Sydney Andrews – It really meant a lot to me that you liked the last chapter, because it was quite experimental (I'm forever playing with my writing style) but also, I was thinking of you when I wrote it, as you'd asked for some more information on Kiana's life, and that really inspired that chapter. So thank you again ;) Thanks for reviewing!

Bagpipes5K2 – Kiana's definitely a bit of an enigma…thanks again for betaing this chapter (hands over cookies and Neo sunglasses)

Starlite11 – Thanks! I hope I'm updating soon enough!

I'm going to take this moment to plug V for Vendetta. It really is a very good movie, and Hugo Weaving delivers a pretty outstanding performance, considering his performance is based entirely on voice and body language. I thought it was pretty fantastic, and I have a fic in the works which will be going up soon. So yeah…everyone go see it.

Also, if you like this fic, go read 'The Undiscovered Country' by Sydney Andrews because it rocks ;)

Thanks as always to Bagpipes for betaing ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter XI: Dreams

Kes' eyes flew open, and she inhaled sharply as she sat up. She couldn't remember what had happened when she was asleep, but now, she was sitting up and gasping, like she'd been drowning. What was it?

Her breathing slowed, and she forced herself to stay still and quiet. She had no idea who was sleeping and who was awake on the ship, but she didn't want to wake any of the sleepers. Too many years of living as a ship as a ship kid had drilled that into her bones. And besides, right now the quiet and solitude of her room was inviting. After her dream, any sort of peace and normality seemed inviting.

She could have turned on the light, but she didn't, instead letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, and what before had seemed like incomprehensible oblivion turned into glowing silvery shapes. She could pick out the structure of walls and furniture, even though it was all in a different place. What had happened?

Oh right. She was on the Logos. She'd never realised how comforting it was to wake up and see the same old things, the same old walls before. It wasn't ever something that had crossed her mind. You never realised what you had until it wasn't there any more.

Kes' mind flickered back to the Nebuchadnezzar. After the involuntary descent and swarms of sentinels, it was probably that everything was in ruins. It would definitely take a lot of repair work, for sure, her pragmatic mind told her. But the other part of her psyche, the sentimental part that rarely made it to the surface, was still crying about what she might have lost. It wasn't like she had a lot of stuff – there wasn't very much to be had. But she still had her treasures, the things that mattered to her if no-one else. Little things that reminded her of the life she had led.

Her breathing was slower now, relaxed and calm, though her body was still tense, and her hands clutched involuntarily at the white sheet around her, as though they were afraid of letting go.

It had to be early in the morning, she summarised. After years on a ship, things like times and

She could only remember fragments of the dream, but it was still hanging off of her like a bad smell. It was all disjointed, and fading faster with every moment that she spent in the waking world, but the feelings and emotions were still there. They wouldn't leave her any time soon.

She was walking through one of the largest and emptiest places she had ever seen. Grand caverns reached upwards, seemingly endless, but they eventually met a roof, something to remind everyone that they were still practically underground. A long platform linked up the pattern of buildings and places on the floor, crossing a gaping chasm, and lifts ran between floors. Kes could pick out all the places she had walked in the past, all of the places she had been. Though it had been over six years since she had been here, she knew precisely where she was. This was Zion – almost exactly as she remembered it. Almost. Large was an adjective that could be used to describe it, but empty certainly wasn't. Where were all the people?

She walked across the platform, her footsteps sounding surprisingly loud in the emptiness of the chasm. Though it looked the same, she knew inside that it felt different. It wasn't just the loneliness, it was everything else – it all smelt of decay and neglect. She saw particles of dust and rock grains littered over everything as though no-one had disturbed it for years. It was totally abandoned.

Kes walked slowly, noting everything that she saw. She could even feel the difference as she breathed – the dust settled at the back of her throat, making her cough, and the air felt thinner. Of course, it stood to sense that if there were no people, there would be no-one to run the machinery that produced enough oxygen – the pressure was different down here from the surface. If Kes had lived her whole life in Zion, she probably have been more used to it. As it was, in the waking world, she couldn't even breathe in it. Now though, in the dream, it was even worse. It felt like someone was standing on her chest. Everything reeked of neglect and abandonment and rot to the point that she couldn't breathe.

Suddenly, amongst all of the decay and stillness, Kes saw something move. Instinctively she froze, looking on the floor for a weapon, something to defend herself with. She didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling. Like something big and unstoppable was about to happen.

Shadows and shapes swirled in front of her, obscured by dust. Everything seemed to shift through this fog, but Kes knew for sure that there was something in front of her, something living. The bad feeling was still sinking through her gut, and she tried to ignore it, focusing entirely on the task at hand.

The figure ahead of her turned around. At first Kes thought that there was a mirror or something there, because the figure seemed to be her height, with dark hair, like her. But as it turned, she could see how wrong she was. This person was skinnier than her, almost gaunt, and the hair, whilst it was the right colour, was shorter than hers. But the similarity of the face couldn't be ignored, with pale skin covering high cheekbones and strong features. It could have been Kes. But it wasn't.

