Note: To those that reviewed (all, what, three of you?), a big, big thank you. I've really enjoyed working on this piece but the lack of feedback was really discouraging. The first reviews came after what had been a truly lousy day for me and the encouragement that came just from knowing people thought enough of the piece to write in has helped a lot.
And for those that are reading and not reviewing – I know you want to. You can even tell me you don't like it (really, I'm a big girl, I can handle it). Just let me know what you think so I can fix, not fix, whatever. Every little bit helps.
Anyway, enough from me. Enjoy.
PART TWO
A desert without heat but Rem is already tired of it. A mountain lion meets her before she can arrive at the cliff, sitting back on its hunches and staring at her with wise eyes
"Who are you?" she asks. The lion yawns, pink tongue rolling out between sharp, white fangs. It idly begins to lick its paw.
"What do you want from me?" The large cat simply looks to the side. She follows its gaze to a crumbling well that she could swear hadn't been there a moment ago. A broken bucket with rotting rope sits next to it, sinking partially into the sand as the desert reclaims it. Harsh lessons on a barren plain.
"I don't understand," she tells the lion, not expecting any answer. The cat blinks and its eyes, she realizes, are the same sick yellow of Angel's eyes when he turns. The voice of the First fills her head, loud as a whisper, quiet as a scream. She falls to her knees.
decide
And then the lion is upon her, jaws tearing her throat, blood on fangs and sleek, brown fur…
***
Knives stared at the Plant bulb across from him, elbows resting on crossed knees and expression intent, focused. Nothing happened for a minute, then, almost too quick to see, something within the bulb fluttered to the surface before retreating again.
Knives grinned.
Neither he nor Vash saw the world in quite the same way humans did, partly a natural result of their rapid development and partly from the fact that though they looked and acted like their adoptive caregivers, they were not, in fact, human.
For example, though Knives had not moved in nearly half an hour, he and his elder, bulb-bound brother had been playing the Plant equivalent to Hide 'n Seek.
Knives genuinely loved spending time with his twin and he liked Rem's lessons (he still thought Mary was a dull teacher, no matter what Rem said), but he as often as not preferred to sit in the Plant chambers alone, listening to the surrounding chatter of his own kind. Mostly because, much as he hated to admit it, humans confused the hell out of him. And he wasn't entirely sure why, especially when Vash seemed to understand them just fine. He could only surmise that there was something wrong with him, some flaw in his logic that upon discovery would make him mentally slap his forehead and say "Oh, well of *course.*" It was just a matter of time.
However, there was a small part of him that was beginning to suspect another possibility. He didn't like to dwell on it and hadn't even told Vash what it was, but he couldn't deny its existence once it got lodged in his head.
Maybe, that small part said, there wasn't anything wrong with him. Maybe it was everyone else. Maybe, just maybe, he was smarter than they were.
A hint of curiosityquestioningconfusion brushed against his mind and he quickly sent out an assurance to the Plant. He may have had questions but he didn't want to worry his siblings with them, especially when there was nothing they could do about it.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing in here?"
Knives stifled a sigh and turned to meet Steve's irritated expression with a bland one of his own. He wasn't so sure about the rest of the crew, but he *definitely* knew he was smarter than Steve. "Nothing. I was only watching."
"Nothing?" Steve expressed the entirety of his disbelief in the single word. He stormed past the slight boy to the monitoring system, muttering darkly to himself. Knives rolled his eyes and hoped Steve finished whatever he had to do soon. He'd promised he'd finish the game with his sibling and he intended on keeping his word.
"What did you do?"
Knives frowned at the now furious human. "I told you I didn't – ow!"
Steve grabbed his upper arm and dragged him over to the monitor screens. "That, you little freak. Energy levels are up 10%. You telling me you had nothing to do with that?"
"That's right."
"Don't lie to me!" Steve shook him hard enough to bring tears to Knives's eyes. "Everything was normal until you came along!"
Knives squirmed, trying to get out of the large man's grip, tendrils of real fear starting to seize him. "I'm not lying! I didn't do any-"
"DON'T LIE!" Steve roared, drawing his hand back. Knives's breath hitched and he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the strike.
