So uh, if this chapter seems familiar that's just your imagination. It's not like I posted chapter 16, started writing 17 then half way through that one decided I really hate 16 and took it down so I could cut out everything I despised about it, rewrote parts of it, and the reposted it.
Bree was in pain. The price had finally caught up and had decided she was going to make a payment right then and there. Bree was relieved that she had been out walking at the time, if she'd stayed in the house the oven probably would have exploded. She made sure to take steady, even breaths and she didn't try to move. The last thing she needed was to aggravate a spinal cord injury. She assessed her injuries. Her right arm seemed to be broken, and breathing was a bit difficult, so there was probably of been something wrong with her ribs. She brought her left hand up to her cheek, it came back bloody, with flecks of dirt and salt that had been used to de-ice the roads mixed in. There were tears in her hoodie and the exposed skin was scraped, bleeding, and embedded with gravel and salt. She imagined that her cheek looked the same. Her legs had fared better, the tougher material of her jeans had taken the damage.
Conner was suddenly at her side. Or maybe not so suddenly, she hadn't really been paying attention to her surrounding, but she could be forgiven for that since there were no Death Eaters around and she had just been hit by a car.
"Are you-" Conner began to ask, but cut himself off because it was obvious she was not alright since she was laying in the street after having been hit by a god damn car.
"Help is on the way." he said instead.
"Connor, I need you to do something for me." Bree managed to say. She had never realized how her ability to talk depended on proper lung function before.
"What is it?" Conner asked.
"I need you to go over to that driver," Bree told him. "And punch him in the face as hard as you can." Conner blinked.
"Uh, that's probably not a good idea." Conner replied. Sirens could be heard in the distance.
"Yeah, cops will be here soon." Bree stated.
Bree's final tally of injuries, according to the doctors and nurses at the hospital, were two incompletely fractured ribs, completes fractures in the radius and the ulna (because they couldn't just say both the bones in your forearm are broken, they had to specify what kind fracture it was for the charts or something) and multiple abrasions, contusions, and lacerations (scrapes, bruises, and cuts). They'd been worried about a possible brain injury and had sent her to have a CT scan. They didn't find any damage as a result of the accident but what they did find worried them and they wanted a MRI to get a better. Bree, though a little out of it from the pain killers they had pumped into her system, realized what it was they had found and refused the MRI, and since someone had found the documentation that proved she was a legal adult no one was able to force her do to anything she didn't consent to.
That didn't mean they stopped pestering her about it. Bree ended up in argument with her doctor that ended when she finally told the woman to go find an x-ray that was taken when Bree was eight and had fallen and hit her head. The doctor hadn't found anything unusual at the time, but Bree knew that she'd been infected by then and if he had found anything he would have forgotten about it. The worm was gone now, and it would be interesting to see what was on that x-ray.
But that was only one of the issues the hospital staff felt needed to be addressed. After Bree's first visit to the hospital they had suspected she had eating disorder, but after someone had seen the scars on her right hand when they were putting on the cast they came up with a new theory. Apparently she had been abused, that explained the emancipation, at least in their minds it did.
They wanted to keep Bree overnight for observation. Bree went along with it because the alternative was to return to the Allen household and have Barry hover over her all night. The barbecue incident had proven that Barry could be a mother hen. Barry, Iris, and Wally came to see Bree during the brief period of time from when Bree was allowed visitors to when visiting hours were over. Barry told Bree that after she was released from the hospital she could stay with them until she was fully recovered. Once they left, Bree fell into a fitful slumber.
When Bree woke up the meds they'd given her were wearing off and every little movement was becoming increasingly painful. It was still dark out, and Bree would have tried to go back to sleep regardless of the pain if it weren't for the dark figure looming over her bed. Bree's first thought was that there was a Death Eater in the room. She relaxed when she realized who it actually was and turned on the light next to the bed and stared at the figure. The figure stared back.
"Alright. I honestly have no idea why Batman would be in my hospital room so you should probably say something." Bree stated.
"Last month you were kidnapped by a Colombian drug cartel led by Bane and held for ransom. You tricked Bane, stole the formula for Venom, escaped, and turned the formula over to your Aunt. Since then a new drug called Redline has hit the streets." Batman explained. He dropped a folder into Bree's lap. Pictures fell out onto the bed. "It has a number of side effects including rage, aggression, and death."
