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From: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com (arfic-l-digest) To: arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: arfic-l-digest V1 #62 Reply-To: arfic-l-digest Sender: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk arfic-l-digest Sunday, December 30 2001 Volume 01 : Number 062 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 19:49:20 -0600 From: Wendy Perkins <ladyslvr@xmission.com> Subject: (arfic-l) Grimm's Law - Part 10/10 - --=====================_9990194==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed - --=====================_9990194==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Grimm's Law A Tomorrow's Future Story by Wendy Perkins ladyslvr@xmission.com Part 10 of 10 Epilogue Light shone through the window, not but not sunlight. The memory of sunlight only. No dust particles were visible, no warmth detectable. Simply light that luminated what needed to be seen and left the rest untouched. Sara leaned back against the window sill, feeling the press of wood in the small of her back. It was the first thing she'd felt without pain in a very long time. "This is right," she said, taking in the room. It had changed a lot since she'd last seen it, except that it didn't look any different. The walls were painted a soft yellow, with a bright floral runner framing the ceiling. It was her bedroom, but not really. She was back in the dream room her mind had created that had been as much her jail as her haven. Now it was just a haven, and she'd never again have to be alone. The teen sitting on the nearest bed in a nest of pillows and blankets nodded back. Their faces had once been as identical as two humans' could be. Today enough differences showed that strangers might recognize the two girls as mere sisters, no more. Clara looked wane, heavy circles beneath her eyes marking how much recovery she still needed. Her hair hung long and tangled, held back from her face with metal barrettes placed high on her head. "What do we say?" Clara asked. "How do we explain what happened?" Sara's brow furrowed, not in thought but as though she were listening to something faint and far away. "I don't think we have to explain. I mean, how could we?" "We were as much victims as them," Clara agreed. "No. I mean, you were. You were a victim. But I made choices. Maybe I didn't understand what I was doing, but I knew I was doing it." "So you were a victim." "No." Sara shook her head, her hands clutching behind her at the window sill for support. "That's not the right way to think. I'm okay with knowing I screwed up. I'm a teenager. That's kinda what I'm supposed to do. But not . . . I don't wanna be a victim." Could she be, she wondered? Was it possible to be a victim of your own actions? She gnawed on her lip and tried to wrap her mind around the question. Clara interrupted her thoughts with her own question. "Do you remember when we were little," she asked, "and mom would dress us in identical outfits and send us off to kindergarten. The teacher put a yellow ribbon in your hair so she could tell us apart? And she asked Mom all the time not to dress us alike, but Mom always said it was a waste of identical twins if you couldn't dress them the same?" Sara nodded. "I hated that ribbon. I think I still hate the color yellow. Total trauma." "I always wondered if she dressed us the same so she wouldn't have to worry about who was who. She never called us by our real names anyway." Clara looked up at the ceiling, silently composing thoughts that had only the slightest reflection on her face. "But, you do remember the ribbon, right? You remember kindergarten and Mrs . . . Miss . . . oh, what was her name?" "Howes? House?" Sara guessed. "Houston," both the girls said at the same time, then burst into giggles. "I don't know how I could forget her name," Sara said, smiling at the nostalgia. The smile faded as she recalled why that name was so meaningful. "She was our teacher the year Challenger blew up. Remember the jokes?" She hesitated, then said, "I suppose they weren't very funny. We were just too young to understand." Growing serious, Clara said, "At least you remember the same stuff I do. I wasn't sure you would." "Why not? "When I was unconscious . . . I think his name was Casey . . . after he made me, you know, after he got inside my head and the nightmare . . . ." Her voice dropped to a whisper; her gaze didn't leave the ceiling. "I dreamed I was killing someone. Only, it wasn't me. I was doing it, but I was also watching it be done." She started to shake. "That's awful," Sara responded, not even trying to keep the shock out of her voice. "Did you do it? Did it really happen?" "It happened." Clara's words dropped like boulders in a pond. "Afterwards, there was so much going on, all at