Chapter 5
On every station the size of Mars High, there were bound to be the occasional security problem, but even after the events of recent years, the station had earned a reputation as a fairly dull posting. Most of the visitors to the station did not stay long enough to cause trouble, and the rest weren't the type to cause trouble. Even during the fighting of the Mars rebellion and President Clark's declaration of martial law, the station had been secure and relatively peaceful, and since the recent granting of independence to the colony it had been downright dull, not that those stationed there minded much.
For Security Chief Frank Cox however the station was about to become a lot more interesting than he was used to. He was sleeping peacefully in his quarters, enjoying a pleasant dream about a New Vegas showgirl that he had met during a recent leave period when the loud klaxon of the security alarm broke into his peaceful slumber and rudely summoned him to the far end of the station. Complaining bitterly about the lack of consideration for his sleep, he had dragged himself out of his quarters, quickly dress, and headed across the station towards Embarkation Terminal Alpha, where the emergency was supposed to be taking place.
He knew that the station-wide alarm would not have been sounded unless something very bad indeed had occurred, but even realising this he was unprepared for what he encountered. The place looked like a war zone, with an entire section of the terminal from the shuttle bay doors to the main liner embarkation gate torn up, and in some places still burning freely. Milling around the destruction was what looked like an entire regiment of Earth Alliance ground troops, not to mention the hundreds of curious bystanders. Cox could see only a few splashes of grey in the mix, indicating that his security force was hopelessly outnumbered. Still there did not seem to be any fighting or rioting going on, which had been Cox's first thoughts when he had spotted the crowd. Instead, they all seemed to be gathered around what was left of Stefano's Cafe, which had until now been one of his favourite haunts when off duty.
Pushing his way through the crowd, he soon fought his way to where his men, assisted by a few of the Earthforce soldiers, had established a perimeter around the cafe. Up close the devastation looked even worse, although he noted that whatever had caused it only seemed to have damaged the cafe, while the restaurant next to it was still intact. Dead and wounded were scattered across the floor, from a young woman lying in front of the open shuttle bay door to several men and woman now being carried away by a medical team just in front of him. At least they were still alive, but Cox could see they had been badly wounded, and his eyes narrowed when he realised that their injuries were from weapons fire and not a result of the destruction of the café.
Spotting his second, Belinda Kidd valiantly trying to direct the whole security operation on her own, he pushed his way past the perimeter and out into the chaos. "What's going on here Belinda," he asked, speaking loudly to get above the din the crowd was making.
The young security officer looked extremely pleased to see him, and rushed over to greet him, dodging the chunks of burnt metal that lay scattered across the once clean floor. "It's bad chief, looks like someone decided to hold a private war in the cafe. We have at least five dead, and ten wounded. And those are only the ones we have found, there could still be more under that wreckage over there."
Cox looked in the direction of the ruined cafe and saw that much of the roof had collapsed, and that collapse seemed to be responsible for much of the destruction he could see. "Was it some kind of a bomb?" he asked, still wondering what exactly could have caused the damage and deaths he was seeing.
Belinda shrugged helplessly. "We don't know chief. Early reports I heard indicated that there was a gun battle going on, but one of the GROPOS said it was caused by a fusion grenade. We still don't know if anyone is left alive underneath that mess."
"Well we had better find out then. Get me a scanner team, and some extinguishers. I want those fires out and the whole place scanned for life forms. Also, get them to scan for any more bombs or weapons that might be hidden down there. I will try and clear this area a little so we have space to work."
Pleased to finally have someone directing the chaotic rescue efforts, Belinda rushed off to find the nearest scanner team, leaving Cox to try to bring some order to the station again. Noticing a high-ranking Earthforce officer standing nearby he quickly collared him, and after a quick discussion drafted his soldiers into security to help clear curious civilians and reporters away from the ruined cafe.
With the soldiers now assisting security instead of hanging around watching Cox and his men soon had the terminal cleared, and the civilians and reporters pushed back to a workable distance, although the two men from the local news network were most insistent that they be allowed to remain. Cox eventually settled for their recorders being allowed to float above the cafe and observe the clean up operation, but only as long as the reporters themselves stayed well away.
This done Cox looked again over the shattered ruins of Stefano's Cafe and groaned, realising that he was now going to have to find another place to spend his time off. He only hoped that Eric Stefano was still alive, he had become quite fond of the old rogue. He was about to turn to his men and issue orders for start of the search for any more survivors when he suddenly felt as though someone was watching him very closely indeed. It was a strange feeling, almost a tingle in the back of his neck, but Frank Cox had made a living out of trusting his feelings and spun around to examine the crowd.
