The rain woke him. Rising from his bed, he found himself in the middle of a field. An old oak waited ahead of him, leaves swaying in the stormy wind. Dark clouds hid the sun so well day appeared to be night. The bed he had rested upon was the one that once belonged to his father and his uncle before that. It was one of many gifts he received after the crown resting at the foot of the bed had first been placed on his head. A red cloak was spread across a red quilt, both embroidered with white flowers. Without a thought to the strangeness of the sight before him, he put the crown on his head and clasped the red cloak around himself. As he stepped off the bed, the large bed changed shape to a smaller one with brown comforter and a green crochet throw on top. Underneath his cloak, his clothes had changed too. The bright reds and golds he often wore were changed out with earthier tones. A green jacket matching the throw blanket hung loosely on him, a name embroidered on the pocket. He couldn't read it. He wore dark colored jeans and dark brown boots. Goggles replaced his crown. His body did not change. His long, dark hair, pulled back in a low ponytail, stayed as it was with the golden ribbon he always used. He felt over his face. There was nothing different there either. He walked on toward the old oak. A voice called out to him. He turned around. His first wife stood in the field wearing her favorite purple-pink cape. She wore a knee-length white dress under it, another strange sight. Her feet were bare. Where her crown should have been, there was a wreath of orange roses. The rain drenched her dress, turning that portion of her body completely transparent. He saw the bed through her stomach. It had changed shape again, a holly tree growing through the middle of it. The tree's branches filled with little birds and red berries. Dead center behind her, the tree and the bed merged with her shadow. It grew rapidly toward the sky, leaves resisting the wind. Creeping slowly, kudzu and wisteria wound around the tree with purple blooms. As he watched the flowers bloom, wormwood grew out of his jacket pockets. She called him again, her voice echoing on the wind. The kudzu snaked across the field of wheat to his feet. It climbed up his body, covering him in more green and soft violet. A finch flew from the holly tree through the transparent dress carrying a small object. The bird stopped before his face, holding up a hand mirror. He looked in the mirror and saw a face that didn't match his body. Behind him, he saw a room with grey walls and a shelf of books. 'It will be soon.' He heard a voice from the other side of the mirror say. The voice was familiar. He turned around to find himself in that little grey room. The small bed was there. His laptop was open on his desk. Papers were taped on the walls and scattered about. Books were placed on shelves, on the floor, and on the bed. He couldn't see his feet. Mist filled the lower half of the room, hiding everything except a red item that shouldn't have been there. The cloak was on the floor now instead of his shoulders. He reached through the mists for the red amongst the grey. The same voice spoke again. 'You won't get another chance, you know. Your only chance will be soon.' He put the red cloak back on, but his body had changed. His hair was shorter, straighter. His skin was lighter. His reflection in laptop's screen showed him having a different face and height. The patch on the green jacket was clear in the reflection. He could read the letters, but they were backwards. He still couldn't make sense of what it said. The other person in the room came into view in the screen. He turned around to see the person face to face. 'Dad?' He asked. Eric handed him an orange rose. 'She'll pass through tonight, but you will meet another day. Don't run, Sky.' 'Why would I run?' He asked. Eric reached into the green jacket's pocket and picked some of the wormwood. He put the silver-green plant into Sky's mouth. The bitter taste should have bothered him, but it felt too routine to him, like poison inside a fish swimming through tainted waters or the distant yelling of a man he no longer called father just out of sight down the hall at the kitchen table. If he tried hard enough, he could ignore the intensity of disgust forming inside him. Reflexively, he wanted to swallow the plant whole rather than spit it out. Eric pulled the plant from Sky's mouth himself. The silver-green plant became a silver-blue in Eric's hand, changing its shape to a sphere. Within his palm, Eric held the moon in miniature. He closed his palm, crushing the sphere. Blue liquid poured through his fingers, the streams turning to flowers and floating dust. 'Don't run.' Eric said again. He pulled back his eyepatch. In his blind eye, the brown turned to black and blue. Sky stared into it. A river of blue starlight in an infinite darkness--the more he stared at it, the more the room around him disappeared. Floating down the river, a boat came in to view. A man covered in black sat in the boat. All of his appearance was hidden except for the long blond braid he held up like a noose. The hooded man in black raised a large scythe toward him. He spoke to Sky. 'Once more. If you try to run once more, then I will have no choice.' The man stood up. Sky now found himself in the river before the boat. The man in black swung his scythe at Sky. Sky fell back through the water. He couldn't breathe. His body seemed to be sinking faster than him. Sky tried to swim to the surface, but it moved away from him. He only sunk deeper. The brilliant blue darkened until all color left except black. Sky woke. He sat up in bed. Rubbing his eyes, he muttered to himself. "Another weird dream. What was that supposed to mean?" He glanced at his digital clock. It was eight fifteen. He grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of shorts to wear. Sky looked over at the green jacket at the foot of the bed as he dressed. Unlike in the dream, he could easily read it now, but he didn't need to. He knew very well what it said. That was entirely the reason he wore it. Alex Linwood was the name embroidered on the patch above the breast pocket. This jacket was Sky's favorite out of Alex's clothes to steal. With the RM vaccine around, so long as he was on this side of the border, he didn't need to worry about having to toss clothes as much as before due to contamination. Sky regularly went through Alex's clothes to keep his scent on him. Sky was a meticulous, fact obsessed person, but for this he allowed himself a little magical thinking. Absurd as it was, he felt as if the garments offered him some slight protection against danger. Eric's clothes weren't necessary to snatch, as Eric regularly crocheted them all various soft items to keep around their living space within the Sanctuary. The green throw blanket he slept under was made by Eric's hands. While Alex's clothes kept him safe during the day, Sky thought of Eric's things protecting him at night. He told the doctor about this at his most recent visit expecting the doctor would suggest changes in his medication. Sky was given an additional medicine to take, but he was assured it wasn't for those thoughts. They were harmless and comforting. The new medicine was to help alleviate some of his more depressive symptoms that his antipsychotic didn't take care of. Sky had only seen this man a few times now. In all the years he had been in and out of the Sanctuary and taken medicine provided here, it wasn't until his most recent return that he was able to see anyone in that area of the hospital. Alex always arranged everything, being qualified enough in the eyes of the people there to be able to make those decisions for Sky. Sky worried he might react strongly to going to that sort of place due to his early life experiences, but this time he didn't really panic. He saw the man Alex recommended him, but rejected the option of therapy for the time being. That still felt like too much for him. The shirt and shorts Sky had picked for today were also Alex's. Even after being washed, they still had a lingering scent that reminded him of Alex. Sky wasn't sure why he picked up this superstitious habit, but it had been going on for a few years now, since he was seventeen. Something about it felt nostalgic. Slipping into a pair of house shoes, Sky grabbed his medicine from his desk before leaving the room. He brushed his hair on the way out. No one was out in the main area of their home, but Sky knew that both Eric and Alex would be awake by now. Sky walked over to the kitchenette. He made himself a cup of instant coffee and sat down at the dining table. A plate had been set for him with today's breakfast from the cafeteria. There were two more plates on the table, both untouched. He heard the shower running. Sitting at the table, he took two pills with his coffee. He tried to remember his dream, but it was already fading from his mind. He turned on the small radio they kept on the table. The morning announcements came on. "We have reason to believe Delilah will be transported through the area within the next few days. For this week, all persons who do not need to travel are advised to stay inside. We will update you again when Delilah has moved through. Please do not attempt to engage with the Moon. Unnecessary attention endangers us all. Stay safe." Sky recognized the announcer for today as Alan Winter, the head of the Sanctuary. Typically, it was Kathy Beaumont or one of the researchers, if there were important research updates. Alan continued. "If you notice anyone acting strange, please bring it to our attention. The Moon has been known to send in agents to places like this. Be on guard. In other news, I have a quick update on the Rust research. The team's current animal vaccine tests have been showing promise. I've been informed that they are moving forward with another round of testing. We will let you know when the vaccine can begin human trials. Until then, continue with the usual precautions when entering an area infected with the virus. The latest batch of the RM vaccine is also available. If you haven't been vaccinated against RM yet, come down to the hospital wing. Those who have been previously vaccinated do not need to get the vaccine again. This is the same vaccine you have already received, not a new version. That is all. Thank you." "And now for today's weather..." Kathy Beaumont spoke after Alan finished his announcement. As usual, she gave the daily weather prediction, announced the meals that would be served today, and played instrumental music on her piano. Sky finished off his mug. He went to the mini-fridge in the kitchenette and got out the jug of peach juice. When he returned to the table, Eric and Alex had already sat down. "Good morning, Sky." Eric said. He put on an eyepatch. Sky saw it was one Kathy had gifted to him, a black eyepatch with a silver, metal finch over it. Eric wore this one more than the other ones he owned. "Did you sleep okay?" "Eh, not really." Sky sat down across from Eric. He turned to Alex, who was sitting to his left. Alex was also putting something over his eyes, his glasses. When they first met, Alex only needed reading glasses. These days, Alex had to wear glasses all the time. Since their location focused so much on medical things, glasses weren't hard to come by. Sky was grateful for that. Alex's vision would likely continue to deteriorate with age. He hoped Alex wouldn't need to change from this pair for at least a few years. "There was an announcement. We're not supposed to leave the building for a few days. Heather's being transported through soon." "Is that so?" Alex looked up from his plate. "I'm sure Alan will update us on her exact location once she passes through." "Do you think they'll attack us?" Sky asked. "Doubt it. They never do anything like that when they have their precious cargo in tow." Alex leaned back in his chair. "Especially not now with her playing both roles. They'll need a replacement Delilah and a replacement Doctor if they lose her. If someone's not lined up, that would cause a lot of chaos." Sky rolled his eyes. "Delilah...what a joke." "The girl they're prepping to be the new goddess, she should be about eighteen now, right? Heather may switch to only being 'Doctor' soon then." Eric pointed out. "I wonder if they'll attempt to go through with the ritual." "Without the Blackwells? They'll probably come up with some other way to announce her." Alex said. "If only we had more information about who she is...and where they're hiding her." "I'm sure they'll show her off soon." Sky drank the peach juice. He stuffed his mouth with toast. Eric's attention was on another matter. "Did you take your medicine?" Sky nodded, his mouth full. Eric picked up one of the bottles. "This one's not giving