Author's Note: Yeah, a little break before I get to take physics this summer. Just waiting on one more grade for this semester to know if I brought my GPA up to where it needs to be. Here's hoping for that 3.5.
Chapter 37: Breaking Through
Mike's frustration was boiling inside him. He had to figure out a way to get to his friends. He didn't know what they were going through or what their fears were, but he knew it had to have been painful from having just gone through it himself. Mike's hand hurt from pounding on the door as hard as he was, but he didn't care. He had to figure out a way to get through it; he had to break it down somehow. But it was sealed tight. In the back of his mind he knew the doors must have been magically sealed, but he didn't want to stop fighting to get in. He couldn't give up on Peter and Micky. Behind him, he could almost feel Davy's own frustration.
"You let me in to see Mike!" Davy yelled at the air, though Mike knew he was really yelling at Barbas. "Why won't you let us in to see Peter and Micky!?" As Mike expected, they got no response. Mike turned to look at Davy and his eyes landed on the pot that Davy had thrown earlier. Suddenly he remembered that a month earlier, Piper had come over and given them several tiny bottles. She had told them that they were potions she made up to help them in case they ever needed it. Mike ran up to his room to dig through his drawers to try and find them. Davy followed behind him puzzled. "Mike, what are you doing?"
"Remember those bottles Piper gave us?" Mike responded. "I think she said that some of them were meant to break spells if we threw them. Those doors are magically sealed so if we can use those potions against the doors, we should be able to get in. I think I put them in one of my socks to keep them from breaking." Mike pulled out several pairs of bundled socks before he found one that had the bottles in them. He quickly dumped them on his bed and looked for a red one: the one Piper had told them would break spells. There were four bottles of red liquid and Mike grabbed all four just in case before running back downstairs. He took one bottle and threw it at the door to Davy and Peter's room. The bottle broke against the door and it seemed to glow with a bright white light for a brief second. Mike hesitated for just a second before trying to open the door again. When he tried, it opened without any resistance. Mike rushed through the door as fast as he could and scanned the room. He saw Peter leaning against the wall staring at something on the other side of the room. Mike and Davy rushed over to Peter's side to try and comfort him.
"Peter?" Davy asked wrapping his arm around Peter's shoulders. "What happened?" Mike waited, but they got no response from Peter. He just kept staring across the room, but Mike couldn't tell what he was looking at.
"Peter, what's the matter?" Mike prompted, but still Peter stayed silent.
"Can you talk to us, Peter?" Davy pled. They were met with more silence from Peter.
"Peter, whatever you're looking at, it's not real," Mike said. But Peter didn't tear his eyes away from whatever he was looking at on the other side of the room. Mike moved to kneel in front of Peter hoping to block his vision and snap him out of whatever he was going through. Peter seemed to look at him now, but still said nothing.
"Peter, please talk to us," Davy pled again sounding desperate.
"Peter, it's not real," Mike said taking Peter's face in his hands and forcing Peter to look directly at him in order to try and snap him out of whatever haze he was in.
"Mike?" Peter breathed finally.
"Yes, it's me," Mike said smiling at Peter.
"I'm sorry, Mike," Peter said. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want any of this to happen."
"There's nothing to be sorry for," Mike said. "This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault."
"I didn't mean for this to happen," Peter mumbled again tears flowing down his eyes. "I'm sorry I messed up so bad."
"You didn't mess up, Peter," Davy said.
"I messed up with the harp and now this," Peter said.
"Peter, we've been over this," Davy said. "You didn't do anything wrong with the harp. It was an accident and no one blames you."
"What do you mean "and now this"?" Mike asked.
"Micky," Peter sobbed.
"What about Micky?" Mike asked.
"I'm so sorry, Mike," Peter said again.
"Peter, look at me," Mike said firmly. "You have nothing to be sorry for, you hear me? Nothing. You did nothing wrong with the harp. You have done nothing wrong now. Whatever you think happened; didn't happen. It was an illusion. You have to believe me. Whatever you're seeing; it isn't real."
"How can you say that?" Peter asked.
