Hey cheers to my reviewers, you're a just about a girls best friend. In
this next happy chapter our heroes get a little well deserved shut-eye, and
our villainess hums a happy tune. Don't ya'll worry, it'll all turn out
happy in the end. Also in case anyone is wondering, La Belle Dame sans
Merci is a gorgeous painting by Waterhouse, the beautiful woman without
kindness. So feel free to sing along, and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, except of course Lela and if anyone is nuts enough to want her after this chapter than they are free to take her (but admit that you'd fear for your life if you had her). #############################################################
Drip, drip, drip-Drip. My head presses against my knees, my body lies folded against the floor. A stale cold air pulsates around me. The tiny scrap of floor visible between my knees is a dull grey.
Arms circle my waist and lift me bodily from the floor. Like a folding chair, my legs automatically straighten to take my weight.
"The time is late." I speak unconsciously, but the words feel right.
"It is growing late, but time holds no sway over this place my angel." His hands lift my arms, swaying them listlessly as though I were a rag doll. Anger flames my cheeks.
"How can you be so blasé, live in this nightmare?"
"Ah, La Belle Dame sans Merci. You forget, I came here for you."
"You abandoned me!"
"I saved you ingrate." Flashing to life, my hand pulls back threatening to slap; but at the last moment he catches my wrist. Little shivers quake down my back as he presses his lips to my fingers.
"Why am I here Alec? I know that this isn't real."
"You're asking me sweetheart? This is your head, your heaven, your hell. You're here because you're dreaming. Here because your subconscious wants to play show and tell."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Always the temper Maxie." God, I love to hear that name from his lips. "You see things everyday, things which you don't really notice. Little tidbits of information are stored away in your subconscious without your ever seeing them."
"So now my brain has decided that I'm getting senile, and this lovely little dream will show me everything that I've been missing?" Perhaps I've gone too far, he looks pissed.
"This is a gift Maxie, most humans don't have this kind of memory retrieval. If you don't want to see what your mind has to offer, then wake yourself up. Just follow the signs." He points off to the right and out of nowhere a path of neon lights appears.
Fear fills me that I've ruined this and that he'll suddenly disappear again. "Stop, you know I'm staying. You aren't going to leave me right? Please don't go. I don't care if you aren't real."
His face softens and he pulls me to his chest. "I'm real, if you want it. Anything is possible if you want it enough. Now close your eyes."
The air vibrated around us and the air freshened noticeably. When my eyes flickered open, we stood in the middle of a grungy Seattle street, the entrance to Jam Pony was just visible a few blocks down.
"This is nice isn't it? Much better than all of that grey. You will be as I am now, an on-looker in your body. Remember this, you won't be able to move or speak of your own volition. You are here to take advantage of being a spectator, you must take note of your surroundings. Look for the things which you missed. Watch now."
My perspective shifted, as though suddenly rejoining with my body. Startled, I almost tripped over by sprinting feet. This was the day of the hostage crisis. Remembering Alec's words I stopped trying to control my body's movements and started to scan the area.
A queasy feeling fills my stomach as I see White's reinforcements running up behind us. Though I knew we would defeat him, I also knew the cost. "Look for the things you missed." Alec's words spun through my head.
Yes, there was something wrong in the scene. There was White. There were his white-bread followers. At last my eyes spotted the trick. A woman lurking in the corner. She couldn't be one of White's familiars. She was built closer to a transgenic, light, lithe, and exotically gorgeous.
To my surprise, my eyes refocused and I realized that I still had my enhanced vision even in this incorporeal form. By great fortune, her hair was pulled up, off of her neck. A tingling warning sounded in my head, she didn't have a barcode so she wasn't one of us; but she couldn't be an innocent onlooker. Not only had every normal run in fear, but there was something cruelly predatory in her stance.
Perspective shifted again and I found myself running towards the van the night of the food-raid. I could see what I'd missed the first time around, the same dark woman was hiding off in the shadows, watching and smiling.
Fear and knowledge filled me. Refocusing my attention to my hearing, my premonition was confirmed. Faint against the chirping of night crickets, I made out the incessant beeping of a radio transmitter.
Without a doubt the dark woman had planted the transmitter. She had to be working with White, and now White knew how to breach security in Terminal City.
A heavy sob hiccupped through me and a pair of strong arms supported me, softly stroking my back. "It's tough Maxie, but it's so much better to know."
"When is it coming?" I lean back, staring straight into his eyes. He smiles ruefully.
"That isn't how it works and you know it. This isn't magic or myth. It's seeing things that you already knew, but didn't recognize."
I look around at the darkened factory and the sludgy water; I've really lived some kind of life.
Alec seems to read my mind. His hands pass across my face, and when I look up the dark scene is replaced by a sun-lit, grassy meadow.
He gently touches my brow. "See Maxie girl, there is some beauty remaining there still. You'll be waking up soon, back in your bed. Promise me that you'll remember what came to pass here, there is too much at stake for you to forget."
