[CLOSED] i'm gonna change you like a remix

[kingpawn]

WHO: Walter White & Jesse Pinkman, Walter White & Mike Parker, possibly others -- this is the catch all penultimate log
WHERE: Around Pennsylvania and Florida
WHEN: January 7th & 8th
WHAT: A few final conversations.
WARNINGS: BrBa spoilers, drug talk, talk of murder, talk of death. Will update for more.

[ Closed to Jesse ]

[ As soon as Walt got the threat in regards to Chilton's life, he knew he couldn't stay in hiding -- that he had to act. So he got in the beat up car he bought off the side of the road and drove down from New Hampshire. He hit Pennsylvania and that was where he had to stop for gas. An inconvenience, but perhaps also a blessing. Walt had only just finished filling his tank when he caught sight of an unmistakable someone across the street.

Walt stared, perhaps a bit dumbstruck in the moment. ]

Jesse...

[ He mumbled, and perhaps it was enough to just see him and go -- the same way he had said his goodbye to his son. But with as much as had happened between them. With their last meeting having ended so disastrously poor, Jesse needed the chance to tell Walt how much he hated him as much as Walt needed the chance to say goodbye. A true ending. Closure for both of them.

Screwing the cap back into place, Walt jogged across the road. There was a chance this could blow up on him, that Jesse would kill him right here and now. And in that case, Chilton would have to find someone else to bail him out. But Walt imagined Jesse wouldn't -- if only because he didn't back home and because he knew this was what Walt wanted him to do. ]

Jesse. [ Was it possible for his heart to swell and break all at once? He felt such emotional dissonance. ]

I'm -- I'm glad you're back.


[ Closed to Mike ]

[ This was the last pitstop, the last place Walt had to go. He headed over to the abandoned car wash parking lot where they first met in person all those months ago. Walt texted Mike to meet him there -- and he purposely told him a time twenty minutes earlier from the time he would get there, knowing Mike and his penchant for being late. Walt couldn't really afford late. He was already running on borrowed time now. Every minute extra could mean impatience, it could mean Chilton getting one minute closer to death.

Walt got out of the car and when he saw Mike, he offered him the weariest of smiles. ]

This won't take long. I have somewhere important I have to go. But how confident do you feel in making my product on your own. Are you ready? We can go through the process one more time if you're not.

Comments

[kingpawn]

[ He allows Jesse the lead, falls into his touch so readily. And when he drops away, Walt assumes that will be it. That will be Walter White becoming nothing to Jesse. He doesn't expect the embrace and it causes a breath to be strangled in his throat. Slowly, he reaches up to encircle his former student in his arms -- bringing his hand up to rest against the back of Jesse's head and hold him like the son he always wished he had.

Wished he had, but didn't. He never had Jesse in that way. It was like capturing a bird, clipping their wings so they could never fly, and shoving them in a cage. And now, after years -- the bird's wings grew back and he's being set free into the world. But the world is frighteningly larger than they remember, and it will take a bit longer to fit into their former life once more.

Walt doesn't bother to wipe his tears away as he pulls back, rests his hands on Jesse's shoulders and looks at him eye level. He wants to say something, but he finds he has no words. So instead there's merely an unspoken: I know you can do this behind his gaze. ]

[hostage]

[Can he? Can he do this? Because Jesse isn't sure. He doesn't have the momentum of his escape to push him forward, no police sirens in the distance to force him into the car and away from Walt forever. Is he ready? Is he strong enough? Can he stand on his own?

Tears stain his cheeks as he looks into Walt's eyes and the anger melts away. He meant what he said - he's going to push Walt from his mind the moment he's gone - but the moment isn't here yet and Jesse's overwhelmed with love. For the man who saved him. For the man who destroyed him. Heisenberg has taken possession of his soul and there's no purging that influence, not even after the man is dead. Jesse understands that as Walt holds his gaze. Like all the rest of the horror, Jesse is a part of Walter White's legacy.

He can do this. He can do this.

Jesse takes hold of Walt's arms, drawing those hands off his shoulders. A puppet removing his strings, isn't that right? With slow steadiness, he forces Walt off of him and retreats, eye contact unbroken for those first few steps. He's free, but he isn't. Walt must know that, despite Jesse's words. The partnership endures. They're just ghosts now - to each other, to the world.

At last breaking that final lingering stare, Jesse turns and walks away.]