Sam knows his brother Jamie like the back of his palm.
But then he soon realized that he may know every curve and function of his palm, the very edges of the knuckles, he does not know the networks of nerves or the sea of muscles that makes it move, that makes it twitch and scrunch up.
He didn't realize this until weeks later, two weeks after Jamie's disappearance that he doesn't really know Jamie.
During the first week, Sam felt like the world started moving twice as fast. Why was school tomorrow? Why was the search for the night already over? Why did it feel like two days instead of a week?
Questions like those kept him mind awake at night. The cramped bottom bunk of their bed felt too spacious. Like something was missing. It left both a hole in the room and time on his hands like never before.
The second week he started thinking. How did Jamie get kidnapped? Did they drug him? Was he beaten till he was unconscious? Did they use chemicals and a handkerchief like they did in the movies?
Questions like those made him look deeper into the investigation.
No traces of blood to indicate being beaten. No sign of spilled chemicals anywhere ruled out the third option. Jamie was too active to have drugs properly administered to him.
For some reason, only Jamie's fingerprints were on the chair, but everything else was covered in somebody else's. Forensics had come in to check the prints.
Those fingerprints were apparently finished being tested. And some of the forensics team and the police wanted to talk to his family.
So now here he was, in the personal office of one of the staff as they searched for the information.
"Mister Wit-"
"Call me Ron, please." Said Sam's father. Sam thought back to how much of a mess his mother had been. She'd been already running on such a short fuse. She and Jamie were definitely closer than Sam was. Jamie showed interest in cooking and even the strange bat his mom won at a baseball game. He even jokingly named it "Mom's Excalibur". Mom even painted the name on it with Jamie.
But now she looked so tired. Dad was trying his best to calm and pick up the slack around the house. To comfort her at least.
"Right, Ron. Have you always lived in Tranquility?"
"No. Not really. I moved here with my wife, Judy, about twenty years ago."
"I see. The place where you lived before that, were there any, how do I say this, remarkable people?" Said the professional, looking through pages of a document they pulled out of a large folder.
"No? I don't think so." His dad said. Sam immediately tensed. "I lived in a pretty tame town. It was even in a different state but nothing out of the ordinary."
"I see, it's just-"
"Just what?!" Yelled Sam. He felt like he couldn't sit on the chair he was in. "Do we have a lead or something?!"
The professional set the folder down, barely phased by the interruption.
"Let me explain. The reason why I called your whole family here was because of the fingerprints." The professional said as he flipped through the folder and took out a plastic holder. "The reason why I'm asking all of this is because the fingerprints are, how do I say this... very unusual."
"Unusual?" Skepticism was apparent in Ron's voice.
"Yes. After we got a clear picture of the prints, we were baffled to say the least. We checked the equipment, the evidence, the way we scanned the fingerprints and," The professional let out an exasperated breath.
"And what? Does it match somebody from our family or somebody else?" Asked Sam. His foot was tapping on the ground. The suspense was killing him.
The professional looked towards the window of their office, then at the guests.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. Whenever we get a pair of fingerprints, we scan them and then put them away into a database until we find out who they belong to. Once we do, we take those prints out of that database, attach the information of the person to that print and send it away to a nationwide bank of those. There, they're kept safe and it takes a while to get access to those records. Whenever people who work in forensics, like me, need to match a pair of prints to get a lead, we first go to the unnamed database then to the records."
"Alright, okay." Replied Sam. This was a bit odd to say but Sam was beginning to think that the professional is trying to drop a major bomb. Information wise.
"These records and prints are located in the FBI." Aaaaand there it was. "These fingerprints are submitted through criminal arrests and non-criminal sources, like employment background checks and purchases of firearms. There's also prints from visiting programs."
"So you're saying that you took these prints to the FBI?" Ron asked in disbelief.
"All fingerprints are taken to the FBI. However, while these records are very thorough, we did not get a match to anyone."
"You mean these fingerprints don't belong to anyone in the US?!" Sam nearly yelled. This- these were horrid news, this meant that Jamie could be anywhere on the side of the globe or-
"Calm down, please. I said these prints are thorough, not that they have prints from every single person in the states. We're looking about 70 million. That's a lot, yes, but there are approximately a little over 300 million people in the entirety of the United States at the moment. The margin of error is not small, we're missing approximately three people every time it doesn't match." Alright, Sam thought, alright. His hands were shaking but that meant that they've minimized their search by one fourth. Awesome. Ron put his hand on Sam's shoulder.
"You'll have excuse my son. This whole- situation is very hard for him."
"It's okay. I understand. But back to the point. What I'm trying to get here is if you've ever met anyone from your entire lives that were interested in body modifications." The professional pulled out all of the papers in the pocket and pled them in front of him.
"Body modifications?"
"Yes, cosmetic changes or something of the sort. Horn implants, piercings in different places, plastic surgery but most importantly fingerprint alteration surgery." The professional looked at the set of papers on the table. "Because some perpetrators tend to be people we're close with, especially kidnappings. It could be a grudge or it could be an old enemy. We want to know if any of you met anybody who was interested in that sort of thing. Anybody at all?"
"Not on my part. Sammy?" Ron turned to Sam.
"Well there are a few punks in our school but Jamie never messed with them. They're not even in our classes. Well, mine at least, but they're highschoolers. I don't talk to them, Jamie doesn't talk to them."
"Are you positive?"
"Yeah. The only reason I even know about them is through rumors. But what about the prints?"
"I'll be honest with you two." The professional took of their glasses. "If we don't find at least some lead to these prints, and I'm no science fiction nerd-"
Sam immediately tensed.
"-but it's very possible that Jamie Witwicky was kidnapped by something otherworldly."
"Otherworldly? How exactly are we supposed to interpret that?"
"You tell me." The professional said as he pushed the papers to the edge of the desk. Ron stood up and picked up the papers.
Sam couldn't tell what was on the seats from where he was sitting but by the look of Ron's face, whatever was there was not good.
"What in God's name?"
"The reason why I'm asking about body modifications is because fingerprints like those shouldn't exist unless modified." The professional continued as Sam was given half the papers. "If we can't find a human lead to this, then the case of Jamie Witwicky's disappearance could become classified for reasons the government would not want anyone to know. Not even his family."
Sam looked over the fingerprints and felt his muscles tense. These... did not look human. Not with the scratchy lines that seemed to all direct to the small dot in the center of the fingers. The shaky lines seemed to be heading to the tiny dot, as if stars were being sucked into a black hole.
"It's certainly not an accidental type of fingerprints."
"What do we do now?"
"I'm not sure. But that certainly isn't a fingerprint we've ever come across. We're holding onto the idea that these are modified. If they aren't," The professional trailed off.
"Then we'll never be able to find Jamie." Sam finished as he looked over the fingerprints. "But why?"
Ron and the professional looked at him.
"Why did Jamie get kidnapped by somebody like this in the first place. I mean, yeah, it's Jamie, trouble follows him like a moth to a flame but, just, what would they gain out of this?"
"That's why we're asking you." The professional was getting annoyed from repeating questions over and over. "You know Jamie better than anyone else. We're asking if you think he'd get into anything like angering somebody who has access to body modifications or just gaining unwanted attention from such people. So, do you?"
