Hey everyone!

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you readers out there who have been reading this story and also the prequel! Thank you all so much! I also noticed that there are readers all around the world and I'm so thrilled that our fandom has got enthusiasts from all around the globe!

Second of all... Writing this chapter took a bit longer again... But I'm trying to bring more depth into this story again and I wanted to do it right. Sometimes I like to write these maybe a bit more "nonchalant" chapters in-between and then I'm back with the more in-depth chapters, I don't know. But that's life also, sometimes there's light and sometimes there's darkness, sometimes things go smoothly and then suddenly another storm arrives... And I don't mean I'm about to write really messed-up anxiety things, but just more in-depth storylines again... To really study these characters and shed some light on their past and what they've been through and who they really are.

So, without further ado... Here's chapter 23 for you all!

Hope you guys like it and feel free to leave a comment!

Later!

-SpaceFlora

The Good, The Bad and the Rebels

Chapter 23

The Two Sleepless

Aprilia tossed and turned in her sleep. Well, she wasn't actually in a sleep since her brain was so active it might as well be running a marathon. She opened her eyes once again and glared at the ceiling inside her little room, her blonde hair covering her pillow like a wild vine that was slowly taking over her pillow and her bed. She had been awake a few days already and it started to take a toll on her body and mind. But even if she tried she could't sleep. Not since she had mindwalked. And if she had nodded off, she had had nightmares.

After her mindwalk-experience she couldn't really focus her mind on anything. It felt like her mind was in a fluid state and she couldn't really concentrate on one single thought. It was like she no longer was in-control over her own mind. First it had been intriguing as why was that, simply from a scientific point of view but then after awhile it started to get annoying and then scary. She just felt that something was wrong. And the images she kept seeing in her head were not her memories nor did they feel like her own thoughts. And what was even more perplexing was the fact that all these thoughts suddenly popping up in her head with the increasing speed, had no connection on anything. On anything she could think of atleast. It was like a stream of random toughts and images.

Aprilia gave an irritated grunt as she just couldn't stop her mind racing and she sat upright, flinging her legs over the bed and hunched forward, placing her palms on her temples, suddenly feeling dizzy and overwhelmed. It was worse when she was alone like now. Because when she was alone her mind had the chance to really run free. Had she gone crazy? Was that it? Had this mindwalking experience switched something on inside of her and now her mind had trouble switching it off again? She didn't know... But what she did know was that the one person who might have the answers or even some thoughts about it was currently not around. Stoker might be many things but he did know a lot about Martian history and about the old customs, tales and religions and he knew a lot about mindwalking. She didn't know from where his knowlegde came from but right now she sure would've liked to have a conversation with him and maybe get some clarity into this all.

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to take control over her own thoughts with more determination, pressing her eyelids tighter and tighter before they hurt and thus she opened them and just ran her small hands over her light tan coloured face, not succeeding to focus her mind. Finally she got up, swaying a little as she felt quite lightheaded having not slept at all and with her mind like a merry-go-round with thoughts and visions flickering inside her mind.

She pulled on her grey dress that still was the only piece of her own clothing she had but feeling a bit chilly this night, she also grabbed one of Modo's dark hoodies and put that on too, making her seem like she was wearing a hooded dress on top of her own one, the hemline of the hoodie reaching over her knees and the sleeves were comically too long but she didn't mind. Surrounding herself with his musky smell calmed her nerves down and that was what she needed right now. To feel calm and secure.

While trying to pull up those long sleeves and gathering rolls of fabric around her soft arms she left her room and with careful steps she walked towards the kitchen, to make some tea.

As it turned out, Aprilia was not the only one who had trouble sleeping that night and as the fair blonde haired doctor stepped into the kitchen and flicked the lights on, she in an instant saw Harley sitting by the table and the petite doctor startled a little.

"Oh..." Aprilia only stated while finding someone sitting there in the dark.

The ginger-coloured mechanic merely raised her look that was in between friendly and not-interested and only gave her a nod back before turning her gaze back to her tea mug. Aprilia walked towards the kettle and found that the water had just been boiled and took a clay mug from the third shelf to where she just reached if standing on her toes. As she sprinkled some herbs to her mug and poured hot water to cover it all, she gave careful glances towards Harley's direction who was still sitting by the table just staring into her mug. Aprilia took her mug and walked over to her.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Harley only gave her another look but now a small smirk appeared on her lips.

"Well, it would be quite rude for you to take your cup to another table as we're only us two in here this time of the night..." Her husky voice replied.

"Yeah, that leads me to my next question... Why are you sitting here in the dark?" Aprilia asked as she sat down opposite of her.

"Well..." Harley gave a deep sigh and then straightened her posture a bit before slumping back to hunch over the table.

