| Scene Title | Lost Man In A Lost World |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Even across universes, you can still meet in the middle. |
| Date | July 13, 2021 |
Somewhere in the Canadian wilderness |
Raytech Complex rooftop garden |
|
Richard lay out atop a boulder, staring up at the star-graced vault of the night sky as he took a break from his driven passage towards his point of origin– not because he needed to, weariness wasn’t something that struck his body when he was in his shadow form, but because weariness reaches mind and heart as well. He was alone, completely and utterly, just himself and the stars glittering He lifts a hand upwards, fingers splayed out, just the shadow of five fingers against the diamond-specked night. A recursion, in a strange way, of the shadow permanently marking that same hand where Peter Petrelli had pulled him back from the darkness to life. But it wasn’t Peter he was thinking of tonight. “I wish you were here, Liz,” he says quietly to the void, “This is exactly the sort of situation you do well in. No complex politics, no devious plots. Just surviving, fighting, acting. You and Tay would have gotten along like gangbusters.” “I miss you.” |
||
|
Sitting in the rooftop gardens of RayTech where she and Richard often shared a drink or two, Elisabeth leans back against the stone planter and tips her head back to look at the stars. "I thought we'd get to talk a little more often… even if it was only through texts," she tells the night sky. Then she chuckles softly. "No, I didn't really. I hoped it. But as usual, nothing ever goes as planned…" She crosses her ankles and takes a sip of her wine before setting the glass down with a faint wrinkle of her nose. "Ugh, you'd hate that one. Definitely not finishing the bottle." Her eyes skim the dark sky above. "You can see so many more stars from here than we used to," she notes softly. "I wonder all the time… How far have you managed to get? What's the interior of the country look like there?" |
||
|
“You’d like it out here,” Richard tells the sky, “It’s beautiful, in its own way. No people out here – hell, even before the Flood I doubt there were many out this way. No light pollution. All the stars in the heavens shining down. The landscapes are gorgeous. Sound can carry for miles. You could hold a concert out here to make God weep.” A sigh escapes him, and he closes his eyes, “Are the kids okay? God knows they’re too young to understand what I’m doing. Why I’m not there anymore. Why I might…” He won’t say it, so he doesn’t. |
||
|
"If we'd been in that world longer, you know, I might have retreated to the interior," Elisabeth admits. "I bet it's not that different from what it looked like when we went to Alaska. Until we made that trip, I don't think I fully realized how much of the country is rural, where there's nothing there but you and the vast sky. It was that way on the boats, but I have to admit I'm not as big a fan of boats. Maybe… maybe if we survive all this we can take the kids and just drive cross-country, let them see the national parks and stuff. No light pollution at all – I bet the stars you're seeing are brighter, like they were on our trip up there." She sighs heavily. "Aura's getting wise to the fact that this isn't a simple business trip." A soft, pained laugh escapes her. "She isn't telling Lili and Ricky, but… she unpacked and repacked all their go-bags after I sent them to Detroit. She has this expression when she looks at me – like she's looking through me and knows that I'm hiding things. I went up to Detroit and coerced them into watching a really old kids' movie… now I have a brain worm. It helps to think you might be wishing on the same bright star," she half-sings under her breath. |
||
|
“— and when the night wind starts to sing a lonely lullaby,” Richard sing-songs quietly as he gazes up at the stars, “It helps to think we’re sleeping underneath the same big sky.” He’s silent a moment, and then he exhales a sigh, eyes closing and one arm falling over his face, “But we aren’t. This isn’t even the same– the same fucking sky. You’re a whole world away. Again. I never should have agreed to this, I never should have left you, Hail Mary or not… |
||
|
"I'm so fucking mad at you," Elisabeth says softly, reaching up to press both palms against her eyes. "I'm mad that now I've got to keep us all safe on my own. Again. And I don't want to do this again. I'm mad that I came home to the same fucking fight against Pure Earth," she spits out that name like it tastes bad. She pauses and says softly, "It's like Groundhog Day, doing the same thing over and over. And I'm fucking mad that you fucking went even though we both knew someone had to. Because I'm tired of it always being us. I'm just so damned tired." Lightly bonking the back of her head on the stone planter a few times, Elisabeth sighs and drops her hands, her eyes going back to the cold, unfeeling stars. "And all of that anger is just a smokescreen, because I'm not really mad at you at all. I'm just scared shitless. And I miss you." After a moment of silence, she offers to the darkness, "Harmony's convinced me to sing with her. She wants to release an album. Take it with us into Agartha." She looks up toward the moon and tells the round sphere softly, "I wrote a song with Eve after I got home. I … didn't tell anyone. Wasn't going to do anything with it. Maybe I'll let Harm use it. But I wrote one on my own. Just for us." She swallows hard. "I'm holding onto hope… but I don't honestly believe you're ever going to hear it, Richard." |
||
