"A
man once inquired, 'Will men ever find peace? Or does that only come at your
own end?' Well, my question is small. Will I find peace in this life or will it
come at my end? There really is only one way to find out, right?"
Part
One:
*Two
months after Experiment*
Darien
woke up with a cold sweat. He sat up to find his blankets and pillows lying on
the ground. 'Not again.' Darien tried to remember his dream but had no luck. He
stepped off the bed and grabbed his bedding. 'You belong on the bed friends,
not on the floor. What? Is he paying you more money?'
Darien
tossed his things on the bed, then carefully made it. He walked to his bathroom
and looked in the mirror. 'Well, what to do with you?' He thought. He pulled
himself together and got dressed. As he walked by the kitchen he stopped. He
now hated leaving his apartment. Who knew what was out there waiting to grab
him? But he had to go.
He
walked to the small living room and felt a chill. He remembered Hobbes' body
lying there and then the sudden pain in his neck. 'No! Not right now.' He
thought with anger. He opened his front door and walked out. "Here I come
world, be gentle."
________
Hobbes
woke up with a slight headache. He jumped out of bed and walked to his
bathroom. He quickly got dressed and then walked into the kitchen to grab a
small bite to eat before heading to work. Maybe he would have enough time to
grab an iced mocha. He grabbed an apple and walked out the door.
_________
Claire
walked into her lab. She had much to do but little time to do it in. She heard
something in the other corner of her lab. "Hello, anyone there?" she
said with her Australian accent.
"Yes
Claire, I am here." Someone replied.
Claire
turned the corner to find Darien sitting on the chair. "Hi there Darien,
something I can do for you? Don't tell me you need a shot. It's only
Wednesday."
"No
Claire, I am fine with the little snake here." He put his hand up to show
the snake with only two segment red.
"Well,
that's really good Darien. I am surprised you only have two there. You aren't
using the quicksilver?"
"No,
not since my last mission. Oh, I mean..." He suddenly stopped his
sentence.
"It's
been two months Darien. You still can't remember anything?"
"No,
and I don't want to either Claire. It's bad enough knowing that he did
something to me. I don't want to know what." Darien stood up from the
chair. "I have to go, Hobbes is probably waiting for me upstairs."
"I
doubt that Darien. This last week since you were released from the hospital you
have been coming in earlier than Hobbes, even me. What, can't you sleep?"
With
that Darien walked out of the room leaving Claire there pondering his strange
mood.
__________
Hobbes
walked down the hallway to the Officials office with a cup of java in his left
hand. He walked up to the door and walked in. "Hello there Official, what
can I do for you today?"
"Nothing
today Hobbes." The Official said. "You and Fawkes can have the day
off. Get some rest, have a party, I don't care. Just leave."
With
that Hobbes turned to leave, then decided to ask a question. "Where is
Fawkes?"
"Last
I saw him he was leaving my office with a smile on his face. Said there was
something important he had to do today. I don't know what though. Thought I
should leave that one alone."
"What,
you? Leave it alone? Never heard of such a thing." Bobby said with a
smirk.
"Well,
today was HIS lucky day. I won't say the same thing about you though."
Bobby
got the hint and left the room. He should see the Keep before leaving for the
day. Maybe she would know where his partner went.
________
The
Official looked over at Eberts. "Eberts, I want you to get someone to
follow Fawkes today. And get him on it now!"
"Yes
sir." Eberts said with a sigh. "Right away."
________
Darien
found himself wandering down the street. Where was he going? He didn't quite
know yet. He was following his feet and he had no idea where they would lead
him. Just then he stopped.
"No way." Darien said. He found himself looking at the
warehouse he was locked into for two weeks.
He
couldn't help it, he had to go in. As he walked in far away memories fled into
his mind. Spiders, tranq guns, guns. He walked into that small padded room and
found old blood lying on the ground.
"My blood." he whispered while pulling up his shirt to find a
small scar on his stomach. Could it really be two months later? He pulled his
shirt back down then walked out of the room. He hadn't been here since the
shooting. What could he find? What could he remember? Sure, he told Claire that
he didn't want to know. But it was the total opposite. He wanted to know
everything. What had that man done to him? What could he still do?
