Ah… This week technology is angry at me. My notebook drive died, and for some reason, chapter 30 I wrote (it took me two weeks) decided it wouldn't open anymore. So, this is not the version I intended to post, but hey, at least is a version, right? (Not that I'm too happy with it.)

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter XXX

March 27th, 2004

SGC

Magnus POV

After being escorted to the infirmary to avoid another ill attempt on obtaining Ashley's blood, we found our way back to the Conference Room. This one is a little more private than the Briefing room we used before, and I guess it's a form of preventing interruptions and eavesdroppers alike. I suppose SCIU visit did manage to change somewhat General Hammond's vision of the situation.

When we arrived, General Hammond and Catherine were already there waiting for us, although we are still missing part of our teams. Catherine observes me with a look I know; she wants to talk. I smile at her, but I know that at this point, every word I say is being carefully watched by the SGC members.

"You better not forget what we talked about, Doctor," General Hammond warns me, and I look at him. I find rare that his warning came the moment I can hear the voices of the missing members. I nod at him and try to keep a careful watch over him. If my theory is correct, he might have an abnormal hearing range. But I'm distracted out my mind when the doors open, and I can see them, and for a reason, I can't help but feel alleviated.

This feeling may or may not relate to the fact that Samantha took Nikola and Henry to her lab. And I much as Nikola geniality was preexistent to his abnormal nature, it is also true that his fondness for exploding things was there too when I first met him. However, as no alarms raised so far, I do hope it means he managed to control himself.

Henry is the first to cross the door, and by the size of the smile plastered on his face, I know they've been enjoying the time in Samantha's lab. Nikola follows him close, the smirk on his face tells me more than enough -he knows something and did something. I raise an eyebrow at him, and Nikola winks back. I only need a look at the Colonel to see why and how he managed to keep his mind distracted.

Colonel O'Neill held the door opened for Sam, and the mix between the way his jaw clenched tightly, his ramrod straight posture and, well, the glare Nikola is getting, I'm more than willing to bet that Nikola had managed to make the man extremely jealous of him. I shook my head, and I can't help but feel a bit of pity for the poor Colonel who has no idea that his reaction to the man has no basis. But of course, how would he know that Nikola is only teasing him to verify how worthy he is of the daughter he never got to raise.

"Let's hope we won't be interrupted again," General Hammond voices as they sit. And Nikola chuckles.

"Excuse me if I remind you, that all the interruptions originated in your team, General. First, the test that couldn't be helped. Ashley's issue was a result of your people not listening to our warnings. Added to that, then they went and drug Helen. And lastly, somehow it occurred to them that shaking the barn wouldn't affect the haystack. And we had to flee, so please, do explain why should we feel your advice as a threat?" Nikola inquiries.

"Nikola, there's no need to be impolite. I believe he is just showing some concern," I say. He waves dismissingly, "shall we begin?"

"Well, first let me tell you we have received your test results. And no matter how much you two said you are abnormals; there's nothing in your blood to prove it." Doctor Frasier says rearranging the files in her hands. Nikola and I share a smile, "What?"

"Their results came back as normal?" Samantha asks with this hint of incredulity in her tone.

"Yes, that's quite as we expected," I tranquilize her.

"We call it Species Protection," Nikola grins, and I roll my eyes. His naming skills are poor, to say the least.

"The reason why you didn't find anything abnormal in our blood is simply a defense mechanism, a protection method if you will, " I explain. "To put it simply, our blood 'dies' out of our body."

"Yes, yours and all the blood extracted from any living creature," Janet points.

"Exactly," I smile. "As you might know, Doctor Frasier, the average duration of red cells is around 32 to 45 days. However, we are not talking about the duration of cells, you'll see. For us, cells, no matter which kind, never stop mitosis or cell division," I clarify just in case. "Contrary to the common occurrence, one cell of our body only dies when the resulting copies are perfect. If there's even a small different both copies are disposed, and the original cell then once more will start the cellular division. This process is thousands of times faster than the average mitosis. This can be seen under the microscope during a short period and the proper means."

"Alas, without the proper means of containing our blood, which is different from the way you keep yours," Nikola waves. "They revert to a more primitive form of mitosis by slowing down the process, and thus, it looks like nothing uncommon for the human eye. If our blood reached your microscope in a matter of minutes after the extraction, then you would've seen something completely different." Nikola explains.

