Domestic Disturbance *HF* Conclusion
By Gene
Alice stopped stirring the oatmeal she was cooking on their woodburning stove and looked at him in surprise. She wore a pink dress that firmly complimented her red hair, which was pulled back from her face and neck in a loose pony-tail. Her glasses slid down her nose and she pushed them up as a reflex.
"Hello yourself. You're awake!" she said.
"Apparently," Gene said. "And so are you. Where's Malachi? How did we get here?"
Alice gave the oatmeal a final stir and walked over to the bed.
"What do you last remember?"
Gene swallowed hard. Alice poured water from the pitcher on their table into a mug and tipped the mug for him to sip it. Gene sipped, then gulped the entire mugfull down.
"Torture. That bastard Aidan McConnell cutting me up. Burning me. He had me select my own torture, like choosing the switch you're going to get beat with. I told him to skin me. The fool did, not thinking that when he did my hands it would make my wrists slicker and smaller and give me a chance to pull out of my bonds. I don't remember much after that. Like a bad party. Hitting him. Hoisting him on a chain. Escaping. Cracking some guy's neck. An arrow burning into me. Running naked. Then, eating or something. Chewing. I saw you, and a big green bubble. Found a crossbow and shot some druid in the head. They left the door open. Ring worked, then. Found the Cardinal by his energy trail and fought him. Was like being on autopilot. Cracked him open and tried to contain his soul, but couldn't. Then falling."
Alice nodded and touched Gene's cheek. "That's about what happened. Malachi and I tried to escape, but were captured. The Cardinal tried to get us to join the Clan, told us you already had joined, but we didn't believe him. That's when you showed up. He fled. You killed the members who were holding Malachi and your ring in check, then pursued the Cardinal. When Malachi was free, he and I went to go help you instead of running home. We found you as you collapsed from your battle with the Cardinal. Malachi managed to teleport us back here. We tried to get the ring off of you so Shaman could come back to this time himself, but it wouldn't come off of your hand. So Malachi had to find him."
"Did he?"
Alice nodded again. "Yes. In two places, actually. He was studying samurai techniques in Japan and also was inside Venus. That had to be a mistake. I had MAlachi get SHaman out of Japan and bring him here to heal you. And he did."
Alice pulled back the sheet and light blanket covering Gene. He looked down at himself, clad in Old Navy pajama pants. His skin was intact, and there was no sign of his stab wound or the puncture through his shoulder.
"There's no hair on my hands. Or my shoulder. What the Hell?"
Shaman strode through the door, his boots clunking on the floor.
"Wouldn't that be a good thing? You're lucky Alice isn't turned off by body hair, otherwise she'd never have been here."
"Doesn't that make you lucky, too?" Gene said, cocking an eyebrow.
Shaman winced. "Awfully harsh comment for someone who helped save your life. You're supposed to make a good first impression, you know."
"What?" Gene said.
Alice smiled and took Gene's hand. "He's never met you before."
Shaman nodded and sat in a chair at the table in the center of the room. "Alice told me of your history, and I don't know of any of these things. By my best guess, it will be 1,000 years or so before I take part in any of the things she's told me about. I'm glad she brought me here. Your ring explains why my powers haven't been working off and on. I thought I was getting old, or someone was getting smart."
"Oh geez," Gene said.
"What?" Shaman and Alice asked.
"I wonder if this is another one."
"Another what?" Alice asked.
"Divergent reality. I'll have to ask Shaman - our modern Shaman - if he remembers any of this. Otherwise we've just kicked off another time parallel and the SHaman we know will be even more of an anomally."
Shaman shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Time is a funny thing. You'll go nuts trying to think of what divergences you might create and what would or wouldn't happen. Just do what you have to do and try to be smart about it. Now will you take off that ring please so I can get back to Japan?"
Gene smiled and removed the ring. "Sure." He paused. "Hey, any sign of the Cardinal? Could you get him?"
