1940

In the months, weeks, and days leading up to the night of the twenty-fourth of August 1940, Ashley could sense an ever-present and ever-growing concern loom over her mother, but she couldn't figure out as to why. Of course the Second World War was revving up, but her mother never reacted the way she was now when the First War had started nor the recurrence of any other tragedy for that matter. Over the last half year Ashley had been asking her mother infrequently if she was feeling okay, and she said that she was. So, Ashley continued to let it go, assuming that maybe it was a particularly bad memory plaguing her that she'd rather not discuss, such as like her avoidance to talk about the sinking of the Titanic; anyone could easily she why she refused. However, as the hours ticked by on that specific day and into the early afternoon, Helen's fearful anxiety increased more than tenfold, rolling off her in gigantic waves that undeniably heavily perfumed the room; indicating that there was definitely something deeply upsetting that was bothering her. Not only could Ashley clearly sense it from way upstairs in the attic while she worked on an art project, but for the last fifteen minutes her mother had been loudly and neurotically pacing around downstairs in the living room. By that point, Ashley had had enough if this mysterious behavior and made her way down through the house to confront her mother once and for all. When Ashley passed through the last doorway, she could see her mother shaking like a leaf and on the verge of hyperventilating.

Ashley was tired of not getting a truthful answer anymore. "WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" She loudly declared, almost angrily. "This has gone on long enough! You need to tell me RIGHT NOW what it is that is bothering you so much! You reek of being worried to the Moon and back; it's so strong that I can't even focus! And don't you dare lie to me and say that you're 'fine' because you are clearly far from it! Look at you!" she finished with a blazing glare accentuated by her eyes turning their vampiric shade of red. Helen still couldn't talk but her pheromones started to affect Ashley, activating her vampire abilities. "Mom! Look at what you're doing to me! You're making me all jittery and uncomfortable. You need to stop doing whatever THIS is, and TELL ME! PLEASE!" Ashley begged all vamped out.

At seeing Ashley getting over-whelmed, Helen tried as hard as she could to settle down, but it was immensely difficult for her to stay still now.

"London," her mother trembled before her, biting her lip.

"What about it?" Ashley questioned.

"It's eight hours ahead of us," she continued.

"Okay, ….and?" Ashley didn't have a clue has to how that mattered except it explained why her mother was incessantly fiddling with her watch, constantly checking the time every few seconds.

"The bombing of London…," Helen furthered in-between painful pauses.

"Yeah, it's been going on for the past few days…." Ashley still wasn't catching on.

Tears started pouring from her mother's eyes, blurring Helen's vision. "Tonight, the London Sanctuary gets hit."

"I know, it's listed in Sanctuary Network historical records. Why are you so upset over that? The building obviously doesn't get destroyed and nobody is reported as injured or dead." Ashley thought that her mother's actions were still inexplicably way over-blown. There had to be something more.

That is when her mother completely snapped. "Dear God, Ashley! Nobody is listed to have died that night because I never said anything about it!"

"Who?! Ashley pressed. "WHO DIED?!" she demanded to know.

"MY CHILD!" Helen screamed, revealing the very last remaining secret she ever had. It was hidden so deep and dark within her heart that she had thought that she would have taken it to her grave.

Ashley was taken aback. "YOUR CHILD?! But I'm right here!" she proclaimed.

"NOT YOU! My other child! You weren't my only pregnancy, Ashley," Helen cried. "I thought that I could let this moment happen again, but I can't, I CAN'T!" she pleaded.

Ashley was not only shocked to learn this revelation that she had a sibling, but now everything made complete sense to her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she accused.

"I didn't tell anyone. Other than the night of your death, tonight was the single most devastating moment of my entire life. I couldn't bear it then and I can't bear it now." Came the strained admittance.

"Tell me how they die," Ashley wanted to know.

"The chances of you helping without getting caught are incredibly slim…," Helen started.

"Tell me what happens," she reiterated sternly.