"It was marked as a priority."

"Well, for the results you presented your priority still took over two hours after the extraction. As we already told you is not your fault, the means to keep it as if it were still inside our bodies are not among the things you have. Or know."

"I'm sorry Doctor Magnus, I'm not following you," Hammond squints at me. I look at him, and he shifts under the weight of my glance. He's not interested in our biology, and I wouldn't be if I were him.

"What's that you want to know, General? It might be faster if you, all or any of you, point what do you need or want to know."

"What are you?" Doctor Frasier asks.

"I am abnormal." They look at each other, and yes, I could've given more information.

"You told us before the Sanctuary is your family responsibility," Doctor Jackson trails, then he sighs. "Were all the members of your family abnormals?"

"No." I shook my head. "I am the first abnormal in my tree line."

"What about him?" Colonel O'Neill asks pointing to Tesla

"I am half human, half Akhkharu," he shrugs.

"What the hell is an Akh," O'Neill starts to asks

"Akhkharu? That is not possible," Doctor Jackson interrupts him.

"Why is that not possible, Daniel?" Samantha asks intrigued.

"Well, as per what I know, the Akhkharu lived on Earth until they became extinct. Histories of this supposedly powerful race became hard to find. They were all but wiped as part of known history."

"Ah, the Dark Ages," Nikola sighs dramatically. "We became nothing more than myths, urban legends, but the name has remained up to our days. However, Doctor, in almost all languages the name evolved too."

"It's possible to find information about them. The Akhkharu's were decimated and lead to full extermination, but they left behind information about the sanguine vampiris. And it's impossible not to know about them, especially nowadays. There are a couple of books about them that became quite popular."

"Yeah, thank you, Dear Bram, for painting it completely wrong," Nikola mutters.

"Bram? "

"Yes, Bram Stoker, he painted a whole idea of how Akhkharu were and functioned. His book was quite the success." "Excuse me, but are you saying that the Akhkharu are Vampires?" Doctor Jackson chuckles, and we simply look at him. "How?"

"It's all in my blood," Nikola adds dramatically.

"Wow, so you drink blood?" The archeologist asks

"Well, not really. I don't like the way it tastes, and it ruins my palate; I prefer wine."

"Nikola!" I warn him to stop talking. No matter how well Doctor Jackson seems to be taking him. The others are looking at him in that way. The one in which they are trying to decide if they want us in a mental hospice or with our heads in stakes.

"Look! It's not like it sounds," Will tries to save the mess. "Bram Stoker just spiced up a little the history, mixing what he knew of the Akhkharu behavior with Vlad Dracula history. Just like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did with his friend to write Sherlock Holmes."

"I don't see how Sherlock Holmes and Dracula are related," General Hammonds points out, and Colonel O'Neill scrubs his face tiredly.

"Bram Stoker was friends with an Akhkharu and Conan Doyle with an HEI. They based their characters in traits of abnormals they knew. The same happened to The Invisible Man," Will attempted to explain.

"That doesn't help to clarify, Will," Ashley adds, and I must agree with her. I close my eyes for a while considering my options. I look around the table, and I make my decision.

"Well, I guess we should stop the questioning and start from the beginning. Otherwise, you won't be able to grasp the facts fully."

"From the beginning? Of the Sanctuary?" Catherine asks.

"No, dear. From the Beginning of Earth."

Conference Room

"From the beginning of Earth?" O'Neill raised his eyebrow. "You are not going to try and convince us we all come from abnormals."

"Not quite," she smiled mischievously. "I'm joking, Colonel. Doctor Jackson was introduced to the knowledge of the Akhkharu when he was in our conference."

"I'm not quite sure if you remember something about it or if you were there only to try and find out more about Helen." Nikola squinted.

"What?"

"We have alarms for special searches. You raised every one of them back then when you searched for Magnus," Henry commented with a shrug.

"We weren't sure which you position was Doctor Jackson, but we knew for sure, Doctor Frasier was going to try and learn all she could about me. And as we already pointed this when you were down, I believe we don't need to dwell on it again." Helen finished.

"I..." Daniel started, and Magnus raised her hand to stop him.

"It doesn't matter; it is in the past after all." she smiled. "Now, let's go back to ten thousands of years ago. Earth was populated by two bigger races - The Akhkharu and the humans. The firsts were more advanced than the humans by the time the Anquietas arrived."

