Hi.
No, I didn't forget about this one. Between Season 2 and the finale going in their own directions and my muses being utterly taken over by another fandom, I let this poor story just sit neglected. But thanks to the Dead Fandoms Society event on the #ficwip Twitter and Discord, I picked this one up and dusted it off. I hope to finish up the story I had in mind in a few more chapters.
If you were a reader of this long ago and still care, welcome back. If you're new to "Sense8", please consider trying it out and I hope you enjoy this S2 AU!
\%\%\%\%\\%\%\%\%\\%\%\%\%\
Kala had very little memory for what happened immediately after the experience between her and Capheus at the restaurant. She was an automaton, moving in familiar steps to refill beverages, bring plates out, refresh tables for the next customers. Capheus returned to his table and ate his meal, but was very quiet. The older woman and the child in the group each tried to draw him out, but each time he insisted he was fine and returned to his food. The entire group appeared quite pleased with their meals and the man in the most expensive suit made another reservation for the next night before leaving. He clapped Capheus on the back, congratulating him for finding the restaurant, as they departed.
After Capheus' party departed, Sanyam looked over the restaurant with a practiced eye and signaled to Kala that she was no longer needed. She grabbed a cab home and retreated to her room.
As she laid out a lacy teddy for sleeping, Kala let her thoughts drift to the others. Someone, not Wolfgang, was restless. She followed the feeling and found herself in Will's room.
He was sprawled on the bed, moodily stabbing at a game on the tablet. He glanced up at her. "Hi."
\%\%\%\%\
She sat down on the edge of her bed and reached over to stroke his arm. "Hi. How are you feeling?"
\%\%\%\%\
He tossed the tablet to the foot of his bed. "Stir-crazy as hell. I need to be doing something about Whispers and I can't. It's killing me to just stay here."
Kala slid her hand down and gripped his fingers. "I can feel how difficult it is for you. You're used to being able to act, and right now it's not possible." She glanced down at their joined hands and back up. "Thank you."
Will raised an eyebrow at her. "For what?"
"For doing this, to keep us safe. For trusting us to keep you safe. As long as we can keep that trust, we will win."
His expression melted into a soft smile and he drew her close, savoring the warmth between them.
\%\%\%\%\
Sun stepped out of the doorway to the prison, blinking in the strong afternoon sunshine. Reporters were clustered around, shouting questions as cameras clicked. She walked carefully, adjusting to wearing heels for the first time in weeks, and ran a hand down the sleek material of her business suit. Her lawyer was close to her side, ready to remind her not to answer any questions, but she kept her lips pressed together and let him lead her to the waiting car.
As they drove off, he turned to her. "You are free to stay anywhere within the city, but I would not recommend either your own flat or your father's house. The press can find you too easily at either place, not to mention any accomplices your brother might have."
Sun nodded.
"I have taken the liberty of acquiring a suite at the Shilla under the name of one of my paralegals."
"A suite? I don't take up that much space."
"True, but I have also taken another liberty, that I hope you will be wise enough to accept."
Sun lifted an eyebrow and her lawyer cleared his throat. The man sitting next to the driver turned around.
"Ms. Bak, this is Detective Kwon-Ho Mun. He will be your bodyguard until this situation is resolved."
\%\%\%\%\
Wolfgang brought in takeout from a nearby restaurant. In the kitchen, out of Felix's sight, Riley plated one serving for Will and carried it downstairs to him. Wolfgang brought portions for himself and Felix, still in the containers. Felix ate with gusto, appreciating the hearty kuře na paprice.
"So, we're staying here for a few weeks with your girlfriend Riley. You'll get head visits from your other girlfriend from India and your friend who gets jumped by a gang sometimes and you'll go head-visit them when they're in trouble. Some big secret agency is hunting all of you, which is your real reason for us hiding out in Prague, and not to get out of reach of the gang warfare that really isn't gang warfare because you're the one who killed your uncle." Felix glanced down to stir more sauce into his rice before taking another bite. "Does that cover it?"
Wolfgang couldn't help smiling. He'd missed Felix's presence.
