Gary and Xavier found that in the following days, neither Mulder, Scully nor Walter had come back to them complaining they had been sent back to the wrong dimension. After seven days had passed Gary had stopped looking over his shoulder every time they went near the graveyard. In fact they hadn't run into any body vaguely resembling them. Xavier didn't say anything but Gary thought he was glad as well. They could work on getting themselves settled in this new London.
It was a sunny and bright day despite the fact it was England and Gary thought that Xavier was looking more relaxed than he had been since his father's death. He himself felt quite relaxed, he was even getting used to the stares, he supposed it was because he was with Xavier though he didn't think it was that obvious. In any case the sun was doing more than enough to compensate.
"You know," Xavier began, "I could just fancy a burger."
Gary eyed his partner with mock suspicion, "A burger?"
"Hmm." Xavier affirmed looking as if it was the most heavenly thing he could think of.
"Really?" Gary queried reluctant to admit he was being serious.
"Well yes, they did have them in your time didn't they?" Xavier asked, "We didn't have them, American businesses had been all but banned by the time I was old enough. Of course they had us screwed with the computer market."
"Ok, then." Gary reluctantly agreed, "If that's what you want."
"Will there be one near here?" Xavier asked.
Gary smiled, "Oh I imagine if we walk for a couple of minutes we're bound to run into one."
"I don't remember seeing one."
"No? They're everywhere." Gary replied looking about him, sure enough there wasn't one within his line of vision, no Pizza Hut either.
They started walking and looking out for either McDonald's or Burger King, Xavier wasn't fussy. Gary was also looking out for all the other chains too, Subway, Pizza Hut, there must be a Starbucks coming up soon he thought. Gary didn't want to think anything of it but he couldn't help but look out for a Marks and Spencer too.
By the time they had walked the length of Oxford Street and half of Tottenham Court Road Gary was getting really worried and Xavier was getting really slow.
"You ok?" Gary asked, "Maybe we should just get the tube to Kensington or something."
Xavier looked tired, "I think we should just forget about it and get something to eat elsewhere."
"I know there's one on Kensington High Street and somebody will let you have a seat on the tube." Gary offered not entirely convinced himself.
Xavier agreed and they headed off for the tube. A train came in as they reached the platform and when they got on to Gary's profound irritation his worst fears were realised, not one person relinquished a seat, in fact he could have sword they glared at them both. He had to hold onto Xavier who had sensed his mood and told him to leave it; the people on the train glared at them the whole way.
Gary was relieved to be back on the street and he could tell Xavier was too. They walked from one end to the other and they found a number of department stores but nothing else and Gary was astonished to find Kensington High Street market was selling fruit and veg. No Marks and Spencer, not a single one the whole length of the street.
"I don't even feel hungry anymore." Xavier said as Gary was pondering their next move.
Gary observed him, Xavier sounded weary and he found that he was looking quite pale and very tired.
"You're not just tired are you?" Gary asked.
"No." Xavier said quietly, never one to make a fuss.
"Right, we'll back then, I'll get us something else to eat and I'll buy a paper on our way." Gary said as they set off back towards the tube.
"A paper? Since when have you been interested in the news?" Xavier asked.
"Scully never questioned that she had the right Mulder."
"And we know better, so how will a paper help?"
"We assumed rather too much about this London." Gary elaborated.
Xavier suddenly looked as worried as he knew he was himself and he had been hoping to avoid it.
In between the tube station and the hotel they passed a newsagent and Gary bought an evening paper. Xavier was really flagging now but Gary knew that if he wandered around too much without him, he might go through a portal and they would be separated, he couldn't risk it.
Xavier slumped on the bed as soon as they got through the door; he lay back and closed his eyes after Gary lifted his legs up. Leaving his partner to sleep Gary sat in the easy chair by the window and unfolded the paper to look at the first page.
It was with an uncharacteristic amount of self-restraint that he managed to remain silent when he first saw what he read there. Or rather what he couldn't read on the right hand side of the page since it was in German. He found the mere sight of print on paper could strike terror deep into his innards; he didn't need a degree in history to figure out what had been going on for the past 60 years.
Gary tried to remain calm and resisted the urge to wake Xavier and get them to another portal in the dark. Doing things in a rush would only lead to further disasters and they couldn't afford to play this one wrong. Two men together, one crippled, wandering around Fascist London, the only way they could make it worse would be to break a curfew or get caught by some underworld low-life.
He tried to remember when it had got like this but it must have been right from when they left 2053 because they had been with Mulder and Walter virtually the whole time leading up to the incident in The Royal Oak.
Suddenly it all clicked and Gary was certain they would have to find a portal very soon. He had no business taking Xavier in the pub and they had been constantly stared at. Was how he felt in his eyes so that he couldn't hide it? The landlord of Hotel could have reported him by now; they were sharing a room. The bloody Germans had won World War Two, what other explanation could there be.
