Okay, here's the next part. Also, the dream scene and the flashback in this are written in italics.
* * *
Dreams and Stories
* * *
Doc turned his head as one of his workers entered the room. He walked up to the large cloaked being before kneeling down. Doc smirked.
"Please, that is unnecessary." The worker looked up, nodded, and then rose to his feet.
"The machine is near completion; all it needs now is one piece of machinery," the worker explained.
Doc nodded. "So, where is this one piece?"
The worker slightly fidgeted at that. "...well...we don't have it." He slightly recoiled as Doc's face darkened and he moved foreword. "But we know where to find it."
"Where?"
"Well, that 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', the one that Mashirra had some workers to find; I believe that it can be found on their ship."
Doc smiled. "Good. I'll send Eliza and some men to do it."
"Sir, with all due respect, do you really think it's wise to send her out there?" He paused, waited for the confused look for Doc to give him before continuing. "She's been having those dreams again."
Doc sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "And your point is?"
The worker looked down. This part he wasn't sure about. "Well...you see...I heard her call out one name as I was walking by her room one night and...it was the name of one of the League members."
Now he had Doc's full attention, as the large 'man' moved foreword, intrigue appearing on his not-quite human face. "Really?"
"Yes."
Doc paused, and looked at the ceiling again. "Hmmm...Well, I'll still send her. After all, I seriously doubt her dreaming about one person is going to change things when she cuts his throat open."
* * *
Sonja sighed as she felt her guardian's arms wrap around her waist. Turning around she reached up with her hand, caressing Lucian's cheek. He smiled lovingly down at her before leaning down and gently kissing her soft lips. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck as he embraced her, being careful not to hold her too tightly, due to the child that was now growing inside of her.
Their child.
"I love you," he whispered tenderly as he pulled away, gazing at her beautiful face, her emerald eyes shining with love. He reached up and kissed her forehead before moving back down to her lips.
And then, the door to Sonja's room burst open, and her father, the vampire elder Viktor, strode into the room, followed by two deathdealers wielding silver-bladed swords. Viktor's face wore an expression of shock and betrayal, before it dissolved, to be replaced by a mask of fury.
Before either Lucian or Sonja could react, the two other vampires moved foreword, and they were pulled apart. Before Lucian could react, he was knocked out.
* * *
Sonja struggled in her bonds, trying desperately to break free so she could run to her lover, and protect him from the vicious whipping he was enduring.
"Father! Please, leave him alone!" She cried, but her father paid no attention to her; instead he glared down at her lycan lover with a look that would have made the other vampires in the room shudder.
Finally, Lucian screamed, and collapsed to the floor. That last lash had broken him. Soren, Viktor's vicious enforcer, drew back the whip to continue, but Viktor raised his hand, signaling that that was enough.
Without even glancing at his daughter, Viktor turned and walked out of the dungeon, the council members and Soren following close behind. Sonja glared after him before turning and looking at her lover.
He lay on the floor, blood slowly pooling around him from the many lashes he had been given. And they had been made from a silver weapon, making them even more painful.
Sonja felt more tears sliding down her face but she ignored them. She couldn't believe her father could have done this to her love, to her, and their child. His grandchild no less.
And then, they both heard the creaking noise.
Sonja was the first to see what was going on, as two vampires were slowly turning a large gear, which in turn, was causing a hole in the ceiling to open up.
This would allow sunlight to come in the room.
Lucian finally was able to raise his head and see what was going on. His eyes widened in horror. "No…" he whispered. "Please no…"
He and Sonja looked at each other, already knowing what was about to happen.
"I love you," she whispered to him. Almost instantly Lucian's strength seemed to return. He lunged, only to be pulled back by the chains. He screamed in anger as he struggled and thrashed, trying to break free so he could rush to her and save her and their child.
But there was nothing he could have done to save her and their child.
Sonja screamed as the first rays of the sun struck her, and almost instantly she could feel her skin start to burn. Their child would die with her, and she knew Lucian would be next.
As she screamed one final scream, she heard her lover cry out in anguish.
"SONJA!!!"