"No." Sam said wholeheartedly. He's his brother, almost like his twin, but there are times when Jamie would just stare out the window fully expecting somebody to appear from there. The way he sometimes gripped butter knives like they're a weapon. The way he looks at himself and thinks. What Jamie is thinking exactly, is something Sam doesn't know.
"Anyway, so when you-"
"Again, sorry, but drunk me is a pain in the ass by being an absolute curve ball in, well, everything." Jamie interrupted, looking at the computer screen. The recording was split into four different ones, each one relaying a different corner of the house.
After having the gash on his head finally stitched, they were sitting in the living room once more, and now James could properly see the two rather scorched boxes in the corner of the room. Jamie actually saw as Luciano opened an already open one, pulling out an inhaler. An actual inhaler. And by the tinny sounds that came from rooting around in the box, Jamie could only assume there were canisters of medicine in there as well.
"I know, you've said that three times now. You didn't break anything, just uprooted a tree and-"
"I what?!"
"Made a rut. Nothing irreplaceable." Said Luciano, focusing on the far left bottom recording. There were several trees in the shot as well as a decent wire fence by a wooden door. There was no car in sight. How does Luciano even travel? "Now watch. This is the footage of the day you came here. Here, look."
He and Luciano then proceeded to watch. So far, the video showed nothing. Jamie squinted.
"Is this paused?"
"No, we're one minute before you enter. Now be patient."
Jamie sighed and watched.
Then something flickered on the grass. It seemed like light but at the same time, it was not. Suddenly, the grass caught on fire as a glowing mass of something violently collided with the earth and continued to move towards an unsuspecting tree-
As the glowing object collided, the tree almost effortlessly flew out of camera shot into the distance.
The glowing mass had stopped just inches of the wired fence and the camera slowly began focusing on the object.
Lo and behold, it was Jamie, who had four giant spikes poking out of his back and four long glowing nails, holding two large boxes, flew into the camera and the screen turned black.
"What the fuck." Jamie replied in absolute horror.
"That was you two days ago. As previously mentioned, two boxes."
"I did that. I did that." Jamie leaned back into the couch. "I uprooted that tree-"
"It's nothing, really-"
"That giant ass tree just flew out of there like some kid kicked a ball with the force of ten men. And that was from me falling." Jamie whispered. "Luciano. Can I ask you a question?"
"It's surprising how you're not asking more but yes, you probably should."
"What the hell did you put in my drink? As in that weird space cocaïne and glowing glitter wine. What the hell was that?"
"You know how I said it'd give you the strength of twenty somethings?"
"Luciano..." Jamie raised his voice in apprehension.
"I myself do not know what those twenty somethings are."
"At least tell me you know what that drink was. Or the crystals."
"The crystals, that I know. It's not toxic but it works a bit too strongly on you all."
"Like meth? Is it vegan meth?" Jamie asked, knowing that this talk will not end well.
"Heavens no!" Luciano glared at him from his side of the couch. "While I may have done some less than noble things in my life but I would not stoop so low as to give drugs to a child!"
Jamie blinked for a moment. Oh, right, he was still fourteen.
"Oh... right, I'm still fourteen." Jamie mumbled. On one hand, Jamie had to be worried about the fact while he was no doubt older than maybe all of the kids in his school yet managed to forget the fact that his body was not in fact a twenty six year old with high upper body strength and questionable dopamine production. On the other hand, he felt relieved that Luciano was able to help someone without bending morals or ethics. It reminded him of someone from the past. "But wait, does that mean most of the stuff you poured in my drink was syrup?"
"Obviously. I had dilute that thing somehow."
"But there was a blue curaçao."
"Just because it says something on the label doesn't mean it's exactly that." Luciano sighed at that.
"No wonder it tasted too sweet." Jamie grumbled. "But anyway, seeing as how we both will be in contact and you've helped me avoid death three times now, you should probably know the whole story."
Luciano suddenly stood up and left for the kitchen. Jamie couldn't bring it to himself to stop him because he himself understands. Nobody would want to get into something like this. This was more than just a small battle this was a war. And perhaps Luciano himself had had his share of it. No, if Jamie wanted to cleanse himself of the sins he and Teresa had racked upon, they won't drag somebody into a war who wants nothing to do with it.
Suddenly Luciano came back with a small bowl of red jello and whipped cream.
"Okay, continue."
"Did you seriously go to the kitchen for a snack? I had a whole inner monologue while you were there making that."
"Are you going to tell me the juicy details or should I just sit here in contemplation?"
Jamie sighed but ultimately began.
"Luciano, there's something I need to know. Do you care about this planet?"
Luciano stared at him.
Jamie had never been the biggest empath, but he saw emotions unlike any other in those eyes. Regret, uncertainty, fear but one stood out the most. Disbelief.
"I-" Luciano put the jelly bowl down. He looked at his hands and Jamie saw the shimmer that it gave when the sunlight hit just right. "It's a question that's always boggled me. Sometimes I think of the time before i- did that. And I wondered 'what would it be like today if I hadn't come down to this planet to see, just who are we fighting?'. But the more I think the more I realize, that whether I hate this planet or not, the people here matter. Their writing matters, their culture matters and most of all, their families matter. I had given up my entire life's meaning to save this place I now call home."
Oh. Damn, Jamie couldn't really argue with that. Jamie almost felt teary eyed.
"But if I hadn't given up that life, I wouldn't have been able to find another purpose here. I wouldn't have found another home on this planet. I wouldn't have traveled across the stars to meet new people, new places." A faint smile graced Luciano's lips as he said that. The bartender turned to Jamie, and for a moment, the tiny fourteen year old thought he saw a halo. "But to answer your question, yes, I care about this planet with my whole being."
Shit- if Luciano ever wrote speeches, he'd be dangerous.
But that was good, because the way Luciano said it made Jamie sure he wasn't on S'rik's side nor on Primus'. If he was willing to give up his life's work to protect this place? Jamie would argue that he was the most selfless person on this side of the galaxy.
And if he was as selfless as Jamie believed, then he was his ally in this.
What irony. The most selfless alien and the most selfish human, teaming up to scream at the sky and kill three gods with nothing but a few knives.
"Whoa. That was-" Jamie tried to find the right words. "That was something. I mean it, you don't hear something like that every day, it's just- wow."
Luciano chuckled and gave a mock bow.
"Why, thank you, I am told I am a natural poet."
"Poet? Eh, that's debatable, but it'd be a dark ass day for your enemies if you ever decide to get into public speaking." Jamie replied. "As for the question- Remember what I told you on that night in Vegas? You should know the details, as shitty as they are."
Luciano gained a sour look on his face.
"Again, sorry, but if I threw up in your car, I'll clean it."
"You didn't throw up in my car. It's surprising that you remember that far, but that's not the point, is it?"
"Nope. The point is, after hearing that and all the horseshit that happened last... week, I'm starting to realize that the shoulders of one fourteen year old are not fit to carry the world. So-"
"You want me to help you hide from the government and some giant metal warlord?"
