Magical Mystery Tour

Part Three-Chapter Forty-One: Geoerge's POV

Part 3
George's POV
Stop talking to him, please!? I watched Serena sit across the table from me and ignore me.
No!
Why!?
Because! She glared at me suddenly and I frowned. She didn't look like herself. She turned back to Stryker and she went back to talking.
When dinner was over, Dhani and I made eye contact and he nodded toward the door. That was my cue. He stood up and walked out of the room casually. I looked for an excuse to leave.
"Hey John," I said, dragging his attention away from the intense conversation he was having with Paul, "Can I talk to you for a mo?" I stood up and left the room. I waited out in the hall for John for a few seconds.
"You can't go to the bathroom alone, Geo?" John asked, snickering, "It is your house you know."
I rolled my eyes at him and shoved him, "No, we need to talk." I said, "Dhani said to meet in the green house. Now tell Lilly, and follow me." I led John outside to my old green house. I smiled, happy to see my plants still alive and growing.
Serena, give Stryker the slip and meet us at the green house. I tapped into her mind and I felt my smile fade as a wave of jealousy crashed over it. Serena and Stryker were schmoozing it up in the sitting room. Stryker had his arms wrapped around Serena's waist as they danced slowly to the radio. Serena looked almost happy with him. He was kissing her cheek and neck, like I had been in those memories we'd shared, only she wasn't pushing him away like she had me.
Get out George!
Trust me, I would if I could! Just get here ASAP!
No!
No?
No!
Rena, we've got to talk!
Serena didn't respond anymore. I didn't know if she was coming.
"John tell Lilly to bring Serena. She's with Stryker, and she won't listen to me." I said pleadingly. He nodded as Dhani pulled up and chair and sat down.
"Where're the others?" he asked. I sighed and looked over at him.
"Well Serena's with-"
"Lilly," John interrupted, "and Neal. They're on their way." Dhani nodded and stood up. The door opened suddenly and Lilly and Neal rushed in giggling. Serena walked in after them, looking unhappy. She plopped down in Dhani's chair and with a huff.
"OK, I'm here now." She said glaring at me. I looked away from her. What has gotten into her? Serena looked up at Dhani and he raised and eyebrow at her.
"Alright, so what is it you all want to know?" He asked. We all looked around at each other before I heard Serena in my head.
I'm gonna ask about us.
I looked at her suddenly, alarmed. No!
I wanna know, George! She looked serious and I shook my head at her. She started to open her mouth to speak when Lilly spoke up first.
"Neal said he's like George and John!" She said quickly. Neal looked at her suddenly and his cheeks flushed. Dhani frowned however.
"I'm not understanding what you mean." He said leaning against a table with several potted plants on top of it.
"C'mon Neal, tell 'em what you said to me in the garden." Lilly said nudging Neal with her elbow. He sighed and shifted on his feet.
"Alright, alright," He said starting to pace, "Well I was...you know, not alive, about six months ago." He looked at his feet and Dhani nodded.
"Well technically you weren't dead to begin with." He said making a very 'me' sort of expression.
"What does that mean?" Serena asked pulling her legs up onto the chair. She wrapped her arms around her legs, holding them to her chest.
"Well, from what we, at the Alive Again Lookout, can figure, if someone has died in a traumatic ways then they are taken just before death and put away, in a matter of speaking, until they seem to be needed again."
"I didn't die traumatically." I said scowling.
"Lung cancer is pretty traumatic to me...." Serena mumbled crossing her arms. I looked at her and felt a bit guilty, remembering when she'd gotten so upset at Louise's that day. Dhani agreed with her, and I didn't blame him actually.
"Alright, then how'd you die, Neal?" I asked looking at him. He frowned and I rolled my eyes, "You know, I died of a disease, John was shot, what about you?"
"Dad, some people don't remember how they died." Dhani said. It caught everyone but me off guard that he'd called me Dad. Serena especially. She blushed a deep shade of red she was so surprised by it.
Like you don't... I looked at her and she looked up.
Don't even joke about that, George. She was quite snippy recently. I looked away from her as Dhani went on.
