Frozen Nightmares

by Shakia

Andromeda takes a vacation on an ice planet and Harper is forcably reminded of horrible memories from his past and is also forced to confront what he truley is.

Title: Frozen Nightmares

Author: Shakia

Season: Two, before Rev leaves " (so sue me, I like Rev XP)

Pairings: Very sorry, but none...I really, really don't like pairings in Andromeda. .

Spoilers: None

Rating: Most definitely PG 13 X.x

Summary: When the crew decides to have a vacation on Adori, an ice planet, Harper tries to conceal a horrible secret from his past...No pairings! Also COMPLETE! XD

Status: COMPLETE! :D does little dance

Disclaimer: YES! THEY'RE ALL MINE!!! :K :K :K ...ok, so...they might....maybe, sorta, kinda are not mine O.o But I sure wish they were " Um, and if you didn't catch this I'm getting no monies for making this fic XP

Authors Notes: This is my first Andromeda fic, so don't kill me if I mess up -.-" Although, I warn you now how much it really, really sucks. -.- The only thing good about it was that it was inspired by Mad Dragon's awesome fic, Winter Kludge! I want to thank him soooo much for letting me post up this story, which is very similar to his X.x 'Cept it has to be like SUPER MEGA UBER long X.x This story, is of course, Harper centric! :D For a last note I can promise you that in ANY of my stories no swears will ever be used. Anyways...if even possible, enjoy my story X.x Updated notes: Sorry for the horrible spelling everyone O.o Anyways, I finally looked for some online spellcheck thing and corrected it X.x sorry 'bout before, though yu sould al now howe bad i am wit spelering by now XP

"There is only one thing we can truly control in life. Whether we are good, or evil."

-Oma Desala, Stargate SG-1

"Come on Harper, skiing is almost like surfing." Beka urged for the hundredth time.

"Uh, no thanks Beka, but I, uh have a lot of work to do." Harper insisted hastily, chancing a glance up to her. It honestly wasn't the skiing Harper minded, but the cold weather. Thanks to what the Dragons had done to him when he was sixteen he would never go into the cold weather again, at least not if he could help it. Beka put her hands on her hips and gave him an annoyed look.

"Harper. Dylan's given us a vacation. My point being, your the one who wanted to have one so badly and now when he does finally give us one you stay on the Andromeda!" She told him exasperatedly.

"So? I can stay on the Andromeda if I want." He replied defiantly.

"Harper, you'll love skiing." She continued stubbornly.

"Or maybe I'll hate it. But I'm not moving from this ship." He stated and returning his attention to the consul before him.

"I could drag you there you know." Beka challenged. Harper tensed. She wouldn't. Would she? She was a lot bigger than himself, but he reckoned he could still slip out of her grasp, well unless she... "Better yet, I'll get Tyr to drag you out." She said, continuing his former thoughts and smiling triumphantly. "Hey Tyr!" She yelled.

"Not if you can't catch me first!" Harper yelled, bolting to the door only to crash into someone. He gave in inward groan and reluctantly looked up. He was not having a good day. Tyr loomed over him, leaning against the door frame lazily.

"What is it?" He asked in a bored and impatient tone of voice.

"You do remember that bet we made? And how you now owe me a favor?" Beka continued smugly. He rolled his eyes and nodded with obvious reluctance to admitting such a thing. "Well. I'd like you to help me get Harper outside." She explained, shooting Harper a smirk. 'Uh, ok Harper, think.' He told himself rapidly. He hastily scrambled to his feet, still trying to figure something out.

"Beka, I-I can't go outside...I-" His mind raced as he tried to pull up some sort of an explanation. "Because-because of the magog larva! Yea, they've been annoying me lately and I figured I'd just sit this one out." Harper explained hastily. He held his breath to see if she had bought it. She stared at him for a moment and he winced under it.

"You serious Harper?" She asked in disbelief. He flashed a hesitant look around the room, before giving her a reluctant nod. He did feel horrible for lying to Beka, but if it got him out of going outside, then hey, he could live with it. "Well then go to Med Deck!" She barked so abruptly he jumped.

"Right, yea, I'm going." He said, relief washing over him as he bolted out the door. Beka sighed, looking after him.

"So maybe that's why Harper's been acting weird." She murmured, staring worriedly at the door Harper had disappeared around. Tyr looked at her.

"No. He lied." He replied casually.

"What?" Beka asked blankly.

"I could smell the sweat, hear his heart beat accelerate and notice the obvious increase of body temperature. He was lying. Now unless there's anything else I can help you with..." He continued testily. Then with a lazy shrug he turned and headed out of engineering. Beka stared after him. What was with Harper? He had never lied to her before. She chewed on her lower lip, deciding to investigate the matter.

Harper sat in his quarters, relieved to have escaped going to the planet's surface agian. He had engaged privacy mode in case Beka had caught his lie or found out he had indeed not gone to medical and came looking for him. He continued to lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Only four more days left. Four more...He hoped he could survive four more days without being forced to go to the planet. This royally sucked. Like Beka had said, he had been the most excited to go on vacation by far. But of course Dyllan had to choose a fricken ice planet. And for two weeks too! His life just got better and better. As he stared at the ceiling his mind again wandered to Earth and he felt anger begin to awaken at the pit of his stomach. Man how he hated the Neichians right now. Heck, he hated them any time.

He really didn't know how much longer he could lay there doing nothing to occupy his mind from those memories. He had to do something so as not to think about them. He gave an annoyed sigh and hopped off the bed before heading to his desk; deciding to tinker with a few devices at least to occupy him. As he continued to build onto and improve his small projects he could not tear his mind from his past, especially considering the fact that the snow covered planet right outside Andromeda was a constant reminder. After a long struggle with himself over the matter he dropped his work, leaned back in his chair and scrubbed his hands over his face irritable. He let out a groan of annoyance and gritted his teeth, trying to focus his thoughts on other things. He suddenly jumped as someone knocked against his door.

"Harper?" Beka demanded in a strict voice. Oh yea, she had caught his lie.

"Yes?" He asked, trying and failing to sound casual.

"Open up." She said, obviously annoyance.

"I'm a little busy. You might want to come in later...like in four days." He replied, again trying to figure out how to escape this.

"Harper what is with you lately?" Beka demanded.

"Nothing!" He lied rather too quickly.

"Harper!" Beka groaned. Well, what was she expecting? For him to just openly explain what was wrong? She sighed. Whatever was going on it had to do with the planet or the vacation. "Please let me in." She finally concluded, tapping against the door impatiently. There was a long pause.

"Promise not to make me go to the planet." He told her strictly.

"Alright, I promise not to make you go to the planet." She sighed reluctantly. There was another pause, before Beka heard Harper deactivate privacy mode.

"Thank you." She muttered under her breath, before entering. The first thing she noticed was how dark it was in his quarters. The lights were so dim she could barley see anything. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. Second thing she noticed was the trinkets and devices scattered amongst the room, particularly grouped on the desk Harper sat at.

"So...whatch'ya doing?" Beka asked as the door slid shut behind her. Harper gave her a nervous glance.

"Nothin...just fiddling." He said, gesturing to the items at the desk.

"Ah." Beka replied, nodding. There was another silence. "Harper, why don't you want to go to the planet?" She sighed. He visibly tensed, refusing to look up at Beka.

"Er, let's just say I'm not to fond of the cold." He replied nervously, reaching out to examine one of the objects.

"Alright." Beka said cautiously. She furrowed her brow, recalling another time, on the Maru to where Harper had gone into a panic because life support had dropped and it had been thirty-six degrees for a few days. He had locked himself in his quarters and had made codes so that it was impossible for Beka to get in his room. She had yelled at him that they needed his help and they could all die if he didn't get the engines and life support running. And to her great surprise and disappointment he hadn't come out. They had been lucky enough that a ship had come across and offered to help. Afterwords when he finally had come out she spent a while demanding to know why he had not followed her orders; plus yelling at him and reminding him harshly that they all could have been killed and it would have been his fault. She had felt horrible later when realizing how harsh she had been on him. There was a long pause between them.

"Well, we'll all be at the cabin." She sighed, when realizing she wouldn't get anymore out of him. They had also rented an old fashion cabin down on Adori, the planet. She left, feeling rather frustrated at her failure and concerned for Harper.

When Beka had finally left he let out a breath which he hadn't even realized he had been holding. Man, that was close. But he could never let them find out. His eyes clouded over as he stared down at his hands. He shuddered at remembering that horrible day. Maybe not as horrible as the year that had led up to that day, but enough to be rejected by everyone. Everyone he knew...everyone he loved. People he thought loved him too. They had tried to kill him and almost did. He couldn't let Beka or anyone know. If they did they'd hate him. Maybe dump him on some planet. Most likely kill him. Of course it was those fricken Neitchien's fault in the first place. He let out an aggressive groan, before getting to his feet and marching out the door toward the control room. He had to keep his mind off that. Why is that simple thing so hard? His fifteenth year was pain. That's the only word to describe it. Day in, and day out unbearable pain. As he reached a consul, he couldn't stop the images from replaying themselves on the beginning of that horrible year...

flashback

"Don't worry Ned, I'll stay here." Harper promised. "I promise I won't leave." He repeated for the dozenth time. He stared helplessly down at his younger cousin, Ned. Ned was about eight, while he fifteen.

"Shay?" He asked weakly.

"Yea Ned?" Harper asked, slipping his hand into Ned's to confirm his presence.

"Please don't leave." He repeated desperately, his eyes shining with newly bred tears.

"I won't." He took a look out into the street before him, impatiently waiting for his older cousin to return. Her name was Maria and she was about thirteen. No one on Earth really knew their age. You never really kept track of that kind of thing on this planet.

Ned had a horrible fever. It was getting worse and worse everyday. Maria had found a doctor from one of the ships who had agreed to get a treatment for Ned. Harper refused to let Ned die. Ned was like a little brother to him. They had been together since Ned was born and he had vowed to protect him. And he would, even if it meant sacrificing his own life to do so. They lived with Nick, their older cousin, Brandon, another older cousin plus a few others. Harper and Maria had brought Ned to the alley just a few hours earlier. He know cursed himself for not bringing a shriller along.

Everything was silent in the alleyway aside from the harsh breathing from his little cousin and the constant dripping coming from somewhere in the dank dark alley. Harper's eyes flashed to the sky. It was almost dark. Crap. The Neitchians would be out for their nightly routine soon and if he didn't get Ned to their house they could easily find them. Not only that, he reminded himself, but lately they'd been trying to get to him imperticular. 'No, Maria told me to stay here.' He thoughts stubbornly. This alleyway was the closest to the docking port and the doctor had refused to come farther then this. That was the reason they had brought Ned out here in the first place. Harper would have to cover himself and Ned. But that would be no use if the Neitchians came here. They would hear the faintest breath, and Ned was having a hard time breathing, so they would eventually be caught. That and Maria was very late. It had been at least a few hours. The sun continued to set, descending quickly down the mountains.

"Ned, I'm going to move you, alright?" Harper asked softly. Ned nodded weakly, before braking into a fit of coughs. Harper swallowed, carefully helping his cousin to his feet. He then pulled him up on the dumpster. He planned to get them on the roof of the small building behind them and prayed it would hold the two of them. The Dragon ubers would never find them there. He scrambled onto the dumpster and again helped his cousin up onto the roof top. Ned immediately collapsed, letting out a soft moan. "Hang in there." Harper whispered. He scrambled down to grab the rag that they had been using as a blanket to warm Ned. He grabbed it, readying himself to go back up when a noise caught his attention. He cautiously looked behind him, fearing the worst. Dragons.

"Well look what we have here." One sneered, toying with a dagger. "If it isn't the infamous genius Harper." He said the words "genius Harper" with a clearly mocking tone. "We've been looking for you." He informed him.

"Yeah, I've noticed." He replied bitterly, glaring at them. For the past week he had been avoiding the Neitchians. Once he had been caught and they had told him that he would be brought to the lab. He'd rather be dead than be some fricken lab rat for Dragons. His older cousin Brandon had told him that when people go into the place only few have been seen afterwords. They do horrible things to you and you don't come back the same person. But unfortunately for Harper in order for they're tests to work they needed the "kludges" to be able to not go completely nuts on them. They somehow found that smarter people tend to last longer. And, also unfortunately for Harper, he had a reputation for fixing unfixable things, building stuff and greatly pissing off the Neitchians. Without warning one charged at him. Luckily he was ready. His heart pounded in his ears as he dodged the Neitchian and grabbed a gun from the dumb uber's side as he did so. Without hesitation he fired the weapon, panting and watching the Neitchian collapse, dead. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and fear alerted him to everything around him.