"Because I was tricked, too," Mike said.
"It was real," Peter said. "It had to be real."
"No, Peter," Mike answered firmly. "It wasn't." Peter fell silent again and Mike saw his eyes start to focus on something behind Mike again.
"Peter, it wasn't real," Davy tried but Peter didn't answer.
"Ok, tell me what happened," Mike said. "Tell me what you see. What are you looking at?"
"Micky," Peter breathed.
"Micky's not in here," Davy said.
"What about Micky?" Mike asked.
"I hurt him," Peter said so softly that Mike almost didn't even hear him. "I swear I didn't want to hurt him."
"You didn't hurt him," Mike said.
"You could never hurt anyone," Davy added.
"I did," Peter sobbed. "It's my fault."
"How did you hurt him?" Mike asked trying to find some way to prove to Peter that what he had seen was an illusion. If he couldn't realize that what he'd seen hadn't been real, he'd never be able to get over it. Mike couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Peter to think he had in any way caused Micky or anyone else harm.
"Peter, talk to us," Davy pled. "I promise you that you didn't hurt Micky. Tell us what happened."
"You were here," Peter said.
"No, we weren't," Mike answered. "We just got here. Peter, we got separated and I got tricked just like you did. I thought I'd let you guys down, but it wasn't real. Davy snapped me out of it and we came down here looking for you. We couldn't get in until just now. We were not in here. Whatever you saw us do, it wasn't us. Trust me."
"You were so mad at me," Peter cried.
"Peter, we aren't mad at you," Davy said. "There's no way we could be mad at you. We love you, Peter."
"What you saw was an illusion," Mike said. "Trust me. I saw myself upstairs. Then I saw Micky and Davy downstairs in the living room and I thought Davy was mad at me and Micky was terrified. It wasn't them. It was an illusion. It was a trick played on me by Barbas. He made me think that I had failed you guys. That's my greatest fear; that I'm going to fail you guys, but I know that I never will because I care about you too much. I could never do anything to hurt or fail you."
"But…" Peter said looking up at Mike again.
"We weren't here," Mike stressed again. "It was an illusion. It wasn't real. Whatever we said or did; it was not us."
"You wanted to hurt me," Peter said. Mike's blood ran cold. How could Mike ever do anything to hurt Peter? Anger bubbled inside him again as the truth hit him: Barbas had made Peter think that Mike wanted to hurt him.
"What!?" Davy exclaimed. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"
"I would never hurt you, Peter," Mike said trying to remove the anger from his voice. "I couldn't ever do anything to hurt you."
"You were going to stab me because I'm the reason you're all suffering," Peter said tearfully. "If you killed me, you wouldn't have to suffer anymore. The Devil would leave you alone."
"Peter, I couldn't ever do that!" Mike said. "Listen to me carefully: I could never do anything to hurt you. I don't care what Barbas or the Devil or anyone else throws at us. I don't care what he puts me through or what he does to me. I will never, ever hurt you. I don't care if he rips my arms off; I will never hurt you. What you saw was a trick, Peter. He's lying to you."
"I know you wouldn't hurt me," Peter said. "He said he controlled you; that he owned you now. I didn't want to fight back; I didn't want to hurt you or Micky because I knew you'd never hurt me, but…"
"He lied to you, Peter," Davy said. "It was all lies."
"But Micky…he's bleeding…" Peter said still staring behind him.
"Micky is not here," Mike said slowly and firmly. "I promise you that."
"I didn't mean to fight back," Peter said still crying. "But I was scared and I hurt Micky. He was holding me and I hit him. I made his nose bleed and he let go and he got stabbed instead of me."
"You didn't hurt Micky," Davy said. "Micky hasn't been in here. It wasn't real. You've been alone."
"Even if it was an illusion," Peter said looking up at Davy. "It doesn't change what I did. I hurt him. He's my best friend. How could I hurt him?"
"You didn't hurt him," Davy said starting to sound a little frustrated. Mike understood what Peter was saying. His fear was that he would hurt someone he loved and Barbas had made it come true. Whether it was an illusion or not, it proved to Peter that he was capable of harming one of his best friends. Mike didn't know what to say to make Peter feel better, so he just pulled Peter tightly to him.
