Chapter 20

Time Walkers

"See, I told you she could do it," the voice was female, gentle almost praising.

"Took her long enough," a male voice, rough, patronizing, definitely not amused.

"Only from her own perspective, I told you to wait on testing her," The female voice came again it sounded annoyed.

"We didn't know what would happen," a new male voice snapped

"I TOLD you to let it play out first, To give me time to pick the point, But you couldn't wait," The female voice snapped back sharply.

"She failed the first time If she hadn't been worried about the,.." The first male voice started but was interrupted.

"You've been disconnected from humanity for too long, How did you think she would react, The first test was stacked against her and you fucking know it," The female voice shot, she was definitely not happy.

"You had no right to retry her, We had already decided," It was the second male voice, It seemed to be trying to be the voice of reason.

"May I remind you she's come further quicker than all three of her predecessors, Hell, she fucking froze time in two days, It took the last one six months," The female voice sounded content, praising again.

"She shut herself down," The first male voice spat sharply

"And you're surprised at that, If you had chosen anyone else, Or better yet WAITED," The female voice was defiantly angry now, her voice on the verge of shouting.

"And if you would merge we would have known," It was the second male voice

"Or you could just listen to me, Already told you I won't, were too disconnected already," The female responded curbing her anger.

"She's too attached, None of the others," It was the second male voice, and again, it was cut short.

"None of the others are even comparable, They have to live with their choices she can change hers, Of course, she's attached what did you expect," The female voice shouted hotly drowning out the other voices before continuing in a calmer voice.

"Not only has she come further, she's pushed herself harder than her predecessors, And she's learned faster, Need I remind you what happened to the first one,"

"We are well aware what happened to him, regrettable as it was," The first male voice replied.

"REGRETABLE, It was a catastrophe, None of the others can or even have the potential to do anything like that," The female voice came in hot and to the point.

"What the hell, ok Max you've finally snapped and gone insane," Max thought to herself looking around trying to find the source of the voices but all there was, was black. "She can hear us," It was the first male voice again, It sounded surprised. The female voice let out a laugh, "I told you, She's faster than the others," She said approvingly. "Ok where the hell am I now," Max asked feeling confused, "Timewalker, you are," "I will handle this, You go deal with your own charges, we will continue this discussion later" the female voice cut off the second male voice abruptly.

"Ok, these are definitely not in my head,...I think," Max thought still trying to figure out what was going on. The female voice chuckled, "You're not going mad Max, I imagine you have a lot of questions," The female voice came over soothing, caring. "err just a few, Where am I, who are you, and whats going on spring to mind," Max replied calmly. The female voice let out an amused humph, "You'll have to excuse me, I forget how much we used to rely on our other senses," she said softly. Max watched as a shadowy figure appeared in front of her appearing out of focus as various colors blended together and shapes took form, A tall slender figure, with long blonde hair down to her chest, Blue jeans and a basic white tank top dressed her frame, A single blue feather earring hanging on her left ear and a pair of rich Hazel eyes accompanied by a warm smile. Max could feel a lump in her throat, "Rachel," she gasped.

The blond haired girls smile faded, replaced by a pained, apologetic look as she slowly shook her head, "Sorry, I thought it would be easier seeing a face you recognized, I can change if you wish," she said softly. Max shook her head, "No, no, It's ok, Just a lot of crazy lately," she said smiling weakly. The blonde let out a chuckle and nodded, "Yeah, But you handled it well, I suppose you can call me Nona, As for where you are it's a little complicated," She furrowed her brow a little thinking, "I guess you could say this is between time and reality, A half way point, Where one can see the timeline as a whole, At least that which has passed anyway," she said smiling as she sat on a brown leather chair that appeared as a patch of short green grass appeared around them along with another brown leather chair which she gestured too, "take a seat, It's been such a long time since I got to do anything like this," she nodded eagerly. Max took a step towards the chair squeezing the arm firmly, "It feels real," she thought to herself. Nona giggled a little, "It's as real as anything else," she said, Max looked at her quizzically as she sat down, "You can hear what I think," she said puzzled. Nona shrugged, "It's our preferred way of communicating, But I do enjoy verbal it's,..simplistic nature I guess," she replied smiling as she tucked her legs under her in the chair.

Max looked around, the grassy area only expanded a few feet from the two girls and then there was just empty, "Where one can see the timeline as a whole," she thought to herself as a thick rope-like structure began to appear, every thread a distinctly different color numbering into the millions, "Hey I been here before," she shrilled as she turned to face Nona. Nona smiled as she looked at the multicolored rope, "Not exactly here, This is your first, But it's interesting how you see time, I can relate to it easy enough," she let out an amused humph, "Certainly easier than the last Timewalker, his was a right mess, But he somehow managed," she shrugged looking back to Max. Max looked at her as another half a dozen question popped into her head, "Timewalker," she asked flatly, "It's just a title, Makes it easier for reference," Nona replied still smiling. "And I'm the fourth," Max questioned with a nod.

