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Title:Magna Kemal.

(it was almost "Magna Skouras")

Sequel to Magna Maia which is a sequel to Magna Pacella which is a sequel to Magna Skouris which is a sequel to Magna Graecia.

Author:Rodlox.

Summary:Glimpses of the future & worrying from Maia and Kemal alike.

Rating:T.

POV:Kemal Skouras.

Author's note:Kemal Skouras originally appeared in "'Skouris' with an 'a'," and has made the occasional appearance in a few of my fics since then. my April muse is still recovering. Kemal, a 4400, is a very distant cousin of Diana's...at least two centuries separate their respective branches of the family.

For those who aren't familiar with the phrase, "in the before" is a 4400 term for the era prior to when an individual returnee was taken...it started (as far as I know) in the story Working with Rockets in the Devon Saga.

ie, Maia's "in the before" is the early 1940s, whereas Kemal's is in the early 1960s.

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"Did you hear?" Maia asks me in a whisper as she and Diana walk me down this inside of the airport, past the Starbucks and hamburger restaurants, to where I'm to board my plane to where I live. I'm still not sure why they brought Marco Pacella along -- I know he's going to marry Diana, and have three kids with her...but as far as I know, Maia and Diana don't know that. Then again, maybe that's what Maia's asking me if I've heard. She knows my talent.

Ignoring the snippets of conversation from people passing by us, "The Greeks are going to give me back my house?" I jest. For me, not three years ago, my family and I had to leave our home and flee; the alternative was a seat in a mass grave.

Maia just looks at me. "I don't know," and from anyone else, I'd be insulted at the delight ringing in the words. But I know Maia, I know she's glad there're things she doesn't know, things she hasn't seen. I know the feeling.

I motion for her to tell me. "We're going to get married."

I look behind us at Diana, who is presently arm-in-arm with Marco, and wonder if Maia's told her mom this yet. Looking to Maia once more, I nod. "And we'll have one child." Granted we need to wait at least ten years for any of this.

Maia pulls a face. "Did you know we're going to be gazis?" Her brow knits before she asks me, "What's a gazi?"

"Warriors who live on the frontier, and who fight on the front lines for their cause." The Ottomans' empire was founded by gazis. "I was kind of hoping we'd be pashas -- like a duke or a governor."

"Do you think we could change any of it?" Maia asks me, her voice full of hope that we can.

"What part?" I ask. I only see lineages, and up until I came down with that red speckling, I could only see family trees stretching back through history... I miss that already.

Maia tells me, her hushed voice painting a vivid picture of a day after our marriage, we're standing beside graves newly-dug for Diana and Marco. Agent Baldwin and his wife are holding the youngest of the Skouris-Pacella family.

Well, that would certainly explain the abrupt ending to both Diana and Marco in my mind. An abruptness I could only see after recovering from the speckling. "I'll gladly try to reshape that future," I promise Maia. Not sure what I can or could do...after all, we both see the future, not the futures. Allah Allah, I don't think I could survive seeing ever-shifting family lines. I miss when it was simpler: Maia saw the future and I saw the past. "Mashallah," I tell Maia, and then drop back to the other two. "Mashallah," I tell Marco and Diana, a big grin on my face. And if that doesn't make them nervous...

"Kemal?" Diana asks me, a confused look on her face. "Did Maia tell you something?"

"No," I tell her. "I saw something," and dart back up to Maia again.

"What did he say?" I hear Marco ask.

"'God protect,'" Diana translated.

I can't see behind me, but I'm guessing that he's looking either thoughtful or curious. "Didn't you tell me that he only saw family trees?"

"That's right."

"And I expect an invitation to the wedding, you two," I say when Maia deliberately coughs, her thumb pointing back at them. Good point; I don't want to scare them away from marrying...but could I even do something like that? I wouldn't, but could I? My head hurts, hurts as much as when family lines would form in my mind just from looking at two people...and that was just in the old days; nowadays, it stretches in two directions.

"How should we change things?" Maia asks me, voicing what I'm still puzzling over.

"We'll figure something out," is all I can say.

Wryly, "I don't think I'm going to have a vision of us solving this problem."

"That doesn't mean we aren't going to solve it."

"I used to only see little things, and only every once in a while. Now, its a lot more showing and a more often." Much as I hate suffering alone, I'd make an exception in this case.

My gut clenches as I wonder is this happening to all of our returnee brethren? Every one of the four thousand and however many are left alive after what's happened thus far? 4312 pops into my head. "We'll solve it," I repeat. Though we may need to ask our friends in the governments if there is any medication we can take.

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The End.