Chapter 31

Sometimes, life was merciless. But death… Death had its own cruel way.

Sera Gearhard died on that very day in the arms of James Amber and her daughter, Rachel. There had been no prolonged goodbyes. No endless monologues like in those movies. She had simply collapsed in the kitchen of her apartment. Not even the immediately called ambulance could save her anymore.

On this particular day, Rachel's world had been entirely broken apart. It merely consisted of emotional pain and tears. She felt isolated because nobody would be able to take away this agony from her.

Eating, sleeping, washing…all those necessities had become worthless. She was just laying on her bed in her room, locked in and not planning on leaving. She knew that her father and Rose were living at the moment in this apartment as well, but she didn't care. Meal after meal was probably piling up in front of her door, but this didn't matter for her as well.

Her mom was gone. Ripped away by this asshole, called Death. Why not her father? Why not Nathan Prescott or any other motherfucker on this fucking planet? Why such an awesome person like her mom?

Rachel didn't understand this world anymore. It simply didn't make any sense.

It knocked at the door, but who cared? Everybody could go to hell!

It knocked again. Stubborn bastards! Though this time, a voice came into the mix.

"Rach? I-it's me, Max."

Max?! No way. He was supposed to still be in hospital, regaining strength with therapy 'n' stuff

"Rach, c'mon, open up!"

It was his voice, but how was this possible? He had to be in hospital, not here. This must be a trick! A cheap lie! A ruse of her father!

Infuriated, she got up, her welled up eyes burning with anger, as she unlocked and ripped open the door and…

He was standing right there: Max, in all his glory. He seemed thinner than before the accident and was standing on wobbly legs. Why was he here? How was this possible?

Rachel was just in shock, not able to move even a finger. Her mind had entirely shut down upon the flood of emotions, and only as Max made a step forward and embraced her, the young girl was able to relax onto his shoulder and sob quietly.

"I'm so sorry, Rach!" he said with a brittle voice, brushing soothingly over her back. And all she did was to hug him even more.

It had been days since she had seen him and even before just sporadically. But right now, Max was everything she needed.

Funerals. Maxine hated funerals, because they marked the ultimate end. The day, when it was time for the last goodbye. William, her granny, Chloe's cat… She'd witnessed all their burials and it had always devastated her. And today wouldn't be any different.

The day she had visited Rachel had already been a heavy one. Hours of crying, convincing Rachel to eat something and eventually helping her to get up and take a shower. And today wasn't any different as well.

At the moment, Max was sitting in Rachel's room, dressed in a black suit. On the bed was Rachel's black dress, waiting for its owner to return from the shower.

Rachel was now gone for over half an hour. Max knew that she needed some time, though they needed to be ready punctually when Vanessa would pick them up and drive to the cemetery.

Being a bit worried now, the young boy got up, needing some time to find his balance before he proceeded towards the bathroom. There, he knocked at the door.

"Rach, you okay?" he asked with worry, already grabbing the handle and to his surprise, it got pushed down from the other side and the door swung open, revealing Rachel who had a white towel wrapped around her body.

She looked sad. Very sad. Her eyes were red and puffy due to a mass of shed tears. Immediately, she flung her arms around Max, hugging him tightly as she whispered "I'm okay," just like she wanted to reassure him that she would never hurt herself.

They both then walked back to the teenage girl's bedroom, where she simply dropped the towel and began to get dressed. On a normal day, the young boy would've simply taken in her beauty. Would've stared at and probably touched her. But today he was too upset to even think about such things. Instead, he turned away and let his gaze wander around the room.

Like the rest of the apartment, it was already full of cardboard boxes, filled with miscellaneous stuff. In two days, Rachel would leave this apartment and move to - for the time being - into his room, before she would move to Blackwell as soon as a free room was found, which was a hard task since the school year was about to start and Rachel's appliance for a dorm room had been submitted on short notice.

Max was still forced to stay at the hospital, today - like the day he had visited Rachel - being an exception, until he would be fit enough.

A soft touch on his shoulder let the young boy spin around and facing Rachel, who looked simply gorgeous in her dress. She even had used the time to get some makeup on her face.

Holding hands, both then left the apartment and headed downstairs, where Vanessa was already waiting for them.

Rachel looked devastated, from her former beauty nothing left. Her eyeshadow was smeared all over her face as well as her lipstick from the countless times she had swiped away her tears. She was hurting so much. Every one of the priest's words was a sting in her heart. Every sight on the casked a grueling pain in her mind.

Before her death, Sera had demanded that her funeral should be as simple as possible. Nothing fancy. No wake. No feast. And Max could now see why she had wanted this, because every second Rachel was involved in this, caused her a lot of agony. And this fact was something that Max had always admired about Sera. She cared so much about her daughter, even after her demise.

