Part I: We're allowed to be afraid.
Chapter 1
Two years earlier
Leaning on her cane, Sarah Bering-Wells stood in front of a shelf in aisle A113 in Warehouse 13. She was looking at a certain object on this shelf - the only object on this shelf: a wrist watch. The watch was old and broken, its backside bent, the glass in the front missing completely.
Sarah smiled. She recognised the watch and its current state of destruction. She had done this to the watch that once had belonged to her mother. A present by Adelaide. Although the future Caretaker of Warehouse 14 didn't know if that memory of destroying the watch and putting it into this shelf afterwards was really hers or even a real one, it was in her head, no matter of what time travel had done to the story of her own life...
And currently, Sarah didn't care. Not anymore.
Sarah Bering-Wells was old, she needed a cane to walk. After that incident with Kurt Parker twenty four years ago, she had needed several surgeries on her leg, but it had never gotten back to the state it had been in before that stalker had broken it.
Sarah was using a walking cane since she was 45 years old. And it was okay for her.
The watch. The old woman looked at it, biting her lower lip in thought, before she reached out her gloved hand to carefully pick it up from the shelf.
"A souvenir?" A familiar voice asked right next to her. Sarah spun around to look at her mentor. Claudia kept dying her hair and had her usual slighty punkrock way of clothing, but currently, both women looked like they were the same age. Even though Claudia was the older one. Far older than Sarah. They had this... commitment about their age. And now it was on Sarah to take over the world of endless wonder.
"I'd call it an upgrade, Claudia." The younger woman replied enigmatically, winked, and then put the watch into a neutralisation bag to store it away in her purse. She still looked at Claudia, smiling at the dawning realisation on the Caretaker's face.
"Take a walk with me?" Sarah suggested, shifting on her cane as she headed towards Artie's office. Claudia nodded, walking next to the dark-haired woman. "An upgrade?" The redhead wondered, sounding genuinely interested. "You mean you will take the watch with you?" Claudia blinked a few times. "What will it do, then? Make you the time-travelling Caretaker?" And here, Sarah could hear a hint of fear in the other woman's voice. It was a slight undertone that came with the caretaker's question. Almost imperceptible. Almost. "Because that's some serious and dangerou-"
Sarah shot a side-eyed glance at her, her right eyebrow raised in a perfect arch. "You do know that the Warehouse would never do anything harmful to us, especially not to me, Claudia. We learned that. Over the years." The future Caretaker of Warehouse 14 smirked and then turned her head to the direction she was walking into. For the smallest part of a second, she closed her eyes, sensing a familiar scent again. She had smelled it so often: Apples. But it was weak and heavy, nothing like Sarah knew it from old days. She knew it wasn't like this because she got used to it over time. It was because the entity that was causing it - Warehouse 13 - was dying. Everything came to an end. Not all wonder was endless. But sometimes, the end of something old meant the beginning of something new... like right now. What Claudia and Sarah were about to do hadn't been done for more than a century, so they had no one to ask how to do it. It was exciting and frightening at the same time.
"I-" Claudia bowed her head. "Yeah, you're right. But we're struggling with this for about fifty years now, it made me anxious. Always, Sarah. After all, you're like my little sister and I don't want you to get harmed."
Sarah stopped immediately and looked at her mentor, smiling fondly. She placed her hand on Claudia's shoulder and nodded while looking into the older woman's eyes. "Thank you." She whispered softly. "Your concern is apprecitated, but unnecessary." The future Caretaker of Warehouse 14 cleared her throat once, before continuing. "After everything that has happened I know I can trust the Warehouse. It took me a while to understand, Claudia. And I still don't know what I am supposed to do." Sarah's gaze rested on the tip of Claudia's boots before she looked into her friend's brown eyes again. "But I trust Warehouse 13 and you can trust me with this. I'm certain everything will be alright. I talked a lot to Adelaide... I mean all the Regents about this."
Claudia swallowed thickly before she sighed. "It's dying." She whispered, her voice heavy with tears. "I cannot reach it anymore. Leena's gone-"
"And she will be waiting for you wherever you will need her." The dark-haired woman assured her. "But you're not supposed to look for her."
The redhead held Sarah's gaze for a few seconds, then she nodded. "When did we swap roles and you became the mentor and I the student? I'm pretty sure I didn't sign up for hearing you speak in riddles."