* * *
Eliza jerked up in the bed, panting heavily, before starting to shiver. That last dream had been the worse one so far. She looked down at her body, checking for any signs of burn marks.
Then she felt Mashirra's arms wrap around her, and she slowly relaxed.
"Another dream?" he asked as he kissed her neck, and she nodded.
"Why is this happening to me?" she asked, more to herself than Mashirra, but he heard her anyway. He simply shrugged in response.
"I know this one guy…he's a warlock. After this is done we'll go see him. Maybe he can figure out what's going on."
Eliza nodded, feeling a little better.
But she couldn't get the dream out of her mind. Not just the part where she saw herself die, but the part before, when she was in the arms of that…werewolf, it seemed he was. Lucian was his name.
She shrugged it off. She needed more sleep.
* * *
"NO!" Lucian yelled as he jerked up in his bed. Realizing it was just a dream, he fell back with a cry of anger, and pain. He knew this was possibly the millionth time he had done this, and it was always the same.
"Sonja…" he whispered before squeezing his eyes shut, as a few tears trickled down his face. Finally, after a few moments, he stopped, and wiped them away before getting out of the bed. Throwing on his coat and boots he stepped out of his room.
He needed some fresh air.
* * *
Lucian was surprised to find someone else outside at the late hour as he stepped out. It was Mariachi, leaning against one of the walls, gently strumming away at his guitar.
"You're a good player," Lucian said aloud, and Mariachi finally noticed he had an audience. He shrugged and put the guitar away.
"Thanks," he replied. Lucian nodded and walked up next to him.
After a moment Mariachi spoke. "I am sorry, about what happened to you and Sonja. I know how it feels."
Lucian looked at him with an annoyed expression. "Do you, now?"
Mariachi nodded. "I once was in love with this beautiful woman…Carolina." He bitterly chuckled. "She actually saved my ass a few times also." He stopped chuckling after a moment and continued. "Anyway, this one time she saved me, I was under attack by several men, working for Marquez, a general in Mexico. Marquez and Carolina used to be lovers, and she shot him, because she loved me."
The hybrid next to him nodded. "Sonja would have done the same for me, no doubt," he replied after a moment.
"Yeah," Mariachi muttered as he looked up at the sky. "Only,
Marquez didn't die." Lucian's eyes widened at that, but Mariachi continued
anyway. "A few years went by, Carolina
and I had gotten married and had a beautiful daughter. Then…he came back."
He paused and closed his eyes in pain. "I was up on the second floor of where
we lived, and saw him from up there. I raced down…but it was too late. I
arrived just as he gunned down Carolina
and our daughter, before shooting me in the stomach and leaving me to die."
"I'm sorry," Lucian said after a moment. "I truly am."
Mariachi exhaled. "Then, a year or so later, I got my revenge. With the help of a rogue CIA agent named Sands, I got my revenge…"
* * *
(Note: For this part they're speaking in Spanish.)
The doors burst open as Marquez and several of his men entered the room where the Mexican president was being guarded. They raised their guns…
…only to find that the room was empty. And then they saw him.
El Mariachi stepped away from the window he had been looking out of, and stared calmly at Marquez.
If Marquez was worried or afraid he didn't show it. Instead he glanced at the men behind him. "Leave us and lock the door," he demanded after a moment. They nodded and quietly exited, shutting and locking the two in.
For a moment neither moved, they just stared at each other. Then, Marquez spoke. "What happened to your wife?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"She died," was Mariachi's response as he stepped down and moved foreword.
"And your daughter?" Marquez asked.
"She died."
"And you?"
"Dead."
"And I?"
Mariachi was now five feet away from Marquez. "Alive and well..." was his answer.
Then, Marquez drew his gun.
A second later, he fell to the floor yelling in pain. As
he hit the floor, he looked down and noticed that his legs below the knees had
been blown off. He glared up at Mariachi, no fear present in his eyes.
Mariachi raised the double barreled gun he had shot Marquez with, aiming the
weapon at the general's head.
"In hell," Mariachi finished before pulling the trigger, sending the man who massacred his family to hell.
