The Council Member's breath caught in his throat. His mother was standing in front of him, her eyes dark with fury and hate.

"Our family stinks, doesn't it?" She said, laughing darkly. "First Sam, now you."

"But you could never FORGIVE him." The Council Member snapped, desperate to maintain control. "What makes you any better?"

"I did forgive him." She snarled. "When he died in my arms, a wound in his back from YOUR knife." Her eyes were dark.

He rolled his eyes. "We've gone over this, Anomaly."

One of the people behind her, a young man with black hair and bright eyes, whispered something in Anomaly's ear, but she blew it off. The Council Member noticed that she'd stopped translating for the others.

"I don't really care WHO you are." She spat. "I just care about what you've DONE."

He snorted. "It's not as though you've done any better, Rouge!" He spat the words out. "If I recall, you LEFT. I was left ALONE in this place!"

Her eyes locked on his. "Is that why you had to banish me, sir? Because you figured it out? Because of what I do in the FUTURE?"

"You were banished for your crimes!" He spat.

She held up two fingers and indicated a direction away from the others. The classic symbol for 'we're talking alone NOW.'

The Council Member snarled and complied. Anomaly whispered a few words of the strange language to the others, assuring them that she would be all right, telling them to stay where they were.

Once alone, Anomaly glared at him. "What is it about you? Why do you hate me?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're in the way, MOTHER. Always in my way, always a pain, an obstacle!" he spat the words out.

She rolled her eyes, then looked at him. "I don't understand it. I really don't. Is it simply because of what I did in THIS time, or is it because of what I did to YOU?"

He rolled his eyes. "Please. I'm not that shallow."

She snorted. "Could have fooled me."

He snarled, electricity dancing on his knife. "Silence. You have no right to speak to a member of the council in that manner."

She sighed, and again her eyes rolled up to the sky. "Seriously? I'm your MOTHER. I can do whatever I like."

"YOU abandoned me." He spat. "You forfeited that right."

"I did nothing of the sort." Her eyes locked onto his, and he froze. "I was right. It IS because of what I do in the future."

He snarled. "I should never have had a mother who was this WEAK." He spat. "I am the strongest ruler this city has ever known! And what of my heritage?" He glared at Anomaly with disgust. "I'm YOUR son. The son of a common criminal!"

"Who has the greater crimes?" Anomaly asked in a soft voice.

"YOU." He replied without hesitation. "A mother leaving her son is the greatest crime of all."

"I don't disagree." Anomaly whispered delicately, as though she would shatter if someone touched her.

"You LEFT!" He screeched. "YOU LEFT AND I…" He trailed off suddenly, realizing what she'd said. "What?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"I agree completely." Anomaly's voice was no louder than his. "A mother leaving her son IS the worst crime in the world. So there had to be a REASON."

"I don't care about a REASON." He spat. "I care that I grew up ALONE."

Anomaly sighed. "There is more to this than you and I. We have both brought our war to everyone else. Including Sam." Her eyes locked on his. "You murdered your own uncle."

He shrugged. "Murder is murder. Sam was in the way."

She snarled. "I can't believe you're my SON." She spat. "And you call ME the criminal!"

He snorted. "Look at you, Anomaly." He replied. "Ready to kill your own son."

She smiled darkly. "Who said I'd kill you?"

"THIS." He hissed, yanking up his shirt sleeve to reveal a small circle of a pattern, a black anomaly decorating it.

She smiled. "That is my cry, sir. Not my death sentence."

He glared at her. "This can never be over, Anomaly. We're worlds apart."

"And yet, we're family." Anomaly spat. "And you can't choose your family."

He snarled and began to walk away. "I can choose not to listen to them. Get out of here. NOW. And I'll spare your life."

Anomaly snorted. "You kill me and you kill yourself."

He whirled around to face her. "Get out NOW, and I'll spare THEIR lives." He spat, pointing to the ARC team.

Anomaly glared at him. "You have no choice, SIR." She started walking towards the others. "I'll be back."

He nodded slowly, and Anomaly instructed the others to follow her. Slowly, they disappeared into the distance.


"I'm just saying. If you want us to help, you could at least tell us what's HAPPENING."

Anomaly rolled her eyes. "It's need to know, Jenny. I think you of all people should appreciate THAT."

Jenny snorted. "Please. We more than qualify for that."

Anomaly chuckled softly. "No offence, Jenny, but you don't."

Jenny glared at her. "I just want to know what HAPPENED."

Anomaly glared back, flames dancing in her eyes. "But I don't WANT you to know." She growled. "Now DROP IT."

Jenny, a little startled by the ferocity in Anomaly's eyes, took an involuntary step back. "What is it with you? You think that keeping all these things secret is a GOOD thing?"

Anomaly snarled inhumanly, and Jenny found herself flying backwards.

"You think you're so much BETTER!" Anomaly screeched, standing above her. "So much better than I am, simply because YOU haven't seen HALF of what I have!"

Jenny's eyes were wide, and she tried to struggle to her feet.

Anomaly's eyes locked on hers. "You can't understand, you could NEVER understand!"

Jenny managed to stand up, and Anomaly grabbed her by the collar. "Stop. While you're ahead."

She dropped Jenny, then turned around and walked away.


"So. The rumors are true."

