Max Payne- Chapter 6: A Fair Trade

The pain had fled, the blood dried and browned. My body turned to ash, my apartment along with me. The NYPD already on the scene, investigating what was left, evidence of what transpired. Total destruction, nothing left in my wake. To their dismay...this was something they could not fix...

Heavy breathing. My eyes shot open to see the surroundings changed. Not in my apartment or at the station, but at Woden's mansion. I fell back against a wall, my mouth dry, lacking words or reason.

"Alive?" I thought to myself, "How is that possible? I left myself for death...there was no way I could have been saved..."

"Max?" a voice said nearby, "Are you alright?"

Mona. She...she was alive.

"What the hell...what's going on?"

"You were knocked out cold. Don't you remember?"

Her words faded, my mind flashed back to the moment she spoke of.

I ran out of the building and ended up on the balcony across from Mona, some of Vlad's men shooting at her. I withdrew my pistol and fired, bullets flying, none connecting. They turned to me and opened fire, I quickly dived to the side firing my pistols at them and successfully putting a bullet into each of their heads. After landing on my side, I stood up to help out Mona with whatever assistance she may have needed. Before I could do anything, a sharp pain across the back of my head. Pistol-whipped, I hazed in and out watching the henchman aiming his gun at me. Everything went dark.

I snapped back to reality, looking Mona in her angelic blue eyes. It was all a dream...I should of known. A second chance? Going crazy and killing everyone? I should have known that I was asleep. It all seems too clear now. My eyes have been opened. I extended my arm, reaching for Mona's face, rubbing my open hand upon her delicate skin.

"Mona, I thought I lost you."

"Max...what are you..?"

I leaned in, my lips connecting with hers, cutting her off mid-sentence. I was too happy to be upset, I thought she was gone, I thought I was gone. She stood the shocked for a moment, but gave in, her mouth just as passionate as my own. Arms wrapping around her, embracing her and inhaling her sweet smell. I missed this. She pulled away from me, her face flushed and red.

"As much as I appreciated that, we don't have time. We...Why did you do that?"

I took her hand in my own, holding it gently to feel it's warmth.

"I did it because I...because I was happy to see you alive."

"Of course I'm alive, Max...that blow to the head must of messed with your head."

"Yeah..."

I wrapped my arms around again, holding her tightly. I figured out what my dreams meant. What everything meant. The dream helped me to see what was to happen tonight. I squeezed her tighter, running my fingers through her hair. I kissed her once more, knowing this would be the last time.

I parted from her, standing next to the door that led into the main part of the mansion. I knew what was going to happen, the doors were locked.

"The doors are locked, Mona."

"Here."

Mona walked over to one of the gargoyle statues that rested upon the side of the door entrance, pulling down it's arm, the doors now opening. The story was playing out just as it had before. She rushed in before me, and I followed in after her. She was walking quickly, as if she were trying to get away. I played along, only to have the story unfold as it had before.

"Mona, wait. Stop."

She stopped immediately, I walked ahead of her to look around for a second, only to feel the crack of a Desert Eagle across my face. I crumbled to the floor, my face in pain as it was before. This is love. Love hurts. I turned to Mona, my eyes blistering with knowing. She pointed the gun at me.

"Damnit, Max. I told you not to come here. This is my battle."

Her finger seemed uneasy on the trigger, as if she was going to pull it at any second. She lifted the gun away, the barrel now facing the ceiling.

"See. I can't do it. You're a bastard, Max."

As she said the words that I had expected, a shadowy figure appeared behind her. Vlad. My eyes blazed with hatred. I felt the hate rise in me, a festering pile of tragedy. As soon as I saw his gun appear from beneath the shadows, I stood up, jolting upward. Words from my dreams came back to me as I ran forward.

"There are NO happy endings!"

I threw Mona out of the way.

"You don't even deserve this bullet."

Vlad fired his gun in the place Mona had been standing.

"Estimated time of death..."

The bullet came towards me.

"You made me fall in love with you."

The bullet went through my chest. Through my heart. It made a hole you could see straight through. Vlad began laughing, the damn Russian always laughed at someone elses agony. The bullet didn't stop me, I kept going. Vlad soon stopped laughing as he saw me coming towards him. Mona gasped, seeing the blood trickling from my bullet wound.

"No! How..."

I continued forward, blood spilling on the floor. Vlad pulled the trigger, the bullet going straight through my right leg. I didn't feel it. He pulled the trigger two more times, one through the lungs, the other through the stomache.

"How are you doing this!"

I came up to him, my pistol withdrawn and pointed at him. I placed the pistol to his stomache.

"No more."

I pulled the trigger, his eyes widening with twisted death. I unloaded the entire clip into him before pulling the gun away. He fell dead after only a few shots, but I held him up until I was satisfied. After his body dropped, I turned to see Mona now standing a few feet behind me, not believing what she had just witnessed. I began walking towards her, but then, I fell. I couldn't get back up, the pain had finally come to, inside my body. I felt my stomache, my lung, and my leg...but not my heart. I didn't feel the pain that had been shot through my heart yet. Mona ran to me and crouched down next to me. Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes violent with heart-wrenching awe and love.

"Max...Max you bastard." She whiped a tear from her cheek. "Don't you die...I need you."

"You don't need me, Mona. Everything will be al-alright." I felt blood pooling around me.

"I want you to know, that you helped me. Th-thank you for that."

She stopped a moment, trying to control her sobs.

"Max, I..."

"I love you, Mona. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you. But now, you don't need to feel pain anymore. There's no one left to hurt you."

I closed my eyes for a moment. The pain in my heart now coming to realization. I opened them soon after Mona shook me. I mumbled something incoherent to Mona, who could barely talk without a tear escaping.

"What?"

I smiled.

"I said..."God...I turned out to be such a damsel in distress." "

"What are you talking..."

"That...that's what you said to me in my dream, right before you died."

I sighed, looking into those blue eyes.

"Don't forget me, Mona."

"No...NO!''

The life in me faded, my eyes closing, body going limp. I lay there in a torn woman's arms, the only woman I ever cared about. I left her there. But she will be alright. She doesn't need me. She never did. As long as she's alright...as long as I know she's okay...I can rest. Finally...I can rest.

That night, Mona had a dream of me, I'm dead...but it's alright.