Alexia, Emilie

"-need to do better," Croaker was saying. He was leading Alexia down the long hallway toward the multiverse office. "You've been to how many universes without taking-,"

"I've been in danger-,"

"That you know how to get out of!" Bertie stopped to look at her. He typically wasn't so serious, but he'd been giving her the same lecture over and over, and it wasn't working. "You can fight, Dolohov. You're smart. The moment you have the ability, you're supposed to take those readings. The entire point is to understand this multiverse, how it works and where it came from and you- you are treating these trips like an unfortunate accident that you need to get out of every time. You'll do well to remember, this is your job."

Alexia shifted and tried not to show her frustration. "Bertie, look. I asked Antonin not to mention it but I've been… there's things that I need to… deal with, that maybe make it more difficult to perform at the level you want me to. I'm sorry for that, but I can't-,"

"All I want from you," he said. He was more gentle this time. He was old and a little crazy, but he did care for his employees, and even a blind man could tell she'd gone through a trauma. "Is some simple scans. Take care of yourself. If those scans are all you do in a new universe, then for the moment, that is fine."

"Okay," she sighed with a nod. "I can do that."

"And Dolohov…" he patted her shoulder. "If you need to take time off-,"

"I don't-,"

"You can. In absence of that, I know of some mind healers-,"

"I'm fine, Bertie."

"You just admitted that you are not," he reminded her. She shut her mouth. "At the very least, I will be meeting with your sister-in-law to discuss your checkups. I trust you've met with the muggle healer she ordered you to see?"

Alexia rolled her eyes and started walking again. Bertie followed her into the room quickly. "I haven't managed to meet with Eli yet, no."

"Hermione," Antonin frowned at her. She froze in spot, her eyes widening. "You're aware how difficult it is to lie to your soulmate."

She cleared her throat and stepped over to the machine. "Is it all ready for today's trip?"

Though he was irritated, Antonin waved at the machine. "The in-universe tests have gone well. It should be calibrated correctly to take you to any of our presets."

"How are we feeling on communication?" Bertie asked them. Alexia nodded excitedly.

"I asked Severus if he could make us something for that. He gave me a spell that could connect me to up to five people, a bit like walkie talkies. Recta Aperta."

"Alright, we'll test that out, too," Antonin decided. "Cast it before you leave."

"Protection spells," Bertie brought up. "As you said, you may be in danger."

Alexia shifted and held up her wrist. There was something on the inside of it that looked like a tattoo, but it was a protection rune. "Theo gave me this. Makes me wonder why Blaise just has magical tattoo ink, but… Theo says it should help. It'll need to be redone if I'm attacked, but he claims it works."

"Well, if you have everything, we're ready!" Bertie grinned. Just like that, he was back to his overly excited mood and clapped his hands together.

With a shaky breath, Alexia glanced at her husband. "Recta Aperta Antonin."

Both Alexia and Antonin lit up blue for a moment. The light faded away and she hesitated. "Did it- oh." she stopped when her voice echoed in her mind. "Okay, that's- ew, I hate that."

"Use the recall the second things get dangerous," Antonin told her, but Croaker raised an eyebrow. Neither of them spoke, but she got his message - get some readings first.

Stepping forward, Alexia dropped her hand down onto the interface of the machine and closed her eyes. She felt it latch onto her core and did her best to focus. Thinking about U3 - Mia's universe - she waited for the machine to roar to life.

It wasn't long before it did. When the portal opened, she barely had to step into it as it moved at her - that was something they'd have to fix, they couldn't have portals moving - and she started to move into another universe. Halfway through, the portal moved abruptly to the side and took her with it. She felt a couple of people slam into her and just tried to hold on until the portal disappeared mid-air, dropping everyone to the ground roughly.

Alexia's head bounced on the concrete and though she tried to stay awake, her eyes drifted shut unwillingly. When she awoke again, she found herself in a hospital room with two other beds, though there was a nurse in the way. "What… happened?"

"Oh, there you are," the nurse breathed a sigh of relief. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm… my head is…" she shook herself. "Where am I?"

"In St. Vincent's hospital in Toledo," the nurse answered. She was moving around, checking her vitals quickly. "I'll go get the doctor. You've also got some visitors that I'm sure will be glad to hear you're awake. Are you up to speaking with them?"

