Aurora cycle shorts

When Saedii met Tyler...

Some more SAELER content.
I love writing about these two so much.
Once again I am so sorry it takes so long in between uploads, and once again, I hope you enjoy!
This is an alternative story to Tyler and Saedii stuck on the GIA ship.

Saedii' s perspective

I must admit, the first time I saw Tyler Jones I was not impressed. In the fog of battle all my focus was on destroying an enemy, rather than fully taking in my opponent. All of them blurred into one, and my mind in those states is seperate to my mind now. But I took no notice of him.
He was easy to take down. A knee to the groin bests even the most vigilant warriors.

The first time I noticed him, and this being truly noticed him was his first visit aboard the Anadarael.
Where he killed my beloved pet.
In my years as Templar, and being raised as a Warbreed, courage, intelligence and ruthlessness were encouraged. Prized. The mark of a true warrior.
Traits I saw in Tyler. I tried to deny it. I tried to play it off as bravado. But I knew deep down it was more.
He stepped aboard the ship, dressed in uniform as he spoke in broken Syldrathi with determination and an air of protection.
It was this day, that Tyler Jones looked me in the eyes and my world changed.
His eyes, blue as the waters of Syldra, and hair golden like the suns that surrounded it. A scar on his eyebrow, and a crooked, dimpled smile. Forced charm, but a heart of gold beneath.
We were face to face. The same height, his eyes boring into mine.
And there in the back of my mind. The glimmer of the bond.
Yellow and warm.
Like sun on my skin, like the moons soft light. Infinite and fragile.
Syldrathis go their whole lives without finding their Be'shmai, but here was mine. Placed in front of me.
And in a cruel twist of fate, a Terran. Half-Terran yes, but Terran none-the less. One whose father, whose self was on the opposite side of long ago, ever-present war.
A Terran. I thought the maker must have cursed me. To bless me with the bond, and for it to be him. This stubborn boy.

I tried to stop my connection from growing. And what better way than to send him to his death.
As he jumped down into the arena, challenging my beast, I hoped he would die. So that I would never bear the shame of bonding with a Terran. Not as Kal had with his girl with the mismatched eyes.
So when he bested my beast, I expected anger to flood my mind. But was surprised to find relief.
But I am trained as a warrior.
I know how to hide what I'm feeling. So I pushed the feeling down. And let the rage boil to the surface, that constant rage.

Then he escaped my ship.
I never thought I would see him again. I certainly hadn't planned to.
But there he is. His back to mine as he lays in a cot across the room. His shoulders rising and failing as he rakes in jagged breaths.
He is evidently shirtless revealing bandages healing where he must have been injured during his capture.
Similar ones are wrapped around my arm.
I feel the anger rise into me, that someone hurt him. 
But I push it down. I shouldn't feel this. Not for him. Not for a Terran.
And I must keep my mind clear.
After all we are both trapped on a GIA ship, hurtling towards our death.

Tyler stirs, gently pushing himself up into a seated position.
He swings his legs around, planting his feet on the ground.
His blue eyes are dark, his hair perfectly messy.
A side I'm sure few get to see, with his usual manicured appearance.
His eyes shift to mine. I can almost feel his aching body, his tiredness, his pain as my own.
But behind his eyes lays something more than the defeat that bears heavy on him. Determination.
This Terran... half-Terran. So defiant. So stubborn. His soul almost mirrors my own.
If I wasn't in the process of ignoring our bond, of pushing it far out of my mind... if he wasn't a half-Terran, then I would probably think the Maker had made a good choice.
But had they really?
I had been taught to hate Terrans. We had fought against them. Waged war against them. My fathers own enemy a Terran. Now his son... my Be'shmai.

"What's on your mind?", he asks as he stretches out his arms above his head, muscles flexing as he does.
In the days we've spent here, he has grown comfortable. Perhaps he feels he doesn't have a choice.
I glare at him from underneath my lashes. A perfect mask of disdain. I won't give him the satisfaction that he is on my mind. Not yet.
With an ego of his size, and his already subtle flirtations, I think his head would grow even bigger.
Typical preening male.
"Okay, no personal questions, got it", he moves his arms behind his head leaning against the wall, remembering a rule I set out two days ago. My gaze drifts down to his stretched out torso, the body that is honed for fighting. So perfect—
Maker. I have never had so much trouble blocking someone out. My mind is strong like steel, with countless hours of practice honing shields, strategising, reading and learning how to assess all manner of beings.
And yet it is not strong enough to keep out this golden haired, dimple cheeked boy.

"A game of chess?", he offers up, his mouth quirked up to the side in question.
"You could never beat me Terran", I say simply.
"We can only find out if we play", he retorts, stars twinkling in his eyes as he gets up and retrieves the old chess set forgotten in one of the cupboards in this room.
He sets it down on a small table in front of me, setting up the marble pieces.
"I'll go first, since you think I am going to lose", he says moving a pawn.
"It makes no difference to the outcome, when I play against a novice like you", I say moving another pawn, a challenge in my tone.
His eyes sparkle with amusement, with that same determination he applies to everything.
He moves another pawn, and I a rook.

A large part of chess, as I was taught, was reading your opponent. Their next move, their plan on what piece they planned to take.
Tyler is somewhat harder to read than other opponents.
He wears a mask, as I wear one. And this translates into his playing.
His only tell that he is deciding a next move, unsure of what to do next is him pushing his hand into his hair, tugging it slightly.
It is all I need to win.
I move a bishop, a queen and a rook into position and-
"Check mate", I yell victoriously, standing as I say "I told you Tyler Jones, I never lose at chess".
An unfamiliar emotion flashes into his eyes, something soft and simmering.
He stands too, that lopsided smile on his face.
"Okay, okay", he grins, "I see you may rival me in chess, but just wait till you verse me in Battleships, I would absolutely smash you".
"Battleships?", is all I ask, unable to keep the sarcastic flat tone from my voice. And then I'm aware we are standing just a breath apart, too close.
And then that feeling surges.

Infinitely too far.

"Battleships is this game back on Terra where...", he stops talking when I bring my eyes to his.
His eyes look into mine, like he's never seen me before, like he's sensing whats hiding beneath us- our bond.
What I've always known was there, what is getting harder to push away.
The yellow light of his mind, is twining into mine.
Warm sunshine-y light, so pure, so full of love that I can't resist it.
I feel his mind with mine, feel what he feels for me, a longing, though he can't place why.
I take a step closer, close enough that I can feel the warmth radiating off him.
His eyes sparkle, like the rivers of Syldra, but are dark with something... need.
I can't help it, the love I feel for him blinds me.
This time he takes a step forward.

Being this close is enough that I feel the bond snap...
"Be'shmai", I whisper, and the light of our bond erupts as he pulls me into him, my mouth meeting his.
We crash into a kiss, like everything that has happened before us, it is dangerous.
I don't think I could ever stop, could ever want anything else than him.
The bond sparkles as we exist in this all-consuming kiss.
Be'shmai, I say into his mind, something I passed off that all Syldrathi could do, when I told him of his lineage.
Even though it is only a gift shared between those whose minds are connected.
I feel an emotion surge into me, his emotion: something akin to love, but deeper and raw.
Just when I think we could be this way forever, he pulls away.
Assessing my face.

His features soft, lips swollen.
"Be'shmai", he says softly. My heart pounds in my chest. That he is mine. And I his.
His lips meet mine again.
And our minds collide.
Despite everything, despite where we are, love feels stronger.
Love will conquer.

I mighttttt change this, but here it is as of now!
Lots of love ❤️