Darien
looked down at his watch. "12:00 already? Have to go eat. But I will be
back." With that he headed for the door. Just then he heard a noise.
"Darien
turned around to find a man with his gun out standing before him. "Aw crap!"
________
Hobbes
walked out of the Keeper's lab. After hearing everything the Keep just
said he wasn't sure what to do. Could Darien really be that depressed? He
hadn't been touching quicksilver for almost two months. Was he scared of
something? And if so, would he act on that fright? He had to find him, and he
knew just where to look first.
_________
Darien
stared as the man put his gun away. "Umm, I am sorry. I thought I had seen
someone else come in here."
"Someone
else? And who are you?" Darien said with anger.
"I
am Jonathan Kennedy. I am with the Agency. I am watching this warehouse. I had
no idea it was you Mr. Fawkes who came in. Once again, I am sorry."
"Well
John, can I call you that? Why are you watching this building? And how do you
know who I am?"
"Yes,
you can call me John and the Agency gave me a picture of you and told me that
if you were to come here to call the Official."
"Oh,
well I better leave then. It was nice meeting you John. And tell the Official I
said, 'Thank you for this wonderful day off'." With that Darien
walked away.
_________
"Hello,
this is Agent Kennedy. Tell the Official he was here and now he is gone. He is
going to lunch. Will keep in contact." John hung up the phone and walked
out of the building.
As
John walked towards his car a man snuck out from behind one of the pillars,
"That was close," he said, then turned around and started walking in
the other direction, away from John.
_________
Hobbes
walked into the cafe and looked around. Sitting in a booth at the end of the
cafe was Darien. He was playing around with a sandwich. Hobbes decided to walk
over. "Hey there partner!" He said. "What's up?"
Darien
looked up from his sandwich and stared at Hobbes. "Hey Bobby. Not much is
going on. Just thought it was time for some food in this broken down stomach of
mine. How did you find me?"
"Easy.
You always eat here on Wednesday. And I thought I could join you if you liked.
I should fill my stomach too."
With that Hobbes sat down.
"Actually,
I was hoping to eat alone. But...You can stay."
"Thanks."
Hobbes said.
A
waitress came by and took Hobbes' order, then ran off to fill it. Hobbes
couldn't help but stare at his partner. He looked extremely sad. Bobby had seen
him sad before but this, this was different. "Fawkes, you okay man?"
Darien
stopped playing with his food long enough to say, "Yes, I am quite fine.
But I do have to leave now. It was nice eating with you." Darien tried to
stand up but Hobbes grabbed his arm. "Let go man!" Darien said while
wiggling his arm away from Bobby.
"Darien...."
Darien
turned around. "Darien? You just called me Darien?"
"I
am sorry for grabbing you. I am only trying to help."
"Help,
you? I can't be around you. Not any more."
"What
do you mean Fawkes?"
"Nothing!"
Darien said with anger. "Just leave me alone." By this time the whole
cafe was staring at them. Darien looked around. "What! Too much yelling? I
will keep it down, ok?" With that Darien left the cafe. He was going to
the only place he could without a problem.
________
Hobbes
found himself left in the cafe with eyes transfixed on him. He sat up and said,
"I am sorry." He put money down for Darien's untouched sandwich and
his meal also. He stepped out the door to see if he could find Darien. No
luck. He walked towards the van
and opened it. He picked up his
cell and dialed the Keeper's number.
"Keepy?"
"Yes
Bobby. What can I do for you?"
"I
just talked to Darien. Something is majorly wrong. He said something about not being able to be around me any
longer. What do you think is up?"
"Bobby,
it could be anything. He could be going through depression. You know, he was
kidnapped, played with, and shot two months ago. He might not yet be over it.
And I am sure it is harder now that he has no idea what happened while he was
in stage 5. We just have to keep a watch on him. You know what almost happened
the last time he was depressed?"
"Yes,
I know. I won't let it go that far." Hobbes hung up the phone. There are
three places that Darien would go right now.
First,
there was the warehouse, second, there was the beach, and the third, well, he
would check there first.