you any weird side-effects, right?" Sky shook his head. His face flushed. Eric handed the bottle back. "That's good." Alex smiled. "I'm surprised you agreed to actually see someone in person." Sky looked away, his face redder. "It's just a doctor visit. It's not a big deal." "Have you thought about trying out therapy?" Alex asked. "This is fine for now." Sky tapped the top of one of the bottles. He sighed. "And now there's two." "Fortunately, we produce both of these in pretty big batches. We shouldn't really need to worry about you running out." Alex said. Sky rested his chin against his palm. "How come he doesn't have to take any, and you only take one, but I have to take two?" Alex shrugged. "Don't worry about that." "It's not like I wouldn't take a drug if I could, or go to therapy like Alex. Nothing seems to work on me." Eric said. "Be glad something is working for you, and it's something we can get really easily." "I guess..." Sky stretched. He didn't want to talk about that anymore. "Are you two going anywhere today?" "I have training I'll be doing at the hospital, then I'll be helping in the greenhouse in the afternoon." Alex said. "I'll need to be going soon." Sky nodded. He looked over at Eric. "I'll just be working in the greenhouse today. What about you?" Sky drank some more of his juice. "I thought I'd attend one of the adult educational classes." "Really? Which one?" Eric asked, a little shocked. "It's a writing class." Sky glanced away. "Huh. I thought if we ever got you to go to one of those, you'd only care about the STEM courses." Alex was in as much disbelief as Eric. "The psychiatrist said I should try to have more hobbies." Sky said. He shifted his gaze between the floor and Alex. "There's a night class on Wednesdays for photography. I was wondering, if you're not busy...if you might go with me." "Wednesday nights? What time?" Alex asked. "It's at nine." Sky said. "I'm sure I could manage that." Alex's face was as red as Sky's. Eric grinned. Alex noticed Eric's reaction. He turned to Sky. "What about Eric? Is there anything you wanted to do with him?" Sky and Eric exchanged looks. Sky shook his head. "That's not how we usually, uh, bond." "What's that mean?" Alex asked. Eric laughed. "You wouldn't understand it." "Well, if whatever you're doing already makes you happy, then it doesn't matter what it is." Alex looked down at his watch. "Sorry, I really need to go. I'll see you at lunch." "Should we meet in the cafeteria or the greenhouse?" Eric asked. Alex kissed Eric. "Greenhouse." Sky waved goodbye as Alex left. The room was quiet for a moment. Eric broke the silence. "So, how do we bond?" Eric asked, laughing. "I'm not gonna say what you already know." Sky got up from the table. He knew very well he could easily explain it, but it was too embarrassing to say he enjoyed letting Eric take care of him and Eric enjoyed taking care of Sky. Allowing himself to be vulnerable and attended to, that was what tightened their bond. Sky still could not talk of his own weaknesses, much less that he allowed anyone in to see them or care about them. With Alex and Kathy, they taught him things and he, in turn, gave them whatever perspective or information he could. He connected to them through exchange of knowledge and discussions. There was no need for that with Eric. Eric got up from the table and handed Sky something he had left in the fourth chair at their dining table. A folded up blanket, more complex than the one currently on Sky's bed, was held in Eric's arms. This one was also green, but contained far more shades. Sky could tell by the variety of colors that Eric had to have regularly checked the supply store for any scraps of yarns for weeks, if not longer, to get so much variety. Eric offered it to Sky. "Here. It's pretty warm out now, but this should help when winter comes." Sky accepted the gift. "Thank you. It's very nice." "Oh, I got something else for you." Eric went to the mini fridge and took out a bag. "Some snacks to tide you over until lunch." "You didn't have to do that." Sky said. He took the bag and peeked inside. It was mostly fruits and nuts. He noticed some jerky at the bottom. "Meat? How did you get that?" "You can thank your uncles." Eric said. Sky took "uncles" to mean Zack and Andrew, neither of which were related to Eric or Alex, but as Sky wasn't related to the people he called his parents, that hardly mattered. Who was included in their family was something he let his parents decide. "They snatched a bunch of food from the Moon recently, a lot of it meat. They gave me a little stash of it late last night. I have some more in my room. You can eat it all if you want." "I can't do that. That's selfish." Eric shook his head. "Whenever you come back here, you're always so skinny. You're filling back out now. Keep eating." "Thank you." Eric picked up a backpack off the ground. "I'll be heading out now too. I hope you have fun at your class. Let me know how it goes." "I will." Eric left. Sky was alone. He went back to his room. His writing class didn't begin for another few hours. Sky felt guilty about not working in that time between then and now, but he knew Eric and Alex would tell him he needed more time to rest. Sky unfolded the new blanket and covered himself in it. He ate the snacks in his bed, still hungry after breakfast. Eric was right about his weight. He always gained a lot of weight when he came back here. Everyone around him made sure he ate regularly. When he was alone on the outside, he intentionally starved himself. He had felt it was his duty to deny himself any physical pleasure, including something as simple as having a full stomach or eating foods he preferred the taste of. Since August's death, he'd denied himself entering any romantic relationships and by extension, sexual encounters. That morphed into denying himself any joy from masturbating as well, as a punishment. He wouldn't allow himself to feel good. He'd be hungry and repressed, lonely and alone, denying everything from everyone he ever wanted to be around and let his body rack up scars as he tempted death at every encounter with the Moon. Since returning and starting his new medication, a fog was lifting in his mind. He looked over at the picture of August he kept on his desk. He knew August would be sad to see him like that. The only one who would be happy with him as he was before would be the man Sky once called "father". It was the ultimate form of self-harm, Sky thought, to force himself to become something that only the man he hated the most in the world would approve of. He fell back against the bed, the soft blanket snug against him. How comfortably he slept here compared to out there, how he didn't need to worry over someone attacking him in his sleep, how cozy his bedroom was, that he always had one here--these were other joys he tried to deny himself. Even in sleep, he wanted to strip it of any safety and warmth. Resting there now, Sky had a new set of thoughts enter his mind. He wanted to share a bed with someone again. Sky looked over at the photograph of August again. "Four years...is long enough, right? It's okay, isn't it?" He knew he couldn't receive an answer, but he didn't need to. He knew what August would tell him. Four years was far too long. A tear slid down his cheek. Sky wiped it away. No matter how much time passed, the pain always crept back up on him. As much as he desired it, there was no bringing August back. Four years had passed since his death, but until recently, there was a finality missing to it. With August's remains now found and buried, there was no more entertaining a distant delusional hope that somehow, someday, he could return. Sky knew he was dead. With the Rust running through his veins, whether he killed himself or allowed the virus to run its course, a single scrape had given him a death sentence. But in spite of that, Sky always held a fantasy in the back of his mind that somehow August could have survived it or been taken to the Moon and given some sort of treatment. Then all Sky would need to do was rescue him. He never believed this could really be, but his mind wandered there at times. Seeing the remains in person ended that. August was gone. They couldn't share this room or any future space. All that remained was what he caught on camera. Sky had taken many photos and videos of August. Rewatching the videos was painful. He wanted to hear August's voice. It would bring him happiness for a moment, then the pain would set in again. He hated it. Sky accepted his death fully now, but that didn't ease the pain. August existed in the photos and videos, in his memories, in his dreams, but he was nowhere to be found anywhere else. It was as if he simply vanished. Others around him seemed to move on from deaths more easily than he did. But, he supposed, that seemed to be how he had always been. After all, that was why he was here once more. The matter of his loneliness and the reasons for his current existence weighed heavily on him. He knew why he was here. Leon wanted to find her. This was his third life now wishing for that same dream. But that was Leon's wish. Though he remembered parts of Leon and Lilah's lives from time to time, he didn't carry with him consciously any of their feelings or desires. If he did, he doubted he would have dated August in the first place. As much as he had his own thoughts on the matter, the dreams wouldn't stop. He may meet her one day, but he didn't want to wait all his life for someone who may or may not ever cross paths with him. He was lonely now. He wanted someone to spend his days with in the present. Maybe, he thought, he should ignore his dreams altogether. His name wasn't Leon Blackwell anymore, nor Delilah Blackwell. He'd even abandoned Summerfield as his surname. He was Sky Linwood, no one else. Coming home, he contemplated abandoning another goal of his. Sky felt personal responsibility for the things his birth father did. He needed to stop Moone & Wolfe. He needed to expose everything. When he signed the adoption papers with Eric and Alex, he changed his last name, but a part of him wouldn't let go of "Summerfield" as part of who he was. But he was Sky Linwood now, not Summerfield. If he was to abandon calling that man his father and toss aside that family name, why did it need to be him? Others were already dealing with them. Sky didn't have to do anything. He could live his life like most everyone else on the outside, not worrying about fighting a huge organization or chasing the shadow of some woman from centuries ago. He could be completely ordinary, forgotten. That was the far more logical thing than to think about magic and revenge. Sky sat up and picked up the picture frame from his desk. Chasing after the Moon was what he bonded with August over. He doubted August would mind if he quit their mission, but that was another pain. Fighting against them was how he became to be close to Eric and Alex too, and Kathy. He knew they definitely wanted him to stop. They would support him in walking away from it all. But could he really do that? As easy as it seemed, he felt the weight of his past dragging on his spirit. Where was he to go from here? Sky sighed. He didn't know what he wanted or what he could be. With time to kill, he decided to take a bath. Sky went to the bathroom and turned on the water. While it ran, he set up a few candles around the bathroom and lit them. From his bedroom, he brought the star projector in, then turned off the bathroom light. The dark room filled with tiny lights. Once the water was ready, Sky undressed and got in. He sank down into the water, submerging his head and holding his breath. The warm water, gently rocking his body, brought him to another state. Sky rose up to breathe. He watched the projection of blue stars move across the ceiling. The lights reflecting on the water were less steady than those above him. The slightest movement of his body shifted them into unrecognizable paths. Since returning home, Sky had gotten into the habit of bathing in the dark like this. He felt like he was out of reach from the world itself. Sky stared down at his own blurred, barely visible face in the water. "Hey Leon, I don't suppose you could use that absurd stubbornness of yours to somehow make our wants line up? If you can't...you know, a few centuries is long enough, right?" No one answered him. Sky laughed to himself. "I guess I can't be mad at you. I wouldn't be living this life right now otherwise." Sky playfully hit his reflection in the water. "And I'm just as stubborn now as I was then." After half an hour, Sky got out of the bath. He decided to put off thinking about relationships and revenge for another day. Right now, all he needed to worry about was getting to his class later and meeting his parents for lunch after that. Sky