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JUST A SPLASH OF DEATH - ALTERNATIVE ENDING
He found himself sitting on a stark rocky surface, numbed and alone; but it was not for long. To his surprise, he saw Magenta walking towards him; behind him was Ochre.
“It’s all your fault.” Magenta’s voice dripped with venom and hatred that echoed through the empty space. “You didn’t do enough.”
“You should have saved us,” Ochre added in turn, in a similar voice. “That’s what you vowed to yourself. That you would do whatever was needed to keep us from being killed. You failed.”
Around and around, they walked saying the same thing over and over, and over again. He blocked his ears with his hands and closed his eyes, but when Grey and Blue arrived in turn and joined in, with the same relentless accusations, he was unable to take anymore. Standing up, he fled from his friends who had turned into his tormenters. As he ran, the despair and hopelessness he felt became stronger and stronger; so he kept running, trying to leave them behind.
He ran until he found himself on a spit of rock jutting out over a chasm filled with what looked like swirling clouds. As he saw it, the knowledge of where he was and what it meant came to him. Here and now, he could end it all and not have to face a life without his team-mates. All he had to do was to step over the edge.
He watched the clouds as they swirled below his feet. The idea of giving up the burden that he now consistently carried was alluring and he knew that it would be even harder all on his own. He was weary of the constant fight with the Mysterons, the many injuries and deaths he went through, the day to day wondering if he was going to be called to duty. Blue and the others helped to keep his spirit up, and they did more than what they knew.
There was just no way he could carry on without them.
He stepped closer to the edge and looked into the hollowness. Yes, this would be it; he no longer had it in him to go on.
He lifted his foot and took the final step. As he fell the despair and hopelessness left him and peace and serenity came.
*******
There was no mistaking the smells and sounds. He knew them well: Cloudbase’s sickbay. He had spent a lot of time in this place.
As his awareness grew, Captain Blue became more and more bewildered. How? Why? Was this real? Fighting his unease, Blue considered what he knew and came to the conclusion that somehow he was alive, but not well.
It was hard but he managed to open his eyes and what he saw, immediately confirmed what he had surmised. Turning his head, he was able to see another bed with someone in it, but wasn’t able to work out who. He turned the other way and just saw a wall. Carefully lifting his head, he looked across the room and saw two more occupied beds. So there were only four of them in the room. Blue wondered why.
His pondering was interrupted by the arrival of Doctor Fawn.
“Nice to see you finally with us, Captain.” The doctor’s voice was soft and quiet; he obviously didn’t want to disturb the others patients sleeping in the room. After checking the robotic nurse’s readings, he turned to Blue. “Thirsty?” he asked him.
Blue nodded.
“Well, let’s get you a bit more upright and then we’ll see to it.” And with that, Fawn manipulated the bed controls and Blue found his top half slowly rising. “Here you are,” Fawn said with a smile, as he held a glass and straw by Blue’s mouth. “How are you feeling?”
Blue took a long suck on the straw as he tried to get his thoughts into order. “Surprised. I mean… I thought there was no cure for the virus. That you didn’t find one in time. I guess you must have?” He was feeling tired but he wanted – no needed – to find out what had happened, as a feeling of dread lingered in his mind.
“Well, yes and no. You’ll be surprised to hear that the Mysterons stuffed up.”
“Stuffed up?” Blue’s voice was quiet but full of amazement.
“Yes. It seems that Doctor Breen didn’t know how to reactivate the virus properly. He obviously thought he did, so the Mysterons thought that as well, but it was not the case. Oh, it made you guys very sick, but as you see, it didn’t kill you.”
“Wow. Are the others okay?”
Fawn hesitated a little, before answering: “Yes. Grey, Magenta and Ochre have been awake and will be all right. You’re the last to wake up. You had me a bit worried there, mate.” He eyed Blue with a happy, relieved look.
“Sorry.” The tiredness was making hard for Blue to think but there was something that the doctor had said or hadn’t said that nagged at him. Then it came to him, Grey, Magenta and Ochre, the three other beds in the room. So where was Scarlet? “How’s Paul, Doc?”
He was surprised to see Fawn’s smile disappear and his shoulders drop.
