Unexpected Consequences (Peregrine & Kaisaan)

[Kaisaan]

She didn't know why, not at first, but no one was approaching the buildings housing the cars. Gabby watched the soldiers spread out and start to descend upon the rubble, but not one of them came toward where she and David were hiding. The more she watched, the less the soldier understood it. They seemed to be searching for something, but it wasn't bodies. There were no dogs, no equipment for finding heat signatures beneath the rumble, nothing to indicate they expected to find anyone alive. They weren't even trying. That fact alone set off warning bells within the woman's mind and she slowly backed away from the door again, creeping back to the car. She hesitated over getting in, though, knowing that if she did the mere sight of David would fill her with enough guilt that she'd make a decision based off of that alone.

No, she had to do it now, while she still had a relatively clear head....though, lack of sleep had probably done little to help her thought process. It certainly hadn't helped the pain in her shoulder at all and the bleeding had started again, seeping slowly through the cloth she'd used to hastily wrap it. The warmth of the car had loosened the clots and the movement she'd just undergone had 'awakened' the injury again. She needed to get that tended. Soon.

But David. First David.

She needed to get into contact with her own government. She needed to talk to someone she could trust. Explain things, get information, counsel. She....oh screw it! She already knew what her decision was and it was absolutely effing crazy! Gabrielle knew she couldn't make any other, though. Cursing under her breath at her own stupidity - and the thought that her mother was going to kill her for real when she found out Gabby wasn't dead - the woman climbed back into the car and let out a sigh.

She placed her hands on the steering wheel, not looking at David, though she could tell he was shaking even from her own seat. She didn't blame the man. "I'm not turning you in." The were the first words, blunt and out in the open. It had been the weight, the heaviness between them since that first moment she'd realized what he could do, only growing more intense when they'd reached the surface and now the most suffocating in this moment. Now, like a balloon popping, the tension went out of the soldier and she finally did turn her aqua green eyes to David's dark pair. "I debated it. I'm not going to lie. It's the logical thing to do, maybe even the responsible thing to do, but....I can't." Gabby released an explosive sigh and wracked her hand back through her tangled blond hair, shaking her head afterward. "Maybe I'll be able to tell you why later on, but don't ask me now. I don't understand why I'm doing this. I just know I can't give you to them....any of them."

Gabby met his eyes squarely again. "I'll get you out of here. I'll keep you safe, hidden until you decide where the hell it is you want to go. That's all I can promise. Can you accept that for now?"

 

[Peregrine]

There should have been some response from David. Some outward sign that he felt relief, pleasure, anything at Gabrielle's statement. It was a relief from his main fear of the future. It meant he had been right to stay, that he was finally free. And for a moment there was relief, just the faintest touch of it, and a smile nearly graced his lips. But then it was gone, as though it had never existed.

It wasn't a conscious choice on David's part. It was an instinct. The eyes of the Doctor could see everything. They looked at him and they picked out his vibrancy, the faintest nuances of his very being. The eyes of the Doctor would know when he felt relief, when he felt fear. They looked at him, and they had seen the talent within him. And then the Doctor's fingers had come in, and they had twisted that vibrance, poking it and prodding it and twisting it and pulling it until it fit the shape that matched the Doctor's will. And even if it would snap back as soon as the fingers released, even a rubber band would slowly change its shape if stretched too far too many times.

David had never let the Doctor see that his efforts were having an effect. It had been his one goal, the one way he could resist and fight back, because if the Doctor never knew that what he was doing was working then he could never make progress.

But how do you keep something hidden from a man who can see everything? It had taken time, but the only thing David had was time. Slowly, he had banished everything that the Doctor would be able to see. He banished every vibrance outside of himself, until only the faintest traces were left. Just enough to make the Doctor believe that there was no change, only the growing numbness of a person who has seen too much. All he had left were things inside of himself. Things that never touched anything outside of himself. Those the Doctor could not see. Those were his alone, and he nourished them as everything else faded away.

Numb. That was how he appeared. "Alright." David agreed. "How are we getting out of here?"

He was free. He was alive. He had finally managed to save someone from the empty, sterile world that had consumed so many.

 

[Kaisaan]

Well.

That had been anticlimactic. Not one for a great deal of talking, was he? The voice that had been so pushy and yet helpful just minutes before had grown decided sarcastic now and Gabby hushed it impatiently. She was tired. He was tired. They didn't know each other and they'd been in nothing but one stressful situation to the next within the last twenty-four hours....had it even been that long? She couldn't very well judge him or his character based off of that information alone. There would be plenty of time to get to know each other later, apparently. For now, regardless of how either of them behaved, she would not form opinion. Not under the duress of exhaustion.

The question made Gabrielle blink, coming back to herself, not even realizing she'd really floated away until that moment. God, she needed to get to a hospital or something. She'd lost too much blood and both of them needed water, food and decent sleep not wracked with peril. She'd settle for water at this point. The last seemed very unlikely at the moment.

"Night. We'll wait until night. We might be able to go unnoticed then, nothing more than another vehicle, nothing of importance. We can't go now. Not in broad daylight."

The woman sighed once more and sat back in the seat, slowly cracking her neck and glancing down at her injured shoulder with a grimace. Where David seemed to show nothing on his face, Gabby showed almost everything in some degree. Compared to David, she was the most passionate person on the planet, though. So perhaps that was not the best comparison. Her green eyes met his dark, searching for a moment, not prying but curious about what went on in his mind all the same, before the soldier looked away again and back out the windshield, keeping an eye on the entrance to the makeshift garage.

"You should get more sleep. We might not be getting any tonight."

(( Feel free to skip them to night if you wish. ))

 

[Peregrine]

For the longest time sleep eluded David. Consciously he knew it should have been easy for him to fall asleep at this point. He was free from the machinations of the mad Doctor Dahnov, and there was no one left alive who knew of the doctor's experiments. Gabrielle had just promised him that she would not turn him in, and that they would live in secret until he could find a way to enter into the world. Whatever the people outside were doing, Gabrielle was obviously confident that they would not come in here and find them. There was no reason for him to worry. Even now he could feel his body crying out in exhaustion in a way he had not felt since Russian paramedics had dug him out of his ruined house, his body still clenched around the crumpled form of his little sister even though his mind had long since given up the fight for consciousness.

But still he could not sleep. His mind spun in exhausted loops around this new thing called freedom. He had dreamed of it for so long within the whitewashed walls that had entrapped him. To him it had been the ultimate good thing, the thing to which he looked for the answer to all his problems. But it had been an abstract dream, something to keep him contained in those moments long ago when his emotion had run away from him and he had almost given away everything. He had locked freedom in the back of his mind with the wish to return to his dead family, to be taken out and gently admired like an ancient heirloom, but never actually used.

