Wow ummmm I'ts been a while...two years to be exact. Does anybody still even follow this anymore? or have you given up hope? I definitely have to finish this. still looking for a beta if anyone's interested

Chapter 11

I woke up on our third week in the BPRD mansion to Artie throwing things around in the living area. I sighed and got out of bed to stop her and asses the damage. She was preparing to chuck a chair through the window when I spoke.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She turned around and stared at me without speaking for a long moment. She then turned back and proceeded to throw the chair through the window with great fanfare, glass shattering. I shook my head and went back in my room to shower and get ready. Sometimes you just have to let some things go and Artie had been feeling more and more trapped with no way to contact family and a sense that we were captives, likely until I had to go back. Things were however very good here despite us being more or less held against our will. The team had been in and out on missions and were never gone for more than two days. I'd made great friends with them and Red kept hinting that once my powers returned there could be a chance of joining them. I know it's not possible but I hold a deep longing to be apart of this life.

"I'm going to get breakfast would you like to come?" I asked walking back into the living room. She sat on the couch, the only piece of furniture not overturned, and was pinching the bridge of her nose like she was trying to get rid of a headache.

"No. Bring me back something."She said not looking up. I sighed again and hoped she wouldn't destroy anything else while I was out. The walk to the dining area was uneventful and I took my usual seat near Liz. I played with her twins will I ate making faces and hiding behind hands and napkins but I noticed that Nuala and Abe were nowhere in sight. I was about to ask where they were when John burst into the room and ran over to our table.

"They need you two in the lab! One of the experiments has gone wrong and there's something loose in the vents!" John said to Liz and Red.

"Damn watch the kids Myers. Penelope you think you wanna help?"Red asked. I shook my head no, he just shrugged and was off Liz running after him. I finished up and decided to walk around a bit. Saying a quick farewell to Myers and the twins I left to go outside and take a stroll around the lake. But before I could I overheard a conversation between two agents.

"What the hell is that guys problem?" The first agent said.

"I don't know but he's going Mortal Kombat on everyone in the training area. There are three people already in the infirmary and the rest of his team is trying to get that thing out of the ventilation in the lower levels." The second replied. They couldn't possibly be talking about who I think they're talking about. Could they?

"I swear you can never get a read on that guy. He avoids us for weeks on end and then we're target practice till his sister shows up. Is it some kind of elf thing or what?" Yes. Yes they were. I wonder what's got Nuada in such a stitch, couldn't be much if I'm being honest with myself. Nuala must be preoccupied if she isn't handling this. I should probably go and stop him before he seriously injures someone. My quiet morning walk forgotten I made my way to the gym I had had my first real conversation with him. A crowd had gather and they were murmuring and shaking their head at whatever they looked at. I weaved my way through them as best as I could trying to see what was going on and it was certainly a sight to see. Nuada was fighting against four human agents, thankfully they were all armed with wooden practice weapons but I'd be a fool to believe that didn't make Nuada a danger to the agents. He'd already put some people in the medical bay. Stepping in would prove problematic but I didn't have anything to fear as Manning had evidently heard about the situation and came to break it up himself.

"Ok move along nothing to see here. Get back to work." Manning said and everyone reluctantly walked out of the room mumbling about having the fun cut short. I pulled myself to the side to catch Nuada on his way out after the inevitable lecture from Manning. The people he was fighting at the time were currently being yelled at. As they left the room to finish the tasks set as punishment Manning turned to Nuada. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Manning was making wild gestures and Nuada was practically baring his teeth at him furiously spitting out words. They broke apart after a few minutes Manning visibly paler, obviously he lost the fight, and it left me alone with a very cross elven prince.

"Are you alright?" I said experiencing major deja vu. I got a glare in response and no answer other than picking up his things and walking briskly away. I'd most likely regret it but after spending so much time with him do to the alters I felt personally responsible for his well being, or at least the well being of everyone around him, so I had to follow him. "Nuada please whats wrong?" I ask as I run to keep up with his fast pace and longer stride.

"Nothing. Now leave." He replies sharply as he reaches his destination, the library. I'd made myself a second home in this place and had a little section with a couch and coffee table in the back where he set down his spear. It was fairly closed off from the rest of the space and the books near it weren't used often so Nuada also used it to get away from the others in the compound.

"You know that won't satisfy me." I reach out to touch his heart to analyze his mind but he grabs my wrist roughly.

