Title: Revelations
Author: Auna
Rating: Go with PG-13 for now, just to be safe
Spoilers:Every episode is fair game. There are subtle refrences throughout this entire thing. (See how many you can pick up :) )
Authors note:This is a third story and picks up one weeken after Death and Resurrection. If you have not read Finding herself or Death and Resurrection first I really, really, really reccomend it. Also, if your wondering how John could continue to be athletic at nearing sixty, read Horizons by Rocke S O'bannon, posted by kazbaby and loopylou at
//users.boardnation.com/~scapeartist/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=4032
I went on the assumption the translator microbes would do the same for my John.
Short and completely inadequate summary (somewhat similiar to the 'previously on' clips before TV shows): John and Aeryn have two children; Brennik and Aeric. Aeryn has been a slave for the last twenty cycles and has amnesia for everything previous to that. We also picked up two cargo runners; Sethya and Tean. If it still doesn't make sense, I did warn you to read the previous two.
Thank you to scrubschick for patiently listening to me yell at my story for not evolving the way I kept telling it to, and for keeping the characters true to themselves. She's a genious.
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Well, the original characters are mine, and if you want to use them, please don't change 'em. But the rest of them belong to the Hensons. (YAY!)
Part 1
---------------
Silence. How long had it been since he'd been left to his own thoughts? Had it really only been a weeken since he'd talked Brennik, Chiana and D'Argo into saving him and his mother? It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd stood in the sun silently cursing Ms. Furball and her despotic husband. His entire life had been stripped away and now he didn't know who he was. Well, that wasn't accurate. He supposed the truth was he knew better than he ever had. But did he like it?
A madman had sired him. His mother, not even knowing this stranger any more, was willing to follow him based on the feeling that in another lifetime she had loved him. His father. He'd only known him for seven solar days, and already the old man presumed act like a father. Was he weak for seeking out the praise of a stranger? He'd gone thirteen cycles without needing that contact. Why now, when the man with the blue eyes was around did he sit a little straighter? Sometimes he disgusted himself.
But even when he scowled at John Crichton, that man simply smiled back. Pretty soon the novelty of having a long lost son would wear off and then where would Aeric be? No, he couldn't invest too much into the old man. And the next time his father smiled at him and patted him on the back he wouldn't feel strong, smart and capable. And the next time he was asked to do something he'd tell him where to go.
"Aeric, are you here?"
Frell. A shiny pair of black boots crunched their way toward him. If he was still enough, maybe Tean wouldn't see him under the massive blue palm leaf.
"Aeric, I need your assistance. The repairs are nearing completion, but there are a few controls that under a console I can't reach. You are the only one the correct size."
What a nice way to say he was the only one small enough to fit. Frell. His mother was ready to return to Moya and the transport was nearing flight readiness. Tean had proven remarkably knowledgeable about the craft and had shown himself to be very imaginative at repairing the damaged components. Under his tutelage, Aeric had spent the better part of the last weeken assisting him.
A long pair of legs crouched and a hand appeared, pulling the leaf high enough for Tean to look under. "Commander Crichton says we will be leaving in the next arn, and this last adjustment needs to be completed." Surprisingly, Tean climbed under the leaf and sat in the green mulch, crossing his legs as if they had all day. "Pretty rough, huh?"
Aeric simply shrugged.
"I can't imagine what it would be like to find out after all this time that you have a father and a sister." Tean graced him with one of those rueful smiles that Brennik seemed to go all girly over. "Especially the pair they seem to be."
A ghost of a smile touched Aeric's face. "What kind of man sings songs when their craft is under fire?"
"Either a madman or a genius."
"What was your father like?"
"I don't remember too well. He died when I was fairly young. You could ask Sethya. He was a little older and knew him better."
"So, you did all right without a dad?"
"There are times I still wish I had a father to turn to."
"He's not so bad all the time. I guess. I just wish he'd back off."
"Yeah, well, that would be the part of him that is really pissed off that he missed the first twelve cycles of your life."
"Thirteen."
"Right. Thirteen. Now, about that console..."
Aeric rolled his eyes and pushed the palm leaf away. "Fine, let's go. You know, sometimes, you're as bad as he is."