But freedom had found him, despite his belief that he would die long before it reached him. It had reached him, but what a toll it had taken along the way. All the others, locked away in other portions of the facility. All of Gabrielle's men. All of the Doctor's work, for which he had exacted such suffering in the name of completing. All of it had vanished in the single moment that had granted David's freedom. He didn't know if it was worth it. He didn't know if, given the option, he would have said his freedom was worth these things.

Then again, that was vanity speaking. It wasn't as though the destruction had been an unintended consequence of his being freed. No, his freedom was an unintended side effect of the destruction. Whether or not he was freed in the process, the destruction would have happened. David understood that well.

But he had been freed. Somehow it had worked out that he and Gabrielle had survived the destruction that was meant to obliterate everything. He was free, and now he had to figure out what to do with it. Gabrielle would guide him in these first parts, but it was still on him to decide what he was going to do. What was he going to do?

Freedom, he was beginning to think, might not be the blessing he had always thought it would be.

But, eventually, his exhausted mind spun itself into oblivion. He was not sure when his thoughts changed into dreams, and when his dreams vanished altogether into the darkness of a sleep that defied any interruptions.

 

[Kaisaan]

Night came too soon for Gabby and yet not soon enough. Her body was exhausted, beyond that, and her mind was not far off from collapsing right behind her physical strength. Still, she pushed herself. She knew she had to. When darkness fell, true darkness, she forced herself into activity. Without bothering to wake David, the soldier exited the vehicle and with painstakingly slow and cautious care, opened the giant doors to the building. Every creak and groan made her wince and freeze, breathing shallowly and slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible. The cover of darkness would not hide noise nearly as effectively as it could movement and Gabrielle knew all the heart-stopping moments when she feared being discovered would only make her that much more careful.

It did and she managed to get the doors in place without incident.

Getting back to the car, she knew she shook like a leaf. Freedom was so close, just a few centimeters from her grasp, but one wrong breath could push it the other way, out of reach entirely. It was with a deep, air-through-the-teeth breath later that she finally found the courage to turn the key to the engine. The car came on with a roaring purr and Gabby winced, but knew that to waste time now would not be wise. If they'd been heard then they'd been heard. No going back now.

She didn't look to see if David was awake or not. This was her job. She didn't need him conscious to accomplish it.

Hitting the gas, the soldier pulled the vehicle out of the building, trying to keep an even pace. She was just another car. Just another Russian soldier. Just someone on an assignment. Breathe. Don't draw attention. Keep it steady. They can't see who you are. They'll just assume you're them. They think everyone died. Remember that. Slow...slow... She let her own inner voice soothe her nerves and kept the car moving at an even pace, counting the seconds....then the minutes....then the miles as they started to gain distance from the bomb site and the Russian military surrounding it.

No alarm went up by ten miles out and Gabrielle found herself sucking in air as if she'd been underwater for far too long. She shook almost violently and had to grip the steering wheel in an ever-tightening hold to keep the car straight, fingers going white. If she'd been paying more attention, had been less tired, Gabrielle might have realized she was exhibiting the first signs of a panic attack, but as it was her lack of awareness was probably more helpful in the end as she slowly gained control of her reaction, made herself focus.

They needed somewhere safe.

Aqua-green eyes glanced at the man in the passenger seat, debating the option....and realizing very suddenly that a hospital was out of the question.....as was a motel at this point. Dressed in army fatigues, bearing no identification except that of the US Army, Gabby wasn't going to stay hidden for long if she used any of those. And David didn't have any of that. No, anything conventional and public was not going to work. So where?

God, this was going to be harder than she'd ever anticipated or prepared for.

 

[Peregrine]

David did not wake when Gabrielle turned the key in the engine, bringing the car to purring life. But as they gradually began to move, the car rolling slowly through the dirt and then onto the cracked pavement of the abandoned city, the noise slowly began to emerge in his mind and he woke slowly.

At first his instinct was to roll over, grab his pillow, and shove his head underneath. Most likely it was simply the sound of another test, although David did not like to think about what exactly could make that low, deep purr loud enough for him to hear all the way across the facility. But for now he was safe. The guards would come knocking soon enough if he was wanted this day, and then he would drag himself forcibly out of the surprisingly sweet sleep that clung warmly to his mind.

But his fingers closed around empty air as he reached for his pillow, and the noise began to penetrate deeper and deeper into him until finally he came fully awake.

For a moment he simply lay in the tilted back car seat, listening to the sound of the engine under his ear and running a finger lightly up and down the vinyl seat cover. As he lay there, he guessed that they had already been driving for at least ten minutes, which meant that they had escaped the confines of the ruined city, and were now driving out into the emptiness of the Russian wilderness. Nothing was going to stop them.

They drove on in silence, and it did not even occur to David to speak. He sat himself up, curling up in the flat of the seat like a child and peering out the window. The vast stretches of distance around him were almost unfathomable, and he was glad that he had the security of the car around him. He didn't know what he would do with all that empty space if it was just him and it.

Gradually, though, questions began to emerge. At first he ignored them, focusing instead on the look of the outside world and the taste of free air that was coming in through the vents of the car. But, just as the sound of the engine had gradually drawn him from sleep, one question began to work its way into the forefront of his mind, not to be ignored.

"Where are we?"

Now that he had slept and relaxed, the trace of Irish accent in his voice had faded, to be replaced with a mild Russian one. Once again David did not notice, although he did note that he was speaking in English. It seemed like a small concession to make to the soldier, although it surprised him how well he remembered the language, seeing as he had grown up speaking Russian more frequently than English. No matter. If he remembered he remembered, and the question was far more important.

 

[Kaisaan]

David's voice, despite the fact that Gabby KNEW he was in the car, startled her and she just stopped herself from jerking on the wheel as she jumped in her seat, looking over at him quickly and then releasing her breath in an explosion of oxygen. It took a moment, her heart pounding away in her chest, for the soldier to register what her passenger had said and then another few minutes in which he surely had to think she'd forgotten about the question entirely for Gabriel to answer. "Well, we're in the country of Russia. Western Russia, but as for our exact coordinates, I don't know. We weren't provided that kind of information for this mission. It wasn't needed."

