Unexpected Consequences (Peregrine & Kaisaan)

[Kaisaan]

"Gabrielle Ó Maoil Eoin."

The ride into the city had been nerve-wracking for Gabrielle. She'd wanted more than anything to reach out, to shield David, to chase away the many presences' around him, but she'd stopped herself. That would not be helping him. Not here, not now. She could feel the energy just as much as he could - though, it was more a great mass more than individual threads in this quantity, her own gift unable to sort through so much at once, but she'd known even so that they were not malicious. David, much as he would find it overwhelming, would have to learn to deal with this, to cope and acknowledge that not all advances toward him were dangerous or malevolent. Not everyone was going to harm him. If Gabrielle constantly defended him as if they were, he'd never grow and never learn, and he'd always be dependent on her. As a good teacher, she couldn't allow that. If he grew completely overwhelmed, yes, she'd step in, but he was hardly that right now. Even if it felt like it to his newly emerging power and his under-stimulated social skills.

So she'd done nothing, but she'd been on edge and it was with gratitued that they'd been led to their rooms. They were across from each other, but separate and Gabrielle had honestly thought that might be best for now - especially since these rooms and this entire building really, were shielded, dampening the influence from the energy and auras of those outside. This was where they took all those who needed training on their power. It would be a good place for David for now - just enough awareness of the outside for him to acclimate, but not enough shut out that he could ignore the world entirely. An adjustment stage.

They'd been provided with food, drink and new clothes before being left to do as they wished. Gabrielle had informed David that she was going to sleep - and that's exactly what she'd done through the day and into the night until morning. It was upon waking that she heard her name, her full name and the unexpectedness of it saw her bolting upright from the bed, her eyes narrowing as they focused on the man standing by the door. How long he'd been there, she wasn't sure, but Gabrielle was very sure that she recognized him and for a moment she could only stare. He took the moment to speak once more.

"Did you truly think you could come back to Haven and we would not know it?"

Calm words, factual. But that was how she remembered him. Dark of hair, light of eyes and dressed in a suit that he made look casual, he always had been able to grate over her nerves even as he avoided making her want to actually kill him. "Thomas."

No acknowledgement, just another question, one she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid. "What are you doing here, Gabrielle? You're not welcome here. You should know that." The words, when nothing else had, made the soldier flinch and she swung her legs slowly over the edge of the bed, but didn't stand yet, her hands in her lap, looking up from them to the man who had taken away any of her hostility the moment he'd uttered her name.

"I had to. It's not for me. It's for-"

"David. Yes, we know. It is not him we would deny sanctuary, but you, Gabrielle. You killed twenty-three people."

Now the Banshee did jerk, her eyes closing and a breath taken before she spoke, the words faint, a hint of desperation in their undertone. "I know. I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Yes, you did." He cut her off and Gabrielle was almost morbidly glad he had, that the lie hadn't slipped from her mouth entirely and she looked up, aqua eyes hard, accepting and haunted. "Yes, I did." Soft, final words as she stood from the bed, but did not approach, did not move, only leveled Thomas with an even stare. "You wouldn't let me go." Factual words and met the same way by the male who shot back his own in much the same controlled manner.

"You had been tortured, Gabrielle. You were not in your right mind and we could not allow you to the surface where you might have caused considerable damage. You were not in control of yourself."

"I didn't harm anyone when I escaped. I was fine once I got out."

A brow rose, something like warning and disbelief both in that one motion of his face. "You were fine, as you claim, because your people were informed by us and they knew how to contain you. Whether you would have harmed the humans or not is not what's on trial here. You killed twenty-three of Haven's people, Gabrielle."

It was the second time she'd heard it and this time the words slipped under her skin, barbed and painful. "I know that!" Gabrielle snapped, an edge to her voice, born of ragged exhaustion and a deeply rooted pain. A grimace, a cruel twist of a smile crossed the soldier's face, her eyes bright. "Don't you think I know that? Do you truly think I don't hear their souls screaming at me every time I sleep? I see them, waiting for me, waiting until I die and join them. I know what I did can never be made right, but I am trying to atone."

Thomas regarded her impassively, head cocking slightly, that eyebrow rising once more. "How? David? What do you think you'll do with him?" Gabrielle's shoulders dropped, her eyes finding the floor and the weariness she felt creeping into her tone, the pleading as well because really, what else could she do?

"I don't know. I just want to help him. He has to be here. It's the safest place for him. Please."

There was silence. Such an awful, long silence that Gabrielle feared there might never be an answer, that Thomas had only come to torment her with a past she could not change and mistakes she'd give anything to take back, but eventually his answer did come, in a way. "I aught to take you before the Council, let them try you for your crime, even if it was under duress." There was a pause and then: "This man, David; you care for him?"

"I don't know him." It was an automatic response, false even as it was true, and Thomas merely leveled her with a look. Gabrielle looked away and nodded just slightly. "But yes, I care for him." The answer seemed to decide the man on something and he gave a nod of his own, moving toward the door, speaking as he did, the conversation drawing to a close and Gabrielle knew whatever was said, she would not be able to argue it. Such was not an option.

"Good, then he will be your start in atoning and your chain as well. David may stay here, train here under your tutelage, but you are not permitted to leave unless by permission of the Council. One mistake, Gabrielle, one and you will be on trial and David will no longer be in your care." He was gone then, leaving the words heavy in the room and the Banshee stared at the door, but she did not see it, her vision blurred with tears that wouldn't fall. Her body lowered to the bed at her back and Gabrielle gripped the frame beneath her tightly as she forced herself to take a deep breath in and then out.

She would need to see David soon and she needed to be under control when she did.

 

[Peregrine]

David tried to tell himself it was like breathing, except backwards. He was surrounded by air all the time. Science told him that it pressed in against him, but he never noticed. He breathed without noticing but, if he wanted, he could force himself to hold his breath. Why couldn't this energy be the same? Why couldn't it just be there, unnoticed, until he took some form of conscious will to "breathe" it in? He knew what it was, knew what he could do with it, yet he couldn't break his constant awareness of it's existence. It started to feel like he was flinching so much that no one could even see it anymore. Like his body was shaking so bad that he wasn't even moving.

It was a relief to leave the car, and be rapidly shepherded into the house. For one thing, it protected him from the eyes on the street, watching the car curiously. It had to be an anomaly, and everyone seemed to know what it meant. It was only natural that they would be curious. But they didn't catch more than a glimpse of him before the door closed.

For another, there was some sort of shield of energy that was woven throughout the whole house, which blocked all of the energy outside. David quailed under the feel of it. Despite the fact that the house was quite large it made him feel like he was in a tiny cage, the walls pressing up against him on all sides. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be an animal in a zoo. He knew people were watching him.

All the same, it was a relief too. He knew the wall was there, but he'd been surrounded by walls all his life. Walls were familiar. This was just another one. He had already come to an understanding that, while Haven was safe, it was not free. He told himself that he could deal with this sense of confinement much better than he could the pressure of all the energy outside.

