Kate
She was vaguely aware of Reynie's arm under her back, warm and reassuring, as she wrenched her eyes open. For a moment she lay there, dazed, and then shot up, gasping for air, in the same way that a person does when shaken out of a nightmare.
"What's going on?" she asked, shoving herself into a standing position by her elbows. Her arms gave out, though, and she fell to the ground, instead kneeling weakly on the floor.
"Are you okay?" Reynie peered at her, his arm lingering a few centimeters from her shoulder, just in case she wasn't.
"I – I think so," she stammered. "Where are we?"
"In a cell somewhere under McCracken's headquarters," he said. He paused, brow knit in concern, then reached for her hand, squeezing it gently. "I'm, uh... glad you're okay," he said in a low voice. She looked somewhat blearily at him, then gave a faint smile and intertwined their fingers.
"Gross," commented Constance, wrinkling up her nose.
"Connie-girl!" cried Kate, trying to launch herself across the room but collapsing again. She turned helplessly to Reynie, and as her tired eyes finally focused she cringed, inhaling sharply. "Reynie!"
"It's okay," he said hurriedly, gesturing to his split lip and black eye. "It's nothing, really."
"What happened?" Kate demanded, regaining her strength and sounding as fierce as always, though she was exhausted.
"Reynie went berserk after the Ten Men pressed the button. Needless to say, our attempts to restrain him – and them – were futile. Hi, Kate," added Sticky, who was hunched over gloomily in the corner of the tiny cell.
"You what? You did that? For me?" She pretended not to be impressed, but Reynie saw through her and ducked his head, smiling. Constance scrutinized his expression. Good gracious, was he even capable of thinking about anything but his feelings for Kate? She rolled her eyes in impatience (she'd been hoping that she'd be able to read some brilliant plan formulating in his mind), then snapped,
"As touching as this is, can we start talking about an escape plan?"
"Yeah, I..." Kate stopped for a moment, confused. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I just got a little disoriented there. Did that happen to you?"
Constance nodded solemnly. "Did it hurt, when you woke up? Like an ache you can't describe... and so much pain when you're in it, when they're torturing you?"
"Yes," murmured Kate, and the two girls locked eyes, bound together by their shared experience. "They showed me things," she said deliberately, "that I didn't recognize until I... until I got deeper in. And it was like – like these images, and videos, that I couldn't – I didn't – they weren't mine, but at the same time they were –" she trailed off, a lump rising in her throat. She swallowed, licking her lips. "It was... awful," she said quietly. "Memories I didn't know I had. Things that happened to me that I must have somehow, like... erased from my mind. Or hidden. Things about my life at the circus. Losing Milligan and my – my mom. God, I don't even... I don't think I even remember her."
"I'm sorry," whispered Reynie, and Sticky lay a trembling hand on her arm. He'd been too petrified to move ever since Cleo was taken away and they'd been cornered by McCracken, but seeing Kate in pain was more than he could bear. Despite the fact that the former wouldn't leave his mind, the latter was practically his sister, and as he saw tears begin to form in her eyes, he simply couldn't take it any longer. Anger rapidly surged through his veins and he jumped to his feet.
"This isn't fair!" he shouted hotly, his voice echoing against the metal walls. "Not! Fair! This is awful and terrible and I can't stand it! I swear –"
"Sticky..." Reynie shot him a warning look. It wasn't as if they had anything better to do, but still, these were less than ideal circumstances under which to go off on a heated, emotional tangent, fueled by a large amount of sleep deprivation, through-the-roof stress levels, and, unfortunately, typical teenage angst.
But Sticky, to whom self confidence and the ability to express any emotion other than mild annoyance were novelties, went on."You know what?" S.Q. flinched, then sighed and shut his eyes tolerantly. He was used to people yelling and, in fact, was rather pleased that this tirade didn't seem to be directed at him for once. Sticky started pacing furiously and at such an alarming speed that Kate felt obliged to extend a hand in case he should dizzy himself and take a tumble. "It doesn't even matter!" he all but screamed. "We'll just be stuck here forever, won't we? 'Cause that's how it's looking! You hear that, McCracken?" He banged on the sides of the cell, looking rather deranged. "You think you got us beat? Yeah, well you DON'T!" This was said with such ferocity that he did stumble, shaken by the force of his own rage. Righting himself, he assumed a stormy expression and opened his mouth to continue.
"Sticky, stop," said Reynie firmly, who still had an eye on Kate. He'd never seen her like this before. She was staring at something intently, something that he couldn't see, and Constance was kneeling somberly before her, a look of great concentration on her face. Every so often, she winced slightly, then resumed their – well, whatever it was that they were doing.
"Reynie?" Sticky was looking at him hopelessly, toothpick-like arms flailing. He had lost his momentum now, and instead flopped to the ground, drawing his knees up to his chest and taking a deep breath. Pause. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice a bit hoarse from his outburst. Another pause. "Guys?"
S.Q., exhausted, had fallen asleep, and Reynie was staring at Kate and Constance, both of whom were positively perplexing him. His audience otherwise occupied, Sticky slid himself backwards on the floor so that he could lean up against the wall once more.
Kate was in her own world. Kate's world, a place she had never been before. She was no longer sheltered, no longer able to maintain her facade of confidence and unfailing optimism. Somehow, and she wasn't sure how, Constance was manipulating her mind.
Well, not quite manipulating it. But she was inside Kate's head, passing memories back and forth. They were sorting through the tangled messes that McCracken's wretched button had created, working in tandem as they tried to put the puzzle pieces back together.
