Where there's a Will…
Summary: ... there's trouble! New lives are started, the new Underground Sanctuary is ready to start business. But as with all endeavours, something puts a spanner in the works... a little bit of history comes looking for Will, and the team are hard pressed to fight it. Especially now that they're on their own.
Disclaimer: This is a fan-fiction story of the TV show; Sanctuary and is in no way affiliated with the actual show. All characters and other materials related to the show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant. However, any characters that are not related to any copyrights are copyrighted to Elemental-Zer0 as is any variations to the plot set out in the show.
Authors Note: Ok, so had this mostly written out, decided to finish it off quickly and post it. Hopefully it doesn't feel too rushed, but there is a lot of info dumping involved, so let me know if you get lost or don't quite understand and I'll try to address those in the next few chapters.
Be sure to let me know your thoughts, and if you have any criticism to make, please do it politely.
Chapter Four:
He was dreaming. He knew it. It was the same dream he'd been having for months now, ever since he had moved into the New Praxis Sanctuary. He was in the Avatar Temple again, re watching for the hundredth time as Kali attempted to grant his plea to save humanity. She fell again, as she always did, with her cry echoing around the impossibly tall, white-marble columns and piercing through his soul. He felt the spike of pain as if it had hit himself as well.
In this scene, he remembered moving toward her, his feet unconsciously taking him forward, but the pain lanced through him again, and he found himself on his knees. The apostles-in-white holding on to him as he knelt before her fallen form, partly to prevent his further approach, and partly to support his falling form too.
He'd pleaded for the other two beings of power to help her, to do something while in the same moment ignoring his own ails and perilous situation. Looking back on it now, Will Surmised that he felt his life was forfeit anyway, so why waste time helping him if they could save her? He'd then recall seeing the two hyperspecies share a look and glance at him again. Will couldn't hope to fathom what they were thinking; their minds were a mystery to everyone but themselves. He felt another wave of pain as Kali was taken from the temple.
Flashes of the message that Magnus' father gave him interrupted the flow for a moment, and for a long time, that's where Will believed the interaction ended. That this was the point when he woke up from the death-sleep back in Mumbai and was no longer going to die but for the grace of Kali and her two kinsmen.
But in these recent dreams of that time, it didn't end there.
There was more, and this was where his dreams had started to get… weird. When he'd first experienced this new part of the events that had taken place, he wasn't sure if he was fantasizing the experiences or remembering something else that had actually happened. But as time went on, the dreams became more vivid and detailed and he just knew, deep down, that this was not something his imagination had conjured to life. However, he was loathe to consider that they were lost memories of what happened in the Avatar Temple, purely because of their content. It felt presumptuous and ludicrous to imagine such a thing, but the dream would repeat itself to him in such a detailed and repetitive way each and every night since he'd moved into the underground sanctuary, that it was hard to ignore the possibility.
This new part of the dream would start with the apostles-in-white suddenly being on their feet, as was he. And the two other beings that shared in Kali's powerful lineage would stand before him. They'd share another silent conversation before staring back at him. Then as one, they'd both reach forward and touch his forehead. At their touch, he'd fall backwards, and a strange light would engulf his vision. His back would then land upon a soft silken sheet. The surface beneath him; soft, like a feather mattress. His limbs felt heavy and his senses; slow and sluggish. But the colours would intensify. They were bright and vivid, entrancing and warm. Orange and white drapes would billow around the bed, as dark terracotta tiles lined the floor. Dark wood lined the opulent architecture and accents of deep purples and turquoises decorated the massive room.
Still laid out on the bed, Will would only be able to see from a horizontal point of view, but he'd still glance outside the tall, high-arched windows, where there was a dark atmosphere pulsating in clouds of dark purple and various greys.
And then her voice would sound, "Durga…" And his attention would be summoned to the foot of the bed. And there she'd appear, her dark skin gleaming in the warm light, and she'd look at him with a strange hunger in her eyes. "You want to live, yes?" She would ask, her voice would be low and husky, as though tired or in pain. He couldn't tell which.
He knew to what she was referring to. The Makri. Once it leaves its host, the host dies. No cures. No miracles. No Hail-Mary's.
"Yes." He'd find himself replying. He couldn't hide the truth from her. She drew it out of him with ease. He supposed there was a reason she was known as an enchantress among her followers.
"You will do for me this favour, and I will grant you your life." She'd growl, her voice low and commanding. It wasn't a question. It wasn't optional. And he couldn't ask for details or the catch. She was a literal goddess offering him his life for a favour.
