11calls | (no subject)

The Richard thing struggles, clawed hands twitching, before he bares his teeth.

"If you hadn't dug. If you hadn't pried. I wouldn't be here." Tiamat is all venom and he has to get that out, "Coralee is dead because of me. Charlie is in danger. because of me and you..."

His body warps, it shimmers and twitches as he lets out a scream before Tiamat smiles through him.

"The whole world shall know my rage." The creature's voice is thick with pain, "You will all know my pain. I will tear this world apart and we will be a world where no one will have to suffer like that again!"

It's Warren then, Warren who appears with...what looks like a corpse. A frail and elderly woman who Richard takes by the hand." Richard takes her arm and Warren bows.

That's when the guns are cocked. Hundreds of them. Guns pointed down at her.

"Ah Marduk." Warren murmurs, "At last. You destroyed our goddess once before. That won't happen again. Given time Marduk's desires for power would consume you. Resist that.

Come with us. Witness the union and perhaps you and Tiamat could...be together then."

Lies. Lies and more lies.

"Unless you mean to kill hundreds however, Alex. I suggest you come quietly."

Alex doesn't say anything for a long moment. Instead what Richard's words echo within her head, she can't help it. Coralee is dead, Charlie is in danger. The entire world is in danger and she can't disagree with him. With them about that. So Alex just stands there for a long moment, watching the frail woman and Richard before she looks back to Warren.

Sexy James Bond. That's what Alex used to call him, and now that she's looking at him, she can't see what she'd seen before. She just sees power and hatred for her. It's like a radiating black hole but Alex doesn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her flinch. Even if she didn't have Marduk's power within her, Alex wouldn't have done that. Thomas Warren is a servant, but a dangerous one. She knows that he would pull those triggers on her if he thought that Tiamat wouldn't destroy him in her rage as well.

Alex just holds up her hands, empty and bare. It's funny, she'd always thought that at the end of the world she'd be holding a tape recorder, because someone should see. Because someone should know what happened. But it's been weeks since she's laid a finger on one. All of this, this story that they're living hasn't been one she can tell to the world. All she can do is live her part of it.

And subvert that narrative that it wants to repeat.

"I am not Marduk, Warren. And I've never wanted power. I don't want it now. All I've ever wanted was to know. All I've ever wanted wanted was Richard. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to kill anyone." She means it, and what is unsaid but she doesn't think it goes unheard as she flicks her eyes to Richard and the old woman again is: I don't even want to hurt Tiamat. Because Alex doesn't.

"But don't bother to lie to me, Thomas. I can see through it. In some ways I always could with you. Don't bother to try and shoot me in the back. It won't work."

At that? Warren laughs.

"Okay. If your life has ceased to matter. Do it for your boss."

He gestures, snapping his fingers, and two men drag a limp and unconscious Nic in between them. Warren gestures and they shake the body - that doesn't move. He is unresponsible.

"Come. You are both wedding guests."

"Nic!" Alex knew that she should have bilocated him someplace safe. Some place far away. Panic climbs up her throat, strangling at her and Alex just shivers. She can't not. Nic. And he doesn't look like... She can't think about that right now. If Alex thinks about that right now then she's going to lose it. If she loses it then everything is for nothing.

When she speaks, Alex's voice is sharp and angry, but it's her own anger. It's her own fire within her. "I didn't say my life ceased to matter. I said you can't shoot me in the back. Because you can't. It won't work. It won't kill me. Tiamat wants me here, and don't forget that. I am supposed to be here, I was meant to be here."

Alex switches to Ancient Sumerian again, as she takes a step forward. "You weren't. If Nic is dead, I will remove you from here. I won't kill you, Thomas, but I will make sure that you wish that I did."

Later, much later, if they survive, Richard makes a mental note to tell Alex that her taking charge is...kind of attractive.

It's funny how that is how this began.

That thought crosses his mind and it's his which makes the old woman stare at him in shock.

And like that they're just gone.

