Breaking Point
Written by: Addie Price
Summary: 'It was a war, Peter. And every war has its casualties. I'm just sorry it had to be Olivia who was made to suffer.' Everybody has a breaking point. And Olivia may have just met hers.
Words: 3,091
Note: Hope you enjoy this chapter! Also, the next chapter may be split up into two parts as well. It's turning out a lot longer than I expected.

Please review!

Rated T for brief language and my own paranoia.
Disclaimer: FRINGE is the property of FOX Broadcasting Company and its associates. I am in no way affiliated with FOX nor do I own any of the characters depicted in this story.

"You can't solve the problems of one world with the ideas of another."
- D. Hansen

The sky is bleeding.

Heavy, bruised storm clouds race towards them from East, West, North and South, meeting at an epicenter to the North. The sun is setting in the South, an interesting effect from being in Olivia's mind, staining the clouds above with reds and oranges and golds. Lightning and thunder flash and rumble, the ground in tremors below their feet.

Olivia's grip tightens and he squeezes her hand reassuringly in response.

Projections line the walkway from the Department of Defense Headquarters and they turn their heads in unison to look at them, their eyes threatening though they do not attack. They just stare menacingly, as if daring them to move.

William and Walter are outside waiting and join up with the others as they make their way down the path away from the Statue of Liberty and towards their destination - the epicenter of the storm.

It isn't just the fact that a storm that used to be centered at the Statue of Liberty is now located here that makes the epicenter so strange – it's the fact that the Twin Towers keep flickering, disappearing to be replaced by two powerful beams of light of memorial one moment to be solidly standing the next.

Peter stares at the sight for a moment, confused by the flickering before Walter speaks in explanation. "Incredible. Both Olivia's are fighting for control of this one space, but they are too evenly matched. Neither can exert power over the other and the mind doesn't know which one to mold itself after."

At the base of the sometimes-towers, the Second Olivia stands, red hair blowing in the fierce wind. She sneers as the five draw closer, a small group of familiar people surrounding her.

Charlie Francis, Lincoln Lee and Broyles stand behind her, their features slightly altered from what Peter is familiar with. Their faces are scarred and hard and intimidating, with dark eyes and curled fists. There's a fourth man who stands close to Fauxlivia, a man he doesn't recognize, but simply by their body language, he can tell the two are together.

Fauxlivia walks forward to meet them, her steps slow and threatening. Olivia mirrors her doppelganger's movement, the two of them meeting in the middle of the street, the Towers and lights flickering above them.

Standing across from each other, Olivia looks weak compared to her doppelganger. Fauxlivia stands taller, her light eyes narrowed, conveying a strong sense of power. But as they stare each other down, Peter can see Olivia straightening and knows that Walter's plan is working – the Cortexiphan is giving her the strength she needs to fight and regain her mind.

He sees Fauxlivia raise a hand and gesture crudely between Olivia and himself as she says something, but the wind whips the words away before they can reach him. But even though he can't hear, he knows the words were cruel and meant to cut Olivia down, as her pose falters slightly under their weight.

"You know what the mind-reader said," Fauxlivia sneers, waving between Peter and Olivia. "You know your relationship with him is because of me. He's only with you because he still has feelings for me."

Olivia feels the blow from her words and staggers slightly beneath them, the weight of a truth she's tried hard to ignore almost crushing her. She knows what Simon Philips said, knows that he saw feelings for her in Peter's mind.

But a wave of strength surges through her and she reminds herself that this isn't about Peter or their relationship. It's about saving herself.

"He came for me," Fauxlivia is saying, her eyes hard. "He wants me to win this fight. He doesn't love you, pretty little Olive."

Olivia shakes her head, jerking her chin towards the men gathered around her alternate. "No. They came for you." She can see Frank's and Lincoln's shoulders tense. "But they're not really here, are they? They're just a part of your mind. Because they don't really care about you, do they? You know that just as well as I do."

Fauxlivia yells and hurtles herself at Olivia, the men behind her following her lead.

The two groups clash together, projection battling presence, mind against mind.

But as soon as Fauxlivia and Olivia meet, they disappear. Peter shouts as they vanish, but Lincoln Lee's fist connects with his jaw before he can do anything else.

Olivia is thrown backwards as Fauxlivia tackles her but instead of landing on the hard, rough concrete of the street, she finds herself tumbling over a table, glass test tubes and beakers shattering beneath her weight. She can feel the sharp sting of the glass as it slices into her back, but she doesn't show any pain to her alternate as they roll off the table and to the floor.

Olivia throws her opponent off her as soon as solid ground is beneath her, scrambling to her feet as Fauxlivia recovers swiftly, eyes blazing, ready to fight to the end.

