Happy Endings Three
Audrey and Duke emerged from the fog and started off down the street. Neither spoke for the first hour they hiked. Audrey was worried about Nathan, and her mother, and Haven in general. Duke was worried about Mia and simmering with resentment that yet another "destiny" had arisen concerning him. He was fed up with fate and predestined paths and most of all, with being used.
"Okay, I've got to sit for a minute." Audrey finally said, plopping down on a convenient boulder by the side of the road. They hadn't seen a single car although they'd passed several side roads so there was hope they eventually would have a chance to catch a ride.
Duke stopped and sat next to her as the boulder was big enough for two butts.
"I feel like we're going the wrong way." He said glumly.
"I know what you mean." Audrey agreed; her face set in unhappy lines. "I don't like going the opposite direction from Nathan. We're stronger together."
"I just feel like I could help find Mia and I don't like running away and leaving her with him."
"Duke, you realize you just met this woman less than 48 hours ago?" Audrey pointed out. "What's the deal with you two?"
"I don't know." Duke shook his head in confusion. "It's kind of like it was when I met you. There was an instant connection. I think that if you hadn't fixated on Nathan when you were Sarah we would have…"
Audrey smiled.
"Yeah, I think you might be right." She agreed with a bit of nostalgia. "But I'm not entirely sure we would have been good for each other in the long run."
"The Barn would still exist if it had been me you said your final good bye to." Duke pointed out grimly.
"And I wouldn't exist anymore," Audrey said, unsure by now if that was something to regret or not. So many had died since the Barn had imploded…
"I just…" He sighed in frustration. "I need her to be safe." He said, returning to the original conversation.
"Can you still sense her?" Audrey asked curiously. Duke thought, feeling around in his mind.
"Just barely. She's very unhappy, I think, but not hurting or anything."
Audrey placed a sympathetic hand on Duke's arm.
"They'll find her, Duke. Nathan and Dwight are very good at their jobs."
"They have a Haven full of brand new troubles to deal with now, thanks to me." Duke argued. "And they're trying to find that damn aether. And there's the problem of just who and where this Croatoan monster is…"
"C'mon, Duke." Audrey stood and tugged on his arm. "Let's get going before we talk ourselves into returning. No matter what I think about being with Nathan, I also think he's right. Us being gone from Haven is a good idea right now."
"We should reach Overton in another hour or two." Duke said, rising reluctantly and starting out again. "I know a few guys there. Maybe I can get us some temporary jobs and a place to stay. That way we won't be too far from Haven."
"Yeah, well when we return to Haven we're going to drive." Audrey grumbled. "I didn't sign up for all this hiking."
When they finally reached Overton they were in for a nasty surprise – Duke's contacts had no idea who they were and as far as the rest of the world was concerned Haven didn't even exist. Audrey managed to land a job as a waitress in a truck stop and Duke found a garage willing to hire him under the table. But when Duke returned to the truck stop to collect Audrey that evening, she had forgotten who he was! He almost got arrested before he could convince Audrey he wasn't some creepy stalker and finally managed to get her to remember Haven and him. Fortunately for him, not even a trouble could make Audrey forget about Nathan and once he got her to realize that she had no clue where Nathan was, even though she loved him and he loved her, she finally opened her mind up to the possibility that Duke was telling the absolute truth.
"So, no more splitting up." Duke observed sourly after Audrey's memory returned.
"That's going to make survival a lot more problematic." Audrey pointed out.
"You think?"
"If only this didn't affect me too."
"I'm pretty sure that's what Mara was going for."
Neither of them slept well that night, in spite of their exhaustion. In the morning they agreed that either they both worked the same job or Audrey would just hang out while Duke worked. They presented themselves at the garage and Audrey's blond good looks ensured that she could stay, although Duke had to explain that she had brain damage and couldn't be left unattended. Audrey shot him a look that promised retribution but Duke was fine with that as long as it meant she didn't forget him the minute he was out of her direct sight. Audrey seated herself on a cushioned stool in the corner and watched Duke work, drumming her fingers on her leg, both bored and miserable.
