A/N: Here we are, the beginning of season 2! I'd like to keep Season 2 mainly from Cassie's POV, but I think there's a few times where perhaps having it from both Cassie's and Cole's point of view will be better. I haven't decided yet. Let me know what you think, enjoy! (:
I want to tell you a story, about how the world ends, and the man from the future sent back through time to stop it. Here in the present day he uncovered a conspiracy, men in the shadows who sought to release a plague on the world. They call themselves the Army of the 12 Monkeys, but in the darkness the man found hope. A woman. A partner. Together they fought to stop the plague, but fate was not on their side. For you see the man also forged a bond with another, someone he considered a brother. If the man were to succeed and change the future, the brother's son would never be born, so the brother turned his back on the man and joined the enemy. The woman was wounded, dying in her time. So to save her, the man sent her to his. And in the end, because the woman had taught him to love, the man could not let his brother die. Even though it was written, the man broke that fate and changed time. Now the time of the plague is upon us, and the man and woman are separated by oceans of time, destined to never see one another again. I told you this is a story of how the world ends, one that begins at the end and ends at the beginning. A story that in time itself, can be changed.
A bright, blinding golden light enveloped Cassie as she looked over at Cole. He was leaving her, sending her to 2043. She wasn't sure what hurt more, the splinter serum coursing through her veins as it started to pull her through time, the gunshot wound in her abdomen that was bleeding out, or the betrayal by the man she had come to depend on. She couldn't catch her breath, it felt like her insides were being sucked into a vacuum while her outside struggled to hold on. She didn't feel her body land in the metal chair in 2043, but as the now blue light around her faded, she turned her head. Katarina. A much older Katarina than the one she had just seen, but it was definitely the same woman she had found in New York. She was standing next to someone, a large man, much taller than her. There were several others around her, with ashen faces, wearing hoods. Cassie couldn't find her voice, she tried to speak, but she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She started to choke, struggling to breathe as the pain once again overtook her shock. She felt her body sink further into the chair beneath her before she sunk into the darkness as well.
Cassie gasped for air, waking up from a fog. She was alive, she could feel her abdomen throbbing where her bullet wound must be. Katarina was talking to her, consoling her. She heard her footsteps come closer, and then felt the thin cushion beneath her legs give in as Katarina sat next to her. Katarina. She was in the future, 2043. Well, it was the present now, corrected Katarina. Katarina told her she had been out for four days. Is this what Cole had felt like, waking up at the Adams hotel in Philly? This disconcerting, all-encompassing rush? Cassie started to lift her head up, wanting to sit up, but her bullet wound throbbed in disapproval. Her wound, Katarina must have stitched her up. Katarina said it was done crudely, that surgery wasn't her strong suit, but Cassie couldn't complain. She had so many questions. Who was that man next to Katarina? Who were the other men, in hoods? What had happened to Cole? Was he with Ramse? Katarina seemed to be as confused as her, if not more so, as she asked why Cassie was there. Ramse. They had tracked him to Project Splinter, he had been working with the Army of the Twelve Monkeys for decades. Cassie watched as Katarina tried to digest this, she knew Ramse far better than Cassie did, she seemed shocked, but not entirely surprised. Katarina turned to her, asking if they stopped him. No, they hadn't stopped him. Cole wouldn't do it, and wouldn't let her do it either. Katarina said Cole had always been unreliable in his judgement of Ramse. Cassie wanted to understand, Cole had told her that Ramse was like a brother to him, someone he had depended on. At a time, Cassie had depended on Aaron, but that didn't stop Cole from killing him. She had shot Ramse. She had never shot someone before. Katarina looked at her, surprised, but not judgmental, saying it must have been hard to do, since Cassie was a doctor.
