This fic just needed to be written. Honestly. I watched CA:CW, thought about writing a fic for that, then decided to first watch what I was missing of AoS, just in case there were some useful connections... there were hardly any, and I confirmed what I'd been thinking for most of the first half of the season... I don't really like where the show is going. The whole Hive thing was actually painful for me. All I could think was, isn't love supposed to be stronger? And then Daisy's reaction even after she was freed... Where is Skye?! Honestly where the hell is the girl who ready and willing to go undercover into a psychopath's home to help people she'd just met, after barely a few days of training? Where's the girl who faced death time and again and never backed down? Daisy is not that girl, and not only because of the change in name. I really don't like what's going on right now with her...

Anyway, at some point I became a die-hard fan of Skyeward (not sure when that happened exactly, I used to support Skoulson... but there was just something memorable about the team's reunion when they were searching for Skye in season 2, I think...). In any case, after watching the season 3 finale my muse refuse to take that lying down and she insisted on this being written, so here we are.

SKYEWARD FOREVER!

Bashert

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

It was 'destiny', they were 'destined', preordained, a perfect match... until they ruined it, or maybe it was the universe that ruined it for them. In any case, she wasn't willing to let it stand, she'd make it right, somehow, if it was the last thing she did... in the end Soulmates always find their way back to each other...

She walks across several rooftops, dropping items of clothing as she goes. Her blue plaid vest ends up on the roof of an apartment building, her long-sleeved mesh-shirt above some offices. She uses her powers several times to make her going from roof to roof easier, and even without any conscious decision, there's a part of her power that has become instinctive enough that at some point she can simply step off a ledge and land in a half crouch half a dozen floors down and not even feel her bones jarring; even the ground beneath her feet shakes just the slightest amount as she touches it.

She steps around a corner and into an abandoned space, too narrow to be considered a proper alley. She has a bag stashed there and, with little care for any possible bystanders (though there aren't any, she'd know, she'd have sensed them), she strips off her half-ripped pants and the hat, ending in just a tight black sleeveless top and underclothes, then she puts on a pair of black-denim pants and a pair of black-leather boots, before slipping the black-leather jacket back on (it was the only piece of her original ensemble she didn't abandon). She knows it's probably too sentimental of her, but she's unwilling to part with that particular piece of clothing. It doesn't smell like him anymore, it hasn't for a long time (long before she fully realized why she'd even kept it, why she needed it with her...); and yet she still connects it with him, always will, which is probably why it was one thing she remembered grabbing, even when it all went to hell and she lost so much, had to leave it behind, among the ruins of her old life.

The ripped pants go to the nearest trashcan, along with the bag where she'd been keeping her new clothes and boots; the hat and boots go to two different vagabonds she meets on the way. She's a fair distance away from where she met with Mrs. Hinton and little Robin to give them the wooden robin she'd been carrying around for months. She knows that if everything goes alright the gesture will end up being pointless, along with pretty much everything she's been doing in the last few months (or years) but still, she wants to believe that it's the thought that counts (and, just in case it doesn't work, she'd rather go with no regrets, and no debts owed).

The ATCU is on the other side of the city, probably still going around trying to find her tracks (which they won't, she knows, because the only people who have the slightest chance at actually tracking her down, would never do it... not for real). A part of her wishes she could go back, that she could talk to Phil, to Coulson, to AC... to the man that has been more of a father to her than her own birth-father (and not only because her 'real' father doesn't remember her or her mother at all). She wishes she could go to him, tell him what's become of her life in the last few months, ever since she was forced to run.

She remembers that day with painful clarity, the day her whole team, her family in every way that counts, risked their own lives to make sure she'd make it out of the base before Ross and his minions could catch her, could send her to the Raft. Along with all the other inhumans and metas she hasn't managed to save. Even Talbot had done his best to help, giving her a 24-hour head-start (there were days she was sure she wouldn't have managed to get far away enough in time otherwise). At the same time, that's probably why the rest of the family fell apart. From what she's been able to piece together: Phil was demoted back to agent and partnered with Mack, Melinda was sent back to a desk and to a different base from them, while FitzSimmons chose to retire rather than being sent away as well (last she heard they were working with Dr. Radcliffe, whose very public trials reached an end recently).

