Hi folks,
For those who have been waiting patiently, thanks so much for your patience! I hope you enjoy the second to last chapter of this story!
Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for her editing efforts!
As grief overwhelmed her being, Maura couldn't help dropping her mental defences and felt the whole world rush in. She heard millions of voices yelling inside her, all demanding answers, questioning the events that had just occurred. Maura lost all sense of her physical self, feeling herself swept along in an endless sea of questions, demands, pleas and cries for help.
As she was buffeted by the noise, Maura suddenly felt a pull, urgent and insistent. Instinctively following it, she heard a more harmonious collection of voices calling to her, offering her sanctuary. As she touched them, she realised she had found the coven, shielding themselves within the network and maintaining a bastion of sanity within the chaos. They drew her in under their shield, using the opportunity to communicate, but Maura could feel the strain on their mental resources and knew the sanctuary wouldn't last long.
Betty's voice was most familiar, and she could hear it within the echoing communal voice of the coven. " .Pleaseuseyourstrengthtoreturnthenetworktowhatitwas."
Maura used the brief calm offered by the coven to assess her situation. She could feel the connection to the network in her mind, a thick superhighway of connections directly linking her thoughts to every being on the planet. As much as Aro had desired this, she knew nobody should ever have this ability, so she was inclined to follow the coven's directions.
Using the array of power granted by her abilities, she examined the connection of the network to her neural structures. At present, it was linked to her conscious thoughts, and this unusual type of connection was creating the chaotic maelstrom of connected minds. Her mind was operating as a central hub, with all thoughts going towards her and then not receiving any direction on where to go next. The link was unstable, as there were too many different thoughts pulling the connection in competing directions. The type of connection Aro had created, which she had wrenched away from him, was designed to exert active control over the voices and keep them silenced, not allow them to exist and express themselves wilfully. At present, people's thoughts were starting to leak through Maura's central connection and into other minds, and soon nobody would be able to distinguish their own minds from the noise, with Maura swept under the tide as well. She could correct the problem by taking control and silencing the free will of the world, as Aro had done, but this was unacceptable by her standards.
However, if she could shift the connection back to her unconscious thoughts, returning the structure of the network to what it had originally been, she would no longer be the nexus of the thought superhighway, and the network should stabilise. She had no idea if it was possible, or if Aro's actions had permanently destroyed the ability of the network to run unconsciously without a focusing mind, but she would try.
As she decided to act, she felt the coven assent to her plan, and their presence and knowledge blended with the edges of her consciousness. She saw the thoughts of the original creator of the network, and saw how she had managed to create it. The only difference in this case was that Maura would have a chance at surviving. Maura's abilities were fully realised and unhindered, and Jane had repaired her mind after her overload. That would hopefully be the edge she needed to succeed.
Using the new knowledge, Maura inspected the connections in the network more closely. She was dazzled by the complexity of the network, but also by the self-perpetuating nature of the structures. Tiny tendrils of connection were present at various points in the mental landscape of every person integrated, which all helped to strengthen the connections to everyone else. More sensitive people acted as a sort of mental wi-fi modem, taking the network's signal and boosting it out to everyone around them. New people were automatically connected when they were born, as the network was a global phenomenon that permeated the entirety of the globe. It was less a network built of physical connections, the way her mind was perceiving it, as much as a set of frequencies the human (or vampire) brain was sensitive to on an unconscious level. The beauty of what she was helping to repair made Maura pause and appreciate the opportunity she had found to see this construct from such a unique viewpoint, temporarily pushing her own concerns and grief aside and allowing her to completely focus on what she needed to do.
With the coven's help, she managed to commence the complex task. They repaired connections, smoothed out thought clusters to help people stop panicking, and shifted the connections back to where they safely performed their function. They found unknowing leaders within the community, those with great sensitivity or nascent vampiric abilities, and used them to reinforce the network near them as had always naturally happened. They found scattered individuals who read as dead spots in the network, and the coven wordlessly explained that they were people who naturally couldn't access the network, such as psychopaths or people with brain damage.
