Author's Note

I do not own The Gifted.

I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. My posting schedule got a bit jumbled and delayed due to some things happening in real life. Please note that my fics, and this one in particular, are written because I was stressed and having a rough time. I wrote them how I wanted and needed to write them, and now I share them with you guys for free. I'm sorry if you're disappointed by any part of them, but they are what they are.

A big thank you to Ella Symphony and the Guest for your reviews; gtfonatalia for the follow; Darker mysteries, David12leca and Helena Light for the favourites and everyone who has shown support for this story.

For three years Lauren had memories from another person, a different life inside her head. She had lived like that, with the girl getting louder and louder and louder until she could barely hear herself over all the noise, for what felt like forever.

When Andy threw her through that portal she was certain she was going to lose herself.

She couldn't sort out what was her and what was the girl; it was like a war for control between them – and the other girl nearly won.

If it hadn't been for Andy…

They stayed with the Underground. Polaris was helping them train – and they had to see Dreamer after every session to get rid of the memory flashes that came to them as missiles rained down around them.

Even now Lauren had to fight the urge to grab Andy's hand and put an end to the one trying to attack them (train them, she had to remind herself, they were training).

But it was better. With every day that passed and every memory Dreamer took away she felt more like herself again.

(and yet at night she lay in the bunk next to andy's and dreamt of a life that was no longer hers)

Dreamer had to take those memories away too.

Lauren felt like a stranger in her own skin.

She wasn't her anymore, she hadn't been her for a long time, but she wasn't the girl either, never could be, because part of her would always be Lauren, a Lauren who could never be Lauren because part of her would always be the girl.

She was pretty sure the girl would always be there to some extent. She had come to the realisation a long time ago that they weren't two separate people. The girl lived in her, and she lived in the girl, two beings, two minds and humans across two different lifetimes and eras.

Life in the Mutant Underground was tough.

Nothing was constant. People came and went, more people than before according to Dreamer. Between him and Lauren destroying a chunk of a school and part of a street and then Polaris, their dad, and his dad escaping Sentinel Services, Sentinel Services was hitting back by hitting… everywhere.

"They're even going after sanctuaries, mutant safe houses. Nowhere is safe anymore," said Sage as Thunderbird, Eclipse and Blink arrived with the newest mutants. They dragged a thin woman off down to the basement, leaving Blink and the welcoming mutants to deal with the newcomers. Amongst then was a slender woman with soft blonde hair and blue eyes.

She looked eerily familiar.

Lauren gazed at her, trying to place her. A short way away she could see Andy kept sneaking looks as well.

So it wasn't just her.

The implication struck her a moment later. If she looked familiar to both of them…

Lauren watched as she spoke to Chloe Tan, pulling information from her. That feeling only got stronger and stronger, growing inside her chest, eating at her heart.

She glanced at Andy and followed her from the room. He followed.

The girl's memories were mostly gone, but she was still there, somewhere. Lauren reached into the part of her that was her, and searched as they caught up with the telepath in an empty hallway.

"I know you."

She looked them over. "I… don't think we've properly met actually. I'm Esme."

Lauren gazed at her and the knowledge hit like a shock wave, a flash of a woman made of diamond in silk sheets.

"Like Emma but not Emma," the girl murmured. "How very fascinating."

Esme went white. "How could you possibly-"

Andy grabbed her arm. "My sister knows things sometimes. We have to go now, nice talking, bye."

"Wait-"

Andreas dragged her around the corner and slammed her against the wall. "Lauren, look at me. Lauren!"

She stared at him, half-seeing a different face.

"Lauren, you're doing it again."

She blinked, the world lurched, and then she was her again, except not quite. "It's me, Andy, it's me."

"Lauren?" He let out a long breath. "I thought that didn't happen anymore!"

She rubbed her head. "I thought so too."

He grabbed her arm. "Come on. We better go see Dreamer."

Lauren followed him wordlessly.

"So, Emma?" he said as they walked.

"She was…" Lauren rubbed her head, trying to fix the flashed image in her head. "Was part of a club with us- with them. That woman, Esme, she's… connected to her. I think we should be very careful around her."