Shaman stood and smiled. "Already been gotten. Just not yet. Remember, he beat and tortured me early in my career, then I encountered him at different other times. He's very much like Gomurr - a life force reincarnated periodically through time. You did the right thing in trying to destroy the central force, but didn't have the experience to contain it. He comes to the end of his rope later, in Philadelphia. Clever little spell, really." Shaman smirked and his eyes gleamed as he recalled a fond memory.
"That does clear something up for me, you know."
"What's that?" Gene asked.
"Cardinal went into a long diatribe at one of our later meetings. Described meeting me in a younger age. I had no recollection of it. Apparently, it was you. Well done. You may not be the Sorceror Supreme, but you put up a good fight." He pointed at Gene's hands and shoulder. "Don't worry about the hair, it'll grow back. Side effect of having new skin grow in. Have fun with the itch."
The men shook hands and Shaman headed for the door. Alice followed behind him.
"I want him to check the rest of the area for any surprises before he goes," Alice explained. "I've had enough excitement for a while, this was supposed to be our honeymoon."
"Amen to that," Gene said.
Outside, Alice shut the door.
"Shaman," she said.
He stopped and turned around.
"What did your scan show?"
"Nothing. He's totally clean of outside influence, be it psychic or mystical. HE's Gene, nothing more or less."
"So there's nothing in his leg, nothing in his head?"
"No. My scans show nothing, just as Malachi's did. He has a clean bill of health. What are you looking for, Alice?"
"I don't know. Something."
Shaman looked in her eyes. "Something's bothering you." He thought a moment. "Ah. You've never seen him in action before. You spent that time together at the Temple training, and the time together in HEllfire Club, but you never saw him in action, did you? You don't like what you've seen."
Tears welled up in Alice's eyes and she hugged herself.
"It was terrible! At first it was nothing. We fought against some men using our martial arts techniques, he built Malachi's house with his ring's magic. I'm used to that. But at the Keep, when he came in covered with blood, I couldn't see him. He didn't even look...human."
Shaman pulled her close to him and she laid her head on his chest.
"That wasn't the worst though, was it?"
Alice trembled, choked, then said, "No. It was terrible what they did to him. They hurt him so much! Those burns! They peeled his skin off! But what he did to them...I can't..." She sobbed.
"Alice, you knew who you were marrying. I'm sure he told you what he had done. You knew that almost as soon as you met him. But you married him anyway."
Alice nodded. "I just never saw it. NEver wanted to see it. How could anyone..."
"Do you think he's a bad man? Do you?"
Alice looked at Shaman and shook her head. "N-no."
"Do you think he'll hurt you? He had that chance, did he hurt you?"
"No."
"ARe you truly afraid for yourself? For Malachi?"
"No," she said with more conviction.
"Then you've made the right decision. That man's family was threatened, he was tortured, stabbed, asked to join a cult. He was pushed completely over the edge and he came back. Now you both have to recover. You've just begun the real part of marriage, Alice. Truly learning about your mate. If you can get past that, you'll be doing better than most couples."
Alice smiled and pulled away from him. "Thank you. How long did it take you to be so wise?"
Shaman smiled back. "A few years. Don't forget, I know a lot when it comes to Gene. All firsthand knowledge. He loves you, Alice. Never forget it." He smiled again.
Alice paused, thinking, then smiled back. "I won't. I love him, too. Always will. Thank you."
"No thanks needed. I'd better go."
Alice nodded. "Shaman? Nathan...one more thing? Stop in and see Malachi before you go."
Shaman smiled again. The brightest smile Alice had seen on him. He nodded. "I will. I'd love to go see him."
Alice turned and went back in the house, where Gene was now sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Well?" he asked. "What did the old guy have to say? All clear."
"Yes," she said. "Everything's fine."
END
Gene
Original and Longest-Running Editor
White Bastard/King's Pawn--HellFire Club
Knight of the Long-Necked Bottle
Forbidden by Law to Eat Onion Rings
Selectively Sterile
Wielder of Unbridled Contempt for Humanity
Clearest Colon this side of the Milky Way
Messiest Underwear this side of the Milky Way
Certified Bastard-Training Specialist
K, your neck is looking overloaded... Let me take some weight off it!