Time passed in a shapeless blur. Faces and names skimmed through Maura's mind in an endless torrent, with so much information passing her by without context. She felt world leaders, children, murderers, mothers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, all of the possibilities of thought and experience pass by her mind's eye, letting them slip past as she continued her work.
Finally, exhausted, Maura felt the network stabilise. It was firmly connected to her subconscious mind again, and she could feel the voices settling back to their resting state. She could still access memories via her mental landscape, the way she had accessed Alec's memories while fighting against Aro, but she couldn't control people actively anymore. She felt an exclamation of relief ripple from the coven, which she echoed wholeheartedly. There was no telling if the network would operate as before, that would take time to determine, but it was no longer in danger of collapsing and taking the minds of the world with it.
She finally felt her awareness return to her physical form, and found herself still crumpled on the ground, staring at the still burning wreck of the plane. She sat up slowly, wanting to get a better look at the wreck while also wanting to run from it and the loss it represented as fast as she could. Casting her eyes over the bright fire, she reached out tentatively with her abilities, but only felt a loud static. She couldn't hear Jane, couldn't feel her presence, couldn't find her with a mental shield. Maura's elation over what she and the coven had just accomplished vanished like the smoke billowing into the air as she realised that despite all her efforts she had still lost Jane.
Betty was slumped next to her, and stirred right after Maura. She glanced in the same direction, seeing the plane and looking around at the burned airfield with a grieved realisation. "Maura, I know this doesn't mean much right now, but we did it. We fixed it. We stopped Aro, and prevented a lot of deaths. You literally just saved the world. Jane would be so proud of you."
Maura continued to stare in shock at the plane, simply having too much in her head to focus on any one thought. The battle, Aro's plan, his near success, her actions, the magnitude of the task that had fallen to her, it was all overwhelming. She realised somewhere in her murky thoughts that she was shutting down again, the way she had after Angela's death when Jane left her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. All she could think was that Jane had left her again. Her brief spark of hope that they could be friends forever had turned to ash and fire in front of her eyes.
She vaguely felt Betty shaking her shoulder, trying to get a response, but her thoughts drifted once again from the moment. She couldn't hear them actively now, but she remembered absorbing the thoughts and fears of the world as she swept past, repairing the network. She felt the phantom weight of all the minds she had been connected to, realising they were free to act of their own volition again. Thousands of those voices had realised to some extent what had happened, with fears and suspicions they had harboured about vampires coalescing as the network rebuilt itself without the unconscious gag order. People had become aware of vampires at a basic level that had never before been possible, and the world was about to change.
She had also felt lots of important people, world leaders, heads of organisations like the FBI or Mossad, CEOs, billionaires, all those who already knew about vampires, suddenly understanding that the world had changed. She imagined they were taking action already, moving to contain the threat, manoeuvring to take advantage, positioning themselves to capitalise on a volatile new worldwide circumstance. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that she should care, should take responsibility for the part she had played, but she was simply too tired. It was time for someone else to step up. She was ready to find a dark secluded place to hide from the world and never come out.
Maura realised with a start that there was another arm touching hers, one that was too warm to be a vampire. She looked up, drawn out of her melancholy by her curiosity, and realised Hope was sitting next to her, tiredly leaning against Edward Cullen's side as he held her steady. Maura realised he or one of the other Cullens must have retrieved her, as she didn't seem capable of walking on her own.
Making a herculean effort, Maura shook off her stunned state, at least for long enough to ensure everyone was safe. Her voice rasped out reluctantly, her throat still scarred and her spirit barely willing. "Hope, you need to get to a hospital."
Hope nodded slowly, glancing at her bloodied hands and bruised body. "I do, but I won't go until I know you aren't going to just sit here and waste away."
Maura couldn't help a pained laugh at the notion of her immortal body wasting away, no matter how long she sat here. "I'll be fine. I just need to check the area for survivors, and I'll be along soon. Betty, can you take her please?"
