Shadowed Paths

Part 2

"Being dead'll do that to you I guess."

Kyizi

Rating: This part: PG

Archiving: ask me…I'll say yes!

Spoilers: em…dunno up till mid 2nd series

Timeline: not a clue…after Crais stole Talyn

Disclaimer: ok I's runnin'

Summary: Aeryn n John nearly kissed then she touched some weird energy.

Notes: This story is kinda complicated, or at least it will get that way in future parts, so if u get confused about anything that would be understandable! If this doesn't make sense to n'one then jus mail me n I'll xplain!

Feedback: PLEASE! Mail me at Kyizi@hotmail.com

~x~x~x~x~x~

Aeryn felt a strange tingling sensation ripple through her body. She shivered and stepped back and the energy was gone.

"That was…weird. John, I…" her voice trailed off as she turned around…to an empty corridor.

"John? D'Argo? Hello?" She tapped her comm. as she began to walk towards Command.

"Crichton, D'Argo where the frell are you?"

Nothing.

"Crichton? John, are you there?"

"Who…who is this?"

"There you are." She stepped over a DRD as another appeared in front of her.

"What do you mean 'who is this'? You were supposed to be on tier 5. Where are you? And where's D'Argo?" She had to stop as she stepped over another two DRD's.

"Pilot, why are all the DRD's coming towards me? What's wrong?" She entered Command and instantly felt uncomfortable. Everyone was there, except John, and they were all looking at her as if she had three heads.

"What? What is it? Why the frell are you staring at me like that?"

"Aeryn?"

She turned around and saw John coming towards her. He had tears in his eyes and he too looked as at her in wonder. Slowly he walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her so close that Aeryn thought she might never breath again.

"What…what's wrong, John?"

Slowly he pulled back but didn't let go of her.

"You…you're alive?"

"Of course I'm alive." She pulled back and looked at them all. "What the frell is wrong with you people?"

Zhaan took step towards her, "Aeryn…you died a cycle ago."

"What?" Aeryn could hardly believe what she was hearing. They've all gone mad

John took up the story with what seemed to be an immense amount of pain in each word. "You…you died Aeryn, you left us…you left me." She looked into his eyes and almost got lost in all the pain and hurt she could see there. Afraid that she would never be able to turn away, she had to break the silence.

"I don't know what you're talking about but you've clearly all gone mad. I'm not dead. I never was. I spoke to you all less than an arn ago. I…"

"Aeryn, Crais killed you." She stopped and once again looked into the pain of John's eyes.

"You…you gave up your life to save ours…you went with him on board Talyn, so that he wouldn't harm him. Moya was scared that Crais would harm him so you went. And…and then…and then he opened up a visual and…and killed you…in front of us…he wanted us to watch…he wanted me to watch, he said, 'this is for my brother…this is what it feels to have someone you love killed'. And I…and I had to watch…"

The pain was too much to bear and Crichton didn't even try to stop the tears…so Aeryn walked towards him and wiped his cheeks. "I…I don't know what has happened…but when I was on board Talyn with Crais, I left alive…Crais didn't kill me…I…I can't understand it…I…" she stopped as Crichton hugged her again and this time she hugged back.

"I don't care what's happened…all I know is you're back and I won't let anything happen to you…ever again."

~x~x~x~x~x~

"Well I'm not buying it." Chiana paced back and forth in front of the viewscreen. "What, you think she'd just come back from the dead and have no memory of what happened. I saw it. It happened. Crais killed her and she shouldn't be here, walking about like…"

"Chiana calm yourself."

Chiana stopped pacing and looked at Zhaan. It was about an arn after 'Aeryn' had returned and they were all (except from John and Aeryn) gathered in Command, even Pilot was present on his imager.

"I, too, am unnerved by this. But it has happened and we now must figure out what to do about it." Zhaan looked at each of them in turn and her eyes fell last on D'Argo who seemed to be deep in thought. "D'Argo, my love, what is it?"

"She is Aeryn and yet…she is not Aeryn"

"Explain." She placed a hand on his waist to calm him.

"She smells the same but at the same time there is something different about her."

"Different, how?"

"I…I'm not sure…it's like she hasn't done all that she should have…"

"Well, being dead'll do that to you I guess."

"Chiana!"

"Sorry."

"Go on my love."

"It's like she has followed a different path."

~x~x~x~x~x~

"So what's the last thing you remember?"

John and Aeryn were standing on the terrace, looking out into the vast universe.

"Stepping towards the pink energy…feeling a tingling sensation and then I was here…and the energy was gone."

"What pink energy?"

"The one on tier 5…don't you remember?"

"Aeryn, there never was a pink energy."

"There was!"

"Okay…Okay, skip that…what's the last conversation you remember us having?"

"Well I was talking about…"

"What?"

"You wouldn't remember."

"Why not?"

"Because you were lost in your thoughts and not listening to a word I said."

John smiled, "You always hated it when I did that."

"Yes…" Aeryn was getting increasingly more uncomfortable each time he talked about her in the past tense.

"What? What is it?"

"You…you keep talking to me…about me, in the past tense. It makes me…nervous."

"Sorry…but for so long all I did was talk about you in the present tense…I wouldn't accept that you were dead…I had to…'train' myself to use the past tense…I…"

"It's okay…I guess it just makes me a little nervous…I don't know what's happened and…and I just want things to go back to normal."

John laughed, "Normal…that's funny…since when were our lives ever normal?"

"Yes, you're right…it's been a long time since I experienced normal."

"Well I don't know…being with you always makes me feel normal."

