Chapter Text
I watch the two men in silence as they get to work, the odd request of the scientist still replaying in my mind over and over again.
It makes sense that it would have to be me. After all, I am one of the shadows now – the night itself. As such I'm the only one that can do it. Theoretically. Obviously it has never been tested, and the part of me that still retains a bit of my humanity certainly doesn't wish to do it.
I look around at the dark world that's already breaking apart. There is no turning back now.
”Do you have the radio?” the scientist asks Maxwell as he studies the portal carefully. ”I... I'm pretty sure we need to establish a connection to the other side, but I've never attempted that the way you did.” There is a hint of bitterness in his voice as he looks at the older man.
Maxwell doesn't seem to pay any mind to the implications. He takes out the radio and studies it for a moment.
”I always found the phonograph to be more my style,” Maxwell says somewhat indignantly. ”Although I'll admit that I never want to see that accursed thing again,” he adds with a grimace and places the radio between the two men.
”Good,” Wilson remarks absent-mindedly as he studies the item. ”Do you have anyone you could contact? Like I said, this isn't...” He pauses for a moment. ”...the kind of science that I'm familiar with. And I'm curious to see how you do it.”
Maxwell is deep in thought for a moment. ”Jack,” he finally whispers.
Twisting the knobs for a moment, he calls out more loudly;
”Brother?”
There is static and an uncomfortable silence for a moment.
Finally, after a minute there is a sound;
”William? Is that really you?”
”Yes, it's me.”
”But how?! Where have you been? We all thought you had died! That earthquake..! I almost went insane! Our family has lost too much already! And how are you doing this?” The frantic voice grows more and more agitated with every word.
Maxwell sighs.
”Jack... You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice. It has been ages indeed... I'll explain everything one day,” he promises tiredly. ”This is going to sound weird, but get away from the radio. Don't let anyone near it.”
”What do you,” Jack begins, but stops and takes a deep breath. ”Okay, I understand. Just don't vanish again,” he pleads before the radio goes silent again.
But the connection remains.
Maxwell looks at the scientist again.
”Now what?”
Wilson nods thoughtfully, still studying the portal.
”There are two other requirements for this to work. I think,” he comments, deep in thought.
”And they are?” Maxwell demands, but the scientist remains silent.
I'm still watching the two men intently.
My mind is clearer than it's been in ages and I can almost recall who I used to be a very long time ago.
But that person has been gone for what feels like an eternity.
I look at Maxwell, and a hint of an emotion passes through me, bringing a mix of fondness and sorrow.
I turn my gaze towards the younger man, and regret the inevitable.
There are flashes of a memory of me killing people with no remorse, lashing out from the shadows and pulling them apart from inside out.
Was that really me? I can feel no desire to harm either of the men at the moment, and the memory seems alien and distant, like a fading nightmare.
As if sensing my gaze, the scientist looks up and towards the darkness where I am.
”I'm ready,” he says with a tremble in his voice.
We already talked about this, so I stop myself from asking him again if he's sure about it. There is no need to make it even harder for the man when we both know it's the only way.
”I understand,” I say with a cold voice that doesn't feel my own.
The scientist swallows nervously, but there is determination in his eyes and he only hesitates for a moment before he throws away the torch he was holding, as far as he can.
”Wilson, what?!” I hear Maxwell exclaim in shock, even when he must also know exactly what has to be done.
”Pull the lever when it's over,” Wilson interrupts his question. I can see him close his eyes even when it's already pitch black.
I suppress a sigh of remorse and let those foreign insticts guide me towards the man at the speed of lightning.
I may have closed my own eyes too at the moment of the impact, but I couldn't avert my ears from hearing Wilson's screams of agony when my monstrous essence passed through his body.
I find myself unable to strike him again, but that doesn't matter as he is already dying with blood spilling out of his mouth and nose.
I can hear him straining to breathe, gasping and sputtering and coughing out more and more blood.
”Wilson!” Maxwell exclaims again and I watch him desperately fumbling in the darkness in an attempt to find the younger man that has fallen prone on the ground.
He finally locates the man and pulls him in his arms, feeling with one hand to try to find out what's wrong.
”Charlie!” he calls out.
I look away.
”You both knew it was unavoidable...”
If I was still capable of crying, I would probably cry.
”The lever... Now..!” I hear the scientist's strained voice as the ground starts to shake and grumble beneath us.
I turn back towards the men to see Maxwell get back on his feet, still holding the dying man in his arms.
”I'm not leaving you behind,” he says as he reaches towards the portal, finds the lever and pulls it down.
The scientist turns his head slowly towards the darkness and I hear a barely audible whisper;
”Take... him home...” as the life fades away from him.
I have been known as the darkness and as the night monster for a long time, making my home in the shadows that I used to fear, but I hardly had any control over my actions so I have never consciously attempted anything like this before.
But I know there is no time to hesitate as the world itself is falling apart.
I approach Maxwell and reach out my hand. I envelope him and the body of the scientist in the darkness that I'm made of and take a leap through the portal that has sparked into action.
Only a shadow can navigate through its pull and make it back to the other world so I fight the current and eventually there is a light that seems all consuming. Pushing hard against it, I make it out into a world that seems both foreign and very nostalgic.
Maxwell and Wilson's body fall on the ground as my form diminishes into the shadows of furniture. This is inside a house, likely Jack's house based on the fact that he was the person that Maxwell contacted. I can see the radio still playing static on a small table.
Maxwell gets up with a groan, looking like he's about to throw up. He blinks as he looks around the kitchen we have suddenly entered.
”Charlie?” he calls out again, more softly.
”You can't see me, but I'm here,” I confirm.
”Good.”
I watch him walk towards the radio and grab it with both hands. He smashes it against the stone floor with force, breaking it in pieces.
