Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Jay made a point of standing as far away as possible from Owyn without leaving the corridor. If the Prince said that opening this hole was going to hurt any timeline sensitives, then she fully believed him. Ripping a hole in space was relatively easy- it wasn't something limited exclusively to Isogrii or those with Isogrii like powers-, but ripping a hole in the fabric of space and time was another thing entirely. When it came to her sensitivity to changes in the general timeline, Jay was a mid-level sensitive. There had been times in her past where she'd felt a timeline shift and the experiences hadn't been pleasant ones, it had felt like somebody was trying to pull her apart. But she wasn't alone in distancing herself. One of the Wraiths followed her to the end of the corridor, stopping and leaning against the opposite wall to Jay, head focused towards it's master (though where it's eyes were actually looking was another matter entirely).

With everybody suitably distanced Owyn closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, pulling back his shoulders as he did so. When his eyes re-opened they were glowing a brilliant white. The same glow began to appear at the tips of his fingers. The Prince stretched out his two arms, turning them so that the backs of his hands were touching. He slowly pushed his hands away from one another, curling his fingers around the fabric of space and time, yanking it apart so that a large jagged tear formed. The further he pushed his hands apart the wider the rip became, stopping when it was as wide as the span of his arms. Inside was the void he had mentioned earlier- a deep, deep, dark inky nothingness, the sight of which sent a shiver (both real and metaphorical) up John's spine. He knew that this void was indeed The Void- the nothingness between the worlds, the dimensions and the astral planes. It was said that those who spent too long in the void went insane... or worse, were changed into a being of pure darkness (only creatures of darkness could survive it- mortals or beings of the light would either perish or succumb to the darkness). There were spots on the edges, where the boundary between the world and the nothingness was frayed that one could in theory hide or even live, but it was practically suicide to get there. John hadn't been there, but he knew of those who had.

The effect on Jay was instantaneous, as soon as the first little split materialised a bolt of pain shot through her entire body. This pain only got worse when Owyn yanked the two pieces of space-time about apart, causing her to bend double and slump against the wall for some kind of support. In the few seconds it took Owyn to open his hole to the void almost all the blood drained from Jay's face- leaving it ghost like. Gritting her teeth she hissed out a bunch of curses in a set of languages, quickly moving away from Attili and English to more exotic phrases. The pain (and the swearing) increased in intensity as Owyn reached a hand into the void and grabbed the other 'side', tearing it in two separate places. One tear revealed a hospital type room, filled with similar equipment to that in Zan's room, the other tear opened onto an ominous concrete walled corridor where people kitted out in all black military attire could be seen waiting. The Prince stepped back from the void, gesturing for Zan's team to go through first.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both watched Owyn's actions intently, neither wanting to miss a single action in what was about to happen. Kay because she hadn't really seen such a thing happen before, and Fia because she wanted to see how different it was to making a portal like how she did them. It was fascinating to see as he stretched his hands out to see the rip in space and time match his movements, but they also could see how much it was hurting Jay which made it equally terrifying to witness as neither wanted to see Jay in such pain. The moment the deep black dark void showed itself through the rip created, Fia just knew like John did that it was THE void, the one and only void that in her time her mother once was imprisoned and they had to change that time's events to be able to get her back so no one risked going into the void to retrieve her. It brought back memories of how Jay managed to get into contact with her mother in the void, before they changed the event and how scared and weak her mother sounded. She shook the thoughts from her head in a desperate attempt to not remember such things, knowing that she with Jay's, Cliff's and John's help, they stopped that from happening. Even if it did risk changing her mother's fate for the future in some way.

As the tears continued, they both watched on seeing the two new tears on the other side appear, showing the two new rooms. Seeing a hospital type room on one side wasn't surprising considering it was for Zan to be in a new safe place where they could help him without any threats getting to him. The other place was more intriguing in a way as they saw the other people waiting on the other side, not to mention how forboding it looked due to all the concrete, but neither woman said a single word the entire time. Instead all they did was hear the amount of cursing that was coming from Jay, even if they couldn't understand every single language, it was clear what she was sort of things she would be saying as she felt the pain in the rips in time and space. Both of them felt glad they werent time senstive like Jay was and really hoped it wouldn't linger any after pain for her when the rips were closed. They watched as Zan's team went through the rip first, unable to take their eyes off of what they were seeing.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott was first entranced and then horrified as he watched Owyn use his powers. After the display earlier with Jay, Elliott didn't think it possible that he would be able to revise his opinion on just how powerful Owyn was, yet here he was doing just that. Unlike John, Fia and Jay (Cliff having not actually seen or sensed the void), he had no prior experience with the void, but he knew of it's reputation and that it wasn't to be messed with. The emphasis Owyn had placed on not touching the void in his earlier warnings made a hell of a lot of sense now, as did his reluctance to make such a portal unless it was critically necessary. If the plan to repeatedly break Elliott out had been based on tunnels through the void- Elliott knew he wouldn't have agreed to it. There was some things he refused to mess with and the void was very much one of them. The other incredibly worrying thing was Jay's reaction. He'd never seen her in this much pain before, not even after she'd flung herself out of a second story window into the canal below, landing with a thunderous splash, rather than in a neat dive. He turned towards her with the hope of being able to offer some kind of help or support, but the glare Jay shot him was enough to make him back off. This pain was something she'd rather go through without having people crowd around her.

As Zan's team manoeuvred themselves through the rip to the waiting hospital room, the second group- the one carrying the shifter- began to assemble themselves. One of the soldiers evidently possessed some form of pyrokinesis as in addition to the bindings and cuffs made of regular material, there were also bindings of fire- not as strong as those that Cal, Fia or even Kay could produce, but strong enough to cause serious pain should the shifter come around. As the shifter was brought out the second Wraith moved pushed themselves off the wall they'd been leaning against and made their way towards the tear. As it walked forwards it brushed past Fia. For one brief, deliberate second she would be able to get a glimpse at a face (or more precisely, of a silver eye closing in a wink and a blur of blue) hair and would feel a note slipped into her pocket. The Wraith continued on as if nothing had happened, passing through the portal and into the concrete walled facility.

Owyn was the last to go through, waiting until Cliff re-emerged before stepping through himself. As he stepped through he took hold of the two sides of the tear, pullling them closed behind him as he went. From the other side he was able to use his glowing fingers to carefully re-seal the fabric of space-time, the two sections knitting seamlessly back together. Once again the effect on Jay was instantaneous, the pain vanishing as soon as the last bit was sealed up. She slumped down to the ground with a gasp, her back against the wall before running a up her face and through her hair. "Next time, bloody warn me that your royalty had insanely powerful warping powers like that!"