None of them have tried to find her (aside from AC and Mack, but she knows that if they truly wanted to get to her, they'd have done it long ago, rather than always missing her by inches). At the same time if she truly wanted to disappear, they'd never be able to see her; but she lets them do that, every so often, just enough for whoever was in charge nowadays to keep them around, to consider them useful (since they are the only ones to ever catch so much as a glimpse of her).

Aside from her little game of 'catch me if you can' she keeps doing all she can to protect her people. She doesn't always get there in time, she knows a few are already in the Raft, or worse. The only reason Robin Hinton isn't one of them is because FitzSimmons have done everything in their power to protect her, going as far as to fake her DNA analysis (at great risk to themselves), it was the last thing they did before leaving the organization for good. After that she made sure the Hintons had money and engineered circumstances so they'd end up in the same neighborhood as Cal... he'd help them (even if he doesn't remember a lot of things about her, and about himself, he's a good man).

Her line of thought breaks as she finally reaches her destination: the back of an alley, several blocks away from downtown LA. If she closes her eyes she can almost see it as it was back then, almost four years prior, the backdoor of a diner (it closed two years prior), a couple of the big garbage bins, filled with the trash of the diner and the apartment building on the other side of the alley (the building was declared uninhabitable almost a year ago, when a fight between a group of inhumans and the ATCU destroyed almost half a block); and in a corner, her van parked (it was second-hand, though it looked fourth-hand or something, she still had done her best to keep it in shape, after all, it was practically where she lived for near on two years).

The place has changed so much she almost cannot recognize it anymore, it's like almost any other back alley in LA, or in any other mayor city in the world.

The world pretty much went to hell after the so-called Sokovia Accords. With Captain America and the majority of the Avengers considered as criminals (not in small part since they'd escaped a max-security prison, called the Raft), Iron Man losing most of his influence and eventually choosing to just retire, no one knows where Vision has gone exactly, Thor and Hulk haven't been seen since the mess with Ultron. Then came Hive and his nefarious plans which culminated with a near worldwide disaster (which was only averted thanks to Lincoln's sacrifice, and she still doesn't know what she regrets more: the fact that he paid the price for her mistakes -for all their mistakes, like AC said-, or that to the very end she couldn't really love him like he deserved to be loved). At least on that part she's since learnt why she couldn't bring herself to love him like he deserved.

In any case, once the president found out about what happened, there was nothing they could do to stop him. He disbanded SHIELD and put out orders for every enhanced to either sign the Accords and work under the purview of the ATCU, or be sent to the Raft. It was only thanks to the debt Talbot owed Coulson (and the team in general) that they got the heads up. The 'Secret Warriors' were on the wind before anyone outside of their closest friends knew. Elena took off for Colombia, deciding she'd rather go back to what she knew. Joey had stuck with her, until the ATCU caught up to them while they were trying to rescue a group of young children who'd been forcefully put through terrigenesis by a group of 'Purifiers' (they'd thought the Watchdogs were bad, but the Purifiers were much worse, kidnapping innocent people, force-feeding them contaminated fish-oil and then publicly executing those who changed. They claimed to be acting in preservation of humanity). The only mercy was, perhaps, that Joey was never subjected to that, he pushed their enemies to the point they were forced to kill him on the scene; all while she ran away, a handful of children with her. She'd known they were her priority, but it'd still hurt to abandon a comrade.

After that day she refused to team up with anyone else, going in aid of Inhumans on her own, fighting the ATCU, she also stopped letting her compassion have the upper hand, to the point that, as long as she knew that no former SHIELD Agents were around, Inhumans or innocents, she took to collapsing buildings on top of her opponents. It probably isn't the best way to make others like her, accept her; but she no longer cares. All she cares about is fighting, doing her best to keep her people safe; even if there are days when it seems like nothing is ever enough, like nothing will ever be enough...

And that brings her back to the reason why she's in that alley, on that very day...

