Written:

Rating: PG-13

Word Count:

Characters: Mick, Beth, Josef, Coraline, Cynthia, OCs

Pairings: MickBeth, MickCora

Spoilers: None.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to any characters or situations from Warner Brothers' Moonlight, and seek no monetary redress from this derivative work of fiction.

Summary: Investigating a missing person's case turns more personal for Mick than he originally thought it would when someone returns from his past… or is it his present?

Comment: This was my NaNoWriMo (.org) project for 2009. I finished the challenge with 57 003 words, but the story wasn't finished yet!

I had this idea floating around in my head, inspired by the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where she thinks she made it (the vampire stuff) all up and she's actually in a psych ward. It was on MLL, though, and a similar challenge from someone (souly, I think? I only have the now dead link) that I knew exactly how I wanted to do it. This has taken a slightly different turn, however, and doesn't focus on what I thought it would

Finally, this takes place in the future, where Mick and Beth are together. Everything happened as it did in the show EXCEPT that Coraline never made herself known and no one knows about The Cure.

VvvV

Prologue

Slowly, I become aware of my surroundings… or at least aware enough to know that something is wrong. Something I just can't put my finger on... if I could even move my finger. I don't even know where it is. It's like I'm floating here – wherever 'here' is. I feel like I should be able to do something, see something, hear something that will help me figure that out. I strain to hear what's going on around me – somehow I know there are people around me – but it's useless – muffled voices, other sounds that I can't pick out. Do I know this place? If I were able to open my eyes would I recognize it? Would I know these muffled voices? Will they help me or should I fear them?

And… 'I'? Who am I? I feel like that's a piece of information I should know. Why can't I remember? Everything feels fuzzy and nothing is making any sense to me. Am I a good person? Am I being punished for some crime I committed? Do I have people that love me? Are they here with me?

I know nothing. I'm like a blank slate. I don't remember what happened to me. I don't remember who I am. All I remember is that I SHOULD remember. I remember that this isn't how it's supposed to be. Whether these are memories or instincts, I don't know that either. I remember that I'm inquisitive; that I shouldn't just be letting this… whatever 'this' is… happen to me. I may not know who I am, but I do know that's not me. That's something I suppose. I'll hold onto that…

I hope. How many times have I had these thoughts? Have I simply been replaying the same conversation to myself over and over? For how long? And for how long will it continue? It has to stop. Now.

I claw and fight my way to the surface, through the thick fog that envelopes me. I scream and plea for help – someone, anyone, help me, bring me to the surface, tell me what's happening. I get tired from struggling, but some part of me – I don't know how it could know – says that I haven't moved a muscle; that the only sound that comes from me is the slow steady breathing of sleep.

At first it seems like a wasted effort, but then I realize... I still can't see or hear, but I can feel. I'm no longer floating, but grounded on this... hard bed, thin sheets, needles in veins, cool air drifting over me. I want to shiver. A sharp pain as something – a knife? – slices across my shoulder. Another needle and before I can understand anything else, I start to feel that sensation of flying again. I start to scream, a scream only heard in my own mind.

Before it ends, I forget what I'm screaming about. A moment later there is nothing.