Once More Into the Fray
Chapter Seven
Liam stared back at her, his thoughts filled with hesitation, the moment between his connection of the emotion in her eyes to the reality of what it meant stretched interminably until he saw the smiles and relief on the other's faces. They had done it.
Discord stood, also drying her silvery tears, and walked to the center of the cavern, her sister smiled at her, a welcoming smile which she returned. Then she gestured for the Chosen to take their place around them, each at one corner forming a square around them, each person having two people of different races on either side of them. As Liam walked to his space he glanced at his father who was looking at him as though he very much wanted to talk to him about something, but knew that they didn't have the time. He sighed a bit apprehensively, just another thing to worry about when this was all over.
Discord checked to make certain they were all in their places and gave them a warning. "When we begin this joining we will need to borrow some of your strength, you must all hold hands and you must not break the connection or step out of place." Discord stopped and allowed her sister to take over.
Harmony continued, "The wrongness will know that we are vulnerable at this point, it will attempt to move you from your places." "You must resist until we have completely joined, then we will combat the wrongness and destroy it forever." She smiled encouragingly and added, "Are you ready?" She waited until they had all nodded. "Then we will begin."
Harmony held her hands to her sister and Liam gripped Da'an and Zo'or's hands tighter, feeling them reciprocate. Discord gently touched her hands to her sisters and they both began to glow; not a single brightness, but a kind of aura that changed from dark to light almost like a flicker. Both of them suddenly let loose a kind of cry that rippled in the air, it was then that Liam found out what Harmony's scream was for.
Discord could use her voice to destroy, a powerful weapon in it's own right, but Harmony's was more powerful still for she had the gift of control. He could feel her voice penetrating him and he knew exactly what she wanted. He knew it could not be her full power, even half a Re'carusha could take what it wanted with it's full power, but instead it seemed as if she was asking his permission to borrow some of his energy. He silently consented, and could feel a piece of him start to drift away from the whole, he opened his eyes and saw a stream of blue lightning emanating from the chest of each of the Chosen and surrounding the Re'carusha. He kept his eyes on the rapidly flickering center of the energy drain, he could see two vague shapes melding into a sparkling energy being. He was just thinking that this hadn't been so hard when something hit him.
It wasn't a physical attack, but a mental blow that nearly staggered him. It jarred him somewhat, but he tightened his grip again on the two Taelons beside him, he had felt them tremble at the same time he felt the mental slap and assumed they had been similarly assaulted. He clung to their hands, determined not to falter, he tensed himself in preparation of the next mental strike. It came quickly, this time a more subtle attack than the last. He felt a desire to be away from here, it was irrational in it's intensity. Only moments ago he had been at peace with his decision to put aside the hostility between himself and the Taelons, but now he was questioning himself and every thought he had had. "What if this was the wrong decision?" "What if I've made a mistake?" "What if more people die?" His mind was full of questions, distrust, he felt his hand slip in Da'an's just a bit and then he realized that these thoughts felt strange, almost foreign. "Wrong." he murmured.
He knew what was going on then, the wrongness was putting thoughts into his mind to tempt him into breaking the link, he gripped Da'an's hand even harder and felt a brief surge of concern when Zo'or's hand slipped a bit in his. He laced his fingers through the smaller Taelon's and hoped his father wouldn't let go of his other hand. After a few more moments, as he ignored the projected thoughts, he slowly felt the dissension leave his mind and he smiled. He glanced at the beings in the center again, this time he was sure he saw one being begin to coalesce, he knew the joining was nearly complete but somehow he didn't think the wrongness would give up just yet.
This time he felt his thoughts start to slowly drift away from the moment and time seemed to stand still, he looked around and saw Ha'gel standing next to him. He was staring at his Kimera father in complete bewilderment as he began to walk towards him. He opened hi mouth to say something but Ha'gel beat him to it.
"Is this why I put you here, Liam, he asked in a chastising tone, "to give up you're energy to two completely oblivious beings?" "You were to be the bridge between humanity and Taelons, to be my envoy for peace between the races, and instead you are trying to help these Re'carusha?" "Are you truly so naive as to believe that helping them will solve all of your problems?"
