Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd,wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse. –John Milton

Bitter Memories

Anwen rolled over and looked at Gerald's face with a smile. He returned the smile and gave her a kiss on the cheek. A small figure interupted the scene when it jumped on the bed.

"Daddy! You made it! Mommy was worried that you'd gotten hurt or somethin'. I told her not to worry, but she did anyways. Oh, and I made somethin' for you," gushed a small girl as she crawled over to her father.

Gerald picked up his daughter in his arms and tossed her in the air being careful not to hit Anwen with his bone blades. Anwen laughed her daughter shrieked with delight as she was caught.

"Again, Daddy! Do it, again," begged the small child as she brushed her long brown hair out of her face. Gerald picked up Cora in his arms and tossed her repeatedly in the air with shrieks of delight coming from the child. Anwen got up from the bed and got dressed. She went to the make shift kitchen to look for some food.

"Find anything, Sweetie?" asked Gerald as he came carrying Cora on his shoulders.

Anwen shook her head no and asked "How long do ya think de Leon is going to enforce it this time?"

"I don't know, but on the bright side we know he's not gonna round anyone up," replied Gerald as he set Cora down.

"I know……."

"Aunt Sunny," yelled Cora as her faux aunt walked in.

"Hope, I'm not interupting anything but I found some food," said Sunny with a sly girn on her face as she set a bag down.

Anwne gave her a smile, and started taking food out and looking at it.

"How the hell did you find this stuff?" asked Anwen.

"I've got my sources, too."

"I've got to get going, Sweetie," said Gerald before gave Anwen a kiss. He knelt down and Cora gave him a hug.

"I'll be seeing you later, my gems," said Gerald before he left.

Anwen waved good bye and returned to sorting thourgh the food. Suddenly there was sound outside causing her to drop the apple in her hand. It rolled toward Cora who picked it up, and began munching on it. Anwen ran to the window and saw Gerald being held down by several Nietzscheans. One of them pulled his head up as a tall, blonde haired man walked toward them.

"Well, well. It seems someones been naughty," said the tall, blonde man as he looked Gerald in the eyes.

Anwen took in a sharp breath of air.

"I've done nothin' wrong, de Leon," said Gerald defensivley.

"That's not what I've been told, but of course your kind tend to lie," replied de Leon as he kicked up dirt and gravel into Gerald's face.

Gerald tried to lunge at de Leon who let out a laugh at his feeble attempts.

"You were never that strong, Gerald. I can tell you've just been with them by their smell coming from you. Which means they're nearby. So here's the deal, you tell me where they are, and I'll let you live. How does that sound?" asked de Leon as he crouched in front of Gerald.

"I would rather die than tell you," replied Gerald before spitting on de Leon's face. The man stumbled back in shock and looked at Gerald with pure hatered. He wiped the spit off and said "Take him away, and the rest of you are to spread out and sweep these buildings!"

His men stood there prompting him to shout "Either you follow orders or I'll kill you, understand?"

His men promptly followed the orders.

Anwen turned around and said coldy "You told them, didn't you?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Anwen? You know I'd never betray you. God, I'd give up my life, that's something I've told you a million times," replied Sunny.

Anwen roughly scooped up Cora and headed for the backdoor casuing the child to cry loudly.

The sound of footsteps brought Anwen out of her reverie. She looked up to see Seamus walking toward her. She offered him a faint smile which he returned.

"Hi, See Zee. Did they send you to come get me?" she asked as her brother sat down next to her.

"Get you for what?" asked a puzzled Harper.

"To return me to de Leon. He's here and he'll want me back 'cause I'm a runaway slave."

"An, you do't have to worry about being a slave anymore. Dylan would never return you to de Leon, I promise."

"Do you promise on that thing you call a brian?" she asked.

"I do, and if it turns out I'm wrong well I'll cut my head open and take it out."

"If you are planning on doing that please do so after you have repaired Vassy ship," said Andromeda.

"Uh yeah. Could you give me a momment or two with my sister?" asked Harper.

"Very well, I will tell Captain Hunt that you are coming."

"An, this is a big ship and knowing Dylan he won't let Vassy know you're here."

An looked at her brother in the eyes with tears welling up in hers.

"Would you feel better if I took you some place safe?" he asked.

She nodded her head, and took his hand as he helped her up. The siblings walked through the corridors in silence. Harper stopped outside a door and knocked on it lightly. He offered his sister a smile before the door opened. Standing in the doorway was the Magog from earlier looking a little confused. Anwen silenced a scream and tried to pull herself free from her brother grasp.

"Is there something I can help you with you, Harper?" asked Rev.

"I was hoping that my sister could stay here for a while," replied Harper.

"Oh, by the powers of the Gods and Goddessess, Harper, you've got to be kidding me!" said Anwen as she tried to back away.

"Think about it Anwen. There's really no place but here that, well, I can stash you."

Anwen was about to hit her brother on the head when Andromeda appeared, and said in a sharpt tone "Harper, Captain Hunt would like you up in the hanger bay now."

"Sorry, An but I've got to go," said Harper as he pushed Anwen toward Rev. He took off running before Anwen or Rev could say anything.

Vasco looked up when a small, blonde haired man entered the room loudly. The rest of the group looked over as the young engineer picked himself up, and walked toward them. He had an embrassed smile on his face.

"Good, to see that you made it Mr. Harper," said Dylan as Harper reached the group. No one but Harper noticed that Vassy seemed to wince at the mention of his name.

"So, what seems to be the problem?" asked Harper.

"I really don't know. I would have you talk to my engineer but sadly he died on the way here," Vassy said in a oddly cold voice.

"Uhh, well me an' Rommie here will have your ship running in no time," Harper said proudly.

"That sounds wonderful," Vassy replied as he pointed to his ship with his arm "I'll just show you the way to the engine room, and you can start."

Harper and Rommie followed Vassy as he led them through a maze of corridors to the engine room. Harper had to surpress a gasp as they passed by a burned corpse of what appeared to be a man. The long, blonde haired man made no acknowledgement that there was a corpse in the engine room.

"Here we are. I hope you are able to fix it," said Vassy with a creepy smile before he left.

Harper waited until Vassy was out of sight before saying, "He is just creepy behind on words. Let's get started so we can get out of here faster."

"Maybe it was a good thing that we had some 'engine' problems after all," thought Vasco de Leon with a smile as he walked from the engine room.

"Would you like to come in?" offered Rev as he stood out of the doorway.

Anwen glanced at the ever shrinking figure of her brother before saying "If my brother trusts you, I guess I can trust you."

Rev smiled causing Anwen to shiver a little.

"Please don't do that, it's just a little to creepy for me," she said as she walked into the room. She took a seat in a corner and pulled a knife from her boot. She strarted to play with as she watched Rev sit a little distance from her.