Running up that Hill
Posted on Fri Jul 8th, 2022 @ 3:00am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Remal Kajun
Mission:
*CD*
Location: DS9 / Celestial Temple
Timeline: BACKPOST
****
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
Be running up that road
Be running up that hill
Be running up that building
Say, if I only could, oh
****
Kate Bush - Running up that Hill
The blow seemed to land and yet seemed to pass straight through her. “ You can’t hurt me, not in here. None of this is real, you’re in the realm of the Prophets” Rhenora replied as Patin grappled with the concept of things being not so linear anymore.
“Figures. Even when you’re here, you’re not really here. How can you be so intangible? Don’t you care? Don’t you even want to know how this feels? Is pain a foreign concept to you bastards?” She was addressing the mist instead of the figure before her. “I’ll make a deal with you if you’ve got the backbone to hear me out?”
“ Pain is a concept they don’t, or can’t understand. They don’t have bodies, just like in here, everything you see, including me, isn’t real.” Rhenora tried to explain. It was a tough concept to wrap anyone’s head around. She could understand Patin’s anger, her misdirected outbursts.
“Then how do I know they are real? This, illusion could be some sort of trick.” She said to Rhenora before turning back to the mist. “Show me your true selves. Explain to me why I’ve had to suffer while my friend has been given your blessing. Or, take my deal. Change places, just her and I. Let her feel what I’m feeling. For just one day. For just one moment.” The hurt-filled tears were flowing once more.
Ghostly images of friends and family long dead drifted out of the mist. The Prophets had no corporeal form for which to represent themselves and so chose from those of the past that would mean most to their children.
“ This one is conflicted, she wishes for that which she cannot have. The Ma has been chosen, it cannot be undone, she will endure sacrifice that Bajor has never seen before to fulfill her duty” The words were of Patin’s father, now long dead.
Patin sniffed back her tears, “You’re telling me you’re going to hurt Nozzie? What do you mean sacrifice? TELL ME!” She yelled, suddenly invested in the pain her friend may experience over the pain she had already experienced herself.
The scene changed, a reflection of the day the cottage by the sea burned, then again as the Brotherhood were murdered by the Pagh Wraiths. Each scene a moment in time where her very existence had been challenged by those who were determined to end her to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. Path Wraith followers stalking them from the depths of the jungle as they headed to Zio’s village, the fight exiting the caves.
“ It’s true Patin, I’m a hunted woman. So many want to see me dead, so the child cannot be born to usher in a new age of peace for Bajor” Rhenora said sadly. “ We came to you as they were killing our friends in order to draw us back to the planet” Her head hung lower. “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, especially you Patin”
“That’s not enough Noz.” Patin furled her brow, “You’re non-linear, right? So show me the odds, show me the future we’ll be facing, what we’re up against.”
Instead of a battle against all odds, instead of the multitude of enemies she would have happily joined up to fight against, the Prophets showed her something else. It was definitely something she wasn't expecting. There amidst a cabin by the lake, newly completed she could smell the textures of wood and leather and a musky man’s cologne. She moved through the house towards the sound of a voice she soon recognized as her own.
The real Patin stepped down into the sunroom, as a version of herself turned around. She was holding something, wrapped in a coddle, the bright morning sunlight shining off of its golden wisp of hair upon its wee head. Future Patin wore a broad smile upon her face as she turned and placed the baby in a bassinet.
A feeling of dread sunk in as the sunlight faded. A new sound could be heard, a hissing sound. Patin belt down by the baby and peered beneath the bassinet where suddenly a snake lurched out from beneath, launching itself at her. She wrestled with it as it snapped at her before throwing it down and stomping upon it. It disappeared only to reappear as two snakes. She quickly stomped on those which in turn became four.
After stomping several more times, she finally gave up, “Okay, I get it, I get it. Gloom and doom, the enemy multiplying etcetera.” She was breathing heavily, her mind still lost in the smile her future self had while holding the babe. She simply looked at Rhenora, “Okay, I’m in. Where do I sign up?”
“ Stay with us, come aboard the Sunfire, we need someone with your….tenacity. When the time comes, Remal will need your strength” Rhenora offered, knowing that the cold frozen wasteland that was Patin’s home would no longer be so desirable.
Patin laughed, “You’re man meat, need my strength, that’s a laugh if I’ve ever heard one.” But Patin knew what she meant. He would hurt or be hurt one way or another and if it was one thing Patin understood, it was pain. She questioned the idea of being on a Starship, but adventure was never something to shy away from when it came calling.
“Turn around” Rhenora said simply, they were still in the cottage by the lake, and Remal was hunched over the bed. “ He will need your strength, this is where my journey ends”
Patin turned and saw the man she knew, once strong willed and unwavering, a rock upon the sand, now shaking from sadness and loss. She immediately recognized the blonde haired lass in the bed beneath him as her life long friend, Nozzie, and she felt it. The loss was real. “Alright, I get it, turn this damn thing off already. Damn waterworks factory.”
The vision faded and the Prophets seemed to be satisfied, as did Patin. The blanket of white was replaced with the orb within the arc, brilliantly shining as it rotated.
TBC