"Anquietas?" Jack frowned.

"Ancients," Daniel explained.

"The Anquietas, came to Earth after their division occurred. In this species, the separation occurred when part of them wanted to control all beings employing their religion 'The Origin.' And there was a second group which was devoted to the sciences and living in harmony respecting the will of all the living beings. The second group took the name of Lanteans which means people of science and called the others the Ori's."

"I've never heard of the Ori's before." Daniel pointed.

"We don't know much about them either," Magnus confirmed. "What we do know, is along with the Lanteans a couple of Ori's managed to get themselves on the ship that arrived at Terra."

"Earth?" Sam wondered, and Helen nodded.

"Even with Ori's among their ranks, Lanteans made a home in Terra. However, even if they found themselves very fond of the two younger races they decided not to interrupt the course of their evolution. But the Akhkharu were insistent, and their minds were developed in a way similar to those of the Lanteans, and they found a way to convince the aliens to teach them what they knew about the sciences."

"One day, a plague reached Terra. A disease as they never knew before, Lanteans started to fall one by one. The Akhkharu attempted to save them, but their knowledge in healing wasn't as good. And a decision was made, the healthy Lanteans boarded their ship and left. And that's what we now know as the Myth of Atlantis."

"Many years later, the Lanteans feeling curious about the races they left behind, reached Terra. They found several cities rules by Akhkharu in a way similar to what they had taught them."

"The history we know is as follows," Daniel said, Helen nodded, and he wet his lips before continuing. "The Ancients, one of the most advanced races of our galaxy, made Earth their home. We know that in some way they brought the human race to life, and afterward, some of them formed families with their creation. While some of them decided to ascend, others remained until the day they had to choose between dead and ascension. We know that at some point the Goa'uld arrived and took Egypt as theirs. And as the Ancients who ascend can't intervene on the lower planes of existence, the Goa'uld took hosts and invaded the Earth taking humans as slaves and moving them to other points of the Galaxy. That invasion didn't last long as human organized and fought against them and finally managed to expel them from Earth. Finally, they buried the gate and covered it with the massive rock and the warning, as it was found." Daniel finished quickly.

"Well, you are almost correct," Magnus nodded.

"Almost?"

"Yes. The truth is as we said, Lanteans arrived at a populated Earth. Humans already existed as a species; Ancients didn't create them," Nikola explained. "Is on their second coming when they bring the Stargates with them."

"Stargates? In plural?" Sam frowns.

"Yes, four of them to be exact," Nikola shrugs. "One for Egypt, one for Rome, one in the depths of the pole and one was placed in Praxis. But Stargates aren't important, at least not if you know the location of all of them."

"What do you mean?"

"Human safety." He answered, but he only got a frown from Sam. "Well, the connection is dual, you can't connect to the same door when it is already opened. But with four options available, you can come through from any of them at any time." Tesla looked at his daughter who had a confused expression and sighed. "You know how it works, Samantha. Six constellations to define the address and one as the point of origin. The eighth symbol can be used either to connect galaxies or to jump between Stargates placed on the same planet. Sadly, the part where they explained to what they added the ninth lock was destroyed by water."

"Are you serious?" Sam asked him.

"You didn't know this?"

"No." She frowned. "We theorized it was impossible to have two gates in the same planet until we found the second one. But our experience dictates that only one can be open at any time."

"Yes, that would be true without the eighth symbol to specify to which part of the point of origin are you creating the connection."

"You do know where the other one is, right?" Will asked.

"We… the other one?"

"Of course, you have one here. And mentioned having found a second one, and we have one blocked back in the Sanctuary. That means one is still missing."

"Which one you found?" Will asked out of curiosity.

"We found the one in the pole."

"Well, then let's hope the last one is buried under a pile of dust, somewhere. If we can go back to our history lesson?" Helen asked, and all nodded in agreement. "Well, when the Goa'uld arrived, they used the four points of entry. Sadly humans' cities were the ones closer to the gates. And they quickly overtook them."

"Knowing the situation, some Ancients evolved into beings of light. Some flew by Stargate and few, the ones with families decided to remain. The Akhkharu saw the devastation of these aliens to their world and escaped the cities. And humans, well, they didn't stand a chance," Nikola continued.

