Death Becomes Me

Posted on Thu Oct 22nd, 2020 @ 2:17am by Lieutenant Nydia Holt & Civilian Keddem O'Brien The Amazingly Fearsome

1,663 words; about a 8 minute read

Whistling as he walked, Keddy found himself on the lush grass of Nydia's favourite retreat: the Arboretum, looking for her.

Having been up in one of the trees, hanging a string of fairy lights on its branches, Nydia noticed Keddem come into the arboretum. She waited, motionless, for him to grow bored of looking for her and head for the lush grass. Then she dropped down from the tree, and crept up behind him, making more noise than she'd intended. When she reached the right spot, she launched herself at him. "KEEEEEEEEDDDDDYYYYYYY!!!"

Hearing footsteps behind him, Keddy grinned, his ears confirming the identity the cadence of the footsteps told him miliseconds prior. He held his reflexes in check and let her launch herself at him, turning at the last moment and opening up his arms and catching her and letting her push him over onto the grass. He laughed as he fell back, still holding her. "Hey babe! Good pounce!" he added, proudly. She was learning! "Now watcha going to do with me now you got me?" he asked her, amusement colouring his tone as he wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Giggling despite wanting to pretend to be ferocious, Nydia leaned down and pinned him to the ground as best she could. "I'm gunna torture you..." She giggled again. "By making you talk!" She added, kissing his cheek.

That earned her a grin, an eyeroll and a kiss back. "Torture huh?" he asked, fondly. "Do your worst!"
After all, he knew, and he was reasonably sure she knew that all he would have to do is roll over and he could pin her. But he wanted to see what she had in mind. After all, this might be the fun kind of torture.

"Well," she said sitting up, and moving so that she was sitting straddle over his legs, in case he decided to sit up. "I wanted to talk to you about something you probably won't want to talk about, and something that is haunting me.... Have I told you about what happened to me when I met my twin?" She looked down, knowing she was ruining any moment that could have been, but feeling compelled to talk about it.

Seeing that the discussion had turned a bit more serious, Keddy sat up easily and didn't make the kind of comments he usually would about twins. "Nah, but something tells me you wanna?" he guessed, giving her his undivided attention. Or as undivided as his attention got, still watchful for any threat or danger.

"Well.... long story short? She tried to kill me... beat me near to death before people could get her off me.... At least in my own timeline," Nydia's voice faltered a bit. "In this one... I'm... not supposed to be here..." She looked down at her hands, which were now resting in her lap. She picked at one of her nails anxiously.

He pulled her into a hug. "Yeah you are, or the ship wouldn't be here, and you wouldn't be here, right now. The universe goofed in their timeline, and it's fixing it by putting you back where you belong. Alive and kicking. " he pointed out, gently. "Now, your twin - what's her name? - what happened to her? Did you find out where she is now? And are you two identical?" he leaned forward and gently kissed her. "And you're well trained, heck, you're Starfleet. You got security to keep you safe, you got your friends. You have me. And even better? Dang it woman...you had me pinned. We can work on how you did it but you had me pinned. You're not going to die because some muppet thought she could kill ya."

"Her name is Alison. And though we're not totally identical, she looks a lot like me. Like, at first glance you'd probably think she was me," Nydia leaned into him and sighed. "Alison was in a penal colony, but there was a breakout last year and now her whereabouts are unknown." She looked up and smiled slightly. "I know that I'm meant to be alive here and now, but it's still strange knowing that the 'you' of this timeline is actually dead. And that your sister, who murdered 'you' is on the loose. Strange hoping that she is dead somewhere. But knowing her, she's up to some insane criminal activity. She had more than a few screws loose."

Nydia wrapped her arms around Keddy and hugged him. "I'm not that strong... physically I mean... I don't know how well I'd be able to protect myself if I were to meet her again. But I do know that I have you and the crew to help if that were to happen. I may be Starfleet trained, but I'm a bloody botanist. I play with plants all day. I name them and treat them like pets," she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm too soft."

