WARNING: Everybody dies in this. If you don't want to read this because you'll feel depressed, I'll understand. Just know that it wasn't intentionally depressing. I mean to leave you feeling contented. It's just my take on reality setting in, but maybe I was a little bit harsh… oh well. Too late.
All Good Things
After M was defeated and his plans destroyed, the world moved on without noticing.
Like all good thing, the League had to end. The first to leave was Jekyll. He left under tragic circumstances—Hyde had gotten loose on board the Nautilus and killed 3 crewmembers that had happened to get in his way and sounded the alarm.
Nemo had been furious. He had ordered Jekyll off the ship at the nearest port and destroyed every phial of Jekyll's potion. But Jekyll was an addict—it wasn't long before he had a new supply and was regularly terrorizing his new locality.
A few months after they had left Jekyll, they heard that he was dead. Hyde had raped the daughter of a high ranking local, and the local and several others had followed Hyde back to Jekyll's apartment. Jekyll had been found by the landlady where he was staying, stabbed in the chest 10 times.
Nemo had taken it particularly hard. He felt responsible, and any death he caused was just added to the pile of guilt he was already hauling around. This seemed to be the last straw for Nemo. He was still officially the captain of the Nautilus, but he had lost the flair and boldness that made him great.
In 1903, the Nautilus stopped in New York Harbor to take on supplies and give the crew some shore leave time. Skinner had an unaccounted for need to sharpen his skills. He robbed a bank and was caught. The judge gave Skinner 3 years with parole at 18 months.
"Nothing to worry about, really," Skinner said to Tom and Mina when they came to visit him in jail. "Actually, it's probably the best thing for me. It would be worse if it was in Britain—they would be able to pin a lot more crimes on me. Besides, while I'm in here, I can get research started to find a cure for my invisibility. M said he had a cure, which means there's a possibility."
"Yes, you'll have plenty of time. No chance you'll get out on good behavior," Mina said.
"If that happens, so be it." Skinner's shoulders sagged as his brave façade dropped. "I'm not even sure if I didn't get caught on purpose both now and when M caught me. I'm done. I've been done for a while. Being like a family with you all for the short time we had together woke me up to what was really important—not all the booze and stealing and all, but having a family." Tom looked a little doubtful. Skinner turned to him and said, "I want to live a normal life, Tom. I want to go back to the normal flow of things and let the fate of the world rest in somebody else's hands. Can you condemn me for that?"
Tom crossed his arms and said, "I can't condemn you, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Skinner, there is no normal life! There's just life. You've been given a talent. Why don't you capitalize on it?"
Skinner sighed. "I already have, Tom. It got old." He gave a hoarse laugh. "You probably think I'm betraying you all, but am I really? I mean, what is there left, guilt crazed old Indian, a vampire and you? We should've quit while we were ahead."
Tom slammed a fist down onto the table in anger. "But we didn't, dammit! That's the point, Skinner! With a family, you don't just get to give up at the first sign of trouble. You ride through the tough spots with them."
Had his eyes been visible, Tom would have seen them blazing. "There is a point when it isn't just little rough spots, Tom! It's the end of the line! Now, whether you like it or not, when I get out of here I am settling down, and we can end this on good terms or we can end this on bad terms. It's your choice." Skinner leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
Tom sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Skinner." He smirked. "We can't agree on everything, I suppose. Let us know when you're out if you change your mind, or if you find a cure or settle down or something, okay?"
Skinner smiled. "Okay. I admire you for trying to salvage this, Tom. Not many of us are brave enough to even try, myself included." He stood up, looked at them. "I'm going to miss you guys. And the free scotch, of course." He shook Tom's hand and very respectfully kissed Mina's. He walked back to the door where the guard took him to his cell. They never saw him again.
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Nemo went out in a heroic burst. In 1911, the Nautilus was hit by a torpedo being tested by the Germans for their own submarines. The ship had nearly sunk and 64 of the crew were killed. Nemo had somehow saved his ship. No one, not even the crew knew how. The funeral was held on the ship near Nemo's statue of Kali.
"That is Kali, the goddess of death. I have never understood the practice of worshipping death," Mina said, remembering a time she had said nearly the same to another gone from their number.