No, not when it was supposed to be a quick apprehension and a simple extraction. No one had expected a bomb. No one had thought they'd lose contact with their agency. No one had suspected that knowing where they were would be useful because two people might escape the massacre and need a place to go. No, none of that had been considered - by either side - and now Gabriel was left to figure it out on her own....but that really wasn't something she was unused to. The woman shook her head, blond hair brushing her face, impatiently pushed back. That wasn't a good thing to think about right now. She was already stressed enough. Recalling what had happened on top of her team's death and this.....no. Clearing her throat, Gabby glanced at David again, noting what she'd not thought about before.

The Russian accent was back. Odd - and that was coming from her.

Looking back to the road, she spoke again, trying to sound more confident than she felt and yet somehow feeling that David didn't give a crap whether she did or not. He didn't seem to react to much of anything. Was that from personality or a state of mind learned in captivity? How long HAD he been down there? Had his powers always been like that or were they enhanced somehow by whatever had been going on in that underground facility? So many questions, but the soldier held her tongue on all of them and tried to make herself focus. It was getting increasingly hard to do so. She needed to sleep, to eat, to stop being in pain...yeah, that last part would be nice....

"If I had to guess, I would say the nearest major city is Moscow. Right now, though, the only thing I can tell you is that we're several miles from the bastards behind us and we're going to keep putting distance between us until I drop from exhaustion, all right?" Gabriel gripped the steering wheel tightly and took a deep breath, releasing it in a slow sigh. "To be honest, though, I am not sure where we're going to go. I...I'll need to contact some people, see if they can tell me where to go."

 

[Peregrine]

Russia. They were still in Russia. In some ways it was a relief to know that they were still in the country where he had been born and raised. It was familiar. He had been to Moscow once with his mother and Asya, and they had wandered the streets, eating chocolate and sweet Soya bars while his mother took them to the house where she had been raised, and where her parents still lived. At the time David had been quite upset that they couldn't go see their grandparents. It wasn't until he was a little older that he learned his mother's parents had not approved in the slightest of her marrying an American soldier, and would not have welcomed her arrival on their doorstep, even if she was bringing their grandchildren. But knowing that the Facility had been located in Russia also brought a brief, heartsick twang. He had never known for sure where they were, and while Dahnov had been Russian, the other researchers had come from all over Asia. The other subjects had come from all over the world, with no country better represented than another. There had been nothing to say that the country he had grown up loving, even as his father told stories about how it was not a good place, ignoring their mother's tight-lipped but silent disapproval, had fallen to such a level that it would support the kidnapping and murder of young psychic children, even if it was done in the name of creating a super soldier.

But the conflicting emotions were quickly driven away as Gabrielle continued to speak, and David caught the meaning of her words. "Contact who?" His words were as bland as ever, but there was a faint tension radiating from him that filled the car with a trace of emotion. Dahnov would have missed it, so tightly was it contained. But Gabrielle... he had tasted her energy, he knew that. He had no idea how he had done it, but he knew he had done it. She would feel its faint radiance, in layers and directions the Doctor never had figured out how to see.

Suspicion.

 

[Kaisaan]

She thought she might have imagined it at first in her desire to glean something from the man sitting across from her, but just as quickly she knew what she'd heard had been real....if she'd heard it at all. Sensed it, perhaps? That seemed more likely, while at the same time it made no sense whatsoever. She wasn't an Empath that she could sense emotions. She sensed, saw, touched death. Nothing more, nothing less. Somehow, despite knowing that irrefutable fact, Gabrielle also knew without doubt that she'd almost felt David's suspicion. It wasn't something she could explain, nor was it anything she could try and puzzle out now. The only thing left was denial or acceptance, and the soldier had been born into the world of impossibles. Denial wasn't her fallback.

Blue-green eyes glanced to the Russian momentarily before moving back to the road. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to see what she'd felt on his face or not, but regardless it wasn't there by the time she looked and Gabrielle focused her attention back on the road. "People like you, like me. We're not the only two with powers, David. There are many, but I will admit, I've never met anyone with your level of abilities." Gabby shook her head slightly, still in some awe and admitted shock over what she'd seen him do, but that wasn't mentioned as she continued, keeping everything strictly business. Her squad had teased her for that.

Damn she was going to mi-

No.

Not now. Focus.

"I have a contact who will be able to direct us to someone who will shelter us. I don't know any Russian mutants or I'd just contact them myself." The woman stole another glance at her passenger and responsibility. This couldn't be easy for him, no more than it was for her. He might have been living in a lab, but it was all he'd known for a while she'd bet. By the way he behaved and his uncertainty about something as simple as a car....yeah, she'd wager he'd been there since he was young. Gut-wrenching to think about, but those were the facts. Still, knowing them, Gabby gave a small sigh and cautioned herself to some patience that she didn't feel and understanding that was...hard to come by if only for her exhaustion, pain and stress. Still, she tried. She felt she had to - not forced to, but....like she needed to make sure David was all right. It was more than an obligation, though, for the life of her, Gabrielle couldn't figure out what it WAS right now.

"I know none of that reassured you, and I am sorry. I do wish I had some way to let you know that you can trust me, can trust where I'll take you and who I will take you, too, but I don't." She barked a small, faint laugh, wincing at the jar it gave her shoulder. "Truth be told, I'll likely get you into a lot of trouble and I'll screw up, often, but I will try to keep you safe. That's all I can promise."

 

[Peregrine]

What was he going to do? David felt like his head was about to explode. He had used more power in the last twenty four hours than he had demonstrated in his whole life, even if he had known that the power was within him. He had nearly died, before being brought back from the brink by tapping Gabrielle's energy, a feat he would have surely declared impossible before it had happened. Now they were fleeing from the Russian government, Gabrielle was wounded, and he was in the passenger seat, looking out at a world that seemed so impossibly large.

It was all too much. He shouldn't have to be put through this. But he was here, and there was nothing that could be done about that. Gabrielle was asking for his trust. That was something he had no way to give her. But, even if he thought she was about to lead him right to the American government, what could he really do? He had no idea where they were, had no way to get anywhere except this vehicle, and even if he did, he had nowhere to go. He knew that the memories of his childhood were idealized; Moscow would eat him up and spit him out. His life, his future, was in Gabrielle's hands. It didn't matter whether or not she was lying to him.

"Alright." That was what he had said before, wasn't it? When she had promised that she would get him away, get him somewhere safe. It seemed surprisingly appropriate. It was the same sort of grand confession he had received earlier, the same desperate attempt to reassure him and bring him a measure of comfort and security. And, just like then, only two facts remained. They were both alive, and they were going to stay that way.

She probably wanted some reaction from him. Some sign that he believed her promise, and was willing to accept that she meant him no harm. For a moment he almost wished he could give it. But, at least for the moment, that was another thing he would have to add to the list of the impossible.

