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Tweak says, "A thing of beauty& a joy 4ever"

Gaius Baltar (i_frak) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2011-06-01 15:15:00

Entry tags:

gaius baltar, willow rosenburg

Rebirth [Willow]

Close your eyes, go to sleep,
Baby's in the cradle counting sheep.
Climb up to your house of dreams,
Baby's in the cradle fast asleep.

"Should I die before I wake..." His voice was raspy, crawling up from the back of his throat.

On his face he wore the expression of a man void of life. Like a prisoner in line for the airlock. Downtrodden. Degraded. Lacking of sentiment. He tore the bedding from the brig's mattress into long strips. The ripping of the fabric echoed against the cold metal walls, but the guard was on the other side of the door, pretending he couldn't hear. Six appeared beside him in her red dress. But Gaius seemed to have no interest in the sultry way in which she sat beside him, with her legs spread just enough to spark curiosity, or in the low cut, bust revealing top that needed little force to break her cleavage free of its thin strapped hold. There was concern on her face.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "Improvising."

"You're doing the right thing, Gaius," she comforted, a delicate hand placed on his bicep to encourage him. Then she drew her fingers through his hair, tucking the longer strands back behind his ear.

"Yes," he replied, almost as if on auto-pilot. He tied the last knot into his handmade noose, stood up, and fastened the rope around one of the crossbeams. Then he slipped the loop around his neck.

He stood there for a moment and it was as if he'd suddenly awoke from a dream. He awoke from a dream and found himself in the nightmare that was reality. Up until this point it had been difficult for him to differentiate between imagination and truth, but now he knew. This was real. And if he was wrong, if he wasn't one of the Final Five, then he was going to die. And no God or Gods would be there to save him. Not this time.

"Wait, wait a minute," he stammered. He was second guessing himself. He was second guessing her. "I need some time to think this through."

"Too late, Gaius," Six replied, leaning forward to place a light kiss on his right cheek. "It's time to learn the truth."

She kicked the cot out from beneath him. He fell.

He remembered struggling for a few agonizing seconds, his legs kicking beneath him in futile attempts to reach the ground, his hands reaching up to his neck, trying to slip a finger or two between the noose and his throat. But she wouldn't let him. Six was there to thwart every attempt he made at saving himself. She wanted him to die. And she wanted him to suffer while he did so. All the while whispering in his ear that it was alright, that it was all part of God's plan. That God wouldn't let him die because he was God's Chosen One.

Then everything went dark.

Close your eyes, go to sleep,
Baby's in the cradle counting sheep.
Climb up to your house of dreams,
Baby's in the cradle fast asleep.

He woke up in water. At first he was floating with his face just beneath the surface, then he stretched forward to taking a gasping breath of air. His hair was matted to his cheeks and forehead and he struggled as though someone had just been drowning him.

"That's it, Gaius," Six whispered from above. "Deep breaths. Deep breaths."

You've been reborn, Gaius. You're one of them. You always knew you were different. You always knew you were special, his subconscious spoke to him. But when he opened his eyes and took a look around him (expecting to see the monochromatic color scheme of a Cylon resurrection room,) he was sorely disappointed. He was in a fountain, not in a resurrection bath. It was water, not the sticky goo that made up the partially biological material the Cylon bodies wallowed in, waiting for a download from one of their deceased predecessors. Water was spitting out of an angel statue at the center of the fountain, splashing him in the face. A few pedestrians looked at him and giggled, but Gaius wasn't concerned with them. Instead he looked up to Six, now dressed in a two piece blue dress that had the makings of a bathing suit top and shawl wrap skirt. He could see all the way up to where her thigh met her pelvis and he was relatively certain that she wasn't wearing any--

"I always told you to have faith, Gaius," she said, crossing her legs to distract his view.

"What? Where am I?"

He slowly sat up in the fountain, getting a better view of his surroundings. The fountain was centered in a pathway in front of a large building labeled The City Convention Center. Numerous people seemed to be heading to that building, briskly walking down the sidewalk. Gaius furrowed his brow and stared upward. Buildings. Skyscrapers. Parks.