reminded himself he wasn't interested in anyone in particular at the moment anyway, and he was too unwell to continue chasing after the Moon either. There was no need to worry about those things today. He turned on the light and dried off. Sky caught another look at his own reflection, this time in the mirror. He didn't see any hint of Leon there, nor Lilah. He didn't see any resemblance to his biological parents either. When he was younger, he was always searching for their features on himself, weighing out which of the two he had inherited more from. He only saw himself. He looked over his body. He stopped growing taller at sixteen. His face was sharper than then, his cheeks less full. There were more scars on him now, but his eyes were brighter. Other parts of his body had changed. When he was a teenager, he was thinner even when he ate regularly. Sky didn't get any taller after that year, but he did get thicker. His body was more muscular now and his midsection was a bit wider. His hair came in thicker now than then, coarser. Red rose in his face. "Huh. I'm kind of hot." Sky's face went deeper as he realized he'd said his thought aloud. He was glad no one was home. Sky stared at his own face's reflection more, then at his body. "Did I always look this good?" He got dressed. "Is it the medicine?" Embarrassed by his own thoughts, Sky hurried away from the mirror. He packed his new backpack with a binder, a notebook, and a few pencils and pens. Sky felt a little bad for getting a second one, but he didn't want to take his traveling backpack to class nor get rid of his old one. Eric had told him not to worry about it. They had room to hold onto more than what they could carry. With more time to kill, Sky went down to the supply store to see what was new and pick up a few things. Since he first came here, what the Sanctuary could make on their own and what they could get from trading with other groups had greatly expanded. The supply store now took up two floors in the new building. The old supply store in the older building, like everything else inside it, had been converted into being part of a large hospital and research lab. Thanks to the RM vaccine, they could grow food more distantly from the buildings. The greenhouse had also expanded, allowing them to keep growing certain items year round and ones unsuited to Georgia's climate. This in turn allowed more expansion of what they could make and a more consistent way to know when certain items would be available. At the entrances on each floor, there was a calendar marked with different item availability. Sky glanced over it before heading in to the upper floor. He grabbed a few hygiene items first. He was grateful the deodorant and soap bars now came in more than one scent. Sky tossed his preferred scented bars into his bag along with a pack of razor blades and some candles. He noticed some of the items Eric had crocheted recently were in a basket. Sky smiled. Sky headed toward the clothing section, a mix of gathered items and handmade projects done by people living in the Sanctuary. He tried on a few of the sandals. The ones he had were getting worn out. Satisfied with one of the pairs, he put it in his bag with everything else. Sky went down to the lower floor of the store. Most of that floor were items collected outside. Sky found a book on photography he thought might be interesting to read and a zodiac key chain for Cancer, his sign. He didn't care about astrology, but he thought the concept was fun. Sky had never seen a crab in person, only in books and in movies. They moved strangely and could be very aggressively defensive. That appealed to him. He wanted to see one up close. Reaching any coast, however, was too dangerous. Moone & Wolfe kept those areas tightly guarded. After leaving the supply store, Sky walked slowly to class. He was still too early. Eventually, he sat down outside the door and listened in on the class that was going on before his. Judging by what he could hear, he assumed it was a math class. The questions seemed too basic for an adult class. 'Are there that many adults here who can't add and subtract?' Sky found the same was true for basic reading and writing when his class began. The teacher gave them a literacy test to see what each student's current skill level was at. Sky finished his test quickly and with ease. The rest in the room struggled. Many didn't finish the test before the class was over. The Sanctuary offered plenty of classes for children. He presumed these people either chose not to go to them or weren't here when they were younger. The teacher announced at the end of the class that she would give them individual lesson plans to follow next class after she evaluated their results. The class, she explained, would be a mix of reading and practicing writing. On the first page of the test, before the real questions began, students were expected to fill out a questionnaire about their interests for the class. Sky noticed a few students couldn't fully finish that page either. For his, he wrote he was interested in learning about poetry. After class, he went to the cafeteria and then the greenhouse. Eric and Alex were already there. Alex looked tired from being at the hospital. They asked him about his class. Their conversation drifted from there to lunch options for the week and other trivialities. Sky listened more than he spoke. He watched Eric and Alex closely. At the moment, they felt alone in this space, though it was not theirs. This location was home, but they shared it with many. Sky wished they could have their own house. He daydreamed about a small, single story home like the one he lived in before everything happened--one that wasn't filled with terrifying dances of shadow and light, suffocating tension thicker than mist, and fear so great bodies mimicked the stillness of death to not be seen. He wanted a place full of warmth and calm light, filled with happy things, filled with movements and voices in chaotic unison. A full table at breakfast, all four seats filled. Someone to sit beside him at the table opposite his parents. Perhaps, he thought, little voices too. Sky felt his face flush. Eric tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you okay? Your face is red." "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Sky felt his face. His cheeks were burning hot. "I just thought of something stupid. It's nothing." "Are you sure?" Eric asked. Sky laughed awkwardly. "Don't worry about it." Someone else sitting beside him at the table. Who would that be? He wasn't with anyone right now. There could be a man or a woman sitting there. They could look like anything. The more he told himself that was unknown, the more she appeared in his mind. He could almost see her face clearly. Her name rested in his mind just out of reach, the textures of its sound and spelling forming and fading the longer he thought. After he finished eating, Sky tried to think of a way out of the situation. Sitting alone with his parents there was only making his mind circle around those thoughts. He needed to be alone for a while again. Sky excused himself. He recalled a sign he saw earlier outside the classroom asking for help putting furniture together on the fourth floor. Sky told his parents that's what he was going to do and waved goodbye. The furniture had been collected from old stores. Sky was assigned a set of pieces to complete. He worked diligently on it, as if attempting to compensate for not working in the morning. "You know, you don't have to complete all of them, right? You can stop whenever you get tired." Dan, a friend of his parent's and partner of Alan, said. He sat down beside Sky. "I've already called it quits for tonight." Sky glanced at Dan's prosthetic leg. "Is that one new?" Dan looked down. "Yeah, got it a day ago. It's a lot nicer than my last one. Alex helped with getting it made." "Really?" Sky asked. "Yep. I appreciate it, but damn, he's as bad as you. You two need to stop working so hard." Dan put his hand on the leg. He laughed. "It's more than enough he did the amputation way out in the middle of nowhere and kept me alive after that. I told him the other day, 'you know, you can't make me regrow it'. Sometimes, it feels like he takes it personally when anyone gets hurt. He has to come in and save the day. Humans aren't gods. We can't carry the weight of the world on our backs. Tell him to take it easy for me, okay?" "I will." Sky said. "And you too. This is the last one, okay? You've done more than double what everyone else here has done tonight." Dan said, patting Sky on the back. "Not gods...some would argue I am." Sky laughed under his breath. "Oh, right. I forgot. You're a goddess. Then, I suppose, carry on." Dan joked back with him. "Goddess?" A man sitting near them asked. "What do you mean?" "Ah, nothing. It's an inside joke." Dan answered. "Goddess..." The man's eyes widened. "It is you. Doctor, it's you. Oh, they really have warped your mind. You can't be the goddess. You're not a girl. Doctor..." Dan and Sky both stood up. Sky's heart pounded. 'No, not another one.' The man lunged at Sky. He grabbed Sky's shoulder tightly. "Doctor, I'll take you back. They sent so many of us to look for you. Delilah will be so happy with me if I bring you back. They'll fix the brainwashing. Delilah fixes everything. The goddess heals everything." Dan pulled out a gun, but didn't fire. He was afraid of accidentally shooting Sky. "Doctor, Doctor...Miss Delilah will be so happy to have you back..." The man cried tears of joy as he shook Sky. Panic rose in Sky's body. His mind acted quickly, with little thought. Sharp concentration snapped a string of lightning bolts down from the sky through the man. Sky didn't flinch. The man fell to the ground, dead. The other people in the room stared. "Goddess? The goddess is real..." One woman muttered. She began to cry uncontrollably. She fell to her knees and bowed to Sky. "The Moon was wrong, but the goddess is real...Goddess, please bless us all..." "Goddess...Delilah...the real Delilah is here?" Another man approached him. He also bowed on the ground, most of his body against the floor. "I will follow your every wish...tell me, what is the truth we should follow?" Dan got between them. "That's enough. Leave him alone. That was a coincidence. That was not magic. There is no goddess. That is propaganda from the Moon. Sky, go on and leave. I'll deal with these people." "But I...that man..." Sky shook. He knew very well what he had done. "Get to Eric and Alex. I'll deal with this mess here." Dan pushed him toward the door. Sky nodded and ran out of the room. As he was leaving, guards were running in. He changed his name, but every now and then, this always happened. As much as he wished he could be normal and forgotten, Moone & Wolfe itself refused to let him go. To them, he would always be Sky Summerfield, the proper one to be the Doctor who stood beside Delilah. And to those who knew, he was the real Delilah. He ran without stopping all the way back to their unit in the building. Sky slammed the door wide open. The noise echoed down the hall and shook the pictures hanging on the wall. He could barely breathe. Sky used what little energy he had left to quickly close the door. He looked around the living space of their little home. Alex was studying. Eric was working on a new blanket. They both looked up at Sky. Alex got up, fear in his eyes. "What's wrong?" "Just...the Moon...trying to kidnap me again..." Sky caught his breath. "I didn't mean to, but I...I killed the guy who tried to kidnap me...and I did it with magic without thinking...in front of people...and now a whole group of people think I'm Delilah..." "I mean...you are Delilah." Eric said. He walked over to Sky and led him to the couch. "Sit down. Let me get you some water." "They're not supposed to know that. What is so special about the propaganda they use that even after they leave and get all their memories back, they're still obsessed with her?! I don't get it." Sky sat down on the couch. His breathing was still heavy. He couldn't help but be aware of how hard his chest was moving. "How can you be that obsessed with a person you don't know and have never met?" "You're not a person to them, Sky. You're a god." Alex reminded him. He sat down beside Sky and put his hand to Sky's face. "Did anyone hurt you?" Sky shook his head. Eric handed him a glass of water and sat on the other side of him. Sky drank from the glass too fast. He coughed. "Easy there." Eric rubbed his back. "Does Alan know what happened?" "Dan was there." Sky tried to drink the water again. "He told me he'd take care of it." Alex sighed. He leaned back against the sofa and looked over at Sky. "I'm sure one of them will contact us soon, after those people are dealt with. This is definitely one of