And in the temple.

The whole place is chaotic. Carvings line the walls and fire burns. The whole place smells of incense and fire - fire most of all as Warren takes his place at the head of a table that Richard is lying on.

With Tiamat by his side.

"We are gathered here today to honor the elements. Earth, Wind, Water. When Tiamat - our lady - our queen was torn apart the world was lost to fire - until now. Behold the fire bloodline, descending from Tiamat's children. He is chosen, his element is fire, it burns within him..."

It is in ancient Sumarian but there's Richard's voice in Alex's head.

There aren't supposed to be two people aligned with fire.

Richard's voice is soft.

We burn brightly together.

Alex doesn't want to watch this. She can't not watch this. She doesn't know where Nic is, she doesn't know anything other than how hot the fire feels to her, and how she wants air, she wants water, she wants earth. Who was it that said the world would end in fire? Alex doesn't know. What she does know is that she can hear Richard in her head.

She doesn't know if he means himself and Tiamat, or herself and him, but in the end it doesn't matter. In the end she can just stare at his body and the old woman who has been alive for thousands of years at this point.

I love you.

Alex just sends it back, and she knows that she's waiting for something, but she's not sure yet.

"You weren't always fire, Tiamat. You weren't always the dragon. Do you remember the water? Where the sea met the river? Do you remember the feel of the deep places of the Earth. Don't you miss that? You said you wanted a world where no one will feel like you did with what happened, lover. But what do you think happens to the six billion mortals who are alive here? What do you think they're going to feel. The sea is our mother, Tiamat. It's from it all life comes. The sea and tears are the same. They're why we weep. You don't have to be fire, my love. You don't have to be hate. You can chose not to be. You don't need to destroy the world to have what you want."

Alex just pauses, and she takes several steps closer to the altar, and she offers the older woman her hand over Richard's body. "If you destroy it then you'll never have it, my beloved. You will never have happiness or freedom, or anything but a fire that burns to brightly and a chaos that will eventually take you. Please don't do this."

This is revenge. Revenge for her and alex may be bombarded with images of Marduk - burned into her brain - the first of the first and her legions - the damned souls she raised from the pit to fuel her vengeance. Humans warped into shadows on the walls to pay, to pay for how she had loved so deeply...

He is the first fire in a thousand years. He is like me. And I will have him.

It's so plain. A fact of a fact.

It's bad, there's a crack in the flesh of her wrist and a long snake head, black with bright blue eyes, slithers out from beneath the old woman's wrist. It twists, curling, impossibly long and huge, and after a moment it lays there, coiled in a pile and the body crumbles to dust...

Richard gasps, chest arching. His eyes open bright blue - glowing bright blue.

Alex.

He is fading, this projection of himself.

alex she can't get inside me. And you can't pull her out.

Somewhere in the world Charlie screams, crying at her father. He says goodbye, goodbye to her, goodbye to Alex. To his father and his mother and the world because if she survives.

She can't possess a dead body. I love you enough to believe in magic Alex Reagan.

Alex just cries out when those images hit her, driving her almost to her knees with the onsault of what happened, what the God who's mantle she carries has done. What she has caused to happen. What she's going to do. She's already sobbing when the old woman dies, when she can feel him fading. She can feel it like it's her own pulse that's slowing, like it's her own blood that's stopping to pump.

Like it's her own life that's about to end.

Somewhere, outside a storm begins to rage. It's lightening and it's thunder and it's rain seeping unexpectedly into the dessert that has been crying out for it for too long. It's like the sky itself is mourning for them--all of them. Amalia, Coralee, Simon, Richard, hell it's mourning even for Tiamat and it's mourning for Alex herself.

Richard loves her enough to believe in magic for her, and she loves him enough not to let Tiamat take him over. For once in her life, Alex Reagan is going to perform a magic trick, and it's her best one. When Tiamat starts to crawl up Richard's chest to his open mouth, when it looks like she's not going to do anything, Alex just calls the sword that she's kept hidden in the ether to her, and she slices through the snake's neck and into Richard's throat, just spilling blood and chaos and shadows all of them and the altar.

