"Lieutenant…"

Abbie stilled, hearing the whisper behind her. She was kneeling on the dirt floor of her 'cave' assembling her weapons and counting how many rounds she had left when the whisper interrupted the silence. As per usual, her heart annoyingly skipped a beat.

Despite four months of torture and six months of solitude, hope that she would find somebody or that somebody would find her hadn't completely died away. When the voices in her head would start murmuring or when she'd hear the whispers sent to torment her, her heart betrayed her every time.

It was naïve to think that she would ever be rescued but hope had a nasty way of thriving in the most impossible conditions. It was like a stubborn weed. No matter how many times she tried to kill it, it managed to cheat death every time.

She rolled her eyes tiredly, refusing to turn around. "Really? We doing this again?" Her emotionless voice echoed throughout the cave.

"Lieutenant?"

She sighed and closed her eyes, deciding to ignore the whispers. It hadn't been the first time she'd heard the voices though she thought her ring had taken care of the crux of that problem. She glanced down at the gold band on her finger. Maybe the juice in it was wearing out. She narrowed her eyes. Typical. Just when she thought she'd come up with a surefire plan to escape this literal hellhole, her one hope of survival up and dies out on her.

It had taken her a while to realize it, but wearing the ring actually kept her somewhat hidden, safe, and stable. No ghosts or anything physically evil could find her while she wore it. When she decided to keep it as a permanent adornment, the voices in her head took a break from distracting her. The ring was vital to her survival. Or at least that's what she assumed since she'd escaped the tunnels and found this seemingly hidden cave. She rubbed its smooth, golden surface with her thumb. What she had once thought was a simple piece of jewelry turned out to be her salvation. Too bad she had to go through four months of agonizing torture to realize it. Her eye subtly twitched as she pushed back the painful memories.

"Lieutenant, is it truly you?"

She recognized that voice. She inhaled sharply, her eyelashes fluttering in disbelief. It sounded real. It wasn't the usual whispery wind or crying out in torture versions. It couldn't? Could it? She slowly turned her head, squinting her eyes at the shimmering light emanating behind the familiar silhouette.

The apparition drew in a shaky breath and glided toward her. The sudden movement awakened her instincts. She quickly reached for her knife and held it up defensively, swiftly maneuvering into a crouching position.

"Stay back," she warned, ready to attack at the first sign of trouble.

The specter froze as he looked at her dejectedly. She narrowed her eyes. If she didn't know any better, it looked as if she'd hurt his feelings. Ghosts didn't have feelings, at least not the ones she'd encountered so far. Must be a new model, she thought mordantly. She raised her eyebrow and stared at him challengingly, waiting for him to spout out the typical nonsensical shit they all did to throw her off her game.

He blinked at her unsurely before softly whispered, "Abbie?"

She glared. And there it was, her name. The one word that managed to pierce her heart every time. It gave her hope, reminded her of her former life, a life she no longer lived. If this had happened seven months ago, she would have broken down in sobs and clung to the belief that he was actually here to rescue her.

Things had definitely changed since then.

Living in isolation for the past six months had its perks. She could talk to herself without worrying about who was listening, train herself to resist reacting to her vulnerabilities, and, most importantly, she could overcome those things that made her weaker like hope and compassion. She was now well armed to take on any type of manipulation.

Though, this one felt different from the ghosts that once tortured her and the hallucinations that would materialize in her solitude. Shame and misery came off of him in waves. It was strange, nauseating, as if she'd invaded his emotions and could feel exactly what he was feeling. She tried to shake it off and focus on her anger.

She was about to tell him where he could shove his false sympathy but then the shimmering around him confirmed her suspicions: the figure was just another hallucination, not a ghost sent to torture her, not a real person here to save her.

She didn't understand why she couldn't get her brain to just accept the fact that they would always be hallucinations powered by her own masochistic imagination. Nobody was going to save her. For all anybody knew, Abbie Mills was dead. She eyed him distrustfully deciding whether to continue acknowledging his presence or ignore it and move on. She grudgingly decided to reply to her name, curious to see where the conversation, essentially with herself, would lead.