It was Kiana.

Kes knew that, even with Kiana's new black hair, because something inside of her fell like a stone, confirming all of her suspicions.

And Kes knew that Kiana had done something. Because of the blood that was covering her hands, staining her clothes. There was blood on her hands. And, just as Kes knew that Kiana was responsible, she also knew what would happen because of her.

Someone would die because of her.

Kes could feel her anger, welling up within her at the sight of the blood, at the thought of a life erased by someone else, but also, a quiet fear gripped her heart. She wasn't sure where she was, whether she was asleep or awake, but that didn't stop her fear of death being very real.

A strange compulsion though, suddenly mounted within her. It was like curiosity and a swift understanding melded together, and Kes found it taking place of her fear. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed Kiana's bloody hand.

Fire raced through her palm, and an acidic sensation burnt into her bones. Kes yanked her hand away, and, on impulse, looked up into Kiana's eyes, searching for an answer. But there were no eyes. Shadows gathered around her eyes sockets, and Kes couldn't make out any difference between the deep silhouette of her eye and her actual eyeballs. But what she could see were glistening tears, like diamonds ready to fall.

The pain was sublime, and even though some part of Kes knew that it was only a dream, she honestly thought that she might pass out. She could barely feel anything anymore except the pain in her arm and hand, and slowly the world around her, Zion, Kiana and the empty platform, slowly crumbled, shattering under her feet. Green code flew in front of her eyes, inscriptions that she could barely make out. It ran down like rain, rain under her eyelids. It was moving so fast that she could only make out a few concepts from the code: destruction…mystery…legacy…birth...

But there was one that stood out in front of her eyes, as though it was the one she was meant to see: twin. Twin. The word imprinted itself into her brain as though it was the greatest obscenity possible, and she couldn't ever forget it. It filled her mind, and she realised that she was falling.

It was at that point that she woke up, a scream that echoed in her ears, not her scream, but someone else's, and it was at once both new and familiar. Kes strained to hear it, to hold onto that note of anguish in the hope of identifying it, but sensation raced through her body, not ethereal feelings, but the reality of her waking life. She was awakening from the dream, and the scream was disappearing, falling into the void…

Jesus…Now, back in her room aboard the Logos, Kes took a deep breath of gratefulness and anxiety. She very rarely dreamed. Not unless it was something dark and traumatic and something that she could easily associate with her own life. She wasn't used to having strangely symbolic dreams that seemed to be omens of how screwed up her subconscious was. And usually she was too tired to think about anything other than sleep, let alone dream, and she practically never remembered them anyway. It was the most infuriating feeling; when she woke up, just on the cusp of remembering the dream, with emotions and images hanging off of her, and the dream simply slipped away into a discarded memory that she could no longer access. It was infuriating, but it was better than remembering a dream that scared her out of her wits.

New pain racked through her arm. The burn was rubbing against the sheet, sending sparks of pain down her arm, into her hand. Kes rubbed it thoughtfully. That was the acidic pain in the dream, the searing blood. Still, it had felt so real…

Kes closed her eyes, trying to block the images from her mind, but to no avail. She couldn't even convince herself that it was meaningless, because in her heart of hearts, she knew better. Ever since that blood test, she'd known the truth, and though she'd tried to pretend otherwise, she couldn't hide it from herself much longer.

If Kiana was a match for her and her parents, she had to be related to her. It was as simple as that. The probability of a mistake was tiny, and Kes knew it. She hadn't got the heart to delude herself anyway. It was all so dark and confused and mixed-up that she felt like she would never feel straightened out again.

The worst part was, she couldn't even tell anyone. She couldn't tell Kiana, she had no idea of what was going on in Kes' head. She couldn't tell Morpheus or anyone, because that would definitely make her sound crazy. She certainly couldn't tell her parents – well, she could, but she wouldn't. It was too much to drop on them, too much for anyone to try and comprehend. Kes wasn't even sure she understood it, but she knew the core of the truth; Kiana was her sister. There was no doubt about it. There was only the how and the why to contend with now.

Kes had the feeling that there was something she had forgotten, or overlooked, but she couldn't place it. And it was too early in the morning and there was too much else for her to worry about for her to put any great cognitive power into figuring out what she'd forgotten.

The problem was, she had no idea how to contend with it. She wouldn't be able to investigate any further without someone else finding out, and then there would be hell to pay. She knew that she couldn't keep this a secret forever, but she had no idea how to explain this to everyone. And her brush with death and the death of those she cared about not twelve hours ago had made her long for security, the sort she used to have when she was a kid. The simple, child-like naiveté that everything would be alright, that all danger and uncertainty was temporary. But she was fifteen, and way too old to even pretend to hang onto that sort of innocence. She had to deal with this, because no-one else would.

It was all too much. Kes put her hot head down on her cool hands and closed her eyes, hoping for dreamless sleep.

Please review!