"Is this ... Earth?"

Six snickered and stretched out on the edge of the fountain, her vibrantly blonde hair sprawling out at the sides of her face.

"Oh, Gaius. Do you think God would make it that easy for you?"

[Occurs thirty-three minutes before The Meeting]

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i_ampowerful
2011-06-02 02:32 am UTC (link)

"Umm. I think it's Earth. I don't think we'd be on another planet. And I think I've seen those buildings before. But in a bunch of different cities."

The redheaded witch was headed towards the Convention Center, holding a poster in one hand. She looked it over again, then looked back at the man. "Are you okay? I mean, you're all wet and you're kinda talking to yourself, but you were in that fountain and all facedown and kinda drowny."

Willow wasn't completely certain herself where she was, but this had to be Earth. She could still feel the innate connection to it, to the magic in the very air.

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i_frak
2011-06-02 02:52 am UTC (link)

"Oh look. A new plaything for you," Six said, her eyes rolling back into her head as she slowly sat herself up from her lounging position.

"No, I don't think so."

Gaius pursed his lips and looked in the direction of the second voice. He had grown so accustomed to having Six in the background that he had perfected the art of responding to her and to others at the same time. Some would call that psychosis. Gaius liked to think that he had a knack for balancing multiple tasks at once.

He stood up in the fountain, made his way to the edge, and climbed out. He was wearing a black nehru-collared suit with tiny pinstripes. Beneath the suit jacket was the makings of a red shirt, but it was barely visible. And he was drenched. He brought a hand to his neck and pressed at the skin. Tender, but not bruised.

Then he paid the red haired woman more attention.

"Cute," he muttered.

"You would think so," Six replied, standing up as well. She towered over Gaius in her heels. But she wasn't as interested in him at the moment as she was in Willow. "It's been a while since you've shared your bed with a redhead."

Gaius cleared his throat with a cough.

"I was just ... well, to be honest, I'm not quite sure what I was doing. I seem to be a little displaced at the moment. I wasn't talking to myself. I don't talk to myself. I'm not crazy."

Six stood beside Willow and leaned in close to her, taking a sniff at her hair.

"She smells like incense."

"You said you think it's Earth? You don't know?"

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i_ampowerful
2011-06-02 03:03 am UTC (link)

Willow arched her brows at the compliment. "Thanks, but I don't go for the stubbly crowd." It was weird, having to explain that again and again. She frowned a bit, leaning back when she felt... something? draw closer.

"It feels like Earth. I don't know where else it should be, but it's not Sunnydale. Because I was totally there like, two minutes ago, and now I'm not. So I'm sorta working this out myself."

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i_frak
2011-06-02 03:12 am UTC (link)

"I may cease with that crowd, as well," Six replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "They only ever have one thing on their mind."

Gaius sent a glare over Willow's shoulder.

"Well I have never heard of this Sunnydale, and I'm not entirely sold on the concept of Earth, either. It's all a bunch of superstitious hocus pocus, if you ask me. Ramblings of religious fanatics."

"Careful, Gaius. God is watching."

"And what sort of merciful God would abandon me here?!"

Six smirked.

Gaius tucked the wet strands of hair behind his ear. He needed to compose himself. He needed to get a grip. He needed to breathe and concentrate.

He looked at Willow directly.

"Am I dead?"

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i_ampowerful
2011-06-02 03:23 am UTC (link)

Willow's jaw dropped open in a mixture of confusion and indignation. "Earth is not superstitious hocus pocus! I happen to live there, mister! And for your information, superstitious hocus pocus isn't even superstitious hocus pocus! It's real. And, and... I should know." Her chin lifted in what she hoped was an authoritative tilt.

It failed when he looked past her, ranting about God. Willow shifted uncomfortably at that, declining to voice her own opinion. At his question, Willow reached out and gave the man a deliberate poke in the chest. "No. You're not pale and pasty, the sun is shining and you aren't burning, and you're not all corpsified. From what I hear, it's a pretty big thing when you die. You know it."

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i_frak
2011-06-02 03:32 am UTC (link)

She reminded him of the Geminese, with their mystical oracles and their many books that confused scripture with history and history with scripture. Fanatics. They were always so quick to point out that there was more to the worlds than just what could be seen.

