People will see what they want to see a lot of the time. Confirmation Bias should always be factored in to any situation. If you quack like a duck, walk like a duck then hopefully people will believe your a duck.. it might even work on a lightning god.. just for example? Events unfold including but not limited to: John panicking and Eris crying (not necessarily in that order) Meanwhile Hannah takes a long nap at last, it's about time after all..

 

My heart seemed to beat in rhythm with his heavy footfalls as he came ever closer to us.

“Thor, she’s not here. She split the moment she got clear of me as always, you know what she’s like buddy she-”
His voice cut off suddenly and the thunder rumbled slightly louder around us before going back to its almost painfully steady beat.

John didn’t try saying anything else and after a few more steps a large frame came to the side window, blocking out what sunlight had been coming through beforehand.

He had to bow slightly to fit his large head inside but when he did his eye’s settled on us.
I shuddered in fear again but Eris seemed excited for some reason?
Her little hand came up to offer the giant man a childish finger wave.

“Hi Uncle Thor”
The man paused for a moment longer then threw his head back in a laugh, only just managing to not clip his head on the door as he went.

“ERIS! Darling little one, how are you? What are you doing hanging around with your old man?”
Eris squirmed about until I reluctantly let her go.
The moment she was back up in the seat properly I felt so horribly exposed and alone.

“Mommy wouldn’t leave without me before.”
Thor nodded along with her, showing a lot of interest all of a sudden.
“We had ice-cream and pancakes an.. and..”
Her voice trailed off.

I watched with wide eyes as Eris’s whole body seemed to shrink in upon itself suddenly.
My instincts screamed at me to comfort her but I couldn’t exactly move out of the foot-well with my dress and her in the way at the moment.

“She.. she got really mad..”
Thor’s face crumpled in obvious grief.

I don’t know how she managed it but she sounded heartbroken all of a sudden?
I could see from here that her shoulders were shaking as if she was trying not to cry.

“She said that daddy was trying to fix her again and she ran off and she left me behind a.. and-”
Her words trailed off into a pained squeal.
A moment later she practically collapsed onto Thor’s shoulder and started crying her heart out.

I was left lying in the cramped little space gobsmacked by the sudden turn of events.
My eyes trailed disbelievingly as Thor reached a surprisingly gentle hand through the window and scooped Eris out to rest against his barrel-like chest.

He slowly turned to look towards John around the other side of the truck and after a few stalled attempts he started speaking again.

“I apologise Loki. I should have taken your word on this brother, she is truly awake then?”
I don’t know what John did but he muttered something I couldn’t quite make out from my awkward position.
I started pushing myself back up but it was still a struggle to manage in what little space I had.
“Fear not brother, we will find her before she can cause any more grief..”

My butt finally landed back in the seat.
With a huff I pushed my hair out of my face and glanced between the two of them.

A pair of warm brown eyes which seemed a little tight with some unspoken pain turned to me.
I froze again as he moved back over to the window and peered in at me curiously.
A trickle of sweat moved down my spine as his eyes scanned me up and down with obvious interest.

“Who is this one brother? I don’t recognise her from the last gathering.”

Part of me wanted to hiss out a relieved breath when he didn’t instantly realised who I was but luckily the rest of my brain managed to hold back the reflex at the last second.
John turned to me with a smirk and a naughty look to his eyes as if he’d thought of something VERY amusing suddenly.

I don’t know what he was planning and I doubt I ever will because Eris beat him to it.
I’ve never been more glad to hear her little voice in my life!

“Her name’s Hannah, she’s our new sister.. Mom, ya know?..”
The little shrug of her shoulders would have been adorable in any other setting but it annoyed me slightly instead because.. well, technically that’s ME she’s talking about isn’t it?!..

I can read between the lines, she’s not exactly being subtle about it.

‘we have a new sister, what do you expect? Mom’s a slut we all know that’
She didn’t have to say it for her meaning to be obvious for anyone watching.

Damn it Arista.. why do I have to put up with YOUR bad reputation?!

Thor turned back towards me with curious eyes and I just managed to slap a worried smile on my face to replace the slight scowl I’d had building moments before.
He seemed to study me for a painfully long time.

My hand came up awkwardly to push ‘my’ glasses up my nose a bit more.
His eyes tracked the movement and it actually seemed to reassure him about something because his face split into a warm smile moments later.

“Hello young Hannah, welcome to the family. Sorry for all the fuss, don’t worry you shall get used to it with time, you are newly awakened yes?”