"I'm sorry." It's a manta, spoken in every language that both Alex and Marduk know. "I'm sorry. I love you. I'm sorry."

Several things happen at once.

Stars rise and fall, other universes shift and break, things press against walls of reality and pull away in fear. Eyes open and close and Richard Strand's Blood gushes out of his neck.

The others in the room, the humans, they all vanish save for Alex and the prone figure on the altar, the prone figure on the stone. Everything is swirling and churning between the two of them.

And it is...a hospital room.

It's a fairly non-descript room with a window - though the whole scene has an air of grimness. Richard Strand is there, bandaged and hooked up to tubes and beeping, slowly beeping. Suspended between this world and the next.

There's a knock on the door then and a man. Broad and darkskinned in a lab coat with glasses and coal black eyes.

"Ms. Reagan? You're here for Doctor Strand right?"

Alex doesn't know what's going on. She doesn't have the slightest idea of what's happening right now. She just takes a deep breath as she realizes that the two of them, the three of them aren't in the underground temple. It's a hospital, but how can it be in a hospital? Alex doesn't know and it doesn't make sense and when she looks down at her hands, they're still covered in a blood that feels wet and sticky and fresh.

Blackness mingles with the red blood, and Alex knows that it's not just Richard who'd bled on her, because it's not just Richard who had died. Honestly, she just feels like she's covered in dust and blood and ashes, and she feels like she doesn't know if this is real or not. It takes a moment for Alex to realize that someone is calling her name, almost like she doesn't know if it belongs to her or not here.

But one name that always belongs to her is Strand, and Alex just perks up and looks at the man in the labcoat. "I'm Alex." She says softly, and her throat feels hoarse and dry as if she'd been screaming for hours, and she needs to clear her throat before she asks the next questions, in order of importance. "Is he okay?" followed immediately by: "Where are we?"

"He's touch and go."

The older man made a note, "And we're in a hospital. Obviously. The man has given a lot to get here. He's got some struggling to do. You do too."

The older made another mark and the doctor tsked, "He's got scars across his face and head where horns and scales were. Rising, the doctor examined them, "We'll do the best we can with these. It won't be the same but it's...fixable.

That's what you want right?"

The doctor's eyes are stars, "...That was a lesson in humility that the good Doctor isn't soon to forget."

Alex just frowns for a moment, because she doesn't know how they got to the hospital, but the Doctor's eyes let her know that they're not in the mortal world right now. They're some place else and Alex doesn't remember how or where, but if he's touch and go, then he's not dead and Alex just moves towards Richard. When she gets there, her hands are clean, and Alex thinks that she's the one who has done it, but she's not sure.

"Can you fix his eyes? Give him back his glasses?" Alex just asks softly, tracing her fingers carefully along the edges of his hairline. It's the softest touch, but it helps remind her that he's there, even if she avoids the places where the horns were turning into scar tissue. Looking back to the Doctor and his starry eyes once more, she just asks: "Does that mean that she's gone? That she's scattered? Like she's supposed to be. That's what I was trying to do. The universe needs it's beautiful chaos, but it can't be all that."

Right now, Alex is fairly certain that she will never not feel guilt for doing that, but she also would have done anything that Richard had asked her of. It's an odd position to be in.

"Can you tell me if Nic's okay? If Simon is? Charlie?"

"...I think we can do that."

His smile is kind, "...The poor man's been through enough. You both have."

The Doctor's hands slow, "...There are things in this world that are repairing themselves. As for the rest, the simplest answer is that to heal from chaos you come together to find peace."

His gaze drifts down toward Richard and his name tag catches the light. Doctor Anu - the name of the hospital scrambled out.

"There will be scars on the inside too. For both of you."

He inhales, "And to fix that, we need to talk about your insurance policy. How will you be paying for these services?"