Her student chuckled. "Payback's a bitch, Claudia." Then, she reached out her hand for the old Caretaker. "I think we're ready. Let's go then."
On the gallery in front of the Warehouse aisles, both women stopped to take a last long-lasting look at the old and empty Warehouse. The artifacts had already been transferred to China, and all the remained was just a big and empty hall full of shelves and memories. Sarah smiled sadly. She could hear Claudia sniff but didn't look at the redhead. This was a moment of silence. The last look at the endless wonder they had witnessed here.
"It's not the end." Sarah breathed, her gaze resting on the shelves and aisles that had been her home for all her life.
The procedure to disconnect Claudia from Warehouse 13 wasn't a complicated one. It was harder to store the Warehouse's last breath in Sarah. The writer was supposed to bring it to China, where the new Warehouse had been built. Julia, the head of the medical department of the Warehouse was performing the ritual on both women, Sarah and Claudia. She gently bound the green ribbon around both women's forearms to link them. While Sarah felt how the remaining energy of Warehouse 13 slowly left Claudia's body to settle in her own, she looked at Julia, who had her eyebrows in a tight knit while working. The medical doctor looked up, blushing when she caught the dark-haired woman's gaze. Sarah smirked.
"Ah come on!" Claudia grunted into the empty air of Artie's office. "Go get yourself a room, ladies. These are the final minutes of Warehouse 13 and you two are all flirty eyes. Like mothers like daughter, Sarah." The caretaker shifted nervously without moving her arm away from the younger woman. The energy flow seemed to stop.
"Hold still." Julia grunted at her, tightening the ribbon around the caretaker's arm. "And mind your own business." Claudia sighed deeply. "It feels odd." She whispered, pursing her lips. "And I'm afraid." Sarah looked at her, surprised. "Of what?"
"Being alone with my thoughts?" Claudia suggested, shrugging. "I haven't been left alone with them for about sixty years now. What if I don't like my own thoughts anymore? I mean... the last time I've been alone with my own thoughts I was in my twenties? What if my brain cannot handle the old lady I've become? What if I will not-"
Sarah shook her head and interrupted the redhead with a quick move of her cane-holding hand. "Claudia. You are one of the wisest women I have ever met. And I'm sure it was always you and never the Warehouse. I know the Warehouse and I know you. You're two different people."
Claudia sighed deeply before considering Sarah's words. "So." She grumbled. "What you're saying is that I'm being silly?"
"No. You're being Claudia." Sarah smirked and looked into the older woman's eyes. The time traveller drew a deep breath and then smiled. "The death of Warehouse 13 won't be the end of your story or of anyone else's story. Just the end of Warehouse 13. The beginning of Warehouse 14. But nothing much will change, only the number and the caretaker." She giggled quietly. "And the fact that we will all live in China instead of South Dakota. You will become a Regent, just like Adelaide suggested it. And you will kick their asses just like she does."
Claudia smiled.
"And Leena will be always with you." Sarah mentioned, before opening her tied hand. "But now, you have to do that step with me."
"It took Mrs. F so long to connect me to that thing." Claudia smirked. "And now it takes a whole "Sarah Bering-Wells: famous writer" speech to encourage me to let it go, right?"
Julia chuckled as she watched the caretaker taking Sarah's hand. The energy flow started again, the ribbon shone brightly. The dark-haired woman carefully opened her purse with her other hand to get out the golden wrist watch. The medical doctor's eyes widened. "Sarah." She whispered, not drawing her gaze away from the object.
Without a word, Sarah closed the watches's band around her wrist, right above the ribbon. The watch and the ribbon shone brightly now. "It's an upgrade." The writer whispered, nodding encouragingly. "I talked to the Regents, don't worry."
And with that, the last breath of Warehouse 13 was stored in the green ribbon tied on Sarah's and Claudia's arm. It then floated towards the dark-haired woman, settling in her body. Sarah sighed. The watch had connected to the ribbon and to Sarah, not revealing its power. Yet, Sarah thought.
Claudia had closed her eyes during the procedure and was now opening them carefully. She swayed a little, Julia supported her immediately. "How do you both feel?', The physician demanded in her business-as-usual tone of voice. But after all those years, Sarah knew by her tone of voice that she was worried. A lot, actually. Claudia looked like she was in pain but forced out a smile. "I forgot how awesome my brain is." She murmured and then winked at the physician.