Thankfully, the speech was short and soon the casket was lowered into the ground, which caused another cacophonie of sobs. Even Max couldn't hold back his tears. He lowered his sight to swallow down this big lump in his throat, but as he lifted it again, his eyes sprung open.

Fate was standing there, right beside the hole in the ground, her glowing eyes fixed on the casket like she was mourning as well. And indeed, her demeanor had a faint hint of sadness.

"You must hate me right now," chimed her voice in the young teenager's head. "But believe me, I never intended this to happen."

"Yet here I am, watching Sera gettin' buried and Rachel being in pain," Maxine replied internally with bitterness, glimpsing angrily at the entity that nobody else was seeing. "So, yes, I hate your fucking guts!"

Now shifting her gaze towards Max, paths of glowing tears were visible on Fate's face. "Cutting good people's thread is one of the hardest parts of my task. I mourn them the most. Yet, it has to be done."

"It's always the same bullshit," hissed Max back, squeezing Rachel's hand - which he was holding - even harder. "Bla-bla…not my fault…yadda-yadda…it has to be done. Geez-louise, change the record for once, will ya?!"

"A fact is a fact, Maxine, if you like it or not!" Fate returned agitatedly. "Neither your hate nor your blaming words can change that. Nobody is allowed to cheat death and especially you should know that, since you once tried it."

"And I succeeded!" Maxine replied with defiance, remembering all those countless times she had saved Chloe and others with her powers.

"Arrogance is a trait that does not suit you. All you ever tried to do was to stop time. To hold on to something that was about to fade. Yet, not even your powers could save those you cared for. Death is no merchant. Death does not bargain. Death takes those whose threads are cut. So, do not give yourself any illusions, because everyone you thought were safe, died eventually, you just never had to witness it."

"Lies!" hissed Max back, squeezing Rachel's hand even harder. "I saved 'em! And I'm gonna save Rachel, too! So, piss off and tell your fuckin' friends that-..."

"Max?"

Rachel's voice was merely a sorrowful whisper, brittle and easily to overhear. Yet, it immediately broke Maxine free from her stupor. She looked up and directly into the blonde's green, stunning eyes.

Just now Maxine realized how hard she had her hand in her grasp and that she was crying as well, though she didn't know if it was because of anger or sadness.

Maxine didn't want to lose her. She didn't want to give up. Death, Fate, Loki… they all didn't mean anything to her, but Rachel, Chloe, Steph and everybody else she was so fond of…they were anything to her, and she was ready to move heaven and earth to keep them safe.

"I love you," Max whispered eventually and hugged Rachel softly, who returned the embrace dearly, because - at this very moment - she was just glad to have Max in her life.

Rainy clouds, which were carried by a slight breeze, were starting to cover the sky. The funeral was already over for more than 15 minutes now. Yet, Rachel was still standing at her mother's grave, all alone, like she had wished. Everybody had already left, apart from Max and Vanessa.

Max watched his girlfriend the entire time. Watched how her body was constantly twitching upon countless sobs. Sometimes, the wind carried indistinct spoken words over. Words spoken into the wind in dire hope that they would be carried to the lost person.

"Mom," Max said eventually, shifting his gaze towards his mother. "I don't wanna go back to the hospital. I wanna stay with you guys. I wanna stay with Rach."

"Max," she replied with a heavy sigh, wrapping her jacket tighter around her body to keep the freshening up winds away from her body. "You know what the doctor said. You need to finish your therapy first, before they release you."

"Mom, please! Just one night. I…I don't wanna leave her alone like that."

Once more, the young boy's mother sighed heavily, thinking about it for another minute before she said "Alright, just this one night, but…"

Quickly, he embraced Vanessa, catching her by surprise so that couldn't finish her sentence and was almost thrown off balance. But she wasn't mad about it. On the contrary, she was simply glad that her son was alive and well, because more than once, during his coma, she had feared that she would be the one right now, standing at the grave, mourning her beloved Max.

Nonetheless, she eventually broke the embrace and continued, emphasizing the first word. "But…promise me that you won't overdo it. You're not back to normal, yet, and…"

"Geez, Mom!" the young boy answered timidly with a slight blush. "I think just talking and holding hands won't kill me, okay."

And to his luck, his mother let it drop.

First small droplets were now hitting the dry soil, leaving little dark spots everywhere. The wind was freshening up as well, which sent a shiver through the young boy and he hoped that Rachel wasn't freezing in her dress. He actually was about to go to her and offer his jacket as the young girl finally approached them.

