All the Feels (27 page)
Authors: Danika Stone
“What in the world just happened?”
“They’re bringing
Starveil
back! Spartan’s alive again!”
Xander jumped to his feet and grabbed her around the waist, twirling her. “You did it!” he shouted as he set her back down again. “You really, really did it!”
The moment of joy dragged on and on, the roar of the audience slowly dissipating. Liv was grinning as she clung to Xander, so she almost didn’t notice the light that came down from above. It was—she would think later—like a sign from the divine. In fact, if she hadn’t seen her own image, wrapped in Xander’s arms, projected on the giant screen, she might not have noticed at all.
She
did
notice.
“Oh my God!” Liv gasped, jumping out of Xander’s arms. “We’re on-screen!”
He followed her eyes up to the screen, his expression of joy fading. The crowd’s roar had faded to a murmur.
“What in seven hells…?”
“Why, this is a surprise!” the emcee’s voice boomed. “We have someone in the audience. It’s a character a few of you will recognize.”
Xander’s blue shirt popped into focus, and the camera zoomed onto his face. He had a deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression. Liv stumbled back, unable to breathe.
“It’s Major Malloy!” someone in the audience screamed.
“From Spartan Survived!” another echoed.
The excited roar of the crowd resurged. MRM stood, shading his eyes as he peered offstage.
“Well, I’ll be.” Mike laughed. “It is! Why don’t you come on up and take a bow?” He turned to the audience, reprising his role as ringmaster. “The actor who plays Malloy is in the audience. I think he deserves a round of applause—don’t you?!”
The ballroom filled with the thunderous sound of clapping. Blood rushed to Liv’s ears. Her stomach tightened until she felt like she might be sick. “Oh God,” she groaned. “I’m so sorry, Xander!”
But whatever reaction she expected from him, it wasn’t this. Xander’s face rippled, the roguish Malloy persona appearing as he swaggered up to the stairs and took the stage. The cast members and Mike R. Miles shook his hand, and Xander picked up a mic.
Malloy’s Old Terra brogue boomed through the sound system: “Your determination. Your research. Your proof of Spartan’s whereabouts are the only hope we have for Spartan’s safe return!”
The audience went wild, and it was several seconds before his amplified voice could be heard again. He grinned and bowed.
“Thank you, thank you,” Xander said, his voice returning to normal. “I truly appreciate the applause, but I’m just one part of this phenomenon. The face of Spartan Survived, if you will.”
More screaming. Joe bounced up and down like a teen at a rock concert. Alicia pursed her lips and let out a piercing whistle. Liv wanted to disappear.
Xander grinned into the camera. “Now, I don’t know if any of you realize this,” he said. “But this whole idea really came from one person…”
“No!” Liv gasped.
“She’s the driving force behind the grassroots movement that brought this franchise back, and her name is Liv Walden…”
Liv sank down in her chair, eyes wide with terror. “Please, God, no!”
“She’s sitting in the audience right now.” Xander stepped toward the stairs and offered his hand. “Come on up, Liv. You deserve this more than I do.”
The emcee’s voice interrupted. “I, for one, have never had the honor of meeting your friend Liv.” He lifted a hand to block the lights as he peered out into the crowd. “Is she here in the audience?”
Joanne jumped to her feet. “Over here!” she bellowed, arms pinwheeling. “Liv’s sitting over HERE!”
Liv shrank until she was practically reclined across the seat. “Please don’t, Joe!”
But it was too late. The cameras panned back and forth as they searched for the originator of the cry. They found Joanne pointing, an ecstatic grin on her round face.
“Stand up, Liv!” MRM shouted. “Take a bow! We all owe you more than we can say.”
Liv’s grainy face and torso appeared on the big-screen projector at the moment the entire ballroom exploded with applause. Liv’s T-shirt and the “There’s More Than One Escape Pod on a Ship” slogan were clearly visible. The audience’s cheers grew so loud Liv’s ears crackled.
