Gemini took in a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was wrapped in white linen sheets and bathed in the warmth of morning sunlight cascading through a nearby window. She stretched her ams and rolled over, the light blue tunic clinging to her thin frame as strands of brown and white hair were brushed across her face. She tapped her fingers on the wooden table at her right until she felt her glasses. She took another breath as she slipped them onto her head.
The Aravasti pushed herself up to a seated position and scratched her head. Everything seemed in its place; the bookshelf stacked with books and half-finished drawing journals held up by jars of pencils and a few potted plants; the round purple cushion near the tall lamp in the corner; and the half-opened wardrobe hinting at the vibrantly-colored clothing hanging inside.
She blinked. A pair of men’s boots were on the ground beside it.
She crawled to her knees and stopped at the edge of the bed. She could see traces of clothing not her own peeking out from within the wardrobe. She reached from the bed and pushed the door open the rest of the way. Half of the wardrobe contained men’s clothing, including one long, purple scarf that draped outside the door.
Distant clanging drew her confused expression toward the bedroom door. It was cracked, allowing the sound to enter.
Gemini narrowed her eyes.
She got up and retrieved a thin shawl from the wardrobe to wrap around her bare arms, and her bare feet crossed the colorful woven carpets strewn across the bedroom floor. She cautiously stepped into the hallway, finding two closed doors on either side of her. Ahead, the warm light–and savory smell–from the kitchen downstairs, drew her forward.
She carefully crept down the stairs and slowed as she reached the bottom. She turned away from the front door and held her breath as she walked into the kitchen.
Her heart leapt.
A man with pale blond hair was turned away, lifting a freshly baked loaf of bread from the cast iron oven. He did not have mitts; instead, a shield of light separated his fingers from the heat of the pan. He was in a simple blue shirt and tan pants, and he brushed his hands onto his short apron once his hands were free of the pan.
“I was wondering when you’d wake up.”
Gemini swallowed, knowing the man’s voice well.
The man turned around, revealing long white bangs messily hung around his face. His blue eyes smiled as much as his lips did. “Good morning, love. Did you sleep well?”
Gemini’s face flushed the moment they locked eyes. Her hand instantly went to the brown strands of her hair, nervously twisting it between her fingers. “I did,” she answered after a pause. “You?”
The man hummed and nodded in affirmation, and he turned back to the pan on the stove. “Would you like one egg, or two?”
“Two,” she took a step forward. “Ian…”
“Hm?” Ian glanced over his shoulder.
Words instantly became difficult to speak. Thousands coursed through her mind, but not a single one could be coaxed from the noise.
Ian, however, just smiled and returned to the pan. “I bet you just need a nice, warm breakfast.”
Her lips tugged in a smile as her worries faded. “Maybe I do.”
“You can slice the bread, if you’d like,” Ian said as he reached for the butter dish. “You’re the only one who can touch it when it’s that hot.”
The Igne-Aravasti smiled and slowly entered the kitchen. She passed behind Ian and up to the bread pan, feeling its heat as she wrapped her hands around it. With an effortless twist she lifted the pan and set it upside-down on the counter. The fresh loaf slid out, and at once the smell was warm and familiar.
She reached for the bread knife, only to pause; at once forgetting which of the drawers she could find it in.
“Where’s the bread knife?” She resorted to asking.
“Should be in the drawer,” Ian glanced at her.
She chewed on her lip, looking between three drawers.
Ian brushed behind her, his hand lingering on her hip as he opened the drawer next to her.
“Oh, thanks,” she reached in for the wooden handle.
Ian’s hand slipped to her other hip, holding her in place.
Gemini froze, closing her eyes as she felt Ian’s lips on her cheek. His body was warm against her back.
Her eyes popped open. She broke from his grasp and stepped away.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, remaining where he stood
She again twisted strands of her hair as she stood in the middle of the kitchen. “Sorry, I just… I feel like something is… off.”
“There’s a few reasons for that,” the man offered somewhat matter-of-factly.