They both looked at Sarah, who stared mesmerisingly at the green ribbon. Hesitantly, the writer reached out a hand to remove the ribbon from the former Caretaker's arm and wrap the loose ends around her own. Former Caretaker, Sarah thought while rolling her sleeve down to hide the ribbon and the watch. That was the last step. And now Warehouse 13's time is over.
It's alright, darling. She heard a familiar voice inside her head, but quickly got rid off it by shaking her head forcefully. I already said goodbye, she thought. I did it so often and I cannot bear hearing her voice during your end.
"It's time." Sarah proclaimed, turning on her heels and walking out of the room with the help of her cane. She stopped when she realised that the other women weren't following her. Confused, the brunette turned around, finding Julia packing her things slower than necessary and Claudia gazing up to the ceiling. "Thank you for everything, Warehouse 13.", - the redhead whispered, before turning away to follow Sarah. Claudia's eyes were filled with tears.
And as Sarah met them, she's finally started crying...
The flight to China had been uncomfortable. Sarah remembered that her mother had always been complaining about the small space in-between plane seats and obviously, flying companies didn't decide to make it any better in the last fifty years. So while she was sharing her limousine to Warehouse 14 with Claudia and Julia, the future Caretaker had held her legs stretched out, sighing happily.
Opening the limousine's door, Sarah took a long look at the huge building in front of her. Warehouse 14 didn't look that much special or different from Warehouse 13. It was a huge building, hidden in a forest which Sarah knew was holographic - to hide the immense measures of Warehouse 14. Julia and Claudia joined the writer, gazing up to the building's roof. A raven was sitting on top of it. Sarah grinned. So this had already been done.
"Looks totally inviting." Julia smirked, earning a light punch from the former caretaker at her shoulder. "What? I did also say that about the old one when I was introduced to it."
The small door in the front of the building opened, admitting Paul Bering-Wells into the space in front of the Warehouse. He immediately headed towards his sister, who had started walking towards the door. "Ferret!" He greeted her, ducking from her cane she was trying to hit him with, aiming for his face. "I'm your boss, now, Paul! Your boss! Stop it with the nicknames!"
"I love you, too." He laughed loudly before wrapping his arms around her to lift her from the ground while turning them around.
"Idiot!" She protested. "I'm an old lady!"
"Accident!" He replied loudly and dropped her to the ground. This time, she actually hit him with her stick. He grunted in pain.
"Are you two done being children now?" Julia asked carefully, letting them hear her annoyance. "I don't want to perform any more medical exams on you two than already needed."
"I don't believe a word." Paul gave back, pointing at his sister. "You two are-" He ducked once more to avoid his sister's cane.
She looked at him very seriously. Her brother swallowed and then turned back to the Warehouse. "So everything is set up. The light is turned on, the computers are running, the Dark Vault has tried to kill me already. All we need are a few new agents added to the old ones." He explained, earning a nod from her. "How is mom? You said you wanted to stop at the new B&B before coming here. Haven't seen her in two days."
Sarah snorted. "She and Pete are sitting on the porch and I actually witnessed her hitting him with the Order of the Phoenix, yelling 'I cannot believe my son married your daughter.' She will never be over it, Paul." The older sibling looked at the younger one with her lips pressed together. Paul smiled brightly. "I will never be over it, Sarah." He blinked, then he continued. "So are they still making bets on who will outlive whom? They did this when I passed by two days ago. Then, I had to work."
Paul opened the door for the three newly arrived women. They entered a long red tunnel - Paul's design - before entering the agent's new office. It was already as messy as his old one. The man immediately flopped himself in a chair and sighed happily while putting his feet on a desk. Sarah grunted in disapproval and he jolted up again. "What I wanted to say," He began, heading towards a door. He slowly opened it to let his new guests through. "Is 'Welcome to Warehouse 14'."
Shelves. A huge hall. More shelves. Sarah recognised artifacts. There were no new ones, - they hadn't had the time yet to collect them. But this was Warehouse 14. Their new home. It didn't feel as much like home as the old one, but its future Caretaker was sure it would soon. Hopefully.
Apples, a familiar voice suddenly whispered right into Sarah's ear. The dark-haired woman immediately turned her head to look at the person behind her, but there was no one. Julia and Claudia were standing on Sarah's right side and Paul was leaning on the banister to her left. I still smell apples. The other ear, the same voice. The dark haired woman was sure she could feel somebody's warm breath on her neck, but there was no source for that or the voice. At least Sarah couldn't see anybody, when she turned her head. The Warehouse still likes me.