Jamie sighed. A part of Jamie, a selfish part that clearly still belonged to Teresa was telling him not to drag Luciano into this. That he was too good for this. He was patient, kind, stubborn but this shit. He didn't deserve it, especially since he's helped Jamie three times now. He shouldn't be getting caught up in this, especially after helping someone. But a heavy, analytical part of him told him that this half assed plan of his was going to fall apart without some form of support. Or at least someone who he could rely on to help him with the political side of the plan. Or at least someone who wasn't S'rik or Primus.
"I don't want to. I really don't, you frankly shouldn't your hands dirty with this. I want to thank you for everything you've done for me yet at the same time I don't want you getting hurt because I dragged you into this mess. Plus, you make it sound like child's play when it's actually just on the border of insanity."
"That's rather noble."
"No. It's selfish."
"Then let me make the choice."
"You don't know the scale of this catastrophe."
"Then tell me. Tell me just how bad this situation is."
"...Alright. It all started with my bastard of a grandpa-"
Starscream was suffering. Both physically and spiritually.
When Soundwave and Shockwave had taken the report he gave, Starscream had made the grave mistake of putting in the coordinates of where he found the flesh bag.
Because obviously those slaggers wanted samples for their new pet project.
And now, Starscream, now one eyed, discharged and barely out of the med bay, was being dragged by the Decepticon scientists' pets to the labs because they needed more information.
Primus, just fragging offline him, already.
He was all but pushed into the lab where both scientists were walking around in a frenzy, data of unknown kind flickering on the screens and... What the pit was that on the table?
Even with one optic, Starscream saw a small chamber, mostly used for keeping things in a zero gravity environment and to sustain it's form for research. Inside the chamber was what seemed to be small pebbles- no, they were too jagged to be simple rocks, and some were tinted red-
Oh.
Oh no.
Those were those shards. The shards that had fallen off Signal Gamma's helm when Starscream threw it into a wall.
This was... worrisome.
"Starscream. Report."
"Go frag yourselves, I just walked out of the med bay." Starscream replied as the worm like creature finally stopped dragging him.
"Report about the encounter with signal Gamma." Shockwave relied and pointed at the anti-gravity chamber.
Oh. Hm.
"My report concludes in the fact that I have no knowledge of what happened the moment that," Starscream pointed at the chamber. "appeared."
"Do not lie to my face plates."
"I...may have thrown signal Gamma into a wall and those... crystals came from its helm."
Shockwave and Soundwave continued to stare at him. The lack of an EM field was uncomfortable. No wonder nobody worked as their partner.
"And it is possible that the crystals are a... direct physical sample of signal Gamma." Starscream drew out.
"And you did not bring the samples to us the moment they appeared."
"I was busy fighting for my life and continued existence against that abominable flesh bag but yes. I would tell you to have some sympathy, but that would be a waste of-" Starscream replied before realizing how he, as the humans say, put his foot in his mouth.
He had essentially told them he had an opportunity to grab a sample but didn't. And this was crucial, because it brought forth the theory that the humans knew they were out there and were starting some operation which relied on baiting them with energon signals.
"Starscream, you are given thirty kliks before I disassemble you peds."
Starscream ran out of the lab as fast as he could, ignoring other Decepticons as he bolted away from a furious Soundwave and Shockwave.
Hallway through hallway Starscream bolted until he saw a familiar frame with four helicopter blades.
Blackout.
Blackout was... needless to say both a friend and an enemy. A friend because he was one of the few mech who Starscream had known while the war was still on Cybertron and had fierce loyalty towards Megatron.
Blackout had personally witnessed the crashing and burning of his and Megatron's friendship. However no sympathy came from him as he witnessed that after Megatron's technical death, Starscream had taken role of first in comand and had switched the tactics from "destroy all Autobots" to "Primus below, just fragging survive, Cybertron is already screwed inside out".
Even if Starscream had brought a technical victory, Blackout was loyal to Megatron and Megatron only.
Perhaps it was hope of his previous lord still being alive that kept him on the path of finding him. Or maybe just because he saw how the Fallen, the closest thing that was meant to be leader, be a literal scrap heap and was running the Decepticons into the ground. And then promptly decided that chasing an old ghost of the past would be much saner.
Starscream would agree with a statement like that. Nobody wanted to swear loyalty to that ancient mech.
Either way, their relationship was shaky at best.
Shaky was better than nothing.
"BLACKOUT!" Starscream hollered. If his chances were good, then he'd at least not get mauled by Shockwave. The medics had already grumbled enough about his injuries and those were the only bots in Nemesis that nobody wanted to be on the bad side of. There were no Autobots yet there were fights. Somehow.
The mech turned around to shoot him a glare before his expression merged into that of confusion.
Oh right, Blackout hadn't known about the little gremlin that had taken his fingers and optic.
"Starscream." Blackout grumbled as he looked him over. What a sight he must have been, halfway injured and working up a sweat from running. "What business do you have with me?"
"Hide me." Starscream exclaimed. Blackout remained uncaring, minus a raised eyebrow and the EM field showing disdain. "Mission from the scientists. Had to examine a target. Target is a pit spawn. Didn't mention a detail. They're coming for my aft."
"Which scientists? Nobody would be that desperate for-"
"Shock and Soundwave. Maybe even Scapel."
A look of recognition burst through. Finally, some understanding.
"Ah. You mean signal Gamma?" Blackout asked and Starscream swore there was a hint of revulsion in his voice.
"How do you know that?!"
"It's all they've been talking about. It's hard not to know when Shockwave nearly threw a sparkling pod at the Fallen over it." Blackout rolled his optics before grabbing Starscream and dragging him off somewhere. Pity and safety! What joy!
"Shockwave did what?" Starscream perked up. He had missed out on much needed gossip over his time at the med bay.
"You have sensors, do you not, Starscream? The Fallen wanted to put it behind. Shockwave wanted to go down to earth to study it. The Fallen refused, a fight broke out and now they've had a wrench up their aft ever since."
"...oh."
They kept walking through the corridors. Starscream was getting suspicious.
"Where are you taking me?" Starscream asked.
"I'm not taking you anywhere, you're heading back to your room and I'm heading to the barracks. Your room just so happens to be on the way." Blackout grunted. Starscream knew better than to start anything.
But he still did.
"Blackout?"
"What?!"
"I've been thinking-"
"That's a first." Starscream ignored the obvious insult.
"That flesh bag was giving off energon signals. Those don't really come from nowhere. Plus, we know for certain that there's something that's connected to us here. And there have been some...unusual coincidences over the past few cycles."
"Where is this going?"
"I am begging to think that Megatron really did find the Allspark."
Blackout stopped. For a second, Starscream wondered if he had said something wrong. Wouldn't be surprising if he did.
"This is unlike you." Was all Blackout said.
"And how exactly would that be?"
"Lord Megatron's death was an advantage to you. Why are you starting to think that he's not only alive, but he also succeeded in his goal? If he did, he wouldn't be gone." Blackout almost spat out the last word.
Oh. Perhaps Starscream wasn't the only one hurt by Megatron's untimely disappearance.