The others were furious, he noted. One of them, more to prove that they could take down the kludge then anything, charged at him. This time he wasn't so lucky. He fired blindly, missing him by a hair. The Dragon caught him by the wrist and pinned him against the wall with a grunt. His gun had clattered to the ground. Harper's mind worked away, trying desperately to think of a way out of the situation. 'Okay, okay, just concentrate. Alright, so your against a wall pinned by a big overconfident uber. Come on! Alright, so your legs...they're still free.' He grinned as he went over his plan.

"I would not be smiling if I were you, kludge." He sneered.

"Actually, I think you would be. See, when you pin someone against a wall like that, you usually have to make sure their legs aren't free." He explained cockily. Before The Dragon had a chance to realize what Harper said Harper kicked out at him. His grip loosened and Harper took advantage it. He kicked out again and this time the Neithcian released him. He scrambled to the gun and grabbed it from the ground, pointing it threateningly at the Neitchian.

"Let us go, and I won't kill him." Harper threatened.

"Don't tell me there is someone else with you kludge." The leader of the group sneered. 'Stupid, stupid Harper.' Harper scolded himself sourly. "This boy surly would not be him." One asked. Harper looked over to see one holding Ned by his hair. He stared in horror. How had they gotten him? 'Oh crap, they must've gotten him while I was pinned down! Crap...'

"Let him go." Harper growled, loading the guass gun. The leader laughed.

"Why don't we just take him and go." He said, gesturing to Harper's terrified cousin. Ned's breath quickened and he shot Harper a terrified look. He suddenly broke down into another fit of coughs, speckles of blood appearing on the ground. Harper's heart hammered against his chest. He had to do something. He couldn't let them kill Ned.

"I'll go with you!" He blurted out. "I'll even cooperate in your sicko lab rat game, but please treat him and let him go." Harper pleaded. People often said it was impossible to make deals with Dragons, but he had to give it a shot. They might if they wanted him enough. And all they had to do was inject Ned with the antivirus. The leader seemed to consider this.

"Alright Kludge. Hand over your weapon and we will treat him." He agreed, grinning wolfishly. Harper reluctantly handed the Dragon beside him the gun. The Neitchian immediately lashed his arm across Harper's face. It wouldn't have been that painful if it wasn't for those stupid claws. Harper thought bitterly. Blood spilled from his face and winced. He looked up to Ned reassuringly. The Dragon behind him grabbed Harper by his shirt and through him forward. Harper bit his lip and glared at his feet when suddenly he heard a gaus gun load. His head snapped upwards as the leader pointed to gun down to Ned's chest. Before Harper had a chance to even react he fired. Ned let out a cry of pain and slammed down to the ground. Smoke and burning flesh filled the air.

Harper stared for but a moment before thrashing and struggling in his captor's grip, trying desperately to get to his cousin's side. His attempts were futile though, as they began to drag him away. He locked onto his cousin's eyes and barley caught his next words.

"You said you wouldn't leave me." Ned whispered in almost a gasp. Then he went limp, his eyes staring lifelessly at the sky above him. Everything suddenly impacted into Harper.

"You promised you'd treat him!" He roared. The leader gave a wicked grin.

"I put him out of his misery. Unfortunately, you don't get such a luxury." Then he gave a cold laugh.

"Ned! NED!" He shrieked with all his might as they dragged him away.

"Mr. Harper." Harper snapped back to reality with a jump, spinning around to see Dylan in the hall.

"Boss!" He yelped. "Uh, why aren't you down on Adori?" He questioned hastily. Dylan raised a brow.

"I could ask you the same question." He pointed out.

"Yea, well, I have work to do." He said, shrugging. "The ship doesn't repair itself. And I might as well with all this time." He went on, hoping Dylan wasn't going to try and get him down on the planet.

"Well then grab a jacket." Dylan said coolly. Harper was taken aback.

"What?" He asked, voicing some of his confusion.

"Well, since there's no real need to be wasting so much life support when Andromeda is on a planet full of it, I'm shutting it down. It should be about, ah...thirty degrees?" He reasoned. Harper's jaw dropped.

"Wha-what?" He asked, again in disbelief.

"The cabin, however, remains heated. You are welcome to join us Mr. Harper." Dylan said, grinning triumphantly. Ack, why couldn't everyone not try to get him to the planet? His mind began to work out his options. He knew Dylan would try and get him down there. And, besides, it took around an hour for...it to happen, so maybe he could hide out in the cabin. That was the best he had.

"How long does it take to get to the cabin?" He asked, holding his breath and praying for the best.

"About twenty minutes." Dylan replied casually. Harper sighed, feeling relief wash over him. At all costs he would not allow them to see what he was.

"Alright." He muttered reluctantly. "I'm coming. But I'm not doing anything outside the cabin." He told him strictly. Dylan's grin widened.

"Well, that's your choice Mr. Harper. Let's go."

Dylan was in too good of a mood, Harper observed sourly. And he couldn't even get back at him because Dylan was the captain. Life sucked. Harper felt weird in the cold. He hadn't been in thirty degrees weather since the Maru...aaand, He wouldn't go there either. Snow fluttered down around them and the fresh pearly white snow crunched beneath their feet.

"Here we are." Dylan announced, gesturing to the cabin before them. It was pretty nice, Harper had to admit. It was large enough to be very roomy, but small enough to be comfortable. It was wooden and seemed to be in an old fashion Earth style. Dylan opened the door, and the two entered the house, Harper somewhat reluctantly. Of course Beka would rub this in his face. But, to Harper's soon satisfaction, would not as much as Dylan would rub it into her's.

"Harper." Beka stated, in obvious shock from the couch she sat on. Trance and Tyr looked up.

"So the professor finally decided to join us." He drawled. Harper gave a half smile.

"Sure..." He replied. Beka grinned smugly.

"Whatever happened to fixing the ship, Harper?" She asked, her grin widening.

"I think I'm done." He announced sheepishly. There was a moment's pause before Beka spoke.

So..." She started innocently. "Wanna go skiing?"

"No thanks Beka." He replied, heading for one of the empty rooms with his stuff.

"Come on Harper, your not just going to stay in the cabin the entire time." She urged.

"Actually..." Harper began, smirking and disappearing into the room.

"I believe you owe me something." Dylan said, flashing Beka a smile.

"He's still not going out at all." Beka replied defensively.

"The bet was that I couldn't get him into the cabin without ordering him too." He reminded her. Beka sighed.

"Fine, fine." She muttered, dropping a few coins into his hands.

"Hey, you challenged me to bet." Dylan reminded her.

"You know, he's right Beka, you did want him to bet with you." Trance pointed out, smiling playfully.

"I'm going to talk to Harper." She muttered, that being more of an excuse then anything. She had secretly hoped to lose the bet so Harper could be out here with them and finally get some relaxation. She rapped on His door before strolling in to find him on the floor with more trinkets. "Harper, the idea was to get away from all the work; not to bring it with us." She sighed, bending over and picking up the items.

"Hey!" Harper said. "I'm still working on those." Beka raised a brow.

"Were you not listening to me? Maybe without this stuff you can finally relax. Come on Seamus, you deserve it. And the colds not that bad. In fact it can be fun." She urged.

"Wonderful to hear. Can you give those back now?" He asked impatiently, getting to his feet. She grinned.

"Nope." And with that she headed to the door before pausing for a moment.

"By the way, Tyr's going off on some mission for Dylan so won't be back till we're done." She said, nodding to him. "Welp, hope you have fun Harper." She said grinning and shifting her hold on his stuff.

This definitely had to be the worst vacation ever.

When Beka left he got up and locked the door. The door, like everything else was very old fashionably made. It was wooden and opened and closed with pulling the nob forward or back instead of side to side. He found it slightly weird, but did like how it was Earth based. He sat back down and sighed, letting his eyes travel across the room. A rather small and red sheeted bed was behind him, a window blurred with snow was to his right and a red wood dresser was on his left. He sat there for a long moment, trying to think of something to do. He was still trying to avoid the crew as much as possible so couldn't hang around them at all. The only option was to go to bed. He snorted. Like that'd happen.

Beka loaded the fire with more firewood. It spit out a furry of sparks, before licking at the logs greedily. She had to admit, this was nice to get away from most technology. Of course this was much more comfortable than the real old log cabins or houses. The only thing that seemed over one-hundred years old was the heaters. Or at least Beka thought so. They kept shutting down and she had to contact the people who owned all the cabins. They would fix the problem, but it'd take a while. Last time it had taken at least thirty minutes. She looked out the window at the falling snow. Maybe she should try to cheer Harper up or at least get him to face his fear of "coldness". She guessed something had happened in his past to make him fear the cold weather. Maybe he was caught in a snow storm or something. She bit her lower lip, hoping some tragedy like that wasn't the answer to why he was acting so weird. Well, she'd show him how fun snow could be. She grinned, getting up and again strolling to Harper's door. She knocked, reaching to open the door to find it locked. She sighed. Here they went again.

"Harper..." She groaned.

"Yea?" He asked trying an failing to sound Innocent.

"Open...the...door. Now." She demanded rather clearly.

"No can do." He replied smugly.

"Well, luckily I have control to the heat in your room." She said cockily, grinning.

"Alright, you win." Harper groaned. The door unlocked and opened. Beka entered, flipping on the lights.

"Why do you always keep your lights off?" She questioned, looking around the room. He shrugged. "Alright...so, since your here we might as well go outside." She continued, also giving a shot at sounding innocent.

"Ah, no." Harper said, laying it down plainly.

"Come on Harper, just for a few minutes." She paused, before adding, "I promise not to bug you anymore." Harper hesitated, looking down at his feet.

"Yea, alright...But just for a few minutes...." He said hastily.

"Great!" She chimed, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him to the door. She headed to a closet and rummaged around before pulling out a few coats and mittens. She threw him the snow gear and put them on herself. She watched him reluctantly slip them on before they headed out the door. Beka looked around at their "winter wonderland" so to say as she shut the door behind them. "So, what do you want to do?" She questioned, grinning. He hesitated, still not seeming to like the idea.

"Well, there was once this game on earth that I used to play with my cousins." Harper began, stooping over.

"What might that be-" Before Beka had a chance to finish a snow ball hit her face with a splat. "Harper...you are so dead." She said, despite her giggles.

Despite himself, Harper was actually enjoying his time with Beka. He figured if he just stayed out here less than an hour then he'd be fine. Plus she had promised to stop bugging him if he did this.

The two were laughing, wet and drenched with snow.

"Told you you'd like skiing." Beka pointed out, grinning. He nodded, sharing the smile. He hadn't realized how fun that would be; even with the major wipe out the two had been in. As he opened his mouth to mention it he suddenly he felt a sharp pain course through his body. No-it, it couldn't be. It couldn't have been an hour already. It had only been around forty minutes! He began to panic.

"Harper, you ok?" Beka asked, concern apparent in her voice.

"We-we got to get back to the cabin." He stuttered rapidly, before taking off to where it was. It couldn't have been an hour yet. How could he have lost track of time? He burst through the door and stumbled into the room. Trying to avoid Rev's awkward look he bolted to his room. Beka followed close behind him, obviously bewildered at his sudden change.

"Beka?" Rev asked cautiously, shooting a look to Harper's now closed door.

"I don't know. We were having a blast, but then he just suddenly freaked out." She explained, still trying to catch her breath. Rev was currently the only other one in the house. Everyone else aside from Tyr had gone off to do something on the planet.

"I'll talk to him." Rev volunteered, strolling to Harper's door.

"Harper." Rev asked, slowly opening the door. Harper lay panting and sprawled on the bed; his snow cloths abandoned by the door. "What's wrong Harper?" He asked, worry etching his features.

"Nothing Rev. Just tired, that's all. I'm going to call it a night." He reassured him, rolling onto his side.

Harper felt Rev's eyes on his back for a wavering moment. He continued to lay there, praying that Rev would leave.