It never came. In fact, the pressure on his arm vanished. He cautiously opened one eye, then widened both as he realized what happened.
Steve was pulled back, his arm twisted and held behind him by a calm, collected Angel.
"There a problem here?" For all the inflection in he put in the question, the dark-haired man might as well have been asking "Nice day, isn't it?" or "Catch the Mets game?"
Steve grimaced and writhed under the steel grip. "Don't know what you're talking about."
"Well, that's a relief," Angel said in the same conversational tone. "Because for a moment there, I thought you were about to hit Knives. You weren't about to hit a little kid, were you?"
"No, 'course not."
"That's what I thought."
"Angel, c'mon, I need my arm back."
"You sure? It's not going anywhere it shouldn't?"
"Ow! No, it's not, okay? Ow!"
Angel released him and stepped back, the very picture of Zen calm. Steve rubbed his abused wrist, glowering equally between Knives and the night watchman.
"Why don't you take a break?" Angel suggested. "I can handle things from here."
Steve sneered and leaned into the smaller man's space. "One day, Angel. You're gonna get what's coming to you."
"Probably." Angel smiled in a way that wasn't at all pleasant. "But it's not going to be from you."
Steve snarled and pushed by him, stomping out of the room. As soon as the door slid shut, Angel knelt by Knives, calm melted into concern. He placed a hand on the boy's forehead, brushing aside fine, blonde hairs. "You okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"
Knives shook his head, surprised to find he was trembling. He'd never felt so vulnerable and he discovered he hated it.
"Come on, we'll talk to Joey and-"
"No!" Knives took a step back.
Angel frowned. "Knives, if he tried to hurt you…"
"But he didn't. I'm fine, see?" The boy smiled, strained and stiff. Bad enough that Steve had caught him off-guard, forcing a rescue from Angel, but he certainly didn't want to admit that to anyone else.
Angel looked less than reassured. He placed a hand on Knives's shoulder, meeting blue eyes with brown. "Are you sure you don't want to talk to the captain? He can get Steve to stop."
Knives stuck out his chin. "I can take care of myself."
"Knives-"
"I can!" He stomped his foot. "I'm not some little kid!"
Angel's expression softened. "I know you can. But that doesn't mean you have to do it all alone."
Knives looked to the ground, small fists clenched. He wanted to open up to the pale watchman but feared the consequence of that action. He'd only ever shared secrets with his brother before – what did it mean to whisper those things to a human?
"Please," he said quietly. "Don't tell."
Angel sighed. "All right. On one condition." Knives lifted his head. "This happens again, you come to me right away." The boy opened his mouth but was stopped by a raised hand from Angel. "That's the deal, kiddo. Take or leave it."
Knives bit his lip and, feeling left with little choice, nodded.
"All right, then," Angel said. "Okay. Are we cool?"
Knives gave him a brief, but genuine smile this time. "Yeah. We're cool."
"Great. Now let's go find your brother. He's probably gotten himself into all sorts of trouble without you there to watch him."
He held out his hand and with only slight hesitation, Knives placed his own into Angel's calloused palm. As he walked next to the watchman, he couldn't help thinking that perhaps while the rest of the crew was hopeless, Angel seemed like he might just be okay.
***
Rowan wasn't sleeping well. Or at all.
Two more pod failures. Two more deaths. Two more colonists who wouldn't wake to greet loved ones and friends as they came out of their hundred years slumber.
And he *knew.* Knew the answer was sitting right there in front of him, waiting for him to seize it, quantify it, solve it, because, damnit, that's what he did. Got an engineering problem? A physics question? A calculus equation? Just stop by Rowan's room, kid's a genius, everyone says so.
His lip curled back in a silent snarl as he stared at the monitor. Fucking computers. What did they know? What did any of them know? The answer was obvious once you eliminated the impossible. Whatever remained, Occam's razor and all of that philosophical crap he'd never had any time for back in school. Who needed it anyway when he could explore the outer realms of science, figure out the fundamental mysteries of the universe instead of navel gazing with a bunch of flakes?
And evidence could always be found to prove a theory even if it didn't actually exist in the strictest sense of the word. After all, he was right. He had to be right. Because the alternative was unthinkable.
He set to work.