At the front of the room, Tom Grander stood up in front of a roomful of his fans. “Thank you, Liv,” he said. “For all you’ve done for
Starveil
.”
The people in the crowd followed Tom’s move, rising to their feet around her, giving her a standing ovation. Onstage, the remaining cast stood to join Xander, applauding. If the noise had been loud before, it was three times what it had been.
“Come up, Liv!” Xander shouted. “You deserve this.”
She shook her head.
“Please, dearest!”
Liv tried to get away, but Joe and Alicia, and even Sarah, caught hold of her, the central hub of the
Starveil
fandom carrying her toward the stage.
“Please,” she gasped. “I can’t! I’ll die! I swear, I’ll die!” (The universe had just proved her wrong; this was, in fact, worse than the moment with Hank had ever been.)
After a half minute of shoving, Liv was at the stairs.
She looked up to discover Xander leaning down to catch her hand and help her up. Liv’s chest was so tight she could hardly breathe, but when Xander grinned at her, it eased.
“Trust me,”
he mouthed, and pulled her up onto the stage.
In the audience, a chant had started, and it took a moment before Liv realized they weren’t just saying “live” (as in Spartan); they were actually saying her name.
Hers!
They were chanting for her.
“LIV!… LIV!… LIV!… LIV!… LIV!…”
She stepped onstage.
(THE X-FILES
)
It felt like someone had flicked a switch. With Xander’s announcement, Liv Walden, computer geek,
Starveil
fangirl, recluse, and perennial wallflower, had been transformed into a celebrity. She was accustomed to being ignored, to having people step in her way, interrupt her midconversation, but in the space of ten minutes, the quality of her entire existence changed.
In the wake of the announcement, the audience stampeded through the ballroom. Onstage, the stars stood and were ushered offstage via the talent exit. Xander and Liv received no such offer. They stared, openmouthed, at the screaming mob.
“Xander?”
He grabbed Liv’s hand. “Door! Now!”
They went down the stairs only to be met by a sea of people, which rushed forward, catching them in its grip. Liv had never been to a rock concert before, but she had a feeling
this
was what a mosh pit felt like. Hands and elbows pushed and shoved, drawing her farther away from Xander until—with one jerk—his hand was knocked aside.
“LIV!”
“Xander?”
“Liv, WAIT!”
The swirling mass forced itself directly into the bubble of space Liv used to keep her anxiety at bay. People drew nearer, knocking her from side to side.
“I follow you online!” a woman shrieked. “I posted the fic where Spartan had amnesia! Did you read that? Did you?”
“I—I don’t—” Liv stammered.
“Loved your videos!” a man interrupted. “They were awesome! You in the film industry?”
“In college, actually,” Liv said, searching for an escape. She turned, but a group of young women—age fifteen or so—blocked her path.
“I was heartbroken until the Spartan Survived tag!” one cried. “You kept me going.”
“Me too!”
“How can I ever repay you?”
They pressed closer, blocking Liv’s exit.
Liv turned back the other way, panic rising. She scanned the room, hoping for a glimpse of Joanne and the rest of the Spartan troop but they’d already moved on, pushed away by the inexorable surge of people. Liv kept moving backward, but the crowd kept coming, and eventually she found herself pressed up against the wall. The mosh pit had been replaced by the zombie apocalypse.
“LIIIIIIIIIIIIIV!” they screamed.
“Can you sign my badge?” a young man asked. A pen and card appeared in front of her, but she knocked them aside, struggling to breathe. Her vision began to darken at the edges.
“Liv! LIVVV!!!! I love you!”
“Please,” Liv gasped. “I have to go.” She took two lurching steps sideways. People moved in, creating a human wall. Liv felt her breathing double in speed, her heart pounding so hard that her chest shuddered.
“If it wasn’t for you, there wouldn’t be a
Starveil Six
. Thank you!”
“You’re my hero! No seriously, you are!”
“—the best thing to happen to
Starveil
since Tom Grander!”
“—can’t believe you’re actually here!”