The pictures were clearly of Redline users. Some had been taken in a hospital, others out on the street as the user rampages, the worst ones had been taken in the morgue. Some of the users and bulked up like Bane, others had bulked up too much and their skin was tore open exposing the swelled muscles underneath. A few of the dead users looked almost normal, others looked shrunken.
"Every shipment is different." Batman continued. "Your Aunt is experimenting with the formula and anyone who uses the drug is her test subject."
Bree didn't have anything to say in her Aunt's defense. She couldn't say that Lisa wouldn't do those things, because that would be a lie.
"So why bring this to me?" she questioned as she put the pictures back into the folder. "If you're so sure my Aunt is guilty why haven't you turned the evidence over to the police and had her locked up? Unless... you don't have the evidence, just a theory."
"You're Aunt has most of the world convinced that she's just a billionaire philanthropist that does good business. Any crime that's linked to her company is either tied to someone else, orjust goes away and she comes out of it with her hands clean." Batman stated.
"So you don't have any proof." Bree said.
"I have you." Batman declared.
"And what makes you think I would help you?" Bree asked.
"Because you're a Magi being hunted by other Magi and if you testify I'll make sure you have the full protection of the Justice League." Batman replied.
"Let me spell it out for you Batman, since you're just not getting it; There is nothing I will not do for family." Bree replied.
"And what about the people getting hurt by your family?" Batman growled.
"They're not family, they don't matter." Bree stated.
"What about all the families that have been hurt by the people that are after you? If they didn't matter you wouldn't have looked for them." Batman pointed out. Bree smirked.
"Oh, is the Big Bad Bat playing Big Brother now?" she asked. Her smirk dropped and she sighed. "Look, there is nothing you can say that will get me to turn on my family. I'll say it again. There is nothing I would not do for the people I care about."
"And yet you're putting them at risk just by staying with them." Batman pointed out.
"No, magi remember? Ma-gic." Bree responded. "I stumbled across something that wasn't human but had twice as much power as I do in just one of her eyelashes. Compared to her, it, whatever, I'm a grain of sand next to Everest. I only found her because I had a wish and she had the power to grant it but…" She trailed off.
"There was a catch." Batman finished. Bree nodded.
"Magic that powerful comes at a price. She granted my wish but I've been paying for it ever since. I guaranteed my family's safety, and because of that no one can save me. So you see, I'm not going to help you, hell even if Aunt Lisa wasn't family I wouldn't help you. There'd be no point."
"What do you mean?" Batman asked.
"Well, look at your track record Mr. World's-Greatest-Detective." Bree answered mockingly. "You catch criminals after the fact, you don't do much in the way of prevention. Criminal gets caught, gets locked up, gets out, commits crime, gets caught. Over and over again. Nothing even changes, just look at the big timers, the A-listers of Gotham's super-villains. Two-Face, Poison Ivy, The Joker. No one would care if they died, hell, there'd be widespread celebration if someone did in The Joker. But he's still here. They're all still here and they shouldn't be. They should have all fallen victims to their own schemes, but you saved them. Even knowing their track records, everything they've done, everything they'll keep doing you still save them. Why?"
"I cannot allow anyone to die in front of me if there's something I can do to prevent it." Batman replied.
"Wow." Bree said, blinking in surprise. "You're kind of insane aren't you? Well, that was obvious. You are an adult male dressed up like a bat in a teenage girl's hospital room, that's not something that normal people do. You're pretty damaged, aren't you?... Well no, I'm damaged. You're just broken. That's kind of pathetic really. People built up this image of you as this badass supernatural creature of the night and you're just human. Don't get me wrong, it would make for a pretty interesting narrative, a man rising up against injustice and struggling to hold on to his morals as he fights the good fight. And of course in that scenario the writers couldn't just kill off the villain without ending the story, but in the real world? I just don't get it." She looked honestly perplexed.
"What are you going to do when someone you actually care about gets hurt?" she asked.
Alice was having a bad day. When the day starts with men in suits trying to shove you into a big black SUV it's probably a sign that you just should have stayed in bed, but that's why Alice had bodyguards and Roy apparently. It had been early in the morning when Alice had left the apartment building to go to Megumi's.
