Empty
Author- PML
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Category- CC, MM FF
Rating- Mature
Summary- This story starts out after the end of the series. Maria does not decide to join the group in their flight fast enough and is left behind. Sloth is the Deadly Sin for this story.
Empty part 1
So much in life happens in those tiny split second decisions. In those perilous moments when a decisive decision must be made. Those times when confusion and inaction are as decisive as yes or no.
Maria Deluca was in just such a spot now.
Did she risk it all with the man she loved? A man she was by no means sure she could handle or even stand over the long term? A half-human on the run from the government, whose life was full of deception and danger in the peaceful times?
Or would she stay in her own life. Her own normal safe human life. A life she had fought to have. She had pushed her friends away, the lover she cherished for that safe life.
Was she truly willing to give it up forever?
She could not make up her mind. She simply could not decide.
Liz gave her a kiss good bye.
Maria wished her well.
Max gave her a hug, while Jesse pleaded with Isabel to take him along.
Isabel did not relent and pressed her rings into his hands. Both of them were in tears.
Maria’s eyes gravitated towards Michael. Their eyes met.
She could feel all the love and passion he felt for her in that moment. But she could see the worry and concern there too.
For him this was truly goodbye.
Unless…..
Maria felt an urge to walk forward. To demand a place among them.
They might briefly grumble, but they would accept her. It was the right choice. Fitting for her to continue this madcap adventure.
She was paralyzed with indecision. She didn’t move forward.
And the moment passed. They were gone.
All Maria could do was fall to her knees and cry.
It was over. Truly over.
And she was alone.
Had she ever felt this cold before?
Jesse walked up to her and held her. His own sobs joined hers.
Later they both got up. There would be more tears to follow Maria was sure. But for now….
She said in a quiet voice, “I should have gone.”
Jesse patted her on the shoulder, “Maybe.” He coughed once, “Maybe so. For me,” His eyes followed the road, “This was perhaps the better choice.” He sighed, “I wasn’t ready.”
In a small voice, Maria said, “I guess I wasn’t either.” She looked at the vehicles parked around and spotted Max’s car still had the keys in the ignition. “I’ll drop you home.”
Jesse nodded.
She took him to the apartment he had shared with Isabel. All the while regaling her with a dry recitation of how this was all a good thing.
He didn’t believe it.
Neither did Maria. But he left him there to do his packing for the move to Boston.
She did not drive home herself. She drove to Michael’s instead. She opened the door and moved quickly to his room. And she cried as she lay on his bed.
Never again would he make love to her here. Never would her breathe catch as he slid into her. Never again the words of passion. The electric tang that only his touch could bring.
So she cried.
It was there the Feds found her and took her away.
For sometimes even when it is over, it isn’t truly over.
Empty (CC FF m/m /mature) 3/3 -COMPLETE- 08/25/2011
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
Empty (CC FF m/m /mature) 3/3 -COMPLETE- 08/25/2011
Last edited by PML on Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Empty (CC FF m/m /mature) 1/3 - 08/20/2011
Thank you to everyone reading along. I should get back to my other stories soon. Hopefully have the last part of this done by the weekend. Hope you enjoy.
Keepsmiling7- Thanks.
Empty part 2
They had her for three days. Only three short days.
The first day was hard. They beat her. They gave her only a little water to drink.
They asked endless questions. How long had she known the subjects? How long had she known about their differences? Couldn’t she see their inhuman nature? The obvious scope of their abilities. They showed her pictures of Michael. The others as well, but they knew.
Michael had been special to her. Michael had been her One. She had loved him. And they knew that.
Maria openly admitted it. To her mind Michael and the others were much more human than these human freaks, even if they had been born to some poor mother.
They didn’t take her frank honesty of the matter well.
How long had she been a traitor to the human race? Had she truly copulated with one of them? Had she truly allowed her beautiful human body to be polluted by an inhuman being?