"Thank you. You may not agree, but I'm learning that is a compliment."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"You are getting too personal," Sethya growled.
Tean was neither moved, nor impressed, and so continued with his repairs as his brother nagged at him. "The kid needed someone to talk to."
"We are not staying. Do not get attached."
"I am not attached. It doesn't hurt to be friendly."
"How friendly do you think they would be if they learned the truth?" Sethya handed him a tool as he waited for an answer.
"I'm not baring my soul here, you know. But we are going to be with these people for the next little while and, unlike you, I refuse to live in grim seclusion. When they need my help, I give it."
"Just remember, the longer you are around them, the more likely they are to discover the truth. These people are not stupid. They've been around a while. The only reason they have not guessed yet is because they're so wrapped up in Sundance. Aeryn. Whatever her name is. But our window of anonymity is closing and pretty soon we are going to have to leave."
"Are you trying to remind me or yourself?" Tean asked sardonically.
"Just watch yourself."
"Get frelled."
"Make sure you don't."
"She'd enjoy it."
"She's a daddy's girl. And daddy named his pulse pistol Winona."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, beautiful. How'rya feeling?"
You mean other than the fact that my heart has stopped simply because your leaning in my doorway, one arm braced above your head with that tight black t-shirt on that defines every muscle of your chest and arms? "Fine. Just fine." The others had taken to calling him "old man". Did they see the same person she did? There was nothing frail about those legs, or flabby about that eema.
Aeric kept insisting she was only allowing this man so close because of a forgotten past, but he was wrong. She simply wasn't going to explain to her adolescent son that she was grabbing at this chance for happiness because, well, to be truthful, he was the first man in twenty cycles that made her feel. She looked at that boyish, hopeful smile and swallowed. Yes, he could make her feel. Was it hot in here? They needed to turn on the heat regulators.
He was biting his bottom lip shyly and she realized he was holding something behind his back. "What are you hiding?"
He pulled his arm around front and in his hand was a single grey flower with purple and pink spots. At that moment he reminded her of when Aeric was a little boy and would bring her fistfuls of wildflowers with adoration in his eyes, hoping to please her.
"It's pretty."
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, there were thousands of them all over the place and since you didn't have the chance to get out much I thought..."
She pulled the flower from his grasp and tucked it behind her ear, just as she did for Aeric. "Thank you."
John stared at the flower for a moment, seemingly lost in his own thoughts before shaking himself from his reverie. "Um, I'm told the limo is ready, so whenever you want to go, just say the word."
He didn't reach for her, didn't kiss her cheek. He hadn't touched her since that first day on Moya when her head felt as if it was going to explode on her neck, and then it had seemed as if he was acting against his will. Maybe he was no longer attracted to her. It had been over twenty cycles and judging from what Brennik looked like, she was no longer the youth she had been. He seemed a man ruled by loyalty and honor. Perhaps he was only trying to help her because of past obligations. Surely, if he felt something, he would have made some gesture by now.
She wished he would make a move. It wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't touched her that first day, if he hadn't caressed her cheek and looked at her as if she were the life-saving bread to a starving man. But he had touched her, and now that she knew his touch, she hungered for more.
She nodded. "Give me a couple of microts."
He waved as he turned and left her room still with the smile that reminded her so much of Aeric.
----------------
Aeric felt his blood pumping in his ears. His lungs felt as if they would explode and he vaguely wished he was back at Furballs' farm with only the threat of a whip at they end of the day. But he was on an alien planet, running through purple and blue trees, desperately trying to reach the healing center.
Finally he saw the clearing ahead and it only took a microt to see his goal. John was leading Sundance with his left hand at the small of her back while carrying her satchel slung over his shoulder with his right hand. While Crichton was wearing his standard black leather and dual pulse pistols, Aeric's mother was wearing brown leggings and boots and a large tan tunic. They were smiling and talking, reminding Aeric of the youth who used to court at marketplace.
But now was not the time for courting and Aeric never broke stride as he burst into the clearing yelling madly. "Mother, John! The raiders have returned and are trying to steal the transport. Tean and Sethya are holding them off, but they will not be able to keep them away much longer!"
