Title: Nightmares, Part 3
Author: Sabine
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Do John's nightmares have anything to do with what is going on aboard Moya?
Spoilers: everything up to "A Clockwork Nebari".
Notes: Sorry that it took me so long to finish part 3. I actually have a valid excuse for it; namely my computer crashed and wiped all of my files, including my stories, the stuff I had waiting for my internet site etc. * sigh * You don't realize how dependent you are of your computer until the damn thing breaks down. L Any way, my thanks go out to you, the people who actually seem to like the story. gI have no idea how it's going to end as of yet, because it seems to have gotten a life of it's own. Feedback is always appreciated.J You can reach me at: ten.hoeve@hccnet.nl
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.
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Zhaan's quarters
" Hey blue…are ya home?" The questioning voice of John Crichton echoed through the corridor adjacent to Zhaan's quarters. " Looks like she's not in right now, Aeryn. So much for dropping by for a friendly visit. Let's go, shall we?" John grinned, intending on heading back again. Unfortunately for him, Aeryn was quite determined in making sure John would get a potion from Zhaan that would enable him to sleep, without being troubled by his re-occurring nightmares.
" Zhaan's probably meditating again, John. She is the only one capable of helping you and you know it. Do you wish to make me angry by refusing to seek her help?"
John shook his head and laughed. " No ma'am. I wouldn't even dare." He had suppressed an urge to salute her as she had spoken those words. He definitely preferred a happy Aeryn over an angry one.
" Ah John…Aeryn. I thought I had heard something," Zhaan interrupted, standing in front her quarters. " Yeah, that was me. I thought you weren't there, because you didn't reply," John spoke with a boyish smile, hiding the fact that he had hoped she wasn't there. " I didn't reply to you John, because I was meditating," Zhaan stated. Aeryn gave him an -I –told- you- so- look before turning her attention to the Delvian, but just as she wanted to tell Zhaan the reason for their visit, the Pa'u raised her hand.
" You two must have must have come here for a reason. How can I help you?"
"How…how did you know?" John stammered, a blush appearing on both his cheeks. " It's quite simple, John. Why would the two of you else be here together? You looking like you rather not be here and Aeryn looking like she is having difficulties keeping you here. What is exactly troubling you, John?"
" Nothing really important."
" He hasn't been sleeping for a while Zhaan, due to having nightmares. Could you create some short of potion for him, so he'll at least be able to sleep?" Aeryn told the Pa'u concerned. Zhaan nodded. " I will start right away. It shouldn't be to difficult and it won't take long. Come on, John…Aeryn. Don't worry John, within no time you will be sleeping like a newborn child." She grabbed John's arm and the three of them headed towards her quarters.
Somewhere else
" Kyrhto?"
" Yes, High Lord. How can I serve you?"
" I want the progress report on the John Crichton situation, Kyrtho. Have you come any closer to a means to solve the crisis?"
" If I may be blunt, High Lord…I have found no solution at all, however I * did * find something interesting…" Kyrtho chirped nervously. The High Lord was not one to anger and he had to be careful about bringing the news to him. Kyrtho only hoped that the High Lord would spare his life after hearing what he had found out.
" Continue."
" Well, Sir…while I was looking into matters I found out that Crichton seems to have a some sort of micro chip inside of his head, one that appears to have been implanted there carefully. I highly doubt that the human is aware of it. From what I've seen the chip is of Peacekeeper origin and highly sophisticated."
" What does all of this have to do with the current situation?"
" I believe the chip is the reason for the malfunction, High Lord. It is the reason why he seems to be resisting us. It chip is actually helping him. "
" I see…can we extract the chip?"
" Perhaps…but I will have to examine him. I cannot achieve this by myself, High Lord. I will need some help from the others on the Leviathan."
" Do what you deem necessary, Kyrhto."
" What should I do if I am unable to extract it, Sir? If I am unable to succeed remove the chip, it won't be long until Crichton will become aware of us."
" We cannot jeopardise our mission objectives and safety, Kyrhto. Thus if you do not succeed, you will do what I had first ordered when the problem arose…you will have to kill him. I am curious though…how will you try to get your hands on him?"
" Quite simple…I will use someone very close to him to aide me. I will even turn to violence in attaining him. One thing is clear High Lord…Crichton will not suspect a thing." Kyrhto breathed somewhat relieved. Thank the creator that he hadn't also mentioned to the High lord that one of the others on Moya was showing small signs of resistance. Things with that creature could go either way; it would find out about them or would be oblivious to their presence. Time could only tell which of the two it was going to be…
Workout Area
Little drops of sweat trailed down his forehead as he tried to calculate what the person standing across from him was going to do next. His breathing was somewhat irregular and heavy as he wiped the sweat away with the back of his hand. The atmosphere in the room was chilling; the temperature had dropped several degrees since the fight had started. This time around, the chamber was slightly lit up with lights, emanating from the ceiling and nearby walls. The one thing he needed from his opponent was the one he knew he would not be able to get from her. He merely wanted to rest…even if it was just for a little while. A couple of seconds later he found himself diving to the floor in an attempt to evade the ever so swiftly approaching boot of the former Peacekeeper.
John scrambled back on his own two feet and managed to divert a vicious blow directed at him. What had started out as a friendly work out had soon managed to take a different direction and changed into something far more dangerous.
"Aeryn…honey? Could you please relax for a moment? I am not the enemy here, darling," John pleaded, hoping to buy himself some more time as they circled around one another. As he looked her in the eyes, he saw something he could not really place or recognize for that matter. She looked at him coldly; no emotions could be detected in her eyes at all. Aeryn only seemed to concentrate on the fight and did not wanted to be distracted. There was however, one strange thing he did notice…
" No," was the simple answer he received from her as she suddenly lunged towards him and continued her attack.