She stood carefully and eyed him as she sneered, "No shit."

The apparition gently smiled at her, overwhelmed with emotion. Well, that was a first, she thought. A hallucination that was overjoyed to hear her dismissiveness. It looked at her in elated disbelief then around the dimly lit cave. She followed its gaze cagily. The walls were covered in her attempts to map out the realm she found herself in. She was no artist but felt overprotective of her work. She glared at him. He returned his gaze to her, his eyes studying her body as if searching for a chink in her proverbial armor. He was either looking for a physical vulnerability or eerily concerned about her well-being. Either way, she couldn't say which one was more disturbing.

After he appeared satisfied with his revisal, he shakily stuttered, "It is a relief to find you hale and hearty, Lieutenant."

Losing her patience, she got to the heart of the matter. "What do you want?"

After a moment of silence, he stuttered, "We never surrendered hope, Lieutenant. We've searched high and low. Tis time for you to return home."

She closed her eyes at her luck. Another rescue mission hallucination. Her mind could be viciously cruel at times. She pursed her lips and dispassionately glanced at the innocuous hallucination a final time before turning back to analyze her pitiful stash of weapons. She sheathed her knife. It wasn't enough. She'd need more weapons if she was going to make her escape. She sighed. She'd have to dip into her limited resources and figure out something.

"Lieutenant," the figure said, interrupting her thoughts, "I understand if you are upset. It has been weeks since you departed into this realm…"

The hair on her neck stood on end. Her hands curled into fists.

"Weeks?" Her incredulous voice bounced off the walls of her cave. The blatant lie nearly took her breath away. She angrily turned to glare at him. "Weeks?" she repeated shrilly, blinking in disbelief. This hallucination was insulting her intelligence. She may be in hell but she certainly hadn't lost track of time.

During her four months of torture, she distracted herself from the pain by keeping track of seconds through taps of her finger. After she'd escaped the tunnels, she was able to keep track of time using bags of sand. For this hallucination to up and say that she'd only been here a few weeks after everything she had endured, everything she had suffered, pissed her off to no end. He may be a figment of her imagination but he was going to get a piece of her mind.

The figure stilled sensing her ire, its hands twitching at its sides. The gesture triggered a distant memory in the back of her mind. She quickly pushed it away. Licking her dry lips aggressively, she snickered softly, "You're messing with me."

He looked at her with a confused expression on its face. She clenched her jaw. She couldn't believe she had to explain reality to a vison of her own making.

She spat out, "It hasn't been weeks. I've been here ten fucking months."

The figure inhaled sharply. "Oh, Abbie…," it breathed woefully, reaching his hand out again.

She winced, backing away. "My name is Witness. And you, whatever the hell you are, need to leave."

She squeezed her eyes closed and pushed her palms against her temples, willing the vision to disappear. She didn't have time to entertain guests, even the imaginary kind. She had enough on her hands at the moment.

She opened her eyes. The figure anxiously stared back at her. She scoffed and rolled her eyes impatiently. Why the hell wouldn't it go away? Maybe she was losing it. Horrible timing, but it would make sense. Months of suppressing trauma and being by herself were starting to take a toll on her.

"Do you not recognize me?" he asked weakly.

She frowned. Clingy, she thought bitterly. The vision spoke to her as if he knew her. She could feel his sorrow. She grimaced before dismissively shaking her head. There was no time to be compassionate. Not even with her own messed up mind.

"No," she replied flatly, hoping it would quickly bring the strange hallucination to an end.

He nodded and visibly swallowed. She eyed him distrustfully. She hadn't come across such an anxious, determined hallucination before. It almost felt like it had a mind of its own.

"Very well," he responded, approaching her slowly. She narrowed her eyes. He raised his hands up in surrender.

"Please," he said, attempting to appeal to what was left of her good nature. He continued walking toward her with his hands up. "Our bond, our partnership..."