A blast shattered a group of rocks mere denches from Crichton's left foot. What happened next transpired so quickly that Aeric would never be sure he saw correctly. While Crichton shifted the satchel to his left hand and pulled a pulse pistol from his right holster, Sundance, in perfect rhythm of motion, pulled the pistol from John's left holster. As if one unit, their weapons were aimed and scanning, each covering the other's blind spots
"Aeric, get down!" John yelled and a blast echoed off a tree to the young boy's right. Aeric needed no further encouragement and together, the three of them ran through the trees ducking for cover. Aeric found himself behind his mother and John following closely. One raider jumped from the bushes on the left and without missing a step his mother fired a round that landed directly between the man's eyes. He didn't have a chance to scream as he fell in a heap to the leaf covered ground. Aeric was momentarily paralyzed. His body stopped functioning and all that swam through his eyes was the cold precision of his mother's aim. He felt John bump into him and call his name, but he couldn't respond. His gentle, loving mother was a skilled killer. There had been no hesitation, no second thoughts, no remorse... just death. He felt John's arms begin to lift him, and that was enough to stir him slightly from his shock. Enough, it seemed, to help him make his body move, even if his thoughts were in torment.
As his mind was crowded with these new and overwhelming concepts, his subconscious continued to watch the battle and monitor their progress through the woods. The two adults would stop occasionally and fire off shots. Screams seemed to follow them, echoing off the dense brush as they killed raider after raider. John would yell "Duck" and His mother would instantly drop a split microt before a blast would land where she had been. As John would fire one direction, Sundance would turn and kill a raider behind John, and then later, John would return the favor. Their progress was steady and finally they reached the transport.
Sethya, with steady precise shooting matching the expertise of John and Sundance, covered their entrance to the pod and the microt they were inside John piloted the craft heavenward.
"They won't be following us," Sethya informed them unemotionally. "D'Argo disabled their ship when he destroyed their other two. They crashed landed and it must have taken them a weeken to find us."
Aeric barely heard. He could only sit in his corner and stare at his mother. She sat motionless against a far wall, staring at the pulse pistol held in her trembling hand. Who was this stranger wearing his mother's face?
How many of her shots had found their target? Almost all of them, he recalled. He also remembered the teamwork between his parents. It was almost as if they'd known each other's thoughts and intentions and had compensated
----------------
Aeryn stared at the pulse pistol, gently shaking in her hand. For this moment she was Aeryn The Warrior and not Sundance The Ex-Slave. She had known exactly what needed to be done and had executed the required measures with precision, relying on instinct. John had been the perfect counterpart. The thrill of teamwork and adrenaline still pumping through her veins was intoxicating. Logically, she should be horrified and scared. But she was neither. A lost piece of her had just been handed back, and, greedily she wanted the rest.
She tried to remember holding a pistol before, but as had happened every time in the last weeken, she could remember nothing before that awful morning she awoke in the medical facility and was told she'd been in an accident... and weren't her owners very generous to pay for emergency care? But the memories could not be forced, and still she sat against the wall, holding the pistol, willing her mind to draw out the memories.
-----------------
The trip was silent, each lost in their own thoughts, and when they were docked they each began to leave to sort out the morning in their own way. "Sethya," he heard John call his name before he could leave. He halted, not turning, but waiting for the pod to empty, knowing his concerns had not been useless worry. Finally, John spoke again. "How long." It was not a question and Sethya heard the determination the older man's voice.
"How long since what?" Sethya asked, trying to sound innocent but still not looking at Crichton. He respected the old man and detested lying to him, but trust was not an option.
"How long has it been since you and your brother defected from the peacekeepers?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." It took half a heartbeat for Sethya to land on his back with the air knocked out of him. For an old man, he moved quickly. Crichton leaned so close Sethya could see the colored flecks it the blue eyes before him. "I've only seen tech work as good as your brother's once. She was a peacekeeper. I've seen your style of fighting up close and personal on several occasions, they were commandos, mostly marauder crews. I don't give a damn about your past. I have nothing against ex-peacekeepers. My wife is one." Crichton leaned a little closer. "But I do have problems with peacekeeper spies, or ex-peacekeepers that could possibly endanger my family. If anything unpleasant, anything at all, should happen to my wife or children because of you or your brother, I will kill you."
