Bonds are important. Be they chemical, emotional or physical; they're truly what holds us all together no matter what. Events unfold including but not limited to: Eris disagreeing with how much meat constitutes a 'meal' John also disagreeing about how much meat constitutes a meal (although he's less polite about it) and Hannah nearly loses her shirt while 'falling' off a roof!

 

“Sare.. Sare this is crazy, get down before you hurt yourself!”

She glared at me lightly and with another push managed to heave her chest over the edge to rest on the slanted roof seemingly without much effort at all.

“I’ll hurt something alright! I told YOU to get down, don’t go calling ME crazy in this Hannah Cooper!”
Well.. yeah?.. she DID tell me to get down but she was looking scary while she did it!
It’s not MY fault, you don’t try to talk someone off a roof while angry!

Even the police know that much at this point?!

“Sare come on, I said I was sorry in the text remember? I’ll say it again, I’m sorry I disappeared again, see?.. now get down before you slip!”
She glared at me for a long moment before going back to her climbing efforts.

After a few missed swings she managed to finally hook her knee over the edge of the roof and eased the rest of herself up.
From there it took barely a hop for her to be at my level, sitting astride the roofs peak with her legs slung casually over either side of it.

“You know, you’re right? It really is nice up here.. do you know what’s even better?.. YOU can’t run away easily!”
An almost evil grin formed on her face as she shuffled herself closer to me.
I did my best to shuffle further back along the roof in the opposite direction but she’s better at this sort of thing then I am.

“I..I could warp away!”
Even I winced at the uncertainty in my voice this time.

Warping is a talent I’ve never exactly excelled at and doing it by line-of-sight while under pressure after I just got done warping a moment ago is certainly a bit of a stretch for my skills.
The fact that Sarah is close enough to make a wild lunge for me if I try it doesn’t help either.. or the fact that she’s proven herself crazy enough to do EXACTLY that too!

“Come on Sare, please? It’s been a long day, I got turned into a cat-girl yesterday.. TWICE.. and I’m ‘on’ as well which isn’t helping.”

Finally something managed to make her pause in her almost manic determination to reach me.
Her evil little grin faded slightly as she cocked her head to the side curiously.

“A ‘cat-girl’?.. like.. ears and tail, anime style or just running around on all fours?”
I cringed hard and tried not to meet her eyes for a moment but finally I cracked.

“..both?..”
Her disbelieving snort of amusement didn’t help matters much honestly.

“Well this is a story I’ve GOT to hear! Wha..wait..”
She trailed off and looked at me with wide eyed surprise.
“Wait, what do you mean your ‘on’.. like, due on? You’re on your PERIOD?!”

I tried to frantically wave for her to shut up but I’m pretty sure at least some people in the crowd below us heard that last part so it was probably a waste of energy in the end.
All the waving overbalanced me slightly and with a panicked yelp I only just managed to hug the roof again to catch myself.

Rather than sit up I stayed sprawled out on the roofs peak, hugging the damn thing in the hope that I could just fade into it.

I really did NOT need everyone to know that part!
It’s so embarrassing and that’s not even taking into account my past-live reactions to not being pregnant, AND I don’t like being up here because it’s way too high AND everyone’s w-watching us and I just want to go HOME!

“Han.. Han, calm down okay?..”
Rather than answer her I just shook my head a bit, rubbing my forehead against the rough roof peak and let off a sob that I just couldn’t contain anymore.

I knew it was going to be bad coming back.
I knew she’d be angry but I didn’t expect to end up crying on the roof with an audience!

“Stay there Han, I’m making my way over, just don’t do anything rash okay?”
I didn’t answer her again but she must have taken that for consent because she started making surprisingly quick shuffling movements along the roof to reach me.

Before I knew what was happening she was right in front of me.
She eased my body up with gentle hands until we were facing each other again.
Her support helped me feel a bit more stable; enough for me to let one of my hands loose and use it to wipe away the tears in my eyes at least.

It’s been a really long day.. a really long WEEK.. Hell, it’s been a really long MONTH for that matter!

We were starting to finally reconnect and then I started doing stupid stuff like running away all the time but she forgave me and I did it again and I.. I..

“I’m sorry Sarah, sorry I’ve been such a brat lately?”
I stared listlessly down at the roof tiles between us rather than face whatever expressions are on her face right now.

I’m not sure if I can take it if she’s still angry with me?
I..I miss my sister..

“You’re such an idiot sometimes Han.”
Despite her words, the fondness in her voice was like music to my ears.

That’s the Sarah I know.
She’s angry, she’s annoyed at me beyond anything else but she can put it aside when I need her?
I love my sister sometimes..

With a bit of awkward shuffling she managed to get us close enough together that she could pull me into the tight hug that I desperately needed.
Eris is special, John’s comforting but Sarah is Sarah.. nobody can replace my sister when I need her..

She turned her body slightly which made me shuffle into her arms tighter but she didn’t seem to notice luckily.

