MANNEQUINS

Previously

A few months after their disagreement in Marionette, Peter and Olivia gets together. The team investigates a vanishing boy and kids in suspended animation. The boy appears in the other side and Bolivia tries to hide him from the Fringe team. The place was sealed in an amber. Peter is surprised to see her supposedly mother alive and finding out that she is one of the First People. He also learns another mystery about himself.

Disclaimer

As much as I want to, I am not affiliated with the TV show Fringe. I am just one of the fans who have wild ideas and would want to put it into a fanfic. I do not claim to be an expert in writing nor what I write to be accurate, so please do not crucify me on that basis. Constructive criticism, however, is welcome. Thank you for reading.

Please take note that there could be some spoilers in this fanfic. You have been warned.

Feedback

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Main Story – Part IV – Some Truths Better Told

Walter switches on the Energy Signature Detection device and scans through the room.

"So, Walter, how does this work?" Peter asks his father, while one of his hands in his pocket, playing with the key he got from his unexpected guest.

"This device detects signals from the parallel universe. Humans. Items. Anything that is from the other side emits a different energy wavelength." Walter's eyes move from Olivia's direction to Peter.

Olivia remembers the day when she is able to activate her Cortexiphan ability... enabling her to discern which building will be transferred over to the other side... the same ability that uncovers the truth about Peter's real identity.

"This is the very same device that I would have made when you were gone missing..." Walter murmurs as he recalls the day when the time Peter went away to Northwest Passage. "Ah!"

"What?" Olivia and Peter in unison.

"Just as I suspected."

"You know, Walter, even if I am from the other dimension, you sounded more farfetch than me."

"Precisely the point!" Walter exclaims, showing the device. A glowing white energy is shown to be emitted in the empty desk and chair.

Walter hands the device to Peter.

"This is not just a simple case of abduction. The boy here, well, was here... must have travelled to the parallel universe. The energy glow is simply a remnant of what he had left. Much like how you would feel that the chair is warm after getting occupied for an extended period of time by someone else. That occupier leaves molecules off from his ass and therefore when you sit on it, you are actually sitting on his ass molecules." Walter, cheerfully explains.

"Wait. How can this boy travel to the other side? Don't tell me..."

"No," Olivia, realizing that Peter might have a hunch that the boy could be another of Walter's experimental subject, "it's me. I gave him the blood, which obviously contains the cortexiphan drug, so yeah, I did it."

In a quiet office, Olivia tries to explain to Mrs. Bradley what had happened to the kids.

"I don't know how would you forgive me. I know things are very weird, bordering in the realm of supernatural, but that's exactly what we think happened. I am taking responsibility on this, I will ensure that your kid will come back safely."

"Ms. Dunham. Olivia, right? I know I should be angry with you. I should blame everything to you. But I want to be more logical... more rationale. You saved my son. You gave me another chance... with him. More time with him." Mrs. Bradley grabs the hands of Olivia, "I trust you."

Olivia holds tight on Mrs Bradley's hand, "thank you."

"You said that this drug that was transferred to him gave my boy an extra-sensory perception?"

"Uh-huh."

"I don't know if this is a big deal. But after the incident, Alex began to dream very often. He is more perceptive to things around him. He tells me a lot about his dream... some of them I thought it was just because he was watching too much TV."

Peter checks on one of the boys in a state of suspended animation.

"Walter. Are you sure that the body slows down to the point that it cannot do any form of metabolism?"

"Yes. That's exactly what happens when you are in a suspended animation!"

"Then, what is this?"

Walter approaches the boy. A seemingly sticky substance slowly dripping on the forehead of the boy.

"Peter, grab me that tube."

Walter collects the sample. "I need to go back to my lab. Now."

At Walter's lab, with the help of Astrid, Walter manages to characterize the chemical composition of the unknown sample.

"Salt is not high. That excludes it being sweat." Walter looks at the screen, while eating a redvine.

"There is an unusual high amount of polymers in this substance." Astrid comments.

"It seems odd that I have a feeling that what we are learning right now I have learned before. I am hoping that we are not experiencing another Peck moment."

"Alistair Peck? Are you referring to the guy that is able to time travel?" Astrid confused, "I am saying to you now, Walter, no. I think why you feel like you are experiencing a dejavu."

"What? Educate me, Arctic!"

Olivia arrives at Harvard. Peter is sitting at the stairs of Harvard University, playing with a key.

"Hey, what's up? Why are you here?" Olivia concern.

"Just getting some fresh air," Olivia stares at him, waiting him to tell the truth, "Okay. I give in. You know that my mom died. Apparently, that's a lie. When I received a call from Astrid, she was... in the lab. I got to talk to her."

"What did she say?"

"It makes my whole life less sense than it is already is. In short, I didn't understand what she said. What I know is that she wants me to give this to Walter." Peter showed Olivia the key.

"Then why don't you?"

"Because I am afraid of what we uncover... what I will learn."

"Is it that better than not knowing it?"

Peter smiles.

"C'mon, let's go in and let's find out what Walter knows."

Olivia and Peter enter the lab.

"Ah, there they are." Walter.

"The sample we got from the boy is similar to the compound extracted from the people in the bus."

"What? Those people who were trapped like in an amber years ago?" Peter confused.

"Are you suggesting that..." Olivia recalls something. "Wait."

Olivia goes toward the computer screen and pulls out a data from a year ago.

"Remember we have the pattern events? It all leads to Reiden Lake. And this is where the kids in suspended animation are..."

"A softspot!" Walter exclaims.

"Call me crazy, but what if the boy is able to momentarily open that softspot. Whatever happens in the alternate universe would have an effect on our side."

The three stares at Olivia.

"When I was there, the Fringe team is almost always try to seal this softspot with an aerosol that could trapped anyone caught by it in an amber... and that explains why the kids are in a state of suspended animation because that's what happens on the other side."

"In that case, there's nothing we can do. First, we have to get the boy back, which requires Olivia to go over there again. Second, we need to find a way to crack or unseal the amber over there, which is unlikely going to happen."

Olivia arrives at her apartment. She goes straight to her kitchen and grabs a glass. She pours whiskey on it and takes a sip. She opens up a folder containing the case files.

Peter and Walter, on the other hand, are in their house.

"Two. Six. Five. Three..."

"Walter. What are you doing?"

"Don't disturb me. I am trying to fill my mind with the pi number. I feel bad that I cannot do anything for those kids. And I am sure you will not be happy if I perform a risky experimentation on Olivia. There's got to be a way. There's got to be." Walter grabs his head.

"Enough, Walter. Stop beating yourself to it."

"But, it was my fault, Peter. Am I right? If 20 years ago, I didn't conduct an experiment on Olivia, this will not happen. Or if I didn't abduct you from the other side, your mother would have not committed a suicide. So, it's all my fault. And I have to find a way."

"Mom is not dead."

"What did you say?" Walter confused, "I haven't had a dose of Brown Betty, so if you are trying to..."

"No. What I said is true. I met her in the lab today."

"And why did you not tell me?"

"She wants to give you this." Peter grabs a key from his pocket and hand it to Walter.

In an elegant restaurant, Bolivia sits in a table for two. She declines an offer of wine. She stares at the door and it finally opens.

A man dressed up in a white shirt and tuxedo coat walks towards Bolivia.

Bolivia stands up.

"You look handsome, Peter."

"You are beautiful..."