realityshifted | 006 [Return to the Darkness]

[Leela stopped in her tracks. For a moment, she thought - hoped - that it was the Plane, not her eyes, that her failed her. (It had happened before, after all. The stars had been extinguished when the machine had been silenced.)

She hoped, but she did not believe it. She recognised this darkness. She had lived with it for many long and cold months. She had not forgotten how exposed it left her. Though she could no longer see the Plane and the many dangers that it held, she knew that they were there. They seemed to be pressing closer to her, like predators who smelled the weakness of the old and injured.

With a growl of frustration and anger, Leela drew her knife. That was as familiar as her blindness, but at least it was a welcome sort of familiarity. She would show them - show anyone who tried to harm her or her friends - that a warrior did not need her eyes to fight. If this was an experiment, a game, she would rise to the challenge.

Everything was silent and dark. As furious as she was, there was no one for her to fight. After a moment or two - she could count her heartbeats, the only sound on the Plane - she returned her knife to her belt.]

Braxiatel? Braxiatel, are you here? Something has gone wrong. My eyes ... I think it is an experiment ...

[She was not afraid. She would not be afraid. She had lived with these shadows before and she would do so again. She was stronger than any darkness. She knew that.]

Can you fix it? Can you help me to see again?

[It was almost a plea. These were uncertain times. She had faith in his abilities but she knew that needed every weapon available to her.]

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Leela. [He is quick to bury the note of concern, unwilling to add to any mix of emotions. Warrior or not, this could not be an easy experience on Leela. Despite that, his steps were quick as he approached her.] Let me look at your eyes.

[She nodded, turning towards his voice and the footsteps there were strangely loud in such an empty world.]

Do they look different?

They look as they did. [He is trying to keep the worry out of his voice, but it is betrayed by the way he lingers on his words as he speaks.] Will you come back to the Collection with me? I can bring in doctors to take a look at it for you.

Leela? Leela are you okay?

[Isaac hears the worry and returns it with concern of his own]

[Leela couldn't fail to notice the concern. Braxiatel was always calm and composed. It made the moments when his control slipped all the more obvious.

When the warrior replied, it was in a calm voice, with no trace of the fear or disappointment that she might - must have - been feeling.]

Then is it not an experiment. It is me.

I am blind, Isaac. I am blind once more.

Your...what? Leela, what happened!

An experiment. It must be an experiment.

I hope it's nothing worse than that! Is...Is there anything I can do...?

[There's genuine sadface and an edge of panic in Isaac's voice. He's really worried, and SUDDENLY LACKING HIS PSYNERGY which really isn't helping his stress levels.]

No ... I can only wait until it is over. They do not last forever, these experiments.

We don't know that for certain. Whatever it is, that isn't a reason to simply accept it.

I am not afraid of being blind. I will still be able to fight.

[Her tone was defensive. She could have been attempting to reassure herself as much as Braxiatel.]

You've already proven that you're more than capable without your eyesight. That isn't my concern.

Still. I want to help you.

You are worried about what made your ... your nanobots break? Why they didn't work?

You are kind. But I do not know how you can.

Yes. They should have made the permanent change. We can try other means of correcting the problem, of course, but... [But those might not stick either.]

It doesn't matter. If we've dealt with it once, we can manage it again.

Neither do I - I can't access my Psynergy at all, otherwise a cure spell might have helped.

But if they did not work, why would anything else?

You have more important things to worry about that my eyes. I will be all right.

Then this experiment - this game - has hurt both of us.

[Isaac nods (not that Leela could see it, he realizes belatedly)]

If...If there's anything I can do for you...

[Because he must be the detached one, he does not say that there is nothing more important than her eyesight. Besides that, it wouldn't be true. But he does put a hand on her shoulder, a clumsy reassurance from a man who does not quite know how to show affection with physical gestures.] It did work. For a time. That should give us hope.

All I have ever wanted is your friendship.

[Because it was a difficult gesture for Braxiatel to make, and because it said a great deal that words could not, it meant more to Leela than any other assurance of hope. She nodded.]

I trust you.

Well, I can do that, at least.

[Slowly, he grabs one of her hands and draws a happy face on the palm]

Thank you. [He smiled, but she could not see it.] Now. Would you return to the Collection with me? Perhaps in a few days, actually. I'll call in one of the better doctors and we'll see to the precise problem. It's far better than going on guesswork. And, you'll get to come to the Collection. I've wanted you to visit.

[Her smile was soft and genuine. It took her a moment to speak, because she did not trust herself to keep her emotions in check.]

Thank you.

Of course I will. You can find me here whenever you are ready.

... this saw bones, what will you tell them?

That your eyes were injured in a explosion and that nanobot treatment worked temporarily but did not hold. Is there anything else I should tell him?

No. [She gave him a dryly amused smile.] I am not a Time Lord. I am not filled up with secrets. I am only a simple savage.

[He smiles back.] And I am only an eccentric collector.

You are many things, Braxiatel. I do not believe that you believe that.

Perhaps. But being believed to be such a thing is perhaps as useful as being believed to be nothing more than a simple savage, wouldn't you agree?

It allows us to be useful, yes.

006 [Return to the Darkness]

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