Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, still not making money, and still don't want you to sue me :)
Author's notes: Some of you may have realized already, but if not, this 'fic is based heavily on the movie "Three Days" with Tim Robbins. It's an excellent movie and, I think, a beautiful, if sad, story.
Virgil had no time to ask what Faith meant by 'a second chance.' The glow around the petite woman intensified, growing so bright he was forced to shield his eyes for fear of being blinded. Instinctively, he threw his upper body over Richie, intent upon protecting him from whatever was about to transpire. He called his powers up, preparing a volley of electricity to let loose as soon as he had the chance.
It quickly became apparent that the chance was not forthcoming. The glow reached its zenith, flaring white with its intensity. It seemed that it should have burned the flesh from his bones, but instead there was only the gentlest of warmth—like the kiss of the sun on a spring day. Then, Virgil was falling.
The light, the hospital room, Faith, and Richie—they all vanished, and Virgil found himself tumbling head over heels into a black void. There was no sound, no light, no wind, and if he screamed, the noise was carried away, unheard. The warmth vanished as well, but it was not replaced by cold. There was simply—nothing. He fell and fell for what might have been seconds, might have been hours, until at last he landed with a thud on something soft and forgiving.
He lay stunned for a few seconds. Then he slowly raised his head. Faith was nowhere to be seen, nor was Richie. Virgil was surprised to find himself tangled in the comforter of an unmade bed, in what looked to be a bedroom. Then, he looked harder.
"No way," he whispered into the silence. The posters on the wall, the curtains on the window, the clothes spilling out of the closet…it all made up a terribly familiar scene. He looked down at the blankets and they, too, were exactly as he remembered them. "Impossible!" He was back in his old room, in the house where Pops, Sharon and Adam still resided.
Which was quite impossible because his old bedroom had been converted into a nursery three years ago, for the birth of his first nephew.
"Sorry for the rough trip…but trust me, it's a lot easier when you're not expecting it." Virgil jackknifed into a sitting position at the voice. Nurse Faith was sitting at his old computer desk, idly flipping through a beat up TrapperKeeper. "Good heavens, don't they teach proper note-taking anymore? How did you pass anything with only this gibberish to look back on?" She 'tsked' softly, and tossed the binder back onto a precariously stacked pile of textbooks. Textbooks he had gleefully returned to the school the day he graduated high school.
"What are you?" Faith no longer looked like a nurse, though he doubted she had ever been one in the first place. The blue scrubs and nametag had been replaced by a red silk tunic and black pants, and the long black hair trailed over one shoulder in a thick braid, dotted with red flowers. She looked like an Oriental princess.
"It doesn't matter what I am, Virgil. It changes depending on who I'm talking to. For you—just think of me as a friend. I promise; I'm not here to harm you or any of the ones you care about. I'm most certainly not evil. I just want to give you—"
"Right, right, a Christmas present," Virgil interrupted, scrubbing his hands over his face. It was then that he got his final surprise. "What the hell?!" He jerked his hands from his face as though he had been burned. Faith merely smiled that mysterious smile of hers as Virgil thrashed his way free of the bedding, managing to send himself crashing to the floor with most of it. He kicked free and stumbled to the mirror on the closet door, his heart thudding in his chest.
Staring back at him was a face he hadn't seen in a decade.
Oh it was still undoubtedly him, Virgil Hawkins…but young. Gone was the muscle that years of working with the Justice League had put on his body, gone were the inches of height a last growth spurt between junior and senior year had given him. Gone was the world weary and guarded look that the years as Static had gifted him with, and gone were the shadows of a pain that had never fully healed. He looked…he was sixteen again.
"Now do you understand?" Faith's whispered question came from directly behind him, although he hadn't seen or heard her move. He started, nearly tipping into the mirror as he turned to face the being.
"A second chance," he murmured, and then his eyes went wide. "What's today?"
"Today? Why it's Christmas Day!" Faith giggled, her dark eyes dancing. "Sorry, couldn't resist. It's December 23rd, in your sixteenth year. About seven in the morning to be exact."
