Writing: Original -- A Psycho from the Past (VOID)

    I did not forget about the deviant Jade bits, don't worry, I just meant to put this before I went on to those ones.

    The title explains most of what this bit is about. Original storyline Ruusan went back to Uhric with Connor, she and Jhidek's second child, after her mother was in an accident and ran into an old acquaintance who is a few fries short of a happy meal from her ERTP days.

    Also, this scrawl -- or at least this version -- has been voided due to Jhidek's insistence that Ruusan take his younger brother, De'keth (fifteen or thereabouts, but a Vhander and thus not to be taken lightly) along with her.

    I just thought it was an interesting look into some of the things Ruusan dealt with while she was an ERTP on Sinjaro Kahn, a borderline psychopath being one of them.


    Ruu hummed to her son absently, glancing at the time on the spaceport’s display screen, the digits glowing blue in the warm morning light. Despite the hour – 0715 -- the port bustled with life.
    There weren’t many families, the multitude being mostly made up of single business workers, suits almost seeming to glint in the sunlight. She sat in an otherwise empty row of seats near one of the large windows that gave an excellent view of Uhric’s capital city.
    Their flight left in half an hour and she was ready to be home. After the past week with her parents, all that they’d talked about, Ruu felt drained. She wanted to be back with the rest with her family, to be able to actually see Jay as opposed to the visual communicator they’d been using for the past few days.
    “Momma’s kind of pathetic without Daddy, isn’t she, sweetheart?” Ruusan murmured to the child who slept in the sling on her front, a bemused smile touching her features.
    The hand that appeared on her shoulder made the woman jump because she hadn’t seen anyone in her vicinity for several minutes now, and the chances that anyone knew her here were slim.
    A man swung into her vision and Ruu felt coldness wash through her.
    “Ruusan! You haven’t changed in the slightest. Do you remember me?”
    Delusional. Obsessive. Borderline psychotic.
    She could remember every detail of the fateful day she got assigned the case that led to her save Patrick Wile’s life. He had scared her then and that hadn’t changed.
    “Mr. Wile, what are you doing here?” Ruusan asked, telling herself to keep calm as she put her arms around her son protectively.
    He took it badly if he knew you were unnerved by his presence. Don’t show fear. Remain serene.
    “I came to get you!” The curly-haired man dropped into the seat at her side, resting his arms along the backs of the chairs. “They said I would find you here. I didn’t believe them at first, but now I do.”
    "Mr. Wile, I’m leaving Uhric soon. I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to catch up right now.”
    It was as if her words went right through him. Patrick leaned over to look at the child in the sling, and Ruu leaned away out of instinct, her guts clenching at the thought of this man being near Connor. Right now, every fiber in her being was telling her to get far, far away from this man and to not look back.
    The frown that appeared on his face due to her shift away from him made Ruu’s pulse speed up with fear.
    Stay calm.
    “Don’t be like that, Ruusan. I’m not going to hurt you. I just can’t let you get on that flight, you see.” His tone was matter-of-fact but she knew that could change in a heartbeat.
    She could still see his face from all those years ago, the way it had been pleasant and then turned so very black when something didn’t go as he wanted it to. Her team had been informed that he’d been put away in a care center. Obviously, that hadn’t worked out.
    “I have a husband now, Mr. Wile. This is our son. If I don’t get home on this flight, he will come and find me and you won’t like how he will take your presence.” Ruu’s mind went to every other antagonist who had appeared in their lives and she badly wished this was one of those moments, when she’d look over and Jay would be standing there, ready to protect her again.
    But he was light years away, at home with the girls and waiting for her to come home to him.
    Patrick was unbothered by her words. “They said he was wrong for you, Ruusan; that he doesn’t take care of you like he should.”
    Anger bubbled through her fear in a moment, rising to the surface and bringing sharp words with it. “Jhidek has never done anything other than take care of me, Patrick Wile. Talk about him like that again and you’ll regret it dearly.”
    His easy posture didn’t change but he slanted her a hard look that made Ruu want to run.
