Well, I'm in the dreaded exam week again. I don't think I may be
able to access my e-mail during this week so I'll finish this once
and for all...
Disclaimer: I don't own all of these characters! HB owns Jonny
and the rest of the cast from JQ:TRA. I'm not
making any money at all with this, but I'm having
fun!
Rating: E, J&J HR
Synopsis: A look at what might have been?
Archivers: Go ahead!
In our last chapter:
Jonny forced himself to think. So everybody had been right
all along. But how could this be happening? How could the death of
someone he had never known hurt so much?
A voice called for him. "Jonny..."
A very familiar voice.
He turned his head around to face the boy who had called his
name.
It was Fred.
"I've come to take you home."
*********************************
* *
* Reality *
* by Carlos Rodriguez *
* *
* Chapter Seven *
* *
*********************************
Jonny looked around. Estella was nowhere to be found. Only
Fred was there, with his hand extended to him.
"Come, Jonny. Everybody is waiting for you."
But Jonny didn't take Fred's hand. Instead, he just closed
his eyes trying to keep back the tears.
'This is not happening.' Jonny thought. 'Soon you'll wake
up and you'll be back at the Compound and everything will be back
to normal...'
"Your family is worried about you. They want you back as soon
as possible." Fred said as he took a step toward him.
'You'll wake up and everything will be alright. Jessie will
be there, with Dad and Jenny...'
And then everything crumbled.
'Jenny won't be there... and neither will mom... Oh, my god,
I remember!'
As painful as it was, all the memories were coming back at
Jonny. The death of his mother and the months that followed were once
again in his memory, as well as all the adventures that he had lived
in the last years...
He could remember evrything. Not only big happenings but also
small details. Little trivial things like Ms. Evans favorite singer...
And he could also recall more important things.
Like Jessie.
He opened his eyes to see the grave. It wasn't there anymore.
He stood up and turned around to face Fred.
Jonny's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
"I'm Fred. Don't you remember? Let me help you pal..."
"I don't know anyone called 'Fred'. But I remember how I was
coming home back from the mall..."
Fred sighed. "Damn. I hoped you'd never figure it out."
"Where am I? And who are you?"
"You are where you always wanted to be, Jonny. And you can
think of me as the one who will give you everything your heart
desires."
Jessie was scared now. There was no way she could have dreamt
that voice. She was sure about that. She didn't care what her mother
said, she had seen Jonny Quest in some other place... and now he
was in danger.
And she had to help him. As she always had when he was in
trouble. As he always had helped her...
She quickly ran to the upper rooms. She had to find him,
before it was too late.
Everything was clear for Jonny now. He was beginning to
understand why everything was so perfect. He now knew why Liz's
parents were so great and why everything had gone the way it did. Why
Estella hadn't filled him with bullets as soon as she saw him and why
he had been able to leave the country so easily and why Jenny never
got angry with him and why everything was so easy...
Why everything was so perfect for him.
"You are not real." he affirmed.
"Oh no, Jonny. I'm quite real. As real as you, anyway..."
"This entire world doesn't exist! Take the tombstone for
example... It is gone! Or Liz's eyes. They change color and nobody
realizes it except me..."
"I'm afraid you are to blame for that. If you hadn't kept
thinking about your friend's eyes then she will still have those
pretty black eyes."
"What do you want from me?"
"I don't want nothing for you, Jonny. I just want you to be
happy." As Fred said those words, the world around Jonny started
to twirl. "Everything that you want... I can give it to you. Your
mother, for example. Or your sister... Funny, I never thought you
wanted a sister that badly."
Jonny was getting a strong headache. "What are you doing?"
"Starting everything over. I'm afraid you got too far, Jonny.
You weren't supposed to come to this place... I think I'm going to
correct many things. But don't worry, this time there won't be any
glitches at all and Liz's eyes will be the same color all the time.
I promise."
Jonny looked at him. A wicked smile was on Fred's face.
"Don't resist, Jonny. It will be much more painful if you do... Just
relax and enjoy."
Jessie ran out of her house. She took a deep breath and yelled
his name. "Jonny!!!!"
Where was he? She had heard his voice. It had to be his
voice... If it wasn't, then why everytime she closed her eyes new
memories about him appeared inside her head? Like Tommy... What had
happened to him? She never had had a stuffed tiger before, yet she
remembered that she had spent many nights with him on his arms.
Whenever she was sad, she would talk to him as if he were his only
friend... And while she was in Colombia, he was his only friend,
since she was always in some excavation with her mother...
But he was gone. As well as Jonny. And Hadji, and Dr. Quest
and Bandit... He remembered them all, but she had never known them.
It was... as if two different Jessies had existed and she had memories
of them both.
What was happening to her?
Suddenly, Fred moved his head to one side, as if looking to
something Jonny couldn't see.
"Damn!" he exclaimed. "She is remembering!"
