Tie My Heart Back Together With String
Disclaimer: I do not own Misfits or any of the characters, they all belong to their respective owners, I also do not own anything else I reference.
Chapter 21
Disclaimer: Along with not owning Misfits, I also don't own The Cornetto Trilogy (and for anyone who doesn't get the reference in this chapter, you need to watch them because it'll be the best thing you'll ever do)
A/N: Hey guys, sorry I haven't uploaded in a while, it's taken me a long time to figure out where I want to go with this chapter plus I've been ridiculously blocked for some reason lately but I'm feeling a bit better now so enjoy xxx
Simon looked around the empty estate, swallowing away the stinging heartburn manifesting itself with his worry. He supposed the one comfort he could take was that at least, if anything did happen, no one else would get hurt.
Yeah, just you. His brain decided to chip in unhelpfully.
He was aware that he wasn't as worried as he probably should be but he put that down to his current lifestyle, and the fact that he'd had more than a few tussles with bad'uns from around the estate. He couldn't help grinning to himself as he fondly remembered one time where a mugger had stamped on his hand and torn the skin and Nathan had come back to the flat to find blood all over the floor and Simon laughing hysterically with adrenaline at his bandaged, bloody appendage. Nathan hadn't spoken to him all weekend.
A figure visualised in front of him and, attributing it to being off-guard, Simon jumped back in shock. Before his brain fully processed what was happening, he had a moment of actuality as he realised that that must have been what it looked like to other people when he visualised in front of them, he found it odd that he'd never actually seen his own power work. Like seeing the back of your head or your bones in an x-ray.
It suddenly clicked that he was, of coursing, viewing his invisibility and that the person now fully actualised in front of him was Seth's attacker, not to mention his potential attacker, as well.
"Simon," said an all too familiar voice.
It took Simon a moment to fully recognise the woman stood in front of him, but that was because she looked so different from the last time they'd met. Her hair was shorter, and more well-kept. She looked slightly tanned, face fuller and glowing with health. She was unmistakably beautiful.
"Lucy." Simon breathed out in shock, he jumped back from pure instinct alone, mind suddenly full of the image of Lucy slashing a kitchen knife across Nathan's throat and thick, red blood spraying out onto the white corridor. He tried to blink the haunting image from his mind.
He cast a weary glance to Lucy, she hadn't moved. "Hello, Simon." Was all she said.
"What are you doing here?" He asked shakily.
She smiled slightly and tilted her head to the side, as if studying him. She seemed so calm that Simon found it difficult to be afraid.
"I'm not going to hurt you." She said.
The doors to the community centre were flung wide and suddenly five bodies were tearing out, screaming a battle cry. Simon's eyes widened as he apprehended them. He watched as they all became aware of the relatively calm situation and stopped running, then recognised the girl stood staring quizzically at them and took a step back. Their movements looked choreographed.
If it weren't for the tense situation, it would have actually been rather comical.
"What the fuck..." Kelly began. "Is she doing here?"
"Simon," came Nathan's voice as he strode forward. "Get away..."
"Wait." Simon said authoritatively, holding a hand up to halt Nathan. The Irishman stopped instinctively in his tracks and stiffened as he and Simon made eye contact for the longest moment. Simon was trying to communicate that he was okay, that he had this and although Nathan understood the steely resolve in his boyfriend's eyes, from both his current self and his future incarnation, he still wavered on the spot, as if he had to forcefully still himself and let Simon look after himself.
It was in that moment that Nathan truly appreciated Simon's worry over them losing their powers, and losing their ability to protect themselves. The moment Nathan had seen Lucy stood in front of Simon, the image of the last time she'd murdered him clear in his mind, Nathan had stridden forward with the intention of barricading Simon's body with his own. Because no one could touch Simon if Nathan protected him. Nathan was indestructible which meant that Simon was indestructible, too.
But, he wasn't. Not anymore.
Nathan had gotten rid of his immortality for himself, to give himself a chance at a normal life, it had never occurred to him that, regardless of himself, he couldn't protect Simon any more.
Nathan was torn from his thought-process by an inhuman, agonising scream. Simon jumped back in shock as Lucy's bronzed skin began to ripple over her skeletal structure like it was melting until her bones elongated and her skin stretched and changed until she was no longer stood in front of them, instead, a brown haired man stood in her place.