***
"That idiotic-"
BAM!
"-pig-headed-"
BAM!
"-bloody-minded-"
BAM!
"-jerk!"
In a display of rare anger, Rem pounded into the punching bag, each hit punctuated by another curse. Of all the stupid, awful things to do…
"And you!" She whirled on Angel, who stepped back, startled.
"Me?"
"You! How could you not tell Joey? What were you *thinking?*"
"I promised Knives-"
"Knives is a scared little boy! You should know better!"
"That's not fair, Rem."
"Not fair? *Not* *fair?*" She slammed her fist into the bag, ripping it off its hinge and sending it into the wall. Witnessing the destruction she'd wrought, she slid to the floor and tried her best not to cry. Angel took a seat as well, albeit out of arm's reach.
"Feel better?" he asked.
She sniffled. "No."
He sighed, a strange habit she thought, considering his lungs didn't work. "I didn't think so."
"God, I knew Knives was more reserved but why didn't he say anything to me? Or Vash? And what was Steve *doing,* threatening a child? He has a temper but I never imagined…" She shuddered, wrapping her arms around her knees. "How could this have been going on? How could I misjudge the situation so badly?"
"It's not your fault."
"Isn't it? The boys are my responsibility. I brought them on board, I promised I'd look after them, I accepted that duty."
Angel shook his head. "People can sometimes surprise you in the worst ways possible. It doesn't mean you've personally failed or that you can't do better next time."
"That's not very comforting."
He shrugged. "It's the truth."
She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes and made a small, distressed noise at the back of her throat. "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. And the next time I see Steve, I swear I'll – I'll –"
"Give him a good stern talking-to?"
She laughed weakly. "Yeah, probably. Angel, I can't stress how unhappy I am about this secret-keeping."
"I made a promise, Rem. I can't break that trust."
"And boy do I know about that," she murmured.
"Look, we both know now. We can keep an eye on the situation."
"Not twenty-four hours a day."
"To be perfectly honest, Steve's a coward and he's already been caught once. I doubt he'll do it again."
"Maybe he'll just get better at hiding it."
Angel snorted in something that might have been amusement. "Since when did I become the optimist in this relationship?"
"I think about the time I became capable of throwing you across the room."
"Halfway across."
"All the way across."
"Did not."
"Did so."
He smirked. "Braggart."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Liar."
He rose, holding out a hand which Rem accepted. "I'll talk to Knives again. Maybe he'll come around."
"Please do," she said, re-tying her hair into a ponytail.
"Ready for Round Two, then?"
"I think so."
And then the ship's alarm went off.
***
Rem shoved the feeling of déjà vu as far back down as she could as she stared at the assembled crew on the bridge once more. Steve dared look her in the eye and she couldn't help the small curl of her lip as anger rushed up all over again. He scowled but averted his gaze.
Mary, in robe and slippers, frowned at her and whispered, "What've you been doing?"
"Couldn't sleep. Decided to work out."
"Hmm." The doctor's gaze slipped from her to Angel, looking less sweaty but clearly dressed in gym clothes. She, however, commented no further on the matter and Rem couldn't read anything more from her expression. The boys slipped away from Mary, taking up positions on either side of her. Rem felt strangely comforted by the act.
Joey cleared his throat. Rem felt a solid knot form in the pit of her stomach at his expression.
"Our worst fears have been confirmed."
A collective gasp came from his small audience, but no words came. There were no words for this.
"The failures in cryo are a result of a looped flaw in the life support systems of this ship. This has begun a domino effect that will eventually reach command and result in complete failure ship wide. We're left with no other option than to abandon ship."
"No." But Rem said it so quietly no one heard. Angel stepped forward.
"Joey, are you absolutely positive about this?"
"I've been running numbers for over a week," Rowan answered, looking pale and nearly dead on his feet. His eyes appeared abnormally distorted behind the lenses of his glasses. "All diagnostics point to a complete breakdown – the program itself is flawed. I could fix it if I had a support staff and another six weeks but the sims don't give us that amount of time."
"Still-"
"Angel," Joey broke in gently. "I've seen Rowan's report, ran the program myself. There's no doubt about the results or what we have to do."