The questions were broken up with other tests. Subjected her to blood tests and took various samples from her. Some of the tests were more demeaning than others.
But Maria persevered. In odd sense, this strengthened her. It gave her something to fight against. It was in an odd sense better this than endless second guessing.
Maria knew that she had made the wrong choice. It was obvious to her now. She should have walked up and joined them. She should have accepted her fate, even if there were no guarantees.
It was a mistake she was only going to be able to redeem with her death.
She pooled her courage and was determined to face the end gracefully. She sat defiantly on her cot and waited the next group of doctors or questioners. She would defy them to the end.
The second day proved her wrong.
She woke to the sight of a smiling army officer sipping coffee in a chair observing her.
The woman was a cheerful faced blonde, with bright blue eyes that showed an endless sea of compassion. “Good Morning, Miss Deluca. You and I will be getting to know each other quite well over the next couple of days.”
Maria defiantly looked in the Lieutenant’s eyes and said, “I will not betray them.”
The Lieutenant smiled sadly and said, “Let’s get to work.”
Maria tried. She really did.
But the other woman knew her work.
There were no questions. No tests. Just things being done to her. The only things said to her were taunts and insults.
The worst of which was always, “Where was Michael to save her?”
Had he ever loved her? Surely if he had he would have come to rescue her? But no, he was running away with his kind and had left her alone and in the lurch.
On and on the comments came.
Resisting this was hard. So very hard for a woman who knew she had failed her lover in not trusting him. In not taking the chance in him that he had made for her. One that she knew, she should have made.
What had Michael muttered as he kept glancing at that tarot card he would never let her see?
Believe in the love? Had that been it?
Such a small fragment to hold on when these people were so determined to chip her away. A moment of confusion and anger on her part. One more case of her and Michael not in harmony. Another clue that they wouldn’t work.
And yet…
She did. She didn’t know if it would be enough but as they chipped away at who had been Maria Deluca, there was a tiny little piece of her helping her hold on.
Shock.
No not her.
A tiny piece of Michael. A part she could never and would never lose. No matter what these people did to her it would remain.
And so she made it through the second day.
The Lieutenant that pushed her into her room was strange. Her demeanor was strange. Almost sad. There was a bruise on her cheek and she looked concerned.
Maria kept quiet. Holding on to that tiny spot in the back of her mind.
The Lieutenant said quietly, “You have been dubbed a terrorist Maria. They said you took part in the action that destroyed Rogers Airfield. Now, I don’t know if they believe these charges. Certainly they had plenty of time to warn you of them or discuss them before this, and yet these charges were only brought up when higher authority asked why you were being kept.” The woman bit her lips as she slowly spoke, “The articles under which you were charged were carefully picked in the new murky legal situation brought on by the Patriot Act.”
“I am sorry?”
“Maria you are in real trouble here. Today was tough, and you did better than I thought you would. But then they told me I had time. That I didn’t need to hurry.” She laughed, “I think they assumed they would easily catch your friends. It hasn’t worked out that way, and your friends haven’t done the sort of reprisal acts that their supposed ‘abilities’ allow them too. The Special Unit is running out of time.”
Maria looked over at the other woman, “So, what? Next is torture?”
The Lieutenant flinched, “Not… technically. But water-boarding is… extreme. It will break you Maria. It will. My psy-ops would have gotten you soon enough. But they need what they can get from you tomorrow.” The woman closed her eyes, “And I know what to do. It’s not a real hard technique. But there can be… complications.”
“So then why would you do it?”
The Lieutenant gave her a no nonsense look. “You are a terrorist. Legally. At least for now. I have orders that allow me to use a technique that we know will work. And trust me Maria, it will.”
“So you expect me to spill my guts and betray my friends solely on your word?” Maria said defiantly.
The Lieutenant only sighed and said, “No, I don’t. And for that I am sorry.”
Sleep that night was hard to come by and the morning started early.