Author: Auna
Rating: Go with PG-13 for now, just to be safe
Spoilers:Every episode is fair game. There are subtle refrences throughout this entire thing. (See how many you can pick up :) )
Authors note:This is a third story and picks up one weeken after Death and Resurrection. If you have not read Finding herself or Death and Resurrection first I really, really, really reccomend it. Also, if your wondering how John could continue to be athletic at nearing sixty, read Horizons by Rocke S O'bannon, posted by kazbaby and loopylou at
//users.boardnation.com/~scapeartist/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=4032
I went on the assumption the translator microbes would do the same for my John.
Short and completely inadequate summary (somewhat similiar to the 'previously on' clips before TV shows): John and Aeryn have two children; Brennik and Aeric. Aeryn has been a slave for the last twenty cycles and has amnesia for everything previous to that. We also picked up two cargo runners; Sethya and Tean. If it still doesn't make sense, I did warn you to read the previous two.
Thank you to scrubschick for patiently listening to me yell at my story for not evolving the way I kept telling it to, and for keeping the characters true to themselves. She's a genious.
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Well, the original characters are mine, and if you want to use them, please don't change 'em. But the rest of them belong to the Hensons. (YAY!)
Part 1
---------------
Silence. How long had it been since he'd been left to his own thoughts? Had it really only been a weeken since he'd talked Brennik, Chiana and D'Argo into saving him and his mother? It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd stood in the sun silently cursing Ms. Furball and her despotic husband. His entire life had been stripped away and now he didn't know who he was. Well, that wasn't accurate. He supposed the truth was he knew better than he ever had. But did he like it?
A madman had sired him. His mother, not even knowing this stranger any more, was willing to follow him based on the feeling that in another lifetime she had loved him. His father. He'd only known him for seven solar days, and already the old man presumed act like a father. Was he weak for seeking out the praise of a stranger? He'd gone thirteen cycles without needing that contact. Why now, when the man with the blue eyes was around did he sit a little straighter? Sometimes he disgusted himself.
But even when he scowled at John Crichton, that man simply smiled back. Pretty soon the novelty of having a long lost son would wear off and then where would Aeric be? No, he couldn't invest too much into the old man. And the next time his father smiled at him and patted him on the back he wouldn't feel strong, smart and capable. And the next time he was asked to do something he'd tell him where to go.
"Aeric, are you here?"
Frell. A shiny pair of black boots crunched their way toward him. If he was still enough, maybe Tean wouldn't see him under the massive blue palm leaf.
"Aeric, I need your assistance. The repairs are nearing completion, but there are a few controls that under a console I can't reach. You are the only one the correct size."
What a nice way to say he was the only one small enough to fit. Frell. His mother was ready to return to Moya and the transport was nearing flight readiness. Tean had proven remarkably knowledgeable about the craft and had shown himself to be very imaginative at repairing the damaged components. Under his tutelage, Aeric had spent the better part of the last weeken assisting him.
A long pair of legs crouched and a hand appeared, pulling the leaf high enough for Tean to look under. "Commander Crichton says we will be leaving in the next arn, and this last adjustment needs to be completed." Surprisingly, Tean climbed under the leaf and sat in the green mulch, crossing his legs as if they had all day. "Pretty rough, huh?"
Aeric simply shrugged.
"I can't imagine what it would be like to find out after all this time that you have a father and a sister." Tean graced him with one of those rueful smiles that Brennik seemed to go all girly over. "Especially the pair they seem to be."
A ghost of a smile touched Aeric's face. "What kind of man sings songs when their craft is under fire?"
"Either a madman or a genius."
"What was your father like?"
"I don't remember too well. He died when I was fairly young. You could ask Sethya. He was a little older and knew him better."
"So, you did all right without a dad?"
"There are times I still wish I had a father to turn to."
"He's not so bad all the time. I guess. I just wish he'd back off."
"Yeah, well, that would be the part of him that is really pissed off that he missed the first twelve cycles of your life."
"Thirteen."
"Right. Thirteen. Now, about that console..."
Aeric rolled his eyes and pushed the palm leaf away. "Fine, let's go. You know, sometimes, you're as bad as he is."
