Water

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and its characters don't belong to me. The characters mentioned all belong to J. Michael Straczynski.

"Water"
by Christine Anderson
aka Anla'shok Ivanova
Written for the Theatrical Muse 'daydreams' challenge.

Anna used to daydream about returning to her life as she had once lived it, of going back to John and to her job, to her explorations. She used to dream of the excitement of new discoveries, of bringing old mysteries and long-lost secrets into the light. She used to dream of everything as it once was, of the simple and the mundane, grading papers in the faculty lounge at MIT- not the hallowed halls of the venerable institution, but the familiar refuge, where no one cared that the clothes she wore were not always stylish, where her academic record and her own words spoke more of her than anything else.

She used to dream of going back, like everything was the way it had been, as if nothing had ever changed.

But she knows now that even in her dreams she cannot return to those places, those moments, that she cannot turn back time.

It might be harder to believe if she had not lived through it, but her world has been transformed, and her dreams, too, are different now.

She dreams of holding the stars in her hands, of forgiveness and absolution for sins not quite her own. She dreams of moving on, letting go, putting the old ghosts to rest. She dreams of the triumph of science, of honor and good over chaos.

She dreams that the darkness is gone forever, never to return, that the ones who embraced her and took her in, who gave her a home and a place when she had none, can meet their destiny without fear. She dreams that the mages are all that they have the potential to be, and that she stands, honored, amongst their number.

She dreams of an end to the keeping of secrets, of an age of truth and beauty. She dreams of the healing of old scars. And of Galen's eyes, without their long-accustomed pain.

Anna dreams of water, cool and soothing, a million old agonies washed away, a crystal wave of hope.

Feedback?

fanfiction