His outward appearance had changed, no longer was the smoke whirling about him in anger instead it had all faded and there he stood, hair covering his eyes, head bowed, arms hanging loosely by his side. Truthfully he was reviewing more memories in his minds, ones that hurt to much to mention but he was in a rut now and he had to look through them all. So there he was in the center of his mind, in a small protected area, flipping through memories. In a place that she couldn't infiltrate without him knowing.

[saerwen]

Jaedon sat and surveyed everything that took place. His memories truly were disturbing. She wondered why she had never thought of something like that happening. When she considered her own rage, she found herself realizing how close she had become to his fate. Why she had been spared that trial she was unsure, but she knew that even now it was a slight possibility.
"She wanted to see it, show her" that thought had echoed through her mind the whole time that she had watched his memories. "What did he think that I was after? Did he think that I wanted to find his past? Haha, he has no idea what I do to peoples minds...Forget your past Neron... It's your future that you need to be worrying about." She continued to watch. When it finally came to an end Jaedon sat speechless. She decided that she would let Neron see some of the things that she was thinking of... Mainly what she thought of him... For once, she would tell the full truth to him without putting some sort of twist it.
A picture of when she first saw him came to mind as he dashed in to catch her friend. Her first impression had been good. As the night drew on she found herself more at odds with him. "He is a worthy opponent for me. I must play around further if I have the chance..." Thoughts started rushing through, all of them her own frustrations, most coming from previous thought, or from thoughts in the past moments of joy and anger. All of them said one overall thing, "I am frustrated that he is right, and that he is the only one that realizes he is right. He is annoying, a little sweet, a little sour, and certainly a good representative of his kind... I usually find male presence intollerable, but this guy is okay. It is irritating how his mood switches so quickly. What a dark past... But it is almost as blotched as mine. I can't ridicule him for this, and I certainly can't laugh because I am guilty of a similar treason. It's his own fault, just as it is mine, so he better learn how to deal with it because no one else can do it for him." Jaedons thoughts came to an end, and before she shut away her own mind, a small bit of a song that she had loved, and sang often came to her. "Child of the wilderness, born out of emptiness, learn to be lonely." She waited for a while to see what actions he would take, still keeing her slight defense alive, just in case.

[Neron]

Neron "sat" in the middle of his mind, memories poured over him like a heavy storm. Faces of the ones he had taken away form the world flashed before his mind. Every face sent a pang through him, yet also so much hatred. Just as he was about to get to bogged down from them a voice echoed in his mind. It had a female tone to it, and it was far away. All sense of what had happened had been temporarily forgotten. "Who, what, where, how?" Then it came back to him, Jaedon. By this time the words of Jaedon were passing fast and he struggled to pull himself out of his memories to listen.
He didn't know what to say, what to think. What was she doing, why was she showing herself to him, he wasn't sure if he wanted that. After all, it would be better off for the both of them if she hated him, he wasn't liking the feeling he was starting to have towards her.
"Similar to yours?" His voice was deep with emotion, yet it had strength behind it. "How can my past be similar to yours? You say to just deal with it, you cannot just deal with the things I have been through. They haunt you, for as long as you live. Like a soldier who comes back from battle I have scars, and just like them everything I did haunts me without warning, sweeping in my life and out, flashes of memories, faces, screams, voices crying out for mercy. How can you forget those things? "

[saerwen]

Nerons questions flew at Jaedon as she tried to close her mind the rest of the way. But as his questions came to her attention she realized that in reality, she had just done all of that work for absolutely no reason whatsoever. She opened herself to him again and then let her voice ring in his mind again. "It is true that you never forget, and you can never justify what you have done because it was done with wrong motives. However, what is done is done, and you can't ever go back to fix those things. I learned that the hard way." All at once, her voice stopped, and in its place, came pictures, vague memories. Some rolled like movies, others just sat there for a second, an image of a ruined past.
It started with visions of a lovely woman around the age of twenty with intelligent blue eyes, long black hair, and a face that mirrored Jaedons perfectly. She was swinging a little girl around in her arms in a room that looked like it was in the worst place in town. All that could be heard was laughter, both from the child and the woman. Then Jaedon began to speak as it played, "That is my mother and I. My father was a wealthy engineer, but a crook. He left my mother out on her own with me when I was very little. I forever hated him for that. My mother raised me in an apartment above a shoe factories storage facility in the slums. My fondest memories are of her singing to me and dancing. I thought that nothing would separate us. My father was a bicorne, and my mother a human. She knew nothing of who he was, or who I was. She found out one day when I was hurt at school and I came running home. After that she seemed to hate me, like I was the bane of her existence." The picture changed to a little girl in what appeared to be an open air market of sorts. She was fiddling with a strange machine, it was very dark, and no one else was around. When she realized her predicament she started to call for her mother, but no one came. She was left there, alone and forgotten. "My mother left me there, playing with an old record machine. I wandered around the city searching for her, and I never found her. She never came looking for me. I roamed the city looking for her, staying in peoples houses as a stray. More than once I was moved to an orphanage, which I escaped from quickly by manipulating those in charge. I finally learned to stay on my own, using my talents to get what was required."
Again the picture changed to a girl around the age of twelve in a dark alley way talking to a tall and lanky man whos visage was in the darkness. He spoke to her, then gave her something, turned and left. "After living on the streets for so long I had learned who had the power and who didnt. A man by the name of Fische found me one night and from then on he told me ow to move up in the world of street life. I grew cold, hateful, and longed for revenge on both of the parents that had never been there for me. One night when I was 13, I did what I had always longed to do..." The picture changed again. This time the picture returned to the tattered litle apartment that had begun the whole problem. Here, Jaedon was seen creeping up to the bed, a wickedly long sword in her hand. As the twisted memory played Jaedon summed it up in one sentence. "I killed her..." When the sword had been xtracted from its victim, the memory changed to an expensive looking apartment. Jaedon again crept toward the bed where two people lay silently sleeping. Jaedon used her sword on the woman first, and then, she woke the man, holding the sword at his throat as she spoke, "I'm your daughter you wretch, remember this when you're dead so that it doesn't hapen again." Then Jaedon finished the naration that she had started, "...and I killed him."
Jaedon paused and then continued her story. No morepictures played, for words were the only thing that could express this. "I killed my parents, and one innocent life simply because she was there. From that point on, I learned that I could get anything that I wanted, just so long as I used my mind to get it. No one could stand against my suggestive appeals. I took what I wanted from them, and then when they held no more value, I killed them. All of them. I left no ties behind. I slowly became the most wanted person in the slums, underground, and uppercity. I eventually killed Fische and all those that followed him. This stopped when I met Damion, who caused me to buckle under my own conscience. That is a story for another time.
"The point, Neron, is that no matter what, you can't take anything back that has already been done. All that you can do is never do it again. You will hurt, and so you should, because punishment finds all who are evil. Evil... corruption of the soul. It eats you slowly from the inside out, but only if you let it. You have the power to change, just as I do. Nature is hard to beat, but it can be done, if you so choose. That is something that you must do alone.
"Perhaps now that we know each other a bit better, we understand what drives us. Granted, I doubt any one will every fully understand either of our minds." Jaedon smirked. "But maybe now we can get angry at each other without threatening to tear each others heads off."