319: To Lions: Part Two

by Keiran O'Sullivan
80611.17

. . .continued from part one

-=Alternate Timeline, Eleven Years Ago=-

Liis lunged at him with the sword, and he deflected her blows deftly while spinning around and suddenly, she found that he was behind her. She scowled and lowered her sword, knowing she'd been bested once again.

"Well, it's a good thing that you're my partner because I'd never be able to take you in a sword fight anyway."

Keiran watched her wipe gracefully forming beads of perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand, and he felt something inside of him ache.

There were so many times, lately, when he found it physically painful to look at her.

She was only twenty six. So much younger than he was. That was the first problem.

Then there was Maggie. He'd been sending her letters for so long, even though she ignored them, hoping that somehow she would see that for Carrick's sake, maybe they should try again to make it work. . .

. . .even though he knew damn well, it was never going to work.

Then there was problem number three: the most troublesome of all.

Zanh Liis was in love with another man.

"Hey, you awake?" Liis frowned, turning to face him once again. "Go again?"

"One more time." Keiran agreed. He took up his stance, and waited for her to do the same. This time, he would attack her without warning and see what happened.

"On guar-"

The clang of metal against metal rang out as their swords crossed, and Liis unleashed a guttural scream as she fought with all of her strength to deflect his surprisingly fierce blows.

Her knees began to shudder and threatened to give beneath her. She began to question if he was still seeing her as his opponent, or if he was caught in the throes of another gruesome, post-traumatic flashback.

"Hey," she objected, as Keiran kept dealing blow after blow with his sword. "Keiran,"

His eyes had glazed over, and he continued driving her down, down, until she was on her knees on the mat before him.

"STOP!" she screamed, then as he paused only for an instant, she threw her sword away. He looked at her, confused, as he lowered his own.

He looked at her with terror in his eyes, as if he had no idea where he was, or what had taken place.

"Keiran, it's me." Liis reached out gently, her eyes asking him to surrender his weapon. "Stop."

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he realized what he had almost done. To whom he had almost done it.

Zanh Liis was more than just his fellow officer with Temporal Investigations. She was more than just another Jumper. She was his partner, and for reasons he couldn't begin to understand, he had very nearly killed her.

"Liis,"

"Don't." Zanh Liis rose slowly, shaking ferociously from head to toes. Even her teeth chattered together as she fought to find her footing. She had trusted him with her life so many times, and had felt until this moment that she always could. Through so many jumps and so many missions.

Sure, something had changed in him recently but nothing this severe. Nothing like this.

This now constituted a factor of risk which cast real doubt on her ability to remain his partner.

"Liis, wait," He tried to stop her, but seeing the look in her eyes he let her go, trying to say no more.

They were on Earth at the time for retraining, and further attempts at memory resequencing such as it was.

Even though she had some idea where to look, it still took her quite a bit of effort to find him the next day when she was finally ready, and willing, to talk.

She discovered him sitting beneath a large tree on a parcel of otherwise deserted land in the Irish countryside.

She had beamed to the closest hub and then approached on foot, taking slow, measured steps. She had thought long and hard about what to say, but in the end, she hoped he'd be the one explaining.

"Vox told me that you resigned your commission this morning." She informed him rather angrily as she slung the duffel bag from over her shoulder and let it fall to the ground with a thud.

"I did." Keiran replied. "I'm going to build a house here. On this land."

"And do what? Farm? I can really see that. Maybe herd sheep! No, wait, I know. Run around the rest of your life trying to please a woman who was never pleased with you to begin with."

She was referring of course to Maggie. She'd heard enough stories of their tumultuous marriage, before and after the war, before and after the time jumps.

Before when he'd been one man and after, when he'd become who ever he was now.

"She's never going to let you have Carrick." Liis declared sadly. "You know that."

"You don't know that!" He jumped to his feet and grasped her by both arms, more in desperation than in anger. "No one knows that.'

"You. Know. That." Liis repeated slowly.

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Lt. Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Chief of Security
USS Serendipity NCC-2012