Tom turned to her, his eyes sad and deadened. "Death is the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all--the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.;" He looked up to the ceiling and said, "Someone important said that; can't remember who. It's the truest thing I've heard so far, though. When you think of it that way, it's easy to see why they worship it."
Mina thought long and hard over his words. They put a strange light to a touchy subject. She herself would never have to experience death, so Sawyer's statement was not completely true. Still, it was possible, but with her history she did not want to know what came next if she did have the misfortune.
Nemo had welcomed it. His heyday was long past and he was tired. So really the only thing lost in this was the light in Tom's eyes. It would never return.
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They had all thought that they had averted a world war, but in truth they had only delayed it. It came, and it was as bad as they feared. Tom had gone back home to serve in his armed forces, and Mina had come along to be a nurse, having no other family. They were put into the same unit and traveled together in Germany.
They often spent many nights together in a tent talking, Tom smoking cigarettes and Mina scolding him for it. One night, they were talking about the end of the war: when it would come, who would win, etc., etc.
"It should all be over soon, and then we can go home and forget about all this. Really, maybe having this war was the best thing. I mean, of course we don't want war, but maybe we needed to get this out of the way. It's like your president keeps saying, that this will be the war to end all wars," Mina said.
Tom looked at her in disbelief. "Even if it does get over soon, it won't be soon enough for hundreds of people. I see them dying out there every day, and all I can think about is their mothers and fathers and loved ones getting so hopeful with the end so near only to find out that their hopes were for nothing." He looked at his shoes for a moment and kicked at the dust. "Listen, Mina, I don't think this war will end anything. The fight'll just go on, and now they have better tools to do it with. In holding back the technology that M was going to give, we might've thrown the fuel on the fire to get bigger better weapons. If we'd just given it to them, maybe they'd have been satisfied. Not anymore." He laughed harshly and said, "We save their asses from war, and what do they do? They keep on hating and ignore any sacrifices made on their behalf. Life ain't fair, Mina. I wish I'd learned that before all of this started. I'd have looked out for Number One a little more." Mina knew the sacrifice Tom was referring to was Quatermain's.
Mina looked at him until he returned her gaze, and then she said, "No you don't. I know you too well, Tom Sawyer. You can't help but watch out for everybody around you. That's why this unit has the lowest casualty rate around; you couldn't change that about yourself no matter how much you tried to harden yourself." Mina thought for a moment before continuing. "And you're only looking at the bad side of the human race, and you have every right to. For the last 15 years or so you've been the one holding what was left of us together; that's a lonely job." Mina reached out all of a sudden and grabbed Tom's hand. "As soon as this thing is over, we'll go to wherever you came from, and you can see exactly what you're fighting for." Tom smiled, so she felt her work was done. She left the tent feeling content.
The next day there was hard fighting. Mina and the other nurses couldn't keep track of the casualties and they quickly ran out of morphine and bandages. She had long since mastered her bloodlust, but the sounds of the dying men screaming and crying gave her nauseating excitement.
They could hear the shells whistling and the gunfire just outside their flimsy tent and they were all afraid, but to their credit they did not show it. Another wave of stretchers poured in and they were set any place they could fit.
Maryanne, the head nurse, yelled over to Mina while trying to calm a man with a minor leg wound. "Harker! There isn't a medic in the field! Get out there!" Mina obeyed promptly.
Field work was the most dangerous—you always had a good chance of getting caught in the crossfire. Mina had had it a few times before because she never seemed to get hurt, and the head nurse could only hope her luck would last. Mina knew it would. She would stay and tend a fallen man until a stretcher came and then move on to the next one.
She was trying to get one that had been shot in the shoulder to stand up and walk to the tent when she was called back into the tent. "Mina, there's someone in here who's calling for you. He's pretty bad, Maryanne doesn't think he's going to make it, and well, you were right here so she didn't think it would do any harm." Mina's stomach clenched painfully. She only knew one man here: Tom Sawyer.
