Part 12 - Max POV - Mercy
Mercy...
Pure and simple.
Longing...
Cold and hollow.
With sweet breath you'd come to warm me.
But I held on too hard to only a memory.
You lie there on the swollen ground.
Deserted in your heart.
Still longing for what yesterday's lost,
And for all that tomorrow might bring,
And for all that tomorrow might bring.
The passion lost,
Taken, stolen.
The dreams we had and shared,
Shattered, broken.
With kind words you'd come to soothe me,
But I was so blind,
Would send you away from me.
There's no hope in regretting now
All the pain that we could not see.
We both knew what we wanted,
And we took it believing it free,
And we took it believing it free.
"Max! Snap out of it! Max, what's wrong?"
I can hear my sister screaming right in my ear, but my eyes seem completely incapable of opening. I hear someone groan, realize it is me.
"Stop yelling Isabel!" I practically have to physically pry open my eyes. I lift my hands up near my temple, try to massage away the massive headache that is presently pounding away. I feel for the tension in my head, gradually heal it so that I can converse without feeling like I did when Nicholas tried to get the location of the granolith out of me last fall.
"What the hell happened?" I manage to focus on my sister's face. She has gone completely white.
And suddenly it all comes flooding back. Sean Deluca! He had done something to me, had used some sort of alien power to knock me out. Which means that Sean Deluca is not at all who we thought he is.
"Sean." I say, feeling the rage beginning to build within me. "Where did he go?"
Isabel blinks, looks at me like I am insane. "Max, what are you talking about? Sean? I haven't seen Sean for days."
I stare at her. "Isabel, he was just here. He knocked me out!"
"Max, there was no one here. One minute you were staring out the front windshield with this weird look on your face, the next you had completely passed out!" Isabel insists. "There was no one here."
What the hell is going on around here?
"Are you sure?" I demand, although I know she is. She simply nods.
Sean Deluca was never here. But I [I]know[/I] he was.
I suddenly have a very sinking suspicion that I have managed to uncover the mysterious Lazar - and without even trying too.
And the one thing this fact is telling me is that Liz is in even more danger than I even could have possibly comprehended five minutes ago. "Get in." I order my sister. "We need to get to the pod chamber. Now."
Isabel doesn't argue, although she is clearly still totally freaked out. "Maybe I should drive." She insists, grabbing the keys out of my hand.
I don't argue.
************************************
We call the others on the drive. I tell Michael and the Sheriff to avoid Sean Deluca at all costs, to meet us at the pod chamber as soon as possible. I tell Michael why when he demands to know, hear Isabel gasping in the seat beside me as she listens to the story.
"How the hell can Maria's cousin be an alien?" Michael yells. He sounds absolutely terrified. I don't blame him. I am frantically trying to figure out if Sean has possibly hurt Liz in any way in all the time he has spent with her. Sean lived in Maria's [I]house[/I] for God's sake. I think Michael has the right to freak out.
"I don't think he's Maria's cousin." I reply tersely.
"Mind-warp?" Michael demands incredulously. "Maxwell, how the hell can Tess be doing this? There is no way that chick can be THIS powerful."
"I don't think it's Tess. I think he's doing it."
"Is he Khivar?" Michael asks. I can hear the fear in his voice.
"Maybe." I say. "We'll discuss it when we're all together."
Isabel and I drive in silence for several more minutes after Michael has hung up. I can practically feel my sister's terror, not only in the air, but through the bond that we share through the Four Square.
"What's wrong Iz?" I finally ask.
She doesn't reply for a long time and then whispers, "Is he Khivar?"
"I don't know." Because I don't, but I am beginning to suspect that he probably is. The way I felt when he touched me... He had done that to me before.
Because the memories are starting to pour back, have been ever since I regained consciousness. "Isabel..." I trail off, don't know if I should tell her this. I still haven't fully accepted it myself, but I think maybe she needs to know - needs to prepare herself for what might be coming. "I think I remember dying."
There is another long silence. "Tell me." She sounds like she really doesn't want to know, but [I]needs[/I] to.
Sort of like I need to get to Liz. Every fibre of my being is screaming, won't stop screaming until I have found her. I know it, embrace it. It is giving me the strength to deal with what I saw...