Betty gave her a knowing look, understanding that Maura was just trying to get rid of both of them, but gently bent to gather Hope into her arms anyway.
Before she could dash away, Hope gripped her arm. "Wait. Maura, you should know that Jane managed to fix whatever was wrong with me before you got me out. She saved me, as well as everyone else here. She saved you too. You know she wouldn't have had it any other way."
Betty gave a sad smile in agreement with Hope's statement, taking in a breath to add something before her face changed to a stunned surprise, her gaze flitting to Hope's injuries. Maura jumped to her feet, afraid that Betty was about to attack in a blood frenzy, but Betty remained calm and unaffected, staring at the blood on Hope's arms in wonder. "It's gone. The uncontrollable thirst, it's gone. I mean it's still there, at the back of my consciousness somewhere, but it's so easy to push it back that I barely had to think about it. How….?"
As Maura frowned in confusion, Betty's eyes closed for a moment, her concentration elsewhere, before head whipped towards Maura in understanding. "It was you! The coven just confirmed it! When you restored the network, your mind was the basis for the unconscious suggestions at the heart of the world's subconscious! You've managed to put everything you've learned about controlling vampiric thirst into the basic fabric of every mind on the planet! Every vampire will be able to control themselves, right from first waking up!"
Betty could barely contain her excitement, and Maura could only stare in shock. She hadn't intended on leaving anything in the network, she had only been trying to repair the damage done. Somehow she had unthinkingly filled the role of the original creator of the network, but instead of a gag order surrounding vampires she had apparently created a how-not-to-kill instruction. It would be up to individual vampires whether to use the learned information, but at least now vampires would have the option to avoid killing.
With her eyes closed again, Betty continued to smile widely, clearly finding out more good news from the coven. "I think there are a few other tidbits that have made their way into the network too, but we'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out. We're in a new world now. I think our ability to predict the future will be pretty limited for a while, but hopefully we now have one to try and predict. It's all thanks to you and Jane, remember that Maura. You've done more than you know, and we are so grateful. Literally the whole world would be grateful if they understood what you did here today."
As Betty smiled and streaked away with Hope in her arms, Maura finally looked around the rest of the airfield, her mind whirling with the possibilities and repercussions of her unintended actions. She didn't have the bandwidth to even attempt to comprehend the consequences of today, so she tried to focus on the events right in front of her instead.
The sun had risen sometime between the explosion and the completion of the repair of the network, and the orange light of dawn had all but given way to the bright yellow of day. The plane was still burning hotly, flames licking into the sky hungrily. The light flickered over the group of battered looking werewolves gathered nearby, all assisting each other as they triaged their injuries. Alice moved among them, helping where they could while looking absolutely miserable.
Jasper was standing near the tree line, with a group of hybrids that had apparently been rescued and spared from the explosion. There were the eight that had been taken from the Cullen estate, as well as four that had been part of the Volturi. Maura could see that Jasper was concentrating on the group, likely using his power to keep them calm and quiet while his family was otherwise occupied.
Bella was crouching a few metres away from the group, holding a desolate Esme in her arms and rocking her gently. Esme was wailing in pain, her arms thrashing indiscriminately as she grieved the loss of Carlisle. Edward had flitted over to the pair as soon as Betty left, leaving Maura so he could hold both of them as best he could as the small family started to grieve.
The rest of the airfield was a burned mess, but there were conspicuous untouched areas within the burns. Something in the scorched mess piqued Maura's professional interest, and she felt her mind start to engage curiously despite her lethargy. She took a few steps forward, her keen eyes sweeping over the wreckage and starting to analyse.
In all her years of crime scene investigation, Maura had never seen a burn pattern like this. It was completely unnatural, as if the flames from the explosion had possessed intelligence and avoided certain places. She noticed the ground she had been sitting on was completely untouched, while the patch right next to it was utterly incinerated. Aro had been standing there, she realised, and the flames had targeted him while leaving her unscathed.
