The Lost Island

Chapter 17 - An Ending

Summary: Everything that’s happened to you and Marcus since the plane-crash finally comes to a head, all the pieces put together across both space and time falling into place, and suddenly you’re out of time.

Author’s Note: Okay, my loves. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I’m not going to write out the full warnings on this chapter, but if you’re hesitant to read without more details, just message me and I’ll be happy to tell you.
I do recommend reading this with a large quantity of Oreos handy, or whatever your favorite cookies might be. It’ll help against the angst.
Also: This is not the final chapter!

Rating: Mature 18+ONLY
Warnings: Cursing, angst, end of the world-themes, mentions of strained family relationships.
Word Count: 7034
Masterlist (this story)
Author’s Masterlist

   If the portal/gateway/hellhole/asshole ever reappeared, you were gonna fucking kill it.

   That was the prevailing thought on your mind as you made your way through the hallways at HQ, back in your time, where your Marcus had clearly not been returned.
   The thing had plopped you out inside your own office, suddenly holding the sapling in your hands again, and a quick glance at your screens had informed you of the date and time.  
   You’d then wasted half a day looking for your Heroic, before finally accepting that the goo was no longer an ally and absolutely couldn’t be trusted.

   You walked into the Science Department, storming through the work area fuming like a thunderous cloud about to release millions of volts of electricity, passing the desks and various machines without a glance at anyone.
   There were seven people in there, all of whom fell silent as you made your way through the room, continuing into an adjoined lab where you placed the sapling inside one of the bio-scanners and then returned to the control desk back in the work area.

   “Run it.”

   The poor biologist at the desk didn’t even glance at his Department Head, Jennifer, before starting the scan, making you wonder just how angry you looked right now.
   You didn’t care enough to find out.
   The machine ran its cycle, the pressing silence of the room becoming more and more suffocating as the seconds ticked by.
   And then the computer beeped and all the data it had managed to collect about the plant was displayed on the huge observation window.

   “What am I looking at?”

   Jennifer, being the only one in the room familiar enough with you to dare speak, came to your side and studied the screen thoroughly.

   “From what I can tell, this plant is not terrestrial.”

   “Damn it, Jen, I know that already, I need to know what’s significant about it.”

   “Nothing. As far as the machine can tell.”

   “Nothing?”

   “It’s a plant. Normal structure and growth parameters, no obvious mutations or variations in the DNA, nothing molecularly deviant from what appears to be its natural state.
   If I knew more about the origin-world and had access to more data, I’d be able to give a more comprehensive analysis.”

   “If I told you that I was given this sapling by a matriarch tree the size of a small moon, in order to help me stop a deadly outbreak of mutated spores, would that help your analysis at all?”

   “Are you serious?”

   You merely glared at her, and she took the hint, immediately shifting from casually answering questions, to actively assessing the situation.  

   “What kind of spores? What’s the threat level?”

   “Alien, originally from an unexplored territory. The spores are a mutated form of either pretty much ordinary pollen, or bacterial spores, used as a source of nutrients for the indigenous lifeforms.”

   “Do you have any idea how they were mutated?”

   “Yeah. Human blood.”

   “Shit… that’s not good. That might make them much quicker to adapt to our environment, we might be looking at a global spread within the space of just a few years.”

   Oh, how you wished that that had been the case.

   “Jen… The mutation started here, within our environment. They’ve already adapted.
   The information I have suggests that these things could wipe out all biological life on this planet, within months. If that, even.”

   She was struggling to believe you, which was understandable, but unhelpful.

   “Listen, that tiny little tree over there is somehow connected to how we stop this, and I need you to help me figure out how.”

   “Right, okay… Well, if we’re talking defences, I know that some trees can release spores of their own, to protect against other species trying to land on them and take root in their trunks. But that wouldn’t protect us, only other plants, and probably only for a brief time.”

   “What about… I don’t know, like an antidote? Something that could neutralize the harmful aspect of the mutated spores?”

   “In theory that should be possible, but not in this short of a timeframe. Something like that would take months of cultivations and careful testing. It would be like trying to create a vaccine for a new pathogen, only in a fraction of the time and with no chance of testing it before distribution. It’s just not a workable solution.”