They laid her flat in a trough and placed a cloth over her head, tightly fitting it over her mouth and nose. And the water began to fall…..
Drowning. She was drowning….
Maria never remembered much of the rest of that morning. How many times they tortured her she never knew.
Only that she broke.
Only that she told them everything. And would have told them more, would have invented new things to tell them. In fact she was never entirely sure everything she had told them was true.
She did know this. They never asked her what they should have.
They never asked her if she knew where he was.
Because she did. She could feel him clearly now. So very clearly as he and his friends ran off.
They did ask if she knew where he was going. Or if she knew where he had been. But never where he was.
She would have told him. It hurt her to know it. But it was true.
She was worthless.
Empty.
And now that they were done with her, the discussed how they would make her disappear.
It was strange. She went to be knowing that she would likely be killed and tossed in a ditch when they were done. Or shipped off to some lab as an experimental subject.
Maria really didn’t care anymore. She wasn’t in fact sure she knew who Maria was herself.
But the next day came, and she didn’t wake up dead.
She was in a hospital. Michael might not have been able to save her. But Jesse and Philip Evans had.
The news of what had happened at West Roswell… Of the armed confrontation between a couple of supposedly dangerous teens and a reckless band of soldiers and federal agents easily made the news on a fairly slow news day.
All this not long after an F-22 had crashed into desert nearby. But the level of security and the eventual destruction of Rogers Base….
Roswell was on the mind. Perhaps not as much as Afghanistan or the Presidents plans for Iraq, but still on the minds of the people of the United States.
Maria’s story made headlines, although she wasn’t aware of it. Much of it was hushed up, but even echoes of what had occurred at Eagle Rock under the supposedly disbanded Special Unit.
It was a political firestorm that didn’t really touch her. Certainly it could have. But really those involved didn’t want to rock the boat too much either.
It wasn’t safe for the others to come home. And it wouldn’t be for some time.
Better to simply take care of the one wounded remaining member of the group.
So they accepted the pension and the medical care. They accepted the limits one what could be legally released. And there it ended.
Maria’s life didn’t though. She remained.
Her pension limited her need to work. She still helped her mother from time to time. Still occasionally worked the Crashdown.
All of them knew. All of them knew the truth now. And often they tried to talk to her.
But Maria was broken now. Empty.
She did very little that was not to help one of her remaining family or friends. Outside of that she watched TV. Cultivating the programs that Michael had grown to love. She began watching sports. Trying to understand what he saw in them.
Trying to drink in the little of Michael that remained to her.
For still that little bond remained. If anything it grew. Ever so slowly.
It would have been so easily for her to leave and find him. So very easy.
But she was watched. She knew this.
And so she drifted. Just let the time pass her by.
In between bouts of TV watching and Hockey season tickets, Maria played Alex’s old guitar. Their fallen member.
She played to his spirit, to the memory of what should have been. To better days.
It was on one such day that she felt Michael leave the Earth. She knew he didn’t die. He simply became very distant and kept getting farther and farther away from her.
And she cried. She cried as hard as she had the night she had lost him. The night Maria had forsaken hew own hard won destiny of being at his side.
She didn’t stop playing the guitar. She simply could not stop. Not while the tears rolled and her chest felt like it would crush her from the sobbing.
But at this point, Maria was a masterful guitarist. She didn’t need to see to know where to place her fingers. With the never ending sorrow that flowed through her, she was the guitar.
A new tune, one that composed itself as she began to sing out her emotions. All the grief and loss and sorrow. And underneath it, the happiness and love and hope that made the other emotions bearable to feel.
For the first time in seven years, Maria Deluca sang.
And everything changed.
Keepsmiling7- Thanks.
Empty part 2
They had her for three days. Only three short days.
The first day was hard. They beat her. They gave her only a little water to drink.
They asked endless questions. How long had she known the subjects? How long had she known about their differences? Couldn’t she see their inhuman nature? The obvious scope of their abilities. They showed her pictures of Michael. The others as well, but they knew.