I froze again.
It’s his fault damn it!
He just DOES something to me?

The moment his big expressive eyes land on me, my body just locks up for some reason?!

“She found her magic today, Mom.. Mom said that her proximity to us triggered an awakening?”
Even Eris didn’t sound sure about that one but Thor accepted it readily without further comment.
He turned to John with an assessing look that eventually turned into a rather proud smile.

“It’s good to see you caring for family, not just your own lot for once Brother.. do you know who her father was?”
His last words made me cringe but even if they hadn’t been about ME in some way I probably would have cringed anyway because of the almost dangerous tone that had subtly appeared in his deep voice by the end of the question.

“I’m not sure of course, but the hair speaks for itself..”
John blatantly avoided looking at me after he said that.
Yet again I had to clamp down on the instinct to yell at him for mocking me but I managed it with little more than a slightly pained grunt.

“Poseidon?.. Damn that beast of a man!.. Indeed, the resemblance is striking now that I know where to look. His influence always bleeds true for her kin, much more than it did for that horse of a woman Amphitrite.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance as Thor stewed in his obvious annoyance.

“I have reason to believe, from what Arista said before, that any pairing with him wouldn’t be by her choice..”

A scream pulled itself from my lips when the sky was suddenly lit up with a crack of bright lightning despite the utter lack of clouds above us, followed closely by thick bone shaking rolls of imperious thunder.

“You are sure of this Loki? We agreed that her next life-mate would be our Lady’s choice?!”

“I can’t be sure of anything when Arista is involved, you know that as well as any, but Ari despised the man with a passion and I think we can both agree that he’s capable of it..”
John winced slightly and seemed to spend a moment gathering himself back together as another bright flash burned across the sky high above us.

Eris whimpered when the thunder continued to roll in response to Thor’s obvious anger.
For a long moment the crashing noise paused and with great care he slid her from his chest, placing her delicately back inside the truck where she quickly scrambled over to huddle herself into my side.

Thor watched her with soft, warm eyes that spoke of apology and great care towards her which caught me a bit off guard with their intensity.
Slowly his eye’s left Eris as she calmed down only to settle on me instead.

“Hannah, Kin of the Sea, I pledge you my protection as long as you wish it. When next we meet I will teach you how to call upon the lightning like your Grandfather Zeus before you.. you will have my aid whenever it is needed.”
His eyes were so soft and warm that I felt myself falling into them slightly.

I could sit here forever staring into those eyes..
Much too soon for my liking he glanced away from me, breaking the moment completely.

“I will go to confront the vile fiend Poseidon. Loki.. protect her brother, as you would your own, I’m proud of you.. very proud.”
The large red haired man came around the truck and clapped a hand on John’s back, which actually made his knee’s buckle slightly, before walking a distance up the road and disappearing in a flash of light with accompanying thunder.

John’s arms slumped in relief and he leaned heavily against the truck.

“..thank the powers he’s a moron..”
I’m not sure if I was meant to hear that bit or not but he sounded happy at least and his magic felt like it was calming down too.

John moved slowly around the side of the truck and slid himself back into the driver seat with a heavy sigh.

“Is he really gone?”
I jumped a little at Eris’s mumbled question.
John perked up his head slightly and offered her a weak smile.

“yeah, he’s got a head of steam on now. We won’t be seeing him for a while.. uh.. you might want to avoid coastal regions for a while though, just in case?”

In seconds Eris’s body moved and she seemed to go from a scared child to her usual perky self without any kind of transition between the two.

“Good, I hate having to act like that when he’s around..”
My jaw dropped open in surprise.

She was ACTING?!

I mean.. okay, sure I kind of got that before but she was REALLY convincing!
I fell for it and I KNEW she was lying?!

“What the HELL is going on?”

John cringed.
Eris shifted uncomfortably at my side.
For a moment she tried to settle herself above my heart as usual but for once I ignored my instincts to comfort her and shrugged her off slightly instead.

She turned worried eyes up to me and cringed, Arista’s ‘resting bitch face’ mixed with my confused anger is apparently pretty easy to pick up on.

“This isn’t the first time Eris has had to cover for y.. for Ari, when one of her Husbands turned up.”
He sighed and shot me a worried glance for a moment before turning back to staring out the window again.
“I’m sorry for the deception but if Thor knew who you were he wouldn’t have let you out of his sight again. It’s better that you disappear for a while, you’re getting too big again, too recognisable.. I don’t think you fully understand the mess you could start just by trying to live a normal life right now Hannah.”
He sighed once more and slumped heavily onto the steering wheel.