Steve looked like he might have some very specific doubts but when he opened his mouth, he received Angel's glare full on. He remained silent. Rem barely paid attention. "Joey, please, there has to be another solution."
"Rem, I understand your feelings-"
"No, no you don't." Her fists clenched. "We took an oath to protect the colonists. We're breaking our promise."
"We took an oath to protect the Project."
"The colonists *are* the Project!"
"And I am damned well aware of that, Saverem!" he snapped back, strain finally breaking through his collected exterior. "I don't want to make this decision! But I have an obligation to the well being of all the colonists, not just the ones on this ship. So if you have a way of saving the millions of lives in here without compromising our other duties, I am perfectly open to suggestions!"
Rem felt the first tinge of pain as nails began to cut into the flesh of her palms. No answer came forth, no sudden insight, no solution, just the sickening knowledge that this, all of this, was so very, very wrong.
"Joey, please," she whispered but she could say no more beyond that.
Her captain only sighed and rubbed his forehead, weariness lining the planes of his face. "I'm sorry, Rem, and I'm sorry we've all been faced with the worst possible scenario of this voyage. But now that we are, we have to manage as best we can. We'll have five days to prepare and another three to activate secondary command's systems. A full debriefing will be given to you tomorrow morning, 0800 sharp. And-and that's all."
Upon that uncharacteristic stutter, he left the bridge, leaving his crew behind to come to terms. Steve almost immediately followed, anger trailing like a thick cloud behind him. Rowan paused by Rem, started to reach out a hand to her shoulder, then pulled back, lips thinning. With a shake of his head, he also left.
Vash tugged on the edge of her T-shirt. "Rem? Rem, what're we gonna do now?"
What a question. She had no idea of the answer to it. Knives frowned. "Rem?"
Angel said nothing to her, instead gathering the twins and herding them towards Mary. "Come on, guys, I need to talk to Rem for a minute. Mary, could you…?"
"Hmm?" Mary seemed to rouse herself from a deep trance, glancing from Rem to Angel to the boys. "Oh yeah. Yeah, sure. Let's go, boys, back to bed."
"What's wrong with Rem?" Vash asked.
"Oh, honey, she's just a bit upset. Give her a little time, she'll be good as new…"
The rest of her words faded as she guided the twins out of the room. Angel cautiously approached the bridge's other remaining occupant, placing himself directly in her line of sight. "Rem?"
She just stared at him, feeling stretched out, aged too quickly in a matter of minutes. "It's all gone wrong."
"I know, I-" He stepped forward to hug her but she moved out of reach, leaving him to stand awkwardly with arms outstretched. He lowered them. "Talk to me."
"No." She shook her head. "No, I can't. Not yet, not when I – I have to go."
"Rem, wait-"
"I'm sorry," she said, paused by the door on her way out. "I have work to do."
She left him alone with only his thoughts and the stars for company.
***
Rem moved through the following three days in a fugue of desperation. She could barely recall her orders from that first emergency meeting, let alone minor activities like eating or sleeping. As far as she was concerned, they were not abandoning ship, they were not abandoning the colonists, they were simply experiencing a temporary setback. She would find the solution – whatever it may be – and things would finally get back to normal.
At the back of her mind, Rem knew of the futility of her actions. She was ignoring the boys, her job, her duty and had little to show for it except for black bags under her eyes and a large pot of never ending coffee. Guilt gnawed at her conscience but still she couldn't give up. Not when everything within her screamed to solve this ultimate dilemma before it was too late.
She had rerun Rowan's simulations twice already and was already halfway through her third test. Angel had an extensive personal library on topics ranging from Plant engineering to Druidic magic and a good portion of it was currently stacked by her elbow. If there was anything outside of the ship's system with answers, that's where she'd find it.
Despite her best efforts and the sheer amount of caffeine she'd consumed, she found her attention wandering as three sleepless nights started to take their toll. She blinked rapidly, drank some more coffee and forced herself to concentrate on the screen in front of her. She even pinched herself once, brain refocusing on the sudden, slight pain in her arm and brought back to her physical state. Still, though she so desperately wanted to maintain her concentration, she found her thoughts drifting to other times, other places and...