Gary didn't sleep much that night and Xavier woke with an enthusiasm for shopping which he didn't have the heart to crush. Not yet anyway. He purposely stayed clear of the paper that now lay in the bin, now daylight had come he found he didn't want to know. They had been OK so far; as long as he didn't leave Xavier alone they would be OK for a few more days, long enough to work something out anyway.
They spent the morning on Oxford Street, apart from the staring there didn't seem to be anything wrong, if you ignored the McDonalds, Marks and Spencer thing that is. They both got themselves some new clothes since Gary had mentioned his reservations and Xavier had suggested it might partly to do with his forties clothes and long coat. Gary had been wearing his forties things fulltime for so long now he hadn't even considered it.
"Want some lunch?" Gary asked as the stood on the corner of Charing Cross Road as noon approached.
"Ok," Xavier replied, "But I'm over the burger thing."
They walked down Charing Cross Road and Xavier made him stop outside a scruffy looking pub.
"Oh no, you can not be serious." Gary said wanting to move on.
Although the building had a faded pub sign hanging from it, the windows were boarded up and bill postered.
"But that's the other thing I always wanted to taste, real proper pub food, washed down with a pint of beer." Xavier enthused.
"It's derelict!"
Xavier smiled, "Then the door will be locked."
"Ok," Gary gave in, "But the first sign of trouble and we're leaving."
Xavier smiled and let Gary lead the way, he gave a half hearted push on the door and it swung open easily.
The pub they entered was dark and smoky but it wasn't cigarette smoke, it was more herbal than that. There was no light coming from the street outside, the glow from a large log fire was the only illumination. It reminded Gary of some old village tavern, there was no music playing, no fruit machines or arcade games. The floor was made of bare wood boards, shiny and dark with age not varnish. Surprisingly the pub was relatively full and alive with chatter without being noisy.
That is, it was alive with chatter until they were noticed. One person looked up and then the person next to them was nudged, they looked at them too and then passed the message to their neighbour. In one minute the whole pub had plummeted into silence apart from the fire which continued to pop and crackle.
There were two men sat on chairs by the fire, both dressed completely in black and wearing their equally dark hair long over their shoulders. Gary didn't really know why he notice them more than the others, half hidden away as they were. One of them, maintaining a grave expression stood up and stepped towards them. Gary wasn't going to wait to see how it played out, he took Xavier's arm and they hastened their retreat back onto Charing Cross Road.
Gary flung the doors open and stepped out onto the street quickly followed by Xavier. Then they froze. Charing Cross Road was gone; or rather the one they knew was gone. No cars, no modern street noise, the road was cobbled and the other side of the road was much closer than it ought to have been. His first instinct was to make sure that at least they were still together. Xavier stood beside him with a similar look of shock on his face.
"The portals work both ways don't they, how the hell did we manage this?" Xavier asked.
"I don't know." Gary replied as he stood still frozen to the spot watching the men and women walking up and down the street wearing strange flowing, ankle length clothes.
"Why would there be a portal here anyway, we're miles away."
"I don't know." Gary repeated.
"Do you suppose we've ended up in the past, you know like you did." Xavier continued.
Gary refrained from answering feeling somewhat speechless. There was something not quite right with this scene but he couldn't put his finger on it. He knew only that he had figured it out very quickly when he had been in nineteenth century London but somehow he couldn't quite place this.
They had both completely forgotten about the man that had been approaching them in the pub.
"Mr Sparrow," A deep, refined and lofty voice spoke from behind them, "My apologies for startling you, may we step back inside?"
Gary swung round to face the man, Xavier did too and Gary held on to him as he lost his balance for a moment.
The man regarded them with the same stern face they had first seen but with the merest hint of a raised eyebrow.
"Mr Wheatcroft." He said acknowledging Xavier.
The man was tall, just slightly taller than Gary himself but he had a presence a whole twelve inches taller. He held what seemed to be a glass ball in his hands, larger than a tennis ball, smaller than a football. He glanced at the ball momentarily before putting it away beneath what Gary realised was a cloak. The clothes beneath the cloak were black too, even in the light of the sun. In the close proximity they now found themselves in Gary also noticed the pendant hanging on a chain around the man's neck. It was most certainly gold and was in the form of a symbol two inches across at least, Gary didn't recognise it.
"We have been expecting you." The man stated, "Be kind enough to join us by the hearth."
"Right," Gary replied still feeling a bit stunned, "And your name would be?"
"My apologies," the man replied, "Severus Snape. Order of the Golden Dawn, First Class." With a sweep of black cloak Severus went back inside the pub.