“You lot, get lost! We need some private time!”
Cautiously I peeked out to the side to see what kind of reaction her words got.
Surprisingly everyone seemed to be happy to follow her orders more or less?

After a few grumbles and a moment of shuffling the crowd started to disperse back into the house en-mass.
Eventually all that was left down there was Eris and the kitten who both watched us curiously from below.

Before I could call out to her or anything someone called from inside the house making her grin brightly and with one last worried look up at me she shot off inside, kitten in tow.

“Right.. now they’ve all left, tell me everything? I want to know what’s been going on and why it’s left you so stressed out, that’s an order missy!”

She didn’t have to tell me twice.

The flood gates opened and I finally did what I should have done from the start.. I told Sarah everything that’s been going on with me since we got back to the States.
Everything she’d missed or I’d hidden from her intentionally.

I never should have tried to hide any of it from her to start with.
Twins trust Twins.. it’s the rules.
One of our rules and it exists for a REASON!

======

“-and then he-he said that he l-loved me and everything went weird and it was like Karl all over again and then..then he just DIED!”

I broke down in tears again which hurt my chest but also felt SO good to finally let out after keeping it all in for so long.
Sarah made all the right noises to comfort me while encouraging me to go on, even though I don’t think I could stop if I tried at this point.

“It felt like I was losing EVERYTHING Sare?! and he.. and I..”
With another wail of pain I collapsed into her chest, clinging on with everything I had.

I spent so long trying to ignore the stress of all this while it piled on top of me.
For all that I’ve tried to act happy as times gone on this has just been EATING away at me for days, WEEKS even!

My legs shook lightly and my stomach twisted a little but I pushed past them both by focusing on Sarah.
She’s what’s important and I need to just get this all OUT before it drives me insane or I end up bottling it all in again!!

Twins trust Twins, it’s the rules.

======

I ran out of words a while ago but we’ve just sat up here rocking lightly as the sun makes its slow trek towards the horizon.

I needed this, oh POWERS did I need this!
I needed Sarah!

John understands me but I can’t trust him like I can with Sarah.
I can tell Sarah anything, always have, always will, and she’s never judged me for any of it.

“I love you Sare.”
She sniffed lightly to herself and squeezed me a bit tighter as we rocked.
Some parts of events were hard for her to hear, almost as much as they were for me to say I think?

She brought her head down to rest in my stupid bright-blue girly hair and nuzzled me like she used to do when we were kids.
“Love you too Han.”

I couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on my lips at that, nor the extra effort I ended up putting into our hug a moment later.
I’ve missed this.

We’ve barely been apart lately compared to how far apart we’ve been in the last few years but keeping secrets from Sarah.. it hurt?..
I ignored it at the time, tried to tell myself it was for the best, to protect her.. but it still hurt!

As we settled into rocking lightly again on the roof of our childhood home I started practically falling asleep in her arms from relief and exhaustion.

Having her KNOW, having Sarah know what’s happening to me.. EVERYTHING!..
The visions, the nightmares, the fears and everything else I couldn’t tell anyone else..

It’s SUCH a relief!

======

We were in our own little world for a long time.

All good things have to end eventually though sadly.
In this case the sound of car’s driving nearby caught my attention and as we both turned to look over curiously, Mum’s car came trundling up the road towards our house followed closely by the unmistakable gleam of John’s truck.

If I’d been thinking clearly I probably would have noticed ages ago that he was taking too long just to park up his boat again and drive around the bay to our place but I’ve not really been in the right frame of mind to keep track of the time, let alone current events, while talking with Sare like this?

We saw them before they saw us obviously, partly because we were up high and partly because I doubt they were expecting us to be sitting on the roof watching them drive up.

The reaction was almost predictable though when they did spot us.
Mum’s car pulled up sharply with squealing breaks and John had to slam his on suddenly to stop himself from running headlong into the back of her.

In seconds the driver-side door on Mum’s car flew open and she was out, glaring at us angrily from down below.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU’RE DOING ON MY ROOF?!”
For a moment I shuddered at her angry voice but as I nuzzled into Sarah’s arms she started shuddering too for an entirely different reason.

Despite the trouble we were both obviously in I started shaking along with her and without warning we both burst out in a fit of laughter, collapsing into each other so that we didn’t slide off as we went on.

It’s always like this with us?
All it takes is a little giggle from one of us and it sets us both off!

“Hi Mum, we’ll be down soon, sorry!”
That set us both off again.

Out the corner of my eye I could see Gran getting out of Mum’s car, watching us with a curiously raised eyebrow, and a moment later John hopped out of his truck looking annoyingly less than surprised about it all.

“Teenagers!.. Did you have to put up with this sort of thing Mum?”
The question wasn’t for us luckily, I don’t think we could have answered even if it was.

Gran chuckled to herself lightly and leaned heavily against Mum’s car looking thoughtful for a second.

