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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Harper looked at the gun Loki had placed in his hand, back to the child, and then back to the gun again. He dropped the weapon, watching Loki swiftly catch with his tail before it before it could hit the ground.

"Are you insane?" he hissed. "That's a child! I am not murdering an innocent baby."

Loki snuck over and closed the door softly. The woman's singing was cut off as he turned back to Harper and held out the weapon again.

"He would murder yours," was the other man's reply. Harper paced, angry at the universe for giving him yet another weight to bear on his shoulders. He finally stopped to glare at the calm alien.

"You don't understand!" His voice was rising, despite the fact that the mother was nearby. "How can you ask me to become God and judge this child? It's not my place to decide if he's worthy to live or not! Of all the people in the freakin' universe, I am not the one qualified to do it!"

Damn that door must be thick because even though he was yelling now, Harper didn't hear anyone coming to check the room.

"What about all those you killed before?" Loki asked him. "Were you qualified then?"

"That was different." Harper was pacing again. "It was self-defense. They would've killed me without another thought."

"And that time at Witchhead?" That made Harper stop. "You were ready to condemn those hundreds of thousands of lives before you even knew that it was the way history would move."

"Just shut up!" Harper tackled Loki, throwing his fist into the other's face. He pushed the stunned purple male against the wall. Loki whipped his tail around, snapping it against Harper's leg. It was like the leather whips the Ubers had used back home, and Harper bit down hard to keep from crying out. The distraction gave Loki the chance to use his tail on the unarmed man again, this time the human's forehead. Harper stumbled back, but years of conditioning and instinct kicked in, giving him the edge to get himself together for the next assault.

When the tail came around, this time for his ankle, the engineer stepped down hard on the limb, causing Loki to scream in pain. At the same time he lunged forward and grabbed the purple hand holding the gun, twisting until the weapon was in his possession. Loki punched Harper in the stomach, making him stumble back, but the young man kept his foot on the tail, knowing if he let go he didn't have a chance. Loki yanked the tail, and Harper tumbled forward on top of the alien, both men crashing to the ground, Loki smacking his head on the hard floors. Now Harper had the weapon and the upper hand. He shoved the barrel under Loki's chin, aiming at the throat. His other hand groped and found the broken tail, which Harper gripped as hard as he could to make sure he wouldn't lose it this time. Loki winced, but didn't show any other signs of feeling pain from it. Harper straddled the purple alien's chest, resting his weight on the other's shoulders.

"This deal is going to change," he said, breathing hard. Harper looked around wildly, listening to see if the mother had been alerted. But even the baby wasn't crying. It was like he was a ghost again. Loki took the chance to try and buck the human off, but Harper yanked on his tail and switched the safety off his blaster. The alien decided to stay put.

"What makes you think I'm afraid of you Blondie?" he sneered. Blondie? Harper shook his head and winced from the movement. It sounded so familiar. "You've seen my sister come back from the dead before. I'm not much different."

"Ya know Loki, I may not know what the hell you are, but I know smart doesn't cover it." Harper shifted, putting on more pressure. "You see, after watching that vision, possible future, whatever you guys call it, a thought crossed my mind. Why did Trance die? She's come back so many other times. And then it hit me. Like that." If Harper had a hand free, he might have snapped. "Every time Trance has died, she's been hit where exactly? The Rat hit her in the stomach. When Dylan hit her during the time with the Bokor, it was in the stomach. You get my point?"

Loki nodded his head ever so slightly to indicate he did.

"Well when I had that vision," Harper continued, "Trance wasn't hit in the stomach. She was hit in the throat. Now most species I know have most of their important organs spread throughout the body, but what if one species evolved in such a way that it contained all the important stuff in one place so that if it was hit anywhere else, they could just get up and walk away? I'm not a biologist or whatever, so I don't know if that's possible, but it's all I have to go off here." He pressed the gun into Loki's throat. "So do you feel lucky?"

Loki actually smiled.

"You're good kid. Too bad you're only human." He sighed. "So what do you want?"

"I want you to change it," Harper said in all seriousness. "Make it so Trance doesn't die, but so that I don't have to kill the child to do it."

Loki shook his head, laughing. Harper yanked hard on the tail to stop him.