"All of this has happened before. And all of this will happen again," Six quoted from the Book of Pythia, almost as though she were reading his mind.

"You lived there. Well, isn't that just special. Especially since Earth is just a bedtime story to help small children go to sleep."

Six reached out and smacked Gaius across the face. And though she was invisible to others, his reaction to her touch was not. His head jerked to the side and his features winced.

He tried not to avert his gaze to Six, who was not staunchly taking the side of this silly little girl. Really! This girl? Over him?

"You think you're dead? You have much to learn, Gaius. Maybe you should listen to this one more carefully. She speaks more truth than you realize."

"For some people it's a big deal..."

Unless, of course, you were a Cylon.

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i_ampowerful
2011-06-02 03:48 am UTC (link)

"Live, not lived," Willow retorted. "I don't live in some mystical planet." She hesitated, ever so slightly. "I mean, Sunnydale has it's own Hellmouth and all, but, but Earth isn't some fantasy!"

The man flinched as though slapped. Willow froze in place. Had she done that? She was frustrated, sure, but... well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd worked her will without meaning to.

"Um. Huh?"

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i_frak
2011-06-02 03:59 am UTC (link)

"Right. This is all some sort of test, isn't it? I'm supposed to prove myself, right? Prove that I'm worthy or some sort of frakkin' nonsense."

"I like her hair," Six said as she circled around Willow. She was long and lanky, but had a gracefulness about her that was unworldly. She reached out and twirled her index finger along a length of Willow's red hair. "A pity she doesn't find you attractive. There's something about her that I like."

Gaius' brows knit together and he just stared at Six and Willow. He was not amused. Not even in the slightest.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"No, you're supposed to be perceptive," she said, leaning in close to Willow, as though she might place a kiss on her cheek. All the while, Gaius was doing his best not to find the entire scene enticing. And when Six finally stepped away from Willow, he exhaled a sigh of relief. That could have gotten awkward very quickly. "Why don't you ask her where she's going?"

That's when Gaius noticed the poster in her hand.

"What's that?"

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i_ampowerful
2011-06-02 04:13 am UTC (link)

Okay, he was confusing. "No, it's not... hey, don't change the subject! You... did something just..." She trailed off, feeling something shift around her. It was as subtle as a breeze, first playing gently at her hair and then warming against her cheek. She turned her head, looking for something that she couldn't see, but felt.

"What?" She snapped her attention back when the man spoke. He pointed, and she looked dumbly at the poster in her hand. "Oh! It's... some information something-or-another. About this place." She made a face at him, then held out the poster for him. "Here. It's in that building over there, I guess. And there's a tea. I think that's like a luncheon, only... kinda English." She shrugged. "Maybe we'll find out if this is Earth or not."

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i_frak
2011-06-02 04:26 am UTC (link)

Gaius watched Willow's reaction and immediately grew perplexed.

"Wait ... Did you just--"

But Six was refusing to acknowledge that she may or may not have made contact with the red haired girl. She wanted to talk about a different subject.

"Sounds like a good place to meet more of God's children," Six whispered as she slowly walked around behind him so that she might look at the poster as well. She draped her arms around his neck and licked at his earlobe.

Gaius closed his eyes. And for a moment, he looked like he might--

She bit his ear and snatched him from his erotic dream state. Another wince, fearing she might have drawn blood. Of course, she didn't. At least, none that anyone would be able to see. Pain was all relative, after all. And Gaius was still under the impression that she was only in his mind.

"I like tea."

He didn't know what she meant by the English comment. But he assumed it had something to do with the lunch. Perhaps a colloquial term from whatever loony bin she had escaped from.

"This is not Earth," Gaius insisted.

"Aww, Gaius. Don't hurt her feelings. She's so young and inexperienced and ... Mmm ..." Six reached down the front of Gaius shirt, slowly lingering further and further downward until--

Gaius jumped about a foot to the side, waving his arm, like he'd just seen a bee or something.

Then he cleared his throat.

"It might be worth attending."

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