Author's Note

I do not own The Gifted.

I apologise for the delay in this chapter being posted. Life's got pretty busy again, and I've been a little demotivated recently, so everything's ended up being pushed back and back.

This is the last full length chapter for this fic, though there is an epilogue to come, hopefully tomorrow, but if not then in the next week.

A big thank you to Wisteria115, Ella Symphony, for your reviews, Yaslaa for your favourite, Unicornalien35, ruka126, bookfreak25 for your follows, and Sophie hayes for your follow, favourite, and review!

For a moment, and only a moment, Lauren felt complete. There were no restraints this time, no one to shock them or tell them no. There was no surprise like in the park, and no need for them to stop.

They could give these vermin exactly what they deserved.

The transport vehicle and surrounding guard buildings crumbled to nothing under their power. If not for Blink opening up a portal and shoving them through to Eclipse, Thunderbird, Polaris and Shatter, Lauren was pretty sure they would have reduced those with them and the Trask lab to dust as well.

Part of her still said they should have done.

Dreamer's body had been left at Trask Headquarters, but they held a memorial for her regardless. Lauren felt misplaced attending. It was because of them she was dead.

They got her killed.

Their parents wanted to leave on the next transport to Mexico. They fought over it bitterly.

"But we can help here!"

"It's not safe here, especially with Esme and her sisters around! We have to leave!" shouted their dad.

"It's not safe anywhere!" Lauren snapped.

There was silence.

"This world's not safe," Andy said. "Not for people like us."

"Lauren, Andy, you're not even adults!"

"But we're old enough to help, and strong enough to fight!"

Maybe they could do some good this time, instead of all those terrible wrongs they did.

"Absolutely not! We are leaving and you are coming with us."

"But this could be a chance to make things right! To actually help!"

"It's not up for debate."

They left for Fairburn in the morning, along with Otto Strucker.

Fairburn was attacked shortly after they arrived by mutants with a weird looking manacle joining their lower arms together. The girl reached for Andy's hand, but he was knocked unconscious before they could do anything. The girl screeched and screamed with anger and Lauren screamed with her. Her shields slammed into the attacking mutants, slicing one open from shoulder to hip, but she still wasn't as powerful as she should be, as part of her remembered being.

She needed Andy, she needed Andreas.

Lauren ran, despite part of her demanding to stand and fight and destroy those that would threaten them.

The Underground came to rescue them, and with a little help from Esme and her sisters, they returned to the Atlanta headquarters.

Nothing more was said about them leaving.

Andy said once that it felt like nothing had gone right since he discovered his powers and destroyed the gym.

Lauren was pretty sure it had started before that.

It started when she discovered her own powers, when she had the first flash from the girl.

Sometimes she wondered whether Mr Strucker might have had the right idea when he started that fire, and even before then, when he tried to destroy their inheritance.

The girl and her brother were dangerous, destructive terrorists.

She and Andy were dangerous and destructive.

Not only that, but it was them who gave Campbell the knowledge to combine mutant abilities, to make Hounds like the ones that attacked them at Fairburn.

"History's written by the victors," Andy said. "Andreas and his sister weren't terrorists; they wanted to build a safe place for mutants."

"Andy, that's not what the girl in my head says."

No.

She said kill all the humans.

She said mutants should rule the Earth.

She said mutants are superior.

She said look after your own first and foremost.

"Well, it's what the man in mine says."

They stared at each other for a long time. Lauren sat down. "He talks to you now?"

"Sometimes."

"Do you agree with him?"

"Sometimes."

Lauren sighed. "Me too. That's what scares me."

"They were looking for a safe place."

Lauren swallowed. "No, Andy, they weren't."

He looked at her properly for the first time. "I don't understand."

"They weren't looking for a safe place Andy. They were looking to make the Earth a safe place."

He frowned. "What?"

"By killing all the humans."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Lauren rested her head on her hands. "They were monsters Andy."

There was silence between them as he closed his book and began angrily scrawling out the doodle of a wolf he had made while reading.

