name = Penny Lane 
email = acynonyx@hotmail.com
title = When Darkness Falls.
warnings = 
story = Note: This is my first attempt at fanfic.This is part one of the story. 
It centers on one new character, while using some Babylon 5 regulars. The style 
used, is meant to simulate thought (( )) process of the character.
WHEN DARKNESS FALLS.


DISCLAIMER:
All the characters and places belong to JMS and WB.

PART 1     
   (( Hmmmmm...mmm...mmm...Thought I've forgoten it long ago...This tune...Doesn't 
	make any sense. How long habe it been? Eleven years? Hah! Time passes...Yes, it 
	does...When was it? )) A memory. (( Mother sitting near the fire...she always 
	liked the fire, said it made her feel comfortable and safe.)) Sudden wave of 
	gentleness came over, but was dissmissed as soon as it came. ((Irrelevant. 
	All she ever cared about was comfort. HER comfort.)) The bitter bile was 
	rising in the throat. Hate mingled with dispair, seeped through to the core 
	of memory: a conditioned reflex that had been so successful in blocking the 
	unwanted thoughts many times before. This time, however, the pang of pain and 
	the frozen universe staring from the window of the crowded transporter, opened 
	the never-healed wound and allowed memory to overtake the whole being. 
	(( Snow...it covered the ground as far as it could have been seen from the 
	window of the warm room. It always have been snow...From the time of the 
	earliest thought, ground was coverd with snow. It was so nice to just lie 
	there with the head in Mother's lap and listen to her humming of an old 
	Centauri song, learned long ago, on the homeworld years away.)) Pain. 
	Throbbing pain. (( At that time Mother and Father were the universe. Mother's 
	dress, silky and smooth, felt so nice against a cheek...The fire dancing on 
	the stones of the hearth, brought back the stories of Brave Narn Warriors, 
	that Father told her everytime she woke up shivering from the nightmares. 
	Father told her, with blazing pride, that she needn't fear anything, not 
	even the silly Kh'hatar that Mother told her about, for the Legacy of 
	Warriors was running in her blood.>> Damn those Narns. Damn. Damn. DAMN them. 
	And their damned pride, along with their damned Legacy. ((Lying in front of 
	the fire, she treasured the moments of silence, interrupted only by the hum 
	of the song. Silence was what she loved most of all about their evenings 
	together. Silence meant no words; silence meant no arguments. But silence 
	was the only thing that kept them together. And soon, thousand year old 
	arguments substituted the silence. Arguments of pain and politics of 
	both of her people. Arguments of her..of unliky war-child. It was those 
	arguments that lit the challenge in Father's ruby eyes and Mother's pulled 
	up haughty lips...))
	
      The eyes staring into the emptiness of space, came into focus, as they 
		encountered dark shape of Babylon-5. Night was descending onto the 
		oasis of in the cold of the universe. Night was the perfect time. 
		Darkness was the perfect patron. The cold fire of hate sparkled in the 
		brown eyes from underneath of the cloak. 
		
    "Attention to all passangers, DARKAN has reached Babylon-5. Prepare to dock."
     Stepping outside of the vessel, that had brought her thus far, she smiled 
	  with satisfaction to herself; adjusted the unruly lock, and still smiling 
	  checked in her mind: "Phase One--accomplished." It was bound to be fun. 
	  Even without the money that those people paid her, for her little "deed of 
	  justice." Though not as profitable. Ah, all those material things! She stepped 
	  out onto the busy streets of Babylon-5 with devil's determination.    
     ((Damn the Narns, damn the Centauri. Along with Mother and Father.))
End of part I.
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name = Penny Lane 
email = acynonyx@hotmail.com
title = When Darkness Falls (2)
warnings = 
story = This is part 2 of WHEN DARKNESS FALLS. 
WARNING: The story center on the new character.
DISCLAIMER: All B-5 characters and places belong to JMSand Co.
Note: Any response and critisism will be appreciated
WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (continued)

     It was true that Babylon-5 never slept. There was always something going on 
in its nooks and cranies: a noisy bargain, a gossip or a fight. The entety of the 
streets lived a life of its own--getting drunk on the brew of the hurried steps 
of alien diplomats, of quiet discussions on the meaning of the univese, and on 
crazed frolic of people , who lived one day at the time, too unwilling and unsure 
to see beyond their next pay. These were the people, who lived and died on 
Babylon-5, for Babylon-5 and because of Babylon-5. Once they left the corners 
where they lived, they ceased to be individuals; they became part of the joint 
spirit. The river of bodies, alien and human, carried with and within, making 
impossible to distinguish one from many.