In Haven Dwight and Nathan were trying to calm the troubles that Duke had released while still keeping Haven functioning. People were being "frozen" all over town and there was a narrow corridor of Haven that was filled with the troubled. Every trouble that went off seemed to trigger three or four more. Nathan and Dwight had a brief but intense argument about priorities with Nathan arguing that they owed it to Duke to find Mia and Dwight insisting that they had to restore order first. Dwight won that argument.
They survived the first few days with fewer casualties than the number of troubles seemed to call for but they were so busy running from one outbreak to the next that there was no time for anything else – like searching for Mia. Nathan ruthlessly suppressed the guilt he felt for letting Duke down because he knew there were no good options. And then the power plant went out…
Nathan, Charlotte, Kira and a few others formed a group to traverse "Trouble Alley" to reach the power plant. People were now dying in the dark and they were furious that they'd been kept in the dark about the troubles for so many years. Dwight and Nathan found themselves fighting this anger as much as the troubles.
Nathan brought the "Rougarou detector" Seth had created ages ago on their expedition. It detected aether and he hoped it could help them narrow down the search for William's stash. He was driven to create a new barn as soon as possible and end the troubles once and for all. He still battled guilt for destroying the old barn and leaving Haven struggling under the onslaught of a trouble cycle that never ended – and he felt personally responsible for every death that had occurred since the day he shot Howard.
In the yellow house on the bluff Mia spent hours and hours just staring out the window in her "living room". She barely ate, barely slept, and was the picture of abject defeat but deep in her mind she was working. Drawing troubles, or aether, from other people wasn't the only ability she had. She wasn't sure if it was a result of the injection of Duke's blood or a side effect from pulling the troubles from Duke as he exploded but she had more troubles than she was going to be able to quickly identify and learn to use.
Mia knew that her brother had a connection to her – the same connection he had to Duke and Audrey and Charlotte. He had stolen Jennifer's trouble and could "touch" anyone who had ever been in the Void. She believed she could block him but doing so would alert him so she left her mind vulnerable – but that meant he could spy on her at any time. So Mia created a surface persona for him to spy on and did her best to make it both believable and still one that satisfied her brother's need to torment her. And she studied her new abilities and practiced, as best she could, the ones that she hoped would serve her best in this war against her brother.
She knew she mustn't use her connection to Duke but her subconscious apparently disagreed because one night she found herself sharing a dream with him.
"Hey, I'm okay." She said, coming up behind him in his dream. He was standing on a bluff, looking over the ocean. She could feel his desire to be out there, sailing away on the Rouge, free from all this.
"This is a dream." He replied, ignoring her hand on his shoulder. She moved to stand next to him, enjoying the breeze and the smell of the ocean and the cries of the birds.
"Yes but it's really me."
"How?"
"We're connected, Duke, on a very deep level. I can't stay long – if my brother realizes I'm here he'll use it to hurt you."
"Why are we connected?"
Duke finally looked at her and she read his frustration and mistrust.
"It's complicated, Duke." She tried, desperate to reassure him and get away.
"Tell me!" He demanded.
"Okay." Mia drew in a deep breath. "We're connected on several levels, Duke. You are a descendant of mine and that is a connection. You have been in the Void via the Barn, which is another connection. And you and I are…" her voice trailed off as she realized there was no quick way to explain the biological drive that connected the two of them.
"Yes?"
He prompted.
"This isn't the time. I can't stay long enough for this conversation."
Mia looked him in the eye, trying to will him to trust her. "I just need you to know that I'm all right at the moment and you and Audrey are doing the right thing. Stay here until it's time to return and try not to worry about me."
"Mia, don't you dare leave me hanging!"
Duke growled.
"Duke, I promise you that there's no special "destiny" between us and I'll explain in detail when we're together again. Be safe!"
She told him earnestly. She could feel his anger but she knew that this communication had been risky enough. Taking the kind of time she would have needed to explain everything was just impossible.
