THE CAT CAME BACK
Klarion stands there like deadweight, gripping the back of his chair strongly. He wants to rush over to her. Pick her up. Spin her around. Scream. Shout. Yell. Laugh. Kiss her. Hug her. Hold her tight and never ever EVER let her go EVER EVER EVER again... A million questions. So much going through his head. But his feet stay firmly planted to their spot on the floor. His knees are shaking so much, it's a damned miracle he hasn't collapsed. His heart's beating so fast, it's a wonder he hasn't fainted at all.
He's dreaming. He must be. Or so he tells himself. And it wouldn't be the first time. The girl haunts his every dream. Each and every night since the day she went away. Some happy, but mostly sad.
They usually begin with them lying on the beach together, peaceful and carefree, only for her to ultimately burst into flames. That's usually about the time he wakes up, shaking in cold sweat. Forced to relive that night he'd lost her again and again and again. Though his dreams have never been this lucid. This... wonderful before. To see her alive and well and HERE... And should he still be sleeping, he only prays that fate not be so cruel as to ever let him wake again.
"K-Kitrina?"
It's the wrong name, he knows that, but his brain isn't exactly working at full function and it's the only word he can manage to choke out. It is what he had known her as, after all. Even if the woman belonging to that name should be long past dead.
Eyebrow arched, the woman stares at the Warlock strangely. She stops in front of him, head tilted, looking up into his eyes as if searching for something. She parts those plump scarlet lips of hers to speak. That velvety purr of a drawl that makes his skin warm head to toe.
"I'm sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else." The object of his fascination replies. Shifting her paperwork, she offers Klarion her hand to shake. "Helena Wayne." She greets. "Now, if you'll please take your seat, Mr. Bleak, then we may begin."
Klarion's taken aback by her coldness. Her professionalism and unfamiliarity with him. He accepts her hand expecting to feel some warmth in her, some little reminder of the girl he once knew, but her firm handshake tells otherwise. There's no connection. Mind, body, or soul. It's as if they're strangers. Nothing more.
His mind reels with questions and possibilities. He tries to fight against the tide of disconcerting thought to stop and think clearly for a moment. This is certainly no dream. For that, now, he's certain. The feel of her skin against his, her voice, her scent... It's all too... REAL. Perhaps his portal had accidentally deposited him upon a parallel world. Like one of the many he'd visited upon her passing. He only wishes he knew the answer because something's obviously very wrong. This isn't right. This CAN'T be his Kitty. His stomach drops. His heart sinks. He feels low. Lower than he's felt in a very long time. As if he'd lost her all over again.
Helena offers a curt nod as she retrieves her hand and makes her way behind her desk. Klarion watches her as she goes. Studying her likeness.
Black patent heels. Those legs that never quit. A slinky black pencil skirt to accentuate her glorious, heart-shaped behind. And a billowy, purple satin blouse, opened just enough to show off a bit of skin. She looks exactly as he remembers her, just a bit older, lusher... If there were ever a way for her to grow more gorgeous and sexier in time, she's succeeded. This HAS to be his Kitty. Just HAS to. Teekl's sure of it too. She's even wearing that same silver cross she wore the day she died, whatever trinket that might be... The only difference is her hair. Raven black. As black as a star-less night. Black as sin itself. Black like his.
"Helena?" He asks softly as she takes her seat. "Don't you know who I am?"
Palms down on the desk, he leans in as if pleading with her to remember. Again, she looks at him strangely.
"Of course, Mr. Bleak." She replies looking down at the folder on her desk. "It says so right here on your paperwork."
Head low, he runs a hand through his hair, obviously at wit's end. Trying his best to keep himself together.
"Somewhere deep inside, I know you know who I am. Please... You HAVE to remember."
She sits demure, hands folded at her desk, watching him beg.
"Are you alright, Mr. Bleak?" She asks unemotionally. "Can I get you a water or-"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"
He explodes and she doesn't bat an eye, just sits there unimpressed by his emotional state. Chest heaving, he pants from his outburst. She simply rolls her eyes.