Anomaly didn't face her son. "Yes." She replied, her voice barely a whisper.

He came up next to her. "You've held on for a year, I'm told."

Anomaly nodded, this time looking at him. "Correct."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you never thought to ask anyone for help? Face it Anomaly, impossible you may be, but not even you can replace that." He gently brushed a finger across her pattern, and purple ink stained his fingers.

She glared at him. "You think anyone would HELP me? You've turned the entire city of Artalis against me. I'm a MONSTER in their eyes." Pain washed through her, visible in her face.

He sighed. "I'm not going to say I'm sorry, mother. I'm not."

She looked at him. "I know that." Her eyes locked on his. "And I'm not going to forgive you. You killed my BROTHER. Family is something you can NEVER get over."

He sighed. "I know that."

There was silence. The snap of a branch sent them on high alert.

"CONNOR!" Anomaly spat. "Get out here!"

The Council Member listened to her words, though he couldn't make sense of them. A young man, with dark hair and a large pattern, stepped out of the trees. "Hi." He whispered sheepishly.

Anomaly glared at him. "You. Are. In. BIG. Trouble." She snarled. "What did you HEAR?"

Connor shrugged. "Nothing. It sounded like gibberish to me."

Anomaly took a few deep breaths, trying to keep calm. "All right. Go back to the others." Her eyes locked on his, and she spoke through her teeth. "We'll talk later."

Connor looked like the picture of a young boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He hung his head and started to walk away.

"Wait!" The Council Member called. He turned to his mother. "Who is he?"

Anomaly kept her eyes on Connor. "A friend." She replied simply.

The Council Member kept his eyes locked on Connor. "I know you…" He whispered.

Anomaly looked at her son. "You do?" She turned to Connor and hurriedly translated.

The Council Member nodded. "I don't know where…"

She turned to her son and sighed. "Probably from me." She turned back to Connor. "There may be more that's connected here than we thought."


Connor looked into the green-blue flames sheepishly, avoiding Anomaly's sharp gaze.

"Jenny told me to find you." He finally said, his voice a whimper.

Anomaly rolled her eyes. "Drop it, Con. It's ok. It's not like you heard anything."

He nodded furiously. "Nothing but gibberish, like I said!"

Anomaly sighed. "Good."

Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Anomaly whirled around, on her feet in a split-second.

She sighed as Kierto smiled at her. "What is it?"

Kierto looked at her for a long time. Finally, he replied. "Nothing, Anomaly. Just…" he sighed. "We need to talk."


"He grew up fast, didn't he?"

Kierto nodded slowly as they walked together, side by side, hidden in the trees. Trees were rare here, they were lucky to have found them. If anything, they kept away the watchful eyes of the council.

"You know?" He asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Anomaly shrugged. "Not too difficult to figure out." She whispered kindly. She looked at him. "Did he?"

Kierto sighed and nodded again. "He did." He smiled sadly. "It's a shame you never saw it."

Anomaly swallowed. "What… what did I tell you? I mean, what did I say when I… when I left?"

Kierto sighed through his nose. "You didn't want to leave, Anomaly. It broke your heart leaving your son behind." He looked down.

Anomaly sighed as well. "Then why, Kierto? Why did I do it?"

He looked at her, tears flowing slowly down his cheeks. "Because you HAD to. You said that the universe couldn't handle you being there, not at that time." His eyes were glazed, distant, lost in some past best forgotten.

Anomaly looked back. "I'm so sorry, Kierto. Truly I am."

Kierto brushed it off with the wave of a hand. "It's fine, Anomaly. You did what you had to. For the good of the universe."

She sighed. "It doesn't always seem that way. I mean, first my son, and now you." She shook her head. "These things can be pretty confusing."

Kierto smiled. "Especially if you're only fourteen." He sighed. "Anomaly, you have to face things no one's had to face. What you've been through…" He whistled. "No one should go through that."

Anomaly shrugged. "But no one should go through what HE had to go through." She looked down. "I'm not exactly the best mother."

Kierto went in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Anomaly…There was NOTHING you could do. Time did what time must always do. Time doesn't care who you are. It just cares about what's best for it."

Anomaly sighed. "I know that. But I still wish…"

Kierto raised a hand, cutting her off. "There was NOTHING, Anomaly. Nothing at all that you could do for him. He became who he was supposed to become. And you did what you were supposed to do."

Anomaly looked down. "But sometimes it seems there are stronger laws in place than the laws of time, Kierto. Like the laws of my conscience. I've betrayed laws before. The council's laws. And no one else has ever gone against the council." She smiled darkly. "So going against time is the same, no?"

Kierto shook his head fiercely. "There are harsher consequences, Anomaly. You saw what happened to Claudia. Imagine that, only a million times worse. Imagine explosions so huge it will make the one you created at the clinic look like child's play." His bright green eyes locked on hers. "You can't go against time."

Anomaly tried to stare him down for a minute, but gave up. She sighed. "I know, Kierto. I know. But… I'm his MOTHER. And I can't just… leave him!"

Kierto sighed. "You will come back for him. I have no doubt you will."

Anomaly smiled softly. "Thank you."

Kierto smiled as well. "I missed you too, Anomaly. He wasn't the only one."

Her smile widened. "I know."