Author's Note

I do not own The Gifted.

Big thank you to IamJacksinnerdemon, Slightly-Less-Rotten-Tomatoes, and hattohat for the favourites; VoidScorpionn and girlbird3 for the follows, Wisteria115 for the follow and favourite, and Ella Symphony and the Guest for the reviews.

Just to let you guys know, at the moment, I haven't seen any of Season Two other than a few clips (I'll probably end up binge-watching it like I did Season One), so I don't know whether this work will continue on into that season, especially as I like the way this ends. We'll see, but I make no promises.

For Andy the first time was that day in the park.

He'd promised Lauren he wouldn't let her fall, that he'd catch her.

He let her fall.

He had to.

The moment their hands connected there had been that gold light, and then he…

He wasn't him anymore.

He was somewhere else, a man grown, holding hands with a woman he somehow knew was his sister, and a building was turning to ash around them.

Fenris, whispered a voice that sounded scarily like Lauren's inside his head.

He let her fall.

In the months that followed, he would get bits and pieces of an explanation from Lauren, talk of remembering memories that weren't hers, of remembering being another person before being her, and names.

Andreas and Andrea Von Strucker.

He could only truly understand as he felt that power and the gym warped and crumbled around him.

Except he wasn't really him anymore.

He was a slightly younger boy, smaller, thinner, staring down the barrel of a gun held by a soldier with an American flag pin on his collar.

Shakily, he reached out and took the hand of the girl next to him. His sister, his mind told him.

A familiar golden light began to crawl up their hands.

Then he was back to being him again as Lauren screamed and shook his shoulders.

Do you ever remember things that never happened to you?

He didn't have time to think about it, stumbling to his feet and letting her guide him out.

"Do you remember the soldiers?" Lauren asked.

She looked scarily happy at his non-answer.

The second time had been as he walked into the shop. It had been stronger then, and he had stopped to blink and rub at his head. He could see the old man, but he could see a child as well, stood between two trees, holding light in his hands. Blink and he could see the man, another blink and he was putting a small boy to bed.

Was this how Lauren had felt for the past three years, except alone and with no one to talk to?

He should have pushed matters further than he did.

This was awful.

How did she cope with this?

At the moment, it seemed, she flat out wasn't.

She seemed to have a better grip on it before the dance. Oh, he saw it sometimes, in the way she looked at things, comments she made, but only because he knew how to recognise it. Their parents didn't, so they just didn't see it.

Now though, as she sat laughing hysterically, that wasn't Lauren.

That was all the other girl.

Andrea.

He knew it, because at the back of his mind he remembered.

And Mr Strucker's hands were glowing again, the old man eyeing them as though he wanted to run.

Andy did the only thing that came to mind.

He sprang to his feet, leant over her, and slapped her.

Hard.

"Stop it!" he screamed. "I want my sister back!"

"I am your sister!" she screamed back, and then there was a horrifying moment where it looked like she was both, Lauren and Andrea at the same time, his bright, loving sister and the maniacal other woman both behind her eyes at the same time.

And then she was back to being Lauren again, as though the light had been switched off and on again.

"Lauren? Lauren?"

"It's me," she whispered.

"I'm sorry. I hit you."

"No. Don't apologise." And then her hands flew to her mouth. She sprang to her feet. "Bathroom?"

Mr Strucker pointed wordlessly. Andy followed her through, a little nervous about being separated given the events of the last twelve hours. Lauren emptied the contents of her stomach and collapsed against the bathtub. "I'm sorry."

Andy sunk to the floor beside her. "Are you okay?"

She wrapped her arms around her legs. "I don't know what came over me! I don't know what's wrong with me!"

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she cried until it passed. "How long has it been this bad?"

"Only since the dance. I told you, I think she's happy. You know, about…" She lifted a hand to his head. "She thinks you're him. She has since that day at the park." She scrubbed a hand across her eyes.

"Lauren?" he asked.

"Mm?"

"Will I- Will I get like that?"

She stared at him. "No. No, because I won't let you. We'll find a way to stop this, I promise. There has to be a way to fix it, to make this right so we can have a chance at a normal life again."

Andy pulled away and slammed his hands against the floor. Everything not fastened down in the bathroom jumped and he had a brief flicker of windows shattering around him. "Normal? Lauren, you gotta be kidding me. Normal is gone; normal doesn't exist anymore! Normal hasn't existed since you started having someone else's memories!"

She drew in a deep breath. "My… flashes were linked to my powers at first. Maybe if you don't use yours…"

"But I was… remembering when we arrived. When I saw Mr Strucker…"

"Yeah," she mumbled. "Yeah, that happens too. But using my powers made it stronger, made it more often." She sighed heavily. "Did you dream as him? Last night?"

"No. Do you..?"

"Ever since the park." She ran her hands through her hair. "Okay. We triggered Fenris at the park, and that made things worse. So we have to avoid doing that, at all costs."

"How do we do that?"

"Holding hands, I think."

Andy wrinkled his nose. He was a bit old to still be grabbing his sister's hand for comfort - but she had taken his, when they were facing the Sentinels. Only for a split second, but-

He wondered if that had been Lauren or Andrea.

"And you have to avoid using your powers for now."

"But I don't even know how they work; I don't know how to control them!"

"We'll work something out; it only has to be until we can figure out how to fix this."

For a brief moment he caught the faint smell of something familiar. "What if there is no way of fixing this?"

"There must be; there has to be. We'll work this out; we'll make it right. I'll make it right for you Andy, I promise."

He caught that smell again and saw a flash of a forest burning, the trees bending and flying away from him. "Lauren?"

"Mm?"

"Can you smell smoke?"

She frowned and sat up a little straighter. "Now that you mention it…"

It smelt like smoke.

Too much that something was just burning.