Almost as soon as she had stepped on the sidewalk two guys had tried to pull her into a shiny black SUV. Alice's first thought was that her parents rivals had found her and were trying to kidnap her. It was also the first thought of her bodyguards and two of them sprang into action to beat the tar out of the guys in suits the muggle way while the third hung back in case the guys in suits had back up. They did, but before the third guy could provide any assistance of the magical variety, Roy rushed out of the building clad in only his pajamas. Apparently he had been woken up by the commotion and his first instinct had been to rush outside and deliver an epic beat down to some suspicious persons.
Once he realized that Alice was the one being accosted he grabbed her and pulled her back into the building, letting the bodyguards deal with the guys in suits. They were quickly rendered harmless and dragged into an alley for interrogation.
Alice found herself in Roy's apartment along with Roy and two of her bodyguards having just been informed that the guys in suits were government agents and they were very sorry for the mix-up but they had thought that Alice was Bree. And since they had security camera footage of Bree being dragged off by unknown assailants they jumped the gun a bit. During their interrogation they had gotten a call telling them that Bree had been spotted in the mid-west, abort the mission!
"Well that's a first. Not being mistaken for Bree, that happens all the time, being mistaken for Bree by the government, that's new." Alice commented.
"Yeah. I'm still hung up on how someone living in this neighborhood could afford bodyguards." Roy said.
"My Father paid for them after I ran away, which kind of subverts the whole point of running away." Alice replied.
"That would have been nice to know earlier." Roy muttered. "I thought they were going to murder you!"
"Yeah, they do act kind of like stalkers, don't they?" Alice remarked.
"Actually I think is concern was somewhat justified by the odd events that have been occurring lately." Bodyguard number two said.
"Yeah, things have been kind of strange, haven't they?" Alice said.
Dr. Howard was pale when she walked into Bree's room early the next morning.
"What the hell is this?" she demanded, holding up a copy of an x-ray of a human skull. It was exactly what Bree expected. It was a view from the side; a white mass was nestled inside the neck.
"That would be a psychic worm. An alien parasite. It was in my body for a long time. So long that I had to grow around it." Bree replied.
"Why isn't there anything in the notes?" Dr. Howard pressed.
"Because everyone forgot. The worm made everyone who ever noticed it was there forget." Bree answered. "Any odd behavior, anything about me that was quite normal was written off, anything it changed in me was just considered a part of my normal behavior."
"Then how was it removed?" Dr. Howard questioned.
"There was a Doctor. He knew about the worm before he met me so he knocked both me and it out." Bree responded.
"You just said it made everyone that found out about it forgot." Dr. Howards pointed out. "How would anyone have been able to tell him?" Dr. Howard pressed.
"I told him about it, or rather, a future version of me told him about it." Bree explained. She paused for a moment. "Well, actually if you label this point in time the present then both the me that the Doctor saved and the me that told him how to save me than both of those me's are past me's."
Dr. Howard had a look on her face, like something in her brain had just broken.
"The Doctor is a time traveler, he doesn't always meet people in the right order. The fourth time I met him was the first time he met me." Bree told her in an attempt to clarify things. It didn't really work.
"You don't really have any proof beyond an abnormal x-ray." Dr. Howard stated.
"Right. I expected that, but no worries! I have a solution." Bree said cheerfully, brandishing her wand.
"A stick?" Dr. Howard said skeptically.
"Obliviate." Bree replied. "Put my file back, bury it deep. As far as you're concerned Bree Louise Smith is an ordinary teenager who just happened to get hit by a car… and abducted by a teleporting madman that one time."
Dr. Howard, looking slightly dazed, left the room.
"I can't believe I almost forgot about that spell and thought I'd actually have to explain thing to her." Bree mused.
"So how are you feeling?" Barry asked after he had picked Bree up in the hospital. They were once again in Barry's car heading to his house.
"Tired." Bree replied. "Whatever they gave me for pain wore off in the middle of the night and then Batman showed up. Or the drugs made me hallucinate and I criticized the drapes.
"Your room didn't have drapes, it had blinds." Barry pointed out.
