Title: Effervescent Essence
Author: Harper's aka Weird_Peace
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: Sequel to And You Thought Larvae Were Bad. I highly suggest you read the first fiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, but I love 'em anyways.
Spoilers: Season Two spoilers.

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Trance felt Harper's presence as she began to press the keypad in front of her door.

"Did you want something?" She turned to look at him and stifled a groan. He was carrying a blanket, a pillow, and a wide grin.

"You're getting back at me for being overprotective, aren't you?" The grin disappeared and Harper seemed wounded.

"Trance, do you remember how scared I was when our child was in my body? Now that you're carrying it around, and I have no way to control what you do, I'm overly freaked here."

"Harper, I'll be fine, honestly." The young man didn't budge. "Harper..."

"I can stand out here all night if I want to Trance. You need your rest." She scowled at him, knowing he was right.

"Fine," she said, pressing the keypad. Harper dashed towards the door, but Trance stopped him with one hand.

"You do know I'm actually going to sleep in the same room as you." Harper winced, knowing that she had left a bruise. "You wouldn't abandon me in the hallway, would you?"

"Well I thought about it," Trance teased him, "but no. I'm just going to grab my things and then meet you back at your quarters. It seems I'll be spending my nights there if you insist on this arrangement. There's no way you're coming into my quarters."

"Why? Are your dainties no put away properly or something?" He wiggled his eyebrows. Trance gave him one of those looks. "Alright, I get it. Secrete Golden babe stuff. But you have to promise to come out."

"I swear." Trance held up her hand.

"Alright." He began to walk away. Despite her promise, he wanted to be sure she would come after him. "I'll see you in a few minutes my beautiful Titrane." He dashed to his quarters before she could catch him.

Just as he predicted, she came 10 minutes later in her silk pajamas, a small knapsack with her personal belongings clutched in one hand. Harper noticed that even though he thought it wasn't possible, Trance's knuckles had gone whiter.

"What was that about?" Her voice was low and hoarse.

"Trance, calm down." Harper went to help her over to the bed, but she wouldn't move. He hadn't thought it would upset her so much. "This isn't good for the child."

"Then why don't you explain just what you said?"

Harper nodded and engaged privacy mode. The young man then walked over to a hidden compartment and pulled out a few flexis. He held up one. A holo appeared, projecting a mystical, sea green female. She was underwater; a fish tail in place of two legs, fins adorned her arms and scales raced up and down her body. Her hair billowed about her like plant life, and her ears ended in points. Gills were clearly seen gracing her slender neck.

"This is what ancient earth fishermen called a mermaid. They were mystical creatures that lived underwater and came from the city of Atlantis. They would sometimes lure the fishermen into the watery depths and drown them."

Trance stared at the picture, her face giving nothing away. Harper studied her, but upon seeing he wasn't getting anything from body language, pulled out the next flexi.

This one portrayed an almost complete human. Her figure was mystical, though, tall and willowy. Her soft golden hair was put up in an intricate design of braids and leaves. She was wearing a plain white dress, but it seemed to fit with the rest of her body. Blue eyes, full lips, and high cheekbones, she was a vision of beauty walking under a full moon.

"Now this sweetheart is once again from ancient earth mythology. They called 'em elves. Kinda like your purple form could be called a pixie, only you were a bit too big. No offense." Still no reaction. Harper pressed on. "Now I couldn't find anything that said whether elves and humans were connected, but apparently elves could work magic. They were very in tune with their respective elements...earth, fire, water...you get the point. And they were apparently more civilized than we humans, having great kingdoms."

The next flexi had a silver creature on it. It had no hair or physical characteristics that could define it as male or female except for the eyes, which displayed masculinity. He was tall, about 6 foot even, and a translucent gray; red, silver, blue, and yellow organs shown through the skin. He had a long chin. The ears were once again pointed.

"Now this baby is a little more updated. It's from Perseid mythology. They're called the Titranes, a species that lived on Ugroth in caves. They apparently did experiments with diamond and rubies and so on before the first Perseid took his first step on the planet. Now they're considered muses for the great minds of the Perseids, who believe they visit geniuses like yours truly in their dreams and give them ideas for breakthrough discoveries."

"Are you done yet?" Trance finally gave her first sign of acknowledging Harper.

"One last thing." Harper held up his last flexi.

"That's a centaur." Trance raised an eyebrow. "It has nothing to do with me."

"But does it?" Harper smiled, a glint in his eyes telling Trance that he had made some discovery he was excited about. "You see, many people believe that this mythological earth creature was created when a few good 'ol greeks saw some Vedran males running around on earth."

"That's interesting. Where'd you find that bit of information?" Trance knew it was a lame attempt to change the subject, but tried anyways.

"You'd be surprised what I can find." Harper's tone suggested something else, but Trance figured she didn't want to know. "The point is that I saw you turn into each of those three creatures during the transference, except your version of a Titrane was completely clear, but then again, Vedrans are blue and centaurs are earth colors. Anyways, if what I'm thinking is true, then you, or at least someone from your species, were seen on earth and a few other planets thousands of years ago."

"Well that's one conclusion you could draw."

"You have another?" Harper couldn't wait to hear her new excuses.

"Perhaps the fact you were meeting our child again affected your side of the subconscious, and memories from tales replaced certain parts of me. Perhaps my own thoughts about receiving the child altered my state to you. Or perhaps it's a side effect, something you believed you remembered once you left that state and entered one of depression." Trance's voice was eerily quiet and formal.

"But that doesn't explain why I would see a Titrane. I've never heard of one until I you became it." Harper stepped up to her, setting down the flexis and placing his hands on her shoulders. "That also doesn't explain why you're trembling out of anger right now. And like I said, this isn't good for the baby."

"Then why did you bring it up?!" Trance burst out, her control let go. She stepped back, breaking their contact.

"Because," Harper's voice was soft and sincere, "I thought that if I started to figure out what you were, you might tell me the rest about yourself. I mean, my god, we're having a child together, and I know next to nothing about you Trance. How the hell can I care for a child if I don't even know what his other half is capable of?"

"Harper," Trance was calmer now. "It's very sweet what you're trying to do, but you're treading on dangerous ground. You know what you need to know, and if you find out too much more...you've already put yourself at a very high risk." A sort of sadness reflected in her eyes. "Just for once, stop being so inquisitive. Trust me. I wouldn't hold anything back I didn't think you absolutely needed to know."

"Alright." Trance could still see he was disappointed. "Let me guess. This doesn't leave my room."

Trance nodded, then crawled into the bed. Harper took his position on the couch, knowing that asking Trance for company would be pushing his luck tonight. But he just had to get something in to make up for the obviously huge mistake he had pulled off.

"Don't worry about next time. If you ever try to hide, I'll just break through the locks. You're dainties aren't safe from this horny genius."

Trance chuckled.

That's what you think, she thought to herself before drifting off.