“Well I do remember one time when my most troublesome daughter decided she was going to fly and talked her brother into helping her toss a rope over the house that she could crawl up so tha-”
Before she could finish her little anecdote Mum cut across her with a loud cough that worked about as well as you would expect in stopping Gran but it at least managed to cover her following words well enough that I couldn’t hear the ending.

I can guess where she was going with it though and while I’m sure it’s funny, I’m also not that fussed about getting the details at the moment.
I’m sure if I ask nicely then John will fill me in later if nothing else.

“Looks like it’s genetic, we’re both doomed to be such horribly naughty daughters.. oh our poor, apparently deserving, mother!”

We weren’t the only ones to crack up this time.
John laughed lightly to himself and Gran let off a warm cackle.
Mum seemed to be the only one not laughing, settling for just blushing brightly instead.

After a few seconds of ‘suffering’ under our joint amusement she huffed to herself and quickly made her way inside with a slight glare up at us.

Gran grinned at us and winked as she made her way inside too.
After a moment of watching us with his usual smirk in place John snagged my expanded bag and his own one from the truck before following behind them with a slightly mocking salute up at us as he went.

“Thanks for this Sare.. sorry for dumping it all on you at once.. AND for not telling you before.. I just..”
She hummed to herself and gave me another gentle squeeze in response.

I didn’t need to say it.
She understands why I didn’t say anything now.
She’s always been good at getting things as long as they are spelt out for her first..

“Love you Sare.”
She squeezed me again and dropped a light kiss on my forehead.

“Love you too Han.. now how are we going to get down from here?”

Ah.. good question?!..

======

“Can’t we fly a bit more?”

Sarah is as reluctant to go in the house and face Mum as I am I think?
Plus she seemed to genuinely just enjoy the ‘flying’.. more like controlled falling really?.. that we managed with an improvised ‘float’ spell I cast on our shirts.

Personally I almost had a heart attack when my fingers slipped slightly letting my shirt fly up and almost completely off of me, leaving me to nearly plummet to the ground below.
Sarah seemed to think I’d done it on purpose or something because a few moments later, when she was sure I’d managed to catch myself, she copied me with a loud cackle of laughter.

“Maybe later? I’ll sort you out with some Icarus wings or we could borrow Trudy’s training ground to fly in private or something?”

Luckily that seemed to be enough to quell Sarah’s.. sudden enthusiasm?..
I’m sure the fact that we both happened to turn and spot Mum lightly glaring at us from the kitchen window had nothing to do with her sudden flushed silence or her worried frown at all of course!

We both hesitated in taking that next step up the path back to the house.
I think.. I HOPE it’s just my imagination but Mum seems to be glaring at me more than Sarah for some reason?

“I’ve got to ask, it’s been bugging me.. what on EARTH did you do to your hair?”
Reluctantly I cut my eyes away from the window and back to Sarah instead.

Maybe facing a talk with Mum IS the better option than staying out here after all?

“..it was an accident..”
Accidents happen, no need to ask more on that point right?..
Dear, loving, understanding, completely not going to mock me, sister?!

She snorted in amusement and shot me a disbelieving look.

“Some accident, you can never do anything small can you?”
HEY!
“Might want to prepare yourself. Remember how bad Mum got when I dyed my hair in tenth grade?.. and now your her perfect, innocent little youngest daughter on top of that?”

I cut my eyes away from her quickly as she broke out in a sudden fit of laughter at her own words.

A silence stretched out between us until I finally gave up staring at the tree’s in the vague hope that the earth would swallow me up or something and I was greeted by an almost apologetic smirk from Sarah which I’ll admit is better than nothing.. but not by much..

Someone made a noise in the house drawing both of our eyes back to the door again.
Practically in a single synchronised movement our shoulders slumped in defeat.

Mum’s going to tear me a new one just from the hair alone!

“Don’t suppose we can go hide at your flat for a while can we?”
We both managed to snort simultaneously in amusement at that one too.
Fat chance!
“Let’s just get this over with I guess..”

I took the next step towards the door and after a long moment it became obvious that Sarah wasn’t going to follow me quite THAT close.. not stupid my sister..

“Fine.. coward..”
With a few forceful steps I reached the door while Sarah still hung back, for whatever reason I’m sure she’s trying to convince herself of that ‘obviously’ doesn’t include the fact that she’s scared of Mum in the slightest.

I allowed myself one last huff of air before taking the plunge and pushing the door open softly.

“Hi Mum”
My tentative greeting as I stepped through the backdoor was met with stony silence from the kitchen area in general.

It took me a bit longer then I’d like to admit before I could work up the courage to actually look at her, when I finally managed it though she didn’t look especially mad, more confused and frustrated honestly?

“It’s nice to have you back Ari.”
Well that’s a better greeting then I was expecting at least!
“Now, care to explain what you were both doing on the roof and what on earth you’ve done to your hair?!”

Frustration and confusion still?
I guess it could be worse.. MUCH worse!