David rolled carefully in the seat, and directed his eyes back out the window. They passed the time in silence, before Gabrielle turned, and they were suddenly on a road that had to contain hundreds of cars. David tensed, his eyes wide. He stared unashamedly as the cars passed, at the people inside of them, focused on the road and their own destinations. So many people.

 

[Kaisaan]

Well.

That had been a waste of breathe, time, concentration and effort she couldn't afford to piss away. Gabrielle resisted the urge to snap at the male next to her, knowing it was the situation making her so impatient, so sensitive and edgy. It wasn't David's fault....well, maybe a little, but not enough that she should feel so irritable at him. Better not to say anything at all. David didn't deserve her snapping at him, especially when it wasn't truly him she was so angry at - and even if he had been the cause, lashing out wasn't the answer. So Gabby made herself breathe and she made herself drive, letting the silence wash over her nerves, wishing it could lull away the pain as well, not daring to let it soothe the exhaustion.

It had managed to set her into a trance of sorts anyway because the first dazzling cluster of lights from the sudden onslaught of cars startled her completely and Gabrielle felt her heart thudding away in her chest, her hands shaking and sweat clammy upon her forehead as she made herself draw in a deep lungful of air and release it slowly before repeating the process.

Cars.

Right. Cities. Moscow. Good things.

Forced to concentrate on traffic now, the soldier couldn't well watch David, but from the corner of her eye, she noted his dual reaction of fear and fascination. She took a brief moment to be grateful that he'd already shown himself to be incapable of bolting or showing panic. That was the last thing she needed right now. Making her mind focus on the task at hand was draining enough and she could feel her own system telling her it was overloaded and would soon be crashing.

As they slowly left the highway and entered the city itself, Gabrielle found her vision darkening around the edges and subtly shook herself, sitting straighter, trying to wake her body up enough to get them to a safer place. She purposefully took roads with less traffic, moving away from the busy, tourist-attraction places to the outskirts of the bright city. It was safer, yes, but turned out to be just as equally dangerous, for without the constant stimulation of lights, sounds, cars and people, Gabrielle couldn't help but relax a little.

That led to the inevitable black out at the wheel, the one that had been coming for miles now, and the car was soon out of control.

Gabby woke not as the car honed in on the deep ditch at the side of the road, but as they careened into it. It was only a brief flash of awareness, a moment of terrified panic before her world went dark once more as the airbag hit and she was lost to the darkness again - none the wiser to the fact that while the engine was totaled, the car hadn't been going fast enough to kill them. Small blessings she would only be able to acknowledge later.

 

[Peregrine]

David remained blankly staring out the window for the rest of the ride, watching as the skyline of Moscow rose in front of him. It was so different than he remembered. There was so... much. Nothing seemed smooth or empty here. Every space was filled, by widows, by lights, by people, by massive, colorful billboards. For David, it was quite a relief to turn off the main road, and start winding their way down the side streets. He had no idea what Gabrielle was looking for, but he also knew there was nothing he could do to help her find it. His memories of this city were hazy with years and childhood.

It wasn't until the car began to suddenly drift to the right that David noticed something was wrong. "GABR-" But he never finished that particular shout, because the car was suddenly slamming into a ditch. He was thrown towards the window, the seat belt cutting against his chest and neck, and there was a big, white bag flying at his face. He never had time to cognizantly choose to use his power, and so long in the lab had taught him never to use it. Not under any circumstances. Not even to save his own life.

He hit the thing, and felt it burn against his cheek. But then it was gone, and he was sliding forward in the seat. The glass in front of him was cracked, and he couldn't hear anything for the ringing of his ears. He coughed faintly, and his breath sounded weird. For a while he could only sit there, gasping air back into his lungs, trying to understand what had happened. He glanced to his left, at Gabrielle. Gabreille. There was blood coating her shirt. Whatever little the bandage had done to stop her blood, it was completely ruined now. Her head was lolling to the side, resting on the deflated airbag.

"Gabrielle?" His voice was little more than a whisper.

"Gabrielle!" This time he made more noise, but there was still no reaction from her. He reached out carefully, groaning as his whole body seemed to complain, and shook her. No reaction. He reached out to her, grabbing at the faint energy inside of her, pulling at it. She had to wake up. There was no response, but the faint, hitching sound of her breath seemed to stabilize. Or was that just wishful thinking?

People were going to start gathering soon. Natural curiosity would draw a few, and then more would come to see what had happened. Soon enough there would be police and ambulance, and if they saw them they would take them to the hospital. And from there, there would be no escape. They would find out Gabrielle was an American soldier, and calls would be made. They would find out he didn't exist, and if they didn't arrest him for being an illegal immigrant they would send him with the Americans, and then it would be back into a lab, where they would push and poke him until he could barely stand it, except this time they would know that he was hiding secrets, that if they pushed harder and harder they would eventually get something out of him because Gabrielle knew...

No. He couldn't allow that to happen. He had to get away. And she had to come with him.

David kicked his way out of the passenger door, stumbling his way around the smoking ruin of the engine to the driver's door. He tugged it open, fighting against the warp in the hinges, before finally reaching Gabrielle. She was still alive. Still unconscious. David froze, thinking he heard the sound of a car on the road. He had to get out of here. He tugged her out of the seat belt, wrapping thin arms around her chest and under her shoulders, and struggled desperately to drag her up the other side of the ditch. There were trees up there, and if he could get into them before anyone arrived the two of them would never be found. He'd find a way to wake Gabrielle up, and then they would do... something. It didn't matter what they would do. All that mattered was they had to get away.

He barely made it. He saw the glint of another car rounding the corner just as he reached the top of the hill, and with a final heave they disappeared into the evergreens. Panting heavily but giving himself no time to rest David repositioned his arms, leaned back, and continued to drag.

When he finally felt like he had made it a safe distance from the road David stopped, lowering Gabrielle t the ground, before collapsing next to her, heaving air into lungs that already felt like they were on fire. His arms were shaking, there was a burning pain in his side, and he felt like he was about to throw up. A minute or two of quivering silence later, and David was able to lift himself back into a crouching position. Gabrielle was still unconscious. He winced as he glanced at her. The wound had gotten even worse. Her shirt was so wet that even touching it left a red smear on his hands.

What was he going to do? If he just left her there, she would never wake up. In a couple days someone would find the body of a dead American soldier on Russian soil. A faint noise escaped his lips. What was he going to do? If he was the one hurt, it might be possible for him to salvage the situation. That was what had happened back then... Back when his family had died. He had been in the rubble, and he had been in so much pain, and the energy had come and had begun to knit his flesh back together. It was what had led Dahnov to find him.

