PART 23


Maria shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, no buster. Not again. Never again.” Hearing her own words out loud made her feel more confident. She constantly had to remind herself that she was in control. It was too easy to believe she wasn’t otherwise.


Her words stung. He knew she didn’t even want to touch him anymore, but hearing her say it so easily, hurt him. He went into defensive mode. He raised his hands in surrender. “I didn’t say anything.”


She closed her eyes for a moment. “ Focus!” she chided herself. “ Just do this thing and it’s all over and you’ll have your life back.”


“Okay. So, how do we start then?” Looking in his eyes made it a thousand times more difficult, but she couldn’t help it. They were sitting on a bed facing each other, and she knew she probably wouldn’t have a chance to do it again any time soon. No matter what her mind screamed, her body seemed to listen her heart.


Michael looked in her eyes and saw her fear in the deep green of them. She was afraid? Of him? Hell, why not? He had deserved it, hadn't he? “I think I need to touch you…” he said tentatively and saw her flinch. He put down the hand he was raising to touch her cheek. No. She wasn’t ready for this.


She saw him pull away his hand and gathered her courage. She reached for his hand and felt a tightness in her chest. He looked so happy for a moment when she’d touched him. She never could make herself be angry at him when he was so child-like and innocent.


Michael squeezed her hand slightly to reassure her that everything was okay and tried to get his mind away from her skin. Her soft, silky skin under his calloused fingers…


“Now focus on me. Think about me and it should happen I guess.”


Maria nodded, and closed her eyes. She saw Michael, on top of her, his body glistening with sweat and his eyes shining with awe as he gazed down at her. She panicked. The feeling was too powerful. Her breathing was ragged and she was scared of what she would do, if she would be able to carry on as planned if she would keep seeing that moment in her head.


The scene she saw when she opened her eyes was worse though. To her surprise, Michael’s eyes were open. He was looking at her, studying her in concentration and awe. It was just like the look she had tried to escape a moment ago, but somehow more intense. There was longing in this look and it made her feel like punching him.


“Why the hell are you doing this?” she asked pleadingly, almost crying.


“What?” he asked, his voice hoarse.


“Look at me like that? Like you… you…” she stuttered, not able to finish her thought. “Whatever, just forget it! Let’s just get this over with!”


She clutched his hand tighter. Closing her eyes, she focused on Michael. Michael’s hair, Michael’s touch, Michael’s scent, Michael’s taste, Michael’s voice…


He didn’t close his eyes. He wanted to watch her, not miss a minute of their time together. He was focusing on keeping his walls up while watching her though. His plan was simple. He couldn’t let her get into his mind. He was just going to get inside hers, take whatever he had left there and let the connection stay one-way.


This way, he was sparing her the pain while guaranteeing himself a lifetime feeling of Maria. He would never have to be alone again.


- - -



Michael cursed mentally. Nothing ever went according to his plans. He could feel her… Maria was in.


It was terrible, awful, scary to think of what she might see. Could she get hurt there? Could she get stuck or something? There was nothing he could do about it though. Their bond was strong enough to let her do what Max or Isabel could never have done.


He had thrown Isabel out of his head countless times when she had tried to dreamwalk him, but with Maria it was different, as always. There was no alert of a stowaway in his mind. It was as though she belonged there. His defenses had given her full access to do as she wished.


So he focused on his part of the plan. Get in her head and take what he had left. It took just a thought and he was in.


- - -


Maria found herself in a dark room and realized immediately where she was. She was in his head, it wasn’t hard to guess. She could smell him there, feel his presence around her.


It was dark. Darkness had always reminded her of the castle. It was something she had always found scary and cold. But Michael’s darkness felt safe. It was warm and somewhat friendly. She knew there were no monsters hiding in those shadows, only a strong feeling of loneliness. It made her sad to know. He was lonely.


She boldly stepped further. She couldn’t help the trust she felt about everything that was Michael. She could trust him with herself, only except when it came to emotions. He would die before hurting her physically, but emotionally he had wrecked her… many times.


She heard a faint cry coming from behind her. She turned and followed the voice. She knew what she would find. It was Michael. She had prepared herself for this. For finding his memories, his childhood, his dreams. It could be devastating but she was ready. At least she had thought she was.


Her surroundings started to change as she walked closer to him. His voice was soft and low, almost like he was trying to keep quiet. She began to see different shades of black around her. She realized there were shapes but she couldn’t make them out.