"Lauren?"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever…"

She had an awful feeling she knew what was coming.

"…ever… want to just…" He waved his hands uselessly.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I get that sometimes."

Sentinel Services went after their grandma, partly because she was related to them and partly because she had been Otto Strucker's wife. Since he remained safe with the Underground, giving them information about his work for Trask, she was the nearest thing to an asset they had to aim for.

Andy wanted to destroy them.

No.

The thing inside him, the other man, Andreas, he wanted to destroy them.

It was one thing to tear apart robots, but it was another to flash and see living beings ripped apart by his power.

"I'm scared Lauren," he whispered. She took a step closer to him.

"Me too."

"How did you cope with this for three years?"

"Fighting."

"What if I'm not strong enough to fight it? What if he wins?"

Lauren turned to face him and rested her forehead against his. "You're stronger than you think Andy. I think they'll always be part of us, but they can't win completely. Maybe we can do some good with this power this time."

Or maybe they could destroy everything all over again, hundreds of thousands dead, bodies broken and bloody on the ground.

Andy tried not to see it, but the image flashed every time he closed his eyes.

All they could do was listen to the news from the Summit on the radio.

Things were going badly.

Incredibly badly.

There had to be something else they could do!

From here, though, there was nothing to be done.

Especially not once Sentinel Services found them.

Pity, Andy remembers once saying. I like this place.

He looks at Lauren.

"Not now," she mouths. "Too many civilians."

There would be too many casualties. The Sentinel Services, yes, but the mutants as well. Their parents. Everyone else who was in the building.

Not yet.

Bullets rained on the building from the outside.

Flash and he was holding a standpoint against a small army.

Flash and he was back in the headquarters.

Lauren deflected a bullet and it bounced into a man's chest.

Flash and it was a policeman dying.

Flash and it was the agent again.

Andy saw the horrified look their dad gave Lauren even if she missed it.

Flash and he was smaller, younger, barely a child, being looked down on, scorned, by a large man in military uniform.

Flash and he was back in the headquarters.

Lauren had lived with this for three years.

Andy was going insane after five months.

Despite their best efforts there were men getting through, and they had brought those accursed conjoined Hounds with them!

Abominations, whispered the voice in his head.

Andy met up with Lauren as they began to fall back towards the vault, where their mom said the tunnel was nearly through.

"If they see us… They'll know where we went, they'll catch us out there," she was saying.

Andy looked at Lauren.

She looked at him.

Flash and they were stood in the centre of a crowded building, screams ringing in their ears as everything ended.

"Maybe we could do some actual good this time round," she whispered.

"Everyone would get out," he said. "Everyone would be safe."

"We could lose ourselves."

"I hate this. I'll take that risk."

"Yeah," she breathed. "Me too." She turned to their parents. "Mom, dad… We can get everyone out."

"What are you talking about?"

"If we destroy the building after getting everyone out then we can cover our tracks."

It was a good tactical move, one he could remember using before, when he was him but not him. Their dad frowned and looked between them.

"Wait, wait. You know what that means?"

More than he did.

"Yeah we know."

Another explosion rocked the building.

"They're coming. You did your part, let us do ours."

Their mom bid them a tearful goodbye before their dad dragged her away down the tunnel. Lauren turned to him. "Are you sure about this? I mean, really sure about this?"

"You said it yourself. Maybe we can do some good this time round. Everyone will be safe."

Lauren nodded. "If I'm… not me, when we're done, I want you to know that I love you."

"Yeah. Yeah, me too."

Together, they turned and reached for the other's hand before going to meet the Hounds.

He was him, but not him at the same time, two people at once, the memories burning inside his head, forcing themselves places they seemed to fit flawlessly. The power was on another level. He could feel it running through him and see the seams of the building as they fell apart. Nothing meant anything anymore, time or place, or position. It could be the Headquarters, or a skyscraper, or a theatre, or a squad of soldiers. Flesh and bone, wood and steel, concrete and iron, all of it crumbled away, leaving nothing behind.