"Rev, could you please leave?" He pleaded, not bothering to look behind him at Rev.

"Alright Harper. But, I'll be here when you need to talk. We all will." He promised him softly.

The door shut with a soft creek. Harper looked over his shoulder to make sure he was really gone and was glad to find no one there. He hoisted himself off the bed and quickly locked the door. Then, feeling much more relieved, yet angry at himself, retreated back to the bed, exhausted. He promised himself not to go to sleep. He'd just rest. Yea, resting couldn't hurt. He jumped into the bed, and lay there for a long moment. Finally after a long while sleep got the best of him.

flashback

Harper was dragged into a building surrounded by thick gates at least twenty feet high. He had only seen "the Lab" from a distance. It was dark, black, and very big. Yet Harper's mind remained at the scene of his lost cousin. He was focusing too much on Ned...and his last words.

"You said you wouldn't leave me." He had broken his promise. Again. He had let Ned die. He hadn't kept his promise to protect Ned. He quickly turned his sorrow and remorse into hate and anger. If he started crying or let sorrow get the best of him, he was as good as dead. Crying was a sign of weakness and if he had learned anything on Earth it was that if you were weak, you were dead. The doors swooshed open and Harper snapped back to reality. He knew he had to concentrate on how he could get out of here. On their way here he had made many attempts on escaping, all of which failed miserably and rewarded him with the many gashes and broken bones he now had. As they dragged him through the building he managed to memorize most of the turns through it. He figured it should come in use some day. They paused and the leader Neitchian who's name he would never forget, Taneth, again punched in some sort of code. Harper noticed he used some sort of card after punching the code in. He ran the code itself through his head a few dozen times and stored away the information for future reference. The door slowly swished open and he was roughly shoved through. The room was, like the building, dark and black. Shelves stretched across the room and items in jars and tools were scattered upon them. Cold metal tables lay at a distance from each other. The tables had restraints built into them and a metal arm looming over the tables themselves; casting an eerie shadow onto it's surface. Oh how classical those were. He also noted the chairs that were quite similar to the tables and a few large cages tucked away some corners.

"Welcome to your new home kludge." Taneth gave a wicked smile, motioning for the others to strap him down. "Get used to it. You're going to be here for a long time."

Harper was thrown into his usual cell once again. He landed with a grunt, staining the floor once again with blood. He struggled to his feet, wincing and glaring at the guard. Weird though it may sound, he was actually glad to be back here. Not because he had been on that stupid table for weeks. Nope, not because he could now finally move around. He looked over his shoulder, wondering where Mara was. She was another captive and lab rat. She was also the reason he was glad to be back. He had been in the lab for a few months. Every day was just pain. They did everything to him. From sticking him full of needles to electrocuting. For some stupid project or another that they wouldn't even tell them about. Only the silence of the cell greeted him. Harper felt that something was wrong. Oh yes, something was wrong.

"Mara?" He asked worriedly to the seemingly empty cell. He walked toward the wall to where she usually slept and stumbled, landing on his face. He scrambled to his feet to see what he had tripped over. To his horror it was Mara. He stumbled to her side, dropping to his knees and felt for a pulse. It was weak, but there.

"She needs help!" He yelled to the guard. He merely glanced at him. "She's about to die!" He roared, getting to his feet.

"Then she'll die." He said lazily. Harper felt hatred once again consume him. He soon focused on Mara and frantically knelt down next to her again.

"Mara?" He asked softly, gripping her wrist to monitor her heart beat. Over the time the two had gotten to know each other. Mara knew him best out of anyone in the whole world. She knew things about him that no one had ever known. Things he had kept locked away for years. And he knew her just as well. Somewhere along the line they had fallen in love with each other. "Mara?" He repeated, more desperately this time.

"Seamus?" She whispered. Her voice seemed so far off. Her beautiful hazel eyes slowly opened and didn't completely focus on him. He held her hand, willing for her to be okay. She gave a painful smile and stared at him. "Bye..." She breathed, her eyes drooping, giving into the endless sleep that called her.

"No." He breathed, tightening his grip; refusing to believe what was an unavoidable truth. "No!" He cried, tears brimming in his eyes. But even then, he wouldn't let them fall. Not even then. He screwed his eyes shut and cradled her lifeless body tenderly. She couldn't be gone, she was all he had now. "Mara..." He whispered hopelessly.

Harper jolted awake, panting heavily. He swallowed, shivering. Only after a moment did he realize that he was not shivering from the dream. He also noticed the loud banging at his door.

"Harper! Open the door!" Beka yelled. "I swear I'll shoot it down if I have to!" What was going on? It was so cold. His breath was coming out like fog as he cautiously stumbled out of the bed and toward the door.

"HARPER!" Beka yelled, hammering against the door. He unlatched it and swung it open. "Harper why wouldn't you open the stupid door?" She asked, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, I just woke up." He shot back defensively. Suddenly something hit him. "Beka, what's going on? Why's it so cold?" He asked nervously.

"Oh, well something's wrong with the stupid heaters." She explained, before adding, "again!" She emphasized 'again' with great annoyance. Harper felt his breath catch in his throat. No...

"How long?!" He demanded abruptly. Beka was taken aback.

"What? I dunno, about twenty minutes. Or at least that was how long I was banging against your door." She pointed out, sighing. "Anyways, we've started a fire in the other room. Barbaric as it is we still have to live with..." She let her voice trail off when noticing the frantic look on Harper's face. Harper's mind was racing. Just earlier it had taken only around forty minutes for the transformation to begin. If he had really been in the cold that long and those little buggers had been activated...oh crap. "Hey Harper, you alri-"

"I'm going back to the Andromeda." He said abruptly, racing to the door.

"What?! Harper there's a blizzard-" She was cut off at the slam of the door. She raced to the door and wrenched it open. Snow immediately lashed into the house and the wind roared furiously. The snow itself was blinding and her voice was not heard even from where she stood. "HARPER!" She yelled frantically.

"Beka, what's going on?" She spun around to see Dylan standing in the hall, a load of fire wood tucked under each arm.

"Harper just ran outside into that! Without shoes, a coat, nothing." She explained exasperatedly.

"What?" Dylan asked in disbelief. Beka shut the door and began putting on some snow clothes. "Beka, why would Harper go out into this kind of blizzard without any protection?" He asked awkwardly.

"How should I know? After finally getting him to open the door he said he was going to the Andromeda and ran out the door!" She explained.

"Beka, if you go out in a storm like that you will most likely get lost." Dylan reminded her forcefully. She let out a laugh.

"So, what? You want me to sit here while Harper freezes to death?" She asked.

"No. I think we should think this over." He said.

"Sorry Dylan. Think it over all you want, I'm going out there to get Harper." She told him, grabbing her coat and slipping it on.

Harper gasped for breath as he stumbled through the blizzard, fighting the raging storm. The wind roared furiously, lashing against him. He could never get to Andromeda and turn life support on in time. He collapsed, gripping the ground beneath him. It was useless. He was going to turn into that-that thing and there was nothing he could do about it. He shut his eyes, feeling his feet and hands burn from the cold. The transformation itself was the most painful thing he had ever or hopefully would ever experience. And that said something because he had been tortured more times then he could count. Back on the Maru he had been able to make the walls sound proof so the others wouldn't hear him or find out. The process wouldn't be so painful if it had been programmed to act slower, Harper noted bitterly. Like if it took days to accomplish then he could've handled the pain. But, of course the Neitchians speeded up the process. Most who went through that had either killed themselves or had gone insane.

His thoughts were disrupted as a sudden jolt of pain course through his body. Crap, it was starting. His breathing quickened and came out ragged as he tried to stifle his panic. Then it impacted him, hitting him like a ton of bricks. He let out a load cry as his very DNA began to twist and crush; transforming into something else. His bones organs began to rearrange. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks and his mind swarmed. He couldn't remember where he was or why. He couldn't remember anything but the horrible, unbearable pain. He heard someone screaming, although didn't realize that it was him. His bones crunched and twisted and every nerve in his body screamed out in agony.

"Harper!" Beka yelled for what felt like the thousandth time. Her whole body was numb, even through the thick coat and suit. This worried her further on Harper's condition. He definitely wouldn't last long in this weather, especially considering his low immune system.

"Beka!" She spun around to see Dylan race toward her, putting a hand on her shoulder once finally reaching her. "Rommie is going to look for him. She won't be affected by the cold. Come back to the cabin." He ordered, being forced to yell so she could hear him.

"Dylan, I can't-"

"Talk back at the cabin." He instructed her, leading her back through the storm. She had to admit that Rommie could find him faster than she ever could. Plus if she stayed out here much longer she'd get frostbite. She reluctantly followed, vowing to come back out.

"I'm going back out when I warm up." She yelled to him as the cabin lights could be seen shimmering through the blizzard.

Harper lay there, gasping for air as the pain subsided somewhat, tears still flowing freely from his eyes. He gave a soft moan, pain still radiating from every nerve in his body. He shut his eyes, trying to recall what had happened. Oh yea, the transforming into a freak thing. Every time he went through it, it got worse. And it was faster. The first time it had taken twenty minutes, even if it had felt like all of eternity.

flashback

It had been months since Mara's death. Harper had also had never seen his cell since that day. He had been stuck on this table in this stupid room. In fact he now knew the exact number of tiles on the ceiling, not to mention every single detail of the room. If he wasn't restrained he would have killed himself. The pain was just too much. Obviously Taneth knew this, otherwise wouldn't have ordered that he be stuck here on this frickin' table. He welcomed death at this point.

In his normally silent atmosphere footsteps broke through, echoing through the room and with a sense of dread immediately recognized them to be Taneth's. He glared at Taneth, biting back any comments that he would have loved to say.

"Guess what kludge?" Taneth asked mockingly. "It's been a year since you got here." He smirked. "What a coincidence that this would be the day we find our results for our work." He said lazily, pulling out some kind of needle. Harper continued to glare at him, even though his mind was racing. Results? Of the entire year he had been here? Taneth injected whatever was in the shot and Harper felt pain, like fire, shoot through him. Even after all this time he could never get used to pain. Even so, it never caught him off guard and he could handle it without crying out. It subsided some what and to his surprise he felt the restraints on his wrists and legs release. He collapsed to the ground, his legs not used to supporting him. A Dragon grabbed him and began to drag him out of the room. Now he was even more confused. Why would they take him out of the room itself? He thought they'd "find their final results" in there...

Thoughts raced through Harper's head as they passed through many of the hallways he remembered coming through when first arriving. At the last moment the Dragons made a different turn from the entrance he had come in. They approached a door with another security consul on it. Harper rolled his eyes as they continued through a great amount of codes and checks so the door would open. Honestly, this all took too long. You'd think they'd've thought of something else aside from codes and more codes. Besides, he reckoned he could even get passed the codes if he had the stupid key card. The door finally slid open and he was greeted with a howl of wind and snow. He squinted, the light burning his eyes. It couldn't be. They were going outside and...it was snowing. They dragged him out and then thrust him to the ground. The snow was cold and very refreshing to him, cooling his aching and burning body. He hadn't been outside in a year. The new smell of the outdoors filled his nostrils and the gentle rush of wind around him was greatly refreshing from the hot sweaty room he was used to.

He heard the guards' footsteps march back through the door behind him. He struggled into a sitting position and looked over his shoulder in time to see the door close. That was mega weird. Dragons'd never do that. He looked up, all his thoughts on to why they'd risk them escaping vanishing when seeing large metal bars above them, stretching out into a dome. He also noted that many others were here with him, all equally confused. He suddenly spotted a familiar face and smiled. He forced himself in a sitting position and began to drag his legs over to a boy he had seen on a few occasions. He was about Harper's age.

"Josh!" He called, greatly struggling to crawl over there.

"Seamus!" Josh sounded somewhat relieved to see a familiar face. "I'm so glad you made it." He said softly as Harper reached him. He had been with Josh for about a week in that room. During that week Josh had told him that he had been very close to three other people at the lab and two of them had died a tragic death. By the sound of his voice, the last one, Allie, had died as well. Harper smiled weakly.

"Same to you." He sighed, raking his hand through his hair, feeling slightly happy to be able to move it freely once more. "Do you know what's going on?" He asked after a few moments. His legs were beginning to get their feeling back into them.