“Sure, it’s kind of a long story.. well.. maybe not long but complicated.. WELL, not really complicated but just kind of embarrassing and-”

“Breathe Ari.”
Mum’s words made my stall out of my rambling with surprising ease.

I could feel my ears start to burn a little as I realised just how nervous I’d managed to get so quickly.
Something about Mum looking annoyed just triggers the panic button in my head, probably years of experience with her not-so-nice side when I was Al honestly?

“Come take a seat, I’ll grab you a coffee.. and for god sake tell your sister to stop hiding in the doorway..”

Despite my misgivings I couldn’t help but grin at the indignant squawk Sarah let off at that remark.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all?

======

“Repeat.”

I shot Sarah a defeated look and she mirrored it back to me.
On the unspoken count of three we said our new apparent mantra for life.

“Roofs are for birds, not people.”

“Again.”
My eyes cut back up to Mum in frustration.
She’s obviously enjoying herself but that doesn’t mean we can get out of this stupidity any quicker sadly.

“Roofs are for birds, not people.”

“Good, remember it. You could have broken you’re necks!”
..Not really?..
The house is only two stories high, I’ve jumped higher than that.. with some magical aid naturally..

Sarah opened her mouth but a glare from me shut her up quickly.
I know what she was going to say.

She’s free-climbed sheer cliffs for work before without a safety line, our roof is practically like the sidewalk for her when it comes to difficulty levels.
True or not, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to prod Mum about it when she’s actually CALM at the moment!

“Okay Ari, you’re turn. What’s with the hair? That better not be permanent young lady! You’re hair’s far to pretty to ruin with a cheap dye job.”

Hey! There’s nothing cheap about it, all natural thank-you-very-much?!
Obviously I can’t say that to her right now but I SO want to!

“No dye involved Mum. Eris brought up me changing her hair color with magic and while testing it out I kinda.. accidentally turned my hair blue..”
It doesn’t sound any less stupid to my ears even now.

“If its magic then that’s a bit better I guess, so how do you turn it back to normal?”

Short answer is.. I kinda don’t?
I could change it back obviously, could probably even get it to actually reach my natural color too if I come up with a rune-matrix that can pick out my unaltered hair color from my body and magical signature or something..

The problem is that John and I have a plan.
It’s not a particularly well fleshed out plan and we’ve not really discussed it in detail at the moment but seeing as he already put it into motion when we met Thor it would probably be a bad idea for us to change it NOW of all things?

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed Mum but a lot of people are after me at the moment?”
Her mouth twitched in annoyance for a moment but eventually she huffed out a breath and nodded to me lightly.
I’d better get to the point quickly, I don’t think she appreciates the ‘change of topic’ very much.
“While we were driving, me and John had a run in with one of them.. one of my past-incarnations ex-husbands.”

Mum wasn’t the only one to gasp.
I know I told Sarah about bumping into Thor earlier on the roof but I guess she might not have connected the dots between ‘Thor’ and ‘Ex-husband’.. I wasn’t exactly pushing the connection honestly, I try to avoid those sort of thoughts if I can after all..

“It turns out that Arista.. well.. on a mage level I’m kind of.. old?”
Mum opened her mouth but I rushed to carry on before she could interrupt properly.
“If you can think of a famous man in history or mythical person that was married, the odds are pretty high ‘I’ was the woman in that tale.”

Hell, I had a couple of incarnations in Egypt who kept their own Harems of chiselled young men that they could watch wrestle and.. enjoy.. when they felt like it?
I’m obviously NOT going to mention that to MUM of all people!

Even Sarah doesn’t need to know THAT little titbit of information luckily!

“The problem being that mages don’t tend to, ya know.. STAY dead?”
Mum blinked slightly but otherwise left me to stumble on through my explanation unaided.
“When you have millennia’s to work on it then the back catalogue of ex-husbands and scorned lovers can get just a LITTLE bit messy obviously..”
Mum nodded along with my words, her mouth slightly open.

I don’t think she quite knows what she’s agreeing with me about at this point, it’s just more of a reflex action as she tries to process it all?
I do that sometimes too sadly.

“Through a bit of dumb luck and some lying we managed to send the ex-husband that found us off on a wild goose chase for ‘Arista’ while convincing him that I’m a newly discovered child of.. myself I guess?..”
This all sounded a lot more rational and sane in my head I swear!
“Basically, I kinda need to keep the hair for a while?.. OH! and everyone needs to call me Hannah, ESPECIALLY you until this all blows over a bit.”

Mum did NOT look happy at that one!
I can’t know for sure of course but I’m pretty convinced my ‘first’ name is a bit of a sore spot for Mum with her jumbled up fake-life history problem and all.

She certainly seems set on calling me ‘Ari’ all the time, even when I make it obvious I’m really not comfortable with it!

“So you’re telling me that we’re going to have to convince people you’re not really you but some other girl who just looks like you.. with blue hair?”
um.. yup?.. that about sums it up actually..
“What’s your connection to us supposed to be then if you’re not YOU?”

Huh? What does she mea-
Ohhh!

