NOTE: I do not own Starcraft, and Hadrianus was my player username when I played the Zerg Campaign.
Well I finally got a copy of Starcraft: Queen of Blades. Needless to say, I am not pleased. I'm treating this fic as an AU story, because I love the Cerebrate in Episode II too much.
In the end, when Kerrigan calls the Cerebrate by his name, I like to think that he had told her about his choice of a name at one point in time, since young Cerebrates aren't really supposed to have names until they grow older. For the sake of this fic, let's say that he thought of his adult name already and told her about it beforehand.
One minute, I was watching over Kerrigan's skirmish in the box canyon.
The next, I was in a world of pain.
Kerrigan, Kerrigan... I screamed out as my form bucked in agony. It hurts, it hurts-
Cerebrate? Her voice... she was so far away. I wanted to tell her to run. It was an ambush, this-
I let out a mental scream as I felt Tassadar's mind touch on mine.
I saw Aiur as it was. So green, so lush-
Praetor Fenix, Jim Raynor, Artanis, the Exceutor, his allies-
Flashes. Images. Voices. Like a fierce storm, it washed over me, battering me by the millions-
Was this what Zasz felt when that Dark Templar attacked him?
The connection was overwhelming me.
It seemed like forever, watching images flash past my mind, and then I felt his blade twist in my gut, sending wave upon wave of fire into my mind.
I was losing control, I was-
Die, Zerg scum. The murderer's thoughts, directed at me.
The psionic messages of my brood, Kerrigan's and Tassadar's words scrambling into each other, merging into an untamed mass of thoughts, overwhelming the last vestiges of control I had over my brood.
theHIVEclusterISbeingattackedZERGscumByyourwillEN
TAROADUNCEREBRATEHIVEoverMiNDOfcourse
THEHIVECLUSETERISDUNDERATTACK
NTAROADUNEXECUTORCEREBRATEIAMCOMING
THISWASALLATRICK
ITWASATRICK-
My brood... my children... they are lost.
Kerri- I tried again as Tassadar's blade struck into me once more. Kerrigan-
Tassadar.
Her message surfaced for a moment amidst the surge.
Cerebrate, I am coming, I-
Her voice was so far away.
Cerebrate! You- You cannot-
The thoughts rose into a terrifying crescendo and then-
I heard nothing.
I was disconnected from my brood.
Kerrigan. I gasped out.
I did not know how I still managed to speak, let alone find her in the swirling maelstrom of psionic energy.
Kerrigan, you should flee. The Overmind, he-
Do not presume to tell me what I should do! Her psionic message whipped at my consciousness. You will survive, Cerebrate! I will make sure of it!
Her words
...
For her, I-
I summoned what was left of my bodily strength.
I was born for her.
I lived only to serve her.
You are a stubborn creature. Tassadar's voice washed over my bleeding, mangled form.
I felt the Protoss' blade leave my body.
But you will die.
There was a sick, twisting feeling somewhere in my body, and then I felt the white-hot fire of the blade.
I was assaulted by fire once again, and this time it overwhelmed me, but the pain was second only to the horror that gripped my last thoughts.
I have failed my father.
I have failed her.
And now, I was burning.
Burning.
Kerrigan-
It is over, Zerg. Came Tassadar's voice. It is over.
With the last vestiges of my strength, I forced myself to speak, to send my last psionic message to her and to her alone.
The Overmind's greatest creation, my charge, my daughter, my Queen-
F-
The words were so hard to form now.
F-for...
So hard to form.
Cerebrate? Her mental voice had a strange tone to it. Hadrianus?
F...Forg...ive... m...me.
