Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Three (section)

===Confrontation===

She was only fifteen paces from them, but even if she hadn’t been, and if she hadn’t had her hearing, she probably could have heard them.  Alex was glaring at his stone-faced father, hand pointing as if in accusation.  “NOT an option,” Alex snarled, and he turned on his heel to storm off.

“We’ll see,” his father said coldly.  Alex’s gait paused – his fists tightened – his teeth clenched…with an act of will, he resumed his exit, all but slamming the door behind him.

Freya walked up behind where Carlin was standing in a crowd of now-silent locals, all of whom were quietly looking somewhere else.  “What just happened?” Freya asked.

Carlin glanced over his shoulder.  “Hello, Freya.”

“What just happened?” Freya repeated, staring at the door.

The Rogue Trader looked away.  “Alex decided he doesn’t want to be a part of the future, apparently,” Joseph said curtly.

Freya stepped around him and glared into his eyes.  “What did you just do?”

“Nothing I hadn’t told him I would do years ago,” Joseph bit off.  “Madam, this is not your business.”

“Is it your business?” Freya asked.

“Naturally.”

“A shame.  Because I thought a Rogue Trader’s business was in their Writ of Trade,” Freya said flatly.  Carlin’s eyes snapped up.  “And if I find out that the thing Alex has been afraid of you doing since the moment you arrived in-system, and which has been hanging over our vacation like a strategic bomber, has just occurred, your Writ will be revoked before you can say ‘Graverobber,’” Freya whispered harshly.  Before Carlin could recover, she turned to follow his son through the door.

Venus watched them go as Remilia and Kines slowly made their way over.  Jake and his new friend stared from a few feet away.  “Venus, what did he say?” Jake asked.

“That’s Alex’s story,” Venus said sadly.  “Let Freya handle it.”  She turned her gaze on her friends and family, her eyes dimming.  “Please?”

“Sure,” Jake said after a moment’s contemplation.  Kines swallowed, the professionally romantic evening he had been planning evaporating.  Remilia looked down at her shoes, sighing heavily.

“Anyway.  Governor,” Venus said, turning back to her shell-shocked subordinate.  “What were you asking?”


Alex stormed past the guards of the room, his face burning with shame.  His father had said it.  He had finally said what he had known the old bastard would say since the moment he had heard the Star had arrived in-system.  He was done.

He nearly ran towards the car park outside, and all but jumped into the diplomatic car they had taken.  “To the castle, quickly, then come back and wait for the others,” he said to the servitor.

The automaton lifted the car up, then paused.  Alex glared at it in seething anger.  “What?!”  The door swung open as Freya caught up.  “Oh…damn it all,” Alex groaned as his girlfriend climbed in.  “Freya-”

“Hush,” she said.  “We’re not going to talk, it’s okay.  We’re just going to drive back to the Castle and get ready for bed,” she soothed.

Alex snorted angrily, but couldn’t say a word.  Freya.  She had been right, the entire time.  The only one he could trust.  She had been there every single time he had needed her, and now she was the only family he had.

The servitor guided them over the city to the Castle, setting them down on the pad.  Alex launched out of the aircar and headed for the entrance to the castle, blowing past the startled serfs at the door without a word.  He climbed the two flights to their room and ripped the door open, yanking his uniform shirt over his head and throwing it in the corner.  “'''DAMN HIM!'''” he yelled to the empty room.

Freya walked in behind him, silent and hesitant.  Her heart ached for her boyfriend, but she knew it was better to let him vent.  Alex slammed the door of the bathroom as she took a few steps toward him.  She heard him moving about and rambling to himself, and she sighed, her eyes watering.

Alex emerged into the room to find the lights dimmed, but not extinguished, and Freya leaning on the doorframe of the bathroom.  “Alex, get in bed,” she said softly.  “I’ll be right with you, I promise,” she said.

“Yeah,” Alex rumbled.  Freya squeezed his shoulder and slid into the bathroom to begin her own routine.

While she did, Alex ripped off the suddenly unbearable uniform and threw it in the same corner, boots and all.  He dropped onto a pillow and bunched his hand in it, trying to choke its life out.

His eyes were hot.  He blinked, trying to clear them, but it wasn’t going away.  Damn it.

The lights died completely.  A moment later, he felt Freya’s warmth slide into bed alongside him.  She didn’t say a word for nearly two agonizing minutes.  Finally, he heard her faint voice.  “I’m not looking.”

“What?” Alex bit off.

“I promise, I’m not looking.”

Alex was about to snap something back when the heat in his eyes overwhelmed him.  A tear fell out of each, staining the pillow.  Before he could address that, his whole chest shook with a sob.  “D-damn it, you’re…” he managed.  He sobbed again, and the dam was open.  He wept, the heat spilling out of his eyes.  Freya silently passed him a hand towel from the bathroom, and he buried his face in it, crying uncontrollably.