Then his form seems to shrink as he returns to Wilson's lifeless body, and he slumps down next to him.
”We made it back. Pal...”
I see a tear fall down Maxwell's cheek.
”I'm sorry,” he whispers.
I watch him rummage through his pockets and take out an amulet with a red gem on it. The color of the gem seems to have faded over time, but I recognize the item as something that could be used to bring a lost life back.
There is a part of me that feels anxious at the sight, wishing for Maxwell to get rid of such a dangerous item.
The artifacts from that world have only brought us misery, but when I look at the man, I can't bring myself to say anything.
Instead I watch him in silence for several minutes as he carefully places the artifact on the dead man's chest, passing the chain over his head and around his neck, and waiting.
Of course nothing happens, and Maxwell's tall body seems to shrink smaller and smaller as he waits for something to happen, anything.
I reach for the light switch, my hand merely a shadow on the wall, and turn off the lights.
It's night and the room turns pitch black.
I can see Maxwell wince at the sudden darkness.
”Charlie?” he asks quietly.
I find myself wrapping my arms around his shoulders. I'm one with the shadows and my barely tangible form can move freely in the darkness. I offer him what little comfort I can and my mind feels clearer than it's been in ages.
”Maxy...”
The word feels both familiar and foreign in my mouth. There was a very long time when I wasn't using the name, when I couldn't even remember it, but now it's bringing back nostalgic memories from a past life.
”You know that won't work here,” I remind him softly.
”I know,” he says tiredly. ”But... I had to try...”
He leans into my embrace and I can feel his exhaustion get the better of him.
”I was holding onto that for someone else,” he finally explains quietly.
”Maybe it's time to stop,” I tell him gently.
”You are right,” he agrees. ”I'm so sorry, Charlie... For everything...”
Just then we start hearing movement from upstairs.
”I thought they had all left,” Maxwell says with some alarm in his voice. ”We should go, before they see... this...”
I watch him get up at surprising speed. He only groans a little because of the wound on his abdomen as he turns the light on once more.
I shrink back into the shadows of the room and follow him with my gaze.
Maxwell finds a piece of paper and hastily scribbles a note that he places on the kitchen table. Then he returns to Wilson, gathers his strength and picks up the dead man once again.
I follow right behind him as he rushes out of the door just as we start hearing steps approaching from upstairs.
Most of the night is spent walking in silence while we slowly make our way as far from the house as we can.
By the time we stop to rest, Maxwell is visibly exhausted and it looks like his injuries are only getting worse.
”There is a cemetery nearby,” Maxwell says quietly. ”I never visited, but Jack has mentioned it in the past. I think that would be a good place for him to rest...”
”Sounds like a good idea,” I agree, watching the man with some concern.
He spends the rest of the night digging a grave and I can see him grow weaker and weaker, but he ignores the pain and keeps going.
”Are you sure that's not too much for you?”
”He's not the first person I've buried,” Maxwell reminds me grimly.
I let him finish and watch him carry Wilson's body to the grave.
”I'm sorry it ended like this... Wilson... I wanted you to get to go home when this was over,” Maxwell whispers as he lowers the body down.
He leaves the amulet on Wilson, and after a moment of hesitation he pulls his book, the Codex Umbra, out of his jacket and places it in the grave next to the man.
I hum in approval, even when I know it doesn't really make a difference. Maxwell has long since memorized every single page of that book. But seeing him let it go, even like this, feels right.
Once the grave has been covered and Maxwell is leaving, I make a little detour and find a rose that I bring to the grave.
”Rest well,” I whisper in a voice that echoes through the night, before I follow Maxwell and we vanish into the darkness.
Over time that rose would grow into a bush to mark his final resting place.
EPILOGUE:
It's late when Jack returns home, but Wendy is still awake and greets him in the doorway.
”Did he die?” she asks casually.
Jack shakes his head and smiles a little.
”No, but your uncle may have just performed his greatest magic trick,” he says with a chuckle.
He had been angry at his brother at first. After all, he had specifically told him not to vanish again. But just knowing that he was still alive out there somewhere had certainly lightened the mood.
”I didn't actually see him. They told me that just a bit earlier the lights had inexplicably turned off, and once they got them lit again, he had vanished and they hadn't seen him since.”
Jack had been contacted by the hospital a day after his brother talked to him through the radio. The doctors had delivered the news that William was found alive and had been admitted to the hospital for urgent care. Apparently he had suffered some serious injuries, but wasn't in critical danger anymore.
Jack had been told he should come to visit him soon anyway, so he had done just that, but by the time he got to the hospital, William was no longer there.
Jack picks up the note he had found on the kitchen table. He's already read it countless times, but he reads the words once again.
”I'm sorry I can't stay. Please don't look for me. I have made some horrible mistakes and must atone and make right as much as I can. It's for the best if you don't know the details. And I'm sorry about the radio. Trust me, you are happier without it. - William”
Jack knows that the words should really concern him. He has no idea what kind of trouble his brother has gotten himself into, but it sounds serious.
But William's been gone for years and just seeing his handwriting fills him with joy, as if he had been brought back from the dead.
Even hearing his voice through the radio had felt like a strange dream, and without the note, Jack might think that the voice had been a ghost, like one of those that Wendy claims to see, or merely a figment of his imagination.
But now he has solid evidence that his brother is alive and had been in the house.
”I'm sure he's still out there somewhere,” he tells Wendy and folds the note in his pocket. ”We'll definitely see him again. One day.”
The man doesn't know I'm watching them, but the girl has been looking directly at me for a while now.
I remember hearing about Wendy a long time ago, and what an unusual little girl she was.
I give her a nod and wave my hand as I leave the house. I'll definitely pay them a visit again, but for now it's time for me to go. Maxwell is waiting and we have a long way ahead of us.