 

[MzHyde]

For Fia, this was the closest she wanted any of her family to ever get to the void. She didn't want any of them to risk going inside or being taken there ever again, especially as just seeing it from the outside here was enough to make her get an even better idea of how much torment future Kay must have been in before they saved her. Seeing the void open like this seemed to be making her mind go back to it no matter how much she tried to not think about it, but this time her thoughts were broken up properly when she felt the wraith brush against her, making her look up and got taken off guard when she saw it wink at her. She felt them slip something into her pocket and she didn't know how to react, the wink of the silver eye and the glimpse of amazing blue hair, completely threw her off guard and she didn't know if she should get flushed cheeks, be unnerved or act casual. She placed her hand in the pocket they slipped the letter into, feeling what it was and looked back at them confused and fascinated that she got allowed to see some part of them, whilst watching them disappear into the void. 'who are you?' she thought to herself.

She waited until they had all gone through the void and it was over with before pulling the letter out and opening it. She was curious to what it said and why a wraith to the Prince would want to give her such a thing. Could it be because she's not from this time? Or was it for something completely mundane because her appearance like with the rest of Attil, drew them to her for some reason or another. Before looking down to read it, she darted her eyes without moving her head around at the remaining group to see if anyone else had noticed what the Wraith did or that she had a letter in her hands before looking down at it again and began to read it.

Kay's attention first went to Jay to see how she was after that spectacle that they just all witnessed. It did concern her how Jay was feeling as it was more than clear how much it really did hurt the woman to have that be done. As the whole rip happened, she didn't even notice that the Wraith had taken a moment to discreetly give Fia attention by letting her see its face in some form and slip something into her jacket pocket and it was only when Fia went from looking up to looking down that she noticed out of nowhere had paper in her hands that was clearly a letter. "where did you get that?" she asked her, "the wraith that was next to me gave it to me...they..winked at me" she added as she was reading. Kay was not expecting the answer that came from her daughter's mouth and actually found herself trying to log in exactly what she was told. "wait..you saw their face??" Kay questioned. "only their silver eye and blue hair" Fia replied, but it was clear from her tone that she was far more focused on the letter than she was on what her mother was asking her. It may have been a quick and discreet interaction with her, but it made an impact none the less, making her want to know who this Wraith was even more.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The others were too distracted by the sight in front of them to see the Wraith pass over the message, and immediately after the tear closed, the group was split between shaking their heads and trying to comprehend the sheer power behind what they'd just seen (John and Chas) and checking on Jay (Elliott, Cal and Cliff). Cliff gave the assassin an apologetic look, as a doctor and as a person, she felt incredibly bad about the pain Jay had just been in. She knew in theory that Owyn's powers could have a side-affect of hurting any timeline sensitives, but this was the first time she'd actually witnessed it. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, I really am. That was far from the ideal way of introducing him. But if it makes you feel better he's the only one we know with that kind of power and the only person we know with that level of power...." A pause and then "are you alright now? Is the pain lingering?" "It's not lingering" Jay replied, sitting properly upright. "Thank the gods. It was only as the timeflow was being distorted that my body felt it was going through a fucking MANGLE. I'm only a mid-level sensitive, if I was higher level I probably would have passed out bleeding from the ears, eyes and mouth- or something similarly gruesome."

The message consisted of two pieces of paper, folded around each other. The top page was handwritten, though it wasn't in a handwriting that Fia knew- nobody in her family, extended family or the circle of friends belonging to Elliott and Jay. The letters were smoothly formed (almost too carefully formed as if it had been copied in a rote learning exercise) and the words were in English.

Owyn knows you are not of this time
He will not reveal it, or act on this knowledge, but be careful.
Your entry into this world may be a fixed point, your

existence is guaranteed, but that doesn't mean everybody else's is.

The second page was written in a completely different hand

Do not let the others see this note, only the first one.

I'm sorry to spring this on you and involve you at this late stage (not to mention everything else)
02:50 tomorrow morning, the rooftop north of Cal and Cliff's apartment block, bring your phone, but come alone - R

Jay looked up at Fia's description, intrigued as to why the teenager of all people had been privileged enough to be allowed to see the face of a Wraith. Having only just seen the Wraiths for the first time today, Jay doubted if Fia fully grasped just how much of an honour it was to see a Wraith's face (not to mention how much of an anomaly it was for Wraith to do such a thing). Jay had no idea why the Wraiths concealed their faces, there were of course all kinds of rumours ranging from the mundane (to stop them from being recognised), to the weird (they didn't actually have faces) to the downright bat-shit fantasies (they were like Gorgons and turned people to stone by looking at them). Whatever the reason, for this wraith to breach protocol they must have a damn good reason. "Blue hair and silver eyes? You're basically describing me!" She remarked, accepting Elliott's outstretched hand and getting back up onto her feet. A dark look then crossed her face "It wasn't me under those robes was it?... cos if it was, then something is seriously wrong." Time-travelling into your personal time stream was an act forbidden by the Isogrii, there was far too much potential to completely change the course of your future life, or even worse, erase those you love from existence.

 

[MzHyde]

The moment Fia realised that there was two notes and not just one, she read the first note, taking note of the incredibly neat handwriting before finding herself gulp at the last line. On one hand she was incredibly grateful that Owyn wouldn't tell anyone that she wasn't from this time and he would keep her secret but on the other hand, the last line almost made her feel sick with worry of what that meant. Did coming back here really mean that she was putting her family's existence into jeopardy? She didn't want to think about that at all for the time being. That was something she could think about when she was in the spare room alone. She looked up when Jay made it known she heard what was being said, and now she really thought about it, she did kinda describe Jay. She gave a shrug at Jay's question, "don't think so.. But couldn't say for sure. I literally saw like one eye wink at me and just some of the hair, enough to see the colour." she explained. "the letter is just saying that Owyn knows I'm not from this time... That my existence is guaranteed, then something else I don't like the sound of" she then added, handing Jay the note first whilst reading the other one before swiftly putting it in her pocket.