"That's him." Seth said, voice low and guarded. "That's the guy who took the powers."
"It was her." Kelly said. "She can shape shift; she's done it before. She pretended to be me and she killed Nathan."
Simon hesitated as she turned back into her normal self and fixed him with an innocent look. "I told you, I'm not going to hurt anyone."
"But you hurt Seth." Simon pointed out wearily, he suddenly wanted to take a few paces back so he was surrounded by his friends, people he knew would protect him both physically and morally.
"Just to get what I want." Lucy clarified, as if that somehow made it all right. "And now I want you, we belong together. I told you I would come back for you."
Nathan stepped forward and was by Simon's side in a second. "You're not gonna touch him." He said, voice bitter.
If Simon were being brutally honest with himself, he was kind of pleased with Nathan being territorial.
However, Simon's pleasure was only momentary as Lucy snarled, flinging her small hand forward and then some form of telekinetic force was blasting through the air and forcing Nathan off of his feet. Simon called out in shock as Nathan collided with the injured Seth stood behind him and they both went down in a heap of gangly limbs.
Simon didn't even bother to turn back to Lucy, instead, he bolted straight to Nathan, conscious that whatever happened to him, there was no longer an immortality to protect him anymore. Lucy had stolen it.
But before he could reach him, Lucy sent out the same telekinetic force and forced Simon back, planting his feet onto the ground and stilling his limps. He could see Nathan and Seth on the floor in front of him, looking up, concerned at him, but he couldn't move.
He moved his eyes slightly, the only part of his body with any motion, and caught Lucy walking towards them, her hand held out in front of her as she held him there, her arm shaking under the effort.
"I don't know how many times I can tell you he's not good enough for you, Simon." She said gently, sounding almost saddened. "I'm sorry you can't see that. But in time, you will, I promise. We just need to get this man out of your life, so that he can stop clouding your judgement the way he is now, and then you'll know. You'll know you belong with me; just like I know it. It's going to be all right. Don't worry." She said.
Simon wasn't particularly worried about her speech despite the fact that she was directly threatening Nathan and there was nothing he could do about it. Because he didn't need to do anything about it, Lucy had been far too busy with her monologue to notice Kelly coming up behind her with a fire extinguisher held aloft in her hands.
The fire extinguisher came down on her head with a sickly crack and Lucy screamed like nothing Simon had ever heard before. The force holding him down suddenly dissipated and his limbs relaxed, muscles strained, and he barely had a chance to let out the breath he'd been forced to hold before Nathan's arms were around him and holding him so tight he didn't think he'd have been able to breathe anyway.
In the space of about a second, Lucy began to shake violently in rage and then the space she had occupied was empty and Kelly was forced off of her feet, falling heavily to the ground.
Nathan released Simon and the soon-to-be-superhero scaled a small brick wall, flipping on the palm of his hands and sending out a kick that shattered one of the windows in the front of the community centre. He twisted and tugged one of the shards of glass from the mess of the window, barely even wincing as it sliced through his palm.
He looked around desperately for the invisible figure of his antagonist but found nothing. He did the only thing he could think of in the short space of time. He pressed the shard of glass to his own throat harshly, feeling the skin of his neck tearing.
"Holy shit, Simon, what the fuck?" Nathan cried out, while similar cries of distress came from Alisha and Curtis, all stood around in shock, desperately trying to protect themselves from the deadly and invisible force of Lucy.
"If you don't stop hurting my friends," Simon called out, "I'll slit my own throat. You know I'll do it, I'm just as crazy as you!"
Lucy visualised, not three feet from Simon, still balanced on the wall, and stared steely up at him. Everything was eerily quiet.
"You won't do it." She said.
Simon hesitated for a moment before he decided to call her bluff and dug the shard further into his neck, wincing at the pain and the feel of blood sliding over his bobbing Adam's apple.
"No!" Cried Lucy.
"No!" Cried Nathan.
Nathan ran for him but Lucy got there first, teleporting directly in front of him, levitating a few feet on the ground so she was level with his position on the wall. Simon didn't have time to marvel or fear her impressive set of powers, instead, he retracted his hand from his throat and mashed the shard of glass right into her throat, creating a deep cut and he was sprayed with her blood when she screamed.
