Chapter 53: Sacrificial Lamb

Jack paused, his fist hovering over the beaten Carter. Rising from where he kneeled, Jack turned to face Mary, left hand absently retrieving his scythe before standing fully erect.

"Jack," she spoke his name tenderly, "Why are you doing this?"

Jack reached out with his arms to draw her close to him, "Mary, I'm so sorry."

Stepping backwards, Mary deftly evaded his embrace, "You said that before, yet look what you've done to Carter. If you were really sorry for your actions, you would do more than speak hollow apologies; you would stop hurting all those around you who love you." Mary finished dramatically, gesturing wide with her arms.

Jack looked down and away from Mary's intense yet loving glare, "Don't you see?"

"No, I don't."

"It's too late to stop now."

"It's never too late."

"I can't undo what I've done."

"But you can change the future."

"There is no turning back."

"So," Mary cocked her head to one side, blankly regarding Jack, "Does that mean you intend to kill me too?"

Jack immediately stared aghast at Mary, unbelieving in seriousness presented in her tone and the curious expression of her face, "No! How could you think that! I could never. I... couldn't. I won't!"

Mary laughed weakly and without spirit, "You think I don't know, or else you've forgotten, why you began killing in the first place."

"Mary, please don't..."

"It was because of me, wasn't it?" Mary choked back a sob, the first crack in her newfound composure, "It's really because of me that everyone had died. I rejected you, when you'd been hurt so many times before, when you needed me the most."

"Mary, that's not true."

"Yes it is!" Mary screamed, no longer trying to hold back her onrush of tears, "Because of my heartlessness in your time of need, you killed that night, out of the pain, the pain that I caused you."

Jack quickly hugged Mary, and this time she didn't resist as he comforted her, despite the shaft of Jack's scythe pressing tightly against her back. Mary cried softly onto Jack's shoulder, "I just want it to end. It's too much for me. I'm not strong enough to take this."

"How Mary? How am I supposed to be strong enough if you aren't? Everything is out of control, how am I supposed to stop?" he pleaded.

"Just stop Jack," Mary pulled away slowly, letting her hands gently run down Jack's injured arm, being careful not to hurt him.

He looked away in pain, not from her touch, but from her truth, "It's not that simple,"

"Maybe not Jack. But stopping the killing is the first step towards repairing your life, and mine. A wound cannot heal as long as you continue to reopen it," Mary said, quoting the well-known Harvest Goddess verse.

"And if I stop, pretend it never happened..." Jack asked hopefully.

Mary shook her head slowly and began backing away, "It wouldn't do any good." She gestured at Jack with uncharacteristic gracefulness, "Follow me."

Stopping in front of the pulpit, Mary turned Jack to face the many archaic stain glass window high on the church wall. She smiled slightly as she talked, "Those beautiful patterns," lightning flashed behind the windows, momentarily irradiating them in an array of colors before Mary resumed, "are more than just decoration. They have deep meaning and tell many stories hidden inside those lines, colors, and shapes.

"But there is one message that prevails, and that is that the Harvest Goddess possesses incomprehensible love for all of nature, whether it be plant, insect, animal, or human. But there is something the Harvest Goddess loves most endearingly, above all others, and that is the farmer. Above all other people, the Harvest Goddess loves the farmer. She loves you Jack. Just like I love you.

"But you aren't yourself anymore. You've lost touch with who you really are. You've let your anger consume you, and are no longer the one we love. Yet you are still in there. The man I love..."

Jack leaned towards her, "Mary..."

"Jack, get help. I'm willing to help you. You aren't a bad person, something has just happened to you. Do you understand?"

Jack shook his head, "No. I can't. It won't work. The only thing I can do is run. They will never accept me. Never." He quivered slightly and Mary comforted him.

"So you won't stop? You won't get help?"

"I can't stop. Nobody will help me."

Mary grinned morbidly and stepped backwards, arms to her sides, "Then you have only one other choice..."

"What Mary? What is it I can do?" he said desperately.

"Your only other choice is to kill me." Mary kept talking straight through Jack's protests, "Those are your only choices. Because I can't stand by and let you keep on killing. If that's what you want to do, then I am all that stands in your way," she said, spreading her arms wide in surrender to him, "Take your scythe and kill me."

"I won't!"

"You must either change your ways or kill me."

Jack took his scythe in his left hand and brought it before him, "Don't make me do this Mary."

"It's the only way."

Jack sighed in defeat as he brought the scythe's point against the side of her neck. Mary swallowed hard when she felt the cold steel against her skin. Closing her eyes, she waited. Please, Jack, do the right thing. The point left her neck as the blade came back in it's windup. Mary tensed her body in meaningless preparation for the blow. She wished there was another way.

She held her breath, waiting for her death. Until she heard a loud crack and a scream of pain. Mary opened one eye cautiously, then both as she stared in disbelief. Jack stood still, his scythe broken over his knee, tears streaming down his face in both pain and relief. Quickly nursing his now further injured right arm, he dropped the shaft end of the scythe to the ground where it thudded and rolled away.

He fell down to his knees, face to the floor crying. Mary wrapped her arms around him. "Jack. It's okay, everything will be alright now."

Jack choked up words through his sobs, "I don't deserve this... I'm a monster. What I've done, is unforgivable."

Mary shook her head fiercely, "No Jack, you're wrong. I love you. And I've already forgiven you."

Jack screamed in his mind. No, no one could forgive him. How could anyone forgive him. No. Impossible. Evil. Shadow Goddess. Jack gripped his left hand tight around the blade of the broken scythe. It's not possible. Cannot be forgiven. Cannot hope to seek forgiveness. Lies, all lies. "Liar!" Jack screamed aloud as embraced Mary tightly, piercing her back with the blade, sheathing it in her. Mary gasped in shock and warm blood ran forth coating Jack's hand.

"Liar..."