"That was...before Cybertron had collapsed. I wanted the title of Decepticon leader, and I got it. But what's the point of that now? There's no Cybertron, no Autobots to go up against, no system to upheave and no meaning to the title. We Decepticons are the last of our kind, with maybe the occasional spare Autobot here and there. There's no use to it, not the title, not the position nor the ideal. It's making me wonder." Starscream explained, his view moving to one of the windows on the ship. It was a view of the planet they were near. Jupiter, the humans called it.
"Then what have you been wondering about?" Blackout turned to him.
"Are we, as Decepticons, still alive or has the ideology fallen along with the Autobots? Maybe it's what Megatron thought, too. That we no longer have the right to call ourselves as Decepticons, especially if we wanted to free our planet but ended up destroying it. And maybe he's somewhere out there, not waiting for anyone to find him. Just existing. Waiting for cosmic rust to kill him first."
For a moment, there was silence. Nothing but the soft whirring of various machines accompanied the atmosphere.
Starscream looked at his own reflection. The optic was missing, replaced with an patch made of various metals.
Perhaps he's gained insight into something else for the price of it.
"You've changed." Blackout said. "What made you start thinking about it?"
"Signal Gamma. It reminded me of him. Megatron. The Megatron before the war. Before all this nonsense."
Suddenly, Blackout started walking. Starscream turned to watch him leave.
"Then perhaps I should see for myself, just what kind of creature Gamma is."
And Starscream was left alone.
"And that's how I got here." And with that Jamie finished his long tale of Archibald screwing over all of his descendants, how the war of the Autobots and Decepticons would partially destroy the planet and nearly completely destroy it on several occasions along with the fact that there was a literal cyber god sleeping inside of Earth's crust.
Luciano looked a little pale. Well, as pale as you can get for someone with dark olive skin.
"Do you need a minute?" Asked Jamie.
"I need ten. And another bowl of jello." Finally replied Luciano.
"I'll get it. Just-" Jamie grabbed the empty bowl and got up from the couch, "sit back, try and stomach everything. Don't worry I'll get your jello."
Luciano stared blankly at the wall for a minute before shaking his head.
"I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Have you had breakfast? You should. I have juice in the fridge. Or is it expired?" Luciano was mumbling to himself. Jamie wondered if he should have left some details out.
No. He shouldn't have. And he didn't. Luciano, just like the rest of the population of the planet, deserved to know the whole truth. Even if it was a little weird. And traumatic.
Jamie rushed to the kitchen with the bowl. He set it on the counter and started rummaging through the cupboards. He found two more. One was porcelain, with a red and white color scheme the other was completely mint green. Good enough.
Placing both bowls on the counter he began doing a multitude of things. Setting water in a kettle to boil, cutting up jello as well as he could with his left hand, searching for tea, whipped cream and sugar. Milk and cereal was surprisingly easy to find.
Luciano was surprisingly organised. Or maybe he just hasn't been in this kitchen for a while.
Tea ready, jello placed in two bowls and cereal prepared, Jamie wondered how he was going to carry this all with a cast arm and one non dominant arm. Rummaging further, he settled for the iron baking tray and his hopefully sober balance.
Which proved surprisingly hard but Jamie and Teresa are nothing if not stubborn.
He gently put the tray on the coffee table, careful not to place it on any cords or anything of the sort. He wasn't going to drop anything on the floor.
He placed the tea and jello on front of Luciano, who was still staring in the distance. But he didn't look shocked. He looked paranoid. Like he's seen something like this happen before.
"You made me tea?"
"You probably might need it. I picked chamomile. It was probably wrong of me to drop a bomb like that on you with no warning." Jamie said as he took his own jello and the bowl of cereal.
"No, no! No no no! I'm fine! Just-" Luciano propped his elbows on his knees and his hands on his temples. He sighed deeply. "After all that happened twelve hundred years ago, you'd think everyone would know that humans can easily turn spies into traitors. But it seems everyone's assuming that feature no longer applies."
"Makes you wonder who would even want us. I mean, we have a long history of violence and dehumanizing others. We're not even far from where we were a millennium ago and that's saying something."
"Yes, but it's that brutality, empathy and adaptability that makes humans special. We live on a miniature sun that has only one habitable planet and it's a death machine from its axis to its very wildlife. Can't really find that type of crazy often, even in space."
"Really?" Jamie watched as Luciano straightened his back and dropped his hands. He looked ten years older. Emotionally speaking. Luciano picked up the teacup and sipped it.
"Well, that and the fact that you guys are a godless race. There's always at least some yet you guys have none. Not even one. The average is usually a lot bigger than that." Luciano laughed bitterly.
Jamie could only assume that religion was a touchy subject.
But that phrase made him wonder. They didn't have any gods? What did that mean? Were all the religions in the world just actually cults? Religion has always been legalized madness, if you weren't careful. But if there was no god for humanity-
Then what the fuck were S'rik and Primus doing?
"By the way, you mentioned gods, right? There were two- three? You never mentioned the names." Luciano cautiously put down the cup. "Most of the universe doesn't even know that this planet exists, much less it's gods. But you said that, the planet-"
"Earth, as we know it, was created from two colliding planets, one of which was Unicron. Unicron now serves as our molten core."
"Yes, yes. I don't think I've heard of such a planet-"
"Because it's not actually a planet."
Luciano stopped his ramblings before staring at Jamie. The look Jamie received was suspicious. Jamie knew he was contradicting himself so an explanation was needed.
"Well, it is but it's not just a planet- it's also a god. Have you heard of Cybertronians? Or Cybertron?" Jamie asked, trying to make the words sound as gentle as possible.
Luciano's eyes widened in both recognition and fear. Oh no.
"Cyber- Cybertron?! As in actual, metal Cybertron? The place where those planetary star harvesters came from? I'm- i," Luciano stopped himself before taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes. "Jamie, are you telling me the Cybertronians are here. On this planet?"
"So far only a few."
Luciano opened his eyes again. They were wide with panic.
"So far? Are you saying there's going to be more?! Do you know the destruction that will bring?!" Luciano exclaimed.
"I literally specified the ET race fighting on this planet as giant metal robots, I thought it was obvious!" Jamie replied.
"James, I know at least seven different extraterrestrial races that fit that category and none of them are as bad as Cybertronians! I don't know what sort of heroic deeds they'll be doing, but the general idea that a majority of galaxies have is that they're a bunch of ruthless sun harvesters who look down on organic species! Who happen to be armed to the teeth and have had a single was so bad that it was destroying their planet and didn't give a fuck. The universe doesn't think highly of them." Luciano answered. He breathed in and sighed. "Some planets hated them so much that they actively incorporated them into their religious texts, beliefs and mythos as the villains or just straight up murderers. I know from experience!"
"Well, I mean yeah, you can't blame the universe for thinking that but have you thought that maybe the information is outdated? Especially the "destroy the planet and don't give a fuck" part. Pretty sure three major conflicts revolve around that. Like, the goal of restoring their planet. They care just... not in the traditional way?"
"And what would be the state of Earth if Cybertron was revived?" Luciano asked, clearly skeptical.
Jamie opened his mouth before closing it. Oh, right. The enslavement of the human race or Earth's total or slow destruction.
"...Okay maybe the goal has a bad future for the entirety of this planet but those were the plans of those who looked down on humans!" Jamie tried to defend. But even so, he could tell that what he was saying was bullshit.