“What?”
Ian flashed a toothy grin. “Well, for one, your sister has Lyra.”
“Lyra?”
“Polara wanted to have a cousin sleepover, so she undoubtedly had the time of her life with Aira and Andre last night.”
Another pang shot through her while Ian simply chuckled. Lyra was her daughter–Lyra was her and Ian’s daughter. Polara was her sister, married to Aurel, with two children: Aira and Andre. She struggled to process these thoughts as their foreignness startled her.
“You got to wake up in peace this morning,” Ian cracked the eggs onto the pan, “and not with the fingers of tiny hands prying your eyes open. Well,” he paused, “that’s how she likes to wake me up, anyway.”
At once, Gemini found standing difficult. She felt lightheaded, nauseous, and breathless–and most of all extremely confused. She wobbled across the stone floor and nearly collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs. She clutched the shawl around her shoulders and hunched forward.
“Are you feeling okay?” Ian stopped what he was doing when he saw her distressed state. When she didn’t answer, he took a step toward her. “Gem?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered, unable to move.
“Gem,” Ian was kneeling before her in a matter of seconds. “Do we need to go to the doctor?”
She shook her head.
“You’re still early on,” he tried, taking the side of her face into his hand. “You’ll probably feel sick for another month or so if it’s anything like Lyra.”
“Month or so,” Gemini repeated, attempting to decipher his words. When the context finally clicked, her hand instantly clamped across her middle. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered.
“Gemini,” Ian stressed. “I think I agree with you–something is off.” He glanced back at the stove and stood up quickly to remove the pan of eggs from the fire. “Let me bring you to the doctor.”
“No,” she bolted upright.
“Gem,” he turned back to her.
A knock at the door averted their attention. Before they could move, the door clicked open.
“Knock knock!” A woman’s voice called from around the corner. “Guess who woke up super early and got everyone else up with her?”
Gemini’s brows arched in pained surprise as a tall woman with long brown hair and white bangs entered the kitchen from the foyer. She was dressed in purple robes and had a toddler on her right hip.
“Lara…” Gemini whispered in realization, slinking back into the chair.
Two girls darted out from behind Polara’s skirt, both with light brown hair.
“Momma, guess what?” The younger of the two bounded across the kitchen toward her.
Lyra was just as much familiar as she was foreign: the stringy brown hair tossed around her shoulders, the missing front tooth she had just lost last week, the freckled cheeks that would eventually fade if they were anything like her mother’s, the bright blue eyes of her father, and the joy and genuine love in those eyes looking back at her.
“Careful, Lyra–Momma’s not feeling good right now,” Ian tried to intercept her when Gemini made no movement to accept her daughter’s leap.
“Uh oh, you’re having trouble with this one, too?” Polara bounced the young boy higher on her hip. “I think you were more sick with Lyra than I ever was with Aira and Andre combined.”
“Momma’s sick?” Lyra looked at her mother with concern. She reached out her hand and set it on Gemini’s knee. “Are you okay, Momma?”
“Lyra, I…” Gemini struggled to breathe.
“You’ll need to stay with Auntie Lara a little longer,” the man crouched on one knee and took Lyra into his arms. He looked up at Gemini’s sister with a frown. “I need to bring Gem to the doctor.”
“No,” Gemini muttered, her eyes unfocused behind her glasses.
“Why does Momma have to go to the doctor?” Lyra’s concern was evident in her expression as much as the tone of her voice.
“Remember when we told you that you’d be getting a new brother or sister?” Ian tried to explain as he carried her back to Polara.
Shock hit the young girl as she was placed on her feet next to a similarly confused Aira. “Are you going to get them now??” She asked in surprise.
“No, no,” Polara took her free hand and laid it on Lyra’s head. “You have to wait a few more months for that. But we can go play in your room while we wait for Momma and Daddy to get back today!”
“We can play more, Lyra!” Aira was fully on board with the proposition.