"Sure," she replied distractedly. She took stock of her injuries and grimaced at the pain. She wasn't sure where she was, but Toledo sounded familiar. It was a city, but where? America was all she could come up with.

A doctor stepped into the room and washed her hands before coming to stand by her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she replied. "What's going on?"

"I don't have all the information. All I know is that you and your friends were found injured," she said with a smile. "Your name?"

"Alexia Dolohov," she replied shortly. "I'm in America."

"You were unaware?" the doctor paused to look at her. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Alexia took a moment to think about it. "My husband… I was with my boss and my husband in London."

The doctor grimaced. "Well, we'll have the results of your CT scan sometime soon. You've definitely had some head trauma in the past, and recently it looks like. We want to make sure everything's okay."

There was a knock on the door before it opened. Alexia couldn't see who it was with the doctor blocking it. "Do you have my things? I had a stick and a bag with me."

"We've got them," a man said, walking into the room. Her breath caught and she bit down on her lip to quiet herself.

"Is she alright to question?"

The doctor nodded at the two men. "Be gentle. She's got a bad concussion and a possible brain bleed."

"Of course."

Once the doctor left, Alexia breathed out in relief. "What happened?"

Morgan raised an eyebrow at her. "That's what we were wondering."

"I don't really remember," she admitted. "I was with my husband and then… it's blurry."

"And those two," Reid pointed at the other beds. "Do you know them?"

She finally took a close look, and when she did, she tensed. Shoving the blanket off of her, she got to her feet shakily and moved over to the bed directly across from her, despite Morgan and Reid's denials. She sat on the edge of the bed and put a hand on the girl's arm. "Emilie. Emilie, wake up."

"You're the first awake," Reid told her. "She's injured somehow."

Alexia took a closer look at the girl and grimaced. She recognized the scars well, as they were practically mirrored on Remus's body. She raised her hand over the girl and cast silent healing charms.

"What the hell-,"

"What are you doing?"

She ignored them until Emilie's eyes blinked open. "There you go."

Emilie blinked a couple of times and then frowned. "I don't… Alexia? How- what?"

"I can't remember," she admitted, ignoring the agents behind her. "I was with Antonin and Bertie- I think I was testing our new update again. It certainly shouldn't have taken me to you, and not back… home…"

"What?" Emilie asked her. She could see Alexia tense up. "What is it?"

"We're not home," she muttered. "Jamie… Antonin- I can't feel them. We're somewhere else."

"What the hell did you do to her?" Morgan asked her sharply. Finally, she spun to look at him.

"I'd love to blame this on my concussion," she said quietly. "I healed her, Morgan."

He shared a sharp look with Reid. "How do you know my name?"

"Spencer," she nodded at Reid. "You barely believed me the first time, and I don't know how different things are here. But- wait, there's another…"

Emilie followed Alexia over toward the next bed. She pulled the curtain to the side, and Emilie gasped sharply and moved to sit next to the bed. "Avery."

"What's wrong with him?" Alexia asked the agents while her alternate self tried to wake her friend.

"Concussion," Reid answered her hesitantly.

Alexia moved over and put her hand above his head. Quietly, she healed what she could until he awoke as well.

"Thank Circe," Emilie breathed. She'd grabbed his hand and didn't seem to notice she still held it. "Is this how you feel when I'm hurt?"

Avery frowned as he took in the situation. He spotted some drying blood on her face and swiped at it with his thumb, removing most of it. "Pet, where are we?"

"Toledo," Alexia answered him. "Somewhere in America. I can't remember exactly where."

"Ohio," Reid said. "You need to tell us what you keep doing with your hand."

"Spencer, I was allowed to tell you at home, but here, I have no control," she said shortly. "I don't know what the statute is like here. Can I have my things, please?"

"Do you know why we're here?" Morgan wondered. She shrugged, so he stepped closer. "Because you three were found hurt next to a dead man. He'd been murdered. We want to know what happened."

"Well, I definitely can't tell you," Alexia crossed her arms over her chest. "And as long as we're here, I'm responsible for these two. We're going."

"You're not going anywhere until you answer some questions," Morgan denied. "And your friends don't look as ready to move as you are."