"And what about the ones who don't look down on us?" Luciano asked crossing his arms.
"Home." Jamie replied. Luciano looked almost... saddened. "They never really thought they could fix Cybertron, but there might be the fact that there's something that's stopping them from coming back. To them, it's gone and they're thinking of Earth as a sanctuary."
Luciano looked away from James and back to his hands. He looked - he couldn't call it nostalgic, there was too much pain in his eyes. Like it reminded him of something.
"Then what's you plan?" Luciano asked. "You said that the first major incident will happen in less than two weeks. You plan is to make sure the Allspark is nowhere near a large population to minimize casualties and maybe even make sure it doesn't happen at all. But that doesn't really focus on anything. Just because two sides can't find their objectives doesn't mean they'll stop fighting. How do you propose to stop their war?"
Jamie was taken back. Ah shit. That's the kicker. The original plan was to minimize casualties not stop the literal war.
Now that he thought about it, it was weird that S'rik and Primus wanted him to minimize casualties and each their own respective side - S'rik wanted less humans dead, for a reason he can only guess to be shitty, and Primus wanted less dead Cybertronians.
They never gave a shit about the other side or the fact that stopping the war could easily do both at the same time.
"Shit I never got that far." Jamie replied.
"How are you even alive?" Luciano asked, clearly worried.
"Magic space potions, I guess?" Jamie replied. "But how does somebody stop a few millenia long war? One you're not even a part of?"
"Well don't ask me. I'm not an expert." Luciano replied.
For a while they sat in silence.
"I...I think I could do it. "Jamie spoke up. "I think I know how I can get them to cooperate. To stop the war."
"How?" Luciano asked.
"Their war was the reason why they lost their planet. But it's also the reason why they screwed over the entire population which wasn't affiliated with the war. It's the reason why they had to send the only thing that kept them alive as a species to Earth. Essentially, this war is because of the Allspark."
"And?" Luciano couldn't stop the disappointment inside of him from being voiced.
"And guess who has the Allspark?" Jamie turned to Luciano with a sly smile.
Luciano took one look at his face and concluded that yes, this child was going to go far in all the wrong directions.
"Jamie, no."
"Jamie, yes. I mean, what if I make them a deal they can't refuse. Get back the only key to restoring your species and maybe even restoring your planet with no guilt involved or die by entropy and my alcoholic rampage of godless brutality. What are they going to say? No?" Jamie raised his arms in defense. It does seem like a solid plan.
"JAMES!" Luciano yelled in disapproval. "That's basically a hostage situation!"
"Yes but a hostage situation is one where the captor gains something. In this one, everybody wins."
"But it's only going to prolong the problem. Wasn't Cybertron's most destructive war a civil war?"
"Then we'll make them dispose of whatever caused the civil war at the same time."
Luciano pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That's the most chaotic neutral plan I've heard to this day. And I've heard a lot of those. How can you be so sure that you'll be able to wing this?"
"I've been winging it for about twenty eight years, I'm a master of my craft." Jamie tried to assure the elder.
"Twenty eight?"
"Fourteen here, fourteen back then. Didn't start until I was about twelve back there. But this isn't the worst pickle I've been into!" Jamie waved his arms around.
"And what is?"
"Getting stuck in a warehouse fuck knows where at two in the morning full of gang members armed with machine arms at the age of, I guess, seventeen? Sixteen? I dunno, I was washing my hands clean of the business, they didn't want that but I got away with a squeaky clean record." Jamie explained.
Luciano's eyes were the size of saucers.
"And your parents?"
"Single father, he didn't know. Managed to keep him from finding out until I died. Pretty much told nothing to nobody. Plus I had a friend on the side who got me back home. Everything worked out!" Jamie tried to smile reassuringly.
"And the gang members?" Luciano asked reluctantly. Jamie's smile dropped. "You know what? Forget I asked. Back to the topic. So let's assume you do, in fact, bullshit your way out of this. What about the humans? They'll know something is up. And since everyone's phones and computers are reverse engineered from, what was his name?"
"Megatron."
"From Megatron, I don't think the government would want to let go of advanced technology that easily. Especially if they've invested an entire organization into it. Especially if the ones in hold of said technology are coming to earth in search of sanctuary." Luciano sighed. "Knowing the American government, they're going to start implement some incredibly shady things to keep them here."
"And they will. But they were kept here because of the war. The Decepticons have two ships - Nemesis and the Arc. Well, the broken Arc. That thing crashed into the moon a fuck ton ago. They know about it but I'm not sure if they're actually repairing it. They could do that and then they can leave and take whatever shit the previous generations left here and say "sorry for the troubles, we'll try not to bother you again but let's stay in touch!" and that would be the best case scenario.
"But the government might start some shit with the Decepticons to make the Autobots side with them or maybe even blackmail them into staying. We've got to make sure the government supports the peaceful decision and let's them go back to fix everything. Maybe give them a care package for good measure."
"But the government is well, the government so we don't really have anything to leverage it with." Luciano sighed and fell back to the couch. Jamie copied the sentiment. God, this was such bullshit. The war, Sector Seven, the government. Horseshit, all of it.
"By the way, you did say you were sent by gods, right? You said one of them hates the daughter of the other guy..." Luciano trailed off, wanting Jamie to finish the sentence. Jamie winced. Honestly, the talk about gods was the one thing that Jamie kept absolutely vague. The amount of information he found out about both S'rik and Luciano was making him connect dots he seriously didn't want to connect. If Luciano was banished from his planet, then hearing that his precious god sent some alcoholic jackass to unfuck the planet and then colonize it would be... painful? Traumatic? Probably.
"Primus had a daughter, or I think she's his daughter, I don't know, it wasn't clear. That daughter was Quintessa. I think she was called a Quintesson? Is that a thing?"
"Yeah, I think. Quintessons were an ancient race. They took planets with life and turned them into wastelands. But that was a long time ago. They're a dead species." Luciano turned to him and Jamie could feel his eyes burn into him.
"Then Quintessa must be a mix between a Prime and a Quintesson. Damn. Makes you think how old she actually is. Either way, if I hadn't changed anything, Quintessa would have brainwashed Optimus and would try to smash the ruins of Cybertron into Earth, essentially attempting double apocalypse. The other god wants her dead because..." Jamie trailed off. "Now that I think about it, I think Quintessa being half Quintesson makes sense. The other guy said she fucked up the neighboring planets and stuff, so maybe that was Quintessa trying to pick up where the Quintessons left off? Sheesh, talk about taking a heritage test too seriously."
"But what about the other god? What was their name?" Asked Luciano.
Jamie avoided his stare. He must have shown the pained expression, because the reaction was instantaneous.
"James?" Luciano asked. He was worried. James hated making people worried. Teresa hated making people worried.
But what if this was something that needed to be said?
"You won't like it." Jamie finally looked at Luciano. Luciano leveled his stare. Jamie sighed. "It's S'rik."
The response was immediate.
"WHAT?!" Luciano jumped out of his seat. "Are you certain?! Is it really S'rik?!"
"They literally told me it. Yeah, I'm certain." Jamie replied.