"Only as much as I have the entire year." He muttered sourly. Harper nodded and both lapsed into silence, waiting for something to happen. Harper's instincts were telling him that whatever was coming would be worse then anything he's ever experienced this year. Once the feeling returned to his legs he looked up to Josh.

"Hey Josh, think you can help me try and walk? I mean, I haven't really done it in over four months." He explained.

"They kept you in there for four months?" Josh asked in disbelief. Harper nodded awkwardly.

"Didn't anyone else get stuck on a table for four months?" He asked, disbelieving he was the only one out of everyone here. Josh shook his head.

"Naw, but a lot killed themselves." He explained, before pausing and adding solemnly, "including Allie." Harper looked at him for a moment. He knew more then anyone to how Josh felt.

"I'm sorry Josh." He said and truly meant it. There were so many deaths on Earth that after a while you lose compassion for others who have lost someone. In this rare case Harper did truly regret Allie's loss. Josh lowered his head and gave a small nod. They lapsed into silence for a while. Harper let his eyes traveled across their surroundings as he continued to think to why they'd leave them here without doing anything. Then he thought of what Josh had said. He had been the only one to be stuck on that table and in fact had been wrong when assuming it was because he wanted death to come. Josh had said many had killed themselves. Why had he been the only fricken one to be stuck there?

"Anyways, yea, I'll help you." Josh volunteered, seeming to regain his senses. He got to his feet and held out his hand to Harper. Harper nodded absently, graciously grabbing hold of the hand.

The first ten times he collapsed, but with the help of Josh, was finally able to walk. As he worked more on his walking he couldn't help but keep wondering and worrying to what the results of their year long torture was going to be. What were the results? Why would the Neitchians waste their time building this dome? It sure wasn't here when he came to the lab. Josh and Harper began to walk, or in Harper's case limp, around, trying to find any weak points in the bars or doors. They failed to do so and even found the bars to be pumping with electricity.

"Owch..." Harper muttered, staring at a now black stick he had poked the bars with.

"Major overkill." Josh announced. The cold was no longer refreshing, Harper observed. It know felt like fire more then anything.

"How long have we been out here?" Harper finally asked, looking behind him at the still closed door and studying it. He knew it had been quiet awhile.

"I dunno. At least forty minutes." He said, shrugging nervously. Harper was surprised, and found Josh to voice his own thoughts. "Why would they keep us out here unguarded?" He muttered. Harper felt dread eat away at his stomach. It didn't make any sense. Why would they just leave them out here. Josh's eyes widened suddenly. "Unless...unless this whole time..." He murmurer, to himself more then anyone, beginning to pace around.

"What?" Harper asked, raising a brow. Josh bit his lower lip.

"Before I was taken here I'd been learning a lot about medical stuff. In fact, that was the reason I was taken here." He explained. "You know, learning 'bout the human body, other things like that. I even got to talk to loads of doctors. One even secretly hired me for a while. Anyways, this one doctor was contemplating human transformations. I can't believe I didn't get this earlier. With all the stuff they did to us..." He was muttering again.

"Josh." Harper stated, hoping he would just spill it.

"Right. Anyways, I helped him look into his theory..." He said hastily and swallowed. "Seamus, I think they're trying to...to change us into something." He explained gravely. Harper stared at him for a moment.

"Josh, I look exactly the same." He said cautiously, lifting his hand in front of him as though to prove it.

"I know, I don't get it either, but everything they've done to us went fit his theory." He sighed. Harper wrapped his arms around himself and began to shiver.

"Well, whatever they're going to do I just wish they'd get it over with-" Harper suddenly doubled over in sudden agony. He regretted making that wish as it suddenly felt like like thousands of flaming needles were slicing through his body.

"Seamus?!" Josh asked, fear clear in his voice. Another greater pain engulfed him. He cried out as he felt such a pain that he had never felt in the whole time he had been here. It was unbearable and blinding. He didn't know what was what anymore. The only thing he knew was horrible pain that went on for all of eternity. He never realized that his voice became horse, nor that Josh was now also doubling over. Not until twenty, long, horrible minutes did the pain begin to subside. He took in gasps of air, sweat and blood drenching him. Hot tears continued to flow down his cheeks and he began to realize he was on his chest. Almost from a distance he heard Josh shrieking, along with many others. The world began to blur, but he refused to drift into unconsciousness. Instead he lay there, for how long he would never know. Once his mind was more clear his thoughts began to catch up with him. He forced himself into a sitting position before braking into a fit of coughs. What had that been? Ack, he guessed it had been the "results". Whatever it had been though he never wanted to go through it again. He was so tired and pain still coursed through his very being. His eye lids began to droop as he stared at the lab's outer wall. It was black and it shimmered, showing off reflections of the area. He squinted, spotting something. He forced himself to a sitting position and began to drag himself just a little bit further to the lab to see what it was. As he did, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He took in a sharp breath and looked down to see his arm...but...it wasn't his arm...to his horror it was a cold sapphire blue...not only that, but his hand had claws on it. His breath quickened as he stared at them, turning them over. What the heck was going on?! He looked up to the shiny surface of the lab's walls, and spotted his reflection, feeling his heart stop altogether. His eyes were the first thing he noticed. They were cat like, except...they were glowing. Glowing a horrible yellow. His hair was jet black and he had claws on his feet too. He had large fangs sticking from his mouth and he also noticed he had a tail...it was thin and had a row of small jagged spikes leading down it, and a a huge stinger at the tip. He swallowed, unable to believe what he was seeing. He was a monster...

end flashback

Harper lay in the snow, feeling the blizzard pound down upon him. He was so exhausted. Everything hurt. He sighed, drowsily deciding he better try and get up. If he fell asleep the other's might find him. How would he escape this one? The only way to turn back was to be somewhere warm, high above thirty degrees, and the turning back process was just as painful as turning into. Maybe back at the Andomeda. But, he would never make it there tonight. He struggled to sit up, grunting and panting while doing so. The snow that lashed against him didn't even feel cold anymore due to the transformation. At least there's a bright side to this. He thought with a snort, dragging himself up to a tree near by to lean against. The Dragons had made him what he is because of this upcoming war. The pride had them five against one, and with all the other wars they were fighting they wouldn't have standed a chance. They needed something more powerful and that could beat the other Neitchians hands down. They were just those things. Their eyes had been constructed to see in the dark and also see every detail that was around them. Part of it was from cat DNA, yet not only shimmered in the darkness, but actually glowed a burning yellow. Every sense they had were enhanced to be three times as strong. They were also twice as fast as any human being could be. Their tails, although very thin, could hold something twice their weight. 'Reminds me of an ant' Harper thought dully. Their teeth held venom, which after a few minutes would paralyze it's victim, and if the victim could not get a cure in time, would die. Josh had called this "the frost bite". Their tails had large stingers at the end, which had similar venom as their new fangs. The oh so best part was that they could heal about ten times faster then any human, so were harder to kill. The Neitchians began to train them, and called them Ice kludges. As the weeks passed Josh and Harper became great friends. They trained together, dreamed of freedom together, and even at the worst of times were able to joke together. They both greatly feared that the other would be lost to them, so made kind of a pact. They'd hold on as long as the other was still alive. A load of ships from a rival planet were supposed to land on Earth and that was their first day they were supposed to be fighting. That day was the day they would have these collar type things stuck on them. It would pump them full of electricity if they either weren't attacking at all, or tried to escape in the war. Harper's mind drifted to that very day.

flashback

Harper lay, gasping for air for what felt like the thousandth time, on his chest after a recent transformation. Snow fluttered down upon him and he heard a Neitchian walk down the line, putting collars on each one of them. He glared down at the muddy snow, hating the Dragons. As he approached Harper, he suddenly had a new found strength. Without hesitation, he lunged out, digging his claws deep into the Neitchian's leg, then with all the rage and hate that was soon reborn, sunk his teeth into the Dragon's leg. The Dragon cried out, toppling over. He then lept to his feet, still aware of the dozens of Neitchians surrounding them. They began to yell, firing madly at him. He easily dodged the repeated blows, bolting toward a Neitchian beside the door. He lunged at the Dragon, who cried out, before slitting his throat and grabbing his two gause guns. He fired out at the other Neitchians while using his tail to find the card key he needed to escape. With his enhanced sight and aim he hit nearly everyone he aimed for. The others were inspired by Harper's actions and were, too, attacking the Dragons. Not before long they were all down. Harper's breath echoed harshly through his throat and his heart hammered against his chest. Harper grabbed the key and raced to the consul near the door. He slid the key through, feeling himself tense as it asked for the code. Then, remembering how good he was with machines, thanked the heavens. He began to use his teeth and tail as tools as Josh approached.

"Shay!" He called, excitement clear in his voice.

"I'm trying to open this, Josh." Harper murmured, feeling a flare of pride as the top of the machine came loose. He began to work away at the machine, calculating how long it would take him to over ride the systems. 'If only I had a data port.' He thought sourly, guessing it would take around ten minutes to do so without one.

"Josh, more Dragons will be here soon. You guys have to take them down while I do this." He explained absently. Josh nodded and retreated back to explain it to the others. After a few minutes a spark erupted from the council and the door slid open. "Yes!" He cried, feeling a slight amount of relief wash over him. Luckily the machine was a lot simpler then he had thought. "Let's go!" Harper yelled, before bolting through the door. The others ran close behind. He thanked the heavens that he remembered the way to the front door from this point. They took out Dragons along the way, until finally reaching the door. Harper slid the key through the consul, before working on over riding the systems once again. He began to get nervous as he felt something was wrong. No Dragons were coming after them. He finally was able to over ride the door and it slid open. 'Oh crap.' He thought, staring before him. Around thirty Dragons stood outside, holding huge guns and all aiming toward them. He felt the hatred for them continue to burn and after taking a deep breath, charged foreword, him along with the others. The Dragons charged too. After biting, stinging, and slashing he managed to get passed them and bolted to the gate. He had no time to over ride the system, he would have to climb it. He put a hand against the bar, and retracted immediately as electricity shocked him, hissing with pain. Taking a deep breath he clamped onto the bars and began to climb up, despite the great amount of electrictiy pumping through him. His eyes watered as the only thing that kept him going was the thought of freedom. Once he reached the top he lunged over the side, collapsing in the snow with a thud. He was so weak and he began to feel unconsciousness get the better of him. He couldn't let it though. He had to get as far away from here as possible. He struggled to get up and stumbled toward a forest he knew would give him cover. He looked over his shoulder and felt the familiar sense of dread settle in his stomach. Almost all the others had had collars on them. Everyone else had been recaptured. Including Josh. He didn't dare slow down, and in fact sped up at this. He tore through the forest, trying to get as far as he could before he collapsed. Finally his legs crumpled beneath him and as he fell again into the snow and fell immediately unconscious.

Harper let out a horse cough, struggling to open his eyes. He expected to see the white room and Taneth smirking down at him, but instead was welcomed with a tree trunk. He sat up, looking wildly around him as his thoughts began to catch up with him. He was free...He was free! He had escaped! His excitement suddenly drained away as he remembered Josh. He lowered his head, feeling guilt course through him like venom and feeling cowardly when knowing he could never go in a hundred yards of that place ever again. He wondered if any of his relatives were alive. Maybe Brandon, Nick or Maria? The Magog unfortunately did come in the winter. His heart sank once again when remembering Ned. He got to his feet and headed off through the forest, unaware that this forest would be his home for the rest of winter and winters to come.

Finally after a long while he approached the town in the lowly refugee camp of Boston. He looked out onto the town, taking a deep breath and preparing himself to explain to Nick and Brandon where he had been all of last year...

end of flashback

Harper leaned against the tree trunk, still trying to catch his breath. Nick at least had indeed been alive...He had found out later that Brandon had gone off to help out somewhere else and that Maria had died the night she went to get the doctor to help Ned. But, Nick...he and Harper's friends and three other cousins had been alive...but after coming to the town...he sighed when remembering the looks of horror, disgust and utter hate everyone he had known gave him. They had tried to hunt him down, and cornered him at one point. Despite his ability to heal so quickly they had almost killed him. It had taken days for him to heal enough to even walk. He remained in the forest in a small cave that was well hidden amongst the trees. If he had been human he would have frozen to death. Part of him wished he had. He shuddered, yet refused to let himself cry. A little after the war with the Dragons was over he had found out that after the war every Ice kludge aside from himself were executed...

