Shattered Glass Chapter 17: Animal I Have Become, a mediator fanfic

Because I can't remeber for the snosage of me who I replied to...I'll do it again (maybe).

Char---I'm always doing weird last minute twists so who knows. If I keep my end like it is though, something...interesting will happen.

Aina--I woke up the other day, and Tom Cruise's face was on tv...and I screamed. Then fell out of the bed. Sigh. I'm horrible. (pokes you for I am insane) Thanks.

Sarah-- Go random humor! Go hand that feeds! Go...you didn't want to submit it? (glomps you)NO!

Jenna--Thanks.

So, after much procrastinating, I finally am getting this damn thing up (whoa, that sounds weird--ignore me).

Lyrics are "Quote" by Evans Blue (yes, I am obsessed :D)

Ch 17: Animal I have Become

Quote, you are my soul, unquote
Now does that sound familiar?
You kissed the boy and make him feel this way
Quote well this is me unquote
You have been so ugly you're entire life
So I changed now

Luckily, it didn't take long for Adias to return with the dagger. Hector had been cursing at me under his breath ever since Adias disappeared. Not that it did any good.

The dagger resided in a pale, wooden box, engraved with Greek symbols. Satin coated the bottom while gold handles graced the narrow sides. But the outside was merely gilded compared to the dagger itself. Every crevice shimmered in the star light, making me hesitant to touch it. I didn't want to taint its beauty.

I know; for Pete's sake, it's a shiny knife. Get over it.

Before we left, Adias warned us not to touch the tip of the blade. If we did, our soul would be sucked inside, trapping it forever.

Well, that's a fabulous way to start one's day. Even though it was technically afternoon.

Never mind.

When Hector and I materialized into Father Dominic's office, we were greeted with utter silence. And a yellow post stick note that was barely clinging to the Good Father's chair.

Paul's house.

I rolled my eyes at Hector while thinking some less than stellar thoughts. I believe I even made reference to Paul's mother. Haha, I'm kidding. No. More like the size of his ego in relation to his...Not that I would know.

God, way to dig your own grave, Simon.
Is this how you want to go down?
Right before my eyes you are the saddest sight I know
You're quiet you never make a sound
But here inside my mind you are the loudest one
I know

I shifted to Paul's house before I got myself in even deeper. Hector found my embarrassment about the entire thing hilarious, and didn't have a problem in telling me so. If laughing in my face was any indication.

Of all the places to appear, my mind chose on a desolate hallway, where I'd hit Paul's ghostly biker minion.

Hector, who had the dagger since I'd just stared at it, didn't pop up behind me like usual. In fact, it seemed I was rather alone in this part of the house. Again.

Slaski's room, Hector's voice rang in my mind.

Oh, my bad. Pfft. Like they were specific.

With a shimmer I arrived in Dr. Slaski's frigid room. The familiar faces I'd seen not long ago glanced at me, then continued to listen to Slaski as he spoke.

"Absolutely beautiful," he breathed as he eyed the weapon in Hector's hand. Isn't it amazing how intriguing a shiny knife seems to be?

"Yes," Father Dominic croaked, then cleared his throat. "But if you don't mind, I'd like an explanation. I feel quite in the dark about what's going on here."

"I think we're all a little confused, Padre," Jesse patted the priest's shoulder. I could have sworn I felt his searing eyes on me as he spoke.

Hector looked at me blankly. "Where do we start?"

"Perhaps, the beginning," Father Dominic suggested wearily, as he straightened his glasses.

The beginning? What beginning? We both started at different points–there's different sides. Most of mine wasn't even real. Hector frowned at me slightly. "Have a seat, Susannah. I'll tell them."

I willingly did as he said. I didn't sit by Jesse. Instead, I sat in a pale, gray arm chair by the fire place. It was stiff, new...and damn uncomfortable.

Quote we never talk unquote
And that's when I don't answer
Don't you dare ask why
Because you don't want to know
Quote well whoa is me unquote
How different I've become
And no one understands, my dear
No one really cares

"As Susannah well knows, Saben is really her, just from a different parallel universe. Shifters have the ability to jump from their reality to others. Every reality is different. The climate, the fashion of order, every existence depends on every decision ever made. Naturally, there are billions of parallels because of this. Saben is Susannah Simon from reality number 23, 864, just like me. Or so the Adias, the gatekeeper, told me when I first arrived. My Susannah wasn't able to save me. When she shifted us back from 1850, I died," he sighed and shot a quick peek at Jesse. He didn't seem resentful, just sorrowful.