Liam tried to respond, but his voice would not work, he merely stood there and listened as his Kimera father spoke of his disappointment, his displeasure, and his general disbelief that his son, his son, could possibly be so untrained as to trust his entire future, and that of humanity, to such a fanciful idea. Ha'gel waxed eloquent in his description of Da'an, Zo'or, and Sandoval as well as every other even relatively questionable person he had trusted in the past. He then started in on Liam's incredible lack of foresight in allowing the others to see his life by so foolishly sharing with them and finished up with such a glare that Liam almost took a step backwards.
"Father I-," Liam started but he was cut off.
"I intend to speak with you more, at length after you put an end to this charade," Ha'gel said angrily. "Now Liam, step out of that square!"
At the last sentence Liam's eyes narrowed. He gave his father a long look and tried to organize his mind and the almost overwhelming guilt he felt. Why was he feeling this? As he began to analyze the confusing thoughts he became increasingly aware of how alien they felt, he quickly realized what was happening, just another trick from the wrongness! All of the sudden there was a voice in his mind.
"STEP BACK!" the voice roared psychically, he glared defiantly at the false image of his father, stubbornly refusing to allow it to have any hold over him. He watched as a murderous gleam came into the eye of the vision of his father, but he somehow knew there was no way it could hurt him unless he let it. He stood up straighter, allowing the energy beam to continue unabated and held Da'an and Zo'or's hands a little tighter and smirked as the image dissipated with a howl of disappointment.
He had about three seconds to feel proud of himself before Da'an's hand began to slip out of his grip. He felt a brief surge of panic but repressed it, he needed to think clearly. He knew what he had to do, but he had never tried to use his Kimera heritage in this way. He took a deep breath and initiated a sharing with Da'an.
~~~~~~*Flash*~~~~~~
Liam's mind was inside the vision that the wrongness was showing Da'an. He saw Quo'on, he wasn't screaming, he didn't even appear angry, he just looked sad. It seemed to be affecting Da'an much more than normal anger would. Liam quickly moved to Da'an's side, careful to avoid the energy that was streaming from Da'an's chest.
"Da'an, I want you to listen to me, I want you to ignore him, ok?" "It's not really Quo'on, it's not real." "Da'an can you here me?"
Da'an pulled his attention away from Quo'on with some difficulty. Someone was speaking to him, someone else he had disappointed or betrayed perhaps? He slowly turned his head to gaze sadly up at the person who was touching his arm. "Liam?" he said in confusion.
"Da'an, you have to listen to me, it's not real." "Do you understand?" "It's not real."
Da'an looked up with confusion "What?" His thoughts were spinning, he couldn't think clearly.
Liam looked desperately as Da'an's hand continued to slip from his tight grip. He had to do something! He placed his hands on each side of Da'an's head and concentrated on his thoughts. If the wrongness was preventing Da'an from thinking his own thoughts then Liam would simply allow him to think his thoughts. He knew it was more complex than that, but the oversimplification allowed him to act instinctively. Without thinking he transferred Da'an's consciousness temporarily to his mind.
Da'an marveled at how clear everything was becoming. He could see from another perspective, and everything fell into place. A voice sounded in his mind, not more than a whisper, but he heard it and he knew what it meant.
"Liam, this is really not something you should get in the habit of doing." Da'an said into the silences of Liam's mind.
"It really was the only way to get you to pay attention, you do understand now, right?" Liam asked. He suddenly sensed amusement from Da'an's consciousness.
"Yes, I understand." He paused, "What are we going to do know?"
"Well, as long as you are in here with me, the wrongness can't affect you, I think we should wait until Harmony and Discord are finished merging until we put you back," Liam said.
"That does sound logical," Da'an admitted. He sensed an ulterior motive in Liam's logical suggestion, but did not investigate, after all, he wasn't the only one with ulterior motives. Ever since Da'an had had an in depth look at Liam's mind he had noticed a similarity with his own that he had wished to explore. This was a prime opportunity.
"Ok, if this is what's happening to the others we had better go have a look," Liam said.
"Do you require my assistance to enter Agent Sandoval's mind?" Da'an inquired.
"I think I can manage it, of course I can always draw on your experience." Liam said with a touch of
amusement. Before Da'an could reply he initiated the sharing with his father.
~~~~~~*Flash*~~~~~~
Liam glanced around until he saw his father. He was bit shocked to see a mirror image of himself standing over his father. As he got closer he realized that it in fact wasn't a mirror image, it had a large bleeding wound on it's shoulder and it had a cut on it's forehead. It was speaking to Sandoval and clearly Sandoval was experiencing a severe bout of guilt. Liam couldn't hear the words, apparently only Sandoval could, but he could see the effect it was having on him. He began to search through his Kimera memories trying to find something to help his father.