the disadvantages of living in a big group like this." "But it's also one of the advantages. There was someone there to step in." Eric added. Sky handed the glass back to Eric. "Could you put that on the table beside you?" Eric moved the glass. Sky put his face into his hands. His shoulders sunk down. Eyes closed, he saw nothing in his mind. The daydreams of earlier now seemed ridiculous. No matter how much time passed, no matter what name he took, no matter what he did, to those that could harm him most, he would always be Sky Summerfield, the future Doctor. They would always torment him, unless they were gone. Today, he could have been killed or kidnapped to then have his memories wiped. Everything he had tried to do all these years--in attempts at exposing them and destroying them, and in distancing himself to build a new life--it could all be for nothing if they ever caught him. His biological father was gone. His aunt, Edith, he murdered himself. Alex had gotten rid of Edith's other replacement option, Felicia Dogwood. Heather Smith remained, playing as Delilah and as the Doctor under her official name. Two costumes and two personalities for one body, both of them fake. So long as she was there and training up her replacement Delilah, the biological daughter of herself and Jake Corbin, they would continue to pursue him. Both present and future Delilahs needed to be gotten rid of, either by death or deprogramming. Until that occurred, the cult would go on. He wagered even if he got rid of them, it might still go on. A brainwashed group controlled by an exploitative company masquerading as a place of salvation, forever waiting for their "goddess" to be born again. There was no reason to keep up the old rituals anymore with the Blackwells and Aurora having left long ago. They didn't need to educate the lesser cult members about that. Without that knowledge, they could make up any ritual and any set of requirements for new goddesses. All that really mattered was Delilah was a woman with dark hair and dark eyes born on the seventh of July. And they could fake all of those things. Delilah was always a costume since the beginning. After all, their first goddess was Rose Blackwell dressed up as her already dead sister, Lilah. If they could go on like that forever, would he ever be allowed to be anyone else but Sky Summerfield? He would need to destroy everything. That was the only way. Or sit and wait, hoping someone else would for him. "I wish I was never born." Sky whispered. He felt arms around him. Sky recognized Alex's scent was stronger now. He apologized. "I'm sorry. Everything would be better if you had adopted anyone else." "Shh. Don't blame yourself for any misery those people cause." Alex said. "No matter what they do, I will always love you." "You know we both love you." Eric added. "I know." Sky thought, 'That's why this hurts so much.' The phone on the table rang. Recently, they had been able to install phones in many of the rooms. The one on the table was installed only a month ago, giving Sky a new bit of information to memorize that for once didn't have anything to do with the Moon. Sky looked over at the cordless device with the small, orange screen lit up. Eric picked up the phone. "Hello? Hey. Yeah, he got here a few minutes ago." Sky sat up. He couldn't hear the words, but he could tell it was Alan speaking. "Yeah, he's okay." Eric listened for a while. "So, it's okay to leave again? Right, right. I see. Yeah. I'll check in with you later tonight or tomorrow morning. Okay. Bye." "What'd he say?" Alex asked. "They've taken those people to the deprogramming ward. They won't be let back out until they clear the program or they decide to move them somewhere else. The guards won't let them anywhere near Sky." Eric said. "We can go back out now, if we want. Aside from the people who were in that room, no one else knows about what happened." "What about that man? I killed him." Sky faced the ground. "In self-defense. There's nothing else to say about it." Eric got up. "You know, why don't we all go up to the roof to get some fresh air? It should be pretty warm out tonight." Alex glanced over at the weather monitor hanging above his desk. "Eighty-three degrees with sixty percent humidity. Yeah, I'd say it's warm out there." Eric put his hand on Sky's shoulder. "Come on, let's go for a little walk up there. It should be clear right now. I bet the stars are really pretty tonight." Sky sighed. "Alright." When they lived in the old building, going up to the roof had always been a private, outdoor retreat for them. It held the same special isolation as the greenhouse. The view from the newer building was just as beautiful, though much safer. The "birdcage", as everyone jokingly called the fence covering the roof, was much sturdier and more complex than the one on the old building. As dark as Sky's thoughts had been, the night lightened his mood. The warmth of the summer night held him. He could smell the faint scent of the kudzu already snaking its way around the birdcage. The light purple flowers swayed in the wind, so faint they almost glowed. For a brief moment, he wondered if the plant was attempting to mimic the appearance of death in its vines with little tiny spirits. It reminded him of the "blue" roses Alex showed him in a book once, all of them varying shades of a purple a few shades off from the desired color. When Sky asked Alex why a rose couldn't truly be blue, Alex answered him with a rare magical answer. The living cannot replicate the eternity of death within anything that lives without killing it. Sky wondered about that. Here he stood, now in his third attempt at living, feeling as dead as before he was born. Sky let his gaze wander past the dangling pretend ghosts to other lights in the dark, the city's lights. The longer they stayed in place, the more buildings the Sanctuary took over and fixed up. So long as the Moon didn't interfere or any other group, eventually they would take back and light up all of Atlanta. The city in the forest was filled with artificial stars, giving its own ghostly appearance. But the lights were too pale, too white, to be the specters he had seen before. The brilliance was there, but the unearthly blue remained absent. The stars above them, old beings from far away and long ago, many of those were ghosts now though they lacked the color for it seen here. He found himself most in those. He was carrying on living for a wish of a light that had already been snuffed out. Sky was what remained of that desire, so distant from its initial source that time allowed the light to still shine through him. Soon, time would catch up to the place he was and that light would finally go out completely. His body was filling with dreams again in the presence of all the ghosts and pretend spirits. He wasn't sure he wanted to do what Leon wanted. He couldn't have anything while the Moon still operated around him. Yet, his mind pushed through with dreams that matched the summer night. They wouldn't leave him, no matter how much darkness he attempted to steep himself in. Sky gripped the metal fence with both hands. The metal was cold against his skin. Sky looked back at Alex and Eric. Right now, he had them. Whether he could live out Leon's wish or his own future dreams, they were here. How many days he had left with each of them, he could never know. It could be forty years, it could be tomorrow morning. There was no guarantee their time together would be much longer. He used to curse himself for loving anyone. He hated himself for years after August died, for allowing anyone in, for allowing himself to be hurt so deeply by loss. Now that he had returned home again, he hated himself for thinking that way. He should have been grateful for the time he was allowed to be with August, brief as it was. Many of the memories had already faded, but he knew it happened. He knew what he felt then. He could remember the happiness he felt. If he stayed forever running from the pain of losing someone to death, he would never have anyone near again. What was the point of living a life without loving anyone in it? To live without love was no different than being a ghost bound to a grave. Eric and Alex were older than him. If they all lived peaceful, uneventful lives from tomorrow on out, he would still likely witness both of their deaths. It was very likely out of the three of them, he would be the one without the other two one day. Their faces and voices might begin to fade some in his mind. He would likely forget their scents and the minor, insignificant mannerisms that collectively made up their daily behavioral patterns. Today might slip away, and most days with it. But the feelings would remain. How much they loved him, no matter how ill he was and awful his actions were because of that, that would stay. The feeling would return like the warmth of the summer night. For what he had been gifted with, whatever pain waited him in their absence was worth it. He hoped they felt the same way, in spite of every foolish thing he had done in front of them, that he was worth them loving. In accepting that, Sky could feel his own mortality closing around him. It didn't frighten him anymore. He would die one day. However it was meant to be, he was alright with it. This time, he would go quietly, whether Leon wanted it or not. A human life was brief. Going forward, he wanted to do whatever felt right, not what he felt obligated to do. If he could live like that, he could accept his death and any other pain that awaited him. Though he accepted these thoughts, he hoped their days together would be long. The first would be painful. The second death, when he would have lost them both, he knew that one would hurt much worse than the first. "It's nice out tonight." Sky said to break the silence. "Yeah. The wind's really nice right now." Eric sat down on a bench behind Sky. Alex stretched. He yawned. "Think I'm gonna need to get some coffee. I don't know why I'm so tired." "Don't drink too much. You'll be up all night." Eric warned him. "I won't. I'm just gonna get one cup. Do you want me to bring you anything?" Alex asked, turning back toward the door. "No coffee. Maybe some water." Eric said. "Sky?" Alex asked. "Mmm...just water for me too." Sky smiled. "Kay. I'll be right back." Alex left through the door and down the stairs. "He's been drinking coffee a lot at night. How is he sleeping?" Sky turned around. He leaned against the fence. "He hasn't been sleeping much." Eric shook his head. "He's overworking himself again." "Why?" "Because he's worried." Eric put his hands together in between his legs. "Don't blame yourself for this. You didn't do anything wrong. He's just worried about you. You know, things were pretty bad for a while. Seeing you try to hurt yourself, it really scared him. I think he's running from that fear by overworking himself. Like if he works hard enough, somehow he'll fix everything for you." Sky lowered his head. "I'm sorry." "It's not your fault. What you were doing was out of illness, and so is what he's doing." Eric looked over at the door. "Don't worry. I'm working on it. I don't know how, but I'll find a way to pull him back down to reality." Sky shook his head. "I don't know how you do it. You don't go to therapy and you don't take any medicine. You do everything by yourself and somehow you still hold us both up." Eric felt over his left arm with his right arm. "Oh, I'm sure I'm not all that well either. I don't know how I'm really holding up like this. Maybe it's payback." "Payback?" "Before we were captured by Moone & Wolfe, back before everything felt apart, Alex was the one who always supported me. If I didn't have Alex, I wouldn't be here right now." Eric said. "To repay him for keeping me alive, somehow, I've become stronger to protect him. But I need to do more. Two months ago, Alex fainted in the hospital. He said he worked too much that week. I told him to go see a doctor. He actually refused." "Alex refused to see a doctor?!" Sky was shocked by that. That didn't sound like him at all, he thought. "He knows he's pushing himself to the point of hurting himself. If he sees a doctor, the doctor will confirm it." Eric said. He looked back at the door. "Don't tell Alex this. I spoke with Alan about this. Next week, we're going to tell him he has to see a doctor or he won't be allowed to work in the hospital anymore." "What do you think he'll do?" "He'll have to see someone then. He won't want to stop working in the hospital." Eric sighed. Specks of blue floated around him. He looked at them. "Ah, sorry. I...I don't think I can control it right now." Sky walked over to Eric. He knelt down before him. Sky looked into his eyes and put his hands on Eric's. "Is...is it that bad?" More blue lights surrounded them. Eric took a deep breath. "It's