"She didn't take my death well. Even when I came back as a ghost, and tried to comfort her, she fought. She kept promising she'd find a way to help me, to give me life. But I wouldn't let her. I wanted her to stop trying to save me and just live her life to its full potential. Reluctantly, she finally did. She found love in a living being; Paul," Hector's voice was harder now, but not at us. He seemed more angry at his memories, like they were wrong. I guess in a way, they were. After all, he was dead and we weren't together.

His feet paced the cold floor roughly as he continued. "I was enraged at first. But then, I saw the way he looked at her. It was the way I'd looked at her for so long–with love. For once, he wasn't the lusty bastardo I remembered. I was happy for mi querida. She'd stopped crying herself to sleep. She smiled more, was with her friends more. But then he showed up."

Hector stopped and hissed under his breath to himself. As quickly as he'd stopped, he shook his head fiercely and resumed where he'd left off.

"I knew he was trouble the moment I first laid eyes on him."

"Who?" Jesse interjected curiously.

Is this how you want to go down?
Right before my eyes
You are the saddest sight I know
And you're quiet you never make a sound
But here inside my mind you are the loudest one I know
And you were right, right from the start
It took everything you had, but you finally broke my...

"Qain Paquin," Hector replied bitterly making me shiver for a moment. "A boy, a shifter, and a murderer. He began attending the Mission early in Susannah's senior year. One day he caught her talking to me in the graveyard and he knew..." he trailed off tartly.

"Knew what? That she was a mediator?" Father Dom prodded.

Paul correctly him casually. "Shifter."

"No," Hector spat. "He knew then she would be his queen. His lover. Even if not willingly. When she refused to join him, he killed Paul, then the Good Father," he nodded at Father Dominic, "then everyone else that mattered to Susannah. He carefully covered his trail, making the deaths seem like accidents. A plane crash, a heart attack. He flat out exorcised Dr. Slater."

"Slaski," Paul's grandfather grumbled quietly.

"I watched him lure her to his side. He baited her, threatened her, found a way to break her. I tried to stop it, I really did try, but once she agreed–once she was by his side, it was too late."

"You said he was a murderer..."Jesse said cautiously. He seemed slightly irate for some reason, probably at me.

"Is a murderer," I said flatly, as I crossed my arms across my chest. "After his father died from a rare bone eating disease, he became resentful. No one was finding a cure, no one was fixing it. He was vengeful, he demanded an antidote. He even tried to make one, but couldn't. However, he found a way to manipulate the disease and used it to make someone find a cure. But no one could. He just managed to kill everyone. Everyone but himself and Saben. So together they began jumping parallels, trying to find a fix. From anyone."

"Not quite, Susannah," Hector said calmly for a change. "Saben lied to you about that."

I stared at him, my eye brows furrowing in bewilderment. "But why would she lie about that?"

"Because even she doesn't know the truth."

I blinked at him dumbly and he sighed.

"Susannah, Qain was a seventeen year old shifter. No teenager knows how to manipulate a disease. That takes years of learning. Even then, most fail."

"But–" I started butJesse–damn!–Hector continued. "The soul looks like Qain did, sounds like him, has the same mediating abilities, but it isn't Qain. It's Charles Paquin, Qain's father."

What? That just...and she fu...I mean, they...ew! Sick! That's just wrong! So many different levels of wrong!

"When Qain couldn't handle the tasks his father wanted from him, Charles exorcised his son's soul and took over his body. He was a brilliant scientist before the disease crippled him. He needed a cure because Qain was genetically exposed. He needed a way to save his new body, should the disease set in later on."

My mouth gaped, but I didn't speak. Everyone else remained silent and watched the two of us.

And know the old flames will pass away
I saw your life once, did you see mine?
But not all things will pass away
You turned your light off
So I turned mine away from your sadness
Away from the nothingness you feel for me

"Querida, he killed his own son to save himself. Don't think he'll hesitate to kill you. Both versions of you."

It barely seemed to register to everyone what he'd called me. But I heard–I knew. And as much as I didn't want to, I had to; Don't make me her. I tried to make my thought sound calm but firm.