once. I dreamed so many dreams. One was about being born and growing up. It was a whole different life, though. The ribbon was purple. There were other dreams. I'm not even sure which ones were mine and which ones weren't. Then I started to wake up, and now I'm not sure which life is which. I remember parts of them both, as if they both happened to me at the same time." She tore her gaze away from the ceiling and looked at her sister with obvious effort. "I think I royally screwed up. I'm just not sure what I coulda done about it." Clara pulled the quilt tighter around her frail body. "What about them?" she asked, nodding towards the doorway, "Do you think maybe they screwed up?" "I don't think . . . ." Sara paused again, the listening expression returning. "I don't think that's for me to say," she concluded. "I hear it too." "The ship?" "The ship. It's so deep in my head that I didn't know it wasn't me at first." "It is you," Sara reminded her. "Don't ever forget that. It's you and it's me. Without it there wouldn't be a you-and-me. We made that choice too." Clara pondered this. "You think it was the right one?" The light in the room grew brighter, the warmth deeper, surrounding the two girls. Both flinched reflexively before their minds recognized that there was no danger; the ship merely had its own opinion to express. "Almost," Sara responded. "There's still something I need to do." "I know." Sara's eyebrows went up in surprise. "How? You were unconscious." "I've known since the beginning. I know I was out for a long time to you, but to me it wasn't very long at all. The dreams. I remember everything that happened to you, and everything that happened to me, and a few things that happened to other people, and all those years took only a few seconds." She smiled ruefully, one finger tracing the bruising under her right eye. "I hope the Ship will still let me come visit. There are some people I'd like to talk to." "Even though . . .?" Even though you're not a Tomorrow Person anymore, Sara thought, but couldn't say. Clara nodded once, understanding. "Especially because." "Do you think things will be different?" "Of course. The whole time I was gone, all Dad could think about was having us both healthy and home with him. He was willing to do anything for you." "What about you?" Sara asked. She pushed herself away from the window sill and tried to find something to do. There wasn't much. This room was bare of the usual diversions; what existed, existed because it was important to her or served an immediate function: the beds, the quilt still clutched in her sister's hands. On top of the dresser, a tall wooden chest on which the girls had once spent a glorious afternoon slopping a bucket of paint, sat a single framed picture. She didn't even know who was in it, her or her sister. "Mostly he'd given up on me," Clara answered. "He didn't want to admit it, but he knew I wouldn't be coming back. He figured I was dead." Sara picked up the frame. It was heavy in her hands. Light from somewhere glared off the glass, hiding the picture inside. "He was wrong," Sara protested. She tilted the frame back and forth, but couldn't get a clear view. "Not by much. I wasn't supposed to come back. You know that, right?" Clara's words were slow and serious. "If it hadn't been for you, I would have died. You kept me alive, and then you made it possible for me to come back. What you gave up made it possible. Things are going to be different; we'll never be the kind of people we should have been. But we'll have--" "--We'll still have here, even if we don't have the rest of it." Sara'd never said that sentence before, but it came out of her mouth like it had been programmed. She set the picture frame back down and turned to face her sister. "You are coming home, right?" Clara hesitated, just for a second, before answering. "Maybe. I don't know what happens next." She drew a deep breath, then whistled it out between her front teeth. "I'm not going to walk through our front door tomorrow, if that's what you mean. At least, I don't think so. It might happen. It might never happen. We have here. That's all I know for sure." "I want more than that," Sara said. "I know. So do I." Clara shrugged. "The Ship can only do so much. We can only bend the rules so much. We're just not that special." "Is that what you learned in your dreams?" A small laugh escaped Clara's lips. "Sometimes. There's so much more too it than that." "Will you . . . tell me about it? Someday?" "Yeah. But first. . . " Clara let her words drop off and turned to look at the bedroom door. In the real world its equivalent was a plain pressed wood door with a simple metal doorknob. Here, if anyone could touch it, he might find the same thing. Sara knew better. To ease her loneliness she had brought people into her room, into her head. They