…and she was fifteen and Daddy wanted her to meet this old friend of his. Mister Angel was awfully handsome, but he seemed a little stiff as he told her that she wasn't like other girls, that there was something special about her…
…and she was eighteen and at her parents' funeral, wondering how she could take care of her brother when they had no one else. Angel came up to her and said he was sorry and she told him that everyone was sorry but Mommy and Daddy couldn't come back…
…and she was twenty-two and Alex asked her to marry him and she said are you sure, and he said he'd never been more sure of anything…
…and she was twenty-four and Alex was dead…
…and she was twenty-five and at boot camp for Project SEEDS, ready to start a year-long program in preparation for the greatest experiment humanity had ever conducted, when someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and there was Angel, whom she hugged because that was what one did when one saw an old friend one never expected to see again. She asked him what was he doing there and he said that when you got to be his age, you knew a lot of people who owed you favors…
…and she was twenty-nine, Called later than any Slayer she'd ever heard of, and she was sound asleep in front of her computer.
***
Angel had learned quite a bit over the last few centuries, discretion the least of them. He worried after Rem as she indulged in her obsession virtually leaving the twins to his care, but knew interference at this point would be futile. She would have to come to acceptance in her own time and nothing he could say would make the least bit of difference.
After putting the boys to sleep with promises that there'd be a story the following night, he took to wandering the corridors of the ship, no particular destination in mind. Though intellectually he knew day and night on board were simply artificial terms, divided by no more than man-made lights and a clock on the wall, over five hundred years developing certain nocturnal habits had made him a permanent night owl, even if only in his mind. He preferred the solitude, the opportunity to sort his thoughts without the constant presence of other people, the soft glow of dimmed bulbs, the natural hush.
It almost made the sheer amount of weaseling, threatening, and outright pleading to get him the job as sole night watchman of Project SEEDS seem worth it. But, Jesus, what a headache it had been to get that far.
The past few nights, without surprise, had found his solitude disrupted by the insomnia that had spread throughout the crew upon Joey's announcement. He himself had spent a good portion of his daylight hours preparing for the evacuation rather than sleeping.
Speaking of which, the lights in med bay were still on. He stepped into the room. "Hello?"
Mary looked up from a datapad and gave him a tired grin. "Hey there."
Carts from maintenance were stacked around the room, half of her equipment already packed and the other half arranged into piles according to function. Mary herself looked much the same, somewhat scattered and haggard.
"Need a hand?" he asked.
"Nah." She waved him off. "I seem to have developed a system of packing no one else can follow. But I wouldn't object to some company."
Angel hopped up onto one of patient cots that wasn't currently filled with boxes. "Happy to oblige."
Mary spent a few moments frowning over her 'pad before giving up on whatever it was she was working on with a disgusted grunt and taking a seat next to Angel. "Who knew that abandoning ship could be such a pain in the ass?"
"Probably to discourage us from using it too hastily."
"Bah." She paused and bit her lip. "Um, Angel, listen, I've been meaning to ask…"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's not my business, so feel free not to answer, but," she took a deep breath, "what in the world is going on with you and Rem?"
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Oh come on. The two of you are always whispering to each other and there's these clandestine meetings in the middle of the night. I mean, really, what else is there to think?"
He hadn't even looked at it that way and Mary's sudden, if natural, suggestion surprised a laugh out of him. "Mary, Rem and I are not sleeping together."
She frowned. "Then what the hell are you doing? Wrestling?"
Close. He placed a hand over his non-beating heart. "I swear to you, Rem and I are friends, nothing more. She wanted to learn Tai Chi, I'm teaching her some basic katas, but that's it."
"Oh." Mary cupped her chin and bent over her knee. "That sucks."
"And why's that?"
"Well, I was hoping at least one person was getting laid on this trip."
He grinned. "Sorry to disappoint."
She remained silent for a minute before her mouth twisted into a sly grin. "So, who *were* you seeing before our great journey began?"
"What makes you think I was seeing anyone?"
"Well, a good-looking guy like you, energetic, intellectual-"
"First time I've been accused of that-"
"-funny," she continued without hesitation. "And last I checked, you weren't a monk." She raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to him. "Unless you are. Something you're not sharing with us, Mister Angel?"