gonna be alright. I'm just worried, that's all. I don't think it's anything really serious. He needs to stop working so much. I'm sorry if I scared you." Sky shook his head. "I'd rather know than not know. Besides, you don't need to hide your emotions around me." Eric smiled half-heartedly. "Right. I'm sorry. Everything will be okay. I won't let him go on like this." "I won't either." Sky got up. He turned around, walking back to the fence. Sky's mind shifted from Alex to one of his other important people, Kathy. "He's getting a little too old to be doing as much as he is." "Hey, he's the same age as me. We're not that old." Eric laughed, his voice unable to disguise his worry. "He's aging faster than you." Sky held onto the fence with one hand. "Just like Kathy. The more you fight against what the Moon does, the more of your life it steals." "Then you shouldn't be fighting either." Eric said. Sky glanced over his shoulder back at Eric. "They're making it really hard for me to ignore them." "I know. But there's others already fighting. All you need to do is focus on not letting them hurt you. You don't need to do anything else." "I'm not so sure they'll let it be like that." Sky stared out at the more distant lights on the horizon. He could see one of the Facilities to the far west. "We'll worry about them when we have to. The rest of the time, I want you to forget about them." Eric stood up. He walked over to Sky. "I want you to live a normal life." Sky tightened his grip on the fence. "I wish I could." Eric put his hand over Sky's hand that gripped the fence. "You will." "You know, lately...I've been thinking...I might...want to get married one day." Sky looked at Eric, then away. He could feel Eric's eyes on him. He blushed. "Never thought I'd hear you say that." Eric said. "I'm glad to hear it." "I don't know why I'm thinking about this...I'm not with anyone right now..." "Doesn't meant you won't ever be again. Maybe it's your heart telling you you're ready to start dating again." Eric suggested. "I was...thinking about that earlier..." Sky's face burned hotly. He looked to Eric for reassurance. "It's been long enough to be respectful, right?" Eric's eyes widened for a moment. A sad expression was quickly hidden by a kind one. "I would think you've waited plenty long enough. I don't think he'd be offended." Sky's eyes started to water. He blinked several times to disguise it. Sky took a deep breath. "I was also thinking...I...I dunno...I might want to adopt a child one day, if I got married." The blue around them grew much brighter than before. Sky looked over at Eric, thinking he might have upset him. Eric was grinning from ear to ear. "You want children?" "I don't...I don't know yet. Maybe...Not my own...I don't want there to be anymore 'Summerfields' or 'Blackwells'. If I had a child, I'd want to gift the name 'Linwood' to someone, like you two did to me." Sky looked out at the city lights. "To someone who doesn't have any parents or any good ones, at least. I dunno...I don't know what I'm thinking." Eric put his hand on Sky's head. "I'd be honored if you passed down our name to others." "Maybe it's Leon, but today I kept thinking...I'm probably going to marry a woman." Sky's mind suddenly felt hazy. He noticed more of the blue lights than usual were sticking to his body. "Leon..." "Sky, are you okay?" Eric asked. Sky didn't hear him. He heard a strange humming as the blue grew brighter. The more the lights clung to him, the farther away he felt from himself. "Sky?!" Sky didn't answer Eric. Someone else did. "He's talking a little nap for the time being." The blue lights had shifted the appearance of Sky's body, casting a second form over him so entirely that Sky's physical body could not be seen through the lights. Before Eric stood another man, one who appeared to be around the same age as Sky but with entirely different features. His posture was more assertive. Long, wavy hair fell over his shoulders. He wore clothes from another era. A crown rested on his head and a sword hung from his belt. Eric backed away slightly. "You...are you Leon?" Leon gracefully nodded. "It's been a long time." Eric didn't know what he meant. "Why are you here right now?" "Sky is quite conflicted right now." Leon said. "I can't have him getting in my way." "You're not going to do anything to him, are you?" Eric asked. "To myself? I don't intend to harm myself." Leon said. "It's those fools that are making this complicated. The ones who worship me. Damn Time for drifting me to this space and era of absolute madness." "You can't choose where you're reborn at?" Eric asked. Leon laughed. "Do you really think I would have chose Lilah's life or Sky's? I ran against the current until I fell where I fell. To think I would continue on down the Blackwell line, what a ridiculous fate. And even more, to be born again and my previous life recognized as one that could return. Yet somehow they've gotten every other bit wrong. It's utterly baffling." "So you can...remember everything across all your lives?" Eric asked. "Of course. The body can only remember what it has lived through, but the soul forgets nothing." Leon said. "Returning twice has fractured me a bit, but Lilah and Sky are both pieces of me. Whatever they've known, I know. Whatever they've felt, I felt. When this body dies, there will be no separation between us. I am the man you know, and have known. As I am typically, I can only access this knowledge in my dreams. We may seem very different right now, but it is only because Sky can't remember all of what I know. I am Sky as he is when he dreams. He is me when I am dreaming." "I'm not sure I understand what you mean..." Eric tried to grasp what Leon was telling him. He couldn't focus on his words. The shock of seeing and hearing Leon made everything else difficult to process. "You don't need to understand it." Leon said. "Something must be done about those fools though. I don't have any more chances left. If I fail again, I can't run anymore. What I don't understand is how this has all come to be. How can they claim to worship me?" "From the propaganda the company gives people, they're all convinced you're a goddess." Eric said. "A goddess. When my name was Delilah Blackwell, I died on my twelfth birthday. I had barely lived a decade. I lived for nine decades as Leon Blackwell. As Sky, I have now lived for at least two. Out of the roughly twelve decades I've endured in life, that singular decade is all that matters to them. By the time I had reached that decade mark as Delilah, I had no memories of the first five years or so of my life. I'd already forgotten that. I never became an adult. My body never finished growing. I never developed a proper sense of who I was to any depth. I was no one, full of nothing." Leon turned to face the far distant lights. "And yet, that idea of me, frozen in time at an age I had only one month prior begun to menstruate, is what they fixate on. A year before that ritual is when I started to develop breasts and grow hair across my body. I had been capable of writing the name they obsessed over for centuries now for only six years by that point. I had been dressing myself for five years. A goddess, am I? Ridiculous." "You can do magic. That...that's pretty god-like." Eric said. "Magic doesn't make one a deity." Leon said. "The little magic I can do in this body and this life is because a part of me remembers why I am here. Sky can do magic for the same reason Lilah could, because I always could. I was passed down that power from my father, who was gifted that from his mother. A weak magic. I can control water and wind and light above me, but little else. In terms of magical talent, I've always been quite unimpressive. Hardly god-like. Fairy-like, perhaps. Nothing special." "So...the magic comes from your grandmother...? What was she?" Eric asked. "About half human. My great-grandmother, her mother, was not." Leon smiled, but did not elaborate on what he meant. "She'll be here soon. It's been a long time since we've spoken." "She...your wife? What do you mean?" Leon turned and looked out at the horizon. "They have her. She's the one they're also calling my name, along with that little fake of theirs." Eric's eyes widened. "Wait...the woman you're looking for...is the same woman they're prepping to be the next Delilah?" "I suppose they finally got it correct in a way. As she is the other half of me, to say she is Delilah isn't quite inaccurate. She is me and we are thus both Lilah and we were both Selene, as we were both Leon and Roísín." Leon held his hand in the air. Thunder rumbled. "I won't let them have her. For all the centuries of loneliness and agony I've endured, I won't let anyone keep her from me." "You won't let Sky be, will you?" Eric asked. "If I have to, I will get in your way at every turn if you plan on taking Sky down a dangerous path." "You love of Sky is kind, but you can't do what you're saying. His will is ultimately, no matter what he wishes for, mine." "Then, aren't you the same? Your wife...you didn't know her very long and didn't spend that much time together, but..." "I suppose this is the nature of humans, isn't it? To obsess over a moment for all of time." Leon said, cutting him off. He smiled. "And look at you. You've returned too, to hold the same hand for a third time." "What do you mean?" Eric asked. The door to the roof opened. Alex walked in carrying a container with their drinks. He stopped, unable to speak, when his eyes met with Leon's. Coming up behind him were Kathy, Alan, and Dan. They reacted with shock and silence once each became aware of what they were seeing. "It seems you've given me an audience to speak with." Leon said. "We...we came to check if Sky was okay...um...who is this?" Alan asked, unable to move from where he stood. "This is Leon Blackwell, the man Delilah was before being born as Delilah." Eric said. He was no longer afraid of the strange sight before him. His only concern was protecting Sky. "And he seems to be unable to understand I don't give a damn about his wishes. I will do everything in my power to keep Sky safe, no matter what that means I have to do." "You can do as you wish. You have less power than me. You can't even make a rainstorm." Leon laughed at Eric's words. "If you love me so, you'll help in getting me what I want. That is what my father sent you here to do." "Father? Dr. Summerfield?" Alan asked. "No, that can't be. You mean Wren Blackwell, don't you?" Kathy asked. "How did a dead man send you help?" "Sister, you should already know the answer to that." Leon grinned. "It's a shame you can neither remember your dreams nor show yourself like this. Those people really did drain so much of your strength, didn't they?" Dan looked at Alex. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" Alex couldn't respond. He said nothing at all. He didn't move. His chest hurt. His heart rang in his ears. "Alex? Hello?" Dan waved his hand in front of Alex's face. He got no response. "And I see you've come to visit me too, Uncle." Leon said. "Uncle?" Eric asked. A voice spoke from behind Eric. "It's been a while, dear nephew." Everyone looked back to see who was there. A man with raven hair and eyes that matched dressed in red stood behind Eric. He wore a crown of rowan wood and rowan flowers. Those same white flowers decorated the rest of his hair, tied in here and there all the way down his ankle length strands. The dark hair draped over his long, red cape created an illusion of an intricate black pattern on the fabric and concealed further what the cape already hid. The front of the cape split from the back half to allow the man's arms to freely move at his sides. What was not hidden by black on the red moved in bands as the cape danced with the wind, revealing and concealing shades of blue, white, and gold. A labradorescent effect only possible in stone somehow displayed on woven threads mocked his eyes. The closer Eric looked at the cape, the more it didn't appear to be made of fabric at all. And yet, from its movements in the wind, it could be nothing else. Alan got in front of Dan. "Who the hell are you and how did you get up here?" "If you can't understand how without me telling you, you won't understand it at all. I'm not here to see you anyway." The man in red walked past Alan toward Leon. "We sensed your restlessness an ocean away. I'm sorry for taking so long to get here today. We were at a wedding." "We?" Eric looked around again. The group noticed there was now another person in their midst. A blond man stood behind Kathy. The blond man wore a similar cape to the man in red, with the colors in reverse. Blue was the primary appearance of the cape, but all the same colors shifted with the slightest movement. His hair was the opposite of the man in red's, golden, wavy, and