“Ack! Sorry, it’s complicated and I’m not explaining it well.”
I cringed and wrung my hands a little nervously.
“Thor thinks that I’m ‘Hannah Cooper’, while I’m technically meant to be my own daughter with Poseidon it’s not a stretch to believe that I died young and this is my second incarnation as a mage so I figured we’d run with that?”

‘Keep it simple stupid’
Words to live by, why make things overly complicated when the truth is already strange enough!

“So I’m just your daughter Hannah like normal.. I’m just NOT the next incarnation of the super old pain in my as-”
I cut myself off sharply at the glare Mum sent my way.

Oh yeah.. that’s kind of her family ‘goddess’ I’m talking about isn’t it?

“Let me get this straight.”
Yes! PLEASE do Mum, save me from putting my foot in my mouth again if nothing else!
“You were married to THOR and POSEIDON?.. as in the GOD’S Thor and Poseidon?!”

Sarah cracked up laughing.
Mum glared at her lightly but was quick to turn back to me with a questioning eyebrow raised.
I could feel a trail of sweat make its way down the back of my neck from her intense gaze all of a sudden and a mild blush formed on my cheeks as Mum scrutinised my face thoughtfully.

“She probably married John too!”
My light blush went supernova at that one and I couldn’t help but duck my eyes away from the pair of them in shame.
DAMN IT SARAH!

Yes, I was married to John.. well, Max?.. let’s call it ‘more than once’.
I don’t exactly remember most of those incarnations obviously but I remember enough bits like the ‘Victorian’ vision to know that we were surprisingly happy together and he was surprisingly less of an asshole then I would have expected from Max.. and while his goatee looked stupid he had really soft dreamy eyes an-
GAH! STUPID. PAST-INCARNATION. THOUGHTS!!

“Told you so, look at that blush!”
Shut UP Sarah!!
“No wonder they’ve been disappearing together so much lately..”
Oh you did NOT just go there you evil cow!

Before I could open my mouth and really let Sarah have it for even HINTING that me and.. and John could be doing something like THAT when we’re alone together, Mum decided to weigh in on it all.

“Stop teasing her Sarah. While I have little doubt Ari.. ‘Hannah’ has a pretty major crush on Max at this point I also trust him to be a gentleman about it all. Lily’s sister wouldn’t raise him any other way.”
I do NOT have a crush on JOHN!!

Man-Besty! He’s my Man-besty, no crush allowed!

“If Ar.. ‘Hannah’ wants to spend her time rekindling an old flame with Max then I’m sure she will be responsible about it.. not that it really matters considering I’m already a ‘Grandmother’ apparently I guess?..”
GAH!!

I just want the floor to swallow me up!
Just get it over with, PLEASE, this is almost physically painful!!

“I’m going to go check on Eris.”
Before either of them could say anything to make it all somehow even worse again I shot off for the safety of the stairs.

It annoyed me to hear them both break out into giggles as I went.
I know I was being teased but that doesn’t make it any less embarrassing to go through it all and stupid stuff like John k-kissing me in the Bazaar or us wrestling in a way that apparently made this stupid body h-horny is NOT helping!

I took the stairs two at a time in my urgency to escape.
A few people were moving around in the TV room when I got up to the top but I was kind of busy trying to suppress my blush and the now annoyingly persistent flashes of John’s lips on mine mixed with me straddling his waist and grinning down at him while we both panted heavily an-

“Hey Han, you okay?”

“GAH!!”
JOHN?!

“Woah.. what the hell has gotten into YOU?”
J-John?

Please, it’s been a long day.. no more.. please!..

“H-Have you seen Eris J-John-boy?”
He really didn’t look convinced by my attempt at being casual.
I can’t really blame him, I’m bloody STUTTERING!
I’ve never stuttered before in my LIFE?!

“She’s with your Gran in the ritual chamber?”
Ritual chamber?!
Since when did we have a bloody RITUAL chamber?!!

Urggg! I give UP!

I just want to curl up into a ball and let the day end at this point.
I’m emotionally raw from telling Sarah everything anyway but adding everything else on top is just getting too much for me.

“Come on, I’ll show you. Sorry I kind of forgot you hadn’t been back up here yet.”

His gentle hand settled on my waist and part of me wanted to practically mould into his side for a moment but the much saner part told THAT part to ‘sit-down and shut up before it has to hurt it’ so I could avoid making even more of a fool of myself!

As we paced down the hallway towards the elevator I did kind of lean into him a little bit, not that he seemed to notice..

His magic’s really warm and calm right now!
Feeling it butted up against my own aura is helping me calm down slightly if nothing else.
It’s surprising how manic you can get when things start cascading out of control?

I’m a bit of a control freak at times though so that’s probably just me being.. well, me I guess?

Breathe in, and out.. focus on John’s magic.
He’s calm, your calm, everyone’s calm.

Wow.. this is actually working?..
Who knew John could be so useful!

======

“Where IS everybody?”