There are two young people waiting for her in the alley. One is a woman: a bit on the short-side, brunette, dressed in loose cargo-pants, and a long blazer; she's known as Kat, and most assume it's due to her feline characteristics (which include whiskers, golden slitted eyes and even a pair of dark pointy ears with a hint of silver that peak through her wild hair). The other is a boy (he looks to be hardly a teen) with curls of dark-blonde hair and the bluest eyes most people have ever seen; he's dressed in such a way that some might think he just skipped school (never mind that it's not time for school, and even in LA it's unlikely that classes have started just yet, it's still the middle of the summer, after all).

"Kat, Bashert." She greets them with a nod.

While the name of Kat seems obvious enough, Bashert's is another matter entirely. The boy told her once that it wasn't his birth-name, but the one he'd chosen after his terrigenesis (which is common enough, especially after it became impossible for most inhumans to continue living normal lives). He explained it to her once, what it meant. 'Bashert' is Yiddish for 'destiny' but it's more than that, it's also used to refer to soulmates, to one's 'divinely preordained spouse'. She doesn't know what that (if anything) has to do with his gift, though.

He tried to explain it to her once, about the way people were connected, always in pairs (there's apparently some old story of Plato or some other Greek philosopher that speaks of beings that had four arms and legs as well as two faces, basically two people in one; but they were either too powerful or simply defied the gods for whatever the reason and as an alternative to outright destruction they were split in half... and so condemned to spend life after life searching for their other, perfect half). It's impossible to know how much of the old stories is true, but Bashert assured her that there really was a connection that people shared, in pairs: they were soulmates, a perfect match.

She never asked Bashert about her own: best case scenario, it was someone she hadn't yet met, someone she hopefully would never meet (considering how she has to be forever on the run, ever since being an Inhuman had pretty much been declared a crime); worst case scenario, it'd been Lincoln (because, once again, according to the kid, a pair being connected doesn't guarantee that a relationship between them would be perfect, not even that it will work out. People were so convinced that she and Lincoln belonged together, and while she'd certainly been content with him, there was never any true passion between them, not like...).

As it turns out, she was completely wrong. Well, not completely: she knew her soulmate in the past, she lost him; but there had been passion between then, and true love (more than she ever knew, could ever comprehend); her soulmate was one Grant Douglas Ward...

"Quake." The pair greets her.

Quake, that's the name the world knows her by. She's no longer Daisy Johnson, that woman was a SHIELD Agent, she fought, bled and nearly died for something she believed in, an ideal that is all but lost; she hasn't been Mary Sue Poots for way too many years (she isn't sure she ever was her, not really, not the girl the nuns hoped she'd be...); and she isn't Skye either, she isn't the innocent (naïve), brave girl so full of dreams, who believed she could change the world... No, nowadays she's just the inhuman with the power to shake the earth, to possibly tear the world in half (not that she'd ever do that, not when she's trying so hard to save it, but that's the kind of thing the ATCU says to make others fear her, to make sure others won't join her crusade... not that she'd allow them to, but still).

It took a very long time for her to allow Bashert to convince her that they should meet. And even as she stands there, before him and Kat, she's not sure she did the right thing; she's putting him, putting them both in danger just by being there, especially when her pursuers are practically on her heels... but Bashert insisted, and she's decided to give the kid a chance, if he's right... if he's right then they might still win... they might win a war she thought lost long before she began fighting it.

"I'm here." She announces simply. "Now, we all know the risk all three of us being together brings... so how about we get straight to the point?"

"You know why we're here." Bahert tells her simply.

"I'm not sure I actually believe it." She admits.

"And yet here you are." He pointed out.

She was. Because if there's the slightest chance that they're telling the truth, then she will take whatever risk, she'll do anything, anything at all to make things right.

"You know the Angel had several visions concerning you, before her passing." Kat states calmly.

The Angel... they're talking about Raina, she'd said on a number of occasions that she was an angel, that she was meant to be both messenger and protector to Skye (the thorns that protect the rose... or the daisy, she'd put it once).

"I know." Quake nods. "She saw her own death at Jiaying's hands, which I'd witness, allowing me to see the truth of her, of her plans."

"She also saw you as Queen..." Kat began.

"Which didn't happen." Quake cut her off, somewhat abruptly.