   You both stood there, staring at the digital information still being displayed in front of you, each trying to work the problem, and each coming up empty.
   You tried to backtrack, returning to the basics of what you knew and how you’d thus far approached a solution (clearly not successfully), tried to think in odd angles and look with a wider lens. And soon enough, something occurred to you.

   “Maybe microbiology isn’t the solution, here.”

   “What are you thinking?”

   “I’m thinking I need to see a botanist.
   I’ll be back, but call me if you figure anything else out, and DO NOT let anyone touch that sapling until I get back. Only you, got it?”

   She nodded while you made your way to the door and left the lab, heading for the Heroics HQ Gardens, and the colourful Mrs. Bates.
   The gardener was a super, but not only that, she was one of the first known generations, one of the first ever to allow herself to be studied by scientists for a chance to better understand the super-gene.
   She was almost a hundred years old now but looked no more than sixty and had the energy and strength of someone even younger, still just as passionate about her craft and always happy to lend a helping hand to anyone that might need it.
   Later generations seemed to have lost this longevity, aging largely like ordinary people, but those first few were different. In more ways than one.

   “I do believe I hear the footsteps of a troubled soul.”

   “What gave it away?”

   “You mean aside from the thunder that’s rumbling over your head?”

   You sighed and lowered your head, trying not to let your mind veer off towards Marcus, but failing spectacularly.

   “That’s not what I’m here about.”

   “No? I struggle to fathom how you could possibly focus on anything else.”

   “You and me both. But, desperate times… and all that.”

   “What can I do for you, my dear?”

   “I have a plant-based problem and I’d like your input.”

   “Ah, my speciality. Let’s hear it.”

   “Do you know of a way that plants can somehow neutralize threats from other plants?”

   “Oh, nature is full of clever solutions. All plants have means of protecting themselves from all manner of problems.”

   “What about aggressive spores? How would a tree protect itself from something like that?”

   “Hmm. You’re talking about parasitic bacterial spores. That’s a tough nut to crack. They’re designed to be hardy, to survive under unfavourable conditions in order to allow a lifeform to spawn, once it encounters more favourable circumstances.
   They’re aggressive and generally very adaptive little things, which is why most biological lifeforms won’t have a natural defence against them.”

   Your heart sank, hearing that.

   “So, if spores that had been severely mutated and become extremely aggressive were to attack our flora, there wouldn’t be anything in nature that could survive them?”

   “Not likely. Why? Are we facing such a threat?”

   “Yes.”

   She’d been calmly tending to a bush of some sort while she spoke to you, but now she put her hands down and turned to face you fully, looking genuinely worried.
   You took a step closer to her, feeling an urgency come over you, a need to move or act, probably just because you were truly starting to fear that you wouldn’t be able to solve this.

   “I was brought to the world where these spores were naturally developed, over eons, and while I was there, a matriarch tree gave me a sapling from its own roots, and I just know that it somehow connects to how I’m supposed to stop what’s about to happen here, but I don’t know how.”

   She instantly perked up, hearing that.

   “What kind of tree was it?”

   “I don’t know, it was alien.”

   “That’s not what I mean. Was it coniferous or deciduous?”

   “It was a leaf tree, millions of years old.”

   “How fascinating. Did you speak to this tree?”

   “Um… yeah. I mean, as well as I could, I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

   “That’s of no concern. If a lifeform that old and that strong allowed you to connect to it, then you already know everything you need to.”

   “What? How? I’m not following?”

   “Bring the sapling, go where it told you to go, and you’ll find the answers you seek.”

   “No, wait, it didn’t tell me to go anywhere, I don’t know what you’re ta-argh…”

   Your words faded away into a frustrated growl, as Mrs. Bates herself faded away.
   Her powers had always been a bit of a mystery, however turning herself into dust and disappearing into the air was a well-used party-trick of hers. As far as anyone knew, the botany was only a hobby, but you wouldn’t put it past the old girl to have some influence over the growth or resilience of her plants.
   She was certainly mischievous enough to simply not tell anyone if that was the case, even though she’d volunteered to be a guinea pig. Perhaps as a challenge to see how long it would take science to advance enough to figure it out anyway, which you could respect.
   Still, you were abruptly annoyed again, because apparently you were gonna have to figure this crap out on your own, anyway.
   A quiet buzz in your pocket alerted you to your phone ringing, and since you didn’t have a plan on how to relocate the damn gardener yet, you picked it up.

