poly_chromatic | 120 Howls: Somewhere out there

Entry tags:

mercy thompson series - mercy thompson

120 Howls: Somewhere out there

There had been the most beautiful rainbow outside when Mercy had gotten up to go for her morning run. She'd smiled up at it and then she'd just known. Jack was here. Her Jack. And all she needed to do to find him was to follow that rainbow to the end where he'd be waiting for her.

Without hesitation she'd set off, sometimes at a jog if she needed to duck around a building to keep the end in sight, sometimes just a quick walk. She knew that before long she'd find it and he'd take her in his arms and all the rest of this mess would just turn into a bad dream.

To the rest of the world it would just appear that she was wandering aimlessly, eyes open, but really more like a sleepwalker than anything else. She was more than happy to talk with anyone who approached her either in person or through the device, but she wasn't about to be swayed from her journey.

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Eagle was just about to enter one of the shops when he saw Mercy wandering by.

"Good afternoon, Mercy!"

He smiled cheerily fully expecting her to stop and say hello back instead of looking up at the rainbow in the sky and continuing to walk towards it. Well, she probably hadn't heard. There was a lot of noise today. He jogged a little to catch up and then fell into step beside her.

"Hello, Mercy."

She gave half a glance in his direction, eyes mostly unseeing.

"Are you coming to see him, too, Eagle?"

There was no pause in her movement toward her goal. Jack was waiting for her after all.

"Him? Which him?"

There were a lot of guys in the City... which one could she mean?

Mercy shook her head with a laugh, eyes still unfocused. "You're so funny, Eagle. You know who. He's waiting for me at the end of the Rainbow."

And she was going to get to him if she had to walk through the Underground to get there.

"Why would anyone be waiting for you at the end of the rainbow?"

Earth customs... did they ever stop being strange?

"I really don't know who you could be looking for, but I don't think you actually will find anything at the end of the rainbow. Isn't that just a story?"

Mercy's expression hardened and she walked a little faster.

"Jack's there, Eagle, and he's waiting for me. If you're not coming fine, but don't try to stop me."

"Jack? Didn't he recently return to the city?"

Eagle hadn't actually spoken to him but the rumor mill of a city this size was pretty extensive.

"I'm not trying to stop you. I just wonder how difficult it will be to find the end of the rainbow and why you think Jack would be there."

"That's not my Jack. He doesn't even know me." She rubbed at her face absently, barely aware of the tears falling. "He flirted with me like I was just anyone."

Her pace picked up again. "My Jack is waiting for me over there."

"Oh, I see..." Eagle's tone softened. "His memories of this place are entirely gone."

The Commander quickened his own pace when Mercy did. He did have to or he might have been left behind.

"I'm sorry, Mercy."

There was no doubt about it, she was obviously cursed. There wasn't much to do except follow along to make sure she staying out of trouble. Not to say that he wouldn't also try to talk her out of it, as gently as he could.

"Can two versions of the same person exist in this place if it isn't a visitor's curse day?"

"Doesn't matter because my Jack is at the end of the rainbow," Mercy said firmly, even though her eyes were still unfocused.

"And I don't know and don't care about whether two people can both be here. They are here. Or maybe the new one left again. I don't know."

My Jack. I really wish he was at the end to the rainbow, you really must have loved him a lot.

"Alright, I will just tag along then, to make sure you can make it to the end of the rainbow with no trouble."

In the morning when she's not cursed then she can deal with the awful truth that her Jack isn't here anymore, until then Eagle will make certain she stays out of trouble.

Mercy smiled brightly, eyes still lost in the rainbow vision.

"Good. He'll be happy to see you as well."

[She'll undoubtedly be burying herself in work tomorrow when she realizes what's happened.]

"I will like seeing him again too."

Eagle did have a little crush on your Jack you know. Even if nothing would come of it since Eagle already had Lantis, Jack was charming and fun to tease.
Mercy and Jack really had seemed so happy together... Eagle does think the city cruel for letting them get so close only to pull them apart again.

[And Eagle has that FTO for her to look at! He will be trying to keep her busy too. ^_^ ]

"It will be so wonderful when we get there." Mercy had a dreamy smile on her face. "I can't wait!"

