The blast of dark energy hit Brian like a freight train; he fell away from Dante with a sharp cry. Mich reeled backwards, Nev reaching out to catch her. “Mich!? Brian!?” he shouted, looking back and forth between them.
Brian lay on his back, his eyes unfocused. “Mama . . . Dad . . . help me . . . ” he whispered.
“Mich, what’s goin’ on?” Nev asked.
Mich leaned against Nev for support, the strength gone from her limbs. “He . . . he . . . ” she moaned, gesturing helplessly, unable to explain.
Next to her on the floor, Brian shook his head slowly, his eyes focusing. “He thinks Petrov is chasing him. He thought I was Petrov. And he thinks both of you are dead. In his delusions, he’s seen you die.”
Nev stared, his mouth dropping open. “Dead?”
In the protective circle of his arms, Mich began shaking uncontrollably. “It’s . . . it’s not Petrov.”
“Who is it?” Brian asked.
“Peter,” Mich said.
Brian frowned. “How could it be Peter?”
Mich shook her head. “No. Not that Peter. Brian, have you ever read . . . Divergence?”
Brian shuddered. “Yes.”
“Well, that’s . . . that’s . . . ” Mich choked, unable to continue with the weight of ten thousand bad memories crashing down upon her.
“That’s where she got her powers from, Brian,” Nev explained.
Brian’s eyebrows lifted up to his bangs. “But it’s not really . . . he just thinks . . . right?”
“It is,” Mich said, regaining her voice, “but it isn’t.”
Brian sighed. “Maybe this is just because I’m a Peter clone, but I don’t understand.”
“Brian, my powers aren’t based in goodness or love. They come from darkness. From Hell itself. That is not easy to get over.”
Brian cocked his head puzzledly. “So . . . he’s fighting . . . uhm . . . ?”
Mich closed her eyes. “After I returned from Divergence I began to have terrible nightmares. I watched the Femmes die horrible deaths. I watched . . . Nev die . . . and all the while Peter was speaking to me, trying to turn me to his side . . . using my powers to try and control me.”
“Then this is something he’ll have to fight on his own,” Brian said softly.
Mich looked at Dante; his pale, limp body, and the way his green eyes were closed tightly against the world broke her heart. “I know, but . . . he’s weakening.” The words echoed through her head, ripping and tearing at her soul.
“Well, Mich, you’re going to have to suggest something. Because I don’t know what to do to help.”
Mich flinched at the defeat in his voice. “I don’t either . . . I can’t even . . . help him.”
“I mean, I could take the pain,” Brian offered. “I could try to give him love.”
Mich shook her head, forcing down more tears. “No. He’ll perceive you as a threat and unleash his power on you.” She couldn’t ask Brian to risk his safety no matter how much she grieved.
“I could feed him my own strength,” Brian said. “That’s all I know how to do.”
From his spot standing in the threshold, where he’d remained, silent, Dr. B finally spoke up. “Traditional medicine’s not much help against Satan, I’m afraid.”
Nev shook as he held Mich closer. “I guess . . . we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Brian frowned, then gently touched Mich’s arm. “How did you beat him?”
“I don’t remember,” Mich said, thankful that she could not. “I just . . . held out. Refused to give up. But—Brian, I was already an adult. He’s just a . . . a little kid.”
“I still think if you had some way of letting him know you were here . . . ”
Mich nodded. “I know. I tried, but . . . it’s like whispering into a hurricane.”
“But eventually the hurricane has to die,” Dr. B said. “And a hurricane can only be sustained for so long, and a whisper . . . can go on for much longer.”
“Thank you, Zen 101,” Brian said, smiling wryly.
Mich took a deep breath. “You’re right.” She shook Nev’s arms off and moved to sit on the edge of the couch, taking one of Dante’s thin hands in her own. “I won’t leave you, darling,” she murmured, closing her eyes.
Nev just stared, his gaze hollow and dead. The arms that had been tightly clutching Mich fell limply to the floor.
“Nev?” Brian said softly. “If you want, I can . . . so you can talk to him in here . . . ” He tapped his head.
Nev trembled as he crawled to his feet. It was hard enough to see Dante’s battle from the outside. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see it on the inside. “I . . . thanks, but . . . ”
Brian nodded his understanding.
Nev hugged his sides and continued his restless pacing. “Almost makes me wanna take up smokin’.”
“Don’t do that. Dante will need you once he comes out of this.”
Nev’s voice was harsh and bitter. “Will he? I mean, how do we know what he’s gonna be like once Peter’s done fuckin’ with him?”
“How did you know how Mich would be?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Well? This isn’t any different.”
Nev shook his head, swiping a hand across his forehead. “No, I mean—I never knew that Mich went through this,” he said, glancing at her. “She didn’t tell me until much later—said she didn’t want to worry me.”
“Oh.”
“Brian, I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I lose him . . . ” Nev stopped, blinking away a sudden rush of hot tears. Without saying a word Brian put his arms around him. Nev started to pull away—the only person he usually felt comfortable hugging was Mich—but something gave way within him and he clutched Brian for dear life, shaking with silent tears.
“It’s okay,” Brian whispered in the taller clone’s ear. “No one else will ever know about this. Let it out.”
Nev straightened, his usual reticence taking over. He pulled the sobs back into his chest without ever making a sound.
“Nev, it’s all right,” Brian said, rubbing his back.
~*~
Dr. B leaned on the door jamb, watching. Worry gnawed away at him, but he knew that there wasn’t anything he could do. Dante’s illness, whatever it was, was not something he could cure.
“Greetings, Doctor,” a soft, deep voice said. Dr. B turned to see Mich’s knight Nez clone standing behind him, his dark violet eyes almost as haunted as Nev’s.
“Oh, hello, Arizona.”
“There is no change in the child?” Ari said, already gazing worriedly at Dante.
“No. He’s weakening. I feel so helpless . . . watching.” He shrugged. “I’m a doctor. I’m supposed to be able to fix things like this.”
Ari carefully placed an armored hand on Dr. B’s shoulder. “And I am a knight. I live to protect those under my care, and I am also helpless. I know hundreds of spells, and there is nothing I can do to help him.”
“It’s hard, isn’t it?”
The powerful fingers resting on his shoulder gave a firm, reassuring squeeze. “It is the hardest to bear, yes.”
On to Six
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