Author's Note: Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait. Recovering from my surgery is going well, although frustratingly taking too long. Anyway, I've been feeling a bit better the past couple of days and wanted to write up another chapter. I hope to be getting back to my regular writing schedule soon.

I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. Thank you to everyone who left feedback and continues to read and support this story. :)

Chapter 11: These Dreams (Go On When I Close My Eyes)

The corridor of the B.S.L. was dark, making the shadows cast by the overgrown flora look even more imposing than they might have been otherwise. Only the dim auxiliary lights lit this sector of the station, although she could not recall exactly which sector she was in at the moment.

Samus walked slower and more quietly than she normally would on a mission like this. Her senses were on high alert as her heart pounded in her chest, each dark corner housing a potential threat to her life. This was not her usual state. She was not used to being the one hunted or knowing that there were so many organisms nearby that could kill her without so much as breaking a sweat. Her arsenal was a skeleton of its former self, and her once great armor was thin and lacked enough energy reserves to see her through a real fight.

It was a strange feeling that came over her, one she had not felt in years. Fear. Fear for her own life. Underpowered and outgunned, she would not stand a chance if she ran into her Other. The SA-X. A being with her strongest abilities and a thirst for her blood. Not since her earliest encounters with Ridley had she actually feared a creature in this way. And she feared it not only for herself, but for the potential it had to inflict its mindless wrath upon the universe.

The bounty hunter was not sure how much time had past when she shot open the hatch and stepped into the room. Unlike the corridors she had just traversed, there was no sign of flora or fauna here, no sign of the X parasites or any life. Dark steel plated the walls, and the auxiliary lights were dimmer here, as though she were on a vessel long deserted and having depleted most of its emergency power. It seemed out of place given that the B.S.L. had only bee out of commission a few hours.

She did not have time to think about it, however, as the hatch opened behind her once more and she barely had time to look over her shoulder and dodge the ice beam shot that flew her way. Heart racing, Samus only got a brief look at her enemy before she turned and ran full speed as far as she could. It was a surreal experience to see the golden orange armor of the Varia Suit, her Varia Suit, hunting her down like an animal. She knew that armor was the last thing so many beings had seen before they met their end by her hand, and she wondered if she too would be gunned down by that same figure.

She tried to run as fast as she could, but she felt strangely heavy. She could hear its heavy metal footsteps approaching behind her. Though they seemed slow, the footsteps never sounded like they got any further away despite her sprint. As she ran, the ground began to quake beneath her, and before she could find anywhere to hide, she tripped over nothing and fell to the floor.

As she sat up and turned to look back, she could see the SA-X approaching, slowly and deliberately through the dimly lit room. Knowing she could not outrun it now, Samus raised her arm cannon, but as she did so the cannon and the blue armor of her Fusion suit flickered and vanished before her eyes, leaving her in only the dark blue jumpsuit beneath. Try as she could, she could not reactivate the suit or even get up as the SA-X came closer and closer. She was frozen where she sat.

But as the SA-X approached her with its cannon raised, the being did not seem to be focused on her but rather something in the distance behind her. When it was so close it should have killed her already, Samus looked over her should to see what it was staring at. Her eyes grew wide as she stared down a corridor that had only just appeared. At the other end of the hall was Adam, the real Adam in his full armor armed with his pulse rifle as he had been the last time she saw him. And Samus suddenly knew why this room looked so different than the rest of the B.S.L. She was not on the B.S.L.; she was back on that derelict space vessel from two years earlier. And the creature that stood over her now was not the SA-X.

Turning back, Samus looked up the form of armored figure as it stared at Adam in the distance, cannon raised and pointed at the General. And to her horror, it was not the pupil-less, inhuman eyes of the SA-X, but rather her own that looked out of the visor. Words lost themselves in her throat as she tried in vain to stand and to call out to Adam, but it was too late.

As she tried to scream for him to run, an explosion rang from the other Samus's cannon as she let a super missile fly directly at the General. The air around him combusted as the blast hit, blowing him and the whole corridor up in a great conflagration that only Samus seemed immune to. As her screams rang out, they were lost in the thunderous explosion.

A cold sweat dripped from Samus's body as she screamed, clutching the etecoon tighter to her chest. Her hair was soaking wet as her whole body curled into a tight ball. She was trembling and screaming, shouting Adam's name as she squeezed the etecoon. Even as she opened her eyes, she was in a panic, completely inconsolable and unaware that she was in the bed surrounded by the alien animals who all stared at her with deep concern.

"Adam…" she choked out, sitting up and pulling her knees to her chest as she buried her face in her arms. Her throat burned from screaming, and her body ached like she had the flu. She was shaking terribly and so confused about where she was that she did not even recognize the animals.

"Hatchling," the dachora called to her in Chozo, but Samus did not seem to recognize her or the name. She just stared at the bird in a daze, breathing quickly as her heart raced.

