Sorry for the long delay. Life has this weird tendency to throw work at you whenever you really don't need it. Anyway, here's a new chapter. Have fun.
Chapter 21
Even in the Best Families...
"Sarah?" Jim asked his lover with a worried expression on his face. "Are you okay?" But Sarah wouldn't answer that. She simply stood there, in the middle of the corridor, her hands wrapped around an Ihan crystal. No, not just any Ihan crystal. It was the crystal that had changed Jim's life in a tremendous way. That thing had saved his butt two times. The first time when it had told him that saving Sarah from what Arcturus' betrayal had caused. And the second time when Zeratul's memories had helped him to fix Sarah after they had met again.
"That's new." Joseph mumbled while looking at the scene right in front of him. "Did they do that before?"
"No..." Jim whispered. Sarah's expression was calm and serene. The Ihan crystal in her hands was pulsing in the same rhythm as her breath. She wasn't the only one holding it, though. Paula held it in her hands as well. As for her expression, well...
"Eggh...ghaaaa...ecchhh..." The weirdest sounds left Jim's daughter's throat while she was...he couldn't even tell. Unlike Sarah, who appeared calm and composed, Paula's mouth twitched all the time, her tongue was hanging out, and drool was dripping from her chin. Seriously, she looked as if she was having a seizure right now.
"You know..." Joseph mused. "...usually it's hard to tell that Paula is your kid, Jim, since she looks so much like her mother. But I must admit: Right now she's your spitting image."
"Not funny, Joseph." Jim growled.
"Depends on who you're asking." Joseph replied before leaning forward and studying the crystal the both Kerrigans were currently holding in their hands before scratching his chin. "Hmmm, so that's an Ihan crystal? I gotta say, I've never seen one up close before. Say, is this the crystal that I heard so much about? The one that guy Zeratul had given to you?" he asked. Joseph had only heard those stories from Jim and Izsha, about how Zeratul had saved their butts on several occasions, both the real one and the mental clone that had resided in Jim's mind for years.
As for Sarah?
Well, she once had told Joseph that if you have nothing nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all. Which pretty much summed up how she felt about the Dark Prelate. Even after 1000 years she still held a grudge. It was one of the many reasons why Joseph Brent liked Sarah Kerrigan so much. That, and the fact that she had allowed him to cultivate his weirdness for the last one thousand years.
"Are they...what are those two doing with it anyway? Watching a movie?" the sickly-looking man mumbled.
"Basically, yes." Jim confirmed. "Zeratul stored some of his memories inside that crystal, about how he discovered the truth behind Amon." Even though it happened such a long time ago, Jim still remembered most of it. Right now his mind was torn between two questions. Was there something inside this crystal he didn't want Paula to see? And the other question was: What the hell was Paula trying to do with this crystal anyway?
The second question was one that he couldn't answer right now. All Jim could hope for was that Sarah would talk some sense into their daughter. He had no doubt that she was currently somehow communicating with Paula. As for the first question, well...
There were things inside this crystal that even he didn't want to see anymore. Death and destruction, carnage everywhere. A depressing vision of a potential future, and even though this version of the future had not come into being, that didn't mean that it was nice to look at. And let's not forget about the Queen of Blades...
"Aw shi...shhhhhii...sshhhhhh..." Jim tried to curse, yet all he managed to do was to stutter and gargle as if he was having a seizure.
"Well, at least we now know that Sarah's still around and that her no-cursing-policy is still in effect." Joseph mused. "Hmm, maybe we should touch the crystal and see what's happOUCH!" He was about to touch the crystal when suddenly a black and scaly appendage came around and slapped him on his hand. Hard.
"Do not interfere with her Majesty's...whatever she's doing." Izsha explained. "And stop touching things. Any things. At all." Further back stood Sirella. She was too scared to come closer, yet at the same time she didn't want to be alone. Which was completely understandable. Even though Jim was worried about his family, he still noticed that they were one man short. Or two, to be more precise. But he was pretty certain that Tesson was currently having the time of his life.
"Hey, where's the Professor?" he wanted to know.
"Left him in the cafeteria." Joseph replied before he reached out with his hand once more, only for it to be slapped away by Izsha yet again.
"No."
"But I just want to touch it!"
"You will not touch the crystal, Joseph."
"Not even a tiny bit?"
"Not even a tiny bit." Izsha confirmed.
