Shadows May Fall

Bean's Dilemma

He wished he was a shadow again, unnoticed, unknown. Sister Carlotta changed all that. The closest thing he ever had to a mother in his formative years was dead two years after he left for battle school. Achilles killed her.

Bean trudged along the coastline of the sea, around five foot ten now. He knew that the Key in his genetics woukd kill him someday. Slowly the size of his body would become to big for his human heart to handle. Bean wasn't ready for that to happen.

He and Petra had just gotten married even though he was only sixteen, it didn't matter to eighteen year old Petra. His mind was much older than one of a sixteen year old boy, his mental capacity was as large as he could grow.

Bean sighed and sat down in the damp sand of the Medditeranean Sea. Petra was his life now, truely the only connection he had to anything, the only part of himself he truely could understand.

Bean loved Petra with all his being, and he knew that he wouldn't last long. A month ago he'd discovered there was no way to reverse the key turn, thus sealing Bean's grim fate.

Two months, the time he gave himself to live, anything past that would leave him immobile, either because of size or avoiding strain on his already weakening heart. Bean's heart thudded normally inside his chest, for now, there was no telling how long it would take Bean's heart to give out once his body reached the large size that would be too much.

Years of neglect in Rotterdam lead to Bean having stunted growth, which hypothetically, all children with Anton's Key turned on would have. He entered battle school as a boy of barely four feet tall, Bean left five and half feet tall, ten years later after leaving Eros.

Sprouting up like a bean stalk wasn't high on Bean's list of ways to die. He could think of a million ways that would be better, heck even death by buggers would be better than death by being to tall!

Bean was knocked over suddenly, a furry mass licking his face. "Poke! Get off!" Yes, Bean's happy go lucky little puppy was named after the girl that had saved his life, that had given him his name, that Achilles had murdered.

Bean pushed off the big Labrador puppy and held her off of himself. "Pokey whatcha doing out here by yourself."

The little black puppy yipped and jumped out of Bean's lap, running behind him.

"Get back here you crazy puppy!" Bean laughed as he got up and chased the puppy. Nikkolai had given her to Bean after he'd cane back to Earth. Bean's identical twin, or more like Nikkolai's clone because that was essentially what he was.

Bean was a clone, and funny enough, so was the puppy Bean chased. He easily caught up with her and jumped on top of her. "Gotcha."

"Bean!" He chuckled and looked up. "What in the World are you doing?"

Bean chuckled, "Trying to catch this little thing." He said holding up Poke.

Bean pulled himslef to his feet, the puppy in his arms struggling to get away. "You got her, she got out of the house when I opened a window!"

Bean chuckled, "A window, Poke? Really?"

Poke yapped and tried to lick Bean's face. "You'll never know true affection  until you can't be separated from an adorable puppy."

Bean groaned, "For the past two weeks since we got back she won't leave me alone Pet. Nikkolai brought me a little demon!"

Petra smiled, "A little demon you love Bean."

Bean walked past Petra and into his parent's beach house where he, Petra and Nikkolai were living. "In that sense you are correct, my Pet."

Petra rolled her eyes and followed Bean with Poke into the house, "So you love me?"