Then she teleported away, the screaming cutting out immediately and leaving nothing but an odd silence in the air. Everyone was still.
Simon's legs gave out under him and he collapsed from the wall onto the ground, taking impact on his knees. The wall was small enough that the shock absorption didn't shatter anything, it just bruised. But Simon didn't care, he was too busy staring down at the blood on his hands, a mixture of his and of hers.
Before he could freak out completely, Nathan was by his side and collapsed next to him, gathering his shaking form up into his arms.
"What just happened?" Simon asked. "What the hell did I do?"
"You saved me, that's what you did." Nathan said resolutely, although there was still an unmistakable tremor in his voice.
"I can't believe…" Simon tried again, but he couldn't get the words out.
"Doesn't matter." Nathan said. "Doesn't matter. It's okay, I promise."
Simon could do nothing but cling to him as he felt the pain in his neck and his hand begin to sting and the adrenalin melted away to nothing.
The rest of them just stood around, shocked, staring at them.
…
After pressing a large bandage to his neck, fresh from the community centre first aid kit, Simon wrapped a large bandage around his injured hand, stinging when the gauze came into contact with his wound. It was only then that he turned, seeing Nathan, Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and Seth all perched in various positions in the corridor they had retreated to.
After a long, heavy silence; Alisha finally spoke.
"So is she dead?" She asked flatly.
"I doubt it." Simon answered. "One of the powers she took from Seth was Nathan's immortality. She probably can't be killed."
"How long did it take you to come back to life?" Curtis asked, looking at Nathan.
Nathan merely shrugged. "I don't know. Like, a couple hours, maybe? I don't know how long we've got but I doubt it's very long."
"We've got to kill her somehow." Alisha said.
"Well, we can't, can we?" Kelly reminded her, mind obviously going back to Simon's unsuccessful attempt. It was only then that her forehead creased and she looked up at him from where she was perched against the wall.
"I never knew you had that in you." She said.
"She was going to kill you." Simon explained simply. "I didn't have much of a choice."
She smiled slightly up at him. "Thanks."
"Look, the original plan is totally fucking dumb," Nathan reminded them all in that blunt way of his, pushing himself from the floor into a standing position, "but it's still the best plan we've got. We need to get Seth close enough to her that he can take her powers away. That way-we won't have to kill her, we won't have to kill anyone." His hands fell flatly to his side and his voice suddenly lost some of its enthusiasm. "The whole point of us getting rid of our powers was to start a new life. Not get stuck in the old one again."
"But she's so strong, we'll never get close." Kelly said. "It don't help that she's a fucking psychopath."
Curtis shook his head suddenly. "Of all the people to get a psychopath to fall in love with them, it had to be you, didn't it?" He pointed at Simon. "It must be so twisted."
Alisha frowned. "You're right." She said, turning to Simon. "She does love you. Can't you, like…talk her out of it somehow?"
"I'm not sure how using affection towards her will be able to convince her not to pursue a relationship with me." He told her honestly. "Besides, she's too powerful now. Kelly's right. She'll kill anyone who stands in her way. She was never stable in the first place."
Curtis' eyes widened and they all stared at him.
"What?" Nathan asked.
"What about before she was powerful?" He said.
"What?" Nathan repeated.
"I…" Curtis gestured to Seth. "I never got rid of my power, didn't get the chance."
"So, what?" Kelly asked. "Time travel back to when she was normal and try and talk her 'round before she can smash our heads in with her mind?"
Simon shook his head. "But how are you supposed to talk her 'round?" Simon asked Curtis. "You don't know her, it'll never work."
Curtis shook his head and gestured to Seth again. "Nah, you can do it." He told Simon. "Seth can give my time travel power to you."
Nathan visibly stiffened and all eyes were on him, but Simon's were the only one's he noticed. The pair locked eyes and knew precisely what the other was thinking. Simon had never seen so much pleading in Nathan's eyes until this moment but Simon had promised himself he would protect Nathan no matter the cost, and Nathan was the one that Lucy wanted to hurt, it was Simon's job to do anything he could to save him.
