Chapter 78
Fisk's Theory

The week passed slowly, but comfortably. For the survivors it was a breath of fresh air, while for the Valentines they could finally stop worrying about having to save everyone. Neither Joshua or Lisa had spoken to one another yet, though, despite Richard's constant suggestions. He was the only person who seemed to be still on edge, his face getting somehow even scruffier as he tried to make peace between the Valentines. When he wasn't trying to persuade them though, anyone who caught him unaware saw that he constantly stared into space, his hands wringing together as if he were extremely nervous.

Detrikov was perhaps the only other person who seemed agitated, a sight far from his usual calm demeanor He constantly rubbed the stub of his left arm and had taken in biting the left side of his lip, causing blood and scabs. In the middle of the week Cray had asked what was wrong, but Detrikov had snapped, sending the young man away with specks of anger in his eyes. Detrikov had started to go missing for hours at a time, only to reappear just when people were starting to panic. Sometimes he appeared covered in dust, or cobwebs, and once even had fresh scratches all over his face. While some joked that he had got a cat, most of the other sharp minds in the organization were extremely worried.

Now Detrikov stood leaning on his one arm, looking into the mirror of a bathroom. He knew something was wrong but he couldn't tell what it was. He hadn't told anyone, but when he was so-called 'missing', he simply could not remember what had happened. Memory loss on a scale of hours was serious. But Detrikov simply couldn't figure it out. He had gotten rid of Myers' influence, the arm – or lack thereof – was proof of that, so what could it be?

Perhaps Gregory's loss is finally getting to you. Perhaps you are scared to lead that which he created, to follow in his footsteps.

It was true that Fisk's shoes were going to be difficult to fill, however Detrikov had never worried about it before. He was confident that he could do the job Fisk wanted him to do.

Letting a small groan slip from his lips, Detrikov stood up straight and brushed his hand through his short hair. Never before had he felt so miserable and lost. He was always straight to the point, necessarily cold. No need to make needless friendships, no need to worry about anything. Death came hand in hand with that job. And that was what it was all about: The job. Gregory's job. Gregory's dream.

It's simply that. A senseless dream. Look at reality, Vladimir.

Detrikov stiffened and stepped back, staring into his own eyes. Why am I having doubts now? I always believed it could happen, why now? Why can't I believe it now? Detrikov shook his head. You are getting worked up. Stop it. Just a lack of sleep, that's all. Detrikov blinked. Like I really believe that.

A movement in the mirror caused Detrikov to stiffen even more but he relaxed slightly as Cray walked in, looking a little scared.

"The survivors are starting to come." Cray reported, trying not to look Detrikov in the eyes.

"Good. Thank you." Detrikov noticed Cray flinch slightly and he turned towards the younger man. "Do I scare you that much?"

Cray was quick to shake his head. "No sir. I…" Cray stopped and gathered his courage. "It's just that, well, ever since Gregory… you have been… different…"

"Different?"

"I don't mean to sound rude, sir, but you look… well, uneasy. Tense. I know it is none of my business, but understandably it is worrying coming from you."

"…From me?"

Cray rubbed his cheek, turning away. "I don't personally, but the others… they say you have only brains, no heart. That you are not capable of emotions, that you are-" Cray suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry sir. I stepped out of line." Cray bowed his head. "What is my punishment?"

Detrikov looked at the young man for a moment, contemplating his words. After a few seconds, he started walking towards the door. As he passed Cray, Detrikov murmured, "Thank you." Before exiting the bathroom. Cray raised his head, looking confused but relieved as well.

"Are you sure this place is abandoned?" Grace Hamilton shivered in the cold wind, arms wrapped around her shoulders trying to ward off the chill.

"Trust me, it is." Mark, a twenty-two year-old, nodded. "The stories all say that some kind of virus went off ten years ago and it was quarantined. No one came back ever since."

Grace shivered even more, although this time it was nothing to do with the weather. "Is it… is it still dangerous?"

"Nah, don't worry about it. The place is fine. And we're outside anyway. It's fine, Grace."

"I guess…" Trying to resist the urge to bite her bottom lip, Grace looked into Mark's eyes. "So… why did… why did you call me here?"

Mark scratched his cheek. "Well, I was thinking that… we've been dating for almost five months now, and that's a long time to be dating. And we haven't really done much, you know?"