"Almost. It's possible for groups like ours to have the same connection on a lower level with other groups if members make direct eye contact with one another. One of my group accidentally did that with a member whose group is part of the agency. We had to keep him sedated for days until we moved him somewhere that he doesn't know. That way the other person can't tell where he is."
Wolfgang paused, and Felix lowered his fork, raising his eyebrows. "Go on. I know there's another shoe dropping and it's got to be a big one."
"He's in an extra bedroom downstairs off the garage. Riley's the only one who can go in and he's not coming out. Right now it's safest for all of us if you two don't meet or see one another. Anything he sees, the enemy can see."
"Is he from Iceland, too?"
Wolfgang shook his head. "No."
Felix made a face when Wolfgang didn't offer any more details. "Anything else? If India Girlfriend turns up in person am I going to have to hide, too?"
Kala sat down next to Felix, looking very pointedly at Wolfgang for an answer.
\%\%\%\%\
Lito would give full credit to Cristina, if asked. She put huge emphasis on Lito's dedication to his acting skills, being able to bring traditional macho heartthrobs to life, to how glowingly most of his co-stars spoke of him. She name-checked the other celebrities who had come out in the last several years, driving home the fact that being gay should not derail one's career. And when her fellow anchor tried to make a disparaging joke once the interview played, she shut him down hard.
And still, his agent reported that filming was halted on his current project while the producers squabbled frantically among themselves and that his phone would not stop ringing. Daniela and Hernando hovered, rotating between sitting with Lito as he scrolled endlessly through entertainment news on the television and his phone. Hernando was putting together a meal for them at the moment.
Lito paused on a report from a rival network. The reporter was clearly miffed at Cristina's scoop and her team had rapidly put together a segment that cast Lito as a playboy, hinting that this story was Lito's way of seeking an even bigger spotlight by lying about his sexuality.
At that point Daniela grabbed the remote from his hand and turned the television off. "You know that everyone hates Lidia Medrano because she pulls shit like this, right? Her going so hard at you means that even more people will stop and consider."
"You hope," Hernando called from the kitchen. Daniela glared and he shrugged, popping a cherry tomato in his mouth as he assembled salads.
"She did this out of spite. Other people will go against her out of spite. Spite makes the world go round," she retorted. Lito chuckled at that, pausing mid-scroll on Twitter at someone's fast Photoshop work. The screencap had originally been an open-mouth kiss with Elena Domínguez in his second movie. The edit showed Lito deep-throating someone's cock, nose pressed against the bottom of an impressive set of abs.
Daniela glimpsed it and snatched his phone, quickly reporting and blocking the account almost before Lito could protest. He stared at her as she handed the phone back to him. "You are terrifying when it comes to this."
Nomi leaned over his shoulder. "Need me to do some more work? I don't know if I can get them all, but I can wipe out some of the more egregious ones."
Lito shook his head.
"What's wrong?" Hernando asked as he shook a bottle of dressing and began drizzling it over the salads.
"Nothing, nothing. Just, these aren't important. I've had people Photoshop me plenty of times before. They just have new material to work with."
Nomi nodded, getting the message.
"I'm more concerned about my agent and the movie. If they shut production down, recast me, will I be able to get another role? I like what I do. I like the roles I play."
Daniela squeezed his hand. "Maybe...you could expand the roles? What if you were allowed to play something opposite another guy?"
Lito thought about that, missing the brief frown flitting across Hernando's face.
\%\%\%\%\
"She's not going to turn up in person. She is far away and safe in India."
Felix thought about that for a second, then dug back into his food. Wolfgang looked past him at Kala, noting the raised eyebrow.
"You're doing it again."
\%\%\%\%\
"Doing what?" Wolfgang loomed over her as Kala settled into her bed.
"Dictating my choices. You don't get to do that."
"We have to keep a low profile! Act like everything is normal!"
"Except things are not normal. And they won't be normal until we take BPO out of the picture. Or at least this man Whispers."
Wolfgang narrowed his eyes. "You're planning something. What are you planning?"
"You'll find out when it's time." She turned away from him and pulled the covers over her head.