He would remember Nick's words for the rest of his life. "You're monster! You're just a horrible monster!" He had shrieked. He began to try and imagine similar reactions with the Andromeda crew, imagine their faces; their looks. He heaved a sigh. They could never know. He thought stubbornly as his eye lids drooped.

Dylan entered the room to find Beka staring out the window as the snow blinded anything from view.

"The heating's back up." He announced softly. She sighed, glancing toward him.

"Has Rommie found him yet?" She asked absently. Dylan frowned and shook his head gravely. She bit her lower lip, glaring at the window. Rev looked at her sympathetically while Trance shot Dylan worried looks. "I'm going out to look again." She said.

"Beka, you can't go out there, the storm is even worse then before." He said strictly.

"Sorry to disappoint you Dylan, but there's not a chance I'm leaving Harper out there." She said, grabbing a coat from an old fashion piece of furniture called a coat rack. Before Beka could even touch the door, it flew open and she was greeted with the barrel hole of a gun. 'Oh crap...' Four Neitchians, most likely bounty hunters stood in the door way, all armed. Dylan reached instinctively for his force lance.

"I wouldn't take that out if I were you, Captain Hunt." He warned, pointing the gun threateningly at Beka. Oh how she hated being helpless. "No one move." He growled, shoving the gun into Beka's head. She sighed as he motioned for the other three to tie everyone up.

Oh yea, she could tell this was going to be one long day.

Harper awoke with a start. He looked wildly around, realizing he was still in the snow storm. He immediately remembered what had happened and looked down at his hands angrily. 'This sucks.' He thought bitterly. He heaved a sigh, figuring he should head to the Andomeda, sneak in, put on privacy mode, transform back, and return to the cabin. That might work...

"Harper!!" He jumped at the yell, scrambling to his feet. It was Rommie. He realized with relief he wouldn't have heard her voice either, if it hadn't been for his enhanced hearing. "Harper, please answer!" 'Uh, ok, what do I do now?" He looked wildly around for somewhere to hide. He decided on getting onto the tree above him and hide there till she was gone. Yea, that would work. Despite his doubts he climbed up the tree and made his way over to a branch where he sat, perched on. He held his breath as she came right beneath his tree. "Harper-" She began, before stopping in mid sentence. Harper hesitated as he considered why she had been cut off. He looked down, hoping she wouldn't make out his bright yellow eyes and to his horror spotted two Neitchians over Rommie's limp body.

"No." He whispered, dread again eating at his stomach as he studied them. They were Dragons. As he realized this suddenly dread and fear immediately changed to anger and hate. Without hesitation he dropped to the ground, landing expertly on his feet. The two noticed him immediately, but were not able to see that he was indeed no regular Kludge.

"Don't move!" One snarled, loading their gun.

"Yea right." He growled, before lunging at them. His first victim had not expected the attack and Harper managed to knock the wind out of him before slashing out at him, remembering some of the old techniques he had learned at the lab. The other began to blast at him with his gun, but Harper lunged away from them and the gun hit the other Neitchian instead. The last one grabbed a radio type device and spoke into it.

"Sir, we have a problem, there's another..." He stared in horror as Harper lunged at him and he made out his full form. "It's an Ice Kludge!" He yelled before he was tackled to the ground. Harper slammed the Dragon's head against a rock and he fell unconscious. Harper panted and got to his feet, brushing off. Without hesitation he then ran to Rommie's side and knelt down beside her.

"Harper?" She asked wearily. She was still awake?! She had seen...Oh no...

"Uh...yes Rommie?" He asked, trying to sound innocent despite the rising panic in his voice. As he looked over her she found that she had been shot at the back. He realized she needed immediate repairs.

"Is that really you? You look..."

"They shot you and now your visual system's all messed up. I need to get you back to the Andromeda." He explained hastily, pulling out the first excuse he could think of. The second part was the truth at least.

"Harper, they've taken over Andromeda." She said weakly.

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

"There shutting down my systems." She explained, before pausing and looking at him awkwardly. "And how would you be able to move around that freely when you've been out here for three hours in this kind of weather?" She demanded, looking at him suspiciously. "Harper, my visual systems are fine and-" She began, staring at him

"Uh...I...well, let's just try to fix you up." He instructed, shifting his bright eyes to his side momentarily. Harper helped Rommie up and with much difficulty helped her to lean against the tree he had been on. He wished Beka hadn't taken his stuff. He really didn't have anything to work with aside from his fangs and tail. "Rommie, I think you should close your eyes." He said.

"Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"I meant preserve energy. If Andromeda has been taken over you'll run out of energy." He explained, feeling proud of himself for coming up with that off the top of his head.

"Harper, what's going on?" She demanded.

"Please Rommie, just trust me." He pleaded. She continued to eye him suspiciously.

"You'll tell me everything later?" She asked. He hesitated before nodding reluctantly.

"Yea, sure." He lied.

"Alright..." She said cautiously before closing her eyes. Harper let out a sigh of relief before trying to at least patch up her back enough so that she could stay out here. As he worked worried thoughts raced through his head. What would he tell her when she woke up? He sighed irritably, pausing for a moment to try and figure things out. Most likely those ubers had gone to the cabin...but if they had...would the others be dead right now? He had to help them and the sooner the better. Harper made a final adjustment and was satisfied she's be able to stay out here for a little while. He grabbed one of the Neitchian's guns, abandoned in the red speckled snow. He placed it on Rommie's chest, hoping she'd be able to ward off any trouble. Then, after taking deep breath, trudged out into the storm.

"Someone wants you pretty badly, Captain Hunt." The Neitchian boasted, grinning. His gun was still trained to the group tied up and laying against the wall.

"Apparently so." Dylan said casually. He, with much difficulty, had obtained a shattered piece of glass from a vase Rev had accidentally knocked over earlier and was trying to cut his ropes with it.

The Dragon held up a radio and talked into it. "Have you found the android yet?" He asked patiently.

"Yea, we got her." The voice replied smugly. Dylan tensed at this.

"Good, meet back here." He ordered.

"Sir, we have a problem. There's another..." The Neitchian began in a irritable voice when suddenly he cut off. "It's an Ice kludge!" He yelled frantically. The Neitchian stared at the radio in disbelief.

"What?" He asked breathlessly. "It can't be." He held up the radio once again. "Kacter, come in." He ordered. There was no response. Dylan exchanged glances with Beka. What was that about?

"Having a little trouble?" Dylan asked calmly. He was very good at ticking off the bad guys. The Dragon gritted his teeth, glaring at Dylan. He turned to one of the other two Neitchian's in the room.

"Gather up some of the others and try to find whatever Kacter just saw." He ordered. "And take this." He said as he handed him a holo-cam. He needed to know for sure if whatever was out there was an Ice Kludge. He, himself had been one of the leaders in the project and had even been the one to order them all executed.

Harper raced through the snow. His footsteps were being immediately covered up by the furious storm. He was glad so that at least the ubers wouldn't be able to track him if they found his footprints through the storm. He spotted speckles of light in the distance through the thick view of snow and smiled weakly.

"Almost there." He sighed.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Harper spun around in time to see a Neitchian fire it's gun at him. He lunged out of the way, crashing into a tree.

"So much for them not finding me." He muttered bitterly, rubbing his head and scrambling to his feet.

"Don't move or I'll shoot." He barked.

"How 'bout this? You let my friends go and you leave and I won't hurt you too much."

"I said don't move!" He roared, loading his gun threateningly Harper rolled his eyes.

"Dumb ugly ubers." He sighed.

Before the uber had a chance to shoot Harper lunged at him. He slammed into him, curling his tail on the gun and wrenching it from his grip. He grabbed two others from the Neitchian's side and jumped back, firing madly at the dozen Neitchians before him. They fired back, but he got almost all of them down in ten seconds flat. He heard one sneak up behind him and grinned, slamming the butt of the gun into the Neitchian's head. He then whirled around and jabbed the stinger on his tail into the Dragon. Soon only three were left. He whirled back around, smirking.

"As you were saying?" He asked smugly. The only response from the Neitchians was more very badly aimed fire. Unlike him, they couldn't see to well through the storm. But for Harper, at least while he was an Ice Kludge, the storm completed him. With a great amount of disgust he felt like he belonged in the snow and cold. Harper rolled his eyes. "Have it your way." He muttered, firing the weapon three more times. Harper gave a satisfied grin as they collapsed into the snow.

The Neitchian stared at the screen before him and sure enough, there was an Ice kludge. Not just any mind you, but one they had first worked on and added extra features to. How could he have been alive? Unless...he was the one who had escaped. They had never specifically told him just who had escaped. He watched as the Ice Kludge took out the group he had sent in less then a minute. He gritted his teeth, glaring at the screen. He felt furry burn within him and whipped out his radio.

"Creade?" He demanded of the Neitchian who was guarding the ship.

"Yes?" Was Creade's lazy reply.

"Get everyone down here. And I mean everyone. There's an Ice kludge heading toward us." He growled.

"An Ice kludge?! But sir-" He began, clearly shocked.

"I know." He replied gruffly, sighing irritably. "Just get as many people as you can and tell them they're going hunting."

Meanwhile Dylan and the others were still staring at the screen in disbelief. What Dylan had seen...Whatever it was, was Harper without a doubt...but, as far as Dylan knew Harper didn't have a tail, fangs, claws, not to mention sapphire skin. The thing that probably made Dylan most on edge was what his eyes looked like. He shot a look over to Beka.

"Beka?" He asked. Beka's mouth hung slightly open and by her expression she had no idea what that was either. Dylan had completely forgotten about the shattered piece of glass he still grasped in his hand.

"I-....what was...was that Harper?" She stuttered in disbelief.

"I was hoping you'd know." Dylan said. Beka shot Dylan a shocked glance.

"I wish I did." She replied honestly. "What happened to him?" She demanded to no one inparticular. Dylan had to admit that he wanted to know the answer to that very question. How had Harper done that? Taking down all twelve Neitchians starting out with no type of weapon, while surrounded no less. He sighed, trying to think it over. After a moment he remembered the shattered glass and returned to the rope, hoping it would brake soon.

Harper bounded onward, his goal still in sight. He had to help Beka and the others. But...but then they'd see him...He snorted. 'Right, let's think about this for a sec, Harper. Let them die so they won't hate you, or try and save them, let them see you, be hated. Yea, second one definitely has my vote.'

Without warning a blast shot through the storm. Before he had the chance to react it thrust itself into his shoulder. He plummeted backward, crashing into the snow. He let out a cry, immediately silencing himself and struggling to his feet. His shoulder smelled of burnt flesh, but began to slowly mend. Harper winced, knowing the healing process to be very painful.

"Oh yea, this is getting old." He muttered bitterly, clutching his bloody shoulder and spotting around two dozen Neitchians in the distance. Blasts from gause guns battled against the noise of the howling wind, tearing toward him. With a curse he found he couldn't dodge all of them without cover. Harper shot a glance to the cabin. He was so close. But he needed cover and it would be pointless to lead the ubers to the cabin. So he leapt foreword, dodging as many shots as he could. Another shot tour into his side and yet another grazed his cheek, making him collapse onto a load of jagged rocks. Blood began to ooze from the wounds and he groaned. He struggled tot his feet and continued for a rogue tree only a few feet away. He grunted as he struggled in climbing up it, wiping some blood from his mouth as he did. He knew they were charging at him, thus should be beneath him in a matter of minutes. He also knew he couldn't defeat them from a distance, but figured he had a chance in hand to hand combat. Besides that, he needed to pause so he could heal enough to at least not drop dead. The wind howled through the branches of the trees, wiping in his face. He winced, panting heavily and continued to clutch his shoulder. He was perched on a branch, leaning on the base of the tree for support and studied the horizon for the Dragons. He smiled weakly as they approached and prepared himself for a battle. Neitchians were so predictable.

He leapt down, landing on top of one and grabbed the gun he had been holding. He fired out at the few dozen Neitchians. They returned fire immediately. Harper hated the dodging most bullets part of the fight because it was very difficult to actually succeed in doing. He flipped backward over a Neitchian behind him and grabbed him from behind, using him as a shield. This was not going to be in the least bit easy. Maybe he should have tried to save the Andromeda first. Of course, most likely this was most of the Neitchians that had come here. I mean, they hadn't exactly expected to come across an Ice Kludge like himself...had they? Geez, he sure hoped not.