"Okay." He said, turning to Seth and holding out his hand. Nathan's eyes dropped to the floor and Simon avoided looking at him at all costs, already feeling a pit developing in his stomach.
Kelly helped the still unstable Seth to his feet and he and Curtis clasped hands, and the same bright light emitted from between their fingers. Then Seth held his own hand out to Simon's outstretched one, and Simon hesitated for only a moment until he took Seth's hand in his own.
Nathan was silent as the light flashed between them and Simon blinked as he felt a brand new power settle in the empty space in his stomach where his invisibility used to be.
It felt good to have a power, more normal, but it still felt wrong. Like he was nauseated. He supposed that was because it wasn't his.
This is all in your head. He had to keep reminding himself.
"So, how does it work?" Simon asked, turning to Curtis.
"You just got to concentrate on something you really wanna change," Curtis explained, "then it's like, the power takes you back to where you need to go."
Simon thought for a moment before he nodded. "So, I want to change what's happening now, meet Lucy beforehand, okay…"
Kelly's eyes switched between the preoccupied Simon and the lingering Nathan, his eyes fixed on Simon's like he was desperate to talk to him but had no idea what to say.
Kelly didn't need her power to know what Nathan was thinking, that Simon could get hurt, really hurt. After watching what had happened to him losing that first boyfriend of his, she didn't think she could stand to watch him lose another one.
"Guys…" She said, turning to Curtis and Alisha. "Wanna help me take Seth into the backroom? He looks like he needs some painkillers or something."
"I'm fine." Seth said, embarrassment in his voice.
"No, come on, I wanna look after you." Seth and Kelly shared a tender look that didn't go unnoticed by anyone else in the room and Seth allowed himself to be escorted out of the corridor by Kelly, Alisha and Curtis following and leaving Nathan and Simon on their own.
Nathan was grateful for Kelly's support, and it really enforced how very much she was the best friend he'd ever had, because he had wanted a moment alone with Simon. But now he had it, he had no idea what to say.
He was terrified.
Nathan approached Simon, not looking at his face, instead focusing on the bandage on his hand.
"How's your hand?" He asked.
"Still a bit stiff." Simon answered and Nathan laughed, he couldn't help it.
"I guess at least you're not laughing hysterically about it like last time." He admitted, mind cast back to when he'd walked in on Simon gleefully showing him his injured hand when he'd been trodden on by a mugger. "…And scaring the royal shit out of me."
"Shut up, I was in shock, dickhead." Simon shoved him playfully, then the pair were laughing and looking at each other and it was like nothing was wrong. But, of course, it was.
Nathan sobered quickly and his eyes hit the floor as the weight of the situation settled on him.
"I know that you're worried." Came Simon's voice, and Nathan glanced back up to see his boyfriend staring intently at him.
"Just…you and time travel aren't exactly a good mix." He tried a smile that didn't work.
Simon stepped forward, closing the gap between them and then his hand was on Nathan's cheek, warm and comforting as it always had been. "I'm going to come back." Simon told him. "I promise."
The uncertainty was still present in Nathan's eyes and Simon stroked his cheek gently.
"Have I ever broken a promise to you?" He asked, eyes firm yet gentle at the same time. The face of someone strong and confident, not yet beaten down by the downfalls that come with such traits.
"No." Nathan admitted honestly. "No, you've never broken a promise to me. Past. Present…or Future."
Simon smiled slightly as he leant in and pressed a soft kiss to Nathan's lips. He had never broken a promise to him, and never intended to, either. He promised Nathan that he would save him. And that was exactly what he wanted the most right now, he wanted to save Nathan from Lucy's threat, no matter what it took.
It suddenly felt like the world was contracting around him and then Nathan was gone and Simon's arms were empty. Simon seemed to come back to himself in a slamming halt that knocked all the air from his lungs.
He looked desperately around himself, still stood in the same corridor except the light was different, like it was a different time of day. And Nathan was no longer clutching onto him. Instead, he noticed a wide stain of blood on the floor in stark contrast to the white and recoiled, turning to see Nathan, Alisha and Curtis all crowded around the unconscious form of Kelly, Nathan knelt by her and cradling her into him, one hand around his blood stained neck.
"We should take her to the hospital…" Alisha was muttering.