Regarding Mark suspiciously, Grace took a step backwards.

"No, no, no, it's nothing like that." Mark put up his hands. "I was just thinking that just a kiss would do, you know? Support this relationship, make it real."

Regarding his words for a few moments, Grace looked left and right. "I still think I should tell Der about this…"

"Look, from what you've told me, he'll just get in the way. It's better this way. You've never been happier, right?"

"I… have been happy…" Grace nodded slowly.

"See. We'll tell him when the time is right. For now though, it's our little secret." Mark shrugged. "So… is a kiss alright?"

Deliberating for a few seconds, Grace nodded. "Okay… I'll admit, it is my first… I've never had the… courage… before…"

"Don't worry; we'll go at your own pace. It should feel good." Mark looked up and down Grace, taking in the relatively tight tank top and the way her smooth legs came out from the short shorts she was wearing. No wonder she was cold, typical blonde. Mark smiled and leaned forward.

Taking a breath, Grace started to go forward when her eyes widened in fear.

"Don't worry babe, it won't hurt." Mark, thinking the fear was about the kiss, leaned forward quickly, latching his lips around Grace's own. It lasted only a second before a hand clamped hard on Mark's shoulder. "What the he-" Mark turned around, ready to lash out, when he froze in place, staring at the larger man.

Standing a little of six-foot four, the man stared down at Mark with deep ocean blue eyes that were flecked with bits of anger. His strong jaw was rigid and his arms tense. The man slowly cracked his knuckles before saying slowly but menacingly, "Scram."

It was an easy decision. Mark ran off, turning out of the small alley and across the road. Watching him disappear, the man turned back towards Grace, his expression smoothing out; sadness taking place of anger. "When were you planning on telling me, Gracie?"

"I'm… I'm sorry Derrick I…" Grace, now biting her bottom lip, looked to the ground, ashamed.

"I was worried about you." Derrick ran a hand through his short and tousled blonde hair. "You just disappeared. Who knows what could have happened? What if you were hit by a car, or abducted, or something worse?"

"I'm sorry…"

"And you saw how that kid just up and kissed you without waiting for you to kiss him." Derrick sighed. "That's what I'm trying to prevent, Gracie. Guys like that are bad. They won't consider your feelings no matter how much they try to sweet talk you." Derrick sniffed. "All he wanted was sex and nothing more."

"Der!" Grace looked up at her brother, shocked.

Shrugging his broad shoulders, Derrick merely said, "It's the truth Gracie. You got to be careful with these people, y'know? Love'll only come by patience, not by forcing it."

"I'm sorry, Derrick…" Grace repeated once more.

"Don't be." Derrick shook his head. "It was my fault. I should have kept a closer eye on you. And I will from now on." Derrick took off his leather jacket, handing it to Grace. "You look freezing. Wear this."

"Thank you." The jacket was so big on the much smaller Grace that it almost reached her knees and could wrap around her twice.

"Let's go home now, come o-" Derrick stopped, his eyes moving towards the window in the side of the building.

"What's wrong?" Grace looked to her brother.

"One moment." Derrick moved over to the window, which was slightly ajar, and put his ear near it. He could only make out a few words but they worried him greatly.

"…soon… glad it's over…. List is finished… Death…"

"…The hell?" Derrick took a look in the window and saw through an open door a couple of people sitting in a group. "I thought this place was abandoned?"

"Mark said it was…" Grace whispered.

"Of course he's wrong that little slime ball." Derrick shook his head and got even closer. "They are talking about… some kind of list… and death?" Derrick pulled away, running a hand down his face. "Grace, I think we've stumbled upon something bad."

"…Like what?"

"Some terrorist grade shit, I don't know. A list? Death? That sounds suspicious in my books." Derrick looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can't just call the cops. No evidence or anything. But I can't just leave this at it is. If we've stumbled across something extremely bad then we got to tell somebody about it…" Derrick sat down cross-legged, to the side of the window. "I'm going to stay here, Gracie. Listen in. Go home because it's only going to get colder."

Grace nodded. "Okay…" Taking a glance at her brother, she moved across the wall before stopping.

"Gracie?" Derrick called out, noticing Grace stopping. She turned around and moved back towards Derrick. "What's wrong?"

