Title:
Home Sweet Home
Author: Harper's aka Weird_Peace
Rating: PG-13 for one little word
Synopsis: A member of the crew goes home.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, but I love 'em anyways.
Spoilers: Big time Ouroborous, itty bitty ES and TWG and a borrowed line from
AAF.
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Until I see you all again, know this - wherever my path may lead, even in the darkest places, I will carry you all in my heart and you will light my way.
~ Rev Bem
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"Well are ya gonna order somethan'?" The figured shook his head.
"Yeah...I wouldn't eat the crap made in this dump neither," the waitress replied. She tilted her head, trying to figure this costomer out. He or she was wearing a cloak, their face and hands and feet covered in wraps, as if they had been burned badly. She shrugged, leaving. She had enough problems of her own without having to worry about some non-paying, injured mute.
The figured sighed and looked around the bar. It was hot and dusty and a wreck...just like the rest of the planet. Home sweet home, he thought to himself.
He had always known that he would return here someday. But it seemed...too soon. Way too soon.
He knew the real reason he had been reluctant to come here. He was afraid to come back. To return to the place where he had been born, the place where so many had died. To face what had happened.
Sighing, he threw a few credits on the table for the waitress and left the bar.
He returned to the room he had rented out. It was infested with insects, dirt, and was run-down. He wasn't paying much for it, but his kind didn't mind discomfort. Which was why he was able to stay covered in his cloak and wraps, even while the temperature reached well in to the hundreds.
Sighing, he took off the garments, wondering what would happen was anyone to walk in and see him. He chuckled at the thought.
Setting the wraps and cloak neatly on a nearby cot, he walked over to one of the many cages he had in his room. They were filled with Ithila, a small rodent that reproduced at an extremely fast rate, making their kind to be a pest, but also ensuring a well kept food supply for any magog.
Rev Bem walked over to the only window in the room. He picked up the device sitting there and turned it on. The face of a Mr. Tyr Anasazi came up, soon followed by the rest of the crew's. It was during dinner; one of the few the entire crew had managed to get together during. Even Rev and Rommie had joined, sitting there and joining in on the conversation while the others ate. Rev smiled as he watched the recoding, laughing to himself as Harper made a witty comment, reminiscing when Beka starting telling a story about her days on the Maru. He knew the precise moment when Trance leaned over and whispered something to Harper, and when Tyr leaned back in his chair, content with his meal.
He sighed when it ended. Rev had memorized the recording from start to finish. Tears welled in his eyes as he remembered them all. But he couldn't go back...not when he was so confused.
There were too many questions to think about...and not enough answers. Why am I different? Why do I have to care about these things? What am I? Who made me and for what purpose? He had even begun to question his faith. Why would the Divine allow such things to happen? Why the suffering?
He threw himself onto the bed, wishing he could cry away everything, that tears would heal his wounds and the answers to his questions would lie among them.
He heard a noise. Turning, Rev saw the recording had come back on. He watched the dinner again...saw the smiles. Watched that in those few minutes of laughing, remembering, talking, sharing...for just a few minutes in a universe that had seen billions just like them, that there could be peace. That perfection was real, even if it was only fleeting.
Smiling, he picked up the device and set it back up by the window. He put back on his wraps and cloak, leaving the room.
A block away from the building, a thought came to him. He hadn't activated the device that second time...and nobody had been in the room with him. How had it started playing?
"I owe you one," he mumbled to the sky before proceding to wherever his path might take him.