Once upon a time, she would have agreed. She had never imagined she could shoot someone, to purposely do harm, she had become a doctor to save people. She had noticed the change starting in her after she met Cole, she didn't approve of his violence, but she understood his reasoning, his math. One for seven billion, even if it hadn't stayed just one. She wouldn't partake in his style of dealing with problems, but she understood. Until Aaron. She and Aaron had been happy, in love. Cassie knew they were on track to get married, settle down, she knew they were serious. She understood him, and he understood her. He was someone she could depend on, and being with him was easy, safe. Until Cole. Cole showed up one night, in the backseat of her car, giving her the fright of her life. He told her he was from the future, that there was a plague, showed her a paradox. It all sounded crazy, like Cole was crazy and had forgotten to take his meds. But after he left, and Cassie had time to think, she couldn't deny that something about what he said had stuck. Viruses were what she did, she was a virologist for god's sake. She knew how dangerous the wrong virus could be, and how without the proper medicine, how quickly a virus could become a pandemic. She knew about vectors and rates of infection, and how easy it was for a virus to spread from one person to another. She had watched how an outbreak had taken over her own hometown. It was what she based her life on, she did the awareness programs for other doctors and hospitals. She taught other doctors how dangerous viral outbreaks could be, she definitely knew how dangerous the wrong virus could be. Believing Cole on that part had been easy, the time travel part, not so much. Him getting shot then disappearing before her eyes definitely helped to make his case, but when she showed up at the Adam's hotel, two years later, and he was still bleeding from that same gunshot wound, she was sold. Cole had taken over every part of her life. She lost her job, Aaron left, she was arrested, she was living out of her grandparent's bookstore, she was shot at, she was kidnapped, but she was okay with it. She was fighting to save seven billion people from a plague, there were bound to be road bumps along the way. Except, people she knew had started dying. She was willing to give her own career, her own life, to fight, she hadn't agreed to give up the lives of those around her, she had agreed to save them. First Jeremy was killed, a man who had been a close family friend. She remembered her dad telling her stories about the things he and Jeremy had worked on together, when she was younger. Then Henri was shot, a man she hadn't known long, but he understood her, and had brought her comfort during one of the darkest times of her life. What pushed her over the edge though, was Aaron. Aaron had betrayed her, and she knew she shouldn't have taken his loss so hard, but he had been something to her. They had been something. Losing him was more than losing someone she had once loved, it was losing a part of her that she could never get back. The person she had been when she was with Aaron, the life she had lead before Cole. Losing Aaron, meant she could never go back to those times. She could never be the Cassie that wore dresses and heels, and was top in her field, waiting for her boyfriend to propose, daydreaming about their wedding and the life they would lead together. No, after that she was Cassie, in jeans and a leather jacket, carrying a gun, and ready to fire. Shooting Ramse, the man that helped start the plague, a man that cost her everything she had known, that had been easy.
Katarina pulled her from her thoughts, telling her that grieving over who we were only gets in the way of who we need to become. They heard footsteps in the hallway, and Cassie was reminded of where she was, of the men who had stood around the machine when she arrived. Katarina said they called themselves The Messengers. She had heard that, from Oliver Peters. They were part of the 12 Monkeys, what she and Cole had been fighting in her time. They wanted the machine. Katarina didn't know why they wanted to travel through time, or to where. Cassie watched as Katarina pulled out a box, it contained several syringes, filled with a yellow serum. Splinter serum. She said they made it so time would move around the person that was injected with it, Cassie had heard Cole say that. Katarina was injecting herself with it when the door burst open. It was the man Cassie had seen standing next to Katarina when she arrived. He introduced himself as Deacon, Cassie had heard Cole mention the name before but he hadn't gone into detail. Deacon called her Bright Eyes, as his own eyes seemed to light up at the sight of her. Cassie wasn't sure what to make of him, but Katarina didn't seem thrilled to see him. Deacon said the Messengers were waiting on Katarina. He led them back to the room Cassie had first come in through, the one with the machine. The room looked just like it had in 2015, just not as new or clean. There stood The Messengers, Cassie noticed their grey coloring seemed to be from some sort of clay they had covered themselves in. One of them, he must be the leader, was washing the clay off another, handing him something. Cassie heard him mention the forest, and blood washing away. Cassie knew that phrase, from when the Monkeys made her drink the strange tea. Deacon told Katarina that that was her cue, and she started walking towards a control panel. The Messenger that had been cleaned off stepped up to the machine and sat in the metal chair, while Katarina asked where to send him. Deacon stepped past Cassie to go stand behind Katarina by the control panel, he looked like he was keeping guard. The Messenger in charge wouldn't give Katarina the coordinates and instead had another man, Rodell, punch them in. Cassie could tell that Katarina was up to something, as she told the Messenger to reconsider what he was doing. Cassie saw the smirk threatening to shine through as Katarina initiated the splinter sequence. The Messenger in the chair started to scream as his body started to glow a bright red. Cassie watched as the Messenger's skin was pulled into the machine, as his body started to tear apart, layer by layer, until he exploded from the inside. The Messengers stood in stunned silence, as did Cassie, while Katarina started to laugh, and asked who was next.