But really, she's no Queen, she cannot be, not with half her people either dead or trapped in a hellish prison under the sea, and the other half hiding in distant corners of the world, doing their best to survive against the odds.

"It might yet." Kat states in an odd tone.

"That's what this is all about." Bashert takes over. "You are our Queen, were always meant to be. At the same time, you were never meant to walk that path alone, he was meant to walk it with you. The Guardian, the Soldier, the Human King of the Inhumans... you two will bring our people together, both gifted and baseline, will make a better world for us all..."

"No we won't!" She practically snapped. "We cannot! Because he's dead. Grant is dead and he's never coming back!"

She almost shrieks as she says that, wants to cry yet finds that she can't. Not because the mere thought doesn't hurt, because it does, a lot; but because she's spent so long controlling her feelings as much as she can, in order to keep herself safe, that she has a hard time remembering how to express them (because her powers are tied to her emotions and if she feels, the earth shakes, and that's dangerous).

"That's why I'm here." Kat intervened. "I'm sending you back."

"Back...?" Quake was so shocked she didn't quite know what else to say.

"Back." Kat confirmed. "To make everything right."

xXx

There's a rush, a moment of absolute uncertainty, when she isn't even sure what's up and what's down... it reminds her way too much of that moment in the temple, in San Juan, when the Diviner folded out and the terrigen crystals activated, the moment when the mist hit her, its power going through her skin and straight to her core, triggering the change, the moment before the cocoon began forming, encasing her body, before she watched Trip turn to stone before her eyes, and then into pieces.

It's over as fast as it happens. She finds herself still standing in the same spot, in the middle of the same alley... except nothing's the same, not really: Bashert and Kat are gone, the trashcans are filled, there are murmurs coming from the apartment building and, most important of all, there's a van parked in the back corner.

It's absolutely insane, Quake knows that even as she makes her way to the van. She's so anxious it is taking a great deal of effort to keep her powers in check (She actually had her doubts, on whether she'd be keeping her powers or not, after all, she didn't have them in the time she traveled to; but then again, it's not like she 's actually part of the time... so it doesn't actually affect her, or her genes).

As she walks she remembers everything Kat told her before sending her back, the explanation of what was happening (of which she only actually understood the basics (she's not a geek, at all... and she has a feeling FitzSimmons would have a field day discussing Kat's powers and the ramifications of their use), and most importantly: the rules.

"You can only talk to your past-self. It's really a matter of efficiency. It's not like you will have any proof that you're coming from the future, and no one will believe you in the short time you have, other than yourself... About time: I don't actually know how long you'll have. My power, for whatever the reason, is tied to the moon, more precisely the eclipse. I'll be sending you the moment it begins, to give you as much time as possible; but the moment it ends you'll be back here, there's nothing either of us can do to change that. You'll have anywhere between a few minutes and an hour and a half... it's impossible to know how long it'll last."

"While you will be meeting with your past-self, you need to understand one very important thing: you cannot actually tell her about the future, her future. Not about SHIELD, or Hydra, or the Inhumans, or even her... yourself. It's not something I'm making up, it's just how it works, even if you were to try you wouldn't be able to, I'm just explaining this so you don't actually lose time in failed attempts. It's how it works, when we mess with forces like time and space. Strictly speaking, no mortal should have this kind of ability; they're the kind of powers that should be reserved to the gods, even more than your ability for making the earth shake... but at the same time, I have the power, because I needed to have it. It's part of the balance. It's also why I cannot send just anyone back. It can only be done in very specific circumstances. You're one of the few this applies to..."

Just like she was the only one Lash would protect, could save from Hive; just like Lincoln believed he'd to be the one to sacrifice himself (she didn't like remembering all the reasons he'd given, as the quinjet took off), because she was meant for something greater. Perhaps this is what she's meant for: traveling back in time, changing the world... and, hopefully, saving it.

The back door of the van opens abruptly right as she's about to reach it, and what follows is more instinct than rational decision. Quake doesn't quite know what she's doing until she's suddenly holding the ends of two thin wires... wires connected to what she suddenly remembers is an old, technically recycled stun-gun (she'd pilfered it from a trash-can, years earlier, and learnt enough of how it was made to make it work, even to reset the charge herself). The slightest vibration is enough to neutralize most of the discharge, and what she doesn't neutralize, doesn't really affect her much (part of being inhuman).

