A candle flickered in the darkness. Elyssia Rel sat alone beneath the stars. In days long gone, those stars had been her playground, the place she danced, but now they were but a reminder of all that had been lost. One year and one day since Serenity fell. One year and one day since the light went out. She didn’t even know why she kept count anymore. The number would just keep climbing, day after day until the day she joined him on the other side.

Somewhere, a door chimed.

But she was lost in the distance, lost beyond this place, the station, the stars, the galaxy itself. There was a place out there beyond the galactic plane where still his stardust lingered. She reached out in the stillness of her quarters, her hand grasping towards the window and the stars beyond. It was all she could do to reach towards the void, hoping it would reach back. But it never did, and so she was alone. Alone in the silence.

The door chimed again.

We will follow you wherever it may lead.  That was what she’d told him on the eve of the end. They knew the stakes. That’s what she’d assured him. But she hadn’t truly understood the stakes, or at least she hadn’t truly accepted them, and she couldn’t follow him where he’d gone. What she would have given to see him once more, if only to feel his calloused hands on hers one more time, and to tell him, one last time, how she loved him.

“Elyssia, you in there? Elyssia, open up!”

Ekkomas Eidran’s voice shattered the silence. But why? Why was he here? Hadn’t he taken the Procyon to Ydris for some hush-hush gathering? And even if they were back, why couldn’t he just leave her be? All she wanted to do was to drown in a puddle of her own misery.

She knew the Betazoid too well to believe he’d leave if she didn’t answer though, and so she stood up, wiped the water from her eyes, and turned towards the door. Standing there, mascara running down her cheeks, she was a wreck. But fuck it. “Come.”

“Elyssia, you’re not going to believe…” Commander Eidran began as he strode into the room, somehow oblivious to the anguish pouring from her. But then, as he saw her, it washed over, a torrent that stopped him cold. “Elyssia.” The sadness… the pain… the grief… and then he understood her mind. He locked eyes with her. “I… I… I’m so sorry.”

Elyssia cast her eyes to the floor. “One year and one day.”

He blinked. Was that how long it had been? How could he have forgotten? He’d been so caught up in everything that he hadn’t even realized that yesterday marked the one year anniversary since the Serenity was lost with all hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to see you earlier.”

“But it’s been a day…” Elyssia inferred. “It always is, isn’t it? It’s the way of the world with people like us.” She understood. She’d been like him. Like them. She’d charged from Nasera to Ciatar to Earth and back again, always fighting for some greater purpose. But she had no fight left now. It was why she’d given everything up to pilot tugboats and runabouts off a backwater outpost. “I get it, Ekko. I really do. And I’m happy for you all. I really am.”

“I know, but…” Eidran said as he stared into her blackened eyes. He felt for her, but he didn’t know what to say. What could you say? Instead, he simply leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her in the biggest hug he could give. “But it’s no excuse.”

Elyssia fell into his arms. It felt comforting to be held by family. It had been so long since she’d seen Ekko, or any of them. It was nice. It was something she missed. But also, the idea of going back, of seeing them every day, what would that be but a reminder that Lewis was gone? He’d always been a packaged deal with them, and she wasn’t ready to walk without him.

Standing there, holding his Trill friend, that’s when it hit the Betazoid. Shit. Here she was, mourning Captain Lewis’ death, and here he was about to tell her that Captain Lewis was back… well, sort of. Maybe he shouldn’t? No. He couldn’t do that. She deserved to know.

Commander Eidran took a deep breath as he stepped back. “Elyssia, there’s something I need to tell you.” They locked eyes. Shit. This was going to be hard. “Something’s happened.”

“What?” Elyssia asked. She could see it in his face. Something was wrong. “What’s happened?”

“Lewis… well, not our Lewis…” Commander Eidran stuttered, not even certain how to say it. “But Lewis… he’s back.”

Elyssia just stared at him. “No, Ekko. Lewis is dead.”

“Yes, our Lewis is dead,” Commander Eidran nodded, the words hurting as much as Fleet Admiral Reyes had said them when he and the team had returned to the Polaris. “But a version of him, he’s here. Alive.”

Still, she just stared. “What are you talking about?”

“This multiverse situation…” Commander Eidran began, but then he realized she might not be read in. “You’ve seen the briefings, right?”

She nodded. “What better do I have to do in my spare time than to read?”

“Well, it appears that one of the displacements was a version of Captain Lewis that didn’t fall beyond the edge of the galaxy,” Commander Eidran shared. He could see the doubt on her face, and he could feel it coming from her. “I can hardly believe it myself, but I saw him.”

“You saw him? You mean he’s here?” Elyssia stammered. “What do you mean? He’s here on the station?”

“Well, he was,” Commander Eidran said. “But he’s gone now.”

That was impossible. Or was it? The universe worked in mysterious ways. “Where is he now?” But then her face fell. “How could he… how could he have not come to see me if he was here?”

“That’s the problem, Elyssia,” Commander Eidran cautioned. “He’s not the same Lewis that you and I knew. He’s not from this place, and he’s not from this time. He’s older… and he’s harder.” He knew no more delicate way to put it.

That didn’t matter. Not one bit. “I don’t care, Ekko. I need to see him.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Commander Eidran nodded. “We’re going to find him.” And for the first time in a year, he saw the flicker of something like a smile on her face. He could feel it too, hope and excitement coursing through her, but that was the problem too. “But Elyssia, hear me when I say he’s not the same man you knew. He’s changed.”

“Whatever shape he’s in, I don’t care,” Elyssia shook her head. “He’s my person, and I’m his.”

“He murdered a man,” Commander Eidran cautioned.

“And?” Elyssia shrugged ambivalently. She knew the man she loved, and she knew not only what he was capable of, but why too. It was part of what had made her fall in love with him in the first place. “If he killed someone, they did something to deserve it.”

“Except not,” Commander Eidran replied chillingly. “The commander dead belowdeck, and the Klingon dead on Ydris, Lewis did not kill them for what they did. This wasn’t like the Vorta on Nasera or those assholes in Healdsberg.” The Vorta had committed crimes against humanity during the Lost Fleet’s campaign, and the shooters in Marin had tortured Shafir and Morgan before attempting a coup against the Federation. “He’s on a different sort of crusade this time.”

“But a crusade nonetheless,” Elyssia noted. “Through fire and brimstone, I told him.”

“Yes, but Elyssia, it’s a misplaced crusade this time,” Commander Eidran answered firmly. “He’s not killing people for what they’ve done anymore. He’s killing them for what they will do.”