"Then it was probably Batman." Bree replied.
"I thought Batman was your favorite hero, why where you criticizing him?" Barry asked.
"I lied. He's just the first one I thought of." Bree replied. "When you asked who my favorite hero is I knew you meant super-hero and I don't-" She cut herself off.
"They can save lives when it comes to natural disasters or a giant monster running amok, but when it comes to criminals… Just how broken to you have to be to want to save everyone. And I mean everyone, even psychopathic mass murderers?" She continued. "That's it. I don't like Batman. I don't like any super-hero."
So Jazz was in trouble. In his defense he really had thought the girl he and Simmons had sent some former S-Seven agents to retrieve was Bree. He was still in trouble though, and so was Simmons. The newly formed N.E.S.T was issued an Executive Order straight from the President's desk telling them to leave Bree and her family alone until the President said otherwise.
Simmons was given desk duty where he decided that his actual punishment was to be buried alive by mountains of paperwork and lost somewhere inside the filing system, never to be seen again.
Jazz on the other hand, was still injured enough that any punishment that involved leaving the recently constructed med-bay would have been a detriment to his recovery, or so Ratchet claimed. Ratchet also claimed that internet access, visitors, and communications with the outside would also hinder the healing process. Actually, after Alice's near-kidnapping there was no evidence that Ratchet hadn't just up and murdered Jazz and cut up his body for spare parts, not that he did, but he could of.
Dinners with Roy and Harvey had become more awkward after Alice was almost taken. Roy always seemed to stop himself mid-question, wanting to ask about Alice's parents or why she had run away but remembering that they never talked about their families, or their past. Alice had wanted to tell them both everything, but couldn't.
Harvey should have had no idea what was going on or why his friends had changed so drastically. Instead of being confused he mostly seemed amused, like he knew more than he was letting on.
More stress was added to the situation by the strange incidents that kept happening. The more Alice told herself that they weren't connected the less she believed it. It should have been a number of random incidents with victims just happening to suffer or die in ways related to their misdeeds, but there were too many to dismiss as mere coincidence and they were all localized around the diner, the apartment building, and the high school. Alice was starting to see the connection, but she refused to believe it.
Roy was becoming more irritable and he wasn't taking good care of himself. More often than not he forgot to shave and he was developing dark shadows under his eyes. Whenever Alice expressed any concern he would snap at her and then apologize, citing "stress."
On the other hand, Alice's lessons with Megumi were progressing quite well. Alice thought she would be good enough to ditch her bodyguards for good in a few weeks, and then she could find Bree.
Barry and Iris had gone to work and Wally was visiting friends so Bree was left alone. She spent most of the day camping out on the couch in Barry's living room. That was really all she was expected to do with all the cuts and bruises, not to mention the cast that went from her hand to her upper arm and kept her arm bent. She had chosen black when it had been time to pick a color in the hopes that it would deter Barry from writing on it. It had not. Bree hadn't even known they made metallic markers until Barry had covered her cast with a silver crescent moon, a gold sun, and a number of silver and gold stars. Wally had made his own contribution in the form of a metallic red lightning bolt. Iris had thankfully sensed Bree's annoyance and hadn't added anything.
Truthfully Bree could have been in perfect health if she had sought out a magical hospital to get her arm fixed. She'd already taken care most of her cuts and bruises with the medicines she had gotten from Mama during her stay on the island. Bree didn't really mind lounging around on the couch, or wearing Barry's shirt and Iris's yoga pants since they wear the only things she could get on easily by herself. She had tried wearing her red bandana as a headband again but had only managed to get it around her neck. She had gotten attached to the thing for some reason.
She had TV was on but didn't really get to watch anything since she kept falling asleep only to be woken up when Barry called to check on her.
The last time she was woken up when Wally entered the living room along with Megan and Conner.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you." Megan apologized.
"It's fine." Bree replied as she sat up. "Barry would have called soon anyway. He's gotten kind of maternal."
"Don't you mean paternal?" Wally asked.
"No." Bree responded.
"So, um, Conner and I just wanted to see how you were doing after yesterday." Megan stated.
"When I was hit by a car." Bree said.
"Right." Megan replied.