Helen relented, having calmed down just a fraction enough to provide more details. "Down in the London Sanctuary's upper basement in the southeast corner is the cryogenic storage room. In the southeastern most corner, are two identical machines sitting side by side. Your machine is on the right, tucked in the corner, and your sibling's is on the left under the ground level window." Helen took a deep breath. "When the bomb hit, the corner protected you. Your sibling's machine however was almost completely destroyed. There was nothing I could do to save them. Almost nothing of the machine remained besides dozens of broken glass shards and metal pieces scattered everywhere throughout the rubble."

"When? When does the bomb hit?" Ashley quickly narrowed.

"In less than three minutes," she said looking down at her watch.

Ashley made a move to turn away from her, but Helen grabbed her arm to stop her. "WAIT! There's more that you need to know!" Helen panicked slightly, causing Ashley to pause. "You can't just take the embryo now, or you'll be seen! I'm there right now inspecting both of the machines! It wasn't until I turned to leave and barely made it to the stairs when the explosion took place. There's less than a thirty second gap. You'll have to watch me from the street level window to time it just right. You have to get in there before I touch the banister, or there won't be enough time left," she supplied hastily.

And with that, without a single word or nod, Ashley disappeared into a void of nothingness, leaving behind her distraught mother all alone. Helen leaned against the nearby door frame for support before she crumpled to the floor. Even though she wasn't very religious, Helen prayed to whatever God that may be out there that was listening. "Please, save my baby!" she desperately cried as she rocked, clutching her knees to her chest.

When Ashley rematerialized on the street outside the southeastern corner of the London Sanctuary, air raid sirens were blaring through the still night. She could hear plane engines in the distance getting closer, bombs already hitting other parts of the city. She had less than a minute. She looked for the window down low. It was so dark, it took too many precious seconds to find it. Once she caught sight, she teleported next to it. 5… 4… When she bent to look into it, her eyes widened as she saw that her mother was already more than halfway across the floor, reaching for the railing 3.. 2… in an instant, Ashley phased and almost tore a hole through space with how fast she moved. It was so fast that time had slowed around her, and she could see the initial ground impact of the bomb just a foot behind her. She didn't think, she just felt for the genetic material just feet below the window as she fell through the wall, through the machine, then through the floor to the next level below. When she landed chest first on the hard surface, time resumed its natural pace again. With an ear-shattering 'BOOM!' and flash of light, that whole section of the house violently rattled and shook on its foundation, lights flickered threatening to go out, and dust fell from rafters in the ceiling. Above her, she could hear coughing and a rapid shuffling of debris, followed by the agonizing wailing of her mother yelling "NOOOOOOOO!" as she desperately checked the aftermath of the machines holding her children.

When Ashley returned home, Helen sprang to her feet, rushing over to her. It was then that Ashley opened her hand to reveal the tiny bright ball of embryonic energy resting in the center of her palm. At the miraculous sight, Helen wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter's neck, telling her, "Thank you!" in an almost heartbreaking sob. Ashley held her close, replying with, "You would have done the same for me."

After a few more moments of calming down, Helen stepped back slightly to look down at the embryo again. "Is it all right…?" she started.

"He's fine," Ashley replied quickly.

Helen looked up at her in surprise. "He?"

"It's a boy," Ashley smiled. Helen responded with a bright look of her own at the news. "Now, are you going to tell me the story behind how this 'Bundle of Joy' came to be?" Ashley chided playfully.

Her mother closed her eyes and nodded, leading her over to sit on the couch. "The relationship your father and I have is very complicated, starting and stopping several times over the course of several decades. Do you remember when I told you that in 1908 the British government enlisted 'The Five' to track down Worth?" she asked.

Ashley nodded. "Yeah."

Helen continued. "After that whole incident, your father and I grew closer and he made good on his word about starting our relationship again; to 'Begin our dance anew' is what he loves to call it." She gave a fond smile at the phrase. "Following his lead to settle down, we lived in a small cottage by the sea. He wrote poetry and sonnets just as he had said he would. Everything between us was going wonderfully. He was just like the man that I had first met over twenty years prior." Her smile faded into almost a frown. "However, just like before, the happy times didn't last and he relapsed; returning to his murderous habits, ruining everything that we had rebuilt between each other once again," she finished sadly. Pointing towards Ashley's hand, "As for your brother, just like what happened with you, he was conceived near the tail end of that stint of our relationship. Coincidentally, both times I found out that I was pregnant were in the mornings of the same days I caught your father killing someone." Helen rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Each time, I had gone looking for him to tell him the good news. Needless to say, I never told him about either of you."