Nona's face fell slightly, "Ah you heard that," she said looking a little sheepish, Max nodded, "I heard somin about a test, Was all that shit just a test," she shot feeling a little spur of anger start to form in her chest. Nona looked at her apologetically and shook her head, "Yes and no," she said as she let out a sigh and shrugged, "From the top then, Max how long do you think you've had your power for," she asked questioningly. Max felt a little taken back by her reaction and her question, "A week, or three from my perspective I guess," she said feeling like it was a trick question. Nona gently shook her head and smiled, "You were born with it Max, the same as any other chosen, But due to the nature of what you can do, It had a powerful barrier blocking you from accessing it, depending on the 'gift' depends on the strength of the barrier, Each chosen is then, how shall we say, nudged along in life to a point of the watchers choosing and the barrier is removed," she finished as she sat back in her chair gauging her reaction, Max furrowed her brow as she realized what she was hearing she felt a wave of anger flow through her, "Your telling me that my whole life, you've just been using me as a fucking pawn," She shouted at the blond opposite her as she balled her fists on the arm of the chair. Nona just smiled and gently shook her head, "No Max, certain events happened that we did make happen, Your father getting his job in Seattle for instance, Your acceptance into Blackwell, Even your friend Chloe was nudged a little, Her father's death was,...regretable, But necessary, That's why when you changed it, It seemed like it backfired, Not my choice I'll add," she let out a slight amused laugh, "You almost broke the barrier back then, If you had it would have killed you, That's why your father got the job, And I strengthened the barrier" She continued in a soft voice.

Max sat there absorbing everything she heard, "I almost broke it," she thought as she recalled the time of Williams death, "So what, you decided Williams fate," she spat not trying to control her anger as she dug her nails into her palms. Nona grimaced slightly, "No, That's not what I do, The other watchers decide," she let out a sigh, "Sometimes difficult choices have to be made, There is far more at stake than you realize right now, But we will get to that in time, As for you, Yes you were nudged but you were plenty stubborn yourself, It was you that chose to not contact your friend, despite my best efforts," Nona sat back in her chair arms crossed looking a little defeated. "Wait," Max snapped before continuing slowly, "You,...you tried to get me to write her," she said feeling suddenly deflated. Nona grinned, "Yeah, But no matter how hard I tried, you two just wouldn't budge, Ya both just as stubborn," she giggled again before returning a semi-serious expression, "Everything leading up to and including that Day in the bathroom was chosen carefully by the other watchers, In all honesty we've never spent so much time and planning on a Chosen coming out, The test was simple, present you with a problem and let you solve it, The problem was the storm,...However,"

The two girls sat for a moment in silence while Max went over what she had heard, Each question she had Nona would answer with a nod or shake of the head until Max spoke, "The whole mess with Jefferson and Rachel wasn't part of the test was it," Nona's face fell as she shook her head, "No, By the time I found out about it, I tried to get the other Watchers to move the storm back, but they wouldn't budge, And when you went back and,..hit the reset so to speak, They decided that you wasn't ready, Hell they even started looking for a new chosen," She finished slamming one hand on the arm of the chair in frustration before looking at Max with a large grin. Max felt herself sink into her chair as Nona grinned at her, "Why are you grinning like that," she mumbled.

Nona reached over placing her hands on Max's Knee's, "That barrier was the strongest I have ever placed, And you broke it, before I could remove it, That was when I knew you could handle it, But in the end, You just shut down, After everything you went through and you gave up," she looked at Max her expression turned sad and let out a sigh, "It's been so long that I didn't understand,...Watching you through that week, It was difficult to gauge what or how you were feeling, So I did the only thing I could think of to try and figure out what went wrong," she finished looking at Max with an apologetic look, her eyes glassing over slightly.

Max looked at the blonde as the puzzle appeared to snap into place, Her brain forged the question before she even knew to ask it, "That was you,...the butterfly," she thought, "Of course, you were both in the same room at the same time," she felt like she had been missing the obvious the whole time as she stared at the blonde who was now gently nodding. Nona let out a sigh, "Being in your head was,...overpowering, to say the least, That's when I realised, I finally understood why you did what you did, Why you shut down the way you did," Nona said gently, every word felt to Max like it carried an apology, Max frowned "You didn't know,..heartbreak," she replied slowly feeling confused.

Nona let out a sigh and stood up gesturing around them, "I said it had been a while since I did anything like this,", "How old,...How old are you," Max asked a little unsure if the question would insult. Nona let out a laugh, "I stopped counting a LONG time ago, Let's just say a few millennia, well, since I took on this form at least, And no to answer your next question were not God's, We watch and try to keep things in balance, As I said there's more at stake than you know, But that's for later," Nona finished and walked back to her seat tucking her legs under herself again, "As I said being in your head was, overpowering, So I tried to calm things down a little by blocking everything out so I could go through things one at a time," she smiled at looked up at Max, "But as I said, your stubborn, It didn't take me long to realise what had happened, shoulda been obvious from the start, You breaking that barrier should have given me a heads up, But it took me by complete surprise if I'm honest, So I,...gave you a nudge," she shrugged as she said the last part grinning again.