"I'm fine really, I'm just kind of tired. Didn't sleep well." Bree explained.
"Oh, was the hospital bed uncomfortable?" Megan questioned.
"Not really- I mean I was already in pain so if it was uncomfortable I wouldn't have really noticed. Really it was mostly the pain meds wearing off and then Batman coming to interrogate me and I couldn't get back to sleep." Bree answered, relishing the silence in moments it took or her words to register.
"Why would Batman want to interrogate you?" Conner asked. Up until that point he had been quiet and kind of broody, that attitude had been replaced by confusion.
"Batman didn't interrogate her, she was probably just hallucinating because of the drugs." Wally said dismissively.
"I already had this conversation with Barry." Bree replied. "We established that I couldn't have criticized the ethics of the drapes because my room had blinds so Batman must have been there for me to criticize his ethics."
"You're still taking drugs, aren't you?" Wally questioned.
"Not really. I don't really like them; they make it hard to think." Bree replied.
"Oh that's right I forgot, you're just insane." Wally deadpanned.
"Wally, that's not very nice." Megan reprimanded.
"It's fine Megan, I'm fully aware that I've been slowly losing my mind since I was little, and really everyone in our family is… off, in in way or another." BRee said dismissively. "Even Wally."
"I am not." Wally protested.
"You're banned for life from the eating contest, you're always the last one at the buffet, and you're not allowed to have seconds until everyone else is full." Bree pointed out.
"That doesn't count!" Wally exclaimed.
"Alright what about the time the barbeque was left unattended and you-" Bree was cutoff when Wally put a hand over her mouth.
"Shut up!" He shouted. "That wasn't even my fault! You're the one who-" The phone started to ring. Bree licked Wally's hand.
"Ew!" Wally exclaimed, rubbing his hand on his pants.
"Hello." Bree said, answering the phone.
"I'm fine Barry. Wally's here with his friends." She said. "No, I'm not embarrassing him, why would you think that?"
"Because he knows you." Wally hissed.
"Do families normally act like this?" Conner muttered.
"Okay Barry. Talk to you later." Bree stated before she hung up the phone. "In about an hour when you call again. He acts like I have some sort of illness and might take a turn for the worse at any moment."
"I think it's kind of sweet, he's worried about you." Megan told her.
"It's annoying is what it is. It was only a car. Not the worst thing that has ever happened to me." Bree replied.
"What's worse than being hit by a car?" Wally asked.
"Being hit by two cars." Bree replied.
"What's happened to you that was worse than being hit by a car?" Wally clarified. Bree frowned.
"A lot." she responded.
"You're not going to give an actual answer, are you?" Wally asked.
"Don't count on it." Bree said. Awkward silence ensued.
"So uh, Wally said you were a storyteller." Megan began uncertainly.
"He did huh?" Bree said.
"Yeah, he said you used to entertain the children at your family reunions." Megan continued. ""He said his favorite was about the magic school." Bree grinned.
"Aw, Wally I didn't know you cared." She crooned. Wally went red. "I thought you said my stories were silly and full of plot holes."
"They are!" Wally said quickly. "But they're also kind of fun." He added reluctantly.
"He told us about your first three years at boarding school." Megan stated.
"Really, you remembered all that?" Bree questioned.
"Most of it." Wally muttered, not looking at anyone.
"So can you tell us more?" Megan asked eagerly.
"You really want to hear about a boarding school for learning magic?" Bree inquired.
"Yes! I love magic!" Megan said excitedly.
"Alright, so the summer before fourth year Britain hosted the Quidditch world cup…" Bree began.
Line line line
Bree had told Megan a highly edited version of what had happened during her fourth year. She had left out any reference to the Doctor, Amy, Rory, or the crack in the wall and if Conner and Megan hadn't had to go home at the beginning of the third task she would have ended up having to change the ending.
"So?" Wally said after his friends had left.
"So what?" Bree asked.
"What happened after you went into the maze?" Wally pressed. Bree sighed.
"It was a hedge maze, and the fastest way from point A to B is a straight line, so I figured out where the center of the maze was and started walking until I ran into a hedge, then I used a fire spell to burn a hole in the hedge and stepped through." She told him.