But he couldn't do that for Gabrielle. Her body wasn't his. He couldn't.... couldn't he? He didn't know how he'd done it, but he had touched her energy before. Not only seen it and acknowledged its existence in the most cursory of forms, but actually grabbed it, pulled it, used it. It should have been impossible, but he'd done it. Couldn't he now do the reverse? There wasn't much in him to spare, but he could close the wound cleanly, he was sure he could. Even if they both lay unconscious in these woods for a couple hours, it shouldn't matter.

He grabbed the energy within him and tried to shove it into Gabrielle, but whenever he got it close to her it slipped through his fingers like slime. He had to... do something. It was just like the dirt, like the explosion. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable of images, but he tried to change Gabrielle's arm in his mind to something that wasn't living, wasn't anything other than a pile of pieces. He had listened to Dahnov's endless experiments and trials. Cells. DNA. That was all Dahnov had seen in him and the others, and it was what had allowed him to do all the things he did without shame. The thought that he might, in any respect, be like Dahnov sent another set of tremors through David, but if that was what he had to use to keep Gabrielle alive... he would.

One piece at a time, as much by instinct as by thought, David used his own energy to slowly knit her flesh back together. It was not a clean heal, and she would probably have a heavy scar there for the rest of her life, but it was functional. It served its purpose. The flow of blood slowed, and then halted. David went limp next to her.

 

[Kaisaan]

Gabrielle didn't know where she was when she woke.

Everything was fuzzy, as if she were viewing the world through a haze of gray no matter how she blinked, it didn't leave her eyes. The world swam as she turned her head, but the soldier was able to make out the four walls of a room, pictures without details, a dresser, a table at her side. She must have been on a bed. Or was she merely dreaming? That had to be it. She couldn't be on a bed and in a room because she was in a car, bleeding out. That sounded right. That sounded just. She deserved that.

A quiet giggle escaped her mouth.

Oh, did she deserve it. She'd let them die. All of them. All dead, always dead, forever dead. Walking corpses in her presence the moment they met her. A shadow upon the world, ghosts everyone could see. "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." She knew she said it, her mouth forming the words, throat vibrating with the sounds, but she didn't hear it. Somehow it didn't elicit concern. The presence that suddenly filled her vision brought about instant fear, though, and the moment the figure touched her forehead, Gabrielle let out a scream and tried to scramble away. The world tilted, spun as she tried and she barely withheld her stomach rebelling the action, gagging as she tried to ward off the pair of hands that had become two, both trying to get her to lie down.

They were not Death. She knew him. His touch was chilling, familiar. Comforting even as she hated it. These hands were insistent, far too firm and yet careful as they managed to pin her writhing form. No, this was not Death. Death was cold, numbing. This was fiery heat and pain that flared like dragonfire through her mind and through her nerves. This time Gabrielle screamed from the agony of it as well as the fear.

She didn't want to be here. Not again. Not here. Please. Not here. They were dead. All dead. Just like her team. Dead and gone, leaving her, always leaving her. Alone. She was Death and she was alone. The shrieks turned to sobbing laughter at the thought and the woman stopped fighting the hands that held her, exhaustion darkening her world once more.

--

"Good God!"

The red-haired male, perhaps in his late forties, with a worker's hands and a strong build, slowly released the soldier, catching his breath. His small wife, at his side, her dark hair pinned up and falling around her face, skin damp with sweat, swallowed, looking down to Gabrielle with a shake of her head. "Poor child." she whispered before looking back to her husband. "And the other one?"

"He sleeps. Unless the screaming woke him. I've seen to him. He's not in a bad way, not like this one."

The woman rested her slender hand on Gabrielle's forward and then touched her cheek. "She still burns. She needs a doctor, Serge. This is beyond us." Her dark eyes looked back to the male in question, but her husband was already rolling up his sleeves, his head shaking. "We can't, love. We don't know what they are or which one of them sent the signal. We can't risk a hospital."

"Serge! We don't know what's wrong!"

Serge nodded solemnly, already pulling on plastic gloves and examining the sealed-over injury on Gabrielle's shoulder. It was slightly inflamed and hot to the touch, and slightly red around the edges. A minor infection at worst and irritation to her body at best. They'd keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't get worse. "I know, Maria, but we don't have a choice. We'll have to figure it out." Blue eyes met the dark ones of the small Japanese woman and while there was no approval in her gaze, she did roll up her own sleeves in silent resignation, committed to helping no matter how foolish she thought it was.

"Do you think it's power-related?"

The man hummed a bit, but shook his head, checking Gabrielle's pupils, seeing how they responded to light. "More likely normal fatigue and trauma. Perhaps shock. They're both pretty battered."

Maria touched Gabrielle's arm, giving her husband a look. "He's not the one screaming. I still think it could be power exhaustion."

 

[Peregrine]

Before this moment, there had only been one time when David had woken up and not been in the place where he fell asleep. The last time it had happened, he had found himself staring at whitewashed walls, laying on a flattened, used mattress, with a down comforter thrown over him. He'd been in simple white clothes. This time, when he woke up, he found himself greeted by the mismatched eyes of a little girl, who had one finger way up her nose. For a moment they stared at each other, his dark eyes meeting hers, one brown, one blue. The little girl promptly pulled her finger out of her nose and hid it behind her back, as though trying to pretend it hadn't happened. She then whirled about, racing towards the door where she latched onto the frame, hanging around the edge.

"ALLA!" she screamed into the house, her voice an impossibly loud shriek. "He's AWAKE!"

David was nearly paralyzed in confusion. Where was he? What had happened? The last thing he remembered was healing Gabrielle deep in the Russian woods, and now he was in a house. A house with other people. Had they been found? No, that couldn't be it. If someone had found two people unconscious in the woods, they would have brought them to a hospital. There was no way they were in a hospital. Not with that little girl.

That little girl was preparing to shout again, when a figure rounded the corner, clamping a hand over her mouth so that all that emerged was a muffled 'umph'. "No need to shout so loud," the woman reprimanded, before letting go. "I can hear you just fine." The girl bounced a bit, apparently not bothered in the least with the fact that her shout had just been stifled.

"Alla, he's awake," she repeated, gesturing towards David. David had rolled onto his side to watch the two. If he had to guess, he would say that the woman was either the girl's mother or a significantly older sister. They both had the same pale brown, flyaway hair, the same round face, and Alla had the same shade of brown in her eyes as the young girl had in her one. Alla gently moved the girl out of the way, before walking over to David's side. She kneeled down next to him and started to reach out, but when David recoiled she let her hand fall easily enough. "Easy," she said softly. "It's okay. You're safe. We are friends. Ah, I hope you speak Russian."