He almost objected when they put him in the room, though. Almost. He could feel the way the room was sealed the same way the house was. It was a cell within a cage. It was his room back at the Facility. Except safe. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Safe. Supposedly. He wasn't even sure he knew what that meant right now. He turned to look at Gabrielle, and she nodded her head slightly. How he longed to protest, to shake his head and back away from that little cell, but he could feel Yarrow and X-Ray looking at him. X-ray nodded too, offering that smile of his that was supposed to be reassuring. That he thought was reassuring. David swallowed, before stepping into the space.

He entered, and the door sealed behind him. Yarrow didn't lock the door, didn't do anything more than allow it to click shut, but he felt it seal anyways. The power that blocked this room from anything else, even the latent power within the rest of the house, it was supposed to keep his power contained as well. It protected everything that was outside this room from whatever he might do, on purpose or not. It also served to make sure that he stayed here. Yet David could feel the power that was wrapped like a web around the room. It was supposed to be constant, immutable to any sort of power that might strike it, but it was still just energy. He knew he could grab it if he wanted to, even if he wasn't supposed to be able to.

Somehow, that was reassuring. It allowed him to turn away from the door and move over to the bed. It allowed him to carefully take off his shoes and set them side by side near the dresser, before sitting down on the edge of the bed. It was soft and comfortable, and sunk slightly under his weight. The comforter over the top was down, and seemed to be filled with nothing but air, so light it was under his fingers. It was a bed that begged to be laid in. He obliged it. But he didn't fall asleep.

Instead, he lay there, watching the way the energy web that surrounded his room swirled all around him. It was mesmerizing. Surprisingly so. David had seen energy for a long time now. Seen it, the way it sat inside Dahnov, and all the other children, and even the facility itself. But he had never watched it. Not really. A part of him had always thought Dahnov might see that, and then he would know. But now the secret was out. At least in part. And he still hadn't seen anyone with eyes like Dahnov's.

So he watched it. He studied it with a meticulous kind of patience that was born from a simple lack of anything better to do. And, eventually, his eyes did drift closed, and he entered something that felt a lot like sleep. But he never stopped watching that swirling, twirling power. He watched the way it grabbed all the power that struck it, from both inside and outside, how it took it, pulled the energy out of it, and used that same power to keep itself alive. While he slept, David's power reached out hesitantly. The barrier embraced it the same way it embraced everything else that touched it.

 

[Kaisaan]

Regaining her composer had taken longer than Gabrielle had liked, and as soon as she felt she could put a smile on her face and keep it there, she exited the room and proceeded to knock on David's door. Getting him up and out of bed was easy. He'd never argued about such things with her - had never really protested any of her decisions until yesterday in the car. It was.....not healthy and Gabrielle was determined that the man before her, no doubt her age or older, find his voice and realize that he had a say in his life. That he didn't argue with anyone, didn't voice his own opinion, didn't do much more than follow around wherever she led was not good for him, not when she might not always be here. The thought didn't sit well with the Banshee, but nevertheless it was true and while she could strive to keep it from happening she couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't, that David wouldn't be on his own. If that time ever came, she wanted him to be able to defend himself, be confident enough to make his own decisions. That, above all else, was how she could protect him.

There was no better time to start than now, especially after Thomas' visit.

So it was that she'd taken David from his room and led him to the training facility in the same building, knowing he might not like it, would very likely be afraid and unsure about what she would ask of him, but also knowing it was best for him for his own sake. The place she led the male was wide and open, a domed ceiling painted to look like the bluest sky. On the ground was training equipment of all kinds and a track. In the middle of said track were mats meant for sparring and off to the side of them a stone platform with five steps leading up to the top on two sides. At the top were soft yoga mats, meant for meditating upon and that was where Gabrielle headed.

They'd get to physical training soon enough, but David had to trust her a bit more than he already did before she would start attempting to hit him and expecting him to block the strikes. For now, they would train his mind, his power and go from there. Ascending the steps, she beckoned the male after her and took a seat on a mat, tilting her head to the one across from her position.

"You can sit if you want."

So saying, Gabrielle crossed her legs close to her body and simply rested her arms on her knees, waiting for him to make a choice even as she continued to speak, to explain. "I want to teach you, David. I know you're scared of your power. What I want to figure out is why and you might not want to tell me, might not trust me, but it's not for my benefit that such a thing should be figured out. Or maybe you have figured it out." She tilted her head just a bit and placed her chin in her palm, casual, relaxed. "Maybe you know exactly why you don't want to use your power, why you fear it and you just can't overcome that fear. If that's the case, I want to help you."

She knew the chances of David accepting such an offer was slim and resistance from him was a higher probability, but she'd claimed the man before her was part of her atonement. It would make sense that he'd be difficult.

 

[Peregrine]

David sat down rather delicately on the mat, running his fingers over it. It was simultaneously hard and soft, and each little bead that made up the mat seemed to cling stubbornly to the tips of his fingers for a moment before releasing him to the next. He lifted his fingers, almost expecting the mat to stick to them, but nothing happened. He turned his attention to Gabrielle's words.

She was talking about training again. A part of him hadn't thought she was serious, back there in the kitchen. That she was simply saying whatever it would take to get them into Haven, and didn't really mean that she expected to do it. Yet it seemed she really was serious. But she didn't understand.

Then again, how could she? He'd never told her anything. About what had happened in the Facility. About what Dahnov had done to the other children. What he'd done to David. She had never asked, never pressed, and had protected him all this time even though she knew nothing. She deserved at least a piece of an explanation. As much as he could share.

"You can't." He didn't know what he was trying to reject, the idea that she wanted to train him, or the notion that she could help him. Or maybe something else altogether. "This power... it isn't a good thing. I don't just mean that it is capable of doing bad things I mean.... this power, in and of itself, is a horrible, awful monstrosity that has no right to exist in this world. Nothing good will ever come of trying to use it."

This was more than his fear of discovery, although it was connected to that. With Dahnov, it had been fear for his life. If Dahnov had known what he had done had worked... he would have kept doing it. And he would have disposed of David, out of fear of how much power David had gained. But out here... if he was discovered, people wouldn't want to get rid of him. They'd want to use him. They'd do anything they could to control him, and put this power to use. And that... that could only lead to disaster. Because this power was a horrible thing.

"You... you saw the kids. But there were more. So many more. Easily a hundred kids, each year, from... all over the world. And the person who led the place... Dr. Dahnov... he could see power. But he could also grab it, pull at it... Change it. He wanted to create a superpower. Something that could destroy everything else. But... it didn't work. He'd push a bit too far, and the kid would die. He'd start over. But he... he got tired of losing his research, of having to start over each time. So he started a... side project. To find a way to... save a power in someone else.