"So you kept burning holes in the hedge until you got to the center of the maze and got the cup. That's a boring way to win." Wally complained.
"I walked into a trap. It completely altered the way I perceived gravity. I felt like if I took another step I would fall into the sky, but I kept moving anyway and everything went back to normal. Then I ended up in front of a sphinx, but since I wasn't trying to get past her she didn't try to get me to solve a riddle and I just kept burning holes until I got to the center of the maze. " Bree continued.
"Boring." Wally said.
"But practical." Bree replied. "Anyway, when I did get to the center of the maze Harry and Cedric where there too. They ended up arguing over who was should take the cup. Harry said Cedric deserved it, Cedric said Harry should be the winner, but in the three of us touched the cup at the same time. The cup was a port-key. It should have taken us back to the begging of the maze, but it didn't."
Bree paused for a moment a closed her eyes.
"It took us to a graveyard." She continued. "I don't know where it was, but someone said "kill the spares" and there as a curse flying toward us so I tackled Cedric." Bree continued. "Harry was captured. Cedric and I hid while the guy that had been ordered to kill us preformed a dark ritual to revive the dark lord. The one from first year that had been possessing the defense professor. After he was revived I came up with a plan. I distracted the bad guys while Cedric rescued Harry. I was prepared to be left behind, expected it even, but Harry wouldn't stand for that and we all got out of there alive."
Bree took a deep breath and let it out slowly before rushing through the rested of the story.
"It turned out that Professor Moody had been replaced by an imposter who rigged the system to allow more than three competitors because he wanted Harry in that graveyard for the ritual." She explained. "Harry, Cedric and I spent that night in the hospital wing and… and…I… I can't finish the story."
"Can't think of an ending?" Wally questioned.
"No." Bree replied, somewhat distressed. "I can't- I don't want to think about it. I don't want to remember."
"Remember?" Wally questioned, confused. "But it's just a story you made up."
"Right." Bree said. "It's just a story."
It had been awhile since Bree had thought about what had happened that day in the graveyard, or what had happened later at the monastery. She had managed to suppress the memories after many weeks of terrible nightmares by focusing on the Umbridge issue. She hadn't actually dealt with the trauma, but she hadn't thought it mattered. At least not until she had recounted the events of fourth year, forgetting the ending until it was too late. The suppressed memories had come back in full force and the nightmares had returned.
She was running. Running, running, running, but she just couldn't run fast enough. Running, running, down a stone corridor. Something clawing at her heels, reaching out to grab her. Don't look back, never look back. Green lights.
"Kill the spares."
Running, gravestones, hissing. Running, running, through a door outside. Darkness, so dark, the rolling deck, the sound of waves. Have to run. Nowhere to run. The ship rocking violently, wind and rain whipping around her, waves washing across over the deck. Overboard. Can't swim, something bound around her. Can't breathe. Drowning.
She woke up, tangled in the blankets and sheets. She struggled to free herself and fell off the bed with a loud thud. Frustrated you continued to thrash around. She stopped when she heard someone enter the room.
"Bree? Are you in here?" A familiar voice asked quietly. Right, Wally's room was next door, Bree reminded herself, he had probably heard her fall.
"Over here." She said. The bed was between her and the door, so Wally couldn't see her. Wally walked around the bed.
"What happened?" He questioned when he saw her.
"Just help me." she muttered. He knelt down untanged her from the sheets. Bree hissed in pain when she sat up. The fall had agitated the injuries she hadn't healed with Mama's medicines. She sort of regretted it, but having the visible injuries disappear would have been suspicious and she was expected to act like she was in pain anyway.
"Can you get my pills off the dresser?" She asked after Wally had helped her back into bed.
"Sure." He replied "Do you want a glass of water?"
"Please." Bree answered. Wally was quick with the water. Bree took half a pill and tried to get comfortable.
"So, uh, what happened?" Wally asked. Bree glared at him.
"I fell out of bed." She said.
"No one just gets randomly tangled in their sheets." He replied. Bree sighed and looked away.
"Just a bad dream." She told him.
"Want to talk about it?" Wally questioned.
"No, I'm going to suppress it." Bree responded.
"That doesn't sound healthy." Wally told her.
"Maybe not, but it has worked for me in the past, well, until tonight that is." She replied.