From the look of the survivors, none of them had been burned. They all had soot and ash all over them, as the heat from the fire was blowing combustion products around the clearing liberally, but none showed injuries from flame, only physical wounds from the fight.
Maura let out a gasping sob as she fully realised what Jane had somehow done. She had grasped the force and heat of the explosion, the one she was in the middle of, and used it to destroy all the Volturi. She had indeed saved all of them, using powers she had only acquired less than a week ago and accomplishing a feat unheard of in vampire or human history.
Once again, Maura felt the lure of letting it all go, of walling herself off and sinking into her own misery, but her eyes were once again drawn back to the injured werewolves. Jasper was pulling Alice away towards the hybrid group, the wolves snapping at the vampires next to them through their pain since neither of them could help. The wolf that seemed to be in the most pain had a slick of thick blood tangling his brown fur, and his back legs didn't seem to be moving.
In the face of such obvious pain, Maura found the resolve to get herself moving. She quickly crossed to the group, gently asking permission to assist from the pack leader Sam. She had once touched Carlisle, which meant that she had all his knowledge of treating injured werewolves, and as soon as Sam nodded in grudging assent, she got to work.
The bleeding had already stopped, but a quick examination told her that the wolf's bones were out of alignment, likely from being crushed by one of the Volturi. She asked for assistance holding the wolf down from the pack, explaining that she was about to rebreak the bones which had started to set in order to reposition them. Sam nodded again, remembering that Carlisle had done this once before for a healing wolf, and yelled for more of the pack to help.
After a gruelling hour or so, which was punctuated by multiple screams and threatening growls from the pack, Maura finally finished stabilising the wounded. Some minutes into her healing efforts she had heard from Betty through the network, her mental voice clear and ecstatic, reporting that Hope was settled in and stabilised at a nearby hospital, and was expected to make a full recovery after a lot of rest. The Cullens had said a brusque goodbye before disappearing into the forest with the hybrids, wanting to get Esme back to Rosalie and Emmett for support. Some of the pack had also been sent off for supplies, as the pack were planning on camping in the nearby forest until all members were healed, before the pack would return home.
Once the wolves had retreated into the trees, with a short but apparently heartfelt thankyou from Sam, Maura found herself alone on the scorched airfield. The plane was still somehow burning brightly, although Maura judged that at least three hours had gone by since the explosion between recovering the network and tending to the wolves. She frowned at the realisation that there simply wasn't enough fuel for the plane to still be burning this long after ignition. Either something must be fuelling the fire, or something extra-normal was happening.
Feeling a traitorous pulse of hope, Maura quickly approached the wreckage, trying to find any signs of life. Jane had been right at the centre of a massive detonation, but they both knew that Jane's powers had an unknown amount of potential. Could that include somehow surviving this?
Maura spent the next hours combing through the airfield, getting as close as she could to the flames without actually catching fire herself. She determined that the refuelling tanks had also gone up in the initial explosion, so there was no possibility that they were somehow fuelling the ongoing fire. She determined that the fire seemed to be slowly collapsing the remaining shell of the plane, as if the metal and carbon fibre was somehow being used as fuel to sustain the combustion reaction.
However, she hadn't figured out if this was somehow Jane surviving, in the flames, or if this was simply the natural aftereffect of Jane's unnatural powers detonating.
Through her investigative efforts, she had started to consciously tap into the network, trying to use her original vampire ability to glean information. She found herself referencing knowledge on fires, materials, nuclear physics, anything that might be relevant, but there were no immediate answers that would explain what she was seeing. Her abilities seemed almost limitless, since she was accessing information from people on the other side of the planet that she had never met, but she was in no mood to start experimenting, simply finding the information she needed and staying isolated from the network as much as possible.
Despite her caution, she could feel the mood of the mental landscape coming through her connection. Most people could feel that there was something different, but the majority of the world didn't realise the true cause just yet. Maura felt sure that if she so desired, she would be able to keep track of the world leaders and heads of intelligence organisations that would be mobilising a response to vampires immediately, wanting to use them or exterminate them. She might even be able to directly influence them, not in the same way she could when she was consciously connected as the hub of the network, but more like the way she could use Afton's abilities to directly affect thoughts. However, there was no desire to take action within Maura as she tried to find any explanation for the still hotly burning wreckage. Although it would directly affect her, and possibly many others she knew, it was just too much to focus on at the present time.