never stayed for long. Everyone who had tried to open that door had instead vanished through it, going someplace . . . else. She didn't know where. They vanished from both the real world and the one in her head at the same time. Somehow she had caused them to go. When she was finally able to talk to the Ship, it brought Clara back through the door, and showed Sara how to bring back the others. "It's time," she said. Across the room the door swung open. Through it stepped the first of those people Sara had come here to see: A young man in his late teens with almost black hair, and a broad, high-cheek boned face. She had seen him once before, but hadn't been able to pay attention. Now she looked at him and saw a person who wasn't quite a stranger, and wasn't quite familiar. It was like running into a friend she hadn't seen in a very long time and to whom she couldn't place a name. What she could see is that unlike the last time, he didn't seem scared. He didn't know why he was here; she could sense that very clearly, but he knew that this time he would find out. He took one step into the room. She matched his step, then stopped. She didn't want to get too close, just in case. "When you wake up," she said, not introducing herself because she figured no introduction was needed, "I don't know how much you'll remember. I'm sorry for what happened to you. For what I did to you." Alejo stepped further into the room, which brought him to the edge of the bed on which Clara rested. She pulled up her knees, giving him a silent invitation to sit down. Wordlessly, without reservation, he accepted it, perching on the corner of the bed, his eyes still on Sara. She listened carefully, and tried to put into words the thoughts it placed in her head. "You'll be okay in the morning. That's what the Ship says." "The Ship," he echoed, a fleeting look of confusion crossing his face. "The Ship es, iss, here?" He touched the side of his head above his ear. "Yes. The voice in your head is the Ship talking. Sometimes you'll be able to understand everything it says, and sometimes you won't understand anything. At least, not consciously. Inside," she tapped her chest above her heart, "you'll always know." His eyes narrowed, crinkling around the corners as he puzzled through what she said. "Ah, si. Understand," he said, at last, standing up as if to leave. "There's something else," Sara said, stopping him. This next part didn't make any sense to her; not yet. She wanted to demand that the Ship tell her everything, right now. She had the time to listen, but Alejo only had a few minutes here and there were things she had to say. "Que? What?" he asked. "They call themselves the Tomorrow People," Sara said. "That's what I'm supposed to tell you." "The Tomorrow People?" Alejo repeated, testing the words slowly. "I no understand." "You will. I'm also supposed to tell you that." Alejo seemed satisfied with the answer, even though he clearly didn't understand it. Unlike her, he had the patience to wait for the time when the answer would make sense. He stood up again and turned as if to leave the room. He was already beginning to fade from sight, and Sara knew there was no need from him to go out the door in order to leave. The door still wasn't an exit, but one wasn't needed. He turned back before he got there with a final question. "You are?" he asked, his eyes narrowed as if he already knew the answer and wasn't sure he liked it. "A Tomorrow People?" Sara thought back over everything that had happened: Clara's disappearance, and her own entrapment; at the fantasy world she had created in her own head, and how desperately lonely she had been there, and what she'd done to try to ease that loneliness. And Lisa, a Tomorrow Person in spite of herself who had come to accept what she was. That was something they should have had to common: being Tomorrow People. Sara looked at Alejo, but could see nothing in his brown eyes except open curiosity. He wasn't going to judge, because he didn't understand enough to make a judgement.. She next looked to her sister, to the china blue eyes that matched her own. These were also open and waiting. There was no judgment there either; it did no one any good to critique the could-have beens. Clara just wanted to know how this question was going to be answered. Sara shook her head slowly, a small smile starting on her lips. "Oh no," she stated, "Not any more." END - --=====================_9990194==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed - --=====================_9990194==_-- - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 23:20:21 -0800 From: aixla@juno.com Subject: (arfic-l) Out of Eden 1/1 Title: Out of Eden 1/1 Author: Ailie McFarland E-Mail: aixla@juno.com Spoilers: Tabula Rasa Rating - R for language Archive: http://www.fanfiction.net and eventually http://www.geocities.com/aixla/fanfiction (I'm so behind on that) Distribution: Oh! Well, if it helps at all, I'm gonna say yes. Disclaimer: Not mine. I would never let Willow hurt Tara like that (even though I'm a W/O shipper for life). I'd like to borrow Spike for just one night, though. ;) Author's note: I've never written a BtVS story with language like this before, especially not with most of it coming out of Willow's mouth. My theory is that with all she's done lately the language would not be out of character for her at this point in time. Agree, disagree? Let me know! In other words, FEEDBACK ME! Please? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Do you know what you did?" The vampire's voice startled Willow from her thoughts. Glancing at the bathroom clock, she realized she must have been sitting there on the floor for hours. "I'm talking to you, you red headed bitch! Do you have any idea what you've done?" Framed in the doorway, Spike was clearly having trouble controlling his emotions. Willow watched through bloodshot, swollen eyes as his face briefly revealed the visage of the demon inside. She turned her head. "Go away." "Sorry Red," he took a seat on the porcelain tub. "Not gonna happen. Not until you and I have a little chat." "As soon as you're gone your invitation here is as good as revoked," Willow muttered as she hugged her knees closer to her chest. "Fine by me. Little Bit'll just let me right back in again, anyway." The house was silent for a moment. Willow marvelled at that. Up until today 5 people had lived in the Summers' home, and quiet was pretty much a foreign concept. Even at night, there had been the soft sounds of her lover's breathing ... not wanting to go down that road, Willow finally spoke. "So you gonna tell me what the hell you're doing here?" Spike stood and started to pace the small room. "You shouldn't have done that to her." "Look, I've had the 'How-could-you-do-that-to-Tara?' lecture from all my living friends already. I don't need it from a dead fuck who doesn't know where he's not wanted." "As true as that may be, I'm not talking about your girlfriend." He glanced about, taking note of the empty spaces on the shelves and the boxes in the hallway. "Correction, ex-girlfriend from the looks of it. I'm talking about Buffy." "Oh, I've heard that today too. 'Magick has consequences.' I know. You know, you guys should really get together and do this all at once, I'm sick of this broken record shit." Willow uncurled herself and stood, brushing briskly by the vampire's side. "If that's all you've got to say, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." "You think you're hot stuff, don't you?" Spike caught up with her in a few steps. "Brought someone back from the dead, and all. Suddenly you know everything." He caught her by the arm, and Willow whipped around. "Don't touch me." Fire flamed in her eyes. "I can kill you with a single word." Smiling, Spike dropped his hand and retreated a step. "Proved my point for me. Thanks, Red. And here all these years I thought you were the smart one." Willow stormed down the stairs, with Spike close behind. "You're powerful, I'll give you that," he continued. "But you think that means you know everything, when truth is you're little more than a child. And you don't have a soddin' clue." Standing in the foyer, Willow decisive she had had enough. No words were spoken, she just glared at the unwelcome vampire as she lifted her hands, and Spike's feet rose from the floor. "You didn't just pull her out of heaven, you know," Spike called as invisible hands pushed him towards the open front door. "You cast her into her own private hell! The first time was an accident, but the second you knew bloody well what you were doing." Dropping her hands, Willow allowed Spike to crash-land. "What the hell are you talking about?" Spike pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked up at her. "You weren't there when she got her memory back. I was. It was like ... something sucked the life right out of her. Like you reached right in and ripped her heart out of her chest." "I was trying to make things better ..." "Magick can't make mistakes go away, haven't you figured that out yet? It compounds them." He had found his footing and was now glaring down at her. "Ignorance is bliss, right? So you put her back in heaven, and then cast her down. Put her right back at square one, is what you did. Any progress, anything she had dealt with was lost! Because you felt bad, you made her suffer. And truth is, you were trying to make things better for you, not her." Willow had heard that line before, from another man who wasn't wholly human. On that occasion she had been completely in the wrong, and she didn't like the parallels that were being drawn. "I don't know why you're complaining about it," she