And then Simon remembered exactly where he was.
This was moments after Lucy had slashed Nathan's neck and she'd taken off, the moment they'd lost contact with her before she stole all the powers for herself. Curtis had been right, he'd thought about exactly where he'd wanted to be and what he'd wanted to do and the power had just taken him, even though he didn't know it himself.
But now, now he knew exactly what to do.
"She couldn't have gotten far." He said.
"Suppose not." Curtis supplemented across the corridor.
"Wait here," he said, eyes wide, "I'll only be a moment."
Nathan looked a little stricken at Simon's sudden exit but remained silent as Simon jogged around the corridor in the direction Lucy had run off in before.
It's all for you. Simon told himself. It always has been. Hoping that somehow Nathan could hear him.
"What's up with him?" Curtis asked Nathan, still cradling the unconscious Kelly in his arms like a baby.
"He doesn't like it when I die." Nathan said a little too blankly to be blasé. "He probably just needs a moment."
Simon found himself outside the community centre, looking uselessly at the empty estate.
"Lucy!" He called out, sprinting in one direction, desperate to catch her. "Lucy!"
It took a few minutes of searching, with Simon losing hope by the second as it occurred to him that she could take any form she wanted, but eventually he found her small frame huddled in a dank alleyway, legs hugged to her chest.
He was apprehensive but at the same time, a little sympathetic. She was just a scared kid at the end of the day, a kid that needed help.
"Lucy…" He said, approaching her gently.
She startled him by looking straight at him, sickly pale skin and dark hair, unlike her new, refreshed form in the future.
"Stay away from me," she said, shifting herself along the wall and away from him, "d…don't call the police, I'm warning you…"
"No one is gonna call the police." He told her earnestly. "I promise you. Everyone is okay."
She continued to stare at him but didn't speak, flinching ever so slightly as he took a deep breath and slid down the wall beside her, legs falling open.
Simon took a moment to deliberate what he was going to say, how he was going to approach a very delicate topic such as this, and how very much out of his capacity this was. But he knew that the girl sitting next to him would have been him if he hadn't responded to the help he'd received, if he hadn't of met Nathan or learned of his future self.
She was lonely, being genuinely lonely did things to you after a while. And that was one thing he could definitely relate to.
"Look," he began finally. "When I was in that hospital, I thought that was it for me. That I'd never know happiness…or love." He turned to her and attempted a shallow smile in her direction. "But I found it, for myself. You will too, I know you will. But…not with me. Purely for the fact that you deserve someone who can give you all the love in the world, and he, or she, is out there. I promise. I don't break my promises."
Tears spilled down her cheeks and she wiped them hastily away. "I hate that hospital." She choked out finally.
"I know you do." Simon told her honestly. "But you need to stay strong, and heal, and then you'll never have to look back. I know you can, you're the most resilient person I know. And…when you get out, you can come visit me, yeah? As friends, because I'd like that."
The tears continued to flow but she nodded regardless, leaning her head on his neck for comfort. He let her.
"I will try; I promise…thank you for being so understanding."
"It's what I'm here for." Simon mumbled.
She suddenly recoiled in shock and stared at him, eyes wide.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly.
"That boy," she said, "I saw him bleed, is he okay?"
"Oh." Simon said, deflating. "Nathan…he's gonna be just fine. Don't worry about him, just worry about you. Everything is fine."
"I'm sorry." She said after a moment, and despite how difficult it had been for Simon to say those things to her, he found himself believing her. "I don't want to be a bad person." She said.
"You don't have to be."
She turned to him then, and smiled. Warm and genuine and Simon couldn't help but smile back. Then, he felt it, in his gut, like his work was done and the timeline was realigning itself.
Before he could take a breath he felt that same constriction on his chest and watched in shock and awe as the universe began to reset itself before his very eyes and then he was slamming back to his present, the weight of Nathan appeared suddenly in his arms and the warmth of the Irishman's lips against his own startled him and he jumped back.
Nathan's light eyes opened and stared at him. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"What…what…what…?" Simon attempted, trying to breathe some oxygen back into his lungs. "What's happening?"
"What do you mean 'what's happening'?" Nathan asked, looking concerned. "You were gonna time travel back and stop Lucy from trying to kill me."
