A/N- Woo-hoo! Onto Revenge, and we're that much closer to being out of the series and into my world… yay. Hope everyone likes this chapter!

PS- I am soooo frustrated with the number of times Sam says 'All right' in the last part of the scene, it looks horrible in writing. But it's what he did on the show, so bear with me here!

Korean Pearl-Wow, I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about the story! And in response to your e-mail, she isn't exactly away from Lothos and Zoey… yet. About your Maya stories: how long are they going to be on hiatus? I still want to know what happens to her and the Nadar! (AsI remarked earlier, 'nadar' means 'swim' in Spanish. Is there some reason for this?)

PippinDuck- Thanks! As for Alia hearing Al, I figured the scene wouldn't be the same without his voice counting down in the background, as that's what made it so dramatic. So I figured Alia hit her head, and that somehow enabled her to hear Al for a short period of time. But really I just wanted that in there… heh.

Disclaimer- All the dialogue (except for two small extra sentences by Sam and Alia) belongs to Belisarius Productions and Don Belisario.

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Chapter 16- Hypnosis

All the pain I thought I knew,

All the thoughts lead back to you,

Back to what was never said,

Back and forth inside my head.

I can't handle this confusion,

I'm unable, come and take me away.

–Take Me Away, by Avril Lavigne

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As the blue light faded, so did my happiness and comfort. My fear returned, and with it, darkness. I was surrounded by walls, with no light to see by. I had to get out!

Calm down! You've never been afraid of the dark before.

I breathed deeply, but the feeling didn't go away. The panic of being in a dark, confined space remained.

"Alia? Alia!" Sam's voice barely filtered through the thick wall between us.

"Sam! Sam!" I cried. I couldn't keep the panic out of my voice. I was trapped!

"It's all right, I'm here!" He called.

I heard screams through the walls, the floor, the ceiling. "Where are we?" I gasped.

"I don't know," Sam admitted.

"Good Lord," a woman's voice snidely filtered though the walls. "Only a week in the box and you don't know where you are."

The door was flung open, and hands roughly grabbed me out of the room and shoved me onto the floor. I tried to catch myself but failed. Steel wrapped around my wrists, and I realized I was handcuffed. Wincing at the bright light and at the coldness of the concrete, I cried, "Sam!"

The woman laughed cruelly. "Sam? If you're yelling for a three-letter savior, I suggest you make it start with a 'G'."

A similar door was opened and Sam was dragged out. He was flung against the wall, and fell to the floor beside me.

"We have to get out of here!" I whispered, frightened.

The woman, I noticed, was wearing a police uniform. She began to pace.

"Well, that's simple. All you have to do is tell me which one of you did it."

Sam looked up, confused. "Did what?"

Without any warning, she turned and kicked him hard in the stomach. Sam fell back, groaning. The woman glared at us. "First you act like you don't know where you are, then you pretend you don't know why!"

"We don't!" I pleaded.

"Oh you don't?" She raised an eyebrow. "Well you better figure it out, unless you want to go back in that box. Now, ladies, which one of you murdered Carol Benning?"

I turned to look at Sam in fright, but all he did was look at the ground and mutter, "Oh, boy."

The policewoman led us down a corridor, and outside past concrete buildings. The fence surrounding the area was covered in barbed wire at the top, and it looked as if it were electrified. I shivered. Lothos had sent us to a prison!

Except… something didn't make sense. What about that blue light I had felt and seen and been a part of as I Leaped this time? Surely that couldn't have come from Lothos.

It was a trick to lead you into a false sense of security, a voice in my mind whispered, and the fear returned.

We entered one of the office buildings, where many police officers bustled about. I had seen no men so far, and decided this prison must be for women only. The woman leading us snapped, "Sit."

Quivering, I did as she said, sinking slowly onto the hard wooden bench. Sam leaned up against the wall and whispered, "Just take it easy, we'll figure this out, okay?"

But the policewoman heard us and slammed Sam up against the wall again. "Nobody told you to talk! I told you to sit."

"I need to talk to her," Sam gasped.

"You got no needs, you got no wants, you got no rights," she snarled, punctuating her words with shoves.

"If you want answers I suggest you let me talk to her."

She laughed. "Now, why should I do you any favors?"

"If I find out the truth who's doing who the favor?"

She seemed to consider that for a moment, then stepped away.

"Alone," Sam emphasized.

She walked over to a broom closet and flung it open. "Step into my office!" She chuckled.

I followed Sam, looking around nervously as I did so. Before I could enter, the woman grabbed my arm forcefully. "Warden's got plans for you, Angel. Big plans."

I stared at her, unsure of what to say, or do. She flung me into the closet with Sam, and the door closed behind us.

I turned to Sam, feeling the cold metal of the handcuffs resist my movements. "Lothos put us here," I whispered in fright.

"Just be quiet and listen to me, alright?" Sam said.

"He knows where I am!" I whimpered.

"We don't know that," Sam told me harshly. "There's a fifty-fifty chance this could be my Leap."

But he was forgetting that Lothos could find me at any point in time; wherever or whenever I was, he would always come back. "Even if it is, when he locates me he's gonna kill me!"

"Yeah, but he's got to locate you first, right? Now look, right now you're alive and you're safe. How long does it take for Zoey to do a location search?"

I tried to remember, flustered. "I don't know, it differs. Sometimes, it's just a couple of hours, but once or twice I didn't have contact for an entire day!"