Pain fills my heart, knowing that this isn't real doesn't help the leaving. "Come back with me, I don't think that I can do this alone. Just come back with me."
He bends down and plucks a single daisy from the field, placing it delicately in my cupped hands. His lips brush my forehead, my cheek, and finally my ear. "Wake and remember angel."
###################
My head flies off of my pillow with a little gasp. Tears threaten at the corners of my eyes as memories of the dream flood me. Small hiccups catch in my throat as I reach my hand up to brush at my eyes. A single daisy had fallen to lie against my knees. #############################################################
Arms flailing out, 494 woke from its allotted four hours of sleep. Confusion filled its head for a brief second. Though it knew beyond a doubt that it had fallen asleep in its own bunk, somehow it had woken up leaned against the wall outside its commander's quarters.
Confusion, as a useless emotion, was abandoned. 494 rose from the wall and began walking to the cafeteria for the morning meal. #############################################################
Alec lay in his imaginary bed, in his imaginary room, staring intently at the wall. With every second the images in his mind grew dimmer. He held the remainder of the dream as gently as the petals of a fragile flower. She had been so real and so very near in this dream. If only it had been real. #########################################################
Lela smiled to herself. The time was growing late; the time to strike was almost upon the Victorious. She ran one blood red nail over the tips of the twin darts.
Though many centuries had passed, her family's love of poison hadn't diminished. This elixir was nothing as crude as belladonna. Lela was something of an expert on bio-toxins, and this was her favorite. It didn't kill nor even cause permanent damage.
In her mind, poison should not kill, it was meant to even the playing field between the muscular strength of men and a woman's cunning. This mixture caused immediate paralysis. Although the effects lasted only about a half an hour, she would have complete power.
Humming a little to herself she sang the lullaby of her mother's before her.
"Oh my sweetheart the time grows late, The time grows late as the grass is long.
Oh my sweetheart our meeting was fate, In truth our shared love could be not but strong.
But over the hill my lover is spied, And the man I wedded grows weak.
The pains of love o'er how I've cried, Of the pains of love neither shall speak.
Men shall wander away from a girl, Till she seeks a greener grass.
My men have wandered to seek a new pearl, Now my time with both has passed.
One kiss no husband doth please, With sad tears I bury my troth.
One kiss to the happiness of my hearts ease, And a chilly death to them both."
She glanced back to bedroom where her wedded slept on in peace. Such a sad little lullaby, but so true. Lela patted her stomach where her daughter slept. Ames's purpose was ended, and it just wasn't proper for a daughter of Lucia's line to know her father.
Okay I know, putting a song in of my own making is trite and I won't be winning any grammy's anytime soon. But honestly I swear she has a lovely singing voice and you don't want to be the one to tell her she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, except of course Lela and if anyone is nuts enough to want her after this chapter than they are free to take her (but admit that you'd fear for your life if you had her). #############################################################
Drip, drip, drip-Drip. My head presses against my knees, my body lies folded against the floor. A stale cold air pulsates around me. The tiny scrap of floor visible between my knees is a dull grey.
Arms circle my waist and lift me bodily from the floor. Like a folding chair, my legs automatically straighten to take my weight.
"The time is late." I speak unconsciously, but the words feel right.
"It is growing late, but time holds no sway over this place my angel." His hands lift my arms, swaying them listlessly as though I were a rag doll. Anger flames my cheeks.
"How can you be so blasé, live in this nightmare?"
"Ah, La Belle Dame sans Merci. You forget, I came here for you."
"You abandoned me!"
"I saved you ingrate." Flashing to life, my hand pulls back threatening to slap; but at the last moment he catches my wrist. Little shivers quake down my back as he presses his lips to my fingers.
"Why am I here Alec? I know that this isn't real."
"You're asking me sweetheart? This is your head, your heaven, your hell. You're here because you're dreaming. Here because your subconscious wants to play show and tell."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Always the temper Maxie." God, I love to hear that name from his lips. "You see things everyday, things which you don't really notice. Little tidbits of information are stored away in your subconscious without your ever seeing them."
"So now my brain has decided that I'm getting senile, and this lovely little dream will show me everything that I've been missing?" Perhaps I've gone too far, he looks pissed.
"This is a gift Maxie, most humans don't have this kind of memory retrieval. If you don't want to see what your mind has to offer, then wake yourself up. Just follow the signs." He points off to the right and out of nowhere a path of neon lights appears.
Fear fills me that I've ruined this and that he'll suddenly disappear again. "Stop, you know I'm staying. You aren't going to leave me right? Please don't go. I don't care if you aren't real."
His face softens and he pulls me to his chest. "I'm real, if you want it. Anything is possible if you want it enough. Now close your eyes."
The air vibrated around us and the air freshened noticeably. When my eyes flickered open, we stood in the middle of a grungy Seattle street, the entrance to Jam Pony was just visible a few blocks down.
"This is nice isn't it? Much better than all of that grey. You will be as I am now, an on-looker in your body. Remember this, you won't be able to move or speak of your own volition. You are here to take advantage of being a spectator, you must take note of your surroundings. Look for the things which you missed. Watch now."