The texture of the ground changed and she noticed that she was walking through woods. Dead leaves were crackling under her bare feet and the shapes she’d seen beneath the shades of black turned out to be branches. The trees looked like they were burnt and the branches were in odd angles. They appeared as though they were reaching out for something. It was… disturbing.


She found the source of the sound but it didn’t make any sense. Where was Michael? The cries were coming from the trunk of a tree. She kneeled in front of it and the stinging of her knees caused her to noticed her clothes.


She was wearing a long black dress that was flying around as though there was wind, but she knew she would have noticed if there was. The air was calm around her, but it had a liquid quality to it. It made her move slowly, like she was swimming. But it also made the air richer. She felt like breathing honey. She savored it. She was breathing Michael.


She tentatively touched the tree with her fingertips and something resembling jam or glue soiled them. The cry stopped the moment she’d touched it, but started again as she flinched from the touch and pulled her hand away.


She whispered. “Michael?” and touched the tree again. The sound stopped and a disturbing silence took its place.


“Michael? Are you in there?”


She wanted to place her ear on it to hear better, but the sticky fluid stopped her from doing it. So she placed her palm instead and closed her eyes, trying to feel him.


Yes. He was there. He was in the tree. What the hell was he doing in a tree?


- - -


Michael opened his eyes in a room with large windows. He could see the backyard and the trees from where he was standing. He stepped further inside and found himself in a kitchen.


The place was familiar. He knew he hadn't ever seen the house before but it had Maria’s signature on it. It had the same feeling of the house he’d dreamt, the one with the hammock. It felt warm and homey. And smelled like Maria.


He walked around, trying to find a clue to what to do next. But the place looked so comfortable, felt so safe, all he wanted to do was to stay there. He reminded himself where he was and why he was there. That got him moving.


He went upstairs and found his first clue there. There was a locked door. He tried to open it with his powers but they didn’t work. So he knocked.


“Yes?” It was Maria’s voice. Was that right? It felt right, but wasn’t he supposed to find himself there?


“Maria?”


There was a pause, than the answer came with recognition.


“Michael?”


“Yes, it’s me. Can I come in?” He didn’t know what he was going to do if he could go in, but was going on instinct.


“Why?”


Good question, he had no idea.


“I don’t know. I need to be there I think.” Honesty looked like his best shot.


“You’ll hurt me.”


His heart clenched at her words. Would he hurt her?


“I don’t want to hurt you.” He whispered. “I need something. You have something that’s mine, I need it back.”


“No.” That was unexpected. So she knew she had it. Was that her subconscious he was talking to? Did she know subconsciously how they had caused this?


“Do you know what it is?”


“Yes.”


“Can you tell me?”


She paused again as he waited impatiently. “You gave it to me. You can't take it back.”


“What did I give you?”


“No, go away.”


Great… What was he supposed to do now?


- - -


“Should we leave them here? Are you sure about this?” Kyle asked as he watched the backdoor they had disappear through.


“It’s been two hours. They are not coming out. And she said leave, so I think we should let them be.” Tom reasoned, concealing his uneasiness with fake confidence.


“What do you think they’re doing in there?”


“As much as I don’t want to think about it, I'm hoping that they're having sex.” Tom said honestly.


Kyle gave him an unbelieving look.


“What?” Tom asked. “The only other plausible explanation is that they had killed each other. Would you prefer that?”


Kyle looked thoughtful, like he was considering it. Tom threw his arm over his shoulders and guided him out of the bar.


“Sorry about your plan. What were you going to do?”


“I was going to give jealousy a shot.” Kyle said longingly.


Tom patted his back. “Oh, that’s a classic. It’s a shame we couldn’t try it, could be so much fun. Maybe we can try it later?”


- - -


Maria couldn’t stand still when emotions hit her in full force. The fear, longing, loneliness, desperation, self-loathe coming from Michael left her kneeling in front of the tree, struggling to breathe. Her palm had never left its place though.


She put herself back together, and ignoring the hot tears trickling down her cheeks or the ache in her heart, she started to pull away pieces of the tree.


The sticky liquid on it made it slippery and no matter how much she dug her nails into it, she couldn’t break any off. She started sobbing and hitting it with her small fists.


“Michael? MICHAEL? Michael, please help me…”


- - -


Michael placed his palm on the door and concentrated on getting some emotion or flash. He had known that it could be hard to reverse the connection, but he honestly had never expected to deal with Maria’s stubbornness. Even her subconscious was stubborn.