Luciano was taking deep breaths now. And pacing across the room. Okay, this was either a panic attack or a habit response to a trigger. Both bad.
"I can't belive it. It can't be, how can he still have connections to the mortal realm? That's stupid! I was sure I got every gate. I made sure." Luciano was walking in worried circles.
"He said he pulled me out of a sea of souls of something. So I guess he has direct contact with me because, I dunno, he shoved me into a body or something?" Jamie stood up and tried to calm Luciano. Luciano turned to him and-
His eyes didn't look human. They looked like S'rik's but different. Less vibrant, much softer. His brow was furrowed with worry.
"I won't listen to him. No matter what." Jamie loudly proclaimed.
Luciano turned to him.
"Last night, when they- both gods- visited my dreams I heard them. How S'rik was trying to use me for conquering the planet. How he was trying to groom me into a weapon or- something. He had another one down on Earth-"
"But he betrayed his own kind and sabotaged the plan for declaring war with the humans. Destroying the gate that could connect gods to the mortal realm, the information we had gained on them and the space disrupts for teleporting an entire planet into nearby solar orbit." Luciano finished. He looked so...defeated. As though he desperately wanted to do something but couldn't. Jamie felt his heart clench. "That was me."
Fuck. Change of plans, S'rik wasn't getting a body, he was getting Teresa's fist in his face. Hard.
"I... I'm sorry." Jamie's eyes fell to the floor.
"It's not your fault." Luciano said. "It's wasn't mine and it isn't yours."
Jamie raised his eyes. Luciano sighed.
"But I still can't believe he's still trying. And after twelve hundred years." Luciano threw his hands up. "Twelve hundred years! And he still wants this godless planet. Really, is this petty revenge or straight up obsession?"
"Pretty sure it's petty revenge. I think he wanted the neighboring planets and started aiming at this one for good measure. Be honest, are we screwed?" Jamie asked.
"No. But S'rik is a liar and loves to manipulate information in order to gain what he wants. You'd better not listen to him. My kind was indoctrinated into a monotheistic dystopia. Who knows how many tricks they've picked up." Luciano was combing his fingers through his head.
"You're saying that like you're going to fight him." Jamie raised his voice. Fucking shit, the whole point if the talk was for Luciano to know what would happen but not get caught up in this junk!
"I'm not, can't actually. But if S'rik is the one pulling the strings then this isn't just your problem. It's my problem, too." Luciano sounded like his mind was already made up.
"I don't want you getting hurt."
"And i won't. I'm not a reckless madman, unlike someone I know."
Jamie huffed and crossed his arms. His eyes trailed to the burned boxes.
"By the way, what's in those boxes?" Jamie asked.
"Two inhalers, a few canisters and a lot of bullets and hard drives. The other is full of C4." Luciano said, gesturing to the appropriate boxes. Jamie's eyes widened.
"C4?!"
"I think so."
"You think so?"
"Hey, I'm not going to touch something wrapped in a black bag with tape all over it." Luciano argued.
"Then let's check if it's C4." Jamie started walking to the boxes.
"I'm not touching play dough explosives."
"I am. Now, do you have a box cutter or am I doing this caveman style?" Jamie turned to Luciano. Luciano raised a finger and went to his study.
Jamie opened the first, open box. Like Luciano said. Bullets, hard drives and maybe a few discs. Wow.
Jamie turned to the other box. Peering inside, he saw it was filled black trash bags wrapped like presents with tape. The shape reminded him of a paper sheet. Wait a minute.
Cautiously, Jamie picked up a stack and weighed it in his hands. He heard Luciano creep up from behind and hover over him.
"So?"
"This isn't C4. It's paper." Jamie said. He passed the stack to Luciano. "Here. Feel it."
Luciano took the stack and bounced it in his hands, fingers brushing against the angles.
"This is paper." Luciano whispered. "Is the whole box just paper? Why the hell would you have so much paper?"
"Maybe it's a bunch of documents."
"Let's find out then." Luciano stared walking back to the table. Jamie followed him.
Sitting down, Luciano pulled out a box cutter and carefully sliced open the top parts of the tape.
Opening the bag, they saw... a picture. A picture of some guy in a suit.
There was a pause.
"Why the fuck is the senator of Oregon staring back at us?" Luciano mumbled to himself.
Jamie's mind suddenly stopped.
"Senator of Oregon?" Jamie asked.
"Yeah, that's him. The current senator."
Jamie's hands reached for the paper. The picture was connected to several other papers, all connected by two punched in holes tied together with string.
Under the Senator of Oregon was the face of the senator of Los Angeles.
"The fuck? Wait. No, it can't be." Jamie opened a random page on the stack just as Luciano reached for the senator of Los Angeles to do the same.
It was- a list? It was more of a subchapter titled-
'Involvement with a human trafficking ring: phone records, transactions.'
"Holy shit!" Luciano exclaimed. "The Senator of Los Angeles meddled with the police crackdown on cocaïne dealers by bribery?!"
Jamie was confused, why would he-
Oh.
OH! OH HO HO HO HO!
"OOOOOOOHHH! LUCIANO I GET IT!" Jamie suddenly exclaimed. He shut the stack and waved it around. "THIS IS IT! IT'S HOW WE WIN THE WAR! DRUNK ME IS A GENIUS! A HYSTERICAL, MAD GENIUS!"
"What?" Luciano was staring at him as though he was a lunatic.
"The government! We don't know how deal with the government if they try some shit with the peace plan of the Cybertronians but this is it! We can blackmail them into silence! This- these are all records of all the illegal shit they've done! We'll blackmail the government into submission!" Jamie jumped up to point at the box. "That box probably has dirt on every politician in the US! MAYBE EVEN THE PRESIDENT! Or even the dirt on all of Sector Seven!"
"Nope, Sector Seven is in your flash drive." Jamie stared at Luciano. Wait a minute, where was the fanny pack? "Your fanny pack was holding on by a thread and I sort of checked some of the details. Gruesome, really."
"But you still have it, right?"
"Back in the fanny pack, in my study."
"I didn't see it there."
"Did you check inside the desk."
Jamie stayed silent. He didn't.
"Exactly. But- shit, blackmail the government? Is that even possible?" Luciano went to going through the entire stack of papers.
"The Yakuza do it. The Mafia does it." Jamie replied.
"We're not the mob."
"Yes but that doesn't mean we have to hold ourselves to a higher moral ground."
"Yes. Yes it should. Now, sit down."
Jamie sat down. He started looking around before his hand drifted to his head. The patch on his forehead still stung.
"Hey, Luciano?"
"Hm?"
"You've been here longer than anyone, right?"
"Yes."
"Then I think I need to know- that thing that kept making me do all that crap like a gash on my forehead and using me like a puppet- was that a demon? Do demons even exist?"
"They don't. Well, as far as I know. Ever since I left my planet, I haven't exactly been keen on dabbling in religion. And trust me, that thing that happened? That's no demon."
"How do you know? "
"I met a guy."
"I'm sure you meet a lot of people. You seem like a social butterfly."
"I'm trying to be. My reputation follows me a lot. But there was this guy, who shares our...disposition. You'd think there's not a lot of us, but if you look, there's an intergalactic convention about it."