Friends? They were friends? Gabrielle's voice came to his mind, talking about finding friends. That must be it. Gabrielle had woken up, and she had found a way to contact those people she'd wanted to call. He couldn't imagine how she had managed it, but nothing else made sense.

"Gab-" His voice was a dry croak, and it quickly devolved into a fit of coughing. Alla reached over to the table, picking up a short glass and a tumbler of water. She poured him some, before gently helping him sit up and drink some.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. What did you say?"

"Gabrielle," David finally managed. "Where is Gabrielle?"

"Gabrielle? Is that the woman you were with? Blonde hair and freckles?"

David nodded, somewhat hesitantly, confusion entering his eyes again. If they didn't know Gabrielle, that meant that she hadn't contacted them. What was going on.

"Let me go get Serge," Alla said, patting his leg sympathetically. "He'll be able to tell you how she's doing." She stood up, reaching out to grab the young girl's shoulder as she started to move in to fill the space Alla had just vacated. "Leave him be," she said. "Give him time to rest."

"But he's been resting for ages!"

"I know, sweetie. Just give him a bit longer, kay?"

"Okay." But, as soon as Alla was out of sight and it was clear that she wasn't going to suddenly poke her head back around the corner the girl scooted up beside David, staring at him intently. Finally she grinned. "My name's Faina. Who are you?"

"... I'm David."

"Hi David," Faina said, settling a bit more comfortably in front of him. She peered at him again, before glancing at the doorway. She then looked back at him, back at the door, and then an impish smile began to spread over her face. "Alla said I wasn't supposed to show anyone, but I like you. You want to see what I can do?" Without waiting for an answer, Faina lifted her hand. Grinning at David, she wiggled her fingers. It was only then that he noticed that there were tiny, shimmering tendrils of light appearing in the gaps between her fingers, weaving in and out in luminescent ribbons. Her grin was wide, sweet, and intoxicating.

David felt his heart melt.

 

[Kaisaan]

Serge and Maria had been working on the fevered Gabrielle for hours now, but said fever had broken about an hour earlier to their complete relief. The redhead had long ago sent his wife to bed, the woman far more drained than he, but that only made sense as Maria was an Empath and when those around her suffered, she tended to invest far more of her power in them than she should. Serge was rather good at making her take care of herself, though, and she kept him from getting too deep into the mental aspect of things. They were a good team.

Right now it was the husband watching over the now quiet soldier and when Alla appeared, telling him their other guest was awake asking about a 'Gabrielle', Serge deemed it safe to leave the sleeping woman in favor of talking to the now conscious man. He certainly wanted answers, but he wasn't an unkind man and knew better than to simply start pressing the other male for those explanations. Instead, coming into the room, he gave David a smile and Faina a raised brow. "I am certain your sister would have told you to let the man rest, Faina." he chided gently, everyone in the house knowing how inquisitive and kind-spirited the child was.

It was for those reasons alone that he didn't move her, but rather tickled her side gently as he took a seat in the chair beside the bed. "Very sorry about this flitting butterfly. She gets rather curious about everything new." Serge started before looking to the dark eyes of the man on the bed, expression still friendly, genuinely warm. "Alla tells me you wish to know about your friend. I can assure you she's on the mend. She had a nasty fever for a few hours in the night, but it broke about an hour before and she's sleeping comfortably now."

He tilted his head just slightly, studying the younger Russian with interest of his own. "What is it you're-"

"David?"

The voice from the doorway, faint and hoarse, had Serge jumping just slightly, surprised as he turned in his seat to see the very patient he'd left in the room not five minutes before. She looked about ready to topple over, a slightly far-away look in her eyes and yet they were settled on the man on the bed, questioning, appraising, watching those around him as a guardian might and Serge looked between the two briefly, wondering at it before his attention went back to the woman...in time to see her legs nearly buckle under her.

Gabrielle had swayed, her hand grasping at the doorway, but it was a hand suddenly on her arm that kept her from going to the floor. It was that same contact that made her flinch back with a strange kind of sound; something high-pitched, a hum in her throat that was both warning and wary. It was hard to tell whether Serge pulled back for the thrum of fear in the sound or because of what he'd seemed to suddenly discover in that moment. Blue eyes, widening, met aqua, the astonishment there clear...and the way he'd paled, as if seeing a ghost.

"You are..."

He didn't finish, not right away and Gabby winced, teeth grit as she gripped the doorway in white-knuckled fingers. "Sorry. Oi shouldn't 'av let yer see dat."

Serge was shaking his head, though, recovering quickly if much more cautious about touching the soldier again. "It is forgiven Bean Sidhe. Come, sit before you fall over." Gabby obeyed, coming to take the seat beside David's bed, but it wasn't to him she looked, not yet, her turn to be surprised as she blinked at the redhead. "Yer nu Oirish?"

A chuckle answered. "No, Gabrielle, but I do know the names of the Irish and Scottish legends just fine." A hmming noise from the female followed his statement before the topic was let go by both parties wordlessly and Gabrielle turned her attention to David with a faint smile, weariness in the expression and the shadows of grief under her eyes, the damp sheen of sweat on her skin a testament to the fever's only recently departed hold on her body.

"'Oy yer feeling'?" Her Irish accent certainly made an appearance in the wake of her out-of-sorts demeanor, but Gabrielle didn't mind. It was only habit that made her curb it most often.

 

[Peregrine]

She looked like shit.

Of course, judging from the looks that Serge had been giving him before Gabrielle had arrived at the door, David had to guess that he did not look much better either. They had both nearly been killed twice in the last twenty four hours, not including all the times that they had nearly been caught, or that the exposure had probably nearly finished them off as well. He was still wearing the white shirt and pants, too, although they could hardly be called white anymore. They told the story of their journey far better than anything except the wounds on both him and Gabrielle could.

He did not understand what was going on, except that there had been a flicker of energy around Gabrielle, and it had seemed to provoke some kind of reaction from the man who was now caring for them. David still didn't now what was going on, still didn't understand what had happened, but Gabrielle seemed calm enough, and he took his lead from her. Not that any emotion had showed from him, and not that he would ever be able to harm the little girl with the light glowing between her fingers, but he had still been prepared for something... anything. To do what needed to be done.

"I"m fine," he said softly. It was mostly true. Other than a bone-deep weariness, there did not seem to be anything physically wrong with him anymore. The countless small cuts and bruises that littered his body had been tended, but they had been nothing like the injury Gabrielle had suffered. He glanced at her shoulder, hidden behind a layer of fabric, but a part of him still remembered the wound, both before and after the healing. He had done it. And then he had fainted. And now they were here.