Sarah didn't dare to call out her mother's name. She closed her eyes, sucking in the air audibly. She leaned harder onto her cane, being certain she needed the support.
"Is everything alright?" Julia's concerned voice. Sarah opened her eyes to meet blue ones.
"Yes." She assured her, nodding profusely. "I think it's time to connect me. I feel rather impatient."
"To the Eldunari, then!" Paul exclaimed, taking the lead. The others followed him closely.
The Eldunari was silent. No light was there, yet. It didn't look like anything Sarah knew from Warehouse 13. Well, it hadn't been activated yet, had it? Eyeing the big pedestal in the middle of the room, Sarah rolled up her sleeve. It was on Julia to take the loose ends of the ribbon that was still tied around the future Caretaker's forearm and connect them to the pedestal. The ribbon and the watch glowed mysteriously. Sarah swallowed, before she felt how the energy in her arm started flowing and growing.
"Are you ready?" Julia asked carefully, earning an eager nod from the writer. "Finally. Eventually." Sarah whispered, feeling Claudia's hand on her shoulder.
"You will feel home." The redhead spoke slowly, quoting Mrs. Frederic. "There is no need to be afraid. You are safe with us and you are safe with the Warehouse."
Sarah swallowed thickly. "I know." She breathed, closing her eyes. "I always knew."
The connection Sarah had always shared with Warehouse 13 was lost when the old building died. But there was something in her. Something that had been stored in her when they had disconnected Claudia from the old Warehouse. And now it was only growing.
And you took care for me after you realised that I have this special connection to the Warehouse, Claudia. That I could become your successor as a Caretaker for the Warehouse.
Sarah gasped. She had heard her own voice. She recognised the words, she remembered saying them during a day that had never happened. The writer wanted to open her eyes and look at the others to find out if they had heard it, too. But she couldn't. Suddenly, her heart started racing.
"Sarah?" Julia seemed to be concerned.
You told us that you couldn't change your past. But your future is something you decide about yourself. It's not set in stone. Everything about your future is your decision. Me and Sarah are just a possible outcome of your decisions, but - and although saying this hurts so much - you can decide to not have this future, if you want. Myka's voice. Loud and clear and everywhere around her. Sarah turned her head, trying to find its source. But she couldn't. She was still desperately trying to open her eyes, failing.
Involved in your creation? Claudia's voice, Sarah was sure of it. "Claudia? What's going on?" She forced out, coughing by the pressure on her chest. A rushing noise in her own head made it hard to hear the others in the room. Instead of a proper reply, there was the former Caretaker's voice rising again, loud and clear and frightening. Does that mean you're literally the daughter of H.G. and Myka?
Sarah coughed again. She didn't have problems breathing but she felt like the air was vanishing around her. Like it wasn't there anymore... no, like she was vanishing. Again, the writer tried to open her eyes. This time, she succeeded but the world seemed blurry and unreal to her. There was a distinct stain of blond hair, Julia's hair. She could feel the medical doctor grip onto her arm, supporting her, before her eyes closed again by their own volition. "She's collapsing!" Julia yelled, horrified. Sarah wanted to reply something, to assure her she was alright but also tell her that she was afraid. That something was off. Something was not okay and not like it was supposed to happen.
Sometimes, Arthur. Mrs. Frederic's voice cut through the air and through Sarah's ears like a blade. There was a woman crying, Sarah had to listen to the sound for a while before realising it was her own voice. It didn't sound real. It sounded like somebody had turned on an old radio in the distance which was playing her own voice as a program. Sometimes the Warehouse makes its own decisions. The old caretaker's voice was interrupting Sarah's desperate one which was screaming for something or someone to reach her.
"Mrs. Frederic?" Sarah yelled but didn't get a reply. She felt lost.
I just want to help you, Helena. You need to recover, that's a valid need. An utterly valid need. And I want to help you with that. - "She did!" Sarah growled at Myka's voice. The voices were not around her. They were in her head! But she couldn't tell why. "She did recover. She was well in the end. We did help-"
A bright light shone through the lids of the writer's eyes, blinding her. How could one get blinded by a light when one had their eyes closed? "Julia." Sarah whispered, reaching out a hand. Her other one was clutching her cane tightly, like it could steady her in that feeling of vanishing. "Sarah." She heard the other woman's voice and felt the touch of her hands. "What is happening?"