"You were forced to defend yourself, Peter," Mike managed. "What he did to you isn't fair and I promise you I will make him pay for this. You could never hurt any of us just as we could never hurt you. That would never happen."
"What kind of person hurts their best friend?" Peter sobbed.
"Not you," Mike answered pulling Peter tighter. "You could never do it. You knew it wasn't us. You knew it was an illusion; that's why you fought back. You wouldn't ever have otherwise done that under other circumstances. I promise you that you are the most loyal, peaceful, caring, kind-hearted, beautiful man I know. You are not a horrible person; you are not a bad friend. I love you, Peter. I hate that they have done this to you because you are so far from being a bad person. Please believe that, Peter."
"He's right," Davy said wrapping Peter in a hug from the other side. "I would entrust you with my life, Peter. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you and nothing I wouldn't trust you with. You're like the big brother I never had. You mean the world to me, Peter, and I know with all my heart that you would never, ever be capable of hurting us."
"But I did hurt Micky," Peter said.
"No, you didn't," Mike said. "You defended yourself against an illusion. You would never do anything to hurt anyone. You have to believe that Peter."
"I…" Peter started to pull away, but Mike held onto him still.
"Don't start, Peter," Davy said firmly. "You are not capable of hurting us. It was an illusion. You were forced to defend yourself against an illusion. It wasn't real, Peter. It wasn't real."
"It wasn't?" Peter asked. Mike could feel him starting to relax a little.
"No, see, I'll show you," Davy said reluctantly letting go and walking over to the spot Peter had been staring the whole time. "There's nothing here. Micky isn't here."
"I don't understand," Peter breathed.
"It wasn't real, Peter," Mike said. "He lied."
"The Devil was here," Peter said. "He said he was controlling you. He said he had broken you."
"He lied, Peter," Mike reiterated. "You're greatest fear is that you are going to hurt someone you love and he tricked you into thinking you could possibly do it. But you couldn't ever hurt anyone. Especially not Micky or me or Davy."
"You fought against an illusion, Peter," Davy said. "You had to have known that deep down; otherwise you wouldn't have done it. I know that with all my heart."
"So do I," Mike agreed.
"It wasn't real?" Peter said relaxing a little more and finally tearing his eyes away from the spot on the other side of the room.
"It wasn't real," Davy affirmed. "I promise you."
"I didn't hurt Micky?" Peter asked.
"You didn't hurt Micky," Mike said. "You're not capable of that. You're not that kind of person."
"I swear on my life, Peter," Davy added coming back over to wrap Peter in another hug. "You could never do anything to hurt any of us." Peter finally relaxed and wrapped his arms around Mike; he was finally starting to understand what had really happened. Mike and Davy were getting through to him. Mike and Davy just sat and held him for a while as he cried. Mike's heart broke as he tried to comfort his friend and he couldn't imagine how painful it must have been for Peter to believe he'd hurt one of his friends. He was just glad now that Peter knew it was over. After a few minutes, Peter pulled away from Mike and wiped his eyes.
"Where is Micky?" Peter asked.
"We think he's in the basement," Davy answered.
"If you want to stay here a little longer, I understand," Mike said. "But I need to go help him now."
"No," Peter said firmly. "I have to help him, too. I have to make it right. I know I didn't hurt him, but I have to prove that now. I have to help him."
"Ok, if you're sure you're ok; we need to go," Mike said getting up and extending a hand to Peter. Peter nodded firmly and let Mike help him off the ground. When the three of them left the room, Mike looked over at the bricked over window and saw that even more bricks had disappeared which meant that Peter had gotten over his fear as well. There were still quite a bit of bricks though and only Micky left to overcome his fear. Mike thought for a moment that after this there might be something worse they had to fight; he couldn't imagine what would be worse than what they'd already been going through and he didn't want to really find out. But he couldn't focus on that right now; he had to worry about Micky at this moment in time. He'd figure everything else out later.