"Lady," a voice said suddenly in her ear, and she sat up straighter as she recognized the voice.

"A-Adam?" she gasped.

"Yes, Lady. It's me."

She looked around but could not see him, even as she heard his voice in her ear.

"A-Adam? You're alive? Where are you?"

The voice hesitated for a moment. "No, Lady. I'm still only an AI. I think you may have been having a nightmare again."

Samus paused, taking a moment to steady her breathing and look around her. It was a slow process, but she finally started to recognize the etecoons and dachoras. She knew she was in a bed, but she could not remember where they were.

"Lady?"

"I'm okay, Adam," she said, her voice a little stronger despite her sore throat. She touched the earpiece she had forgotten she was wearing and remembered it was connected to the AI's compact. "You're right. I was just having a nightmare. It's okay." She looked to the animals as they stared at her with a mixture of fear and concern. "I'm okay, guys. Really. It was just a nightmare. I have those… sometimes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Samus shook her head until she remembered he could not see her. "No. I'm all right. I'll be fine. It's just a nightmare. Not like I've never had one of those before."

Adam was about to reply when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Stevie?" Chance's voice called. "Stevie, are you okay?"

"I'm all right!" Samus called back, but the way her voice broke, she knew she did not sound very convincing. Slowly, she stood, but she felt so shaky and unstable on her feet that she had to grasp the nightstand for support before walking over to the door. Her swollen abdomen hurt terribly, and she could only hope the antibiotics were working.

"Stevie?" Chance asked as Samus opened the door and peered out at him. "What happened?"

Samus looked the lemur creature up and down, noting that he was in a floral nightgown with his tail sticking out of a hole in the back. "Nothing. Just had a nightmare. Probably a fever dream. I'll be fine."

Chance looked at her skeptically, his big golden eyes unable to hide his concern. "You were screaming bloody murder. I thought something had happened, like you had fallen or your wounds had reopened."

Samus shook her head. "No such luck. Just a nightmare, nothing more."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She could tell he was honestly concerned about her, and knowing how Elisa had told her she sounded waking up from a nightmare, she understood why. "I just… saw an old friend. I watched him die…"

Chance nodded slowly. "In the dream or in real life?"

Samus shifted uncomfortably knowing that AI Adam could hear them. "Both."

"I'm sorry."

Samus shrugged. "Not the first time I've seen someone die. Won't be the last."

The semi-human looked at her questioningly. "You're some kind of warrior, aren't you? Not just a fugitive eco-terrorist. That's why you have all of those wounds and scars. And why you don't want me testing your blood."

"And what if I am?" she asked. "What's passed is past. Right now, I'm just a woman renting a room, nothing more or less."

"Right now, you're Stevie Mack," the lemur-like young man said as he bent down and picked up a box off the floor. "Don't worry, I'll respect that. I won't say anything to anyone about your past or about the nightmare."

"Thanks, Chancey," Samus replied, eyeing the box curiously as he extended it to her.

"It's just clothes and things," he said as she took it. "Toiletries. Things I figured you could use. There's also bandages and other stuff in there that should help with your wounds."

Samus smiled, not bothering to look through the package. "Thanks again, Chancey. I appreciate your hospitality."

Chance smiled sadly. "I've seen a lot of people hurt by the Federation's greed. I guess I'm just sympathetic to that, especially with another semi-human. They hurt you pretty bad."

Samus snickered as she slowly bent down and set the box inside her room. "I've been a lot worse than this, kid. Trust me. If I were really hurt, I'd be out cold, not standing here talking to you. Don't worry too much about me. I'm tough and can take a lot more than you would believe."

"Huh… I'll keep that in mind. I guess I better let you get back to bed though, right? I'll see you in the morning? Breakfast?"

"Don't know when I'll be up," Samus replied, noting that her heart had slowed down enough that she might be able to get back to sleep within the next hour or so. She was certainly tired enough. "I'll look for you when I do though."

Chance nodded. "Sounds good. Goodnight, Stevie."

"Goodnight, Chancey," she said as she closed and locked the door behind her. Tired as she was, Samus didn't give the encounter much thought as she trudged over to the bed and collapsed on it. She had just closed her eyes when she thought of something, sat up, and took two more of the antibiotic pills before laying back down. She was still covered in cold sweat, and she knew it was from the infection as much as from the nightmare.

Cursing herself for letting herself get into this condition, she closed her eyes and thought of Adam, the real Adam, and the way he had actually died aboard that derelict vessel. It was an image she would never get out of her mind, burned in there with the memories of the K-2L massacre.

As she lay awake in bed, she took off the earpiece and set it on the nightstand, not in the mood to hear the voice of the AI or anything he might have to say about the conversation he just heard. The animals fell back asleep long before she did, and as she always did when she thought about Adam's final moments, she wished she had a bottle of whiskey to wash away the memories.