She raised her eyebrow and began circling him, trying to avoid being cornered. This was a stubborn one. It wasn't going to disappear anytime soon so she decided to indulge it. Maybe it would provide vital information that her subconscious had picked up on unknowingly. She decidedly nodded, examining the resistant vision.

"Partner?" she asked scathingly.

He stopped walking and followed her with his eyes as she circled him, gazing at her intensely. "Yes, we are a team."

She studied him carefully as she continued circling him as if he were her prey. "Huh. Are we?"

He nodded once, his movements fidgety.

She shook her head and sardonically smiled. This vision wanted to taunt her. Fine, she could play along. "Team implies a mission, a purpose. And as far as I'm concerned I've already fulfilled mine and am currently alone. Have been this entire time."

He closed his eyes. "Yes and I must beg for your forgiveness, Lieutenant. We tried everything. I…what is important is that I am here now and–"

She laughed scornfully and swiftly interrupted and pointed out, "You're not real. So, no, you're not here."

He nodded resignedly. "Yes, I am afraid I am here in spirit form only. An astral projection. It was Miss Jenny's idea with the assistance of Master Corbin. However, we have found a way to bring you home–"

"Don't bother." She turned her back to him and crouched down to pick up her weapons. "I've survived on my own this far. I don't need you."

Though she knew it was a mistake to refuse help, even if it wasn't real, being in her currently compromised position, this figure – this man – awakened something inside her. Something strong yet fragile. Something she wanted to avoid.

Just as she prepared herself to get as far away from this thing as possible, he gently spoke. "Lieutenant."

She paused, hit with a sudden wave of sadness and desperation. It was as if his astral form, as he called it, was trying to reach out to her. She breathed slowly as she waited for it to pass. Then it spoke the one word that managed to reach deep within her tattered soul.

"Don't."

Suddenly, a whirlwind of memories filled her mind. Her temples throbbed. She gasped. It felt as if a knife had been shoved into her skull. She whimpered and fell on her arms and knees.

She breathed out painfully, finally remembering the name belonging to familiar hallucination. "Crane." She struggled for breath as not only her memories of him but memories of the trauma she'd endured overtook her senses. She screamed out in agony. She could hear his cries as she swam through the brutal flow of painful memories.

Those four long months of torture at the hands of the ultimate evil painfully slithered throughout her senses, poisoning her. Memories of her childhood, Jenny, Corbin and her parents soothed over the worst of the pain. Images of him and her rushed past her. Then, a single image of him filled her mind, pleading with her before she walked into this godforsaken realm to save them all from a fiery end.

Her entire body clenched in agony as the myriad of memories and emotions overtook her, recovering sensations in her that she'd thought had long been destroyed. Her humanity was finding its way back to her. Her soul was regenerating.

After a long while, most of the physical pain subsided though she could sense the delicate condition of her emotional and psychological state. She hugged her middle and rocked to soothe her trembling body. Although she deservedly felt like bursting into tears, she pushed herself to find the strength to resist. She could fall apart later, right now her partner was waiting for her. He was here to save her. Her heart slowed and once she'd caught her breath, she opened her eyes slightly and unsteadily tried to push herself off the floor.

"Abbie!"

She could hear Crane's hysterical voice through the pounding in her head. If she wasn't in such an unstable state, she would have cried out in pure joy at hearing his deep timbre. Instead, she swallowed back an urge to vomit and murmured groggily, "Crane?"

She stood shakily on her feet, balancing herself against the wall. She could feel his presence near her, as if reaching out to touch her.

"Oh, thank God. Are you…is everything–"

"Crane, Crane," she cringed at the volume of his voice near her ear. She held up her hand, cutting him off, "Stop yelling."

He breathed in relief and smiled, hesitantly reaching out to her as if touch her. She cautiously glanced up at him from the side of her eyes and flashed a reassuring grin. "I'm good. I just…forgot for a second but I'm, I'm good now." She nodded, attempting to reassure them both.