She wondered who the person was who was asking to meet her so early in the morning, but then wo dered if it was Rinaa due to the letter 'r' signing it off, but thought 'no... It couldn't be...could it?'. She pulled out her phone and quickly set an alarm for 2:30am then putting her phone away again. She had no plans on letting the others see the second note but she was curious to what the others thought about the first note. "I'm presuming because of the whole out of time that's why I got the attention of the Wraith on Owyn's orders" she then added finally with a casual shrug. She figured that if she continued speaking about the letter she handed to Jay no one would take notice that she had a second one. Her mind kept wondering why she was wanted at such a time and just in general. She just wanted to go along under the radar and be there for her family but it seemed it was getting more difficult to do such a thing.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay gave a slow nod, visibly unsatisfied with Fia's words. Blue hair wasn't exactly unusual (on her birth planet it had been the most common colour and it occurred naturally on other planets too, not to mention the various dyes and bleaches one could use), but silver eyes like hers were. Her particular eyes were the result of an unusual (and extremely rare) combination of genes and gave her better vision in the dark. Like the gene for red hair it was only expressed if both parents were carriers. She and her brother had both had such eyes, but to the best of her knowledge (those hazy snippets from when she was younger than seven years old), neither of her parents had them."How bad would it be if it was, for some crazy reason, you under those robes?" Elliott asked. "Very. It would mean I was breaking the code I hold in highest regard, that of the Isogrii. Not to mention that crossing my own time-stream would kill me if I stayed too long. For me to break the code.... it would have to be one hell of a set of circumstances, or..." she paused, eyes flickering very briefly towards Elliott "one hell of a person."

By this point John and Chas had made their way over. John saw Fia shove something into her pocket, but thought it to be an envelope and not a second note. Had he known there was a second page he would have demanded to see it, and refused to take no for an answer (he wouldn't be beyond nicking it when Fia wasn't looking). He read the note over Jay's shoulder. If it's contents were supposed to bring relief, they didn't. If Owyn (and potentially this Wraith) knew that Fia was not of this time, not only did they have viable blackmail material, they had the potential to figure out that Fia wasn't entirely human either. It was dangerous knowledge and given how the Prince's powers had hurt Jay by accident, John shuddered to think what would happen if the Prince used his ability to manipulate space-time for harm. Images of Fia being ripped apart and reassembled as some kind of sick torture method flooded through John's head and he had to shake it to dislodge the images.

"I'll admit, I'm not at all surprised Owyn figured it out." Cal admitted. "He's sensitive to time in a way we can only imagine, somebody whose travelled what seventeen.. eighteen years into the past? They're going to stick out like a sore thumb." Jay nodded her agreement. "That is true, if I was more sensitive, I'd probably be able to sense that you're displaced. Time moves... differently around somebody who isn't meant to be in that era. There's an Isogrii ritual that allows you to sense time displacement, but usually you need three of four others to make it work." She paused, passing the note back so the others could get a read of it too, before turning to face Cal and Cliff. "Can he be trusted?" "Yes." Cal's response was without hesitation, she'd expected the question as soon as Owyn's name was mentioned in connection with the note. "He won't say anything, that I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty. He doesn't tell other people's secrets." "I'd vouch for him as well, get rid of the pomp and ceremony he's forced to have as an adopted member of the Royal family and he's a good man." John nodded slowly "Right.." He wished he could ask confront Owyn about what exactly he intended to do with this knowledge, but the Prince was on the other side of the planet, so he'd have to trust Cal and Cliff's words on this. So far they'd proven themselves trustworthy, but in John's experience it was only a matter of time before things went to shit. "So what about this fixed point thing? What's that all 'bout?" "A fixed point is an event in time that cannot ever be changed, it's written into the fabric of the universe. No matter how much you try to change it, or prevent it, it will always find a way to happen on that exact date, at that exact time and in that exact area. While most of time is somewhat fluid- allowing time travel and little interventions like the spooks do, a fixed point is completely rigid. They're usually major events- births of stars, deaths of stars, destruction of galaxies- the destruction of my birth planet was one-, but they can also be related to people- usually those who are particularly powerful or have the power and destiny to change history on a massive scale."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia could tell that Jay was unsatisfied with her answer, but she really didn't know what else she could possibly say to her. She didn't leave anything out in the description of what she saw of the Wraith, which in a way made her feel bad she couldn't be more helpful but she kne there was nothing she could about it. She was also aware of how rare and what a privilage it was to be allowed to see even that tiny glimpse of said wraith, one she would like tot hink she would never forget and if it was going to be a sign of things to come with her early moring meeting presumably with said Wraith that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone else about. Luckily, it seemed no one else noticed the other letter or just presumed it was nothing so she didn't have to go through the whole trying to lie her way out of handing it over or trying to hide it in a place where someone couldn't nick it (aka John). She did not want to risk pissing off the Wraith or whoever it was she was to meet on a roof by having someone like John following her unknowingly. She listened to Elliott's question and Jay's answer, getting even more concerned as who this person who wanted to meet with her even was and why they wanted to meet her. Hearing that Cal wasn't surprised that Owyn could tell she wasn't meant to be part of this timeline wasn't entirely surprising to her as she knew if any of them would know Owyn well enough, it was her.

Kay read the note over the shoulders of those who had and seeing the last line of 'that doesn't mean everybody else's is' left her completely unnerved. Were they warning Fia that it was getting more and more possible that one of them was going to die or similar? She also didn't like that owyn knew of her truth, even if wasn't surprising that someone such as Owyn with that amount of power would know. She didn't quite get the images in her head like John did, but she did think it was more than probable that Owyn if he so wished could take Fia and do whatever he wanted to get either answers or wipe her from existance, even if it was guaranteed her existance was to be. She listened as did Fia to the whole conversation, glad that Cal and Cliff said without a shadow of doubt that owyn was trustworthy, but it still didn't fully instill any comfort to hear such a thing. Both of them could also tell that by John's tone, he wanted answers from Owyn about the safety of Fia but neither said anything. Instead they continued to listen in on what was being spoken about. "Okay, so that makes sense...considering Fee says Fia's existance is going to impact bringing back the phoenix kind, that she's the next stage to that happening" Kay commented, in her eyes if that considered a major event then she didn't know what would be. "What is worrying me though is that last line, 'my existance is guaranteed but that doesn't everbody else's is'. That's not comforting in the slightest and I don't like knowing that" Fia then finally spoke up again. Every part of her wanted to say 'i'm a kid, I don't want this knowledge on my shoulders' but she refrained from saying as such.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had heard of fixed point in time during his stint with the Legends, but he wanted to be sure they were talking about the same thing. Following the various losses of Rip Hunter the team had lost the only person with solid information on how the timeline worked and how best to influence things without destroying the whole of time (not that the Legends always listened to him, but his expertise had been there). Jay's explanation sounded like the fixed point, and he nodded slowly in understanding, and nodded again when Kay offered up the piece of information they'd learned from Fee- that Fia was vital in the restarting of the phoenix race. "That certainly SOUNDS like the kind of event that would warrant a fixed point" Jay agreed. "I had suspected Fia's birth could be such an event for a while now" she admitted. "But couldn't confirm it, it's not advised to read the time-stream of a time-traveler, it would probably screw me over in a similar way to earlier." Jay finished a shrug.