hanging just above his shoulders. A crown of white water lilies rested on his head. Beneath the cape, unlike the other man, he did not wear a shirt and pants. Instead, he dressed in an ankle-length robe. The blond man greeted Leon. "To see you again like this...Forgive us for our absence." "No, really. Who the hell are you people?" Alan asked, doing his best to hide his fear. "The true king, The Bloody Raven, older brother of King Wren and uncle of Leon Blackwell...and his loyal knight, the Hellhound of Cailean, son of the Black Wolf, supposed fairy and master of magic. The pair that vanished in flames at the end of the war between the Blackwells and the Winters centuries ago." Kathy said. "How are you still alive?" "The supposed part was true. Well, the part about magic anyway. I'm not a fairy, unfortunately. My adopted fairy mother granted us immortality as a wedding gift." The blond man said. He smiled. "I still have no idea who that is. Sorry...I don't really keep up with the Blackwell family lore nonsense." Alan said. "I didn't know the Winters even went to war with the Blackwells." Eric stared at the blond man. "So...uh...I don't really know all that stuff either. What are your names?" The blond man bowed and smiled. "My name is Robin Blackwell, formerly Ó Rinn." "Ó Rinn...that's another one of those family names, isn't it?" Eric asked. "Yeah." Alan nodded. "And you?" "Well, I suppose if Robin isn't worried about telling you his name, it doesn't matter." The man in red glanced at Robin before answering. "I am Rowan Blackwell. And it is as she said. Leon is my nephew." "So...how long ago was this war...How old are..." Alan started to ask. "I'm six hundred and eight years old. He's six hundred and ten." Rowan answered. Alex couldn't ask a single question. His voice escaped him and his brain emptied. The information being given to him was not anything he could comprehend. He couldn't reject it either. Instead, his mind simply shut down. All he could do was stare blankly as his heart raced faster than the ever increasing, howling wind around them from the storm Leon was conjuring into being. He struggled to keep himself breathing. "Six...six hundred?!!" Alan struggled to take in those words. "Damn, you guys look good for six hundred." Dan joked. He was in as much shock as everyone else. Attempting to make a joke out of it was the only way he could cope with what was happening. "Thank you." Rowan ran his fingers through his hair. "And, uh, what are you two doing here?" Alan asked, terrified. "We've come to see my dear nephew." Rowan answered. "My dear brother sent help, but it seemed that's not going to be enough. You've found yourself in quite the mess, haven't you, little prince." "How are you going to help?" Eric asked. He stood in between Leon and Rowan, afraid for Sky. "None of you have any idea of what you're up against. You aren't fighting those silly people who call themselves wolves. They're pawns as much as their brainwashed underlings." Robin vanished and reappeared directly beside Leon. "Somehow, they've managed to make a few deals with beings those humans can't possibly handle. You can't kill that poor woman they're using as a vessel without dealing with them first, and so long as she's alive, you can't end this mess either. But we might be able to do something about them." "Who are you talking about? There's someone behind even the Moon?" Alan asked, eyes wide. "What the hell have they gotten us into..." "Unfortunate for you, they've managed to contact some rather ancient and dangerous beings. One will be easier to deal with than the other." Robin walked over to the bench and sat down. "Leon's already met with one of them and showed you that one. You are aware of Mr. Lou, aren't you?" The group collectively went quiet for a moment. Kathy spoke. "We've seen photos that Sky took of him. That wolf beast...he's the one behind the Red Madness, isn't he?" "Yes. It's possible to negotiate with Lou. We may not need to kill him, but offer him something to leave in exchange. I'll have to speak with him myself to see what might work. if he won't come to any agreement, then...we'll have to kill him. That will be rather difficult, as neither being we are going to have to deal with is technically alive in the first place. We will need to fully eradicate every bit of their existences or permanently contain them in some way." Robin said. "I do know someone who might be able to help with that, but I don't know if he'd agree to it. It could kill him. You'll have to leave that to me." "Who's this other person?" Alan asked. He added. "Just want to know who our, uh, allies are. You guys are...on our side, aren't you? We all love Sky...uh, Leon too." "You don't need to kiss our asses like that." Rowan laughed. "It's embarrassing." Alan shrugged. He laughed nervously. "I mean...what would you do if you were in my position?" Rowan shook his head and sighed. Robin turned the water lily crown on his head to a pair of antlers. "I know someone who there is no flesh he can consume that will kill him, no matter how rotten. I could have him eat the both of them, but even getting that to happen...we'll have to overpower them for a bit." "Eat...wait...what do you mean?!" Alan asked. Dan was just as confused. "Like...how do you eat someone like that wolf thing...it can change shape...I saw in those photos..." "Oh, I see Leon captured Lou quite well then. Yes, he can change his form. He also exists in many places at once. But he can be called into one form at once, if he so chooses to be like that. This isn't going to be easy. I only said he would be the easier of the two. The other one...that one cannot be reasoned with. We will have to lure it out and destroy it." Robin looked down at the ground. "Even the ancient ones fear it. I fear it. I know of no one who can stop it once it gets inside your body. That one did not come from Earth, so none here possess the power to destroy it easily, not even those who rule over life and death on this planet." "Um...then how the hell are we supposed to kill this thing?" Alan asked. Robin tapped the antlers on his head. "I told you. I know someone who can consume it. What that would do to him once he consumed both...that I don't know. We may then have to kill him, if either corrupts his mind. But I think he might be able to survive it and remain sane. Possibly." Kathy fearlessly approached Robin. "This other one...what is it called? What is it like?" "Maa." Robin said. "That is what we call it. We don't know if that's its name. It's the sound of its scream. Few who have met with it have lived. I've met its main self once. It is the most horrifying thing. Its screams are...it is always screaming when it speaks...screams like the last painful cry of a dying man, an absolutely agonizing trill. When you hear its voice, you feel it inside you. Your heart will quiver in its presence. Your soul will wish to escape your body. It's so loud your ears will hurt simply from hearing it at all. You must cover your ears when it speaks or you will go deaf." "That's...lovely." Dan joked, terrified. "What does thing awful thing look like? We saw that Lou guy sometimes looks like a wolf, sometimes like a black mass, and sometimes like a man. Would we know Maa if we saw it?" Robin nodded. "It only takes one form. It is a black mass, but different looking than when Lou takes a form like that. It has two large eyes. Each eye is bigger than your head. Do not look in its eyes for long. Inside those rusty brown eyes, you will see horrifying things. It will show you images of whatever terrifies and sickens you. The longer you look, the more real the images will feel until you are lost in a hallucination of horror. Once you are lost, it will expose its mouth. The body is made of thick, long vine-like appendages. They feel both like wet roots and sacs of blood at the same time. Those vines will wrap around you to pull you into the hidden mouth. It will suck out everything inside you. When you are nothing but skin and bones, it will spit up inside you until your skin stretches to its limits with a fungus it lives with. The fungus is the only thing about it that is from Earth. The virus is from another planet, one that does not exist anymore from early in our solar system's birth. That is what he wants from us, to use our bodies to feed on and give the fungus more life, so the fungus in turn can help it spread around. Maa is never satisfied, even more than Lou. If you see that creature, cover your ears, avert your eyes, and run. Maa cannot move quickly." Dan laughed and collapsed down on the ground in fear. "Haha...oh god, we're gonna die." Alan's skin crawled imagining the being. "Something like that...really exists?" "I have looked into its eyes before. There is no depravity its eyes cannot grant you the misfortune of viewing." Robin changed the antlers back to a flower crown. "I was only able to escape it because I happened to be in the company of a unicorn at the time. Those are the only beings Maa fears, other than the creator themselves. Unicorns cannot be tainted into anything. They always remain exactly what they are. Maa cannot use its eyes on them. It fears what it cannot terrify. We will need a unicorn to capture it." "Unicorns...really?" Alan shook his head. "Okay...so unicorns exist...and space abominations. No big deal...no big deal...What the fuck..." Dan looked at Alex. "Alex...what do you think about this?" Alex said nothing. Eric went over to him. "Alex, are you alright?" Alex shook his head. "He's in shock." Rowan said. "I'm surprised the rest of you are taking this so well." "We have another issue. I don't know if this will help or hurt things, but Aurora is returning here." Robin added. "Aurora?" Kathy spoke up. "Is Coyote coming back to help us?" Robin lowered his head. "Jake Corbin has passed on. His apprentices are coming, along with his son." "A little bird, a little flower, and a little coyote." Rowan said with a grin. "Jake is dead? Was he...murdered?" Kathy asked with sadness. "No, he died protecting one of his brothers, his youngest one, Cyrus, in a fire. It was simply bad luck." Robin said. "I don't know much about his apprentices. I've only met them once. A young man and a young woman, a little older than Leon's current form. I wasn't impressed with them when we met, but I suppose we'll see. If they get in the way, then they'll be our enemies too." "Do you know their names?" Eric asked, holding Alex's hand. He tightened his grip, hoping it would help Alex calm down. "They may use aliases when they arrive. Their code names are Mockingbird and Magnolia. Mockingbird's real name is Joseph Cloud. Magnolia is April Gale. Jake Corbin's son is named Daniel. He is the one now known as Coyote." Robin said. "From what I've heard, Mockingbird is a master of trickery. Magnolia is ruthless. Daniel prefers to work in the shadows. They may be helpful, but do not trust them. Jake is gone, and they ultimately work for Aurora." "Magnolia and Mockingbird...do you know when they'll arrive?" Kathy asked. Robin looked up at the clouds. "It could be any week now. They're waiting on the right conditions to sneak in. I won't let them interfere. I won't let anyone interfere anymore. I'll ensure you can hold her again, my dear nephew. I have committed many evils to stay near the one I love most. I am more than willing to commit atrocities to protect your soul. For in all this world, there is no greater beast than me. If I must, I will show that wicked creature a horror it cannot fathom to give you tomorrow." "And I as well. I will protect you, no matter where it leads me." Rowan said to Leon. Leon bowed to them. "Thank you. My beloved uncles, you have always watched over us. I don't deserve your protection, but cowardly as I am in fear of failing yet again, I beg you for all the help you can gift me." "We may not be blood-related...we never were, but allow my blood to give you a shield against fate." Robin stood up. The area around them shifted in color. Like Leon's form, everyone else's body lit up with blue lights. In addition to the blue were purple lights on everyone except for Leon and Kathy. Robin's clothes showed patterns not previously visible. They moved on their own like waves. His hair, moving in a wind that did not exist, changed from golden blond to an iridescent rainbow. It flowed with the waving forms on his robe and cape. "What are you going to do?" Eric asked. "My bloodline was gifted with power over fate, over life and death, in a pact with a unicorn long, long ago. For most, this manifested as the ability to predict potential futures or gift that ability to another. For my grandfather, it granted him the ability to defy fate by returning the dead to life in addition to gifting prophecy to another. For me, I was gifted the ability to manipulate fate without