My perspective shifted, as though suddenly rejoining with my body. Startled, I almost tripped over by sprinting feet. This was the day of the hostage crisis. Remembering Alec's words I stopped trying to control my body's movements and started to scan the area.
A queasy feeling fills my stomach as I see White's reinforcements running up behind us. Though I knew we would defeat him, I also knew the cost. "Look for the things you missed." Alec's words spun through my head.
Yes, there was something wrong in the scene. There was White. There were his white-bread followers. At last my eyes spotted the trick. A woman lurking in the corner. She couldn't be one of White's familiars. She was built closer to a transgenic, light, lithe, and exotically gorgeous.
To my surprise, my eyes refocused and I realized that I still had my enhanced vision even in this incorporeal form. By great fortune, her hair was pulled up, off of her neck. A tingling warning sounded in my head, she didn't have a barcode so she wasn't one of us; but she couldn't be an innocent onlooker. Not only had every normal run in fear, but there was something cruelly predatory in her stance.
Perspective shifted again and I found myself running towards the van the night of the food-raid. I could see what I'd missed the first time around, the same dark woman was hiding off in the shadows, watching and smiling.
Fear and knowledge filled me. Refocusing my attention to my hearing, my premonition was confirmed. Faint against the chirping of night crickets, I made out the incessant beeping of a radio transmitter.
Without a doubt the dark woman had planted the transmitter. She had to be working with White, and now White knew how to breach security in Terminal City.
A heavy sob hiccupped through me and a pair of strong arms supported me, softly stroking my back. "It's tough Maxie, but it's so much better to know."
"When is it coming?" I lean back, staring straight into his eyes. He smiles ruefully.
"That isn't how it works and you know it. This isn't magic or myth. It's seeing things that you already knew, but didn't recognize."
I look around at the darkened factory and the sludgy water; I've really lived some kind of life.
Alec seems to read my mind. His hands pass across my face, and when I look up the dark scene is replaced by a sun-lit, grassy meadow.
He gently touches my brow. "See Maxie girl, there is some beauty remaining there still. You'll be waking up soon, back in your bed. Promise me that you'll remember what came to pass here, there is too much at stake for you to forget."
Pain fills my heart, knowing that this isn't real doesn't help the leaving. "Come back with me, I don't think that I can do this alone. Just come back with me."
He bends down and plucks a single daisy from the field, placing it delicately in my cupped hands. His lips brush my forehead, my cheek, and finally my ear. "Wake and remember angel."
###################
My head flies off of my pillow with a little gasp. Tears threaten at the corners of my eyes as memories of the dream flood me. Small hiccups catch in my throat as I reach my hand up to brush at my eyes. A single daisy had fallen to lie against my knees. #############################################################
Arms flailing out, 494 woke from its allotted four hours of sleep. Confusion filled its head for a brief second. Though it knew beyond a doubt that it had fallen asleep in its own bunk, somehow it had woken up leaned against the wall outside its commander's quarters.
Confusion, as a useless emotion, was abandoned. 494 rose from the wall and began walking to the cafeteria for the morning meal. #############################################################
Alec lay in his imaginary bed, in his imaginary room, staring intently at the wall. With every second the images in his mind grew dimmer. He held the remainder of the dream as gently as the petals of a fragile flower. She had been so real and so very near in this dream. If only it had been real. #########################################################
Lela smiled to herself. The time was growing late; the time to strike was almost upon the Victorious. She ran one blood red nail over the tips of the twin darts.
Though many centuries had passed, her family's love of poison hadn't diminished. This elixir was nothing as crude as belladonna. Lela was something of an expert on bio-toxins, and this was her favorite. It didn't kill nor even cause permanent damage.
In her mind, poison should not kill, it was meant to even the playing field between the muscular strength of men and a woman's cunning. This mixture caused immediate paralysis. Although the effects lasted only about a half an hour, she would have complete power.
Humming a little to herself she sang the lullaby of her mother's before her.
"Oh my sweetheart the time grows late, The time grows late as the grass is long.
Oh my sweetheart our meeting was fate, In truth our shared love could be not but strong.
But over the hill my lover is spied, And the man I wedded grows weak.
The pains of love o'er how I've cried, Of the pains of love neither shall speak.
Men shall wander away from a girl, Till she seeks a greener grass.
My men have wandered to seek a new pearl, Now my time with both has passed.
One kiss no husband doth please, With sad tears I bury my troth.
One kiss to the happiness of my hearts ease, And a chilly death to them both."
She glanced back to bedroom where her wedded slept on in peace. Such a sad little lullaby, but so true. Lela patted her stomach where her daughter slept. Ames's purpose was ended, and it just wasn't proper for a daughter of Lucia's line to know her father.
Okay I know, putting a song in of my own making is trite and I won't be winning any grammy's anytime soon. But honestly I swear she has a lovely singing voice and you don't want to be the one to tell her she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.