Nothing. He couldn’t get anything from the room. He wondered if it worked both ways. Could he send his emotions through? Maybe if he could show her his intentions, she would let him in.


He placed his palm again and concentrated on Maria. Pictures of his favorite Maria moments flashed through his mind. He felt the warmth she made her feel. And lastly his thoughts of being insufficient for her came unwillingly. That was when he felt the door move under his fingers, in time with the sadness creeping up his heart.

The door didn’t open as he hoped it would. Instead it started shaking. He took a step back and opened his eyes. The thing he saw caused his heart to triple its rate.


The door had started bleeding.


“Maria? MARIA?”


- - -


Maria’s hands were aching and bleeding from hitting the rough surface of the tree, but there was still no progress. She placed both her palms and her forehead on the sticky surface with exhaustion, not being able to find strength to care about anything but Michael.


Her tears dropped on the soil just beneath the tree and her voice thick with tears managed to croak out only one name. “Michael…”


She knew he was in there. She knew he was hurting. Nothing made sense but she didn’t care. She needed to see him, help him, stop his hurt. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on sending him her love. Reminding him that there was someone that cared about him out there.


The minute she felt her heart burst with the love she held for her spiky haired alien, she felt the surface under her hands move. A thin ray of light shone through the dark tree and she saw two fingers reaching out.


- - -


Michael was panicking. He couldn’t help it. Blood. So much blood. And it was everywhere.


“Maria? MARIA?”


She wasn’t responding. He paced back and forth, telling himself it wasn’t real. But it wasn’t helping. It felt real, and Maria was inside a room that was bleeding.


He looked at the door, wishing he could do something to stop it. Then he threw reason out the door. “F-uck!” he muttered and threw himself to the door with all his might.


The door broke easily and he found himself inside the same white room their bodies rested in the real world. His eyes found Maria immediately.


She was lying on the bed, her eyes tightly closed and she was clutching her chest.


- - -


“Michael?” she said not able to believe her eyes. She touched his fingers and just knew it was him.


“I’ll get you out of there. Hold on.”


She pulled the edges of the hole with her new found strength. It was much more easier this time. As the hole got bigger, her heart lightened.


She worked on it for what seemed like hours. She was talking non-stop with her struggled breathing. Talking was good for fear. She wasn’t sure if it was for him or herself though.


She pushed a big piece in the middle with her shoulder and felt it break off a little too late. She stumbled inside the newly opened hole into a blinding light and two familiar arms.


She opened her eyes, and her heart made a little dance in her chest when she found the deep chocolate brown eyes looking back at her.


Her voice and words suddenly and surprisingly left her. She held onto his neck tightly and sobbed to his shirt. Her relief was overwhelming. Seeing him again, being in the light and not alone, feeling his heartbeat next to hers… It was too good to be real.


She remembered then. It wasn’t real. Right.


She pulled back slightly. It looked real though. His lips for example, looked real enough to kiss.


She leaned in and brushed her lips against his. The tingles were there. It had to be real. Seeing no resistance from him she deepened the kiss with the need that had been building up in her for months. She felt the pictures and memories coming before she could see them. She fought it, wanting to savor his lips instead of the flashes, but they were too much, too powerful, too fast.


- - -


Michael kneeled next to the bed and called her name. All the reaction he could get was her soft whimper. He touched her cheek and leaned closer to her. She was awake but scared. Scared from what? Him? Why was she scared from him?


“Maria? Open your eyes. Please…”


She shook her head. “No.”


That wasn’t the reaction he had hoped, but it was better than nothing. “Why not?”


“You’ll take it away. You’ll leave me. I can’t… I can't do it… I tried… I can't…”


He touched her tears and softly caressed her face. She was always so soft and so warm. “You can't what?”


She tentatively opened her eyes. Her voice was hardly audible. “I can't live without you.”


His eyes started to burn. She wasn’t supposed to do this. She was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to hate him. He wasn’t prepared for this.


He shook his head. “No. You can do it. You don’t need me.”


“I don’t?” she asked through her tears like a little kid.


“No.” he said, his heart breaking.


“Okay.” She said with a small voice. She placed her hand above her heart and a soft glow beamed between her fingers. She closed her hand into a fist and placed it in Michael’s bigger one.


Meeting his eyes she reluctantly opened it to reveal a small sphere of bluish white light. She held his hand holding the sphere in between their hands and leaned in to kiss him.


“I don’t want you to go.”

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