"Sorry kid, but things don't work that way." Harper began to squeeze the trigger. "It's not just Trance," Loki amended quickly. "Think about it. You actually believe that Trance was the only person that Nietzschean ever killed in his life? That child up there will grow up into a trained mercenary. He will kill thousands of both innocent and guilty parties." The hand holding the gun was shaking. "So now you have to ask yourself. Will you condemn thousands of people that he will torture and destroy because you are too weak to kill one child?" Loki winced as his tail was twisted. "You can hurt me all you want Kid, but it doesn't change the future."

"Dammit stop it!" Harper screamed. "I'm not going to kill a child. You can change this, I know you can make it right, so just do it already!"

"I told you I..." Harper backhanded his captive with the hand holding his tail. Loki growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Make. It. Right. Or I swear, I don't care who you're related to, I will kill you," Harper promised. Loki glared, his face twisted in fury that this weak underling would dare to threaten him. But his orders specified that he couldn't kill the human. So Trance's brother calmed himself and shrugged as best he could.

"Fine, if that's how you want to play things, I can't help you. But you need to get off me," he pointed out. Harper complied, but only after whacking Loki over the head again to stun the other man, ensuring he wouldn't try anything. Harper quickly scurried back, still pointing the gun at Loki's throat.

The purple male stood up, raising both hands in a show of peace. He walked over to the crib, Harper's ever-watchful eyes on him the whole way. Loki bent down and whispered something to the sleeping Nietzschean baby.

"There." He straightened up. "It is done."

"That's it?" Harper asked suspiciously.

"That's it," Loki replied, sauntering over to the door. Upon opening it, he smiled, and then walked through. Harper frowned, then warily followed.

He found himself back in Andromeda's corridors, Loki standing nearby. Sighing, Harper sat down with his back against the wall, twirling the gun in his hands.

"Did I pass?"

"You surprised me," Loki was rubbing his tail. "That fight was very unexpected. But since you didn't kill the Nietzschean child, you passed."

Harper smiled tiredly, happy to have gotten it over with, and also enthralled at Loki's appearance. He looked like hell. Loki noticed Harper's gaze.

"I wouldn't be too happy," he shot back. "If I didn't have my orders, you would be dead by now."

"All talk, and no walk," Harper said, still grinning.

"Live it up Blondie. I promise the next test isn't so easy." With that, Loki left.

"Yeah, real easy." Harper rolled his eyes and got up. "You're such a giver."

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"What happened to you?" Trance asked as Harper limped into medical.

"I got into a scuffle with a certain golden gal's brother." Trance ran over and helped Harper sit down. "I won."

"I'd hate to see the loser," she remarked, checking Harper over for anything serious.

"Yeah, tails aren't all they're cracked up to be," he joked as Trance bandaged the cut on his forehead and leg.

"Well it's nothing serious, although I recommend a hot bath. You're going to be stiff in the morning," Trance said. "So what was the test about?"

"Oh nothing." Harper waved the memories away like a bad dream. "Piece of cake."

"That's why you're on Med Deck?" Trance raised an eyebrow.

"Hey Trance, what's the name of your species again? I think I might be able to pronounce OW!" He yelped as she pushed on a bruised area.

"Alright, don't tell me." Her face lit up. "Wanna see something?"

"Depends," Harper replied. Trance shook her head, then grabbed his hand and pulled him over to an internal scanner. He winced upon remembering too many times having to use one to check out his 'lil Magog buddies. But he knew what Trance wanted this time; they had done this part before. Trance turned it on and pointed at the screen.

"See," she said. Harper stared in awe at his eight week old child. No matter how many times she showed him, he still couldn't believe it. The baby still looked oddly inhuman, although Harper didn't know if that was Trance's side or just the development. Trance was ok with it, so apparently everything was fine.

"The fingers are developing, and you can just see the start of the toes." She pointed everything out to him. "Apparently that extra growth I've been studying is what we thought it was."

"So he's going to have a tail. Ya hear that buddy," Harper said leaning down near Trance's stomach. "Remember, that's from your mother's side. The dashing good looks are all me."

Trance smiled and ran her hand through Harper's hair.

"I wouldn't call them dashing," she commented.

"Hey! Did you hear what your mommy said about me?" Trance rolled her eyes, and pushed the grinning Harper away. He sat down nearby. As they both continued to study the screen, his thoughts began to wander.

This was his child. It was still hard for him to believe, but it was there. Bring it on Loki, Harper thought. Nothing's going to take my family from me.