Esme no-last-name-given was very careful around them back.

Andy was sure his heart was going to stop when he heard that voice, those words, come out of Lauren's mouth.

He'd thought they were over that!

And yet…

Something had felt different this time.

There had been more of Lauren in her words, more of Lauren's voice in her tone.

It wasn't like before.

That night he dreamt of having to run and hide, of police breaking into an apartment, and of holding hands with a girl he couldn't see while the world turned to ash around them.

It took another three nights before he realised the significance and pulled Lauren aside. "I'm having these dreams," he started, and there was no need to finish.

Dreamer could take the memories away, but what she couldn't do was remove the feelings, the thoughts of being another person, having another person in his head trying desperately to be part of him.

The only person that understood was Lauren.

"You just have to fight it. You can never give in, not for a second. That's how I ended up having my… episodes."

Andy tried to hold on, but it felt like every time he went to sleep he lost a piece of himself.

"It felt like that for me at first," Lauren agreed. "It gets better."

It got better.

And then they had to attack the power station.

And everything went to hell.

Blink was caught by a sentinel.

Dreamer was caught by the guards.

They were left in the empty basement as the Sentinel Services closed in around them.

"We could get out," Lauren said. "If we- we-"

If they did the one thing they absolutely should not do under any circumstances.

"Like Fenris."

"We can't. You've said it yourself we can't. And we're in the basement of the building, everyone will die."

Maybe everyone should.

Andy shook his head to get rid of that thought as Sentinel Services closed in around them.

Doctor Campbell knew about their great-grandparents.

And their ability to combine their powers.

He wanted to know if they could do the same thing. He wanted to test it.

It was funny. They could destroy this building if they wanted to, turn it to nothing, along with everyone in it, but because they didn't want to they were sat here in this cell waiting for Campbell to come back and make more demands.

He came back.

He made more demands.

He shot Dreamer.

Andy wasn't him anymore.

All he knew was the panic tainted anger.

He wanted them to pay.

He wanted them all dead.

He didn't even know when Lauren's hand found his, when the golden light started shining, when he started seeing the capacity for destruction around him, but he didn't care.

He wanted them dead.

The adamantium bore the brunt of their blast, exploding outwards. The building began to shake. Dust fell from the ceiling.

Lauren's hand tightened in his.

They would destroy these humans who thought they could hold them.

And then there was nothing but pain as the collar activated and started shocking him. They collapsed in a heap, their hands still locked together.

On the screen, Campbell was gaping at their power.

When these collars were gone, they'd show him what true power was.

The apparently omnipresent Agent Turner returned with a squad of men to remove all the mutants.

Flash and he was a policeman being ripped apart.

Flash and he was him again.

"You're too late," Lauren spat as they were marched out to the transport.

Dreamer was already dead.

She was weak, whispered something at the back of his head, she deserved to die.

No.

Dreamer was their friend.

And no one deserved to die.

Lauren stopped dead when she got on the transport bus. The guard whacked her with his gun. "Keep moving."

Andy knew what she'd seen as he followed her on. He made himself follow her and they were secured with Blink at the back of the bus.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say those are Esme's sisters," he whispered. Blink frowned.

"They what?"

"At the front of the bus. Esme's sisters," Andy replied, jerking his head at the blonde mutants.

Oh good, said that voice, the cavalry's here.

This was not about to go well.

The transport bus stopped before they even got through the gate of the lab, which was when the gunfire started and Andy felt the collar deactivate. The driver turned around and shot the guard before turning the gun on himself. Blink jumped up. "We need to get these collars off. Someone help me find the key!"

The guard had been carrying it. Blink unlocked her own and then theirs, followed by the cuckoos before either of them could stop her. The two women stepped down off the bus. Lauren began simply snapping off collars using her shields while Blink unlocked others.

They hurried off the transport to find themselves in the middle of a slaughter overseen by the three women, their eyes glowing blue.

"Time to go boys and girls," they announced. "The fun's just starting."

They thought they could order them around!

Them!

Andreas reached for his sister's hand.