I was expecting to step through the door at the back of our elevator and come into a sort of cluttered refugee camp of beds inside the self-dubbed ‘Golden Palace of Excess’ but the massive football-field sized golden room is now empty of both beds and letters?!
..suspiciously spotless actually?..

At the far end I can see a few people milling about but overall it’s just.. eerily empty?

“The family’s been busy while we’ve been away. You’re Gran recruited most of the ‘kids’ into helping clear the place up apparently, her rule of ‘work or no food’ managed to get even the most obstinate of them lending a hand. As weird as it sounds, I think the Weres and the Awakened are actually.. getting along now?”

Really?!

I knew Gran was a psycho from the moment I met her but actually convincing awakened mages to play nice with werewolves?
I have LITERALLY no idea how she managed to pull THAT off!
There’s a good reason people are scared of werewolves, even more so with mages specifically.

While I know NOW that our little slice of them are nice, that doesn’t mean wolves in general aren’t monstrously insane mage-eating beasts!

The ‘Kin of Christian’ or whatever our family is nicknamed in werewolf circles are a pretty major exception to a pretty major rule of life.
You do NOT mess with werewolves or vampires if you’re a mage!

Eating the heart of a mage or nymph is apparently the best thing EVER conceived to a Werewolf normally and mage blood, specifically powerful virgin mage blood, is like a DRUG for Vampires!

“This way, we’ve got a bit of a walk..”
With that said John grabbed my hand and lightly tugged me along behind him as my eyes swivelled around the empty expanse of gold.

We passed several different corridors as we got closer to the far end of the room, corridors that had been buried under old mail the last time I was here.
From what I can see they all appear to be both completely golden inside and worryingly long with more doors splitting out from them further down each one.

Eventually we reached a corridor about two thirds of the way along the left wall with a little bit of red paper taped to the side of it.

“How big IS this place?”
John shot me a smirk over his shoulder at the awe and slight fear in my voice but with another tug we were off down the long, high-ceilinged golden hallway leading to yet more doors and what looks like another passageway at the far end.

“You know how the Hub is made in its own little section of Maven’s dimension?”
I gulped heavily.
That’s really not a good way for him to start answering that question!

“Well it seems ‘you’ own a dimension all to yourself as well.. at least the hallways are a messy maze and not a six dimensional literal labyrinth like the Hubs are, right?”
That cheeky little smirk on John’s face really isn’t helping much.

I own a whole dimension?
A WHOLE bloody DIMENSION?!

For reference here let’s keep in mind that a pocket dimension is, at best, the size of a city block or two and is basically tucked in a bubble between bigger realms like the fae’s home dimension of choice or the ‘demon’ realms which are all layered on top of each other with our world sandwiched neatly in the middle of them.

The Fae and demon realms are practically carbon copies of OUR world but can be shaped differently for any number of different reasons over time.

If you think about it too much it hurts your head so it’s probably not worth the effort but needless to say all of those scientists these days who theorise that we live in a multiverse of infinite possibility’s stacked next to each other like a deck of cards have NO idea just how bloody close they are to the truth!

If John’s right then.. like Maven’s realm where she has so much wasted space she can just GIVE people any number of near infinitely huge ‘Hub’ spaces to live and work inside.. I own a dimension?

“..I think I’m getting a headache..”
John snorted back a laugh as we took a right at the end of the golden hallway into another golden hallway marked by yet another taped red piece of paper on the wall.

I wonder what happened to all the mail in here?
PLEASE tell me the hallways weren’t filled too!

Damn it Arista, how many kids do you HAVE?!

======

“Hi Hannah.”

“Hi”
I offered the random guy, I think is one of my family.. biological family that is.. a slight wave as we passed him.

“Hi Mom”

“Hi”
The girl about my biological age didn’t seem even slightly surprised to see me as she jogged past going who-knows-where at speed for some reason.

“Hey Hannah”

“Hi J-”
DAMN IT!
“Don’t mock me John. I’m really not in the mood right now an-”

“Hi Hannah”

“Hi”
As the old, possibly Australian, man wandered past us John snorted back another laugh at my expense.
It’s not MY fault I got taught manners as a kid John!

If someone says hello to you, you say hello back?
Doing anything else then that is just rude!

We crossed the last few steps of our current golden hallway and John suddenly turned sharply towards a door with a blue bit of paper taped to it.
The door opened easily and with a slight tug John got me through it before I could really take in what faced me on the other side.

“Hi Hannah/Mom!”

“H-Hi..”
That’s a LOT of people.. apparently we’ve found the dining room.. hall?.. golden auditorium full of people, tables and chairs?..

“THERE you are Hannah!”
Oh thank the powers it’s Gran!

Before anything else could be said a little brown haired ball flew into my arms making me grunt in surprise.
“Hi Mom, missed you.”

“Hi Eris.”
John sniggered to himself but for once I couldn’t find it in myself to snap at him over it.