The Messenger in charge pushed Katarina to the ground, asking what had happened. The man, Rodell, said that Katarina had made it so that only part of the other Messenger had splintered. The head Messenger grabbed Katarina by the hair on the back of her head, demanding that she give them access to the machine. Katarina taunted them, saying that if the Messengers thought she was just going to give up her machine, then she knew why they called themselves Monkeys. Katarina continued, goading them to kill her, and Cassie knew this wasn't going to end well. Cassie saw a Messenger approach her and knew what was going to happen. A Messenger grabbed her, and shoved her to the ground in front of Katarina. The lead Messenger said that Katarina would cooperate or they would kill Cassie, knowing that Cassie was important to Katarina by the way Katarina had exhausted herself to save Cassie's life when she arrived. Cassie saw out of the corner of her eye as Deacon approached her, a gun in hand, and watched as he raised the gun to her. As Katarina argued for Cassie, Cassie cast a glance over to Deacon's hand. It was shaking as he pointed the gun at her, something was wrong with him. Cassie didn't have the time to study him now, but she knew he must be sick. The Messenger continued to argue with Katarina, talking about the causality of time, until he got frustrated and charged at Cassie, withdrawing his knife. Cassie felt the cold blade press against her throat, before Deacon stepped forward. Deacon was defending her? The Messenger stepped away from her to yell at Deacon, saying that if he interrupted him again, their deal was over, painfully. What type of deal had Deacon made with the Messengers? Cassie felt the robes of the Messenger graze her back as he stepped close to her again, before pressing his knife back to her throat. Katarina yelled stop before the Messenger went further though. Even though Cassie knew it would cost her life, she told Katarina not to do it. Cassie knew that the Messengers were part of starting the virus, she couldn't let Katarina allow them to use the machine. She couldn't let them win. Losing Jeremy, and Henri, and Aaron, and Cole, it couldn't be for nothing. As the Messenger yanked her head back by her hair, allowing him better access to her neck, preparing to slice her, Rodell called out. He had it, he had found a way into the machine, without Katarina. Dammit.