_________
Eberts
walked up to the Official. "Sir, Mr. Fawkes just left the cafeteria. Agent
Kennedy said that Mr. Hobbes and Mr. Fawkes were in a heated argument when Mr.
Fawkes left. He is still pursuing Mr. Fawkes and will contact us again when
Fawkes stops once again. Oh, he also said that he is sure that someone else was
in the warehouse with him."
The
Official looked at Eberts. "Thank you Eberts. That will be all."
"Sir?"
Eberts said.
"Leave
Eberts!"
Eberts
quickly left, shutting the door behind him.
________
Darien
walked on the freshly-cut grass. It seemed as though he had been walking for days.
He finally made it to his destination. "Hello there, Kevin." Darien
said looking down at his brother's grave. "You have no idea how much I
miss you Kevin. I haven't been here for at least two months. I had some trouble
with our old friend Arnaud."
Darien
felt as though he was going to collapse right there. He had this sharp pain in
his stomach. He didn't know if it was because he was hungry or because he was
so tired. "Kevin, I have been thinking about ending it all. I want to come
home. I want to be with everyone. With mom, dad, with you. But I can't do it
yet. I can't destroy what you died to protect. I won't do that to you. I was
thinking that I would do something serious, something with no possibility of
recovery. So that they have to take out this gland. This prison."
"Hello
there, partner." Someone said behind him.
"Aw
crap!" Darien said turning around to find Bobby. "Hey there Bobby. You know it isn't a good thing to
sneak up on people. How long have
you been there by the way?"
"Long
enough to know your intentions." Bobby said with concern on his face.
"Bobby..."
"No
Darien! How can you think like that? How can you even consider to just end it
all?"
"That's
easy, Bobby!" Darien said with anger. "I can't stay in this world any
longer. Everyone around me gets hurt, dies. I couldn't take it if anything
happened to you because of me." By this time Darien had tears in his
eyes. "Arnaud could have
killed you. Who cares about me! I am worried about you, about Claire. How could
I live with myself then?"
"Darien,
you aren't responsible for any of us. If something happened to us, it wouldn't
be because of you. What about all the times I have put you into danger?"
"You
don't understand Bobby! You don't know what it is like to have something in your
head that shouldn't be there. And
it shouldn't! And the only way to get rid of it is to get rid of
yourself."
"I
do know what it is like Darien!" Bobby said with anger. "Do you think
it is my choice to act so crazy? Do you think I am pleased to have to take some
pills each day to control my head?"
"No,
I guess not Bobby. I am sorry. I just can't stand this."
"Stand
what Darien?" Bobby said with frustration in his voice.
"I
don't know what that man did to me! I can't remember. I want to remember!"
Darien said now with tears running down his cheeks.
"It
will all be okay Darien." Bobby said walking over to Darien. "Just
let me help." Bobby said, touching Darien's shoulder.
"I
miss my brother, Bobby. I miss talking to him. I miss making fun of his
experiments. Now I am the experiment. And all I can do is make fun of myself.
He was one of the last people in my family. Now I feel like it's just me. And
now I want to be with them. To be with him."
"It's
not your time Darien. Not yet."
"Bobby,
I killed my brother. I killed him!"
"No
Darien, Arnaud would have killed him whether you were there or not."
Darien
fell to the ground on his knees while hitting the ground with his fists.
"Why, Kevin? Why did you have to leave me? You knew I couldn't do this on
my own!"
Bobby
looked down at Darien. "Darien, your brother will always be with you. In here."
Bobby pointed to Darien's heart. When Bobby helped him up he said, "It
will all be ok." Then he embraced Darien.
Darien
couldn't help it. He let all of his pain out. He let it out to his best friend.
As
Darien pulled himself together he stepped away from Bobby. "Um, that
didn't happen." Darien said while wiping a tear from his face.
"What
are you talking about Fawkes?" Bobby said with a smile.
"Now,
lets get out of here. Let's see what we can do about your memory."
"Right.
And Bobby?"
"Yes
Fawkes?"
"Thank
you... partner." Darien said as they walked to Hobbes' van.
"A
man once said, 'When you want to end it all, look around you. There is always
something left for you to live for.' In my case, I wanted to die for my
brother. Now I realize that I want to live for him."
