Fragile as a Rock
PG-13 Mainly for character death, but for some other things too.
Disclaimer: Andromeda isn’t mine.
A/N: I started out with two titles that just begged to have stories written for them. The one I liked better was "Tough as Glass" and I started to write the story for it. However, I quickly realized that it needed a lot of information that could only be provided in a prequel, thus I started working on the other title.
Spoilers: This is a bad-future fic, so anything up to Ouroboros, and any hints Trance might have given about the future she came from, is fair game.
Fragile as a Rock
By Erin_Cale
“You want to go to the local festival with me?”
Beka spun around at the sound of Dylan’s voice. “Uh, sure. Why not?”
“You sound oh so enthusiastic,” Dylan remarked, his voice holding a bit more hurt than it ought to.
“I am! Really I am. You just startled me and that’s the first affirmative answer I could come up with.”
Dylan’s smile was uncertain but hopeful. “Okay. How about now?”
Beka looked down at her grimy work clothes. “I’d have to get changed and take a shower.”
“All right, we’ll have to drop the others off for some shore leave while we’re at it though.”
“Fine by me.”
“See you in half an hour.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Beka stood studying her reflection in the mirror. Once she was satisfied, she opened the door to the Maru, only to find Dylan waiting outside.
“Early as usual, I see.”
“Of course.” He took a step closer, almost invading her personal space.
The sound of the door opening caught their attention, soon followed by Harper’s voice. “If you two wanted some alone time, all you had to do was ask.”
Beka blushed, but smiled good naturedly. “Grow up, Harper.”
“Sorry, having too much being a juvenile.”
“Are we going to sit around debating Harper’s maturity or shall we leave?” Tyr asked.
“You got a hot date?” Harper asked.
“No, but if I am being forced to go on shore leave, I wish to make the experience as brief as possible.”
“Oh! So that explains why you’ve got ants in your pants.”
Tyr growled, but Dylan stepped in between the two, facing Harper. “What is with you today? You just seem to enjoy pissing off the wrong people.”
“Go sit in the Maru and wait until Dad and I decide what to do with you, young man,” Beka added.
“Yes, ma’am.” He hung his head and walked into the Maru, Tyr following with a scowl still on his face.
“Rommie, Trance, you too.”
“But someone should stay here in case something happens,” Rommie explained a little desperately.
“You have a connection with the ship. You can tell us if something comes up and if all else fails, you can take the Maru and come back here.”
“But Harper is going to take me on a guided tour through the city,” Rommie whined.
“Going through all the most romantic places, I’m sure.” Beka smiled.
Rommie’s eyes widened. She obviously hadn’t thought of that prospect.
“In the ship with you,” Dylan commanded.
Rommie boarded the ship with the same horrified look on her face. Trance followed a couple steps behind her. Finally, the two captains followed.
***
Seven months later, everything had changed. Harper was dead and Rev was gone. And as it happened, both, it seemed, made bigger impressions on the crew than either had ever realized. At Harper’s funeral, even Tyr had shed a tear for their fallen friend. Rommie spent a lot more time just wandering the ship, Trance spent more time caring for her plants, Tyr took to working out in the gym almost every hour, and Dylan was a little more careful when dealing with people who had any access to his crew. Of course, on top of all this, Trance had started to change. She was no longer the innocent purple girl that they had started off with. This one had golden skin and horns set high in her dark hair. With all the changes that were happening around her, Beka started to spending all of her time on the Maru, away from the new version of Trance and away from the memories of Harper and Rev that lingered in the hallways. However, Dylan showed up one day at the Maru’s hatch and was forced to drag his first officer kicking and screaming to a randomly picked restaurant on the planet they were visiting.
“This place isn’t so bad in the early evening,” Beka commented. “All the thieves seem to be asleep about this time.”
“Yeah, it’s just every other time that’s horrible. This is the one planet that I’ve ever visited that has criminals who will steal from you in broad daylight and then almost magically disappear into thin air,” Dylan murmured just loud enough for her to hear but none of the other people around them to hear.
“Well, there was-”
“Please don’t remind me of that place. I never want to hear that name ever again.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Beka smiled mischievously. “For now.”
Dylan shot her a look before returning to studying his surroundings. All of a sudden, he tugged on her sleeve as a little kid might. “Come on!”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see!”
Beka shrugged slightly and let herself be pulled over to a stall on the side of street. It was sandwiched in between two stalls that seemed to be in much condition, at least in terms of the vendors which stood behind them. Beka’s eyes widened as the stench of the man they were headed towards reached her nostrils well before they had reached their destination.
“How much for a photo and a copy?”
The man studied them with a practiced eye that told Beka he made a living by ripping off the tourists. “Ten thrones.”