"So, you mean…it hasn't happened yet! Richie's still okay! None of it has happened!" Virgil felt suddenly dizzy as the magnitude of what he had been given hit him. In a little over twenty four hours, on Christmas Eve, something terrible was going to happen to his dearest friend…something he now could prevent. Faith, however, did not look nearly as joyful as she had only seconds ago. Perhaps it was the Batman's influence, but a wave of suspicion hit him, quenching instantly the happiness in his heart. "It's not that easy, is it?"
"Nothing ever is," Faith conceded. "Sit down, Virgil." He did so, mutely, crossing back over to his bed. "Do you remember why tomorrow night was so important to you? And I'm not talking about what happened to Richie." Her voice had taken on a somber tone, and Virgil was suddenly seized with the feeling that it was dreadfully wrong for this being to be so sad.
"Of course I remember," he hedged, not wanting to go into something so personal. He had agonized for nearly two months before that…this…Christmas about a very special gift. Though if he were honest, it had been something building for much, much longer.
"What was it?" Faith pressed. She sat down next to him and gently took one of his hands in her own. Wherever her skin touched his, Virgil felt that same soft warmth stealing into him.
"I-I was going to tell him…tell Richie—that, that I loved him. You know, love loved." He ducked his head, embarrassed, but there was no condemnation in Faith's face.
"And what happened?" Virgil had the feeling she already knew perfectly well what had happened, but he found himself confessing anyway. It felt good, in a strange sort of way, to talk about it after keeping silent for a decade. He had never told anyone, not his father, not Sharon, not his friends in the League…as far as any of them knew, he had lost a dear friend that night—not the love of his life. And though he had moved on, to some degree, there would never be another for him…his disastrous and short-lived marriage to a college sweetheart had proven that.
"I lost my nerve…just like you said. I started thinking about what Pops would say, what all our friends would say…and I started thinking about him hating me, leaving me, ending our friendship. I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell him. Th-then we got word of some new bang baby busting up the industrial park."
C'mon, V, we can be there and back before they're finished with the Christmas carols. This guy doesn't look so tough.
"We should have been able to take him out easily…he was all muscle and no brains. Rich had him going in circles inside of ten minutes."
Geez, they grow them big and stupid these days! What d'ya think?
"He went in with some new grenade of his…wanted to distract the guy while I slammed him from the side."
On the count of three, okay, bro?
"I was ready! I swear I was ready…I had his back, and it was all going right."
Static, look out!
"S-something hit me in the air and…and…"
Falling.
Plummeting out of the sky and fear. So much fear, but not because of the falling.
Fear because of the horrendous crash echoing in his ears. Explosion of falling metal and concrete.
Scream of pain and then silence as he hits the ground. Not his scream though…not his pain.
Gear?
Stumbling to his feet and staring in horror at the wreckage that had been the building they were battling near. The bang baby's power? Richie's toys? Doesn't matter…
Gear? Oh God, answer me!
Running now, running and ignoring the stab of pain from a twisted ankle. Running towards the wreckage because he can't see either of them. Too close…they were too close to the building when it fell.
Gear! Gear! Shit, say something!
Falling to his knees and digging through the rubble, uncaring of the stone scraping his hands, shredding his gloves. Throws the larger pieces aside with his powers and on his lips is a pleading prayer.
Be okay, be okay, God, please, let him be okay. I'm sorry, Rich, I'm so sorry!
There's a crowd gathering, but he doesn't care. New hands join in the digging as they realize who must be buried. Gear's become as much of a hero as Static, as beloved by the people. He reaches what must have been the epicenter of the explosion, and there's someone crying as they notice the rocks they are clearing are stained with blood. Start of surprise as he realizes it's him crying…a keening wail of despair.
No, please, no, no, no, no!
Body of the bang baby…never even knew his name, never will now. So much blood, too much blood. How can there be so much blood? And then he sees it.
Richie! Richie, answer me!
Shouting his real name, and doesn't care who hears. All that matters is the single gloved hand beneath the rubble, looking so small and fragile. He's always loved to watch Richie's hands as they move over some new piece of equipment.
