| |
"You need to sit down Ryan, it's time you heard some truth." Leon pushed Ryan out of the room with the box, closed the door and gestured to a waiting chair.
"I want to wait for her, let me stay..." He began to protest but with one look at Leon thought better of it and sat.
"Julie wants you to join Mercury." Ryan was about to respond when Leon continued.
"What I'm going to tell you now is information that even a man as powerful as your president doesn’t know. The scale of what Mercury truly is," he paused, "well quite frankly is impossible. At moments like this when I consider what we've become even I can't completely believe it!"
"So you're not the bad guys?" Ryan knew it was a stupid question and regretted it the moment he'd asked. Leon punched the wall.
"How could she fall for you? If you ever suggest that my Julie is anything other than good again I'll kill you, understand?"
Ryan nodded.
"Allow me to continue, if you don't decide to join this information never leaves the room. Julie trusts you but it doesn’t mean I have to, at times she has displayed very bad judgment in men."
"Danny." It was a statement, not a question.
"The lucky Danny." Leon spat the name like a curse. "He's lucky she shot him, if I'd got my hands on him he'd still be begging for mercy. Please don't ask her about it, she'll tell you in her own good time. Before we proceed I need to ask you some questions. Firstly are you currently or have you ever been married?"
"NO! What do you take me for?" Leon smiled sardonically but otherwise ignored his outburst.
"Secondly do you have any family?"
"Mom and Dad both died a few years back, I was an only child, I'm not in contact with any other relations."
"Do you speak any other languages? Have you ever been overseas?"
"French but I'm a little rusty. I've never left the States." At that response Leon laughed out loud.
"Detective Harrison I never would have guessed! Neither of us had a clue you understood our conversations, not a hint of recognition crossed your features at anytime. That is exactly what Jules does for a living, she lies through her teeth 24 hours a day, working undercover to prevent evil men from killing thousands."
"Mercury is a police force?"
"Yes and no, we're more than that, Mercury is a fully independent, international, undercover foundation dedicated to preventing people like Hitler from controlling the world. We know everything about everyone, we have the power and the money to control the world but we use it to protect instead. Julie wanted me to just take you to London, but joining Mercury means dying and I won't force that on you."
"Dying?"
"Yes, we'll fake your death, it's easy if you don't have to run back into the building." He gave Ryan a hard stare and took a deep breath.
"So Detective Ryan Harrison are you interested are you willing to sacrifice everything and everyone for the good of the world?"
"No I'm not."
Leon spun from the window to face Ryan.
"But I'll do it for her."
"I'm so glad you're here." Meghan and Logan stood alone, Maksim having left them while he scoured the surrounding area for rogue Tracers.
"I couldn't stay away." He said simply burying his hands into her hair and studying her face, as if drinking in every feature and imbedding it in his memory, in his soul. "I need you." He whispered, Meghan's eyes opened wide, too used not hearing such affection from people to expect it even from him. "And I love you." He added as if they were the only words in the world left to say. Words he'd never said before to anyone, words that never would have sounded right before but now were natural. Only for Meghan.
"You love me?" Meghan asked meekly, a scratch in her voice.
"More than anything." He smiled and cleared his throat. "Is there something you'd maybe like to say to me." He knew he didn't really have to ask but he wasn't secure enough in himself not to.
"Actually...no" Meghan said cheekily and then in all seriousness added, "I'd much rather show you." He laughed and she wrapped her arms around his neck drawing him infinitely closer. Moments later he wasn't laughing, couldn't have had he wanted to.
She smiled into his mouth and slowly but very clearly whispered the words, "I love you. How could I not?" And he let out a small cry of delight making Meghan laugh and Maks, who had just walked through the doorway, jump.
"Glad to see someone's happy." Maksim dryly noted. "So, marriage?" He asked. The subject hadn't even entered their minds and Meghan and Logan simply looked at each other. Maksim mentally kicked himself in the silence, too awkward to leave and too embarrassed to stay.
"Marry me." Logan said.
