...Somewhere in the Mountains...
It was the kind of cold that stole your breath away, until inhaling itself was hard. He had done everything to keep warm: scarves, coats, gloves, mittens--he could have been smacked and not felt a thing. It had been months since he felt anything. Of course the cold he felt as it bit deep into his skin. Even so he walked, one foot in front of the other. He felt like Bruce Wayne in Batman, climbing up the mountain towards his destiny. Of course destiny was not actually what waited for him at the top, what waited was a temple and in that temple was one of the oldest Warlocks in the world, one who had figured out how to manipulate his power so every time he Used, he wasn't forced to die a little.
So he kept walking, regretting the stupid idea yet again. He never should have left, he should have stayed at Spencer and kept the charade of a man with a bright future. Now he had left everything behind, for what? Instead of a prestigious school diploma he had a G.E.D. Instead of friends, he was alone. Oh it was no secret he was alive, given the Covenant's track record if he died someone would be on them so fast it wouldn't be funny. He had left so suddenly that he felt guilty. So he let the knowledge that he was alive suffice rather than actual contact. It was stupid, he knew. He should be more of a, well he should be more. He shouldn't have to hide away like he was.
He closed his eyes and grabbed the first nook his hand found, hauling himself up. His arms pulled but his back was the worst. Ever since it had happened, it constantly felt like someone was pressing red hot brands to his back. He closed his eyes and continued on his way. He had to get to the top, no matter what. Stumbling to his feet, he closed his eyes, swaying. He forced himself to put one foot in front of the other, the temple wavering. From inside the temple, two people raced outside, calling his name.
"Caleb!"
He recognized Chase first. He was dressed in strange cloths that Caleb assumed were part of the uniform. His scars were just as prominent as ever. However, when Caleb had last seen him his eyes were full of pain and confusion. Now he saw the turmoil in them but he also saw the beginnings of peace. Chase stopped a few feet away and met Caleb's gaze squarely. He obviously remember some, if not all, the events of their previous meeting.
"Caleb!" a second, far more feminine voice cried his name and rammed full force into him.
He gasped, more from the wind being knocked out of him than surprise. He realized that he expected for one of them to be here, he expected and he hoped. But of the countless pairings that could be, the pairing of Chase Collins and Claire Alderic was probably the last one in his mind. Yet there they were, Claire hugging him tightly and Chase was standing back slightly, looking at him almost guiltily.
"This was his idea," Claire whispered, "the second he remembered he decided he had to find you."
Caleb nodded and she stepped back. He walked over to Chase and punched him. Chase fell with the blow, landing on the hard stone. Caleb towered over him. Then he offered his hand. Chase took it and pulled himself to his feet.
"You deserved that," he said to Chase.
"Which part?" Chase grumbled rubbing his face.
"Both," Caleb said.
"How touching," Claire said crossing her arms, "can we go inside now?"
Together the three of them walked into the temple.
...Boston, Mass, 5 Years Later...
Sarah Wenham jerked from her sleep with a choked gasp. Moonlight streamed through the windows of her small apartment, playing on the clean surfaces around her. She fell back against the sheets and closed her eyes, running a hand across her face. She looked over at the orange pill bottle sitting on her night stand and turned her head away. It hadn't been weeks since she slept, it had been months, it had been years.
Because Caleb's quest for redemption had started years ago. Life had gone on, it had too. But his absence had been a turning point in all of their lives. It had broken whatever invisible glue had been holding them together. Claire and Chase had left soon afterwards, deciding that it was impossible for Chase to live in a 'normal' way, just as Caleb had felt and Claire had too. Chase's memories had returned in small spells but soon he knew what he had done. They expected him to vanish like Merrick had and he did. But unlike Merrick who had vanished to do god knows what, Claire explained in a simple note that she had discovered he was going to make things right with Caleb and she was following them to make sure they didn't do anything stupid like die.