"Two people are walking towards the entrance." Grace said. "A woman and a scary looking man."

"Huh." Derrick patted the ground next to him. "Okay, stay here with me. I don't want to let you out of my sight, especially if people are actively arriving here."

Grace sat down and looked at Derrick. "What… what are you going to do if it is something that bad?" She sounded worried.

"Don't worry." Derrick pulled out his mobile phone and propped it up on the open window. "I'll only be recording that conversation. If there is any proof that whatever it is is really, really bad, then we'll go to the police, hand in that recording. I won't do anything else, don't worry."

"Okay…" Grace nodded, evidently relieved. "That's good."

"I hope what Richard has to say is important." David said as he headed hand in hand with Dorothy to the front doors of Detrikov's building.

"He did say that it was." Dorothy replied, the wind brushing her hair backwards.

"Hmm… Well I was enjoying the nice calm atmosphere of not dying." David crossed his arms. "Humph. This had better be good."

As David pushed open the doors, he was greeted by an armed man.

"Everyone is in that room." He pointed over to a door.

"Are we the last?" David asked.

"Yes."

"Ah, okay." Nodding, David led Dorothy over to the door and pushed it open to be greeted with a packed room. Lukas sat with Dominika, whose crutches leant on the chair. Jeremy and Chloe also say together, both chatting quietly to each other. Nick was in the corner, peering around the room, his eyes notably flitting between both of the Valentines who sat on opposite ends of the room, occasionally looking at each other but leaving it at that. Detrikov himself sat nearest the wall with Cray standing with his hands clasped behind his back, stock still. Finally Richard was pacing left and right in the middle of the room. When he heard Dorothy and David enter, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Good. You're here." Richard motioned towards spare seats. "Please, sit."

Nodding, the two sat down and looked towards Richard. While David noticed the haggard look, Dorothy heard the wariness in his voice.

"So what is this all important thing you need to talk to everyone about?" Lisa asked, leaning forward. "And important enough not to tell people separately?"

Richard nodded. "When I was brought back, or rather, when I was in the process of being brought back I was confronted by Fisk in the darkness." Richard looked towards Dorothy. "Much like Miles would have to you, I'm sure, Dorothy."

"Yes. He explained everything I needed to know. What I had missed." Dorothy confirmed.

"Fisk did the very same to me. Explained it all. And more than I expected. He told me how he had told a theory to you, Detrikov. Which you would have heard as well Nick. About how he believed that Death was in fact a Chosen survivor."

"A survivor?" Lukas looked at Richard.

"Yes. Fisk believed, due to evidence he had researched, that Death wasn't some kind of all immortal being. Listen closely." Richard took a breath, before beginning.

"In history, there have been records of a 'list', the very same lists that most of you have unfortunately been a part of. But these lists weren't nearly as frequent as the last ten years have been. The lists were always every seventy to a hundred years. Huge periods of time between each list. Fisk recognized and realized that these were average lifespans of a human. It was a pattern he was confused but intrigued by. So he did more research and found out that for each of these lists, there was also one survivor. A survivor who went missing weeks after the others. While most assumed these survivors dead, they were never confirmed dead unlike the other people on the list. Fisk started concocting this theory, that perhaps Death, as a Chosen, was coming to the end of their 'perfect life'. They needed a new Death, otherwise things would all go awry. So they made the list as a selective process on finding a new Death. Fisk explained all this to me and I realised that it actually made sense."

"Why wouldn't Gregory tell us… tell me?" Detrikov asked, his face a mask.

"You knew that he was against theories and conjecture. He always wanted evidence before he moved ahead. He simply never had any solid evidence, so he was not confident enough to share his ideas."

"But why create more lists after that initial bridge accident?" Joshua put in, motioning towards himself and Lisa. "We were survivors. Chosen, so to speak. Us, Myers and Fisk. Why weren't we given the offer of becoming Death?" Joshua frowned slightly. "Not that I'm sure we'd want to. Well, other than Myers , the crazy bastard."

"As you know, during the year you were given to survive, somebody starting imitating Death."

"Myers." Lisa said.

"Yes." Richard nodded. "Death needed to stop whoever was imitating him and we all know this story."

"I still don't understand why he created the list with the people before?" Joshua motioned to all the survivors with a wave of his hand. "I really don't. Why didn't he just use us?"

