Part Two

In the blink of an eye, Keith had his blaster in his hand. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and waved her spatula at him.

"Don't be silly, Keith. Do you think you can kill a woman who's already dead?"

"A woman who is already dead would not be standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast...so you must be some kind of trick. Did Haggar send you? Who are you?" he demanded, feeling a pain grow in his chest.

Elizabeth frowned. "Calm down. In your condition, it won't do for you to get all worked up."

Keith blinked rapidly, his mind whirling with the possibilities. He wished he had the transmitter that had been given to him, but he had left it on the couch.

"Who are you?" he repeated.

"I'm your mother," she said, stepping out from the behind the stove with her hands up. "Believe me."

"My mother is dead," Keith said between clenched teeth. "I don't know what you're trying to pull but if you don't get out of here, you're going to find a big hole in your head."

"Then shoot me," she said. "Go ahead. If that's what it'll take for you to believe me, I want you to shoot me."

He needed no further invitation.

The blaster discharged...then clattered noisily to the floor, dropping from Keith's suddenly feeble grip as he stared with wide-eyed disbelief. He had just seen the shot he had fired pass through the woman and make a smoking hole in the wall directly behind her head. Yet there she was, still standing before him, a smug smile on her face.

"See?"

Keith groped blindly for a chair and sat down, hard. His breathing began coming out in quick gasps and spots were appearing in front of his eyes. Elizabeth knelt next to him, her hand on his back.

"This isn't happening...I'm going crazy," he said.

"Maybe you are, but it is happening," she said gently, using a tone he remembered so well. "I'm here, Keith, whether you believe it's me or not. I came to help you."

"Dead parents seem to like coming back around these parts."

"Yes, they do. I ran into King Alfor. He seems like a nice man. He certainly thinks highly of you. Which is a good thing since..." she paused. "Well, you'll see."

"I am going crazy," Keith said staring into her face. She hadn't aged a day. She had been only ten years older than he was now when she had died. He grew suspicious again. "How do I know it's really you?"

Elizabeth began to hum. It was a song that she'd made up herself, long ago for Keith, when he was a child, whispering to him then that this was their secret song that no one else knew. Keith didn't say anything but his eyes spoke volumes. She put her arms around him carefully and Keith felt something inside him break. She soothed him as he finally let the tears fall. No sound escaped from his lips but he trembled violently. She caressed his hair like she used to when he was younger and he clutched her tightly.

"It's you...it's you...."

Later, when things had calmed down, Elizabeth served him the food she'd cooked up and watched with hungry eyes as he ate.

"I watched you grow up," she confessed, resting her chin in her hands. "I wish so much that I could have been there with you, Keith. You made me so proud. With the way you stood up to Colin when you were young." She looked pained. "I didn't know he could do those things."

Keith put his fork down, his lips tightening. "I never thought anybody could do those things."

"I saw what happened on the ship," she said quietly.

He turned away. "I'm sorry you did. I'm sorry anything happened."

"It couldn't be helped." She began to clear the table. "It was your destiny, cliched as that sounds."

Keith started to stand to help her but a wave of dizziness forced him to sit down. "I thought destiny was what you made it," he said instead.

"It is most of the time, but sometimes it just can't be helped," she replied cryptically. "This had to happen."

"Did it?" He shook his head. "I keep seeing him, Mom. I see him on the ground surrounded by blood. It was wrong. No matter what he had done to me, I shouldn't have.... No matter how good it felt to me at the time, it was still wrong."

"You're an honorable man, Keith; soldiers who don't want to kill are few and far between."

"I hate him for what he did to Allura...to me...to Arus...but I wish I hadn't killed him," he admitted hoarsely.

"It had to be done. Colin was already dead," Elizabeth told him, sitting down and putting a hand over his. "He died when I did and he knew it. He grew numb and then all he could feel was hate. From his death you were supposed to grow and learn."

"What could I possibly learn from that? I already knew that a knife in the gut could definitely kill someone."

"Don't be flippant. Before all this, would you have sacrificed yourself for anybody?"

"Yes," Keith replied.

"Even to Colin? Or rather, to Niloc." She regarded him with a penetrating gaze. "Admit it Keith. You were afraid of him. Of the memories the sight of him would bring, as well as the pain."

Keith stared down at the table. "Who wouldn't be afraid? What are you telling me here? That I had to learn not to be afraid of him?"

"No. You will go through life fearing many things. You're not going to be impervious to that. But in this instance, this fear was something that wasn't--how can I put this?--it wasn't necessary in your life. You were barely aware of it. But it would have festered inside of you and made you something that you would have hated. You would have been alone and angry at the world--Niloc would have won."

"I'm angry right now, Mom. And I've never felt so alone in my life."

"I'm here. Your friends are waiting for you at the castle. Keith, you're not alone. But you might have been. Did you notice what happened when Niloc showed himself, how the rage inside you built up? Did you see how you pushed everyone away? Imagine that, only ten times worse...that's who you might have been."

"I feel like Ebenezer Scrooge," Keith said, running a hand over his eyes.

Elizabeth laughed. "This conversation does have a touch of A Christmas Carol, doesn't it? I'm the ghost of Christmas future. But do you understand now?"

"A little."

She put a hand on his chest. "How does it feel?"

His gaze turned inward. "Better. Lighter." He smiled sadly at her. "I knew you could fix it, Mom."

She kissed his forehead. "I'm glad I did. I'm glad I helped." Then she stood.

"Don't go," he said, his throat closing up with pent up emotion. "You've been gone so long..."

Tears filled her eyes. "I know, Sweetheart. But the longer I stay, the harder it'll be to leave."

Keith stood and embraced her. "I need you, Mom..."

She sniffed. "I know, Baby. I need you, too. Just remember that I'll always be watching you. I'll always be by your side guiding you even if you don't feel me there."

Elizabeth began to grow transparent. Keith's arms went through her and he realized he was losing his mother for the second time in his life. Yet no tears filled his eyes. Her words strengthened him and gave him hope. He lifted his hand in a wave. She did the same.

"I love you, Keith."

"I love you, too, Mom."

And then she was gone.

Keith woke up.

It was dark and he had to feel around for the light switch on the endtable next to the couch. He squinted against the light, disoriented. Glancing at his watch, he realized he had been asleep for only a two hours. He looked around him, hoping against hope that she would be there. But he knew that she wouldn't be.

"It was a dream..." he said.

Dream or not, he felt better than he did before he had fallen asleep. Whatever had happened, his mother's words struck a chord inside him, setting him free from his anger and his pain. He would always carry the scars that Niloc had inflicted, but he would no longer ignore them and pretend they weren't there. As she had said, he was to learn from them and grow.

Keith stood and was pleased to find that he wasn't feeling as weak as he had been. A small smile grew on his lips and, turning off the lights, he made his way to bed.

In the corner behind him, two figured glowed dimly in the darkness. Elizabeth Porterfield turned to the King of Arus with a pleased smile.

"This ghost business is very handy," she said to him.

"Isn't it? Allura's about ready for a visit from me, I think."

She laughed. "We have our work cut out for us." She stared at the retreating back of her only son. "I love him so much it hurts."

"He's a good boy. He'll make it," Alfor said reassuringly.

"I know. He's my son after all."

The Legend Will Continue...