And so they had been left alone. College was like the final sign it was time to move on. Sarah had gone to B.U., enrolling in their Medical Program. Harvard had accepted her but she threw the envelope out like it burned. Harvard reminded her of Caleb and she couldn't spend four years in a constant state of emotional pain. And oddly enough, Melanie had offered her a part time job. She knew it was out of pity but she accepted it anyway. In that time she learned enough and proved enough to make a more than competent Guardian but she turned it down again and again. She wanted to be a doctor, she wanted a part of her life to be free from magic.
Tyler and Reid, brothers til the end, had gone to UCLA. California was nice and warm and had everything they needed. It had been weird to see them load up the Hummer and drive off. Of course Reid was going to get a car when they got there but they had decided to drive down together. And when school ended they just didn't come back. They settled in California and returned some holidays. It had gotten to the point where the phone calls and letters were starting to dwindle. Apparently Tyler and Reid had grown apart too, Reid took up residence in San Diego and Tyler had stayed in L.A.
Pogue and Kate had decided not to let anything get in the way. They had been engaged for five years, neither considering a wedding until Caleb came back. In that time, both had graduated from NYU and Pogue had just decided to go to Tufts for grad school. They were moving up in a few weeks and Sarah was excited to see them again for more than a few hours. The two of them were closer than close. Oh they fought but they made up too.
Sonya had left on a bright warm morning. She had actually left for Italy, claiming to study abroad and that was the last they heard of her. Until Pogue found in the business section that the CEO of Kendrick Artifacts had been re-united with his long lost fraternal twin sister. It turned out Sonya's family was a group of very wealthy but very snobby antique dealers. Her parents had died, naming her brother Maxwell the CEO of the company and holding the VP position for her. She had accepted it and they had never heard from her again. Sarah saw Reid's eyes space out sometimes, heard the girls complain about him whispering someone else's name. She had given up stealing for good, now she raided tombs.
It was kind of ironic that Emily was the one that stayed. Evelyn Danvers had died. One moment she had been there and the next she was gone. Gorman had passed on as well. Emily stayed to guard the Danvers Mansion and the original house. She was still an Envoy and every once in a while she would vanish, leaving only a message on Tyler's voicemail. But Envoy work was not often and most of the time she was just Emily, Emily Odell. They heard from her the most, she was the touchstone for all of them.
Unable to sleep, Sarah swung her legs over the side of her bed and walked towards the main room of the house. She stopped at the mirror, still almost unable to look at herself. Her long blond hair curled to just past her shoulderblades but that was about all that was the same. Her body had been hardened from hours of training, her skin tanned and weather beaten. She hadn't even changed before collapsing. She wore low slung black pants and a white sports bra. The tattoos on her back had protested the changing but she had done it anyway. She had ignored the scar and the painful tug on her torso. The scar was brutal, to say the least. It had dimmed to a white-pink but it was still there. It started just below her ribcage and drew forward to almost her bellybutton before cutting down across her abdomen and wrapping around to the small of her back, skewing the sun.
"Christ," she breathed, looking into her hollow eyes.
She turned away and walked to the bathroom. She turned the heat on as high as she could and pulled off her cloths, letting them pile on the ground. She stepped into the shower and closed her eyes as the water pounded her back. She washed her hair and began to scrub her skin. Her hand stilled at the scar, barely tracing the sensitive skin. She drew in a ragged breath. Everywhere else she was strong, she was invincible. She had a knife through her heart and as long as it stayed there, as long as she was consumed by pain, she was untouchable. But if she took it out, if she felt again, she knew she would die. Alone in the shower she allowed the knife to come out, just enough so she could lay her head against the cold wall and sob.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed.
Sorry for what? She wasn't sure. Sorry for how things had ended, sorry that her time with Caleb had been during Chases, sorry that when he left she had been angry with him and refused to say goodbye. When it came down to it, it all came back to Caleb. It had been five year, five years of countless inhales and exhales and all the while Sarah was completely numb. She was so numb it didn't hurt anymore. She could feel nothing, except when she dreamed of places she couldn't imagine and things she couldn't do.