"Bingo," he murmured in his head as he finally came across something useful, a mental pulse, the Kimeras called it.
"Bingo?" Da'an asked, curious.
"Look it up," Liam said with his usual irrepressible gallows humor.
Da'an decided to take him up on the offer. While Liam gathered his strength to send a mind pulse towards his father to disrupt the wrongness' attempt to hurt Sandoval, Da'an searched through Liam's mind to find the reference he had used. It took him about five seconds to find it and he began to withdraw when a passing thought caught his attention. It wasn't his intention to invade anything personal but the opportunity was simply too much to resist. He quickly scanned it and was surprised to find that in the back of his mind, maybe Liam himself wasn't even aware of it, but he thought of Da'an as a female. Da'an tried to keep his thoughts away from the hope of what this might indicate as he quickly withdrew from his friend's mind. Suddenly a whole knew avenue of thought was open to him.
"Find what you were looking for?" Liam asked, clearly not aware of what happened.
"Indeed, it was very educational," he said softly, still deep in thought.
Liam was too busy to question the tone, he quickly finished arranging the pulse and sent it out. He watched as the alternate him stumbled back and vanished in a swirl of dark colors. He quickly ran to his father.
"Dad?" Liam asked softly.
"Liam?" Sandoval asked, looking confused and more than a little pained. "What happened?"
"It wasn't really me." Liam said.
"Liam, I wanted to tell you, the real you, I'm sorry for what happened, and I really wanted to find you." "I just got a little lost along the way," Sandoval said quietly.
"I know." "After this, maybe we could try the father son thing." Liam asked almost hesitantly.
Sandoval smiled softly and nodded but suddenly gasped.
"What?" Liam asked in alarm.
"Zo'or, she's trying to break the link." Sandoval said, trying to hold onto her small white hand.
"Alright, I'll go and see if I can reach her." Liam said.
"Wait, can you take me with you?" Sandoval asked quickly.
Liam looked surprised but nodded. He directed the question to Da'an, "Ok, how do I take him with me?"
Da'an guided his thoughts to the section of his Kimera memories that explained how to link sharings.
"Thanks, Da'an." "Are you ready?"
"Do not let me impede you." Da'an said with a mental smile.
Liam quickly engaged the next sharing, pulling his father's consciousness along with him.
~~~~~~*Flash*~~~~~~
He saw Zo'or, still leaning backwards, the energy coming from her chest. She was staring an image of Da'an. The image's face was contorted in pain and Zo'or's with guilt. As with himself, neither Da'an, Liam, or Sandoval could hear what the alternate Da'an was saying, but they could hear Zo'or's responses. She was apparently trying to respond to whatever allegations the other Da'an was making. If she were human Liam was certain she would be crying by now. Sandoval stared at her a moment before turning to his son.
"How can I help?" he asked almost desperately.
Liam, startled at the amount of anxiety in his voice, looked appraisingly up at his father for a moment before replying. "Try to get her attention, if you can get her to realize that this isn't real she will find it easier to deal with the psychic kickback."
"I'll try." Sandoval said determinedly.
Liam began to gather his energy to direct another pulse towards this new facet of the wrongness as Sandoval tried to reach Zo'or.
"Zo'or, look at me." Sandoval said, placing his hand on the side of her head. "Zo'or?"
Zo'or shivered slightly, his eye contact with the alternate Da'an wavering slightly.
"Zo'or?" Sandoval tried again, "Zo'or listen to me, you need to hear this." "It's not real Zo'or, Da'an is over there, that isn't him."
Zo'or's previously clouded eyes seemed to regain some of their clarity as Sandoval continued to speak."
"Zo'or?" "Zo'or!"
"What?" Zo'or murmured, turning his head slightly to look Sandoval in the eye.
"He isn't real." Sandoval said again. The alternate Da'an appeared to be saying something to Zo'or. She winced, and turned to look at him but Sandoval held her head in place, not allowing her to break eye contact. "Liam, if you are going to do something you had better do it now."
Liam nodded, though Sandoval was not looking at him. "Ready Da'an?" he asked silently.
"I am prepared," Da'an said.
Liam quickly sent out the second pulse and watched as the last image of the wrongness disappeared. He smiled and turned back to his father and Zo'or.