Mina sprinted back to the tent and pushed her way through to a cot where Maryanne was standing. Mina searched the face of the patient, but it wasn't Tom. Who else would know her here? She was sure she didn't know this man. Maryanne noticed Mina standing next to her. "Oh, Harker, it's you. That man who was calling for you, he was worse than we thought. His heart gave out a few minutes ago." Maryanne's eyes softened at Mina's horrified expression. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry for you. Were you real close to him?" Maryanne said this while stitching up a wound.
Mina only nodded. In a hoarse voice she asked, "Where?"
Maryanne looked concerned, but her voice was a little gruff. "Over there on that cot," she said, pointing, "but I don't want you falling all to pieces, you hear? We can't afford to lose one of our best nurses." Mina nodded and walked over to the indicated cot.
Oh, yes. This was Tom Sawyer—was. She touched his still fevered forehead, wiped off a little grime from his face. He didn't actually look that different from how he had been living these past few months, but she had known him when he was really alive, and now she finally mourned for the lost youth. Tears came to her eyes and she rubbed them away furiously.
Tom had been right; life wasn't fair. If it had been a little fair at all, she would have been allowed those parting words, allowed to give him the comfort he had begged for in his last moments. He was right—you could only look out for yourself. Mina promised herself she would never care for anyone again, and she went back to work, refusing to mourn.
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Mina accompanied the casket to Missouri. At first, she couldn't get used to the humidity and the heat all the time. Still, during the funeral, she did not complain and sat erect three rows from the front. She had been a little insulted that she had not been asked to sit up front with the family; after all, she was the one who had known him best in his final years. But then the preacher started talking about old times with Tom, commenting always on his eternal energy and enthusiasm. Mina hadn't really known that part of him, and she concluded that that was the difference. Besides, she was an outsider.
Mina followed the procession slowly to the cemetery for the final prayers. When it was over, they buried him quickly so that everyone could get out of the unbearable heat. A few loitered. An elderly woman ushered away a man and woman who looked to be related to her, and she was talking to a young woman who looked to be a little younger than Tom had been. The old woman sighed and touched the headstone before walking in to the reception. The young woman stayed.
A little boy with flaming red hair stood far away from the grave and looked on it with apparent awe. A man who also had red hair and was clearly the boy's father was kneeling at the gravesite. He got up and said with a clear Cockney accent, "Goodbye, Tom." That sounded familiar somehow….
He turned around and saw Mina and burst out in a grin that was slightly tempered by the circumstances. "Mina! Good to see you!"
Mina's voice was shaky. "Skinner?"
His smile got wider. "Hard to believe, isn't it? Hard enough that little Tommy here won't believe me when I tell him about my past exploits. But now I've got you to tell him, don't I?"
Mina looked at the little boy. "Tommy?"
Skinner nodded. "I named him after Tom. He was really a leader, you know? It might have seemed like we were at odds at the end, but I really appreciated him berating me for leaving. It sort of made me feel like I was wanted, and when you're invisible you don't get a lot of that." At the mention of the deceased, Skinner sobered a little. "I'm just sorry the little one here never got to meet his namesake. I think Tom would have enjoyed that."
Mina was certain he would have, and it made the grief just that much harder to hold down. She was remembering her promise to Tom, the night before he died. This might have changed his mind a little from his pessimistic views, or at least given him some comfort.
A pretty woman with brown hair and brown eyes walked out from the reception and picked up the boy. Skinner smiled warmly at her, his eyes lighting up. They were gray-blue, like the sea before a storm.; Mina was surprised she had never noticed them before—they were the most prominent feature of his face. Then she laughed at her own mistake. She had never seen his eyes before now—they were invisible.
"Mina," Skinner said, shaking her out of her thoughts, "this is my wife, Erin. She's an immigrant from Ireland. She was my lawyer and got me off on appeal. She got a psychiatrist to say I was temporarily insane, that it was all the pressure from being invisible. After that, she helped me find a cure for the invisibility, and well, things happened… and here we are!"
Erin smiled warmly and stuck out her hand. Mina stiffly shook it. "I've heard stories all the time about times he spent with you and the others. I feel like I almost know you. It's an honor." Now the smile was a little strained, hoping for some kind of approval.
Mina smiled to ease her worries. "I honor any woman who could tame Rodney Skinner."