     The figure brought in by the darkness, consolidated with crowd, and let 
it carry her in no direction at all. Under cloak, fingers found an old Narn 
dagger and weaved themselves around the handle. It brought dark joy to feel the 
raw power of the weapon. Overwhelming, it ate through the soul, coloring it in 
the color of blood. She had all time in the universe. Prime-Minister Molari was 
on the station, and her contacts assured her that he had no intention to leave 
any time soon. Pity. She would've enjoyed a good chase. But they wanted it to 
be done with no risk at all. That's why they have chosen her of all 
"professionals." Every last rat in the League knew that she could've cared less 
about her life, which ensured complete safety of the employer, and made her one 
of the highest paying mercs. Not that she cared fo money that much, mind, 
especially when there was Centauri or a Narn involved; but it was always a nice 
little bonus.

      But the darkness and death inside of her were at times unbearable. She 
almost never slept anymore. She simply couldn't. In the beginning, she would 
lie every ninght on the bed, staing into the emptiness of the night within her, 
and inwardly know that she had died those long eleven years ago. Died, when the 
first touch of hate and despair fell upon her; when Mother threw her the last 
glance. She abhoared those sleepless nights. They screamed to her , screamed 
that she was wrong in every thing that she had ever done; that she was the enemy, 
destroying herself and others, destroying brutally for the wrong reasons. She 
tried to lock away those thoughts, assuring herself that they were nothing but 
the dark illusions that night threw at her, testing her strength. She turned 
to "hatar" for help, seeking sleep and the way to shut the night out; but 
even the powerful Drazi drug was futile. Her depleted body, refused of the 
sole natural regeneration method, was now addicted to "uleet goras" or as 
it was commonly known among the sewer rats in the League--the snuff. Snuff 
was a pretty potent substance, illegal in the Allience and on the most of 
non-allied worlds. Getting addicted was dangerous; none of the mercs in 
the League, who had a substancial income and frequent job offers, dared to 
use it. It was only the lowest ranks, the last dirtbags, who had neither the 
quality nor finesse of high paying mercenaries, were the ones who got their 
occasional assignments thanks to the snuff. It was highly addictive, but for 
the people blinded by despair and the need, it didn't matter. Snuff gave 
them enough strength and agility to complete the job, and then, having 
gotten them the meager money, left them to suffer the withdrawal. The physical 
pain, accompanied by hallucinations, dulled the senses of body and mind. In 
the dark God- forsaken crawlspaces, people swiveled on the filthy floors, 
screaming in their visions of hell as ther terpid fire of fever was feasting 
on their flesh. The withdrawal attack usually lasted for few hours. Then, 
given the taste of its embrace, it dissapeared as swiftly as it came, leaving 
the poor wretches on the floors, exausted and weak. The ones who died during 
the withdrawal attack were the lucky ones, comparing to the ones who were 
left permanatly deaf, blind or retarted.

      She knew all this. She knew of pain and suffereing before she got 
started on with the usage. But it was a choice between life and death. She 
needed snuff for living; she wouldn't be on Babylon-5 now, if seven years 
ago she hadn't decided to in favor of snuff. She didn't want to die. She 
was too stubborn to die and leave all those Narns and Centauri without an 
enemy. No...Not ever.
      So, it wasn't just a question of life anymore--it was a matter of 
revenge. Constant use of snuff, with no breaks or withdrawals, for  three 
hundrd and sixty five days a year. It was nnow a way of living foe her. 
Snuff gave her body the constant state of alert, no need of sleep and the 
ability to stay without food for a prolonged time. Because it had become a 
constant factor, the body had integrated the drug as the essential part of 
the system, and the side effects had ceased to surface themselves, leaving 
her levelheaded and clear minded. Unlike other users, because of such 
thorough integration, she did not experience increase in strength or 
heightened perception. But all it had doen for her--a chance to keep going, 
was enough. The night was conquered.

End of Part 2   
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