"His power..." I pause, searching my mind, trying to get a grasp on what I saw when Sean Deluca had done what he had done to me. I am trying to stay unemotional, detached from the memory, but it is difficult. It is not a pleasant experience to relive your own death after all. I don't think you can blame me for it. "I think he burned me up from inside. I remember flames."
"Oh my God." I can feel the car slowing down.
"Isabel! Go!" I insist. "Drive. We need to get there."
"Max," she pays no attention to me, pulls off the highway and turns to stare at me. "Did you see me?"
And I know exactly what she is thinking. Was she there when he killed me? Did she actually watch her lover murder her own brother, her king?
I consider not telling her, but I don't think lies are any sort of help, ever. Lies were what brought us to this point after all. Lies about who we were, are. Lies about who we were supposed to be, would have been, if the future version of myself hadn't interfered.
"You were there."
"Oh my God." She moans. Her face is in her hands. "Then its true. I betrayed you. I let him [I]kill[/I] you!"
I am still detached, but I do want to comfort her. "Not you Iz. Her. Vilandra. She's not you." I reach out, squeeze her shoulder lightly. "Isabel, I need you to be strong."
She looks up at me, her face drenched with tears. "Max, I am so sorry."
"Don't be sorry." I snap. "Be Isabel. I need my sister. You have to help me fix whatever it is he's trying to do. You need to help me save Liz."
Isabel's eyes are gazing past me. I wonder if she is trying to remember a life that no longer exists, a person she once was. But I know that she can't. I know that I don't want her to.
Memories of what came before have only ever caused us grief after all. Memories of Tess led me to make the biggest mistake of my life, led me to betray Liz, led me to almost lead my sister and my best friend to their destruction.
But the memory of what Khivar did to me... It is a good thing I realize. It has made me cold, determined, absolutely convinced that he is not going to win again. He is not going to hurt Liz.
Because he knows that all he has to do to defeat me this time is hurt her.
"Isabel." She looks at me again, her eyes pleading with me to say something to make her feel better. "You need to help me. You are possibly the only person he might listen to." I place my hands on both of her shoulders, shake her a bit. "I need my sister."
I feel her spine straighten under my hands. "I won't fail you this time Max. I promise."
"Then he's already lost." I tell her with certainty. And I know I'm right. Now we just need to prove it.
*********************************
The others are waiting at the pod chamber when we pull up. Kyle is leaning against his Mustang, trying not to look like he's scared. The Sheriff is on his phone, talking to Maria's mom I realize. I can hear him asking questions about Sean.
Michael is standing with Maria, his arm around her. She looks like she's been crying, but her eyes are dry now.
Maria shrugs away from Michael, walks over to me as I climb out of my parent's car. "Max, I don't have a cousin Sean." She swallows. "When Michael told me what happened..." She trails off, glances at Isabel who has come up behind me. "I suddenly just [I] knew[/I] that he wasn't my cousin."
"I know." I shake my head, guilty that someone that she loved, even in the hostile way she loved Sean, was a figment of her imagination and it is a consequence of the fact that she knows us. "I'm sorry."
Maria narrows her eyes. "I am going to kick his ass when I get my hands on him," she replies, sounding more like the Maria we all know and love.
"There's no sign of Liz or Tess anywhere Maxwell." Michael speaks up. He gestures up towards where the pod chamber used to be. "There's no way they're up there. Are you sure this is the right place?"
I stare up at the hole in the side of the cliff. "I'm sure." I say. "She's here." But the fact that I still can't feel her... Maybe I misread what Liz was trying to tell me in the vision...
And it's then that I see it. "Oh my God."
I pass Maria as she wrenches around to look at what I'm staring at.
"Max, what is it?" Isabel demands, following close behind me.
But I am already scaling the side of the cliff, half-way up before I can even attempt to reach for it...
Then it's in my hand. I hold it away from me, stare at it, catch the moonlight in one of its facets.
And finally I understand the mistake we have made, understand that maybe I didn't make as big a mess as I thought I did when I sent Tess off a couple of days ago.
Because, in my hand, I have the crystal that I used to start the ship that carried her off with my son. It is still on Earth. And I know why too.
So maybe memories aren't such a bad thing after all.
Because I know with absolute certainty, that in my hand, I am holding the granolith.