   “What?”

   “Hey, it’s Jen.”

   “I know that; what do you want?”

   “Wow, you’re really in a mood today.”

   “I’m losing my fucking mind, actually, so get to the point!”

   “Alright, alright… After you left I put the house to work, sending alerts to all medical facilities to look out for any unusual cases, and we just learned that some folks have come into a hospital in southern California today, with symptoms that seem to be some sort of reaction to an unidentified substance.
   No one knows exactly what kind yet, they’re working on getting samples to us, thus far it’s just scans that have confirmed the presence of foreign parti-…”

   “How many?”

   “Uh… thus far… ten.”

   “Shit. What kind of symptoms?”

   “Difficulty breathing, vomiting, liver and kidney disfunctions, and apparently some of them are exhibiting some aggressive behaviour.”

   Ice flooded your blood where you stood, surrounded by lush green plants and their flowers, sporting every colour of the rainbow and so many more.
   How long would it take before it was all gone?

   “It’s already happening.”

   You’d known, just from the fact that the portal had been so adamant about making you and Marcus understand all this, that it had to happen soon, but you’d still hoped to have a few days to figure out exactly what you were meant to do to stop it.

   “What do we do, Sec?”

   What could you do? All you had was a fucking plant and a presumed hint from a barely sentient being, that this could be halted.
   But the portal had never claimed as much. It had only showed you what had happened, not what would, everything else was your own assumption. Yours. Not Marcus’. Not anyone else’s, because you were the one that somehow just knew things.
   Right now, though, you felt like you didn’t know anything at all.
   What did your soul have to do with this?
   What had Bates meant about going somewhere?

  Why had the portal separated you from Marcus?

   Was that the answer… rather than a question? Had it moved him to a safe place, because the truth was that this wasn’t survivable, and he was more important to protect? More important for the future.
   You could believe that.
   Perhaps your part in all this had never been to stop the destruction, but instead… to simply plant a tree.
   Maybe that little stalk would survive, carrying the legacy of something so old and wise that it now knew how to shield itself, and would still be here when the dust settled, ready to bring life back to the Earth anew.
   All your life you’d been out of sync with the world, scrambling to understand even the basics of how to just live. Only to now, when you’d finally begun to figure it out, have to try and understand how to die. How to be alright with that, even though it seemed so unfair and cruel.
   Not so much that it had to be you that knew about the end of the world, someone apparently had to, but that you couldn’t have gotten to be with Marcus for your final time.
   You’d never feared laying down your life for others, but this was different. Because this wasn’t taking a bullet for a colleague or friend, this was accepting that everything that had ever lived, would be destroyed.
   There’d be no one left to protect any records. None to safeguard history. It would all be turned to dust in the thousands or even millions of years that you imagined it would take for the planet to recover, if it even could.

   So… what could you do?

   “Sec?”

   “I need to see my brother.”

<><><><><> 

   Marcus knew that something was wrong. He could feel a kind of charge around himself that had nothing to do with his powers, and it was growing with each passing day.
   It might just be that he was in the wrong place, that the universe was being stretched the wrong way because of his misplacement, but if it was, what would happen the day that the cosmos decided to push back?
   And if it wasn’t that at all… then what?
   He’d easily fallen back into the routines of life, having already been stranded in this time for two weeks, the only drag being that he already knew everything that was going to happen.
   The Belgian worm that ate cars, Tech-No breaking his knee (it healed within five days), Guppy and Wild Card getting in trouble in school because of a particularly clever, albeit ultimately disastrous, prank that saw the entire basement of HQ completely flooded.
   He could’ve prevented those things, but since they weren’t life-threatening, he chose not to, for fear that intervening could somehow tamper with his chances of getting back to you.
   Missy didn’t seem at all bothered by knowing that he wasn’t technically the same dad she’d grown up with. He acted, spoke, moved and treated her exactly the same, and that was enough for her to accept that they were the same person after all.
   The only problem was that Marcus didn’t feel like he was.
   He felt out of place, literally. It was there in every movement, every ray of sunshine that hit his skin, every bite of food and sip of drink… like it didn’t actually happen to hisbody.

