Through the Darkness of the Night

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



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Lili was floating, her body suspended in a misty darkness. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw a dark stretch beneath her, shrouded in a horrible swath of black dotted with tinylights.

What happened? The last thing I remember... Sandoval had put me in the shuttle... where am I?

For one brief, glorious moment, Lili desperately hoped that somehow she had escaped from the hell that Sandoval had thrown her into. She had been feverish, sick to her stomach from the changes he had put her ravaged body through. Now she felt nothing.

Or better yet, perhaps it had all been a dream.

Her stomach clenched. A dream. She was only dreaming now. She was still in the shuttle, and she had fallen asleep.

She found herself looking down into the rocky shaft that led to Augur's private domain. It was more dimly-lit than usual. Liam and Augur were talking, Augur working on his computer as usual, Liam walking around him and talking. He looked worried, tired, maybe a little older.

Lili strained to listen to their conversation. When they spoke, it was as if she heard them through a wall of water. Their voices were muted, distorted slightly. She tried to call out to them, but no sound came. I'm here! Look! I need your help!

As if on cue, the computer screen flashed to life. Lili could only make out her own name and the word "explosion"...

An anguished scream from Augur broke through the barrier. Lili looked at him as he slammed a fist into the computer console, smashing it into plastic shards. He whirled and threw back a rolling chair, starting to rip at it with his hands.

Lili's eyes went wide as she realized what Augur had heard. They were saying she was dead! Augur, no! No! I'm not dead, I'm right here! Look at me! Augur, they're lying!

Liam lunged forward and grabbed his friend's arms, pulling at him frantically. Augur fought against him, wiggling frantically in Liam's iron grip, but finally collapsing against his friend and starting to cry.

No words came, but Lili could see Liam mouthing the words, "She's gone," a solitary tear trickling down the side of his nose. Augur sobbed again, clinging to Liam's arm like a child clinging to a parent, when nothing can keep the night terrors away.

Lili fell to her knees, screaming, Augur, no! I'm alive, look at me! Augur, please... please don't cry for me... please... I'm alive, I'm here... She felt the hot tears coursing down her own cheeks, although she knew full well that they weren't real...

As Lili Marquette drifted back into the velvety night of sleep from whence she had come, she saw her friends still, blazing in the mist like a pair of torches. And cried for them, as they cried for her...