Tighter and Tighter – Part II

"So you've come."

The voice, voices, came from all around Leoben. He'd just been inside the decrepit tomb on Kobol. The body of a Cylon cooling on the floor beneath his boots and a box in his coat that held his copy's soul. He was a murderer and a traitor, and yet here he stood. Granted access to humanity's first temple and to the gods.

"I have," he answered softly.

"Because he wants something." The voice echoed around him as he peered into the darkness. Formless, as of yet, but something was hinted at in the deep shadows all around him.

"They always want something." A higher contralto whispered.

"Take and never give…but this one is different."

"Different…" The others echoed and then merged together into one melodious chord. "Because he's a machine."

"What are you?" Leoben demanded. He whirled to see the source of the amorphous voices. Women, mocking him with their laughter, just beyond the edge of sight.

"Machines…ghosts……gods… What do you believe?"

"You are the Fates."

High tittering laughter. Like birds of prey swooping, like the pigeons in the marketplace taking flight instantaneously, like the shrill cry of the hunted in the moment before it is caught. It swarmed around him, plucking at his hair and eyes as though the laughter had fingers.

"Perhaps. What do you want?"

He took a deep breath. There were so many things he wanted and yet they all started and ended with her.

"I want."

"I want…." The Fates whispered to mock. "What do you want, little machine?"

"To be human." He spat it at them quickly so that he could not take it back. "I love a human. I want to be with her, and to do that, I need to be human."

"Ahhhh….." A breath. And then another.

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Does she love you?"

"Yes."

"And will she be faithful as you cross the stars to her?"

"Yes." Leoben didn't have to think. Nya loved him. She had brought him back from the darkness once, she would wait for him to return from the darkness again.

The space around him stilled and grew silent. The air grew heavy with portents unspoken and for the first time he doubted himself. Even if he survived, there was the chance that God would discover his treachery, that he would be boxed.

"You must have faith." The Fates whispered and the words echoed off invisible walls as though they were still surrounded in Athena's tomb. "You cannot falter. No matter what happens."

"How do I become human?" He demanded. "It is not enough to find her again. I must be human."

They did not answer and he was stricken with the sudden fear that he had angered them. He cast about but he was alone by all of his senses.

He screamed suddenly as pain lanced into his head. A sudden, ravaging pain. It bit through the soft tissue and ignited neurons he'd never known could feel pain. Everything flashed like white fire and he dropped to his knees. He struggled to hold onto the image of Nya, as though she was his pillar, even as the world burned around him.

Then, slowly, and with little fanfare, it faded.

He remained on his knees.

"Go to her." A solitary deep and feminine voice told him. "But you must remain pure of heart or it will matter for naught."

"What did you do to me?" He gasped, still shuddering from the aftereffects of the pain.

"You're human now." They told him. "When you die this time, you will not resurrect, you will not be born again. One life is all that is allotted to mankind. Now you are as one of them."

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Nya stripped the silver uniform off her shoulders. Her gaze never looked up as she drew the fabric down and then pulled it from her waist. Two steps and her legs came free. The sounds of the city swirled around them as she stood before him in a black tank top and panties. Neither of which hid the terrible scar that ran for four inches across her lower belly. A vicious reminder of their loss.

"Nya," he said.

But she went on like she hadn't heard him. The tank top was pulled up over her head and tossed with the other clothes on the floor.

He said her name again but it was more groan than word.

She discarded the last piece of clothing and crossed the three feet to where he was waiting. He flinched as her hands ran up his face and into his graying hair. They pressed into his skin as she drew his face toward her and kissed him.

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The stars above New Caprica blinked slightly. As though the gods turned their faces away from what was coming. In that space, between one flicker and the next, the Cylon Fleet exploded into being.

Glistening ranks of Cylon fighters in formation ahead of their behemoth masters, the Basestars. Each one turned in unison toward the planet and dove. They sliced through the upper atmosphere and turned, like stars, into red embers headed straight down.

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She ripped the jacket off of him.

There wasn't any more time to wait and Nya was clumsy in her desperation. They tripped and regained equilibrium, as she tugged clothes off of him and they made their slow methodical way towards his bed.

He made her stop as his hands refused to pull away from her. They were too busy exploring a space he hadn't seen in over a year. The soft skin underneath her breasts. The way her back curved down into the flesh of her buttocks. Everything was as new as if they were lovers starting over at the very beginning.

Impatient, she pushed him backwards onto the mattress. In protest, he dragged her down for another kiss.

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In space, another decision was made. In a heartbeat, Adama recognized the overwhelming force arrayed against them. There was no military solution. No way to defend against the Cylon Fleet he could see. No way to save those on the planet.

With a heart made heavy. One close to giving up. He gave the order.

Galactica, Pegasus, and the remaining orbiting Fleet – jumped.

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"I'm here." Leoben whispered to himself. "We've done it."

The Fates mocked him in his memories, in his dreams. They spoke of promises and faith. They told him about love and time and how all things fade, even the brightest stars. They whispered to him, even now, with the end of everything in sight.

"Nya," he said. One hand pressed against the portal as he watched the Fleet disappear even as the Cylon force moved out to occupy the area. "I'm here. I promised I would come back for you."

The planet shone below him. It turned in orbit as it always had, but he knew with utter certainty that she was down there. He could almost feel her presence.

"She will be waiting for him at the end." It was a promise. The one that has brought him all this way. Through life and death, and to the very edge of his humanity. All for her.

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The urgency in them hadn't faded but crescendo'ed and then rose higher. The frantic movement of their bodies, their utter abandonment, hid the sounds from outside. The stark silence and then a whining of ships not made by human hands.

"Nya!" He burst out as they topped the wave.

She didn't respond, just rocked with the emotion that some strange line had been breached. A line in the cosmos, stretched, and then snapped.