"I don't know." The writer replied, sobbing. There were tears on her cheeks. "I don't know."
"Concentrate, Sarah.", came Claudia's whisper. "You're afraid. You don't need to be afraid."
"How can one not be afraid of this?" Sarah's own voice asked. She couldn't remember to have spoken right here and now.
Do you really think I don't know that there is a reason you've created me? Do you really think I don't know you did that on a purpose beyond wanting to grow my parents closer to each other and to you? Sarah heard her own voice hiss. She remembered saying those words a long time ago. It became clearer. There were voices in her mind. She was blinded by a light in her head. This wasn't real...
Everything is alright, darling. That familiar voice whispered and Sarah longed to believe what it was saying.
"There is a reason!" Sarah grunted. "I know the reason. I just don't know what to do. The purpose. I am supposed to take care of Warehouse 14, that I understand. But not the mystery that comes with it."
Well, then. The voice whispered. Let's find out.
Sarah Bering-Wells opened her eyes, finding the blue of Julia's again. The medical doctor was resting her hands on the writer's cheeks. She was gazing deeply into Sarah's eyes, her eyebrows tightened in a concerned knit. "Sarah, stay strong." She whispered, sounding absolutely helpless.
And then, the bright light flooded the dark-haired woman's eyes and mind.
Pictures. Pictures and pictures in Sarah's head. Racing pictures, like an old VCR that was on fast forward. Sarah couldn't stop them from appearing and vanishing randomly. But quickly, she found a pattern in those pictures. It was the video of her own life, her own story.
And now, the Caretaker understood what was happening... It got clearer and by watching those pictures, scenes... those parts of her life, Sarah's fear faded away.
Sarah was a writer. She knew that there was always the danger of messing up stories by not telling them properly. She was also a time traveller which meant she had taken a figurative pen and had erased parts of her own story to add new ones, twisting and tearing the timeline. Her own story was a messy twirl of those timelines, meeting, parting. Who would ever understand them?
She?
The golden wrist watch had been part of her life, allowing her to change her parents' past and her mother's future. The outcome was her life. Memories...
Memories Sarah was seeing in her head.
Slowly, the new Caretaker opened her eyes, fighting against the blindingly bright light. A room was forming right around her. It took her a while but blinking repeatedly, Sarah recognised one of the bathrooms in the old B&B. The writer leaned on the edge of the bath tub, trying to adjust herself to the new situation. How did she get here?
There was a noise from the floor of the room. Somebody was coughing. Quickly, Sarah reached out for her cane, but just grabbed the empty space. There was no cane. There was also no need for a cane as the time traveller found out a few seconds later, when she slowly stood up. Her leg wasn't hurting. Her ankle worked just like a healthy one. Sarah smiled, realising that this situation was not real. She wasn't really here. She was able to walk without a cane just like she was able to do it when she was talking to a memory in the Warehouse. A guide.
This was a memory, Sarah concluded. And by looking down at the petite figure lying on the ground of the bathroom, Sarah realised whose memory this might be. She wasn't sure why she was seeing other people's memory, now that she was linked to the new Warehouse, or how she was seeing them in her own head. But surely, it had a reason. Certainly, Sarah was here to learn.
Helena looked much younger than Sarah knew her. The Victorian wasn't moving, just lying there and staring at the bathroom wall. Her chest rose and fell, and she blinked slowly, so Sarah knew she was alive and... well, time was running normally, if you could put it that way when you were trapped in another person's memory.
The Caretaker of Warehouse 14 still didn't know what was happening. For some reason, she was watching the memory of her much younger mother. Crouching right next to her, the time traveller smiled. She didn't know what day she was exactly watching, but she recognised that this was happening years before her birth. Her mother seemed to be in her thirties. Carefully, Sarah reached out a hand to touch the Victorian's forehead, but she realised that she couldn't touch her. Sarah's fingertips only slid through her mother's skin as though she wasn't there. And... to be realistic, Sarah truly wasn't, was she? Not yet.
This was a memory.
Sarah was a writer.
Her own story was a mess of time travel and artifacts.
But she knew how it had begun. How and when the first stone of her existence had been laid. Her mothers had told her. And maybe, she was about to find out herself...
The one who will see...
So, this is where we will start. It is indeed a Bering and Wells fic. Trust me. ;)
Thanks to the-social-recluse for the beta.