   When three weeks had passed, he was getting desperate.
   He’d seen no hint of the portal anywhere, gotten no information at all about what was happening on your end, and he was beginning to fall apart.
   That evening at dinner, Missy could tell that something had changed, that he’d begun to break, and it didn’t matter that he could see how much it scared her, he just couldn’t conceal it anymore.

   “Dad… is there anything I can do?”

   He hated that she even asked. That she felt that same desperation. No kid should know what that felt like.

   “No, sweetie. You get going on your homework, okay. I’ll clear the table.”

   “But, dad-…”

   “Missy, I can’t-…!”

   He stopped himself before he could finish that sentence. Firstly, because he’d raised his voice at her, which he never ever did, and secondly, because he’d been about to say that he couldn’t take her kindness right now, which would be a terrible thing to say to a ten-year-old. Especially when she was looking for comfort.

   “I’m sorry. …I’m sorry, honey.”

   She was on the verge of tears, watching him sit there, shaking with a feeling he couldn’t name but which haunted and tortured him, right before her eyes.
   She stood up slowly, and came to wrap her arms around him, offering him the comfort that he’d been unable to give to her, and his heart shattered.
   His arms wrapped around her almost without his knowledge, squeezing her too tight, but she let him. In her endless kindness, she let him, and he didn’t deserve that, but he took it anyway, because he was drowning.

   “I don’t know what to do… I’m so scared for her.”

   “Don’t be. You know as well as I do, Ace is the toughest Hero there is, powers or no powers. And if she loves you, she’ll find you. I know it.”

   Her confidence eased the worst of his fears, although not his guilt.
   But when they’d said goodnight and she’d disappeared into her room, he found himself outside in the backyard, quietly whispering to the stars just like he had every night since he got there.
   It was pointless, he knew that. To hope that the words would matter somehow, that they’d carry over between the impossibly large bridge that he hoped still connected the two of you.
   But standing there among the trees, amidst the mumbled wishes of ‘please, keep her safe’, spoken to figments of his imagination, a very real memory snuck into the forefront of his thoughts.
   And as his focus shifted, it was followed by a whole string of adjoining ones, all on the same subject: Chief Akela, talking about you.  

   –We might be able to help her. If you will let us.

   –She has a strong spirit, that’s what truly saved her.

   –Yes. Love can be a weakness. But it’s also the greatest source of power known, when you dare to wield it.

   –We’re not meant to fight these heaviest of battles on our own, none of us would survive that.

   Flashes, moments in time, all so significant as he’d lived them, but all equally significant now, for entirely different reasons.
   Akela had named you Mana, one of their very strongest words, but he’d never disclosed what Kahele meant.
   Now, standing out there under the stars, Marcus could almost feel the meaning of his name through the energy that the Chief had imbued it with.
   He heard the man’s voice as if a record was skipping inside his head. And with each repetition, the meanings seemed to deepen, burrowing further down into the depths of his soul.
   Hearing these phrases back-to-back, knowing the same man had spoken them, a man that saw things other people couldn’t, put them under a whole other light.
   Suddenly, Marcus knew that he had to get to you. Right now!
   All these phrases had been warnings, cemented into his brain long before they would become truly relevant, because Akela had somehow known that you would end up the sacrificial lamb on the altar of time.
   The portal had showed Marcus… it had fucking showed him what would happen, and still he hadn’t understood it.
   His dreams had been filled with your eyes, staring back at him as you took that final step into the unknown, but he’d seen only peace within you, and assumed that it meant victory.
   He had to get to you! But how!?

   “Akela… help me! Please!”

   He screamed at the treetops, ready to believe that the magical old man was still alive in some form, reaching out to him from some other world, or time. But the answer didn’t come to him from up there. It came from within himself.
   This time, the memories that berated his senses were all of you, as you’d unknowingly prepared him for this very moment.

   –There’s not a single shred of all this that’s easy, but the fact is: we’re alive. And as long as we are, there’s hope.