Gary looked at Xavier, "Probably some kind of role playing nonsense." He said.
"Which would explain why Charing Cross Road has disappeared and why he knew our names."
"We could just go." Gary suggested gesturing down the street.
Xavier shook his head, "All our belongings are in an alternative reality and unfortunately he's probably the one who knows why this happened. In any case the portal must be inside the pub somewhere."
"Right," Gary replied, "I was purposely blanking that from my mind."
Not having too many other options Gary and Xavier went back inside the pub. Severus had taken his place in a chair by the fire and the other man he had been with was at the bar. As Gary and Xavier passed they heard him ask the barman for four beers and a little elf type creature came rushing past them with a tray of sandwiches. The rest of the clientele had gone back to their chatting.
"Funny how things only started to get weird after we stopped using drugs." Xavier commented.
"You knew what was going on with Mulder and Walter, any thoughts on this one?" Gary asked before they joined their host.
"The name Severus rings a bell but I don't remember where." Xavier said.
They each sat down in a spare chair alongside Severus. The other man returned with the beer and they accepted the food and drink offered to them, although Gary did sniff it suspiciously first.
"We did try to contact one of your associates a short while ago but we were disturbed." Severus began.
"One of our associates?" Gary queried feeling decidedly uneasy.
"Yes," Severus continued, "A lady with ginger hair, Scully her name was. Though we only had time to answer one of her questions before our operative had to apparate."
"Scully was never one of our 'associates', we only met her for a couple of hours before she went with Mulder and Walter back to their own reality." Gary replied.
"Ah, it is difficult, neither one of you was alone in a situation where you might meet someone by chance, and with enough privacy to talk." Severus stated.
"Although all is well now, you're here." The other men said, up until now he had been leaving it all to Severus.
"And you are?" Gary asked taking the opportunity to find out who the other man was, really he thought it was quite rude that they hadn't been introduced.
The other man looked a bit surprised and looked to Severus for assistance. Severus merely raised an eyebrow at him and said nothing, though Gary thought he saw the man's mouth twitch in amusement.
The other man stood up and held out a hand to Gary, "I'm Harry." He said.
Gary took the hand and they completed the gesture, as Gary let go the man appeared to be anticipating something but he didn't know what. They both sat back down.
Gary eyed them both with suspicion, "So how come we didn't have to introduce ourselves?" Gary asked.
Severus handled the glass ball from behind his cloak without bringing it out again.
"There is something you should know about the portals." Severus stated, "But I'm not sure here is the place to discuss the details."
Gary was surprised and intrigued, "You have my attention."
"It's an imprecise art, we had to open it for a number of years to make sure it would be there when we needed it, we sent a man to check them regularly, anyway it was designed to close down after the task had been achieved."
"Are you saying that was down to you?"
"Not just Severus and I no," Harry replied looking quite amused at the suggestion that they could have been solely responsible.
"You saved the Prime Minister from the Death Eater." Severus continued.
"But more detail than that we cannot discuss here." Harry added.
"You must come with us," Severus asserted, "We need to meet with the Order, there is much you must be told."
"For your own safety as well as for ours." Harry added.
"Yes, it is not safe for you out there."
They waited patiently for Gary's answer; he looked at Xavier who was still cradling his pint. He looked as if he had been listening but didn't seem the slightest bit worried.
Gary tried to consider the advantages of letting these men take them wherever, compared to the delights of staying in a Nazi State. He was about to give in with confusion when he remembered something.
"We don't have any choice do we, Charing Cross Road, as we knew it anyway, appears to be gone." Gary stated.
"Oh yes, appears to be gone, don't worry about that, one tap on the door and it'll take you right back to where you were." Harry added, "Though it is our choices that make us what we are and we hope that after you have considered things you will come back here with whatever belongings you wish to take."
"Yes, we must get our things before we join you." Gary agreed and stood up. "Well this has been nice, so we'll just be going now and we'll meet you back here later?"
Xavier quickly finished his beer and stood up too.
"Yes, about eight o'clock this evening." Severus suggested standing up also.
The tall dark man approached the door and tapped a short thin stick that had been inside his cloak on the door once and then stepped back.
"See you later." He said retreating to his place by the fire.
Gary opened the door and both he and Xavier stepped back onto the Charing Cross Road that they had left that morning.
They headed straight for Charing Cross tube station, Gary carrying their shopping and Xavier following him as quickly as he could. Xavier thought he was setting rather a tough pace all things considered.
"We've still got plenty of time before we have to be back, we haven't got that much to pack." Xavier tried to reason with him.
Gary looked surprised, "You don't think we're going back there do you?"
Severus and Harry waited till the two men had left.
"Our choices are what make us what we are?" Severus mocked, greatly amused.
"Next time you can do it on your own." Harry replied huffily.