He nodded trustingly and lowered his arm. Once all her senses had returned to her, she could immediately tell this Crane was unlike the others. He wasn't a ghost sent to taunt her or a hallucination she made up in her head, it was him. And, yet, it wasn't him.

"How do I know it's really you?" she asked cautiously, desperately wanting to believe it was him.

"I believe referring to you as 'leftenant' and providing a customary fist bump would be in accordance with our usual greeting. However, a fist bump would be near impossible given that I am presently in my astral form," he stated plainly, gesturing to his transparent self.

She hesitantly reached out. Her hand slid over his jacket. Instead of feeling the rough fabric against her fingertips, she felt nothing. Her heart fell. He was her Crane but he wasn't really here. Shaking off her disappointment, she peeked up at him. "So you, uh, you're not really here, are you?"

"I am afraid not, Lieutenant. I am here solely in spirit."

She nodded knowingly, trying to hide her disappointment. What she wouldn't do to wrap her arms around him this very moment, to bury her face in his firm chest and breathe in that familiar mixture of his natural essence and her laundry soap on his shirt. She swallowed back a lump in her throat. Seeing him here with her reminded her of how much she ached to go back to her life, to feel human again.

She wanted to breath real air, see the sky, feel water against her skin, soak in the heat of the sun, sleep under the dark blanket of night, hear the sweet notes of her favorite songs. She wanted to live. Nevertheless, she wouldn't take this for granted. She would be grateful for the small ray of normalcy her partner's presence provided her. She gazed at him, waiting for him to explain why he was here.

Sensing her anticipation, he quickly explained the reason for his astral form. "Ah, yes, I bring with me a spell that shall return you home."

She stood stunned, unable to react. That word "home". She'd given up hope of ever going back but here it was, the impossible, a miracle. She inhaled and blinked her wide eyes. After a moment, she furrowed her brow. "A spell?" she asked cautiously, daring to feel hope for the first time in a long time.

"Yes, we discovered an encoded message in Martha Washington's letters, the ones we uncovered at my formal burial sight. If we are successful, it shall open a momentary portal to our world along the cross section of ley lines, the same ones in which we opened the door to purgatory. However, time is of the essence. We must make haste if the spell is to work."

She let out a relieved chuckle as tears filled her eyes. After all this time, she was going home. She shakily inhaled and exhaled slowly through her mouth, holding back her the sobbing she could feel forming deep within her chest. It was time. It was finally time to go home. She licked her lips and nodded. "Alright, good. Haste is good."

Crane nodded firmly. "I shall recite the words and you will need to repeat them exactly. Once you have recited the spell, the portal shall open. You must pass through it quickly for it is but momentary. Hold our bond in your mind. It shall lead you to our realm."

She nodded eagerly. There was no time to prepare herself. She was going to have jump right into this. She couldn't hesitate. "Alright, let's do this."

He looked at her for a final confirmation. She nodded. He began reciting the spell, she repeated it trying her best to keep her voice from breaking. A mixture of fear, excitement, and uncertainty plagued her thoughts. She cast them aside as best she could and thought of Crane. Her heart fluttered in anticipation. She focused on all of the moments they'd gone through. The first time they met. The first time she realized they were destined to travel the same path as Witnesses. The times she saved his life. The times he saved hers. His tender gazes, his soft touches, his booming voice, his reserved smile. Her heart filled with a sense of peace as she felt her soul join with his. The portal appeared before her. Her heart leapt with joy as she tentatively walked through the swirling light. Darkness engulfed her senses. For a brief moment, she felt utter nothingness. Then, her body reverberated to life as she was thrown to the ground.

She landed on her stomach, her cheek against the earth. She groaned, keeping her eyes closed as she dug her fingers into the soil and leaves beneath her. The fresh earth filled her nostrils with its familiar musk. She opened her eyes slightly and cautiously looked at her left hand grasping at the earth. The gold band upon her finger shimmered red before disappearing into her skin. She swallowed thickly and flipped herself over. She was home. After all those months, she was finally home.

