Author:
Weird_Peace aka Harper's
Censor:
PG-13
Spoilers:
Devil Takes the Hindmost and some Harper 2.0
Story:
Harper and Rev story
Disclaimer:
As much as I'd like to own these characters, they all belong to Tribune.
----------------------------
Chapter
4
The
dreams came, a few years passed, and I learned. I was able to control the
creature inside. Then again, it wasn't exactly control. It was more like coming
to an agreement with myself.
My
path led me away from the retreat, taking me to all sorts of planets.
On
one mission, I was sent to Sangen. Before the Fall, it had been a prosperous
planet, one of the largest producers of ship parts. But once the Commonwealth
was gone, business went down. The planet was overtaken by gangs and the black
market.
I
had been sent there to preach to benefits of Wayism. Those that didn't throw
rotten food or other objects spat obscenities or ignored me completely.
Sometimes fate was trying.
Walking
down a dirty alley, I saw a young woman bending over a trash can. I called out
to her, and she looked up. My heart stopped.
It
was her.
An
impossibility. She had been dead. I had felt the flesh beneath my paws, felt
the blood run down my jaw, heard the rhythmic beating slow until it stopped.
But I saw her straight in front of me. Looking back at me. Then running.
I
couldn't help but follow. I had to get to her. To feel her with my own hands,
know that she was here. She turned a corner. My robe caught on a brick and
tore. Ignoring it, I persisted. But she was no longer there.
Harper
blinked. Ghosts? Rev couldn't be serious.
The
woman was gone. Instead, she had been replaced by a hideous scene. Five men
were standing in a circle. One of them was holding someone that was tied up. As
I watched, a gun was raised and pointed at the being's head.
I
recognized the scent before I even saw that they were holding the son of the
woman I had just chased.
I
easily knocked the gun from the first burly man. The others ran on sight of me.
I bent down to untie the younger man. He trembled under my touch. As soon as I
loosened the last rope, he jumped out of my reach.
"Stay
away from me you filthy monster!" He picked up a piece of wood and started
swinging it.
"I
will not harm you. I am here only to help." I tried to make myself look as
least threatening as possible. For a Magog, that is very difficult.
"Just
stay away from me you demon." He threw the wood. I ducked to keep from
getting hit. When I looked again, he was gone. I began to wonder if he and his mother
had been a figment of my own mind, asking for forgiveness and finding none.
"Oh
God no." The pages began to blur as Harper's eyes filled with tears.
"No..."
The
dreams were relentless now. The shape of the light became more defined, now
recognizable as the woman I killed.
"What
do you want with me?!" I woke up screaming one sleepless night.
"Revenge?! Are you haunting me because I killed you?!" I sank to my
knees. "I'm sorry. Do you hear that?! I'm sorry. I shouldn't have killed
you. I regret it now. What more do you want from me?" I found myself
sobbing.
A
breeze blew through the window. And it repeated those three words I had heard
every night for years...
Take
care of.
"Take
care of who?" Something landed on my lap. A piece of paper. I picked it up
and turned it over. And I knew.
Using
the picture, I searched relentlessly for the woman's son. It was hard when I
didn't have a name. But the picture was enough.
"I
am told your looking for a science officer." The blonde turned around. She
jumped back when she saw me, but gathered herself quite well.
"What's
it too you?" She looked me up and down.
"I
have training in the field, and I'm looking for a job. I was told by a man of
the name Carl Furlec that you were hiring."
"Ummm...yeah.
Well, step into my office." She pointed to a wreck behind her. She must
have noticed the look I gave the ship.
"She's
a good ship." I gave her an amused smile.
"Well,
you would think I would know best on how looks can be deceiving."
She
raised an eyebrow, then looked up as someone came off the ship. He was
immediately recognizable. And I finally had a name to put with the face I knew
so well...
"Well,
Mr. Magog. I would like you to meet my engineer. This is..."
Seamus
Harper.
"Seamus
Harper."
I
bowed to young Seamus. He stood stone still, but his eyes watched every move I
made.
"Hello
Master Harper." When he didn't respond, the woman yelled at him.
"Harper!
You should be more polite with our guests."
Harper
merely sneered and walked back into the ship.
"You'll
have to excuse him. From Earth you know."
I
knew. But I just nodded an understanding.
"I'm
Beka Valentine by the way."
"Reverend
Behemial Far Traveler. Most call me Reverend Bem."
"Well,
Reverand Bem. Let's see if your crew material or not." She gestured
towards the ship entrance.
"Shall
we?"
Harper
had to stop. He felt the book moving and realized faintly it was his own
trembling fingers making it do such. He felt...he didn't know what he felt. Raw
pain, anger, rage, confusion...they were all knotting in his stomach. He wanted
to cry, but the tears that had been in his eyes before had dried up. Instead he
felt his stomach turning and squeezing. He just made it to the bathroom.
He
collasped against a wall. He realized he still had the picture in his hand. He
remembered the day he had found the camera in a trash heap. Even at six, he had
been interested in fixing things. When he got the old piece of junk to work, he
had nearly jumped with joy. The picture he held had been taken by Daniel's mother.
Daniel was in it, but what Harper had forgotten, willingly or not, was that he
was standing right next to his friend in the picture.
He
brushed his teeth, and walked back into the main room.
"Are
you ok Harper?"
Harper
looked up at Rev's worried face. The rest of the emotions were pushed aside.
The only thing his body could take now was the rage that filled it. It was a
feeling he knew, and one he wanted right now.
Snarling,
he attacked.