Peter somehow knows that the battle between Olivia and her doppelganger has been moved to the lab. He doesn't have a chance to question his newfound knowledge, however, as Lincoln continues to throw punch after punch at him. Peter tries to dodge the other man's blows but a few still hit their target, sending him reeling.

He retaliates as quickly as he can, landing a hit to the side of Lincoln's head, near the man's temple. He takes the moment he gets to check on the others when Lincoln steps back for a quick respite. Walter is grappling with Alternate Charlie Francis as Bell fights Alt-Broyles. John swings at the man whom Peter doesn't recognize, the one who clearly has feelings for Fauxlivia. Normally, Walter and Bell would be no match for Charlie and Broyles, but Peter suspects that since they are projections of Fauxlivia's mind, they are only as strong as Fauxlivia can afford them to be.

Peter desperately hopes that by their fighting Fauxlivia's projections, they'll be able to give Olivia an edge. Any small amount of purchase that can give her the upper hand.

Lincoln tackles him then, throwing them both to the ground. His hard fists begin pummeling Peter. He covers his face to protect himself and when there's a lag in Lincoln's blows, manages to land a hit on him, snapping his head back and giving Peter a chance to breathe.

And Peter hopes that, whatever is happening with Olivia right now, she is doing better than him.

The chair crumples under her weight as Fauxlivia slams her against it. A sharp pain jolts through her wrist and she cradles it against her body, cringing as she accidentally jostles it. Staggering to her feet, she stands across the lab from her double, both their chests heaving. It's hard to tell who's worse off at this point. There's a dark gash across Fauxlivia's forehead, blood trickling down her face and matting in her red hair. More cuts mar her bare arms and blood stains her shirt. Besides the cuts Olivia already had, more scratches cross her face and deep gashes line her back from the glass. She isn't sure, but she's almost certain her wrist is broken. She can feel blood dripping down her face from a cut near her eyebrow and impatiently wipes the liquid away from her eyes.

She knows that there's a gun in her office, has been slowly trying to make her way towards the room since their battle began. But the timing is difficult, as the lab flashes between her world and her world.

But for every movement that brings her one step closer to the office, Fauxlivia moves her one step back. With a pang of what feels like homesickness, she realizes what Walter would say about their dance: "For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction."

Fauxlivia stalks closer to her, like a lioness stalking her prey. Olivia can see a slight limp in the woman's step and smiles at the injury despite the deadly glint in her eye.

"I know what you're doing, little Olive. I've seen your darkest thoughts; I know your deepest fears. I've witnessed your secrets and lies. I know everything there is to know about you. I am you, Olive. We are one and the same." She gives a scathing laugh. "And I know what you have hidden in that office. A gun won't help you much here, Olive. Especially if you can't even get to it."

She pulls her arm back, punching Olivia square in the jaw. A thick, metallic taste fills her mouth with the blood. She staggers back, stumbling into the broken chair, raising her uninjured wrist to her already bruised jaw.

Olivia lunges herself at her alternate, Cortexiphan and adrenaline filling her as her fists connect once more with their mark.

Peter falls to the ground, scraping his hands and glancing around as Lincoln stands gloating over him. Walter has fallen at the hands of Charlie and William struggles to overcome Broyles. John's the only one who is faring well, standing over his unconscious opponent. The former FBI Agent comes over to help Peter, but he waves him away, pointing towards Walter. "Help him!"

John nods as Peter gets to his feet, swinging at Lincoln with a strong forward momentum, but the other man easily sidesteps the blow, turning Peter's momentum against him as he throws him to the ground.

Kicking out a leg, Peter sweeps Lincoln's feet out from beneath him, tackling him as his opponent stumbles to the ground. He can feel blood dripping down the side of his face but ignores it as he lands blow after blow to Alternate Lincoln's chest. After a few hard blows to the other man's head, Peter sits back as Lincoln slips into unconsciousness.

Peter struggles to his feet and goes to help Bell. And even though two of their opponents are down, Peter can't help but feel that they are fighting a losing battle.

The office is only a few feet away but it seems like miles. Fauxlivia has a metal rod in her hand from one of Walter's various instruments and as she stumbles towards her, Olivia knows that she means to kill. She moves backwards, feeling a sting in her chest from what she assumes are broken ribs.

Fauxlivia lunges at her, slamming Olivia into the ground. A sharp pain shoots through her hip and leg, causing Olivia to cry out in pain. She scoots back into her office as Fauxlivia reaches the door. Gripping the frame and the door, the other woman swings the door shut but Olivia's ankle stops it from closing. She screams as it's caught between the door and the frame, a sharp crack that isn't from the door accompanying her shout.