She'd then slip the sleeve of her dress down her arm and loosen her skirt as she'd step up onto the end of the bed. Her eyes would watch him with a familiar fire aglow inside.
That favour would apparently be; erogenous?
The rest of the dream that would follow, was a very vivid pattern that would build up to a mind-melting eruption that would wake him from his sleep feeling drained, panting hard, and requiring a cold shower.
But as he woke this time, he found himself in unfamiliar territory. The walls were sheer rockface but sterile and the smell of antibacterial cleaner stung his nose. His delirious state of confusion was only slightly alleviated by the appearance of Magnus by his bedside.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked, her eyes scanning the various machines hooked up to him in a variety of formats. He cast his eyes down to his arms and noted the IV lines at the inner crease of his elbow. His gaze continued further down the sheets and blankets covering his legs until he spotted Henry stood at the end of his bed, a worried look about his person. The lycanthrope gave a friendly smile and a nervous wave as if to say hi.
"What…?" Confusion swaddled his mind, and it was the most Will could articulate before memories of the tremors started to trickle back into his head. He'd fainted, after a migraine. And his nose had bled. A lot. Again.
"You had a seizure, Will." Magnus said gently, her hand on his forearm for support. And Will's mind blanked for a moment.
"I, what?" he asked, wondering if he'd heard correctly. Magnus could see he was struggling to believe her. She also knew that news like this was difficult to hear. And that there was a crap tonne more to the story. She was only aware of the surface details that Ranna had briefly explained before-hand, but with what had been said, Magnus knew it would change his life forever.
"It would appear that there's more." She warned, before asking; "Would you prefer we wait 'til you're feeling a little better?" She wasn't sure of his mental state as he just appeared to be dazed and not quite with it. And what was to come, would require Will's mind to be firing at maximum capability.
"No. I'm alright, I just… I didn't expect that." Will replied, sitting himself up on the medical bed he'd found himself laid on. "And I had that strange dream again, so I was just a little…" he tried to explain but that was when Ranna revealed herself from somewhere behind Magnus.
"A dream of the Avatar Temple?" She asked, her tone abrupt and to-the-point. Her sudden appearance seemed to stun Will for a moment. Then Magnus saw him pale at her words as they finally registered. Her own gut sank a little. It was looking as though Ranna was right.
"How..?" Will stammered, a little off kilter again and Magnus could see this going south quite quickly if she didn't intervene.
"I think it's better if I handle this Ranna." Magnus said, and gently guided Ranna back a little. Magnus could see that her presence was unnerving. Will hadn't fully forgiven her for her actions upon their first meeting. He'd been civil ever since, and grateful in some cases for her intervention, but Ranna's whole personality and culture was abrasive to Will's conscientious and benefit-of-the-doubt way of life. And lacking even the basics of common respect was enough to rile Will's usually calm temperament. As a result, Will had been avoiding Ranna since he learned of her survival thanks to Magnus' time-travelling intervention. Although Magnus had assured him that Ranna was no longer under the rule of the previous Praxian Senate, the fact that Ranna was still a high-ranking official for the New Praxian Council was still a little more power than Will was comfortable with her holding. Not that he could avoid her completely, considering he was also a member of that same council, just not in as high regard. It had seemed that the Praxian people had voted her into the higher circle of authority despite their history of her recent governance. But then Will had also learned that Ranna was over half a millennia in age and had been respected in all that time. He supposed there must be some merit to having run an entire underground city for near to five hundred years. And her people knew it.
But all of that was beside the point. Will could only think of one reason why Ranna would come to him with information about his dreams of the Avatar Temple; he was dying. He'd suspected this a fortnight ago when he'd had the first nosebleed. The dreams seemed to be telling him it was connected. But those were the rules; once the Makri leaves the host body, the host dies. No cures. No exceptions. Kali may have prolonged his life a little in recognition of his valour for fighting for humanity's sake, but this was inevitable. And it was that train of thought that led him to his next comment.
"I'm dying, aren't I?" he asked, but he felt he knew the answer. So, it was a surprise to find Magnus turning to him in astonishment and with a confused frown.
"What? No. Will, you're not dying." She replied, "Whatever made you think that?" She asked, concern covering her features as she turned back to face him.
"The Makri… it left me. I think Kali managed to prolong the process, but without the Makri, the herald dies." Will replied with a frown. "You know that. I think its why I've been having these migraines and the nosebleeds." He added, but before he could finish the thought, Ranna piped up again. Her voice, however, was softer, a modicum of concern leaked through her hardened persona.