"Could you two please zip it?!" Jim barked. While he usually didn't care much about their weird relationship, except for the fact that he didn't want to know any details, he just wanted them to be quiet right now. This was about his family and as long as he didn't know what was going on, he reserved the right to freak out at any given time to himself. Old and ancient memories started to reemerge. Like when Sarah had returned to him after defeating Amon. How they had struggled to put her mind back together, how it had nearly destroyed both of them. All Jim could do was to hope that something like that wasn't happening right now. Sarah had always told him that Paula was easily as powerful as she was, and he had always feared that she too might one day experience something like her mother had. His wife had always reassured him that the chances for that would be strictly theoretical since unlike Sarah, Paula's mind had never been torn apart and reassembled several times over. She had been allowed to grow and mature on her own.
That didn't mean that Jim wasn't worried. It's not something he could just switch off.
"Sarah, what is this?" he whispered, hoping for an answer from her inside her mind. But this time Sarah remained silent. Sadly, the same couldn't be said about the other ones.
"Maybe we should get back up?" Sirella whined in the background.
"No. We shall stay here and guard her Majesty and Paula." Izsha replied.
"Maybe we should touch the crystal." Joseph mused.
"We already had this argument, Joseph. You will not touch the crystal. We do not know what is inside." When Jim heard that, his eyes widened. Of course!
"You might not." he explained before he made a step forward. "But I do." And so he touched the crystal, closed his eyes...
"Uhm...Jim?" Joseph asked after a while yet the other man didn't answer. Joseph pushed Jim a bit. No reaction. "He touched the crystal."
"I noticed." Izsha replied.
"Can I now touch the crystal too?"
"No."
"You never let me do something fun anymore..." Joseph whispered.
"What was that?" his favorite (and strange) lady replied.
"Nothin'!"
Jim was a simple man, with simple hopes and dreams. He had learned a long time ago that those dreams were usually the ones that were the hardest to realize. But even though he was a man of simple hopes and dreams, he was no simpleton. He had spent the ages well to learn new concepts, to understand how this universe was working. If you live a life as long as he had, then you either grow very bored, very evil, or adequately smart.
Most of the time he didn't even really feel the ages resting upon his shoulders. And he had stopped wondering if living beyond the age of a mortal man was something that should be allowed to happen. It was just the way things were, end of story.
So yeah, he had done his best to pull his weight those last couple of...centuries. Geez, now that he thought about it, it felt weird. Yes, the work-load between him and Sarah was pretty clear. She was doing all the heavy lifting while he was...doing everything else. Perhaps it was the proof that the universe did indeed have a sense of humor that Jim was still as psionically gifted as a brick, even though he was connected to the most powerful psionic being ever to exist. Jim liked to think that he was the anchor that kept Sarah grounded. She sure liked to tell that to him, and he had chosen to believe her.
You don't stick around a guy for over 1000 years if you don't like him.
For a man of his age, Jim usually knew how to keep his calm. And if you have lived as long as he had, there's almost nothing that can scare you anymore.
Unless you are James Raynor and your kid is in danger, in that case he will simply freak out, no matter when, where, and who is involved.
Paula was his only child. And unlike Sarah, he knew what it was like to lose a child. So while he tried his best to not be an overprotective monster-dad, he just couldn't hide his worries whenever Paula was doing something reckless and stupid. There was some irony involved, given the fact that he had caused his parents nothing but headaches when he had been a child, and later on a young man.
Jim felt an unpleasant sense of vertigo when his mind entered the Ihan crystal. One that he had felt before, mind you. But it had happened so long ago that he had almost forgotten about it.
Living such a long life had changed Jim's mind. No other human had ever experienced anything like that, no other than him, Sarah and, well, Joseph. Protoss were used to live for hundreds of years, and their brains were huge. So they could remember all so much more than a human, even with their longer lifespan. The trick was to only keep those memories that truly mattered. He couldn't remember all the names of the people that had fought at his side during the Great War, except the ones that had been really important to him. And he couldn't remember just how many worlds he had visited by now.
He could, however, remember every birthday of Paula.
Every time Sarah had fallen asleep inside his arms.
Every time Joseph had proudly presented another one of his daughters to them.
And no, Jim couldn't name them all.
So when his mind was confronted with the inner workings of the Ihan crystal, he was actually surprised when he realized that he knew exactly what was about to happen next.
The only problem was that while he knew what was about to happen, he could no longer really remember how it was going to happen. So, when he opened his eyes and suddenly realized that he was standing up to the ankles in creep while there was a goddamn Hydralisk right in front of him, he knew that he was in deep trouble.