"But…" Simon shook his head. "I just did that, I just travelled back."
"What? While we kissed?"
Simon nodded. "Yeah, I just thought about what I wanted the most and it kind of took me there, I thought…" He looked around himself, brow furrowed. "Has anything changed?"
"I…I don't know." Nathan admitted sheepishly, as if embarrassed he couldn't give Simon the answer he wanted. "I don't think so."
Simon immediately exited the corridor, checking rooms until he happened upon Kelly, Alisha and Curtis. Kelly pressing a cold compress to Seth's bruised cheek.
"You're still hurt." He said.
Seth hesitated for a moment, unsure what to say. Simon didn't know how to explain himself to the sea of confused faces staring at him, particularly as he didn't precisely know what was going on himself. He heard the easily identifiable footsteps of Nathan coming up behind him and he somehow found his voice.
"I went back in time," he started. "I found Lucy, just like we said. I…I talked her into going back into the hospital, she wasn't going to hurt anyone."
"But…then I don't understand." Alisha said. "If you stopped it, then why did nothing change?"
Nathan's hand was on his shoulder and squeezing him reassuringly. "A lot can change in a short space of time." Nathan told them all, but Simon felt like he was addressing him directly despite the fact he couldn't even see his face. "And the tiniest thing can turn the world on its head for you. One nice conversation won't change her outlook forever, any one, small, unforeseeable event can turn you right back onto a path you thought you'd given up. Anything could have happened that changed her mind right back, it's not your fault, Simon."
Simon's shoulders sagged dejectedly. "But…then what can we do? We're useless now."
Silence hovered in the air.
"How long did you say it took for you to heal?" Curtis asked slowly.
"Couple of hours." Nathan supplied, wincing as he realised that was pretty much exactly how much time had passed, and now they were sitting ducks with no line of defence.
The door of the community centre store room was flung off of its hinges with an almighty blast and then Lucy stormed in, levitating off of the ground just so, eyes alight with power and dried blood on her neck.
"You! This is your fault!" She screamed before charging forward and seizing Nathan by the neck, lifting him clean off of the ground, his restricted windpipe making him gag.
Everyone else gasped but could do nothing.
Weirdly, Simon found himself not panicking erratically as he had expected, but instead his mind seemed to slow down.
Now that everyone had forfeited their powers and Simon had spent the last few months training in order to become his future self, he was the most capable person in the room.
He tried to think back to him, every time the guy in the mask had turned up and saved them, he'd been so sure of himself, like he knew everything that was going to happen ahead of time. But Simon had no such luxury, he had no idea what was going to happen.
So he had to take a chance.
"Lucy!" He shouted out suddenly, reaching his hand out to her.
She didn't relinquish her hold on Nathan but she turned her head and stared at him, Simon forced himself to keep his eyes on her. "Stop!" He continued. "Please, we talked about this. Remember? You need help. You promised me that you would try!"
"And you promised me I would find happiness!" She screeched back, fingers tightening around Nathan's neck and making his skin turn a dangerous shade of blue as he struggled. "And love. And all I found was misery and despair!"
"You need to give it time," Simon tried. "It will happen. Please. Don't take my life from me just because you haven't found your own. It doesn't work that way."
"It does now." Was all she said as she turned back to Nathan.
"You told me you didn't want to be a bad person!"
Lucy hesitated. "I…I'm not, I'm just doing…"
"Lucy, look at yourself, look at him. Look at what you're doing, it's not right. It's bad."
She looked at Nathan, saw his deoxygenated skin and bulging eyes and gasped, as if she had suddenly come back to herself from a dreamlike state. She retracted her fingers from his throat and he fell to the ground in a barely conscious, boneless heap. He was immediately pulled to safety by Alisha as Lucy slowly descended, her feet touching the ground.
Simon went to run to Nathan but was halted by Seth launching himself forwards and grasping Lucy's unsuspecting hand in his own. She screamed in shock as the blinding light, brighter than it had ever been, shone in the middle of the room, creating an endless chasm of light that seemed to go on forever until Seth let go, lost his footing slightly but righted himself. Lucy, sufficiently weakened, collapsed to the ground.