"Are you alright?" Sandoval asked Zo'or, still concerned.
"I am quite well, thank you." Zo'or responded, still a bit unhinged by the experience. They had not yet broken eye contact when Liam cleared his throat behind them. They both looked rather startled and Sandoval turned to face him.
"I just wanted to mention that the reintegration seems to be on the verge of completion and we might all want to be getting into position." Liam suggested.
"Of course." Sandoval agreed, he didn't look as though he wanted to leave but apparently couldn't come up with a good enough reason to stay.
"Alright, let's go." He quickly disengaged the sharing with Zo'or and pulled Sandoval along with him.
He pushed his father's consciousness back into place and stole a quick glance at the Re'carusha, who were still absorbing the energy from each of them. He could scarcely tell that there were two of them contained within the glowing energy field. "Da'an?" he asked silently."
"Yes, Liam?" Da'an asked. He was a grateful for the distraction of his voice, as it was becoming increasingly difficult to resist the temptation of Liam's all to interesting thoughts.
"I don't think we have time to return you, do you think it will disrupt the procedure if you are with me instead of in your form?" Liam asked worriedly.
"I do not believe it would cause any interference," Da'an replied, a bit nervous about remaining so close to Liam's thoughts for such an extended amount of time.
"All right then." Liam said, returning to his physical form.
Da'an felt a slightly grounding sensation as they both settled back into Liam's body. "Is this what it feels to be a non-energy creature?" Da'an thought at Liam.
"Bit of a disappointment?" Liam asked with some amusement.
"No, of course not," Da'an said before Liam's humorous tone registered. "I was merely-," Da'an was cut off as the Re'carusha quite suddenly stopped flickering and began glowing a softer golden. Through Liam's eyes Da'an could see that they were now fully combined. There was only one thing left to do.
~~~~~~~~
Whew, another chapter come and gone. I'd ask if it was good for you, but I'm not into those slightly crude, on the edge of being sexual insinuations, kind of suggestions. (wink) Anyway, I hope you liked it, even though it was really, really, REALLY long. Please, feel free to review, but take my fragile psyche into consideration, if you are too cruel you could completely destroy my delicate egomaniacal personality.... ~Y.W.
Chapter Seven
Liam stared back at her, his thoughts filled with hesitation, the moment between his connection of the emotion in her eyes to the reality of what it meant stretched interminably until he saw the smiles and relief on the other's faces. They had done it.
Discord stood, also drying her silvery tears, and walked to the center of the cavern, her sister smiled at her, a welcoming smile which she returned. Then she gestured for the Chosen to take their place around them, each at one corner forming a square around them, each person having two people of different races on either side of them. As Liam walked to his space he glanced at his father who was looking at him as though he very much wanted to talk to him about something, but knew that they didn't have the time. He sighed a bit apprehensively, just another thing to worry about when this was all over.
Discord checked to make certain they were all in their places and gave them a warning. "When we begin this joining we will need to borrow some of your strength, you must all hold hands and you must not break the connection or step out of place." Discord stopped and allowed her sister to take over.
Harmony continued, "The wrongness will know that we are vulnerable at this point, it will attempt to move you from your places." "You must resist until we have completely joined, then we will combat the wrongness and destroy it forever." She smiled encouragingly and added, "Are you ready?" She waited until they had all nodded. "Then we will begin."
Harmony held her hands to her sister and Liam gripped Da'an and Zo'or's hands tighter, feeling them reciprocate. Discord gently touched her hands to her sisters and they both began to glow; not a single brightness, but a kind of aura that changed from dark to light almost like a flicker. Both of them suddenly let loose a kind of cry that rippled in the air, it was then that Liam found out what Harmony's scream was for.
Discord could use her voice to destroy, a powerful weapon in it's own right, but Harmony's was more powerful still for she had the gift of control. He could feel her voice penetrating him and he knew exactly what she wanted. He knew it could not be her full power, even half a Re'carusha could take what it wanted with it's full power, but instead it seemed as if she was asking his permission to borrow some of his energy. He silently consented, and could feel a piece of him start to drift away from the whole, he opened his eyes and saw a stream of blue lightning emanating from the chest of each of the Chosen and surrounding the Re'carusha. He kept his eyes on the rapidly flickering center of the energy drain, he could see two vague shapes melding into a sparkling energy being. He was just thinking that this hadn't been so hard when something hit him.