He didn't see anything at first, but then he noticed a black-uniformed figure pushing his way through the crowds towards the liner terminal. The figure turned back to face Cox and the security chief saw the Psi-Corps symbol stuck firmly to the front of the black uniform and realised that the man was most likely a Psi-Cop. He was just about to go over and ask the Psi-Cop exactly what he was doing here when one of his men called to him from the ruined cafe. He glanced away for only an instant, but by the time he had turned back, the telepath was gone. Cox shrugged, dismissing the encounter, and went over to address his men. He was a little concerned about the Psi-Cop's presence and wondered if he had been scanned and if so, why? The security chief couldn't think of a good reason why anyone would be interested in the contents of his mind at a time like this though, so he dismissed the encounter as unimportant.
Thousands of kilometres away from the station and the unfolding drama, Doctor Nathan Kozlowski was returning to his quarters deep in the bowels of the engineering section of the EAS Rasputin. As was his habit, he had taken a fair portion of his work with him, his arms laden with printouts from the latest tests he had been conducting on the warship's systems. Trying to hold on the printouts and push open the door to his quarters was quite a task, but the doctor eventually managed it, balancing the printouts with one hand and tapping the door control, then quickly pulling his hand back to steady the teetering pile.
Walking through the now open door, he headed for his desk and dropped the printouts in the centre, then walked across the room to feed his goldfish, which was still swimming around its small bowel in never-ending circles. He was just tapping a few flakes of fish food into the water when a puzzled frown spread across his face.
"Glow?" he said to himself. "I don't have anything there that should glow."
He turned back to his desk, and sure enough, there was a dim purple glow creeping out from beneath the pile of printouts. Curious, the doctor carefully picked up the printouts and moved them to one side, exposing a small spherical object glowing with a faint inner light. He looked puzzled again for a moment, but then remember what it was. He had picked it up during a holiday in the Vega system, a perfectly spherical white stone about the size of his clenched fist. He had kept it as a curiosity and later used it as a paperweight, but it had certainly never glowed before.
With another puzzled frown, picked up screwdriver he had left on his desk and tapped the sphere. He quickly jumped back and dropped the tool as a spark of purple lightning leapt arced between the two. "Hmm, now that is interesting," he muttered to himself. "A self-contained power source perhaps. I wonder why I didn't detect it before. Very interesting indeed." Rubbing his slightly scorched fingers, the doctor fumbled around for his scanner, eager to investigate his new discovery.
Awareness returned to her slowly. At first there was nothing but darkness, an all encompassing darkness that held her tightly, almost as though it did not want to ever let her go. Then came the faint whiff of something wonderful in the air, and the touch of a gentle breeze on her face. The darkness still held her though, still dragged her downwards into the black pit of her soul. Then she felt the warmth, and began to shy away from the cold that was all the darkness could offer. Gasping and scratching she fought her way, up out of the pit and into the warmth of consciousness once more.
With the mightiest of efforts Susan managed to force open her eyes, at first only the tinniest amount, but enough to look around and she looked straight into the brightness of a powerful light shining down on her. As she watched it grew even brighter, washing away the shadows of the darkness that had gripped her and making her feel more at peace than she had ever felt before.
She breathed in, only a little breath, but enough to bring to her senses the wonderful smell of flowers floating in the breeze. Susan was immediately reminded of the time, long, long ago when her mother had taken her on a spring picnic, and they had sat among the flowers and fed the birds. It was one of her most pleasant memories, from a time before the painful existence that was her life now had begun. For some reason, this pleasant memory remained in her mind as she wearily dragged her eyes open and looked around her in confusion.
Gone were the stained walls of the cafe, the dead bodies, and the twisted and burning wreckage that had been her last vision before the grenade went off. Instead, in it's place, was a vast field of flowers, reaching out to the horizon and beyond. She breathed again, and the wonderful array of smells floating in the air seemed to refresh her, taking away her pain and tiredness, and leaving her restored and more alive than she had felt in over twenty years.
She closed her eyes for a second and rubbed them with the back of her hands; as if to try to dispel the illusion she was sure she was seeing. When she opened them though, the field was still there, and she could still smell the fresh scent of flower pollen. A cool breeze brushed across her, only touching her for an instant but leaving her entire body tingling at its passing. Curious she stood up and brushed down the soft, silky cloth of her robe, removing the tiny fragments of grass and flower petals that had stuck there.