"Akhkharu and Ancients found themselves powerless. Ancients knew that evolving meant they wouldn't be able to intervene, so it was mostly out of the question. And the Akhkharu, they weren't enough to help the humans. But they both had something the humans didn't, and that was advanced knowledge of the sciences. With the humans in mind, together they found a way to obtain the benefits of evolving without having to become a light being. However, the experiment with volunteer humans was catastrophic. They couldn't survive the change. Then, even when he knew the Ancients were too close to human DNA structure, one ancient volunteered and the experiment was deemed as a lost cause. Until one Akhkharu volunteered in the name of science," she trailed.

"The experiment was a success," Nikola continued. "She became immortal, her already stronger body became more powerful, and her health was improved. They tested to see if there was a way for her to control her body with a Goa'uld inside. What they found was shocking; she absorbed the symbiont, and she was never affected by it."

"Then one by one all the pureblood Akhkharu, the only ones who could survive the procedure, changed. They convinced the Goa'ulds to take over their more resilient bodies, and successfully killed the Goa'ulds and retook control of Earth in this relatively peaceful way. Such is the reason behind being named the Protectors."

"That's not what we know." Daniel pointed. "As far as we learned, there was a social revolt that led to the fall of Ra. Who ended up flying away from Earth not to return."

"There was a revolt, yes." Magnus conceded. "But it wasn't from humans against Goa'ulds."

"Yes, well as in any race the Akhkharu had some power-starved people." Nikola rolled his eyes. "They all had agreed to pose as Goa'uld to attract them to the trap, but some didn't want to relinquish the power after getting it."

"Even with a few astray Akhkharu, they achieved two gigantic goals. One, they absorbed the favorite child of Egeria, and when she noticed it, she understood they weren't the Gods they portrayed. And the Tok'ra was created, on her last connection with the Goa'uld base knowledge she deleted the addresses to Earth."

"And second?"

"They managed to convince the favorite of Ra to jump into an Akhkharu. And then, after being absorbed, the Akhkharu convinced him to flee from Earth in search of other worlds. Selmak information about that time confirmed that the moment they noticed she wasn't a Goa'uld, she was killed, several times." Jack shook his head knowing quite well what being killed several times could mean.

"But while the Akhkharu fought their cloak and dagger battle, the few Ori's fans who had reached Earth created a plan. They talked with the humans and all the mixed subspecies and convinced a bunch that Akhkharu's were evil. The revolt happened two days after Ra had left."

"Of course, the Humans were no match for the Akhkharu pre-change, much less now that they had these new-found skills. The Akhkharu won by far, and the astray ones proved their point. As the superior race, they decided to take control over Earth for the well-being of all the living creatures."

"And what did they do with the others?"

"That's easy, in the period of peace, Ancients worked on a stronghold known as the City of Praxis. A city inside the hollow part of Earth. The council of Akhkharu's decided that it was fair for the traitors to live on Praxis, and so they did. They placed guards over all the entrances and placed the Stargate on a safe only they knew how to open to prevent both Goa'uld taking over them, and they left the city."

"Angrier with the Akhkharu, the Ori's started to scheme. And by the time the council was supposed to send members to Praxis to check the status of the people, they had mounted a piece of special equipment by the entrance. This technology made the Akhkharu's mortal again. The scouts were killed, and their heads were returned to the entrance."

"The remaining members of the council decided that trying to enter Praxis was too dangerous, and thus, they sealed the city. And from there the Earth entered a golden age. However, with the previous experience, this group of nasty Praxians managed to create a way to sterilize the Akhkharu. And making their way to the top through an unknown exit, they kidnapped the children and made them go through the process."

"With this tested, they started a new campaign and using religion; they convinced humans that the Akhkharu's were devils. The Praxians took revenge at that point; they mixed with a fraction of the Catholic Church and with their advanced knowledge, managed to prevent the perpetuation of the Akhkharu species. The dark ages started. By then, the Akhkharu's were hunted, humanized and sterilized in a historic act we know as the crusades."

"The Crusades?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, actually the witch hunt was also part of the same situation. The absurd tests on pointed witches were created because an Akhkahru would've survived to be burned or drowned. And if they did, then they were humanized and killed. The few who managed to remain moved to Bhalasaam were they attempted to live in peace and fix themselves back to their former glory. They couldn't duplicate the process after being humanized, and at the end, no one remained. Bhalasaam was bombarded during a war putting a final note to their history. With this, we can fast-forward to 1800."