sneered, returning his stare. "Before all this Buffy never would have touched you and we both know it." "You think this is how I wanted her?" Spike's fists were clenched so tight his black-tipped fingernails drew blood. "I don't know how you know, but I'd give it all back in a second to spare her the pain. If you can't see that, then I guess I'm not the only one without a soul." "Get the fuck out!" Willow was screaming now. "Stop playing Goddess, little girl," Spike called as he stomped out the door. "You aren't very good at it." ~*~ Ailie McFarland ~*~ It could be witches! Some evil witches ... which is ridiculous 'cause witches they were persecuted, Wicca good and love the earth and women power and I'll be over here. ~ Xander I may be a cold blooded jelly doughnut, but my timing is impeccable. ~ Oz ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 17:32:07 +1300 From: "Anne Olsen" <anneo@paradise.net.nz> Subject: (arfic-l) Where The Winds Blow (2b/4) This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------=_NextPart_000_00E3_01C19221.12024800 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Where The Winds Blow (2b/4) by Anne Olsen Disclaimer in Part 0 Feedback to anneo@paradise.net.nz **** Adam sat back on the beach, feeling the warm sand underneath his bare = feet. He looked around for his sweatshirt as he grabbed at a piece of = paper flapping around in the mild breeze. "Stay," he told it firmly, = holding it with a mild burst of telekinesis, while he leafed through to = find the page he wanted in his textbook. Even though Adam was flatting = in Sydney, he often came to the island to study in the peace and quiet = it offered. He found sitting on the beach watching the waves ebb in and = out soothed him and helped his powers of concentration. With Ami = shopping with her mum and the others picnicking in New Zealand, he = should get quite a bit more study done before it was time to head home. = Adam glanced at his watch. Just about time to stop for a cup of tea and = take a break, he thought.=20 He looked up as he heard a familiar popping sound just in time to see = three figures materialise in front of him. So much for the study. "We've found Lisa," said Jade, before he'd even had a chance to ask them = why they were back so early. Lisa? As in *their * Lisa? As in *his * Lisa? Was that even possible?=20 "Lisa?" he asked, wondering if he sounded as shocked as he felt. He = still remembered that dead feeling deep inside when he'd gone to Lisa's = house in Clearwater all those years ago and found her and her mother = gone. It had been yet another thing to add to the steadily growing pile = of guilt within him that he pretended to ignore. After all it wasn't the = first time in his life that someone close to him, or at least in Lisa's = case, someone who could have so easily been closer to him if they'd had = the time, had been taken away. Chris had been first... He forced his = mind back to the present before those memories even had a chance to = surface. No, he wasn't going there. Not now. Not ever. He couldn't = afford to. Others depended on him too much for him to give into the self = doubt which he hid so well from them. "Would you believe she's been living in New Zealand all this time?" Jade = seemed excited, in contrast to Kevin and Megabyte. Kevin was watching = him, Adam noticed, looking for a hint of how he was reacting to the news = of Lisa's 'discovery.' Megabyte also seemed to have one eye on him. 'Was = I really that obviously distressed when she disappeared?' He wondered. "In New Zealand?" It made sense he supposed. After all if she'd tried to = go somewhere they'd never dream of looking that would be the place to = go. Either that or the Australian outback and somehow he couldn't = picture her settling there. He knew it was one place *he * never wanted = to go again.=20 "So I take it you met up with her by accident?" he asked. Stupid = question, Adam, of course it would be by accident. Someone didn't go to = all that trouble to disappear off the telepathic radar just to turn up = again out of the blue years later. Lisa wasn't that careless. When she = had decided to go, it had been forever. Adam looked down at the sand, = and noticed he been piling the grains into little piles while Jade had = been talking. He smoothed them out again, brushing the glistening tiny = circles off his hands, and reached for his shoes. Jade nodded. As she started to tell him all about their afternoon tea = with the MacDonalds', Adam looked out to sea, trying to regain some = degree of calmness within him. He felt his heart start to beat faster as = he thought about seeing her again. What would she be like? Had she = changed? What if she just disappeared again? What if..? For some reason = watching the waves didn't seem to be helping. In fact the calmness