"I wasn't... I used to just heal myself. Grab a little bit of energy from around me, and use it to boost my healing speed. But when Dahnov found this out, he decided he would try and... implant other powers in me. He'd... cut me open, and then feed me their power scrap by scrap, while I healed. And then he'd try and provoke a reaction, to show it had worked." How could his voice be so calm, when he could feel his heart pounding like this. When he could feel the tears in the corners of his eyes, trying to spill down his cheeks?

"And I never let him. I learned how to hide from him. But whenever it didn't work.. he'd try again. That's what he did. Whenever he had a child he particularly liked, whenever it went well but he knew he was only a step away from taking it too far, then he'd come for me again. Do it all over again."

"I never let him know it worked. Not for fifteen years. That was the only thing I could do."

But was it? How long had that power sat in him, dormant, even once it got to the point where he could have fought back, and there was nothing Dahnov could have done about it. But he had just sat there, limp and pathetic, as the other children kept dying.

It was too much. Too much to bear, the feel of it inside of him. He couldn't take it. He didn't want to have to take it. So he dropped away, slipped away from a world where emotions were uncontrollable, to a place where they, too, were nothing but energy to be controlled, to be put in their place. He did, and he was able to relax, but he could feel them there, just beyond the surface, waiting for his control to slip, for him to start to emerge.

They would go away eventually, washed away by an infinite sea of calm and control. He wouldn't come back out until then. No matter what Gabrielle tried to do.

 

[Kaisaan]

She'd expected the denial, the rejection and protest. What Gabrielle had not anticipated was the explanation that went along with it. They'd been together for nearly a month now and David had yet to tell her anything about his life in the facility and now....god, she didn't want to know! In this moment, listening to the horror coming so calmly out of his mouth, she wanted to tell him to shut up, to stop talking, that she didn't want to hear it. Hadn't she seen, heard, experienced, caused enough suffering in her life?! Why then did she have to endure the pain of someone else as well? It wasn't fair!

But life never was. David's story, his experiences, his fear and horror, pain and grief were not fair. And they were just as important as her own.....only, he didn't know how to handle it. Then again, neither did she, but she knew how to help other people do so. Gabrielle had always been able to help everyone else, but never herself. It hadn't bothered her. It was just something to accept, to ignore in the pursuit of the next mission, the next task, the next person who needed aid. All that had changed, though. Changed so suddenly and brutally, and it had been her fault. Unprovoked murder of twenty three people. How could she help anyone after that?

The thought had kept her walking through a fog up until meeting David and Gabrielle had, perhaps foolishly, thought maybe she could do it one more time. Maybe she could help, truly help. To hear him tell her no, that she couldn't....it was a far more painful blow then he could ever suspect, could possibly know and the soldier remained silent, letting him speak, letting him explain.

Hating him in that moment for doing so.

Understanding why he did.

Wanting more than anything to help, caring about what happened to him and utterly lost as to how to do just that. David retreated and Gabrielle let him and didn't follow. He didn't want her to and she.....she couldn't. Not when she didn't know what to say, how to tell him it would be all right when she didn't believe it herself. How could it be? Oh, sure, she could teach him to use his power, could maybe even convince the traumatized man that his power wasn't evil, no matter its source or how he'd gotten it, but his past? She couldn't make that go away. She couldn't heal that. She couldn't even heal herself! How could she look David right in the eye and lie to him, tell him the world would be a better place now? It wouldn't be. It never would be and he might be too damaged, too scared to face it. Gabrielle couldn't fix that. She couldn't make everything safer for him, couldn't give him courage. She could only prepare him....but only if David let her.

The choice would have to be his and his alone. Just as it had been hers.

She'd chosen to shove everything that had happened to her deep down inside, a demon chained to her every thought, every emotion, every action. Gabrielle had chosen to embrace the darkness she'd been forced to live in, had let it become part of her, a shadow upon her being. What David would choose....was beyond her ability to know and Gabrielle.....maybe she'd just been fooling herself into believing that she, a creature steeped in the void, could lead a lost soul to the light of the sun. Looking at the man seated before her, though, she knew without doubt that she had to TRY. She didn't know how, but she had to try.

Taking a breath, Gabrielle made herself stand and approached David. Without a word, she leaned down enough to place a kiss to the crown of his head before moving down the stairs behind him. She would let him stay, as long as he needed, within himself and when he was ready to emerge again, they'd talk...maybe. In the meantime....she'd run. She was good at that....even it was just around the track this time around.

 

[Peregrine]

He took that time, sitting in that silent, empty infineness, to think for a little while. In that place of perfect internal control, he was able to draw out those painful memories and look at them objectively. He knew it was a bad idea. The more he looked at them in here, the easier it would be for the emotions to return when he left. One wrong thought was all it would take. Yet he couldn't help it. It was like poking at a raw wound while on painkillers. There was no pain, only the satisfaction of some morbid curiosity.

He knew he had been Dahnov's slave. He had been utterly crushed. Even now, when he was supposed to be free, he was still crushed. He was still living in that man's shadow, and he would as long as he lived. How could he not, when he was constantly surrounded by the man's pet project. By the realization of the one thing that crazed madman had always wanted. In a way, it was a miracle that David had possessed the strength to keep it all a secret from him. It was easy to think he should have done things differently, now that he was... free. It was easy to fantasize about how it could have turned out. But back there, it had never been a guarantee, and David couldn't risk that. He couldn't risk letting Dahnov know it had worked. Even if it meant letting all those kids die. Because David had known, if Dahnov had ever gotten what he wanted, it would have been so much worse.

And now there was Gabrielle. She knew. David knew she didn't want to hurt him. He knew she wanted to protect him, to shelter him from a world that created people like Dahnov. But she also wanted to tame this power. He knew that she thought she was doing it for his benefit. Who knew, maybe she was. Maybe it would help him to bring this power fully under control, to make it act to his whim. But that didn't matter. It didn't matter because he knew exactly what this power was. It was not something that could ever be used for something good. Even if he used it to help someone, to protect someone, it would still be out there. People would know, and however good the intention might have been things would end up worse than where they had started.

Most of him simply wished he could get rid of the power, even though it would mean all those children had died in vain. Their deaths had always been in vain. But there was no way to get rid of this power. The only thing he could do was try and bury it, try and keep it as hidden as possible, even though he knew he would never be able to stop using it completely. These few days of freedom had shown him that much. It was too rooted into his instinct for him to never use it again. But he would do his best to bury it, because the only way to completely get rid of it was for him to die. And that was something he couldn't do. If he did that, it would have meant that all he suffered, his entire life, had been in vain. That was something he couldn't bear.

He just wished Gabrielle could understand. He hadn't felt her power reach for him. He wondered if it was because she understood, or because she was mad.

Gradually, his thoughts slowed down. The memories were returned to their little box, locked away with all the other things he didn't think about. His parents. His little sister. The kids. Their expressions, their cries for help. He didn't think about any of it. And, at last, when his mind seemed as empty and infinite as the space in which it dwelt, he surfaced. His heart was calm.

