{"sf1_id":804327,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Complications on the Home Front","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2586,"posted_at":"2015-01-06T04:02:00.000Z","tags":["FAMILY","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf","argument","conflict"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/804327-complications-on-the-home-front","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/804327","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=804327\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#83 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                Billy\nwas arguing. Billy didn't often consider himself smart enough to argue with\nfolks, but he was going to do it anyway.\n                \"You\ncan't do this alone!\"\n                \"Sure I\ncan. I'm going to go and I'm going to see this through without anyone getting\nin my way.\"\n                Alexei\ntried to reason with him. \"My friend, I agree with this man. I understand that\nyou have some innate abilities and some incredible protection, but it hardly\nmeans that you can tackle anything you put your mind to.\"\n                \"You\ndon't know my mind, so please don't go there.\"\n                \"You\nhave done some remarkable things my friend, but don't neglect the power of\nhaving companions to support you. I believe we can lend you more assistance\nthan you care to credit us as being capable of providing.\" The Russian was\ndoing his best to remain calm.\n                \"It's\nnot that Alexei. It's that I don't wish to endanger any more people than is\nnecessary.\"\n                \"So you\ndecide to take everyone's troubles as your own? I'd call you a saint if I\nbelieved in that garbage. What's your game?\"\n                \"This\nis no game. This is deadly serious. I have no intention of letting anyone else\nget hurt.\"\n                Billy\nslammed his fist down. \"I don't like be denied having a little fun!\"\n                Maggie\nheard the commotion and before Edward could shut anyone up she asked, \"What the\nhell is going on?\"\n                \"Edward\nis talking about running off after your father!\"\n                Her\nreaction was hardly what they expected. \"I'm not surprised. It's in his nature\nto go out of his way to be an a...\"\n                \"Watch\nyour tongue young lady!\"\n                \"What?\nI was going to say altruistic sweetheart!\"\n                \"I'm\nsure you were...\"\n                \"Father,\ngoing against this guy, whether he comes here or you go to him; this is going\nto be dangerous. I can feel it in my bones.\"\n                \"Can\nyou now? If he poses a threat to your welfare, then he has to go through me.\nAnd that goes for any other member of this family.\"\n                \"And\nyou think that running off to meet him in one on one combat is a smart thing to\ndo?\"\n                \"Maggie,\nI've given us some time, but I can't say for how long. Your mom was right; he\nmanaged to link his mind with hers. He's alert to the fact that she's back to\nbeing conscious.\"\n                \"And\nyou know this how?\" Her mild stare turned to an ugly one. \"Oh, wait. You read\nher, didn't you?\"\n                \"Yes.\nBut it's alright for the moment,\"\n                \"You\nknow, going around reading people's minds is a rude thing to be doing! I hardly\nsee where you get off thinking it's alright.\"\n                \"So are\na lot of things in life. Are you willing to have an argument over moral issues\nright now?\"\n                \"Wait -\nwhat do you mean it's alright?\"\n                He paused.\n\"We're not going to have a fight then?\"\n                \"No, no\nfight.\" \n                \"Fine.\nI removed the link.\"\n                \"But\nhow?\"\n                \"You\nwant an explanation?\"\n                \"Yes!\"\n                \"Well I\ncan't give you one. Just understand that from a point earlier in the day your\nmom cannot be found unless this Leeds fellow does it the hard way. If you don't\nbelieve me, ask her yourself. See if she senses anything different.\"\n                \"I\nbelieve you, but I'm not certain that I trust you. Your motives are your own\nright now and you're withholding information, I know it.\"\n                He\nreached down to grasp her arm. She backed away. \"Oh no you don't! How many\ntimes have you been messing with me?\"\n                He\nturned instead to leave. \n\"Oh no you don't!\" she yelled. \"Don't\nyou dare leave me here and don't you dare try to decide what's best for\neveryone. I think you were right before; your new ability is more of a curse.\"\nHis anger was getting the best of\nhim. He forced himself to relax. \"Yes, I've messed with your head. There are\nthings that just can't be known right now, not even asked about. This is more\nmessed up than you can possibly fathom. Coming here might have been a mistake.\"\nHer silence spoke volumes. It took\nher a moment to find even a solitary word that meant anything. As it was, she\nsaid only this.\n \"What?