"Leave. It. Alone. Penelope." Nuada says through gritted teeth perhaps not fully realizing he's hurting me. I try to pull away but can't and he sees what he doing and lets go. It was strange. Over time that became a prefered way to interact with the both of us often worrying about someone listening and his own reluctance at taking what I do and say to be no trap or trick. I rub my wrist as he sits down and buries his face in his hands. "I'm sorry but I don't want any company right now."

I look him over a bit and noticed he looks, for lack of a better term,like a wreck. He's eyes are constantly moving about the room and rarely look at anything for more than a few seconds, yet they never quite meeting my figure. His leg is bouncing up and down and his hands are clasped together tightly like he's trying to keep them from shaking. He flinches every now and again for seemingly no reason and shifts in his seat a lot. All together very nervous and it'd be suspicious if it was anyone else but he has never been like this before something was definitely wrong. I sit down next to him and he flinches again.

"Nothing at all?" I ask attempting to get him to look in my eye.

He does briefly before looking away and admits,"You can't help me."

"Why not? Something is wrong and I've helped you before."

"This isn't as simple as altering my perception of memories Penelope! It's about my bond with Nuala!" He snarls at me. The bond? It's never seemed to cause him problems before, well except for dying, but since they were revived I thought everything was going well. Had they some kind of falling out?

"I don't understand."

"You wouldn't." He got up and started pacing around,"It's a private matter and I'd like it if you just left and let me deal with it." He was being unusually stubborn. What could possibly be wrong with him and Nuala? I briefly thought of a time-of-the-month situation but dismissed it after remembering Nuala asking Liz for some products for it a few weeks ago. He'd seemed perfectly fine then. The bond between them was strong and in all likelihood unbreakable, without much of a doubt using combinations of natural elven and blood magic. If it was harming him there wasn't a lot I could do except...

"Perhaps I can help." I say working out the details in my mind and deciding it was possible,"This has something to do with Nuala and I think I could do something about it."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment as I continued,"I think I might be able to put a wall in front of the bond. It will lessen the effect of it for a short period of time." It'd be difficult but the energy from the bond itself could provided the necessary power required for blocking it. If I put it in some kind of a loop it could circle around and feed into itself without fully processing on Nuada's end of the bond.

"You could break it?" He asks coming closer.

I shook my head and said,"No I don't think anything could break it. This would be somewhat of an alter except it would block off certain thoughts and feelings across the bond, essentially by making them go around themselves. It'll fade a lot faster than the alters however because of the strength of your connection it'd probably only last,"I paused calculating how long I could force it to follow that pattern without constantly fixing it,"Maybe a day if we're lucky."

"That'd be all I would need. Can you do it now?" I looked up as he sat back down surprised at his sudden agreement. He must be worse off than he led me to believe.

"Yes I can. Let me just," I moved to position my hands but he grabbed me again.

"Actually I'm fine just go." I gave him an incredulous look and noticed the twitching was back. Seeing my disbelief he sighed,"It's private." Was all he was able to say.

"You know I'm discreet. I've never said anything about the alters have I? Trust me whatever it is will not be told to anyone else." I smiled a bit,"Besides we're friends at this point aren't we?" He debated with himself for a minute. I was wondering if he would tell me to stop but eventually he caved.

"Fine. Just,"He paused,"I tried to tell you to stop." I tilted my head but he obviously wasn't going to say anymore, I'd have to just see for myself.

I positioned my left hand over his heart and my right hand on his forehead,"Relax a bit it'll all be over soon." He didn't say anything and I began the process. I entered his mind as I had so many times before.

I immediately felt the presence of Nuala and suddenly understood his reluctance to have me help.

Oh my...

I loved my sister I truly did. She was the last family I had and for that reason I had to care for and respect all her wishes. Abe may have been insufferable for me in the past but I was truly beginning to warm up to him thanks to Penelope's alters. I could understand why she choose him as a mate, he was calm and intelligent, and treated her the way she deserved. She could have done a lot worse and at least with him she was being pushed in a way that would better her. I knew one day she wouldn't need me and that it would be good for her to rely on herself in ways she hadn't in the court. Above all he made her happy and that's all I really wanted for her. He was ultimately a perfect match for her.

I saw that, I respected that, but for the love of all the people of the Earth I didn't want to be able to tell when they had sex!

I know she tries to block it off but she can't exactly concentrate well and both of us must engage in actively blocking each other At some points she just stops trying and that wasn't very helpful. The only other option is to get as far away from each other as possible but as I'm under a strict "house-arrest" as, Anung Un Rama likes to put it, that is out of the question as well. So now I'm stuck here trying to fix it. Penelope's first reaction was shock and then embarrassment, I probably should have given her a better warning given her more innocent nature but she had been the one to press. I'd gotten pretty good at communicated with her in this state was was able to give her an I told you so.

