The Crocker Chronicles

Chapter 21

"Yesterday Once More"

10 June

So far, nobody's conjured up a fog shroud around Haven, so there's that. But how much longer can I hold out-or hold William and his extraterrestrial Manson family at bay?

Gloria stirred on the sofa. She was beginning to come to, and felt someone place a cool cloth on her forehead.

"Take it easy, old woman," she heard a voice say. "You scared the hell out of me out there on the porch."

Gloria cautiously eased the cloth from over her eyes, staring at the man sitting next to her.

"You're a hallucination—I've finally drank myself into the D.T.'s," she moaned.

"I am not a D.T.," Duke grinned, and then sobered. "I'm really here, Gloria," he told her, touching her hand, and she clutched it.

"You're real," she half-sobbed. "Oh, God, you're really there," she cried, touching his face before she crushed him against her in a hug.

Duke let her cry for a few moments before he gently disentangled himself from her grasp.

"Okay. It's okay, Gloria. Here, let go," Duke murmured. "I don't want you to get any aether on you-I'd hate to Trouble one of my favorite people," he smiled faintly.

"What the hell happened to you, honey?" she asked through her tears, examining the black veins that traced along his face and neck, and then withdrew her hands. "Did—did Croatoan do this? You have to fight that-that bastard, Duke; don't let him make you do those things!"

"Croatoan didn't do this to me," he assured her.

She looked at him curiously. "Well-you're not a zombie, are you?"

"Most zombies don't talk, Glo. And if I were one, I'd be trying to have you for breakfast, not getting you a drink," Duke scolded affectionately, handing her a brandy, which she swallowed half of in one gulp.

"Point taken," she ceded. "But you're hurt, Kitten—let me see."

"No, I don't want you to touch it. Do you have any of that medical adhesive stuff?" Duke questioned. "This needs to be sutured, but I don't want any additional holes in me from needles."

"That looks a lot like a bullet wound," she remarked as she got up, getting out her medical kit and sliding on her gloves. "Care to tell me what happened? How are you here, Duke?" she asked, her eyes on his. "What the hell happened to make you look like this?"

"Vince—brought me back," Duke began. "He made me a sort of guardian for the Armory."

"Did he-make you do that? Did he trap you in there or something?"

"No, he asked if I would, and I accepted the job," Duke said truthfully. "He wanted a safeguard in case someone decided to try re-starting the Troubles."

"And someone did," Gloria guessed.

Duke nodded. "Our old pal William. It seems he's got family that likes to experiment with aether too. Long story short, they got their hands on me; that's why I look like this," he gestured.

"How nice they've found a family activity they can all enjoy," Gloria said sarcastically. "All right, Kitten, I want you to use your other hand and squeeze the wound together while I put the adhesive on it, okay?"

"All right," Duke grunted. "I don't understand-this isn't supposed to happen to me. I'm not flesh and blood anymore."

"You feel real enough to me," Gloria commented, spreading the medical-grade adhesive over the wound before picking up a bandage roll.

"I-I know, I was designed to be as much like the old me as I ever was, but any wounds I receive are supposed to just close up. This one isn't doing that," Duke puzzled.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's this stuff in me."

"Can't you excise it?"

"You know what happened the last time I let aether out," Duke said meaningfully.

"Okay, scratch that thought," Gloria said. "Where is Vince?"

"Audrey—"

"Audrey!" Gloria exclaimed. "I swear that girl needs to issue programs so we can keep up with who she is from day to day," Gloria griped, making Duke grin. "She's Audrey, Sarah, Lucy, Mara, Paige, she'll probably be someone named Harriet tomorrow."

She relented, and touched Duke's cheek.

"But there was always one person who never changed who he was," she smiled sadly, and Duke put his hand on hers, and held it in his own, giving it a small kiss, his expression wistful.

"You can't stay, can you?" she asked, her eyes bright, and Duke shook his head.

"No, I can't stay," he replied. "That version of Duke Crocker really is gone. I'm not even supposed to be here in Haven—Vince had closed all the thinnies. I was supposed to have ended up somewhere else, but instead, I landed here."

Gloria's phone rang, and she glanced at it.

"It's Nathan," she said.

"Answer it, they're looking for me," Duke told her.

She picked up her phone. "Yeah, Nathan."

"Gloria, we might need your help in—"

"If you're talking about Duke, he's here," she said.

"He's there?" Nathan exclaimed.

"What?" Dwight puzzled.

"She said he's there at her house," Nathan told Vince.

"She lives close by Landry's Cove, makes sense he'd go there," Vince remarked.

Duke was peering out of the curtains, and could see the Haven PD squad car slowly patrolling down the street, and another car parked behind it, with Regina and Meredith going door-to-door.