of = the ocean seemed to be almost mocking the turmoil he felt inside. "Adam, are you okay?" Kevin asked, the concern obvious in his voice. "At = least the rest of us have had some time to get used to the idea. I knew = we shouldn't have hit you with the whole thing at once." He shot = Megabyte and Jade an accusing look. Megabyte shrugged, sounding defensive. "I agreed with you. Jade was the = one who opened her mouth, not me." He ruffled her hair and she glared at = him. "You okay, Adam?" The redhead echoed Kevin's concern. Am I that obvious? Adam thought. He checked his mental shields to make = sure they were still firmly in place. "I'm fine." He paused. "Is Lisa = okay? How did she react when she saw you?" Did she look as though she = was pleased to see you? Did she show any sign that she wouldn't take off = again? What was to stop her just leaving again? What if by the time he = got to her, she'd already gone to ground again? He couldn't get this = close to seeing her again, only to have the opportunity slip through his = fingers because he'd decided to stay at the island and *study *. "You mean apart from the fact she looked as though she'd seen a couple = of ghosts?" asked Kevin. "I'm not sure she was very keen on the idea of = being reminded about being a Tomorrow Person, Adam. To be honest, she = only used telepathy because Megabyte wouldn't shut up." "Hey!" protested Megabyte. "You used it first." I think you're = protesting too much here, Adam thought. What did you say to Lisa = exactly? Adam knew how tactful his friend could be at times.=20 Adam rose to his feet, grabbing his pile of textbooks and the thermos. = Someone had to go and talk to her, tell her everything was okay. To = catch her before she disappeared again. He had to tell her how much = he'd.they'd missed her. "I think I should go and see her," he said. 'I = need to go and see her. I need to make sure she's okay. To see if she's = hurting as much as I am.' "She's coming here, Adam. In a couple of hours." He could see Kevin = watching closely for his reaction. "Here?" Adam knew he sounded like an idiot but he didn't care. He felt = his spirit soar. Maybe he was going to get a second chance after all. A = chance to tell her how he felt, a chance he had passed up on and = regretted all those years ago. "No, the spaceship on the island three miles that way," Megabyte = gestured with his hand and grinned. "Of course she's coming here. I = guess she couldn't stay away eh?" Even in this kind of situation you = still have to try and lighten things with a joke don't you, Megabyte?=20 Adam tried to ignore the irrational fear growing in his mind. She's = managed to stay away for nearly eight years. Maybe she's coming to tell = us goodbye forever this time. After all she didn't want to be found last = time. Maybe she wants us to pretend this never happened. Maybe she's = planning to disappear again. Maybe wasn't good enough, he needed to know = for sure. "Who couldn't stay away?" As Ami bent down to pick up the textbook Adam = had dropped off the top of his pile, he realised he hadn't even noticed = her arrival, he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts and feelings. = "What's going on?" she asked, her brown eyes softening as she took in = the mixed emotions he knew must be reflected on his face. "We've found Lisa!" Jade exclaimed. She made it sound so simple. Things = like this were never that simple. Adam knew that from experience. "You guys okay?" Ami looked at again at Adam, and then quickly at the = others. It was obvious she was trying to gauge how they were each = reacting to the bombshell. Adam smiled, in spite of the way he was feeling. Trust Ami to = instinctively know what their reaction would be to the news. He knew = that when she'd broken out, she'd come in on the aftermath of the whole = mess of Lisa's disappearance. Ami had sensed that each of them was = coping with it in their own way, but hadn't said anything. She'd just = been there, and told them how she had plans to stay for the duration = however vocal her mother had been at the time about how she wouldn't. = Adam remembered that it had helped at the time. It had helped but it = hadn't made the hurt go away, nothing could do that.=20 He gave her a hug, trying to reassure her. "We're fine, Ami. But it = looks as though for the first time in years, all the Tomorrow People are = going to be together again." We're fine? That's right, Adam, hide behind = the small talk and niceties again. You've got really good at that over = the years. Why show how you really feel when it's easier to hide? He = wasn't fine, and he doubted Megabyte or Kevin were either. Yes all the = Tomorrow People were going to be together again. But for how long? ******** End of Chapter Two "Stop making me repeat myself. It's bad for my health." - Duo Maxwell, = Gundam Wing. ________________________________________ = =20 http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/shadesandechoes ________________________________________ - ------=_NextPart_000_00E3_01C19221.12024800 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV> Where The Winds Blow (2b/4) by Anne Olsen Disclaimer in Part 0 Feedback to <A=20 href=3D"mailto:anneo@paradise.net.nzAdam">anneo@paradise.net.nz</A> **** Adam sat back on the beach, feeling the warm sand underneath his bare = feet.