From: Ruth King <101646.276@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Then The Night Comes 1/1
Date: 25 Mar 97 14:04:04 EST


Then Night Comes
By  Ruth King
101646.276@compuserve.com


 Babylon 5 is copyright Warner Bros. & JMS etc.  This story is
 not intended to infringe on these copyrights. Please do not reproduce without
the prior consent of  the author.


Susan Ivanova sits alone. The candle flames flicker. The drip of the wax the
only sign that time is passing. Hours, minutes, days, she cannot bring herself
to care. Outside the universe continues, all she wants to do is remember. 

She sees his smile, she hears his laugh, she feels his arms about her. Reality
mocks her memories. How effortless it had been to slip into love, easier still
to lose him. 

One by one the flames die, each one a life indelibly entwined with her own.

Mother, brother, father
Friend, husband, lover

She does not move. It is over. No more fighting. The bright future she cannot
see through the cloud of her own solitude. There are civilisations to rebuild,
new worlds to explore but she shrinks away from those challenges. Her time is
almost over. The galaxy has to heal the scars of war, revere its heroes long
gone to their graves. She sees their faces, a thousand years dead, two years
dead, it makes no difference.

Jeffrey Sinclair, John Sheridan, Michael Garibaldi, Marcus Cole, dear sweet
Talia. 

The children will carry on. David, a strong leader, just like his father. The
new races will be safe in his hands.

The last candle dies, the glass slips to the ground, crystals shards shatter and
dance. A  gentle hand takes her own and leads her through the door.