The Messengers now prepared to send another one of their own through the machine. This time a woman, and this time it would be successful. The leader once again wiped away the grey clay, calling it the ashes of yesterday. The woman climbed the stairs to the machine, settling herself in the chair. The machine started up, with its flurry of blue lights, Deacon started walking Cassie out of the room, his large body crowding her backwards. Cassie felt him put his hand on her hip to turn her around. She felt the weight of his hand on her shoulder as they walked out of the splinter chamber, but she didn't understand why he was escorting her out. He started talking, saying he never would have done it, signaling to his gun. He never would have shot her, which Cassie wasn't sure even if he had tried, that he would have been able to, his hand was shaking so bad. He was saying something but she wasn't paying attention. She was looking at him, now having the chance to study him like she would a patient. His skin was yellow, jaundice. As she looked closer she noticed his skin was smattered in scars, but beyond that, there were bruises. As her eyes met his, she noticed a ring in his eyes. Elevated levels of bilirubin, shaking, bruising, and a ring in his eyes. She had learned about this. It was caused by too much copper in one's liver. He had Wilson's disease. It could be treated though, if she had the right medications. They were found in her time though, they needed to get the Messengers out of the facility, and she needed to get back to 2015. She told Deacon her diagnosis, and He tried to pass it off, but Cassie could see that he was impressed, if not a little scared. She had been right, he was sick, and she knew that he knew it too. He led her to her room, saying he could handle it. Cassie knew he didn't know how though. This could be her way in. Cole wasn't coming to save her this time, he had picked Ramse, and she'd deal with that later. But right now, she was on her own and she needed an ally. She had Katarina, but Katarina didn't fight gun battles. Deacon obviously was used to being around guns, he looked like he went far beyond Cole's way of dealing with problems, he even had men of his own. Cassie could use that. How long before his men noticed his tremors, she asked him. Continuing to try and scare him with psychosis and death that can come with Wilson's disease. Deacon kept walking, his hand on her shoulder, as they passed two Messengers guarding a room, which she assumed would be hers. If Deacon helped her stop the Messengers, she'd get him the medication he needed. He opened her door, and they stood in the doorway of her new room. She could see in his eyes that she was winning him over, but he denied it, calling her adorable. She wasn't going to give up so easily though, she needed his help, but he closed the door on her. Shit.
Looking around her new room, it was scarce, and didn't offer the warm comforts that her apartment had. Her apartment, had it really only been a few days since she was waking up to Cole in her bed? She had gotten used to him being there, both in her bed and in her life. She wasn't exactly sure what her feeling for him were, but she had a good idea. She had been warming up to him, rather quickly, since she found him again at that Philadelphia hotel. But then Aaron came back in the picture and she was torn, Aaron had come back saying all the right things. Apologizing for not believing her, for not being on her side, for leaving her, and he made it clear he wanted back into her life. She didn't want to throw away all their past history, and she knew between him and Cole, Aaron was the more stable choice. Cole was still popping in and out of her life at any time, and she never knew when he would be there and when he wouldn't. Their short times together, didn't allow her much time to figure out what to do or how she felt, but she couldn't help her feelings for Cole, whatever they were. She caught him looking at her, she knew the look in his eye, she knew he found her beautiful. He always told her in his own way, like comparing her to people he used to see in magazines; that thought still made her smile. There was something genuine about Cole, sure his methods weren't within her comfort zone, but she knew what he was fighting for. He never lost his will to fight for what he believed in, what he wanted, he always kept coming back to keep working on the mission, and she thought cheeseburgers were probably a good motivation of his too. When she thought he was gone, it felt like a weight was placed in her chest, on her heart. Making it hard to breathe, hard to love the life she had, even if it was supposedly saved by Cole being gone. When he showed up in her living room, alive, it lifted that weight off her heart, giving her such relief. But that also meant the mission wasn't over, that the virus was still out there. She was confused on what to do, how to feel, and there was no time to think. She wanted the stability that Aaron offered, but she wanted it with Cole, but that was something Cole couldn't offer. Until, he was there, with her, to stay. The paradox they had set off with Cole and his blood made it so he couldn't splinter anymore, they were going to be in 2015 together. They finally had time, to figure out what they were doing, for the mission, and for whatever it was they were. She was excited by the prospect of figuring them out, by having the time to figure out her feelings for him. She thought he felt the same, but then came that last day they spent together. In the end, he chose Ramse over her. He wouldn't have done that if he shared her feelings. To be fair, that hadn't been their best day. Between leaving Aaron behind at the warehouse, to dealing with Jennifer at Markridge, and then hunting down Ramse, tensions were running high between them.
