(part 15)

~~~~

The first thing Max did when they arrived back in his apartment was throw up on the carpet. Everything he’d just done came back in a crashing wave of nausea and he rolled over on the floor, groaning.

He felt a pair of wide hands on his shoulder. “You okay, Max?” said Journey.

“Just gimme a few minutes,” Max mumbled in reply. He blocked out his surroundings, trying to clear his mind through the horror of his recent memory. Images kept coming up behind his eyelids, faces he would never forget that belonged to people he didn’t know. Whatever else they had done, they were people, and Max had ended that. Bile came up in his mouth and he gripped his arms around his stomach, curled up in a ball on the floor, trying not to add to the puddle of vomit already beside him.

Eventually he calmed down. He opened his eyes and rolled onto his back, and just lay there a minute longer, staring at the ceiling. Finally he pushed himself upright, wincing as the sudden blood flow made his head ache.

“You okay dude?” said Journey. He was sitting on the edge of the chair, elbows propped on his knees. He’d turned the tv on, but left the sound off, and was half-watching it.

Max looked at the tv screen for a moment. He caught a few seconds of action movie explosions before a cut to commercials. Standing, he picked up the remote, and turned off the tv – he didn’t feel like being reminded of action right now.

Rubbing his forehead with one hand, he flopped onto the empty chair, and stared at Journey. It was still sinking in that he had nearly lost his best friend, again…and that Jo had clearly become a lot more important to him than he’d ever thought anyone would.

Jo was peering back at him, concern showing clearly on his face. “Max?”

Max let out a long breath. “I’m fine,” he said at last. “I’ll be okay. Where’s everyone else?”

“I think Alcor took them to a hospital.”

Alcor. Max recalled with clarity how small and scared the demon had been, and the strange look on his face when Max had called him by that other name. He still didn’t know where that name had come from.

There were too many thoughts. Max was tired of thinking; he was tired, period. He pushed himself up out of his chair and walked past Journey – but then he turned around and bent down a little, and wrapped his arms around Jo in a hug. Journey was surprised, but didn’t protest, and after a second he returned the hug with one arm.

“I’m glad I didn’t lose you,” Max said quietly. Then he stood, and wandered away to his bedroom, kicking the door almost-shut behind him and curling up on his bed.

~~~~

Max woke from a long, deep, and dreamless sleep. He lay there a bit longer, watching clouds float by outside the window.

When he finally rolled over to get out of bed, he saw why he’d slept so well. There on the other side of the room, Alcor reclined on the air, reading a light novel. He glanced up when he noticed Max looking at him, but said nothing.

Max rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “How’s Tali?”

Alcor set aside his book, which vanished into the air.

“A little starved and dehydrated,” he said, “but she’ll be okay.”

“That’s good.” Max nodded.

They sat in silence for a moment.

“How are you?” Alcor finally asked.

Max stared down at his hands. He only just realized that he was still wearing the ring. It was only for self-defense – that’s what Alcor had told him, what he’d told Ms Sparrow, what he’d kept trying to tell himself. For a while he’d almost believed it, but after what he’d used it for the day before…

He took off the ring and set it on his bedside table.

"I feel like I’ve turned into the thing everyone’s warned me about all my life,” he said quietly.

“Max.” Alcor floated closer. “You’re not a monster for doing what you did. Don’t forget whose power you were using – I may be a nice demon, but I’m still a demon. That kind of power, it changes you. It makes you do things you normally wouldn’t.”

Max looked gratefully up at Alcor. “Thanks. I still feel awful though.” He stood up with a groan. “This has been the worst year of my life.” He picked up his pants off the floor and considered them a moment, then tossed them aside and went to the dresser to get a clean pair. While he got dressed, Alcor remained silent.

When Max turned to face him again, he looked pensive.

“It’s all my fault,” the demon said. “I’m sorry.”

“It is your fault,” Max agreed, sitting down on the edge of his bed again. Alcor looked at him with the saddest face he’d ever seen. “But I don’t blame you,” he added. “I…I feel like something like this would have happened anyway. I mean, she was already here, and you probably would have come into the picture sooner or later. So…I guess I’m just glad it’s all over with.” He looked at his hands again. “It’s gonna haunt me, but at least it’s haunting my past instead of my future.”

Alcor coughed. “I could take care of that for you.”

Max looked up at him. He thought about it for a moment. “Nah. Well, maybe later. I think…I need to learn to live with this.”

"It won’t be easy,” said Alcor.

“Nothing ever is.”

Alcor followed Max out into the living room. The puddle of vomit had been cleaned up, and Journey was gone. For a moment Max thought about calling him to come back over, but then he remembered it was Monday and Jo was probably at a class. Max glanced at his laptop again.

“Oh, by the way,” said Alcor as he noticed where Max’s thoughts had gone. “I visited a certain Ms Sparrow last night-”

Max looked at him, horrified. “You didn’t.”

“Don’t worry, Max. I came in by the door and played nice. I simply explained to her what happened – leaving out certain details, of course – and requested, very politely, that she undo your expulsion. She said it would take a day or two to get things back in order, but she agreed.”

Max’s expression turned to astonishment. “So you mean…I can go back to my classes?” Alcor nodded. Various thoughts passed through Max’s mind, including relief at having not deleted all his school files, and sudden dread for the exams he had spent the last few days not studying for.

“Why did you do this?” he finally thought to ask.

Alcor smiled. “It’s part of our original deal, don’t you remember? You said you wanted to keep your job, keep your apartment, and finish school here. Since my part of the deal – supplying you with a roommate – is still in effect, I couldn’t just leave you hanging like that.”

“Isn’t that what demons do, though?”

"Shh. Don’t question it.”

Max grinned. “Thanks, Dipper.”

They both froze as the name slipped out again.

“Um…sorry,” said Max, when he saw the look on Alcor’s face. “Should I not call you that? I mean, I don’t even know why…”

“It’s fine,” Alcor said quietly. He cleared his throat. “It’s just been a long time since anyone used that name for me. To be honest, I’m not sure how you found it either.” They looked at each other for a long moment in mutual confusion, before Alcor said, “Just don’t say it around anyone else, okay?”

Max nodded, feeling like he’d been granted one of the secrets of the universe.

“Wanna have breakfast with me?” he said after a moment.

“As long as it’s not your toast,” Alcor replied. They both laughed, and Max poured two bowls of the sugariest cereal he had.

~~~~

And that’s the end of Thorn and Flame! Again thanks for reading, and a reminder that you can ask me anything anytime. I’ll be taking a break for an unknown number of days before the next Max multi-chapter starts, but I’ll try to get some of these older one-shot prompts done in the meantime.