\"\n\"This ability is a curse dammit. Do\nyou really think that I'm doing any of this just because I think it would be a\nfun time? Fuck that! I'm tiptoeing across a thin tightrope right now.\"\n\"And I suppose that gives you the\nright to throw the rest of us over?\"\n\"I'm not trying to throw you over;\nI'm trying to save you!\"\nShe reached out and touched his\narm. \"Listen to me for a moment. We've been through a lot together. I'd like to\nthink that we'd be going through a lot more before our days are done. How can\nthis be any worse than anything else we've been through?\"\n\"Do you recall the things you saw\nbefore, when I was out of it in Russia? The things you spoke of?\"\n\"Yes.\"\n\"Think worse.\"\n\"Show me.\"\n\"No!\"\n\"If you want to have a strong\nrelationship you'll quit turning into a macho idiot and you'll trust in me.\nYou'll trust in the power of family.\"\n\"I'll not have anyone's blood on my\nhands but my own!\"\n\"No you won't. You tell everyone\nwhat to expect and you devise a plan that involves everyone who's willing to\nconfront this asshole. Then the blood will be on their hands, not yours. But if\nyou go off on your own, I'll consider it to be desertion. You go out there\nalone, even with the best of intentions, you might as well never come back.\nThat's not the Edward I know. It's not what the man I love would do.\"\nBilly coughed a little in his hand.\n\"You go girl!'\nEdward and Maggie both said, at the\nsame time.\n \"Shut up Billy!\"\n Then they started laughing. Edward recovered\nfirst. \"Come here.\"\nShe did, stepping into his embrace.\n\"Just remember, you asked for this.\" He hugged her close and flooded her with\nimages. The flashes of possible and probable events ran through her head until\nher mind was a confusion of writhing forms and twisted potentialities. He let\ngo of her.\nShe stumbled backward. Her eyes\nwere wide with fear. \"How can you deal with that?\"\n\"I can't. I keep trying to tell\nyou. All I have to do is just wonder just a little bit about something and it\nstarts running through my head. I keep playing it out until I like the results.\nBut this one; this one doesn't ever have a happy ending. There is nothing I've\nseen that makes this all go away.\"\n\"Shit! Here I thought you were just\nbeing a macho asshole.\" She kicked at the floor angrily. \"What are we going to\ndo?\"\n\"I don't know. The only chance I\nsee of there being a decent ending to this is for me to go it alone.\"\n\"Fuck that! If you die, I've got\nlittle reason to go on living. So where you go, I go.\"\nBilly found the courage to speak up\nagain. \"What about me?\"\n\"And you too. I think that whatever\nwe do, it's going to have to involve all of us, in one way or another. If my\nreal father want s me, he's going to have to go through this whole family, not\njust one.\"\nEdward sunk to the ground. \"I don't\nlike it.\"\n\"Tough shit. I just got my family\nback, and I'm not about to lose them. Either you take everyone who's willing to\nfight, or you back off of your little prima donna attitude.\" \n Then she was struck with a thought. It wasn't\nmuch of a thought, but it was still a thought. She mentioned it to him. He\nactually looked mildly amused by it. He thought on it, and a small smile\ncrossed his face. \"You know kiddo, I'm glad you have such a devious brain. That\njust might work, if we can pull it together in time.\"\nThe matter went under discussion.\nAnna, notwithstanding the fact that she was a were, was deemed too old and too\nfrail for any sort of encounter. She stood her ground, saying that any threat\nto her family was one she intended to fight; to the death if necessary. Maggie\nagreed. \"I'm with Edward in not wanting anyone to die, but to be on the run for\nthe rest of our lives is as equally unappealing.\"\nMaria stood up. \"I just found y\nfamily again, so if there is something that poses a threat to it, then I say we\nstick together to fight it. I'm willing to die to keep the family line going.\"\nAlexei had his own mind to add to\nthe pot. \"I believe in this man. He has suffered much and he is willing to risk\neven more. I think that says great things about his personality. I believe that\nthe invitation to fight against those of the Kind that wish us harm should be\nextended even farther. Verona will fight, as will Billy's parents; if you were\nto ask them.\" \nMaggie agreed. \"The more we have on\nour side, the greater chances we have of winning. Verona's parents just might\njoin us as well.\"\n Edward stood up. \"This is what I was afraid\nof. The more people who get involved, the more there's a chance of someone\ngetting hurt or killed.\"\n\"We appreciate that father, but\nwhat choice do we have? If this freak knows where we're at, he'll be heading\nhere now, even if you did manage to sever his hold on mom.\"\n\"What?\" This mild cry of wonder\ncame from Kathryn. \"You did what?\"\n\"I removed the attachment he had on\nyou, freeing you from his ability to see what you see. I didn't know you could\neven do something like that until you mentioned it.\"\n\"I sensed it was gone after Maggie\nasked me about it but I knew not the reason until now. Thank you.