She puts the nodes down carefully. While it might sometimes feel like an eternity since she was the girl living in the van, she still remembers that the stun-gun was pretty much the only true protection she had. She'd used it against vandals trying to rob her (or worse), and even once or twice against drunks trying to get handsy with her. She knows she would have never survived unarmed, living on her own, practically on the streets, for two years. And while that time is, hopefully, at an end for that Skye (just as it was for her), the stun-gun is still a representation of her independence, of her ability to survive on her own; Quake will not destroy that.

She raises her eyes then, staring straight into a pair of brown orbs that, while they should technically be identical to her own, Quake cannot quite recognize. There's a light in those eyes that she lost, a long while ago... most of the time she cannot remember ever having it (She vaguely remembers Ward telling her once she was his only light in the darkness...).

Seeing her, for a moment Quake wants to turn back, to run away. How can she tell the girl before her what she knows? (Or as much as she can get away with, at least) How can she tell her the kind of future that is ahead of her and send her on her way, to get beaten, and hurt and nearly killed, time and again? But what's more, how can she destroy her innocence before even Hydra (and Ward) does? Then again, even if she runs away, Skye will still make that podcast for the Rising Tide in the morning, Coulson will pick her up, and it will start all over again (or, for her, it'll be for the first time). And truth be told, even if she (Quake) could truly take Skye and keep her away from all that, keep her safe, happy and innocent and with that light in her eyes... Quake wouldn't do it. Because the world needs her (the team needs her... and... she cannot focus on that part, she cannot be selfish). The future needs Quake, and SHIELD needs Daisy Johnson... but perhaps more importantly, they need Skye...

"Who are you?!" Skye demands.

Quake can detect the nervousness and true fear hidden behind the bravado... she's gotten so much better at concealing her true emotions; and even more so at not feeling when it'd be inconvenient. She's not quite sure if that's a good thing, not anymore. She's barely been in the past for a minute and already she finds herself questioning so much... or maybe she's been questioning it for a while, but it's until now that she's accepted it.

"Look at me." She tells her younger simply, looking her straight in the eye. "You know exactly who I am."

Skye does, and Quake can tell the moment the truth hits her. Skye really is a girl who wears her heart on her sleeve... or on her face. Still, she isn't quite ready to accept it.

"So, are you here to tell me that there's an insane AI after me and my future son is going to save the world?" She quips, before turning over her shoulder, to the equipment half-filling her van (it's truly a wonder she fits, ever fit, in there at all). "Or, I suppose, all things considered, I could be the one to build the AI that takes over the world?"

"There's no Skynet, I am not the Terminator... and you're certainly not Sarah Connor." Quake replies, somewhat blandly.

"No, I suppose you're the wrong gender for that..." Skye tries to drawl, but it's obvious she's only faking it.

Quake doesn't try to chastise her. She better than anyone else knows what it is to hide behind a wall made of nothing but quips and bravado. Hopefully it won't be like that for much longer.

"So, this is not a sci-fi movie, this is reality." Skye murmurs, and it's hard to tell if she's saying that to her counterpart or to herself. "How did you get here then?"

"You live in a world of heroes and monsters and don't think there can be someone capable of sending me... you... us back in time?" Quake retorts.

"Possibly." Skye grants her. "Doesn't explain why you... me... us, whatever."

"I didn't quite get that part myself." Quake admits. "Something about there being very few people that could be sent. Us, being one of those few, and me being the one in the best position to actually change things."

"Alright. Why come to me then?"

"Because I have no actual proof of who I am or what I'm here to tell you; I have a very limited amount of time, probably less than an hour; and you're the only one who would believe me in the aforementioned lapse of time, since, as has been established, we're essentially the same person."

"But we're not. I mean, yeah, you were me once, but I don't think we're the same person anymore. Even if we're still the same... well, genetically, memories are a great deal of what makes a person, and you've obviously been through a lot of sh... stuff, that I haven't."