“I never thought…”
A young woman dressed as Katniss pushed her way to Liv’s side. “Come up to the mezzanine,” she said breathlessly.
“Mezzanine?” Liv repeated.
“Yes! A group of us are going to play the
Starveil
board game!”
“Sorry, where’s the mezzanine?”
“Tenth floor, Marriott,” she explained. “We’re starting around ten tonight, if you want to come.”
“Not sure I can,” Liv said, extricating herself from one group, only to find herself surrounded again.
“The mezzanine!” the woman shouted.
“I can’t,” Liv said. “I’m … I’m…”
Where was Xander?! She caught sight of him on the far side of the crowd, but the surging waves of
Starveil
fans forced her one direction, him the other. A middle-aged man stepped in her way, blocking Liv’s view.
“I love your vids! If you have a second, can I—”
“I need to LEAVE!”
She turned in circles, panic rising, and then suddenly she could hear Xander’s voice belting out Malloy’s challenge in the loudest in-character voice she’d ever heard. She turned in surprise to see he’d taken the stage. “Attention, comrades. This message is for Rebels across our star system and beyond! As you’ve no doubt heard, Captain Matt Spartan, commander of the Star Freighter Elysium, has been reported missing in action.”
Xander’s eyes met Liv’s across the crowd. In that split second, she knew what he wanted her to do.
“THAT ASSUMPTION IS INCORRECT!”
The crowd cheered. It was all the distraction Liv was going to get. She sprinted toward the exit and stumbled into the main atrium. Xander had just given her the perfect getaway.
Head down, she crossed the floor, making it to the elevator. She turned toward the wall and pulled out her phone.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Xander returned. Liv was dozing on the bed, but she jerked awake as he came through the door. Again she had the disconcerting feeling of not recognizing him out of his steampunk garb. His lanky frame, fine features, and jet-black hair carried all the insouciance of a male supermodel, but it didn’t look right on him.
“Sorry it took me so long,” he said, flopping onto the bed next to her. “I tried to leave twice, only to get sucked back in again.” He shuddered. “That was worse than swimming in a tidal pool.”
“Back to the ballroom?” Liv yawned. “Wasn’t there another panel at some point?”
“There was, but I was pulled aside.”
“You were?”
“Yes.” Xander glanced down in disgust at the rumpled state of his outfit. “Ugh! I need out of this … this…”
“Costume?” Liv giggled.
“Exactly!”
He grabbed the neck of the T-shirt and tugged it up over his head, then tossed it into the corner. Liv stared openmouthed at the swath of exposed chest. Darcy emerging from his swim in the lake had
nothing
on Xander Hall sweaty and irritated. While Liv’s gaze lingered, Xander leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed a fresh linen shirt from his carry-on. He slid it over his head.
Liv reluctantly closed her eyes as Xander settled back onto the coverlet.
“Lordy,” he groaned. “That feels much better.”
She opened one eye. “Looks better, too.”
A mischievous grin crossed his face. “Aha! So you do admit it!”
“I never said you didn’t look better in this.” She flicked his collar. “I just said I wanted to see you in the other. But now that I’ve compared them, I know which one I prefer.”
“I like the sound of that.” Xander leaned closer. “And am I allowed to request a costume from you, too?”
Liv smothered her laughter in the pillow.
“It might be fun,” he said. “Never know till you try.”
When Liv finally could control her giggles, she looked back up. “I’ll think about it, promise.” Xander opened his mouth to argue, but she diverted his attention. “So what were you doing after the ballroom? You said you were pulled aside.”
“Yes. I was trying to get away from Miles’s assistant.”
“Miles … as in Mike R. Miles?”
“Exactly, and let me tell you, he was very peeved I wasn’t you.” He smirked. “You do have a bit of a fan club there, Liv.”
“Wh-what did MRM’s assistant want?”
“To invite us to a
Starveil
party.”
“To
what
?!?”
Xander grinned. “The two of us are going to the
Starveil
cast party tonight.”