Forever In A Day, Chapter Four

"The way I see it, people are either meant to be together or they're not"

Kira Nerys, "Children of Time"

"Bad day. Very bad day…"

The thought bounced around in Alex Carver's head as he desperately tried to juggle the seven computer PADDs he held awkwardly in his hands, while walking down the hall to his third-year Astrophysics class. He was already late, which meant the corridors of Starfleet Academy were next to empty, making it slightly easier on him to navigate without watching where he was going. Of course, it also meant that he was going to be in a fair bit of trouble when he finally did make it to class.

It would have been so much simpler if he'd brought his book satchel, but no, he'd lost it last night after the party. Why did he let Jason talk him into it? Why did he always let Jason talk him into these things? He should've been studying. Now, he had the world's worst hangover and he was late and he had to carry the entire day's course load from class to class in his arms and...

He never even saw the younger cadet come racing around the corner and he never saw her crash into him. All he saw was his day's class work go flying into the air and scatter across the hall.

At about the same time, he realized that he was flying through the air.

The head-on collision with the wall came soon after.

The already horrid headache from the hangover exploded into a full-on migraine as the back of his head struck the wall, causing stars to dance in front of his eyes. Wincing, he shut his eyes against the sudden glare and moaned. Oh just let me die now...

"I am so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going and I was in a hurry and I'm SO sorry and it'll never happen again..." The other cadet scrambled to her feet from where she had fallen a few feet away. Alex lifted a hand, still not seeing clearly, and she stopped talking.

"It's okay. I wasn't watching either. So as long as we both pay attention from now on, we'll be fine." Groaning, he got to his knees and started to collect his PADDs. Piling them up one by one, he counted. "Five, six... I'm missing one. Where is it?"

"Is this it?"

Looking up, he saw her for the first time. Dark brown hair fell down to the middle of her back, framing an olive skinned face with brown eyes that had just the slightest almond shape. She seemed to be no more than a year or two younger than his twenty-two years, probably a first year cadet. She was crouched a couple of feet away, holding something in her hand. "What?"

She smiled, and Alex felt his heart stop. "Your missing PADD? Is this it?"

Alex focused on the object in her hand. Sure enough, there was his computer. "Yeah. Uh, yeah, that's mine. Thanks." Reaching out he took it from her and watched her stand up.

"I'm really sorry. I promise it won't happen again."

Alex rose to his feet, again struggling to balance his work in his arms. "Don't worry about it. Happens to everyone around here sooner or later." She smiled again. She seemed to do that so easily...

"Thanks. You took a pretty nasty fall there, do you need anything else?"

"No. No thanks. I've got to get to class." She nodded and started walking away. When she reached the corner, she turned to toss off another "Sorry" and was gone, leaving him standing alone in the hall.

It took him a week to learn her name was Selene Weller.

But it took him four months to ask her out.

The ocean winds blew gently across the rose garden, mixing the smell of sea salt with the heady scent of the flowers that grew in a semi-circle around the veranda. The midday sun beat down on the manicured lawn, dancing through the branches of the surrounding evergreen trees.

The University of British Columbia's Rose Garden lay on a plateau of about a hundred meters square, overlooking English Bay and, beyond that, North Vancouver and the Rocky Mountains. It was a view which Lieutenant Alex Carver had seen dozens of times before, but which he failed to notice this time.

His black and gold dress uniform itched, thousands of stiff threads chafing his skin like some form of ancient torture, and the high collar with lieutenant's pips cut into his throat, making it difficult to breathe. Not that he seemed to be in danger of doing much of that. His breath was coming in short gasps, his lungs feeling as though he had run a ten-kilometre marathon while his stomach seemed to have become home to an entire brood of butterflies. His fingers twitched without stop at his sides, completely independent of his control. His eyes darted back and forth over the crowd gathered before him, watching each of them shift slowly in their seats. Time had slowed down to a crawl, and he could feel each second pass by like a lifetime.

"Do you, Alexander Carver, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

It was the happiest day of his life.

Selene was as beautiful now as she had been the day she'd knocked him flying in the hall. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him, and her brown hair pooled down over the white dress that she wore instead of her red and black ensign's uniform. It was tradition, she'd said, and she was going to wear her mother's wedding dress. That was that, and who was he to argue? "I do."

Was there any other answer?

"And do you, Selene Weller, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." She smiled as she said it, that smile of hers which always seemed to be sitting just below the surface. He looked down at her hands, and saw that her long fingers were nervously drumming a staccato beat against her side, just like his. Reaching over, he took her hands, stopping both sets of fingers.

The rest of ceremony blurred by him. He repeated what he was asked to repeat, and he did what he was asked to do. Later on, he would have vague memories of placing the ring on her finger, but nothing else beyond her face. He almost missed it when he was told that he could kiss the bride.

Almost. The sad part was, he didn't even have any clear memories of that, either.

A hand clasped his shoulder from behind, spinning him around. Jason Madden stood there, his face split in a wide grin and green eyes glowing mischievously, and enveloped him in an enormous hug. "Well, it's about time!" Alex clasped his best man and oldest friend tightly, the slight southern drawl of his friend's voice guiding him back to the world. "Thanks, Jason."