Michael had been special to her. Michael had been her One. She had loved him. And they knew that.
Maria openly admitted it. To her mind Michael and the others were much more human than these human freaks, even if they had been born to some poor mother.
They didn’t take her frank honesty of the matter well.
How long had she been a traitor to the human race? Had she truly copulated with one of them? Had she truly allowed her beautiful human body to be polluted by an inhuman being?
The questions were broken up with other tests. Subjected her to blood tests and took various samples from her. Some of the tests were more demeaning than others.
But Maria persevered. In odd sense, this strengthened her. It gave her something to fight against. It was in an odd sense better this than endless second guessing.
Maria knew that she had made the wrong choice. It was obvious to her now. She should have walked up and joined them. She should have accepted her fate, even if there were no guarantees.
It was a mistake she was only going to be able to redeem with her death.
She pooled her courage and was determined to face the end gracefully. She sat defiantly on her cot and waited the next group of doctors or questioners. She would defy them to the end.
The second day proved her wrong.
She woke to the sight of a smiling army officer sipping coffee in a chair observing her.
The woman was a cheerful faced blonde, with bright blue eyes that showed an endless sea of compassion. “Good Morning, Miss Deluca. You and I will be getting to know each other quite well over the next couple of days.”
Maria defiantly looked in the Lieutenant’s eyes and said, “I will not betray them.”
The Lieutenant smiled sadly and said, “Let’s get to work.”
Maria tried. She really did.
But the other woman knew her work.
There were no questions. No tests. Just things being done to her. The only things said to her were taunts and insults.
The worst of which was always, “Where was Michael to save her?”
Had he ever loved her? Surely if he had he would have come to rescue her? But no, he was running away with his kind and had left her alone and in the lurch.
On and on the comments came.
Resisting this was hard. So very hard for a woman who knew she had failed her lover in not trusting him. In not taking the chance in him that he had made for her. One that she knew, she should have made.
What had Michael muttered as he kept glancing at that tarot card he would never let her see?
Believe in the love? Had that been it?
Such a small fragment to hold on when these people were so determined to chip her away. A moment of confusion and anger on her part. One more case of her and Michael not in harmony. Another clue that they wouldn’t work.
And yet…
She did. She didn’t know if it would be enough but as they chipped away at who had been Maria Deluca, there was a tiny little piece of her helping her hold on.
Shock.
No not her.
A tiny piece of Michael. A part she could never and would never lose. No matter what these people did to her it would remain.
And so she made it through the second day.
The Lieutenant that pushed her into her room was strange. Her demeanor was strange. Almost sad. There was a bruise on her cheek and she looked concerned.
Maria kept quiet. Holding on to that tiny spot in the back of her mind.
The Lieutenant said quietly, “You have been dubbed a terrorist Maria. They said you took part in the action that destroyed Rogers Airfield. Now, I don’t know if they believe these charges. Certainly they had plenty of time to warn you of them or discuss them before this, and yet these charges were only brought up when higher authority asked why you were being kept.” The woman bit her lips as she slowly spoke, “The articles under which you were charged were carefully picked in the new murky legal situation brought on by the Patriot Act.”
“I am sorry?”
“Maria you are in real trouble here. Today was tough, and you did better than I thought you would. But then they told me I had time. That I didn’t need to hurry.” She laughed, “I think they assumed they would easily catch your friends. It hasn’t worked out that way, and your friends haven’t done the sort of reprisal acts that their supposed ‘abilities’ allow them too. The Special Unit is running out of time.”
Maria looked over at the other woman, “So, what? Next is torture?”
The Lieutenant flinched, “Not… technically. But water-boarding is… extreme. It will break you Maria. It will. My psy-ops would have gotten you soon enough. But they need what they can get from you tomorrow.” The woman closed her eyes, “And I know what to do. It’s not a real hard technique. But there can be… complications.”
“So then why would you do it?”
