Impossible to Stand
Authorship: Avery Likelytale
Author's Notes: A Foundation fic! It was inevitable, of course, and of course it is slashy. Stems from the fact that I dislike Bliss and that Pel and Trevize act like a couple. Oh, and that before I read Foundy and Earth, my sister tricked me into believing that Bliss really was evil and mind-controlling Pel (which was what I wanted to believe...) Har, har. As far as chronology goes, this would fit in at the end of Foundation's Edge and kind of disregards Foundation and Earth. Bleh.
Caution: Slash (Trevize x Pelorat), probably OOCness, blah blah blah, Asimov will shoot me.
Disclaimer: Foundation, Foundation's Edge, the characters, the setting, et. al. belong to the estate of Isaac Asimov, not to the (nonexistant) estate of yours truly.
1. Suspicion
Golan Trevize had every right to be suspicious.
He had been suspicious for a while now--several weeks, in fact. As they drifted aimlessly through space, unsure of where to go now in their hunt for Earth, the small suspicion, a mere grain at first, soon grew, spreadings its tendrils throughout Trevize's supposedly unique mind, until soon, it was unshakeably there, tainting everything Trevize observed.
Well, everything he observed involving Bliss and Pelorat.
Suddenly, as if on cue, Pelorat burst into the room. He had been doing this quite often lately--barging into Trevize's private room randomly, without asking permission first. Something the old Pelorat would have never done.
"Hello, my dear Golan! How do you do?" Pelorat said. He was practically singing. He practically waltzed into the room before falling over backwards on Trevize's bed. Trevize scowled.
"I'm quite fine, Janov," Trevize said. His eyebrow twitched, ever-so-slightly. "I see that you're doing quite well yourself."
"Of course, of course, my dear fellow." Pelorat's eyes misted and he examined the barely noticeable, but ever-changing, patterns of the ceiling above. "It's all because of her, of course."
"Who?" Trevize said, though he already knew the answer.
"Bliss, why of course!" With a sudden rush of emotion, Pelorat jerked into a sitting position, his eyes now alight. "She is quite--oh so--impossible to describe. My dear Golan," and he seemed to retreat a little, "these are matters that are...uh...slightly embarassing for me, but, since you're my friend, I'm perfectly at home talking about this with you."
Trevize nodded stoicly, and Pelorat seemed to take this as his signal to go on. "Golan, it's just so impossible for you to understand what it's like, being with a woman who isn't merely a woman--but she's everything else from her planet as well! It's ecstatic! Heaven, I tell you! Nothing like it!"
Pelorat's voice was coming out in short bursts now, between loud, excited pants. Trevize was slightly nervous. Pelorat became sexually excited just from talking about Bliss?
Once more, a confirmation of his suspicion.
"Janov, are you saying that you enjoy the fact that when you have sex with Bliss, you're having sex with Dom and all the children and the animals and the grass and the rocks of a world as well?"
"Uh..." This seemed to throw Pelorat off for a brief instant--but only for an instant. Then he was instantly angry. "I knew you wouldn't understand, Golan! You'd have to experience it yourself to believe."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Trevize said.
Pelorat took a deep breath before starting again, with surprising vehemence. "I know you don't like Bliss, Golan, but can't you give her a chance? Can't you see what wonderful things she's done for me?"
"No," Trevize cut in swiftly.
Pelorat threw Trevize a scathing look, but Trevize pressed onwards anyway. "All I see is that she's turned you into a mushy, semi-manic, love-crazed old man."
"You're jealous, is that it, Trev?" Pelorat, with a madly enlightened look on his face, thrust his arm out and grabbed Trevize forcefully--with surprising strength for a doddering over-the-hill historian. "You're jealous of me and my happy union with Bliss, because you have no one to make a happy union with! Is that it?"
"That's ridiculous, Janov. Let go of me!" Trevize tried wrenching free of Pelorat's grip, but Pelorat slammed him down onto the bed and towered over him, holding Trevize with remarkable strength that clamped, vice-like, over Trevize's arms, painfully--with the strength of what seemed an entire planet behind them.
More confirmation!
"No, Trev!" Pelorat roared, spittle flying from his mouth and raining over Trevize's face. Trevize, in some distant corner of his mind, made a mental note of the use of the name "Trev" over the familiar "Golan". "It's not ridiculous!"
