Hollow: The Sequel to Trouble In My Mind
By The Shadower
Rating: PG-13 (1 use of the F-word, violence)
Feedback: Thank you very much, I would appreciate it.
Spoilers: Pollo Loco
AN: I plan to move onto Hit A Sista Back after this. Let me know if it's good or if anyone has suggestions for ways to put in more ML flashbacks, I'd love to hear them.
"You're spirit's so thin, there's nothing left to take! Without rhyme or reason, you point the other way! I don't need to watch as, you go down in flames! Been over and over and over again." -Finger Eleven's Thin Spirits
The pager was loud in the empty apartment. It's beeping reached the bedroom, and woke Max. She sat up, and immediately wished she hadn't.
She hadn't eaten in two days, and pangs of hunger were already invading her stomach. Funny, she thought, used to be she didn't sleep at all. Now it was all she did. Eat and sleep. Come back into the world for a few minutes to ingest food, and then leave again. Max, couldn't deal with reality, couldn't bear to think about anything anymore.
It was a kind of living death, a constant sleep. Max wondered abstractly why she didn't just kill herself. An image of Logan flashed into her mind, slumped in the chair with a portion of his brain on the floor, his hand still pressing a gun to his lifeless temple. Max shook it off and looked at the pager.
The number on the display was unfamiliar, but it really didn't matter. She needed food, which meant going outside, which meant passing the payphone in the alley behind her building. Max scraped some change off the floor, hopefully enough for a phone call, and shuffled to the door.
"Max, this is Sebastian. I was a friend of Logan's."
Max listened to the oddly distorted voice synthesizer. She had heard it once before, when Logan had been trying to remove the Red implant before it killed her. She forced the memory away.
"What do you want? Why are you calling me?"
"Logan told me some things about you initially and I thought you might be interested- a man was found with his neck snapped- the following barcode was apparently tattooed onto the back of his neck."
Max listened to the barcode in silence. She felt something stirring underneath the numbness she'd worked so hard to create. A kind of sadness mixed with anger. Logan was dead, Ben was dead, where the fuck did it end?
"Max," Sebastian said over the line "You still there?"
Max nodded, then, realizing he couldn't see her, said, "Yeah, I'm here."
"Good. Listen, I got the address of the morgue where his body is being held. You can say goodbye if you want."
Max nodded again, this time to herself. She'd never gotten the chance to say goodbye to Logan. She would say goodbye to Ben. She listened as Sebastian rattled off the address.
Max stood in the morgue, looking at the sheet. She was a little afraid to pull it back, afraid to see her dead brother's face. Slowly, she put her hand on the sheet and pulled. The sheet came away. It wasn't Ben.
"Good, isn't it?"
His voice came from the doorway. Even after ten years, Max knew it was Ben's.
"I thought the barcode was a particularly nice touch. I tattooed it on myself, you know. Very delicate work."
His smile reminded Max of that of a cat after having finally killed a much toyed with mouse. She shivered, then looked at him.
He was normal looking, not exceptional in any regard. His hair was neatly combed. He was clean-shaven. His clothes were moderately expensive without being flashy. He was, altogether, not someone you would look at twice passing him on the street, unless you happened to notice his eyes. There was something in them, a darkness reaching out from his very soul. He took in her reaction, then smiled again.
"Very delicate work," he repeated softly to himself. "But worth it. Fitting, in it's own odd way."
Max stared at him in shock.
"You did this?"
He moved into the room. He seemed excited, enthusiastic somehow, almost like a jazzed-up kid.
"Yes, Max, I did this. Don't tell me you don't remember the day we killed that man. As a unit, remember? Don't you treasure that memory?"
"I've tried to forget."
"But you can't, can you? And do you know why? Because it was the most exhilarating day of your life! And that was only a fraction of this joy! Do you know how it feels, Max, to hold life in your hands? Do you know the rush of pure love and belonging that comes when you feel a spine snapping apart in your hands? That's when she really accepts you, you know. The blue lady."
"Ben, please don't do this. Don't ever do this again."
"You just don't get it Max! You don't know how it feels! And I'll never stop, and you won't stop me. You're too sentimental. You could never hurt your own brother."
Max's eyes were more alive than they'd been for months. She kicked him in his midsection. He stumbled backward a moment, surprised, then grinned and began to fight back in earnest. Finally she pushed him up against a wall, her hands around his throat.
"Try it Max," he gasped. "Just once, try it with me. The blue lady will accept both of us! Just once, know what it's like to kill!"
Max's eyes had gone dead again. They regarded him lifelessly. Then, coming to a decision, she pressed her thumbs to the base of his neck hard, and squeezed. His neck snapped, and he slumped to the floor. She stared at him numbly for a moment.
"I don't get it Ben. You killed that man and god knows how many others for the feeling you get when you take a life. But I don't get anything anymore. I thought killing you might be the key to really feeling something again, but I was wrong. Because I can't feel anything, not ever again.
AN: Tomorrow I might update Flashback or do something different. Please review. Let me know if you like the AU to this yet. Sorry there's no Jam Pony or Logan flashbacks this chapter. Maybe next chapter. Also, I know Max didn't meet Ben in the hospital but I couldn't remember this episode very well and it's AU.