Erin looked a little more relaxed. She looked at Skinner and said, "It's been an experience." Skinner frowned at her in mock annoyance.
"I think the two ladies are ganging up on me, Tommy," Skinner said to his son.
Just then the boy, who was staring at Mina with big eyes, said, "Do you really rip out people's throats? Did you really have the hots for my dad? Did you—"
"What?!" She turned on Skinner, a glint in her eye that hadn't been there in years and was reserved especially for Skinner. Erin had her hand over her mouth and was turning bright red in an attempt not to laugh. She covered it by grabbing her son and hushing him.
"Now, Mina, I just told him these as bedtime stories. They were never based on fact—" Skinner said, a worried look suddenly appearing.
Tommy broke free of his mother's hold. "And do you really wear blue panties?" Now it was Erin's turn to glare at Skinner.
"How would you know what color of undergarments she wears, and WHY would you tell our son?!" she asked.
Skinner faced his wife and looked pleadingly over his shoulder at Mina. She offered no help. "Erin, you know I love you, please don't overreact. It's not what you think—"
"AND WHAT, EXACTLY, AM I THINKING?"
"It would be a natural assumption, darling, if it were anyone but me. I was invisible at the time, and well, Mina was a bit preoccupied at that time too. I just got lost and stumbled into her room—"
"Yes, several times," Mina said unhelpfully. Skinner glared at her. Mina just shrugged. Erin glared at Skinner. Mina decided it was time to save Skinner's neck before things got out of hand. Well—maybe just a little more. This was rather amusing—but no. "There were no covert relations between myself and Skinner, Mrs., ah, Skinner. He was just curious to a fault, as I'm sure you have noticed."
Strangely, Erin giggled and slapped one hand to her forehead. "Oh, yes, I have noticed. Mrs. Harker, you should have let me rant at him. I can't keep angry at him long enough to knock any maturity into him."
Skinner decided it was time to reassert himself in the conversation before they started to exchange war stories about him, and after what had just happened, he didn't want Mina to say anything more. "Darling, who would want me to have any maturity? It would suck out all the fun in life." And before she could answer, he took Tommy's hand and said to him, "My boy, I think that it's time for us to go and get a bite to eat." He turned to his wife and Mina. "Want to come with?" Erin said yes, but Mina shook her head.
"I think I'll stay out here for awhile," she said, looking pointedly at Tom's headstone.
"Don't stay out too long," Skinner said. "It doesn't do to get caught up in what's happened and forget the fun of what's going to." The small, happy family walked inside, Skinner carrying Tommy in one arm and his other over his wife's shoulder.
Now Mina and the young woman with blue eyes and blonde hair were the only ones left. Mina came to stand by her, wondering how she knew Tom.
She seemed to be thinking the same thing. "How did you know Tom?" she said with a light accent, lengthening the vowels and cutting out any r's. It was like Tom's, but more pronounced. He had left his home for so long that it had nearly faded away.
"I… was a friend of his." The lady glanced quickly at Mina. "No, not that way. We were forced together, and found we had one very important thing in common: no place to go home to. We stuck together."
The lady blinked, and a tear slid down and dripped off her nose. "He could've come home. Just his stupid pride stopped him." She wiped her face furiously. "That's one thing that Tom and I had in common. Pride. We got in a fight just before he left to go avenge his friend Huck's death. I wanted him to stay, because I didn't want anymore bloodshed. I told him if he left, I wouldn't marry him and he wouldn't be welcome in my house any longer. He did leave!" Her voice cracked. She covered her eyes with her hands until she regained her composure.
"Oh, please forgive me; I forgot my manners. My name's Becky Thatcher. I was Tom's fiancé, although I don't know that he considered me that for a long time."
"Mina Harker." Mina felt for this woman. She had cared very much for Tom—that much was obvious. "He never wanted anyone else," Mina said, knowing she was lying, but only slightly. Tom did have a lot of pride. His advances on her had all been to prove to himself that he didn't care anymore, but his hesitation gave him away.
Becky looked at Mina with a new light in her eyes. "Did he ever talk about me? Did he ask for me, at the end?" Mina saw the hope and hated to crush it.