"What happened then?"

"Gregory Magnus started the Sanctuary to help all the abnormals he found. They were plenty, and his work set the basis for what we have and know. The Sanctuary expanded through the world with the help of the Governments', it kept the abnormals safe and the humans out of the loop. That was until five years ago, when a group called the Cabal, which wasn't more than descendants of the escaped Praxians, created this virus to drop all abnormals from the face of Earth. Or so we thought."

"And something which doesn't happen often happened then: We were wrong." Nikola sighed. "They created a virus knowing that the only way to stop it was using pure, untainted Akhkharu's blood. And that was something Gregory Magnus wanted as far away from the hands of his descent as possible."

"One of his last tasks was placing the vial containing this blood in Bhalasaam, protected by traps that could only be passed by using five distinct abnormal skill sets. After passing the tests, we acquired it. By then, we had to place the divide and conquer tactic I've mentioned before, and Ashley and Henry were tortured while we were retrieving the vial."

"They never noticed what was done to me, until I disappeared with the blood. Although, my last memory from that time was getting home with the Cabal plans. Then, the next thing I remember, is," Ashley stopped and looked at Helen, "is watching my mom trying to bring me back."

"As you know by now, they treated her with the blood and brought forth their dormant genes, but also, they made her a new species. She has traits of Akhkharu, but she also has mine and her father's traits. Back then, the Cabal made copies of their experiment and tried to bring the Sanctuary to an end. However, at the end of the day, we are still standing and they, well, are not."

"And when we thought we were in peace," Will added, "something happened. Someone found a way out of Praxis, and we were forced to find a way in."

"Helen needed the cure more than we needed to prevent things from happening. We didn't know that entering Praxis would end up as it did."

"Isolated from the situation top side, Praxians lived in peace and evolved. And finding out that Akhkharu's were no longer the rulers and that humans were far behind them in the evolution process, made them want to claim Earth. An up-rise was organized, and thankfully, we managed to prevent the disaster that was going to happen otherwise."

"How?"

"Time traveling. Without doing it on purpose, we send someone back in time. And that allowed a plan b to be developed. But there was a thing with this plan B," Helen sighed. "I was pretty sure that this up-rise wasn't just to claim topside. But the only way I had to learn the plan behind the plan, was becoming someone they trusted. However, with abnormals surfacing from everywhere, SCIU, Lotus, and multiple abnormal offices were created. The most dangerous abnormals were pursued and incarcerated."

"The most dangerous ones?"

"Yes, abnormals like Ashley or me became the main targets," Nikola explained. "You'll see, every agency wanted to put their hands in us to use us. Can you imagine what could mean to have someone with Ashley's skills on your team?"

"Somehow, Lotus managed to imprison the leader of the revolt, but he was still able to lead it from the jail, thanks to the skills one of the men imprisoned with him. My chance to win their trust was simple, I needed him out, and thus, I helped them escape." Helen added, stopping to glance at her team. She knew those times were hard on them. "The price over my head multiplied. Not only I was valuable for my knowledge, but I was helping them, and there was not much choice on the matter for me."

"She was right, the plan behind the Praxian plan was to make all humans abnormals. And wipe the human race out of the face of Earth." Will said. "But they figured out she was fishing for information and passing it to SCIU. They came to her house and attacked it."

"I was forced to kill all five of them, and then I blew up my home and moved to the facilities you know."

"We were underground for real?"

"Yes, we couldn't avoid this insurgency as we couldn't avoid the destruction of Praxis or the death of Ashley's father. But we managed to create cities in the hollow Earth that were comfortable enough to keep the abnormals contempt with the situation. As you saw, it feels almost like being out here." Helen finished.

"Now, all agencies still have their abnormal team. However, in most of the cases, we control them. The Governments are still helping us, but they can't say they are or they risk to lose this balance we managed to achieve." Will added.

"It's a very complex situation, yet, so far it's working. I hope we do manage to sustain it until the time in which we can live in peace comes." Helen smiled. "I certainly wouldn't mind being able to walk out there without fears of being chased."

"Ok, now we know the history. What we are lacking is the explanation about your abnormalities." Janet told them, Helen nodded.

