Disclaimer: I don't own Tom Sawyer, Mina Harker, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Captain Nemo, Skinner or anything else I have used in this chapter, with the exception of Mr. Big. Important note: I have a beta now. Her name is 'Silver Bow.' She's lovely person who asked to beta my word and I love her for it! :)
Now, on with the Shout Outs.
Clez:- *pats head* There, there. Yes, Tom did jump. Make up for it? *looks chapter over and laughs nervously* Well... you see...
Angharad:- I take it you liked the last part then?
Funyun:- Morbid? I... don't know what you mean. Glad you were not expecting Tom to jump, that is what makes it a twist! And yes, Smith's death... the important thing to remember is when Smith died. If he had died a few moments earlier... well... it would have been better for the League...
Silent Bob 546:- Does Tom die? Well... you'll just have to wait and see, won't you! ;) Glad you enjoyed it!
Lyn:- Thanks!
ScifiRogue:- You say I'm evil like its a bad thing... *sniggers at the Jack line* That's one way of looking at it, I guess...
LotRseer3350:- The last thing I want is a mob of angry Tom fans near me... *shakes at the thought* Yep, the lack of guardian is important.
Steffi-333:- Tissue? *holds out packet of tissues.* Is the Dream girl from Tom's past? Instresting theory...
Niani:- Don't worry. I may not kill him.
Xphile-LOTRfreak:- Why, thank you.
Capt.cow:- I won an award?? Wow! Sorry this took so long to post, hope it was worth the wait!
Stormyronin:- *Blushes* Thanks, nice of you to say.
Tigerseye1:- I'm sorry, I can't help leaving them at cliffies... my bad.
Silversnow:- *rises eyebrow* An evil laugh? That was unexpected, yet very good... :D
And now...
The Bodyguard.
~~~
Part Twenty-Four:- Words of the Dead
~~~
If Mina had control of her own body she would have screamed or shouted out loud in denial and disbelief. She would have sprung to her feet and ran over to where the Well was, to peer down the mouth and into the blackness below.
But then, if she had control of her own body, she would never have let Tom get near the Well in the first place. The fact remained however, that the female Vampire didn't have control over her actions and therefore could do nothing but watch as her friend - Agent Sawyer was one of the very few people Mina called a friend - throw his own life away in a desperate bid to save everyone else.
It was only the strength of the spell that held Rodney Skinner upright. His body had actually collapsed ten minutes ago and he now hung limply in the air, panting as much as the restriction of the spell would allow him to. Skinner tried to close his eyes, to bow his head in defeat but found that the spell would not even allow him that small mercy. So he hung from the power of the spell, eyes fixed on a spot past the well, forcing his mind into a blank space, to try and numb the pain he could feel burning though his body, threatening to make him combust from the pain.
Even Edward Hyde had roared in anger - though only internally - when Sawyer had jumped. The monster alter-ego had raged and ranted, furious that Big still lived and that he had been deprived of the blood and guts that he enjoyed so much. Sadly – for Henry Jekyll at least – because Hyde was not in control at the moment, it meant that he was not under the spells power and so could rant all he wanted, with his single captive audience.
Internally Nemo began to chant – a chant of the dead. He began to recite the long chant that guided the dead to their destination, what ever it may be. He knew that he would have to repeat this again, for Agent Sawyer's soul, but out loud. Part of him was amazed at the way his mind had instantly seemed to accept Tom as dead, but the other part of his mind firmly chanted the words that were supposed to be a comfort for the dead, to help them but really, they comforted only the living.
Mr. Big laughed.
~~~
Tom had expected to fall and, in a way, he was. He knew he was falling but he found he could stand on his feet and stare around without the sensation of moving. The scenery around him didn't change either and if it wasn't for the fact that if looked up he could see a small circle of light and if he looked down he could see... nothing, he could almost fool himself into thinking that he was simply standing still.
Tom knew he was falling. He had to be falling because he had jumped down the Well of Souls. You just didn't stop falling unless you hit some kind of bottom or managed to cling onto a side. And as Tom had done neither of these things, it stood to reason that he was still falling. So he fell without falling. As he did so, he found his mind travelled back to the last words the Dream girl had said.
"The key to knowing every choice you have, is understanding. Everyone and everything must understand all that has happened. The more people who understand, the more choice you have."
Tom frowned as the words repeated themselves, as if on a loop. The three sentences ran around and around his head and Tom couldn't help but shake off the feeling that the girl had thought of choice that hadn't occurred to Tom, but, for some unknown reason, she had chosen not to tell him.
Unless she had told him, in those few little words. The American heard the words, but he didn't understand them, not if there was a hidden meaning to them. He had thought that she meant he had to understand what he was doing and that he had to make both Big and the League understand as well.
"...Everyone and everything..."
Why had she said 'everything'? That was the thing that confused Tom. Everyone made sense, but everything? How can you explain a situation to a thing? All this passed in the time it took to blink and the next thing Tom knew... he had stopped falling. This time he knew without a doubt that he had stopped. He knew it in the same way that he knew he was alive. It was just something he knew without being told. Tom stared around him as a purple light appeared and surrounded him, a faint sound coming to his ears. He blinked and as he did so, the spirits of the Well of the Souls spoke.
"We are the dead... we are the life. Have you given your life willingly?" The multitude of voices asked, the light swirling around Tom Sawyer. The young man stared around him, knowing that the owners of the voices had no bodies and so it was pointless looking for them. Never the less, he looked anyway.
"Have you given your life willingly?" The voices asked again, a perfect combination of male and female voices. The strength of the voices caused him to flinch and lower his head. Tom licked his lips and swallowed a few times, as the words of the girl rang in his head one more time. And suddenly... Tom understood. It came to him in a flash, a second of deep clarity and he knew what she had meant. He knew what he had to do, or at the very least, what he had to try to do, as there was no guarantee this would work.