I know what the button does, whispered Constance in Kate's mind. Kate, to her surprise, found that she could now read Constance as well as the little girl could read everyone else.
What? she asked, flummoxed.
Constance shivered. It breaks down the wall we make in our minds. We build compartments so we can hide bad memories and pain. That's why you can never remember emotional pain the way you can remember physical pain. You've broken your arms a million times, and I'm sure you're still able to recall it, and feel the slight ache, and remember that pain. But emotional pain, bad memories – they all go in a separate part of our brain. The button exposes it. When the Ten Men press it, somehow everything comes back to you. I don't know how they did it, but it's the most powerful weapon a person could yield. Physical pain is one thing; emotional pain is another. You saw what happened to both of us. Yes, it all begins with physical pain, but even that is the kind of excruciating pain that your brain makes you forget. Like fires or burns or broken ribs and things like that. And then it leads into emotional pain; things you vehemently insisted on "forgetting". Your brain protects you from painful memories, but McCracken makes them all come back to haunt you. He breaks down those barriers. Oh, don't you see? It's all so clear now – the weapon, this weapon, isn't about physical force. It's about taking your enemies down by debilitating them and filling their memories with the kind of pain that won't go away with a few bandages and a dose of painkillers. McCracken is a brilliant genius – a brilliant, evil, awful, messed up genius.
Kate, to say the least, was shocked, and took several moments to process this information.
First of all, Constance sounded ten times as coherent and mature as she did even in person. Mr. Benedict had always seen this potential, knew that she had the capacity to analyze and make sense of things much more weighted than reconstructing maps and solving clues. Kate had not been dubious, exactly, but she'd always felt that it put too much pressure on a child who was only just beginning to maneuver her way through this strange, confusing world. And secondly, her revelation, her explanation, was so straightforward, as if the truth had been obvious all along and she simply hadn't gotten around to speaking it yet.
"Yes," Kate murmured out loud. Reynie was eyeing her intensely. She ignored this and, struggling to focus on the issue at hand, dragged herself into an upright position. "Constance –"
The little girl, enervated, impulsively scooted across the floor, settling herself in the comfort of Kate's open arm. And promptly fell asleep.
"Are you okay?" asked Reynie. Nonplussed as he was, Kate's wellbeing came first and foremost now – and had, he suspected, for quite a bit longer than he'd ever realized.
"I'm okay," she said, shutting her eyes for a second. "I"ll be fine."
"Okay," he said, only half-believing her. He faltered, then added, "You don't need to be so strong, you know."
Her head snapped up. "What?" she asked somewhat sharply.
Taken aback, Reynie stammered, "I – I just mean that you're perfect, the way you are. You don't need to change yourself, you know?"
She looked blankly at him.
"I mean... you just, you're strong, you're confident, we all know that. But nobody is invincible. Nobody's like that all the time. And if you're not okay, well, that's okay. You can't keep fighting your feelings."
"Neither can you," she said.
"I know," he replied.
They looked at each other for a moment, and then Sticky jumped to his feet. "Do you hear that?" he hissed.
"No," said Kate wearily.
"Someone's coming." He cradled his head in his hands. "We're done for."
"No, we're not," said S.Q., whose presence, to be quite honest, they'd all somewhat forgotten about. "Look, I may not be the dullest knife in the box," he continued (the children exchanged confused looks), "but I know enough to know that you can't just give up like that. I mean, you can never really give up. Even if we are done for, well, wouldn't you rather be finished off still feeling hopeful rather than dying in defeat?" He looked earnestly at the group. "Right?"
"You're right," said Reynie. This sudden burst of intelligence was a surprise, but he'd never doubted for a moment that their gentle giant was smart; they just hadn't made an appearance until now.
"Agreed," said Kate.
"I think it's a load of nonsense," grumbled Constance, though everyone knew she was lying.
Sticky felt a bit humiliated. He never belonged in this group of fearless leaders, now did he? It just figured. Planning to sacrifice himself when the Ten Men eventually caught up to them, he conceded, "Alright, alright. I get it."
The footsteps were coming closer, but as they waited tensely, they realized that the sounds were not exactly footsteps, and, for that matter, weren't coming from the hallway. Before they could express their confusion, there was an awful screeching noise of metal against metal and a tiny vent in the ceiling opened up. Three figures dropped down, two landing clumsily and one maintaining her balance as if the sudden drop was nothing.
"Harper," said the blond woman briskly, not even bothering to give a full introduction. "I'm here to rescue you."
Author's note
So, there's that – part, if not all, of the explanation of the button that I assume everyone has been waiting for! What do you think of it? Let me know! I love reading your reviews and I take all suggestions into account.
Speaking of which, StarburstAwesomeness, I PM'd you about your one shot and I'm not sure if you didn't get it – but reply when you can so I can get started on that. To agirlgleek144, I'm fairly certain that I'm going to be using some of your ideas, so I'll let you know more once I've finalized and posted my next chapter.
In response to Buckety Kate, I used Dakota Fanning as Kate and Logan Lerman as Reynie. To be honest, I'm re-thinking my use of Dakota as Kate and might post a new story cover photo soon, so if you have any actress or actor suggestions – like who you would like to see play Kate and Reynie if there was an MBS movie – let me know in the reviews section! This goes for everyone!
I'll hopefully get a new chapter up soon. As usual, thanks for your patience, I really appreciate it.