"If you never told him, then how did he find out about me?" Ashley wondered.

Helen shrugged. "Word of mouth, I suppose. I'm thinking that Tesla may have eventually let it spill since I had needed his involvement in helping me build the machine. I can't say that for certain though. What I do know, is that the only people who knew about you were the other three members of The Five and my father, who performed the surgery."

Ashley raised her fist slightly. "And him?"

"No," her mother shook her head. "The second time I never told anyone, not even your Uncle James. I was luckily able to reach my father just in time before he set sail for another expedition. Between the two of us, we built a replica of the first machine. Whenever someone would ask about it, I just told them that it was a backup for the first one." Helen took a breath. "Which speaking of machines, we now have a problem. I don't have another one built for him as I didn't think it would be possible to even save him. I also obviously can't have him now either, as it's still too far out from our present," she contemplatively worried.

Ashley then offered a solution. "I can hold him."

Helen looked at her. "What?"

"I can store his energy in my cells. His 'Y' chromosomes emit a signature ID that will make it easy for me to pull him out when you're ready to have him." She explained.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Helen asked, filled with hope.

"More than anything," Ashley replied, before moving her hand holding the tiny embryo of her brother to her heart, depositing him there for safe keeping. "There, all safe and sound," she smiled.

At that moment Helen felt a sense of relief ease over her, allowing her to return a genuine smile and lean over to gave her a warm hug. "Thank you."

"He's worth it," Ashley beamed back.

Helen couldn't help but reminisce about the past while also looking forward to the future. She now had her two children with her again, one sitting before her and the other carefully tucked away until the time was right.

She felt this was an appropriate moment to make a solemn admittance to Ashley. "Tonight was the real reason behind why I had finally left London for Old City permanently. Originally after establishing Old City, I had spent my time split between the cities; mostly staying in London to look after the two of you in your machines. However, once the bomb hit and I lost one of my children, I was determined to not lose the other to the same fate. So I packed us up and moved to safer ground. She took a pause before tacking on another revelation. "Having already lost him decades earlier made your death all the more painful for me, as you were my second loss; having left me a completely childless mother," she frowned, shedding a tear.

Ashley leaned forward to give her mother a comforting hug. "I'm sorry. Thankfully, you now have us both again," she consoled.

That uplifted Helen's spirit as she wiped the tear away. "Yes, I do. Thanks to you," she smiled. "I wonder what he will be like once he's born," she voiced out loud. "Perhaps like you, he might take more after your father."

Ashley's curiosity was piqued. "Am I that much like him?" she asked.

"Quite so," her mother shared. "Despite the terrible things that he has done due the will of the creature inside him, he is still a good man underneath it all. He would have been a wonderful father to you; you would have loved him, I am sure of it. Even though you inherited my hair color and my stubbornness, your facial features more closely resemble his; you certainly do have his eyes. A common trait the two of you share is that you are both 'Romantics' at heart." She gave a kind knowing look and Ashley blushed. "Each having an affinity for reading books, especially the Classics."

The closely held privilege Helen had of being Ashley's mother was that she came to know every facet of the girl since the moment she gave birth to her and saw the lesser known aspects of her personality and interests that she normally didn't often display very publicly or if at all to anyone else except for her alone. It was pretty simple to see when she was little as Helen observed what drew Ashley's attention, such as which shop panes of glass she would press herself against to peer inside of. As she got older, Helen began to find out mostly what she liked though requests from Ashley to order something for her. Of similarities, one of Ashley's passions that was the same as her own was that of learning other languages. Of the divergences, Helen obviously was more into the science of things and how they worked while Ashley actually followed more of her father's personality, sharing a love for philosophy and literature, especially for renowned dead authors such as Shakespeare. While Ashley wasn't great at math or manners like Helen wasn't great at poetry or tracking, her interest in the Humanities and the majority of liberal arts was most definitely a reason behind how she could cope better with tragic loss and death than Helen ever could, even though Helen was several times older than her.