"Oh shoot."
Bleak. That was perhaps the best way to describe this place. Bleak and hopeless.
"Oh my gosh..." Paula whispered as she walked through the grass. She didn't even try to hide her uneasiness. Next to her, Sarah didn't seem to be fazed by anything she was currently seeing.
"You've been to Aiur before." Paula's mother mused. "Why are you so shocked?" They had decided to move on. Seeing herself as the Queen of Blades had been not very pleasant, so Sarah had been relieved when her child had decided to push forward to see what else had been left behind by Zeratul when he had stored his memory inside the crystal.
"Yeah, but it looks so different!" Paula mumbled. "It sounds different too. As if this whole place is..."
"Dead?" Sarah offered, which caused her daughter to nod. In front of them was none other than Zeratul himself. Or at least his memory. Sarah knew this memory only from Jim, who had told her about the Ihan crystal many times, and what he had seen inside it. From time to time the dark vision that lay further ahead even fueled his rare nightmares. Even though she didn't like this place, Sarah realized that this was a unique opportunity. Besides, even though she didn't really agree with her daughter's plan, or the promise she had given to a certain someone, she would not take this away from Paula.
"...yes." the younger Kerrigan replied. "Was Aiur really like this when the Swarm attacked?" Sarah shrugged her shoulders when she heard that question.
"Dunno. Actually, I've never been to Aiur myself. You have to ask your father about that. Maybe Karax can answer that question too." Aiur was a beautiful world. Lush, with dense and near-endless rain-forests. It was brimming with bio-mass, one of the reasons why the Zerg had been able to multiply like crazy. To them, Aiur had been an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
As they were following Zeratul, Sarah wasn't really paying attention to their surroundings. Even though it felt surprisingly real, even down to the smell, she knew that it was just a construct with a crystal. To anyone who didn't possess her abilities, this place probably looked and felt like the real deal.
"Just look at those ruins. Man, this place looks so scary..." Paula whispered. She was so preoccupied with staring at the landscape that she didn't even realize when the ground beneath them started to change. Not until...
"Gha! Oh, gross! What is that?!" she yelled and looked around. Without noticing it she had stepped into something cold, wet and slimy. "Is that creep?!"
"Come on, don't be such a baby." Sarah chuckled as she simply moved on. "You know creep."
"Yeah, but warm creep. This stuff is cold!" However, Paula still decided to follow her mother. And Zeratul. "Uh...I'm not going to like this, am I? Is this one of those huge battles Dad always tells me about? Am I about to see countless dead? Didn't we skip a memory?"
"I want to check something out." Sarah explained. "Your father told me about this place many times. You wanted to find this crystal, you wanted to find this place. Now it is only fair that I show you something memorable."
"I'm not gonna like it, am I?"
"Probably not. I want you to meet someone who had a big impact on me when I was younger. But hey, relax: The bastard is long dead."
"Bastard?" Paula mumbled. "Who are you talking about?"
"Just wait and see." And so Paula did as she was told, which was quite the feat for her. Eventually, Zeratul and her mother parted ways, however, and Paula hesitated for a moment.
"But...shouldn't we, like, follow him?"
"He won't be going nowhere. I want to show you something, but first we need to get someone else. Someone who actually might end up hurting himself by accident."
"But-" Paula tried to protest.
"Don't worry, I won't make you break your promise. Even though I wish you hadn't..." Sarah growled, more annoyed than actually angry. Still, Paula wanted to be certain about that.
"Are you...angry?"
"Slightly." her mother confirmed her suspicions. "Mostly annoyed though. I would like to tell you to just ditch that promise, but I'm afraid that you come after your father in that regard and you just won't listen to me anyway. So even though I'm not happy about it, I won't ruin this for you either." That's when Sarah stopped and looked her daughter into the eyes. "However, I want to make this unequivocally clear: I'm not going to help you with your plan. And I'm not going to tell the others either. They will be worried like crazy, especially your father. But you will have to explain it to them."
"...o-okay." Paula mumbled. Instead of offering her usual warm smile to her daughter, Sarah just shook her head, sighed, and moved on. "Still, of all the people in the galaxy, you had to make a promise to him? Ugh...to think that he would ask something like that of you..."
"Actually..." her daughter said quietly, which caused Sarah to stop again and stare at her daughter in disbelief.
"Don't tell me you suggested it to him." Yet she received no answer, which was all the answer she needed. "Oh no, you suggested it to him, didn't you? And he accepted that? Just like that?!" Again no answer. "Paula..."