"It is not death that seeks you Doctor Zimmerman. It is new life." She said cryptically and Will was lost again. He felt a different kind of headache approach. Magnus looked heaven-ward for strength but remained calm, even though Will could see Ranna was testing her patience. It seemed Will wasn't the only one with a façade for politics.
"There's no easy way to say this Will…" Magnus started but Will had had enough of their side stepping the issue.
"Then just say it!" He growled, surprising both women with the ferocity of his tone. "I'm sorry," He quickly added, "Just… please don't keep me waiting. Tell me."
Magnus eyed him critically before deciding that it was better he knew sooner, rather than later. Will really didn't know how he'd react if she'd decided he wasn't ready. She took a breath to begin.
"You were partly correct. This is about the Makri, but not in the way you think." Will's stomach dropped but he remained silent, waiting to hear the end of the explanation. "Ranna was approached by Kanaan who explained what really happened in the Avatar Temple when you died back in Mumbai." And Will could see the temple in his mind's eye again. His dreams trying to replay behind his eyelids as he shut them to listen. "Will, I think Kali needed you to do something for her so that she could birth a new Makri." Will's eyes popped open at that comment. "Will, both you and Ranna mentioned having dreams, what happened in them?" Magnus asked but Will's mind was elsewhere. Vivid imagery of the bedroom, the orange drapes, the feather mattress… the Goddess at the end of the bed eyeing him hungrily… he cleared his throat in embarrassment.
"She… er… we were, uhm…" He stammered for a moment, "…intimate." He finished, a little quieter than before. He heard Henry try to hide a reaction with a cough. He wasn't sure what reaction the wolf-man had succeeded in stifling though.
"It is the correct way to birth a new Makri." Ranna confirmed, this time there was a slight smile upon her face, and her tone was lighter. This was a new side of the Seneschal that Will was seeing. He wondered why. But then her comment caught up with him and he suddenly had more questions.
"Birth…? …What?" He asked, was he a father? How did that even work? He wasn't there physically. His body was on a morgue table in Mumbai… So how?
"What are you saying Ranna? What has Kali done to Will?" And Will was suddenly aware that Magnus had not been made aware of this particular detail. And she was apparently not happy about that.
"No Hyperspecies can live without a symbiotic counterpart. In Kali's case; a Makri." Ranna began, "Without it, Kali's control over her power will deteriorate. The lack of symbiosis will destroy the earth. To rectify this, Kali needs to birth a new Makri. To do so, she needs a herald with a strong connection. That is apparently you Doctor Zimmerman." And while it made sense, Will still had questions. Like, how was it possible to father a Makri with a hyperspecies when his physical body wasn't involved? And what exactly had it done to him to force him to have seizures almost two years later? He wasn't so sure he wanted answers though… it sounded like another migraine waiting to happen. Pun intended.
"But all of that happened years ago. What has that got to do with Will's current symptoms, and why did you ask me to keep Ashley away from Will?" Magnus asked, apparently wondering the same things. Briefly, Will wondered if Magnus had developed telepathy, but then her last comment piqued his curiosity.
"Wait, Ashley can't be near me?" Will asked, then cast his eyes around as though to confirm her lack of presence. Henry spoke up then.
"Yeah, she seemed quite upset by that. You wanna explain that one?" he asked brusquely. The HAP couldn't seem to stop the growl from leaking into his voice as he tried to remain calm. Everyone knew that Henry was quite protective of Ashley, and it was true the other way round too. The two were siblings in all but blood. Upset one, and the other would reign down punishment and justice like no other force could fathom.
"It has to do with the Makri. When a hyperspecies births its symbiotic cousin, it is not the hyperspecies that develops the infant symbiote. It is the host's job." Ranna replied and paused for a moment to let that information sink in, knowing it would take a moment to wrap their heads around the concept.
"So…" Henry started carefully, "Will has an infant Makri inside him?" He asked, uncertain he'd come to the correct conclusion.
"It is the case, yes." Ranna confirmed. And that knowledge-bomb floored Will.
"I… I have the baby spider, in me?" He said slowly, "Am I pregnant?" He asked, his imagination taking a turn for the unthinkable process of how that would work. Abject horror assaulted him from inside as several unpleasant scenarios made themselves known with the idea of birthing anything. His gaze then unexpectedly found Henry's at the foot of his bed in whom he'd hoped to find a level of sympathy in, but instead the lycanthrope just stood in a sort of slightly stunned shock before saying the first thing he could think of.
"Uh… mazal tov, dude." And Will just stared at him.
