Death Just Doesn't Stick

Participants:

elisabeth3_icon2.gif magnes_icon2.gif

Scene Title Death Just Doesn't Stick
Synopsis How many times have we done it now? Is that three or five?
Date November 26, 2014

Elisabeth and Ygraine's Flat


After Moab, Magnes had a few things to do before returning to NYC, but finally he arrives at Elisabeth's apartment, because she's the best person to approach before he approaches Elaine. He needs to get a lay of the land before just walking into his house.

He handles this a bit like Spider-Man, staying on rooftops once night falls, and then, using gravity, sneaks into one of the windows.

Knowing her ability, while he stands in her bedroom, he stomps on the floor to put her on alert, and then says, "It's me, Magnes." figuring the stomp would likely make her expand her ability to listen for intruders.

After that, he walks out into the hall, saying, "I'm alive."

She hasn't slept well in weeks. November sucks for her sleep patterns anyway. Hell, at this point, all year round sucks for her sleep patterns, August through January, anyway. The sound of a thump in her bedroom does indeed have Elisabeth listening for intruders, immediately catching the sound of the heartbeat in her room. It might be a good thing that she knows the sounds of his body quite well and hesitates for a split second — long enough for his voice to also register. By the time he hits the living room, Elisabeth is standing there staring at him.

Two tentative steps forward bring her into touching distance and she reaches out to touch his chest slowly. And then she's crushing him to her in a hug. "Jesus fucking Christ, Magnes," she whispers as she bursts into tears.

Magnes, wearing a random t-shirt and some jeans, wraps his arms around her. "I was in Moab. After the explosion, Arthur somehow brought me back to life and decided to lock me up. He said he wanted me alive. But then, somehow, the people running the place weren't on the same page as Arthur, and tried to massacre us."

He gently pulls back, sighing, looking exhausted. "Tamara and some others helped break us out. Edward is alive, and a few other people who were unaccounted for. They were even holding the Isabelle from this world there, and we have Tyler Case. But yeah, now I'm back…"

The information itself has to wait a few minutes while she holds him fiercely. When she steps back, it's to wipe her face and laugh somewhat shakily. "I knew there was a chance… Kaito told me he didn't know for sure which way Arthur'd go. But I was afraid to hope." She shakes her head slightly. "Have you been to see Elaine? Or Izzy? They told us you were dead. They're both a wreck."

She grimaces, shoving her hands through her hair. "I don't honestly think I'm doing much better," she admits. "I'm so fucking glad to see you." And her laughter this time has a hint of her steadying nerves. "Jesus… when you come bearing gifts, you really come bearing gifts, don't you?"

"I know that they told them I was dead. I'm pissed, and honestly I want to rip Arthur Petrelli's heart out, but I know I need to focus on getting us out of here and laying low. I wanted to see you before I saw them, to make sure I had an idea of what was happening on your end." Magnes moves to take a seat on the couch, clearly having barely slept as he just sort of hunches forward.

Looking up at her, he continues, "If it wasn't for Cardinal, we probably wouldn't quite have made it out in time, with or without Tamara." Running a few fingers through his long hair, he asks, "So, I guess the question now is, what next? Oh, and I'm not sure if it has something to do with Arthur, but I saw a weird green electricity on my skin back in Moab."

Puzzled, she asks, "What the hell was Cardinal doing in Moab? I mean… did he get tranqed or something?" Because otherwise, he would have just gone shadow and no one would have ever caught him!

And then he comments on that part. "Uhm…. yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh. So… about that." Elisabeth hesitates and joins him on the couch. "We may as well catch up on the insanity that has been the past couple weeks. This is not exactly the best way to tell you what I know about the green electricity." She bites her lip. "Arthur brought you back using Darren Stevens's ability," she tells him, her tone quiet. "It has significant side effects, Magnes. And.. Kaito gave me a message to give to you if Arthur did do this to you. But… I'm not sure whether to give it to you now or later." She grimaces. "You tell me which you'd rather. And then I'll tell you some news you're going to like."

"As far as I can tell, Cardinal just went to Moab all the time to be a creepy ghost. Maybe you can help him figure out how to transform into a person again. I helped him figure out how to use his ability a bit better, but you know him better than I do." Magnes listens though, tilting his head in mild confusion.

"It's probably better that I know everything now, so that I can be prepared for whatever is happening." He looks her in the eye, clearly a bit concerned.

He's been concerned with his resurrection since the moment he woke up.