"I don't like that last bloody line either." John agreed. To him it sounded like a threat, or at the very least, some kind of warning- for Fia to keep her head down and stay out of whatever it was that was brewing behind the scenes. John was no illusions that Zan being shot had meant that Elliott was in danger any more. If anything it probably meant he was in more danger. The first assassin had actually been aiming at Elliott, using him to get to Zan. All it would take was one other assassin to figure out the re-established connection between Elliott and Zan for things to once again go to shit. And they sure as Hells couldn't lose Elliott. John would rather die than let that happen. "It stinks like some kind of warning or threat, but it doesn't say what exactly you're being threatened or warned about." He flipped over the page to see if there was writing on the other side (there wasn't), before holding it up to the light to see if there was any form of hidden writing (there wasn't).

"And it's not like we can ask for clarity on it either." Cal sighed. "Those facilities are mobile black-spots on the inside- unless you're connected to the intranet and even if we could talk to Owyn, we can't identify the Wraith in the question. They all look the same." "Oh on the subject of clarity" Cliff reached out and took the files from Cal, flipping first one open. "I've got the blood results back. It's what I expected- your bloods are showing signs of deficiency in quite a few things, the typical stuff you're supposed to take supplements for during a pregnancy. Again with the fact it's progressing in bursts rather than a smooth curve, it makes it significantly harder to predict what your body needs and when. But it's an easy fix. The bloods for Kay didn't turn up anything else abnormal- as I suspected."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay figured by offering up the explanation from Fee that they had nothing to lose on that regard at this stage. In her eyes it was a pretty vital bit of information to try and make some kind of sense to the letter Fia received. The fact that John nodded his agreement told her he had no qualms in her telling the rest of them either. Hearing Jay admit she had her suspicions that Fia's birth was such an event just drove home even more that it didn't matter what John and her probably would have done, Fia was meant to be in their lives. She nodded in understanding at Jay's explanation, not wanting her to hurt herself just to try and confirm her own suspicions about something and was glad that in a way, her telling them all what Fee told herself and John was in a way, that confirmation Jay wanted/needed. "makes sense" she simply replied to her before Fia spoke up about the last line making her feel incredibly uncomfortable and for good reason.

Until John though said what it sounded like, Kay had thought about it possibly being a threat, but just a very foreboding warning. It was by far very unnerving to read and the fact it was being read and not heard made it all the more frustrating that they couldn't work out the tone of said words. She watched John flip the page and try and find some hidden message in it that none of them found or even looked for in the first place. Fia would have said something along the lines of 'dad if there was more to the note I would have shown you' but the conversation kept flowing so she couldn't find an opening to do so, which if she truly thought about it was probably a saving grace in disguise. She listened to Cal give her added thoughts, nodding in understanding, finding it made perfect sense that those facilities would be of such calibre or Owyn wouldn't have risked taking Zan there in the first place. "I hate not being able hear tone in written letters like this... Its frustrating and just feels like someone is adding more bloody pressure on my shoulders than I already have just because of who I am" she replied to Cal as Cliff explained what Kay's blood results came back with.

Kay listened to what Cliff said and was thankful that it wasn't anything else more nefarious and she'd be needed for more tests and the such. It didn't come as too much of a shock that she was deficient in a few things from the way this pregnancy was starting to really become a rough one for her. She didn't care she was pregnant at the beginning, (well, she did but was easily in denial at the same time) as it felt like it was a smooth ride and apart from the morning sickness she didn't have any rough symptoms, but it seemed noe that was changing and she really had to start altering her way of looking at this pregnancy. Hearing that it didn't bring up anything else was of a great relief to her, to the point there was an visible sigh of relief from her. "well that's something...what do you suggest to do then?" she asked Cliff.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott gave a sideways look at Jay when the assassin admitted that she'd suspected Fia's birth of being a fixed point for some time now. A part of him was annoyed that she hadn't chosen to share this theory with him, but the more logical part of him quickly pointed out that it wasn't as if there'd been much of an opportunity to have that conversation. There'd been the trial to focus on, the revelations about Zan, and in the time pre-trial there had been the force of destruction that had been Rinaa- a teenager so complex, with so many secrets and layers that nobody really knew what to make of her. Elliott doubted if any of them had really known her- she was from a timeline that should- in his opinion- never even have existed in the first place. All in the group felt a pang of sympathy towards Fia as she expressed her annoyance at this increased weight on her due to who she was. None of them could begin to imagine what it was like to grow up with that burden, knowing she could never rid herself of it and was expected to fulfil some prophecy that not even her parents understood or fully knew about. 'Rough' didn't even begin to cover it. John didn't say anything in response, feeling that anything he would say would just come out as a hollow platitude or would be something he thought was unique but Fia had actually heard a million times in her own timeline. Instead he turned to the results of the bloods, more relieved than he was showing that no other abnormalities had been discovered.

Cliff let Kay (and anybody else who was interested) look at the bloods print outs. There was no reason to hide them, and there were no confidentiality laws stopping her from sharing the documents, in fact the exact opposite, the data protection laws meant that so long as kay gave her permission, the results could be shared with anybody she wanted in her new found 'family'. Chas and John couldn't help but look, even though neither really possessed the technical language to understand the documents. Instead they focused on the parts Cliff had marked for her own ease with yellow highlighter. "The easiest option would be the classic one- a whole load of over the counter supplements. As I said, being deficient in these particular nutrients.... it's pretty much par for the course when pregnant and it's a good thing we found out now, rather than when it's even more advanced. The other option is to become really obsessive over what you eat and drink, going in depth into mineral content, vitamins, acids etc... If you want to go down that route, I'll of course help you, but I see now reason to when taking simple supplements would solve the problem." Cliff then reached over and passed the second file to Jay. "These are the results of those DNA comparisons you asked me to run back on the first full day you lot spent here. The data makes no sense... there must have been some kind of error in the machine or corruption in the samples... but I figured you might want to look at it anyway."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia wasn't one hundred percent sure if she could see the sympathy in them all at her frustrated complaint, but she had a feeling that at least some one of them would have it. She was used to being given sympathies and empty platitudes from them in her time which just got equally frustrating, even if part of her way deep down was grateful for it. She wasn't surprised that John and Kay kept quiet about it, as she didn't particularly want to hear any of it in that moment. But she did just hope that in this time they all realised what a burden she had on her. Sure, none of them could have disagreed that Rinaa's life was shit and her timeline is one that none of them hoped would come to fruition, but her burden? Her destiny to somehow bring back the phoenix kind and bring access back to Paradise so they can thrive once more in peace? That's too much for her on a regular basis to fully deal with.