"Sometimes things look more clear in the dark... If that kinda philosophical bullshit logic sounds right..."

Aprilia nodded back with a gentle smile.

"Actually, it does sound like it could be true..."

"Yeah, well..." Harley only replied like the thing she had just said had actually no meaning to her whatsoever but she still remained looking thoughtful.

"Trouble sleeping as well?" The Martian mechanic then asked the doctor and Aprilia sighed.

"I'm having troubles to exist at the moment...I'm in a very weird place right now..."

That answer got Harley to raise her look, to study her friend a bit before she then suddenly gave a laugh that reminded of a waterfall and she reached out to something hidden underneath the table.

"That sounds like you need the good ol' Martian liquor as well..." And the mechanic poured golden-coloured liquid into Aprilia's teacup, to fill it to the brim.

"Wait, no, that's not what..." Aprilia only got to say but gave a small laughter.

"You're drinking here in the dark? Is that what's going on in here?"

"I think that's a very accurate description of the situation, yes." Harley only replied and then lifted her cup and nodded Aprilia to do the same and Aprilia shook her head a bit amused and lifted her cup as well.

"Here's to the Freedom Fighters!" Harley only raised her voice.

"And to the women behind them!" Aprilia added with a smile.

"To Mars!"

"To Mars!"

"And to the mess our lives has become!" Harley finally stated before they clinked their clay mugs before taking big gulps that only made them cough while feeling the destinctive taste and sensation of the strong booze going down their throats.

"This the same liquor you made me drink after I told you I was getting married?" Aprilia asked.

"The very same. Living out here in the desert can prevent people from keeping an extensive variety of booze...I bought this from the Next Exit bar many months back..." Harley replied.

"So, what mess were you referring to?" Aprilia then asked carefully, stroking the coarse texture of the clay mug. Harley gave a sigh while staring into her cup.

"Well... After a bit of soul-searching and a lot of inner debates it turned out that I love Vinnie after all."

Aprilia glared at the female back.

"Oh..."

"Yes, exactly. Hence the booze." Harley replied sarcastically and only took another swig from her mug.

"I thought you were already...you know...over him?" Aprilia studied the mechanic infront of her who seemed already a bit tipsy, sitting there in her greasy work overalls and white t-shirt that had bike oil on it.

"I thought so too...Well, I wanted to be. But I guess it's not about what someone wants...Ever." Harley shrugged her shoulders, her a bit raspy voice becoming a string of barely-to-be-heard mumble.

"...to be frank I thought that there was something going on between you and Stoker again." Aprilia continued and Harley gave a small laughter.

"Me and Stoker... We share this really weird relationship..."

"I can imagine..." Aprilia added in dryly.

"Yeah, so...And it's always been weird...and slightly awkward, sexy but awkward... but still, I care about him, deeply. We've shared some good times...But I've never figured out if that's like real love that I'm feeling for him or am I just having daddy-issues..." Harley pondered and caused Aprilia to give a small giggle before she gave a deep sigh.

"Well...I'm afraid Vinnie's already taken..." The blonde female said with a soft voice.

"Yeah I know, I might have to kill the alien." Harley brought the cup close to her lips again.

"Harley!"

The mechanic only gave a guffaw and drank more booze-tea-mixture from her cup.

"Only joking here...Not that it would be too difficult though, we're surrounded by weapons and there's like an endless desert out there...No one would find her..."

"Glad to hear you haven't thought this through already..." Aprilia answered dryly. Harley gave a small huff while turning the mug infront of her, pondering still. She then raised her look to meet Aprilia's eyes.

"You think he's happy? You think she makes him happy?"

"Well, he seems happy...But then again he's like this bouncing ball and I don't know if there's anyone who can actually catch him...You know, he has this facade and not many people can tear it down...But who knows, you know? Maybe he's happy? But you know the bond between two people is sacred..."

"I know." Harley nodded and ran her fingers through her thick ginger coloured hair, looking like she agreed but didn't necessary like it.

"...And that is why I'm drinking here in the dark." The mechanic then added and was to pour more booze to her cup but Aprilia took the bottle away from her.

"Or...Maybe we can try to ease on the alcohol...?"

"Ugh, you're just like Stoker..." Harley muttered but then gave a sigh.

"But what if he's the one for me? What if Vinnie is my only true love?"

Aprilia blinked a few times but then gave a sigh and poured more booze to Harley's cup.

"Okay, maybe you'll need a bit more..."

Harley leaned to her palm, shaking her head.

