"I can't" andromeda's hologram replied. "I do not have clearance"
"wh...You don't have clearance! DO i need to remind you that i'm the capitan"
"no you don't" andromeda replied bluntly"however Harper has used the highest acces cod to prevent me from disclosing his and everyone elses location to you"
Dylan was one step away from exploding, nerves were stretched to the maximum of their posible extend.
"I wish I was never born!" the words just bounced around the hallways.
Angry he started walking towards the mess hall. "damn this whole save the Universe thing, why me, if I weren't born my life would have been better... no wait, my lack of life would've been better. Great I sound like Harper after a atone of Sparky" he said starting to relax a little.
Andromeda opened the mess hall doors
"SURPRISE!"
dylan stared in shock, he had forgotten his birthday.
"wazzup, boss"Harper said in his pretend serious voice, forgotten your birthday? then again i would've forgotten to if i were, what was that again 345-6, hell a couple more years haven't hurt anyone"
dylan gave him a "harper run for the hills look" at which the engineer returned a sheepish, "i love you too, boss" look.
"well it's not so bad after all" dylan tought looking around at the now very decorated room. "my life isn't that bad".
"not any more" "what?" dylan looked for the voice, it just wasn't there."who...what?"
suddently all turned black and all was gone, his friends, his ship, his...life.
"no!what's going on, where am I "
"where you wanted."a voice replied softly, "you were never born"
"but the ship, andromeda...harper, beka, rhade..."they are there, right on the ship..." dylan was desperate for answers
"they are and they aren't"
"what? what do you mean"
"do you wanna see"
"yes damn it, yes! i wanna see." what have i done, dylan tought to hiimself, i didn't want this"
"oh but you did, you know how every action has a reaction, right. every wish has an answer, it's just that sometimes it takes a little longer to process"
"are you joking"
"no, remember how many times you said you didn't want to be the one responsible? well it took a while but you're wish has now come true. here is life without you"
andromeda appeared before dylan's eyes and she looked more beautiful then ever.
"even without me harper does a good job!" dylan was starting to get used to the idea of his own desepearing
"harper? the voice chuckled. harper doesn't work onthe andromeda, in fact he doesn't work anywhere, since he's...well dead"
"dead, why? how"
" he died trying to recover the cuantic chips, to make a fortune with the long lost treasure, i mean beka wasn't there to save him"
"why"
"beacause you weren't there to save her, she died in a raid on one of those anonymus planets that you so much loved to save"
"she never met you while scavanging andromeda, only a very angry rhade, that she...well shot" the voice chuckled again.
"do you think this is funny? you tell me my friends are dead and you laugh?" tears were running down his face. "how can you do this?how?"
"i didn't do anything, just complied with your wishes"
"fine than give me my life back, i need to be there, to save them, to celebrate my birthday with them, to"
"i can't do that"
you can't?what do you mean you can't"
"easy or you'll pop a vein, or something"
"this is fun for you! who are you? the Abyss?"dylan was one step from screaming in anger and agony over the loss of his friends
"The Abyss? the voice chuckled again. You think i'm that insignificant, worthless...No i'm not the Abyss"
"I'm the reflection of you desires. told you everything that people wish is complied with, it just takes a while"
"but I do not wish this! I never have"
"really? well let's just see about that"
as he said that a child's voice began to be heard:
"I wish i was never born, not to parents like you.."
"But that's...that's me..I was ten and my parents said i could never see my friend again because he was sick. i didn't mean that..it was anger speaking"
"really?" the voice spoke again"then what is this"
20 year old dylan was sitting next to a door post " i wish i was never born, so much pain, why did she left me?... i loved her...why?"
"that's just a"
"what? cause anger is not"
"i was depressed..."
the voice sighed:
"well all you're life seems to have been a long line of disappoinements, anger and pain. you decided you don't want it anymore and someone listened. me! someone always listens, don't you remember that old saying: "carefull what you wish for"? it wasn't invented for nothing. "
"then i can wish for my life back, right?" hope was starting to grow in his heart, yet one simple word shattered it all
"No!"
Plain and simple, one word and nothing more than that, and yet so much more than that...
"but you said"
"oh yes, but you see, i have wishes also, and my wish is that you don't get you're wish. aparently today is the day for all our wishes to come true"
a gruesome laughter came from nowhere, and yet it seemed to come from everywhere, dylan felt shivers down his spine, the laugh was so cold, so dead, it felt like the fur of the dead cat he once found in the garden, like there was nothing there, and still it was...but not spirit, just dark and cold, and...death...yes, that's the word...death.
