A girl named Yvonne...

Dreams… dreams of pain and death, the inevitability of it. Her parents, friends all dying, the pain they felt, the pain she felt. She tried to run away from it, but no, she was trapped in her own mind, unable to escape, unable to resist the pain. It felt as if she bore the weight of the world on her shoulders. She wanted to break free; she wanted to be free of the suffering, the agony… whilst in the midst of all the pain around her, a bright, shining light shone at the darkest end of her mind. A light with tendrils, that healed everything it touched. It was called hope. For once, with a goal to escape, she grasped it with all her strength and held on to it, it was everything to her. Without it, she would fall into madness. Days passed by in her torment, yet despite the pain, she never let go of the hope, she never gave up. Despite her efforts, the pain became increasingly intense to the point it numbed her from all thought. Slowly and slowly, even hope began to fade. Until a great presence came into her mind, halting the pain. Confused but wary, she tried to comprehend the presence, all she could feel was great wisdom and strength. The presence uttered a single word with power that seemed to be able to change the world at its whim, Awaken….

She opened her eyes to the world, sweat beading from her forehead to her neck. Relived that the suffering had ended, she wiped the sweat of, with shaky, unsteady hands, heart still thumping heavily that it hurt her chest. It was normal for her to have these nightmares, or as she called them, Death's embrace, whenever she as much as took a nap. Sometimes it was tolerable, other times, it was just uncontrollable. She hoped she had finally been able to control her dreams, for the last few nights, were probably the most well rested nights she ever had. She could not recall what happened in her nightmare, such was the nature of dreams. Tonight, however were one of the uncontrollable ones, but it also seemed different, at least at the end it was. She could remember clearly what happened; everyone she knew was killed, slaughtered, by whom she did not know, but she could feel the distress of the people and her own, it was confusing. Lastly the light, which blocked the pain, what was it? Was she finally free of this suffering? She hoped so.

Now getting off her bed, she brushed aside her curtain sheets and looked outside. It was morning already, but yet dark as midnight. It was always as such in the desolated planet of Xeno IV. All she saw was rocks, rocks and more rocks. Everything around looked empty, void of life, she would know. Brushing her her black hair aside, then turning her head away from the window, she glanced back at her room, more like her living space. Living in a mining colony had its disadvantages. All she had was her bed and a small table which composed of various little decorations. Leaving her room, she entered the common room where she felt an all too familiar person.

Smiling, "Morning dad",

Nigel turned and looked at her, "Hey there sweetie, sleep well?", with a smile that always made her life sweeter.

Despite that, her smile slightly lowered, reading her expression and looking straight at her eyes, "Ahh nightmares again?" he said, she only nodded,

"Your mother had the same problem, nearly drove her insane, but her spirit wouldn't let her…",

Yvonne looked at him, curious that he mentioned mother, "What was she like?", Nigel never usually talked about his wife."Maybe this is a story for another time" he said smiling,

"I am off to work now, the mines had another cave-in yesterday, take care of Max for me will'ya." It was a statement, not a question.

And there was silence again…

NOTE - I do not own starcraft as it belongs to its rightful copyrights. Events in this fan fiction are mostly fiction and only carry the slightest resemblance to the original starcraft timeline. Some references are made to other original starcraft content. All names and events which transpire do not coincide with any actual names or events and if so, it is purely coincidental. Any errors made will be corrected if i find them, messages regarding this is appreciated. Most of the content written in this novel derives from imagination and inspiration. Thanks, blizzard for giving me something to write about.