It's funny how something so small can make such a big difference. But it had made one to Richard when Tiamat had stolen his eyes from him, and she hopes that it's going to make a difference enough when the two of them are back home that he has them when he's dealing with everything else that the Goddess had done to him. That Alex had done to him in starting this whole damned thing.

As soon as Alex sees the name tag, she knows. She can't not know, but she forces herself not to start thinking about all of this too hard because she doesn't want to do anything that might destabilize all of this. It's too important, and Richard is too important to risk anything for. The question makes her laugh though, she can't help it.

"Well, I know we're not in Canada." It's a joke, and not a particularly good one when it comes to that, but that's what Alex Reagan does when things feel too heavy. It's something that helps ground her in who she is, and Alex just drags that around her when she looks to Anu more seriously. "I never wanted power like this. It's not who I am. And it was never really Marduk's either. He cheated and he stole it. He cheated her. I would make a really terrible god, Anu. So, that's what I'm willing to pay for it. All of the power of Marduk."

The doctor sets his pen against his clipboard and studies Richard.

"He did not ask for this either but he has done terrible things under her influence. And Prior to that. His punishment is that he shall keep these scars."

The doctor gestures to the scars marking where he was scaled, where he was inhuman.

"But he shall have his eyes. And he is still human even though he retains residual power. Those born with fire are very rare Alex Reagan."

Staring at her, The god's features fade. His face is stars, "Your punishment is the loss of your power...save for what the Christian God has given you. And I think in loving him...you find work that you can do. You know what the world is now. And there is more than what you and even he has seen."

The God gestures, setting a hand on Alex's shoulder, "You will find this awareness is not what you think. Tiamat is not the only being in the universe that lusts for this power."

The hospital fades as the God's hand shakes - revealing Nic, bruised, bloody, but awake and focused on her.
---

"Alex wake up. Alex! C'mon. We've got to go. The Deva Corp guys are losing it and Richard..."

If there was a person who would argue with a god, especially about someone she loves it would be Alex Reagan, and she had been about to. Because Richard and the guilt she knows he already experiences should be enough for him. He doesn't need the scars. If there was a person who would question a god, it also would have been Alex Reagan, and there was no way that she wasn't about to ask the God about the power that she's supposed to have, because honestly this whole thing just stopped making sense two years ago, but that's the icing on the cake.

But Alex doesn't get the chance too, as the world swirls around her again. Her mouth is open and Alex is staring when Nic swims into view, and for a moment, things feel disconnected before everything slams back into her body. Alex is covered in blood and her heart is beating too fast and she feels like she hasn't slept in three years and the energy that had come with Marduk's power was gone making her feel everything so much worse. It was like... Well, like nothing that Alex had felt before.

"Help me with him," Alex says quickly, and she moves to start to undo anything that's binding him to the table. She doesn't want to touch the remains of what could have been Tiamat, but she will if she has too. "He's going to be okay. It's not just wishful thinking or some sort of delusion. there's... Let's just say I've got it on the best authority that there is here. We've done what we're supposed to do. He'll live. We've just got to get out of here."

The logistics of things will come later, Alex believes in that as she touches her hand to his cheek. "It's time to wake up, Richard." And then without thinking about it, she just kisses him gently--a good morning kiss that she'd not gotten the chance to give him yet.

When he stirs, opening his eyes - they're human. Still his unnaturally bright blue but human. Everything hurts. Tiamat is gone and there's something about the light in the room giving Alex a halo. an angel an angel came to save him.

He's still uncomfortably aware. That's not going away. It's not Tiamat but he was always powerful. It's just his. He hurts but Alex is ridiculously blurry and he's never been happier. Whatever happened...

The hole in his heart left by his other half is there but he fills it with thoughts of the woman holding him.

...I don't know what you did, but thank you.

He looks up at the two of them.

Both of you. It's just me in here. Don't worry.

He swallows, Alex I'm blind as a bat. I'm going to need you to help me see my love until we get...back.

And then.

