Fragments of the Reclaimer

Ashes

The lights on the station still were out. All that lit the bio-stable was the light of the moon. Aria laid on the floor still unconscious, while Rimmer sat curled up in a ball in a corner of the room, softly sobbing. He had been unconscious for some time as well, only to wake up to thousands of ash piles and a seemingly lifeless Aria; he thought it was just a terrible nightmare. He was sure she was dead, however she didn't suffer the same fate as everyone else. He never bothered to check for a pulse. He didn't need to; it was easier to assume that everyone died and he was left alone.

His head was pounding; his vision was fuzzy from tears. He rested his cheek against his knee, staring at Aria, and wondering if he should've said something other than forgiving her. An I love you at the very least would have been suffice. Now it was too late.

"I don't blame you," he said to Aria, as if she could hear him. "I've just... missed you; I've missed the part of me that you took away when you left. I felt safe with you, and now I'm afraid."

Bit by bit, she put her hands underneath herself. She let out a moan as she tried to stand up; it was no use. The Composer may not have taken her, but it did hurt her. She crawled over to Rimmer; it was all she could do. She was in too much pain to stand or walk. Even as she crawled she groaned, as she slowly inched her way to him.

Rimmer lifted his head to look at her. He was nearly in shock to see she was alive. "You're— Are you okay?" he asked, voice trembling.

Aria didn't answer him at first; she was too busy trying to concentrate on moving. Her muscles were nearly frozen. She could barely make sense of what happened, even though she witnessed it. She plopped down next him, then placed the back of her hand just under her nose to block the horrible smells in the room.

"Where's Kryten?" She didn't get a reply. "We need to get moving."

Normally he'd be the first to jet out of a dangerous area, but he was too scared, too broken to leave. He just wanted to sit and cry.

"These people are gone." he quavered. He stared at the piles of ash that were once humans.

"I know..." she murmured as she stared at the hundreds upon hundreds of ash piles. "And more will follow if we don't stop the Didact."

He slowly stood up, and staggered to the terminal Kryten was in front of when it all went down. He stared outside the window in front of him, gazing at the destruction. "Do you think he'll replace me?" he asked, deep in thought. "Boot up a new me when I... you know."

"Don't you mean 'if'?"

He almost imperceptibly shook his head. "It's over. I am on my last legs, and sooner or later he's going to realise—" He stared at her with glistening eyes, filled with tears that hadn't fallen. "What am I saying? He's gone, isn't he? And if he's gone, my hologrammatic unit will be shut down. My existence wholly depends on his for some smegging reason."

She tittered and didn't bother hiding it. They really were married in a sense. "Until death parts you..." she murmured.

"What was that?"

She gave a half smile. She avoided the question and the fact she said something under her breath. "Rimmer, if he were gone... you wouldn't be here now, would you?"

Unsure if he wasn't dreaming or effectively dead already, he patted himself and checked his body over. Sure as smeg, he was there and in fact not dreaming. "I am here, aren't I?"

"You're talking to me, aren't ya?"

These days talking wasn't enough to prove anything. He could've been talking to himself for all he knew. Rimmer shrugged his shoulders.