Kay took a look at the results and had no problem with everyone else who wanted to, to look as well. She certainly didn't have problems with John and Chas looking knowing that although it was her who the was the pregnant one, it was John's kid as well and Chas well.. Chas was a father and she trusted him greatly. As she looked at the bits she could understand, she listened to Cliff explain what the easiest but would be to do, nodding understanding. "supplements works for me. Anything that makes life easier" she replied, as Cliff then told Jay about the results that she requested. She couldn't help but note how Cliff said it was for comparison tests that Jay requested and wondered if it was to do with Rinaa at the time but said nothing. Yet her mind just kept going back to being fully relieved that for her, it was an easy enough fix to do and like Cliff previously mentioned, they figured it out now rather than when she is even further along. Eventually she did hand back the files to Cliff after she was certain anyone who wanted to look had, then turned to Fia seeing she was very much still in her own mind. "hey... It'll be alright. We'll figure it all out, you're not alone kiddo" she told her, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze which caused Fia to do the rare thing of hugging her mother for a brief moment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The others let Fia and Kay have their moment of hugging. It hadn't escaped their attention how much the relationship between Kay and Fia (or more precisely Fia's attitude towards her mother) had changed as a result of her coming back to this point in time. It had always been Kay who instigated any hugging, so for Fia to do it was a rarity and a testament to the fact that things had and more importantly could change. One of them adding some other reassurance risked breaking the moment, so by an unspoken decision they all decided to keep their mouths shut, particularly John who shoved his hands in his trench coat pocket and made a point of looking everywhere except at Fia and Kay.

Jay used the opportunity to leaf through the slim file from Cliff, giving the doctor a curt nod of gratitude. It was, as Kay was theorising, the results to the blood test on Rinaa- even though by the second day they knew her parentage, Jay had wanted to be sure. She'd never had any particular interest in having kids of her own, so the idea that this would change in such a short time was one hell of a shock (privately she'd always thought it would be her brother who'd be the one with a kid, feeling she'd be more suited to an aunt role than a mother role). She felt that getting a confirmation by DNA might help her make sense of things, but so much had happened between now and then that she'd forgotten about the tests entirely. The results were identical to the ones she'd run on the spaceship and just as baffling. Her eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of surprise and confusion, but she said nothing.

When Kay and Fia broke away from one another, Cliff spoke up again. "I say we leave here now- with a quick stop on the way to pick up the supplements of course. With Zan gone there's little need to hang around, and the loner I stay, the more likely it is somebody will attempt to put me to work- I've taken days off for family reasons." "Sounds like a plan." Her wife replied with a relieved sigh. "I don't think I have it in me to do anything other than collapse on the couch with exhaustion." "Sounds like a bloody good plan to me- especially if you add booze, I bloody need it after a day like this." Had it been back home, John could have said 'a cigarette or four' in addition to the booze, but a) the apartment wasn't his own, b) there would be a massive number of people in the room and c) because Kay was pregnant he decided that smoking wasn't the smartest idea.

 

[MzHyde]

When Fia did hug her, it took Kay a split second to compute that Fia was the one who instigated such a thing, having just been used to the fact that Fia would only really be the first to hug if it was John or Elliott she was wanting to hug. So having her be the first to hug Kay was of a shock but Kay accepted it gladly. The hug only lasted a few seconds at most, but it was clear that it was something Fia desperately needed and Kay realised it was something she very welcomed as well. She patted the teenager's back eventually, signalling it was okay which Fia then took as the moment to break away from the hug, only now noticing that nearly everyone, especially John was looking anywhere but them, not wanting to break up the moment. With one last look of reassurance exchanged from Kay to Fia, they both looked up at Cliff as she explained how they should probably get moving.

The idea that her colleagues would rope her into work if they remained here any longer made Kay and Fia smirk ever so slightly, easily seeing how that would be a regular occurance in Cliff's life. Kay also liked the idea of getting her supplements whilst it was all fresh in her and Cliff's minds rather than leaving it for the next day. The sooner she could start making things better for herself the better and more reassured she would feel about herself. Hearing John declare he seriously needed booze made Fia smirk and shake her head in a fond way lightly as it was so typical of John, not to mention she could completely see where he was coming from. It had been a crazy day with so much happening that yeah, he definitely deserved a stiff drink. Hell's, she would drink herself but she knew she had to stay sober and in her right mind for this secret meeting in the early hours. "I'm more than happy to head back with the brief stop for Kay's supplements" she commented. "fine by me too" Kay added. She was well and truly done with hospitals for the day and didn't want to be in one for a while. To her, another visit would be too soon.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Chas rolled his eyes when John declared that drinks were in order. It was an incredibly typical thing for John to say, and the cabbie was inclined to agree in this instance. The past few days had been more than simply 'rough', Chas didn't turn to the bottle in bad times (or even in good times) like John did, but it was a testament to just how much shit had happened over the past few days that Chas felt that getting somewhat drunk was just the distraction he needed to keep his mind off everything. "I've no objections to that plan" he replied. "If I drank, I'd be joining you on that." Elliott added with a nod. Jay looked up from the file at John's mention of alcohol, giving a proper smile. "I agree, alcohol is DEFINITELY needed after a day like this one."

With everybody expressing their willingness to leave Cliff wasted no time in leading the way to the pharmacy. Dan rejoined the group as they left the corridor (As Cliff suspected he'd put himself on door duty to prevent any innocent staff from walking in on a fight, and later to make sure that nobody walked in on Owyn, his Wraiths and the small platoon of soldiers. While Cliff went into the pharmacy to collect the various tablets, Cal filled in her adoptive father on everything he'd missed. After pretending not to know anything about the ruckus in the hospital- gossip spread like wildfire amongst the staff- using the excuse of the fact that she'd been in the labs at the time Cliff exited the pharmacy, tucking the bag of pill packets and bottles into her shoulder satchel. The journey back was passed with light, somewhat forced chatter- nobody wanted to talk about what had happened to Zan, nor the fact that had there been less of them the shifter assassin could easily have slaughtered them. After unlocking the apartment door Cal made a beeline for the fridge, Cliff for the couch, plopping herself down with a sigh. "What do people want? It's the usual choice of drinks and regular food- I'm not arsed to cook, and nobody else looks it either."