"Shit is the right term for it." Quake deadpans, wondering what her counterpart would say if she knew they aren't quite the same, not even genetically anymore.

"Just tell me one thing first. Did you... did we...?"

She doesn't seem to be able to finish the question, but Quake doesn't need her to. There's one thing Skye ever cared about (at least before meeting SHIELD and a certain quirky, more-than-half-insane, but absolutely perfect team).

"Yes." Quake answers as vaguely as she can. "I cannot tell you the details, don't ask me. You need to get there on your own, this is something that you need to discover, piece by piece. You also won't be alone as you do, you'll have people there with you, helping you every step of the way... you will need them."

It's almost ironic, to think that she'll need one family to deal with the discovery of another... ironic but no less true.

"Ok." In that moment it's enough for Skye to know that one day she'll reach her goal, that she'll find her family, it's all that matters. "What is it that you've come to tell me then?" She makes a pause before considering. "Should I be taking notes or something? Messages that I ought to take to someone else? Maybe a podcast or something?"

"No podcasts." Quake tells her straight out. "This information is for you. It's up to you what you do with it. You can do nothing at all... though I think we both know you'd come to regret that."

"Yeah, probably." Skye agrees. "Also, something tells me I should be sitting down for this so..." She moves backwards into the van. "Come in, I'm sure you remember your way."

That's not strictly true, it's been a very long time since she's seen the van, but that doesn't really matter, Quake knows. The eclipse will only last so long, and there's still so much they need to deal with (never mind that she has no idea how to make sure her counterpart is ready without telling her any actual events straight-out). And then it hits her:

"Trust." She blurts out suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Skye doesn't get it.

"It's what it all boils down to." Quake tries to explain. "You see, I cannot tell you any specific events that are coming. According to the one who sent me, it's against the rules, I have no idea what would happen if I were to try but it probably wouldn't be good. So I need to find a way to trigger a change without telling you anything specific."

"So what, you'll tell me to trust this person or that, and that's it?"

"It's not about trusting specific people, not even other people. It's about trusting yourself."

"I don't understand."

"Whenever we meet people, our trust issues always get in the way. It's a consequence of the life we've lead. We don't trust others until they've proved themselves to us. What you don't realize, what I didn't realize the first time around, is how that might hamper me, that it might one day push me into saying and doing things I would come to regret."

"And you expect me to get over my trust issues just like that?" She snaps her fingers. "I don't think that's how it works."

"No, it doesn't. But the trust issues are just the point of the iceberg. It's not just that we don't trust other people. Those same issues have made it so we don't trust ourselves... so you don't trust yourself. That's what needs to change. You need to believe in yourself Skye. I know it's hard, the life you've lead. All the families that sent us back, that didn't want us, it's made it hard to believe in the world around us, in our own worth... that's what you need to get over. I know it won't be easy, but it's necessary. What happened in the past, all that foster-families..."

"If you're going to tell me it wasn't me but them, that it was their loss... you are so full of..."

"No, it's not that at all. Truthfully, I wouldn't believe that either. You probably won't believe this either, but it's not your fault... and it's not theirs. Everything that's happened to you, has happened for a reason, and you will learn what it is. Once again, I cannot tell you, but I promise you, everything will be explained."

She lets out a breath, not quite knowing what else she can say to convince her counterpart. And then she feels it, a strange buzz inside her. She cannot know it with any surety, but an instinct tells her the eclipse is ending. No idea how long she's been there, but she's running out of time, and she doesn't even know if what she's said thus far has changed anything at all.

"Trust your heart Skye." She blurts out, even as she feels her body beginning to fade away. "In the end that's all the advice I can give you. Trust your heart, it'll never lead you astray."

She has no idea if that will work. Back when she was the girl in the van she'd been so badly scarred by her childhood, by everything that had happened in her whole life she cannot imagine trusting her heart; not after all the ways it'd been bruised and shattered time and again. Can a future version of herself telling her to trust really change anything at all?