"You're not pregnant, Doctor Zimmerman." Ranna corrected with an amused smile, gaining Will's attention once more. Her small chuckle seemed to ease Will's concerns a little, but he was a long way off from being relaxed about this situation. "It is just the same as when you had the previous Makri within you. Only this one is incredibly young and won't be able to connect you to Kali like the previous one did until its older and stronger. It will grow inside you, and with you." She explained calmly. Will's heart rate slowed at that and although it was a new thing he'd have to adapt to, Will was feeling a bit better than before. At least he wasn't dying, like he'd thought he was, and he didn't have to 'birth' anything either. But being a herald again… this would still be a life changing thing.
"Will, this means…" Magnus began, but Will knew what she was about to say.
"Yeah… I'm a herald again." He finished for her. "But what I wanna know is why has it waited this long to do…" and here Will struggled to articulate what it was the Makri was doing to him, "Whatever it's doing…" he tried, but then changed his question, "What is it doing to me?" he asked, eyes boring into Ranna. She seemed to know this question was coming, for she was ready with an answer.
"Each symbiote takes a different length of time to mature." She started, and it sounded rehearsed, like she'd studied it from a textbook or something. Which, Will realised belated, that she probably had, if not written the book. "The Makri usually takes between three to seven years. It is unusual for a Makri to mature this early, but they can if they feel threatened. And your Makri has identified Ashley Magnus as a threat." She finished, which raised more questions.
"Why Ashley?" Magnus asked, her need to defend and protect her daughter running high. It was hard to turn off the mother in you even if as a doctor your priority was supposed to be to your patients. "What can we do to help the Makri see her as friend instead of foe?" And while Will felt this was an important question, he was still reeling from the fact he was now a herald again – the implications were vast, and his future now looked vastly different to what he'd imagined. And just how was Abbey going to take all this?
"I don't know much more than this. Kanaan was very brief and vague with his details. He seemed, pressed for time which is odd given they can live for millennia." Ranna admitted. "All he said was; 'to remove the Magnus child from the infant Makri immediately. You must then guide its growth and its host. No other host will survive this. William Zimmerman must be kept from harm lest the infant Makri unleash its untamed fear. And let no other take the infant from its current host. Both will die if that comes to pass.' Those were his exact and only words." Ranna recited to them. And Will's owlish stare found Magnus' worried gaze. This was all a lot to take in. "My experience tells me that the process of birthing a new Makri is only attainable with certain factors and criteria in place." Ranna continued. "I believe your turn of phrase for it would be, "Right time and place" for such a thing." She further added, "I believe that Kali may not be able to birth a new Makri for a few centuries, and heralds must be strong in heart and mind. Very few meet this criteria, and all infant symbiotes cannot survive a transfer of host until they're at least three centuries old." Will felt his mind blanking again. Three centuries… was he expected to live that long? A sudden pang of fear gripped him as the concept washed over him. He felt a headache forming…
"Try not to think about it, Will." Magnus tried, and squeezed his arm. "We'll figure this out. I promise you." She added, apparently knowing her second in command well enough to know he was freaking out about his new long-term issues. Magnus then turned to Ranna.
"Let's focus on the immediate issues first," she declared, "Do you have any idea about what it is that makes Ashley a threat to the Makri?" Will focussed on breathing as he listened, his curiosity piqued a little.
"I don't know but I am at your disposal in finding a way to help." Ranna answered, then added. "But I cannot stress enough that if we are to avoid any more tremors or weather phenomenon, you must keep Miss Magnus and Doctor Zimmerman away from each other." She said with a tone of finality and Will almost didn't register the comment.
"Wait." He said suddenly, "What does any of this have to do with the tremors?" He queried, another tight grip of fear squeezed his heart in trepidation of what Ranna was about to say. And in all honesty, she didn't need to say it. The look she gave him said it all.
"The Makri is a powerful abnormal of its own strength. Its abilities are not limited to psychically connecting you to a sentient Goddess. If a Makri senses danger, it can and will defend itself and its host. And as a cousin of the Goddess who can move the earth and seas, it stands to reason that the Makri has some level of persuasion with the earth and sea, and their unique qualities." She explained anyway and could see that the information was not something Will, nor Magnus and Henry had expected. Will was obviously mortified that the whole mess the world was in was because of him. Self-flagellation was always his default setting, and Magnus felt the weight of trying to figure out the medical and practical way forward out of the predicament they'd yet again found themselves in.