There was no telling how much time had passed, but his eyes quickly locked onto Gabrielle. He hesitated. Was he supposed to get up and go to her? Should he stay here? He stood halfheartedly, walking over to the edge of the little space before sitting down with his legs over the edge of the stone platform. His eyes never strayed from Gabrielle.

 

[Kaisaan]

Every footfall jarred through her body, reverberated up her spine, flared out within her mind, pinging against memories, words, feelings she would rather remained buried, but Gabrielle didn't stop running. She couldn't, not now that she'd started. It was like a drug, running, exhilarating with the first lap, the first true build-up of speed, but too soon it took a plunge and turned into a dark nightmare, the high fading fast. It was the buzz of fear, of released adrenaline that had hit first, speeding up her steps, the sense of being pursued, of being in danger, desperate to just get away that awoke foremost and Gabrielle knew right then that she should stop.

But stop to what? Silence? To heavy expectations, to guilt and watching eyes just waiting for her to stumble again, to do something wrong? To failure and the struggle to make sense of a situation she didn't have the first clue how to address? What was she stopping for exactly? Gabrielle didn't think she could even if she had really wanted to.

Shapes, shadows, forms had begun to appear out of the corner of her eye, images she knew were not there, but couldn't help seeing anyway. Knowing something wasn't real and yet experiencing it as if it was happening all over again were two powerful concepts of the brain, and emotions usually won over logic, especially when you suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Therapy only went so far when you couldn't tell your therapist half the things you'd experienced or done because of what you could do. Gabrielle hadn't spoken of everything, had not been able to address what really needed healing and so she'd buried it away and tried to forget about it with little success.

Running always brought such things to the forefront of her mind. It could have been because running also cleared her head, helped her think more clearly and so the memories rose, crisp and waiting to be dealt with. Or it might have been a trigger, her body going into a motion she remembered keenly, coupled with pain and terror, and desperate need to escape. It could have been something else entirely. She didn't think about it. The soldier either avoided running.....or she didn't. And she couldn't explain why she didn't....or maybe Gabrielle could and just didn't want to admit to feeling she deserved the pain and fear and guilt. It could have been a desire to seek penance for her crimes or maybe she was just addicted to suffering.

Whatever the reason, the Banshee was sticky with sweat, her hair and shirt damp with it by the time David came out of his trance-like state. Her legs were burning, crying out for her to stop and her lungs were having difficulty drawing in adequate amounts of air. It was only when she caught a glimpse of the male sitting on the steps that Gabrielle stumbled to a halt and realized she was shaking, her body ready to collapse on her....and that she was having a panic attack. Or was on the verge of one? Have already gone through one? It was hard to tell anymore.

The Banshee attempted a smile that failed completely and took a step forward....and failed that utterly, as well, sinking to the ground instead as her legs refused to obey her any longer. Gabrielle found herself on her back, having gotten there slowly, but that way nonetheless and concentrating on breathing as she looked up at the painted sky, wondering just what she was going to say to David if he came over...or when she got over to him. Would it be another talk to convince him that he needed training? Questions about his power? About this Dahnov?

Or maybe something else entirely...

Turning her head to look at the male, whether he was near her or still on the steps, Gabrielle managed to find her voice and thanked the stars it was steady, not nearly as shaky as her body was. "What did you want to be before all this, David? When you were a kid, did you have any dreams of your future?"

Maybe getting to know her student better would be wise....and it might drown out the other voices chattering around in her head.

 

[Peregrine]

For a moment, when David saw Gabrielle's legs give out from under her after she had stopped running, he thought that there was something wrong with her. He had slid down off the edge of the platform and taken a couple of steps towards her before he realized that, no, she wasn't dying. She was simply resting. He couldn't guess what had driven her to reach such a point of exhaustion, and he didn't try and figure it out. Instead, he followed her to the ground, pressing his back against the solid support of the elevated platform. His knees drew up to his chest, and he pressed them in tight, comfortingly.

There were a few moments of comfortable silence, where he watched Gabrielle try and catch her breath. What he didn't expect to follow it was a question about his past. Before. Before all this. He knew she wasn't talking about her time with him. The answer to that would have been too obvious. No, she was talking about before everything, when he had been nothing but a normal child waiting to grow up, and excited about the future.

He hadn't thought about... before... in so long. It was in part because it was painful, to remember his mother and his father. His little sister. But even more than that, he didn't think about it because it didn't feel real. It hadn't felt real in a very long time. Thinking about it was like thinking about some horrifying dream. It was painful to think about, but as long as he didn't think about it, it was nothing but a beautiful fantasy that sat, secure, in the back of his mind. There, it was nothing but a sweet dream that had gone wrong at the end, but it could be forgotten, ignored more easily.

He didn't think about why Gabrielle had asked. He didn't want to know, and he didn't need to know. He didn't want to think about what she expected from him. Instead, he pulled out the memories, gently unfolding them like tissue paper, hoping if he was gentle enough their facade as a dream wouldn't rip under his fingers. "Before?" he repeated, softly. "I was just a kid. They were the fantasies of an eleven year old." He was silent for a moment, staring at Gabrielle's supine figure like it held some answers. But, eventually, he did start speaking again. "I wanted to join the military. Like my... my f-father. I wanted to become a world-renowned General, and win the biggest war ever without letting anyone on my side die." A faint, bitter laugh slipped out from him. "I knew nothing about war."

 

[Kaisaan]

Listening to David was easy for Gabrielle, far too easy. It distracted her completely and she let it because anything was better than being where she'd gone, where the running had taken her. She listened and so she heard. She heard all the man had to say, and a lot he didn't say. She heard the pain in his voice he didn't want to show and the longing for the life he'd had, something perhaps even David wasn't aware resided within his tone. She watched the reluctance play over his body even if it didn't quite show itself clearly on his face and knew he didn't want to speak about this topic, but Gabrielle was glad he had. It was likely that he needed to, just as she did, but Gabrielle was hardly going to foist her problems onto the man sitting across from her. He had enough troubles as it was and lacked the skills to deal with the most basic of them. The last thing he needed was to hear her horrors.

Gabrielle smiled just a little to herself when David had finished, the expression caught somewhere between nostalgic and bitter, just a tinge of amusement there, too as she looked back to the ceiling, voice clear but quiet in a way when she spoke. "You were lucky then, to have that innocence. No matter what its turned into now or how it hurt you in the end, you're still lucky to have had it. I always knew what war was."

With that, she sat up and pushed her hair back, keeping her fingers locked there for a moment before sighing, turning her head to look toward David once more, seeming to studying him as if doing so would give her all the insight she needed into how to help him, to convince him to let her. It was a futile attempt and almost as soon as she'd started, Gabrielle looked away again, but she did speak, only half knowing what was going to come out....figuring it couldn't get much worse even if she didn't say the right thing. He'd already said he didn't want to train. He wasn't likely to change his mind in the course of...an hour. Yes, the clock read it had been an hour.