"I have to go," Duke said.

"Wait just a minute, you can't just run out of here!" Gloria protested.

Duke hustled her to the window and showed her.

"You see those two? The grayer-haired one is William's sister, Regina; the blonde's name is Meredith. They can affect people, make them tell or do anything they say."

"They won't get the drop on me," Gloria growled. Duke gave her a faint smile.

"Meredith's Trouble is like Brody's, magnified," Duke replied. "And Regina can read your mind. So I gotta go," he told her, seeing the tears in her eyes. "Tell Nathan—"he paused, thinking. "Tell Nathan to meet me where he threw up after the junior prom."

"Where's that?"

"He'll know. If I tell you, she'll know. I have to go," Duke got out, and hugged Gloria again. "This is for in case I don't get to see you before I leave again—thank you for everything, Gloria," he whispered in her ear. He brushed her tears away, and kissed her cheek. "We kind of didn't get to say goodbye before."

Gloria sniffled, and nodded, unable to speak, and kissed his face one last time before Duke grabbed the shirt she'd brought him and darted swiftly out of the back door as she heard Regina's knock at the front.

Gloria dried her eyes and picked up the phone.

"That woman's here that's looking for him," she said all in a rush. "Duke says to meet him where you threw up after junior prom, wherever that is," she finished, and hung up.

"All right, ladies," she said to the silhouettes at the door. "Let's get this over with."

Dwight's phone began to ring, and he answered it.

"Yeah, McHugh," he said, his face growing grim. "All right, get on it," he told him, and hung up.

"McHugh says a couple of new Troubles just popped up," he told the people in the Bronco.

"Once we get Duke to safety, it should pull them out of the people," Vince replied. "We just have to find him first."

"Well, we're not far from there now," Nathan said, turning the wheel so fast the Bronco's tires squealed on the asphalt, and he saw a familiar figure duck behind a building, that headed into an alley.

They came to a stop outside of Pufahl's Repairs, and Nathan and Dwight climbed out, pistols in hand as they made their way around to the back, Vince and Croatoan following closely behind.

"So this is where you threw up, huh?" Dwight grinned.

"That's what I get for trying to prove I was 'one of the guys," Nathan grumbled. "Want to guess who was responsible for that?"

"I've got a pretty good idea," Dwight chuckled.

They rounded the corner of the building, seeing all the pallets piled everywhere.

"Duke?" Nathan called out softly. "Duke, are you here?"

"Here," they heard a faint voice behind a stack of pallets.

"Come out, the coast is clear," Nathan told him.

"Can't…too tired."

Dwight and Nathan hurriedly began moving pallets aside.

"Quietly, quietly," Vince scolded.

Nathan spotted Duke's shirt, and tossed the last pallet aside before he and Dwight both gasped at Duke's appearance.

"Oh dear," Vince murmured. Duke's gray color had returned, and he looked exhausted.

Nathan bent down to him, putting his arms around Duke, helping him to his feet, Dwight taking his other side.

"You look terrible," Nathan grinned. "But it is good to see you again, Duke."

"Mm," Duke mumbled faintly. "At least it matches how I feel."

"We need to get him back to the Armory, pronto," Vince said. "Then we can do something about this."

"Let me help," Croatoan spoke. "I'm not going to do anything, other than help alleviate the pressure. It's hurting you, isn't it?" he asked Duke, who gave a weak nod.

"Yeah, it does," he answered. "But I—"

"I am not going to potentially endanger my daughter or my grandson," Croatoan said sternly. "Have a little trust for once."

"You haven't exactly got a stellar track record," Duke groused, but softened. "But come to think of it, neither do I," he ceded.

"Try to help him, if you can," Vince added.

Croatoan gently put a hand on Duke's head, focusing intently, and Duke's grayish color and black veins vanished instantly, returning him to normal before taking his hand off again.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Good as new," Duke replied, straightening up. "Did you pull all that out of me?"

"No, actually the aether is still there," Croatoan replied. "I gave it a boost."

"You gave it a boost?" Nathan startled.

"A boost of positive energy-it will help Duke to heal himself. But it won't last for long," he warned. "That stuff's pretty strong—but Duke is made of pretty strong stuff himself," he smiled. "You can beat it, you know. In fact, that's how you can beat them," he gestured at nothing. "They want you to open the door into the Aether Realm, and you can. But," he held up his hand to ward off everyone's protests. "You can do it on Duke Crocker's terms."

"Focus and intent," Duke said softly, and felt some of the frostiness between the two of them dissolve. He realized that Croatoan was right; and he also knew how he could put a stop to all this—not just today, but for good.