"No, he never talked about you, specifically." Becky's shoulders sagged, so Mina had to say, "But he did talk about here, in St. Petersburg. He called it the most beautiful place in the world, talked about it like a lover. I think he might have been talking about you."
"And at the end?"
Mina looked away, bitter. "I did not get the opportunity to talk to him at the end. When I got to his bedside, it was too late."
Becky touched the headstone gently, comprehending its reality. "You know, this isn't the first time I've thought he was dead. When they told us this time, no one in the town believed it. I think we all thought that Tom Sawyer was immortal." No, Mina was immortal. She hadn't aged a day since being bitten, and she had watched Sawyer grow and mature with envy. She was doomed to make friends, families and then have to watch them die. Unless she ended her life, here, now…. "You know what, Ms. Harker, you can stay with me. If you don't have a home, you can make St. Petersburg your own." This startled Mina out of her dark thoughts. "I want to know about what Tom has been doing in these years, I deserve a little closure, and so do you."
Mina could not turn down that pleading face. "As you wish. I will arrange for my things to be brought to your home." Becky hurried off to make preparations, a smile on her face despite the circumstances. Mina admired the Americans' ability to keep hope alive. She sighed softly when Becky was out of earshot. It appeared she wouldn't be able to end it all, now, someone depended on her. Of course, this wouldn't have bothered her before, but this woman had captured a place in Tom Sawyer's heart. She must have been worth knowing, so Mina was willing to give her a chance.
Mina held her head up high and walked to the train station. It started to rain as she went, a long, steady, cleansing rain.
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1960s
Mina Harker sat alone in a wicker chair on the porch of her small suburban home in St. Petersburg, Missouri. She looked up the street and watched as children played in the city square not far from her home. They were playing warlike games, as each new generation had been for the past 50 years and they probably would be forever if they had their way unimpaired by 'political correctness.' She smiled at how seriously they took themselves and their antics. This, too, would never change. But some things shouldn't change and were best left untouched.
It was a hot late spring day and Mina was dressed for the weather in a light blue cotton dress that matched her eyes, now softened from many years in good company. She sipped the last drops of her lemonade and walked back inside the house, needing to get work done. She grabbed her shopping list and walked to the grocery store. While she walked, she gave in to her reminiscing.
She had stayed for several years with Becky Thatcher. A small town, word had gotten around quickly that Tom had been with this strange foreign woman in his absence. The town had been shaken with scandal, but it was quickly cleared up with Becky's help. Then people started taking notice of Mina, and she started getting called on to hear stories of Tom's adventures. The town of St. Petersburg had slowly taken her into its welcome.
Mina had grown curious of the beginnings of Tom Sawyer, and a former slave named Jim eased her curiosity. He would tell stories for hours while she listened carefully. She would then tell him of Tom's more recent adventures. Mina also learned of Huckleberry Finn from Jim. From Jim's vivid words, it was easy for Mina to see why Tom had been so shaken by Huck's death.
When Jim had his first child, Mina was asked to be the godparent. She had readily accepted.
No one in the town really questioned the fact that Mina never aged or was hurt—in public, that is. All they knew was that she had been around since before they could remember, and she would always be there. She was always, without exception, the godparent of the descendants of Jim.
Despite the fact that she was welcomed and comfortable, Mina Harker was getting weary. Not in the physical sense—that was not possible. She was tired of having to watch friends grow old and die and not being able to experience it with them. She was tired of always being a little bit distant with everyone because of her difference. She had been willing to give up her immortality for a long while now—since she had heard of the passing of Rodney Skinner.
The only problem was that for Mina, the only death available for her was a violent one, and though she was loath to admit it, she was scared of that.
She had seen everything she had ever wanted to see, done everything she had ever wanted to do. Now, there was nothing left for her. That day, she screamed in her heart to any merciful god up above to end her existence.
That night, she was given her wish, without pain or fear. She died in her sleep, and it was the happiest moment in her life. She finally had the chance to be with all those who had left her behind. It was the last thing she had wanted to do.
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; From The Princess Bride. So is 'As you wish,' but I didn't think it was a strong enough quote.