Elisabeth quirks a brow. Cardinal went to Moab prison… just to hang out? What. The. Fuck? Even is happening in this world? "Uhm… okay," she replies a little tentatively. "Darren's ability … It's not a permanent heal. I'm not a hundred percent certain exactly how it works, but … it's the same way that Ezekiel brought his Liz back to life after she died on November 8th. I'm told that she … well, that whatever it is that Darren's power actually does, it's painful at the end. Kaito asked me to tell you that he's sorry — that if Arthur did heal you, you should live your life on your own terms. You won't have more than four or five years." Her tone is gentle, but there's not really any softening that news.

"Are you serious?" Magnes asks. But of course she is, and he's staring at the floor, thinking, a bit horrified. "I survived out of all of those failed clones, and now this?"

He takes a deep breath, a few deep breaths, freaking out a bit. "I have to fix this, there has to be a way to fix this. I've gotten out of things before, there has to be an exact set of circumstances that could fix this…"

Putting her hand into his, Elisabeth says quietly, "I don't know if there's a way. There could be. We have several years to work it out or see if we can find someone who can help, okay? I…" She pauses and admits, "I almost decided not to tell you at all. I … think that I would like to know, were it me, though." She grimaces, wishing Odessa were actually here to ask about that one. She might have known the answer… or at least could have been working on one from her end.

"Listen… there's a lot more going on. Are you up for hearing it? Or do you need some time to assimilate this part? I won't blame you if you just want some time to sit and think. But… I also don't want you to obsess over that idea. Because you know what? We've beat all the fucking odds to get this far. We'll figure this out too."

"No, you're right, I don't have time to think about it right now… with Edward, maybe there's something I can figure out." Magnes gently squeezes her hand, looking over. "Alright, I'm listening. I know we have a lot on our plate to handle, so we should coordinate."

Elisabeth smiles a little at him. "When you want to talk about this again, when you're ready to… I'm here, okay?" She squeezes his hand in return, and breathes out, her demeanor serious. "Where the hell to start… So, while you were gone, things happened." She swallows hard, clearly unhappy with the next bit of news she's going to lay on him. As if telling him the healing wasn't permanent weren't bad enough. "It actually started before you were gone — the explosion at Pinehearst was not an accident, in case you don't remember what exactly happened. While that was happening, I was meeting with Kaito Nakamura. And… Gabriel."

She hesitates, pulling her hands back to clasp them between her knees. "The explosion hasn't stopped Arthur, obviously. And he will get to our world. Gabriel agreed to work with Ruiz to help us try a portal. His power … is really to know how things work, right? So we hoped that he might be able to see what Ruiz's power could do." Elisabeth grimaces.

"I have to admit that … I'm not sure I was thinking clearly enough when we attempted this," she admits quietly. "It… was too much for Gabriel. He was losing control kind of like you did. But Eileen stepped in to stop him, and she got hurt. Gabriel saw it happen… he healed her, but it cost his life. And hers." Because Volken's power… they've all seen what it does.

"Fuck…" Magnes is silent for a long moment, because there's a lot to unpack. "All I wanted was for them to be happy, I never wanted them involved with this…"

He rests his forehead in his hand, just hunched over completely now. "I can't… I can't keep doing at this blind. I think I understand why Cardinal did certain things now. I can't go through life blind anymore, letting people get hurt."

"I need a minute…" He sounds overwhelmed, but it's also clear that his exhaustion is starting to hit him.

Elisabeth reaches out to wrap her arm around him. "Believe me.. I know. Me either." She has to live with the guilt of being the one to ask, to have destroyed two more lives.. It is a guilt that will never go away.

She sighs heavily. "Let me get you something … to eat? Fill me in on your side of this cluster after you get some food into you, okay?" It's what she does when she doesn't know what else to do — feeds people. And in this case, she really doesn't know what the hell to do.

After hugging him tightly, she slips into the kitchen to get him both a meal and a cup of coffee. This being only his first stop, she figures he'll need the pick-me-up to get him through Izzy and Elaine's emotional storms. And it's a way to give him a few minutes to process all that she's told him.

When she finally comes back in, it's with a bowl of pasta, chicken, and veggies and the coffee, which she sets down in front of him before she goes back for her own coffee and rejoins him silently on the couch. She doesn't push him, just letting him wait until he's ready to talk again and being a quiet, solid presence. She needs to be around him, perhaps to assure herself he's really here and okay.

Magnes takes a little bit to collect himself, eating a little, having some coffee.

It's while he's eating that he finally starts to talk about the difficult things again. "In Moab, they completely massacred most of the prisoners. I think that Aviators guy was in charge, he called out to us as we were escaping."