“No,” Gemini was trembling, tears welling in her eyes.
Ian leaned his head down toward her. “Gemini, what is it?”
“This isn’t right,” she spat the words.
Ian appeared hurt. “What do you mean?”
“This—all of this!” The woman thrust out her hand into the kitchen. “This isn’t right–this isn’t here!”
Polara grit her teeth and ushered the kids out of the room as Ian dropped to his knees at Gemini’s feet.
“Gemini, please–it’s going to be okay–”
Gemini stood up so abruptly the chair she was sitting on clattered backward into the wall.
“No!!” She yelled. “None of this is here! All of this is gone!!”
Ian sat back on his feet in wide-eyed fear as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Aravast was destroyed!” Her voice wavered.
“Gemini!” Now Ian was shaking in fear, reaching up for Gemini’s hand.
She clenched her teeth and took it.
In the blink of an eye, she could see his fingers, blue and bruised, held lifelessly in her hand. His body was wrapped in the remnants of his long purple scarf and lying on the fire-scorched land. She could see embers drifting in the air above the stone fountain, dried and fallen over from the blasts. She could see the rubble of broken sandstone walls strewn across the dusty ground surrounding her as she knelt upon it.
She gasped for air, gripping her bare arms as her brown and white hair was tossed in the wind. She was still alive because Ian had protected her with the last of his strength and power.
She was the only one left.
The last of the planet Aravast.
In the bleeding sky above her, a disc-like ship came into view. She watched it in silent awe as it dipped into and out of the rising clouds of smoke. A disturbance began to shift the air before her. It scattered into colored light, and with a whoosh of sound, a man in a red Starfleet uniform faded into view.
“Oh, you’re no fun!!” He complained, hands crossed at his chest.
Gemini’s brows lowered. “Q…”
“You just had to ruin that beautiful little moment, didn’t you!” He stepped up to her place on the ground.
“You–you did that??” She climbed back to her feet and stood stiffly before him. “You tugged at every memory–every emotion I ever had from my life on Aravast??”
“Well, of course!” He thrust out his hands. “I had to show you what life would have been like if you had done what all good Aravasti women did: settle down with a husband and start a family!” He pointed over his shoulder. “Oh–try to guess which of your children ends up being an Igne.”
Gemini clenched her teeth and shook her head. “No!! Because none of that was real!”
“Says who?”
“Says the person who lived through this destruction!!” Gemini was seething as she stepped across the broken ground and forced her way into Q’s face. “Says the person who knows every living thing on this planet died except me!! Do you know how hard that’s been to comprehend I was the only survivor? Do you know how much guilt I’ve had to endure wondering why it was me and not someone else??”
Q looked down his nose at Gemini, frowning as tears stained her dust-covered face. “I still say you’re no fun.” He mumbled under his breath.
Gemini huffed out a sigh and relaxed as Q turned around.
“This could have been your life if you hadn’t ruined it, though.”
She glanced aside, lips tightly pressed as she again found herself in her bedroom–just as it had been when she had awakened.
“This could have been your new reality,” Q stepped up to her bookshelf and lifted one of the drawing books, “a reality in which Aravast was not destroyed, and Ian chose you as his wife.” He flipped open a page and found doodles of space ships. “Hm,” he commented.
Gemini stepped around him and plucked the book from his hand. “This is not my reality.”
Q sighed, his expression dulled. “Fine.”
He raised his hand.
Gemini blinked–recognizing the sign too late. “Wait–” she reached for him.
He snapped his finger once.
---
Scene Notes
- In one of the earlier drafts of Echoes of Aravast (Gemini's story idea before it morphed into Westfall), a 'flash forward' at the very end would show Gemini and Ian as a couple with two children, Lyra (Sierra originally) and Isaac (with Isaac ending up with Gemini's power–which, at the time, was time-manipulation). But that story will now just live on as an alternate reality here!
- The TNG crossovers never got this deep into Gemini's backstory, so that was pretty moving to show what she's been through.