Eris shifted uncomfortably for a moment and pulled herself up into my lap.
I helped her up without a thought, my attention focused on John more than anything.

“We’ll have to tell some people obviously and the people that have already met you will know the truth but hopefully his word and a bit of misinformation should be enough to convince a lot of the people you want to avoid and keep them far off track in their attempts at chasing ‘you’ for now.”
His head turned on his folded arms so he could fix me with a sad look.
“I didn’t plan this Hannah.. it’s easy to forget how precarious our positions are when I’m with you again like this..”

My eyes squinted down suspiciously.

‘I love you.. Hannah.’
The words echoed in my head as if he’d spoken them all over again but I tried to ignore them as best I could.

I shook my head hard to get the echo out of there and focused back on the real world, managing to barely miss a beat luckily.

“Something’s going on around here and I want answers John.. why all the secrecy? why all the confusing half spoken hints and carefully chosen words?”
He shifted uncomfortably but that just made my eyes harden all the more in determination.
“What is it you don’t want me to find out?”

The truck settled into a long silence.
Eris shifted in my lap but seemed to be trying to keep out of things as best she could.
John heaved a heavy sigh and after a long pause turned to face me properly.

“There’s more than one version of Arista..”

That’s it?..
Well DUH?! Of course there’s more than one version of her!

Does he have ANY idea of just how many past-incarnations I have stuck in my head?!
There’s so many ‘Arista’s that it hurts to even try and count them all!!

“Not like that.. I didn’t mean your past-incarnations. I.. we..”
He stalled out and cupped his hands together tightly with worry.
His eyes found my confused stare and he huffed out an awkward breath.
“I’ll admit that Max was never the most.. stable?.. of people, but at first.. at first he was good and so was Arista, ‘Ari’ as she preferred.”

Where is he going with this?
I’ve read his file before, I know all about how they met..
The blending of their tribes, the constant battle of wills between Max and the first Arista where he wouldn’t take no for an answer?

Yet again, it’s a set of memories I don’t have but it’s recorded in history as having been told by both of them several times over the years.
What is he trying to say?

“At one point, I’m not sure what incarnation we’d reached by then but it was after we left Africa and before the continents had finished splitting completely.. something.. something changed?”
He let out a breath, his eyes leaving mine again so he could stare unseeingly out at the trees around us.
“Ari.. she changed, I thought she was playing around at first but as time went on it became more obvious that she wasn’t the woman I loved anymore.”

Eris squeezed herself against me a bit harder for some reason.
I barely noticed my hand come up to stroke her hair reassuringly.

“Once in a while she’d have moments of clarity, she’d have an incarnation that was HER again instead of.. instead of the monster she’d became.. for those short gaps we were so happy..”
His breath stuttered and, while I couldn’t see his face, I think he’s crying?
“I worked it out eventually. Something, something or someone, had split her core memories apart. They took all that was good in her and shoved it away behind this more powerful, darker side.. I.. things reached a peak, the ‘Ice Queen’, the madness had to stop!”

Eris shivered in my arms.
It jolted me out of my awed daze enough to take in our surroundings again.
I kind of regret asking about this now..

“I don’t know what you saw last night but the Ice Queen was the epitome of ‘Arista’ in all her cruelty, the few of us left at the time who wanted her back properly had been working on a way to.. to ‘fuse’ her core memories back together?”
Eris shivered again.
“It didn’t work. For a brief moment Ari was back in charge but she used that power to end her life, to protect us from what her other half could do if she ever came back.. her next incarnation was just as unstable as before, not even a trace of Ari within her..”

John’s shoulders slumped a bit more and he shot me a quick saddened look.

“Something good came out of it all, as time went on versions of her, both 'Ari' and 'Arista', started turning up a bit.. odd?.. they weren’t the real her but close enough to be worrying at times.”
He sighed heavily to himself before continuing.
“Eris dedicated herself to staying with her whenever she could, she’s always been Ari’s favorite child. They practically found each other by accident in most incarnations..”
He wouldn’t look at me again.

“I played interference, keeping everyone else away from Ari so she wouldn’t come to know the horrors her other half would do when she wasn’t there.. after a while I gave into temptation and rekindled what we’d lost.. ‘Arista’ didn’t like that.”
His face scrunched up in a mix of pain and anger that frightened me slightly in its intensity.
“For every incarnation of Ari that had a quiet life ‘Arista’ became more angry, more violent.. sometimes she’d use tricks? Fool me into doing her bidding under the idea that she was Ari.. she was so good at lying..”

