~Part Fifteen~


Original ending


Alex looked at the sun that was beginning its decent in the midday sky.  Michael and Maria had been gone for nearly two hours now, and the anxious couple that had been married just a few short hours ago, were doing their best to delay their departure until the two got back.  Isabel was in a frenzy trying to keep the guests entertained, and Alex was staying as far away from her as possible to avoid getting pulled into the chaos.  He wasn't that crazy.

Making his way over to where Max and Liz were talking and laughing with a few of their friends, Alex waited until Max saw him and excused himself.  It didn't take long before they were both huddled in a corner of the garden, deep in conversation.

"Are you sure Michael told you they'd only be gone for an hour?" Max asked, running a worried hand along the back of his neck.

Nodding at his friend, Alex told him precisely what Michael had said before leaving the reception.  "He just said Maria needed to get away for a little bit, but that he promised they'd be back in an hour in time for the ending stuff.  He didn't think they'd go very far, just get a break from the crowd and stuff."

Max rubbed both of his hands over his face.  If Michael hadn't promised they'd be back he might not worry so much, but he did...and his best friend never broke his promises.

Letting out a deep breath, Max tried to keep himself from worrying.  "Do you think you could grab a few other people, as discreetly as possible, and go see if you could find them?"

Looking around him to get a head count, Alex agreed.  "Yeah, I'll make sure we check the places they might go to.  If they're not there, then you'll have to just cut the cake and leave for your honeymoon."

"No," Max said, shaking his head back and forth almost unnoticeably.  "I need my best man Alex.  Get him here."  It wasn't a request.  Michael was going to be found.

"Okay."

Sighing to himself and walking away, Alex left to gather a search team.

.  .  .

After rounding up as many close friends as possible, Alex had given them each a destination of where the two might have wandered off.  The forest by the fire pit, the Parker's house, Michael's own place that he somehow managed to keep fairly decent, the crop field, and his own assignment.  The meadow he'd picked up Maria from that very morning.

He couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something had happened, that somehow things went wrong, and both Michael and Maria needed to be found, fast.  All of the years he'd known Michael, he had always kept his word, despite what he felt like doing.  Max's wedding would certainly be no exception.

Grabbing two horses from the stable after making his way there, Alex made quick work of saddling them.  If he did happen to find the two of them, he knew they'd be farther away than they'd probably want to have to walk, so an extra horse would be pretty much necessary.

Everything set to go, he mounted Thunder and set off at a gallop, straight towards the meadow.

.  .  .

"No!"

Alex felt bile rising up from his stomach as he dropped to his knees where Michael's body lay, crumpled next to a fallen tree that looked as though a sudden impact had ripped it from the ground.  There were hundreds of small, clear jewels lining his body in the tall grass where it rested, lifeless in the meadow clearing.  Many had been scattered across his torso, mixing with the crimson blood that had slowly pooled onto his chest from where an arrow was lodged deep in his breast, directly through his heart.  The edges of the blood were already drying, and crisply peeling back.

Michael was gone.

Alex promised he would bring him back.  He promised Max, and he had failed.

Carefully picking up one of the jewels as he silently wept, Alex stared hard at it, almost as though that one small object was responsible for his friend's death.  It was a diamond that looked as though it had fallen out of a tap, tiny and shaped like a clear droplet of water.  He couldn't recall a time where he had seen anything like it before in his entire existence.  But then again, it did remind him of something...a legend he'd heard long ago.

Shaking his head bitterly, Alex swallowed the sobs that had been threatening to escape, and dropped the jewel onto the ground, letting it disappear into the grass.  Even if the legends about the creatures were true, it was still impossible...

Unicorns never cried.


~The End~