An unequivocal "Yes" resounded though the room and Logan shouted yet again, lifting Meghan high into the air. She wrapped her legs about his waist and kissed his face. Maksim rolled his eyes and moved to take a seat. He sat down and ran his eyes over the declaration document he had summoned up on his palm pilot. The ceremony seemed simple enough and it would definitely be an experience.
Meghan and Logan eventually realized that he was in the room and appeared outwardly sheepish but inwardly eager to be alone. Maksim resolved to put them out of their misery. "Well my friends, if marriage is a definite then there is no time like the present."
"Don't we need some kind of religious person for that?" Logan asked unable to take his eyes from Meghan who appeared equally enthralled.
"Actually the clan leader performs the ceremony; unfortunately Meghan can't marry herself so the first in command receives the pleasure. That's me." He added for good measure. "I act as binder and witness." He grinned, his words dry but his eyes betraying his excitement.
"Binder?" Logan queried.
"Church person." Meghan clarified. "You really want to do this?2 She asked, sure of her own feelings but not wanting to pressure him into anything.
"If you want me." Logan smiled.
"Oh I definitely want you." Meghan nodded her head and Logan kissed her.
"Then lets get this show on the road, I have a christening to perform after this." Maksim broke into their moment, knowing that if he didn't they might be standing there forever. Black.
She was surrounded by midnight black, her whole body throbbed, her limbs wouldn't move. In the inky dark nightmarish images began to weave themselves together.
A man with silver hair and flashing gray eyes balled his fists and yelled at her, while a younger more aggressive man dragged her roughly towards him. Something about a bomb! By dragging her behind him she would absorb the impact and he was going to kill her! Did he really want to kill her? What had she done wrong? Why was he hurting her this way? The remembered explosion caused her limbs to lash out, arms and legs hitting walls she couldn't see.
Calming slightly she whimpered and curled into a tight ball, the throbbing wasn't as bad now, better to ignore it and fight the painful memories.
There was no escape as it began again, the same young man and this time they were locked together in a small room. He was accusing her of things she hadn't done, threatening her by saying "she was going down" he would "get her and make 'them' pay".
Was he a police officer?
There were two men now, one on either side of her. Her blood was everywhere! She was bleeding to death and they weren't doing a thing to help! As she lay bleeding the two men's faces filled her field of view.
Concentrate, she told herself in the dark. Try to remember what happened next, you know you got away from them.
"Why grandma what a big smile you have." She whispered hysterically to the faces. They mocked her as she lay bleeding and laughed as the tears fell down her cheeks, purely evil smiles from evil people!
How had her life come to this, didn't she have friends? Surely she had one good memory to counter the bad? Hadn't even one person cared for her?
The laughing got louder, the smiles grew closer and with the pounding of her heart the intensity steadily grew.
Louder and closer, louder and closer, growing and growing until her body shook and the tears ran constantly, louder and closer, Louder and Closer, LOUDER AND CLOSER THEY WERE EVERYWHERE SHE TURNED!
"HELP ME!" A desperate scream that filled every corner of her mind until it exploded from her mouth bringing her back to the realm of conscious thought.
In the calm that followed she heard a female voice, calm and gentle. A friend? Her whole being strained to make out the words of the faint memory... What was she saying? Ahh... there she was.
"You don't recognize me do you Mel?" the mental switch flipped.
Trish.
Meghan and Logan stood in the arboretum, surrounded by millions of different species of flowers. Meghan wore the traditional Time Healer wedding gown. It was an ivory gown made of silk and lace. It was long and hugged her body in all the right places. On her head she wore a silver circlet inlaid with precious gems and carried in her hands the Scepter of Leadership.
Logan wore Maksim's traditional wedding garb, which was a pair of tight fitting trousers and a shirt that lace up the front. He wore knee high boots and a gold band around his head.
Maksim cleared his throat and motioned the couple to hold hands and stand before him.
“Meghan O’Leary, Daughter of Maura and Connor O’Leary, Do you take this man, Logan Dupré has your soul mate?”
Meghan gazed into Logan’s eyes, she smiled at the love that she saw there and nodded.
“Yes, I do.”
“Logan Dupré, do you take this woman to be your soul mate?”
Logan squeezed Meghan’s hand and nodded.
“Yes, I do.”
Maksim motioned Meghan to give Logan the scepter of Leadership.