He was beginning to get the very distinct impression that Mary was flirting with him. Funny, in its own way, especially considering how close to the truth she danced without ever guessing how wrong she was. "I haven't taken any vows of chastity recently."
"Really." She drew the word out - reahh-ly. "Then what is stopping you and the lovely Rem from getting it on?"
Minor things like an ancient gypsy curse and the fact I'm not alive. No big. "Oh, you know. Old friends old patterns. She's almost like a sister to me."
"Almost. But not quite."
"But not quite," he admitted.
Mary placed a hand on his knee. "Angel, you have far too much self-control than what's good for you."
"I prefer to think of it as a small modicum of restraint."
"Restraint, self-control, all the same." Mary now leaned much further into his personal space, enough to make the steady beat of her heart a constant pounding in his ears. He could smell her perfume overlaying her natural odor of autumn and a faint medicinal cling that came from constant contact with antibiotics. And underneath all of that, something that smelled worryingly like arousal. "Don't you ever wish you weren't so uptight? That you could just let it go?"
"Sometimes." He shifted away from her slightly. "But really, I have no problems with my lifestyle."
"Please," she answered, eyes hooded with intention and hand creeping up where it didn't belong. "No one's happy being a constant stick-in-the-mud."
She all but tackled him in an attempt to – well he wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to find out. Superhuman reflexes saved him from a most precarious position and Mary fell forward as he rolled to his feet a good meter away from her. "Mary, stop."
The doctor recovered quickly, slipping off the cot, lips pulled into a pout. "You don't like me."
"I like you fine." Age-old instincts were starting to tingle and his spine straightened. Something was beyond bizarre about this entire set-up.
"Then what's the problem?" She smiled prettily, hand gripping the front of his shirt. "I'm an adult, you're an adult, and, Jesus, Angel, it's only sex."
She reached up to pull his mouth down to hers, but he grabbed her hands in his own. Not enough to hurt but enough to pull them away and keep them that way. "Mary, listen to me. This isn't you."
She pushed forward against him. "This is me. This is all me."
"No, no it's not." He held her back, lowered his voice, looked into her eyes, and tried to make her listen, really listen. "You're a doctor, a scientist – think about what you've said, what you've implied. Is it rational?"
"I-" Her smile faltered, eyes brimming with confusion. "It must – I mean, I feel-"
"I know." He let her go, stepped back and reached out with that almost sixth sense that had been with him since his turning. He couldn't quite pinpoint the source, but he had no doubt of some outside influence now. "Believe me, I know."
Mary placed a hand to her temple, frowning and looking a little scared. "Angel, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure, I-" Preternatural senses flared as he heard Mary's sudden scream, but before he could turn, he felt a piercing pain rip through his back. He looked down to see the tips of three claws sticking out from his chest and only had time to think Damnit, I really liked that shirt. Mary might have said something, or perhaps it was the thing behind him that spoke but he was beyond hearing anything.
Another rip and he lost all interest in the proceedings.
***
decide
Why? What do you want from me?
you are not a well
You don't make any sense! None of this makes sense!
decide
Listen to me! Stop-
Rem awoke with a cry still lodged in her throat, head jerking back and arm flung to the side with a half-block to ward off something that wasn't there, knocking her collection of books to the floor. She found she was hyperventilating and had to consciously take a moment to collect herself. She couldn't be sure, but she felt like she had just been warned.
She rubbed her face, an effort to wake herself up and once more orient to her surroundings. She was still at her desk, Angel's library now strewn around her feet, computer in stand-by mode after it had remained without activity a set period of time. The fish screen saver bumped against the edges of the monitor, bouncing back like a ping pong ball and when it turned forward, she could swear there was an expression on its face that seemed to say Well, it's about time.
Clearly, she did not deal well without sleep.
She yawned, stretched in her chair and pulled away from her desk, before sliding off her chair to pick up the mess she'd made on the floor. The books had fallen out of their nominal order and she didn't feel up to the effort it would take to reorganize them at the moment, gathering them as she went. She picked up a hardback on geology – geology? – hand automatically reaching for the next book before she took a good look at its cover.
