Ok, since I posted two chapters, I thought that I'd put reviewer replies here! =-)
ohtheclevernessofme: As of yet, your reviews are my greatest...you really are getting into this story and I love it! I based Willocia on, well, Rivendell because when I saw it in Fellowship of the Ring I fell in love with it and the Shire...so it's kinda a mixture...such beautiful scenery. I love your reaction to the Elders and you haven't even met them or gotten to the really good parts yet...*evil grin* And soon you will learn why they aren't the happy campers they should be. Oh yeah, I'm a full on Harper/Trance shipper and all their sweet season one scenes are my inspiration! =-) Hope ou like what's to come and do keep up your long reviews...I really love them!!!!!
StarTraveler: Your wish is my command. =-)
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Chapter Eight:
Immoblized by the thought of you
Paralyzed by the sight of you
Hypnotized by the words you say~~Maroon5: Shiver'
I wake up at dawn. The first lights coming in over the nearby mountain range. I get out of bed and look over to Harper. He is still sound asleep in his usual position, the blankets wrapping around him as he sleeps on his stomach, arm dangling over the side. I always wondered how he sleeps so well in that posisiton. I smile and head for the shower.
Thirty minutes later, I am clean and refreshed. I walk out to see Harper sitting at the table we had dinner on the night before. His hair still wet from his own shower, the spikes still going in every direction. He is eating breakfast.
I start drying my hair with my towel and say, "Harper, your clothes are the table next to your bed. When you finish eating, you need to get ready, I have no clue when Tribunal will officially begin but we must be ready."
I notice that midway through what I am saying that Harper is staring at me again. In fact he breifly choked on the orange he was eating. At first I am clueless but then it dawns on me. I am only wearing my towel. This time it is me who blushes. I give an embarrassed smile, wrap an arm around me to make sure the towel stays firmly in place and grab his clothes.
"Here...umm, I have to get dressed." He takes the clothes and I make a frantic dash towards my bathroom. I shut the door in a hurry. As I stand there feeling the warmness leave my cheeks I hear Harper chuckle and say, not thinking I can hear it, "Nice towel, Trance." I just shake my head, typical Harper.
Partially through my dressing I start to think about what is truly to come. Within the next few days I will be dead and I'll never see my friends ever again, I'll never see Harper again. It strikes me strange that I haven't thought about this before. My only answer is that I am trying to be strong in front of Harper even if he doesn't know what is to come. Maybe if he doesn't find out until the end, my passing will be easier.
I take a ragged breath and stopped what I'm doing. The rammifications of the days to come turn out to be a little much for me. I mean I've never truly died. This time there will be no coming back for me. I'm not afraid of dying though, no, I've seen too much death in my life to be afraid of it. What really scares me is what the others will do once I am truly gone.
Humans are a funny species. They become so attached to people, they sometimes eventually come to love them and when their loved ones die they lose all control over their emotions and their actions. I still vividly rememebr what happened in my future after Harper's death.
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Harper truly was the glue that held us together and with him gone, we slowly fell apart. Andromeda got to the point that she wouldn't allow anyone into her mainframe to fix her. She said it was Harper's job only and now that Harper was gone, no one was allowed in there no matter how damaged she was. This turned out to be more than a minor problem on a few occassions.
Rommie became colder, more machine like. That's when I realized that it was Harper that kept her human. Harper had never truly treated Rommie as a machine, he at times called her "his creation," but he meant it with pride and love. He never would let Rommie think that she was nothing more than an AI. Without him and his loving little pick-up lines and quirks she felt like nothing more than a machine who had failed her creator. Even after Dylan confessed his love to her, she just couldn't get past that she was only a machine.
Dylan couldn't get over the fact that he had lost yet another crewmemebr, but this one hurt worse than the ones he'd lost during his 300 year nap. Over the two years that Harper had be part of his crew, Dylan had truly learned that a captain's crew was more than that, they were his family. I still remember how hard it was for Dylan to get over the fact that Harper was truly gone, even after his funeral I caught Dylan calling the new engineer, Harper.
Rev had left right after Harper's funeral and I never heard from him again. He had always felt so guilty over Harper's death, thinking that he had abandoned Harper at his greatest time of need, always thinking that maybe could have stayed and done something more. The last I heard of him, Rev had secluded himself in a monestary on what we would soon discover was a dying planet.