"If you don't want to learn to use your powers, David, I'm not going to force you to. Yes, I strongly encourage that you do, but it's your decision in the end. It's your life. However, for your own safety, I would like to teach you some physical self defense if you're willing to trust me enough with that."

It was true he likely wouldn't be too keen on being knocked on his rear into the mat over and over again, it was doubly true that David was in no kind of shape to take out any opponent without his powers - nor run from them. And if he didn't want to use his powers, he was going to have to find some other way to go about living in a world where some people would SENSE what he could do even if he wanted to appear normal and unassuming. Whether he used his Gift or not, secretly or openly, David would have people who wanted to use him. He just didn't realize that yet. Keeping his power dormant was not going to save him, was not going to make him normal, was not going to work in the end.

It never did for people like them with far too much power for their own good. Gabrielle's wasn't like David's, not in the least, but it wasn't common either and she'd tried to hide it, to ignore it, too. That plan had failed, badly, and the Banshee had been left damaged and briefly out of control because of it, because she'd lacked control.

Hopefully David would come to this realization far less painfully than she had.

 

[Peregrine]

He wished he had a way to explain to her that it wasn't a matter of him not trusting her that made him immediately and desperately long to refuse her request. He couldn't pin down exactly what it was about her offer that suddenly sent his heart rate through the roof and made him want to shy away from her, but he knew it wasn't a lack of trust in her. He knew Gabrielle would never hurt him. Especially not in something like that. No, he trusted Gabrielle to train him. That wasn't the problem.

As a matter of fact, although he didn't know it, the problem was almost the exact opposite. He didn't trust himself. He had spent still and passive that he no longer knew what would happen if he didn't follow that pattern. He had been a rambunctious child, but there had been no room for such enthusiasm and energy in the Facility. Eventually, he had discarded, set it aside in favor of silent observation and thought. It was the idea of trying to track down where it had went, of grabbing it and forcing it back into existence when he was no longer sure he even knew how to deal with it, that sent his gut twisting in knots.

Yet, even though that fear, something in him also prompted him to agree. That thing had nothing to do with himself, and entirely to do with Gabrielle.

They may not have spent much time together, not really, but it had already gotten to the point where he knew her better than he knew anyone other than himself. No matter that the only people he had really ever known were all dead now. He could practically feel the uncertainty and stress that seemed to radiate off her in waves. For some reason he could never guess, she did not like this place any better than he did. Although it was probably for different reasons, both of them longed to leave this place.

For now, though, they were stuck here. And while David was, at this point, eminently used to simply sitting and waiting for things to change, Gabrielle wasn't. That was, he was beginning to realize, the reason she had just nearly run herself into the ground. Gabrielle didn't know how to do nothing; she always had to be doing something. And now, the only thing she could do was... with him. Train him. Guide him. Prepare him, David supposed, although he couldn't guess for what. And if he didn't agree... what would she do then?

It was only at that moment that David realized he had been sitting there, in silent, confused thought, for well over a minute. It hadn't been like he had retreated from the world. He had been paying attention to the world, thinking about it. He had simply stopped participating in it for a minute. It was rather fascinating. All the same, he could feel Gabrielle's eyes on him, and he knew he had to say, had to do, something.

"I..." he began uncertainly, as the two opposite desires warred within him. He paused, staring at her, before finally shaking his head. He just couldn't. "Something else," he asked her, nearly begging.

 

[Kaisaan]

He was going to say no. Gabrielle knew that in the first thirty seconds of silence. David might not show a great deal on his face, nor did he say much, but just as he was beginning to know her, she was starting to truly understand him - or rather his actions or lack thereof. They told a story all their own and she was learning to read the signs and what they meant. Long silences like this after a question usually mean fear, deep thought, denial. He'd not retreated this time, wasn't overwhelmed, but all the same he was not willing to do what she asked and the soldier was already preparing herself for the refusal before it came, her mind on a different tandem entirely by the time the answer reached the verbal phase and touched her ears.

Something else.

Well, at least there was that, something she might work with and Gabrielle merely nodded, not impatient, nor angry. She'd gotten control of herself once more and was nothing but calm as she gathered her hair together and started to braid it, needing to work her hands so she might work her mind more fully. Something else?

Hmm....if not combat, perhaps just some physical training? If David wouldn't fight, she might at least make sure he could run away effectively. Right now, he wouldn't stand much of a chance doing either thing and that wasn't safe for him. Besides, maybe if they started with something much simpler, easier, less threatening then he'd work up to the other lessons that needed to be taught. There was only one way to find out and aqua eyes moved back to a darker set, question there, but not pressure, not expectation. Gabrielle was fast learning not to have that where David was concerned. Maybe it was wiser for both of them that way - no disappointment and endless surprises.

"What about running? Some physical training? If you don't want to learn to fight in any way, David, you need to at least have the strength and endurance to get away from danger if the time comes. Retreating into your mind will not save your body and one can't live without the other."

Waiting for the answer, the Banshee stood, knowing she should stretch, not caring at the moment. She'd regret it later, sure, but it could just be added to the list with everything else - and it was one regret that would only haunt her for one sore night. The others....were a bit more complicated than that and above anything right now, she wanted to make sure David didn't have the same ones. He was already heavy with his own. He didn't need new ones piled on top of them.

Gabrielle could only hope she could teach him before he found out the hard way that suppressing what you were or what you could do would only add regrets faster to your soul. Baby steps, though.....baby steps.

 

[Peregrine]

Physical training. David couldn't exactly think of it as ideal, but there was nothing particularly ideal about this entire situation. Neither of them really wanted to be here, but they didn't have anywhere else to go. For now at least, they were stuck here. As long as they were here, he knew he had to do something, as much for Gabrielle's sake as his own. Perhaps even more for her sake than his.

Not that it mattered why he was doing it. All that really mattered was that he had to do it. It wasn't really as though there was anything else. He reminded himself that it could be much worse. As a matter of fact, he had already rejected two options that were notably less favorable. This was just movement. It was normal and natural, something he did all the time. This was just going to be... a bit more. That was fine. Fine.

"Alright," he finally agreed, remembering that he was probably supposed to give some sort of vocal conformation of his willingness to participate.

But even after that, for a moment, he still just sat there, back pressed against the stone wall of the yoga platform. He sighed slightly, wishing for a moment that he could just vanish into the concrete. When nothing of the sort happened he stood, slowly moving his way over to Gabrielle.

 

[Kaisaan]

-------

A month was a short amount of time. Or a long amount, depending on who you spoke to and what happened during that month. Gabrielle would say it went by entirely too fast. With something to focus on, someone to train, to put all her energy into, the days were short and fast and while she knew the same was probably not true of David, she appreciated his willingness to oblige her all the same. This place, while it was safe and ideal for people like them, was also....stifling for someone like her, especially when Gabrielle knew she was watched and distrusted. She was not as free as David was, had to constantly be aware of where she went and how it would be perceived. She had to know how to conduct herself and always be on alert for anyone thinking she'd broken a rule.