You once asked me if we could just go away. Let's do that.

The laugh of relief that comes when he stirs is joyous in and of itself, and Alex can't believe that it worked and that he's here. She had no reason to doubt that it would (but also every reason to doubt that it would) and Alex just kisses him quickly, because she can't help it. She doesn't care that they're covered in blood or for the scars on his cheeks or anything else, because he's here and he's alive and he's breathing, and he's blind as a bat.

Yes.

Alex doesn't know how she did that, but she did and so there was that, then she just takes a deep breath and looks around the cave because she wants to make sure that their joyous trumpith is wrecked by one of them getting killed. Again. Two deaths in one day is enough.

Come on, my love. Let's get you out of here. And then we can figure the rest out--

Alex's thought is cut off by her phone going off, and she just frowns at it before she pulls it out the pockets on Simon's pants. Speaking aloud she just says, "I wouldn't have thought I'd have..." But she doesn't have service. She shouldn't have a message but she does, and it just says for her to open her email. It's another thing that shouldn't work but here it's doing it anyway.

"Oh my god. It's an email from Coralee. She says that if I'm getting this than she'd..." Oh, I'm so sorry my love. Alex just thinks. I'm so so sorry. Because Alex knows that Coralee had died, but she doesn't know if Tiamat had told Richard, or let him know or not. But that wasn't the point.

Alex just sounds kind of astonished. "There should be someone coming in a jeep to get us to take us to the airport. A private plane is there waiting for us, along with copies of our passports and orders to take us anywhere we want to go." As her eyes travel down her email, she just gasps. "...And she sent me money. Like a hell of a lot of money."

Nic knows this is goodbye.

Not just goodbye, but a finalized goodbye. The kind of goodbye that means he'll never see her again.

That she's going to leave but does she have any other choice? Her career is basically over and Strand...

Strand doesn't look too bad. For the host to a God he's still standing, blinking blearily. Someone gouged the sprays of scales off his cheeks and chin however. They left deep grooves in his cheeks and across his hands. He had kept his humanity at the expense of his vanity and Alex...

Alex.

"...Before you crazy kids get out of here can one of you drop me someplace? Doesn't have to be far."

"I can."

The voice is dry and hoarse and belongs to Simon, staggering out of the darkness to wipe a hand through his hair and look at the three of them before focusing on Strand. He could apologize. He wants to but he...

Well.

"Wheels within wheels."

Simon and Nic move to embrace Alex at the same time with Richard looking on. Eyes full of exhaustion and pain.

"Next time you're in Seattle look me up okay?" Nic pulls back, "Or give me an address to send your uh-your checks to..."

Yeah.

He's exhausted.

As for Simon, he studies Alex thoughtfully, before bowing, "...This isn't the last we'll see each other."

Alex just frowns at Nic for a moment, because he's acting like this is goodbye. Alex refuses to believe that it is actually goodbye: what this is instead is 'I'll see you soon. Eventually. When things settle down.' But she knows Nic, and she knows that he thinks that it is and she doesn't want to face down the possibility that the last time she's going to see the person who has been her best friend for over a decade is over being covered in blood and having saved the world isn't right. It's not fair. They saved the world, they shouldn't need to say goodbye.

But she's relieved beyond measure to see that Simon is here and okay. Mostly. Probably. Alex knows that he wouldn't tell her even if he wasn't okay. "I--" she pauses for a moment, and then she just hugs both of them and Alex just shakes her head quickly. "Of course it's not going to be the last time we see one another. Either of you. Guys, we just saved the world. I'll see you eventually when things cool down and it's safe to do so." Even if what she'd been told about other power hungry things being true, that doesn't mean that it's their responsibility for them.

Stopping the world and losing being gods is enough for the universe to ask them.

Even if Alex doesn't think that the universe will think so.

"Are you sure you're okay? That you have enough power to do this, Simon? I mean, I thought..." Alex thought that with Tiamat gone, the cult wouldn't have any, and if it does that means that they need to be way more careful about Thomas Warren than they thought.