 

[MzHyde]

Back at the apartment after the journey back, Kay instantly went to one of the couches like Cliff did, sitting down on a much more comfortable seat than she had been earlier in the hospital. Not that the hospital chairs were awful (compared to Earth's hospital chairs anyway) but nothing quite beat sitting on a proper couch. She pulled her jacket off after sitting down and slung it over the back of the couch. At the question that Cal threw out to everyone as she made the beeline for the kitchen, she looked toward the kitchen "I'll just have juice or something" she said to Cal, knowing that unlike everyone else but like Elliott, alcohol was most definitely off the cards for her which she was very much missing being able to drink it. She had it in her head that the moment it was okay to have her first proper drink, she would be wasiting no time in doing so. She would also eat but she just didn't know what she fancied, or what should be the best thing to eat at this very moment, it wasn't exactly early in the day as most of the day was spent in the hospital, so she didn't want to eat anything heavy going depending on when she would head to bed. "I'll have soda if there's any left" Fia spoke up, plonking herself on the floor in front of Kay, crossing her legs. She wasn't hungry for once which she didn't mind, mostly just feeling happy she was back at Cal and Cliff's but also still nervous and curious about who it was that wanted to meet her on the other roof in the early hours.

Fia wished she could stop thinking about it for the time being but every time she did stop, it would sneak its way back in to the front of her mind. She even found herself wondering if it was another Jay who the Wraith was or if it wasn't then who the hell it was. Would she even be allowed to see their face properly during this meeting or would it still be left hidden and she would be talking to a hidden face? She still kept even wondering what they even wanted to say to her and why did they wink at her? There were so many questions and to her these next few hours before she had to leave were going to be excruiating to deal with, especially as she couldn't tell anyone about said meeting. So instead she forced her questions to the back of her mind ocne again, took her jacket off and leaned back on the bottom of the couch. She would just have to make sure that no one else grabbed her jacket and found the second note.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Well I'm certainly not bothered to cook either" Elliott agreed, having sat himself down on one of the kitchen chairs. Usually he would offer to cook, he found it very relaxing but today he was feeling wiped- both emotionally and because he'd somewhat overstretched himself during the fight with the shifter. "And I'll take whatever juice you've got- I'm not picky." Elliott really didn't care what he drank so long as he was in good company while doing so. He really didn't want to be left alone with all his thoughts of 'what if?' or worse, all the thoughts of 'why?' that were rattling around his head. The fact that it could so easily have been him lying in that hospital, with all the others around the bedside refusing to move had been praying on his mind for more of the day than he cared to admit. Without really thinking about what he was doing he pulled the leather jacket tighter around himself, breathing in it's scent in the process. It smelt mostly of must (hardly surprising given that it had been living in an evidence bag under a floorboard for many years), but there was a very faint whiff of other things underneath- some sweat and something else vaguely citrussy (deodorant or body spray perhaps?)

The others all named various types of alcohol, even Cliff who rarely drank. Cal assembled the orders (along with a couple of extra bottles/cans of each) and brought it to the main table. All drinking alcohol chose to drink straight from the bottle except for Jay who was mixing drinks- adding some much stronger alcohol of her own to the regular stuff to give it more of a kick. (She kept a few bottles of much stronger alcohol in one of her backpacks, the caps wound on tight with an additional wire loop over them so she'd know if anybody had been tampering with them). John wasted no time in making himself comfortable, slinging his trench coat over the armrest at one end of the couch, slumping himself into the couch and kicking his feet up onto the coffee table. The beer bottle in the other hand completed the picture of him being the very epitome of somebody who wanted to drink, relax and postpone worrying about problems until tomorrow.

 

[MzHyde]

Like Elliott, Kay usually found some kind of relaxation in either cooking or baking but after today's events it was the last thing she wanted to do. She didn't want to be standing up prepping and cooking food of any kind when she had the option of sitting on the couch and just relaxing back with people she enjoyed being around. Not only did she and Fia have to try and not think about the assassin attack on their whole group and Fia nearly being wiped out by them if it wasn't for Jay, the two of them had to decompress from Kay's fainting spell and scaring the living shit out of Fia and John, ontop of the other thing for Fia. Both of them noticed how Elliott pulled the leather tighter arou d him which told them both he was really trying to not let the day's events overwhelm him more than they already had done. They knew it was still a lot for him to digest and the thought of it could have been him not straying far from his mind, as it didn't stray far their minds either.

When Cal eventually came back with the various drinks and Kay made sure there was plenty of room for John to plonk himself down and get comfortable, whilst Fia made an effort to move out of the way briefly for him to be able to sit down. They then grabbed their chosen drinks that they wanted and held it close to them, taking small sips to make it last and appreciate that they finally had something to drink. The smell of alcohol didn't even bother Kay this time round for once and she couldn't help but note how John looked with his beer bottle in one hand whilst being stretched out the way he was. She couldn't help but find it strangely attractive in the sense that it was attractive that someone could look so relaxed and effortless whilst still holding that same mysterious aura about them that she always John always had. Mentally shaking her thoughts from her head, she concentrated on her drink and decided there was no way she was going to think about the day and just leave all worries and fretting until the next day.

Fia just kept hoping that everyone would be in bed or asleep by the time she had sneak out again, or if they were awake they wouldn't hear her alarm to go off, alerting her that it was time leave and end up asking questions. Yet some niggling part of her kept thinking that someone would notice her sneaking out and follow her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had been spot on with his idea that the best way to relax after the events of the past few days relax was some time spent drinking together. The alcohol part was optional really, the same effect could have been achieved with regular drinks, but it would have taken longer for people's guards to drop and for their brains to unfocus. Despite his relaxed and open posture, John's mind didn't actually relax until he actually began to properly feel the effects of the alcohol. Jay took almost three quarters of an hour (and a significant portion amber coloured, highly potent alcohol) to wind herself down from the state of hyper vigilance she'd been in earlier. Now relaxed she sprawled herself out over two kitchen chairs, sitting sideways on one with her arm slung over the back, using the other as a foot rest. She'd discarded her mismatched boots almost as soon as she got in the door (the second shoe was a replacement boot that somebody in Owyn's entourage had sourced- presumably from lost and found- to replace Jay's acid and fire damaged other shoe). The angle of the kitchen chair meant that the whole room got a good view of the scar on her left sole- the remnants of an encounter with barbed wire.