"Okay..."
"But this guy- he's a fucking icon. And not in the way that one looks up to someone- he was an icon of wrath and unfiltered destruction. But he was an okay guy. We, we sort of got along. Somehow. He was incredibly terrifying though." Luciano was fidgeting in his seat and took to holding the papers for support.
"Don't tell me if-"
"No. I want to tell you this. I think it's important. This guy said that he felt it once. Said that it was like he was being in the back seat of his own body. Or that sometimes he'd see the reflection of his past life trying to do something. He said it was like all of your limbs going numb but still moving. For a while, he couldn't do so much as sleep. I don't think he needed it but he liked it, i guess. He would always wake up in the middle of doing something he couldn't understand."
That was it. Right on the mark of everything. But Luciano continued.
"But he said he figured it out. He said that when he kept thinking about his past life, he kept getting his memories jumbled and that some were even incorrect in the first place. Like some memories or emotions weren't there. So he did some research and he was right. He'd forgotten an important piece of himself, probably when he died, but the emotion and raw power of that moment he had forgotten was strong. Terrifyingly strong. So strong, it turned into its own persona. "
"How- how did that guy call this thing?"
Luciano stared at the paper- another politician- as if he could see through it.
"There's a term he used that is found only in one place. This term, when I heard it, I didn't know what it meant. I thought it was a phrase that was native to an ancient language or some form of call or sound made into a word. The place he said he found it from was a planet, relatively small, having a growing population. But as time went on, the phrase changed its pronunciation with the growth of the language. But when time passed on Earth..."
Jamie felt himself sweat again. He doesn't know Luciano, he doesn't know his history, his story, his sufferings or his joy. Only pieces of his life but the entirety of it. But the feeling that Luciano gives out was that of an honest person, a person who'd put others before himself.
A person like Derek-
Jamie cut himself off. No. Not now, thinking about memories now would be dangerous, especially if the idea that he had forgotten something important had festered worry, rage or some strong emotion and had turned into its own identity.
"That term had changed over the years, but the meaning still stood the same.
"That guy called his disposition Doppelganger."
"But, If I'm correct, the Doppelganger myth doesn't work like that."
"And you're right, it doesn't. But he said that this was probably the closest thing he had to it."
"A spiritual Doppelganger who apparently works like an alarm clock made by Dali."
"Yes and no. This Doppelganger thing isn't limited to just being the personification of an emotion. Remember in the bar, when I looked terrified of you describing what happened that morning?"
Jamie nodded.
"Well, the thing about this is that it shouldn't be neglected. You know the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Well, it's something like that. If the Doppelganger, or anything in fact, is trying to accomplish something by one method and that method doesn't work, they'll try to use or think of another method. That would mean they'd have to develop new reasoning. A reasoning that would be outside their so called "programming". It would have to develop and evolve to gain it's goal. But the more it develops, the more it realizes that there's more to the world than just this mission of theirs. With that, the personification would slowly go from a mere Doppelganger, to a personality, to an actual soul."
Jamie felt a cold sweat running down his spine. This- this could mean a lot of things. For one, Jamie Witwicky, canonically, should not exist. Jamie is nothing more than the byproduct of two horny people and one or two god's psychopathic plan of planetary conquest.
He in himself was Teresa Mortegan, twenty six year old bachelor with a Masters degree in Law who did a lot of illegal activities in their life.
The idea of killing someone is something they've been pushing away for years. Think about it too much and you'll soon be past the point of no return.
But taking somebody's place in life? Taking away their chance in being a human being? Teresa would sooner kick themselves out of their body.
Not to mention, Jamie's life was far better than that of Teresa's. There wasn't the constant fear of falling into poverty, no fear of hiding your tracks and certainly no horrid emotional experiences connecting to victims of abuse and for some reason their own mother.
Jamie could have had parents, a big brother, a kind and wild group of friends, a dog, a chance at proper education and a bright future.
And Teresa probably took that away from Jamie.
"Then that means I took somebody's place? In living?"
"No! No, never. What I'm trying to say is that, seeing as how our souls are made of dark matter, all we could do is tied to propagation. Be faster, be lighter, be heavier, be stronger. Be more. That's what we could do in itself. Dark matter, in it's entirety, should not be able to create. It's not normal matter, which creates, or antimatter, which destroys. It's a buff and debuff system." Luciano took a deep breath. "For something like that to create something, a soul at that same point..."
"Would be like trespassing into the realm of Gods." Finished Jamie with an unyielding feeling of dread.
"Calling it that would be kindness. Even those souls who are made of dark matter can't be considered gods. We're simply beings who are able to do more, not make more. We're not gods and we never will be. Whether or not that's a good thing,"Luciano's expression seemed to tighten. The lines on his face grew more prominent. "Depends on each other. No, what that could be called would be the ascension from a dark matter soul to a near abomination."
"I- I'm sorry, can you make an example?" Jamie felt a bit ashamed for not understanding the topic.
"It's fine." Luciano's hand drifted from the paper to give his head an affectionate pat. "This is a very meta heavy subject. It's rather difficult to understand but it's fine. How well versed are you in abrahamic religions?"
"Most of them are monotheistic, with some forms of light and dark personified into gods?"
"Alright, so let's take gods. Let's take Christianity, there's a god and there are humans. Among one of these humans is a human that is made of dark matter. That human dies and reincarnates. But let's say, in the previous life he forgot to propose to a loved one. These feelings become so strong they personify. But the new life, who had forgotten all about that previous life, ignores all of the Doppelganger's warnings. The Doppelganger then starts learning and adapting. Soon enough, it becomes it's own soul."
"And then what?"
"I don't know. The guy I knew didn't tell me what he did. All he said was that he "took care of it". Which means he either destroyed the soul or, and this is just speculation, fused with the soul."
"What happens if you fuse with one?"
"Nothing good. A body, no matter what species, is always made harbor one soul and only one. Having two in the same one, the body wouldn't be able to contain both and would fall apart. A single soul is very powerful, but if there were two, they'd start reacting to each other and the body wouldn't be able to keep up. But if those two fused, it'd be like if an ant suddenly managed to grow into six feet and was capable of human action while reciting Latin backwards."
Jamie could only balk at the explanation. The face he must be making must have been hideous, as Luciano looked away in shame.
"I'm going to become some bloody fucking Lovecraftian horror that drinks the blood of gods?"
"No! Well, yes, but that isn't necessarily written in stone! At that was only an example through metaphors. It's less abomination and more like something that's able to enter a god's domain and return, despite not being one. But like I said, that would happen only if the Doppelganger would become it's own soul. But you still have time to undo that. Before it happens."
"By finding out what I forgot and doing it?"
"Yes."
"Which means I have to technically relive my whole life?"
"Essentially."
Jamie couldn't help but groan into his hands. Because frankly, he's spent the entirety of the past fourteen years trying to forget Teresa's life as a whole and maybe being a better person. Sure, it was failing spectacularly with his alcohol problem, fluctuating self-esteem, depressive episodes and just overall sticking his nose where it didn't belong but he tried, okay?
"Wait." Jamie said. "What if the soul moved on? Like it got a body and it'd leave my body so I could be the only one in it?"