"OK, so, what about..." John stopped and Lilly spun around to face him shaking her head wildly. He went on anyway, "Well I had this dream about Lilly on the plane ride here."
Dhani crossed his arms and shrugged, "Alright, from what I've heard you have dreams about each other all the time." Lily shook her head and sighed.
"Neal said he can sense when people are like him and he said that-"
"Lilly!" Serena gasped standing up. I was confused suddenly.
"You were about to say something about it anyway!" I said rolling my eyes. She glared at me and for a second she didn't look like herself again.
"What's going on?" Dhani asked finally.
"When we were about to leave Louise's, George and I had this, I dunno, flashback, and it was in Liverpool. We knew each other, and we were together, dating, I guess, but something happened to me. I ended up..." Dead....
Don't say that, Rena. I looked at her seriously and she sighed sadly.
"Yeah and the same thing happened to me in the dream John and I had. We grew up together and we were young and in love and all that when this guy killed me in a street fight!" John shivered visibly and he looked at his feet.
Dhani seemed slightly startled by what she'd said. Serena stood up and started to pace. "But what does that mean for us?" she asked stopping in front of Dhani.
"It means you're one of them." He shrugged simply.
"But we have memories, and families. I have two sisters! Baby pictures!" Serena said quickly. Dhani shrugged and scratched his face.
"Sometimes things are different with other people." Dhani said, "I could explain it, but it's time consuming."
"Well go ahead." Neal said interested.
"My theory is that you two girls appeared in the same place at the exact same time that John and Dad did. Sometimes, to cover up the fact that you appeared out of nowhere, your mind plants memories and things like that into your families minds and your own. It all depends on the level of trauma your death would have caused if you had lived. How much of your life do you remember, Lilly, before you appeared here?"
Lilly thought about it, "Nothing other than the dream." She said shaking her head. John looked at her in shock.
"Now see, John can remember most of his life." Dhani said pointing to John, who nodded, "But can you remember Lilly being there?"
"I remember growing up with her now, and I remember a little bit of our relationship, but nothing else." Dhani nodded.
"Right and what about you Serena? Do you remember your life?" Dhani asked. Serena spent some time thinking it over. I could hear it all, and she always came up blank.
"No." She said sadly. "Just the memories George and I had."
"Alright, Dad what do you remember?" Dhani looked at me and I sighed.
"I honestly vaguely remember her. I don't remember much or my life before as it is, but all I remember of Serena is..." I couldn't finish. I knew what she didn't. I knew how she died. I knew what happened to her.
"George?" Serena sounded scared. She knew I wasn't telling her something.
I know what happened to you.
Serena gasped and looked at her knees. She didn't look up. She looked about ready to cry.
Don't tell them. Please?
I didn't answer her, "I just remember how bad it felt to lose her." I said filling in where I stopped quickly. Dhani looked a bit taken aback, but we went on.
"Ok hang on a second," John said, "How come I showed up looking like some teddy?" Serena giggled at him and Lilly rolled her eyes.
"Usually you come back looking like you did when you were happiest." Dhani said, realization striking him. I didn't look like his dad. I look like before I was his dad. I looked away from him as he went on a little more cheerfully, "But since all four of you died in traumatic ways and you all came back at the same time, then your lives are connected in more ways than just appearing at the same time." We all nodded and I didn't see what else we could ask about.
I just wanted out of this completely awkward situation as soon as possible. I love Dhani, no doubt about it. I loved Oliva as well, but all this going on with Serena and my life before them, it just seemed to be getting more and more awkward.
Suddenly Lilly found something to ask about and she held up her hand timidly. Dhani looked at her and he nodded to her to speak.
"Um, so if we were all...kinda dead, and we're still human, how come we all have these weird powers?" She asked nervously shifting on her feet. Serena frowned and I thought it was a good question until she shook her head.
"I don't have any powers." She said. I couldn't tell if she was confused, upset, hopeful, or anything. She sounded numb, and unsure.
Dhani seemed to be thinking about it for a while, and I wasn't really sure he'd be able to answer until he seemed to remember something.