   –Are you seriously telling me that you’re prepared to just roll over and die, just because someone might try and stop you from going home?

   –You’re a leader and a fighter and a hero. When did you become a quitter?

   –You’re stronger than this.

   His lungs emptied in a kind of subdued shock. And when the air flooded back in, the sky turned black, lightning flared high into the atmosphere and struck the ground all around him, not just the house, the trees, the pool, but the entire neighbourhood.  
   Dark purple threads spread out around him by the thousands, searching and waiting.
   The lightning intensified, but became more and more focused, eventually drawn to the same spot, just fifteen feet to his left, where something was taking form.
   He let the threads join the lightning, one by one attaching them to the thing, pulling it closer and closer until it was forced into his timeline.
   The portal.
   Trapped by his power, the real power of his being, awoken by you, by his immeasurable love for you, it had no means of evading him as he approached it, noting that the surface of it, which was usually in constant turmoil, was now smooth. Like a doorway of silk, gently billowing against the simultaneously both light and dark forces that locked it in place through Marcus’ true strength.  
   He knew that it would take him where he wished, it had no other option, so he didn’t hesitate to step towards it.

   “Dad…”

   Her voice, small and absolutely terrified, reached him like glass cracking under his feet.
   He’d never be able to ignore that voice.

   “Sweetheart, it’s okay.”

   Holding his powers in place, he closed the distance between them as he spoke, pulling her into a hug.
   Her voice was even smaller when she whispered in his ear.

   “How are you doing that?”

   He pulled back to look at her, putting his face in front of her eyes to force her focus away from the frightening spectacle.

   “Because I have to.”

   His own voice crackled, precariously close to dying out on his tongue as the tears filled his eyes with the knowledge that he had to walk away from her. Again.
   All he had to lean on was the blind faith that the timeline would somehow reset, and all of this would never have happened for her.
   But he’d always remember.

   “You were right about what you said after dinner, except it’s the other way around.
   I’m the one that has to find her.
   I have to go, baby, but everything will be okay, I promise.”

   “I’m scared…”

   Her tears nearly broke his resolve.

   “I am too. More than I ever have been before.
   But listen to me, Missy, because I need you to remember this, no matter what: You are stronger than your fears.”

   Something sturdy seemed to brace her shoulders as she absorbed those words, and he backed away from her with a small hope kindled in the depths of his heart. That perhaps those words, once given to him on the ocean wind, existed outside of time, and that she’d remember them always, in all versions of the cosmos.
   He turned away from her, and without pause, stepped into the portal.

<><><><><> 

   You found him only hours after you’d hung up on Jen, even though he was several states away, by commandeering one of the Heroics helicopters and flying out there yourself.
   It had been years since you’d last flown anything at all, but you were a certified helicopter pilot and the training came back to you quickly once you were in front of the controls, the familiar abbreviations and dials somehow feeling like old friends from a past life.
   These machines were bigger and heavier, operated by more advanced engines than the one’s you’d flown back then, but you adjusted easily, using your fingers and feet to feel how the bird moved and responded.
   Ms. Granada had called you about half an hour after you left, not to yell at you, but to let you know that an additional eighteen hospitals along the coast had now called in suspected cases of spore-infections.
   That changed the projected timeline for how long it would take before this went global, into a mere fraction of the time you’d originally thought. Not that it made that much difference, in the end.

   The base where Chris was stationed right now was inland and had rarely seen a visit from a Heroic helicopter, so when you approached the marked out landing pad, just a stones-throw from the training grounds, everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared.
   You came in fast, having alerted the base’s flight operator and tower that you were inbound, and for the first time since becoming Heroics Chief of Security, throwing your weight around in ordering them to clear the air for you.
   It was a bigger position than many would think, your job. For the sake of protecting the people that protected the world, you had the authority to assume command over any agency or company, civilian, military or other, as well as any location anywhere in the country.
   An authority you would ordinarily never have used for a personal matter, but the fucking world was ending.
   You landed smoothly, leaving the engine running idle while you climbed out and identified yourself to the armed guards around the helipad, who promptly stepped aside, saluting you as they recognized you as a superior officer.
   You asked one of them to direct you to Chris Hadley, having to scream over the sounds of the engines, and the guard pointed you towards the mess hall.
   Both of you had changed surnames after learning about your parents, but while he had stuck with a family name, after your maternal grandparents, you’d chosen something completely unrelated.