Will would probably never believe her if she told him that Ashley's love to read was one of the reasons why her library was so big and why she had so many books around the property, especially in her office. Helen selfishly wanted to keep that little 'secret' to herself. She let him assume by default that it was all her doing, to collect things, which truthfully was partly the case. He did at one point wonder why she kept an old worn book of Grimm fairy-tales on a shelf in her office not too far from her desk, but she deflected it simply as being a case of Abnormals being referenced within written 'popular culture', omitting to mention that her and Ashley used read it together when Ashley was small; the two of them cuddled up with warm tea and the fire going during harsh winters. She's not sure if he actually bought that white lie or not.

Other times Will would come to her after finding a particular book just sitting out in a random location, asking how it had gotten there knowing Helen's desire to keep things organized. She said that there was no particular reason for it being where it was other than a guest or visitor must have left it there, failing to return it to it to the library. That answer left him somewhat puzzled at who could have possibly chosen to read such an odd collection of material, ranging from Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' in its original Danish format all the way to the tome of Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' in a first edition Russian printing followed by Jane Austen works and Mary Shelley. The most perplexing text he found was a deep classical French piece of Voltaire just casually lying about on a table not far from the kitchen. The true culprit Helen had always known was that it was Ashley who had been leaving the books out. Even though Helen had preferred that she kept the books in the library, Ashley preferred to take them to her own little private spots around the building, depositing them there until she finished them. Henry didn't really care or notice since he was always so wrapped up in making new 'toys' for them to test and the Big Guy also helped perpetuate Ashley's 'secret' hobby, preferring to leave the books be; only temporarily moving them when picking them up while he dusted. Even though it seemed 'messy', Helen got used to it as Ashley knew exactly where a certain book was. All Helen had to do was ask her about it if she couldn't find it on its shelf.

As for Will never catching Ashley reading, it was never really intentional of her to hide it from him, but more so just the result of the two of them having different schedules. Unlike Will where his work load allowed him to retire relatively early in the evening, Ashley's work meant that she would often stay out pretty late at night and into the very early morning. Once she returned home, she'd check in with her mother, have a shower, and then curl up with a good book for maybe an hour to decompress before finally heading off to bed to sleep. She curiously never took the book with her or kept any in her room. Helen didn't know for certain if Will ever made the connection between the books and Ashley, especially when the books stopped showing up once Ashley was no longer around the Sanctuary. That was one of the small things that Helen truly began to miss seeing around the house when her daughter had 'died'.

For the next hour, Ashley and Helen fell into a comfortably open and deep conversation about John. This was the very first time that Ashley had honestly wanted to actually know everything that she could about the man that was her father, not the Ripper, since she had learned that it was John. This was also the first time for Helen that she was able to provide full detailed answers for her daughter without having to try to cover-up or avoid certain negative parts.

Ashley loved listening to her mother speak. She certainly did weave a wonderful story recalling how he had courted her all those years ago, winning over her heart, and how excited she was the night of his proposal and all throughout their engagement period. Leaving nothing out, including events leading all the way up to the night of her conception and to their subsequent fallout soon after. All of this legitimate talk about her father and her parents' relationship together got Ashley to truly consider what her life would have been like had he been involved in her childhood and adolescence, being raised by such a man had things been different.

With the conversation coming to a natural close, all of this major focus on her father led Ashley to think about her mother's father. "So, speaking of fathers, what are we going to do about your father? You think we can go two-for-two at preventing the Magnus line from becoming female living descendants only?" she optimistically wondered.