Hector looked at me a moment, not getting what I meant. Finally, it dawned on him and he visibly paled.

"The resemblance between the two is astonishing, especially at 17. No one noticed the difference. My Susannah believes Qain is just a hormonal teen avenging his father. Not a 49-year-old scientiest that's mentally cracked."

I didn't say a word. This entire situation just kept getting creepier and creepier.

"The gatekeepers of the Shadowland only recently noticed the threat Susannah and 'Qain' pose. So now the pair are trying to hide, and in your bodies," Hector pointed to Jesse and I. "Susannah, my Susannah, caused her–"more pointing in my direction–"car accident so she could steal her body. The plan seems to be failing though. Susannah's body is shutting down; the pain is too much. If we don't correct this soon, both will die."

Lovely. So even if I get my body back, I'm doomed. Talk about a lose-lose situation.

"So he's here for a cure?" Dr. Slaski asked, seemingly skeptical.

"For the original strand, yes. The manipulated disease already has a cure."

"Uh-huh. And we don't have much time?"

"Precisely," Hector sighed and stopped his pacing. "So we should go."

"Go where?"

"They're hiding at 'Qain's' house, trying to tend to the pain ailing Saben. They aren't worried about us. They don't know we're gone yet."

Dr. Slaski cleared his throat. "The priest and Paul shouldn't be in the fight, just near by."

"Why?" Paul looked affronted by his grandfather's statement.

"Their souls can take a beating, however, yours is still in your body. Not to mention, someone will need to be close enough to help Susannah and Jesse, if they succeed. And it's not like we can have an ambulance waiting for them."

"Oh," Paul sounded more disappointed than offended now.

"Here's Qain's address–meet us there. We'll wait twenty minutes before going. You should park a block or so from the house to avoid detection. I'll give you a sign when we need you," Hector instructed as he wrote the address on a sheet of paper he found.

Paul took the slip of paper and waved at Father Dom to follow him to the car. The rest of us watched them leave in silence.

"How are you getting around, boy?" Dr. Slaski turned upon Hector abruptly. Hector didn't look even slightly surprised at the query.

"When the gatekeepers came to my parallel to survey the damage and restore order, they found me, alone. I offered to help them hunt Qain down. They can't take souls to the Shadowland, only shifters can. So they designated me temporary abilities. I'm not quite sure how it works. Frankly, I don't care. As long as I can catch him..."

"And what about her? Will you really be able to stand by and watch the woman you love die?"Slaski taunted. I glared at him but he didn't seem to notice. Jesse just let his head rest in his hands as he listened; I couldn't see his expressions, and was almost thankful for that. I think he might be angry with me.

Hector replied acidly. "The woman I love left a long time ago. There's nothing left to save. She made her choice."

I peeked at Hector. He was eyeing me sadly, but looked away when I met his gaze.

I wish there was something I could do for him. Maybe...I'll have to check on that later. Yes; that might work.

Brilliant, Suze.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. "We should go," I said quietly and stood up. Jesse stirred from reverie and got to his feet slowly. Hector clutched the dagger tightly and nodded at me.

"Susannah," Dr. Slaski called to me. "You'll need these."

He handed me two clear vials and a warn piece of paper. I opened the note and read.

Egyptian Exorcism: For those pesky spirits that just won't leave.

That sounds like an advertisement in Vogue or something. For zits that just won't quit.

"No candles or chicken blood," he said bleakly.

"Thanks." I folded the slip and pocketed it, along with the vials.

"Good luck," was the last thing I heard before dematerializing into the epicenter of my personal, living hell.

Quote hey listen cause I'll only say this once
I finally found the words that mean enough to me
Goodbye my soul, unquote

I know it isn't deathly long (like some writers I know are capable of) but it's longer than most of my recent updates. Sorry it took so long, I'm having a sucky time with life right now. If you have any questions left unanswered please ask and I'll either answer them directly to you, or explain them later on. I'd just hate to leave someone going "Wtf?" Since I do that to myself all the time.

No idea when I'll have 18 finished. I'll try and work on it soon. I have to finish my english timline first though.

Ah and my thing with Hector (woohoo) will eventually be explained. About the whole "Brilliant, Suze." bit. Yeah.

Peace out me amigos.