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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"Hey sis!" Loki yelled out, running to catch up with Trance. The moment she had spotted him, she had picked up her pace.

"Leave, I'm still angry with you." Loki persisted still, and Trance finally gave up and let him walk beside her.

"I gave you three whole weeks to calm down, what more do you want?" he asked, a little hurt.

"I want you to get off this ship." Trance stopped and turned to face him. "I want you to stop these tests, I want to be left alone with my friends!"

"Trance, you know I love you." Loki put an arm around her shoulder, Trance allowing him to pull her close. "I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't my job. And unlike some people, I want to live up to my name."

"You don't understand what you're missing." She sighed. "It's time again, isn't it?"

"Sorry," Loki said, then led her around the corner and into a nearby room.

"Loki?" Trance stumbled back. "What're you doing here?"

"Do I have a deal for you sis," he said cheerfully, but there was a hint of sadness lying under it.

"A deal?" She raised an eyebrow. "What're you up to?"

"Look at something for me, Sis." Loki pulled Trance over and turned her so she was facing a mirror. She glanced over her reflection, and then crossed her arms.

"What should I see?" she asked. Anyone else would've thought Loki was crazy, but Trance knew otherwise. Things were not what they appeared.

"The question is actually what do you see?" Trance rolled her eyes and peered closer at her reflection. Loki simply waited, knowing his sister was quick witted, and could often figure his tricks out.

"I see a rather attractive female," she smiled, "with cream skin and golden brown highlights. She has red dreadlocks, done up in a rather intricate fashion with silver wraps that make it look like she has horns. She's young..." Trance paused, the smile fading. "No, she's old. Her body doesn't show it, but her face does. Her lips strain when they smile, almost like they aren't used to the practice. Lines from worry and stress that shouldn't be there adorn her face. And her eyes..." she took a deep breath. "Her eyes reflect too many bad memories."

Loki placed his hand gently on the mirror, and then slowly took it away. The smooth surface began rippling until Trance's reflection faded into another one. The glass regained its solid form, showing an identical copy of Loki. Except it was a female.

"Now what do you see?" he asked again. Trance gazed upon her younger self.

"I see a female with soft purple skin. Her hair is short, blonde, and a little curled. She has this long tail the same color as her skin with a pointed tip. She looks very young. Playful, like a kid sister. She's so happy as if she has hardly any cares. And friends, she has plenty of friends who trust and love her." Trance reached out, trying to grasp her younger self, and maybe her other life with is. But her older reflection appeared back in front of her.

"You miss her, don't you?" Trance nodded at her brother's question. "What if I told you I could bring her back?"

"You could?" Trance turned away from the mirror to look him in the eyes. She could tell he wasn't lying, but there was something else there. "There's a catch."

"The reason you are what you are, little sis, is because of the place you grew up in. You brought yourself back as this because it was needed," he explained softly. "In order to change you back, we'd have to go back before the transformation, and stop you from switching."

"But that means the bad future will just play out again." Trance shook her head. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"Not entirely true," Loki said. "I would just go back to that time, and in order to stop you from switching, I'd take your purple self from that place and force you back home until a few years passed. Your influence would no longer be on the Andromeda. That itself would keep the bad future from happening."

"But Harper..." He shushed his sister.

"I'll take care of Blondie for ya. But after that we leave them alone, and you get to go back to that fun, happy you, and everything is perfect."

Trance turned back to the mirror, which was now split in two. One half showed her true reflection, the other showed her a younger Trance and a possible, maybe even brighter future? She stood, staring at them for a long time.

"I...I can't," she whispered finally, turning away.

"Excuse me?" Loki didn't want Trance to fail the test, but part of him had hoped she would. This offer he had for her was real, and it would be fulfilled upon her request. If she had accepted it, he could've had his little sister back.

"I can't," Trance said, her voice stronger this time. "I can't leave them, even if they don't quite accept me right now. They're my friends. Abandoning them is wrong. And if go back, that means Harper and I never went through the process, and I lose our child. I can't sentence my baby to death because of my petty needs." She looked down at her feet. "I know you would want it differently, but you have to understand."

"I do," Loki nodded. "And so you pass."

Trance blinked a few times, then turned back to the mirror. It was covered in a fine film of dust, having not been used for months.

"It would've been real, wouldn't it have?" she asked Loki as he started to quietly leave.