David was new, he was untrained, he was exceptional. He was given grace and understanding she never would receive, not anymore. She'd done too much, knew too much, was too much. David....had yet to make his mark on the world, for good or ill, and in that he was blessed, innocent, untouched. That they were letting someone like HER train him.....well, she was watched all the more closely for it.

The woman did her best to ignore it, to behave as if she didn't have the weight of expectations on her shoulders and for the most part, she would like she think she succeeded. And the days flew by.

David had made great progress in his stamina and strength, and...some control over his power, though, Gabrielle was fairly certain he wasn't aware of that yet. The key with the man, the soldier had found, was to get him to do things without thinking and only after he'd done them bring to his attention the meaning of what he'd done...in time, when he would accept it or just didn't know how to stop by that point. It wasn't the easiest of training, but it was a method Gabrielle understood and utilized whenever she saw opportunity. David still didn't want to train physically or with his powers, but she had more faith than before that he'd come to that point.

In the meantime, to keep her own reflexes sharp and her body honed, Gabrielle found herself constantly paired against Thomas. Strange in his own right without a code name or true title and yet what seemed to be an endless supply of command, the man was the only one who seemed even remotely willing to spar with her and such was the soldier's situation that she allowed it. Such was where she and David found themselves today - in the gym, David performing an exercise she'd set him to and she and Thomas attempting to knock each other to the mat. The male was admittedly doing better than Gabrielle, far less winded and far more focused. Gabrielle hadn't slept well the night before, her mind plagued with night terrors and her patience was short with anyone but David.

And Thomas just kept pushing her buttons, knowing it.

"Come now, Gabrielle, your shields are flickering." he taunted before aiming a strike the soldier barely blocked, startled by the words, her eyes narrowing as she twisted the male's arm back around his body, attempting to immobilize him. Thomas extracted himself with a practiced move and Gabrielle found herself hitting the mat back first, the wind knocked out of her lungs and a hand around her throat. "I can see the edges of your thoughts, Banshee. Sloppy."

A leg came up, knocking him away as Gabrielle rolled out from under the male, springing back to her feet with something close to a snarl. "Stay out of my head."

Thomas only grinned, challenge in his eyes and it was hard to tell whether the glitter there was friendly or menacing. "Make me, Banshee."

 

[Peregrine]

He was supposed to be doing push ups. Ever since that day just over a month ago when David had agreed to Gabrielle's request to give him physical training, she had kept him on a slow but steady regimen of physical exercise. He hadn't really known what to expect, as it had been so long since he had been able to do anything more than sitting still. What he found was that there didn't really seem to be that much between sitting still and moving. He found that he could regulate his own body the same way he regulated his emotions, which kept him from getting sore, winded, or tired, like Gabrielle had obviously expected. But, much to David's relief, she didn't push him about it, or question why it was happening.

That didn't mean his efforts were having no effect. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he was losing the near anorexic thinness that had claimed him, and putting a little bit of healthy weight back on his body. He didn't notice, not really, but did notice that his pants no longer seemed to slip off his waist as often. Gabrielle kept him at it, slowly increasing the amount he was expected to do every day.

Yes, he was supposed to be doing push ups, but he wasn't. Not really. Instead he was watching Gabrielle. For the most part, they had maintained the isolation they had been given, or perhaps they had taken, demanded, at Serge's house, and the safehouse above ground. Except, that was, for Thomas. David didn't know what it was about Thomas, the way he acted, the way he moved, the way he treated Gabrielle, the way he seemed to look down on David, but the young man didn't like this new addition into his life. He had made a point of never speaking to the man, no matter what he said, what he asked, or how he acted, and had been completely successful at not sharing even a single word with the man over the course of the past month. Whether he had been warned by Falcon, was polite enough, or simply had the common sense to not push David when he didn't want to be pushed, Thomas also had yet to try and use his power to read David's thoughts.
He did not hold the same courtesy for Gabrielle. If anything, it was the exact opposite. Thomas seemed to take every opportunity to push her, more than she wanted to be pushed. Even as they sparred physically, he was easily able to see the way Thomas' energy bashed at Gabrielle as hard as his blows.

David found it... irksome.

He was struck, once again, by the urge to do something. It was a small matter to quell it. Despite the relative freedom he appeared to observe, a freedom he rarely if ever took advantage of due to his reluctance to leave Gabrielle's presence unless absolutely necessary, David knew he was trapped. At least for the time being. The eyes might not be directed at him most of the time, but David saw them the same way Gabrielle did. He knew he was being constantly watched. It might be a different prison, but this was a prison, at least for the time being. Just like the Facility. He fell back on his own old, familiar rules, and counted on them to keep him safe. That certainly included pretending his powers didn't exist, even if Thomas already knew they were there. To an extent. This was not a deserted wood on the outskirts of a Russian city, where he could dare to dream he would be able to help.

Gabrielle could fend for herself. He knew that. He still found it irksome. He went back to doing push ups, hoping the feeling would go away.

 

[Kaisaan]

Make me, Banshee.

Gabrielle knew, felt the very second the words caused something to shift within her mind, a grinding of gears that caused the environment around her to fade into tones of gray, dim and dull, near-silent and unimportant as she found herself swept into a time, a place, to people - if they could be called that - she'd rather never recall in any fashion again.

The world exploded into pain, fiery tongues that licked at her nerves and streaks of agony that caused her body to cry out for relief. Her vision blotched red, blood that ran into her eyes, stinging, unimportant as she thrashed within her restraints, seeking escape, any escape from the torture that came from the figures that stood like dark wraiths around her. Gabrielle screamed as the electricity raced through her yet again, convulsing until it was pulled away and she was allowed, briefly, to breathe, sobbing for every shred of air that entered her burning lungs.

"S-st-stop....st-stop..." The words were barely there, hoarse, raw, desperate and one of the shadowy figures above her responded without the least bit of passion of any kind, whether of anger or pleasure, readying the electricity once more. Calm and steady, practiced.

"Make me, Banshee."

The pain made her vision go white yet again as Gabrielle shrieked.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

She was shouting it. Gabrielle became aware of that first.....and then she became more aware of the fact that she was trying to choke the life out of a figure beneath her. Thomas. She noted it, registered it and even then, for a moment, the Banshee didn't release her grip, staring at him. When her hands finally did let go, it was as if the man burned her and the Banshee nearly leaped away, pale, shaking, feeling as if she couldn't breathe. Thomas was coughing, slowly sitting up from where Gabrielle had forced him to the ground in a flurry of quick, near-lethal moves within the space of a minute. Gabrielle didn't hear him, only the roaring of the blood through her ears and the way her vision tunneled as if she might pass out. It wasn't to be as pain, sudden and quick and far more real than she'd imagined it could be flared across her face.