"Okay," He sighed, "You guys know less than I figured you would. Louise apparently did tell you as much as I'd hoped."
"She told us virtually nothing." I said with a scowl. Dhani scowled back and Serana and Lilly started to laugh. We both looked at them and Serena pointed at us.
"You two!" She said giggling.
"Oh man, you two looked exactly the same just then." Lilly laughed. John snickered and I glared at him.
"Anyway!" Dhani said as he brought attention back to the seriousness of the situation, "First, you all have to look at it like you're completely different people now. Serena and Lilly were implanted with new memories so their exsistance could be explained, making them different people than they were before they 'died'.But sometimes that doesn't happen, like it did with you two." He looked at John and me and we nodded along, so far understanding.
"Okay," Lilly said, "So I do actually have a family, and I so really have the memories I woke up with."
Dhani made a struggled expression, "Not really," He said shaking his head, "That was just what was put in your head. They aren't really your memories or your family. You're not Lilly Preston from McDonough, Georgia.Those memories will fade the longer you're here. They'll fade from the people implated with those memories of you as well."
"But I'm not Lilly Preston from Liverpool either." She said looking confused. I sighed, losing grasp of the concept the longer I listened.
"No." Dhani said. "You aren't. You're just Lilly Preston." I nodded, understanding.
I wasn't George Harrison, the Beatle from Liverpool, or George Harrison, Whatever I'd be in this time on this planet. I was just George Harrison. Serena was just Serena, and John was just John. We were completely new people, and no one actually knows us.
"That being said," Dhani said, "Sometimes, when people come back, they remember all their memories from their last life, or they don't and live a new life as they are. So far, you've started remembering your life before, but that doesn't mean you'll remember all of it. Those memories could fade as well. John and George don't remember all their lives from before, most likely just the end of their lives." I nodded, it was true. I don't remember much of my childhood, just the parts with Oliva and Dhani and Paul and John and Ringo.
"What does this have to do with the powers?" John asked, crossing his arms impatiently. Dhani held up his hand to shush him and he leaned back against a table of petunias.
"I'll get there." he said seriously, "Now,in the instance that memories are not implanted, we let you come to HQ and we give you a job if you want it, but your instance is different."
"Why?" I asked frowning.
"Because, so far, only the ones without new memories have powers." He said, "They all have a strong telekinetic link, and they can heal people somewhat. But they all have one different ability."
"Mine's fire." I said casually. Dhani looked surprised, and Neal joined in.
"I can find people like me...us..." He said.
"Which is why we tried to get to you before Bellamy, but we failed." Dhani said shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm sure he used your power to his advantage." Neal nodded and looked at his feet.
"I have X-ray vision!" Lilly said excitedly. Last I thought she didn't want this power. She seemed scared of it, but now she loved it. What kid didn't grow up wanting super powers?
"I have nothing." John said frowning, "I mean I have the telekinesis and the healing thing, but nothing else."
"Sometimes it takes longer for the power to show itself." He looked at Serena and She looked back at him. I could read her thoughts on any of this. Did she want to have any sort of power? Did she hope she wasn't actually like me and John? "If you don't have any Serena, it's possible that you aren't going to have any."
"But we can talk to each other!" I exclaimed, thinking of it suddenly, "What's that mean?"
Dhani seemed to think about this, "It seems like telepathy to me." He shrugged and I frowned, "But it's strange because if it was, then you'd be able to talk to everyone else that way."
I looked at Neal and concentrated, but he just looked back at me blankly.
George, you know you're talking to me right? I looked at Serena and her eyebrows were raised. I slouched in my chair and sighed.
"Well I can't talk to anyone but Serena." I said looking back at Dhani. He thought about it for a while.
"I don't know what it means. It probably has something to do with why you woke up together." He said thoughtfully. I nodded and sighed. "Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that you've all established Empathy Links.
"Right," Lilly said, "How often does it happen that someone comes back with someone from their past?"
Dhani shook his head, "Almost never." He said.
Great.
Rena, it can't be that bad. Maybe it's a second chance.
I don't want a second chance. I didn't ask for any of this.
Of course....