000 Disclaimer, I own nothing 000 Whoa! Ok looooong authors note at the bottom (mainly thank you's) so… it's the final chapter! Bold/italic is scenario land just so ya know. Anyway, on with the finale! 000
"Angel, what are you doing?"
Iona whipped round to face the speaker, tears running freely down her cheeks and her hand poised on the nearby control panel. It was Iyen, the man who had brought Malcolm to her all those years ago.
"You can't touch him!" she cried defiantly.
"We can do what we want," said Iyen raising his weapon. "I have orders from the council, the human Malcolm Reed, is awake. He must be disposed of."
"You're too late!" said Iona triumphantly. "He's in the Mercy Scenario! Not even the council can touch him now!"
Iyen paused, his weapon hanging loosely in his hand as he looked from Iona to Malcolm. She could see he was trying to detect a lie, luckily for Iona he had no training in the Scenario technology and found no reason not to believe her. After all, Malcolm looked just like the rest of the people in Scenarios. He cursed under his breath.
"Maybe not him," Iyen agreed spitting out his words in anger. He raised his weapon. "But you disobeyed them Angel, they aren't happy."
Iona scrubbed at her face quickly, she stared him straight in the eyes as she hit the last button of the sequence to install Malcolm into the Mercy Scenario. She knew, she knew that she wasn't going to be able to continue on, but the sequence was not complete. She had to choose a scenario before Iyen took her life or Malcolm would hang suspended and no one would be able to give him to the life he wanted.
There was only one option available to her. The Enterprise scenario.
"You betrayed him Angel," said Iyen harshly. "He wanted to die, and instead you trapped him in fantasy. You took his freedom away from him Angel. Now he is victim to your own twisted feelings."
"He didn't want to die!" She yelled suddenly. "He'd spent the scenarios trying to live! He couldn't have wanted to die; it goes against everything we learnt from him, his species values life! Life at all costs!"
"Angel, you know in your heart that you kept him alive because you developed feelings for him," Iyen spat.
Iona paused and glanced at her hand. Doubt crept into her mind.
"If you love him, let him go," said Iyen, raising his weapon. "Either way it's too late for you Angel."
Iona looked from Malcolm to Iyen, her mind in turmoil.
"I've been dead so long I just don't care anymore," she said quietly, drawing herself up to her full height. "I haven't felt like what I was doing mattered since I was first taken into this stupid department. I never wanted this job."
"Angel, you have never mattered," said Iyen pulling back the trigger.
She hit the final control and watched in morbid fascination as a bullet from Iyen's gun smacked into her abdomen. It was her final act of defiance.
"You know what they say though," she mumbled as he moved nearer for the kill shot. "Ignorance is bliss, he'll thank me one day."
She smiled. Malcolm was safe and that was all that mattered to her. Malcolm was safe, he'd returned to the Enterprise scenario and he would never again be able to wake up. He would never know reality again.
"Malcolm?"
"Iona," he whispered.
Malcolm forced his eyes open. He felt strangely numb and the grey ceiling blurred before him.
"Am I dead?" he whispered hoarsely.
Because if this is the bloody 'afterlife' I was expecting more. St Peter, pearly white gates, maybe an Angel or two. Dead family members, trees, flowers, the whole nine yards.
"Mal," said a voice. "You've been injured, but I promise, you aren't dead."
"Far from it in fact," said another voice. "I expect you to make a full recovery Mr Reed; you'll probably be demanding release in less than three days."
Malcolm blinked and the scene suddenly focused sharply. Trip was there, grinning like a fool with Phlox stood behind him beaming.
Oh yeah, I'm back with the shiny happy people!
I'm back? Was I ever gone? Strange way to think of it I suppose.
Malcolm half smiled in response, his head throbbed painfully and he for a brief moment thought of something. It seemed very important but as he grasped at the memory it slipped away.
"Who's Iona anyway?" Trip asked amused.
Malcolm frowned in concentration a moment. "I don't know," he whispered finally. "No one I guess."
Trip seemed unable to wipe the grin off his face as he looked at Malcolm.
Definitely back with the happy people…there's something I should remember…oh well, if it's important I'll remember it.
Trip is still smiling. He better stop soon, he has no right to be a little ray of sunshine when I feel like I've been trampled on by a heard of rampaging cows.
"What happened?" Malcolm asked tiredly.
"You decided to get yourself injured again," said Trip. "We've gotta talk about your obsession with sickbay Mal, it just ain't funny anymore!"
A sarcastic ray of sunshine……I've never been happier to see anyone in my entire life!
000
Malcolm stared out the window. He'd settled back into his routine quickly enough after his release from sickbay, but he couldn't shake off an odd melancholic feeling.
Ever since he'd woken he'd had an eerie feeling of being watched and when he slept he dreamt of conversations he only remember snatches of upon waking. He remembered a girl called Iona, and his plea to die but nothing more.
He shivered slightly and pushed the wayward thoughts to the back of his mind. It was time to get on with his life again.
000 Please review!
Ok, massive, massive thanks to everyone who reviewed with special thanks going to….
The Libran Iniquity! For being sooo helpful and patiently listening to me ramble :D
So thanks to the following people for reviewing:
Liz (Hope you can read the rest of this now!)
Tobie Holloway (You make me blush soo badly! And yeah, I did get the reaction I wanted!)
Buggles586
Tata (There are no such things as happy endings!)
HoVis (I love grumpy Malcolm too! Hee hee! Oh and everyone needs there own version of the Bugger Files-its self therapy! lol)
Soultoast (Aww don't cry….have a tissue!)
Rinne (I need to convert you to the Malcolm centric stories I see….give it time….give it time)
KaliedescopeCat
WhtevrHpnd2Mary (Hmm, reality is what we make of it nothing more, nothing less :) )
Estellio (Thank you!)
Roaring Mice (I was thinking of another plot thread that would have made this even more complicated but you can have too much of a good thing :P)
Spootycup
Lieutenants-Lady (Less confused now:P )
Cha Oseye Tempest Thrain (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!)
Virgo
Chockablock (Really glad you could understand the split Trip/ Emma thing, had major panic attack people weren't going to understand)
Reedie
Simple Enigma
Phylonome
Navigatio
Dottid
Jani
G.Eliot
Geeky and Freaky
Anubis (Yeah, Malcolm's my fav too! Its gotta be a British thing lol)
Gallygee
Dennisud
ReedByTheRiver
Queen of Fairyland
Uber-kludge
Jen717
Phew! That's everyone so far! So please review this chapter and await the next instalments of my other stories :P I think I've left them abandoned far too long! 000