'Robe?' she thought suddenly, looking down at her body for the first time since awakening. To her surprise, her Earthforce uniform was gone and in its place was a flowing robe of wispy golden material. It was perhaps the most beautiful article of clothing she had even seen, and as she ran a fold of the gown between her fingers, she could barely even feel it. Also gone was the rest of her clothing, including her boots and belt so she now stood barefoot on the peaceful field of flowers.
She wiggled her toes, and was amazed at how wonderful the flowers felt beneath her feet. For a brief moment, she was transported back to her childhood and that one fine spring day when she had played in a field just like this. Then she remembered that her mother had been with her that day and the comfort of the memory fled and she felt again the pain that her mother's suicide had caused her. A single tear rolled halfway down her cheek before she brushed it away and tried to think of pleasant thoughts once again.
Susan looked out over the empty field once more, but this time she noticed something that had not been there before, a bright light in the distance. It was strange; she had never seen its like before, yet somehow it felt familiar and somehow comforting. As she watched, the light seemed to move towards her, faster than she would have though possible. It was as if time slowed down, her movements became sluggish, while those of the light seemed unhindered. Then it was in front of her, and Susan realised that she recognised the being of light that now floated in the air before her.
She had seen just such a being before, as it rescued Captain Sheridan from certain death as he fell from the destroyed core shuttle on Babylon 5 towards certain death in the garden's below. "Kosh?" Susan asked cautiously, still not really believing what was in front of her was real, certain that she was only dreaming.
"Yes… Kosh…" the angelic being said softly in a voice that flowed about Susan like music carried by the breeze, and bringing with it the sounds of tiny bells and birds singing.
Susan didn't notice the musical nature of Kosh's voice, instead just his words. "Why are you here? I thought you were dead."
"I have always been here, you have not listened to the song until now."
Susan looked in annoyance at the floating Vorlon. Even in death Kosh's words continued to remain as perplexing as ever. "Does that mean I am dead as well?" she asked.
"Perhaps," Kosh answered, although this time Susan had the distinct impression that the Vorlon was uncertain. Before she could press the issue, he continued. "All life is an illusion."
"What do you mean," she asked, determine to find out what had happened to her. "Am I dead or not?"
"You do not understand," was the only response.
"Of course I don't understand," she shouted as his anger began to rise up within her. "That is why I am asking you."
The angelic form before her did not seem perturbed in any way by her angry tone and just looked at her intently. "It is good that you do not understand," Kosh said finally.
"But I want to understand."
"Of course," Kosh replied. "That is good, I have chosen well."
"What do you mean chosen?" Susan asked, suddenly suspicious.
A shiver seemed to pass through the being before her and his light dimmed for a moment before returning. "Time is short little singer," Kosh said. "I must leave you soon."
"Wait," Susan cried. "At least tell what the hell is going on."
"A choice."
"What choice?"
The angelic being's light dimmed again, and this time did not return as bright as before. "You stand at a crossroads," Kosh said softly, his voice fading along with his light. "You must choose between light and darkness, peace and war, security and hope, safety and pain. You must choose to remain silent, or to follow the song. You must choose the past or the future."
"That doesn't help much!"
The Vorlon did not reply immediately, instead it stared off into the distance as if looking at something on the horizon she could not see. "I cannot teach you the song," Kosh said at last. "You must learn the notes yourself."
"What song!" Susan demanded.
Rather than reply, Kosh instead reached out and took her hands in his, and she felt warmth passing from the Vorlon into her. Suddenly she began to hear voices, strong and loud, and all around her. They echoed in her head, so loud they began to feel painful. They also made little sense, nothing more than a jumbled collection of words, as though a thousand people were all speaking at once, and all at the same volume so none could be understood.
She screamed out in pain as the noise from the voices grew in volume and tried to pull her hand from Kosh's grasp, sure that he was responsible. The Vorlon did little except float there in front of her and watch her reaction. His grasp remained firm though and try as she might she could not free herself. The voices now felt like hammer blows against her skull and under this sustained pressure Susan soon began to lose consciousness.
"Chief," called out the head of the scanner crew. "We are picking up something in here, it looks like we might have a survivor."
Security Chief Cox exploded into action, jumping across the nearest pile of wreckage to land beside the scanner crew. The man in charge of the scanner quickly showed him the reading and he saw that they were correct. Despite the destruction, they had indeed found someone alive, although whomever it was had been trapped at the very bottom of the pile of rubble the café had become.