"I wish I had, with lines like those. How you got your First Class I will never know."
"You do know." Harry stated.
All amusement was wiped from Severus' face and he shuddered at the memory, "Yes, I do."
"So do you think they'll be back?" Harry asked trying to make the moment pass.
"Oh yes," Severus replied still grim, "If not tonight, well, sometime very soon. They can't survive out there for much longer."
"We can only hope that they make it back." Harry commented.
"Come," Severus said standing up, "We had better get prepared just in case they don't."
Xavier couldn't conceal his disappointment that Gary didn't want to go back but he didn't argue the point either. However Gary was surprised to find Xavier trying to pack his things into the suitcase five minutes after they had arrived back at the flat. He looked exhausted after their trip out but still he sat on the edge of the bed persevering as best he could.
"I am not going back there." Gary insisted.
"Who made you the boss of everything?" Xavier challenged.
"This is madness, were you listening at all?"
"Oh yes, and it all made sense and they knew our story."
"For all we know they were the ones who sent Kenneth." Gary continued.
"I don't think they did."
"They could be the ones that messed up the portals with that bomb."
"Now you're just being paranoid." Xavier accused, his resolve unruffled, "It was delivered by a big American plane and it had a big American flag stuck to the side of it."
"And you're being gullible." Gary accused straight back.
"What makes this place so wonderful?" Xavier asked, "All burger chains have disappeared from the streets you thought you knew, what can be right with that?"
Gary could think of no response.
"What was in that newspaper Gary? You hardly slept at all last night, don't think I didn't notice you tossing and turning."
Gary was starting to feel defeated.
"We need to get out of here and you know it." Xavier insisted.
"I know," Gary at last conceded, "But why with them?"
"They know we're in danger." Xavier pointed out.
"Because they're the enemy." Gary insisted though his heart wasn't in it anymore.
"Which is why we were allowed to come back for our stuff." Xavier added. "What are we going to do instead? Wander around the graveyard again? Take pot luck on a portal which was reassuringly manufactured by an explosive device?"
Gary just stared at Xavier fighting for words.
"Who were those men in the Royal Oak, Gary?" Xavier persevered.
Gary let out a sigh. "They were just men but I think they were carrying out government condoned violence, I think the Germans won and they were Nazis."
"We NEED to get out of here. Come on Gary, I know it'll be fine, just meet them at the pub." Xavier persuaded.
Gary didn't ever voice an agreement but quietly finished off their packing.
By the time six o'clock arrived their nerves were mounting, everything was packed and there was nothing to but wait.
"Why don't we just go," Xavier suggested after a while, "I don't particularly want to be out on the streets in the evening now anyway. We could just sit in that pub."
Xavier was lying on the bed, he looked completely exhausted and Gary could tell his leg was really bothering him. He supposed he must really be serious about going since he didn't look in any fit state to go anywhere.
"We could leave it till tomorrow, you're not fit enough."
"We can't, they said by eight."
"Is there anything I can do?"
Xavier shook his head, "Just gets worse from time to time, the smokes used to help a bit but we can't have those can we."
Gary was by now resigned to the whole affair, "Ok, we'll go now, but we'll get a taxi."
Xavier pushed himself up on his right arm and Gary noted that he was rather reluctant to use his left for anything, even with the brace.
Within an hour they were stood at one end of Charing Cross Road looking at the door to the pub.
"So how do you know this going to be all right?" Gary asked, "Did you remember where you had heard that name before?"
"No, I can't place it, making my head hurt thinking about it." Xavier replied, "It would certainly help us figure out what's going on here."
"Certainly would, speak up if you remember." Gary said giving Xavier's right arm a quick squeeze.
"Come on then." Xavier said.
"No wait," Gary replied catching a hold of his arm, "See?"
Xavier looked to where Gary was indicating and saw them too, a group of five young men he didn't think he wanted to encounter, thugs travelling in a pack without a doubt. They stopped outside the pub and Gary raised an eyebrow to Xavier but he tried to ignore it. One of the men tried the door and it didn't give. He pulled and twisted the handle a few times before kicking it and walking off. They passed Xavier and Gary on the opposite side of the street.
"Well that's that then." Gary announced.
"I would lock the door if I'd seen THEM coming." Xavier commented unfazed. He continued walking towards the pub forcing Gary to follow him.
A woman with a shawl round her shoulders approached the door next. She paused and looked both ways as if checking to see that nobody was watching, then noticed them. She raised a hand to Gary and Xavier and waved before opening the door easily and stepping inside.
Only Xavier had waved back. He looked to Gary who shrugged his shoulders in a defeated sort of way.
They approached the door to the pub and Xavier tried the door as Gary came up behind them with all the bags. It swung open easily and stayed open long enough to let them through.