They heard a throat being cleared behind them and turned to see Selene, hands on her white-clad hips, a look of playful anger on her face. "Um, excuse me, boys, but can I have my husband back?"

Jason laughed, and slapped Alex on the back. "Go on. I'll meet you at the reception."

Alex reached over and took Selene's hand as they almost ran back up the aisle. With his back turned, he never saw the smile vanish from Jason's face, or the bitterness that replaced it.

The smile never faded from her face as he took her by the hand and led her out onto the dance floor. The band had begun to play in the background, an ancient Earth song that gently rolled over the assembled guests like a soft breeze. Turning to face each other, illuminated by the soft light of the candles in the room, they began to dance.

She laughed as they watched their parents follow their lead, and he looked around and saw Jason dancing with his date. In seconds, the dance floor was full of spinning couples. Looking back at Selene, he spun her slowly around, and smiled as she laughed even harder. Her brown hair shone as it whirled around her face, concealing her eyes for a split second. As their fingers intertwined, he looked over and saw the gold ring glittering on her finger. On a sudden urge, he leaned forward and softly kissed her.

It was only when he opened his eyes that he noticed that the candlelight in the room was getting brighter and beginning to hurt his eyes. Looking around, he saw the other couples dancing, but they were vague, indistinct, as though he was looking at them through a thick pane of glass. The only thing left in the room in perfect focus was Selene herself, and she laughed as though nothing was wrong. The feeling of her hand in his, so warm only seconds ago, now felt dull, leaden. The music was muffled, echoing in his ears.

The light was growing brighter and brighter, blinding him and drowning out all details of the room. Soon, the only thing he could see aside from the field of white was Selene, her brown eyes laughing as she spun away from him and into the haze. All alone, he hung there, surrounded by nothingness, silence ringing in his ears.

The white exploded away from him as the world painfully snapped back into focus. The reception hall was gone, replaced by a dark and dingy hallway, debris scattered across the floor. A deep red light seemed to pulse around him, deepening the shadows and creating a blood red atmosphere. The music was gone, replaced by screams and the sound of weapons fire. The only thing that remained was Selene.

Gone was the white dress, replaced with a formfitting black jumpsuit and tattered leather jacket. In her hands, she held a bulky old style phaser, eyes narrowed in concentration as she fired off shot after shot down the corridor. Her brown hair was cut to her shoulders, spiked and mussed as though she hadn't had time to care for it. Looking down at himself, he saw that his dress uniform was gone. A leather duster now hung over black pants and a torn black shirt. Around his waist, he wore a holster, holding a phaser similar to the one Selene was wielding. His hands were wrist deep into an open circuit panel filled with systems that had to be centuries old at least. He seemed to have no control over his body as his fingers danced across the panel.

The red glow cast demonic shadows across Selene's face as she fired shot after shot. "Excuse me, Carver? I hate to interrupt your concentration, but if you don't hurry up, we're both gonna die!"

He felt his lips curve upwards into a sarcastic sneer as he snapped back at her. "Would you rather I blow this place up? No? Then let me work!"

"If you don't hurry up, I'll point this thing at…" Her words were cut off abruptly with a dull thud. He spun around just in time to watch Selene stumble, dropping the phaser as she pitched over backwards with a bladed disc sunk deep into her chest.

"No!" He screamed and raced over to catch her, pulling his own phaser from it's holster as he ran. He never even had the chance to pull the trigger before something struck him in the side, sending him sprawling across the floor.

He lay there, gasping, as a dark silhouette, backlit by the red glow of the emergency lights, stood over him. Silent, it lifted a curved blade over it's head, preparing for the killing stroke. The last thing he saw as the blade fell was the figure's eyes.

Blue, lifeless and cold.

Alex Carver bolted to a sitting position, eyes wide with panic and sweat-dampened sheets twisted around his legs. His heart pounded against his ribcage as his lungs gasped in deep mouthfuls of air.

A nightmare. That's all. Just another nightmare.

Running his fingers through his soaked hair, he looked over his shoulder at the figure beside him. Sleeping peacefully beside him in their shared quarters aboard the bioship Albion, brown hair mussed against the pillow, was Selene Carver. His wife.

For a split-second, a twinge of jealousy overcame him. Why was it that she could sleep through the night while he couldn't? The answer came to him immediately after, replacing the jealousy with a wave of guilt. Because he had the nightmares every night, and she had simply become used to them.

Sighing, he placed his aching head in his hands. He had suffered the nightmares for as long as he could remember, often waking his parents with his screams. At first, they had been vague feelings of terror, of being hunted, but nothing more than that.

As he had grown older, they had grown more detailed. Within a few years, he could see the figure above him. A few years after that, the darkened hallways, but always leaving behind the feeling of being chased.

Gently untangling the sheets from around his knees, he stepped out of bed and made his way to the nearest window. Leaning against a support post, he crossed his arms and looked out at the planet far beneath the ship. With a casual thought, he checked the time. The nanites congregated at the base of his brainstem contained the complete Starfleet database, a simple request like the time was answered nearly instantly. 01:32. Middle of the ship's night. Usually, the feeling of being hunted faded with the nightmare, but tonight, it was lingering. His legs itched to move, to run.