By The Shadower
Rating: PG-13 (1 use of the F-word, violence)
Feedback: Thank you very much, I would appreciate it.
Spoilers: Pollo Loco
AN: I plan to move onto Hit A Sista Back after this. Let me know if it's good or if anyone has suggestions for ways to put in more ML flashbacks, I'd love to hear them.
"You're spirit's so thin, there's nothing left to take! Without rhyme or reason, you point the other way! I don't need to watch as, you go down in flames! Been over and over and over again." -Finger Eleven's Thin Spirits
The pager was loud in the empty apartment. It's beeping reached the bedroom, and woke Max. She sat up, and immediately wished she hadn't.
She hadn't eaten in two days, and pangs of hunger were already invading her stomach. Funny, she thought, used to be she didn't sleep at all. Now it was all she did. Eat and sleep. Come back into the world for a few minutes to ingest food, and then leave again. Max, couldn't deal with reality, couldn't bear to think about anything anymore.
It was a kind of living death, a constant sleep. Max wondered abstractly why she didn't just kill herself. An image of Logan flashed into her mind, slumped in the chair with a portion of his brain on the floor, his hand still pressing a gun to his lifeless temple. Max shook it off and looked at the pager.
The number on the display was unfamiliar, but it really didn't matter. She needed food, which meant going outside, which meant passing the payphone in the alley behind her building. Max scraped some change off the floor, hopefully enough for a phone call, and shuffled to the door.
"Max, this is Sebastian. I was a friend of Logan's."
Max listened to the oddly distorted voice synthesizer. She had heard it once before, when Logan had been trying to remove the Red implant before it killed her. She forced the memory away.
"What do you want? Why are you calling me?"
"Logan told me some things about you initially and I thought you might be interested- a man was found with his neck snapped- the following barcode was apparently tattooed onto the back of his neck."
Max listened to the barcode in silence. She felt something stirring underneath the numbness she'd worked so hard to create. A kind of sadness mixed with anger. Logan was dead, Ben was dead, where the fuck did it end?
"Max," Sebastian said over the line "You still there?"
Max nodded, then, realizing he couldn't see her, said, "Yeah, I'm here."
"Good. Listen, I got the address of the morgue where his body is being held. You can say goodbye if you want."
Max nodded again, this time to herself. She'd never gotten the chance to say goodbye to Logan. She would say goodbye to Ben. She listened as Sebastian rattled off the address.
Max stood in the morgue, looking at the sheet. She was a little afraid to pull it back, afraid to see her dead brother's face. Slowly, she put her hand on the sheet and pulled. The sheet came away. It wasn't Ben.
"Good, isn't it?"
His voice came from the doorway. Even after ten years, Max knew it was Ben's.
"I thought the barcode was a particularly nice touch. I tattooed it on myself, you know. Very delicate work."
His smile reminded Max of that of a cat after having finally killed a much toyed with mouse. She shivered, then looked at him.
He was normal looking, not exceptional in any regard. His hair was neatly combed. He was clean-shaven. His clothes were moderately expensive without being flashy. He was, altogether, not someone you would look at twice passing him on the street, unless you happened to notice his eyes. There was something in them, a darkness reaching out from his very soul. He took in her reaction, then smiled again.
"Very delicate work," he repeated softly to himself. "But worth it. Fitting, in it's own odd way."
Max stared at him in shock.
"You did this?"
He moved into the room. He seemed excited, enthusiastic somehow, almost like a jazzed-up kid.
"Yes, Max, I did this. Don't tell me you don't remember the day we killed that man. As a unit, remember? Don't you treasure that memory?"
"I've tried to forget."
"But you can't, can you? And do you know why? Because it was the most exhilarating day of your life! And that was only a fraction of this joy! Do you know how it feels, Max, to hold life in your hands? Do you know the rush of pure love and belonging that comes when you feel a spine snapping apart in your hands? That's when she really accepts you, you know. The blue lady."
"Ben, please don't do this. Don't ever do this again."
"You just don't get it Max! You don't know how it feels! And I'll never stop, and you won't stop me. You're too sentimental. You could never hurt your own brother."
Max's eyes were more alive than they'd been for months. She kicked him in his midsection. He stumbled backward a moment, surprised, then grinned and began to fight back in earnest. Finally she pushed him up against a wall, her hands around his throat.
"Try it Max," he gasped. "Just once, try it with me. The blue lady will accept both of us! Just once, know what it's like to kill!"
Max's eyes had gone dead again. They regarded him lifelessly. Then, coming to a decision, she pressed her thumbs to the base of his neck hard, and squeezed. His neck snapped, and he slumped to the floor. She stared at him numbly for a moment.
"I don't get it Ben. You killed that man and god knows how many others for the feeling you get when you take a life. But I don't get anything anymore. I thought killing you might be the key to really feeling something again, but I was wrong. Because I can't feel anything, not ever again.
AN: Tomorrow I might update Flashback or do something different. Please review. Let me know if you like the AU to this yet. Sorry there's no Jam Pony or Logan flashbacks this chapter. Maybe next chapter. Also, I know Max didn't meet Ben in the hospital but I couldn't remember this episode very well and it's AU.