She ignored me and set to work. I felt the pull of magic from the bond as she twisted and turned it getting a feel for how to proceed. She had a vague idea how to block it for a time but needed sometime to figure out the details. I just sat back and tried to push away certain...sensations while she worked. However after a while they began to fade slowly but surely. She seemed to have succeeded in wrapping the bond around itself, drawing energy to block the connection directly from it. She pulled away slightly examining her work for any flaws but didn't seem to find any. I couldn't either and for that I was thankful. I could still feel that Nuala was near and in no danger but not exactly what she was feeling and doing. I sent Penelope my feelings of gratitude and relief as she began to pull away. It'd been almost to easy so of course something had to go wrong.

The work she had done shuddered a bit and seemed to crack letting in bits of the bond. It was subtle but there was something different about the feelings that were coming through. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but Penelope seemed to see it too and went to examine it closer. What we didn't realize was that it was dangerously close to breaking and the difference we were feeling was from bond's energy being put on a constant loop and instead of powering the wall blocking Nuala's feelings it was in fact increasing them. And it seemed to have decided to fail catastrophically and break apart right in front of Penelope's own spirit. Pleasure and desire had been building up and increasing in intensity and after it was released it quickly filled every crevice of my mind releasing a kind of frenzy. I snapped violently back to attention my body burning with lust and unnatural heat. Penelope gasped and I turned to see my own need reflected in her eyes, pupils dilated to the point where only a thin ring of forest green was visible, it appeared she had been affected as well.

Our lips meet in frantic desperation as I pulled her into my lap. Her lips were soft against mine and sweet as summer fruits. I couldn't get enough of it and pried her lips open with my own mapping her mouth with my tongue as she did the same in a fight for dominance. I moved from her mouth, to her jawline, then down her neck pulling out mewls and moans of desperation as I went and I longed to hear more of those sweet sounds. I gripped her thighs pulling her flush against me feeling how every contour of her body fit perfectly against mine. She grounded her hips down into my own as she started to nip at my neck. Perhaps not as innocent as I believed I thought as a rolled up to meet her. I grabbed her hair and yanked her head back with a little bit more force than necessary and bit down on the hollow between her neck and shoulder.

"Nu-ah-ada!" She gasped out and I paused liking the way she said it, I definitely wanted to hear it again. I grabbed her hips and forced a slightly faster pace after running my hands up her thighs, pushing her long skirt out of the way to reveal more skin. She buried her face into my neck placing kisses and small bites wherever she could reach.

"Penelope." I murmured into her ear as I inhaled the flowery scent I'd grown so used to that clung to her hair and skin. She pulled at the bottom of my tunic attempting to get it off and I was more than willing to help as I raised my arms to get it all the way off. Her hand glided across my chest and stomach and I moaned as I reached to unbutton her shirt. It was slightly less accommodating than my own shirt had been. I growled and ended up just ripping it leaving her in her bra while the buttons clattered to the ground. I threw it by my own tunic as I wrapped my arms around her pressing our bare skin together. She rocked her hips as she gasped and whispered her strange language into my ear, the same phrase over and over again.

"περισσότερα..,Θέλω...ah...περισσότερα Nuada!" I attempted to match the rocking to the rhythm if her words.

Our lips met again in a searing kiss and I ran one hand up her back and grip her hair to deepen it. I hadn't felt this way in a long time and with each second the burn just grew stronger and stronger. I needed her. She was mine in that moment and with the way she was responded she didn't have a problem with that.

I was about to take it further when she was yanked away from me. The next thing I know someone punched me in the face and dragged me to the ground. I snapped out of the last of my haze just in time for Artie to wrap her hands around my throat. Her teeth were bared and she was growling out completely incomprehensible words at me as I struggled to free myself from her grip. Pressing my knee into her chest and placing my hands around her wrists, I began to pry her off

"Artie! Artie stop! Please!" Penelope called out. I was able to kick her off me and at that point I saw Red standing next to Penelope laughing. Damn it all. He took pity on me and moved himself in between us as Artie launched herself at me. He grunted at the impact but stayed firm until Penelope ran over clutching her shirt to her chest. She struggled to drag her from the room and succeeded, Artie screaming what could only be curses in her native language. I sighed and ran my hand over my neck where I could already feel the bruises forming. A cough grabbed my attention and I looked to see Red smirking at me.

"What?!" I snapped at him.

His smirk just deepened as he said,"You know I don't think that's what they meant when they said to get on their good sides."

He didn't have time to block or move away from my attack.

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