A/N: According to the stats 49 people read my last chapter... with 3 reviews, I'm taking that to mean it was pretty bad, hopefully you'll like this one better.
Chapter 14 - Second Chances?
"You're serious?" Wheeler asked and then as she nodded and moved to place her ring on her finger, he caught her wrist. "No! Lin… we can't do this now. If everything you said is true, and I guess it is, we can't just give up our lives. Someone else can do it."
Linka shook her head sadly and pulled her hand free. "Nyet Jason, there is no one else… you will not come with me?"
He squared his shoulders. "I didn't say that, I'm not afraid if that's what you think! I just thought… things were going great between us, everything we've been working towards is coming together. We have everything we wanted, at least I thought we did, but now you want to go back to that other life?"
Tears sprang to the lovely Russians eyes and she shook her head. "Nyet, but we are needed… you felt that tremor, people may be hurt… I cannot just ignore that."
He looked away, unable to meet her eyes. Hesitating then only a moment longer, Wheeler nodded and stood, holding up the fire ring to place it on his finger.
Linka would have continued their conversation to make sure that everything was alright between them, but her boyfriend was too quick for her and disappeared before she could say another word.
Afraid that he would not forgive her and that she had once again put a barrier between them, the Wind Planeteer placed her ring on her index finger and vanished.
Wheeler's hand gripped the Russians as soon as she appeared beside him. "I thought something had happened for a moment there, what took you so long?"
Loosing a few tears in relief, Linka gripped his hand in return and smiled, but was spared from answering by Gaia's voice as the spirit materialised in a blaze of light before them. "Welcome to Hope Island."
It was only then that Linka became aware of the others in the room, but her initial joy turned to confusion and then fear. "Where is Ma-Ti?"
The others stared at Linka in surprise and Gaia frowned. "How do you know about Ma-Ti?"
Blushing, the Russian tried to explain. "I… I have been here before… that is, well it was not here exactly… I."
Wheeler squeezed her hand and took over. "Lin remembers another time-line, of course no-one believed her, including me... until now." He looked down into his girlfriends eyes and spoke more softly. "Guess I owe you an apology Babe."
Linka smiled and returned the pressure on his hand in silent thanks.
Gaia was still frowning. "And you remember meeting Ma-Ti here?"
The Wind Planeteer nodded. "We were all together for several years before I… before things changed."
"I see." The Spirit did not look happy.
"I do not mean to seem rude." A handsome African man, dressed in the traditional robes of a village leader, stepped forward. "But am I the only one who does not know what is going on?"
"No, you're not!" The final member of their group, a beautiful Asian girl dressed in a skin-tight wet suit, moved to stand beside him.
"My name is Gaia." Their hostess explained. "And I am the Spirit of the Earth."
She held up a hand to forestall any questions. "A short time ago there was an explosion in an underground research facility in America."
"In Oklahoma." Wheeler interrupted. "We felt it!"
Gaia nodded and continued with pain in her eyes. "The scientists were experimenting with a new element that was discovered on the last Jupiter mission. They were hoping to create a new source of energy, unfortunately they had no idea what they were doing."
"Were people injured Gaia?" Gi asked, clearly hoping to be given a negative.
She was disappointed and obviously upset as Gaia confirmed her fears. "Many people were killed in the initial blast, and even more hurt… but that is not the worst part. The explosion set off a chemical reaction and a deadly cloud of gas is accumulating over the blast area. The elements involved were never meant to interact with our atmosphere… when it reaches critical mass there will be a storm the likes of which this planet has never seen. It will devastate anything its deadly rain touches."
"But we can stop it!" Linka exclaimed. "Or Captain Planet can stop it!"
Transparent as she was, Gaia's eyes filled with tears. "There can be no Captain Planet Linka… Ma-Ti… died in an accident when he was a child, there is only the four of you."
Wheeler pulled his girl friend close as she cried out in pain and wrapped his arms tightly about her as she began to sob into his chest. "But we can do something, right? I mean you didn't call us here for nothing?"
The Spirit of the Earth nodded. "Evacuation attempts have already begun. There are vehicles and technology here which I hope may help… your powers may even be able to contain the storm."
She didn't sound hopeful but as the mention of their powers once again confused the other two Planeteers, she paused her narrative to explain their abilities.
"I wish we could have met under better circumstances… but there will be time later for us to become acquainted." She looked at the pale Russian who was still fighting back tears. "And for us to look into other matters… for now my Planeteers, good luck."
Since Linka was the most comfortable with their new found careers, it was only natural that she take charge. Gi of course was already a pilot, and Linka could remember her training from the other time-line so they were able to split into two teams.
Sending Kwame and Gi to assist with the relief efforts, Linka and Wheeler took the eco-copter to the edge of the rapidly forming cloud in an attempt to analyse it.
"So you're a scientist now too?" Wheeler asked, keeping the 'copter steady, as his girlfriend had shown him, as she expertly manipulated the diagnostic equipment.
"We learnt to be a lot of things." She replied.
The American shook his head, a bitter note in his voice as he asked. "Do I really know you? At all?"
"Da!" Linka turned from her work. "Jason you know me better than anybody… in either time-line. I am sorry this had to happen… it should not have happened, we were not supposed to be needed here! That was the point of my wish…"
"This was an accident." Wheeler replied quietly. "From what you said, your wish fixed most things."
Linka shook her head, returning to her work. "Not everything… certainly not for Ma-Ti, and not for the people down there either."
Wheeler remained silent. He'd spoken briefly to Kwame and learned that the young man, had been elevated early to the position of leader in his tribe, for his intelligence and calm planning. He'd also overheard Gi mention something about her underwater research centre. In every way, this time-line seemed better to him than the one Linka had come from… but some how he didn't think she would see it that way.