Fawn was concerned. How was Blue going to take this? He thought about putting Blue off, but he knew it was useless. Blue would eventually find, out one way or another. So it was better to tell him now.
“Do you remember him passing out on the plane, Blue?” Fawn started carefully.
“Yes. What of it?”
“Well, it happen because his heart had stopped.”
“Oh. He’s okay now, isn’t he? Something like that wouldn’t keep him down for long. That is, I assume it’s taken us awhile to come around?” Blue was worried; that sense of dread he felt earlier solidified as he started to recall a feeling. Or was it a dream?
“No,” Fawn said sadly. And as Blue stared at him, he continued: “I don’t know what’s going on or why, but as of yet, there’s been no change in Scarlet’s condition.”
“But he is alive, isn’t he?” Blue insisted. “He should have started reviving before we passed out.” The memory of something he had seen began to come clearer as Fawn answered his questions.
“That hasn’t happen. We are keeping a close eye on him, Adam. And I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any change.”
Blue’s eyes closed as he fully remembered what he had seen. He tried to deny it, wanting it to be only a dream, but somehow, some way, he knew that it was for real. The scene of him and the others, accusing and tormenting Paul, distressed him, and then seeing Paul being overwhelmed by his fear, causing him to flee, hit Blue hard. But what gave Blue the most anguish, was seeing Paul stepping off a spur of rock into a void of swilling clouds. His pathetic cry of denial, not being enough to stop Paul from doing so. He knew it was a sight that he would never forget.
It alarmed Fawn to see his patient’s eyes close and the colour drain from his face. A quick check of the robotic nurse showed an increase in C02 levels and heart rate – things that Blue could do without. So he tried to get the American officer’s intention. “Adam? Adam, can hear me? Come on, Captain, I need you focus on me. Can you do that?”
The anxiety and distress in Doctor Fawn’s voice pulled Blue from his despair and he opened his eyes; he didn’t want to cause the doctor anymore stress.
“I’m okay, Doc,” he answered wearily.
Fawn gave Blue a scrutinizing look. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Blue lied. He actually felt hollow, unsettled and ill. He turned away from Fawn, faced the wall and tried to reject what he had seen and knew. Paul, his best friend and as close – no closer – to him than his brothers… Paul wasn’t going to come back this time. It was going to be very hard to take.
Rechecking his patient, Fawn saw that Blue’s stats were low but once again levelling out; he also could tell that Blue was very tired. So he wrote his notes on his chart and prepared to take his leave.
He turned one last time to Blue.
“I’ll make sure that you kept informed of any changes with Paul, Adam.”
Feeling the hurt of knowing that there was not going to be any, Blue couldn’t keep himself from saying, in a very low voice: “I doubt it.”
Surprised, Fawn stared at him. “What, do you think I would keep that information from you?”
“No.” Then in a voice so quiet that Fawn almost didn’t hear him, Blue added: “There’s not going to be any.”
“What do you mean?” asked Fawn in a similar voice.
Blue turned his head and looked at the doctor. “I mean there won’t be any change. Paul’s not coming back, Doc. The prospect of the rest of us not being around, and him being the only one left of us… it was too much for him. He couldn’t face it. He’s given up.” Angrily, he turned back to the wall and brought his arms across his chest.
Fawn shook his head in mystification. “You can’t really know that, Adam. You must not lose hope like that, it’s not like you.” But what he was saying didn’t seem to reach his patient. He sighed deeply. “Look, you’re tired, not well and probably not in the best frame of mind. So why don’t you tried and get some sleep? You might find that things are better afterwards.”
He didn’t receive any response from Blue.
Turning to leave, he could not help but wonder if Blue was right. Scarlet heart was taking a long time to start beating again and he was growing very concerned about it.
Well, all he could do was wait.
As he crossed the doorway leading out of the room, he thought he heard a sob coming from the bed. He wasn’t sure, but it sounded like a quiet #but exceedingly anguished “Nooo…”
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Acknowledgements
A big thank you to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson for the original creation of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, as well as all those who worked on the storylines of the show that ended up giving us such fun characters to play with. Also a big thank you to Chris Bishop for a wonderful website that allows us to find lots of cool things and for beta-reading my story. My story has been written for mine and others’ enjoyment and not for any financial gain. And any boo-boos are mine and mine alone.
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