Jonny clenched his fist. Then he sprung forward, trying to
hit Fred in the stomach. Perhaps Fred hadn't expected Jonny to do so,
or perhaps he was distracted enough to let Jonny do his move. But
somehow, turning his weakness into strenght, Jonny Quest managed to
knock the air off the boy's lungs.
The headache got better in that very moment. It still was there,
but it didn't hurt as much.
He kicked Fred in the face, making him fall to the ground.
"Where's Jessie?" he asked.
Fred cleaned the drop of blood that had appeared on the corner
of his mouth. "She is fine. She is also getting what her heart
desires. Oh, if you knew what she chose, you wouldn't be so eager
to help her..."
"What do you mean?" he asked, fearing the answer.
"You are not in her reality, you know?"
"She is not in mine! That doesn't mean anything!"
"I prevented that. But I can fix it. I can give you Jessie,
Jonny. I can give her to you... just as you have always wanted."
Jonny took a deep breath. How could he know so much about him?
He started to stand up, without stopping his talk. "She didn't
want you on her reality, Jonny, so you are not there. She doesn't even
know you exist... You know who is in her thoughts, don't you?"
Fred extended a hand, and a image started to appear in front of
him. Not an image... a boy. A teenager who was very familiar to Jonny.
"She knows him as Enrique Duran... But a rose, by any other
name, is nonetheless a rose."
'Enrique' had a very familiar face, alright. Jonny knew whose
face it was even before it solidified completely.
It was Hadji. His turban was gone, his hair was short and he
was dressed in a very informal way, but Jonny recognized his adoptive
brother at once.
"She doesn't love you, Quest. Not as you love her. This, this
is the man she longs for. I wanted to spare you the pain... That's why
I gave you Liz. But I can fix it, Jonny... I can give Jessie to you..."
Jonny dropped to his knees again. The headache was coming back.
He feeld his blood pounding on his ears, and above the deafening sound
of his heartbeat he could heard Fred's voice, giving him the
opportunity of a lifetime...
"Just relax. You'll wake up at your house on Maine and this
will be only a dream. And your mother will be there for you, as well
as your sister... And Jessie..."
Jonny started to close his eyes.
"She'll be there for you... And she will love you..."
'Why not?' he thought as his eyes closed. 'Jessie...'
"You two will be together forever. It will be perfect."
'Yes, perfect....'
"That's good... Relax. I'm almost over. Soon you'll have her."
'Perfect....'
And in that moment, somewhere inside his numb mind, something
clicked. Jonny realized then that he had to fight back. His eyes
opened.
"No." he muttered. "I can't... I can't let you win..."
"Don't resist!" Fred ordered with a much louder voice. "Think!
You'll have her, you fool! The woman you always wanted! The perfect
girl!"
Yes, the perfect girl... A perfect Jessie. A Jessie without any
flaws. And Jonny loved Jessie. She didn't love her only because of her
warm smile or because of the tender sparkle of her green eyes. It was
not only the sweet aroma of her hair what kept him awake at night
thinking about her... It was the sum of all that and more. Even her
flaws, because, after all, they also defined her.
A perfect Jessie wouldn't be his Jessie, the one he loved so
much. It would be a joke, a total fake.
"Jessie doesn't love you!" Fred insisted. "But I can give you
her love!"
"I don't... care!" Jonny replied as thick drops of sweat fell
from his forehead, trying to resist whatever misterious force Fred was
using on him. "I love... her... And that's all what counts!"
"But she will be perfect!"
"She won't be real!"
"She *will* be real!"
"No... She won't be real... Just as you are not real! Just as
nothing of this is real! Nothing!"
And the scenery changed. Suddenly, Jonny wasn't in the
Velazques' ranch anymore, but in the middle of nowhere. He was
floating in a void, as if he was in deep space. But instead of the
deep black of space and the light of the stars, only a deep grey
surrounded him.
Fred was still there.
"What are you doing?" Fred asked with fear in his voice.
"Nothing is real!" Jonny insisted, noticing how his headache
was growing even stronger. "Everything that has happened wasn't real!
Just as you are not real!"
Fred started to fade. "Think what you are doing! Do you want
to come back to the real world? Think about your mother! And what about
Jenny?"
"They are not real!" Jonny screamed again. "Not real... Not
real..."
Jonny curled in a fetal position, trying to withstand the
incredible pain in his brain. He kept repeating the last two words over
and over again.
"Not real... not real..."
The scenery changed once again. The grey became white and then
red and then every color Jonny had ever seen was mixed around him.
And everything started to twirl around, faster and faster, until
everything exploded and a bright light surrounded him. Then it
was gone, and only darkness remained.
Slowly, Jonny Quest opened his eyes.
At long last, he was awake.
To be concluded!
Coming right now!
_________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carlos Rodriguez | Cannot find REALITY.SYS |
| carlosrgz@hotmail.com | Universe halted |
|______________________________|__________________________|
______________________________________________________
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