He thrust the one he had been using for a shield to the ground and leapt to the air in order to both dodge a blast and to fire back. Finally only around eight Netichians remained. He lunged at one, lashing his tail around his neck and, grunting with pain and effort while doing so, thrust him into another one. He didn't even bother to see if he had impacted into the other Dragon as he chucked two of the empty guase guns to the ground and made for another one. He thrust the last one at the Dragon's head.The Neichian jumped out of the way, firing madly at Harper. Harper ducked, wrapping his tail around the guy's leg and pulling him from under his feet. Then he then threw his tail into his chest, before turning to face the other five. His eyes widened as he found a blast was already shooting directly toward him. He, again plummeted to the ground, crying out as blood gushed from his chest. He lay there for but a moment, gasping for air. The Netchians ran toward him. He rolled to the side, dodging another furry of bullets. He spotted one of the fallen Neitchians and wrapped his tail around one of the guns in the guy's belt. Then, forcing himself to his feet, fired at them repeatedly. Finally the last one fell. Like a ton of bricks it hit Harper how exhausted he was. He collapsed in the snow, feeling his vision blur. He chanced a look to his chest and winced inwardly. Blood continued to gush from the wound, bleeding through his torn shirt. He groaned, struggling to his feet once again. He was almost there. He could do this. The cabin was just ahead. He swallowed, forcing himself onward through the storm, despite the continued trial of blood he left behind him.

'Yes.' Dylan silently cheered as his ropes snapped. The leader Dragon was busying himself by pacing around the room, talking through his radio. He looked over to see what the other Neitchian was doing. He was standing beside him, glaring down at the bunch. He abandoned the glass shard on the ground, preparing himself. Now all he needed was a two second distraction.

"Harper?!" He asked incredulously, staring before him in shocked horror. The two Neitchians spun around. Dylan grinned and thanked the heavens that his plan had worked and that the Neitchians had fallen for his act. He took this moment to act. He lunged at the Neitchian beside him, tackling him to the ground. After the guy was unconscious he grabbed the Neitchian's guass gun, scrambling to his feet and aiming to the other one only to find the other one had Beka and was pointing a gun to her head. Beka gave him the "I really hate this." look.

"Put the gun down Captain Hunt." He snapped, loading the gun. Dyllan sighed, raising his hands in the air and dropping the gun.

He was almost there. Just a few more feet. Just a few more. He repeatedly told himself this. As he did so a trail of glistening blood laid in puddles, trailing behind him. His vision still blurred and even with his healing powers he wasn't even sure he'd survive. That last blast to his chest was very brutal. If he were human, he'd have died instantly. His whole body screamed out with agony, begging him to stop. He winced with every step, finding only the thoughts of the others in danger urging him on. He had to get there. He was so close. He felt relief wash over him as he reached the cabin. 'Score!' He thought triumphantly, giving a weak grin. He had no idea of what to expect, so he trained his gauss gun out before him and approached the door cautiously. He took a deep breath before kicking the door open and pointing out his gun to whom ever might be there.

"Well if it isn't the infamous genius Harper." Harper's eyes widened as he spun to his side, the door slamming shut behind him. His breath caught in his throat and his hands shook on his grip. Fear clutched his heart as he took a step back. No. It-it couldn't be. "I'm so glad you could join us." He announced, giving him a toothy grin.

"No." Harper whispered, shaking his head slightly. "You-you can't be here." He said, almost desperately. His grin widened. He couldn't be. It couldn't be him. Taneth...

"Harper." He barley heard Beka's puzzled voice as his eyes stayed trained on Taneth. Taneth looked to the others, seeming to consider their shocked faces. He broke into a toothy grin.

"He didn't tell you?" He asked them with a cold laugh. Harper stared at him. He swallowed, keeping his gun steady. "He didn't tell you that he's a killing machine?" Taneth's eyes darted from them back to Harper, seemingly pleased with the crew's still stunned expressions. "That's what he was made for doing. That's why he exist-"

"Shut up!" Harper screamed, even surprising himself. Taneth smirked, looking down on him. Harper couldn't stand that smirk Taneth gave him. He had given Harper that look every time he went in the room to torture him. He had given it to him when he had killed Ned. He had done it when he had come into the scene of him clutching to Mara's lifeless body. Hatred suddenly consumed Harper, blinding him from every logic, every consequence, every reason. He yelled, lunging at Taneth and tackling him to the ground. He thrust his claws into Taneth's body. He was back at the Lab, screaming himself horse with pain. He was in the alley way, struggling to get to Ned. He was sitting in a dark corner of a cave, bloody and hated by everyone he loved. Taneth cried out and struggled, lashing his spiked arms into Harper's already wounded chest. The blows were ignored, drowned out by his furry and hunger in making Taneth suffer. He thrust his claws out, wrapping them around Taneth's neck. He got to his feet and then slammed Taneth against the wall, his grip tightening. Hatred blinded him. He held his grip for what felt like eternity, longing for Taneth to suffer as much as he had; Harper's breaths coming out in hisses of pain and furry. Without warning Taneth kicked Harper, knocking him down for but a second. He shot to his feet, suddenly plunging his claw through Taneth's chest. Taneth stared at him, wearing a shocked expression before collapsing to the ground, lifelessly. Harper lunged at at him, thrusting his claws through him over and over, oblivious to anything around him.

"Harper! Harper! HARPER!" He rose his claw again, ready to strike, stopping suddenly when finally hearing Dylan's voice. He stared down at the now mutated body laying in a mass pool of crimson red blood. He panted, slowly turning around to face the others. They looked horrified, shocked. Reality hit him like a ton of bricks. He remembered why he was here, what had happened. He swallowed. Beka opened her mouth as though to say something but closed it again. Harper staggered to his feet, staring at them in horror, panic and self loathing consuming him. They knew what he was. He was a freak and a monster. A horrible killer. He bolted to the door, swinging it open and bolting out into the storm.

"Harper! Harper, get back-" The rest of what Beka was saying was drowned out by the storm. He continued to run, despite his fatal wounds that continued to cry out for him to stop. He, like that one fateful day, didn't stop until collapsing into the snow engulfed land. He couldn't cry. He couldn't cry. He couldn't. Everything caught up with him, crashing down upon him like a bomb. Ned's death. Mara's death. Nick's, heck his entire family, all his friends' reactions to him.

"Your just a monster! A horrible monster!" As Harper lay there he finally couldn't stop the rush of tears that exploded from him. He lay there, sobbing not because of physical pain, but for everything he had lost, everything he had been through for the first time in his life. He lay there as the wind beat down upon him, crying to the cold night air...

Dylan stared at the door that he had just went through.

"Harper! You get back here!" Beka yelled, panic clear in her voice. What had just happened? Dylan thought that nothing could surprise him after what he had been through. 'Guess I can shoot that thought down.' He thought. His gaze flashed to the mutated and blood engulfed body before them. The Neitchian... he had said Harper had been created to be a killing machine? From what he had seen, that was an understatement. Blood oozed down from the wall the Neitchian had been slammed against. Blood splattered around the room, concentrating on the bloody mass that was arguably a body.

"Was-was that Harper?" Trance asked frighteningly. She studied the body as well, obviously denying Harper would do such a thing to anyone. How had Harper just suddenly changed into that? How had he taken down all those Neitchians? Dylan wondered if Harper had the ability to change whenever he wanted to. But...Harper wouldn't do anything like that, right? Would he? Dylan couldn't get control of his thoughts as they leapt over each other. He looked over to Beka, hoping she could make sense of this.

"Beka?" He asked softly.

"I-I...I don't know Dylan." She replied softly.

"Perhaps we should try and get out of these ropes." Rev suggested quietly. He too was shocked to what they had just seen. Dylan nodded slowly.

"If we could get my force lance." He said, motioning toward the weapon abandoned by the door.

"I'll do it." Beka volunteered. Dylan swallowed, still trying to collect his thoughts. Beka, with much difficulty, struggled in dragging herself toward the door. She bit her lip with concentration before finally reaching her destination. She sat up, holding the force lanse with one hand and aiming for her ropes. Dylan watched as she fired and her ropes fell to the floor. She then untied her ankles before getting to her feet and heading back to the others.

"What now?" Beka asked as she knelt down untied Rev.

"We have to find Harper." Trance said. Dylan sighed, shaking his head.

"Fist we head back to the Andromeda." He stated. Beka turned to look at him.

"Excuse me? Harper just saved us." She pointed out defensively.

"You don't know that Beka. You heard-" Dylan started.

"I heard that uber tell us Harper was a killing machine." She said, looking at him in disbelief. "You don't actually believe him." She stated, studying him. There was a pause between them.

"Let's head back to the Andromeda first." He said softly. Dylan truthfully didn't know what to think. If Harper had always been able to do that, then why hadn't he told them? He could have saved them a lot of trouble. They could have escaped the Magog world ship unscathed. Or any other life threatening event they had been in. He sighed again and headed toward the door.

Rommie opened her eyes and studied her surroundings. Where was Harper? What had happened? She sat up, looking down to find a gun on her lap. Alright, so he had left...But what in the world had happened to him? Why did he look like that? She suddenly remembered Dylan and the others. That's where Harper must have gone. She had to get there too. She struggled to get up, grunting and leaning against the tree behind her. She winced, looking through the fierce blizzard for any sign of anyone. She was too damaged to go far. She knew that the most logical course of action was to go back to the Andromeda and try and fix herself up and take it back over from the Neitchians. She struggled through the storm, heading in the direction Andromeda was. She sure hoped Harper and the others were ok.

Beka trudged through the snow along side the rest of her crew minus Harper. The storm was calming some what and the snow no longer blinded them or beat down upon them as it had just minutes before. She flashed a look to Dylan, studying him. She couldn't believe it. How could he think that Harper was "a killing machine?". After all this time? She let out a frustrated sighed, averting her gaze to the ground. Well, at least this explains a lot, She thought. Why Harper was so terrified to be out here. Why he had acted so weird. She figured the cold had to do with...whatever he had changed into. It all slowly began to fit, even if there were a lot of missing pieces. That's why he had freaked out all those years back on the Maru too. By the looks of it when Harper had burst in, he had been brutally wounded, dripping blood everywhere. How could he have survived that? She suddenly stumbled, barley catching herself. She looked over her shoulder to see what she had stumbled over and froze.

"Uh, Dylan." She said cautiously, tearing her eyes from the abandoned Neitchian body and looking to him. She watched him scan over the snow covered land. She followed his gaze and through the snow spotted many recently dead bodies sprawled and scattered around them. Burnt flesh still filled the air. "Geez." She murmured. "There's got to be at least thirty bodies here." Dylan nodded grimly and caught her eye.

"Guess Mr. Harper's been busy." He said darkly beginning to trudge on again. Beka stared at him in disbelief.

"Dylan, you saw that Harper was hurt." Beka reminded him incredulously. She couldn't help but notice Dylan didn't meet her eye as they walked.

"Let's get to tha Andromeda first Beka." He murmured. Beka raised her brows. She couldn't believe Dylan was doing this! And for all they knew Harper was already dead. She would not abandon Harper. Heck, specially not after he saved their sorry butts. She glanced at the others before braking into a different direction, intent on finding Harper and hoping the still on going storm would cloak her disappearance. This time she wasn't going to stop until she found him. Her eyes traveled over the land as she stumbled foreword.

"Harper!" Beka hollered after a good distance from the others. She spotted something on the snow out of the corner of her eye. She frowned and looked down.

In a thick trial of blood lay something, abandoned amongst it. She knelt down and picked up Harper's medication. Her eyes flashed back down to the thick trial of crimson red blood. She slowly to her feet and swallowed, her gaze running down the trail. It led into a large forest of pines and dead trees that loomed over her. "Oh boy." She sighed, studying it. She took a deep breath then reluctantly descended toward it. The wind howled and snow wiped in her face as she entered it. She brushed past a few branches and shook her head as the snow piled on the pines piled on it. "HARPER!" She yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth. She sighed when no response came and scanned over the dark forest around her. Only speckles of light made their way through the trees and even then the light was very dim for the sun was just rising. She sighed and continued, praying that she would find him in time. A million thoughts raced through her head and at this point she was expecting the worst. She wandered aimlessly through the forest continuously yelling his name, hoping desperately for a response. Before long she was numb from the cold. She heaved a sigh, skimming again over the dark trees. Suddenly a fallen figure caught her eye. She furrowed her brows as she studied it through the trees. She cautiously stepped foreword, her eyes never wavering from it. As she brushed past a few trees and neared it she not only confirmed it to be Harper, but that he was actually...crying. She stared, disbelief and again shock consuming her. Harper had never, ever cried. Never. He had told her his logic once. Only the weak cried.