   There was a loud buzz of voices in the large room as you stepped inside and stopped to look around, but it died out quickly when the people closest to you recognized you, and started spreading the word, until every eye in the room was on you.
   They weren’t required to stand in attention unless you ordered them to, or if you appeared in official attire, so you simply studied them, looking for a familiar face.
   You were just about to call out his name when a tall frame rose above the seated diners.
   You had the same eyes and chin, the same hair, albeit his cropped short along the sides, and only slightly longer over the crown of his head.
   It had been at least five years since you’d last seen him, and even though there had never been any animosity between you, he felt somewhat estranged, given that you hadn’t been close for a lot longer than that.
   You’d kept tabs on him, but only ever contacted him for birthdays and thanksgivings.
   Still, you’d grown up together, and knew each other accordingly well, so when he took in what had to be a strained or possibly even desperate expression on your face, he immediately made his way over to you and pulled you into a bearhug.
   He was a full head taller than you, broad-shouldered and muscular, so you all but disappeared into his embrace.

   “What’s the matter, Sunshine?”

   The whisper of his voice in your ear, the nickname he’d given you the first time he saw you and never stopped calling you since then, the love he still offered you so freely, even though you were the one that had pulled away from him, all threatened to break you.
   But you didn’t get to do that. You’d have to be strong now.

   “I need to talk to you.”

   He let go of you but kept his arm over your shoulders as he moved back to the door, holding it open for you and following you through.
   He brought you to an empty area outside, that you recognized as a practise ground for driving military vehicles, but which was currently unused.
   There were no obstacles or buildings anywhere nearby, so no one could get close enough to eavesdrop without being noticed.

   “Tell me.”

   Ever the military man. Straight and to the point.
   But how did you tell someone that the world was ending? How did you tell a beloved family member that you were there to say goodbye?

   “Chris… I’m sorry. I know I’ve said it before, and I know that you would’ve forgiven me even if I hadn’t, but I need to say it.
   I need you to know that it’s not just about what happened back then, but all the years since, that I’ve avoided you. You didn’t deserve that.”

   His stance softened, his hands coming to hold your shoulders, as he realized that this wasn’t an official visit, despite the Heroics helicopter.

   “Hey, I know that, of course I do. What is this? Are you in trouble?”

   “No, not trouble, just…”

  …My last chance to tell you…
   Oh, to hell with spores and fuck time-travel for making you do this!

   “Something’s gonna happen soon. Something really bad, and we can’t stop it.”

   “The Heroics can’t?”

   “…No one can.”

   He stared at you for a minute, taking his hands off your shoulders and bringing them to his own hips instead. He was reading you, gaging the severity of your tone and everything else about this strange situation, and then he dipped his head and swallowed hard, having apparently landed on a conclusion.

   “You’re talking end of the world-level bad… aren’t you?”

   You only just managed to nod once in confirmation, and saw his eyes close, trying to avoid having to absorb that. But he did.
   No matter what, Chris had always believed you, always known when you were joking and when you weren’t. Your being there, coming to him like this, in the end it was probably all the proof he’d ever need that this was real.

   “How long?”

   “Days… at best. It’s gonna get bad. People going mad and then dying like flies. We know what’s causing it, but we just don’t have enough time to stop it.”

   “But you’re gonna try something anyway.”

   Your chest pinched at his words, just because of how sure (and correct) he was, your eyebrows knitting together with equal parts grief and solace. Because he knew you, down to the smallest damn detail that not even Marcus had managed to figure out yet.

   “What gave it away?”

   “You left the engine running.”

   You couldn’t help but chuckle at how matter of fact he made it sound.

   “Don’t I always?”

   He knew what you were really saying, you could see it in his eyes.
   That you were always ready to run. Always kept an escape route open, because the world had taught you that even the parts of life that you’d thought were safe, sometimes weren’t.
   He pulled you into another hug, and this time you felt sorrow in the uneven breaths that tugged at his chest.

