Hey my lovely Teslenites. It's time to get weird and subconscious again. In the chapter I mean, not together. Though we could try that too if you like. I don't even know what I'm talking about right now. I need sleep. But then I was like I better upload this chapter tonight. So I did...am. I am seriously going to stop now before I get truly weird(er) – not possible, really.
Anyway, one more thing, thank you so much everyone for your beyond amazing reviews. You are all super awesome with extra sides of fantastic. I feel I'm starting to border on getting weird again so I'm going to stop and let you get on with the chapter.
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Helen...?
A heavy silence had found its way to him, and apparently made itself far too comfortable, for it was where he had remained for what seemed like eternity. Or perhaps it was just the absence of her presence in his mind that had him feeling so empty, and made the timeframe feel much lengthier. The last thing Nikola could recall was taking the synthesized drug and falling into unconsciousness; the last feeling, that of Helen's hand in his, fingers intertwined just like their minds.
Helen?
Everything was dark. Everything was silent. This was just great. Even their creepy priest would have been better than this, he was just about ready to start counting seconds.
Then he felt it, a tiny nagging feeling worming its way through him and spreading warmth with it. It had his heart beating frantically, and he hadn't even realised how nervous he'd been until the relief flooded through him.
Miss me? If he weren't so relieved he would have at least pretending to be indignant at her pointed and knowing remark.
Slowly, just as the emptiness of his lonesome mind had melted away, the darkness followed. He (or at least an image of him in his subconscious) was standing in a small, dimly lit cavern. The walls emanated with a soft green glow, almost crystalline in texture.
Helen stood beside him, and he couldn't help but note how utterly breath-taking she looked in the dim light.
Thank you. Her response was not as heavily tinged with amusement as it may usually have been, or laced with the exasperation of a week ago.
Where do you suppose we are? He sent.
The glow of the walls is somewhat similar to that of the pillars. Helen mused.
So, it's fairly safe to assume we're in the right place? He returned. She smiled indulgently over at him.
I must admit, she responded, I am surprised. I was not entirely convinced it would be successful in practice.
You mean to only tell me now that this is one of those 'jump off the cliff hoping to sprout wings' missions? He responded.
Ah, but darling, those are the best kind, she said. He grinned back at her.
They both jumped as a distracting – even enough to draw the pair away from each other – and loud noise rumbled from the wall to Nikola's right. He glared at the offending wall for a fraction of a second before his look turned to one of interest. Helen curiously edged closer to him in her physical-manifestation.
Or perhaps your little drug didn't work as you'd hoped and we're both just hallucinating as a result of it instead? He sent. For once, being close to her was not to his advantage as she reached out and smacked his arm.
Ow, he whined, I can still feel pain you know.
I'm very aware of that, she remarked with a sweet smile.
People think I'm the mean one, he grumbled.
She'd already turned her attention away from her whining lover and back to the wall, however. It was rumbling again and she went to stand closer to it, almost pressing her ear against the faintly glowing surface. She reached out to touch it and recoiled instantly.
It burns, she hissed.
I know, he replied, having felt the sensation himself through her, if in a somewhat muted fashion.
He strode over to her in two steps, taking her hand in his and inspecting it.
Its fine, Nikola, really, she said in slight exasperation. It's not a bad burn, just a quick scald when I touched the surface.
In my experience, he said, letting her hand return to her side but with it still in his, when unidentified technology burns you in your subconscious-state, it should not be taken idly.
You'd have a lot of experience with that particular scenario then would you? She replied. Frolic around a lot in your subconscious touching random technologies?
You're one to judge, I'm not the one who got high with Freud and Jung, Nikola remarked pointedly.
Yes, well, she said, flustered, in the name of scientific endeavour...
Right, he remarked. That's what we were doing all those times at Oxford while partaking in experimenting with cheap wine?
Of course, she responded. Anyway, I daresay I was supposed to touch it.
Oh, and why have you so confidently arrived at that conclusion?
It's moving, she responded with a triumphant smirk.
Nikola turned to see that the rock wall was indeed moving. It slid away to reveal a passageway, the walls made of the same material, and just as dimly lit.
If we run into any vampires, Nikola sent, we should tell them they really ought to think about redecorating. It's just so dismal looking in here.
Yes, I'm sure that'll be a prominent avenue for discussion, she sent back as she entered the passage. Nikola soon followed.
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In the lab, the 'children' stood watching in states ranging from confusion to concern as Magnus and Tesla descended into uncomfortably familiar unconscious slumbers. The expressions on their faces, and the position they lay in, were disturbingly matching.