Eris is a bad influence on me.. or maybe a good one depending on how you look at it I guess?
Just having her back in my arms is calming me down a hell of a lot more then I would have expected.

I think part of the reason I’ve been so tetchy and easy to wind-up may actually just be because she wasn’t at my side like usual?.. it’s a weird thought honestly..

“Mau”
I shot a warning look down at the kitten when he decided to let his presence be known with that odd little chirruping ‘meow’ of his.
I’m no expert but something tells me he just said ‘Hi Hannah’ in cat language.. it’s just been one of THOSE types of days, ya know?

“Have you eaten yet dear? We’ve got some really nice meat on the go at the moment.”

Now THAT is something I can agree with at last!
I’ve not eaten since the bloody cat-burger debacle.

With a great big sniff I finally caught the tell-tale signs of meat cooking.
I practically shuddered in joy at the smell of it.
The one big plus side to having werewolves in the family is that apparently we can have meat for every meal and no-one comments on it!

I should probably be worried that I crave meat so much considering my ancestry and all but on the other hand-
..Is that Bacon?!..

“Where can I get a plate?”

Mum’s voice echoed in my head slightly.
Something about ‘don’t drool Ari, ladies don’t drool’.. but she’s not here right now and I am.. and there’s bacon.. and I’m no lady!

“Over by the far wall, next to the pigs-in-blanket and the steaks.”
Sausage wrapped in bacon with a side order of medium-rare animal flesh.. I’ve died and gone to heaven!

Eris giggled as I shot off towards the serving tables at more speed then I would usually allow myself while holding her.
She seemed to enjoy it so no harm done and more importantly FOOD!

======

“Mom, can you?”

My eyes cut down to Eris as a bit of steak hung loosely between my teeth, mid-chew.
Oh! She wants me to cut up her food again.

With a forceful bite I managed to squeeze the last of the steak into my mouth and giggled to myself a little at the slightly offended look on Eris’s face.
She apparently isn’t a huge fan of barely cooked meat?

It’s possibly the first thing we’ve disagreed on lately, strangely enough?

I guess she takes after John in that respect.
He’s limited himself to just the bacon with mashed potatoes and pea’s like a ‘normal’ person instead of my mountainous pile of meat on a plate that can barely handle it.

Without a thought I carelessly wiped my greasy fingers on my shirt, leaning over to take her knife and fork up quickly.

I’m sure Mum would have something to say about me making my shirt dirty but it’s not like it matters.
I can always clean my shirt with my diversion easily enough eventually anyway right?

Helping Eris didn’t take long, she’s not got a lot to cut up but apparently the bacon is still beyond her so I practically diced it for her just to be on the safe side.
When I got done she gave me a bright smile that I couldn’t help but mirror back at her before we both returned to our food with gusto.

I’d just popped a mini-sausage, wrapped in bacon of course, into my mouth when John decided to speak up again.

“Don’t you ever get bored of eating meat?”
My eyebrow popped at him up suspiciously.
Almost subconsciously my hand came up to protect my plate from his judgemental eyes.

“I’m a mage, I don’t get fat. I’m part werewolf, I like meat. I’m me, I don’t care what you think about it John-boy.”
He winced just from the annoyed tone to my voice let alone my cold dismissal of his opinion on my eating habits.

After a moment I realised just how harsh it really sounded and flushed a little in embarrassment.
I couldn’t quite meet his eyes so I stared at my plate instead.
I really should say something to him in apology, I didn’t mean to snap like that..

“Sorry John, foods a touchy subject with me at the moment.”
Between Mum’s stint about me acting like a ‘Lady’, this new body’s stupid chubby cheeks, my utter lack of muscle tone along with the still slightly bewildering concept that I’m part-werewolf and all the questions that come from it.. yeah.. definitely a touchy subject..

I’ve always loved meat, especially when I’m stressed out.
Nothing used to help me get over a painfully bad mission then a burger or three!

I used to hate being interrupted when I got the munchies too, usually with a call from ‘the Hub’ about my next mission.
It happened so often that in retrospect I’m pretty sure whoever Storyteller was using as a go-between for setting my missions up was doing it on purpose to either keep me tense or just to be cruel.

Out the corner of my eye I could just make out John opening his mouth to speak but before he could get whatever he was going to say out we were interrupted by Gran of all people.

“I’m not interrupting, am I?”
Despite the question and the fact that she obviously was she didn’t hesitate to slide into the free seat next to John and fix me with a thoughtful look.
“We need to talk a bit Hannah.. I’ll be honest with you.. a lot of the family, your children included, are interested in staying here on a semi-permanent basis? I don’t know how much you’ve been told about what’s been happening lately but-”

I’m not really sure why she hesitated?
I took the chance to shrug a little and shoot John a curious look.

He seemed about as lost as I was honestly.
Despite him leading the way in here, apparently he’s not got much more information about current events then I have sadly.

“-look.. the world is a scary place Hannah and the pack has been struggling to survive over the last few decades. Ever since we consolidated ourselves into the farm and stepped away from the great hunt, other clans have been pushing inwards on our territory.. at this point it’s dangerous for us to even leave the farm’s borders alone.”