[Mercy will be very happy for any distractions!]

"You must really have missed him."

... Terrible that this won't be real for you.

"I do," Mercy said quietly. "I never thought someone like him could ever -"

She shook her head. "And then he was just gone."

Her face brightened. "But now he's just at the end of the rainbow and when I get there we'll be together again!"

"The city does do things like that. It allows you to get close to some one and then sends them away again."

Of course in this case Jack came back in a slightly different form.

"We should just be glad of the time you had together."

"I try to." Her voice was very soft. "I knew he'd leave me eventually, you know. I was sort of prepared for that, even though I knew it would hurt..."

Then she focused once more on the rainbow. "But it's all okay now."

"You always thought he would leave?"

That was a bit of a shocking statement but then... given Jack's flirtatious nature maybe she was right about that.

"I don't think that means he cared for you any less."

She probably knew that too. They had been very close after all.

"I know." Her voice was still quiet. "I think we'd have been able to stay good friends - after... It would have taken time, but I think we could have. But to have a new Jack who doesn't even -"

She cut herself off. "Doesn't matter. My Jack's out there and I'll have him a while longer."

"Doesn't even remember? I can only imagine how difficult that must be."

It was hard enough when friends would disappear and then return with missing memories he couldn't even imagine how terrible it would be for a love to forget everything.

"He flirted with me like I didn't mean anything. Which I didn't. I was so excited when I saw him on the Network, but..." She shook her head.

"It hurt. So much."

"I'm sure he had no idea how much that really hurt."

Not that it was much of a help. The injury still occurred whether it was intentional or not.

"Oh, I know. It's not his fault," Mercy agreed. "He's just being Jack - one who doesn't know about me."

Her eyes stayed fixed on the rainbow.

"But this will fix things."

She was so certain. Eagle felt terrible that her Jack wouldn't really be there.

"What if you can't find the end of the rainbow?"

Mercy walked faster.

"I will. I just have to keep moving."

That backfired!

"We could just ask Jack to meet us somewhere. I'm sure he would be looking for you too. How about one of the cafe's?"

"Eagle... This is magic" She shook her head sadly. "He'll be at the end of the rainbow. That's how this works. If he could meet me somewhere else he would."

"Even being here as long as I have I still don't understand everything about magic."

He says this with a light chuckle and a shake of his head. This meant that talking her into stopping some where voluntarily really wouldn't be possible.
He could stop her with force but that would likely lead to some kind of battle, curses usually did in these situations. Eagle had no desire to fight with or injure Mercy anymore than she had been already so he decided to just tag along, hoping he would be able to handle what was bound to become a very long walk.

This continued late into the night, Mercy following the rainbow, unable to even see the way it moved and shifted leading her in circles, and Eagle sticking with her.

No watch was needed to tell when midnight struck, the change in Mercy told the whole story. She froze in her tracks, hardly able to catch her breath and just brought her hands up to cover her face.

Mercy...

Eagle was by her side in an instant, wrapping her into a sympathetic hug. The sudden realization must have been a massive shock and now she had to deal with the loss of her Jack all of again.

"I'm so sorry," Mercy whispered. "So sorry, Eagle. I had you out here all day and all night and..."

She worked as hard as she could to stifle a sob. "So stupid. you tried to tell me. I should have known..."

"It isn't stupid at all. You were just trying to find some one you love, there is absolutely no reason to apologize for that."

Too bad there weren't better words to say for situations like this.

Mercy shook her head. "It's the City. Some days I really hate it here. I just... thank you for staying with me. You didn't have to do that."

The exhaustion was evident in her voice and the droop of her shoulders.

"You might have ended up in some kind of trouble if I didn't stay with you. I really couldn't have allowed that to happen."

Eagle was tired too. They really had walked all over this place searching for the end of that darned rainbow. But, now that the curse was over maybe they could rest a bit, they both really needed it.

"Why don't you come over and have a cup of tea? We can call a transport service to make sure you get home safely. There must be some kind of vehicle that could get you back to your beach house much easier than walking there."

And it had the added benefit that he could keep a close watch on her while she recovered from the trauma of this.

Mercy was too tired to argue. "Okay," she said softly. "Thank you. Eagle."

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120 Howls: Somewhere out there

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