"Thank you. You may not agree, but I'm learning that is a compliment."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"You are getting too personal," Sethya growled.
Tean was neither moved, nor impressed, and so continued with his repairs as his brother nagged at him. "The kid needed someone to talk to."
"We are not staying. Do not get attached."
"I am not attached. It doesn't hurt to be friendly."
"How friendly do you think they would be if they learned the truth?" Sethya handed him a tool as he waited for an answer.
"I'm not baring my soul here, you know. But we are going to be with these people for the next little while and, unlike you, I refuse to live in grim seclusion. When they need my help, I give it."
"Just remember, the longer you are around them, the more likely they are to discover the truth. These people are not stupid. They've been around a while. The only reason they have not guessed yet is because they're so wrapped up in Sundance. Aeryn. Whatever her name is. But our window of anonymity is closing and pretty soon we are going to have to leave."
"Are you trying to remind me or yourself?" Tean asked sardonically.
"Just watch yourself."
"Get frelled."
"Make sure you don't."
"She'd enjoy it."
"She's a daddy's girl. And daddy named his pulse pistol Winona."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, beautiful. How'rya feeling?"
You mean other than the fact that my heart has stopped simply because your leaning in my doorway, one arm braced above your head with that tight black t-shirt on that defines every muscle of your chest and arms? "Fine. Just fine." The others had taken to calling him "old man". Did they see the same person she did? There was nothing frail about those legs, or flabby about that eema.
Aeric kept insisting she was only allowing this man so close because of a forgotten past, but he was wrong. She simply wasn't going to explain to her adolescent son that she was grabbing at this chance for happiness because, well, to be truthful, he was the first man in twenty cycles that made her feel. She looked at that boyish, hopeful smile and swallowed. Yes, he could make her feel. Was it hot in here? They needed to turn on the heat regulators.
He was biting his bottom lip shyly and she realized he was holding something behind his back. "What are you hiding?"
He pulled his arm around front and in his hand was a single grey flower with purple and pink spots. At that moment he reminded her of when Aeric was a little boy and would bring her fistfuls of wildflowers with adoration in his eyes, hoping to please her.
"It's pretty."
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, there were thousands of them all over the place and since you didn't have the chance to get out much I thought..."
She pulled the flower from his grasp and tucked it behind her ear, just as she did for Aeric. "Thank you."
John stared at the flower for a moment, seemingly lost in his own thoughts before shaking himself from his reverie. "Um, I'm told the limo is ready, so whenever you want to go, just say the word."
He didn't reach for her, didn't kiss her cheek. He hadn't touched her since that first day on Moya when her head felt as if it was going to explode on her neck, and then it had seemed as if he was acting against his will. Maybe he was no longer attracted to her. It had been over twenty cycles and judging from what Brennik looked like, she was no longer the youth she had been. He seemed a man ruled by loyalty and honor. Perhaps he was only trying to help her because of past obligations. Surely, if he felt something, he would have made some gesture by now.
She wished he would make a move. It wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't touched her that first day, if he hadn't caressed her cheek and looked at her as if she were the life-saving bread to a starving man. But he had touched her, and now that she knew his touch, she hungered for more.
She nodded. "Give me a couple of microts."
He waved as he turned and left her room still with the smile that reminded her so much of Aeric.
----------------
Aeric felt his blood pumping in his ears. His lungs felt as if they would explode and he vaguely wished he was back at Furballs' farm with only the threat of a whip at they end of the day. But he was on an alien planet, running through purple and blue trees, desperately trying to reach the healing center.
Finally he saw the clearing ahead and it only took a microt to see his goal. John was leading Sundance with his left hand at the small of her back while carrying her satchel slung over his shoulder with his right hand. While Crichton was wearing his standard black leather and dual pulse pistols, Aeric's mother was wearing brown leggings and boots and a large tan tunic. They were smiling and talking, reminding Aeric of the youth who used to court at marketplace.
But now was not the time for courting and Aeric never broke stride as he burst into the clearing yelling madly. "Mother, John! The raiders have returned and are trying to steal the transport. Tean and Sethya are holding them off, but they will not be able to keep them away much longer!"
