The Mercury Wars: The Clearing

Chapter 13 - Levi

"No, no, no, no, no."

Link paces the room, shaking his head as he clutches his fists and repeats the word over and over again. Refusing to look Connor in the eye.

"It was me," Connor sobs quietly. "I caused the disaster by setting off the machine that created it."

"No, no, no."

"I designed it and had a team working for me who helped build it."

"No."

"Whatever made it go wrong, I added something into it that made it... Link, my real name is Joshua-"

"STOP TALKING!"

Link finally turns to look at Connor, eyes wide and full of tears, pleading for him to stop. The revelations need to cease immediately. Connor knew it must have been hard to hear them. He had only just discovered them himself, but he can't ignore the guilt of what he did.

Link steps across the room, taking Connor's face into his hands. They are crying just as much as each other now. He held onto his face so tight, his fingers were digging into Connor's cheeks. Short, bitten nails colliding and puncturing the skin.

"Don't say another word," Links says, barely a whisper. "You don't have to say anything else. I don't care, so you don't need to say anything to anyone else outside of this hut. It's just gonna be something we keep between you and me. You need to promise me, Connor. Just forget it all"

Connor looks at him, ignoring the sting in his cheeks. Link's eyes have never held so much desperation, so much need at something.

"Promise me, Connor!" He practically yells as a command.

Connor slowly detaches Link from his body. He stares at the boy as he takes in the situation.

He doesn't know how the others will react, just that it isn't right to simply stay quiet and not tell them. He murdered all their families. He wiped out all of humanity somehow.

They could be the last ones standing on the earth and Henry's words ring through his ears. How they needed to make a better world and better decisions now they had the chance. Connor can't go against that now. He can't ignore the fact that his actions were to blame for this all happening.

"I can't" he sighs as he steps away from Link's intense gaze. "I have to be honest with everyone. They have the right to know that it was me. I have to take accountability and let people decide what happens next."

"No you don't, you don't have to say a thing," Link pleads, grabbing Connor's hand and holding it tightly. "We can keep this between you and me. Our secret. I won't change how I feel about you or look at you. I will still carry on like nothing is wrong."

"But it is wrong," Connor sighs, not wanting to raise his voice anymore. He is defeated. He has no right to take the moral high ground on this. So he just forces his hand from Links and swiftly walks out into the clearing.

The night overhead holds millions of stars in its clear skies. He looks up as he walks towards Benny's hut, wondering if each one of them represents a life he took from this planet.

He feels sick, he can't cope and suddenly the wave hits him as he throws up onto the grass. He doesn't feel any better for it and he can't let it stop him as he wipes his mouth and continues walking until he is screaming outside Benny's hut.

He knew the man would be angry, but as he waited to admit his guilt, shouting Benny's name and waking the rest of the camp up, he really couldn't care less.

Benny emerges from his hut with the exact expression on his bruised face that Connor expected from him. Sleepy eyes were disturbed and his brows were lowered. His mouth is in the thinnest of lines as he looks in frustration at Connor before him.