" No?" John jumped backwards on the red and black mat, barely being able to evade her latest attack. This is really getting out of hand he thought as he put as much distance between the two of them as he possibly could.
" I can't help it if you can't keep up with me, John. Let's face it…an average student would have picked it up long before you would. If you want to survive around here, you have to start picking up things at a quicker rate than you are doing right now, Crichton. You need to be more serious about learning the necessary moves to survive. I for one don't want to find you dead body any time soon, John," she spoke. John blinked at her words. Something was definitely up. She would have insulted him in that kind of fashion about a year ago, but not now. Not after all of the things they had been through. Then there was that smile…it rather reminded him of the way she had smiled while under Nebari mind-control. Could they have returned? He quickly dismissed that notion. No, if she had been under the influence of the Nebari, she would have fought with him. He needed to find out what was going on.
" If you are truly so concerned with my body…at least the way you say you are, would you mind not killing me during our little workout? No insult intended, but I would just like to survive to see another day in the Uncharted Territories, if you don't mind."
" John…this is a training session; not an opportunity to make out," She spoke with an amused tone as she slightly tilted her head. " If you wanted me to take it easy on you during the workout you should have said so. If you had other plans in mind you should have mentioned them to me. Am I correct to assume that you would rather not continue, John?"
" No, that's not what I meant, Aeryn. I simply believe that if we continue fighting like this, I might be leaving this room with some really serious injuries. Don't get me wrong…normally I wouldn't have minded getting my behind kicked by the radiant Aeryn Sun. However today has proved to be anything but normal…"
" I understand, John. We can resume our workout some other time and pick up where we left off," Aeryn replied with a smile. She walked over to the bench and sat down on it. John remained at his position with his eyes locked on her. Her black tank top was soaked with sweat and even though she was wearing her hair in a ponytail, some strands had managed to escape. After picking up a towel, she wiped away the sweat from her face, neck, shoulders and arms. She looked tired and a little bit too pale for John's taste. Aeryn's eyes met his as she held up a towel for him.
" I don't bite, John and the towel doesn't either."
Slowly he made his way over to her and grabbed the towel. " Thanks, Aeryn." "You are welcome, John," she spoke softly as their hands briefly brushed against each other. Aeryn absent-mindedly rubbed her temples and staring past John.
"Aeryn, what's wrong?" John asked concerned as he sat down on the bench behind her. Instinctively she leaned back against him and let her head rest on his left shoulder. " It's nothing serious. It is just a headache, John, so there is no need to worry. I have been worse things and survived them. I can handle this," she smiled sadly.
" I s it the same kind of headache for which Zhaan gave you that plant several weekens ago?"
John kissed her on the back of her head and took her hands into his, gently clasping them together. Aeryn nodded. " Yes, it returned a couple of days ago."
" Aeryn?"
" Yes, John?"
" I might have just the thing to relieve you of your headache"
" Hmmm…and what might that be? Another Earth custom?" she grinned as she looked up at his face. " Nah…I'm thinking this kind of thing falls into the universal category," John chuckled, pulling her into a hug. " And what would that 'thing' exactly be, John?"
" A massage of course. What did you think I was going to suggest, honey?" He brushed a couple of lose strands of black hair aside and started to massage her neck, slowly moving upwards until his massaging fingers reached her temples. A soft moan escaped from Aeryn's throat, showing her appreciation to him. John chuckled to himself. He couldn't believe that the reason for her odd behaviour was just a headache. Instead of panicking and thinking that there was another alien invasion scenario going on, he should have thought about the less life endangering options. Like for instance... headaches. " John?"
" Yeah?"
" Please don't stop."
" So it's helping, Aeryn?"
" Uh-huh. And John?" She paused momentarily before continuing. " I am sorry."
" Sorry for what, sunshine?" He asked somewhat puzzled, planting a kiss on her neck. " For kicking your eema just a microt ago. I hope I didn't hurt you too much?" " Nah, you merely bruised my male ego, Darling," John laughed as he pulled her into another hug and kissed her on the lips. " But just so you know…I'm definitely up for a re-match," he whispered mischievously as he pulled away from her and got up from the bench, pulling her up along side of him.
" Hmm…a re-match did you say? You do realize that a re-match won't change the outcome, don't you John?" Aeryn teased, staring him straight into his eyes.
The distance between them lessened and just as their lips were about to touch, a weird mist of some sort appeared around them. The sheer density of it caused them to have trouble breathing and seeing accurately. It was hard for them not to notice the three dark figures heading their way, even though their vision was thoroughly limited. With one glance, John and Aeryn communicated as what was going to happen next.
" Aeryn…"
" John…"
" Go Aeryn…go now, before it's too late. I'll hold them off long enough for you to get into safety. Besides…I'm relying on you to rescue my eema later on," he reassured as he turned away from her and focussed on the approaching figures. Before she could convince him otherwise, he had already started running towards the hostiles. Reluctantly she backed away from him and crawled into an air duct. Don't worry John. I will do everything in my power to rescue you. If it is the last thing I will ever do…I will not let you die Aeryn promised silently as she cursed whomever was behind all of this.
John smiled as he punched one of his opponents in the stomach. If only Aeryn knew how much he had learned from her and their workouts. He himself would do everything in his power to ensure that these bastards wouldn't get their hands on her. John's smile grew bigger as his opponent fell to the ground. He had managed to get rid off two of the three, which left just one figure. Talk about evening the odds. John turned his attention at the remaining hostile. Just as he was about to lunge at his attacker, something hit him in his neck. Somewhat dazed he reached for his neck with his hand. Then the realization hit him, as things around him gradually started to turn dark.
" D'Argo?" was the last thing John managed to utter, as he plunged into the realm of unconsciousness.
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TBC.
quickly ducks and runs into hiding