Duplicity Messages

[thenewnormal]

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[angrycowboy]

[ Oh, so we're doing this.

Okay then. ]

What, you want me to call you Al?

[thenewnormal]

I'm not a goddamn Disney character.

Look. I had to watch helplessly as my father systematically destroyed two of the things you needed the most. Your music and then your family. I have long since stopped giving a shit about what he does to me. But then, he doesn't have to do it to me anymore. He found my weakness.

[angrycowboy]

[ Michael breathes out a sigh, on the other end of the line.

They've talked about this before. The last time, Alex had made Michael promise to think about fixing it. About talking to Max. They both know that opportunity is gone now.

But. ]

I know.

I don't want to be your weakness. I'm thinking about it, I promise.

[thenewnormal]

That's not what I...

[ There's a deep, shuddering breath. ]

Good. I hope so for your sake, but that's not what I meant. You're not just going to fix your hand and stop making me suffer when you're in pain. It doesn't work like that.

[angrycowboy]

[ A beat. ]

I don't think it's my pain on your mind right now.

[thenewnormal]

God, I wish it weren't. I'd take forbidden flirting with you over remembering your face just before we left Caulfield any day.

video

[angrycowboy]

[ Okay, enough of this. He switches to video, letting Alex see what his face looks like right now. ]

So, don't. Look at me, Alex, I'm okay. I'm not in that moment, and I don't want to die.

I didn't want to die then. Not really.

[thenewnormal]

[ There's a soft smile when he actually sees Guerin, but it's a bit sad, too. ]

Really? So you were banking on me trying to talk you out of it?

cw: suicidal ideation

[angrycowboy]

[ Michael's smile mirrors Alex's. ]

No. In the moment I meant it. It felt like I just found everything I was looking for, and losing it all at the same time. It didn't feel like I had anything to live for.

But I was wrong. And, lying. Which you know.

[thenewnormal]

Turns out you were a bad liar. Who knew?

[ Alex just takes a moment to look. ]

Did you ever get the answers you wanted from Max?

[angrycowboy]

[ He sighs, then shrugs. ]

Some. Not all. We were still in a fight when he...

[ Michael never was very good at leaving things on a positive note. That probably won't be a surprise to Alex. ]

There is something, though. Something I'm not even sure your dad ever knew.

There was a kid, Alex. A hybrid, alien kid. He didn't tell me who.

[thenewnormal]

He'll forgive you. You know he will.

[ At that last comment by Michael, Alex's eyebrows go way up. ]

So you mean you might have a great-niece or nephew roaming around out there somewhere?

[angrycowboy]

[ Michael shakes his head. ]

Not me. Isobel.

My mom and hers, they were taken in by a farmer. Isobel's mom fell in love with him, they had a kid. That's as much as I know. I think Max knew more, but he wouldn't tell me.

[thenewnormal]

All right, so your sister has a great-niece or nephew out there somewhere. Unless you're really going to tell me that Isobel isn't pretty much your sister.

Jesus. So she got out. At least for a little while.

[angrycowboy]

They escaped. Weren't caught, not until later. Until after.

[ He sighs, shrugs. ]

Didn't last. [ Obviously. ] But it means this kid is out there somewhere. Grown, nearby. Maybe not even aware of where they come from.

[thenewnormal]

Maybe. Probably. Part-human, then. God, sometimes it sucks to be here. All this knowledge of things in our future and we can't do a goddamn thing.

[angrycowboy]

[ A pause. ]

Yeah, maybe. If that's how it is.

[thenewnormal]

I can't think about the alternative. The alternative means there's no hope and I cannot give up on hoping that there's some way out of this mess.

[ There's a small crack in his voice as he says the words and his chest suddenly hurts. ]

[angrycowboy]

[ He hesitates, hearing that crack. He doesn't want Alex to lose hope, even if Michael doesn't share it himself. Hope has always defined him. ]

I don't know. I have theories, about what's going on here. I don't think it's straightforward.

But I think you're the one who always tells me that there's hope. It's annoying, Alex, but it's who you are. Don't lose it.

[thenewnormal]

I've just been here a long time, Guerin. Longer than I was back in Roswell. I've tried every way I can think of to crack into the system to even get some kind of a glimpse of what's going on and I haven't even managed to get past the surface. It's frustrating. After more than a year of it, it's more than frustrating. It's disheartening.

[angrycowboy]

Alex...

[ Michael sighs. ]

When Max 'went home'? He didn't go home. He fell asleep and dreamed about it, and it matched up with what else we know.

What do you think that means?

[thenewnormal]

I don't know, Guerin.

In a place where magic is possible, who knows what the rules are? Did he dream it? Was he taken and replaced immediately, like time travel?

So what's your theory? Clones? How did they get the information from the 'real' us? How do they implant it when someone does 'fall asleep' and wake up with memories they didn't have before?

[angrycowboy]

Clones, maybe. Copies. Maybe it's the Matrix but make it porn, who knows?

Bottom line, though? I'm not real convinced there's anywhere for us to go. And I'm even less convinced our world is missing us.