   “Whatever’s coming… whatever happens… I love you.”

   You gave yourself permission to break, just for this one little moment in time, standing in his embrace, holding him as tightly as your arms could, wishing that the world would just stop being so cruel.

   “Love you, too.”

   The actual word goodbye was too hard, though, so you merely pulled out of his frame, and walked away, back to the chopper and into the pilot’s seat, grateful that he didn’t follow you to stand there and watch you leave. Like you had so many times before.
   Once airborne, you pointed the nose of the bird towards the Pacific Ocean and gunned it.
   It didn’t really matter where on the coast you ended up, you just figured that planting the tree where the infection was spreading the fastest, was a logical conclusion.
   Whatever Mrs. Bates had meant about the matriarch telling you to go somewhere, was completely lost on you, so you chose to work on the basis of Occam’s Razor instead.
   Don’t make assumptions or attempt to draw conclusions without facts to support them. Stick to what you know.
   Easier said than done when something had been putting presumed facts in your head for… however fucking long you’d been in this time-travel rollercoaster.
   The dampened humming of the rotor, through the protective earpieces in your helmet, was the only sound you heard for the two-hour flight, but the rhythm had a calming effect on you.
   With each quiet whoof-whoof-whoof above you, it was like your brain was sorting itself out, and by the time you were closing in on your undefined destination, you’d both cried and laughed at old and new memories, fears and hopes, but ultimately reached acceptance.
   Whether it was fate, or just circumstance, the simple fact was that you had been chosen for this. No one else knew the things that you did. And even though you didn’t know exactly why the sapling had been given to you, you did know that you had to plant it. That it served a purpose.
   Made all the clearer now when you reached the coast, and flew into a literal red cloud.

  The body of the chopper was sealed, the spores had no way of reaching you as long as you stayed inside it, but you’d have to step outside to plant the tree.
   It was less than five hours since you’d left Los Angeles, and in that time, the coast had been completely overrun by the deadly infection.
   You flew lower, identifying the city you’d reached as San Diego, and finding the streets littered with bodies that had already decayed enough to release freshly born spores in incalculable numbers.
   A fresh volley of pain coursed through you at the thought that this cloud would’ve already reached LA too, and that the reason you hadn’t heard anything more from HQ was likely because it was already devoid of anything living.
   Your mind violently revolted against the image of Missy and Anita having been reduced to these petri dishes of biological matter, shocking you back into focusing on your task.
   Landing anywhere in the city was out of the question, because any people that were still alive would be out of their minds and extremely violent, which presented too much of a risk against your success. So, you aimed for South Coronado Island instead, the closer of the two islands that sat just eight miles off the coast.
   It was more of a cliff than an island, sitting in the bay like a knife laying on its back. But on the southern half of it, around what looked like the tallest section, there was a more flattened out area where the chopper should fit.

   You landed a little less smoothly this time, because the winds out here were stronger, and coming at the craft from a downward angle as they were pushed up along the steep side of the island.
   Once you were safely down, you cut the engines and pulled the brakes on the rotor to help slow it down quicker.
   The cloud was less dense out here, being pushed inland by the winds, but the moment you opened the door, you’d get infected. There was no avoiding that.
   The frail-looking little plant sat on the second pilot’s seat next to you, making you wonder how the hell this little thing was meant to survive against all this… And then you remembered that that was still only what you’d been made to believe would happen, based on the magical insights that came from inside your own head.
   In reality, no more reliable than a wish upon a star.
   And yet, you trusted it.
   Was that what Bates had meant?

   Go where it told you to go, and you’ll find the answers you seek.

   Perhaps it wasn’t about going to a physical place, but to a place where you believed that this would succeed. Perhaps it was all a leap of faith.
   You took off your headgear, picked up the baby tree, tucking it safely against your chest, and opened the door.
   The spores actually stung your skin, they were so potent, and the burn in your lungs was instantly unbearable, making you cough and struggle for air after just one small inhalation.
   You dropped to your knees right outside the chopper, quickly digging a little hole in the tough, rocky soil, before putting the sapling down in it and covering the base.
   It couldn’t have taken you more than a minute in total, but as you finished, you could already feel your mind being invaded by the infection, stripping you of thoughts, wishes and memories.
   Instincts took over, trying to protect you, but there was nothing that could be done. With each passing second, a little more of you was burned away, aggression becoming more and more prevalent to your being.