It took a long while for the swirling mass of light in Seth's hand to fully dissipate, but it seemed to rejuvenate him slightly, and he suddenly seemed so much stronger than he had a few minutes before.
Lucy was still cowering on the floor and everyone was at a standstill, unsure of their next move. That was until Kelly walked forwards a few paces and punched Lucy across the face, successfully knocking her out. She slumped back onto the floor with blood dripping down her face.
"Kelly." Simon berated.
"She tried to kill me." Kelly pointed out and Simon fell silent, not having much to say in the line of defence.
…
Nathan was sat in the corner of the room, taking a few moments for himself to calm down and get some oxygen back into his body, so Kelly, Alisha and Curtis had volunteered to take the unconscious girl back to St. James psychiatric ward.
Simon had just finished giving them directions but as they turned to go, he called Curtis back.
"Yeah?" The former track-star asked.
"Um. Just…your power." Simon said. "I'd better give it back, before I forget."
"You know what?" Curtis said. "You keep it. That power causes way more harm than good."
Simon froze.
This. This was it. This was how it happened, how he went back. The time travel power in the palm of his hand, all he had to do was think and he was gone. And Nathan was saved.
He turned his head and glanced at Nathan, straight-backed against the wall, massaging his throat slightly while taking slow, steady breaths and Simon found himself smiling.
He didn't need to be a superhero to save Nathan, he just needed to be with him.
With that in mind, Simon walked to Seth, who was preparing to leave with the group, and extended his hand out.
"Take the time travel power." He said assertively. "I don't need it. I don't want it."
Seth held his hand out and after the customary flash of light, the power was gone from Simon.
"I'm not sure what to do with this." Seth admitted honestly.
"It's too dangerous." Curtis pointed out.
"We should destroy it." Simon said.
"How do we do that?" Kelly asked.
"It's pretty simple." Seth said, shrugging. "Just put it in a bug or something. Then squish it. Job done."
"Well, why don't you two go and do that…" Alisha said, sidling up to Kelly in a suggestive way as if she were far too happy to facilitate Kelly and Seth having some alone time. "And we'll take the crazy girl back to the hospital."
Curtis and Alisha soon left with the still-unconscious Lucy and Simon left Seth and Kelly chatting in the corridor and went back into the store room to see Nathan sat crossed legged on the floor, staring up at him.
"Hey." Nathan said.
Simon was on his knees in an instant and wrapped his arms around Nathan. Nathan laughed as he hugged him back but there was something desperate in his humour, something just a little too tight about his embrace.
When Simon pulled back, he sat opposite and just stared at him.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Breathless." Nathan replied honestly. "But, you know, not dead so…winner."
The pair laughed slightly.
"I can't believe you just did that." Nathan said quietly.
"What?" Simon asked.
"You gave up the time travel power."
"I made you a promise."
Simon expected Nathan to look grateful or happy, but instead, he looked uneasy and Simon frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Nathan shrugged. "It's nothing, really…" He tried sounding nonchalant. "But…I don't know…there was a moment, earlier, outside. I went to protect you but I couldn't, because I'm not immortal anymore. Just I've been thinking, maybe there's some truth in what you were saying before…that giving up our powers might have been a mistake."
Simon reached out and put a hand on Nathan's knee, earning the man's attention.
"You told me that you gave up your immortality for a normal, human life with me."
"I did." Nathan said.
"A part of a normal, human life is danger. There's always going to be bad with the good, because without the bad, the good wouldn't be worth anything. But…at the same time, you can't spend your life expecting the bad, you just have to accept it's normal and just live your life day after day. You have to…"
"Live in the moment." Nathan finished off, something akin to a familiar flash of nostalgia in his blue eyes.
Simon merely nodded.
"I made my choice." Nathan said after a moment, rather bluntly, hand finding Simon's on his knee. "I'll take what I can get. What I want for us will never change. The future…it's now. And we control it, nobody else. I've had a fair share of bad in my life, I've lost things…lost parts of myself that I'll never get back but you…you're my good, Simon. And I want you around forever. I know how you feel about what the future might hold for us, but…"
"I made my choice as well." Simon interrupted gently. "I realised what I wanted. No matter what happens in the future, my choice will always, always be you."