"Well..."
"Paula Izsha Kerrigan, out with it!"
"...I...may have not received an answer at all." Paula admitted.
"She's your child, Jim." Sarah growled and simply moved on.
"That's a good thing, right?" her daughter chuckled but received no answer. With Zeratul gone, all Paula could do was to follow her mother. And while this place was in fact just a memory, she still made sure to stay as close to Sarah as possible. Given her unique upbringing and her family background, it seemed surprising that Paula acted highly uncomfortable as they walked through the mental image of a Zerg-hive.
"What's the matter?" Sarah asked. "You know what a hive looks like. If I remember correctly, then you even had creepball-fights with Niadra." Well, since it wasn't snowing on their homeworld, they had to come up with other means to do ridiculous things.
"That was different..." Paula mumbled and slung her arms around that of her mother, making sure to stay as close as possible. "This place...looks like a scene from a horror movie." Indeed it was. The twilight of the night was further enhanced by thick rain clouds hanging in the sky, only to be interrupted by flashes of lightning illuminating the landscape every now and then, creating a ghostly image for the fraction of seconds. The ruins that made most of their surroundings were bad enough. This place looked as if it had abandoned centuries ago. But the fact that there was creep everywhere made it even worse. Strangely enough they didn't see any Zerg. At least at first. When they spotted them, Paula had a hard time making them out in the distance.
"Are those...is that...are they...?"
"Overlords, yes. Boy, I forgot how ugly they were." Sarah sighed. They were indeed overlords. Many of them. They were floating within a huge crevice, seemingly taking refuge from the thunder. Which seemed odd.
"Are they hiding?" Paula wanted to know.
"They float by storing gas inside their bodies that is lighter than air." Sarah explained. "Hydrogen mostly. You know what happens if a hydrogen-filled balloon is hit by a bolt of lightning? It ain't pretty, trust me."
"I had no idea..." her daughter whispered.
"How could you? I forbade Niadra to grow overlords so her brood wouldn't grow too big."
"And because they poop creep everywhere, right?" When Sarah heard that, she sighed once more.
"Yes, and because they poop creep everywhere." Which could ruin every beach.
"So, what did you want to show me?" Paula mumbled after a while.
"History."
Like said: Paula knew how a Zerg-hive looked like. But somehow this place looked downright...
"...evil." the young woman whispered.
"What did you say?" her mother wanted to know.
"This place. It looks...evil." Paula explained. Instead of laughing or telling her daughter that she was imagining things, Sarah stopped and looked around. There, in the distance, she could make out some more Zerg; Hydralisks and Zerglings, heading out, probably on their way to kill Protoss.
Paula had seen Zerg. And she had seen Protoss. But she had never actually watched how Protoss and Zerg were beating the living hell out of each other. At least not here, during her time. Her journey to the past didn't really matter since she had arrived there long after the final battle between Amon and the (mostly) united Koprulu Sector. Paula had only heard stories about the Great War, and how the three species had waged war upon each other in numbers that people can't even imagine anymore. That didn't mean that this time was free of violent conflicts. But the Great War had been the biggest martial conflict known to man, Protoss and Zerg.
Perhaps the biggest difference was that the Zerg that Paula saw right now weren't a species of sentient beings that balanced both individuality and a swarm-intelligence at the same time, but the most formidable weapon in all of history; a gigantic killing machine, made out of countless claws and teeth.
And Hydralisks. Boy, were there many Hydralisks!
Nowadays there weren't any Hydralisks anymore. Paula didn't really know why, perhaps they had just reached their usefulness a long time ago. The young Kerrigan had never truly understood why her father had always told her about those horrible Hydralisks since there were a lot of scary creatures among the Swarm. But she had to admit; now that she saw them in this place, Paula could see why people had feared them more than other members of the Swarm.
They were horrendous!
Paula's mother didn't seem to share her sentiments. As they approached a group of mentioned Hydralisks, the older Kerrigan hummed something.
"Don't tell your dad, but this makes me feel a bit nostalgic." Sarah sighed.
"Oh, you can count on me not telling Dad. He would freak out." Paula muttered.
"Meh, he's freaking out as we speak. Doesn't take much to make him do that nowadays. He used to be much more relaxed. If you ask me, then he's too focused on all of his art."
"But...didn't you tell him that you loved his art?"
"Yeah. But your father has an unhealthy habit of overdoing things. Ride a horse until it's dead, and then ride it some more, just because he can." Sarah explained.