Alexia looked back and noticed that Avery had forced Emilie to sit on his bed to keep her from falling. She sighed and tapped her hand against her leg as she tried to figure out what to do. "Fine. Fine. You want to know what I did with my hand?"

"Alexia, no," Emilie said sharply. "The statute!"

"Doesn't mean shit to us here," she told the girl. "We're in neither of our homes, and I'm a Senior Unspeakable anyway. I have the authority to use my best judgement wherever I go in the world. It's legal."

Emilie scowled. "We're not in my home and not in yours. Do you know where we are?"

"Not as such," she admitted with a shrug. "But I've got a job to do, Nott. Getting them to back down will be easy. I know them back home. As soon as they understand-,"

"Hey!" Morgan waved at them. "Yeah, we're still here."

"It's magic," Alexia told them bluntly. Morgan gave her a blank stare and Reid started to shake his head, so she waved her hand at the air again. "Avis!"

Beautiful blue birds were summoned and flew through the air, playing. She held the spell and watched Morgan's mouth drop open. Reid was looking at it critically, so she waved her other hand at Avery to pull up his magical signature. "Spencer, look at that. Magic is a form of energy. There's a base universe energy that is altered by each person. This is Avery's."

"Energy you can manipulate," he muttered. She nodded and waved at her to put her own signature next to Avery's. "Why is this one broken?"

"Mother of Merlin," Emilie whispered. "Alexia, that's dangerous. You need to get that checked out."

"Lily's aware of it," she said with a grimace. "She's going to be really pissed that I hit my head again. Anyway, Emilie and I are from different universes. Neither of us belong here."

"This is… something, but we still need to question you about the man we found," Morgan told her distractedly. He still watched the birds that were chasing one another in the air effortlessly.

Alexia looked between the group. Emilie was maybe fourteen, and Avery was sixteen at most. She sighed. "Neither of you are old enough for Apparition, are you?"

"Not yet," Avery replied shortly. His eyes were on his own magical signature, likely because most witches and wizards didn't learn the spell to check it.

"Fine. If you guys want to know more about your crime scene… Circe, Bertie's going to chew me out for this one. I have a spell I can use to show you what happened. Exactly what happened."

"How-,"

Alexia grabbed the agents, twisted on her ankle, and Apparated back to the alley. With that done, she went back for Avery and Emilie and took them back as well. By the time they got there, Morgan had his gun out and she had to grab a ratty couch and throw it in the way of the bullet. "Calm down! I'm not hurting you. I'm helping, okay? Don't shoot me or I'll turn your gun into a bird, too."

Morgan clearly did not believe her. He shot again, so she used Arresto Momentum to slow down the bullet and then move it out of the way. With that done, she cast Avifors and watched his gun transform into a large bird. "Hey- what?"

"I don't think you're controlling this situation as well as you believe," Avery said dryly. He stood tensely in front of Emilie, and she had her hand on his arm nervously, ready to jump in front of him at the first sign of danger.

"Okay!" Reid put his hands up. "Let's just take a breath. Can you explain what the hell you just did?"

Alexia nodded shortly. She was really starting to feel the concussion. She was off balance and nauseous, and truthfully unsure how she was still standing. "It's called Apparition. Easiest way to think of it is teleportation but it makes you feel like you're going to throw up."

"That energy can do that? How?" Reid asked. Morgan shot him a look and he shook himself. "I mean to say… no, I really want to figure this out."

As Alexia wavered, Emilie tried to move to her, but Avery stopped her. She shot him a glare. "Avery, she's going to pass out!"

"She is not who I protect," he reminded her. "You're staying here, pet."

"I'm done with people telling me what to do," she snapped. She slapped his arm and when he pulled back, she slipped away and helped support her alternate self. "Lexi, you don't look so good."

"They were scanning her for a brain bleed," Reid told them nervously. "She might be in danger. How would this… teleportation affect a brain trauma?"

"Not well," Avery answered reluctantly. He pulled Emilie behind him and wrapped an arm around Alexia's shoulders to support her. "Apparition is rough on a healthy person."