=20 He looked around for his sweatshirt as he grabbed at a piece of paper = flapping=20 around in the mild breeze. "Stay," he told it firmly, holding it with a = mild=20 burst of telekinesis, while he leafed through to find the page he wanted = in his=20 textbook. Even though Adam was flatting in Sydney, he often came to the = island=20 to study in the peace and quiet it offered. He found sitting on the = beach=20 watching the waves ebb in and out soothed him and helped his powers of=20 concentration. With Ami shopping with her mum and the others picnicking = in New=20 Zealand, he should get quite a bit more study done before it was time to = head=20 home. Adam glanced at his watch. Just about time to stop for a cup of = tea and=20 take a break, he thought. He looked up as he heard a familiar popping sound just in time to see = three=20 figures materialise in front of him. So much for the study. "We've found Lisa," said Jade, before he'd even had a chance to ask = them why=20 they were back so early. Lisa? As in *their * Lisa? As in *his * Lisa? Was that even possible? = "Lisa?" he asked, wondering if he sounded as shocked as he felt. He = still=20 remembered that dead feeling deep inside when he’d gone to = Lisa’s house in=20 Clearwater all those years ago and found her and her mother gone. It had = been=20 yet another thing to add to the steadily growing pile of guilt within = him that=20 he pretended to ignore. After all it wasn't the first time in his life = that=20 someone close to him, or at least in Lisa's case, someone who could have = so=20 easily been closer to him if they'd had the time, had been taken away. = Chris had=20 been first... He forced his mind back to the present before those = memories even=20 had a chance to surface. No, he wasn’t going there. Not now. Not = ever. He=20 couldn’t afford to. Others depended on him too much for him to = give into the=20 self doubt which he hid so well from them. "Would you believe she’s been living in New Zealand all this = time?" Jade=20 seemed excited, in contrast to Kevin and Megabyte. Kevin was watching = him, Adam=20 noticed, looking for a hint of how he was reacting to the news of = Lisa’s=20 ‘discovery.’ Megabyte also seemed to have one eye on him. = 'Was I really that=20 obviously distressed when she disappeared?' He wondered. "In New Zealand?" It made sense he supposed. After all if she'd tried = to go=20 somewhere they'd never dream of looking that would be the place to go. = Either=20 that or the Australian outback and somehow he couldn't picture her = settling=20 there. He knew it was one place *he * never wanted to go again. "So I take it you met up with her by accident?" he asked. Stupid = question,=20 Adam, of course it would be by accident. Someone didn't go to all that = trouble=20 to disappear off the telepathic radar just to turn up again out of the = blue=20 years later. Lisa wasn't that careless. When she had decided to go, it = had been=20 forever. Adam looked down at the sand, and noticed he been piling the = grains=20 into little piles while Jade had been talking. He smoothed them out = again,=20 brushing the glistening tiny circles off his hands, and reached for his=20 shoes. Jade nodded. As she started to tell him all about their afternoon tea = with=20 the MacDonalds', Adam looked out to sea, trying to regain some degree of = calmness within him. He felt his heart start to beat faster as he = thought about=20 seeing her again. What would she be like? Had she changed? What if she = just=20 disappeared again? What if….? For some reason watching the waves = didn’t seem to=20 be helping. In fact the calmness of the ocean seemed to be almost = mocking the=20 turmoil he felt inside. "Adam, are you okay?" Kevin asked, the concern obvious in his voice. = "At=20 least the rest of us have had some time to get used to the idea. I knew = we=20 shouldn’t have hit you with the whole thing at once." He shot = Megabyte and Jade=20 an accusing look. Megabyte shrugged, sounding defensive. "I agreed with you. Jade was = the one=20 who opened her mouth, not me." He ruffled her hair and she glared at = him. "You=20 okay, Adam?" The redhead echoed Kevin’s concern. Am I that obvious? Adam thought. He checked his mental shields to = make sure=20 they were still firmly in place. "I’m fine." He paused. "Is Lisa = okay? How did=20 she react when she saw you?" Did she look as though she was pleased to = see you?