"I hear this from the first time..." Paula whispered. "So you and Dad...argued?"
"Hahahaha!" Sarah suddenly burst out in laughter. "Oh, my dear daughter, is that concern I hear in your voice? Worried that your parents are not talking to each other?"
"Maybe?" Paula's honesty was refreshing. And so Sarah sighed and stopped before she looked her daughter straight into the eyes.
"I must admit that I don't like that little plan of yours. Nor do I like the fact that you made a promise to that guy. Seriously, from all the people in this galaxy that have been a pain in my...foot, he was the biggest one." Sarah mused.
"Even bigger than Mengsk?" Paula asked. Instead of receiving an answer, all that Sarah did was to produce an annoyed growl. She then took a deep breath and shook her head.
"All that time, I think it has done something to the others. They don't see the beauty of the world right in front of them anymore." Sarah explained. "I tried to tell them but they just won't listen. They are circling around me like I'm the sun and they are planets. And quite frankly? It's getting annoying."
"So that's why you are going to help me?" Paula wanted to know, which earned her an arrogant smirk of her mother.
"I'm not helping you. I'm just gonna let you off the hook. Those are two different things." her mother corrected her. "Also, I expect something in return."
"And what would that be?"
"Make your father sweat." Sarah declared. "Speaking of which." She then raised her hand and signaled Paula to be quiet. The younger Kerrigan frowned and was about to ask what her mother was trying to tell her until-
"...aarraaaaaaahhhh!" you could hear the faint voice of a man in the distance.
"Is that...Dad?" Paula gasped. And that's when she saw him. From their positions, they could overlook the nearby hive. And in the distance you could actually see a small figure running past a bunch of, you guessed it, Hydralisks.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Sarah sighed. "He should know that this is not reality. I mean, he saw all of this before. Either your father is getting senile or he really has lost his edge." Both women looked at Jim running around like a headless chicken for a while until Paula started to feel bad.
"Shouldn't we, I don't know, help him?"
"Why? None of this is real." her mother replied. "He will be fine. Come on, there's something I want to show you first." And so Sarah turned around and walked into the other direction while her illustrious knight in shining armor was having one panic attack after the other. It was the moment where Paula wondered herself if her mother was actually angry at her father.
The answer to Paula's question was: No. Sarah wasn't angry at Jim. Annoyed, yes. But not angry. As the two Kerrigans moved on, Paula did her best to stay as close to her mother as possible. Yeah, she knew that none of this was real. It didn't change the fact that it was scary as hell though.
"I'm so glad these things aren't around anymore..." Paula muttered as another Hydralisk slithered past them.
"Who knows, maybe there are still some of 'em around." her mother replied.
"But you told Niadra to not breed any Hydralisks anymore as well. Why?"
"Eh', mostly because of your father. Back in the day, it was hard enough for him to have Zerg as neighbors. But the very idea that there were Hydralisks among them was enough to make him freak out all the time. And, you know, with me being pregnant and all, he was just scared that something bad would happen, like Niadra losing control over her brood or anything like that." Sarah explained. "So I urged her to keep her brood small and well-mannered."
"Huh..." Paula wondered. "...Zerglings are still a thing. I know that the Swarm still uses them."
"Oh really? And how do you know that, hmm? Paula, have you been to a world ruled by Zerg?" her mother cooed and the young woman blushed hard when she realized that she was about to talk herself into a very dangerous situation. While Sarah had no problems with visiting a world swarming with Zerg, she knew that something like that would drive Jim up the wall.
Then again, he was absolutely fine with the fact that his daughter was visiting worlds inhabited by Protoss almost on a daily basis.
"I...uhm...Izsha told me?" Paula mumbled. It was the most pitiful excuse in the history of lame excuses and there was no doubt that her mother saw right through it. Yet all Sarah did was to smile.
"Well, I guess I have to talk with Izsha then." Sarah teased her child. "Tell her to not put any weird ideas in your head. At least no additional weird ideas. Perhaps I have to punish Izsha for that..." None of that was true. Besides, the days where Sarah could even dream about punishing Izsha were long gone. If anything than her closest friend would probably just use this opportunity to whip the former Queen of Blades into proper shape. For all of Izsha's words of wisdom (and denial), a part of Sarah was still not sure wherever her friend didn't want to restore the Swarm to its former glory again.
"Uh...on second thought..." Sarah's daughter whispered when she realized that her words might lead to problems for Izsha. Sarah stopped and looked into her daughter's eyes.