"Have you given your life willingly?" Came the voices for a third time and again the words were repeated without anger or or any other emotion. Tom lifted his head to stare straight ahead, determination in his eyes.
"Yes."
~~~
Mr. Big stopped laughing, the sharp bark echoing around the seemingly endless craven. His cold blue eyes rested thoughtfully on the League, silenced only by the spell – and even then, silenced only in the mouth. Their eyes had voices of their own, and they spoke volumes. This only served to amuse Big further and he sniggered slightly, before lazily waving his hand in their direction.
"You can talk... but you cannot move." He said. The presser holding Mina's mouth shut vanished at once and she let out a slight exhalation of relief despite herself. Nemo and Jekyll did the same while Skinner let out a little whimper of pain. Now that he had been given a voice, Rodney found that he could do nothing but let let his pain speak for him. Big closed his eyes and sighed in delight as he listened to the painful gasping of his captive. He waved his hand in the air as if conducting an invisible band.
"Such beautiful music..." Mr. Big mused, slowly opening his eyes and staring at his captives, a mocking smile on his face. He cocked his head to one side and stared at them slyly.
"What's the matter? Don't any of you have anything to say to me?" He taunted. The League stared at him, defiantly silent – bar Skinner's involuntary moans of pain. Big tutted and turned away from them to stare at the quiet Well. As if in answer to a unsaid prayer from the Colonel, Tom Sawyer's body came flying back out of the top of the wall. It hit the stone lip and rolled down the few steps to rest at the base of the Well, the head on the ground, one leg raised slightly, spread over two of the shallow steps. Big stared hard at the still body, noticing the way the leg hung limply and the way the chest seemed frozen. He waited, watching, as if daring the body to breathe.
The chest remained still and did not rise or fall.
Satisfied with this point, Mr. Big then turned his attention to the Dagger of the Well. It rested against Tom's outstretched right hand. The handle lay diagonally across his palm, the naked blade just touching the base of one of his fingers. It did not burn or mar his flesh and Mr. Big took that to mean that Tom was indeed dead and that the Well has accepted his soul as a sacrifice. So Mr. Big was safe for another two years. He turned away from the body, to stare at the League who all had varying degrees of shock on their faces. He idly watched them for a few moments, making no move to finish the ritual.
"Of course, you and I... we all know that there is no way you will just leave when the spell is broken." Big said at last in a bored tone, watching the League in a manner that was similar of a cat watching a mouse it had been playing with for hours before growing bored and moving in for the kill.
"What Agent Sawyer failed to realise in his last moments of his life is that you are idiotic enough to try and fight me, in the hope that you will defeat me before I kill you all... or perhaps I am wrong? Perhaps you will walk away from the person who killed your fellow member?" He paused and waited for an answer. As before, the only sound from the League was the pained sounds coming from Rodney Skinner. Big sighed.
"Very well. I suppose it will just have to be a surprise for me... I really should kill you now, while you are helpless... but it will be so much more satisfying for me to kill you, using the energy of your friend." He smirked at them as he said this.
Behind Mr. Big, Tom silently opened his eyes. His chest rose and fell. The two eyes stared blankly upwards before slowly, oh ever so slowly, the head turned to the side, looking towards Mr. Big and the imprisoned League. Some of Tom's dishevelled blond locks fell over his face as he turned, casting his eyes into shadow. The hand the Dagger was resting on twitched, as if Tom was only slowly gaining control over his body. It seemed - to the watching League at least- as if Tom was not used to his body movements and how to move his limbs. Something, which made no sense.
Mr. Big smiled one last time at his captives, not noticing that the League were staring past him in hope instead of horror. He began to turn towards Tom's body, intent on completing the ritual, when Mina cried out in despair.
"Wait!"
Big froze and looked back at the female Vampire. In a fury of movement Tom sprung to his feet, the Dagger leaving his hand and flying towards Mr. Big. The English man turned and only had time to try and dough the shinning blade before it embedded itself in his lower abdomen. He screamed in pain and anger as the blade burned him. Big clutched at the hilt of the Dagger, but found he was unable to grasp it as the pain was too great. With a final scream he took a half step towards Tom before collapsing to the ground and falling deadly quiet.
Tom however, saw none of this. The second the Dagger had left his hand he had dived forward, reaching for his holster harness and the twin Colt pistols that resided within. The weapons had been left by the edge of the Well and as his fingers closed around them he ducked forward into a roll, thereby saving himself from the bullets that had been fired by the two robed men. Without stopping for breath he ripped the guns out of the harness and sprang back to his feet, a gun aimed at each man. His head was turned towards the one of the left and that man took a step backwards at something he could see on the young American's face.
Tom fired. The guns echoed defyingly loud in the craven and at the same time both men fell to the ground, a neat little hole in each forehead. Tom carelessly dropped the weapons to the ground and turned towards the League, his head lowered as he fixed his eyes on the hand which had held the Dagger. He flecked the fingers, as if to prove something to himself.
"Tom?" Mina asked. Tom's head remained bowed as he stared at his unblemished hand which should have been burnt. Then the head lifted and the League found themselves staring into Tom's eyes...
... Which were now completely black, no trace of green left in them.
"Tom...?" Mina said again. The black eyes widened and then the head moved in a negative monition.
"No." Tom said. Only it wasn't just Tom's voice. His own voice was there, but there were also female voices, male voices, voices that belonged to people who had been dead for thousands of years.
"We are the new guardian of the Well."
TBC...
There you have it, hope everyone enjoyed it!
~Sethoz