It wasn't a physical attack, but a mental blow that nearly staggered him. It jarred him somewhat, but he tightened his grip again on the two Taelons beside him, he had felt them tremble at the same time he felt the mental slap and assumed they had been similarly assaulted. He clung to their hands, determined not to falter, he tensed himself in preparation of the next mental strike. It came quickly, this time a more subtle attack than the last. He felt a desire to be away from here, it was irrational in it's intensity. Only moments ago he had been at peace with his decision to put aside the hostility between himself and the Taelons, but now he was questioning himself and every thought he had had. "What if this was the wrong decision?" "What if I've made a mistake?" "What if more people die?" His mind was full of questions, distrust, he felt his hand slip in Da'an's just a bit and then he realized that these thoughts felt strange, almost foreign. "Wrong." he murmured.
He knew what was going on then, the wrongness was putting thoughts into his mind to tempt him into breaking the link, he gripped Da'an's hand even harder and felt a brief surge of concern when Zo'or's hand slipped a bit in his. He laced his fingers through the smaller Taelon's and hoped his father wouldn't let go of his other hand. After a few more moments, as he ignored the projected thoughts, he slowly felt the dissension leave his mind and he smiled. He glanced at the beings in the center again, this time he was sure he saw one being begin to coalesce, he knew the joining was nearly complete but somehow he didn't think the wrongness would give up just yet.
This time he felt his thoughts start to slowly drift away from the moment and time seemed to stand still, he looked around and saw Ha'gel standing next to him. He was staring at his Kimera father in complete bewilderment as he began to walk towards him. He opened hi mouth to say something but Ha'gel beat him to it.
"Is this why I put you here, Liam, he asked in a chastising tone, "to give up you're energy to two completely oblivious beings?" "You were to be the bridge between humanity and Taelons, to be my envoy for peace between the races, and instead you are trying to help these Re'carusha?" "Are you truly so naive as to believe that helping them will solve all of your problems?"
Liam tried to respond, but his voice would not work, he merely stood there and listened as his Kimera father spoke of his disappointment, his displeasure, and his general disbelief that his son, his son, could possibly be so untrained as to trust his entire future, and that of humanity, to such a fanciful idea. Ha'gel waxed eloquent in his description of Da'an, Zo'or, and Sandoval as well as every other even relatively questionable person he had trusted in the past. He then started in on Liam's incredible lack of foresight in allowing the others to see his life by so foolishly sharing with them and finished up with such a glare that Liam almost took a step backwards.
"Father I-," Liam started but he was cut off.
"I intend to speak with you more, at length after you put an end to this charade," Ha'gel said angrily. "Now Liam, step out of that square!"
At the last sentence Liam's eyes narrowed. He gave his father a long look and tried to organize his mind and the almost overwhelming guilt he felt. Why was he feeling this? As he began to analyze the confusing thoughts he became increasingly aware of how alien they felt, he quickly realized what was happening, just another trick from the wrongness! All of the sudden there was a voice in his mind.
"STEP BACK!" the voice roared psychically, he glared defiantly at the false image of his father, stubbornly refusing to allow it to have any hold over him. He watched as a murderous gleam came into the eye of the vision of his father, but he somehow knew there was no way it could hurt him unless he let it. He stood up straighter, allowing the energy beam to continue unabated and held Da'an and Zo'or's hands a little tighter and smirked as the image dissipated with a howl of disappointment.
He had about three seconds to feel proud of himself before Da'an's hand began to slip out of his grip. He felt a brief surge of panic but repressed it, he needed to think clearly. He knew what he had to do, but he had never tried to use his Kimera heritage in this way. He took a deep breath and initiated a sharing with Da'an.
~~~~~~*Flash*~~~~~~
Liam's mind was inside the vision that the wrongness was showing Da'an. He saw Quo'on, he wasn't screaming, he didn't even appear angry, he just looked sad. It seemed to be affecting Da'an much more than normal anger would. Liam quickly moved to Da'an's side, careful to avoid the energy that was streaming from Da'an's chest.
"Da'an, I want you to listen to me, I want you to ignore him, ok?" "It's not really Quo'on, it's not real." "Da'an can you here me?"
Da'an pulled his attention away from Quo'on with some difficulty. Someone was speaking to him, someone else he had disappointed or betrayed perhaps? He slowly turned his head to gaze sadly up at the person who was touching his arm. "Liam?" he said in confusion.