It was clear that the young blonde was still heavily mourning, evident by the constant flowing tears. Even during the drive back to her apartment, she was mainly holding Max's hand and sniffed and sobbed from time to time. Not even the good news that her boyfriend was staying overnight could paint a smile on her face. Yet, she appreciated it, showing it with an intense embrace.

Still, everything Rachel mustered to do after they had arrived, was to lay down on her bed again and cry some more. Max stayed with her the entire time and only left once to get ready for bed and use the toilet. After being finished with his hygienic duties, he wanted to get back to Rachel, but was stopped as he met Jame's Amber in the hallway, who asked "Max, can I have a word with you?"

He was still wearing a part of his suit, just gotten rid of the tie and the jacket. In his right hand, he had a half full glass with some - probably - alcoholic beverage. Max, on the other hand, wore simple shorts and a t-shirt, and had his other clothes as a pile in his arms.

Both walked over to the dining table and sat down on two out of three remaining chairs. And while Max dropped his clothes to the ground, James took a glass and a half-empty bottle, which was already standing on the table, and filled a brown liquid two-finger full in before he reached it to the teenage boy.

"Don't worry," said James with a wry smile as he witnessed Max sniffing on the drink. "I won't tell your parents."

But, nonetheless, the young boy simply shoved the glass away as soon as he realized that the beverage in question was indeed alcoholic and smelled pretty bad.

"Uh, thanks, but no thanks," he answered, causing the older man to chuckle in amusement.

As far as Max knew from Rachel's stories, her father was supposed to be pretty stuck-up and without any humor. Yet in this case, alcohol seemed to loosen him up.

"Max," he then eventually said, getting more serious in his tone. "How long are you dating my daughter now?"

"Since last October…sir."

"Hmm…" he just hummed, taking another sip from his drink as he paused for a moment. "You're dating my daughter for so long and it's really a shame that I've never even exchanged one word with you, except until now. Listen, I know for a fact that my daughter - if at all - has probably told you some not so friendly things about me. You see, I'm not a perfect man, let alone a father, but… she's still my daughter and I care a lot about her."

Yes, Max had already heard some stories about James Amber, and none of them were very charming. Yet, since he had only seen one side of the medal, he asked himself if Rachel had sometimes exaggerated the truth a bit.

"I-I understand…sir, but…"

"Please, Max, just call me James, okay!" the attorney threw in, overwhelming Max with this sudden frankness.

"Uh, sure…James. Um, I just wanted to say that Rachel mentioned that you were lying to her a lot. I don't know how much is true about this, but…"

"Sadly - as she already mentioned - a lot. And it was a big mistake." Once again, he took a big gulp from his beverage and hummed as the liquor ran down his throat. "I made the same mistake twice, with Sera and Rachel, but now it's too late. Sera - god may bless her soul - is gone now and Rachel - understandably - doesn't even want to speak with me anymore."

"It's never too late to apologize," mentioned Max, yet his words only led to a head shake by Rachel's father.

"Rachel will never forgive me, especially now since Sera is gone."

"And you think drowning in self-pity will help?"

Maxine was surprised by these bold words that had suddenly left her mouth. Normally, she never would've been that brisk, but since her visit to this other dimension, she somehow realized that nothing would ever give her any mercy. Like Fate, she was now in a spot where it was in her own hands to make her own destiny against all odds. Since all this madness had started, nobody has ever given her any pity, so why should others be allowed to drown in it, or even dare to ask her for it?

Yet, James wasn't mad at Max. On the contrary, he simply chuckled and gulped down another swig of alcohol.

"You're a good guy, Max," he eventually said, patting the boy's shoulder as he stood up. "You're honest and even have the cojones to say your opinion right into my face, though you know who I am. Maybe this is why she digs you so much. Maybe this is why I failed. I was so afraid of her reaction that I coated myself in lies instead of facing the truth."

In one last draw, he gulped down the last remnants of his drink before sighing "Sorry for my rambling. I guess it was a hard day for all of us. Good night, Max!"

With slight insecure steps, James left the living room, probably heading towards the bathroom since he was originally sleeping on the couch and not in Sera's room out of courtesy.

For a moment, Max just sat there. Pondering and waiting until he felt that it was safe enough to head for Rachel's room without provoking another awkward conversation. Rachel was already asleep as he entered her room. Cautiously, he put his clothes on the floor and crawled into the bed. For a moment, the young boy feared that his girlfriend might wake up, but instead, she simply cuddled close to him and kept on sleeping.

Still in deep thought, Max, at first, had some problems entering the realm of Morpheus as well. But eventually, exhaustion took its toll and he drifted away.