They come suddenly. They come in masks, they come with guns.
For the briefest of instants, David stops thinking. Stops thinking of himself, of Syd, of the monster in his head. Stops thinking about anything. For the briefest of instants, his mind is completely blank. For the briefest of instants, he has perfect clarity.
For the briefest of instants, he knows where every single one of the they is. For the briefest of instants, their minds lie open to him. He knows why they've come. He knows what will happen.
Kill the others.
He knows what will happen, and he rejects it.
He says "No," and the world is different.
He holds up his hand and reaches out. The knowledge is already fading, but those close by, he can still find. They all freeze.
The monster in his head starts laughing. He knows everything the monster knows. It would be so easy to close his fist and crush them. So easy to swipe his hand and wave every one of them away. So easy to snap his fingers and have them not be.
The monster's laugh in his head is a mad laugh. Do it, it says.
The little boy that still lives somewhere inside shakes his head in fear. "I just want to be friends!"
"It would save your friends," the rational part of his mind says. "But they would fear you, after."
"We'd be safe together," the Sydney in his head offers.
David makes his choice. He gathers all those he has reached. All those that have guns, all those that are an immediate threat. He pushes, gently, and they are all pushed together, safe and out of the way. It will do for now.
There is still fear, quite a lot of it coming from the one man he spared – the one man not actually holding a gun. He's more dangerous than that. And yet he's afraid. David can smell it.
"You're right. We need to talk."
–
"So you're just going to whip up some kind of peace accord. Right before lunch, or by dinner?"
Sydney only cares about him. Not about peace, not about anyone else's safety. Sydney doesn't care about being alone. Sydney wants to be alone.
For all the voices in his head, David's been left alone too long. With the monster caged at the back of his mind, he's more alone than ever. He doesn't want to be alone anymore.
–
Melanie pleads with him to read Clark's mind. As if Clark's fear isn't halfway to eroding what little control David has already. The monster is lapping it up.
It is much, much easier to read minds than to not do it, right now. Clark hides his fear well, on the outside. David hears the little signals travelling back and forth. There's only one conclusion to draw. Someone else is watching in Clark's head.
In his memory, or in his head, or maybe truly, David hears Clark calling his name, repeating it. It's easy to hone in on him, on that spark of interest that is still there, underneath the terror.
Beside him, the rest of the Summerland residents are arguing, their emotions and their thoughts adding to the turmoil. Carey flashes a green light in David's eyes. It briefly disrupts the connection to Clark. It does nothing to cut David off from the people actually in the room, however.
He has friends now. Friends who are arguing about killing someone who could also be a friend. If they could just talk. If he could just get through.
David remembers the brief flash from earlier. For so, so short a time he'd managed to connect – not just to the people in front of him, not just to the person behind the mirrored glass – but to everything, to everyone. Everything had been clear. It would be nice to find that clarity again. The clarity where he could see the ways the world could be, and choose.
–
David learned to meditate in Clockworks. The therapists there liked to use it to get people to listen to themselves; find their true inner voice amongst the many.
It's not what David uses it for now. He's been in his own head for too long – those voices will keep. He's trying to quiet them, quiet the sounds of the minds that are clamoring for his attention around him, quiet the fear and bravado coming from the interrogation room upstairs. He lifts himself into the air, trying to cut the physical connection so he can focus on the mental one.
The clarity he'd found escapes him. Every time he gets close, the monster in his head manifests itself, trying to claw its way out.
–
Clark is sitting in front of him, still putting on a brave face. He can't fool David. But the monster is also getting stronger, and it's becoming harder to keep it contained. He knows Sydney is behind him, but she's not in his mind. He divides his focus, trying to find her and trying to find that spark of interest in Clark. There has to be something there.
The monster sees its chance.
He can't speak anymore. His connection to the physical world is gone. He's back in his own head. Dammit. He reaches out one more time – to Sydney, to Clark: "Want to help?"
–
The procedure to destroy the monster permanently feels strange. No, in fact, it hurts. So much of his life, so much of who he was – so much of who he is – disappears into the void.
Until, at last… clarity. Him and the monster, ready to strike.
David says "No" and the world is different.
The monster freezes, unable to move. David's in control. He can destroy the monster here.
But can he? The monster is part of himself. Without it, what is he, if not the void?
Did his hesitation break his control? Or was he never as much in control as he thought he was? David tries to fight off the monster, but it's futile. He's losing. All that work, and he's losing.
But then Sydney is there. The Sydney that is always in his head, but also the real one. And the monster is gone.
He switched with Sydney, David's rational self tells him. He opens his eyes. Sydney's body is on the floor next to him. So is Carey. But the monster – the monster is heading down the hallway, piggybacking on Kerry.
This is not how the world is supposed to be.
So change it, the Sydneys tell him.
Kerry isn't interesting to the Shadow King, reason suggests. He'd want another powerful telepath. Oliver. Taking that as a premise, it becomes easy to conclude where to intercept the monster.
It's the work of a thought to blast a hole in the floor and lower himself. Kerry halts in front of David.
This is simple. It is not the same as the all-encompassing clarity he's been chasing, but all the voices that are still in his head agree and line up behind him. The monster and he, no longer sharing a body. The monster, in fact, in the body of one of his friends. Now he just needs to drive it out completely.
David says "Yes", and sets out to change the world