"And don't kill anyone, Duke!" She urged him. "It makes my brother's grip on you stronger."
She wasn't sure if he heard her but she knew she didn't dare press her luck. Her brother wasn't spying on her right now but he could be at any moment. She rose, showered, and dressed. She managed to choke down some dehydrated (rehydrated?) eggs. Then she paced the suite of rooms over and over again, checking the view from the windows in each room compulsively and pulling her hand from her mouth over and over again as her agitation pulled her into chewing her nails – a habit she had broken centuries ago.
He'd be coming soon. He had left her to stew since depositing her in this place but he wouldn't be able to resist tormenting her in person much longer. She hoped to get more information from him about his ultimate plan and then – well then she could figure out what she needed to do.
But, perhaps just because he sensed her distress and was enjoying it too much, he made her wait two more days. She emerged from the bedroom into the kitchen to find him waiting, coffee in hand, one morning. He smiled benignly – an expression that failed to warm his eyes.
"Morning, brother." She murmured, pouring her own cup of coffee and adding the powdered creamer he had provided for her. "How's your evil plan going?"
"Now that hurts me." He chided gently and with patent insincerity. She joined him at the table and sipped her coffee, watching him patiently.
"I'm here to give you a chance to cooperate." He said when he felt the silence had stretched on long enough. "I'll get what I want either way but Duke will be far easier to manage with your help."
"And what is it you want Duke to do, exactly?"
"Collect troubles for me." He answered as if it were obvious. "That is what I created his line for."
"You mean kill for you."
"That too."
Mia's hand clenched her coffee mug so tightly the fingers were white at the knuckles.
"I can't." She told her brother after wrestling with her conscience. "Duke isn't a killer – well, not a wanton killer like you, at least. I won't be a party to pushing him into that role. It would destroy him."
"Oh, you'll help me – willingly or not." Her brother assured her coldly.
He reached out and touched her forehead. Her mind spiked with agony as he forced the psychic "back door" to her mind open and locked it open to him. In response she sealed her strongest connection to Duke – closing it completely and hiding it from her brother. She and Duke wouldn't be having any more telepathic conversations until that channel was reopened – if it ever was – but he could still sense her emotions and vice versa. Then she struck back at her brother but in a way he hadn't anticipated.
One of the troubles she had discovered had been attached to a dissociative state – originally it split copies off from a person who was avoiding strong emotions – and those copies lived out the emotions being avoided. Mia knew that Dave didn't want her brother in his head, the strongest sort of disassociation possible, and that was all the opening she needed. In an explosion of white light everything in the room that wasn't fastened down was blown around and Dave and her brother split into two different people. Dave slumped bonelessly to the floor and Mia dashed to his side to reassure herself that he was still breathing.
While her back was turned to her newly freed brother he struck, knocking across the small room with a single blow. She didn't even try to rise, dizzy with pain and fighting off the attempt to infiltrate her brain that Croatoan tried immediately following the blow. Normally he'd have had no chance – Mia's mental abilities had always been superior to his - but he was fueled by centuries of rage and a formidable store of aether and she was losing the battle until Dave regained consciousness and hit him over the back with partially destroyed kitchen chair. Mia teleported the two of them out of the basement in a desperate move that nearly knocked her unconscious in her already weakened state. Supporting each other, Mia and Dave fled the yellow house on the bluff. Dave knew where they were and guided them as Mia focused all her energy on remaining conscious and mobile.
In Overton Duke started awake, far earlier than he normally would have, calling Mia's name.
"What?!" Audrey jerked awake.
"I can't feel her! She's gone. We have to go back!"
"Wait, Duke!" Audrey grabbed his arm as he started flinging clothing into a bag. "Don't be hasty."
"She needs me, Audrey." He protested.
"Didn't you tell me that she came to you in a dream and said she was all right? That we were doing the right thing?"
"Audrey, she's gone from my mind. She could be dead."
"Duke, think about this." Audrey soothed. "Don't be emotional, just think about it."