“Oh, sorry. I just can’t spend that kind of money right now.” Dylan gave a disappointed pout and slowly started to trudge off. Beka stayed on the sidelines and watched as the vendor anxiously weighed his options.
“5 thrones!”
Dylan turned around, his sad puppy dog look still firmly in place. “Sorry, still can’t afford that much. I can only afford 3 right now.” Dylan turned back and started once again to walk off.
“Fine! You drive a hard bargain, but the picture and one copy is yours for 3 thrones.”
“Good.” Dylan spun back on his heel and walked quickly back to the vendor. Shelling out the 3 thrones, Dylan grabbed Beka’s arm and held her so close that their foreheads touched.
“Dylan,” Beka whispered, barely moving her lips from the smile she wore plastered onto her face. “I will forever hate you for getting me closer to that smell.” Dylan laughed, causing Beka’s smile to become genuine.
As soon as he had wiped the tears out of his eyes, he turned to the vendor. “Whenever you’re ready.”
The old fashioned contraption flashed, causing the two to momentarily see spots in front of their eyes.
“I can see why those things were mostly destroyed before Humanity even entered the Commonwealth,” Beka griped.
“But look-” Dylan said as he handed her her copy and put his own inside the flap of his jacket.
“Whoa, it’s a flat, 2D image that cannot ever show anything more than what is on it right now,” Beka said sarcastically.
“Still...” Dylan started to frown, looking as if he were wondering why he had made the decision to have the picture taken in the first place. Beka started to feel guilty.
“I love it though. For what it is, it’s beautiful.” Dylan’s face immediately brightened, making Beka wonder if deep down he didn’t have the same kind of personality as Harper. Harper... just the mere comparison of the engineer and Dylan was enough to evoke images of Harper’s sweaty and pained face right before Tyr had shothim. With the remembered sound of that gun firing, Beka snapped out of her memories. Looking at Dylan’s face, she realized he hadn’t noticed her momentary lapse in attention.
“Good. I’m glad you like it. Let’s go eat, I’m getting famished.”
***
He had been quiet all evening, picking at his food, stealing looks in her direction whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. She noticed, all right, but she wasn’t sure that she should bring the subject up. Instead, she thought of something else.
“We’re getting kinda close to the 50 planets we need, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are. We only need one more,” he answered absentmindedly.
“That’s it?!”
“Yup.” He stole another look at her again.
She couldn’t stand it any longer. “Dylan, why do you keep looking at me? Do I have something on my face? What?”
An uncomfortable moment of silence was, at first, her only answer. Then, “I can’t help it. I love you, Beka.” He looked back down at his plate, obviously expecting rejection of some sort, or maybe even the dreaded statement “Let’s just be friends.” This whole evening was odd, Dylan usually didn’t act like this. However, she thought back on what had happened to him over the last three and a half years, with waking up from a black hole and finding civilization lost, to Sarah’s letter, to Molly... Maybe his will had started to cave in. And whatever Beka wanted from life, she didn’t want him to settle for someone who was beneath him just because he felt lonely.
“Do you know that you’re my best friend, Dylan? You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”
“But you don’t love me, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” she lied. “At least, not in the way that you want me to.”
He looked back down at his plate. “I understand.” When he looked back up, his pretty blue eyes had gone cold. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to the Andromeda. Stay as long as you want.”
Beka shuddered as he put down the necessary local currency to pay for his half of the dinner. Without another word or even a look over his shoulder, he left. She waited fifteen minutes, picking at her food despondently, before following him. It took only a few minutes to grab the Maru and go back to the Andromeda, but Beka felt every step jarring her bones. When she finally reached Dylan’s door, holoRommie showed up before she even had a chance to knock.
“What happened? He came back, shut himself in his room, and engaged privacy mode.”
“It’s a long story, Rommie. I need to talk to him... please let me in.”
Andromeda considered it for a moment. “All right.” The door slid open and holoRommie disappeared.
“Thanks,” Beka muttered belatedly. She took a step forward into the unnatural brightness of his quarters and let his door close behind her. Around her, she could see signs of somebody trying very hard to forget. Flexis were spread out all over his tables, two half-empty cups of coffee held them down, his jacket was flung over his chair. All in all, it looked like what she had told him had had a profound effect on the captain of the Andromeda Ascendant.
“Dylan? Where are you?” She put her hand up to shield her eyes from the glare of the lights. “Why are the lights so bright?”
“I’m over here and the lights are so bright because I want them that way,” snapped a voice from his dimly lit bedroom, which seemed a dark shadow in comparison to the rest of the room. After a moment, he took mercy on her. “Lights 50%.”
The lights immediately dimmed, for which Beka was extremely grateful. When her eyes had taken the few seconds necessary to adjust, she saw him standing closer to her than where he had been standing before.
“Dylan, I’m sorry.”