She knew vampires would not stay hidden for long. Without the subconscious prompt to ignore them, police would start noticing vampiric clues at murder and animal mutilation scenes. People would notice pale skinned individuals who never ate, drank or aged. Facial recognition would start to return hits of people several decades older than they should be. Cold cases would start to be solved, and the secret would be out. Maura suspected the coven would be working behind the scenes to minimise the damage, but in truth there was no way to stop it without actively taking over people's minds, and Maura felt strongly against letting that happen. She had the power to stop it, and knew that she would.
As she mulled over possibilities of fire, energy and life, Maura also tried to stop focusing on the big picture and get a feel for herself after the confrontation with Aro. Not her powers, she knew that would take a lot of experimentation and trials, but her feelings and thoughts.
She felt more settled in her existence than she had in a long time, having truly come to terms with her vampiric nature to a large degree when standing up to Aro's intimidating mind games. There would always be a part of her that yearned for her simple human life, but she had fully accepted that she would never get it back, and was okay with that eventuality.
Despite Jane being…missing, Maura didn't feel the sense of panic and overwhelming loss she previously had at the prospect of losing Jane. Part of it was the acceptance and knowledge of her condition by her mothers, Frankie, Susie and her new supernatural acquaintances in the coven, the pack and the Cullens. She was no longer faced with the reality of being completely isolated, unless she chose to retreat from the world.
But it was also the gift of self-knowledge that had come from Jane's healing efforts. She understood where her fears and worries came from, and she could choose to address them if she wanted to change. Even if Jane was lost and gone, the gifts Maura had gained from knowing her would remain.
However, Maura was hoping that Jane was still recoverable, somehow. She may not need Jane to be her anchor to the world anymore, but she still wanted her best friend around. Her life was better, made the most sense, when Jane was there to share the ride.
As she continued to think, her mind spinning through topics at a dizzying pace, she picked up the sound of approaching cars. Two vehicles were coming down the road towards the airfield. After a moment's consideration, Maura decided to stay where she was and deal with whoever came. Being that there was a large column of fire still propelling a massive cloud of smoke into the air, it was likely that emergency services had finally responded.
When the vehicles pulled into view, Maura realised she was half right. The first car was a police cruiser, with a local sheriff in the driver's seat. The second was a news van from a local TV station, likely hoping to get some good shots for the evening news and some sound bites from the sheriff.
As they pulled up, Maura could see amazed expressions on the sheriff, cameraman and reporter that stepped out. She looked back at the inferno and acknowledged that it was rather spectacular, as was the sight of the charred airfield. It looked like a bomb had exploded, pushing down the first few metres of trees and scorching the very earth. And she was a pale skinned petite woman covered in soot standing far too close to the flames for any human to bear. Maura also belatedly realised she was wearing suspicious looking black clothes, with very prominent holes punched through them from the rebar spikes Alec had impaled her with days ago.
With a grimace, she turned back to the camera crew, realising they were already shooting the scene. It was too late to disappear into the trees to avoid suspicion, she had been clearly seen without her balaclava on. However, she reached for her hood, in an attempt to reduce the damage. She would casually walk into the forest, never to be seen again, and her brief appearance would be an object of discussion, possibly sparking another manhunt for the fugitive Maura Isles, but would eventually be forgotten.
As her hand pulled on her hood, Maura paused, her thoughts shuddering to a halt. Was there a reason to hide? Nobody was out there policing vampire secrecy any more. The Volturi were gone. Jane had killed them all, after their mission had changed from protection to world domination and destruction. Maura was certain that the coven was through protecting the secret at any cost, although she knew they would still prefer to hide. Most of the vampires in the world would probably prefer to hide, since that would make continuing to feed on humans easier. It was a world that had been in balance for thousands of years, and it would be easy to maintain the secret, continue as always, not cause any trouble.