For a while it's like she's no longer there, not physically at least, but she's not going back to her time just yet either. She wonders what that means. Has something gone wrong? Has she ended trapped in the past like some kind of inhuman ghost? Has she completely destroyed her future? Or maybe, just maybe, everything has gone right and the future is being rewritten even as she hangs in limbo, waiting for the eclipse to end...

She watches in silence as Skye takes several deep breaths, eyes fixed on the spot her older self had been (still is). She doesn't say a single word for the longest time, as if quietly considering everything, then shakes her head and begins turning her equipment on. That's not exactly surprising, computers did always help calm her, focus her. She'd lose herself into the work, her hacking, perhaps a podcast; and afterwards she'd be ready to handle whatever the world had decided to throw at her.

Quake is right, of course, her younger self readies the mike, sets everything up, and then begins recording a new podcast:

"The secret is out. For decades your organization stayed in the shadows, hiding the truth. But now we know... they're among us. Heroes... and monsters. The world is full of wonders..."

Ever so slowly Skye's voice seems to grow distant, and it takes Quake a couple of seconds to realize she's the one moving, finally, she's going back to where she belongs.

xXx

The shift feels exactly like the time before, and at the same time nothing like it. Almost as if she's an elastic band that had been pulled as much as it could go, and has just been released, returned to it's true shape and size. She blinks a few times, trying to get used to the change. The first thing she notices is that there's no van in the alley (of course there wouldn't be), but Kat and Bashert aren't there either. And that isn't the only things that different, there are other things, she can see them, even though her mind has a hard time processing.

She vaguely remembers something Bashert had told her, before Kat sent her back: He'd said goodbye, with an expression that was a mix of a smile, melancholy, and something else she couldn't quite place then. She can in that moment: it was sadness. She remembers having asked him why he was saying goodbye, she'd be returning right to that place, after all. How could she have missed it? How could she not see the obvious? Bashert and Kat had never doubted her, both her trip to the past, or that she'd somehow succeed. No, they'd known all along how it'd go; and they weren't saying goodbye because she wouldn't be returning... but because they wouldn't be there when she did...

Quake's still trying to process what it all means. Have her actions condemned those two amazing, brave young people somehow? Is there something more sinister at work? Or maybe, just maybe, if her trip was successful in more ways that she ever imagined possible, perhaps they aren't there because there's no need for them to be there. Because they're in Afterlife, or at home, living their own, normal, happy lives... for all she knows they might not even have manifested! It makes her wonder just how much truly changed... because she's come to realize in the last minute or so that a lot has, she can feel it in the very earth beneath her feet.

And then the call comes, in several very distinct voices:

"Skye!"

She spins around automatically, a gasp escaping her lips even before she lays eyes on the people standing right then, at the entrance to the alley, looking at her... waiting for her. Things have definitely changed more than she ever imagined... and she couldn't be happier.

Her whole family is standing right there, both the people she's held onto for the longest time, those she had to give up on at some point... and some she never thought she'd get to have.

One in particular walks away from the group and to her as she continues standing right there, as if speared to her spot, unable to fully believe what she's seeing. But with every step he gives new memories fill her, of the new timeline, of her new life, one that's changed in every way she could have ever hoped... and even in a lot she could have never begun to imagine. When he reaches her he knows he's hers and she's his, in a way she'd never allowed herself to even dream of... yes, everything's absolutely perfect.

A single word escapes her lips in a breath a fraction of a second before a mouth claims her own in the most intense kiss she's ever experienced in her life:

"Grant..."

So, what do you think? This turned out a bit more character-introspective that I originally planned, but once my muse gets going it's not a good idea to try and stop her, or change her mind, so I just went along with it.

The title, the meaning behind the word, the belief and even the story I found in wikipedia while researching soulmates (I wanted an obscure word to use here and ended getting more than I ever imagined). Hope you liked it.

I'm actually not sure if I'll continue this. I have some ideas but nothing concrete and I suppose it'll depend if anyone's interested at all.

Full sized poster/cover can be found in my DA account (I go by Princess-Lalaith there).

To my 'Nightingale' readers, I am working on the next piece, I promise. CA:CW actually put me off the whole thing, instead of helping fuel my inspiration, but I'm past that particular trauma now, so, hopefully, I'll see you there in a few weeks.

See ya!