"you're dead"
"let me asure you i'm not" the voice laughed again, "you have some sort of innocence about you that even now makes me feel a sort of admiration for you, however, that won't stop me from completing my task at hand"
"which is?" dylan felt the shivers again, like something really bad was gonna happen
"oh, you know erase you're life completely, you see someone still remembers traces of something that never was, and that is your friend, or better yet, your friend-not- trance."
"she remembers?" then maybe there's still a chance, dylan tought to himself"
"no, no chance"
"are you reading my mind"
"no!" again, cold and powerfull, no.
"i am your mind" a bitter sigh bounced around the nothingness that surrounded dylan.
in shock, dylan started to look around, for his friends, for his life, but around there was nothing, just himself caught in what seemed to be his own reflection, and that of his...life, the life that never was. memories of harpers jokes, of bekas smile, even those of their enemies, all of them bounced around his head.
but what could he do? and then it hit him, that's it, that's what he's gonna do. he wanted to kick himself for not thinking of this sooner.
"what the hell is wrong with me? that's it !with me !"dylan was finally feeling he had a straw, or better yet a rope to grab onto.
"he said i ""i am your mind" my mind, so he is me, all i have to do is..."
"it won't work! the voice replied bluntly. "i'm quite shocked it took you so long to come up with it, but then again you were never the sharpest tool in the shed" another evil deadly laughter.
"for being my own mind your kinda...nasty, you do know that means your stupid as well, right?" dylan said with a smirk.
"oh but you see, it doesn't mean that at all, all it means is that you are the part of ...us that didn't receive the inteligence."
"ah, and you did"?
"i earned it, remember those 300 years of...slumber"
"yes."dylan replied without a second tought
"NO! No YOU don't but I do, for 300 years all i had was nothingness, i was awake, i felt every second, every minute of every hour of every day of..."
"how very dramatic" dylan interupted, still what i don't get is why are you doing this? i mean now you're free...i mean i am free...we...forget it, you get my point..or maybe the better question is how you did this?"
"like i'm gonna tell you that.."
dylan hoped for the next words but they never camed. he regreted more than ever wishing he was dead. no, not dead, unborn. all he could remember now was harpers jokes, and bekas smile, and the first time he ever saw rommie as an android, no as a women, and trances ridells, and all the good things that he...never lived, the reallity of what he had hit him like a tone of bricks.
"what i had, or hadn't had, what have i done, i want it all back, my life, my friends, even the problems, the fights, the pain, the tears, i want them back"
he screamed, his mind screamed, it was so loud, and yet it seemed that nothing was there, and then all of a suddent:
"don't hit him that hard" beka said giving harper an "i'm warning you" look.
"oh come on, how many times do i get the chance to slap a high guard capitan, especially this one, harper said with one of those smirks of his.
"harper, beka...i'm back"
"yes you are...ahh. boss, sorry about the bucket i tought it would've been fun, and.
"what bucket"
"did i say bucket? i didn't say bucket, beka you heard me say bucket?no way jose!" harper felt like he was sinking deeper with every word.
'"harper, what did you do?" dylan said iritated
"well you see, since it's your birthday today i wanted to...ihhhm surprise you, so i filled a bucket with confetti and it kinda hit you in the head" harper said the las words in a breath, hoping dylan didn't quite get what he had done.
"mr.harper, dylan said looking like he was about to shoot the place up, your...grounded"
"what!grounded? what does that mean?"
"it means you have to scrub the toilets for a month.dylan said looking more serious than ever
"WHAT!A MONTH!MEE?" harper started to feel dizzy when he noticed that dylan was one step away from bursting into laughter.
"well mr. harper since it is my birthday i tought i can afford jocking around a little. now do we have cake"
"well about that..harper said looking sheepish, i kinda ate it"
"you ate my cake? mr. harper...run"
this time he meant trouble and harper ran like he was chased by banshees.
"ah, all is well when it ends well, and damn my ears are still ringing from that scream, he was suppose to be a high guard capitan not a damn soprano!"
"Misha, he learned his lesson, let it go."
"hey did you like my performance, "I am your mind"
"yeah it was a nice touch, let's use it again, i hear there's a half magog out there wishing he was never born"
"can't say i blame him" said misha with a grin
"go do your job, that's what you're paid for" "i'm not getting pa..." "bye misha" the older amn said pushing the younger one through the portal that led him to his new charge, a former magog known as rev bem.
remember what you wish for...you never know when it might come true.
THE END
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