Freya turned to face his back, her own eyes leaking now.  “Alex, baby…let it out,” she whispered.

“The son of a bitch,” Alex moaned.  “He really did it.”

“What did he do, love?” she asked.

“He said that…that…” Alex coughed around his tightening throat.  “H-he said that I had to choose between inheriting the Fleet and going to college.  So, basically, my family or my ambition.”  He wiped his eyes on the towel, coughing again.  “I loathe him so much,” Alex whispered bitterly.

Freya’s tears slid down her face as she listened to Alex suffer.  His internals were a mess, she could hear.  His heart rate and blood pressure were all over the place, and his stomach was clenching and unclenching so bad he sounded like he was on the verge of a vomiting spell.  Her every instinct as his partner screamed at her to try and make him better.  Her instincts as a Russ called her in a different, but similar direction.

“Alex…” she whispered.  “I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be, Freya, this is a good thing,” he snarled into the towel.  “Now we can stay together after summer.  Let the bastard die alone.  Goodness knows driving Mom away wasn’t enough.”  He started crying again.  “Damn it all…damn it…” he sobbed.

Freya buried her face in his bare back, wetting his skin with her tears.  Alex’s own weeping faltered.

“Freya, please don’t…don’t cry, I’m sorry, you…you didn’t do anything wrong,” he said feebly.  “You’re all I have left at this point,” he continued.  “Come on, pull, pull yourself together,” he said, before he curled up in a ball as the enormity of the moment hit him.  “Oh my god, how am I even going to be able to GO to college if he’s not covering it?” he whispered as the full extent of his choice dawned.

Freya heaved, her natural empathy overwhelming her.  “Alex…please…” she whispered tremulously.

Alex sagged into the mattress, reeling.  Freya gingerly pulled at his shoulder, rolling him onto his back.  His face was a mask of tears over an expression of shock, abandonment, and seething rage.  Freya sniffed, looking down on her agonized lover.  “Please…” she whispered again.  “…please hold still.”

Alex stared blindly up at the ceiling, his mind firing on all cylinders.  Freya allowed her instincts to take hold, and she gently nuzzled his neck, planting tiny kisses around his jawline.  She gradually worked her way across to his cheek, rubbing it gently, her very human emotions and canine instincts merging.

“Freya…”Alex whispered brokenly.  She ignored him, settling her body against his, trying to comfort him.  She starting crying again, almost silently.  Distantly, Alex heard a faint, persistent, animal whimper from the back of her throat, one she probably wasn’t even aware of.  Alex’s eyes screwed up.
She gently moved up to his ear, running her lips along it, trying to make him feel better.  She slid both hands over his chest to his other side and held him tight, desperately trying to soothe his hurt.

He reached out with his free hand and held her still for a long moment.  He turned his head to look at her, not that he could see in the total darkness of the room.  She could, and hopelessly looked into his eyes, searching for some vague sign that it was working.

Alex slowly shifted to lie parallel to her.  “Freya…thanks,” he said faintly.  He was still a mess inside, but seeing how much distress he was causing her had brought him some clarity.  “Thanks…for being here for me,” he whispered.

She nodded against her bunched-up hair.  “Forever,” she murmured, tears still pouring from her eyes.  She nipped his ear.  The familiar gesture nearly started Alex off again, but he held it in check with an effort.  He gently pulled her upper leg over his own and slid himself flush with her, and she snuggled up against him, still trying to ease his pain.

“Freya…I don’t say it often enough.”  Alex sniffed again.  “I love you.  I really do.”

Freya nodded against his chest, wrapping both arms around him.  “I know you do, Alex, and I love you,” she said, her voice shaking.  He closed his eyes and held her tight, trying to calm his raging emotions.  “You’re still hurting,” she whispered.  “God, I can HEAR you hurting.”  She turned miserable eyes on him.  “I want to make it all better, but I just don’t know how.”

Alex sighed, exhaustion pulling at him.  “I’m sorry.”

“Would…we could have sex,” she whispered.  “Would that make you feel better?”

“Thanks, sweetheart, but…I’m too tired.  I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

“Just a thought,” Freya said, chagrined.

He squeezed his arm across her braids.  “But, really, baby…thanks.  Just…be here, okay?  I don’t…I don’t know, I’m…going to try to sleep, think this over in the morning.”

Freya nodded against his chest, hearing his heart finally start to slow.  “Okay.”  She cradled herself up to him, letting her warmth soak into his body.  “I’m so sorry you’re hurting,” she said faintly.

“I am too, baby,” he said thickly.  He leaned into her hair and sighed.  “But you’re here.”

“I’m here,” she responded.  She closed her eyes and listened carefully as he drifted off to an uneasy sleep.