The Lieutenant gave her a no nonsense look. “You are a terrorist. Legally. At least for now. I have orders that allow me to use a technique that we know will work. And trust me Maria, it will.”
“So you expect me to spill my guts and betray my friends solely on your word?” Maria said defiantly.
The Lieutenant only sighed and said, “No, I don’t. And for that I am sorry.”
Sleep that night was hard to come by and the morning started early.
They laid her flat in a trough and placed a cloth over her head, tightly fitting it over her mouth and nose. And the water began to fall…..
Drowning. She was drowning….
Maria never remembered much of the rest of that morning. How many times they tortured her she never knew.
Only that she broke.
Only that she told them everything. And would have told them more, would have invented new things to tell them. In fact she was never entirely sure everything she had told them was true.
She did know this. They never asked her what they should have.
They never asked her if she knew where he was.
Because she did. She could feel him clearly now. So very clearly as he and his friends ran off.
They did ask if she knew where he was going. Or if she knew where he had been. But never where he was.
She would have told him. It hurt her to know it. But it was true.
She was worthless.
Empty.
And now that they were done with her, the discussed how they would make her disappear.
It was strange. She went to be knowing that she would likely be killed and tossed in a ditch when they were done. Or shipped off to some lab as an experimental subject.
Maria really didn’t care anymore. She wasn’t in fact sure she knew who Maria was herself.
But the next day came, and she didn’t wake up dead.
She was in a hospital. Michael might not have been able to save her. But Jesse and Philip Evans had.
The news of what had happened at West Roswell… Of the armed confrontation between a couple of supposedly dangerous teens and a reckless band of soldiers and federal agents easily made the news on a fairly slow news day.
All this not long after an F-22 had crashed into desert nearby. But the level of security and the eventual destruction of Rogers Base….
Roswell was on the mind. Perhaps not as much as Afghanistan or the Presidents plans for Iraq, but still on the minds of the people of the United States.
Maria’s story made headlines, although she wasn’t aware of it. Much of it was hushed up, but even echoes of what had occurred at Eagle Rock under the supposedly disbanded Special Unit.
It was a political firestorm that didn’t really touch her. Certainly it could have. But really those involved didn’t want to rock the boat too much either.
It wasn’t safe for the others to come home. And it wouldn’t be for some time.
Better to simply take care of the one wounded remaining member of the group.
So they accepted the pension and the medical care. They accepted the limits one what could be legally released. And there it ended.
Maria’s life didn’t though. She remained.
Her pension limited her need to work. She still helped her mother from time to time. Still occasionally worked the Crashdown.
All of them knew. All of them knew the truth now. And often they tried to talk to her.
But Maria was broken now. Empty.
She did very little that was not to help one of her remaining family or friends. Outside of that she watched TV. Cultivating the programs that Michael had grown to love. She began watching sports. Trying to understand what he saw in them.
Trying to drink in the little of Michael that remained to her.
For still that little bond remained. If anything it grew. Ever so slowly.
It would have been so easily for her to leave and find him. So very easy.
But she was watched. She knew this.
And so she drifted. Just let the time pass her by.
In between bouts of TV watching and Hockey season tickets, Maria played Alex’s old guitar. Their fallen member.
She played to his spirit, to the memory of what should have been. To better days.
It was on one such day that she felt Michael leave the Earth. She knew he didn’t die. He simply became very distant and kept getting farther and farther away from her.
And she cried. She cried as hard as she had the night she had lost him. The night Maria had forsaken hew own hard won destiny of being at his side.
She didn’t stop playing the guitar. She simply could not stop. Not while the tears rolled and her chest felt like it would crush her from the sobbing.
But at this point, Maria was a masterful guitarist. She didn’t need to see to know where to place her fingers. With the never ending sorrow that flowed through her, she was the guitar.
A new tune, one that composed itself as she began to sing out her emotions. All the grief and loss and sorrow. And underneath it, the happiness and love and hope that made the other emotions bearable to feel.