Aeryn shifted her gaze as she felt his eyes boring into her.

"John." They both turned to the door where Chiana was standing, hands in her hips.

"What?"

"Can I talk with you…Please?" Aeryn frowned as she heard iciness in the Nebari's voice.

John got up and left the room. They stopped in the corridor and John immediately silenced her before she could finish whatever she was about to say.

"What the hell is your problem, Chi?"

"I'll tell you what the 'hell' my problem is…I thought we were getting closer…I thought I knew you well enough that you would think about this before you just laid your heart out for her. It's not safe…we don't know what she wants yet..."

"No. I'm not buyin' it, Chi. What's up?"

Chiana shifted her gaze and finally when he turned her face to look at him, she sighed. "She isn't our Aeryn, John…and I thought I was yours…or at least nearly…I thought that we were sharing…I thought we were close."

John's expression softened with the heartache he heard in every word. "We are, Pip…I'd never have gotten this far without your help…I'd never have started living my life again without you, Chi…but I need this chance…even if it is only to say goodbye…do you understand?" Slowly Chiana nodded as he wiped her eyes and smiled at her.

"Yeah…I understand…you go do…what you have to do. And when you're ready, I'll be here."

"I know you will." Gently he leaned forward and kissed her cheek tenderly and she smiled sadly before turning away. John sighed and turned back into his quarters.

"What was that all about?" Aeryn asked as he took his place beside her again.

"Nothin'. She's just worried, that's all."

"Oh. Look Crichton…"

"Crichton?" Aeryn looked at him as his face suddenly filled with pain. But not a physical pain…a hurt that went much deeper.

"You haven't called me Crichton since…well before we were married anyway…I asked you not to call me that. It's distant, cold." He studied her face and noticed that she seemed frozen in place. "What? What is it?"

"Married?"

"Yeah…you know, when we made the vow to love each other with all our hearts for eternity…two weeks before you died…"

"Crich…John, we were never married. We never even…you know. Well nearly when we were in the flax and on the fake earth but we never did…and we were never married." She watched John intently throughout her little speech and watched as his face turned from hurt to confusion back to hurt and then confusion again.

"What the frell is going on here?"

~x~x~x~x~x~

"Would you explain to us the last thing you remember?" Aeryn studied Zhaan before answering.

"Of course. Cricht-John and I were...eating and then we were interrupted by D'Argo yelling at us over the comm. to get to tier 5 immediately..."

"But that never happened!"

"Chi, let her finish."

Chiana glanced at John before replying, "Sorry."

"Well when we got there, we could see a large pink energy and we automatically drew our weapons. We all felt that there was something familiar about it, but we couldn't tell what. I stepped towards it. I could hear John shouting at me to stay back, but I touched it and then I was here."

"What did it look like? And what did it feel like when you touched it?"

Aeryn knitted her brow as she tried to remember. "Well...it was pink and it seemed to look like a mass of sharp light...I don't know how else to explain it..."

"That's okay, my dear, go on."

"When I touched it, I felt a tingling sensation go through me...and the it all disappeared, the sensation and the light."

"Any ideas Zhaan?"

"No. But D'Argo has sensed something." Everyone turned to D'Argo, even though they all, minus John and Aeryn, knew what he had sensed.

"This is Aeryn, and yet it is not."

"Explain." All John wanted was to stop feeling confused...all he wanted was to wake up and have his Aeryn by his side...all he wanted was to stop feeling pain.

"Well, it is like she has lived a different life, she is Aeryn, but she is not our Aeryn."

"Parallel dimensions." Everyone turned to look at John.

"What do you mean?"

"It's a human theory. For every decision that has to be made, there are thousands of possible choices. Right?"

"Yes."

"Well it's a human theory that for each of these choices, alternate dimensions hold the outcomes."

"What the frell are you talking about, Crichton?"

"No, I think I understand." They all looked at Zhaan as she smiled. "For each choice there is a dimension that follows it. In this dimension the choice was for Crais to kill Aeryn, so it happened. But in this Aeryn's dimension, Crais did not kill her therefore there is a different outcome."

"Exactly. Only that wasn't the choice that changed everything."

"How can you be sure?"

John looked at Aeryn before replying, "Because in her dimension, we were never married."

There was a pause. Each member of the crew felt sorry for Aeryn, as she shifted uncomfortably. They knew she hated being put on the spot, but mostly, they felt sorry for John, as once again his heart was breaking.

"D'Argo! Crichton! Go to tier 6 immediately. The DRD's are getting strange readings and Moya is frightened."

~x~x~x~x~x~

"What is it Big Guy…? Woah." John stopped and immediately drew his weapon at the strange pink…energy…before him and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aeryn doing the same.

"What…the frell…is that?"

"How the yotz am I supposed to know!"

"Well have you ever seen anything like it…before…"

"This is it." They turned to look at Aeryn.

"What?"

"This is the last thing I remember before I got here." By this time the whole crew had joined them. "This could be my way home."

John turned to look at her, his eyes glazed.

"Then you have to go." She smiled at him. He walked towards her and tilted her face up towards his. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips and she wiped away his tears.

"John...I'm sure that your Aeryn would have wanted you to go on living. If she loved you as much as I think she did then be happy and that will make her happy." She gave a quick nod towards Chiana as she said this and John and Chiana exchanged smiles.

Slowly Aeryn turned towards the pink energy and after one glance back, she touched it.

~x~x~x~x~x~

END PART 2

Ha ha ha, I know what happens and you don't! sorry that was mean. Well, what d'ya think?