"Then what am I supposed to call you?"
"Klarion. BLUE!" He replies frantically. "Mr. Bleak is-"
"Strictly business?" Helena cuts in, motioning towards the paperwork before her. "As in, what we're supposed to be doing?"
She looks down at her watch.
"I don't have time for this." She huffs. "If I want to make lunch before my one o'clock..."
The Warlock's head spins. How can she act so detached? Why doesn't she remember him? HIM? An idea comes to mind. There's no other explanation. She hit her head from the blast or coming back has caused her to forget or she's repressed the painful trama or...
"You have amnesia!" Klarion declares excitedly, perking up from his lowly state. He becomes animated, eager, nearly climbing atop her desk to be near her. She shrinks back, visibly appalled by the spectacle he's creating. "I can help you! I can restore your memory! I-"
By now he's crawled completely hands and knees onto her desk. He reaches out to touch her face. So close, he can almost grasp it. Teekl leaps from his master's shoulders, sensing the oncoming attack as Helena jumps up from her seat. With one swift motion, she grabs hold of the Warlock's outstretched arm, twists it behind his back, and slams him down, pinning him to the desk. It all happens so fast, his brain doesn't have time yet to register the agonizing pain he's in.
"Don't you DARE touch me!" She growls, lips to his ear as she leans in close. A bit of a feather-weight and not much for physical altercations, her body pressed on top of his is enough to keep him pinned flat beneath her. "I'm not letting you inside my head EVER again, do you hear me?"
Confused, Klarion stirs beneath her.
"Sooo... Does that mean you DO remember?" He croaks. The weight of her atop him plus his own elbow jammed into his spine is making it hard to breathe, let alone speak. "Kitty?"
Helena grabs hold of the Warlock's hair and yanks his head in the direction of the hallway to view the terrified secretary huddled at her desk, clutching the phone to her chest.
"NOT. HERE." The Huntress growls between grit teeth. Her face nearly touches his own, speaking so low that only her prey can hear her.
Klarion nods his understanding. He hasn't a clue as to what's going on but it's obvious that his actions are making the locals nervous. This isn't the time nor the place for answers. Lucky for him, time and place are irrelevant when you're magic. He works best outside the laws of reality, anyway.
With the snap of his fingers, about the only thing he can still move, time freezes around them. And not a moment too soon. Through Teekl's heightened senses, Klarion can hear the boots of several guards barreling down the hallway towards them. Helena's secretary must have alerted them the moment he started acting irrationally. Now they, as well as everyone else, is stuck outside the moment. The little bubble of time he'd created just for them.
"What did you do?" Helena growls, twisting Klarion into an all new painful position.
"You said not here." He moans sharply. "Right now, we're not anywhere!"
He'd come here today to make amends for his past, to work towards a better future for him and his kind. He'd never expected for his past to catch up to him, but one never does. And right now his past has got him in a headlock, for all matters of the word, kicking his ass.
With a gravely sigh of disgust, Helena lets go of Klarion's arm. He slowly sits himself upright, rubbing his throbbing shoulder tenderly. His eyes never leave her for a second as she crosses the room slowly, pretending to take interest in her trophies. Back to him, she folds her arms tight across her chest.
"He's punishing me..." Helena mutters quietly to herself.
Not quiet enough.
"Who's punishing you?"
With the tilt of her hip, she rolls her eyes.
"My father."
The taste of the word sticks a bit bitter in her mouth.
"Why?" Klarion asks softly. Nothing makes sense. Like he's been thrown into the middle of something. Where everyone knows the answers but him.
Again, she sighs. Something she seems to be doing a lot of. After a moment of silence, she offers an explanation of sorts. Though it's unlikely the explanation is meant for him. It's more like she's expressing her inner thoughts and he just so happens to be there.
"This was NOT supposed to happen. I wasn't even supposed to be here today!" Helena begins, irritated. Motioning with her hands to emphasize her point. "I'm supposed to be shopping. In Milan. With mom. A whole ocean away. But noooooo... Snap a guys neck and he's gotta go and do THIS." She pouts, repeating herself much more clearly this time. "He's punishing me."