Again.

With a little sigh, Alex just reaches out for Richard's hand, because she knows that she needs it, and she knows that he probably needs it too.

It's Simon that smiles at Alex, "Listen. Whatever was in my head? Is gone. And it left it's baggage so to speak. Like when a roommate moves out and leaves a bunch of stuff? Speaking of which."

Simon reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pair of glasses - handing them to Richard.

Richard Strand is coming back into his body and everything aches. When Simon - and he knows it's Simon. He can sense it's Simon. Simon hands him something slim and familiar and Richard puts on a pair of glasses with a little grateful sob.

It's so stupid. It's so ridiculously stupid but he wipes away a tear and then gets the first good look at his hands. Carved grooves in his flesh where the scales she forced on him were.

HE can't focus on that though because Alex's hand is in his other hand and he squeezes it before trying to struggle to his feet.

"Simon."

His voice is raw and hoarse, "I...I don't know what to say."

Simon grins, Just ring me. How does it feel to have your mind finally open?

Richard doesn't acknowledge that beyond gripping Alex's hand harder and pulling himself to his feet. Then he laughs.

"Thanks for these."

Alex would have asked Simon how he knew to bring them, but she also knows that because he's Simon, he's not going to say. But she's just relieved that he has them now and Alex peers into his eyes. They're his and they're normal and it's one small thing that she could have done for him. She just wishes that she could have done the rest in order to make sure that he didn't need to hide from the world so badly. But he had missed his eyes and his glasses and thanks to both herself and Simon he had them both.

Alex just thinks to Simon, still working this new muscle of her brain that she guesses must be hers because it didn't go away with everything else.

Thank you, Simon. He missed them.

Then now that Richard is on his feet and standing, Alex just wraps her arms tightly around him, holding onto him for dear life. It feels good to do it when it doesn't feel like the bottom is going to drop out of her world. Maybe it already has, but Alex has just popped a new one into it. They saved the world, she saved the world and maybe, just maybe now she'll finally be able to get some sleep.

Even though Alex has this new ability, she doesn't use it. Her voice, and his own are important to her, and Alex just needs to say it even if there isn't a recorder or something around to catch it. "I love you Richard Strand."

Richard doesn't say it. He doesn't need to in his mind. Instead he pulls her forward and kisses her. It's a soft and gentle kiss, a warm and loving one. None of it matters.

None of it matters as long as he has her. Not his job or the institute. Not his looks, she and Charlie are alive and he survived and whatever destiny he had...it was over.

"...I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She kisses him back holding onto him tightly, and when she pulls away with her cheeks red, she realizes that there's nothing to be concerned about: Nic and Simon are both gone, and it's just the two of them. Gone without another word. Well, that's very Simon isn't it. But right now, Alex is just going to hold tight onto the idea she'll see them again.

And the more important part of her life, the most important part: the part where Alex can say: "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Richard. Wherever and however you'd like. And thanks to Coralee, it seems like we won't need to worry about money or the show or anything ever again." Alex is going to assume that this is money that Coralee had siphoned off of Thomas Warren, and it seems like a fair trade for what that fucker put them through.

"We should stay out of Seattle for a while though, Nic's right about that." As she talks, Alex keeps her arms wrapped around his side and she walking him out through the labyrinthine corridors of the tunnels. It's weird how she knows the way and they don't get lost before the two of them are standing in front of some sort of fancy jeep with a man waiting for them. "Dr. Strand? Ms. Reagan? We're here to take you to the airport."

Something that he realizes - his ability to bilocate is damaged. Not damaged, just - there but he doesn't want to. He's been to the edge of reality and back. Still, looking at Alex he holds her tight against him. The sun burns against him.

"...Book two tickets to ireland." He studies Alex, "Green rolling hills? Fog and rain? That's...so much better than sun and sand and all this."

Is that...all right? I've spent so much time lately having people...do my...every whim.