Title: Nightmares, Part One
Author: Sabine
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Season 1+2, up to "A Clockwork Nebari".
Summary: What if the nightmares John has been having are coming true?
Notes: I've only seen Farscape up to " LATP, Part Three" and read about the others up to "ACN" so there might be a couple inconsistencies. This story is a sequel to "Conversations".
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Farscape characters. All Farscape characters, names and situations are trademarks of Jim Henson Company, Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Network Australia, and the Scifi channel © 1999 & 2000.
***
Chiana strolled into the center chamber, practically grinning from ear to ear. Shortly after her entrance D'Argo entered, looking somewhat tired. They both stopped to talk to Zhaan, but after a while Chiana left to grab a plate of foodcubes. Leaving Zhaan and D'Argo to talk about the latest developments onboard Moya.
"Three guesses as to what they did last night," Rygel noted amused as he grabbed a couple of foodcubes and stuffed them in his mouth. " We wouldn't even need three guesses to exactly know how those two were passing time last night," Aeryn replied dryly, picking up a foodcube and taking a bite.
" Jealous, Aeryn?" Chiana teased sitting down at the table, in front of the Sebacean. Aeryn shot her an irritated look as she ate the rest of her food cube. " No. Why should I be, Chiana?"
"Oh...I don't know," Chiana innocently proclaimed, pouring tea into a cup. " It's just that I thought you and John would be up to all sorts of things by now...especially since last week."
"We have only talked..."
"Only talked?? Frell Aeryn, if I had been you I'd..."
"Well...that's just it, isn't it? You are not me, Chiana and I am not you. What happens between John and I is our business and not yours. And for your information...there's more to a relationship than just the physical side," Aeryn sneered, jumping up from her chair, leaning on the table and looking Chiana in the eyes.
" If you hurt him, you make it my business. John is a too great a guy to be led around by you, Aeryn. If you don't want a relationship, be honest with him and tell him the truth. Oh...and by the way Aeryn, I never said that a relationship was just about getting physical with each other," Chiana honestly replied, getting up from her chair and defiantly standing in front of her crewmate.
" Is it just me or has the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Time to go away for me and get into safety," Rygel muttered, quickly moving his throne sled out of harms way. What good what it do if he, Rygel the 16th, Dominar of the Hynerian empire died at the hands of two obviously deranged women. He'd never get his own back at his cousin and getting his throne back was his top priority. After all...the thought of revenge had kept him going all of these years. Somebody else would just have to resolve the situation... Rygel thought as he raced out of the center chamber.
" Chiana...Aeryn. Please, calm down. This will do no one any good," Zhaan gently interrupted in an attempt to calm the other two women down. "I agree with Zhaan. This is not necessary," D'Argo spoke trying to reassure them with words and if that didn't work he would simply have to try a different approach. Luckily he did not have to resort to the latter.
" I am sorry, Chiana. It's just that I'm still worried about John." Aeryn tried to smile as she sat down again. " It's ok, Aeryn. I understand," Chiana shrugged, smiling back at her. "I'm worried about him as well. Where is John at anyway?"
" I think he's still asleep in his quarters. At least he was when I last looked in on him," Aeryn answered truthfully, her voice sounded concerned.
" Good, cuz he looked like he really could use it."
***
John stared at the mirror. Not only did he feel like crap, but he looked like it as well. The image opposite of him looked haunted, the eyes reddish and the skin lacked color. John splashed water on his face, in the hope of seeing some sort of change in the mirror, but to no avail.
He sighed as he ran his fingers through his wet hair.
" You've definitely seen better days than this," John mumbled at the ghastly face in the mirror. "Yup, John Crichton, you really look like hell. Take your own word for it," he softly continued, poking at his reflection.
A quirky smile appeared on his face as he turned away from the mirror, exited the bathroom and entered his quarters. John grabbed his black T-shirt, the one he had thrown in the corner the night before and managed to pull it over his head as he walked over to the spot where he had last seen his black leather pants laying on the floor. He ducked, picking up the leather pants before finally sitting down on his bed. As he sat down on the bed and tried to put on his pants, he began to whistle without even realizing it himself.
A week ago he had finally confided in Aeryn and told her among other things about Scorpius. John had hoped that talking with Aeryn would improve his state of mind. For a little while that actually seemed to be the case, until the disturbing nightmares had started to haunt him during his sleep, three or so nights ago. At first it hadn't troubled him that much, since everybody had a nightmare once in a while. Unfortunately the counter hadn't stopped after that one time, because every time he closed his eyes the nightmare would somehow re-appear. It had eventually lead to him trying to stay awake at all costs, because he was too afraid of falling asleep and suffer the effects of the nightmare, reliving the whole ordeal over and over again. The thing was so realistic that it scared the hell out of him. It always began the same way and at the end he would wake up, screaming out loud in agony, his heart skipping a beat and bathing in his own sweat.
He acted as normal as possible around the others, which was hard considering that Chiana had an uncanny ability to sense when something was wrong and Aeryn was watching him closely. So on the outside he looked "peachy", but on the inside was a completely different story. The lack of sleep was slowly taking its toll, causing Scorpy's little chip to work in overdrive. Scorpius's persona was swiftly becoming a regular on the " John's slowly losing his mind " show, pretty soon he would probably start to demand a raise. Nah, John don't even go there He laughed, grabbing his boots out from under his bed.
" This is not a laughing matter, John. The predicament you are in is getting quite serious. I need to talk to you, John. We..."
" No....you're not getting a raise Scorpius," John interrupted the leather clad Scarran-Sebacean hybrid, throwing one of his boots at him. Had Scorpius been real it would have surely hit him, instead it bounced right off the wall.
"Now...now, John. There was no need for that," Scorpius shook his head as he moved closer to John and eventually sitting down on the bed, next to the human. " I am after all only concerned about your well being."
" Don't you mean right up to the moment where you will rip the wormhole knowledge you need out of my head? You know what, Scorpy? Perhaps if you repeat it enough I'd even start to believe you."
"Crichton..."
" No! Don't you Crichton me. Why can't you just leave me alone for a second and give me some damn breathing space!" John angrily shouted, jumping up from the bed and literally storming out of the room.
He needed to talk to someone, he needed help and he knew just the right person for the job. If only Scorpy would just leave him alone.
" If that is what you want, John" Scorpius spoke, trailing behind John, stopping at the entrance of John's quarters. His emotionless gaze followed John until the latter had disappeared into a nearby corridor. " You are only making things worse for yourself, Crichton. I will have to make sure that you see that. You are no use for me dead, so I will just have to find a way to get through to you. I will have to find a way to fight off the inner demons that are tormenting you. After all...I have been successful in preserving your life before and thus I should be able to do it once more."
To Be Continued....