And then, as soon as it had started, it was over. Pelorat slowly peeled himself off of Trevize, breathing heavily, looking extremely worn-out: screaming and tackling people were not activities fifty-year-old men should be engaging in. He gazed, rather shamefully, at Trevize.
"Sorry, old chap," he said.
"Lie down, Janov," Trevize said, lightly taking Pelorat's arm and guiding him back to the bed. "You must be tired."
"I am, I am," Pelorat placed a hand to his forehead and shook his head wearily. "I don't have a single idea what just came over me. I mean, if I know myself well enough--which I like to think I do--I daresay I'm not the brutal type, you know? Sometimes, though, I get these mad moods from nowhere--"
And he lay down on the bed, still shaking his head, as if in denial.
Trevize's eyes narrowed into slits. Pelorat's behavior--the sudden, unexplainable anger; the confused, unsure cooling-off--meshed perfectly with what Trevize believed. This was the right time, he thought, to play all of his cards.
"Janov," he said, "I believe that Bliss is controlling your mind."
Pelorat's reaction to this was expected, of course: he bolted upright, looking stunned. With chagrin, he said, "Why, Golan, that's ridiculous! Why would she want to control me?"
"Maybe so that you'll love her," Trevize said absently.
"Ridiculous," Pelorat said, shaking his head. "Really, Golan, even if I were being mind-controlled--which I am absolutely not--why me? I'm but an old man, she's young and beautiful. If she wants to control someone to make them love her, why would she pick me?"
"Well, she does love you--you can't deny that."
"Yes, of course," Pelorat said, although he was starting to look slightly confused. "But I love her back out of my own free will."
"How are you sure?" Trevize said. "Are you sure it's your will, or hers?"
"Golan, I think it is my will," Pelorat said defiantly.
"Not good enough." Trevize hooked his thumbs in his sash in his characteristic Trevizey gesture. "You've been behaving strangely these recent days..."
"What do you mean?"
"Such as, you barge into my room without a second's thought for my privacy--something I am sure you would have never done before. Not to mention, you always get into screaming fits with me over...hmm...who is it that you're so obsessed with again?" Trevize paused in mock thought, before answering, in a voice oozing of sarcasm, "That's right, I remember--that woman Bliss. That's not like you, Janov--not at all like how you were before we found Gaia. It seems to me the only explanation is that your mind is being controlled--and I like to think it's by that Gaian woman."
"You're being silly, dear fellow," Pelorat said. Once more, he resumed shaking his head, almost condescendingly. "No one would control someone else's mind is such an...obvious...manner."
"Is that what you think?" Trevize said. "You're right, no one would control anyone in such a noticeable way--no one but someone inexperienced at controlling minds."
"And you think Bliss is inexperienced?"
"Of course," Trevize said. "She's told us many times that Gaia would never alter anyone's mind. It's never done so before--she's never done so before--"
"Then why is she doing it know?" Pelorat snapped, his voice suddenly angry. "What do you suppose, dear fellow?" Somehow, there was a sarcastic tinge to the last two words. Trevize ignored it.
"I don't know, actually," he said. "Maybe she's just off her rocker--"
For the second time within fifteen minutes, Trevize found himself attacked by Pelorat again. This time, Pelorat grabbed Trevize by the throat and slammed him hard against the wall, his bony hand clamping vice-like around Trevize's neck. Trevize let out a gargled noise of pain.
"Don't speak about Bliss that way!" Pelorat howled.
Trevize would have screamed out a response, but Pelorat was crushing his larynx, and all that came out were a few more choked sounds. He was certain that his face was turning purple--maybe blue.
And then the door to the room slid open, soundlessly, and Bliss stepped in. Her eyes were innocently wide, and she wore a cute smile. Trevize could feel Pelorat's hand tightening around his throat, as both men turned slightly to stare at Bliss.
Trevize gagged a few more times, in a feeble attempt to speak. Bliss, however, seemed to understand, and tilted her head to the side.
"Trev, I'm oh-so-sorry, but you always seem to get in the way." She giggled. Then, suddenly, she flicked her gaze upwards, and all innocence in her expression was gone, replaced by cold fury. "Pel, dispose of him."
Before Trevize could so much as blink, Pelorat's fist went flying into his face--
--and the world went black.
Author's Notes: HAR HAR HAR.
This will be updated sporadically as I have another (more important, in the eyes of my faithful reviewers) fic to tend to. But jeez, writing Foundation fanfiction is fun!
RReevviieeww. D:
PS: Please don't kill me. D;