Not moving though, it's just lying there. He grabs it desperately as others move aside the rocks and metal covering his friend's body. Desperately searching for some sign of life, some hint of hope. Crying, sobbing, and he doesn't care who sees.
"We got him out…he was alive, but just barely. They never figured out what happened, but I know I could have saved him if I hadn't gotten knocked out of the air. I could have saved him." Virgil turned away from Faith and scrubbed angrily at his eyes. He'd thought he had long ago cried out all his tears over this. "They…they thought he'd die for sure. He was so hurt, so broken. He didn't die. He didn't. But he never woke up. He'll never wake up."
"I'm sorry." Two words he had heard over and over again in reference to what had happened to Richie, but never with such sincerity and empathy. Even Pops and Sharon had never made him feel as though they actually knew what he was going through. "I know the pain of losing someone you loved so much, to something you should have been able to prevent. That's why they sent me on this assignment."
"Why are we here? Why now?" He whispered roughly, drawing his hand away from Faith's. She let him retreat a bit, and then sighed heavily.
"I told you, this is a gift for you, Virgil. I truly don't mean for you to be hurt. You've been given a second chance to do what you've so longed to do, what you felt you should have done on this night all those years ago. None of it has happened yet. Richie is still very much in one piece, and heading over here within a matter of hours. You and you alone have the knowledge of what's going to happen to him tomorrow night. You have until midnight Christmas Eve. On the stroke of midnight, time will turn forward again, and everything will return to normal."
"What's the catch?" He wanted to believe…he wanted to believe so much that this was exactly what Faith had said it was: a second chance. A chance to save his friend, a chance to set things right. Faith, though, had said it wasn't that easy. Her expression confirmed as much—that terrible sadness that seemed so out of place upon her lovely face returned full force, and a bittersweet smile quirked her lips.
"You can't change Fate, Virgil," she said gently, cupping his face in one hand. "You can't alter Richie's destiny…no one can. It was ordained from the moment of his birth that the events on Christmas Eve transpire. You can't save him. And if you try, this gift will be taken away from you, and you will find yourself in exactly the same position you were in when I walked in."
"Then what the hell kind of second chance is this?!" Virgil shouted, surging to his feet. Hot, angry tears gathered in his eyes. "What good is it if I have to let Richie…let Richie…he's suffering in my future. You can't tell me he's not! What did he ever do to deserve that? Huh? You said I deserve a reward because I'm a hero, well what about him? He was right there with me, facing all the danger I did, and he didn't even have a power that could protect him. He was twice the man I could ever be! How can you tell me I have to leave him to die by inches!"
"I don't make the rules, Virgil. I can only abide by them. Richie's fate is set…it cannot be changed. He will meet that 'bang baby' on Christmas Eve. You can't stop that." Faith rose to stand in front of him, and despite the fact that he had several inches on her, he felt a tiny bit intimidated. "But you can tell him how you feel. You can speak the truth in your heart, and offer him that comfort when he faces his fate. You have been given another chance to tell him how much you love him, Virgil. Don't you realize what a treasure that is? Take it from someone who knows…there is no greater gift in this world we can give than our love. Keeping it to yourself is something you will regret to the day you die, Virgil. So many people in this world go through their lives and never know love, never know the joy and comfort it brings. Don't deny Richie that gift a second time."
"I can't let him go, again," Virgil answered, brokenly. He thought of that twisted, shattered shell that wore his best friend's face, lying alone in that sterile room. How could he abandon his friend to that?
"You have to," Faith said firmly, though not unkindly. "You have no choice. But you can let him face his future with the greatest part of yourself."
"W-what do I do?" He breathed deeply, trying to quell the tremor in his voice.
"Whatever you wish. These hours are yours to do with as you will. Just remember, at midnight…all will be as it was meant to be." With that, Faith stood on tiptoe and planted a feathery kiss on his forehead. "This is a gift Virgil. Remember that."
Then she was gone. From one instant to the next, she had simply ceased to be.
And Virgil was left to wonder how he could ever survive losing Richie a second time.