But Maura was done with easy. She was done with hiding, and lying, and putting secrets ahead of what she knew to be right. The only agenda that would be served by humanity's continued ignorance of vampires was those who enjoyed giving in to their base instincts to keep killing.
If Betty was right, there was no longer a valid excuse for any vampire connected to the network when they killed a human. Maura's accidental interference in the subliminal message of the network had given all vampires the tools to resist the siren call of fresh blood, to become part of the real world once again. While it was probably still true that human blood would taste better than animal or bagged blood, a difference in taste was no excuse for murder. Vampires could now resist that urge if they chose, the same as any human could choose.
There would certainly be a period of adjustment, and it would be a complicated time, but Maura felt like she couldn't justify hiding the truth any longer. The truth about vampires no longer protected humans, it would only get more of them killed as vampiric murderers were allowed to remain undetected and unpunished. The secret had never really been about protecting humans, it was about allowing vampires to do as they liked with no societal repercussions. That had to change.
Before she moved, Maura reached out with every sense available for any sign of Jane within the pillar of fire. There was nothing, just the same blank space in her mind where Jane was supposed to be. It was frightening, feeling that void, but the scientific part of Maura's mind gave her enough hope to stave off despair. Jane might still be in those flames somehow, her energy powers operating in some amazing way that was not yet understood, but Maura was about to ensure she couldn't be here to help. She also knew, however, that mental powers and energy powers were incompatible, so it was unlikely that she would be able to help anyway.
She gathered her thoughts and feelings into a concentrated burst of mental power, and projected it into the flames, just in case. "I don't know if you're there, or if you can understand me. I'm about to do something that is probably very foolish, so if you want to talk me out of it, now would be the time. If not, it's possible I'm about to be taken away and I might not be able to come back. But know that I believe in you Jane. Logically, people don't survive massive explosions and turn into a self-perpetuating fire. But our lives haven't made anything close to logical sense in a while, which means I think you are still there, and you're just taking your time coming back. I'll get in touch with Frankie somehow and let him know where you are. Hopefully he can find a way to help you, even if it takes a while. That's okay, I have time to wait. We have time, Jane, but what I need to do next needs to happen now. I'll always be waiting and hoping, Jane."
There was no response from the inferno, as Maura had expected despite hoping otherwise. She reflected on the magnitude of the choice before her, wondering if she had the right. But then, who is to say when someone has a right to do anything that might impact others. People routinely make decisions that affect many others, often without permission. Maura knew that if she asked permission from most vampires, they would say no, as revealing them to the world would change their lives. But a murderer caught by the authorities would also prefer not to be revealed, even if it is in the better interest of the world at large. Maura felt that she had been through enough, had experienced enough perspectives and sides of the issue, to make this decision for herself. She could feel the network thrumming against her mind, the billions of thoughts across the world swirling in their various lives, beliefs, wishes and desires. She would never be able to please all of them, and she shouldn't try. She could only do what she believed was right.
With a sigh, Maura turned away from the heat and walked towards the film crew. The reporter stepped forward excitedly, his hands trembling as he held out a microphone. The sheriff stepped in front of him hesitantly, her hand on her sidearm, but seemed to see something in Maura's expression that made her back off cautiously.
Maura stopped a few feet away from the camera, taking a steadying breath before speaking. "I am Dr Maura Isles. I was once the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I believe I am currently wanted for the murder of Angela Rizzoli. I am turning myself in, but before I am taken into custody, I wish to tell my story."
With one final glance over her shoulder at the burning landscape that marked Jane's last stand, Maura squared her shoulders and looked straight at the camera, knowing this would be seen around the world, and that it would change everything. "I am a friend, I am a daughter, and I am a scientist. These are well known facts about me. However, there is one aspect that almost nobody knows, and I believe it is time the world knew. I am also a vampire. And I am not the only one."