To be continued...
Mercy...
Pure and simple.
Longing...
Cold and hollow.
With sweet breath you'd come to warm me.
But I held on too hard to only a memory.
You lie there on the swollen ground.
Deserted in your heart.
Still longing for what yesterday's lost,
And for all that tomorrow might bring,
And for all that tomorrow might bring.
The passion lost,
Taken, stolen.
The dreams we had and shared,
Shattered, broken.
With kind words you'd come to soothe me,
But I was so blind,
Would send you away from me.
There's no hope in regretting now
All the pain that we could not see.
We both knew what we wanted,
And we took it believing it free,
And we took it believing it free.
"Max! Snap out of it! Max, what's wrong?"
I can hear my sister screaming right in my ear, but my eyes seem completely incapable of opening. I hear someone groan, realize it is me.
"Stop yelling Isabel!" I practically have to physically pry open my eyes. I lift my hands up near my temple, try to massage away the massive headache that is presently pounding away. I feel for the tension in my head, gradually heal it so that I can converse without feeling like I did when Nicholas tried to get the location of the granolith out of me last fall.
"What the hell happened?" I manage to focus on my sister's face. She has gone completely white.
And suddenly it all comes flooding back. Sean Deluca! He had done something to me, had used some sort of alien power to knock me out. Which means that Sean Deluca is not at all who we thought he is.
"Sean." I say, feeling the rage beginning to build within me. "Where did he go?"
Isabel blinks, looks at me like I am insane. "Max, what are you talking about? Sean? I haven't seen Sean for days."
I stare at her. "Isabel, he was just here. He knocked me out!"
"Max, there was no one here. One minute you were staring out the front windshield with this weird look on your face, the next you had completely passed out!" Isabel insists. "There was no one here."
What the hell is going on around here?
"Are you sure?" I demand, although I know she is. She simply nods.
Sean Deluca was never here. But I [I]know[/I] he was.
I suddenly have a very sinking suspicion that I have managed to uncover the mysterious Lazar - and without even trying too.
And the one thing this fact is telling me is that Liz is in even more danger than I even could have possibly comprehended five minutes ago. "Get in." I order my sister. "We need to get to the pod chamber. Now."
Isabel doesn't argue, although she is clearly still totally freaked out. "Maybe I should drive." She insists, grabbing the keys out of my hand.
I don't argue.
************************************
We call the others on the drive. I tell Michael and the Sheriff to avoid Sean Deluca at all costs, to meet us at the pod chamber as soon as possible. I tell Michael why when he demands to know, hear Isabel gasping in the seat beside me as she listens to the story.
"How the hell can Maria's cousin be an alien?" Michael yells. He sounds absolutely terrified. I don't blame him. I am frantically trying to figure out if Sean has possibly hurt Liz in any way in all the time he has spent with her. Sean lived in Maria's [I]house[/I] for God's sake. I think Michael has the right to freak out.
"I don't think he's Maria's cousin." I reply tersely.
"Mind-warp?" Michael demands incredulously. "Maxwell, how the hell can Tess be doing this? There is no way that chick can be THIS powerful."
"I don't think it's Tess. I think he's doing it."
"Is he Khivar?" Michael asks. I can hear the fear in his voice.
"Maybe." I say. "We'll discuss it when we're all together."
Isabel and I drive in silence for several more minutes after Michael has hung up. I can practically feel my sister's terror, not only in the air, but through the bond that we share through the Four Square.
"What's wrong Iz?" I finally ask.
She doesn't reply for a long time and then whispers, "Is he Khivar?"
"I don't know." Because I don't, but I am beginning to suspect that he probably is. The way I felt when he touched me... He had done that to me before.
Because the memories are starting to pour back, have been ever since I regained consciousness. "Isabel..." I trail off, don't know if I should tell her this. I still haven't fully accepted it myself, but I think maybe she needs to know - needs to prepare herself for what might be coming. "I think I remember dying."
There is another long silence. "Tell me." She sounds like she really doesn't want to know, but [I]needs[/I] to.
Sort of like I need to get to Liz. Every fibre of my being is screaming, won't stop screaming until I have found her. I know it, embrace it. It is giving me the strength to deal with what I saw...