A slap. Jolting her back to reality, to the pale eyes that bore into her as Thomas stood before her, somehow less affected than she herself despite his nearly-killed state. No, he was calm. So much like the shadows of men in her memory. Calm, but angry, too. Accusing. Judging. Gabrielle had always hated that about him, just as she hated his soft, stabbing words.

"I warned you, Gabrielle. Your thoughts are too close to the surface. Control them or we will, for the safety of everyone here." He said nothing more before walking away, leaving the Banshee what felt like a breath away from shattering into a thousand fragments too small to piece together again.

 

[Peregrine]

David was only half a push up back into his routine when he realized that something was wrong. His arms collapsed out from under him and he landed heavily on the ground, uncertain and unsure about what was going on.

That was when Gabrielle screamed. David scrambled desperately to his feet, but it was nothing compared to the sudden flurry of motion coming from Gabrielle. Thomas was laid flat in a split second, and then Gabrielle was on top of him.

She was still screaming, but David was suddenly able to make sense out of the seemingly incoherent noises. Stop. Over and over and over again, until the word blended together into gibberish.

It was all happening too fast. David wanted to do something, to help Gabrielle, to get her off Thomas, but it felt like every part of him was moving in slow motion. Before he had a chance to do anything Gabrielle froze, sprung back. It seemed like it was over, until Thomas' hand suddenly flashed out, cracking across her face.

For a moment everything really did seem to freeze. David couldn't hear Thomas' words over the ringing in his own ears and the sound of his heart pounding through his head, but he didn't need to. He knew what had happened. Thomas' power had found a crack, and he had purposefully provoked Gabrielle. He didn't know why the man would do such a thing, or what purpose he believed it served, but that was exactly what he had done.

Finally, finally, David made it to her, and slumped down next to her huddled form. He shot a glare at the retreating figure of Thomas, certain that the man must feel the pressure of it, even with his back turned. If he had longed to lash out before, it was nothing compared to what he felt now. David knew he could have the man in an instant, that his shields were just an extension of his own power, and would be utterly useless. David could grab them the same as he could unprotected power. If he was complaining so much about Gabrielle's thoughts, then let him never have to worry about them, ever again. It would serve him right, for the looks, for the words, for the sheer cruelty he seemed to enjoy enacting.

David's anger peaked, crossing some unconscious threshold that had been beaten into his brain by fifteen years of careful control. The emotion fell back under his command, rapidly dropping away. He watched Thomas vanish from the room with cold eyes. David wouldn't act. He knew that he could act, and there was no one here who could stop him if he did, but he wouldn't. He shouldn't, for more reason than one.

Instead he turned to Gabrielle. Gabrielle. She didn't look like Gabrielle. Not the one he knew, the strong one, the self-controlled one. But it was still her. Even if he couldn't see it in that moment, he could feel it. He gently placed both hands on her shoulders, before drawing her into his chest. As his hands wrapped around her his power did the same, unconsciously forming into the same bubble she had once created around him, the first and only time his self-control had ever failed him.

He didn't know how to comfort someone. He'd never needed to do it. But his long buried memories, of being a child, of his mother's arms around him and her words, somehow soft despite the coarseness of the language she spoke, were still there. They weren't much help, but they were something. He waited for Gabrielle to let him know she was ready for him to let go.

 

[Kaisaan]

She didn't register the touch on a conscious level, not at first and it was likely for that reason the Gabrielle allowed it at all, why she let David pull her close instead of coming back to herself, giving some reassurance and pretending she was fine, brushing it off as if nothing had happened. It was without thought that she went into the male's arms without protest and once there curled inward, making herself small as her body trembled and she stared ahead, trying to find some kind of foothold, a grasp for something solid within her own mind. Everything was spinning out of control, nothing felt truly real and it was in reality very smart of David - or perhaps his power - to make the kind of shield it did because Gabrielle's was only moments away from getting out of her fragile control.

That she'd not killed Thomas was astounding enough.

Now it surged from her in brutal, frenzied waves, a force not even close to the strength of David's own, but impressive in its own right. It would certainly make the normal populace of gifted people quail and it sought with bloodthirsty, ravenous, single-minded purpose the chink in David's shield, the place it could escape through to wreak its havoc. Its death sentence. The power found no such cracks, no place to escape and it battered itself with fury against the power the male wielded before slowly calming, accepting its confines with ill-grace, but no grudges. It was only as her gift tempered itself that Gabrielle herself seemed to stir, to recognize what was happening around her and after a moment she drew that wrathful, wild power back to herself.

It disappeared again as if it hadn't existed, but David would be far more aware now of what everyone else already knew. It did exist and more than being just a power, it was in truth what Gabrielle was to a great extent, one element of the woman not able to exist without the other. There was violence and death, darkness within the soldier and when she was pushed beyond her limits, it took complete control. Not all Banshees were like this, of course and he'd find that out, but not all had Gabrielle's history, either, and it made her dangerous. It also made others in the gifted community distrust her.

For now, though, the power was back under her control thanks to David no matter if he'd meant to help or not, and the woman finally seemed to understand where she was, looking up at the male with a mixture of embarrassment, guarded wariness and gratefulness that eventually won out. And she didn't move.

"Thank you."

 

[Peregrine]

It might come as a surprise to Gabrielle, were she to ever realize it, but there was nothing particularly alarming to David about the "revelation" of Gabrielle's power. That was not because he didn't realize what her power was capable of, he was very well aware of that, but was rather because he didn't see much difference between this power, and the power he already knew.

David might have been a gifted individual, but he had never truly had any understanding of what it meant to be "gifted". Neither of his parents had possessed any sort of gift, and his had once been so minor that it never would have had any real effect on his life other than helping him heal whenever he was injured. For that reason, the only thing he understood about power was his own, and his own was very, very different from every other power out there.

For other people, there were things that could be done, and things that couldn't be done. There were different types of power, and the type of power was incredibly, incredibly significant. To David, though, it was all the same thing. It was all just energy. To him, every power was the same, even if it was manifested in different ways.

That was why there was nothing particularly alarming to him about Gabrielle's power when it finally broke loose of her. To him, it was just energy that had come from Gabrielle. It was no different than the power he had greedily consumed in that first hour when they had met, to save his life after nearly draining himself dry digging them out of the collapsed facility. It was no different than the power he had played with like a curious child, when Gabrielle had offered it up to distract him from his dogged hold on Falcon's power. This was the same thing. Energy that had come from Gabrielle. It simply had a different intent.

A very different intent, if he was being completely honest. This was power which was perfectly crafted to kill. Not only that, but power that wanted to kill, and would continue to kill, undirected, until Gabrielle got it back under control. At first David didn't exactly know what to make of it. That kind of intent didn't seem like the Gabrielle he had known so far, either. But, a few moments later, David realized that he didn't blame her for it in the least, and it certainly didn't change his opinion of her. He didn't understand what exactly had just happened, but he knew that Gabrielle had just suffered, and it was only natural for her to long for some sort of recompense for it. She was a fighter, unlike him. Unlike him, when she was pushed over the edge, she would do everything in her power to fight back. Maybe if he had half Gabrielle's strength, he would have done something similar to Dahnov and the other scientists, who had so long abused him and all the other children.