The text was the oldest she had seen by far, still bound in leather. Real leather, she knew, not the artificial hide that graced the few modern texts still printed on paper, rather than e-published. The spine was cracked and the front cover was slowly flaking to dust with age, but she could still read the title without trouble.
Vampyre.
Her breath hitched and escaped through her teeth in a long hiss. She couldn't remember selecting the book in her search, nor taking it with her to her quarters, but something had clearly called her to it, whether simple curiosity or something deeper, more primal. Her hand hovered above it, eyes fixated firmly on that single, damning word.
Could it be? Could it really be?
The answer being of course. Of course it could. She just hadn't wanted to know it.
She allowed the rest of the books to fall from her grasp to the floor once more; she could clean up later, if she had a later to come back to. Right now, she needed to find Angel, to tell him, yes, he was right, he was right and she was lost but there was no time to dwell on that when the ship was still in danger. And she wasn't above asking for help when she needed it either.
She started out into the hallway, trying to recall Angel's usual circuit around the ship. It was sleeping quarters first, then bridge, then…engineering? Maintenance? She couldn't remember. No matter. She began walking toward the lift; she'd simply explore each deck until she found him, allowing whatever *more* of her that was now present to lead the way.
The second level of sleeping quarters yielded nothing, as did the machine shops above them. At med bay, however she hesitated. The lights were on, but she couldn't see anyone present. Had Mary been there and forgotten to shut them down? That wasn't like her – Mary could be distracted easily at times but she was meticulous in her medical duties. Perhaps the doctor had gone to retrieve something and planned to come back.
A small, distant groan roused her from her theorizing. She ran quickly to the source, finding Mary behind a cot, disoriented from a blossoming bruise on her forehead.
"Mary!" Rem immediately knelt down beside her dazed friend, giving the doctor added support in order to rise. "What happened?"
"Something – something was here," Mary murmured, hand fluttering around her forehead as if not quite believing she had been injured. "No nausea, minor dizziness, doesn't feel like I'm concussed, have to check it out…"
Rem drew Mary tighter to her. "Mary, what was here? Did something do this to you?"
"Something…" The other woman's eyes widened and she grabbed hold of Rem's shirt. "Angel! Oh god!"
Rem suddenly couldn't breath. "Where's Angel?"
"I tried to stop it but it-it pushed me away, and it took him, it…" Mary could barely form the sentence. "Oh god, Rem, it killed him!"
Rem wondered if the artificial gravity had stopped working as the floor suddenly dropped from beneath her. But no, it was only her in her panic, and she took better stock of the room. No ash, no dust present, but there was blood on the floor and while it appeared Angel wasn't dead, he probably wouldn't stay that way for long. "Mary, listen, what was it? What did it look like?"
"I-I don't know, I've never seen anything like it." Mary swallowed, leaning entirely against Rem for support in some attempt to reign in looming hysteria. "It couldn't be human but – but that can't be possible. Can it?"
"No, it can't," Rem answered, the lie falling easily. Now was not the time. "Come on. We have to get back upstairs, call Joey."
She lead the doctor away from the comfort of the familiar med bay, realizing that Mary would need some sort of treatment but urgency dictating she take the doctor with her for the time being, unable to leave her alone in any case. She would leave her in the care of their captain, explain the situation as well she could, then find Angel, hoping he could hang in there until then. A plan of sorts but all she had for the moment.
The lift swiftly descended to the crew quarters. Mary was muttering medical terminology under her breath again as the doors opened for them but Rem paid her little mind. There were more important things to –
She stopped.
Something looked wrong with the corridor.
Mary frowned. "Rem? What is it?"
What the hell was it? The hall appeared as it always did, softer in design, made to feel homey within the rest of the more industrial looking ship. And there were the doors, lined up neat as you please in a simple pattern, alternating on either side, port, starboard, port, starboard, port –
Oh god.
Oh god, the twins' door.
The twins' door was open.
She was barely aware of Mary's arm slipping from her grasp, of the questions the doctor threw after her as she raced down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of the gaping maw that shouldn't be there but was. She didn't have to turn on the interior lights, didn't even have to confirm what her heart already knew and the soft hall lights falling against empty beds showed her.
The boys were gone.
END PART TWO