"His power..." I pause, searching my mind, trying to get a grasp on what I saw when Sean Deluca had done what he had done to me. I am trying to stay unemotional, detached from the memory, but it is difficult. It is not a pleasant experience to relive your own death after all. I don't think you can blame me for it. "I think he burned me up from inside. I remember flames."
"Oh my God." I can feel the car slowing down.
"Isabel! Go!" I insist. "Drive. We need to get there."
"Max," she pays no attention to me, pulls off the highway and turns to stare at me. "Did you see me?"
And I know exactly what she is thinking. Was she there when he killed me? Did she actually watch her lover murder her own brother, her king?
I consider not telling her, but I don't think lies are any sort of help, ever. Lies were what brought us to this point after all. Lies about who we were, are. Lies about who we were supposed to be, would have been, if the future version of myself hadn't interfered.
"You were there."
"Oh my God." She moans. Her face is in her hands. "Then its true. I betrayed you. I let him [I]kill[/I] you!"
I am still detached, but I do want to comfort her. "Not you Iz. Her. Vilandra. She's not you." I reach out, squeeze her shoulder lightly. "Isabel, I need you to be strong."
She looks up at me, her face drenched with tears. "Max, I am so sorry."
"Don't be sorry." I snap. "Be Isabel. I need my sister. You have to help me fix whatever it is he's trying to do. You need to help me save Liz."
Isabel's eyes are gazing past me. I wonder if she is trying to remember a life that no longer exists, a person she once was. But I know that she can't. I know that I don't want her to.
Memories of what came before have only ever caused us grief after all. Memories of Tess led me to make the biggest mistake of my life, led me to betray Liz, led me to almost lead my sister and my best friend to their destruction.
But the memory of what Khivar did to me... It is a good thing I realize. It has made me cold, determined, absolutely convinced that he is not going to win again. He is not going to hurt Liz.
Because he knows that all he has to do to defeat me this time is hurt her.
"Isabel." She looks at me again, her eyes pleading with me to say something to make her feel better. "You need to help me. You are possibly the only person he might listen to." I place my hands on both of her shoulders, shake her a bit. "I need my sister."
I feel her spine straighten under my hands. "I won't fail you this time Max. I promise."
"Then he's already lost." I tell her with certainty. And I know I'm right. Now we just need to prove it.
*********************************
The others are waiting at the pod chamber when we pull up. Kyle is leaning against his Mustang, trying not to look like he's scared. The Sheriff is on his phone, talking to Maria's mom I realize. I can hear him asking questions about Sean.
Michael is standing with Maria, his arm around her. She looks like she's been crying, but her eyes are dry now.
Maria shrugs away from Michael, walks over to me as I climb out of my parent's car. "Max, I don't have a cousin Sean." She swallows. "When Michael told me what happened..." She trails off, glances at Isabel who has come up behind me. "I suddenly just [I] knew[/I] that he wasn't my cousin."
"I know." I shake my head, guilty that someone that she loved, even in the hostile way she loved Sean, was a figment of her imagination and it is a consequence of the fact that she knows us. "I'm sorry."
Maria narrows her eyes. "I am going to kick his ass when I get my hands on him," she replies, sounding more like the Maria we all know and love.
"There's no sign of Liz or Tess anywhere Maxwell." Michael speaks up. He gestures up towards where the pod chamber used to be. "There's no way they're up there. Are you sure this is the right place?"
I stare up at the hole in the side of the cliff. "I'm sure." I say. "She's here." But the fact that I still can't feel her... Maybe I misread what Liz was trying to tell me in the vision...
And it's then that I see it. "Oh my God."
I pass Maria as she wrenches around to look at what I'm staring at.
"Max, what is it?" Isabel demands, following close behind me.
But I am already scaling the side of the cliff, half-way up before I can even attempt to reach for it...
Then it's in my hand. I hold it away from me, stare at it, catch the moonlight in one of its facets.
And finally I understand the mistake we have made, understand that maybe I didn't make as big a mess as I thought I did when I sent Tess off a couple of days ago.
Because, in my hand, I have the crystal that I used to start the ship that carried her off with my son. It is still on Earth. And I know why too.
So maybe memories aren't such a bad thing after all.
Because I know with absolute certainty, that in my hand, I am holding the granolith.
To be continued...