\%\%\%\%\
Sun pulled the curtains in her hotel bedroom closed, thinking about indulging in a long, hot shower despite the very late hour. She had spent hours at her lawyer's, going over every detail of the current situation and what the possible outcomes might be. Then Detective Mun had accompanied her to her apartment so she could pack her own things for the stay in the hotel. She had just finished arranging things in drawers, savoring the feel of her own clothes.
She chose sleepwear and turned to toss it on the bed. Riley and Kala were both there, grinning widely.
"What are you two doing?"
Kala stretched out on the bed. "Checking out your new friend, of course!"
"New friend?"
Riley jerked a thumb at the bedroom door. "Your bodyguard! He's hot!"
"Who's hot?" Lito asked as he drew out the chair from the desk.
"Sun has a new bodyguard and he's quite the looker," Kala replied.
"And quite the gentleman. Carried your bag up, has a remarkably clean record for a cop, a shit-ton of awards for martial arts competitions dating back to his teen years," Nomi added, joining the others on the bed.
Sun looked up sharply at that.
\%\%\%\%\
"Really? How did you find that?" Sun leaned over Nomi's shoulder.
"He's part of a dojo, works with underprivileged kids. Their website has a bio of him and they list everything he ever won, including second and third places."
Sun ran her eye down the list, noting the competitions she had participated in as a teenager. They had almost certainly crossed paths, fought with one another. She hadn't immediately placed him among the dozens of opponents she'd faced over the years. "Interesting."
\%\%\%\%\
"What's interesting?"
Sun looked up to see Detective Mun in the doorway. The others grinned up at her, Lito flashing a thumbs-up in approval.
"I didn't remember at first, but I think we've met before. In competition?"
A smile broke across his face. "We did. You took me down with a move I'd never seen before." He moved a little closer, the smile turning shy. "I regret that we never had a chance for a rematch."
Sun tried to ignore both the flutter in her stomach and the others egging her on. She couldn't tell if he was being sincere, flirting, or both.
"Do you suppose there's a fitness center in the hotel with an appropriate space?"
The look of eager delight on his face was more reward than she expected.
\%\%\%\%\
Capheus stood at the window, looking at the sparkling lights of Mumbai at night. Nairobi had an impressive cityscape, but he had never been in a position to see it properly like this, laid out below him. He was reluctant to go to sleep and miss taking in this view.
There was a tap on his door and Capheus paused long enough to grab a T-shirt and pull it on over the pajama bottoms he was wearing. He opened the door and blinked, seeing Amondi there, clutching a blanket around her like a cape.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping, young lady? Tomorrow is a very big day."
Instead of responding with her usual banter, Amondi wrapped her arms around him. "I'm scared."
Capheus hesitated, then laid a hand on her head. He drew her into his room where they could sit on the sofa, thinking about what his mother might say.
"Being scared is normal. Have you never been scared before, learning about your disease or its treatments?"
"Sure, but I couldn't let Dad see it. He worries so hard about all of it. And now he's convinced that this transplant will work and…" She dropped her gaze, hands twisting in the edges of the blanket. "What if it doesn't?"
He rubbed her shoulder and ducked his head a little, inviting her to look back up at him. "Nothing about our lives, for any of us, is certain. All we can do is try. Yes, it's possible that this treatment will not work. But there is no chance at all of it working if you do not try."
Amondi nodded slowly.
"So we try. We hope. And if we're wrong, your father will search for the next possibility. And we'll all be with you while you wait for it. But in the meantime, you should go back to your bed and dream about all the good things that will happen if this treatment cures your leukemia. Think you can do that?"
"I think so." She reached up and hugged Capheus around his neck. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He walked her to her door, nodding at the one guard stationed at the end of the hall when he smiled. When he returned to his room, Riley was sitting on the sofa.
"That was sweet. And good advice."
Capheus shrugged. "I just tried to do what my mother would do."
She gave a sad smile. "I'm glad you have her."
"And I'm glad you have your father. Between us we have a good set."
Riled laughed at that. "I think he'd adopt all eight of us without a second thought."
Emotions from the others echoed to them. Amusement from Kala and Lito. Bitterness from Nomi and Wolfgang. Sorrow from Will and Sun.
We have each other, Capheus thought at them fiercely. We have each other.