"Yes? Is there something you want to tell me? Hmm?" Like, for example, that Paula hadn't heard about Zerglings being still a thing from Izsha, but had seen it with her own two eyes when she had visited those Zerg-worlds herself.
"...It wasn't Auntie Izsha..." the young woman admitted
, only to come up with another lame excuse. "...it was Uncle Joe?"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sarah burst out in laughter when she heard that. In the distance you could hear the screams of none other than James Raynor, running for his dear life. "Oh, that's what I love about you and your father, Paula. The two of you are the worst liars of all time. Come on, we are close."
"Close to what?" a confused Paula replied yet her mother didn't answer that question. They climbed a small cliff that was covered with creep. Though something was wrong about this specific creep. At first Paula didn't realize what it was. But then it dawned on her...
Creep, real creep, was less disgusting than most people think. It is a living organism. And, like every living organism, it needs to be treated in a very specific way. Setting it on fire, bomb it or rolling with a tank over it usually leads to injuries, which in return make the creep react violently by spilling secretions. That's when things get slimy. Healthy and uninjured creep was actually some good fun. It was like walking on warm rubber.
But, as already mentioned, creep was a living organism. And what happens if you don't treat an organism right?
It gets sick.
"What the...?" Paula whispered when her foot touched the creep beneath her. There was a squishy sound and some slime blubbered around her shoe. The creep itself looked pale. And...sick.
"I'd strongly suggest that you won't use creep that looks like this for creepball-fights." Sarah explained when she noticed her daughter's confusion.
"What is wrong with it?"
"It's sick."
"Sick?" Paula wondered. "How can creep be sick? A poison?"
"Sepsis." Sarah told her as she approached a nearby cliff. "Caused by necrosis." And when she reached the cliff, she looked at something in the distance and her mood suddenly turned sour.
"Must be something huge to cause creep to react like this." her daughter mused.
"If you want to see the one who caused it: There it is." Sarah replied and pointed at some weird formation on the other side of the cliff. Paula turned her attention away from the creep towards the thing in the distance. She squinted her eyes and tried to spot the cause of the creep's demise, yet she couldn't make out whatever her mother was pointing at.
"I can't see it, is it hiding inside that mountain?"
"That is no mountain, Paula." was all Sarah replied. And only then Paula realized that the thing on the other side of the cliff was indeed not a mountain.
"What..." she whispered as her eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "...is that?"
"That, my dearest daughter..." Sarah sighed. "...is the Overmind."
"Be honest: Is anyone else bored by this?" Joseph asked as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"No." Izsha replied truthfully.
"We've been staring at them for what now? Three hours? Come on! Can I at least touch the crystal? I want to know what's going on in there too!"
"Joseph, what did I tell you about touching things that are not yours or glow?" Izsha wanted to know and looked over her shoulder, which caused Joseph to look away in embarrassment.
"Not to touch them." the sickly-looking man replied. But that wasn't enough for Izsha.
"And?" she asked.
"And...not lick it."
"Good. Now keep watching. We might intervene should the situation arise." Sarah's closest friend declared. It wasn't exactly what Joseph wanted to hear though.
"I think they're fine. Look at them. One big happy family." Joseph explained. Sarah, Jim and Paula were all touching the Ihan crystal. Aside from that, they weren't doing anything though. It was as if they were frozen in time. They were breathing, but that was pretty much all they did. Well, aside from drooling and twitching from time to time. At least that was what Paula and Jim were doing. "I really don't see why we have to look after them. Sarah probably got this anyway. I mean, what can we do out here anyway?"
"Be supportive." came Izsha's answer.
"Lady, we are talking about Sarah here. Wherever we stand here and stare at her and her drooling family or some squidfish farts in the sea, it will probably make no difference."
"If you do not want to stay, then you can leave." Izsha simply declared, which caused her unlikely spouse to sigh. She looked at him and frowned, realizing that he wanted to get something off his chest. "What is it?" When Joseph heard Izsha's question, he seemed to struggle to find the right answer.
"It's just...don't you want to check this thing out? You know, just you and me? Like in old times? Some quality-time?" The tone in Joseph's voice was almost pleading.
"I will not have sex with you in this place, Joseph." was Izsha's serious reply.
"That...ugh...that was not what I was trying to say." Joseph groaned. There was some frustration in his voice. "It's just...we haven't done anything together in quite some time. You know, stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Yeah, stuff! Like, I don't know...remember when I helped you finding material for the Zerg-exhibit on Earth? Or when we rewrote the historical documents in the archives on Korhal to make the Zerg look like the true heroes of the Great War?"
