From: Sarah Albertini-Bond (serendipity77_at_gmail.com)
Date: Wed Oct 01 2008 - 16:07:15 PDT
"Willpower" <continued from Kim's "Little boy blue..."> =/\= Location: Abyss Scene: Dollhouse -> Maze Xana opened the door on the right, with Jake right behind her, and found herself standing in a large garden maze that was *very* high. "I know where we are, kind of," Xana murmured as they walked into the maze. "I don't," Jake replied as he stayed close behind. "It's in the back of the family's villa in Venice. Dahlia and I were just there a few days ago," the Bolian/Italian said. "Except it's not this tall." Jake looked around as they made their way through the maze. "Dahlia's making this," he pointed out. "This is what it looks like to her." They made a left and were faced with a thick wall of hedge. "No, this isn't right," Xana frowned. "I know you make a left after the first circle." "It's opposite here," Jake reminded Xana as he took her shoulders and spun her around in the opposite direction. Things continued on like this, every time Xana would make a turn, Jake would have to correct her and they'd both get distracted trying to listen for Dahlia's singing which always seemingly just ahead of them. And Thoralas was always a step behind them; and they never realized as they never looked back. Finally they found Dahlia who was several feet in front of them. "Mama!" the girl cheered as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. As she ran to her mother she stopped short and to look at the man with her mother. "I don't know you," the girl announced. "Honey this is Lt. Crichton--" "Jake," he interrupted. Xana went with that. "Jake's a friend of ours," she explained to the little girl. Dahlia grinned at that. "Yay! You can play too." There was a rustling that came from behind them, both adults turning around to see what it was. Seeing the black form take shape both Xana and Jake instinctively stepped in front of Dahlia. They would have predicted that that Thoralas would have reached for Jake. Everyone was surprised when the shadowy figured reached out to Xana, diving into her chest... =/\= The brilliant lights of Sickbay nearly blinded Xana as the effects of the hypo shocked her system. Her brain seemed to be processing the frantic words around her of the doctors and nurses. "--pulse is stabilizing—" "--oxygen levels are increasing—" "Hey, BGG," Cade said snapping his fingers in front of the disorientated woman's face. "Do you know where you are?" Inhaling, and receiving a bunch of goo, Xana tried to lean over the side of the tank and coughed. In the middle of her coughs she tried to nod, which was good enough for Cade. "Don't puke on my floor," he said as he monitored her. Xana lifted up her face to where Jake was next to her. He turned to her, his eyes were blank again -- just like they had been in the Abyss before he had "woke" up. "I need to go back," she gasped, slipping into the tank. "Get her!" Cade roared as he tried to lean over to do just that. Admonishing her as the nurses and other doctors hauled her up. "You are not going back – you were going to code if we didn't bring you out of it. You will take a shower and get a physical." "Dahlia—Jake—" she gasped. "Are on their own, you can't go back," Cade told her. "What?" Xana's eyes widened in disbelief. "Your vitals were tanking, we had to bring you out of it," Cade explained patiently. "Jake and Dahlia are both fine." "They can't get out own their own," Xana protested. "They need help!" "I'm sure Jake can handle it," Cade said, restraining her firmly but gently.. "You need to rest." "What's wrong with you?" Xana asked, staring skeptically at Foster. "Why the hell are you being so nice all of a sudden?" "I can't imagine what you went through in there," Cade said, his tone full of compassion. "The last thing you need right now is to deal with me." Xana let Foster help her out of the tank, noting that he offered her a towel almost immediately, not making any effort to catch a glimpse at her naked body. She leaned on him for support as he guided her away from the tank... then, without warning, she grabbed him by his shirt and hurled him into the gel. She spun then, snatching a phaser from a nearby security officer and leapt back, waving the phaser around the room as the assembled nurses and security personelle all held their hands up. Cade, meanwhile, was cursing and grumbling as he struggled out of the tank, dripping with goo. "What the *hell* was that..." he started, then noticed the phaser in her hand. "Xana... put the phaser down." "I don't think so," Xana said through clenched teeth. "I don't know what's going on here, but one thing I know for sure is that you're *not* Cade Foster." "Don't be ridiculous," Cade said, inching slowly towards her. "Unless you've gone blind, you can plainly see who I am." "I think this is an illusion," Xana frowned. "I think I'm still in the abyss." "Xana," Cade said evenly, his voice calm but with a hint of fear. "You're experiencing a paranoid delusion, likely the result of your altered brain chemistry from spending time in that abyss. You aren't thinking clearly." "Shut up," Xana said, looking past him at the door. She could have sworn she could her someone shouting her name through the door, but it was faint and hard to hear over the noise in sickbay. "Okay," Cade said, trying another tactic. "Consider this: if you're wrong, and you shoot me, you're killing the person with the best chance to save Dahlia." Xana hesitated. The phaser lowered slightly. "And if you're right," Cade continued, "..shooting me won't solve anything.. If this is another Durali trick, they'll only move on to another one." Xana wasn't sure what to do. What Cade was saying made sense... and everything around her seemed so real. She heard the sound again, the faint sound of her name coming from somewhere faraway. It sounded like... Jake... But suddenly, frantic beeping came from the biobed where Jake Crichton lay.. Xana spared a glance and noticed that his vital signs were crashing, but no one in the room moved to help. They all stared at her, hands in the air, afraid to move. "Put down the phaser, Xana," Cade said, a little more forcefully. "And I can save Jake. And then I can save Dahlia." "I'm... not sure," she said. Her name again, coming through the door, louder this time. And after it, another voice, one she knew very well. "Mommy!" Xana shook her head and scowled at Cade. "Nice try, Thoralas," she said. Cade moved suddenly, trying to snatch the phaser out of her hand, but she was quicker. She fired, striking Cade in the chest and sending him crashing backwards, his wound still smoking. For a long, terrible moment, Xana worried she had made a mistake... And suddenly, sickbay collapsed all around her, and she was standing above a swirling vortex. Jake and Dahlia were there, and Dahlia immediately ran to her mother, who gathered the little girl up in a tight hug. She then looked up and smiled at Jake. "Thanks," she said. "Just returning the favor," Crichton said. He looked down at the vortex below them. "I think that's the way out." "Are you sure?" Xana asked. She didn't like the idea of plunging into a strange whirlpool of energy, especially after everything she'd already gone through. "I can feel it pulling at me," Crichton said, staring down into it. "It's almost magnetic." "I'll go first," Xana said, hugging Dahlia again then standing. She took a deep breath, prepared to dive into the vortex. Suddenly, a terrible sound fill all their minds. Thoralas appeared suddenly, his black formlessness swirling around all of them. Long, twisted black tendrils shot out, wrapping around Xana's limbs. She cried out, looking over at Crichton. The tendrils had wrapped themselves around his neck and lifted him in the air. He slapped futilely at them, his legs kicking desperately. Panicked, Xana's eyes searched for Dahlia. She stood, unaffected by the tendrils, and apparently oblivious to what was going on around her. "IF YOU TWO WILL NOT HELP, THEN YOU MUST BE DISCARDED," Thoralas boomed as his grip tightened. "BUT ALL IS NOT LOST. THE GIRL WILL MAKE A SUITABLE HOST." Xana's eyes widened as she realized what Thoralas was saying. "No! You stay away from her, you bastard!" "KNOW THAT YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELVES," Thoralas said, his voice like a hurricane around them. "I DID NOT WANT IT TO END THIS WAY." Crichton still struggled against the tendril wrapped around his neck. Grabbing it tightly with his hands, he brought his legs up and wrapped them around the base of the tentacle, then pulled with all his might. He felt like his head might pop off, but he was comforted by the fact that, in the abyss, he didn't really have a head anyway. And that was the key, he realized. In the abyss, he had no real body, just the illusion of one. Thoralas had spent eons in the abyss, plenty of time to master navigating the emptiness. But Jake had been in the abyss for longer than anyone else on GATEWAY, and he'd started to figure out how things worked. He took a gasping breath, and then... He let go. And suddenly, he vanished from Thoralas' grip. In fact, he vanished altogether. "Jake?" Xana called. "Thoralas, what did you do to him?" "NO," Thoralas boomed, seeming to ignore her. His formless body still roiled and swirled, but it seemed to her to be shrinking. Suddenly, the tendrils