Lucien flew across the corridor's width and bounced hard against the rocky wall. Dazed, he slumped to the smooth floor as his sense reeled about him, distorting up from down and making him feel ill. He could feel the ache in his ribs and the stinging in his jaw from the hard and fast punches that seemed impossible to anticipate or block. Pony watched on a few yard away, her hands to her mouth in horror. There was little the tiny woman could do as Uncle lightly stepped up where Lucien had crumpled and then grabbed the fabric of his sweater to yank him to his feet.

"Allow me to rephrase that, Lucien," the old man said calmly. "You [i]will[/i] go see her and talk to her whether you want to or not. I need this to happen. It is far more important than your wallowing in self-pity or whatever depravity you and Pony get up to. Castille was your fiancé. Practically your wife. If there is anyone who can manage to reawaken dormant memories in her, it should be you. I know this is hard for you, but it is necessary. Necessary things need doing, Lucien, even if they are unpleasant. For example?" Uncle gave a sudden right undercut right into Lucien's belly. The air whooshed out of him as he bend double, held up only by the Colony leader's firm grip on the sweater. "I do not like being the shit out of you. I find it repugnant, actually. Only it seems to be the only way I can convince you that you must go see her. I could let Toni do this, only he would not know when to stop."

A sharp knee drive into Lucien's belly mere inches from where the last punch had landed, and Uncle let him drop to the floor unceremoniously. Turning to Pony with a fierce glare, he jabbed a finger at the battered and bleeding young man. "Get him cleaned up and down to the lab. And Pony? I won't be trifled with in this. Don't interfere." With that, Uncle walked back down the corridor to leave the two.

Pony wasted no time in rushing to Lucien's side, rolling him over into her lap and wiping the blood away from his split lip and cut cheek. "Shhh," she murmured tearfully, "It's okay, Lucien. Really. I snuck in there. I spoke to her. It's Cassie, it really is! You can go talk to her and... and thing will be like they used to be... only better... because we'll all be together now. Shhh, it's alright. Don't cry, Lucien."

Lucien said nothing, merely laid there with his eyes screwed shut tightly to drown out the pain in his heart and in his head. Hot tears scorched his cheeks. Pony didn't understand. Neither did Uncle, nor anyone else. Toni might have understood, he thought, Toni might understand better than any of them if only for the wrong reasons. Lucien had never bothered to correct Toni in his assumptions, had let the hate between the former friends grow because it was easier than confronting the memories that would burst forth every time he saw the man. Only if it was Cassie... if she was alive...

***

His cuts washed and his lip swollen but no longer bleeding, Lucien trudged his way towards the lab where the Android was being kept. The distance between the nesting grounds and the labs really wasn't all that great, an easy ten minute walk. Only now he felt as though it were a journey through hell. Going to confront this... this thing from his past was a trip of anxiety, self hate and fear that made the distance near unbearable and the destination all the more feared. What was he going to say to her? What the hell was Uncle expecting out of this? Lucien struggled to resolve within himself to make it as short a visit as he possibly could.

When he stepped around the corner and into the lab, he caught sight of her standing there and looking away. With her wonderful hair, lithe body and angle face, the impact of seeing her again struck his heart and crumbled that resolve to flee at the first opportunity. It was just as well that she wasn't looking at him; Lucien discovered quickly that he could not look at her without feeling as though he were breaking apart. The heart ache and grief of loss were centered in his chest, yes, but also radiated throughout his whole being. There was so much that he wanted to say, so much to explain and beg and plead and hope...

Hope. That was what had killed the man she had loved. Hope she might be recovered. Hope that she had escaped and still lived. Hope that Cassie was out there somewhere and that they might find her. It was hope that had kept Lucien going like a madman even after the others had given up, and it was the death of his hope that had allowed him to be seduced into Pony's arms. Even if this was Cassie, resurrected from the proverbial grave, Lucien's hope was still laid out in its stone sarcophagus. 

Finally, knowing they had to start somewhere, Lucien spoke. "Hey."