"You did what?!" a new voice suddenly interrupted them. Both Izsha and Joseph turned their heads around and looked at Sirella, who they had completely forgotten about.
"Whatever this man has just said..." Izsha simply explained. "...don't listen to any of it."
Right...
"This man. Ain't that just sweet..." Joseph griped, which earned him the attention of Izsha once more.
"What was that?" she asked him.
"Nothing." he sighed and dropped his shoulders. "Listen, Izsha, all I want to say: Once this is over, maybe you and I can do something together? Something fun? And maybe something that involves our daughters?"
"Why?" Izsha wanted to know.
"Because your daughters miss you? Because you are hardly around anymore? Because they learned so many new things! Because they are a huge help, not just to me, but to Karax too."
"As it should be." was Izsha's only reply. Joseph actually clenched his hands into fists as he was forcing himself to keep his composure.
"Our youngest daughter hasn't even seen you ever since she hatched. She hardly remembers how you look!" he protested.
"Our daughters maintain their very own collective mind. They all share their memories. Therefore Sarah Number 479-"
"Dolores. Her name is Dolores." Joseph corrected her.
"...is not required to see me in order to know how I look like." Izsha completed her sentence without even missing a heartbeat. Only then she seemed to notice Joseph's anger. "Is something the matter? Are you in pain?"
"What would you know about that, huh?" he whispered before he turned around and simply stomped away. "Better go look after the Prof. Don't want him to die of heart failure all of the sudden." The way he pronounced heart failure left no doubts about who he was actually referring to. Unfortunately, if there was one thing that Izsha had always sucked at, then it was subtle accusations.
"A sound move. We wouldn't want to burden her Majesty with such a situation." was all Izsha said. For a second it seemed as if Joseph was about to say something, but then he just growled something that couldn't even be called "language" and was on his way. Izsha made no effort to follow him. Instead, she simply decided to watch over Sarah, Jim and Paula.
Sirella watched all of it but didn't dare to say anything or get involved. Still, being all alone with Izsha right now proved to be highly unnerving.
"Pssst..." she suddenly heard something behind her. When she didn't react...
"Pssst...Sirella..." She looked over her shoulder and could see how something vanished in a nearby corridor. Someone was hiding in the darkness. For the fraction of a second she feared that it was another tentacle-monster with teeth for eyes or something like that. But she was relieved she noticed a human hand waving at her from the darkness.
Sirella looked at Izsha, who was still completely focused on Sarah and her family.
"Pssst, Sirella! Over here..." That voice...sounded like Paula's? How was that even possible? Sirella looked back at the three people holding the Ihan crystal. There was no doubt about it, Paula was still standing over there. But how...?
"I...uhm..." Unsure of what to do next, Sirella did the most reasonable thing. She hesitated.
"Is something the matter, Sirella?" Izsha then suddenly asked as she turned her attention towards the young Protoss.
"N-no!" Sirella gasped. "Everything's fine, there's just...I think I saw someone over there and-"
"If you want to leave and follow Joseph, feel free to do so." Izsha interrupted her. "You don't have to make up stories." At first Sirella felt the urge to protest, but then she realized that the figure in the darkness was still beckoning her to come closer. Oh, she was so going to regret this...
"O-okay. I think...I'll do that." Sirella mumbled and walked towards the corridor where the dark figure was waiting for her.
"Joseph went that way." Izsha informed her and pointed in the other direction.
"I, uhm, I want to take the scenic route." Lamest. Excuse. Ever.
"Very well." Izsha merely replied. "Don't get lost."
Sirella was too perplexed by the fact that Izsha was actually not suspicious at all to notice that the figure that had been waiting in the shadows was still waiting for her right around the corner. And by the fact that the figure was actually Kerrigan.
Only not Paula...
"How...what...huh?!" Sirella gasped as she looked down at Sarah Kerrigan.
"Sirella, a word please?" Paula's mother cooed. Instead of answering that question, Sirella leaned back and looked around the corner, only to spot Sarah in the distance, still holding the crystal alongside her family. She looked back at Sarah right in front of her, then at the one in the distance, and then at the one in front of her once more before-
"Is something the matter?" Izsha asked when she noticed that Sirella was still not gone.
"I...no. Everything is...I don't even know anymore." That's when the Sarah right in front of her, the one hidden from Izsha's sight, smiled and gestured the young Protoss to come closer.