Andy leapt to his feet and reached for the door handle. Lauren screamed. "Andy wait!"

He opened the door.

A blast of flames roared towards him, colliding with a solid shield of bubbles and molecules. Lauren scrambled to her feet and grabbed his arm.

"What do we do? Lauren, what do we do?"

She slammed the door closed and shoved a shield in front of it, holding the smoke back.

Blink and he was huddled next to a campfire.

Blink and he was back in the bathroom.

"Break the window!"

"What?"

Blink and he was surrounded by gunfire.

Blink and he was back in the bathroom.

"Break the window!"

"But you said-!"

Blink and he was facing a man with fire in his hands.

Blink and he was back in the bathroom.

"Andy just do it!"

He took a step back and focused on the window, remembering all his anger and fear at the bullies who hurt him, all the terror at what he might become.

Blink and he was standing in a building turning to ash.

Blink and he was back in the bathroom.

The window shattered, glass flying outwards.

"What now?"

Lauren grabbed his arm, pulling him over to the window and throwing up a shield just outside the sill. "Come on!"

There was nothing for it then.

Andy wondered briefly who was in control right now, Lauren or Andrea, and then decided he didn't really care right at this very moment.

He scrambled through the window onto the shield. Lauren followed close behind him and threw up another shield beneath them as the one they were on gave way. She threw up another just in front and a little way beneath, pulling him behind her as she jumped onto it.

Unless Lauren had somehow practised at this, this had to be Andrea.

Andy let out a hiss of relief as his feet hit the ground in the alley.

Blink and he was dropping down in front of an old looking shiny black car.

Blink and he was in the street.

Flames roared inside the antique shop and above flat.

Lauren scowled at the burning building. That was bound to attract attention. Andy reached for her arm by some instinct and then hesitated. "Lauren, we have to go."

They'd have to work out the how and where once they were moving. Lauren nodded and set off at a jog to the end of the alley, Andy close behind.

A few people were already emerging from their houses onto the street, but it was one person that caught Andy's attention.

"Mr Strucker," he shouted, and then stopped.

Because how had the fire started?

The thought had barely just occurred to him before Lauren started to scream at him.

"You tried to kill us!"

"I won't let it be like before; I won't let you hurt anyone!"

Golden light began to arc up Mr Strucker's arms, spreading faster than before.

Blink and he was a child stood in an empty room.

Blink and he was back to being an old man.

Fuck this was giving him a headache!

A pulsing ball of red light formed between Mr Strucker's hands. Andy reached for Lauren's arm.

"Lauren-"

A large, solid shield formed in the street and hurtled towards the old man. He released the ball of light. It slammed into Lauren's shield with a boom like thunder.

Lauren flung up another shield. "I never knew you had it in you Toto!"

The golden light began to build around Mr Strucker's arms again. Lauren smiled, and she did not look like Lauren at all Andy grabbed at her arm. "Lauren-!"

"You always were too soft hearted!" She flicked her hand and the shield flew across the street. It met Mr Strucker's burst of energy barely in front of him and the explosion hurled him back against the wall. A shield of bubbles wrapped around his neck.

"I thought you knew better!" Lauren screamed. "If you start a job, finish it!"

Balls of red light flickered in his hands, growing and pulsing and then fading as he choked for air.

"Lauren stop! Stop! You'll kill him!" Andy shouted, shaking her shoulders.

"He tried to kill us Andreas!"

It wasn't Lauren.

This anger, the mania, the rage...

It wasn't Lauren.

It was all Andrea, the monster, the murderer, the homicidal maniac.

There was nothing there of his sister.

Andy drove a fist straight into her face.

She cried out, staggering backwards, her hands flying to her face.

Andy hit her again, and again, and again, screaming, until on the sixth blow his hand was stopped by a shield, and then he kicked her. "Lauren! Snap out of it! Stop! Lauren!"

She raised her arms to protect herself, shields flashing in and out in front of her. "Andy! It's me, it's me, it's me!" The voice sounded like hers. Andy dropped the assault.

They stared at each other. Blood dripped from his split knuckles and her mouth, nose, and grazed temple.

"It's okay," she whispered. "It's me."

"Lauren," he mumbled, his mouth tripping over the word. "Lauren?"

"It's me." Her eyes seemed to take in the devastation of the street for the first time, the still burning antique shop and shattered windows of buildings on the street, the stone blown from walls and the road. People lay, bruised, dazed and bloody, at the edges of the street where they had been thrown by the force of Lauren and Mr Strucker's powers colliding.

"Did we- Did I- Was this-"

Sirens screamed through the air and a police car shot into the street. Lauren reached for his hand, stopped, and took his arm instead. "We have to get out of here."

"What about him?' He pointed at Mr Strucker, who was groaning and starting to push himself from the ground.

Blink and he was a small child lying bloody on the grass.

Blink and he was back in the street.

Two policemen jumped from the car.

"Hands in the air! Don't move!"

"There's nothing we can do for him. Come on!"

"But we can't just leave him!"

But they didn't have much of a choice either. People started shooting, and the bullets weren't only coming from the police. Lauren raised shields to protect them.

Thick black smoke was rising into the air, the taste of it thick in his mouth, making his eyes feel sticky.

Blink and he was stood in the middle of a blinking building.

Blink and he was back in the street.

A short distance away was a car with the front door open and the engine running, the driver evidently having fled.

They ran for it, and Andy wondered what world they were living in now that he would quite happily just steal a car.

Blink and he was yanking a man in a suit from a truck, leaving him broken and bloody on the ground.

Blink and he was climbing into the car's driving seat.

Blink and a bullet was shattering a window.

Blink and he was back in the car with Lauren screaming next to him.

"Go go go!"

They screeched from the street and away from the destruction.