Alt-Charlie and Broyles are strong. Peter has no clue how Walter and Bell held them off for as long as they did, but the two men are weak now. John fights with Walter against Alt-Charlie and Peter moves to help William. But as he does, the sky bellows at them. The clouds part, opening the mouth of the sky. Thunder roars at them again and lightning strikes down around them, the Towers above them switching from light to solidity at the pace of a high-powered strobe light. Peter, John, Walter and William move together tightly, forming a protective group just as Fauxlivia's projections do the same, Lincoln and the man whose name Peter suddenly knows is Frank joining them, even though they were unconscious moments earlier.

"Walter," Peter breathes, chest heaving as he looks towards the sky and the Twin Towers. "What's happening?"

"Someone's winning," the scientist pants, bent over at the waist, his hands on his knees. William rests a comforting hand on his friend's back.

"Who?" Peter's tone is sharp and impatient as another crack of thunder fills the air. "Walter, who is winning?"

The elder man looks at him but doesn't answer, his chest heaving instead as he stares at his son, gray eyes wide with fear and anxiety.

"We can't be sure, Peter," William answers at Walter's lack of words. "Look at the Towers. Whichever world they resemble will be the world of the Olivia that's winning."

Peter looks at the Towers, which still flicker high above them. "They don't look like either side."

"An even match," Walter breathes, straightening, staring at the Towers. "We won't know which wins until it's over."

"When will that be?"

Walter turns to him. "When someone wins."

The door rebounds open with a crack as it hits the wall behind it. Olivia has managed to scramble a few feet inside the office before it happens. Alternate Olivia stands on the threshhold of the doorway, red hair wild, blood on her face and caked in her hair. Her chest is heaving as she stares down at Olivia, clearly favoring her right leg. She limps forward as Olivia scrambles back, eyes flickering around the room as she searches for the gun she knows is hidden in here.

"Olive," Fauxlivia breathes, struggling to mask the pain in her voice and just barely managing to keep the sadistic glint in it. "Why don't you just give up, pretty little Olive? You'll never be able to beat me." She's panting, giving her words a different effect than if she weren't so winded. "You're far to weak to beat me."

Olivia sneers at her. "Seems like I'm doing a pretty god job so far."

Fauxlivia begins to pace, the heavy limp in her step more than enough to be satisfactory for Olivia. As her enemy paces, Olivia rummages around the drawers in her desk, searching for her gun.

"You know the truth about Peter," Fauxlivia is saying, stumbling against a stack of boxes. "You know he doesn't love you."

"You have Frank," Olivia retorts, shuffling around in one of the drawers as the lab and the desk flickers between her world and Their's. "And Lincoln. Why do you need Peter too?"

Fauxlivia gives a sharp laugh, which quickly turns into a deep cough, blood thick in her mouth. "I want anything that makes you you," she says, turning to look at Olivia just as her fingers close on the gun in the desk. "I want to take away everything you have to live for, pretty little Olive. I want to destroy you completely. I want to take away any reason you have to live. So that you won't."

Her movements are quick as she pulls the gun from the desk, just as Fauxlivia pulls her hand out from behind her back. Two black barrels of the guns stare each other down as green eyes meet green eyes, dark meets light, and universe meets universe.

"You think you're the only one that can hide guns in here?" Fauxlivia asks, her bloody mouth quirking up at the corner. It is at that moment that Olivia realizes what happened. When her opposite stumbled against the boxes, she grabbed her weapon hidden there. Her pacing had just been for show, to bring her to the gun, to prepare herself for the fight she must've known was coming.

Chests heaving as they stare each other down, the two are silent, keeping their guns steadily aimed at the other.

"Are you going to shoot first, Olivia? Or should I?"

A shot rings out.

The sky is bleeding. Peter stares up at the Twin Towers, willing them to disappear, willing the powerful beams of light to take their place permanently, for the Towers to disappear, though the sight of them gone once more tugs at his heartstrings after seeing them again.

Silence has fallen over the groups as they watch the Towers and Lights, the beacons that symbolize whoever wins the war. Thunder cracks overhead like the crack of a whip, a small sonic boom erupting as the sound barrier is broken. A lighting strike hits the ground nearby, exploding a section of the asphalt. Walter and William jump at the explosion but Peter remains stoically silent, a sentinel watching the Towers with a fierce concentration.

He doesn't know how close he is to the lab where Olivia fights her alternate, but he's certain he isn't too far away when the gunshot rings out, echoing off the Towers and resounding around them. His eyes never leave the sight before him as he wills them to be the lights of memorial and not the Towers.

And then the world goes dark.

A/N: I'm not that good with fight scenes and I don't know how well this turned out. Please review and let me know if I did it justice or not! Constructive criticism is always welcome!