"The survivors were me, Norman White, Rickham, April Silver, Doyle, this world's Isabelle, Tyler Case, and Edward Ray. We were all negated, but we managed to use that amplification formula to give April her ability, since we decided it was the most useful, and there was only one syringe left." He starts to sip his coffee again, thinking over what's most important here. "Edward seemed to be sure that Arthur was dead, and the people who were trying to massacre everyone, including the staff, at Moab, seemed convinced that Arthur went insane, and that they needed to clean up after him."

"Something isn't right." he finally determines.

She listens quietly, sipping her own coffee while she lets him go at his own pace. "There's a lot that isn't right," Liz observes drily. "You're going to have to be more specific."

The list of escapees…. makes her smirk faint. She can't help it. Modified Team Ray, a few years early. Wonderful.

"Why is Edward so sure Arthur is dead?" Her tone is thoughtful.

"Because Edward helped Samson Gray escape, specifically to kill Arthur. He thinks that Samson is working for Arthur or failed to kill him or something. He's not sure what happened." Magnes explains, before he sits his coffee down and takes a deep breath. "I'm going to see my mother in two days. I need to get answers before things get too hectic. I'm taking this world's Isabelle with me, so that she can possibly lay low there for a bit, assuming that we find Thalia."

"Well… that makes some amount of sense. We know that Samson killed Elisabeth Harrison. We aren't certain exactly why that was the case. I came at it from the angle of Arthur having found out about me or something…. But Gabriel suspected that they might have hit her because it would draw him into the situation." Shaking her head a little, Liz sighs heavily. "It's not as big a parcel of news as you might expect — more a confirmation of the fact that we are in deep shit," she admits.

Shoving her hand through her hair, she looks at him and nods slightly. "Are you taking Elaine and Addie with you?" Liz asks curiously. Because it might not be the worst plan, to have them out of Dodge for a little while. "I'm sure Elaine's not going to want to let you out of her sight for a little while, and I can't say I'd blame her." A faint smile quirks her lips. "So… we've now had the Moab breakout occur several years too early, we've got different people on the loose than last time. I'd say we've well and truly broken shit, Magnes."

"I won't be gone long. I'm not sure what to expect, but I'll explain things and make sure she knows that I'll come back as soon as possible. I just… need to tie up this loose end, so that I can focus. After that, I won't leave Elaine for as long as I can manage." Magnes assures, and then sighs, nodding. "Yeah… I'm starting to feel like there's no way to make good decisions."

Blowing out a slow breath, Elisabeth says, "Well…. I have one more log to throw on the fire." The admission feels strangely anticlimactic after the other revelations. "We have the proof of Pinehearst's experiments. Like…. Physical proof. Files. Pictures. All of it. We can prove they've been experimenting on Evos for decades. The sheer volume of human rights violations in the files… it's going to light the world on fire, Magnes."

Leaning forward on her knees, clasping her hands between them, she looks up at the far wall. "It can't be released. Yet. It will literally destabilize the entire country… and I don't want this world to wind up in the same kind of civil war that our home is being subjected to."

When she meets his eyes, she admits, "Someone else has been here. It was a time hop as well as a dimensional hop — she wasn't exactly here in person. She traded minds with her alternate self that lived here. There was no way for us to go with her, but she came looking for us. They know we're alive. They're working on it from their end. I sent as much knowledge as I could back with her when she went. I have zero idea what good it's going to do us, but… maybe with all of us working on the same page, we'll have a better shot."

"What? That's actually great… but, as far as this world, I don't really know the right answer anymore. All I know is that we don't belong here. The one thing I wanted was for Eileen to be happy somewhere, but even that…" Magnes shakes his head. "Whatever we do, we just need to leave. I can't keep putting Elaine through all of this."

Elisabeth nods slightly. "Well, for what it's worth? I didn't turn up the evidence, the people of this world did. And it's their choice whether to use it or not — I've warned them what happened in our world, what the threats were. It's all I can reasonably do, Magnes." She shoves a hand through her hair, and then says, "I don't think there really ever is a 'right' answer. Much like everything else in life, you do the best you can with what's in front of you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you fuck it up royally and live with the consequences." If her tone is a little bitter, well… perhaps that's understandable. She got two more people that she wanted to protect killed.

"The first shot we're going to get at getting out of here… is in 2017," she tells him quietly. "There's something about windows and interactions. But according to Kaito Nakamura, it's our best shot. Assuming… Ruiz is willing to try again. Which… right now, it's up in the air."

Shoving a hand through her hair, she tells him quietly, "Eat. Go home and see your lady and your baby. They all need to know you're okay. Just… be careful going home. I have no idea how closely they're being watched, if at all. Do what you need to do, and we'll talk… later." When they've both had a little time to absorb and rest. She pats him on the shoulder and squeezes tightly. "Damn, Magnes, it's good to see you."


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