being under the command of Death, Time, or Decay." Robin plucked one of his own strands of hair. It lengthened to over ten feet long, glowing deep red. "I will ensure, as much as I can, that fate aligns with your wishes, no matter who's life I must shift in exchange." "How will you do it?" Leon asked. "Return to sleep. I need Sky's body for this. Trust me. I will take care of everything." Robin gave him a kind smile. Leon nodded. The blue lights shifted to reveal Sky again. Sky fell backwards. Robin caught him in his arms and gently brought him down to the ground. He took hold of Sky's right arm and threaded the red strand down through his skin in an elaborate pattern. As he worked, the thread caught against the scenery around them, pulling it back and exposing something behind it. Alex fell to the ground. Eric caught him. "Alex?!" Robin turned around. "He's having a heart attack. Seeing all of this was too much for him to take." Eric's eyes widened. He held back tears. Eric turned to Robin in desperation. "You can do magic. Can't you stop it?" Robin held the thread down in place a few inches above Sky's wrist. "My love, hold the thread for me while I attend to him." Rowan nodded and knelt down to hold the thread in place. Robin rushed over to Alex. He held open his cape and pulled out a bottle. He drank from it and took hold of Alex from Eric. He kissed Alex and fed him the white liquid from the bottle. Then, he placed his hand on Alex's chest. A red light flashed from under his palm. Alex, unconscious, started breathing normally. Robin handed him back over to Eric. He smiled. "Forgive me for the kiss. Unicorn milk when not gifted directly by a unicorn must be mixed with the fluids of a sorcerer before it can bestow healing abilities. I thought he would prefer a kiss over drinking milk mixed with my blood. I know he is yours." "I don't think he'll mind how you saved his life, even if you used blood. But how did you know...?" Eric started to ask. "You don't remember me, but I know you too. It's good to see you again, Finch." Robin said. "Finch?" Eric touched his eyepatch and felt over the bird design on it. "What do you mean...?" "Don't worry on it, my friend." Robin touched Eric's arm. "You're in a lot of pain. The injuries you've received have healed, but they still hurt." "Yes. It's...it's not that bad." Eric lied. "Let me give you a gift too." Robin took another sip from the bottle. He kissed Eric. Eric swallowed the sweet liquid. It wasn't like anything he had ever tasted before. The liquid was warm going down his throat. Within seconds, the dull pain that always plagued him since he received his injuries on his arm, leg, and eye faded away. He pushed aside his eyepatch with the arm that once gave him trouble. He was still blind in that eye, but it didn't sting anymore or make him wince when he touched it. Eric couldn't hold back the tears. He looked at Robin. "Thank you." "Forgive me that I have not done more. Let me continue my work with our little lion. Don't worry. I know how much you love him. I will do nothing to cause him any pain." Eric nodded. "I will allow it. If you can help keep him safe, do as you will." Robin got up and returned to Sky. He took the red string from Rowan and continued working the pattern along Sky's arm into his palm. Above Sky, small stars appeared. They moved around as the world around the rest of them gradually unraveled. The purple lights on their bodies shifted into uniform patterns; splotches, patches, spirals, and stripes. Each person had their own pattern on their body. Only Kathy and Sky remained free of these patterns. Where the thread unraveled the landscape around them, a realm of colors none of them could normally see and an array of strings too complicated for them to understand became visible. A giant spider, larger than the moon, looked down at them. Other creatures of strange yet familiar shapes in large proportions greeted them in amusement. Fish-like creatures, snakes made of stars, chimeras, and dragon-like beings all peered down at them while Robin worked. When Robin had worked his way down to Sky's ring finger, the outer bounds of reality began to straighten themselves back out of visibility. Robin's hair returned to its ordinary, golden shade. He finished off his work with a delicate, intricate knot. "It is done. For as much influence as I can gift, I have altered his fate. The road there will lead him to her. What may occur along that road, I cannot promise will be free of pain and suffering, but I have ensured he will have her at least." Robin stood up. "Do your best, my dear nephew. I will try and find a way to stop those who stand in your way with whatever magic I can grant you. As for the rest of you..." Robin reached into a bag he kept at his side. He handed each person a stone, except Eric who he handed three. "These are protection charms. Please wear them on you at all times. It will deflect many attacks, but it cannot protect you from Mr. Lou nor Maa, which means it cannot protect you from that one they are calling Delilah either. I gift these to you, so that you may protect my nephew when I am away. If you need to contact either of us, hold the stone in your hand and speak that you wish to call to the one who gave you that stone. One of us will answer you. Do not abuse this gift." Robin warned them. "If you contact me too often for trivial nonsense, I will remove your charm's abilities." "So...does this keep us safe from bullets?" Alan asked. "Yes." Robin said. "Bullets, fire, most magic, blades, it protects against many things. It cannot protect you against magic stronger than mine nor against viruses and bacteria." "Wow. Uh, thanks." Alan wasn't sure what to do with the stone. He looked it over. It looked like an ordinary rock to him. Robin looked up at the darkened clouds above them. Thunder rumbled. Lightning scattered across the sky. He smiled and looked down at Sky, who was still sleeping. "Even unconscious...you can still manipulate the weather. That's quite impressive. Seems even after changing bodies, your connection to your grandmother is unbroken. I wonder if, perhaps, her connection is also why you've been able to avoid the order of nature this many times to revive yourself on your own terms. What other magic have you kept hidden in your soul?" "Grandmother? What do you mean by that? So...there is some kind of magic through the Blackwell line?" Kathy asked Robin. "Not through the Blackwells. No, this passed through Rowan and Wren's mother, though she had little magic herself. Her sons had more talent for it than she did, but she is how they had it. Wren never bothered studying magic, but I taught Rowan myself how to master his abilities after we left. Leon was also quite talented with magic." Robin knelt down and put his hand to Sky's chest. "I trained Leon in magic myself. Of course, as my being alive was a secret, you won't find any written record of that. You weren't that good at it. You could only do it when you were angry." "Me?" Kathy asked. "Yes, you." Robin laughed. He looked up at her and grinned. "But when you were angry, oh what a fire you could make." "She's almost passed through now." Rowan said. He looked out at the horizon. "She?" Alan asked. "The girl...the girl Sky...Leon is looking for. He told me she was passing through tonight with Heather." Eric said. "I wantt to get a better look at her, that Heather woman. I've avoided getting too close before. Maa may not notice me through her, but Lou definitely will." Robin said. "We'll be leaving shortly. I'll contact you again sometime in the near future, when I have more information for you. Take care of Leon while we are away, and do not seek out Mr. Lou or Maa on your own. You cannot handle them." Eric went to Robin. "Um, about Alex...is he going to be alright?" Robin glanced at Alex, who was also still unconscious. "Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I almost left without giving you proper advice for him. Forgive me. I've saved him from death for now, but his heart is weak. He's been overworking himself to an extreme extent. What we saw today might cause many to normally go into shock or have a heart attack, but if he continues on as he's been, almost anything might do this to him. For his own safety, he must limit stress. That will already be difficult in this current situation. I recommend, if you have the resources, do not allow him to work at all. If he must, please limit his work to light work or less then twenty hours a week. When I tended to him, I could see how much damage he's already done to his body. It would take more than a simple, quick treatment to undo what he's done." "No work?" Eric turned to Alan. Alan shrugged. "That's fine with me. We have a lot more people in our group now who have specialized skills now. I'm fine with him not doing anything anymore, but I don't know if Alex himself will agree with that." "Well, he's going to have to get over it. I'm not letting him die." Eric said. "When you come back...is there anything you could do for him to help?" Robin nodded. "I'll need to prepare something for him to take over time. I can offer you medicine better than what humans currently have, but I don't have that already prepared. In the mean time, whatever medicine you have on you that you can give him, please give it to him and don't let him do too much. His body is at its limits." "Thank you." Eric said. "I wish there was something I could give you in exchange." "I can think of something." Rowan grinned. He got between Robin and Eric. "How about you give me a kiss?" "A kiss?" Eric looked at Robin. "That's fine with me. Yes, that's a fine exchange." Robin grinned. Eric was confused, but he agreed to it. Rowan kissed him. "So...um...why a kiss?" Eric asked. "A little friendly competition. Tell me, truthfully, which of us kissed you better?" Rowan asked. "What?!" Eric was more confused. "We might have a little competition going on that we've been doing for a few centuries now. I'm currently winning." Rowan gloated. "You're only ahead of me by one point." Robin said. "So, tell me, who would you pick? This won't affect me helping him. You can be honest." "Um...well...You were both good at it, but...um...He's more my type, so...I enjoy it a little more with him." Eric said while looking at Rowan and pointing to Robin. "Damn." Rowan sighed. "Guess we're tied again." "So it seems." Robin said with a smug look on his face. He turned back to Eric. "Please, take care of him, and our dear nephew. We'll return soon. I have much to do in gathering information. Until we meet again, farewell." The area around them filled with mist that turned to fog. When it dissipated, Robin and Rowan were gone. The blue lights stayed strong around them. Eric's own heart was racing at a speed that hurt his chest. He tried to calm himself down. "They're really gone." "Looks like it. That was weird." Alan said. "So...we're gonna have to deal with that creepy wolf thing again and there's an even creepier thing out there too...What did he call it? Maa?" "Yeah, I'm really not looking forward to ever seeing that thing." Dan said. He sighed, then looked at Alex and Eric. "Hey, did he really make your pain go away?" "It's completely gone. Still can't see out of this eye though." Eric walked over to Sky. He stopped. "I'm not...I'm not limping anymore...Did he fix my leg completely?" "And he stopped Alex having a heart attack...what else can he do...Do you think he could get me a new leg? Or a sex change? Haha, that's probably too much to ask for." Dan laughed. "I dunno...he might be able to give you one better than whatever we could ever do. I wonder why he didn't fix Eric's eye." Alan wondered. Eric put his hand over his eye patch. "Hmm...maybe he couldn't do it all at once, or he wasn't sure if I wanted it. Some people don't mind it. I wouldn't really mind myself either way. The pain was bothering me more than not being able to see out of this eye." "What a strange pair. Were they really that old? Unicorns, fairies...god, that's a lot to mentally accept." Alan sat down on the bench. "What do you think, Kathy?" "I had always heard rumors that there were ancient things the Moon and Aurora attempted to capture. My father believed there were supernatural beings. He claimed he saw a lot of strange things when he worked for them that he couldn't tell me about, because they were too fantastical and disturbing to believe. From what I could get out of Jake Corbin, he suggested to me something similar. They've both captured beings before they should've never messed with." Kathy walked over to Sky. She lifted him up. "We should get these two to bed." Eric helped her with Sky. "Hey, do you two think you could carry Alex?" "Yeah, sure." Alan said, walking over to Alex. "Unicorns and wolf monsters, like the Moon and the viruses weren't bad