She was dreaming of Caleb, or dreaming with Caleb but it all had to do with him. Tyler had said their connection was strong, that he could sense Caleb was alive through her. She hared his pain and she shared his fear. She knew he wasn't happy and she wasn't either. She wished she could just forget, she wished she could just not be a part of it. But she was and for better or worse she had to play her role. She turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, drying off and rubbing body creme onto her body. She sighed and closed her eye bracing her hands against the rim of the sink.
Her entire body tensed at the feeling of something behind her. She breathing in naturally and on the exhale, she pivoted on her right foot and brought the heel of her left around, using the momentum to bury her heel in the skin of her would-be assailant's wrist. The assailant grabbed her foot and kicked her legs out from under her, dropping Sarah to the floor quickly. Sarah was on her feet and kicked her legs out from under her. She hit the ground and rolled onto her feet as Sarah kicked herself up.
"You know, the rumors don't do you justice."
"Sonya?" Sarah demanded, wrapping the towel tighter around her frame, "is that you?"
"Can I come in or did you two not rip each others cloths off yet?"
"Sarah," Sonya said, "meet my insane, asshole--"
"I'm Maxwell--Max Kendrick," he said coming inside and offering his hand, "I see your already very well aquatinted with my completely vile fraternal twin Sonya," he grinned as Sarah shook his hand, "I'm older, single and, for the moment, single."
"Sarah Wenham," she said shaking his hand.
"Oh you're the lovely Sarah," he said, "well all I can say is that Caleb Danvers is a fool."
"Now you see why I was happy when I was disowned," she said, "lets let her get dressed, come on."
Five minuets later they were sitting in the main room. Max had brought a bottle of wine and Sonya had brought more groceries than Sarah had bought last month.
"Not that this isn't great," Sarah said, "but Sonya, what's going on."
"Right," Sonya said, "well as you may or may not know, Max and I are the cover for a couple hundred Guardians, as well as being part time Guardians ourselves. A few days ago I received an intelligence report that was really bad, like epic style bad. Anyway, we--"
"We got it confirmed--"
"Why do you always finish my sentences?" Sonya demanded, "we are twins, you don't have to throw it in my face."
"You know what? You finish mine just as much."
"Yeah well you suck at life!"
"Well you suck--"
"Intelligence report?" Sarah prodded.
"Right," Sonya said, "anyway we found the intelligence report, got it confirmed and it turns out that an old friend's regained his memories and has decided he'd like to be King of the World or whatever."
"Guardians, Warlocks, Witches, Witch Hunters, Envoys," Max said counting them off, "everyone's been sent after this guy and everyone has died. We're at our wits end. No report has reached until this Guardian managed to send us a text message. We barely managed to confirm it."
"So what now?" Sarah asked.
"Well it looks like the only one who has a chance of hell of defeating him is--"
"The Covenant," Sarah said, "well I have their phone numbers--" she stopped, "its not the Covenant, is it?" she asked softly, "its Caleb, isn't it?" she sighed, "what about the rest of them?"
"Oh they're necessary, but its Caleb really," Max said, "Anyway if we find Caleb we find Chase and then we find Claire and if we don't have them we're screwed and not in a good way."
"Do you always have to be so gross?" Sonya demanded.
"Just for you," he said.
"You realize how nuts this is, right?" Sarah said standing up, "none of us have heard or seen from Caleb Danvers in almost six years. What makes you think he'll be so willing to help?" she looked at them, seeing how guilty they looked, "what aren't you telling me?"
"There have been rumors," Sonya said, "maybe you should sit down."
Sarah slowly sank into one of the chairs, looking at the two of them. Sonya breathed out and grabbed Max by the ear. A second later, Sarah heard her front door open and the unmistakable sound of a foot hitting something soft. Sonya walked back into the room and sat down before standing right back up. Sarah felt her stomach drop and tried not to feel sick. Sonya turned around and opened her mouth and Sarah suddenly felt like the world had ended.