round 21 Lt JG Rennyn - The Power Of Goodbye

[Blueheart]

((Tamaiti Scott’s Quarters, USS Atlantis))

((Ren's dream))

::Navin was floating in space, dressed like he used to, like a Trill would, not like the Borg had done him up ten years ago. He was carrying a purple trident that glowed with terrific mystical power. He smiled broadly.::

::Ren scoffed.::

REN: You said no more dream visits. What the hell?

::A song played around them. Sound in space. It was a familar voice, but an alien song. Something from another world.::

EMERSON: Your heart is not open so I must go
The spell has been broken, I loved you so
Freedom comes when you learn to let go
Creation comes when you learn to say no..

::Ren looked down and realized he was tattooed head to toe. Tattoos of Borg implants on every inch of his body. It was disgusting.::

::Navin pointed the trident at him imperiously. He didn't say a word.::

EMERSON: There's nothing left to try
There's no place left to hide

REN: Why are you haunting me?

NAVIN: Haunting you? ::Navin floated closer, letting the trident go. He took Ren in his arms, tenderly.:: I haven't haunted you, Ren. Don't you see it yet? I'm not here. I've been gone for years. Only you're here, only you. Alone.

EMERSON: There's no greater power
Than the power of good-bye..

NAVIN: You've been haunting yourself all along.

EMERSON: There's nothing left to lose
There's no more heart to bruise

::Ren struggled to get away. This wasn't the Borgified Navin he'd been dreaming of for years, the enemy of sleep, the stuff of nightmares. This was worse. This was Navin as he should always have been remembered, a vibrant, kind-hearted Trill, who never would have hurt Ren. Who never would have haunted him. In some ways, it had been easier to blame the fear all these years, for holding him back. It kept him from facing the loss, the despair. How good it could have been between them, if Navin had lived.::

NAVIN: You know what we have to do here, don't you, Ren? You know why I'm here in your dreams one last time.

::They weren't in space anymore. They were by the stream at the back of Uncle Wavern's fallow field, that last golden summer, when the war was over, and their lives stretched forward together into eternity, all things possible. Navin was leaving tonight, one last short tour with the Trill Defense Force. It was only a month. Nothing was going to happen. Then he would come back, and be Ren's forever.::

::They held each other, standing there by the stream, the sun setting gloriously over Arnmere. Their kiss lit the world, chasing all fears from the burgeoning night. Only a month, then eternity. Ren could wait that long.::

::He waited ten years.::

REN: I don't want to see this! Our lives were beginning. You shouldn't have gone!

NAVIN: I couldn't have done anything else. You've punished yourself for nothing, all these years. For one little word.

::Ren had told Navin that night that he didn't want to say goodbye. It was bad luck. It was a jinx. No goodbyes.::

NAVIN: You never said goodbye.

EMERSON: There's no greater power
Than the power of good-bye..

::They were in space again. The voice faded away in the dark, black night, it's song of pain finished. Navin held Ren close again. The tattoos were gone. No sign of the Borg anywhere. Their kiss lit the galaxy, and chased away every bad dream.::

NAVIN: Say it to me, Ren. I know you want to.

REN: Don't go. Please, don't go.

NAVIN: Not that, Ren. I'm going. You'll have to let me.

::The trident reappeared. Navin gripped it tightly, and it began to pull him away from Ren, into the vast eternal night. With his free hand, Navin caressed Ren's cheek in one last moment of togetherness. He floated backwards and away, mouthing a word Ren couldn't hear in the cold of space, until he said the same word himself. With every ounce of courage he could find, after ten long years of regret and self-doubt, Ren said what he'd always wished he could.::

REN: Goodbye, Navin. Goodbye.

::Before he floated out of sight, an electric streak of purple blurred by eyes filled with tears, Navin's whisper reached Ren's ears.::

NAVIN: Goodbye. Goodbye, my love. Goodbye.

::Ren woke on Tama's couch, maybe much later.::

::The room was darkened. Ren, still half sitting, had curled against Emerson, his head resting awkwardly on the Terran's side. It was a little inappropriate, yes, and he thought of moving. He stayed. In that brief moment of consciousness, he knew he was safe, and relaxed for the first time in years, finally at peace with the past. He let himself sleep again, slipping easily into a deeply restful slumber he hadn't known in a long time. It was the sleep of one who no longer fears the coming of dreams.::

LtJg Rendal Rennyn
Helm Officer
USS Atlantis
NCC-74682