"Okay, well we've just got to figure out some wide to hide you, that's all."

He made it sound so simple. I whirled on him, crying, "From myself? Zoey's locked into my brainwaves!"

Sam turned, startled, to the corner. "Okay, look Al..."

"Al's here?" I asked.

"Yes, he's here. Look, that's great, okay?" he muttered to the corner. "Then we'll change your brainwaves, okay?" He turned back to the corner. "We gotta figure out a way to alter her brain patterns before Lothos can get a lock on her."

I stared at him in confusion. "How? Drugs, alcohol, some kind of self induced comma?"

"I don't think so, that would leave you too vulnerable."

"You can't reprogram my brain!"

"Well, we don't…we gotta…hip what?" I watched, part of my brain mildly interested as Sam tried to carry on two conversations at the same time.

"Hypnosis," Sam said finally. Al must have figured it out.

I felt a shock of fear run through me. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to hypnotize you so you think like Angel would. Lothos won't be able to lock onto you, then." He pulled out a folding chair. "Here, you should sit."

I sat down in the chair, leaning my head back. It felt like a trip to the dentist, with all the same fear. What if I was lost inside this other person forever? Nice one, Alia. But I was still myself when I Leaped, I argued. Now I would become a whole different person…in mind as well as body.

Sam ran his hands over mine, both of ours still in handcuffs. "Close your eyes," he instructed. "Relax. Take a deep breath."

I closed my eyes, but how could I be expected to relax under these circumstances? I took a deep breath and held it, willing myself to stay calm. I hoped I was succeeding.

"Forget everything. Your past, your anger, your fear…"

Essentially, he was asking me to forget myself. For what else was I, than memories, anger, and fear? I forced myself to clamo down on the thought, and tried to be at peace.

"I want to you imagine you're on top of a mountain. You're standing on the top of a mountain, looking out. Can you see yourself there?"

I willed my imagination to comply, and slowly the scenery filled in. The sharp smell of pine, the cry of the birds, the deep blue sky. "Um-hum," I murmured, gazing around at the beauty before me.

All right. You're looking up at a yellow sun. The voice I had been hearing became a part of me, as I did as instructed and looked up into the sky. And a dark, dark blue sky. Warm summer breeze blows across your face. White clouds streak across the dark blue sky.

I watched, fascinated, as everything the voice said became true. The clouds stirred up and began to blow. The breeze felt good on my face. "Clouds," I murmured. "White clouds." Yes. "And miles and miles of sky." I had never seen so much sky before.

That's good.

"It's almost as if I…" I couldn't finish the thought. "I'm frightened, Sam," I whispered, remembering suddenly who I was and where I was. I fought to keep myself on the mountain. "I don't know where I am."

"You're in the Mallard Correction Facility for Women," I heard his voice say. "Your name is Jenson. Angel Jenson." So the policewoman hadn't just been using a sweet name, but my name really was Angel. How ironic. "You're nineteen years old."

I concentrated on the mountain again, and the voice became a part of me. My name is Liz. Liz Tate. Can you remember that, Angel?

I nodded, slowly. I was Angel…

Suddenly I saw a figure in the distance. A lady in a black dress, with short red hair, a woman who carried fear with her, and much anger… "Liz?" I called to the voice.

I'm right here.

"Someone's coming."

Huh?

"Someone's coming in the distance, I can see someone coming…"

Who's coming?

"I don't know. She's looking for something…I'm afraid, Liz!" The woman came closer, looking for someone, for Alia…who is Alia?

Your name is Angel Jenson. You only know what Angel Jenson knows. I want you to find Angel. Her pain, her hope, her past, every little piece of her that's left.

The clouds whipped about my frantically, and I gazed out of someone else's eyes. Frightened, I cowered under a table in a bright blue room. Another mind stirred within me, and I recognized myself as Alia, and the other, the girl whose eyes I was borrowing, as Angel.

Angel? I called. Her mind cowered frantically beneath mine, afraid.

Don't be afraid, Angel, I called to her. I need your help now. And I need to help you…can you help me? Will you let me help you?

Nothing at first, then a timid, telepathic nod.

Okay, I told her, and drew her to me. Our minds merged. My mind reached into her past, and I knew she saw who I was as well.

Angel's father beat her, day after day, when he was drunk Her mother lost herself in marijuana, trying to escape from her marriage. And Angel was the one who suffered.

Her father often locked her in a closet, for hours or even days, after beating her. Left in the dark, without food or water, she developed a severe case of claustrophobia.

When she grew old enough, she left her parents, but became addicted to cocaine and heroin as a way of coping. She found she could sell marijuana she stole from her mother on the street, and use the money to buy other drugs. She was caught by the police, and sent to Mallard as punishment, an uncaring place where they once again locked her up. Her only friend was Liz.

Then our eyes focused on the mountaintop, and I knew she would be safe here. We would be safe here.

That's all you are now. You are Angel. Do you understand?

I nodded.

All right, Angel, good. Now I'm going to count to three. And when I do, you're going to open your eyes.

You will remain Angel Jenson until I say the word… Rumplestiltskin?

"Rumplestiltskin," I murmured.

All right, Rumplestiltskin it is. Now. What's your name?

"Angel Jenson."

Good. All right, Angel. When I count to three, you will wake up. You will remember everything I told you.

One.

Two.

Three…