"Da'an, you have to listen to me, it's not real." "Do you understand?" "It's not real."
Da'an looked up with confusion "What?" His thoughts were spinning, he couldn't think clearly.
Liam looked desperately as Da'an's hand continued to slip from his tight grip. He had to do something! He placed his hands on each side of Da'an's head and concentrated on his thoughts. If the wrongness was preventing Da'an from thinking his own thoughts then Liam would simply allow him to think his thoughts. He knew it was more complex than that, but the oversimplification allowed him to act instinctively. Without thinking he transferred Da'an's consciousness temporarily to his mind.
Da'an marveled at how clear everything was becoming. He could see from another perspective, and everything fell into place. A voice sounded in his mind, not more than a whisper, but he heard it and he knew what it meant.
"Liam, this is really not something you should get in the habit of doing." Da'an said into the silences of Liam's mind.
"It really was the only way to get you to pay attention, you do understand now, right?" Liam asked. He suddenly sensed amusement from Da'an's consciousness.
"Yes, I understand." He paused, "What are we going to do know?"
"Well, as long as you are in here with me, the wrongness can't affect you, I think we should wait until Harmony and Discord are finished merging until we put you back," Liam said.
"That does sound logical," Da'an admitted. He sensed an ulterior motive in Liam's logical suggestion, but did not investigate, after all, he wasn't the only one with ulterior motives. Ever since Da'an had had an in depth look at Liam's mind he had noticed a similarity with his own that he had wished to explore. This was a prime opportunity.
"Ok, if this is what's happening to the others we had better go have a look," Liam said.
"Do you require my assistance to enter Agent Sandoval's mind?" Da'an inquired.
"I think I can manage it, of course I can always draw on your experience." Liam said with a touch of
amusement. Before Da'an could reply he initiated the sharing with his father.
~~~~~~*Flash*~~~~~~
Liam glanced around until he saw his father. He was bit shocked to see a mirror image of himself standing over his father. As he got closer he realized that it in fact wasn't a mirror image, it had a large bleeding wound on it's shoulder and it had a cut on it's forehead. It was speaking to Sandoval and clearly Sandoval was experiencing a severe bout of guilt. Liam couldn't hear the words, apparently only Sandoval could, but he could see the effect it was having on him. He began to search through his Kimera memories trying to find something to help his father.
"Bingo," he murmured in his head as he finally came across something useful, a mental pulse, the Kimeras called it.
"Bingo?" Da'an asked, curious.
"Look it up," Liam said with his usual irrepressible gallows humor.
Da'an decided to take him up on the offer. While Liam gathered his strength to send a mind pulse towards his father to disrupt the wrongness' attempt to hurt Sandoval, Da'an searched through Liam's mind to find the reference he had used. It took him about five seconds to find it and he began to withdraw when a passing thought caught his attention. It wasn't his intention to invade anything personal but the opportunity was simply too much to resist. He quickly scanned it and was surprised to find that in the back of his mind, maybe Liam himself wasn't even aware of it, but he thought of Da'an as a female. Da'an tried to keep his thoughts away from the hope of what this might indicate as he quickly withdrew from his friend's mind. Suddenly a whole knew avenue of thought was open to him.
"Find what you were looking for?" Liam asked, clearly not aware of what happened.
"Indeed, it was very educational," he said softly, still deep in thought.
Liam was too busy to question the tone, he quickly finished arranging the pulse and sent it out. He watched as the alternate him stumbled back and vanished in a swirl of dark colors. He quickly ran to his father.
"Dad?" Liam asked softly.
"Liam?" Sandoval asked, looking confused and more than a little pained. "What happened?"
"It wasn't really me." Liam said.
"Liam, I wanted to tell you, the real you, I'm sorry for what happened, and I really wanted to find you." "I just got a little lost along the way," Sandoval said quietly.
"I know." "After this, maybe we could try the father son thing." Liam asked almost hesitantly.
Sandoval smiled softly and nodded but suddenly gasped.
"What?" Liam asked in alarm.
"Zo'or, she's trying to break the link." Sandoval said, trying to hold onto her small white hand.
"Alright, I'll go and see if I can reach her." Liam said.
"Wait, can you take me with you?" Sandoval asked quickly.
Liam looked surprised but nodded. He directed the question to Da'an, "Ok, how do I take him with me?"