It all wound down at about midnight when people eventually began to succumb to tiredness. Unusually instead of it being Cliff or Cal who were the first to flag it was John. Though in his own typical style he didn't tell anybody, just set the bottle down on the table and nodded off on the couch, head propped up on the back of his hand, which was firmly anchored by his elbow to the armrest of the couch. Chas was the first to recognise the silence coming from John's direction for what it really was- his mate having fallen asleep (as opposed to John attentively listening to the anecdote Dan was telling. "The bugger's finally bloody nodded off. I'd advise against waking him up, I've learned the hard way- his insomnia makes him really crabby and I doubt he'd be able to get back to sleep if he was woken." "So you're saying what? Just leave him there?" Cliff asked, a sceptical edge in her voice. "Basically yeah" Chas nodded "he's slept in worse places, and it's hardly the first time he's fallen asleep in that position." "So where would you sleep then?" Cal asked, knowing that sofa John, Kay and Fia were sitting on was the one Chas slept on, with Jay and Elliott either taking the sofa together or one on the sofa, one on the armchair. (Nobody had decided to copy Rinaa's idea of sleeping in a sleeping bag in the utility room). "Forge I suppose- I believe there's an open invitation given how many of us there are?" the last part was asked with a questioning look in the direction of the blacksmith who gave a nod of confirmation.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay was getting ready to head to bed when she noticed John had fallen asleep on the couch at the other end she was sat on thanks to Chas' declaration, and she couldn't stop the fond smile that crept onto her face when she looked at him. If there was no one else around she would have snapped a photo on her phone of him but with everyone still in the room, she really didn't want to come across as that kind of person to all of them. Part of her wanted to wake him to go to bed but the other rational part of her told her not to disturb him, which was only to be the proper decision when Chas said to leave John be. In all honesty she was glad that he finally found he could get some sleep after the many nights of being wide awake all night long, she just hoped it would be a peaceful sleep for him and not one that was full of nightmares and horrific imagery. With it decided that Chas could sleep at the forge, she gave a tired sigh, "well I'm gonna head off to bed myself, so I'll see you in the morning Chas" she told him, then turned to everyone else to say goodnight.

Fia yawned from where she was on the floor by her parents' feet, knowing she only had a couple of hours if that to get some kind of sleep in before she needed to leave, so she stood up after Kay got up, "I'm gonna crash too, night everyone" she said before picking up her jacket and walking to the room she was using. Pulling out her phone, she laid it next to her as she always did, remained fully clothed and booted and laid down on the bed, closing her eyes. She hoped she could at least get a nap in before needing to leave as well as hoping she a) wouldn't get lost and b) wouldn't be followed but she had less faith in option b happening than option a. Luckily for her, it took a matter of three minutes before she fell asleep, not as deep a sleep as she usually had, but deep enough that she wasn't aware of her surroundings. Kay had gone to bed herself, undressing and getting into bed where she fell asleep quickly and wouldn't budge for the whole night.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The fond look Kay was giving the sleeping John didn't escape the cabbie's observations. With everything that had happened he'd never actually had the chance to properly talk to John about Kay, the fact they were having a child together and what it exactly it was that John was feeling for the woman. Chas wasn't naive enough to think that John would just readily display any kind of emotions bordering on romantic love. The man had been burnt badly in the past, he'd had his heart broken and on top of it all John just happened to be the embodiment of the repressed British male who covers up their real feelings with snark and a prickly shell to keep people away. The childhood abuse hadn't helped either, and Chas knew from the conversations he'd had with Cheryl both as adults and as teenagers that John had had it far rougher than Cheryl and suppressing his emotions was John's way of getting back at his father. Like all bullies Thomas Constantine was looking for a reaction, and when he didn't get one, he tended to kick John out of the dingy flat rather than kick the boy in the ribs. John could care, Elliott was proof of that, as was Cheryl, Gemma, Aisha, Trish and a couple of other notable people, it just took an exhausting amount of time and there was no way to force it before it was ready. Realistically he knew it would be months (at the least) before John would be able to accept his feelings in the same way that Kay did. Her care for John was visible in that fond look.

"Might be bordering on afternoon before I make an appearance." Chas stretched, yawning slightly before continuing "I intend to sleep like a log for as long as possible." He left the 'I really really need a good night's sleep after everything' part out, figuring that it didn't need to be said, everybody else was surely thinking it to a greater or lesser extent. "Well the spare room is the furthest from the forge, and if you keep the door shut you might be able to drown out Simeon's hammering of the metal like he has a personal vendetta against it." Dan commented, before also yawning as he stood up. "Oh joy" Chas replied sarcastically, shrugging on his jacket. The two left the apartment shortly after that, while Cal and Cliff headed up to their mezzanine bedroom. That just left Elliott and Jay. The former cast a fond look at John before carefully putting the spare blanket (the one Chas used at nights) over him. Elliott never quite knew how to ask Jay if she wanted to sleep with him on the couch, or on her own curled up in some strange position on the armchair (as much as Jay hated to admit it, the time she'd spent being tortured in prison had left serious mental scars as well as physical ones, which manifested mainly in the form of being unwilling to let people touch her). So tonight followed the usual pattern of Elliott taking as long as possible pulling off his shoes and carefully hanging up his father's jacket on one of the hooks on the wall by the door, wasting time so that Jay would be forced to make the first move. The assassin chose the couch, and Elliott followed suit, the two adopting the usual sleeping position, where it was Jay slinging an arm across Elliott chest, and Elliott resting his head against her shoulder. It didn't take them long to fall asleep, the kind of sleep that was deep and refreshing as opposed to the half-awake bursts of last night.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay didn't even think about anyone noticing her fond look toward John before she went to bed, and even if she had noticed she didn't care. She knew that John knew how she felt and that was enough for her. She also was very prepared to wait as long as it took for John to figure out or admit his feelings for her as in her eyes, Fia being here and her little snippets of information of her family life told her that it did occur at some point. She couldn't blame Chas wanting to sleep for as long as he needed in the forge, knowing that most of them would no doubt be doing the same thing if they could. She slept the whole night and didn't wake up once, being completely unaware that when the time came round, Fia's alarm was going off at 2:30am and she was creeping her way out of the apartment for a secret meeting. She just slept a deep uninterrupted sleep, with the only dreams that came in being ones of her childhood and more like memories than dreams. At some point she had found herself sleeping as much on her side as possible and practically hugging John's pillow in the process.


For Fia, her alarm went off way too soon but she was still thankful for the nap. She quickly turned her alarm off in the hopes it wouldn't wake anyone else up and instantly got up. She grabbed her jacket off the floor slipping it on as quietly as she could and snuck out of her room, looking around to try and suss out and make sure no one was awake. When she didn't hear anything from anyone, she crept her way through the hallway and into the living room, taking a quick glance at Elliott and Jay cuddled on one couch and John still very much in the same position he was when she went to bed on the other. She tip toed to the balcony, opening the door to it where she stepped outside, closed the door behind her and climbed up onto the roof so she could get her barings and double check the roof she needed to get to by double checking the secret letter. "Okay...should be easy enough to get to" she whispered to herself, shoving the letter back in her jacket pocket and deciding it would be so much quicker to just fly over the rooftops than run on ground level and parkour her way up. So that was exactly what she did, she let her wings appear and gave them a flutter to stretch them as if she was doing a warm up before taking flight up and forward in the direction she needed to go. She eventually found the roof in question and landed on it's edge, willing her wings to vanish as she walked more to the middle of the roof. "Hello?" she spoke out, looking around for who she was meant to be meeting.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia's call was quickly answered in the form a figure standing in the north corner of the roof swinging around a torch and ramping up the brightness (it had originally been set to give off a low glow) before shining it at Fia, the beam following a path from Fia's booted feet up to her head. "Oh my Hellls, you came" the answering tone was preceded by a a shocked gasp and the words laced with surprise, though the voice was all too familiar. Rinaa was clad in all black which was why Fia hadn't been able to see her initially. Her face was gaunter than the last time they'd seen each other, paler too. Her wolfish features more pronounced, and it looked like the other girl had also lost weight. She set the torch down on the wall, illuminating the corner of the roof that had been chosen for the rendezvous.