Deacon interrupted her pacing as he swung her door open. She had to smile, it seemed she could still win someone over to her side. He wanted to know about Wilson's disease, if she meant what she had said about helping him. Yes. She would help him, and he would help her. They'd be a strange partnership, but a team all the same. Deacon handed her a knife, telling him that the Messengers were fast and stupid strong. He told her that when he grabbed the guard outside her door, she was to plunge the knife deep into the guy's neck. She had never killed someone before. Deacon said the Messenger would die quick and quietly, he said that if they let him live, they'd create an enemy. It sounded like a line he used often, it seemed her assumption about him had been correct. She looked at the knife in her hands, Deacon wrapped his hand around hers, showing her how to hold the knife and how to stab the Messenger. Don't hesitate, and don't miss, or they'd die, Deacon told her seriously. She wasn't sure she could do this; she was a doctor. Deacon looked at her surprised at her innocence, saying do no harm died thirty years ago. She was from thirty years ago; it was still alive in her time. Before she could protest, Deacon was opening the door to the guard outside. Deacon made some comment about her being feisty, she assumed to distract the Messenger, and she watched as he quickly subdued the giant grey man. She couldn't believe she was going to do this; her dad would definitely not approve. Cole would definitely find this a Kodak moment. Deacon was looking at her to stab the man, clearly she was taking too long as she internally mocked herself. She quickly stepped forward and raised the knife, and before she could think any more about it, she plunged it into the Messenger's neck, just like Deacon said to. Deacon held the Messenger as he sunk to the ground, and Cassie still hadn't let go of the knife. She pulled the knife out, and watched as blood bubbled up out of the man's neck, and then she stared at the blood on the knife. She killed someone. Deacon took the knife out of her hands, and then handed her a gun. Over the blood roaring in her ears, she heard Deacon say, welcome to the future Dr. Railly. She followed him to a door which had some type of keypad next to it. Deacon said he called in reinforcements, his boys. As the door swung open, there stood what Deacon said was the West VII. Cassie had heard Cole use that name, she also had seen the roman numerals VII carved into his arm. Now she understood, Cole had been one of Deacon's men. A man stepped forward amongst Deacon's boys, Deacon handed him a gun before the man stepped forward. The man looked at Cassie, and the shock on his face was plain to see. She didn't know how he knew her, but as he called her name, asking her to confirm it was her, she wasn't sure she knew herself in that moment.
The group of Cassie, Deacon, the West VII, and the other man that knew who she was, made their way through the facility. As Cassie looked through to the splinter chamber, she watched as another Messenger was being sent through time. They had to hurry. Deacon took out the Messenger guarding the control room, before trying the doors to the chamber. They had locked them out, they needed a plan. Deacon turned to the man with them, and asked if they could control the power to the core from the room they were in, Cassie didn't know what that was. The man nodded, and Deacon asked if they juiced the Core what would happen to the machine and the man said it would overload, taking out everything in the splinter chamber. What about Jones? They couldn't kill her. Deacon said Jones needed to get down, and Cassie nodded to the man saying he should juice the Core, she'd warn Jones. Cassie ran out of the room, she remembered a little bit of the facility from her time at it 2015. She ran to a window that faced the control panel, she found a laser on the gun Deacon had handed her and used it to get Jones' attention. When Jones looked at her, she signaled for Jones to get down, which thankfully Jones got the message in time as the machine started to overload. Cassie ducked and covered her ears as the machine exploded. As she, Deacon, and their team ran into the splinter chamber, the lead Messenger had his hand around Jones' throat. Deacon shot the man, making him let go, then again to make sure he was down. Marcus, that was the man's name. As Jones looked at the machine, she said it would take months, maybe a year to rebuild. Cassie would be here a year? A whole year before she could see her time again? Jones said a year, and then when the machine was ready, the mission would continue.