"Great work guys," he said, already thinking of the coverage the rescue would get on the local networks, with any luck he might even get on ISN. "Ok, lets get the rest of the crew in here and stabilise this area so we can start clearing away the rubble. We don't want another collapse so be as careful."
As soon as he had issued his orders, several teams of station maintenance personal and security officers arrived with large braces to prop up what remain of the roof and prevent any further collapses. They worked as fast and as carefully as they could, and within two minutes had the entire section secure, at least as secure as it was going to get. Now that it was safe to do so Cox ordered in the rescue teams, while he kept an eye on the scanner, hoping they would be able to reach whoever was trapped down there in time.
He was about to join in the rescue effort when he suddenly heard a scrapping noise from somewhere above him. The security chief quickly scanned the ceiling, searching for anything that might have slipped. He could see nothing though, everything still looked secure and safe. Dismissing the noise, he returned to the work at hand, hoping all the while that the rest of the ceiling would not come crashing down on him while he was dragging away a piece of wreckage. While that was one way to get on the news networks, it wasn't the one Frank Cox wanted.
As she fell backwards, Kosh released her hand and the voices ended almost immediately. Susan managed to hang on to a thread of consciousness and kneeling on the ground, she rubbed her temples to try to ease the painful headache that she felt developing. To her surprise, her ministrations worked and the pain she felt throbbing through her head began to ease.
"What was that," she demanded, brushing her long hair back out of her face and standing before the Vorlon more.
The Vorlon ignored her question, staring into the distance once more. "Can you fight the pain?" Kosh asked, turning back to face her. "Is it even worth fighting? You must decide is your life worth such pain."
"You're not Kosh!" Susan said suddenly, before realising that she didn't know where that sudden insight had come from.
The being that had taken the form of Kosh looked pleased. "No little singer, I am no Vorlon."
"Who are you then?"
"I am… I am not like you. I followed the song and it bought me here. Now I am here when I want to be there. I was the conductor, now I am a prisoner… and a guide. You must heed my warning if you wish to survive this day."
"I would if I knew what you meant."
The being looked at Susan sadly, "If you do not understand then you will die. My time here is nearly past and soon darkness and pain will come. You must fight and defeat it if your song is to survive."
"Fight?" Susan said looking around her, "but how, I have nothing to fight with."
The angelic being before her was now fading away, disappearing into thin air. "My time is over," it whispered. "This is your song now and you alone many choose the notes to play. Survive and we may speak again."
With that final message the other being vanished and Susan was left alone on the field of flowers. Standing alone once again, she pondered the strange message that Kosh, or rather whatever had taken Kosh's form, had delivered to her. She did not notice that the once bright sunny day was beginning to fade as dark clouds began to fill the sky. It was not until the first drops of icy, cold rain struck her cheeks that she noticed the change. Looking around she was surprised to find that it was growing darker by the minute, and beneath her feet the flowers that had so enchanted her when she had first arrived in this place were beginning to die.
Nathan Kozlowski sighed in disappointment as the glow faded from his sphere. He had finally found his scanner under his bed and now it had stopped glowing, right before he could get any readings. Picking up his screwdriver again, he tapped the sphere gingerly, ready to leap away if there was another spark of lightning. However, this time nothing happened, and Kozlowski sighed again. He activated the scanner and passed it over the sphere, but not a single abnormality registered.
Annoyed, he began to wonder if the object had switched itself off just to spite him. He tapped it with the screwdriver again, this time a little harder, but still there was no response. After running the scanner over it several more times, and tapping it with larger and increasingly heavier tools, he finally came to the conclusion that it may just have exhausted its internal power supply. He picked up a small laser cutting tool from his tool bench, determined to investigate this strange sphere further, even if it meant cutting it open to take a look at its internal workings.
The wind, which had once been a gentle breeze, now began to grow in strength and bring with it a chill that cut straight through her thin robe, leaving her cold and shivering. Susan looked around for somewhere to hide from the coming storm, but couldn't find a single tree, cave, or other shelter. With a sudden feel of horror, she realised that the plain she was standing on was slowly being eaten up by the darkness. Already the horizon had disappeared and the darkness was gathering around her in a circle, a circle that was quickly growing smaller and smaller as each second passed.
It took only seconds before the entire plain was gone, and the icy darkness had surrounded her. Then the very ground beneath her feet seemed to vanish as well and she could see nothing and could feel nothing except the chill in the air. Susan felt very alone, more alone than she had ever been before, almost as though she was the only creature in the universe. She suddenly craved someone else, anyone, so she would have someone to talk to, or someone to assure her that she still existed.