"You had another storm coming," The words just rolled out of Max before she could engage any form of filter, Nona still had her grin, and gave a little shrug, "Not exactly, I just nudged a chosen to create a small snowstorm, The rest you did all on your own, without any interference from any of us," Nona's grin was now up to her eyes, "Of course the other Watchers weren't happy with me but they can,...How would your friend put it, oh, Go fuck themselves," Both girls laughed at this?

Max sat for a moment as she suppressed her laughter, looking up at Nona with a questioning look, "Nona, What happened to the first Timewalker," she asked carefully recalling how sharp Nona was before when it was brought up with the others. Nona sank back into her seat, her expression hardened, "Fair question I guess, where to start," she shuffled forwards on her chair putting her arms on her knees, "For as long as I've existed in this form, There has always been a Timewalker, Never more than one, and never more than about twenty years between one, Which by the way makes you the youngest," she gave an approving smile to Max, "This first Timewalker, well we made a mistake," she let out a long sigh, "You see the gift was given when he was born, Unlocked when he turned twenty, Unfortunately his mother died during childbirth so he never met her, For the first few years everything seemed fine until he broke the safety barrier, The same one you've broken, You however already learned not to mess with things that far back and you managed to fix it before any lasting damage was done," she let out a smile, "You mean William," Max said solemnly, Nona nodded, "The first Timewalker didn't have such a fortunate lesson, He went back to far to see his mother, And he did it, He saw her, But in doing so he changed the most important day of his life," Nona looked down at her feet as Max sat there feeling a little confused, "Nona I don't understand," she muttered a sick feeling started building up inside her.

"The day he spoke to his mother was the day he was conceived, In speaking with his mother, she never attended the party that night so he wasn't conceived therefore was never born, So time adapted the only way it could, It erased him entirely," Nona finished without looking up. Max just sat there with her mouth open, "Erased, wowzer," she thought. "Hang on a second, You said there's always been a Timewalker as long as you've existed in this form, And your,...How long," Max asked the question but couldn't finish it, the answer wasn't even comprehensible. Nona looked up at her and chuckled, "You won't have to worry about that for a VERY long time Max, The second time walker saw the best part of three millenniums before he sacrificed himself for someone dear to him, The last one saw two, unfortunately he was killed, But you, Once you get to your mid twenties or so, you'll simply stop aging, The job has some perks," Nona beamed at her.

Max's eyes went wide, a small grin appeared on her lips, "That means me and Chloe can..." her face fell as soon as the thought entered her mind as she looked at Nona, But Nona only gave a slight smile, "I'm trying to sort that out, You don't need to convince me that you can't be without her, But you've heard how the other are," Nona gave a little nod to one side signaling the other Watchers, "Besides, worst comes to worst, in your mid-twenties if you so choose you can simply relinquish your gift and your ageing will continue as normal,...However,...I hope we find another way, Your nothing like the other's Max, You put other's first, even above your own feelings, The first test proved that, And believe me I've seen enough in my lifetime to know that not many would make the same choice," Nona finished giving Max a reassuring smile and stood up walking over to Max offering a hand.

Max looked up at her feeling slightly relieved as she took her hand and got off the chair, Almost as soon as she did the chairs, grass, and timeline dissolved into the darkness. "For now, though, That's enough for the time being, plenty of time to go over the finer details later. As for this conversation," Nona stopped and tapped Max on the forehead with her index finger, "For now you won't remember it when you wake up," she said smiling. Max looked up at her with a frown, "Why," she thought. Nona smiled and gave a gentle shake of her head, "You've more than earned a rest, Don't need all this interfering with your RnR, Don't worry we will talk again and you will remember all this, But for now you need to wake up there getting a little antsy down there" And with that Nona Tapped Max on the forehead again and everything went black.

"I don't care, I'm calling a doctor she's been asleep now for over forty hours, It's not normal," Vanessa's voice came over firmly as footsteps were heard. "Vanessa please, That really won't be necessary, When she wakes up I'm sure she will explain, I wish I could but it's not my place, please just trust me," Joyce's voice sounded pleading. "She's right Venessa, If I was in your shoes I would be worried too, But after what she's been through and done, She need's a serious crash, She'll wake up, just make sure you got enough food for when she does, That girl has an appetite," Chloe chuckled as she said the last part.

Max shot up bolt right upon hearing the bluenette's voice and practically shouted, "CHLOE,"

So I seem to be on a bit of a roll here, Christmas must be early, two episodes well ahead of what I predicted.

Watcher's, Chosen, Time walkers, a forty hour snooze and immortality well not aging at any rate.

Ok, I might have the next one up before X-mas (4 days) But I hold not promises, and the two girls WILL be having a much needed and long overdue talk within the next two, But hey it's in the open now that's somin right. :P

As always comments and critique welcome, I love reading the comments they make me smile and encourage me to keep going.

If I don't have one out before Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.