In a sudden movement that made me jump he threw his head back against the seat and stared at the roof of the truck with lost eyes.

“I was fooled so many times, the lines blurred and I stopped being able to see when she was truly ‘Ari’ or when she was just ‘Arista’ lying.. in the end I got angry about it..”
Eris shuddered one more time.
I had the presence of mind to hold her tighter but I didn’t feel much better myself.
John’s voice had taken on a certain dark edge that really didn’t make me feel comfortable.
“I hurt Ari so many times in my mistaken delusion that she was her darker self lying again.. she came to fear me, rightfully so, even Eris ran from me eventually..”

His head dropped down to his chest and he hissed out a long pained breath.

“Then you came along? You were an enigma Hannah.. my mind screamed that you were Arista again, that you were messing with me.. but while so many things you said and did matched up with what I knew of her, there’s something just.. You..you’re not truly Ari but you’re not Arista either?”
His eyes turned to me and it took my breath away to see the pain within their blue depths.
“You’re Hannah. You’re your own person, my best friend. Your different.. in so many ways you’re so different from either of them but then you’re SO much like them at the same time..”

The truck descended into silence.
John didn’t seem willing to say anything more.
I was stuck trying to process it all and fit it in with what I knew from personal experience.

I’d only thrown the idea around in frustration before but the memories that I have, compared to what people have told me and what I’ve seen in these new nightmares.. it would make sense?
In some twisted way it actually feels right somehow?
It’s not that Arista is flip-flopping between evil and good.. she’s switching between two different personalities?

Two different people, two different sets of goals and thought templates shoved inside one body..
No wonder nothing ever seems to mesh right?!

My awakening.. my messed up awakening and male body must have done something?
They changed the battlefield between the two personalities just enough to throw things into a mess and create.. well.. me?..

Maybe power comes into it too?

I’m a locus point.
‘Ari’ or ‘Arista’, whichever was supposed to be in charge of me in this incarnation, they’re powerful but nothing can compete directly with a locus point in raw power.
It’s like with the truth spell, they couldn’t take over properly because my magic is just MORE than theirs?

..yes.. no?..
That doesn’t make sense?.. or does it?
This is making my head hurt!

Why can’t things just be simple for once?!

======

The truck’s engine jumped to life and jolted me out of my mental rut.

“I’m sorry Hannah.. I didn’t know how to tell you before, I didn’t WANT to tell you before honestly.. Sorry..”
My head turned to John automatically.
He wasn’t looking at me, he wouldn’t look at me!

He pulled us back into the correct lane and seemed to focus entirely on driving.
Eris shifted in my lap once more.

My head drooped a little with tiredness as my seemingly ever present headache decided to show its ugly face again.

..I’m too tired for this crap..
I think my med’s are wearing off too which really isn’t good!

With a heavy sigh I sunk my chin down on Eris’s now brown little head of hair.
She shifted slightly to get comfortable and we cuddled for a while as the trees breezed past us.

My eyes drooped slightly, the warm sunlight coming in through the windows making me feel so comfortable and safe, despite everything that’s been going on.
My exhaustion and John’s presence, his warm magic, lulled me into a dozing state over the course of a few hazy minutes.

Eris being added into the mix like a particularly cute little doll in my lap, with her reassuringly calm magic, it wasn’t much of a surprise when I started losing track of things.
My head came down to rest on hers one last time and I slipped off into a deep, desperately needed sleep.

======

..I think it’s gone?..

The squid thing isn’t exactly fast but it wasn’t until I got the spacesuit th-
Hang on?.. this feels familiar?..

The rocket ship around me shifted suddenly, going from stark NASA white to the weird mix of blue colors I’m more used to seeing when I drop into warp.

“Felix of the imps, you would defy the will of the higher powers?”
Felix?

The world around me became clearer but kept this strange haze over it that made everything feel slightly surreal, like I was viewing it through a bubble underwater or something?

What the hell is going on?!
I’m.. I’m dreaming.. right?
It feels like I am and that damn squid dream again is kind of a giveaway too.

I think.. this feels like the other dreams somehow?

Not the same, I’m not being taken over by the people here.
It’s almost like I’m.. floating?.. floating above this strange meeting in whatever warp-blue place we’re in..