For the first time in seven years, Maria Deluca sang.
And everything changed.
Re: Empty (CC FF m/m /mature) 2/3 - 08/24/2011
Well here is the last part. Might do a tag to the end if enough people want one. But the story wanted to end the way it did. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Keepsmiling7- Thanks. This part is less tragic.
mary mary- Thanks. I find it hard to leave stories at an unhappy ending. Sometimes its what the story demands. Other times not.
---
Empty part 3
The return of her muse changed Maria forever. For it soon became not enough to sing alone, to compose songs no one would ever hear.
She needed to share. To give the world a taste of her life, of the essence that now flowed so strongly from her. And she found that it was not just sorrow. Memories of better days and the hope for a better future filled her music.
So she sang to anyone who listened.
And listen people did.
Once she people had thought she had a nice voice. One good enough that a produce from New York had actually considered molding her into a pop star. But that had been based not only on her voice, but also her looks and attitude.
And here things had changed. Gone was the brashness and attitude. She was who she was and nothing more, but nothing less. Experience may have humbled her, might have driven her to the very depths of despair….
But the new fire that filled her would not deny her worth. A look at the eyes of those who listened to her was enough. For her songs healed wounds. Of that there was little doubt.
For Maria had a secret, one that she only partly let herself know.
She had powers. She hadn’t been born with them. But years of straining to feel that tiny wisp of a bond had changed her. Had heightened her sense of emotion. It had been something she had always had to some degree, the normal human level of reading people.
But this was different, and it came in a different form. For she could now project her emotions, could make others feel what she felt. And it was strongest in a song.
All of this she knew, even if she would not admit it to anyone in words.
She could see so many people in pain. Pain that she had felt. A never ending soul devouring pain that killed any passion to do any meaningful action.
They were empty.
She knew what that felt like. Had felt that very emotion until the day her lover left the Earth. Until the day she had felt in her heart the heartfelt apology and adamant promise that he would return.
That Michael would come back. And that the next time they would leave together or die trying.
That speck, that remnant of a Bond had held her for so many years. Had kept her from killing herself, because she had known that Michael would feel the rebound. Would feel her death.
And so she had remained alive. But she had let her feelings drag her down, had let herself drift. She had known she was little more than a trap for Michael and her friends. That to visit her or deal with her would lead only to their capture in some government plot.
She had known that it was not a lack of love, but a lack of resources that had kept them from her.
That hadn’t kept her from feeling worthless.
But on that day when she had felt that promise made. When she knew that Michael was off to finish up the dangling past that had cluttered his life and grasped at any possible future for them, she knew that when he returned it would be for them. That the long time of suffering would be at an end.
Did she truly want moping to be the sole accomplishment of her life? When she could do so much more?
And so she sang.
For five years she sang, and the wealth she had once desired was hers. She was acclaimed and loved by millions. And she would be lying if she said it did not affect her. That she didn’t feel a bit of pride for what she had done in a few short years.
But that was not why she was excited tonight. Over the last few months a tremulous feeling had taken her. A nervous anticipation.
Michael was returning.
In victory or defeat, Maria didn’t know.
Nor did she care.
He was coming back.
For her.
Another concert. Another crowd.
But tonight felt different. Strange. She looked up at the starry sky and smiled.
It would be tonight. Michael was merely waiting for her to finish.
A memory of Las Vegas, almost a lifetime ago came to her. He had always come through for her in the end. He just had never known how to be nice or pleasant about it.
But then neither had she.
Maria smiled and spoke a final time to the crowd. “Thank you for coming. This is likely my final performance….”
There was a groan from the audience.
Maria raised her hand, “Some of you know my past. Know that there are hints of strange and weird phenomena.”
The crowd was silent, restless.
Mara looked up and waved her palm, knowing Michael would not let her down. She looked out at the crowd and said, “I just want to let you all know that no matter how dark things are, you are never alone.”