"Harper?" She asked cautiously, taking a step toward him. Beka noticed the large puddle of blood around him. He had lost a whole lot of blood. He jumped and abruptly spun around onto his back. Beka took a step backward and stumbled on a root, landing with a thud. She winced, struggling into a sitting position. His face was tear stained and his eyes downcast. There was a moment of silence between them to which Beka studied him and confirm where his wounds were. Beka couldn't be sure if Harper was delirious from blood loss or not due to his condition but decided to treat the situation just as such. Finally he broke the silence.

"Just do it already." He muttered, then added in a whisper, "I deserve it." Beka gave him an awkward look and raised a brow.

"Do what?" She asked, taken aback. Harper chanced a glance up to her.

"What you came to do. That's why you have Dylan's force lance, right?" He murmured, returning his gaze to the ground. Beka stared at him in disbelief, getting slowly to her feet.

"Harper, why in the world would you think I'd want too-" She began.

"Why not?" He asked, giving a half shrug. He looked up to her hopelessly. "I'm just a monster Beka. A-a killing machine." He explained angrily. Then after a moment of silence he added, "Of course they knew that. Should've let them finish me off. Would've saved everyone the trouble..." He merely muttered the last part. Beka cautiously stepped toward him. She wanted to yell at him; tell him how he was the world to her. That she would never kill him no matter what he looked like. But all that came out was,

"Who?" Harper gave a fake smile, holding back further tears.

"My-my family. Friends." He shrugged again as though it was no big deal, then suddenly sighed. "So go ahead already." Beka stared at him. She couldn't believe this. Harper's own family and friends had tried to...

"Are you telling me that your own-your family and friends tried to kill you Harper?" She asked in disbelief. There was a moment of silence. Harper swallowed and nodded slowly.

"They had good reason." He murmured, looking down at his hands. "Nick was right Bek." He gave another weak smile. "I am just a monster."

Holy crap. Harper- she understood now. She understood everything. All the pieces fit now. Not only why Harper had risked their lives back on the Maru but why he had freaked out. He was afraid they'd hate him for what he looked like. Why wouldn't he think that if his own family had tried to kill him for it? Beka knelt down beside him.

"Harper...I'd-I'd never even think..." Her voice trailed off as she stared at him.

"Why?" He repeated. Beka shook her head, at a loss for words. She was never good with words.

"I'd never kill you Harper." She said honestly. "I wouldn't even dream of it." She gave a soft smile. Harper looked puzzled.

"Why?" He repeated once again.

"'Cause your like a little brother to me." She replied. "I wouldn't care if you suddenly sprouted another arm Harper, I'll always still see you for who you are." She told him. Harper fell silent and swallowed.

"Really?" He whispered.

"Really." She replied truthfully. Beka noted that Harper looked relieved. "Harper, we have to get back to the Andromeda. Your hurt." She said urgently.

"Yea, I didn't notice the hole in my chest." He replied, shooting her a grin. Beka smiled. Yea, he was back.

"Alrighty, shall we?" She asked, hoisting him to his feet and throwing his arm over her shoulder.

"Beka, I can walk." He insisted weakly. She snorted.

"Right, and I'm king of the universe." She laughed sarcastically. Harper grinned and they stumbled foreword through the thicket of trees.

"Something on the planet is still messing up my sensors Dylan." Andromeda reported sadly. Dylan nodded and sighed.

"They could be anywhere." He murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose agitatedly. Rommie nodded. Luckily he had met up with Rommie on the way to Andromeda. She was wounded but wasn't fatal at the moment. She had also been informed on Harper's condition and what had happened.

"Dylan...what-what do you think of Harper's condition?" She asked cautiously. He sighed.

"Frankly I don't know Rommie." He muttered. "That Neitchian said he was a killing machine." He shook his head. "Rommie, that Neitchian was completely mutated. Harper not only killed the Neitchian but completely mutated him! For all we know he was going to do the same to us." He sighed.

"Dylan you don't think Harper would-" She began, aghast.

"Not when he's himself, no. But when he was that-thing, maybe." He began to pace. "And Beka went out looking for him. She might be dead. They both might be dead." He continued. He paused, seeming to consider something. "I'm going out looking for them-" He was abruptly cut off by Andromeda.

"Dylan, Beka's just boarded the ship." She announced urgently. "She's got Harper, who's in need of immediate medical care." She reported. Dylan nodded before bolting out the door.

"Tell Trance." He yelled behind him, tearing down the hall.

Harper couldn't believe it. Beka-she didn't want to kill him? Did she really...really care about him that much? Especially after what she had seen him do. He felt so relieved and surprisingly better then he had felt for the last two weeks. Beka helped him through the cargo bay as a few drones rushed in with a stretcher. He felt himself begin to slip into unconsciousness as they lifted him onto it. Ack, he hadn't realized how much his whole body hurt. Every nerve ached and felt like he was on fire. His vision began to blur and he looked over to see Beka jogging beside him. Soon her face, along with the world around him, went out of focus and blacked out completely.

Trance had gaped when they brought him in. He had some really bad wounds. That and blood was everywhere. It was beyond a miracle he was still alive so she had said. It had been about an hour since they arrived and Beka stood outside, waiting impatiently for any word of Harper's condition. So far she had been able to avoid any contact with Dylan. She sighed, raking her hand through her hair as Dylan rounded the corner.

"Beka." He said. She looked over to him.

"Dylan." She said in a fakely sweet voice, flashing him a rather fake smile to match.

"Beka, you directly disobeyed-" Dylan began, cutting directly to the point. She let out an aggressive sigh.

"Give it a rest, Dylan. He was dying. And frankly I was shocked you'd risk his life like that." She snapped.

"Beka, we didn't know if he was himself! He could've killed you!" Dylan sighed in disbelief, obviously trying to get his point across. She let out a laugh.

"Excuse me? Did you not see that he saved us?!" She asked incredulously.

"Regardless Beka, you should have told me you were going to look for-" Again, she cut him off.

"Yea, so you could try and stop me? You didn't expect me to just sit in Andromeda while he was out there dying?!" She yelled. "This is Harper we're talking about Dylan." She growled.

"I know Beka, but we've been through enough to know not to take the risk." He reminded her harshly.

"Sorry Dylan, I didn't realize Harper's life wasn't worth the risk!" She snapped her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Beka that's not what this is ab-" He began.

"No, Dylan, this is what it's about. Harper's life is worth any and every "risk" and disobeyed order. I told you already. When it comes to the safety of my crew I will do anything and everything I can to protect them." She shot coldly. The doors suddenly slipped open and Trance stood there nervously.

"Uh, Beka?" She asked feebly, fidgeting with a flexi nervously.

"What?" Beka asked coldly, her eyes shooting daggers at Dylan.

"Um...you told me to tell you when you could see Harper. He's sleeping right now, but I think it should be..."

"Thanks Trance." Beka muttered, brushing past Dylan and entering the Medical.

"He almost didn't make it." She whispered, her eyes glazing over. Beka shot Dylan a cold glare before pulling up a chair next to Harper's bed. He was still in the same mutant form. He also still looked weak and exhausted. But the blood was gone and his wounds were healing pretty well.

"Dylan, there was a few things that is different about Harper other then his looks." Trance announced, looking to him nervously. He nodded a go ahead.

"See, he has a sorta advanced healing power." She explained hastily. "That was the only thing that kept him alive and even with that he would've died. He also has venom in his fangs. And um, some sorta different venom in his tail. I'm planning to do some more research on it later..." She began, trailing off. Dylan nodded, staring wearily at Harper's sleeping form. He sighed.

"What made him change?" He questioned softly.

"Well, as far as I can tell it's the cold. Since it's pretty hot in here he should change back." She reassured them. Dylan nodded again, before heading toward the door.

"Keep me updated Trance." He told her before the door slid closed behind him. Beka didn't bother to look up as Dylan departed. Instead she kept her gaze on Harper as his chest slowly rose and fell. Trance shot her a concerned look as she sat at a desk, examining something. Trance sat at the desk for some time, before fixing her gaze on Beka.

"Beka, are you alright?" She asked softy. Beka looked up to her, giving her a weak smile.

"Yea, I'm ok." She reassured Trance. "Sorry for acting that way to you. I wasn't angry at you." She explained, sighing. Trance nodded.

"Dylan's just trying to do what's best for the crew." Trance said softly. Beka didn't response and continued to stare at Harper. Trance furrowed her brow and looked over something.

"Uh, I need to go tell Dylan something, I'll be right back." She told Beka. Beka nodded and watched her get up out of her chair. "Can you stay here with Harper until I'm back?" She asked hopefully. Did she even have to ask?

"Yea." Beka replied, nodding as though to confirm it. Trance flashed her a smile before grabbing the flexi from the desk and bolting out the door. Silence followed Trance and with it Beka was alone with her thoughts. She didn't like being left to her thoughts. She didn't like to think too deeply at what Harper had been through. At how much pain he had experienced in his life. She didn't like being left alone to ponder all this. How could anyone live with that? Sure she could get pissed at her brother sometimes, but she would never kill him even if he did grow hair and fangs.

She was ripped back to reality as Harper began to stir. He groaned and groggily cracked open his eyes.

"Beka?" He croaked, looking dazed and confused. Beka felt slightly relieved and gave him a weak smile. Suddenly a look of horror crossed his face. "How long?!" He demanded urgently, looking around frantically. Beka placed a hand on his good shoulder.

"Harper, it's alright we're back at the Andromed-" She began nervously.

"How long!" He repeated, panic clear in his voice.

"About forty minutes." She replied, beginning catching on. She was now pretty sure that whatever he changed into was on some kind of timer. That also fit into the puzzle. Without warning Harper doubled over in pain and he let out a muffled cry. At this Beka shot to her feet.

"Harper?" She asked, staring at him wildly.

"Andromeda." Harper grunted, gasping for air. "Activate Harper three zero, password: Ice Kludge!" He managed to pant out through his pain.

"What? Harper?" Beka asked, panicked. The room suddenly went dark and Andromeda's dying voice rang around them.

"Soundproof walls activated, lock down sequence initiated..." Beka flashed a look over her shoulder, wondering what the heck was going on. Her attention snapped back to Harper as with no warning he started shrieking. He just went on, without seeming intentions to ever stop. His voice rang in her ears, piercing through her very heart. She went ghostly white and felt herself begin to shake. Harper was screaming out in pain, clutching for deer life the sides of his bed as tears gushed from his eyes. She watched in horror as he began to morph again. Stomach churning noises of bones and muscles crunching together and morphing were almost unnoticeable over his constant screaming. It felt like a lifetime had passed as she stood there, paralyzed from horror and shock. Harper screamed himself horse, pain etching every inch of him. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and he suddenly went limp. Beka stared at Harper's now human figure laying limp on the bed, completely drenched in sweat. She was too stunned to move and couldn't even collect her thoughts. Her jaws till hung ajar. After a while she realized that her legs weren't going to support her for long and so she collapsed once again into the chair beside Harper. She swallowed, staring at him. He slowly forced his eyes open, wincing immediately.

"Sorry." He whispered, his voice lost from screaming. Pain was still obvious in Harper's every feature.

"Harper." Beka breathed in horror and disbelief. Harper's eyes rolled once again in the back of his head and again he fell unconscious.

"Come in." Dylan said absently in response to the ring to his room. Trance entered Dylan's quarters to find him sitting on his bed, deep in thought. She had a flexi clasped in her hands.

"Uh, Dylan, I have something." She reported nervously as the doors slip shut behind her. Dylan looked up over to her.

"Go ahead." He told her with a nod.