"Come on, I would like to ask a favor of you." Sarah explained. With nothing else to do, Sirella simply decided to follow her. And when they were finally out of Izsha's sight, she asked the one question that mattered most.
"How...how can you be at two places at once?!"
"Whadda'ya mean?" Sarah Kerrigan asked. "I'm a woman, I can multi-task." Before Sirella could ask if Sarah was actually serious about that, the redhead simply continued to talk to the young Protoss. "Sirella, I would like to ask a favor of you, if that's okay."
"Does it involve scary stuff?" the young Protoss wanted to know.
"No. Don't worry, it's nothing scary. On the contrary, I just want to make sure that nothing else will go wrong." Sarah explained. "I just would like you to get the Professor and take him back to the camp with the others waiting topside. Just tell them that there are monsters down here, that should scare them off."
"There are monsters down here!" Sirella whined.
"All the more better, that means you don't have to lie to them." Sarah replied. Right now she sounded exactly like Paula...
"O-okay. If that means that I get out of here."
"That's the spirit, girl!" the redhead replied and grinned like an idiot. "Just don't waste too much time please. I want to get this over with quickly." Oh, that didn't sound good.
"Why? Are you planning on doing something?" the Protoss wanted to know.
"You could say that. Here's a tip: If you don't know how to solve a problem in a civilized manner, just escalate the situation until one side yields." Sarah explained.
"And if no side yields?" When Sirella asked that question, a downright vicious grin appeared on Sarah's face.
"Oh, that's when things get interesting!"
Pain. So much pain. Right now it was worse than usual. It had been able to ignore most of the pain when it had slept, when it had dreamed of better days. At least it believed that. In its dreams, it could remember things. Names. Places. Faces.
A man. Highly decorated. A trusted friend to someone. Gerard...
...an impossible mission. A traitor among them. An insane plan, suggested by a madman. Duran...
No, not Duran. Narud...
Pain. And then betrayal. Followed by even more pain. And then...the sweet release of death.
After that...nothing.
Until suddenly...
...alive again. The pain returned. This time it stayed. The own body, used for experiments. Mutated. Changed. Mutilated. No man. No Zerg. Something in between.
A monster...
And a name. As it roared out in pain and stumbled through the dark corridors of its own grave, it could the name over and over again inside its mind.
Stukov. Stukov. Stukov. Stukov. Stukov. Stukov.
What did it mean?
Who was Stukov?
"GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the creature roared, producing an inhuman scream. So loud, so many thoughts, all of them causing it horrible pain. It remembered. Remembered the past of when it had been something different, something better. A being. A human. No. These memories were too painful. It wanted to get rid of them. It wanted to go back to sleep, to be free of all that pain!
The creature formerly known as Alexei Stukov tumbled through the darkness until it couldn't take the pain anymore and smashed its head against a nearby wall. And again. And again. Over and over again it hurt itself. It just wanted the memories to vanish and with it the pain of what it had lost. Blood poured out of countless openings, yet the pain of those wounds was nothing when compared to the torment its mutilated soul was experiencing.
And so-
"THERE YOU ARE!" The creature turned around and spotted the one responsible for all the wounds on its body. "WE ARE NOT DONE YET!" Tesson roared. "GET OVER HERE!" But instead of waiting, the huge Protoss simply stormed forward and straight toward the much larger monstrosity.
"The paaaaaaaiiiiiin...!" the creature screamed.
"Oh, I'm going to show you some pain!" Tesson roared and smashed into the creature. He wasn't using any weapon. No psi-blade. Not even a shield generator to protect himself. And he wasn't subtle either. He simply grabbed one of the creature's tentacles and turned his other hand into a fist before punching the fleshy surface of its body over and over again. Within moments the two of them were tumbling over the dusty and dirty floor, caught in a deadly brawl. The creature was fighting for its dear life. Yet Tesson...
"Haha! Is that all you got? Come on, my dead grandmother hits harder than you!" The creature tried to fight back but Tesson managed to shake off its punches with ease. There was no finesse to his fighting. It was nothing but a brutal brawl, and he was using his raw strength to wrestle that which once had been Stukov to the ground. When Tesson was on top, he punched the creature so hard that it would have killed any ordinary foe. Good thing that his foe was anything but ordinary. That meant that he didn't have to hold back.
Oh, how awesome was that!
"THIS IS WAY BETTER THAN BEATING UP HUMANS!" Tesson screamed in joy.