As soon as she felt this craving, a bright flare of red light erupted in the darkness above her and began to move towards her with frightening speed. The red light soon revealed itself as a vortex of some kind, similar to a jump point into hyperspace. This vortex did not have a warm orange colour she associated with hyperspace though, rather it was an angry red, shot with withering bolts of intense darkness, and Susan was being drawn towards it. She tried to fight, but there was nothing to hold onto, nowhere to hide, and so she was pulled through with almost no resistance possible on her part.
Once through the vortex, Susan was thrown to the ground, which appeared to have reappeared, and hit the now rocky surface with a heavy thump. Small stones and rock scratched at her and she felt pain. For some reason though, no cuts or other injuries appeared on her flesh. Her eyes flickered for a moment as she fought to recover from the pain of landing on the rocky ground and then she noticed that light had returned, although this time it was not the bright, warm glow of a summer sun, but rather an evil reddish light that seemed to filter down from somewhere far above her.
Susan pulled herself back to her feet and then shuffled backward as she realised that she now stood on a narrow ledge overlooking a very deep chasm that plunged into the darkness far below her. She risked a quick look but could see no signs of a bottom to the chasm, or any hand holds for her to use to climb down. As she looked up she could see none above her either, although the top of the mountain or wherever she now was seemed to be surrounded by a red mist, similar in colour to the vortex or portal that had just snatched her our of the darkness that had engulfed moments ago.
As a cold wind began to pick up around her, Susan found herself shivering in fear. She still didn't know where she was, if she was dreaming, or if she was dead. If this was the afterlife then it certainly hadn't been very pleasing so far, in fact it had been downright horrible, not to mention confusing.
Looking around her, Susan searched for somewhere to go, anywhere that was away from this horrible place. She had always hated heights, and looking over the ledge only made her head swim. Then, just as she thought all was lost and she was doomed to remain her forever, Susan noticed a faint light appearing in front of her, near the ledge. It grew brighter with each passing moment and as it approached, she became aware of a person floating in the light.
"Marcus," she whispered, as the features of the figure cleared and she realised who it was.
Marcus nodded and held out his hands, as if asking Susan to join him in the light. He wore a golden robe similar to her, and the light seemed to surround him as well as supporting him in mid air. She moved to join him, put pulled up short when she reached the edge of the ledge and looked down into the chasm below.
"Jump Susan," Marcus called to her. "Join me and we can be together forever. I have come to save you, for if you stay here you will be trapped in this place for eternity."
Susan gritted her teeth and tried again to join him, only to again pull up when she reached the edge of the ledge. It still looked like too great a jump to her, and one she would never make. "It is too far," she called out to Marcus. "I can not jump that far."
"Yes you can Susan," he replied. "All you need to do is jump, I will catch you before you fall."
Susan looked over the ledge, down at the vast drop again, and shivered. Nevertheless, she resolved to do as Marcus said and steadied herself for the jump. Just as she was about to start her run, she felt a gloved hand grip her bare arm. Turning around she gasped in surprise as she looked into the eyes of Talia, who was wearing the black uniform of a Psi-Cop.
"Do not jump Susan," Talia said softly, her voice barely reaching Susan's ears above the roar of the ever-strengthening wind. "Stay here instead, I will protect you."
"Do not believe her Susan," Marcus called out. "She is an agent of darkness, trying to seduce you. Jump while you still can."
Susan turned to look at him, aware of the warmth and light radiating from the position where he floated. Talia on the other hand did not have the same warmth, and the hand she had placed on Susan's arm felt cold, even through the leather glove she wore. Despite this she was torn, not knowing whom to believe.
"Jump Susan," Marcus called again. "If you do not then you will be trapped in a world of pain forever, there will be no escape, no rescue." As if to illustrate his point Susan suddenly remembered all the times over the past thirty years when she had been hurt, all the painful relationships, and lost friends and family. The feelings of loss and pain were so intense that she almost broke down and collapsed in tears right there.
"You know what pain is like Susan, do you want to face that for eternity?" Marcus again held out his hands, as if to urge her to jump into his arms. For a moment, she was sorely tempted to do so, but before she could, Talia pulled her back again.
"I can not offer peace Susan," the telepath whispered, her voice cutting into Susan's thoughts. "I can only offer you life. If you can not face your life then you will die here."