Tyr, I had thought, took Harper's death the easiest. After the funeral, he seemed to be the same Tyr as before but slowly, I started noticing that he was becoming colder and more straight forward with his personal missions. Finally, I confronted him and that's when I discovered, Tyr hadn't taken Harper's death well at all. Over the two years together and especially after the Magog World Ship, Tyr had come to think of Harper as more than a mudfoot from Earth but as a friend and brother. To Tyr, he had just lost a member of his tribe once again, right when he thought Harper would overcome the larvea. In a way he also felt that he had failed Harper, not really ever trying to help him find a cure. To him, he had let his tribe down once again. Sadly, Tyr never really got to see his tribe reformed, we lost him on a mission that I should have stopped him from going on, another one of my mistakes, that when I returned, I fixed.
Beka, was the one, besides me, who never really got over Harper's death, having been with him longer than anyone else on the Andromeda. Harper was her little brother, someone she had promised to protect and in the end had that promise tragically shattered by the one thing she could not fix. She had protected him for so long and it killed her inside to watch him die of something that she was powerless over. I still remember how she walked around like a zombie for the week following Harper's death. Like Tyr, she too became reckless, and lost the one thing I had always admired in her, her undying spirit.
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I suddenly realize that I am crying. I can feel the warm tears rolling down my cheeks. I swipe them away and start humming "Harper's Chant." I have found that over the years it comforts me as well. I finish dressing and finish the song. After giving myself one final over look making sure Harper won't be able to see that I have been crying, I open the door and walk into an unsuspecting Harper.
Sadly, because of my newly aquired high heels, after I bump into him I start to fall backwards. Before I can hit the floor, I feel Harper's strong hands take hold of my forearms, quickly pulling me towards him and away from the ground. "Gotcha," He says as he pulls me completely up and right into his chest.
I don't know whether he meant to or not, but now Harper and I are chest to chest and looking each other in the eye. There's a moment of silence as we just look into each others eyes. Suddenly I realize that we are both unknowingly leaning into a kiss, but right as our lip brush against each other, Harper releases my arms and we both jump back in surprise of what we about did, both of us blushing this time.
Harper shoves his hands into his pockets and starts nervously rocking back and forth from heel to toe. "So, umm, what was that you were humming Trance?"
I put my hands on my hips, my fingers nervously drumming on the fabric of my dress. "Why were you listening?" Once again there is silence as we both take in the others outfit.
Harper's outfit was more fitting than I thought. Since it is what would be known as fall on my planet, Harper is wearing a golden turtleneck sweater. I keep thinking back to a similar red one I saw Dylan wearing once. Harper looks better though, the long sleeves wrapping themselves around every muscle in his arms, the ones he usually hides. The front of the sweater clinging tightly to the muscles in his chest. He's wearing black pants and boots that look like what he would wear any way. He looks almost un-Harper like, but then I look at his face and see his wonderful blue eyes, his lop-sided grin and his wild spikes and I know that it's the Harper I know and love.
He is taking in my outfit for the first time. My dress looks like those I saw in an old Holo-drama once that was about madiens and knights. It's a golden color, lighter than my own skin color. The top, seperate from the lower part of the dress, is boddice-like, reminding me once again of my fighting outfit I wore the first few months I had returned to the Andromeda. It definitely constricted certain areas, pushing them up and in. The sleeves tightly go down my arms and end(ed) at the wrist. The trim is a light blue around the wrists, neck, and bottom of the boddice, which ends in a point. The bottom of the dress flowed to the floor stopping to reveal the very tip of my high heeling knee high boots, also colored gold. My red hair is braided and wraped into a design on the back of my head.
Harper's eyes finally rise to meet mine. "Wow, Trance you look beautiful," Harper said politely. I know he really means it because when Harper gets polite and serious, he means what he says.
I smiles and say, "Well, you look quite handsome Harper."
We stand there for a few seconds until suddenly the door to our room opens and Azaelia walks in and says, almost sadly, "It's time, Trance."
I nod and give Harper a look, he nods and we leave the room heading toward two things, I to my death and Harper to the truth and the rest of his life.
TBC
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Oh, Bad HP...left ya with a cliffy! Well, I did so because I'm not sure if I'll be able to post more this weekend because I'll be gone...it being my 17th birthday Monday...I thought it be only natural that I party...sadly it is only with the supplier of my cash...my grams! So enjoy this and if I get enough replies then, maybe I pull myself away from my grand fun and post another chapter!
Now, hit that purple little button and tell me your thoughts