Meghan placed the scepter in Logan’s hands and said, “Logan, this is the Scepter of Leadership, which I give to you with my love, my heart and my soul. I accept you as my lover, my husband and as my co-ruler.”
Logan’s gaze widened at her words, he was stunned. He looked into her eyes and saw anxiety there. He realized she was waiting for an answer from him.
“Meghan, I give you my love, my heart and my soul. I accept this Scepter and all the responsibility that comes with being co-ruler.”
Logan saw relief enter her eyes and the beautiful smile that graced her lush lips as he finished speaking.
Maksim again cleared his throat to get their attention and said, “Then by the powers of my office as Minister I know pronounce you husband and wife.”
A collective cheer went up from behind them. All the immortals, witnessing the ceremony were happy to welcome Logan into their brethren.
“Uh...Logan?” said Maksim as he tapped him on the shoulder.
Logan turned to Maks, “What?”
Maks smile and pointed to a waiting Meghan, “You can kiss the bride now.”
Logan shoved the scepter into Maksim’s hands and wrapped his arm around the most beautiful woman he’d just married, bent his head and kissed those lush lips that had kept him awake nights. He lifted his head and gazed into her gorgeous emerald eyes, “I love you Meghan O’Leary Dupré.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck she whispered, “I love you Logan Dupré,” just before he took her lips again.
~*~*~
JULIE BLINKED. PURE blackness. Her mind casting for the last faint strains, of Trish’s voice.
No, it wasn’t dark. There was light here. She could see it. Dancing, just beyond her reach. Figures flitting like small birds, calling out to her in voices drenched in need. Begging her to find them, capture them.
What did they want from her? She’d given it all. She didn’t have anything left.
A soft sigh, quiet and filled with heartache, moved over her brow. The touch of air-cooling her sweat shined skin, roused in her a sudden sense of piercing abandonment. The lights, the forms of shadow and life were moving away. She watched, helplessly as one by one, the gray and gold and deep blue of the shapes faded. Her hands reaching now, realizing that she wanted them here, now that it was too late. She twisted her torso, stretching her arms out so far that her shoulders ached with the effort. A small-bemused laugh reacted to seeing her arms going so far. Arms weren’t made to go that far, were they?
Her bones looking more like thinned rubber bands, than real bones, skin taut across the slender lines of muscle beneath. The last figure, whispering wings of silent protest at having been forgotten, lingered. With an immense effort, she shot her hands forward, breaching the gap. Three feet, two feet, one... the hem of the memory so close she could taste it in her mouth. Blood and terror and a faint lingering delight just before it was taken over. But that was just the way it was around Trish, those years. And where was Trish?
With her mind preoccupied by the question, she didn’t recognize at first, the white wall of fiery torture that ricocheted off the figure as her fingers closed over it’s dull grey hem. Her arm, in simple reaction to the pain, writhed and hit the metal casing of the container she laid in. Julie whimpered, the pain of the newly healed wound coursing through her blood and into her stomach. Feebly, her stomach retched, producing nothing but a small stream of liquid to trail down her cheek. The spasm continued for what seemed like hours, leaving her gasping for breath in the damp air. It raced up and down the deep wound along her torso. Bones still half knit grated under the pressure of her movements.
Her eyes open wide now, the desire to slip into unconsciousness flirting with her need to remain alert and survive. Black. No lights, it really was black. And from what she could tell, there was very little room to move around in. She lay, naked and damp, in the quiet air, listening to the echoes of her breathing return to her. Buried alive? Could it be this was some coffin? Or torture? Her mind raced back; Logan and the set up with his body. What happened after that? Something happened with the bombing. Think! Think damnit.
She fought against the rising panic deep inside of her. Calling back the calm when she had heard Trish’s voice. She closed her eyes, darkness; no different from when they were open. And when her own voice broke the softened silence, she could barely recognize it. A croak, like a rasped tin can, emanated from her ruined chest.
"Where are you?"
Silence. But she could sense the woman. Trish. The name sounded sweet and quietly covered in grief to her mind.
"I’m scared, Trish." The pain rose with her effort to make words and she quickly trapped the rising terror inside.