..okay?..
I always figured werewolves were all ‘GRRR! my territory, I’ll kill you’ about that sort of thing?

“We aren’t warrior’s Hannah.. not anymore. If you stay out of the hunt for a few generations then the old ways tend to be forgotten to some degree. I’ve done what I can to keep us relevant and train everyone for survival as best I can but despite my four-hundred years I was born into peace as well. As a mage, there’s little I can teach the wolves and practically nothing offensive I can show the mages of our family either?”

I leaned back a little in surprise at how candid she was being about it all.
Everything she’s saying seems a bit too personal and I’m surprised she’s even willing to admit it to me of all people?

“This place.. this dimension of yours is amazing Hannah? There’s so much space, dormitory’s, rooms full of enough food in stasis to last a thousand generations and even an entire area that can be locked off exclusively for the wolves to roam on moon nights!”
She sighed heavily and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table slightly.
“It’s like.. it’s a safe haven?.. a place we could only dream of where we don’t have to worry about the outside world anymore and can just be.. us?”

Her lips twitched up into a self-deprecating smile and for the first time since she sat down our eyes met.
There was pain there, obvious for anyone to see, but above all hope as well?

“I know you have your problems too Hannah. I know we’ve barely even gotten to know each other and you’re probably weary of us all to say the least but-”
She trailed off again, breaking eye contact at the same time to stare down at her hands thoughtfully.
“-but we need you?.. you make everyone feel safer just from your presence. You’re magic calms the wolves in way’s we never thought possible and your sheer power alone.”
She sighed heavily to herself and shifted uncomfortably.
“NO-ONE has ever defended us from the Hub staff before. For generations we had to run all across the world from them because they wouldn’t believe that werewolves could be good.. and because we don’t really know how to defend ourselves anymore?”

Her eyes winced so much that they practically shut entirely for a moment.

Part of me wants to interrupt, to get her to stop talking so that pain in her eyes will go away again but I can feel the weight of what she’s saying pressing down around us.
Gran’s being serious and she NEEDS to say all of this for some reason.. I can respect that if nothing else?

“I know you don’t really accept your past, that you don’t believe that you’re Arista in any way but, you are so much like her? The stories passed down through the pack of the strange little girl who defied everything to help us in our greatest hour of need, the tales of a woman who could be both gentle in her touch and ferocious in defending those she loved practically like a wolf herself..”

After a long pause Gran huffed self-consciously and cut her eyes back up to mine as I stared at her in shock.

“The pack.. the family needs you Hannah? We were already discussing staying here with you when only part of the entrance hall had been cleared out but as we progressed and we started to truly see the potential of this place.. we NEED this place to survive but more importantly the pack need YOU to show them what I can’t, to lead them and teach them what they need to survive in a world which is quickly becoming too big for us to handle anymore..”

Her lip trembled slightly and she cupped her hands tightly together on the table.

I didn’t dare to breathe.
I could make out John’s stunned face along with a general quite that had fallen around us but my focus remained on Gran, on her hands that squeezed almost painfully tight as she fought some kind of battle of wills with herself that was all her own.

“Traditionally there should be a combat trial for you to prove your worth against me but I spoke with Gertrude and got a hold of your Hub file.”
She shifted uncomfortably for a moment.
“With preparation?.. with time to plan and the knowledge you already have on my lightning magic I have no doubt that I wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”
She sighed heavily and her fingers finally came lose at last, ever so slightly.
“Hannah Cooper, Daughter of the Garnier, Kin of Christian and Incarnation of the Red Moons Arista.. will you take the position of matriarch to us all?”

..WHAT?!!..

She can’t mean that.. that she wants me to..
I can’t be a MATRIARCH?!

I barely knew they all even EXISTED until recently!
How the hell am I supposed to take charge and run a family, let alone a family THIS big and messy and.. and..

“Excuse me.”
Before anyone could say anything else I was up out of my chair and running for the door.

I could hear some commotion building up behind me as I went, most noticeably being Eris calling after me and John saying something about following me but quickly I was out into the golden hallways and making short work of turning random corners in the hope of getting as far away from them all as possible.

What on EARTH is she thinking?!
I can’t be in charge of a huge family like that!

I’m barely holding myself together as it is and I can’t even imagine the stress that would come from adding THAT on top as well?!

“Hannah, wait up!”
At John’s call from behind me I broke into a sprint again.

I need some time to clear my head.
Get this all into perspective somehow?

This is all too much.
It’s been a REALLY long day, both emotionally and physically.
Part of me just wants to curl up in a ball and give up again but I’m stronger than that!

I HAVE to be stronger than that!

The world isn’t just going to stop and let me recover my whits any time soon; life just isn’t like that for me apparently.
I need time to think and just.. just not THIS, not NOW!

“Hannah!”

For Power’s sake John, STOP FOLLOWING ME!!