"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Wally pressed. "We all just want to help you."
"You've been talking about me." Bree stated flatly.
"We're worried." Wally defended.
"Don't be." Bree replied. She smiled, hoping it didn't look forced. "It's not that bad. I'll be fine."
Line line line
The next day they didn't go to the Flash Museum like they had planned.
"Bree hasn't healed enough," Barry said, "We'll go when she's better."
Bree didn't tell him that she's wasn't going to be there when she's better, that she's leaving Monday after they've left so that she doesn't have to say goodbye or explain why she's leaving. She pretended that she'd be there and let Barry and Wally make plans for an outing that would never happen.
They hung out in the living room and played video games, watched movies, and ate junk food. It was nice, it was fun, and for a little while Bree was able to forget about the magic and the monsters and live like a normal teenager, if only for a little bit.
She had another nightmare after she fell asleep that night.
She was running, running, running. Ground was moving, lungs were burning. Keep moving, keep moving, don't look back. Something wrapped around her ankle, tripping her. She fell, the ground opened up and she kept falling.
Sunday passed without incident. Wally had gone to a friend's house, Barry had cases to work on and Iris had news to reporting, so Bree was left alone again. She watched the news for a bit. Iris reported on a fight between the two Flash's and Captain Boomerang, but nothing else really happened.
Bree got up early on Monday so she could say goodbye. Iris was the first to leave so she could go do the early morning news report. Bree said "Goodbye" and "Have a good day at work." Barry was next.
"Have a good day." She said as she gave her cousin a hug. Barry smiled and ruffled her hair.
"You too." He said before he left. Wally got up late and was only able to exchange a quick goodbyes as he rushed out the door with a pop-tart in his mouth.
It was Monday and she was alone. It was time to go. She left a note, locked the door behind her and didn't look back.
The first place she went to was Central City's magical district and a small clinic where she had her arm and what was left of her cuts and bruises healed.
"I'm sorry," The blue haired nurse in pink scrubs fussed. "But since the cuts weren't tended too right away there might be some scarring, especially with the one on your face since it was relatively deep." She handed Bree a mirror. There was a small pink line running down her right cheekbone.
"It's not that bad." Bree stated. "Less than half an inch I think. Not nearly as bad as my other scars."
"Yes, I saw them and I hope you don't mind me asking, but you are Bree Louise Smith aren't you?" the nurse asked. "The girl that was forced to use a blood quill by a British Ministry employee a few years back, it was in the papers for weeks."
"Well, yes." Bree replied, slightly bewildered. "Why?"
"Well, you're in the papers again." The nurse explained. "Have you really been killing all those Death Eaters?"
"You know about Death Eaters!" Bree blurted out before her brain caught up with her.
"Yeah, everyone does. You haven't seen the news lately have you? Refugees are just pouring out of England and most countries have established an embargo and have barred travel. They're trying to shut the country down so the Ministry will be forced to surrender to the rebels before we end up in the middle of World War Three. Your story came over along with the refugees. Everyone knows that the Dark Lord thinks you're a seer and that you got invoked some powerful magic to protect the people you care about." The nurse replied.
"How could they possibly know that?" Bree questioned.
"Because the people you care about are the ones that are helping the refugees the most. There have been a couple of interviews from some of your old school mates that fled England. Everyone's keeping an eye out for you." The nurse explained as she began collecting items and putting them in a messenger bag. "Wait here for a moment."
She was only gone for about two minutes and as soon as she was back she handed Bree the bag she had been putting things into.
"We started a food drive to help the refugees but we can spare some for you." She said. "There are some medicines in there too, all labeled, and a first aid kit."
"I don't know what to say." Bree told the nurse.
"I'm a nurse, I'm supposed to help people." She replied.
"Thank you, and uh, no, it's not me that's been killing the Death Eaters lately, I mean, I killed on or two, and there were a few of indirect incidents in Africa, but that's all so far. The rest I'm pretty sure were taken out by my Uncle and his friends. They're hunters." Bree said.
"Oh, they're doing a pretty good job." The nurse stated. Just then a there was a commotion in the front room. A young, good looking doctor came into the room a few minutes later.