“Speak up, I do not bear well with waiting little imp!”

My eyes managed to focus on the speaker at last.
I recognise her too?.. I think?..
She’s.. she’s the fae I crossed in the halls of the Hub ages ago!

She’s kind of hard to miss with the whole ‘full-body white’ motif she has going on, with her delicate features and dark black pupil-less eyes.
She wasn’t staring at me this time, those tiny black-holes were focused slightly to my right and down?

I followed her gaze and jolted in surprise when the unmistakeable little red head of Felix came into view below me.
Maybe it’s my imagination but he looks somehow bigger from this angle?
..did he always have so many muscles on his shoulders like that?..

“The imp’s protect the Lady-death in all things Maven-”
Before he could continue his speech the white one cut across him.

“QUEEN Maven!”

It took me a moment to process what that meant in reality.
Queen Maven.. Fae Queen Maven?..

She’s the one that OWNS the realm that the Hubs are built in?!
She’s one of the most powerful Fae in all existence!

“You’re no Queen of mine, our Lady-death is the true Queen of-”
He was interrupted again, this time by a vicious scream of rage from Maven as her delicate arm swung out and sent Felix flying back as if he’d been hit by a semi-truck?!

“The Lady-death is a MYTH! I should destroy you where you stand you impudent little bug!”

Her head turned from Felix to glance around her.
It was only in that moment that I realised they had an audience of sorts?
I can’t really make anything out, they’re all cast in shadow somehow, but I can feel their presence and their attention pushing in on us all now..

“You should, but you can’t.. can you?”
Felix shut up!

If you keep going like this she’s going to kill you?!
Powerful Fae aren’t known for being reasonable at the best of times and Maven looks PISSED OFF!

“My bonded protects, she nurtures us more then you ever did and her magic won’t ALLOW you to harm us anymore Maven!”
FELIX SHUT UP!!

“We’ll see about that..”
The white Fae Queen twisted her body in an almost unnatural way and sent out a horrible, sulphuric yellow beam of magic from her palm directly at Felix’s face.

I tried desperately to reach him but I couldn’t seem to move closer to him at all!
I can’t even feel my arms or legs at the moment?!

At the last second there was a flare of light and the almost diseased looking yellow beam was deflected high into the air as it struck a solid golden dome of magic that had formed up around Felix when it got too close.

..Did I do that?..
It looks like my magic, my diversion.. but I’ve never made a shield with it like that before?!

His little face twisted up into a wicked look of victory and pride as the watching shadowed crowd around them broke out into murmurs that seemed to rumble around us without ever being loud enough to become clear as actual words.

“The Lady-death is the true mother of magic, the Lady-death has finally come to us.. come to break your grasp on our kin and free us all from your perversion Maven!”
Felix flapped his wings enough to bring himself a few feet off the ground and he shot a glare at the shadowed crowd of onlookers.
“You cower from her, you run from her and beg at her feet but NEVER forget that Maven is just a Fae like any other! She is NOTHING compared to the Lady-death and she will always BE nothing compared to her power, her kindness..”
His little eyes were tight with restrained frustration.
“The true Mother has returned and you all need to make a choice, do you follow this weak excuse for a ruler or do you turn back to the righteous path of the Lady before she destroys you all in her rage?”

His pointy little teeth flashed out and the hair on his neck flared up like the hackles on a dog.
He’s obviously angry about something?

“Anyone who remains at this frauds side when the message goes out, as the scrolls predict, will suffer our Goddesses wrath. The Lady-death is caring but she does not forgive traitors!”

Without another word he twisted on the spot and disappeared from the strange warp-blue space in a flash of fire.
As if pulled along by his disappearance I felt a strange ‘yanking’ motion within my head and the world around me faded out to black.

------

It took me a moment to realise that I had a body again, that I could feel my extremities and the air heaving into my lungs with each desperate breath.

‘Eris keep her st-’
I jolted at the words.
They felt far away but so close at the same time?

Before I could do more than process how familiar the voice sounded the world started brightening and shifting again.

------

“Eris keep her stable, we’re almost there!”
John?

He sounds really panicked all of a sudden.
The world feels hazy still, like before..
I think.. I think I’m still dreaming?..

This is the truck though?!
He’s driving really fast and next to him is.. me?

“Damn it Hannah, what the hell is going on with you?”
His voice was at a low mutter but I heard it crystal clear anyway.

He’s really worried?