Once Samus finally got to sleep, it was a long time before she finally woke up again. It had been in the early hours of simulated morning that she had spoken to Chance, and it was now simulated night again in the ship's twenty-four hour cycle. A clock on the bedside table read 00:30, and she figured most of the crew was probably asleep.

Samus got out of bed slowly, popping two more antibiotic pills and carefully making sure not to wake the animals. She walked over to the door and picked up the box Chance had delivered to her before going into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. Still in just her bra and panties, she looked in the long mirror on the back of the door and assessed her wounds again.

The redness and swelling had gone down considerably, and the abdominal wound looked far less angry and infected than it had last time she had seen it. It hurt less as well, although Samus still felt weak and unsteady, but she figured that probably had a lot to do with dehydration. Dried sweat covered her body and caked in her hair, and she knew it had been nearly thirty-six hours since she had had anything to drink aside from the few sips of water with which she had swallowed the pills. Not able to be picky about her water sources, she filled her glass up in the bathroom sink and downed it quickly before repeating the process. She needed every ounce of strength she could recover.

Once she finished with that, she turned to the box Chance had brought her and opened it up. As he had said there would be, there were several rolls of bandages on top as well as topical wound disinfectants and balms. Beneath that were some basic toiletries and a couple of soft pink dresses, not the sort of thing Samus would normally wear, but she knew it would be either wearing one of those or walking around in her underwear and boots, and she was slightly more willing to do the former.

She showered quickly, drying herself off with a towel from Chance's box and running a brush through her hair. It felt good to be clean finally, and as she treated her wounds with the balms and disinfectants, she found they were surprisingly soothing to her inflamed skin. She only bandaged the uninfected wound on her left shoulder and left the abdominal wound to breathe. She did, however, put sterile gauze pads over the exit wounds through her back in order to keep them clean and safe.

With an awkward grin she noted that Chance had brought her a few female sanitary products as well, but she ignored those. As athletic as she was, her body fat content had never been quite high enough to require the use of such products, and she had had her whole reproductive system removed after the Phaaze incident. The quarantine and medical workup following her corruption had shown several areas of precancerous cells in that region, and that had scared her so badly she had told the doctors just to take the whole thing. She had already had herself sterilized shortly after leaving the army so it was not like she could have had any more children if she had wanted to.

She pulled out one of the dresses, a pale pink cotton dress with an empire waistline and a tie in the back. It was definitely not the kind of thing Samus Aran would be caught dead in, but maybe it was the kind of thing Stevie Mack wore. The mercenary almost laughed when she saw there was a Velcro hole in the back that could be opened up if one needed to slip a tail through it. Slipping the dress over her head, she tied a bow in the back and looked in the mirror. Her muscular, heavily scarred form looked ridiculous in something so delicate and cute, and she was much taller than Chance, so it barely covered her knees and did not match at all with her navy blue knee-high combat boots.

It was a decent way to hide her identity though, to look feminine and non-threatening. Her long blonde hair looked good with the outfit, but it was recognizable enough that she decided she would be better off cutting it off. She had just picked up the pair of scissors, however, when she stared in the mirror and realized she did not have the will to cut off her hair. Her skin was marred with scars and markings from the phazon and xenomorph blood. Her eyes were green-ish now instead of light blue. Her teeth were fangs and her nails were dark claws. Even her blood was acidic. Her hair was the only thing left of her human self, of Samus Aran, the child born on K-2L. She had not cut her hair since her army days aside from a few trims now and again to keep it neat. It was the last part of her body that she had any control over, the last part that had not been taken and altered by circumstance or trauma.

Slowly, she set the scissors down on the sink counter and picked up the hairbrush. With a newfound appreciation for it and protectiveness of it, Samus quietly brushed her blonde hair, savoring the feel of the long locks through her fingers. It may have seemed silly, but she needed to retain a part of herself, even one so trivial. She pulled it up into a high ponytail with two locks hanging loose and framing her face. It was a style she had liked in her early days as a mercenary and she smiled to see it again, like welcoming back an old friend.

Once she was finished, she returned everything to the box and turned out the lights before stepping out of the bathroom and quietly walking over to her nightstand. She was careful not to wake the animals as she picked up her earpiece and Adam's compact. She was healed enough, and she was safe enough for now, so it was time to get to work.

Samus Aran had had enough of running and hiding. She had had enough of being hunted. As she put the earpiece in her ear, she left the bedroom and closed the door behind her, looking both ways as she stepped out into the corridor. She needed to find somewhere she could upload Adam's consciousness and get to work.

"You there, Adam?" she asked quietly, noting there was no one around as she walked through the hall.

"Yes, Lady. As always."

"Good. It's time to get to work. If I upload you to the ship's mainframe, do you think you could use its computer to begin our hunt?"

The AI hesitated. "What are we searching for, Lady?"

Samus smiled. "I need those reports, the ones Adam sent to the derelict vessel he died on. I need to know what information they co-opted so I can begin identifying and tracking down the Zero Host."