Eight months. Eight months Cassie spent in 2043, now 2044, as the machine was rebuilt. In that time Deacon had taken her under his wing, teaching her how to survive in his time. In turn, Cassie worked on getting him to soften his ways. She found him fun to be around, his wit and sense of humor aligned with hers. He wasn't Cole, that much was obvious, but he kept her company, and kept her from getting too lonely. He seemed to enjoy her company, he kept calling her Bright Eyes, and Cassie knew every time he saw her, his own eyes would sparkle. Cassie knew that Deacon was most likely reading too much into the time they spent together, but she couldn't deal with that now. They had a moment, one night, a few months into the rebuilding of the machine, that could have turned into more, but didn't. Neither regretted the night, but Cassie was still too confused over the situation with Cole to want to get into another romance. The more time she spent away from Cole, the more she realized just how much she had gotten used to him being there. When she woke up in the mornings, he wasn't there to greet her. He wasn't there to hold her through the night, or to make her breakfast in the mornings. It was a loss she felt keenly, but the longer she had to think about it, and mull it over, the more frustrated she became. The more she blamed him for picking Ramse, for abandoning her on that table. The closer the machine got to being ready, the more Jones talked about the plan. Cassie would be sent to 2015, to find Cole and Ramse, to find the virus, and to find medicine for Deacon, but Jones didn't know about that last part. They had found an old 911 call, where a man mentions a crazy woman carrying around a vial of a virus. Jennifer Goines, just who Cassie wanted to see.
Despite their missed moment, Deacon still kept Cassie under his wing. Cassie watched as he was quick to defend her, even when she didn't need it, and was very protective. They had become close friends in their time together, and Deacon was worried about her upcoming travels to 2015. He had never been around for Cole's travels, so the first travel back through time he had seen was when the Messenger had been splintered into pieces. Cassie was nervous for the jump too, but for different reasons. She wasn't sure she was ready to see Cole.
She was being sent to New York, to where the 911 call had come from. It was Chinese New Year's, year of the Monkey. How fitting, thought Cassie. She climbed the steps to the machine, it was the first time she had done so. As she settled into the metal chair, she heard Deacon tell her to be careful. She turned to look at him, and saw the worry written across his face, as the machine pulled her through time. She landed in New York in one piece, just a little dizzy. She made sure to find a pharmacy first, knowing she probably wouldn't have the time to find Deacon's medication later. The streets were alive with people. The Chinese New Year celebration was one she had never been to in New York, but clearly it was pretty popular. The streets were packed, but the people she was looking for, tended to stand out. Then she saw him, down an alley. Ramse. She wanted to do more, but she settled for hitting him hard enough to knock him out, Deacon had taught her. Cole and Jennifer couldn't be far. She heard something coming from the roof of the building next to her, and headed towards it. There three men in suits, that sounded like they worked for the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, standing in front of Cole and Jennifer. Cassie took aim and started firing, killing them. When she was sure they were dead, she looked up. Cole. She couldn't help the relief, or the excitement, that filled her at having found him. He was safe. He looked so shocked to see her, or maybe it was shock at having seen her kill three people without flinching. Deacon had taught her that too. It was then that she noticed Jennifer standing behind Cole. Jennifer, she had the virus. Cole needed to move out of the way. When Cassie mentioned 2044 she watched as Cole became even more shocked and confused, wondering how long she had been in his time. It had been Jennifer all along. She had the virus, it all ends when she dies. Cole was quick to defend Jennifer. Cassie shouldn't have been surprised. First Ramse, now Jennifer; Cole had a habit of taking sides that weren't hers. Cassie felt the anger at his betrayal bubbling up inside her again. Cole needed to move out of the way, now. When he raised his gun at her though, she knew he wasn't the same Cole she had fallen for. Her Cole would never aim a gun at her, he had always tried to protect her from those that did that. Cole was trying to talk her down, saying she had a choice. From the way she saw it, he had already made his choice.