The feminine tones returned, echoing in her mind but apart from the casing she found herself in. It called with it, memories that were too vague to truly know. Like having known one had smelled summer, but not knowing what it is about the smell that IS summer. "Just rest, honey. I’m not going to leave you."
"But how.." her stomach threatened to heave once again as the pain of taking breath topped her resolve to control her pain.
"Rest." Trish’s voice broke over her fevered skin like cool ocean water. And in the depths of the waters that she floated back into, finding rest and healing, a small trace of someone else began to enter into her consciousness. Ryan was there. He was close, and he was thinking about her. And she wasn’t dead. His relief crooned to the last traces of fear and she sighed, falling into a dreamless sleep.
In the blackness of her unconscious mind a small piece of light emerged. Julie watched transfixed as it grew and began to take on a form of it’s own. It became a perfect house. Windows with pretty flower boxes, pastel curtains, a puppy in the yard, this house was everything she’d always longed for. It only missed one thing, without a sound Ryan appeared beside her. Yes, this was TRUE perfection.
"You can stay here if you want to, I’m more than happy to cover while you take a holiday." She spun to see a woman who looked exactly like her.
"Can I really do that?" More longing than she’d intended entered her voice but it didn’t matter to the double, she simply smiled and nodded.
"You’ve wanted to leave everything behind for so long now. Be honest with yourself, you hate what you’ve become. Here it’s safe, beautiful, calm and filled with everything you want. Why would you fancy to go back to the pain and horror? Everyone there is fake, in here you can control things." Standing with one foot braced on the white picket fence Julie’s double tilted her head and waited for a reaction.
"You really know how to push my buttons."
"Of course."
"So I get everything I want? And you’ll give me complete privacy?"
"Yes, you can have it all."
"Forever?"
"That’s a very long time Julie."
"Promise me I can stay here forever."
The double smiled. "Alright you can stay here, in perfection, forever. In return I’ll do all the complicated stuff for you."
In the dark, faced with everything she’d always denied herself Julie made a stupid decision.
"It’s a deal."
Ryan claimed her hand and they walked up the perfect path together, fingers tightly interwoven. Already, the calm was seeping into Julie’s normally serious nature; it felt great. She was smiling as she turned to bid her double good luck.
Behind her Ryan slid an arm around her waist and impatiently pushed at the door. The door clicked shut and it dawned on Julie what she’d just done. She’d been tricked into giving control of her body to this other woman. Cruel laughter met her ears as she attempted to pull the door back open.
"Stop! Wait! Let me out! You can’t do this! Who are you?"
"Sweetie I can do this. I’m Mel and now I’ve got you tightly locked away I fully intend to live your life FOREVER!"
Ryan was stretching the boundaries of human physical endurance, had never experienced anything as intense as what he was going through right now. But he forced himself to carry on, even in moments where everything seemed more than just uncertain and bordered on insanity he made himself stand up and push harder, if only for the memory of Julie.
The training he was being put under was constant and demanding but his willingness to do it was unwavering. Leon trained him, pushing him harder than he would have usually pushed because it took both their minds of what was lost to them. They offered a steady solace to each other that never faltered, they never spoke of Julie and yet they thought of her all the time. It seemed the memories offered them comfort. Ryan longed to ask Leon for more, something deeper and rounder than what he had but he didn't dare. To do so would have been unthinkable because it wasn’t his to ask for.
So he carried on, moving from day to day and rarely sleeping through the nights. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face and the image tormented him. He became mechanical in his actions, anything less would have been suicide.
And when he was ready Leon took him further, took him to the limits and placed him right into the mouth of hell. Ryan never looked back; he took each job with detached professionalism and executed them all with the utmost success, finesse and capability. What he lacked in character he made up on the job.
He quickly worked his way to the top, became the best because nothing else would have done. Julie had been the best and Ryan honored her memory by making himself the same. Only he didn't see it that way, he saw it as a measure of personal success even if deep down he knew it was a broken heart that drove him forth.
He alienated himself from others, couldn't have conceived of ever being close to anyone ever again. He was never going to betray himself to hurt ever again. He would never betray Julie's memory to another.
The End