* * *
Lucian slightly smirked as Mariachi finished. "Nice…although I would have probably made it last a bit longer if I was you. That's what I did anyway when I fought Viktor."
"How did he die?"
Lucian shrugged. "I sliced his head in half." At Mariachi's expression, he raised his hand, and the coat blade shot out of the sleeve.
"Nice," Mariachi said after a moment, and the two chuckled for a while.
* * *
Gabriel sat up in his bed as he woke up with a yawn.
Stretching he stood up before catching sight of Willow,
who was awake also, and in her meditation state. After a moment she lowered
down and opened her eyes, slightly smiled as she stared at him. "You woke up
early," she stated.
The half demon raised an eyebrow in response. "Or is it that you're still
awake."
Willow nodded. "Good point." She walked over and sat on the bed. "I just can't sleep, even though I'm completely exhausted. Does that make sense?" She asked sheepishly.
"Kind of, I guess," Gabriel replied, to which she let out a small smile. He then titled his head as he gazed at her, and Willow felt something in the pit of her stomach grow at the look he gave her. It was a feeling she hadn't felt since she was with Oz.
"I bet you I can have you fall asleep in less than five minutes," Gabriel suddenly said, and Willow raised an eyebrow. "If I can't, I'll give you twenty dollars."
Willow raised both eyebrows before nodding. "All right. You're on."
Gabriel smirked and motioned her to sit next to him, which she did, with some curiosity. He raised one of his hands, placing it on the back of her neck. "And before you ask, NO, this is NOT the Vulcan Neck Pinch."
Willow chuckled at that. "I wasn't going to. That sounds like something Xander would say though…" She trailed off and let out a low moan as he gently massaged her neck. "Ooh goddess, that feels great," she murmured as she rolled her head in a circle. "Where'd you learn this?"
Gabriel shrugged. "When you live as long as I have, you pick up a few things here and there."
Willow looked at him with a questioning expression. "Just how old are you anyway?"
Gabriel paused, and thought for a moment. "Hmmm, about seven hundred years or so, give or take a few decades." He looked back at her, only to find she had fallen asleep.
He smirked as he gently laid her on the bed, before sitting back and watching her sleep.
* * *
"Can I ask you a question?"
Jones looked up from his hand of cards and stared at Bourne. "What?"
"Why'd you stop going on digging missions, and from what I've heard, shouldn't you be dead anyway?"
Jones sighed. "You know about that mystical grail right?" Bourne nodded and Jones continued. "Well, my father and I found it, and I drank from it. I haven't aged since that day…my father died though. After that, I didn't want to go on anymore digs. I was reminded of my father too much by it." He shrugged. "So I sold what I found down there and after I lost that money, I pretty much decided to crawl into a bottle and stay there."
Bourne nodded. "I'm sorry. I barely know anything about my past, except that I was apparently an assassin. That's why I signed up for this. They said if I helped they would do whatever they could to help me find out about my past."
Jones just looked at him with an understanding look before looking over as Gabriel walked into the room. "I didn't think you'd leave the witch alone for five minutes," he said with a smirk. Bourne snickered at that.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Gabriel said, pretending like he didn't know. Finally he shrugged. "Okay, okay. Fine, you got me..." He paused. "Yeah…there's something about her…I don't know what it is though."
Bourne shrugged. "Well, we'll be on this ship for a while, so you'll probably be able to figure out what that is before…" He trailed off, and looked at Jones. "Say, do we even know where to BEGIN looking for the people who stole the machine?"
Jones opened his mouth to answer, and then shut it, and realized that Bourne was indeed right. "This is unbelievable. We get sent out her for a stolen time machine, and the guy who sent us didn't even give us any information as to HOW to find the damn thing," he muttered the last part as he pulled out a bottle of rum and started drinking from it, stopping when he noticed the looks the other two were giving him. "What?"
Gabriel shook his head. "…it's just…we've noticed that's all you've been drinking since we got on this ship."
"Yeah, that's because this is the ONLY drink on this ship."
Why does that not surprise me…? Gabriel thought to himself.