"Nah, I know you by scent, by sound, by looks..." Keddy shook his head. "I can hear your heartbeat. It's unique, I can't explain it." He cocked his head, thoughtfully. "Y'know, if she thinks you're dead, she won't come looking for ya." he pointed out. "And I like you soft. It's tasty. And I promise, I'll always keep ya safe. " he nuzzled her neck. " But I can show ya some nice little tricks if ya want? Not tryin' to make ya a killer, but we can work on making it so she'll want to pick on easier targets."

Giggling, Nydia moved slightly, wrapping her arms around Keddem's neck. "I don't think you could ever turn me into a killer," she said softly. "I giggle too much for that," she added, leaning back so her arms were straight but her hands were still clasped behind his neck. "But for her coming after me, I don't think she would. Unless news of the 'Tem returning and my name are mentioned outside of Starfleet circles."

Keddy raised his eyebrows. "Is that a dare?" he asked, amused. He had after all seen worse happen. "The giggling mauler...." he teased gently. "The mirthful murderer. And she'd likely not connect it as there'd be other Nydia Holts out there. But leave the killing to me huh?" he offered. "After all, I gotta keep my hand in and my rep on the streets..er...in the halls. " He paused. "I never had a sibling try and kill me, well not seriously anyway. But I did have one person..she could have been as sibling, we were that close? She blackmailed me, and she blackmailed Siobhan too."

Nydia tilted her head and frowned. "Really?" She said, sounding slightly confused, he'd not told her of his past and she'd never really asked either. "Who is Siobhan?"

Keddy smiled fondly. " Siobhan was my stepsister adopted sister? Something like that. Siobhan and I were..under her tutelage. She was an incredible fighter, bint could wipe the floor with me, with one hand tied behind her back. She was in charge of training us, yeh?" he shrugged. "and in a counselor type of role." he shrugged. "Not a good time. She'd threaten Siobhan if I didn't do things, and threaten me if she didn't." He snorted. "She should'a known that I could take it." he muttered, shaking his head. "Anyhow, Lil found out and told the Manheim, and when Manheim isn't happy...nobody's happy. He took care of it." he smiled, grimly. "But for a while there, we were family. A long long time ago tho. Doesn't matter none." He pulled Nydia close, savouring the warmth. "She's dead so..." he shrugged. He tilted his head "Somethin' else I need to know about Alison before it becomes a problem? " he waited for a response.

"Want to talk some more, or can I be a viscious highway man and kidnap a fair maiden and teach her some dirty tricks just in case? I got a lovely one you ladies can get away with that isn't even lethal and'll take care of your mark for a while."

Laughing and shaking her head, Nydia snuggled into him. "You don't need to kidnap this fair maiden," she said softly. "I don't know what else to tell you about Alison. She went crazy after not only learning she had a twin, but learning that twin had a much better life than she'd had. Decided the best way to deal with that disparity was to get rid of the 'good twin'. Guess in this timeline she was able to do what my timeline Alison couldn't," she shivered slightly though she wasn't cold. "From what I read, she went to a penal colony, but then escaped when something went wrong, the reports are not very forthcoming with information on that."

She paused a moment and nuzzled the side of his neck, getting her head comfortable on his shoulder. "From there, she disappeared and it looks like they never bothered trying to find her. Then again, things on the home front went haywire for Starfleet, so likely nothing was done because of that." Sighing again, Nydia wrapped her arms around him. "So, I don't know what else you'd need to know. Unless you want me to forward you the information I've found so far...."

"An' I'm guessin' you have firsthand knowledge of how she dunnit. Forward me the files?" Keddy asked, pulling her close. "These are the moments that count. The moments that we remember, long after the other is gone. Sitting. Spending time. Being. And sometimes doin' stuff. Hey, did I tell you I found a few assault course programs on the holodeck? They're awesome!"

"Well, yeah... but I don't remember most of it," Nydia said with a frown. "And yeah, I can forward you everything." She sighed, almost contentedly, as he held her. "Assault course programs? I don't know if I'd like that...." She looked at him skeptically, but couldn't help the smile that slowly formed.

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