However, even though he didn't blame her for the wish to kill in exchange for her pain, David also knew that, just like his desire to remove Thomas' power from him, this was a wish upon which it was best not to act. Whenever Gabrielle's power got too close to the imaginary edge he had created with his power, he grabbed it and gently turned it around, pushing it back in. Not a single trace or scrap escaped him. Later he would recognize the weave of the power he had used as something that was almost identical to the web that surrounded his room, if many times stronger. For now, though, all that mattered was that he protected Gabrielle from making a mistake while she wasn't aware enough to realize she was making it.

The power might be wild and reckless, but even in this uncontrolled state it, or Gabby's unconscious, seemed to finally realize that escape was futile. Perhaps that knowledge caused her to come back to herself a little bit, or maybe she simply didn't want to waste her energy on something that would never return anything for the effort. Either way, the power gave one last, wild surge to try and break free, before slowly subsiding.

He felt Gabrielle stir slightly within his arms, but didn't let either her or her power go. He waited patiently for her to realize that such a wild action probably wasn't for the best, and reign in on the instinct, just like he had. He waited for her to realize that she was in his arms, and push away from him, regain her control and composure, and insist that she was fine.

In the end, everything came true but the last.

"Yeah," was all he said in response, with a small, slight smile. She didn't move, and he didn't move. He didn't know what exactly was going on, but he knew that Gabrielle seemed to want, maybe even need, whatever this was right now. He would stay like this until she decided she no longer needed it. That was certainly the least he could offer, after everything she had done for him.

 

[Kaisaan]

----

It wasn't the last time there was a confrontation between Thomas and Gabrielle, and it only served to make the Banshee more unstable as time passed. She hid it well at first, focusing on training David between the breakdowns - some of them he witnessed and others, far more, he was not privy to even if he sensed them - and doing her best to keep calm, controlled when he was around. It wasn't always possible and Thomas seemed to do everything possible to send her over the edge, over and over again. Gabrielle knew why he was doing it and while he was a bastard for going about it this way, she knew he would claim he was only trying to help in a twisted way. If she couldn't control herself, her power, her reactions under a bit of pressure, just how was she going to train David to do the same? How was she going to teach him anything she herself couldn't master? The Banshee knew why this was happening to her.

It didn't change the trauma of it, nor the results it was producing.

Gabrielle was constantly on edge, exhausted as the night terrors kept her from true sleep and liable to react before she thought. She was scared and trying desperately to conceal that fact from anyone who saw her, but it lingered in her aqua eyes, a shadow that lurked about her aura and the Banshee only had to see Thomas to flinch, her stress level skyrocketing.

She was not getting better but worse as the weeks passed and the council was aware of it, taking note of the danger she represented. Gabrielle knew it and felt a hate she'd not thought possible in many years stir within her for what they were doing, how they were playing with her, and it was only for David's sake that she was letting them. That control, the fragile hold she had on herself, it wasn't enough and the Banshee knew it, so she wasn't surprised when one day Thomas came and simply told her to come with him.

Gabrielle, having been speaking to David, completely froze, staring at the male like a deer blinded by headlights, the color draining from her skin, but Thomas only continued to look at her, disregarding David entirely. The man had proven himself inconsequential even if was powerful. He never used that power, nor did he interfere in anything regarding Gabrielle. David wasn't to be feared and Thomas' job was to deal with threats to Haven, not the meek Gifted who posed no danger.

"Gabrielle, now. The council wishes to speak to you." It wasn't a request even if he words were calmly given, but the Banshee didn't move, not until Thomas' pale eyes purposefully looked to David before snapping back to the woman, meaning more than clear. Gabrielle rose then, shaky, slow, but determination back in her gaze, anger as well. She didn't move closer, though, not yet, chin raising. "I'm not going anywhere without him." She was not risking anyone taking David away from her without her knowledge. They'd have to go through her dead body first.

Thomas frowned, a glitter of warning in his eyes, but in the end he merely nodded before turning out of the doorway, leading them toward an unknown destination. Gabrielle tried to draw in a deep breath before following, glancing back to make sure David was following.

 

[Peregrine]

As Gabrielle's hatred of Thomas grew, so to did David's, although no one knew it. He had likened this supposed "Haven" to the Facility many times in the past, although for the first month or so it had always been missing a piece. It had been missing the most significant piece that had made the Facility the Facility. It had been missing it's own Dahnov. But David was realizing now that "Dahnov" had been right in front of his eyes the whole time. His tools might be a little different, but it didn't take a genius to see the comparison. Dahnov had used his power to grab and shape an individual's power, while Thomas used his power to shape words as sharp as any knife. Their intent might be different, but the method was identical. It was cruel, heartless, and both men were willfully oblivious to the true cost of their actions.

David hated Thomas. But, in the weeks that passed after David had begun to see the similarity between the two, he never let on a trace of it. He floated on the edge of his bubble, in a delicate balance even trickier than the one he had maintained in the Facility. Then he had been able to drop away whenever he wanted, leaving Dahnov to do whatever he pleased. Now, though, he couldn't go away without worrying Gabrielle, and he didn't want that just as much as he didn't want Thomas getting even a taste of what was in his head.

And, just as David had wanted, the man eventually dismissed him. David didn't know what was going through Thomas' head, but he knew from the way he acted that David had been disregarded. He had been labeled as passive, as not a threat. In a way, it was true. David wasn't going to do anything, even though it felt like it was tearing holes through him to see her in such pain and not do anything about it. He shouldn't do anything about it. He knew that. He knew without having to ask that she wouldn't want it, and that they still needed this place. But, somehow, in some silent part of him that he didn't realize existed at that moment, David knew that they wouldn't need this place forever. Eventually something would go too far, and that would be the end of it. He would act. This time, against this Dahnov, he would act.

He climbed passively to his feet when Gabrielle stood, his expression nearly vacant. It was the same expression he had maintained for the past weeks, and to everyone else there it wouldn't seem any different from the expression he had worn while waiting for transfer at the above ground safehouse. Gabrielle might have been able to notice the difference, if she was paying close enough attention, but he didn't really blame her for missing it. She had her own concerns at the moment.

As they walked silently through the hallways, David found another comparison between Thomas and Dahnov. How many times had he walked like this, moving listlessly through the hallways with the white-coated figure only a step in front of him, passively traveling to whatever new horror awaited him? Now he and Gabrielle were doing the same for Thomas. He didn't know what awaited them at the end, but he knew it couldn't be particularly good. Yet here they walked and Thomas, just like Dahnov, seemed to consider it perfectly normal and right.