Henry, for his part, was a little shocked that Ranna had just implied that Will's migraines had in fact, been causing the tremors they'd been having. Erika was going to have a field day with this.
It took a few moments of silence though, before Will struggled with a thought; "Why didn't the other one I had in me fight back, then?" He asked, frowning at the memory of feeling so lost and delirious. It hadn't been a fun experience. Not only had he felt so out of sorts during the initial removal of the Makri, but hours later, when he'd woken and found himself mostly cognizant in Mumbai's sanctuary infirmary, he could literally feel the borrowed time leaching away at his life force. It had felt like someone had taken his hourglass and shaken it about before smashing the bottom open and letting the sand just pour out into the ether.
Ranna, however, shook her head. "I do not know." She admitted, "Though I suspect it might be an age thing? Or a genetic thing?" But as Will was about to ask more questions, Magnus decided to cut the conversation short. Her critical eyes had caught the small tremors running through Will's body, and the droop of his eyes gave her no room to imagine anything other than that fact her patient and friend was dead on his feet. So to speak.
"Maybe Ranna could try speaking with Kanaan to find some more answers. I'd certainly like to know about why Ashley is a threat." She interjected, turning her body to face Ranna in hopes of showing Will that she wasn't interfering for his health alone.
"It is not something I can just do whenever you have questions for him." Ranna replied though, which took Magnus back a little. "Kanaan is not at my beck and call. He answers if he deems it worth his time or attention. Small matters like a human asking for answers will not be enough to elicit a response. I am more than likely to anger him with such requests." Magnus was about to reply but Will got there first.
"You owe Magnus your life, right?" He asked, and Ranna stopped, unable to continue her argument against attempting to contact her God. "If the Hyperspecies can't survive without a symbiotic cousin, and that cousin can't survive without its host… it stands to reason that Magnus indirectly saved Kanaan from a world of misfortune also." He said, though he'd closed his eyes and leaned back into the pillows behind his head as he did. His voice had taken on a slower, fuzzier tone, and he didn't notice when Magnus artfully secreted away the sedative she'd surreptitiously fed into his IV line a few minutes earlier. His lack of attention on that matter was a testament to how tired he really was. "And let's not forget the impromptu surgery she did on Kanaan in the lava tunnels on our very first visit to Praxis." He added, hiding a yawn. "Don't you think that Kanaan owes Magnus some answers, especially ones concerning her own daughter." He fell quiet after that and Magnus, feeling a little guilty after hearing Will stand up for her, turned back to face Ranna.
"I couldn't have put it better myself, Will." She said, patting her tired friend's leg in solidarity. Though he didn't feel it as sleep took him mere seconds later.
Ranna huffed out a sigh of frustration and reluctance. "I know we owe you much. I do not deny this. But to ask a God a simple question when we haven't even tried to discover for ourselves what issues are afoot…" She was clearly hesitant to ask for something she deemed so trivial. "You must understand that as a herald, we carry their messages. We don't ask every prayer or favour that the people want answers to. It is our job to triage and to field those requests to only matters of import or urgency. To do anything else is to incur their wrath or ill-favour." And Magnus could see why Ranna was reluctant to approach Kanaan with what she'd deemed trivial, but if living with Ashley was going to be a threat for the baby Makri, it wasn't just the tremors or worldwide weather witchery they would need to worry about. The migraines, the nosebleeds, the fainting, and the seizures would eventually kill Will. And that would put Kali in a much bigger, and a more serious situation, especially if she can't birth another Makri for a few hundred years, and there was no telling if there'd be a suitable candidate for such a thing too.
And as Ashley is not yet known to the world above as having survived, and as she is also Magnus' family, it wasn't fair to separate her from the Sanctuary. And if they had to move Will, where else would be safe enough to protect him as Kanaan had requested. In a roundabout way, solving the problem of Ashley and Will was part of the bigger cause and if Kanaan had answers, they needed to know.
She said as much to Ranna while Henry moved to lay Will's bed down flat at Magnus's gesture.
"I cannot guarantee he will answer." Ranna sighed eventually, "But I will try. And I will continue to try until I am certain of his response." She relented. "But you must accept, I cannot be disrespectful, nor push my luck too far. Kanaan and I have known each other for a long time, but I am not privy to all his secrets or whims. I feel I barely know him at all, at times. He is a deity, a God for lack of a better term. And one does not anger a God for nothing." She added quickly, caveating her potential failure in case the blame was laid on her.
"I only ask that you try. They are not unfeeling, and they have shown mercy and compassion before." Magnus replied, "I believe they will listen to you."