"What's going on?"

 

[Kaisaan]

Gabrielle didn't respond straight away, letting her eyes roam across the male's form, searching for any lie to his words. Indeed he did seem to be fine physically, but that only left her more concerned with his mental state....something she wasn't exactly going to be able to confirm one way or another anyway. David was a closed book, only the briefest glimpses of what lay within if the wind chanced to stir the cover, but even then it was only scratching the surface. She wouldn't know if he was truly all right or not - not unless he chose to disclose such information and Gabby didn't see that happening anytime soon...if at all.

He felt emotion. She knew he did, but life had taught him to seal those feelings away and never let them see the light. He'd learned the lesson well. Would she have done the same? Maybe she should have, but the soldier could admit it was a flaw in her programming. She couldn't make herself flip the switch, become a blank page.

No, she simply became a heavier and heavier book, more and more written inside, notes slipped between the pages, bookmarks inserted and corners dog-eared until she was nothing more than a bunch of ends sticking out everywhere, no rhyme or reason to the passages that had been so important to mark earlier. She didn't make sense either, a maze to be traveled. At least David's method left him looking clutter-free. She was simply a mess. If he was as well, he didn't show it.

If that was the wiser way to go, she'd never know it.

"You are safe here. That you should know first." Serge answered David's question as the silence stretched and Gabrielle realized she'd zoned off, now shaking herself back to some semblance of true awareness. Her aqua eyes blinked, looking from David to the redhead, brows furrowing just a little, head tilting. "Oi can guess waaat yer are, but Oi can not put a name ter yer."

A smile answered her subtle inquiry. "My name is Serge and this is Faina."

Gabby nodded. "Scon are pleased ter meet yer, Serge, considerin' de circumstances, but Oi must know; 'oy ye fend us? Oi meant ter call a mucker, clap if any av our kind cud shelter us, but Oi never wus able ter. 'Oy den ye nu we were in nade av aid?" The accent rolled off her tongue, just as thick as her words were fast and the soldier literally saw Serge falter, trying to make sense of the heavy accent both and the unfamiliar terms Gabrielle had grown up with. She gave a faint smile when he finally seemed to comprehend, but told herself to make a better effort to downplay the Irish in lieu of faster information gathering.

"It was the energy. There are a few with mental abilities in this household and we make it a habit to do frequent 'scans' to be sure that none of our kind are in danger. We picked up one of your signals on this last scan."

"'Oy fortunate for us."

Gabrielle glanced to David, her fingers absently finding her shoulder as it truly sank in that something had been done to it. Her eyes flickered to Serge, questioning. "Who 'ealed me?" She wasn't surprised to see the man start to shake his head, his answer nothing less than what she expected as her eyes found David again, already knowing. "No one here. You were already pretty well-off when we came across you two."

"Hm." It was the slightest of sounds as Gabrielle gave the man in the bed a slight smile, amusement glittering in her exhausted gaze. "Savin' me again, Oi see. Oi do 'ope dat doesn't becum a 'abit if only for your sake." It was a thank you and a tease in one before the soldier let him off the hook of her gaze and instead looked back to Serge. "We are safe 'ere?"

"Yes."

 

[Peregrine]

For one moment David felt his gorge start to rise in panic as he finally processed what Gabrielle had just said, but before he could even twitch he froze up inside. Suddenly it wasn't the kind, gentle face of Serge looking at him, but the cold, calculating eyes of the Doctor, probing for any weakness. This time, however, there was a gleam in his eyes and a near manic smile starting to cross his lips. After all this time, he had finally gotten the answer he had wanted. David had made a mistake. He had healed Gabrielle. He had shown what he was capable of, and now Dahnov knew. He knew that David had at least gotten something from all the times he had shoved the auras and powers of other children into David, leaving him writhing and broken on the floor as the Doctor came up with ever more creative methods to try and force even a taste of power out of him. He would have saved himself so much trouble if he had known all he needed to do was fake his own death and let David "escape" with a wounded soldier who had promised him she would take care of him. But he had figured it out eventually. Just like he had promised he always would.

David did not notice as Faina crawled up onto the couch beside him. Instead, his eyes were locked ahead into an empty middle distance that didn't see anything. She touched him gently, waiting for the usual reaction of someone turning to her, offering a smile, and then going back to whatever they were doing, one large hand resting on her leg, or shoulder, or head. When there was no reaction her mismatched eyes blinked. For a moment she sat still, tugging on her hair as Serge and the new woman talked, before she turned back to David. She poked his side. Nothing. She stretched up, leaning against his shoulder. No reaction, except a faint stiffening of his back to keep him upright against the weight of her body. Finally, growing frustrated, she reached up one little hand, using a single finger to push at his cheek. His head gave under her finger, but as soon as she let go his head swung back to a neutral position.

Faina let out a whimper. "Serge," she whined. "What's wrong with him?"

David didn't move as the things touched his side and his face. That was the way it worked. He stayed inside, and everything that happened outside was irrelevant. He couldn't give Dahnov anything. Not even the faintest hint that he had anything to give, or things would get much worse. But Dahnov already knew. Things were going to get worse. So, so much worse. And all he could do was give Dahnov nothing. Maybe, if he waited long enough, Dahnov would forget. He would think it was a fluke, an accident. He was lucky. It wasn't an exhibition of a new power, only a growth of an old one. He had healed himself before. Healing Gabrielle wasn't all that different. Maybe he would just think it was a natural growth of David's own abilities, brought about by age rather than the Doctor's machinations.

Except Gabrielle knew he could do other things. And if she had revealed one thing he could do, what was to stop her from telling it all?

 

[Kaisaan]

Faina's words had Gabrielle's head immediately snapping toward the little girl and David both. Her first, and foremost response from habit alone was to search for Death. He wasn't the culprit this time, though, and he was nowhere to be seen, both relieving the soldier and yet leaving her in the dark as to what could have possibly gone wrong in the last five minutes - if that. The trouble was with David, she could guess that clearly by the distress on Faina's face, the way she just kept looking at the male in her worry and Gabby felt the weariness and stress she'd been trying to pretend didn't exist claw at her once more. She'd woken disoriented, scared and nearly panicked. It had only been training and will that had seen her pretending to function, that had seen her 'fine'.

She was anything but that, however, and had merely not wanted to show as much to strangers. In her effort to appear normal, though....she must have done something to set David off. There was no other explanation for it. He'd been fine one minute and now this the next moment. She'd done something, said something...something that had scared him, had made him want to withdraw, something important...