"Yes," he said before walking out the door to find Harper.

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"Heya Blondie!" Harper sat up fast, hitting his head on the on the top of the small tunnel he was working in. He yelped in pain, and then groaned when he saw a purple face peering down at him.

"Go away." Harper didn't try and hide his anger. He slid back over to the panel he had been working on, shoving the parts and wires with a little more force than before.

"Now that's no way to treat the uncle of your kid." Loki was still upset over the last test with Trance, and Harper was his target for letting of steam. The boy didn't let down. Harper pushed himself up, and stalked towards the purple alien.

"You will not go anywhere near my child," Harper said low and dangerously.

"Tsk, tsk, so rude..." Loki smiled as Blondie looked near the exploding point. "While this is so much fun, we have work to do." The male was even more pleased when Harper paled upon that remark. The engineer gathered himself quickly.

"Fine then," he said. Loki was somewhat impressed, but brushed it off as he placed his hands over Harper's eyes.

Harper felt the cold hands removed from his face, and realized he was in a meeting hall of some sort. But hadn't he just been...

"Kyros Raghnall, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Dylan said, holding his hand out to the Nietzschean in front of him. Harper thought they had gotten rid of some Nietzscheans. As he observed his surroundings, he was in for more surprises.

The entire crew was in a very fancy hall of some sort, including him! About six Nietzscheans were standing guard around the one Dylan was talking to. They all looked bored, except for Tyr who was keeping a watch as always, and Rommie who seemed to enjoy this stuff. Trance, to his amazement, was starting to show, but only a little. He felt his heart swell with pride.

"So, you're interested in signing on?" Dylan was beaming. These guys must be important, Harper thought.

"Actually," the leader made a ghost of a movement with his hand. But the crew of the Andromeda had grown up as smugglers, thieves, assains, and trained soilders. Everyone recognized the signal and scattered as the six guards opened fire. Tyr ducked behind a pillar and began to return their blasts, hitting several. But the guards had found cover as well. The fire continued back and forth. Harper could only watch as his other self tried to protect Trance, but couldn't get near her. Present Harper tried going after the Nietzscheans, but found that he was a ghost in this place, his limbs passing through whatever he touched.

The fire ceased, and Harper realized that all but two of the traitors were dead. Trance peeked out from her spot behind a statue. In one last act of defiance, the Nietzschean who had called himself Kyros shot at her. His blast hit Trance in the throat. Harper watched her eyes go wide, and then as she collapsed. He heard his other self scream, and saw out of the corner of his eye as Tyr took out the one that fired, while Rommie ran forward to capture the other. The others ran over to his fallen goddess, trying to wake her up. Harper watched himself wait, but both knew that somehow this time was different. That she wasn't going to get up and walk away from this battle. Trance and his child were gone forever.

A purple hand tugged him around, and as he spun the area turned back into Andromeda's corridors. A strange male of Trance's species was looking at him with horrified eyes.

"You saw it, didn't you?" he asked wildly. Harper backed up.

"Who are you? What just happened?" The engineer glanced around, dazed.

"I'm Loki, Trance's older brother," Loki told him. "And you just had a glimpse of what Trance and I see. A possible future. One where she dies."

Harper's mouth opened and closed like a fish before he could get anything out.

"She dies? No...oh god no..." He clutched his stomach, falling to his knees. Loki knelt beside him.

"It's just a possible future. But I don't want it to come true. Do you?" Harper shook his head. "Good, then you can help me."

Loki pulled Harper up and led him through a doorway. They were in a dark, wooden room. Harper opened his mouth to comment, but Loki's cold hand clamped over his lips. A woman could be heard singing outside the door they had just come through, and instead of Andromeda's metalic smell, food wafted from it. Loki pulled Harper over to a crib in the middle of the room, motioning for him to look into it. Harper peered in, seeing a sleeping child, only one-year old, two at the most. A soft blanket of some animal skin covered his ivory skin, soft brown locks just starting to grow on his head. His blades had already come in.

"That's the one. He's the one that kills Trance," Loki spat. Harper couldn't believe anything this beautiful and innocent would grow up into the people that haunted his dreams at night.

"Do you want to stop the death of Trance, my sister, and your child?" Loki whispered, placing a blaster in Harper's hand. "Then you kill him."