You Live In My Dreams

by Seven


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



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Liam Kincaid wriggled and tossed in his bed, his pillow rumpled and stained with tears. His soul ached, almost as much as when his mother had died.

Lili had been a part of his life for as long as he had been alive. His earliest memory was of hearing her promise his mother to take care of him.

She did, he thought, tears beginning to well again. I should've been able to take care of her too...

Liam looked up at the woman. Her eyes were kind and smiling as she handed him the chalky puzzle. He smiled at her, grateful for the relief of his boredom, then set about clicking the parts into place. It was far too simple, but perhaps he could find a more... more roundabout way of solving it!

*

Liam stared into Lili's dead face. Sprawled on the floor of the Liberation HQ, blood soaked into her pale blue shirt. She looked peaceful, composed, a violent contrast to her violent end. He reached down to touch her neck, to see if there was a pulse...

*

Liam was flicking his fingers over the controls of the shuttle, sending it on a more wobbly course. He couldn't fire at the pursued vessel. He couldn't harm his friend...

*

Liam rushed into Augur's home at top speed, the few seconds that the lift had been active seeming like an eternity. His heart pounded madly as he saw her on the couch, cool skin damp and dead-pale, a frantic-looking Augur kneeling beside her...

*

The desperate look in her wide blue eyes alerted Liam that she was about to do something huge. He begged her not to self-destruct the mothership, to give them a little more time...

*

And Liam looking down on her burned features, lifeless but serene. He watched her body as it drifted through the virtual glass shield... and out into space.

Goodbye, Lili, he thought. May you find peace and joy... wherever you are.

*

Liam awoke with a start, feeling hot wet tears stream on his cheeks, soaking into the pillow.

Slowly, Liam swung his feet off the bed and got up, stumbling through the dark to his drawer. He fumbled for the knob, and pulled the creaky object open, and slipped a thick folder out. He waved his hand through the pitch blackness, until a piece of string caught his fingertips.

The light flashed on as he tugged, and he flipped open the photo album.

A lopsided picture of Lili Marquette, laughing wildly and waving a hot dog at the camera. A tear trickled off Liam's face and onto the page, leaving a small wet mark as it dripped down.

"Rest in peace," he whispered.