"Because he was sure that it was one of you four." Richard said simply. "He knew that it was no coincidence that someone starting imitating him during the list. So he created the other lists. However, in his haste he couldn't choose proper people so the next five lists of the next ten years all failed. There were no survivors. He did think Clear Rivers would be a good bet, but then just as he was about to contact her she up and died. He sent the four survivors a message to find the imitator…" Richard looked to Joshua. "Of which you were the only one to actually try and do. Death created this list and it is still going. Initially, when the year was done, Death had planned to take the survivor of Jason and Dorothy's vision to replace him, and kill all four of the previous survivors thus making sure the imitator was dealt with."

"I got to admit… I'm confused…" Nick pursed his lips. "Are you saying that the last ten years were all attempts to get a survivor to replace him, because he knew one of the four previous survivors was a traitor and he couldn't trust any one of those four to replace him?"

"Yes." Richard nodded.

"Ten years is a damn long time. What took him so long?" Joshua asked.

"Remember, all of this is only theory, although I do believe it is more than that." Richard said. "Fisk couldn't figure out why it took Death ten years, and possible more had Myers not been killed. Fisk did wonder if perhaps that there was a limit to Death's interactions with the real world. Maybe he could only influence the real world so often." Richard shrugged. "Who knows."

"Wait, wait, wait, that's all very interesting…" David spoke up. He also stood up, looking annoyed. "But why the hell do you have to tell us?"

Richard blinked slowly, obviously confused.

"Look, I know I was, and I'm not sure about the others, but I was starting to get nice and cosy about not worry about Death and all that nonsense. I mean, it's something we just need to forget about. You all said it was over, and I trust your words, so I don't understand why you are bringing this all up. I mean, saying it to Detrikov, Lisa and Joshua, that makes sense, but you don't need to tell us survivors." David looked around. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we just want to forget about all of this and move on. You don't need to bring it all back up when it's over, do you?"

"I thought it would be a good thing to know."

"David's right." Lukas sat up straighter. "We have lives. Jobs. Family. Friends." He glanced to Dominika. "Futures. This week has been bliss, not having to worry about all of this and just when I was just starting to get used to it, you bring this up again? Especially when it's not… well, it's not important. To us at least.

"I'm sorry." Richard frowned. "I genuinely thought that it would be good to know…"

"I agree with you." Nick put in. "So much has happened that we can't just forget about it. We got to remember it, if only to honour those that die-"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here's the cold hard truth." David stood up, confronting Nick. "Everybody that died were strangers. It sucks, it really does, that they died, but they weren't close to us."

"David!" Dorothy gasped in surprise.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth. No one alive today had someone they know closely die. I am not going to spend time honouring those that are essentially strangers. All I want to do is forget about it all. Forget about these stupid visions, forget about Death, Myers, all of it. I just don't give one flying crap anymore." David took a deep breath. "So… just… don't contact us – or at the very least me – again about this stuff. I am done with it. No more Death, no more visions, no more nothing. That is that. It is over, you said so yourself. Now is the time to simply move on."

Silence reigned for almost a few minutes after David's speech.

"Ouch." Joshua put in if only to break the silence.

David turned towards Dorothy. "Can you get outside on your own?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Meet me outside when you're ready." David walked towards the door before stopping and turning around. "And that goes with the rest of you, too. The fact that you are all strangers. Don't think you can simply consider me a friend. Because I'm not and to be perfectly honest, now that it's over, you guys certainly aren't the types I would want to hang out with. So it's been a hell of a time, but from here on now, we all need to go our separate ways. Back to the lives we once lead." With that, David left the room, the door slamming sharply over the silence following his words.

A/N: Christmas delay! I'm sure you all understand. Thanks to PrincezzShell101 for your reviews!

Speaking of which, both the Hamilton siblings, Derrick and Grace, belong to her. I hope I did their debut justice.

Next chapter, guys. Next chapter is going to be a fun one. If there's one chapter you do not want to miss, it's next.

I will see you with a more than likely extra-long- (Looks at word count, realizes chapter is over 3000 words.) I think that my average words a chapter are going up. It used to be about 1,200 to 1,500, now I'm more than often over 2000.

Well, anyway, 'till then!