Da'an guided his thoughts to the section of his Kimera memories that explained how to link sharings.
"Thanks, Da'an." "Are you ready?"
"Do not let me impede you." Da'an said with a mental smile.
Liam quickly engaged the next sharing, pulling his father's consciousness along with him.
~~~~~~*Flash*~~~~~~
He saw Zo'or, still leaning backwards, the energy coming from her chest. She was staring an image of Da'an. The image's face was contorted in pain and Zo'or's with guilt. As with himself, neither Da'an, Liam, or Sandoval could hear what the alternate Da'an was saying, but they could hear Zo'or's responses. She was apparently trying to respond to whatever allegations the other Da'an was making. If she were human Liam was certain she would be crying by now. Sandoval stared at her a moment before turning to his son.
"How can I help?" he asked almost desperately.
Liam, startled at the amount of anxiety in his voice, looked appraisingly up at his father for a moment before replying. "Try to get her attention, if you can get her to realize that this isn't real she will find it easier to deal with the psychic kickback."
"I'll try." Sandoval said determinedly.
Liam began to gather his energy to direct another pulse towards this new facet of the wrongness as Sandoval tried to reach Zo'or.
"Zo'or, look at me." Sandoval said, placing his hand on the side of her head. "Zo'or?"
Zo'or shivered slightly, his eye contact with the alternate Da'an wavering slightly.
"Zo'or?" Sandoval tried again, "Zo'or listen to me, you need to hear this." "It's not real Zo'or, Da'an is over there, that isn't him."
Zo'or's previously clouded eyes seemed to regain some of their clarity as Sandoval continued to speak."
"Zo'or?" "Zo'or!"
"What?" Zo'or murmured, turning his head slightly to look Sandoval in the eye.
"He isn't real." Sandoval said again. The alternate Da'an appeared to be saying something to Zo'or. She winced, and turned to look at him but Sandoval held her head in place, not allowing her to break eye contact. "Liam, if you are going to do something you had better do it now."
Liam nodded, though Sandoval was not looking at him. "Ready Da'an?" he asked silently.
"I am prepared," Da'an said.
Liam quickly sent out the second pulse and watched as the last image of the wrongness disappeared. He smiled and turned back to his father and Zo'or.
"Are you alright?" Sandoval asked Zo'or, still concerned.
"I am quite well, thank you." Zo'or responded, still a bit unhinged by the experience. They had not yet broken eye contact when Liam cleared his throat behind them. They both looked rather startled and Sandoval turned to face him.
"I just wanted to mention that the reintegration seems to be on the verge of completion and we might all want to be getting into position." Liam suggested.
"Of course." Sandoval agreed, he didn't look as though he wanted to leave but apparently couldn't come up with a good enough reason to stay.
"Alright, let's go." He quickly disengaged the sharing with Zo'or and pulled Sandoval along with him.
He pushed his father's consciousness back into place and stole a quick glance at the Re'carusha, who were still absorbing the energy from each of them. He could scarcely tell that there were two of them contained within the glowing energy field. "Da'an?" he asked silently."
"Yes, Liam?" Da'an asked. He was a grateful for the distraction of his voice, as it was becoming increasingly difficult to resist the temptation of Liam's all to interesting thoughts.
"I don't think we have time to return you, do you think it will disrupt the procedure if you are with me instead of in your form?" Liam asked worriedly.
"I do not believe it would cause any interference," Da'an replied, a bit nervous about remaining so close to Liam's thoughts for such an extended amount of time.
"All right then." Liam said, returning to his physical form.
Da'an felt a slightly grounding sensation as they both settled back into Liam's body. "Is this what it feels to be a non-energy creature?" Da'an thought at Liam.
"Bit of a disappointment?" Liam asked with some amusement.
"No, of course not," Da'an said before Liam's humorous tone registered. "I was merely-," Da'an was cut off as the Re'carusha quite suddenly stopped flickering and began glowing a softer golden. Through Liam's eyes Da'an could see that they were now fully combined. There was only one thing left to do.
~~~~~~~~
Whew, another chapter come and gone. I'd ask if it was good for you, but I'm not into those slightly crude, on the edge of being sexual insinuations, kind of suggestions. (wink) Anyway, I hope you liked it, even though it was really, really, REALLY long. Please, feel free to review, but take my fragile psyche into consideration, if you are too cruel you could completely destroy my delicate egomaniacal personality.... ~Y.W.