A blast shattered a group of rocks mere denches from Crichton's left foot. What happened next transpired so quickly that Aeric would never be sure he saw correctly. While Crichton shifted the satchel to his left hand and pulled a pulse pistol from his right holster, Sundance, in perfect rhythm of motion, pulled the pistol from John's left holster. As if one unit, their weapons were aimed and scanning, each covering the other's blind spots
"Aeric, get down!" John yelled and a blast echoed off a tree to the young boy's right. Aeric needed no further encouragement and together, the three of them ran through the trees ducking for cover. Aeric found himself behind his mother and John following closely. One raider jumped from the bushes on the left and without missing a step his mother fired a round that landed directly between the man's eyes. He didn't have a chance to scream as he fell in a heap to the leaf covered ground. Aeric was momentarily paralyzed. His body stopped functioning and all that swam through his eyes was the cold precision of his mother's aim. He felt John bump into him and call his name, but he couldn't respond. His gentle, loving mother was a skilled killer. There had been no hesitation, no second thoughts, no remorse... just death. He felt John's arms begin to lift him, and that was enough to stir him slightly from his shock. Enough, it seemed, to help him make his body move, even if his thoughts were in torment.
As his mind was crowded with these new and overwhelming concepts, his subconscious continued to watch the battle and monitor their progress through the woods. The two adults would stop occasionally and fire off shots. Screams seemed to follow them, echoing off the dense brush as they killed raider after raider. John would yell "Duck" and His mother would instantly drop a split microt before a blast would land where she had been. As John would fire one direction, Sundance would turn and kill a raider behind John, and then later, John would return the favor. Their progress was steady and finally they reached the transport.
Sethya, with steady precise shooting matching the expertise of John and Sundance, covered their entrance to the pod and the microt they were inside John piloted the craft heavenward.
"They won't be following us," Sethya informed them unemotionally. "D'Argo disabled their ship when he destroyed their other two. They crashed landed and it must have taken them a weeken to find us."
Aeric barely heard. He could only sit in his corner and stare at his mother. She sat motionless against a far wall, staring at the pulse pistol held in her trembling hand. Who was this stranger wearing his mother's face?
How many of her shots had found their target? Almost all of them, he recalled. He also remembered the teamwork between his parents. It was almost as if they'd known each other's thoughts and intentions and had compensated
----------------
Aeryn stared at the pulse pistol, gently shaking in her hand. For this moment she was Aeryn The Warrior and not Sundance The Ex-Slave. She had known exactly what needed to be done and had executed the required measures with precision, relying on instinct. John had been the perfect counterpart. The thrill of teamwork and adrenaline still pumping through her veins was intoxicating. Logically, she should be horrified and scared. But she was neither. A lost piece of her had just been handed back, and, greedily she wanted the rest.
She tried to remember holding a pistol before, but as had happened every time in the last weeken, she could remember nothing before that awful morning she awoke in the medical facility and was told she'd been in an accident... and weren't her owners very generous to pay for emergency care? But the memories could not be forced, and still she sat against the wall, holding the pistol, willing her mind to draw out the memories.
-----------------
The trip was silent, each lost in their own thoughts, and when they were docked they each began to leave to sort out the morning in their own way. "Sethya," he heard John call his name before he could leave. He halted, not turning, but waiting for the pod to empty, knowing his concerns had not been useless worry. Finally, John spoke again. "How long." It was not a question and Sethya heard the determination the older man's voice.
"How long since what?" Sethya asked, trying to sound innocent but still not looking at Crichton. He respected the old man and detested lying to him, but trust was not an option.
"How long has it been since you and your brother defected from the peacekeepers?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." It took half a heartbeat for Sethya to land on his back with the air knocked out of him. For an old man, he moved quickly. Crichton leaned so close Sethya could see the colored flecks it the blue eyes before him. "I've only seen tech work as good as your brother's once. She was a peacekeeper. I've seen your style of fighting up close and personal on several occasions, they were commandos, mostly marauder crews. I don't give a damn about your past. I have nothing against ex-peacekeepers. My wife is one." Crichton leaned a little closer. "But I do have problems with peacekeeper spies, or ex-peacekeepers that could possibly endanger my family. If anything unpleasant, anything at all, should happen to my wife or children because of you or your brother, I will kill you."