|
“I’ve got faith, Liz,” Richard breathes out finally, his arm raising and his hand reaching up towards the heavens one more time, “I feel like it’s weaker every day, but I’m still holding on to that faith. That I’ll see you again. That everything is going to work out.” “I never lost faith that I’d see you again,” he tells the uncaring sky, “Don’t lose faith in me, love.” |
||
|
Looking up at the stars, Elisabeth can't help a soft smile as she sings under her breath, "If I ever lose my faith in you…" Her voice is wistful, even as tears well up. Reaching up to wipe them, she whispers fiercely to the sky, "If there is only one thing in this universe that I know to be true, it's that you'll find a way." With her forehead pressed tight to his, her hands on the back of his neck, she fights to not let her tears fall. "You've never lied to me, even when I asked you to." Elisabeth pulls back only far enough to look into his eyes. "Swear to me you're coming home." The choked words are a cross between a demand and a plea. A wet half-laugh accompanies the assertion. "Look at me, I'm a mess. You're barely gone a month and I'm already whining. Feels like I'm crying all the time. To be fair, it's been a shit month. Not sure I haven't fucked up things you left for me to do." She toys absently with her wedding rings as if they're a worry stone and looks toward the brightest star. |
||
|
“I don’t believe in Edward Ray anymore, not like I used to,” Richard tells the stars quietly, his hand dropping back down to rest over his chest, “But I think there’s something else out there that I believe in now. And I know I’ll see you again.” She’s wrong about one thing, though. Richard’ s fingers slide up her neck and under her hair, stroking there soothingly as she leans against his chest. He leans down, brushing a kiss to her head and murmuring, “We’re a very pragmatic family.” A little bit of a chuckle that echoes hers, “We’ll do everything for family. Anything for family.” There’s a moment’s silence, and then he admits, “I lied when I promised I wouldn’t do anything to bring you back. Sorry.” He’s lied to her before. But only about not doing everything in the world to get back to her. “But even cast off into the universe, you were never alone. You found so many people. I hope you remember that. You’re not alone. And you better not be trying to get through this alone, Liz.” |
||
|
"It's hard not to fall into old behaviors these days," Elisabeth admits to the cold, distant stars. "I feel like I need to look like I know what I'm doing, even when I don't." She wipes her eyes again, huffing out a soft laugh. "I don't think letting them see that I'm freaking the fuck out about Hunter-bots on the loose and robot-people in our midst and making choices about who's gonna survive the end of the goddamned world is useful to my team at the precinct or our team here." She leans her head back on the low stone wall that holds the plants. "I'm trying, though. Devi is a godsend. And Gordon found me having a panic attack in the office the night we figured out how to start getting the fire under control. She called me out on that whole hiding stuff thing. Who knew I could be a fire suppression tool?" She pauses and smiles faintly. "You'd laugh at that, I bet. But at least I'm keeping busy – I'm not kicking down the DoE's door and demanding answers from those shitheads. Yet." She glances up at the sky with a wry twist to her lips. "I know, I know… stick to the plan. After the fiasco that was Redbird, love, and the years of bashing Magnes over the head about haring off on his own, I did learn my lesson about unilateral action. We have a plan and I'm sticking to it." Her smirk is faint. "Even though it's driving me crazy." |
||
|
“God, you’re going to be so pissed when Elliot tells you what I’m doing,” Richard breathes out a faint chuff of laughter, arms folding back behind his head as he stares up at the uncaring heavens, “I can hear you now, ‘You always said stick to the plan!’. I did. And here I am, running off and changing the plan.” “You’re smart, though,” he sighs, closing his eyes, “You’ll figure out why.” He smiles, “You’ll still smack me when I get back though.” |
||
|
"I'm going up to KC tomorrow," she reports to the silent sky. "I need to talk to your mother and I can't ever get her or Ria to answer the fucking phone. I'm hoping to talk to you about it, but … I doubt I'll be able to. I don't want those assholes to know that we're getting radio signals through the WRAY tower. But I really would like your input on it." Elisabeth sighs softly. "It worries the hell out of me that you're all heading for Natazhat again. Nothing good has ever come out of that place. And if you're right and they're lying about what it is you're on your way up there to get or do anyway…" Rubbing her forehead, she is quiet for a long time. The children's movie earworm has, for reasons she doesn't quite understand right now, changed to something else. The lyrics pass through her mind, though she manages not to hum it this time. I could be lost inside their lies without a trace… but every time I close my eyes, I see your face. Still, it makes tears well up. Clearly she needs some sleep. Gathering up her glass and the bottle of nearly untouched wine, which she's going to toss out because it really tasted awful, Elisabeth pauses and searches the sky. When you're lost in the wilderness, the north star can always guide you home. Naming calls. "I love you, Richard Cardinal. You better find your way home. I have a shoe and I'm not afraid to send it across timelines." |
||