"There are two men looking for you in the waiting room." He told Bree. "British accents and traditionalist clothing."
Bree winced.
"Nurse, take our patient out the back. S.E.A. should already be on the way, I'll keep distract them until help arrives." The doctor said before leaving the room.
"Follow me." The nurse instructed. She led Bree down a hallway and past a few of her concerned coworkers. Shouting could be heard from the waiting room.
"Don't worry." The nurse said when she saw Bree's apprehensive look. "We all know how to keep calm under pressure and if the spells start flying, well, healing magic can be harmful if used incorrectly."
She led Bree to the backdoor and shoved a handful of bills into the teen's hand.
"Good luck." She said as Bree ducked out the door. The backdoor led to an alley. Bree headed for the street, pulling out her perception filter and wrapping it around her right wrist and activating it before she stepped out onto the sidewalk. She walked away calmly, heading out of the magical district.
When Bree picked her destination she picked by how far away she could get and which bus was leaving the soonest. The next bus turned out to be heading for Fawcett City, Indiana, so she bought a ticket and found her bus with ten minutes to spare. She ended up sitting next to an older woman who talked quite a bit about her kids and her husband. Eventually she ran out of things to talk about.
"So do you have family in Fawcett?" she asked.
"No, uh, I had family in Central." Bree explained, brushing a lock of hair behind her hair and inadvertently exposing the scars on her face, forehead, and the back of her hand. The woman's eyes softened.
"I see." She said. She didn't ask anything else after that, but she gave Bree a book to read for the rest of the trip.
It was snowing in Fawcett, and Bree was underdressed. She didn't have a winter coat and it was very cold. She didn't stay outside for very long though, having found a motel for the night. The next day she went to a thrift store and bought a dark blue winter coat with a fur trimmed hood, a scarf, and a pair of thick gloves. She wore her red bandana as a headband to keep her hair from falling into her face.
She walked around the city, not really sure where to go or what to do. Fawcett City was rather boring. It was a safe all American town with its own resident superhero, Captain Marvel, who seemed to be a more tolerable version of Superman.
"Enjoy your holiday?" a male voice asked. Bree stopped and looked down an alley between two brick buildings.
"What do you want Cyrus?" Bree questioned as she resumed walking.
"What's this, no hello?" Cyrus asked, faking hurt.
"Hello Cyrus." Bree stated. "What do you want?"
"He was pretty frantic you know." Cyrus replied. "Barry I mean. He looked everywhere for you after he found your note."
"Well, I kind of expected that." Bree responded.
"That's so cruel of you. You always run away and never look back, never checking on the people you leave behind." Cyrus told her. "Then you change the way you look and you change name. With all the pretending you do it's a wonder that you're able to keep track of who you really are!"
Bree gave him a puzzled look.
"I never change my name. It's always, "You can call me – insert name here." But I've never said "My name is-" unless I was using my actual name. If people want to think the name I give them is my real name, that's their problem." She explained with a grin. "And as for pretending, I really have no idea what you're talking about. I change my style a bit yeah, and I pretended to boy once, but it's not like I adopt new personalities. Underneath the hair dye, the new clothes and the contacts I'm still me."
"I suppose you are." Cyrus replied frowning. "You're still holding on too much. You let go of the people you leave behind easily enough, but you'll never be a proper Cheshire cat unless you loosen your grip more."
"And what makes a "proper" Cheshire cat?" Bree questioned angrily. They had turned into an empty alley, the sun almost fully set behind them. Cyrus's form shifted and Bree found herself looking down at a familiar cat. Cyrus looked up at her, a grin on his feline face.
"A Cheshire cat is much more than a cat that grins." He explained. "It can disappear there."
He vanished from sight.
"And reappear here." He finished from the fire escape above Bree's head. "You're getting there but you could do better. But don't worry, you can practice letting go tonight during your run."
"My run?" Bree repeated.
"Well yes. It is a full moon tonight after all, or haven't you been paying attention? I suppose it must be difficult, with all the traveling you do. I would love to help you out, but you'll never learn that way." He said. "And besides," he continued, his voice taking a darker turn, "the price for your wish still needs to be paid." Cyrus disappeared. The sun had set, the alley was dark, the howl of a wolf echoed through the night.