"Me and Vinnie... We were these two crazy kids who just somehow collided... It was like love-at-first-sight...Even if he was a bit younger than me, I didn't mind... Even his irresponsible behaviour seemed very appealing to me... Still does...Everytime I'm around him it just gives me the shivers and it makes my heart ache." Harley looked into her cup.

"...And I think Charley's great and all, as a person... But why she got the chance to love him? Why she got the chance and not me? Why I don't seem to have a chance in love?" Harley's voice had started to break but she quickly shut her mouth and only shook her head.

"It's just not fair. I was captured nearly three years...And all that time I was telling that it was all going to be okay in the end, that maybe there's something waiting for me out here, when I'd finally get myself free... And then I was free and then they came back to Mars...He came back. And I just thought that..." Harley interrupted and swallowed before she only shook her head more violently.

"But it doesn't work that way. Life doesn't work that way." The mechanic took another swig from her mug as she placed her mug back on the table she suddenly startled as she felt the light and warm touch on her hand and saw the light tan furred hand resting on top of her's.

"I'm sorry." Aprilia whispered as she didn't know what else to say but squeezed her palm more firmly. Harley gave her a small smile back before turning her gaze back to her mug again. Her look changed into thoughtful again and she corrected her posture.

"You trusted me with your secret about getting married so.. can you keep a secret?" She then asked with a husky whisper. Aprilia nodded.

"Sure. I can keep a secret. If it's not my own that is..." She added with a wry smile. Harley nodded still looking into her mug. There was a small silence before she opened her mouth again.

"You remember the c-section scar that I have...?" She asked and Aprilia only nodded back. Remembered? She had been shocked to see the scar on Harley's belly and to witness how the mechanic had completely shut down from the subject. Harley nodded back before raising her eyes to meet Aprilia's.

"Wanna know who's the father?"

Aprilia only stared at her, not really knowing how to take in this sudden urge from Harley's part to open up like this, but the answer hit her before Harley had the chance to give it.

"Vinnie was the father?" Aprilia lowered her small soft voice as a whisper.

"Is the father." Harley corrected and took a big gulp from her mug again and after swallowing the liquor she had to cough into her fist as the strong booze travelled inside her.

But Aprilia didn't really seemed to notice this as she only stared at Harley in disbelief, trying to wrap her mind around all this as she was still having troubles to concentrate to her thoughts and line them up logically.

"The child's still alive?" The blonde female asked and Harley only nodded back.

"She is...I mean, she must be..."

Aprilia couldn't believe what she was hearing and she just shook her head.

"She? It's a girl?! Where's she now?"

"She's safe. With another family." Harley answered and seemed to swallow down her tears.

"With the rats?"

Harley shook her head.

"No... I lied to you all when telling that I ended up out here in desert after I left the rat territory... It didn't really go like that, I did flee the rats but I had my daughter with me... I managed to get back inside the Mice Territory... We were exhausted, we had been walking out there in the desert for days, without food or anything to drink...I don't know how that's even possible, how we survived...I've been thinking that ever since... It has to be some kind of a miracle...And she was sleeping in my arms..." Harley's voice broke and she covered her mouth and there were tears glimmering in her eyes. Aprilia squeezed the mechanic's palm tighter and as they were a telepathic breed, Harley could feel Aprilia's love through her touch and she felt like she was safe and that she did not judge. She felt safe to tell her story. Harley cleared her throath, biting her lower lip, trying to control her emotions that were starting to pile up and finally rising to the surface. Stubborn to show any weakness until the end she was.

"...she was sleeping in my arms... I could barely walk... And the first house I came across, the very first one inside the territory... I just... I thought that she atleast deserved to have a good life. And I just left her there, sleeping on the doorsteps..."

Aprilia felt her heart pounding faster. She had had no idea what Harley had been through since she had never told the truth or wanted to talk about the three years she had been away. But after telling finally the truth, Aprilia now knew already how the story was to end and she carefully opened her mouth.

"So you walked back to the desert...?"

"I didn't care anymore what happened to me... I didn't even know if any of my comrades were alive... I heard Mace and the others bragging how these Freedom Fighters had been caught and killed... That we were now considered as traitors of the planet, that everyone wanted us dead... And I just thought that everything had comen to an end...That there would be no future... That I would be dead anyway..." Harley confessed but then wiped her eyes and took a deep sigh, having to wipe her eyes again.

"Gods damn it... Can't stop the tears..."She tried to speak through her emotions, still trying to keep the emotions inside her and Aprilia quickly walked around the table and took her into a loving and comforting hug, stroking her hair and feeling her shiver against her while going through this story in her head all over again but all the time feeling that her thougths were been suffocated and buried under flashing images and strange memories...

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And that was the latest chapter, folks!

Hopefully, you like it and feel free to comment!

Until next time!

-SpaceFlora