“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“For hurting you. I never wanted that.” He didn’t reply. “Dylan, please forgive me.”
“If it will make you feel any better, consider yourself forgiven.”
Beka did something that she would for years afterward, simultaneously curse and bless. She kissed him. Not the fun kisses they had shared before, but something more serious, something that contained more apology and more love than Beka could ever communicate verbally. He offered no resistance to her and he offered nothing in return. But when her hands started pulling at his shirt, he pulled back sharply.
“Beka?”
She looked at him gently. “Please.”
He didn’t seem to need too much persuasion. This time when she kissed him, he kissed her back with an equal amount of force. However, just before they moved into his bedroom, she heard it again.
“I love you, Beka.”
***
“Where are we headed today Dylan?” Trance asked as she entered Command. Though Dylan was in hearing range, he didn’t respond. “Dylan?”
Finally he looked up. “Uh, we’re heading to Drisoro. Andromeda received a message last night that they want to become part of the Commonwealth.”
“Well, that’s good right? I mean Drisoro has a fairly large fleet and they’re joining the Commonwealth without all the convincing that we usually have to do.” Again, no response. “Dylan, where are you right now?”
He looked pointedly at the forward screen, indicating he didn’t want to talk about it. Trance looked at him for a moment, as if trying to divine his thoughts. When she failed to get any kind of response from him, she twirled on her heel and exited Command. On the way out, she bumped into Beka.
“I wouldn’t go in there. Dylan’s really cranky this morning.”
Beka frowned. “Thanks for the warning Trance. I’m going to see if I can’t talk to him anyway.” She already knew the reason why he was “cranky”- in fact, she was the reason for it- so why shouldn’t she be the one to deal with it?
“Good luck.”
Beka smiled, took a deep breath, and entered Command. “Dylan, I’m sorry for leaving you this morning. I... I had work to do in the Maru.”
“Liar.” He turned around and smiled at her, but the smile held no mirth in it. “You weren’t doing any work on the Maru, that was just an excuse to get away from me.”
“No! No, that’s not it at all! I just needed some time to think.”
“You know what? That’s a good idea. I’ll be in my quarters thinking if you need me. Otherwise, notify me when we reach Drisoro.”
“Dylan...” Too late, he had already disappeared out the door. “Andromeda, what have I done?”
***
Drisoro was a nice planet compared to some of the others that they had visited. Its population welcomed the crew with open arms. Parties were thrown and each member of the Andromeda crew was invited to them.
Beka showed up at each party, hoping to find Dylan there. Each time, she was disappointed. She wanted desperately to talk to him, to hear him yell at her, anything but this unbearable silence he had imposed on her.
A week after they arrived, the government of Disoro, along with representatives from each of the planets that had already signed up to the Commonwealth, gathered in a large grassy field. The Charter signing was going to be open to the public. Afterwards, Beka knew Dylan would announce the plans for the Commonwealth and then there would be a short period of more celebrating before everybody actually got to work. Since he had to be there to deliver his speeches and oversee the signing of the Charter, she knew that she would have a chance to talk with him, to explain everything.
“Are you ready?” Trance asked.
“Hmm? Yeah, I’m ready.”
“Good, because the ceremony’s already started.”
“WHAT?!” Trance ran out into the crowd, Beka following close behind. When they came in view of the podium, they slowed down so they wouldn’t disgrace Dylan at the wrong moment. Slowly, trying to control their breathing, they walked towards the dignitaries at the front of the crowd.
Just before they stepped foot onto the platform, an odd sound rang out across the field. Heads started turning in every direction, seeking the source of the sound. Then, almost instantaneously, two more sounds occurred. The first was the hard, yet all too soft sound of a projectile hitting human flesh, and the second was a shriek as Beka saw Dylan fall to the ground, his right hand not even having the time to reach for the red hole that had suddenly appeared on the left side of Dylan’s chest. As the dignitaries started to flee, Beka, Trance, Rommie, and Tyr converged on Dylan.
Rommie knew before they even came close. “Beka, there’s no chance for him. He’s lost far too much blood too quickly.”
“No! Dylan!” Beka screamed, dropping to the grass beside Dylan. He opened his eyes briefly at the sound of his name, but the pupils were large and unfocused.
“Beka...” He spoke with what sounded like a rattle in his chest. “Beka, I l- I love you.”
“I love you too Dylan,” she replied without hesitating, but her reply came too late. With a final gurgling breath, he was gone.
What seemed like days later, Trance pulled her off of Dylan’s body. “Come on, let’s go home. Rommie is going to take care of Dylan and Tyr is going to come with us. All right?”
Beka didn’t reply. In her mind, she saw her memories of both Harper’s and Dylan’s deaths converging, melding, until it all seemed like one big, horrific tragedy. In that state of mind, she let herself be led away from the body in which her heart and her soul had resided.
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