"Do you think it worked?" Henry said, frowning in concern at Magnus's still form. The heart-rate monitor the Big Guy had attached was beating with a steady rhythm. The usually so comforting sound was not so much so now, however, for the young HAP.
"I mean," he continued, "I know 'experimental' is the norm around here but...this is..."
"Whacked?" Kate supplied.
"So whacked," Henry agreed. "I really hope the Doc knows what she's doing."
He would trust Magnus to the ends of the earth and back ten times around, hell he'd trust her to the ends of the universe and beyond if it came down to it. But sometimes when she put herself at risk in these types of unprecedented situations, he couldn't help but feel nervous. Life without the eccentric doctor just wasn't imaginable.
"She's the boss, of course she does," Kate said, comfortingly. "Besides, she has Vlad with her. Say what you will about him," she looked pointedly at Will now, "But he sure as hell isn't going to let anyone or anything harm Magnus."
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Oh look, how exhilarating, more passage! Nikola remarked.
It really hasn't been that long, Nikola, Helen responded amusedly.
She didn't know how long they'd been walking for, or if time really held such significant meaning in this bizarre unconscious state.
You'd think we'd just materialise at our destination or something, he continued. Leg work hardly seems necessary in a dream-world.
She couldn't really fault that logic. As if the dream-world had picked up his thoughts, and complaints, a light materialised ahead of them and steadily grew stronger until they were standing at the entrance of a larger cavern.
They were standing at the precipice, and yet a thin veil of white light was preventing them from entering. Inside, just beyond reach, the cavern was quite similar to the one in which they'd found the bracelets. Nikola would have thought it was the same one had the two pillars not been replaced by two thrones on the platform instead. The two platforms briefly flashed, glowing quite like the pillars, before the image disappeared.
Before either of them had the chance to ponder the image, another appeared in front of them. Just like before, the white veil prevented entry, however the room looked just as tangibly close.
This room was smaller, a laboratory of sorts. The walls and floor were of a dark marble, almost black. The benches were made of the same material. A spattering of bizarre devices was littered across the bench-tops.
Helen, Nikola sent. He need not continue, he could feel she'd noticed too. The bracelets were among the objects on the benches.
The image flashed again, this time was of the cavern where they had stumbled so unpreparedly across Afina. One of the panels on the wall glowed significantly, the symbols almost insistently flashing. Before either of them could contemplate what it meant, the image dissolved. This time, they were greeted with a wall, the end of the passageway.
Helen turned to Nikola, curiosity jointly coursing through both of their individual beings. But before they had the chance to speak the walls around them dissolved too and they were swallowed up by an uncomfortable darkness.
This is familiar...
Helen heard Nikola's mental remark before she felt herself losing consciousness – or gaining it, more likely.
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Will almost jumped as Magnus's eyes shot open. He'd been making sure all her vitals were fine and therefore standing quite close to his boss when she woke up. He stumbled back as she and Nikola both sat up, eerily at the same time.
"Bloody hell," she uttered. "That was..."
"Trippy?" Kate offered.
Helen was too dazed to even fix the younger woman with a look.
"Did you get the symbols?" Helen said to Nikola.
"Come on, ljubav," he said – and Helen wondered upon the bemused expressions of her colleagues if it was the first time he'd used the foreign endearment out loud, "This is me, of course I did – and I know you did too, you can't hide from me in there."
Well you don't have to teeter on the side of creepiness when you put it like that, Nikola, Helen sent.
"Symbols?" Will said, trying desperately to catch up, "It worked then?"
"Did you doubt that it would?" Nikola said, shooting an amused look in Helen's direction.
Nikola, stop torturing Will, she sent, as she stood up from the gurney, we have more pressing matters to attend to. Or would you rather not find out what the message means?
He sighed dramatically in response and stood up as well.
At least I have favourable memories of playing with technology in the library with you, he sent. Images of them standing with her arms wrapped around him in the library as he'd encased them in an energy force field flashed through her mind, courtesy of his own mind.
"Okay, are we leaving...where are we going?" Henry said, as both Helen and Nikola moved to the door. "You guys do remember we can't hear you right? Which is a good thing by the way because I so do not need to hear you flirt any more than I already do..."
"Nikola and I need to cross-reference some symbol translations," Helen explained, turning back to them at the door.
"So you saw symbols?" Will said.
"Among other things," Helen replied, cryptically. She wasn't yet ready to divulge with them the other images, the other rooms, feeling she and Nikola needed to figure it out by themselves first.
Have I mentioned keeping up that air of mystery of yours is sexy? Nikola said in response to her less-than informative explanation to her team.
Oh Nikola, I doubt you'll ever stop.
