CHAPTER 7: BROKEN DREAMS
But when they arrived, there was no sign of the Zerg, Protoss, or Sarah. There were dead Marine bodies, but no ghosts. After 2 hours of searching, Jim found her comlink. He could only imagine what had happened to the rest of her. With a heavy heart, be ordered his team to prepare for departure. The Confederates had brought and Ion cannon online while they searched, so they took it out first.
After the ion cannon was destroyed, Jim had no place to go. He took the dropships and a newly-built battlecruiser and went to the nearest civilized planet. Then, he took his battlecruiser and wandered the vast expanse of space alone.
He dreamed. She was calling him, calling him, crying for help, for him, to come save her, she was alive, she needed him, and she loved him as well. And in the dream she did not know where she was, but she needed him, she wasn't far, follow the Zerg, JIM! With that he woke up.
He had this dream every night. He found some soldiers and went after the Zerg. People said, Tsk tsk, poor man, he's crazy, he thinks he can take on the Zerg alone. The Protoss respected that he wanted to do right, and let him do as he wished. And the 'Xel Naga, who saw everything, understood, and said poor man, he lost everything, he really loved her. But even the 'Xel Naga can't see dreams unless they sent them, and they had sent him no dreams, and did not fully understand, and thought he acted out of blind passion alone.
Many weeks he searched, becoming a legend as a great Zerg killer, saving mankind, but he scorned them and all who followed Mensk, for Mensk had the power he so craved, and only one person knew what he was really like.
Only one person, but 2 beings. She could feel herself changing. She was beginning to forget… She forgot even her name, she forgot her species, she forgot… everything. But she could remember anything if she tried, although the emotions associated with the memories were the first thing to go. She was her battle-self personified. Cold, calculating, ruthless. But she was trapped in her head. And some part of her could not forget the man she loved, could not let go of at least the one emotion. It called to him, begging him come, save her. Then it called to him to kill her, for she could sense the changes in her body, and knew she would kill more people and needed to be stopped. She knew she would become the enemy of all she had loved, and she prayed for death. She was not afraid to die. She knew she would, eventually. Death was natural. She would rather die than be what she was becoming. But she could not make a move to take her own life. She did not even have a word for what she was becoming. Language had been stripped from her.
She had no sense of time. After a long while, the Overmind came to her. My child, arise, awaken. it said. NO! not yet! she responded. I will come back when you are stronger.
It did, several times, each time promising to come bask "When she was stronger". She fought the changes with all her waning strength. She had always been strong-willed
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Still Jim searched. He killed many, many Zerg. He kept having dreams, but they were less frequent. He knew she was losing hope. She seemed unable to hear him. She told him of her confinement, that they were doing strange things to her body, he assumed that meant she was caught as a prisoner of war and being tortured. Seeing her lent him the strength to continue searching. She was so pale, pale as death itself. He worried she was dead. Her eyes were sunken in, and she was so thin. He cried seeing her in his lucid dream. He swore not only rescue but revenge.
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She WAS losing hope, slowly but surely. There was another mind in her head, and it grew. She was losing this battle. She grew weaker, and her image to Jim grew weaker. But physically she was stronger than ever.
Soon she found she could not even feel her body anymore. The Sarah part of her was dying slowly. This alien part grew, and began to feel familiar to her. She tried her best to hold on until Jim could arrive, but in her heart she knew it was too late. She was dying.
Gradually, she began to understand, to
know what this other mind was. It was herself. She didn't know who she was, but
she was cold and ruthless. She wanted vengeance on all humankind for the wrongs
done her. But there was still a little nagging voice in the back of her head
that spoke of beauty and love and Jim. When the Overmind returned, she was
ready to say yes to it's offer. But the small part of her held back, said no. Ah,
my child, you are not whole yet. Rest a while. I shall return for you.
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She was sitting on a hill. He saw what she stared at in reality and reflected in her eyes at the same time. She never blinked. She seemed not to know him. He turned around. They sat beneath a tree, resting in the shade. All around was an endless, grassy plain. She was watching some children kick a ball around in a game from old Earth. Only her eyes moved. Suddenly he had the feeling she was not Sarah anymore. He turned to see what she was as she spread her wings and glided down to grab the ball. It had turned into his head. She looked at him, and their eyes met, and he recognized the look in them, and it scared him, and it reminded him of the first time he saw he kill a man. Upon awakening, he could not remember what she looked like at the end of the dream.
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Jim was running a base. There was a
Zerg encampment nearby, a large one. They kept shooting down dropships full of
men. Somehow, they knew when he was sending them out and where they were
headed. He wondered why they were letting a few get away time after time.
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The Overmind returned. She had learned to silence that part of her that protested until it was no more than a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, easily ignored. Awaken my daughter, arise my Queen of Blades.
Yes.
You are ready, my child. Arise.
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Hw saw her. She was an alien creature, with wings and claws and blades on her arms. She was a Zerg. He almost didn't recognize her.
"Sarah! Is that you? What have they done to you?"
"Spare me the rescue attempt and go home, Jim. I'm happier now than I ever was with you pitiful humans."
"But the dreams… I dreamed you were calling to me… "
"While still in the Chrysalis, I may have sub-consciously reached out to you. But I like the way I am. I have power now, REAL power. Go home, Jim, before I rip you to shreds!!!"
Such rage, such violence. They've gotten to your mind as well. Oh Sarah, what have they done to you?
He watched as she cut marines in half with one swipe. She was strong, cutting through heavily armored Firebats in 2 swipes. He realized he had little protection. She and her Zerg army took out his command center, and he left. He knew the woman he loved was dead. His quest was ended. Sarah Kerrigan was no more. In her place was the Queen of Blades.