The truck gave a jolt and I bobbed up and down in the air for a moment.
Inside the truck my body violently twitched, my arms flailing to a point that they almost hit Eris.

With more determination then I’ve ever seen on her little face she grabbed my arms and crossed them at my chest before promptly throwing herself on top of me to keep them from moving again.
..that’s one way to do it I guess?..

“We’re almost there, we’re almost there.. Mum will help her, we’re almost there..”
Johns voice had taken on a chanting rhythm as he spoke to himself and he focused on the road while throwing glances over at ‘me’ when he could.

“Eris we need to-”
His words suddenly cut off from my ears and the world faded out again leaving me back in the dark place with a panting body but that lasted barely a moment before there was another flash.

------

“-she needs to stop doing this Mum!”
Sarah?

“Give it a rest Sarah, Ari’s going through a tough time at the moment-”
Sarah let out a loud frustrated yell which stopped Mum mid-sentence.

“Why are you so calm about this?! She’s gone somewhere with JOHN, he can’t be trusted!”

“..honestly, you’ve got to let this jealousy g-”
Yet again Mum was interrupted by Sarah.
As my eyes cleared I could take in our kitchen, more specifically Mum’s really angry face.

“I’M NOT JEALOUS!”

“DON’T take that tone with me young lady!”
Sarah cringed and shrunk away from Mum a little.
I can understand why, when Mum pulls out the ‘young lady’ card it’s a sign that she’s REALLY annoyed about something.
“Ari is having a hard time lately, your father has really hurt her by just dropping her on us like this. Do you think it’s easy for her to deal with losing everything? Being carted half-way around the world and dropped on people that she barely even remembers?.. all while trying to get to grips with her magic on top of everything else?!”

Sarah’s eyes look puffy?.. has she b..been crying?..
..because of me?..

“Stop defending her with Dad! He’s got nothing to do with this, she’s just being a brat! She’s been acting so weird lately and she won’t listen!.. he NEVER listens..”
They both slipped into a long awkward silence.

“She’s not Al Sarah.. I know you miss him and I have no right to talk to him anymore but you can’t hold Ari to Al’s standards, she’s just a kid? She didn’t grow up with you and Al, she doesn’t know things you expect her to and it’s not fair on her for you to treat her like some kind of replacement for your brother. She’s your little sister that’s suffering, NOT your twin brother.. understood?”

Sarah was crying again.
I don’t know what’s going on in her head but she won’t look at Mum at all for some reason?

Their ringing silence was interrupted by the chirrup of Sarah’s phone.
She dived for it like a lifeline and when she brought it up I caught just a glance of it over her shoulder.

‘Sorry for being a brat Sare. Be home soon. Love you.’
The message came from ‘Al’ judging by the contact name, I guess she hasn’t changed my contact info over yet?

This is so weird.. I’ve never sent that text message before?..
How can I see a text sent by me that I’ve never SENT?!

With a now familiar mental tug the world faded back to black around me and I was back to having a body with panting lungs as standard.
The light didn’t hesitate to flash back into existence before my eyes could even get a chance to adjust to the darkness around me.

This is starting to get really old, really fast!

------

“-office will provide recon at all times. We’re running this tight and to the book people, this isn’t a training exercise, we’ve got a VIP with multiple involved world-wide parties showing interest in either harming or stealing her for reasons unknown.”
Someone coughed and people shifted about a bit.

It took a moment for my eyes to clear but when they did we appeared to be in some kind of briefing room.
Judging by all the armor around with ‘USMPA’ stamped over it I think it’s safe to assume we’re in some kind of Hub mission briefing?

Someone below me sighed heavily.
My vision shifted down a little and I came face-to-hair with a rather bored and moody looking Trudy.
Her pen wiggled in her hand a few times as she twitched it between her fingers.

“The AMS office have been given control over all matters involving the VIP’s status and emotional state. You will prioritise any order from and defer all judgements to team psychologist Trudy Vandal.”
Trudy’s pen dropped onto the desk in her obvious surprise.
Everyone turned their attention to her for a moment before shifting back to the armored man at the front of the room.
“The security detail will include a representative from Research and Development along with several medical staff. We’ve been given a blank slate on cost so anything you believe could be of use in protecting the VIP needs to be listed and passed on to your department head by the end of the day for prep.”

The man at the front, his face didn’t seem very clear for some reason for me but he was definitely male at least, glanced over a sheet on his desk and sighed heavily.