Teekl comes to join his master, sitting atop his lap as the Warlock perches on the edge of her desk, staring at her from across the room. He's trying so hard to make sense of it all. But the more she talks, the worse a feeling he gets. A pit of dread in his gut.
"I... I don't understand." Klarion stammers.
He needs to know. Needs to understand. This is all too much. He has no idea what's going on.
Placing her hands on her hips, Helena turns to face the Warlock.
"Right... I suppose you have questions." She sighs heavily, still so very annoyed. "Five minutes. Then you turn time back on. Deal?"
Five minutes? How is he supposed to collect his thoughts in time? There's too much to ask. Too much to say. Five plus years worth.
"I... I watched you... you..."
"Die?"
He nods his head.
"Who... How were you resurrected? When did you... How long have you been back? Why did no one inform me? Why didn't you-"
"I didn't die, Klarion." She cuts into his tangent with a rather short tone.
"What?"
"I wasn't resurrected because I didn't die." She expands, her tone still as cold. "I faked my death. I've been here this whole time. Well... Not HERE exactly... Around."
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Klarion knew this was the most likely scenario. He just didn't want to believe it. How much better this would be having just been a dream. A nightmare in which to wake. The truth is much more depressing. And the truth is...
"You left me."
His voice is so small. No longer able to look her in the eye, he finds his gaze shifted towards the floor. Helena crosses her arms again, staring at him. He looks like he's about to crumble. Little keeping him from falling apart. She stands strong and without interest, like a rock. Immovable. Indifferent. She shakes her head.
"Klarion..."
"But you did. You faked your death so you could leave me. You walked out on me."
"Don't act like I did this TO YOU." She returns defensively. "I did it FOR ME."
"Oh? And you couldn't take me with you? Couldn't, at the very least, afford me the right to let me know you were ok?" His tone raises. His sorrow quickly turning heated. "At least break up with me like a decent human being. Do you know the TORMENT I put myself through thinking you were dead the last six years? The PAIN? I never moved on, Helena. All that wasted time I'll never get back. I gave you my life. I SOLD MY SOUL FOR YOU!"
He shouts. Upset. Emotional. Tears sting at his eyes. Yet still she stands there, perfectly calm and collected. Statuesque. A cold scowl upon her cold lips only to be matched by the cold glare in her steely cold eyes. Like her father.
"Don't act like you're the only victim here." She hisses in return to his outrage. "You LIED to me, Klarion. You betrayed my TRUST. Which is something I don't so easily pass around, ok? I TOLD you things about myself. Things I'd never told anyone else before, but still you... you KEPT things from me. IMPORTANT things I shouldn't have had to find out from your arch-enemy. I SHOULD have heard them from YOU. I DIED, ok? Maybe not in that fire. Maybe just from a gunshot wound to the chest. But I died. You wanna talk about RIGHTS. I think I DAMN WELL had the RIGHT to know about that, don't you? Or maybe the identity of my parents, huh? And EVERYTHING ELSE you kept from me." She points an accusing finger at him. Her tone simmering with spite. "You know it's funny. YOU knew more about me than I EVER did. So EXCUSE me if I don't trust you any more. You've lost the right to sit there and act like I've hurt YOU. Like I betrayed YOU. After all you've put me through, I say I EARNED a little time to MYSELF, don't you?"
Put in his place, Klarion takes a seat back down on the edge of her desk. Quiet. Reflective. She's right. To a point.
"I was only trying to protect you." He says somberly, his voice so tiny. "I wanted you to be happy."
This time she looks away, trying her best to reclaim her steely composure. She looks out across the room to the frozen scene outside the window, staring at a flock of pigeons mid-flight going nowhere.
"Yeah well... Here we are. Smiles all around." Helena replies sarcastically. Glancing down at the stopped watch on her wrist, she breathes a little sigh before returning to her desk. "Your five minutes are up. It's time we get to work."