A blinding light flashed down.
And Maria Deluca was gone.
She was never seen again. Although there were rumors….
But that is a different tale.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Keepsmiling7- Thanks. This part is less tragic.
mary mary- Thanks. I find it hard to leave stories at an unhappy ending. Sometimes its what the story demands. Other times not.
---
Empty part 3
The return of her muse changed Maria forever. For it soon became not enough to sing alone, to compose songs no one would ever hear.
She needed to share. To give the world a taste of her life, of the essence that now flowed so strongly from her. And she found that it was not just sorrow. Memories of better days and the hope for a better future filled her music.
So she sang to anyone who listened.
And listen people did.
Once she people had thought she had a nice voice. One good enough that a produce from New York had actually considered molding her into a pop star. But that had been based not only on her voice, but also her looks and attitude.
And here things had changed. Gone was the brashness and attitude. She was who she was and nothing more, but nothing less. Experience may have humbled her, might have driven her to the very depths of despair….
But the new fire that filled her would not deny her worth. A look at the eyes of those who listened to her was enough. For her songs healed wounds. Of that there was little doubt.
For Maria had a secret, one that she only partly let herself know.
She had powers. She hadn’t been born with them. But years of straining to feel that tiny wisp of a bond had changed her. Had heightened her sense of emotion. It had been something she had always had to some degree, the normal human level of reading people.
But this was different, and it came in a different form. For she could now project her emotions, could make others feel what she felt. And it was strongest in a song.
All of this she knew, even if she would not admit it to anyone in words.
She could see so many people in pain. Pain that she had felt. A never ending soul devouring pain that killed any passion to do any meaningful action.
They were empty.
She knew what that felt like. Had felt that very emotion until the day her lover left the Earth. Until the day she had felt in her heart the heartfelt apology and adamant promise that he would return.
That Michael would come back. And that the next time they would leave together or die trying.
That speck, that remnant of a Bond had held her for so many years. Had kept her from killing herself, because she had known that Michael would feel the rebound. Would feel her death.
And so she had remained alive. But she had let her feelings drag her down, had let herself drift. She had known she was little more than a trap for Michael and her friends. That to visit her or deal with her would lead only to their capture in some government plot.
She had known that it was not a lack of love, but a lack of resources that had kept them from her.
That hadn’t kept her from feeling worthless.
But on that day when she had felt that promise made. When she knew that Michael was off to finish up the dangling past that had cluttered his life and grasped at any possible future for them, she knew that when he returned it would be for them. That the long time of suffering would be at an end.
Did she truly want moping to be the sole accomplishment of her life? When she could do so much more?
And so she sang.
For five years she sang, and the wealth she had once desired was hers. She was acclaimed and loved by millions. And she would be lying if she said it did not affect her. That she didn’t feel a bit of pride for what she had done in a few short years.
But that was not why she was excited tonight. Over the last few months a tremulous feeling had taken her. A nervous anticipation.
Michael was returning.
In victory or defeat, Maria didn’t know.
Nor did she care.
He was coming back.
For her.
Another concert. Another crowd.
But tonight felt different. Strange. She looked up at the starry sky and smiled.
It would be tonight. Michael was merely waiting for her to finish.
A memory of Las Vegas, almost a lifetime ago came to her. He had always come through for her in the end. He just had never known how to be nice or pleasant about it.
But then neither had she.
Maria smiled and spoke a final time to the crowd. “Thank you for coming. This is likely my final performance….”
There was a groan from the audience.
Maria raised her hand, “Some of you know my past. Know that there are hints of strange and weird phenomena.”
The crowd was silent, restless.
Mara looked up and waved her palm, knowing Michael would not let her down. She looked out at the crowd and said, “I just want to let you all know that no matter how dark things are, you are never alone.”
A blinding light flashed down.
And Maria Deluca was gone.
She was never seen again. Although there were rumors….
But that is a different tale.