“As a final reminder of our current status, we are at ready state for deployment.”
He straightened but still seemed a bit uneasy for some reason.
“The VIP is currently MIA but in contact with known factors, we’ve been advised by the AMS to not force a confrontation with the VIP and to remember that in all things she wishes to be treated in as low-key a manner as possible. Following that I MUST emphasise the fact that she is currently using the Alias ‘Hannah Cooper’.. if I catch any of you calling her anything but that name or ‘Ma’am’ then you’ll be back on waypoint duty for a month!”

Everyone, even Trudy, shifted uncomfortably at that apparent threat.
I didn’t think guarding waypoints was THAT bad?.. it might get boring after a while I guess..

“We’ll reconvene tomorrow to go over any additional proposals on the table, I’ll pass you over t-”

I didn’t get to hear what else he was going to say before the world muted and faded back to black again.

------

The light came back quickly this time but it felt different somehow?
Everything seemed to be a bit uneven and out of sync with itself.

A light source behind me provided a view into our kitchen from the backdoor.
Mum was busying herself making something with her back to me.
The sound of a foot hitting the wooden flooring made her jump and turn.

She seemed to almost turn in slow motion but when her eyes landed on my general direction they opened wide in surprise.

“Ari?..”

The world jolted into a blur of colors with flecks of black.

------

“Useless girl always been bad at ‘membering things, that’s why she always be useless girl-”

I didn’t even have time for my vision to clear before the world started spinning again.

------

“Why am I the one doing this fiddly crap?”
As the world slowed down and settled itself enough that my eyes could adjust properly things moved back into focus.

The first thing that caught my attention was the skyline.
Wherever we are, we’re high up?

Just past the sides of the rather large slanted peak around us there were long stretches of tree’s with thick looking snow nearby.
The peak itself seemed to be completely clear of snow in a suspiciously round manner that, to me, suggests magic at work.

“I can’t do it at the moment and you’re a self-proclaimed ‘Handyman’.. who better to assist this poor one-armed ‘storyteller’?”
The tone was snide and mocking.
It was recognisable too.

My eyes shot down to stare at the side of his head.
With everything I had I tried to will my arms into existence so I could grab him.

STORYTELLER!!

The second voice grumbled but didn’t give any more protests as he carried on his work inscribing something into the slanted rocky peak below their feet.
It took me a moment to recognise him without his stupid suit but the growl that had already been building silently in my chest went up a notch when I did.

HANDYMAN!!

“Do we know when she-”
Storyteller hissed loudly making Handyman shut up instantly.

“The Fae are still buzzing around, Maven’s lot aren’t part of the plan.”

Handyman seemed to take his words to heart by the way he kept his lips shut after that.
He continued to work on whatever he was doing while Storyteller kept a keen eye on him from a slight distance.

“Maven’s not too bad.. better than that bastard Lich Dante and his pets..”
Storyteller snorted back a laugh, shifting his one remaining shoulder a little as if he wanted to shrug.

I had a brief flash of smug pride that he still hasn’t managed to fix the damage I did to him, my magic must be lingering in the wound, it’s a problem a lot of weaker mages tend to face after fights with those more powerful then themselves.. then his words registered in my head properly.

DANTE?!!

“Aren’t you knights meant to stick together in these things?”
It was Handyman’s turn to snort back a laugh.

“That creature stopped being the Dandyman I knew a LONG time ago, maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll catch another face-full of fire soon..”

They both sunk back into an almost comfortable silence with a chuckle each as they apparently got lost in the idea of the Dante’s possible re-death.
The world around me started to fade once more but something about it felt different.. slower?

“You’re terrible at runes, that ‘Hugin’ rune looks more like a baby’s scribbles..”

Handyman tensed but before I could see what he did in response to Storytellers criticism the world blacked out completely.

------

Silence stretched out as the world rebuilt itself around me.
The first thing I saw when the world finally did come back into focus was my own face?

..no..
Close, not quite my face?
The cheeks are different.. she’s pale too, far too pale?

As I stared up at this.. this imposter?.. as I stared up at it, it’s face split into a wide malicious grin which really doesn’t look right on MY face.

“Well Alice.. you really do know how to make a mess of things, don’t you?”
She shifted her hips.
The strange long black gothic dress she had on seemed to flow unnaturally around her as she moved, in stark contrast to her stiff pale body.
“Their blood is on your hands you know? I would have let them go but you just HAD to be difficult didn’t you?”

Her feet shifted and with smooth grace she moved away from me to look out into the unclear distance, everything around us seemed to be in flux somehow?
There’s only her and me and..