"Well, I've been studying some blood samples I got from Harper..." She began, her tail swishing from side to side uneasily. "And found something...There are these microscopic bots. There are thousands of them just in that blood sample alone. They are about impossible to find when he's not...um, not human." She explained uneasily. "They're the 'cause of his transformation. I can't be sure until I research it further, but I'm pretty sure they attack the very DNA in Harper's body." She explained. "Not only that but near his fangs and tail they release some sort of venom and antidote that runs through only his body so he's not infected, but yet can still infect others." She concluded, handing him the flexi. Dylan nodded studying the flexi.

"Thanks Trance." He murmured. Trance gave a small nod.

"I'll come back when I find more." She reassured him. Dylan nodded and gave her a weak smile. She took in a deep breath before leaving the room to return to the Med Deck. Dylan sighed. What was he supposed to think of Harper? How could he trust him after this? He pinched the bridge of his nose to wear away the oncoming headache. Why couldn't things be easier?

Trance approached Med Deck, checking over her flexi as she did. She stood at the foot of the door, before looking up, confused when the door didn't open. She placed a hand on the frame of the door but it stubbornly remained shut.

"Andromeda?" She asked nervously, sensing something wrong.

"I don't know Trance. Harper initiated some sort of hidden program in my data base." She explained, sounding both annoyed and concerned. "The whole room is locked down." Trance stared at the door.

"Is Beka still in there?" She asked nervously.

"Yes." She replied after a moment.

"Have you told Dylan?" She asked, flashing a look at the screen behind her.

"Yes. He's on his way." She reported.

"Beka?" She yelled, pounding her fist against the door. There was no response. She pressed her ear against it to see if she could hear anything, but no sound came from it. "Beka!" She called again.

"Trance." Dylan quipped, jogging up behind her.

"Dylan, Harper-" She started. Dylan held up his hand.

"I know." He said grimly. He for one was worried sick about Beka. Again, what if she was hurt? He heaved a sigh. "Andromeda, open the door authorization Dylan Hunt." He ordered.

"Denied." Andromeda's voice rang.

"Well, it was worth a shot." He muttered.

Beka gave another pound on the door.

Hey! Is anyone out there?!" She yelled. Despite her efforts no one responded. She looked anxiously over her shoulder to where Harper was, worry gnawing at her chest. He was way to pale, she noted. he was also drenched in sweat and his breaths came out rather ragged. She hammered her fist again against the door even though she knew it was no use. She heaved a sigh, letting her now bruised hand slip to her side.

"Beka?" Beka spun around to see Harper looking over to her. She stumbled immediately to his side.

"Harper, holy crap am I glad to see you're okay." She sighed honestly. His eyes fell to the ground.

"You saw?" He managed, hanging his head shamefully. Beka raised her brows.

"Yea. I'd think the entire ship heard you." She said. Come to think of it, she found it odd that no one else had come to find the source of the screaming. She winced as the still fresh memory of Harper screaming played once again in her mind. He shook his head and coughed.

"Naw. Wall's are soundproof." He explained drowsily.

"Since when?" Beka asked incredulously.

"Since I put a program in." He muttered wearily, obviously fighting unconsciousness. Beka swallowed, staring at him solemnly.

"Harper, what was that?" She whispered. Harper looked downward hastily and gave a half shrug.

"The transformation." He explained casually.

Harper felt guilty for making Beka worry so much, but he was also still unsure as to why she didn't want him gone. All these years he had never told her and once had even nearly killed them in the Maru because of it. "Don't worry Bek, I've been through it dozens of times." He assured her. Harper immediately regretted telling Beka this as she gaped at him.

"You what?!" She breathed in disbelief. "Are you telling me you went through-through dozens of times?!" She asked incredulously. He hesitated.

"Uh, anyways...point is, I'm used to it." He said nervously. Beka laughed.

"Yea, so I saw." She laughed.

"I'll open the door now." Harper offered, more to get off the subject than anything.

"That's be nice." Beka sighed.

"Uh, Beka?" Harper asked nervously.

"Yea?" She asked wearily. Harper wetted his lips, staring into her eyes intently.

"Don't tell anyone about this." He pleaded. Beka looked taken aback.

"About what?" She asked uneasily. Harper's eyes diverted to the ground.

"Everything. You know, about my family. And...what you just saw." He whispered. Beka stared at him.

"Harper, I..." She began.

"Please Beka." He begged. "I would've told them if I had wanted them to know." He pointed out. Beka hesitated. "Please?" He repeated desperately. Beka sighed sadly, lowering her eyes for just a second before a look of determination crossed her face.

"Alright Harper. I promise." She said with a nod to him. He felt relief wash over him and gave her a weak smile.

"Andromeda, deactivate Harper three zero...password: Ice Kludge." He sighed, feeling himself relax slightly. The lights around them suddenly flickered on with a hum and the door behind Beka opened with a swoosh. Trance and Dylan stood at the scene, staring into the room.

"What happened?" Trance asked, rushing into the room.

"What did Harper do?" Dylan demanded, stopping for a moment when spotting him.

"Hey boss." Harper said softly, flashing him a weak smile. Trance gave a slightly relieved smile, heading over to him.

"I need to see if there's anything wrong with him now that he's back to, uh, normal." She explained, shooting a glance toward Beka expectantly.

"Can I stay here?" Beka asked.

"Actually, I'd like to speak with you Beka." Dylan said testily. Beka sighed irritably.

"Of course." She muttered under her breath. "Harper, I'll be right back-" She began.

"No problem boss." He assured her, grinning weakly. Beka got to her feet and followed Dylan out the door. Once they were out there and the door was shut securely behind them Dylan looked over to Beka.

"Beka, what happened in there?" Dylan demanded sharply. Right now Beka wished more then anything that she hadn't promised Harper not to tell anyone. She just wanted Dylan to see the big picture, everything that had really happened. Right now he thought Harper was some blood thirsty monster. She glared him daggers.

"Well, let's see. Harper transformed back to normal." She said dryly.

"Beka..." Dylan sighed.

"Look Dylan, bottom line is that Harper was trying to save us. He's hurt, give him a break. He's not some monster, all right?" She growled, crossing her arms.

"Beka, agian, we can't be sure of what-" Dylan began.

"I can not believe you Dylan!" She yelled aggressively. She really couldn't believe him. How could, after all this time, think Harper was really some monster?!

"Beka." Dylan said softly. "Just hear me out. Until we know what's what we can't assume anything." He told her.

"Dylan, Harper would never hurt anyone." She snapped. Dylan didn't respond. Beka studied him for a long moment, waiting for a reply that never came.

"Beka, what program did Harper activate?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know." She replied, continuing to glare at him. The door suddenly slid open and again Trance stood in the door way.

"Um...I'm done." Trance said nervously, her eyes darting between the two. Beka tore her eyes off Dylan to look at her.

"Is he alright?" She asked anxiously.

"He's about the same." She told them. "He'll live, but will have to stay here for the next few days." Dylan nodded, looking over to Beka.

"Trance, I need to talk to Harper for a second." He said, indicating that it be alone.

"If you tell me I can't come in there while you "talk"-" Beka began testily.

"You can't come in there while I talk." Dylan replied. "Don't worry, I won't be long." He assured her as Trance stepped outside beside Beka.

"Trance, you have no idea what kind of an idiot Dylan can sometimes be." Beka muttered, glaring after him as the door slid shut.

Harper had to admit he felt like crap. His whole body ached and his chest felt like it was on fire despite the stuff Trance had given him for the pain. He looked up to see Dylan at the door, but didn't find himself to surprised.

"Mr. Harper." He greeted. Harper stared at him for a moment.

"Boss." He replied. Dylan walked closer to his bed.

"Most likely you've already guessed I'm here to ask some questions?" Dylan asked, his face unreadable.

"Yea, figured as much." Harper mumbled, casting his eyes to the floor once more. Dylan studied him for a long moment.

"Harper, what happened out there?" Dylan sighed. Harper bit his lower lip and shrugged.

"I transformed into...that..." Harper explained.

"I saw as much." Dylan said, crossing his arms. "How long have you been able to do that?" He asked.

"Before I joined the Maru." Harper offered, shooting a glance up at Dylan. Dylan stared at him.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Dylan demanded. "Harper, do you even have control of yourself when your that thing?" He asked. Harper nodded slowly.

"Yea." He replied.

"Harper, if you could control yourself then why the heck didn't you change before now?" Dylan demanded. "Do you know how many times that would've save us? If you had told us earlier not only would you and Tyr not have been captured but we could have gotten out of so many other situations with a lot less lost!" Dylan said agitatedly. Harper swallowed.

"Sorry boss." He mumbled.

"Harper, why didn't you tell anyone?" He repeated again. Again Harper shrugged.

"I guess I didn't know if you guys would really like me that way." He explained. Dylan stared at him. "And I wasn't too sure if I could still do it." He lied hastily. Dylan heaved a sigh.

"Harper." He began. "You realize you've killed over thirty Neitchians." He stated grimly. Harper looked up at him. Truthfully, Harper could've cared less about them. "You also haven't told anyone of this and have lied about it." Harper lowered his gaze once again. "I don't know if I can trust you anymore Harper." Dylan said, studying Harper. He swallowed and didn't respond, continuing to stare downward. Dylan paused for a long moment. "As soon as your out of Med Deck I'm restringing you to your quarters." He stated softy. Harper looked up. "You'll go no where but there and engineering and even there Rommie will watch you carefully. She will also send you the food you need at your quarters. This will be done until I know I can trust you." Dylan continued regretfully. Harper's gaze again dropped and he nodded slowly. There was a long silence between them before Dylan headed out the door. Harper sighed, shutting his eyes and resting his head against the pillow. At least Dylan didn't "exactly" want him dead. He thought wearily.

After the three days in Med Deck were up Harper found himself stuck to the routine Dylan had restricted him to. He had been very quiet the last few days and hadn't bothered to say or do much unless it came to work. Rommie even noticed this and discussed it with Dylan who refused to loosen up any part of the routine. Beka was furious and demanded he did so, but still he said no. Harper now sat on his bed in his quarters, staring off into space. There was a knock at his door. He didn't bother to answer as it slid open, allowing light to pour into his darkened room. Beka entered hastily, looking about the room. Harper looked over to her for a moment before returning his gaze to the wall before him.

"Hey sport." She said softly, walking over and sitting down next to him as the door slid shut. She gave him a sad smile.

"It's fine." Harper muttered absently. Beka furrowed her brow.

"What?" She asked.

"Dylan's restriction. It's alright, I deserve worse." He explained, focusing on her for a moment and giving her a weak smile. Beka laughed.

"Yea, right Seamus. You deserve a party, not to be locked up in your quarters." She told him stubbornly. "You saved our lives." She reminded him. He didn't reply. Beka frowned, studying him for a long moment.

"Harper?" She asked.

"Yea?" He replied absently.

"How'd you get turned like that?" She questioned nervously. He looked over to her and shrugged again.

"Taneth." He replied simply, catching her look and added, "The Neitchian I...killed." He said hesitantly. Beka raised her brows.

"Were there any others?" She asked. She knew she really shouldn't push it. He shot her a nervous glance.

"Were." He muttered, before adding, "All executed. I escaped." Beka stared at him for a long moment as he continued to stare at the wall. She swallowed before also turning her eyes to the blank wall as well.

"When you change into that you really aren't a monster." She whispered. There was a long pause between them when suddenly Rommie's voice issued from the speakers above them.

"Beka, you're needed on the bridge." She reported, adding, "It's important." Beka nodded, getting to her feet.

"You're right Beka." Harper said. "I've been worse far then that before then." He muttered as she paused by the door.

"Beka." Rommie's voice said impatiently. Beka stared at him worriedly before leaving him to his thoughts. He heaved a sigh, placing his elbows on his knees and laying his head in his hands, wondering if his friends would ever trust him again...

The End

Holy crap, that took me AGES to finish! X.x I'd really appreciate any and all reviews you guys could give. You can flame, but please tell me why. Don't just say this story sucks (remember, I already know this X.x), please tell me why you think it sucks so I can improve in the future X.x Anywho, no matter how crappy it turned out to be, I'm most likely making a sequel. -.- Suggestions for the sequel would be not only welcome but wanted! I'll tell you this much about the sequel: It will hopefully have something to do with Josh... Anywho, again sorry for the cruddy story and thanks again to Mad Dragon for letting me copy off his story! "" I am very grateful that you let me write this and post it up Mad Dragon! :D