A loud, accented scream filled her ears, shocking Izzy awake. There were other voices in the room, but they were all muffled, too blurry to make out. She fought against the dark curtain draped over her mind, desperate to escape. Her muscles wouldn't listen though, leaving her stranded as she laid helplessly on what felt like a bed, the voices quickly sharpening.

Fitz screamed in rage, his voice echoing slightly as she flinched, her head throbbing. "That wasn't necessary! I could have I talked to her, I could have-"

"We didn't have any other choice." A calm male voice said slowly yet firmly, cutting Fitz off. "If she kept running, they would have gotten her. We couldn't afford to lose her again."

"What the hell was I supposed to do?! Just grab her and tell her she couldn't go home?! I already made that mistake once! I am not making it again!" Fitz hoarsely screamed back.

"That was the plan. But since you didn't follow it, I had to do it for you."

"She will be very slow to trust us now Leto." Another quiet yet strong, male voice sounded from Izzy's right.

"I know," Leto responded wearily, half sighing. "But at least she's not dead." He spat.

"I didn't know, alright! I had eyes on her!" Fitz growled.

"Eyes on her!? You lost her!" Leto's voice yelled back.

The quieter voice was followed by soft footsteps moving towards Fitz. "It's ok. You meant well. You were just trying to help her…

"Obviously it didn't work." Fitz grumbled as he stormed closer to her unmoving body. Izzy struggled to move as his footsteps came closer. She didn't quite understand it all, and like the one voice said, she didn't trust them. They had kidnapped her for pete's sake!

She flinched slightly as a cool hand rested on her forehead. "You still didn't have to kidnap her." Fitz's crisply British accent spoke from above her head. For some reason it made her body relax slightly, though she mentally chided herself for it. His hand left her head, two fingers pressing against her neck.

"I agree with that." The other voice said. "There had to be another way…"

"Tiergan," Leto started. "You know there was no other choice."

The fingers left her neck, and she heard Fitz muttering numbers to himself under his breath.

"We could have tried to reason with her. Sophie's a smart girl." Tiergan stated, his voice warming at the second half.

"I know, but I couldn't take any chances. We didn't have more than a few minutes." Leto whispered, a sadness creeping into his words.

"She's awake." Fitz announced as the room fell silent.

Izzy froze, not that it made much of a difference. She struggled to get up. She wanted answers, or at the very least to not feel so vulnerable. But no matter how hard she tried to move, how much energy she burned through, begging them to even move a centimeter, it was useless. Instead she laid there awkwardly as three stares bore into her.

"Are, are you sure?" Tireagan's voice cautiously came closer after a few minutes of silence.

Her heartbeat is faster, almost at normal levels. I think the chloroform is still taking it's affect though." Fitz paused, and from the slight grumble off to the side, she gathered he had stopped to glared at Leto. "But she might be able hear us."

"I don't think so Fitz." Tiergan responded. "It's been maybe three hours at the most since we… got her. It shouldn't wear off that fast."

"Yeah, probably…" Fitz mumbled. Suddenly, she heard a sharp swish of fabric coming from his direction. "What do you think you're doing?" Fitz snap, his voice a bit closer to her than before. There was a second of silence before he spoke again. "You need to leave." Nobody made a sound as the air became tense and sharp. She felt the bed shift slightly as someone sat down and pick up her hand, intertwining their fingers with hers.

"Fitz…" Tiergan warned, an edge of sadness to his voice.

"No, he did this, he can leave. I'll take care of her. She's my responsibility after all."

"I'm afraid you have it backward, but fine. I will leave, for now." Leto slowly spoke before heavy footsteps followed him out of the room. She heard a door open and close loudly.

"This was never your responsibility Fitz." Tiergan started. You were just a kid. You still are a kid. You brought her back though, you did your job."

"If I had listened to her- "Fitz whispered, until Tiergan cut him off.

"She is an enigma in our society. Any other time it would have been foolish to listen. You did what any other elf would do. But you have to let this go. If you come close to breaking again-"

"I know." Fitz painfully snapped, squeezing her hand a bit tighter.