Alexia made a face and raised her hand again, pointing it at the alley. "Praeteritum Revelare!" The alley lit up yellow, and Reid jumped out of the way as the man - murderer, apparently - stepped forward and stabbed a homeless man seven times. Once he'd finished stabbing, he slit the man's throat and ran away. Moments after he'd gone, the portal opened up and dropped the three to the ground.

"Circe," Emilie whispered. She was tense and had her eyes closed with her head pressed against Avery's back. "He looked just like… like Augustus."

"Dolohov, can you get us back already?" Avery snapped. He reached back silently to grab Emilie's hand within his own.

"Probably," Alexia shrugged. She figured that was the wrong move when she nearly fell over sideways. Avery had a good grip on her, though, so she stayed upright. "If they give me my things back."

"What are we supposed to do with that?" Morgan asked.

Alexia rolled her eyes. "Use the sight of him. Say we gave you a description, that we were hiding and he hit us all and knocked us out before he left. Use the description. See if an Augustus Rookwood is in America right now. It's something."

"You seem like you've done this before," Reid commented.

"I have at home. I know you guys back home, in my universe. I've helped out a couple of times, and my family is working with you on the Macnair case."

"Macnair," Emilie repeated in surprise. "Why are muggles looking for him?"

"Because he killed me and assaulted one of their own," Alexia said shortly. She tapped her foot impatiently. "Are you going to give me my things or am I going to have to knock you out and take them?"

"Here," Morgan handed her bag to her, followed by her wand, daggers, and ring. "What are you going to-,"

After putting her bag across her body and tucking away her wand and daggers, she put on her ring and tapped it. A portal opened before them, and she watched Antonin run through it and grab her. "We have been trying to get to you for three hours, Dorogaya."

"Just take me home," she requested. He moved to do so, but she paused. "Wait!"

"Huh?" Emilie stopped short and nearly ran into her.

Alexia waved her hand in the air and watched some scans fill up. After they'd finished and disappeared, she nodded. "Now we can go."

Antonin helped her through the portal first with Avery and Emilie following up behind them. Once they were all through, Bertie closed it at the machine and clapped his hands. "Wonderful, Alexia! Wonderful!"

Once she was sitting and her husband was scanning her head, she looked at her boss. "That portal shouldn't have lost control like that, Bertie. That's not the machine. Something went wrong. I'm fine blaming the wrong universe on the machine, but something else interfered and sent us off course."

"Oh, yes, yes," Bertie agreed. He waved the scans in the air and nodded at them. "See?"

Anxiety gripped her heart. "Oh… fuck."

"Lexi?" Emilie asked her hesitantly. "What is it?"

"It's- the multiverse is- it's off balance, it's not behaving like it should, and now your universe and the one we were just in are connected. Bertie, we have to keep working!"

"If you get up, I will hex you," Antonin warned her. His loving voice was rather contradictory to his words. While he used one hand to heal her, his other was stroking her cheek gently - the one that wasn't bruised, that is. "I am calling Eli today or you will."

Alexia's eyes flashed in panic. "We don't have time, Antonin! Did you see those-,"

"I would let the multiverse burn rather than see you hurt again, Hermione," he interrupted sharply.

She reached up to brush his hair out of his face. "We would burn with it. This is our job."

"The multiverse can wait a day."

"And if another universe is destroyed for my sake?"

"Then so be it."

"Antonin!"

"Alexia," he said softly, meeting her eyes now. He knelt before her and held her hands in her lap. "Please."

The fight drained out of her at his simple words. "Damn it."

Avery cleared his throat. "Are you going to return us home?"

"Bertie," Antonin called. "U10."

"Wait," Emilie slipped away from Avery and made her way over. She didn't mind cutting into the intense look the couple were sharing. "Lexi, are you going to be okay? They said they were looking for a brain bleed."

Antonin tensed. "Hermione."

Alexia made a face at her alternate self. "Thanks, Nott. He was already worried enough as is."

"But will you be okay?"

"I'll come see you when I can," she waved her off. "Let you know I'm alive."

"Bertie, we're going to muggle London," Antonin said sharply. He helped Alexia up and toward the door.

"Good luck!" Bertie called, much too cheerfully. "I'll return your friends. They might even go back to the right universe!"

"Antonin!" Alexia glanced back. Her husband shot their boss a glare, and Bertie gave a belly laugh.

"Go on, they'll be fine!"

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