More memories of her life began to flow about in her head and Susan grasped at them, trying to find a solution to the choice that faced her. She remembered the time she had spent with her mother, the happy life she had experienced then, and how it had been taken away from her by the Psi-Corp. How she had cried at her mother's funeral and prayed for some way for them to be together again. The painful memories continued to bombard her, only this time she also remember the good times as well, few and far apart as they may have been.
"So much pain," Marcus' voice cut into her memories. "Is it worth returning to that, to be left alone with your pain. Wouldn't it instead be better to forget the past and embrace your future, a future without pain or suffering?"
A thought cut through Susan, and she remembered how she had ended up here and whom it was that had left her alone in the universe. It had been Marcus who had given his life for her, had left her alone with the guilt and pain of his sacrifice. She turned back to look at Talia and noticed the tears running down the blonde woman's cheeks, and the sadness in her eyes. Before she could go to her though, a sudden gust of wind buffeted her and Susan was thrown back towards the edge of the chasm.
Only by reaching out with her hands Susan was just able to stop from falling to what she now realised was certain death below. Hanging from the ledge by her fingertips everything that was happening to her suddenly became clear. She knew what both Talia and Marcus were offering. The image of Marcus offered her peace, but also death, while the image Talia offered nothing more than a chance at life. Life with all it's pain and suffering was not something Susan was sure about right now, so she turned her head around to look at Marcus who still floated in the air nearby.
He had on his face a look of hope, and longing, and she knew that if she let go of the ledge as he asked then it would be over, all the pain she had suffered would be gone and she could remain forever in Marcus' arms, safe and secure. Susan realised that this must be the choice being that had taken Kosh's image had spoken off. If she went to Marcus now the she would choose peace, security, and safety. However, if instead she selected Talia then she would be condemned to continue her life of pain. She had to choose, but right now could not make the choice. She didn't know what she wanted, and was torn between the two, unable to choose either life or death.
Talia's voice dragged her away from her thoughts and she turned away from Marcus to face Talia instead. The wind was whipping through the telepath's blonde hair and ripping the tears from her eyes before they could even begin to roll down her cheeks. "Embrace the future Susan," Talia screamed, her voice only just carrying above the cyclonic winds. "Survive, and do not give in. For to surrender mean death, or something even worse than death."
"No," called Marcus, his voice still strong and firm. "Give in to peace Susan, do not follow the ways of darkness. Surrender to the light and we can be together again." The wind around them began to grow even stronger, and Susan's grip on the ledge began to slip, the rock beneath her fingertips beginning to crumble under her weight. "Let yourself fall Susan," Marcus called out to her again, this time from below her. "I will catch you, all you need to do is trust. Trust in yourself and trust in me."
Susan's fingers slipped even further and the strain of holding onto the tiny rock ledge was become almost too much for her. She looked up again, straight into the sad looking eyes of Talia. "Embrace me Susan," Talia called. Her voice now little more than a faint whisper, and had Susan not seen Talia's lips moving she would not have known that the telepath was even speaking. "I am your past, and your future. I am who you are, and who you have always been. Embrace me and be free. Surrender and die."
Torn between the two Susan was unable to make a decision. Then just as she though she might remain here forever another memory came floating to the surface. She remembered what had happened when she had been on Babylon 4, when she had seen a vision of her future. Then she had thought it nothing more than a possible future, one she could never hope would come true, but what if it was something more, a real future that hadn't happened yet. So reaching out she chose hope instead of defeat, and grabbed hold of the hand that Talia offered and allowed herself to be pulled up onto the ledge once more.
As soon as her feet were once again were firmly secure on the rocky ledge the light that had surrounded Marcus died and he vanished, as did the cold wind that had buffeted, and the darkness began to close in around her once more. She looked towards Talia, only to find that she too had vanished and in her place was a copy of Susan herself. Before she had even recovered from the surprise, the other Susan embraced her warmly.
Susan looked into her own eyes and noticed that this copy of was beginning to disappear, merging with her. She tried to pull away, but found herself stuck fast and unable to move as the copy vanished into her, becoming part of her forever. There was a sudden flash of bright light and then Susan heard a voice, her own voice echoing softly around her. "I am part of you now, as I have always been. "
She searched desperately for the source of the voice but couldn't find anything. In fact, as it had before everything around her appeared to have vanished into the darkness once more and she was alone with her own thoughts. "Beware the wolf Susan," came her own voice again, this time seeming to flow around her like a soft breeze, gently caressing her hair and face.