A watery smile crept upon her face. She fell back against the ground. Laughter bubbled inside her as her stomach flip flopped in elation. She shakily chuckled, her body trembling with adrenaline. She felt her skin spark with frantic energy. She wanted to laugh, cry, shout, growl, hug something, and punch something all at once. Her breaths came in short gasps as laughter soon turned into dry sobs. She covered her face with her arm and shook off her need to cry. She didn't want to overwhelm herself or else she'd never get up. She took a calming breath, preparing herself to stand upon her shaking legs.

She slowly stood and took in the beauty she'd once taken for granted around her. Trees surrounded her, their branches swaying gently in the cool breeze. The warm sun's rays peeked through the cloudy sky. She took a deep breath and nodded with certainty. This was home, not a fake perversion of it. She repeated it over and over in her head, trying to convince herself of her reality. This is home. This is home. This is home.

Once she felt stable enough to walk, she began recognizing the familiarity of where she stood. She was in the same place in the woods where her and Crane had once stood, ready to travel to purgatory together. She knew her way back to town from here. Yet, she stood quietly, taking in her surroundings.

It was all familiar and yet different somehow. Something inside her was struggling to accept reality. She took a deep breath and pushed down the uneasy feeling. She didn't have time to focus on her unjustifiable misgivings, she needed to find her way home.

As she walked through the trees, she suddenly heard the faint familiar rumble of a truck. Her breath quickened as she began running toward the sound. Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes and streaked down the sides of her face as she sprinted toward the glorious rumble. As much of an effort as she was putting into staying strong, her breath came in uncontrollable sobs.

Finally, the red truck came into her view. She stopped suddenly, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her shaky breath. The truck stopped and the door flew open. She caught her sister's wide eyed expression. She closed her eyes and fell to her knees. The last wall keeping her emotions intact came crumbling down. Her body sagged in complete relief as the tears streamed down her face. Jenny ran to her frantically and slid on the ground as she pulled her into her arms.

Abbie clung to her baby sister for dear life. Her body racked with violent sobs. She'd never felt so much emotion in her entire life at seeing another person. She muffled her cries against Jenny's shoulder.

"Jenny," she gasped over and over again in between sobs, terrified that she would open her eyes and she would disappear.

"Shh," Jenny susurrated in a broken voice, cradling her sister's frail body. "It's okay, Abs. I'm here. I'm here."

Abbie gripped her firmly, desperate for her sister's reassurance, desperate to feel her arms around her. Jenny gripped her just as tightly as the two reunited sisters cried weeks, months, years worth of emotions.

Everything Abbie had held locked tight in her heart, came pouring out through her tears as she frantically held her sister. Dormant sensations awakened within her and spread throughout her body, overwhelming her senses. Everything hurt yet it was a welcome hurt, a hurt that reminded her that she was alive.

The two sisters tightly embraced each other in the middle of the woods that had once so cruelly snatched away their childhood, destroyed their very lives. They cried for all their spoken and unspoken truths. They cried for the pain they hid away in their hearts. They cried for the joy they felt at their renewed bond. They cried until the truth completely sunk in.

Abbie was finally home.

I finished the chapter. Finally, right? I really wanted to focus on the sibling relationship because we just haven't seen a lot of it this back half of the season. Though, things are looking good for our show so far, wouldn't you say? This last episode "Sins of the Father" had me like whoa. Good stuff!

Anyway, now I'm just not sure where I want to take this story. Should I go into a reunion with Crane or should I continue filling in plot holes from the show? What do you think?

Leave a comment or a message. And please know that I truly appreciate your feedback. I can't tell you how much it means to me when I read your lovely words of appreciation and questions and fair points and suggestions and simple words of encouragement. You are all just so amazing. I'm just so damn lucky to be a teeny, tiny part of this incredible fandom.

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon!

Your humble writer,

semul