My eyes cut down to the figure crumpled on the floor below me.
Is that.. is that ME?..

I look so tired and..
oh powers.. I know that look!

Whoever this imposter is, she’s done something?!
Something that I could NEVER forgive!!

I know the expressions on my face, even from this angle this new face can’t change that dangerous look Al used far too many times when faced with atrocity’s only a demon could conceive..

The version of me on the unclear floor shifted.
She had something, something metallic in her hand?

I couldn’t make out what the object was.
Everything’s starting to blur and fade again!

With keen eyes I focused on my double’s fist as much as I could.
Her hand clenched tightly around the dark metal for a moment and something that might have been electricity sparked around her fist as she forced her way back to her feet.

Her arm went momentarily slack but then stiffened until she was pointing at the imposter with the metal extended.
Is that.. is it a knife?..

Slowly her grip on the ‘blade’ loosened and her head cocked to the side slightly.
Seemingly out of nowhere a laugh bubbled its way up past my doubles lips as she gestured at the smug imposter with the ‘blade’ and her closed fist.

The imposters smile slipped into a dark glare for just a moment but before I could see anything more the world started fading back to black yet again.

“Do you know the difference between us-”

------

The moment I had my body back within the darkness, I let out a frustrated yell and sunk to my knees, striking the floor below me in anger.
What the HELL is going on?!
Is this.. am I seeing the future?!

The imposter, she can’t really have been.. she can’t have.. can she?!

There was no warning when the darkness shifted and began to lighten again, despite my attempts to resist it with all my sizable willpower!

------

Screaming was the first thing I could hear.
Before I could regain my sight that was overtaken by something far worse.. pain!

The world seemed to be moving at lightning speed.
I couldn’t get anything clear.

Sob’s, screams, blood and flashes of light followed closely by smoke with a deep burning pain in my chest?!

The only clear image I could make out was a man’s shadow as it moved away from me towards some kind of bright door.
The pain returned at an even worse level then it started as a moment later and I lost track of everything.

..a voice?..
A heart-breaking little girl’s voice managed to force its way past the screams and pain.

“..please.. no more..”

The black started moving back in around me and I was almost relieved for it as the pain slowly slid away with its approach.
At seemingly the last possible second a flash of white pulled me in a completely different direction.

My chest hurt but that was nothing to the pain I’d experienced moments before.
One more flash and everything was gone.

======

“aaaAAAAHHHH!”

I jerked up and spun my body frantically to the side.
A second later I landed against something hard and cold.

With a shudder my knees came up to my chest and I pulled myself into a tight little ball as my body was wracked with sobs.
Where am I?
What’s.. why am I naked?..

..Wh..where am I?!..

There was a lot of noise from somewhere nearby.
A light flicked on behind a closed door right in front of me.

I started pushing myself back as best I could without letting go of my knees, rolling under the cover of whatever I’d just fallen off of more than anything.

A shadow stretched from the bottom of the door, after some mumbling and a long pause the door opened allowing bright light to stream in around the silhouette of a man.
The whole scene flashed back across my eyes from just moments ago.

I couldn’t help the frightened scream that wrenched itself from my lips, or the frantic movements I made to escape away from the figure.

“..please.. no more.. please.. no more..”
The words tumbled from my mouth in a hysterical chant.

Like the girl before me the words did no good.
The silhouette seemed to hesitate less than a moment before taking a step closer to me!

I let off one more panicked scream and squeezed my eyes shut in fear.
The air felt cold for a moment but the feeling quickly faded as the light was blocked out from my vision somehow.

I lay in my tight ball sobbing to myself in relief as the cold darkness seemed to squeeze in around me.
Even the dark is better than that man!

He was real?!
I don’t know how but something deep inside me can just TELL he was real, it was all real..
It was all real!!

“Hannah?”
I screamed and jerked away from the male voice that seemed to have come out of nowhere at my side.

“Mom?”
This time my heart hammered away ferociously in my chest but I managed to bite back another scream at least.

That voice I recognise, I can’t remember how but just the sound of it flooded me with warm reassuring feelings.

My arms that were still wrapped tightly around my knees, slackened slightly and I managed to pull in a deep gasp of air.
That voice, a little girls voice like the other one.. but so different.. so special?

“..Eris..”
My voice cracked before I could get anything else out.
Instead of trying again I pulled my knees back into my chest and sobbed with everything I had left until all I could do with breath.

..Eris?..