"Audrey, she could be dead."
"Do you really think she's dead?"
Duke shook his hand free and paced the dingy room, hand running through his hair as he thought.
"No." He said at last. "I think we're just – disconnected."
"Well then, that might just be a good thing. Now you can have some space to figure out just who this woman really is to you."
"Audrey, I'm worried about her. Croatoan has her and we know what he's like…"
"Yes, we do. If he has her and she's still alive then there's a reason for that – what do you think that reason is?" Audrey asked him patiently.
"She's bait," he admitted reluctantly, "for me."
"Right. So if you go charging back to Haven then Croatoan doesn't need her anymore, does he?"
"Damn!" Duke slammed the palm of his hand against the door frame to the tiny bathroom.
"So we go on?"
"We –" Duke cut off mid sentence, his eyes darkening to black.
Audrey froze in terror. Was Duke about to explode again? But as the moments passed and nothing happened she relaxed slightly, watching Duke closely. His eyes closed, relaxing her further, and she could see them twitching under the lids, almost as if he were dreaming. Audrey retrieved her gun from where she had hidden it between the mattresses of her bed and waited to see what Duke would be when he opened his eyes again.
"Duke, so good to see you my boy – so to speak."
The voice in his head was relaxed, confident, and striving to sound utterly reasonable. Duke wasn't relaxed by it in the slightest.
"What have you done with her?" He demanded.
"Straight to the point, no nonsense, I like it!" The voice chuckled. "She's fine. I've got her safely contained far from the heart of Haven and all those dangerous troubles you released before she interfered. And she'll stay fine as long as you play your part."
"Play what part?" Duke asked warily. He knew he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Why, Haven's savior, of course! Once I have the troubles I need for my work we'll leave your charming village in peace."
"As long as people are troubled "peace" isn't going to exist in Haven." Duke countered bleakly.
"You bring my daughter back to me and help me collect the troubles I need and I promise to end the troubles in Haven once and for all."
"Without killing the troubled?"
The silence that greeted that question exuded irritation. Obviously Croatoan had hoped that Duke wasn't clever enough to think of the obvious loophole.
"Very well. Your cooperation is worth a little extra effort."
"And Mia?"
"My dear boy, she'll be at your side!"
Duke considered this, deeply torn. He could get the troubles out of Haven – everyone would have their lives back...
"Think about it. I'll even give you a week. I have a few loose ends to tie up as it is."
Duke took a deep breath and opened his eyes to find Audrey watching him cautiously with her gun trained on him.
"You can put it away." He told her tiredly. "I'm still me."
"Oh Duke!" She reengaged the safety and put the gun down before going to give him a hug. "What happened? You don't look happy."
"Croatoan made me an offer I'm not sure I can refuse." Duke answered.
Audrey's eyes narrowed with worry.
"Explain." Audrey asked Duke levelly but with clear concern.
"He wants us back in Haven. He says that if we come back and help him that he'll remove the troubles without hurting anyone and leave Haven alone forever after."
"Help him with what?" Audrey touched unerringly on the heart of the issue.
"He didn't say but I think it's got to do with revenge."
"And you think we can trust him?"
"Well, he's your father…" Duke said with a remarkable lack of conviction.
"No, he's Mara's father – and we all know what a gem she was."
"Trustworthy too." Duke agreed sourly.
"So we don't trust the bastard, right?" Audrey prompted firmly.
Duke ran his fingers through his hair and sighed a silent acceptance.
In Haven Mia and Dave stumbled into the police station, both the worse for wear, and Nathan reported back that he'd found William's aether stash not far from the power plant. Mia and Charlotte made plans to check it out after they had a chance to catch everyone up on the latest developments with Croatoan and recover. And Dwight returned to his modest home that night to find his daughter waiting in a dark living room.
Mia strongly suspected that her brother was stepping up his timetable and wondered why. Whatever he had planned, it was clear to her that she had somehow put a crimp in things. Now if she could just figure out how because she was very much afraid that they were going to need every possible advantage to defeat him…