A touch on his shoulder made him jump and spin around, his leg striking the support column. Behind him, Selene took a step back, dark eyes concerned. "Sorry. I thought you'd heard me."

"That's okay." Moaning, he rubbed his temples with the palms of his hands. "I'm just a little jumpy, that's all."

"Another one?"

"Yeah." He laughed under his breath, "You slept through this one, though. Nice to know that you're getting used to it."

Sitting down on the bed, she smiled up at him. "After seven years of sleeping in the same bed, I better be." She frowned, "It was bad, though, wasn't it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that you're up and out of bed. Usually you at least try to go back to sleep before getting up."

Sighing, he slumped down beside her. "You know me too well."

"I'm your wife, I should." She rested a hand on his shoulder. "You want to talk about it?"

Alex shook his head, "It was the same one as always, just a lot clearer than usual, that's all. I'll be fine. You should go back to bed."

"Liar."

"Maybe so, but just because I'm awake doesn't mean you have to be. You're on duty in three hours, you need sleep."

"So are you, and I'll stay up until you go to bed." Lying down, a glazed look came over her face for a second as she linked with her nanites and started to work. He could almost see text ghosting across her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"If I'm going to be up, I'm going to get some work done."

Chuckling, he lay down beside her. "Fine. I'm going to bed. Happy?"

A smile broke across her face as she shut down the link. "Yes. Good night."

"Good night."

Within minutes, she was asleep, head and shoulder burrowing into her pillow, snoring softly.

Alex, however, was still awake an hour and a half later when the ship bucked and he was tossed across the room.

He was the last of the First Ones, and he was about to meet his end.

Appolyon stood before him, quicksilver power crackling over his form as he absorbed the energies of the other, now dead, First Ones. Onyx eyes burned and pitch black hair stood on end as the Destroyer looked down at him and smiled ferally, deep voice resounding through the empty space that had once held the Q. "On your feet, Abaddon."

"You would kill me, brother? As you killed the others? As you have killed countless billions by destroying the balance?"

"The balance is a myth. On your feet."

"You're wrong." Abaddon rose, his eyes never leaving the maddened gaze of his brother. "The balance is real. Look for yourself. We First Ones held the Multiverse in check, we have since you tried to destroy it so long ago. Do you see the darkness around us? The Multiverse is dying because of you! Infinite stars ripped apart as you killed the others. Only a handful of universes remain and they are quickly dying."

Appolyon turned his gaze to the outside, and saw only death, Abaddon could see it in his eyes, in the way his face fell in sadness. "I never meant…"

"I know, brother, I know. Yet you have." Abaddon stepped closer.

"It wasn't... it wasn't meant to be like this. I just wanted to be warm."

"We can still save what remains, Appolyon. It's not too late." He reached out, fingers softly glowing. He would only have a fraction of a second before Appolyon could react.

Appolyon had to die.

He took no pleasure from it. Appolyon was his brother, but to stabilize what was left of the Multiverse, Abaddon needed all of the power of the First Ones. Withdrawing the power from Appolyon would kill him, but should he live, what was left would continue to die.

So be it.

"It's not too late." Abaddon's hand rested on his brother's stooped shoulder. The soft glow on his fingers became a flash, and he was thrown backwards.

Appolyon whirled, eyes blazing in hatred. "You betray me again! I was a fool to trust you, brother!" The word was spat out between clenched teeth, his hatred plain. "It was your vote that gave made me what I am."

A steel grip seized Abaddon's neck and lifted him into the air.

"Your vote that cast me into Hell."

Tendrils of cold seeped through Appolyon's fingertips, wrapping serpentine coils around his very core.

"If it meant killing you, I would rip apart the very Multiverse with my bare hands."

Abaddon began to wither away, feeling another star implode with each passing second. He could hear the voices of the dying, souls crying for justice. Justice he could not provide.

"I may be Destroyer, but you are Betrayer."

I'll see you soon.

The single voice rose above the whisper of the others, soft and whispered in his ear as his vision swam. A woman's voice, words exhaled on a dying breath.

I love you.Abaddon opened his mouth and screamed, the sound of a heart breaking ripping from the depths of his soul as a connection formed, suddenly and unexpectedly, between himself and a distant human.

"NO!"

He and Appolyon were hurled apart as the icy tendrils linking them explosively shattered. Abaddon, body twisted and gnarled, trapped somewhere between God and mortal, shivered on the ground as Appolyon lifted himself to his knees. "What…?"

Panicked and weakened, not knowing, not caring, where it had come from, Abaddon grasped this newfound connection and pulled himself along it, vanishing from the desiccated remains of the Q Continuum and hiding deep within the human's battered psyche. Even though he was wracked with pain, and the Human's body was crushed and failing, he smiled to himself. There were other ways to stop his crazed sibling before the Multiverse collapsed. He would hide in the body of this Human long enough to recover, and then he would continue the fight.

Not yet, he thought to himself.

It is not over yet.

Alone except for his host, invisible to Appolyon's eyes, he begins to heal.