Two of the deckchairs that the residents of the apartment block used to avail of the summer sun had been been dragged into the corner, along with the big wooden crate that was flipped over to act as a rudimentary table. Spread out on the 'table' was a large cardboard tube with what appeared to be a rolled up set of blue-print plans sticking out of one end, photocopies of documents with a big black marker lines omitting certain parts along with the words 'classified, level 7 clearance needed' stamped across the top of each, Rinaa's sticker covered laptop and the device it was attached to (an external storage come WiFi device), two travel coffee mugs, a second torch, some kind of comms unit. Leaning against the side of the table two tactical backpacks, one black one grey.

The torchlight also revealed the second person, the winker from earlier, also clad in all black clothing, who was sitting on one of the deckchairs. He was maybe a year or two older than Fia, with intense silver eyes and blue hair gelled into spikes with the aid of some kind of hair product. His face was somewhat similar to Jay's, there was something about the shape and set of the eyes and the line of the jaw, but his skin was completely different. Jay's was a light tan colour (similar to but not quite like skin of Thai people on Earth), where as this guy had skin that would suggest Caribbean ancestry on Earth. His gaze was piercing as he watched fia, as if looking for something in particular.

 

[MzHyde]

When the all too familiar voice responded to her, Fia looked in that direction and went slightly wide eyed at seeing who it was. She didn't know if she should walk over and hug the girl or ask a million and one questions about how she's back. She took in Rinaa's appearance seeing the weight loss and the now more prenounced wolfish features on her and she couldn't help but wonder what the hell happened when Rinaa went back to her time. "bloody hell, Rii?!" she finally managed to get out before walking over and going with the former thought in her head, hugging her firmly for a couple of seconds before letting go and truly taking in all the bits and pieces that were around and how they'd set up the whole chairs and box to be a table. She recognised the laptop of Rinaa's instantly before looking at the files that had the classified stamps right across them. It was then she noticed the same figure who gave her the note and winked at her from the hospital and even more questions popped into her head. What was Rinaa doing with a wraith was one of the bigger ones going through her head. He looked so different to when he was at the hospital, but the hair and eyes made her know exactly who he was. "and of course I came, a mysterious note telling me to come alone and not tell anyone? Yeah I had to come to figure out why." she then finally said, looking at Rinaa once more.

She looked between the two of them and the items on the makeshift table before focusing onto Rinaa, "what's this all about?" she then asked gesturing with her hands at everything and everyone, now her initial shock of seeing her cousin was subsiding. "why did you need me to come alone and in secret?" she asked again soon after her first question, finding her mind racing at a hundred miles per hour with questions, but knew she needed to force stop those questions so Rinaa could actually get her answers out. "sorry, a lot of questions rattling around right now. Not to mention the surprise at seeing you again" she said before turning to the wraith properly that was sitting down and giving a nod of hello, as she then noticed just how intently he was watching her, wondering what he was trying to figure out from her. The gaze was intense and she felt she really needed to force herself to look away and back to Rinaa and gave her a look of 'why is he staring at me like that?'. She did prefer the fact that she wasn't staring at a voided out face or an intimidating appearance like in the hospital, but his gaze was so intense, she didn't know if it was much better than before.

It took every but of internal strength in her to not keep looking back at him and keep her focused eyes on Rinaa.

 

[_gallifrog_]

A slight smirk appeared on Rinaa's face at the look of complete shock on Fia's. The "in the flesh, just about" type quip she wanted to say never made it out of her mouth as before she could comprehend what had happened Fia had moved across the roof at a speed that was surely superhuman and had wrapped her in a hug. Rinaa leaned into the hug, unable to comprehend why after all the horrible things she'd said and done in the few months they'd been thrown together that Fia looked and sounded happy to see her, Rinaa knew as sure as Hells that she didn't deserve it, and it highlighted that there really was such potential for good in her 'cousin' when the circumstances were right. Rinaa on the other hand was selfish enough to take the comfort from the hug, knowing all too well that it would be one of the last she'd receive in her life. All too soon Fia let go and took her slight step back and then began with her barrage of questions.

At Fia's quip about how 'of course if there's a mysterious note I'm gonna answer it' the blue haired boy smirked and gave a 'I told you so' glance at Rinaa, whose answering look said 'that you did'. When Fia finally stopped with her sheepish apology for her multitude of questions Rinaa answered with a shrug. "Yeah well... if I was in your shoes I'd be last person I'd expect to see too. It's..... complicated." That earned a smirk from the blue haired boy. "Yes, understatement of ALL our timelines I know" Rinaa rolled her eyes "you can stop with the staring" she directed that at the guy "and I'll explain the whys, the whats, the hows and of course the whens." The blue haired guy stopped his intense look, instead flashing Fia an apologetic one before reaching onto the 'table' and grabbing one of the travel mugs. "Sorry about the staring... it's just..... y'know.... the whole.... seeing somebody you know well look at you without the slightest clue as to who you are." Rinaa made a sympathetic sort of sound. "Yeah, it must suck when you actually like 'em, but it proves my theory, so it's not all bad."

A pause. "Right. Where to begin? The easiest explanation would be... you were born with a destiny, I was created to do a job and this is me doing my bloody job, fuck the personal cost for me. This is about Elliott, it's ALWAYS been about Elliott and making sure he lives. The secrecy is because the plan has changed and Jay CANNOT know what I'm about to do next. If the others were to know they wouldn't be able to keeps it from her, YOU can at least use the excuse of future knowledge she shouldn't have as an excuse to stop Jay asking. She'd never approve or accept it, but it's for the greater good of all them, the Earth group, the Attili group and those other important people. Zan was the one who came up with a plan modification, one of the you interrogations stroke conversations sparked an idea which he passed on to us- the freelancers- but now that he's lying a hospital bed with a hole in his head and a 10-90 chance of survival, he can't do his role, so we need another person, it was never my intention to drag others into this... but out of the whole group you're the only one who'd be able to do it."