enough...Ugh..." "I'm gonna need a while to process all that." Dan said. "That reminds me...hey, Alan, did that blond guy look familiar to you?" Alan paused for a second. "You know, kind of. But I don't know who I'm thinking of. I dunno. Maybe I'm just thinking about one of those old paintings we have. We probably have at least one of him." "That's true. That must be it." Dan said. "Kathy, do you think we'll be alright?" Eric whispered to Kathy. "I don't know. If even beings like them are afraid...Well, we'll have to hope for the best." Kathy said. He looked down at Sky. "For his sake." The four of them carried the two unconscious men down to the unit Sky, Eric, and Alex shared together. Eric had the both of them placed on the same bed, in his and Alex's bedroom, so he could keep an eye on both of them at the same time. Alan and Dan left to contact the head doctor at their hospital about what medications they could give Alex. Kathy left to sort through the Sanctuary's collection of documents and artifacts related to the Blackwells and Summerfields for any clues that might help them about these beings called Mr. Lou and Maa. Eric stayed beside Alex and Sky, watching over them as they dreamt. As Eric worried, Sky wandered through his own mind to a place he had never been before. In his dream, he was dizzy. The world around him was blurry at the edges of his vision. All around him were white walls and white floors. It made him think of the buildings his father took him in a few times when he was really young. The memories of those days were more factual pieces of information than anything he could visually remember. But he knew this place was like those buildings. The long, empty hallway he walked down was dimly lit. He had a feeling it was nighttime in his dream. He passed many doors, each one labeled with black numbers. He ran his hand across the wall and doors on his right side until he reached the end of the hall. The hall let out to a space that looked like a waiting room. On the walls were frames playing silent nature videos on loop. One was of a waterfall, another of birds in a forest. In between those two frames was one playing a video of a rainstorms in a field with a single oak tree. Sky recognized the location. It was the place from the photograph he still carried on him, that place from Sarah Winter's memories. A woman with long, dark brown hair wearing a white dress stood in front of the frame. As he looked at her, he felt Leon's thoughts taking over his, though his form did not change. The woman put her hands to the screen. She pressed through it and walked to somewhere else. Sky followed behind her, pressing his hands against the fake storm and on through to another field. On the other side of the screen, he found himself outside. The air was humid. Above him the clouds were dark. It was day now, unlike when they were inside the building. The wind was light and gentle. Sky could sense the energy of the storm brewing above them. There would be thunder, but no rain or lightning. This rain would not fall on this space here, but another somewhere else farther off. The woman walked to the edge of the field and across a dirt road to an abandoned, rusty playground. She sat on one of the swings, swaying back and forth. Sky walked over and stood directly in front of her. She looked up at him. 'You're here again.' She said. 'But you won't be here when I wake up.' Sky sat down on the swing beside her. 'Are you dreaming of me too?' She laughed. 'You're not real. That's what my mother tells me. You're a fantasy my mind's made up because I'm lonely.' Sky looked up at the clouds. 'No, this is real. I am real. And I know you are real.' 'Who are you supposed to be then?' She asked him. 'I was born just to find you.' He said. He reached his right hand out to hold her left while they swung back and forth. The ground beneath them moved, though they stayed in place in the space above it. The red clay grew richer and dark, as if the Earth itself was aging beneath them. 'I won't let anyone get in our way this time.' 'Mother says I have to be Delilah soon.' The woman said. 'That's funny.' Sky laughed. 'Since I am Delilah. But then, we are one, so in a way, you already are Delilah too.' 'What do you mean?' She asked him. Sky stopped. He got up from the swing. 'I thought you might know as much as me, but looks like you know even less than Kathy. You remember these dreams when you're awake, don't you?' The woman answered. 'Most of it, but I have a hard time remembering your face...or that other man.' 'What other man?' Sky asked. 'I don't know his name, but sometimes...it feels like you're the same person and not the same person. None of this is probably real.' 'So, you're seeing Leon too.' Sky said. 'Leon? Is that his name?' Sky could feel the ground shifting under them. The woman moved farther away from him while neither of them had made a single step. 'And I am...' Sky opened his eyes. He was no longer in the field. Looking around, he realized he was in his parents' room. Alex was sleeping beside him. The door opened. Eric stood in the doorway with a tray of food and juice. "Sky, you're awake!" Eric quickly put the tray down on Alex's desk and rushed over to the bed. "Are you alright?" "Yes. I don't know what happened. I was talking to you, then suddenly I was dreaming..." Sky couldn't remember falling asleep. "Did I pass out?" Eric took the chair from Alex's desk and sat down in it beside the bed. "Leon took over your body. I talked to him. Your, uh, uncles stopped by too." "Uncles?" "Oh, I have a lot I need to explain to you." Eric said. He got back up to get the tray and handed it to Sky, then sat back down. "First, go ahead and eat something. You've been out for a while. I'm sure you're hungry." While Sky ate, Eric explained everything that happened while he was dreaming. Sky wasn't sure what to make of it. "So...when you said uncles, you meant Leon's uncles. Mr. Lou...I don't want to see him again. That Maa creature, had Kathy ever heard of it before? I don't think I've run across any records mentioning it." Sky said. Eric shook his head. "She didn't know of it, but she wasn't really surprised either." "The woman...that they're going to make the new Delilah, she's the one I'm looking for. I saw her in my dream." Sky said. "If I get her out of the Moon's control, they'll definitely come after us." "The only way to keep her safe then...we really won't have a choice in dealing with those monsters. We can't get rid of their fake Delilah without getting rid of them because they'll keep her alive." Eric had a thought. "I wonder...if we get rid of them, if that would get rid of all the sickness too. I'll have to ask those guys next time they come back. Though even if it does, we should probably still keep using the vaccines just in case for a while after." "That'd probably be a good idea, if we can accomplish that." Sky's chest felt tight. "I guess I can't be Sky Linwood after all." "What?" Eric froze. "There's no escaping who I am. I thought maybe...I might be able to be like everyone else, but..." Eric reached over and grabbed Sky's hand. "Whatever you have to do, or who we have to face, you are still Sky Linwood. I signed those papers. I'm not letting anyone take you from me. You are my son, no matter what happens." Sky felt Eric's hand shaking. "I don't want either of you to get hurt any more than you already have." "Nor do I for you, but that's life. If you're going back out there, so am I. We're going to get that girl from them, and destroy them." Eric stared Sky directly in the eyes. "And when it's all over, I'm going to make sure you never have to worry about anything ever again." Sky didn't know what to say in response. He gave a half-hearted smile. "I should've expected you'd say something like that. But...what about Alex?" "That is a problem...but that man said he could help with Alex's health. It sounded like he might be able to undo some of the damage. We just have to keep Alex alive long enough to get that treatment." Alex sat up. He rubbed his eyes, then looked over at Sky. "Did I fall asleep? What are you doing in my bed?" "Um...that's a long story." Eric said. "When did I fall asleep? I had this weird dream...there were these magic guys...and then I had a dream about some ancient king. He asked me if I still wrote poetry. It's funny. I don't think I've ever told anyone I did." "I didn't know you did. When did you write poems?" Eric asked. "It was in middle and high school. I was too embarrassed to show anyone what I wrote though. It was a secret." Alex put his hand to his chest. "Ugh...my chest hurts for some reason." "Probably from the heart attack." Eric said. "What?!" "Calm down. You need to stay calm. That reminds me. Since you're awake now..." Eric handed Alex some pills. "Dan dropped these by earlier. These are for your heart. You'll have to take them every day. You're also forbidden from working more than twenty hours and you can't work in the hospital or any high stress job anymore." "Wait...who said that?" "Take the medicine, then I'll explain." Eric said. Alex took the pills. "So, who's saying I can't work?" "A wizard." Eric laughed. "That first dream of yours wasn't a dream. Those guys were really here. And they told us all some really crazy shit. You're not gonna believe it. Damn, I wish Juan was here to see this. He'd get a kick out of it. Maybe he's laughing on the other side." "That was real?! Then...I must've gone into shock and..." "Then you had a heart attack. He saved you with a kiss and milk from a unicorn." Eric grinned. "Like a fairy prince out of a fable." "You're fucking with me. D-did you say a unicorn?! There's no way that's real. Historically, the concept of the..." Eric cut him off. "He said it was from a unicorn. I don't see any reason to think he'd lie to us. But I'll tell you more on that later. First, we need to make one thing clear. You are not working in the hospital. You are to avoid working as much as possible until he gets back. He said he could help treat your heart, but he'll have to make the medicine first. If you keep working how you've been, he said you'll definitely die." "So...you're really...you're not messing with me." Alex said. "I wouldn't ever lie about something related to your health." Eric said. "He said he'll be back soon. Consider yourself on an extended vacation for now. What really worries me is everything else they told us." "Oh god. What are you about to tell me?" Alex took a deep breath. "Try to stay as calm as you can. It's...gonna be a lot." Eric put his hand on Alex's back and rubbed it. He explained everything to Alex that he told Sky, and then what Sky told him. Afterwards, the family went to the dining table. Eric brought out a little treat for the three of them Zack had dropped off a few days ago, a small cake. Eric cut the cake in three pieces and made rose tea for them. They sat around the table in silence for a while. Alex was the first to speak. "You know, I'm having a hard time believing most of what you told me...but I am wondering...if we somehow pull all this off, can we actually make things finally get better again?" Alex asked. "I hope so." Eric said. "Maybe we could have a house again without needing to be behind a fence with guns. Our own garden..." "We just have to survive all this, right?" Alex turned to Sky. "But what if we can't?" Sky asked. "We've got to try anyway. Nothing will change if we don't act." Eric said. Sky picked at his cake. "I wish it didn't have to involve you...I wish..." "I know. It's not fair all this falls on you, and us. But that's just how it is. It doesn't mean we can't get what you want though. We just have to get past this point, so we can reach some better time in the future." Alex smiled. "We'll survive this. I don't know how, but we will. Let's all keep living thinking of that better future on the other side of this." "Okay." Sky smiled. For the first time in a long time, he really, truly felt hopeful. Sky tried to lighten the mood some. "So, poetry, huh? Have you ever thought about writing again?" Alex blushed. "Me? Ah, I don't know. I wasn't very good at it." "I've been wanting to learn to write poems myself. It'd be nice if we could do that together." Sky said. Alex's face went a deeper red. He looked to Eric, who grinned at him. "I'd be interested in reading any poems you wrote too. You should do that." Eric said. "I guess...I guess I could try giving it a go again, if you both really want me to." Alex dug into his cake. He was too embarrassed to face either of them. Sky laughed under his breath. He took a bite of his own piece. Right then, Sky was just as full of fear as he was of hope. What Eric told him was awaiting them was something he couldn't comprehend at all. It was too scary to imagine. But somehow, something in him told him he would survive it.