=20 Did she show any sign that she wouldn't take off again? What was to stop = her=20 just leaving again? What if by the time he got to her, she'd already = gone to=20 ground again? He couldn't get this close to seeing her again, only to = have the=20 opportunity slip through his fingers because he'd decided to stay at the = island=20 and *study *. "You mean apart from the fact she looked as though she’d seen a = couple of=20 ghosts?" asked Kevin. "I’m not sure she was very keen on the idea = of being=20 reminded about being a Tomorrow Person, Adam. To be honest, she only = used=20 telepathy because Megabyte wouldn’t shut up." "Hey!" protested Megabyte. "You used it first." I think you're = protesting too=20 much here, Adam thought. What did you say to Lisa exactly? Adam knew how = tactful=20 his friend could be at times. Adam rose to his feet, grabbing his pile of textbooks and the = thermos.=20 Someone had to go and talk to her, tell her everything was okay. To = catch her=20 before she disappeared again. He had to tell her how much = he’d…they’d missed=20 her. "I think I should go and see her," he said. 'I need to go and see = her. I=20 need to make sure she's okay. To see if she's hurting as much as I = am.' "She’s coming here, Adam. In a couple of hours." He could see = Kevin watching=20 closely for his reaction. "Here?" Adam knew he sounded like an idiot but he didn’t care. = He felt his=20 spirit soar. Maybe he was going to get a second chance after all. A = chance to=20 tell her how he felt, a chance he had passed up on and regretted all = those years=20 ago. "No, the spaceship on the island three miles that way," Megabyte = gestured=20 with his hand and grinned. "Of course she’s coming here. I guess = she couldn’t=20 stay away eh?" Even in this kind of situation you still have to try and = lighten=20 things with a joke don't you, Megabyte? Adam tried to ignore the irrational fear growing in his mind. = She’s managed=20 to stay away for nearly eight years. Maybe she’s coming to tell us = goodbye=20 forever this time. After all she didn’t want to be found last = time. Maybe she=20 wants us to pretend this never happened. Maybe she’s planning to = disappear=20 again. Maybe wasn't good enough, he needed to know for sure. "Who couldn’t stay away?" As Ami bent down to pick up the = textbook Adam had=20 dropped off the top of his pile, he realised he hadn't even noticed her = arrival,=20 he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts and feelings. "What’s = going on?" she=20 asked, her brown eyes softening as she took in the mixed emotions he = knew must=20 be reflected on his face. "We’ve found Lisa!" Jade exclaimed. She made it sound so = simple. Things like=20 this were never that simple. Adam knew that from experience. "You guys okay?" Ami looked at again at Adam, and then quickly at the = others.=20 It was obvious she was trying to gauge how they were each reacting to = the=20 bombshell. Adam smiled, in spite of the way he was feeling. Trust Ami to = instinctively=20 know what their reaction would be to the news. He knew that when = she’d broken=20 out, she’d come in on the aftermath of the whole mess of = Lisa’s disappearance.=20 Ami had sensed that each of them was coping with it in their own way, = but hadn’t=20 said anything. She’d just been there, and told them how she had = plans to stay=20 for the duration however vocal her mother had been at the time about how = she=20 wouldn’t. Adam remembered that it had helped at the time. It had = helped but it=20 hadn’t made the hurt go away, nothing could do that. He gave her a hug, trying to reassure her. "We’re fine, Ami. = But it looks as=20 though for the first time in years, all the Tomorrow People are going to = be=20 together again." We're fine? That's right, Adam, hide behind the small = talk and=20 niceties again. You've got really good at that over the years. Why show = how you=20 really feel when it's easier to hide? He wasn't fine, and he doubted = Megabyte or=20 Kevin were either. Yes all the Tomorrow People were going to be together = again.=20 But for how long? ******** End of Chapter Two</DIV> <DIV>"Stop making me repeat myself. It's bad = for my=20 health." - Duo Maxwell, Gundam=20 Wing. ________________________________________ = &= nbsp; &n= bsp; &nb= sp; &nbs= p; = ; =20 </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A=20 href=3D"http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/shadesandechoes">http://www.angelfir= e.com/ab7/shadesandechoes</A> ________________________________________= </DIV></BODY></HTML> - ------=_NextPart_000_00E3_01C19221.12024800-- - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. 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