Helen wasn't so sure if they could and looked over at Ashley with a partially gloom expression on her face. "I'm still trying to figure that one out to be honest, but I would hope so. Unlike with your brother, the circumstances surrounding my father's supposed demise are a complete mystery to me. I don't know the exact date or time or which attempt it was that Adam powered up his machine and destroyed Praxis. I don't even know all of the physics behind what actually happened to make everyone disappear, if it was indeed the result of the rogue experiment. I never saw any bodies. All that I found of my father was his broken walking stick in Ranna's chambers. Whether that means that he was present when the accident happened or the walking stick got left behind during an evacuation and ultimately damaged during the building collapse, I just don't know. There's so many scenarios that could have played out leading to the result that I saw." Helen took a brief pause to think some more before continuing. "What I do have is a rough estimate of when it could have possibly occurred based on the date of the giant psych worm incident and a generalized location of where my father might have been, but again, there's no guarantee that my father and his walking stick were inseparable. If we were to do anything, it would probably mean sending a spy into Hollow Earth possibly months to even years in advance to keep track of both Worth's progress and your grandfather's activities." she surmised.

Ashley saw the logistical difficulties but was confident that they could handle them. That was, until she heard what her mother said next.

"As for who the spy would be, I don't think it could be either of us," Helen looked around slightly worried.

Ashley sat up straight. "Why not? Why can't I go? You know, play off the 'death card' thing? They won't be expecting me down there," she defended.

Her mom shook her head. "That's precisely why you can't go. Somehow Adam learns about your death and uses my relatable 'loss of a daughter' tragedy to try to entice me to go back in time with him. He wouldn't have pressed as hard as he did about that the entire time if he became aware in any capacity that you were actually still alive. Besides my father, I don't know who else knows about you down there or if they also know what you look like." Accentuated with a slight roll of her eyes she proceeded, "On top of all that, with all the Source Blood in you, the sensors would easily be able to detect it and you would light up like a Christmas tree on their scanners." Her last line would have been comical had it not been true.

"Alright, well if not me, then what about you? Why can't you go?" Ashley reached.

"I have already been there once before. Not only am I in their logs, but I would be highly recognizable especially to Adam's cohorts. There's also the fact that if I was found to have returned in secret I would have broken part of the agreement I made in our alliance between the Sanctuary and Praxis. I don't intend to find out the resulting consequences of that breach of trust." The disgusting taste of the protein shake came back into her mind again. That alone was enough of a deterrent for her, and will probably be something she'll never forget much to her dismay; it seemed like the taste had been chemically etched into the synapses of her brain.

Ashley was at a loss. "Then who? It would obviously have to be someone we could trust implicitly to get the job done, but I can't think of anyone we know of that could disappear without affecting the timeline."

That statement gave Helen a very uncomfortable thought. "It might have to be your brother who goes." She let out a heavy breath. "He would be the perfect candidate as he's already outside of the events of the original timeline and has no known affiliation with the Sanctuary or your grandfather."

Ashley's mind stirred and her brows furrowed. She as well wasn't too comfortable with this course of action. "For him to go, it would mean that he would have to be born far enough in advance in order to not only just be old enough to go, but to also hopefully have plenty of field training to even attempt something like this. And out of everything, he'll still have to want to do it. He could say 'no'." Concern clouded over her face at all of the less than set-in-stone variables that this future mission was turning out to include.

"I know," Helen said closing her eyes briefly. "Honestly, even if he is capable and willing, the prospect of putting another one of my children in imminent danger makes me feel positively ill. Especially considering that I'm having to think this right now about the same child that I literally just got back today." At that, she leaned forward over her knees and put her head in her hands. "This reminds me of the moment I agreed to let you go with Henry into that Cabal facility. Every part of me told me to tell the both of you 'no' but I was forced to allow it anyway. See how well that turned out." She shuddered at the terrible feeling she got from recalling that past regrettable decision.

Ashley had no words. She knew that there was nothing she could say that could make that resulting doomed outcome any better. All she could think of to do was to try to lend some comfort by placing one of her hands on her mother's back to rub tiny circles beneath her shoulders.

After a minute or two of the both of them sitting there like that in silence, Helen collected herself; she sat upright and turned to face Ashley, placing a hand on her daughter's knee. "The one thing that we have going for us right now is that we still have another roughly seventy years to go before we get to that moment. So let's make that time count," she commented inspiringly.