Izzy heard footsteps walking towards the door, but they stopped short. A slight swish of fabric sounded before Tireagan's voice was heard again. "You've completed your mission. You've done everything you could and you should be proud of yourself. Most people don't get to make up for the guilt they have. Either way, I hear by release you from the Black Swan. You are no longer an agent. So go and live a happy life, and put this behind you."

A few crackly noises sounded from in front of Izzy before the bed sprung back, footsteps moving forward. "Wh-what?! What do you mean I'm released?!"

"You don't have a choice Fitz, I don't have a choice. You told someone outside of our organization about her, where to find her. That could have had irreversible consequences. Everyone understands you have different motives than us, and we accept that, we always have, and you are an invaluable agent but-"

"But?" Fitz choked out.

Tiergan sighed. "You've repeatedly broken the rules. We have turned a blind eye to it for years Fitz, but when it comes to Sophie… you tend to throw caution to the wind. Just in the span of a week, you approached Sophie without our permission, you told your sister about her, and you followed her for days, coming in close contact with the Neverseen. You even brought her to our Venice hideout!"

"I didn't mean to bump into her. That was an accident." Fitz mumbled.

"But posing as someone reviewing teacher performance, was that?"

"No…"

Tiergan's footsteps came a few feet closer. "Fitz, do you remember why we offered you this job in the first place? The event that happened?"

"…yeah." Fitz whispered under his breath so quietly Izzy could barely make it out.

"That doesn't have to happen ever again now. You completed your goal Fitz, and it was a pleasure to work with you. But you deserve to live out your younger years now while you still can. Being an agent has made you old."

A soft chuckle sounded from Fitz. "You enjoyed being my partner? Even if I'm a Vacker?"

"Yes." Tiergan said, a smile to his voice. "I guess I was wrong about all Vackers."

Tiergan's footsteps began to make their way towards the door once again, but Fitz stopped them, his quiet voice much closer to Izzy suddenly. "…What if I can't let it go. Now that I have much more free time… That was what kept my mind off of it before… But now-"

Izzy mentally jumped in shock as a two warm finger ran across her scarred arm.

"It's so much more real. I, can't pretend she just went back to the Forbidden Cities, or that it was all a dream..."

"It will get better Fitz." Tiergan warmly said. "Plus, you have a more important job now. She is going to have a hard time transitioning back, maybe even more than before. She'll need your help… That's how I got through mine." He whispered the last part, his voice crackling slightly.

"Thanks." Fitz muttered as he clasped Izzy's hand again.

"Anytime, I mean it Fitz."

Fitz made a slightly grunt in acknowledgement as the door squeaked shut.

As a silence fell once again, the tense moment being over, Izzy continued to struggle to move, but the drug was still taking affect. She wanted to get up, to move, to scream that she was awake, to figure out what all of this meant so that her head would stop being a swimming battleground, but when Fitz let go of her hand and disappeared, she suddenly felt very alone and very scared. It was like most of the nights, but even worse. Like all of her nightmares and fears curled up into one, filling her heart. She tried to focus on anything else, not wanting to cry, but it was hard. Just as tears began to pool on her eyes, the bed sunk down on her other side, and she could feel a warmth not too far off. The bed creaked slightly and soon a warm breath fluttered onto her ear, a hand intertwining with hers, making her heart do cartwheels.

"Sorry" an accented voice mumbled a bit too close, causing a heat to rise up to her cheeks. "I'm so sorry Soph. But don't worry. I won't leave you alone, alright? It's a promise. I'll do better this time…"

She didn't want to admit it, but she was glad he was there. She didn't understand what was going on, or how he seemed to know her, but something told her she should trust him. After everything she had heard, everything that had happened, at least she knew now he was sincere. She didn't want to trust someone she had only met a day before, especially after finding she couldn't trust those she had known her whole life, but it was hard to fight it. It was like her gut had taken over, deciding for her. She struggled for a few minutes to stay awake, still wary, but his rhythmic breaths and her lack of energy from trying to move made it impossible. She quickly found herself floating off to sleep, and for the first time since she could remember, she dreamed.