"Would it be too un-superhero like if we called Davy and Brooke?" He asked after a while.
The lovely blond blushed guiltily and shook her head. "Nyet, we should have done that."
Wheeler reached for his cell phone but she stopped him. "You could set off a reaction with that, use the planet vision."
"The what?" he raised his eyebrows and she reached past him to activate the crafts small screen.
"Wheeler!" Brookes voice exclaimed. "How are you doing that… never mind, is Linka with you? Did you hear what's happened?"
David tried to calm his girlfriend as Wheeler replied. "Yeah we heard, Lin's here with me. Actually we got drafted into helping the relief efforts… are you guys okay?"
"We're stuck here." David said grimly. "And from what I've heard, here is not a good place to be stuck. There's this storm brewing not so far from here and it doesn't look natural."
Brooke stepped in again. "They're evacuating some places and telling others to go to the tornado shelters but… there is something they are not telling us, I know it."
"We will come and get you." Linka said, decisively.
David shook his head. "You wont be able to get through, the roads are blocked, people are panicking…"
"Who needs a road?" Jason grinned. "You ready yet Babe?" then he lowered his voice. "It's getting a bit rough out there."
"Da." She nodded. "I do not think I will be able to get any more information from here and we do not dare try to get a sample, Gaia said the reactions were not with the natural laws of this planet."
Wheeler nodded and turned back to the screen. "We'll be there soon, pack light."
Once the screen was off Linka took back the controls of the small aircraft and took them towards their home, her face frozen and expressionless.
Wheeler didn't need to ask, he knew her too well. She's gonna blame herself for all the people she can't save… we're gonna get our friends out of the path of that cloud but we can't take them all and she'll do it, but she'll never forgive herself for it.
In the end, their attempts at stopping the raging storm were like whales trying to hold back the sea… it looked like it might make a difference but in reality they didn't stand a chance.
Back on Hope Island, Linka sat alone on the beach while her five friends watched the devastation on the planet vision. They'd done everything they could, but they'd finally had to admit defeat and get out of the way, along with all those fortunate enough to be able to do so.
Linka couldn't watch.
After a while, her Yankee came and sat beside her, silently taking her in his arms and trying to offer comfort.
"Is it over?" She asked.
His voice was thick with emotion, needing her presence as much as she needed his in order to deal with what he had witnessed. "No. It just keeps going. They think it might reach over into Canada before it burns itself out."
"It is my fault." She said, trying to keep her voice steady.
He'd been expecting that. "No it's not. You weren't the one experimenting with alien compounds."
"Nyet, but if were not for me they would never have gotten hold of them." She turned in his arms to look up at him and silenced his protest with a finger across his lips. "Our space program had not gotten so far, we were not ready. Besides with Ma-Ti here, Captain Planet could have…"
"And what about all the deaths from wars and bombs and pollution and I don't know what? All the stuff in that other time-line, was that your fault too?" He asked, afraid of where he thought her mind was going.
She shook her head. "They were terrible things, but they were how it is supposed to be. The human race needed to learn to be better."
"They did, here, they learnt." He persisted.
Their eyes met, hers full of misery and despair, his full of fear. "I have to set it right Jason."
"No!" He exclaimed. "I knew that's what you were thinking, and I'm not going to let you do it. You can't compare one accident, no matter how bad, to years of destruction! But you know what? If you could, I bet you this time-line would come out on top."
"This is my fault!" She was crying now. "Do you think I could go back to our life now? Even if we had somewhere to go back to, which we do not, do you think I could ever be happy knowing that all those people died because of me? Could you?"
"Yes!" he saw her surprise but he carried on. "Don't you understand Linka? I love you! I can live with anything provided we're together, and it's not your fault Babe, it's just not!"
She turned her head away. "Ma-Ti was your best friend… in that world you would not have hesitated to sacrifice everything for your friends, for the world."
"Everything except you." He countered. "Never you, and don't tell me I'm wrong because I wont believe you."
Linka pulled away and stood up. "You can prevent me, physically, from returning to the cave where I made the wish but… either way, our life here ended today."
Tears spilled from her eyes and ran freely down her cheeks. "I do love you Jason Wheeler, I always will, but we were never meant to be together, and I have to stop being selfish and face the fact that one way or another, I am going to be alone."
With that the beautiful Russian turned and walked away, not daring to look back.
Brooke and David chose to remain on Hope Island and spend what little time they had left, together. They had had everything explained to them but they were not sure they believed it all, and like Wheeler, they weren't happy about it being changed. All the same, watching the rainstorm literally dissolve buildings and people that came in its path, had taken a toll on them and they could find no argument against Linka's plan, that didn't sound selfish and empty.
The four Planeteers stood around the Atlantean Crystal in silence, but as Linka stepped forward and raised her hand to make contact, Wheeler caught it. "We do belong together Lin, you have to believe that!"
"I have to do this." She begged, grasping his hand in return and willing him to understand and forgive her.
Wheeler swallowed. "I know."
The young American was fighting back tears but he continued. "When you get back though, you can make things right between us. No matter what happened I can promise you, I'll… he'll never give up hoping."
She let out a sob and buried her face in his neck. "I love you."
"Promise me Lin!" He demanded, holding her tightly. "Promise me we'll be together, you have to promise!"
Linka pulled back and nodded. "I promise."
They held each others gaze for a moment longer before Wheeler pulled her back into a firm embrace, this time bringing their lips together in a passionate fair well.
When the two lovers parted, Linka wrenched herself free and lay her hand on the crystal before she could change her mind. "I wish that I had not made my wish and that everything was back as it should be."