\"\nHe bowed. \"That's more gratitude\nthan I got from someone else in this room.\"\n\"Shut up! I still say you shouldn't\ngo around messing in other people's heads!\"\nKathryn shouted in a clear, stern\nvoice. \"Don't rail against him for doing what he thinks is right dear. While\neveryone likes to think that they are doing good, only those who have\nunwavering concern for others may be trusted as being truly altruistic. You\nhave found a rare gem from among the many grains of sands that make up the\ndesert. Don't belittle him. Support him.\"\n\"But mom! He admitted to messing\nwith my head!\"\n                \"As did\nyour grandmother. You are wise now beyond your years, but you will achieve even\ngreater wisdom with time. If he saw the need to hide something from you, then I\nthink that his reasons were sound.\"\n                Maggie\nturned sulky for a moment. Raising her eyes to Edward, she stared at him intensely\nfor a moment. \"I love you, and therefore I must trust you. However, I also know\nyou well enough to get that you would lie to try and protect me. What did you\ntake away from me?\"\n                \"Just a\nquestion. A dangerous question if asked at the wrong time. I can't tell you\nmore than that.\"\n                \"A\nquestion? That doesn't make any sense.\"\n                \"Just\nknow that it was a harmless question.\" He reconsidered his words. \"I guess I\nshould say the answer could be dangerous.\"\n                \"Do you\npromise that was it?\"\n                \"Yes, I\npromise. Trust me, the question is no more dangerous than a mosquito, but even\na mosquito can pass along a deadly disease.\"\n                \"Yeah, whatever.\nWhen this is all over, will you tell me what it was?\"\n                \"When\nthis is all over, you'll probably know without asking.\" \n                Edward\nspent the rest of the day doing a mixture of things, some of them mildly\nincomprehensible to the rational mind. They ranged from telling stories to\nstaring at a calendar hanging on the kitchen wall. He would flip back a month\nand stare at it, and then he'd flip it to another and repeat his actions.\n                \"Father\ndearest, have you gone off the deep end?\"\n                He\nsmiled. \"No. I'm looking at these photos on the calendar, imagining myself at\nthese places.\" The calendar was one that featured sites across America; a\ndifferent location for each month.\n                \"Uhhhhh,\nwhy?\"\n                \"I\nprojecting myself into these places so that your real father is picking them up\nand thinking we've moved again. By this time I think he's thoroughly thrown off\nas to where we are presently at. I figure it'll buy us the time we need to get\norganized.\"\n                \"You\nmean you didn't just remove the link from mom, you kept it?'\n                \"Didn't\nI mention that? Sorry. Yeah, I figured removing it would tip him off to\nsomething bigger going on. I pulled it from her and stuck inside me. I can\nsuppress it when I want to, and I can open it up and flood him with all kinds\nof images. That's what I doing right now, messing with his head.\"\n                \"I don't\nknow if you're brilliant or nuts. What if he figures it out?\"\n                \"I\nthink he already has. But I'll just keep doing it to be annoying. Eventually\nhe'll break if off and give up.\"\n                \"I\nliked you better before. You've gotten a lot more complicated lately.\"\n                \"Yeah?\nYou try living with a supercharger stuck in your brain and see how long you\nhold it together.\"\n                \"I know\nand I'm sorry about that. But you can't let it control your life.\"\n                He fell\nto the floor in uproarious laughter. He soon had tears streaming from his eyes.\nMaggie was dumbstruck at his behavior, and the noise attracted the attention of\neveryone in the house. He rolled back and forth until his ribs were hurting,\nand still he laughed until he thought his lungs would burst.\n                When he\nfinally wound down, he cracked open an eye. \"You're kidding right? This damn\nthing inside my head has pretty much taken over what I do. It's not a ring I\ncan take off when I want to. It's part of my head now, like a symbiote. The\nlonger I go with it in, the more it becomes part of me. I'm still me, but I\ndon't always know what that means. I can see things, but it doesn't\nautomatically mean I can affect them. Do you have any idea how frustrating that\ncan be?\"\n                \"No.\"\n                \"Good\nanswer. You don't. So do me a favor and quit trying to second guess everything\nI do. I'm already second guessing it the moment I think of it. Sometimes I'm as\nblind about things as I was before I got this mass of metal stuck in my head.\"\n                \"Metal?                \n                He looked\nup at Anna. \"I guess maybe it's time I told my story, huh?\"\n                \"I\nthink it would be helpful if you did young man.\"\n                Billy\ngrinned. \"Should I go out for pizza again? This is gonna take a while!\""}