   And then it suddenly stopped.
   Something moved over your skin, soothing the burn from your toes to your scalp, even under your clothes, and then a movement to your left caught your eye.
   A man had appeared there, out of seemingly nowhere, and for some reason, your body was reacting to him. Wanting him closer.
   You were scared and angry, but you didn’t know why. All you knew was that this man looked safe and protective, so you allowed him to put his arms around you.
   And when he did, something seemed to wake up inside of you. Something so powerful that it felt like you might burst with the force of it suddenly churning through you, making you tremble and spasm in his grip.
   He took your hand and brought it to the ground right in front of a little plant that had somehow grown all alone up here on the cliff.

   “That power you feel, I need you to give it to that little plant. As much as you can spare, can you do that?”

   His voice made your body still, calming the whipping waves under your skin, even though you had no idea how you were meant to do what he was asking.

   “Look at it. Helpless and all alone out here. Let’s help it grow.”

   Something seemed to fall into place inside you as you heard that. You liked to help. To be of use.
   You didn’t know how you could possibly aid this frail little thing, but he seemed so sure.
   A thin and shiny thread flowed from his index finger to the sapling, and when it landed, through him, you could feel the thing. Its tiny roots looking for nutrients, and all at once, you knew exactly how to help it.
   The power inside you flowed through that one little thread, guided by whatever power he had, to be able to do that, straight into the lifeblood of the young tree that eagerly sucked it all in, quickly draining you of strength.  

<><><><><> 

   You didn’t know him. That was the first thing he realized as he stepped through the portal and found you right there, right in the same spot he’d seen in his dreams.
   His shield could protect you from absorbing any more spores, but it couldn’t undo what damage had already been done.
   Why hadn’t the portal brought him there a minute earlier? Two minutes… however long you’d been exposed. He could’ve made sure that you’d never needed to inhale a single particle.
   But you were still alive and letting him touch you, and you seemed calmed by his presence, so perhaps something inside you did still remember.
   He only knew about the tree because of what the portal had showed him, since he hadn’t been there when you’d received it, or met you at all since then, but he knew that it was the key to everything.
   When he felt it take the power from your soul, he was terrified at how quickly and effectively it drained you, and he tried to break the connection, to pull his thread back before it killed you.
   But he couldn’t.
   The tree grew before his eyes, one foot, then two… five… ten… twenty… fifty, its roots breaking the ground it stood on, turning the south side of the island into rubble under its increasing size and weight, but without letting the two of you get jostled.
   A thick root settled underneath you, keeping the ground steady so you wouldn’t fall or get buried under the rolling masses of dirt and rock that sent the chopper crashing down into the ocean.
   But Marcus stopped caring what happened around him when he felt your body go limp in his arms.

   “No, no, no… hey, Pita! Look at me, come on.”

   He turned you so that your upper body was resting in his lap, gently tapping your cheek to get you to open your eyes.
   But when you did, ice filled his heart. Because this was the moment. The one he’d seen, over and over, thinking that it was the moment you won. The one he’d clung to in his exile, needing to believe that he had to be absent for, so that you could succeed, but which he now knew was the moment of your sacrifice.
   You didn’t look scared or confused, angry or sad. Only accepting.
   His lips, hands and arms started trembling, his stomach clenching in a tight knot, as the tears burned his eyes and a choking pressure clamped down on his throat.
   In his mind he was begging.

  Don’t go. Don’t leave me. I can’t do this again. I need you. Please…

   But not a word managed to claw out of his tortured body.
   And then his thread suddenly snapped, as your soul left you.
   A single, agonized breath was all he got, and then the roots shifted, something snared you, and you were torn from his grasp, pulled into the ground and buried, without pomp or circumstance. Without choirs or hymns.
   The roots settled themselves over the spot where you’d disappeared, and the tree and the ground finally stilled.

—————

Link to Chapter 18

Yeah, um….. My apologies, I was cleaning my tearducts and this fell out.
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