    So she decided to do just that.
    Collecting her tote bag and pulling it onto her shoulder, Ruusan stood up and took hold of the handle of her rolling suitcase. The light metal was cool beneath her hand as she made sure Connor was situated before starting to walk away.
    Patrick was on his feet in a moment, striding after her and grabbing her wrist to wrench her around to face him again. Ruu was unable to help the gasp of surprise and she twisted her hand, yanking it away from his tight grasp. She used both her arms to support her child who still slumbered despite the proceedings. It would have been humorous in any other situation.
    “I can’t let you leave, Ruusan. They said, no matter what, you can’t leave Uhric.” His green gaze was pleading as he reached for her again.
    The Norsha’acite took a step back to avoid his touch, her throat tight. She wanted to be done with all this. She wanted to be home, with Jay, and Vivi, and Ellora, and blast anyone who tried to stop her at this point.
    I’m an ERTP and I’m a Vhander. I’m stronger than this.
    Her voice was uncompromising. “I don’t care, Patrick Wile, what they told you. If you touch me again, there are a dozen security guards within shouting distance so don’t you dare take another step.”
    It was strange to Ruu, playing this role. The strong one, the one who employed the threats.
    Jhidek usually covered this bit when it was needed.
    Patrick’s gaze hardened in a way that spelled disaster. His hand disappeared into his jacket and returned with a gun clearly designed for stealth and secrecy. The cameras would be unable to pick it up, at that size.
    “You see, the problem now, Ruu—“
    “Don’t call me that,” she interrupted before she could help herself, earning a dark look from Wile.
    “Shut up. I’m talking now. Your turn is done. As I was saying, the problem is that I love you, and another man’s child doesn’t fit into that equation.”
    Ruu stilled, heart racing with fear as it exploded through her. No, Lord, please, no. I can’t handle this. Please, Lord.
    “I’m not the paramedic here, though. What do you think even a low-level stun round would do to a child his age, Ruusan?” The was a deceptive note of lightness that might’ve worked if the circumstances had been different.
    If he hadn’t been talking about killing her son to force her into doing what he wanted. Because it would kill Connor. She knew too much about the effect weapons had on children to consider otherwise. She had too much experience to be able to think otherwise.
    Ruusan’s hold on the baby sleeping against her chest tightened in an effort to protect him, at least in her mind. “He’s going to kill you, Patrick. You’re going to die if you don’t stop right now. So just leave us alone and maybe things will work out better for you.”
    “But I’ve got friends, Ruu,” Patrick announced smugly. “Friends who can hide us away where no one will be able to find us! It’ll be perfect, I promise. You’ll love it. Away from all these people who—“
    “No.” She bit out, taking an unsteady step backwards. “No. Patrick, no. I’m not leaving with you and even if you force me to, my husband will find me and then you’ll regret ever considering something like this, I can promise you that.”
    “I don’t care about this husband of yours. He’s one man, while I have so many friends in the shadows who know how to hide things.”
    “Jhidek Vhander specializes in finding things, as does his family and my parents too.” All her strength was bravado now. Trying to intimidate him into releasing her before any further harm could be done.
    Patrick shot her a flat look. “We’re done here. You either come with me now, and your son might be okay, or you can continue to resist, and he won’t make it out of the spaceport. Am I making any sense here?”
    Ruu wished her comm. weren’t buried at the bottom of her tote where she’d stuffed it in her hurry to leave that morning. She could feel the hot sting of tears at the corners of her eyes, but strove to ignore them.
    Jay’s going to find us. He will. That’s what he’s good at. She repeated that to herself over and over as she took her suitcase by the handle and followed Patrick’s instructions, always aware of the weapon he still held discretely in one hand.


    I may or may not like kidnapping Ruusan, although it never really got that far in the original while Penny and I were TGing, so it was probably an uneventful trip to and from Uhric with Connor and De'keth.

    Now I shall move onto the Jade bits, although I may send an email first, so there will be a slight delay.

    Thank you for reading!

    Ad astra per aspera.
    To the stars, through difficulties.