"Very well then, let me start with the least obvious of us. William?" She called, and he nodded.

"I'm abnormal. An HEI to be exact, or what we mockingly call the Sherlock Holmes mutation."

"Sherlock Holmes mutation?"

"Yes, the character was based on an HEI. The HEI is a hyper-enhanced intelligence. It allows me to see the world in a different way you normally would. I can see holographic images by watching a blueprint. And I notice things you wouldn't."

"Now that I can finally work with one HEI without wanting to kill him for being so annoying, I'm working on a prototype of a google that will allow us to see the world in the same way they see it. However, managing to reconstruct their thought process has proven to be quite difficult to achieve." Nikola grinned.

"Henry?" Helen asked, and he nodded.

"Ah, I'm a HAP. Class nine." He grinned. "Oh, that means Hyper accelerated protean."

"Just like Akhkharu's and HEIs, HAPs have both true and fake literature of their own, mention of them can go to ancient Greece."

"I don't remember hearing about a HAP?" Catherine trailed.

"Well, HAP is their scientific denomination of sorts. They appear in the myths and histories as Lycanthropes or werewolves."

"You got to be kidding!" Janet said.

"No, sadly, HAPs too had a complicated past with the humans. They too were chased and decimated; they aren't more than a hundred nowadays. Henry's son is the first one to be conceived in over thirty years."

"Oh, well. You saw me. Or I think you did. Mom, you showed them the video, right?" Ashley asked, and Helen nodded. "Well, she explained already what I am. So, Vlad, your turn?"

"As I said, half human half Akhkharu."

"But how's that even possible, weren't they all sterilized and killed?"

"Well, it was a surprise, to say the least. Helen, dear I believe I have no other choice but sharing the history behind my origin as an abnormal."

"I don't see another way, Nikola." She agreed with him.

"Well, the year was 1860. I had found my way to London and met Gregory Magnus' daughter. Along with another three gentlemen we became very close friends, and by the end of that year, she surprised us all. Helen Magnus had managed to procure a precious vial. It contained the pure, untainted blood of an Akhkharu. Blood that was supposed to give powers to the ordinary human being."

"The same blood you recovered from Bhalasaam?"

"Exactly! The reason why Gregory didn't want it close to his descent was simple. By 1867 she had managed to create a serum that could work on humans, and she injected it to herself. It didn't seem to work, and we took separate ways. Then 1872 arrived, and we decided to test it in ourselves. Gregory found out of our change after my transformation took place. You'll see the others didn't change per se, but me. I couldn't keep myself at bay due to my Akhkharu traits. Desperate with the changes I was undergoing, and not quite knowing what to do with me, she called her father."

"Gregory chewed her head off, as you would say," Helen grinned almost too fondly. "But they found a way to keep Nikola not only sated but controlled. It was a surprise that he became an Akhkharu, it took Gregory a couple of years to trace Nikola's lineage to one. But the fact was no matter how far away it in his tree it was; he had dormant genes passed from one generation to the next, and it was brought forth by the serum."

"And you, Doctor Magnus?"

"Well, I'm abnormal. I'm the first abnormal on my tree line," she smiled. "I am Helen Magnus."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I am the only Helen Magnus that has existed since August 27, 1842. Will, be a darling and pass me my bag." Will searched in the backpack he was carrying until he found a makeup bag.

"Really? You are going to fix your make up now?" Jack deadpanned. Helen smiled, and almost as if she didn't pay any attention to the Colonel's question, started to clean her face out of makeup.

"You all will be the first ones outside my close friends to see me without it since I started to apply it in 1877." She said, and they observed her as the traces of her makeup starting to fade, and she looked younger and younger. "I stopped aging the day I injected the serum on myself. My skill as Will put it once, is the ability to get to an appointment over a hundred years later. Which was also how I was able to return from the past."

"How's that?"

"Possible? The time travel trip I mentioned before? Well, it was a one-way ticket to 113 years in my past. As you may imagine tools to make a time traveling a possibility were far from being developed in 1898. However, if someone could return rejoin the timeline that had left without using any time travel technology, that would be me. I simply had to wait. Currently, I'm 274 years old, and no matter how badly I'm hurt I will always return to this: to Helen Magnus circa 1867." And then, she lowered down her mirror to show them exactly how that looked.