"I don't know. Truth be told I'm just spouting theories and hypothesis." Luciano said. "But if it would work like that, then you would need a body identical to your previous life."
"And that's impossible." Jamie groaned. He was getting a headache. This whole situation was nothing but a huge headache.
"Why?"
"Because my body was burned. I died in a fire." Jamie said, rubbing his temples. He didn't remember why but all he knew is that he died and that was it. But something felt like it was missing.
"How did you die?" Luciano urged.
"Asphyxiation from the fumes."
"Then the body is still functional. If it were burned to a crust, then yes, but in your case you'd just have to clear the lungs."
"Then why?" Jamie suddenly raised his head. "Why am I thinking that I was burned to a crisp-"
"Maybe that's what your Doppelganger is trying to tell you! Something about your death doesn't add as to your memory. Try thinking harder." Luciano exclaimed but suddenly stopped. "If you're okay with that."
"My death was caused by a burned microwaveable lunch." Jamie said.
"Alright, who put that lunch there?"
"My roommate." Jamie replied. But for some reason his mind was speaking as if on automatic.
"What did they look like?"
"They-" Jamie halted. Wait a minute, roommate? Teresa did have a roommate. They lived in an apartment complex and had a roommate, but they split up after one and a half years after graduation. A few months before Teresa's death. They still hung out, probably because they still lived nearby. The term roommate was never really dropped. It felt comfortable with calling Nelly a roommate because it fit even if they didn't live in the same place anymore. They hung out, a lot. Why?
Why was Nelly suddenly such an after thought in Teresa's life? She was nice, kind and they helped each other out. Hell, she was probably even the reason why they got reincarnated as James! She loved Transformers, so much that she had a few figurines of them. They even made food together!
Now that they mentioned it, they never bought microwaveable meals! Teresa learned from her neighbor, an old lady by the name Mariel, how to make food out of nothing. And then passed it on to Nelly.
Why the hell was he forgetting important people?! Especially if one of them was the last person they saw before death.
Why the hell-!?
A thought that didn't sound anything like his own made haste.
You died in a fire. You have a roommate. They left it on the stove and it started a fire. You died from the fumes. You died alone.
You died alone.
Jamie suddenly got up, a pain searing pain showing in both his casted and marked arm.
Those were not his thoughts.
Jamie ran to the study.
"Jamie?! Is something wrong?!" Luciano dropped the paper in his hands and ran after the teen.
He walked in to see Jamie angrily scribbling on a paper. With his casted arm. His left arm was limp on his side.
He was emitting a lot of dark matter at the same time.
"James?" Luciano asked, worrying for both his study and his newly formed ally.
"I don't have one. I never had a roommate. Something is wrong." Jamie felt rage boil inside of him. "I have someone, something whispering lies into my head! Someone fucked with my head! Someone got in and did something and-!"
Jamie let go of the pen and let it fall to the floor.
James had never felt such boiling anger in his life.
Teresa, however, has. Thrice. A dark day when there were no clouds and no rain. A man backed into a corner trying to defend himself with nothing but a chair. A small girl trying not to cry at the beating thrown at her.
Their own mother staring right into their face, her own face and-
Jamie nearly saw read before taking in a deep breath. Calm down, calm down.
Teresa was supposed to be dead. But if what he was thinking was correct then the crowbar he found was enough to pass the message.
He felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder, but he knew it wasn't Luciano. No, because when he turned he saw the dead silhouette of Teresa. As though her body had been rolled in charcoal with no exception of the face. The darkness no doubt hid the large burns on the side of her face but not well enough if he could see the sharp teeth and gums poking out of the skin and flesh.
The hand around his shoulder squeezed.
"Remember. We did it for her and we'll do it again." 'Teresa' spoke.
Jamie bit the inside of his cheek. That vision from before...
"Is this about Maggie?" Jamie grit out.
"No. This is about us. But it is for them."
"Them?"
"How will they live in peace knowing what happened? How will she live knowing that this is her fault? How will he live knowing that the closest person to him died in such an unjust way? How will she live knowing she could have stopped this? How will he live knowing that his daughter's soul will never be at peace like this?"
Jamie tore himself out of 'Teresa's grip. He turned to her. His jaw clenched hard enough that it hurt, the whole room felt like it was spinning and he was close to just straight up losing it.
"What are you talking about?! All this time you've been giving me weird details, flashbacks and no hints! What happened?! What did i do?! What does Nelly or Maggie or even Derek has to do with this?! Why is there a voice in my head screwing with all my memories?! WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS EVEN MEAN? I THOUGHT I- I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER FOR US, THAT WE'RE NOT DOING THAT ANYMORE, SO WHY?! New life, new family, new clean record and no more of that! WHY ARE WE DOING THE ONE THING THAT WE'VE HATED ALL OUR LIVES ALL OVER AGAIN?!" Jamie was on the brink of hysterics. Angry tears were running down his face as he tried to stifle his sobs. Luciano probably witnessed the whole thing but he couldn't care.
"Because if we don't do this, they will fight him for us." Teresa replied.
Jamie's arms felt heavy and his heart sank to his stomach.
"Our death is not how we remember it, And they, who we left behind in that world, know this. And they don't agree. They want vengeance. They want justice."
"They're going to to do what we did for them." Jamie's voice was a whisper.
"And they won't survive if they attempt it." Teresa said.
"How do you know this? Just who are you?"
"Do you really think i've been just sitting around doing nothing? All we remember are painful moments because we keep thinking about them. Don't you think we'd be curious as to why we keep reminiscing on nightmares while our death feels so wrong? Their control on us is lax. They think a simple curse will keep us from thinking. But we're not pliant."
Jamie's eyes drifted to the paper.
"We never were in the first place." Jamie finished. "It's not our nature."
Suddenly Jamie's head felt clearer but his arm burned.
He hates it. He hated the idea of someone suffering because of him. He hated the idea of someone who gave themselves the image of virtue only to do things that would be- should be frowned on. He hated the idea of owing debts, he hated the thought of it. He hated doing nothing about it.
Hate turned into anger. Anger turned into fury. Fury was like a curse. The more furious you are, the stronger you get but at the same time the less human you become.
Human. Had Teresa, had James ever been human? They had, but that was a long time ago.
In the end, nothing had changed. Teresa still had to push her humanity, her morals and her comfort into the back of her head to stay sane after the horrors she would do. There is no passion in it, no joy and sadness, no disgust and business like attitude. There is nothing but action, movement and pin point precision with inhuman strength. There is no humanity in it, yet that is exactly what keeps Teresa human.
Teresa is Jamie and Jamie is Teresa. Thus, nothing has changed.
"Someone knows what I did." Jamie turned to Luciano. His eyes were still glued to the paper in his hand.
Luciano knew that something was very eerily wrong in that sentence.
"The minute Teresa died, that secret should have died along with me. Nobody can know that secret. It can't get out. The only ones who know are Derek and Maggie. That's the only exception.
"Some bastard out there is going to hell. And I'm getting the feeling I know who." Jamie's furious eyes trailed to his left arm. The arm with the fluctuating numbers that S'rik gave him.
He pulled the sleeve back.
The numbers were rising too fast.