that ensnared her began to shrink and unravel, and she dropped to the ground. And in an instant, Crichton was at her side, staring coldly at Thoralas, who seemed to shrink away from him in fear. "It's all about willpower," Crichton said, focusing his concentration on Thoralas, *willing* the entity away. "The tables are turned, Thoralas. I know how to fight you know." "YOU ARE NOTHING!" Thoralas boomed, and suddenly, his form lashed out, slapping a terrific blow into Crichton's chest and sending him tumbling backwards, out of control... And into the vortex. Xana rushed to the edge of the whirling mass, calling his name, but Jake Crichton had disappeared. Behind her, Thoralas cackled with glee. "YOU THINK ANY OF YOU CAN BE A MATCH FOR ME? MY RACE HAS EXISTED IN THIS PLACE FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS. MY MASTERY OVER THE ABYSS IS COMPLETE! AND I HAVE RUN OUT OF PATIENCE." Xana turned to face the misty cloud of darkness, a look of fierce determination on her face. "You are *not* touching my daughter," she said. "ENOUGH," Thoralas said, his form growing now to engulf her. "I TIRE OF THIS." "I said," Xana repeated, moving forward fearlessly. "You are *not* touching Dahlia." Thoralas' form continued to expand, but when it was within inches of her, it stopped. It hung for a moment, then began to shrink away. "WHAT?" Xana moved forward again, and this time Thoralas retreated, his misty form shriking away as she continued to approach. "Jake was right," Xana said. "It's all about willpower. And I don't care how old you are... when it comes to the safety of my child, there's no force in the universe that can move me." "NO!" Thoralas said, struggling against her and failing. "THE DURALI MUST SURVIVE! I MUST SURVIVE!" "The Durali may yet live," Xana said. "But you're out of time, Thoralas." And she reached out, seizing his form with her hands. Thoralas screamed as he struggled to escape, but her grip was like iron. Thoralas began to glow with white light, and a second later, he dissolved away, his scream fading into the emptiness of the abyss. Xana stood for a moment, staring into the emptiness. Then, she heard a voice behind her. "Mommy?" She turned, and once again gathered Dahlia into a tight hug, kissing the little girl on the cheek. "I want to go home," Dahlia said weakly in her ear. "Okay, honey," Xana smiled, tears running down her face. "Let's go home." =/\= Location: GATEWAY STATION - 2 Scene: Sickbay "How come I got the guy and not the naked chick?" That was the first thing that Jake heard, then it became a whirl of activity around him as every nurse poked and prodded him all while Cade scanned and pontificated. In fact Jake's vision and hearing were taken up with answering all their questions and being moved around that he didn't have any concept of what was going on in the rest of Sickbay. "May I see him now?" Jake heard the Italian-accented voice from behind the crowd of physicians and nurses around him. He saw Cade turn around and heard the doctor groan. "You're dressed." "Yes, shocking I know," came the dry reply. Xana Bonviva stuck her head around Cade and grinned at Jake. Jake noticed that her hair was very wet but otherwise she was clean and dressed in a plain black dress, holding her daughter who was snuggling against her. "Hey, there. Feeling better?" "Yeah," Jake replied as he sat up. Dahlia waved to Jake and murmured a "hello" and Xana smiled at that. "She's tired," she explained. Straightening up and shifting her daughter she looked at the CEO and appeared to be considering her words. "It's good to have you back -- I'm sure everyone's missed having you and not Thoralas." Jake shook his head at that. "I bet." "Touching," Cade replied rolling his eyes. Waving off Xana he said, "You know technically you're healthy." "Here's your hat, what's your hurry, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out," Xana grinned. "I'd thank you for watching me but I suspect you should be thanking me!" "Don't know why you'd say that," Cade replied, pretending to be innocent. Xana rolled her violet eyes at that. "Well Dahlia and I need to pick up Angus," she said referring to her massive dog, "and then find home." "Home?" Dahlia yawned. "On our way." Waving at Jake with her free hand and shaking her head at Cade, Xana turned and left Sickbay. ========================================================================= Shawn Putnam a.k.a. Jacob Crichton, Lieutenant Chief of Engineering GATEWAY Station, GS-2 and Sarah Albertini-Bond Xana Bonviva Proprietor The Angel's Angst GATEWAY STATION - 2 From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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