2017

Head thumping and with a horrible metallic taste in his mouth Kai lifts his head slowly. His wrists are bound tightly to a chair, as are his ankles but this predicament along with the pain is blasted from his mind.

He has no magic.

"What - what did you do?" he groans, squinting in the gloom as a shadow emerges. Bonnie stops a few feet away, book clasped to her chest. A grimoire he guesses. Her jaw clenches, nostrils flaring before she smiles.

"It's gone. Completely."

Kai frowns, head lowering as a horrible panic spikes through him. He has been powerless before, endured it for decades but there had always been a lingering trace that proclaimed him a witch, even if he could do nothing with it. Now it feels like he's been sapped to nothing. His mouth goes dry even as he smiles.

"My magic has been siphoned."

"How do you like it?" she asks, coming closer and he gets a better look at her. She is dressed in a dark police uniform and a kink Kai never knew he had springs to life.

"Not so much but it's okay, it'll come back," he smiles, leaning back in the chair and Bonnie shakes her head, placing the spell book on a crate.

"This siphoning is a little different," she says and leans down, hands gripping his wrists. "I could leave you without magic forever."

Kai stares at her fierce green eyes and with another swoop of shock he believes her. "Bonnie...I'm no threat to you. I just want to know what happened."

"You don't remember?" she asks quietly and he shakes his head.

"I remember being stuck there clearly and all that time that followed but when I try to think of us getting out..." he concentrates, trying to remember but again his head fills with that white roaring and he sighs. "All I know is that we did something we probably shouldn't have to get out."

Bonnie nods before stopping, deliberating what to say before she exhales, eyes glassy. "I woke up back in Portland with no memory. I almost died...I thought you were dead," her voice shakes a little and she clears it, looking behind her as a door creaks open. Small faces peer in, looking concerned and something in Kai squeezes painfully. Bonnie quickly moves to the twins, quietly but firmly ushering them away and with looks of disappointment the door is closed.

"They're like me, aren't they? They took my magic," his voice is rough and wants to open the door and bring them before his eyes again. Bonnie remains standing in the shadows, back to him but he can see her head shaking.

"Whatever you're thinking right now is wrong," she says, voice hitching as she turns and comes back. Her hands are balled into fists. "They are nothing like you, they have nothing to do with you."

"You're lying. How old are they? Three? I know how long it's been since we -"

He stalls as she lifts a hand, eyes blazing and he yells as his mind flashes with pain before it is suddenly gone. Panting he drops his head and a silence stretches, thick with tension before he lifts his gaze to her. Tears rim her eyes, the spell book back against her chest.

"How did you get here?"

"I dreamt of you," he answers weakly, lifting his head to rest against the back of the chair. "Every night I dream of you, the front door to this house and the street leading to it. I've been in a comatose state for years but a few weeks ago I woke up. Back to the future again," he smiles and her lips twitch.

"You haven't come for them? I thought you came to take them, their magic..."

"I didn't even know they existed until I stepped into this house. Which, by the way, has an incredible cloaking spell around it."

"Not so incredible if you got in," she waves her hand at him and comes closer, her previous distrust fading. He has a memory of the same expression on her face as he lead her onto an empty dance floor, snow falling outside...

"One thing I do remember is that you started to trust me and I think you remember that too," he smiles, eyeing his restraints and Bonnie hesitates before putting the spell book down and leaning over him.

"I really did look for you, I looked everywhere but there was no trace. I - I thought you didn't make it out."

"I think that was the risk," he says and smiles. He has been angry since waking, a strange remnant of a feeling that has plagued him. She had done something, something to make him him lose it but every time he tries to grasp it it vanishes, leaving that cloud of bitterness. He regards her thoughtfully, at the green eyes that can barely meet his and whatever anger remains it is nothing to the swelling elation filling him since stepping into the house.

"I might have ended up like De Niro in Awakenings but it was worth it," he watches her lick her lips, cheeks flushing and he remembers the feel of those lips against his, her body trembling in his arms. He had flooded with a power he could hardly contain, a power so rapturous it left his mind a blasted wasteland. The sudden memory leaves him breathless, an ache for more and he tries to master it.

She removes the cuffs and leans back sharply, as if knowing his thoughts. "I hardly practice any more, my life is different now."

Kai wants to touch her desperately, to tell her that the mistakes he made are in the past. Troubled he focuses on the present, eyeing her rumpled uniform. "You're a policewoman and a mom!"

She bites the inside of her cheek, conflicted and he holds his breath as she clearly battles what to say. Finally she lifts her chin, face like marble. "What happened in 1903 is in the past. I want you gone."

"Bonnie, come on. They're twins...they kinda run in my family."

"...I can't do this. We've finally got to a safe place. No more running. I won't put them in danger," she stresses and suddenly he can really see how weary she is. What has happened since she got out?

"They're not in any danger from me," he says, standing and reaches for her but she steps back. He balls his fists. "You have to believe me?"

"I don't want you around them," she says gutturally, turning away. "I have to keep them safe."

"Bonnie please? After everything we went through in 1903, what we did...just - just give me some time before you turf me out? I swear I'll do what you want but just wait," he stares pleadingly at her back and Bonnie sighs, shoulders dropping. She casts him a glance over her shoulder.

"One day."

Outside the door excited giggles burst alive before being quickly stifled and they hear small feet running away.

a.n:

So the first half of this fic will primarily focus on their time in 1903 but with segues to the present. Once they do get out of the prison world the story will shift permanently to the present.