It came to the soldier then and she cringed inwardly at her own foolishness. Of course. His power. She'd mentioned it and how was David to know that there WERE mutants out there that could heal? Perhaps not as efficiently as he'd done, nor as fast, but there were some with that gift and it wasn't entirely out of the realm of normal for him to have such a power. It certainly wouldn't be seen as something to view with suspicion by Serge and whoever else was here.

But David couldn't know that....and Gabrielle should have remained quiet regardless.

Now fully aware of her error, and fast feeling her own mask of normalcy slipping away, she turned her eyes to Serge who appeared just as worried as Faina. Unlike the little girl, though, he might just try to do something about it and make it worse. The woman put a stop to that train of thought with only a few words, her accent snuffed out almost completely, nothing but a faint wisp of it coming through as she forced her mind to snap back into the contours of a soldier. "He gets like this sometimes. If I could just have a little while with him...?" She put as much confidence and calm assurance as she could into the request and it worked just as she knew it would. Serge seemed to relax just a little, accepting that this wasn't new to her, that she knew what she was doing and he moved to Faina, picking her up to place her on his hip.

"Don't worry, little light. Gabrielle will make him feel better. He's just tired. Let's get you something to eat, hmm?" His eyes met Gabby's then, questioning if she truly was fine and the soldier only gave back a smile, watching as they left before she turned her attention to David. Panic flared in her green-blue eyes then, but he wouldn't notice it, no one would, and Gabrielle made herself take a deep, steadying breath before she moved carefully to sit on the side of the bed....completely unsure what to do, but knowing she had to do something.

Was this similar to shock after trauma? Could she employ the same techniques one might to a soldier frozen by fear, unresponsive? Should she talk? Touch him? Leave him alone? There was no manual or guide for being the bloody guardian of a super-powered mutant! God, she just wanted to curl up and sleep for the rest of eternity. Her mind already hurt and her chest, it ached like she'd been hit with a battering ram. There was a pressure there that wouldn't abate and she knew the cause, but refused to think about it. If she did...no. She couldn't.

She was needed.

Always needed.

"David, hey, I don't know if you can hear me, but...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned your healing. I don't think they thought it was strange at all, but I made a mistake anyway. I'm sorry." She was probably wasting her time. She knew that, but Gabrielle moved closer until her hip touched his side, her fingers slowly, cautiously reaching out to touch his chin, to direct his face, eyes toward her. The utter lack of....anything in his gaze was....well, frankly it was strongly disturbing and it drove home for Gabrielle just how truly expressive he'd actually been with her up until now. She honestly wondered if she should feel privileged by that fact and scared now....or if this was common behavior for the male before her. The woman had no way of knowing, no reference. She didn't know the first thing about David....and yet...

It was the barest thread of a thought, the strangest of inclinations, perhaps instinct, perhaps fanciful, wishful thinking. Gabby didn't know. What she did understand, however, was that there was little chance she could do much more damage than she already had. David already appeared comatose. The worst she could do was send him over the edge into Death's waiting arms, but she didn't think her actions would have that affect.

Good moon above, she hoped not.

Searching the face of the male once last time, Gabrielle took a breath and closed her eyes, focusing not on the five senses that most understood, but another entirely, one uniquely her own as she let it come over her, let it change everything she saw and everything she heard. She dipped her fingers into the world of spirits, of death and life - not flippantly, but out of need alone. She needed to connect to David and the first time they'd done that...it had been through energy, through auras, through a state of being she tried to avoid but had intimate knowledge of already. Opening her eyes now, they were not clear, rather hazed as she looked back at David, but it was not David she saw. Or rather, it was, but not his body. No, she saw what was inside it, the spirit, the aura within him, a color of deep red, pulsating the most radiant gold energy she'd ever encountered. Her own was blue, her aura silver and Gabrielle hesitated for only a moment before letting tendrils of her own blue energy reach out to the gold, trying to communicate in the simplest, most primal way possible that David was safe.

He was safe here, with her.

 

[Peregrine]

There. There he was. The doctor got closer and closer, right next to him. There was a moment of undertainty, and David waited, eternally patient, perfectly resigned, for whatever torment was to come. There. The Doctor was reaching now, coming in to grab onto David's aura, to push and prod and poke and pull. This was it. This was...

It was not familiar. He knew the taste of the Doctor's energy. How could he not, when it had been shoved into him so many times, often mingled with the various flavors of the other children, all twisted and warped in some way or another to bring out the things they should not normally be able to do. David knew the Doctor's energy, and this was not it. He could feel it inside him, deep inside him, in the places he never let the doctor go, and this was not him. But that made no sense. He knew that there was no invasion, no intrusion, no danger in the touch, but that was impossible. As impossible as him escaping. As impossible as him having found a way to reach out and touch the energy of an American soldier who had promised to keep him safe.

He didn't know if he dared to look out. Even that simple curiosity about the source of this energy might be the crack in his bubble that caused everything to spill over at just the wrong moment. And yet he wasn't certain if he had a choice, because the curiosity was there inside of him, and that was the bridge between his self and the rest of the world, and Dahnov already knew it was there. If that was Dahnov. Slowly, almost hesitantly, David's eyes came into focus.

The first thing he saw was pale beige walls, tinged with the faintest notes of peach. They were warm, friendly walls that seemed to draw in the light and send it back out sweeter and kinder than it had been before. They weren't white walls, stark and empty of everything. They were warm. He could feel the couch he was sitting on, the mussed up edge of one of the blankets that had been lain over him was now trapped underneath his thigh, causing a faint ripple of discomfort. The couch itself underneath his limp fingers felt old and worn but comfortable, containing the memories of hundreds of evenings where people had curled together, rubbing against the fabric until it was soft and supple with use.

Gabrielle was sitting next to him. Her eyes were closed, her blonde hair hanging limply around her shoulder, hands folded loosely in her lap, eyes closed. It almost felt like she was praying. Dahnov was nowhere in sight.

No, of course not. Dahnov was dead. David had felt when his energy had vanished from the world, a tiny, insignificant little light that had finally simply blinked out of existence. He had never gotten David's secrets, and he never had would. The Doctor had finally lost. Did that mean David had won? Somehow it didn't feel like that. Not when so many had died. So many young children like Faina. He remembered a boy who had once been able to spin the light into threads around him. David had watched, silent and apathetic, as that light had slowly threaded through his body over the course of weeks, filling his veins with glowing light, until he finally burned out inside. When it had happened the whole place had gone dark, as if for one brief moment the light had mourned his passing.

Finally, after several minutes of silent observation, David shifted. He didn't say anything. There was nothing for him to say. In that moment he wasn't even certain he had words.