The first thing Robin saw when his mind cleared was Jessie's relieved smile, like she had been worrying over him.

"I'm glad you are okay." She looked to her sister "Both of you."

Mirra fell away to reveal Alexandra underneath. She pulled her older sister into a sitting position and hugged her tightly; tears were springing in her eyes.

"You idiot," Alexandra muttered.

Jessie started laughing then instantly looked like she regretted it, her laughter turned into breathless wheezing. Her whole body shook as she coughed. Robin looked his friend up and down and was troubled by what he saw. All of Jessie's muscles looked like they had wasted away completely with lack of use. Her bones were starting to poke out of her drawn skin. When she finally stopped wheezing she looked strained and sweat dotted her brows.

"We have to go," she panted, she winced and placed a hand over her side. "I, Galen, he has changed. I didn't recognize him at first, I'm so sorry. He, Isaac-." She started coughing and wheezing again.

Alexandra looked at Robin confused. She clearly didn't know anyone by the name of Galen or Isaac. However they seemed familiar to him. Then Robin's blood turned to ice in his veins. They weren't the names of real people; he remembered, Galen and Isaac were both characters from one of Jessie's stories. Isaac was the lover of a main character while Galen was her best friend. However Isaac became jealous of time his love spent with Galen and eventually ended up betraying and accidentally murdering his love when he attempted to murder Galen. Robin remembered only one was based on a real person.

He was a person Robin had met before. The boy was only a year older than him and a friend of Jessie's. Robin's first impression of the boy was that he was a snake. Sweet words and nice gestures when Jessie was around, but when she turned her back he was crude and almost possessive of her. Robin was now kicking himself for not saying something sooner. Ten times over the fool he was. Robin hurriedly scooped up Jessie and gently cradled her against his chest. She was in no shape to walk on her own.

He turned to Alexandra, "Will you be able to change into another character?"

"Several." She pulled a small handful of tarot cards from the pouch at her belt. "These I should be able to hold their forms longer because they have less power." She selected the card second from the top and slipped the rest back into her bag. After only a second the transformation began. Alexandra's body began to shrink and her face bubbled up a little to make her look a little bit chubby and younger. Her hair coiled up into tight bouncy curls and her irises faded then turned a deep blue. Her wet suit tugged this way and that until it stretched out become a billowing dress. It was pink with white lace accenting it. The overall effect made her looked like she had stepped off the cover of a English romance novel. She curtsied and inclined her head.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance-," she looked like she was going to say something else but this time Alexandra's voice snapped,

"Get on with it! Something doesn't feel right, and I'd like to be gone very soon."

The girl looked horrified and like she was going to comment on how rude Alexandra was being. Alexandra cut her off before she could even say a word.

"We have company."

A dark chuckle echoed around the room drawing everyone's eyes to the observation windows near the top of the room.

"I thought I sensed something. Muse, why did you have to bring the rodent with you? I would have let you go."

Jessie's eyes; Robin noticed, looked like flames danced in them. She was practically shaking with anger as her gaze found the young man in the observation room. Robin squinted and could now make out the features of the boy in the window. He was tall, well-muscled but not bulky like most men, and handsome. His dark hair was slicked back with way too much hair gel. A black leather jacket hung off him and his pants were very lose fitting. No doubt he had weapons hidden in his clothes.

"Gabriel? You killed my sister? Why?"

Gabriel shook his head no.

"I didn't," he said it as if offended by the very thought. Then a vicious smile spread across his face twisting his beautiful features into something nasty. "I killed him."

The hair on the back of Robin's neck rose at these words. He remembered when he had kicked at his captors face and damaged his voice modulator, Gabriel's voice had penetrated the waves of pain at one point when the device completely stopped working. This man loved Jessie or as close to love as he was capable of, how could he do this to her? Surely he would know what hurting her friends would do to any relationship they had? Something else suddenly occurred to Robin.

"Why did you let Jessie save me?"

Gabriel snorted.

"I didn't. She escaped from the cell. By the time we realized, she was already performing the ritual and there was nothing we could do that wouldn't risk permanently injuring her or her mind."

Small mercies Robin thought bitterly.

"Why not kill me afterwards?"

Gabriel cackled and the sound had Robin's blood turning ice cold. Jessie smirked mirthlessly, obviously he had considered it and she had out down him.

"I figured the memory of what Jessie did for you would drive you mad."

Well he wasn't wrong, Robin thought. It was only the distance and the fact he now knew Jessie would be okay that guilt hadn't crippled him when he found out. A small voice in his mind added that he wasn't trying to kill Gabriel either.

"But," he looked to Jessie his features softening ever so slightly. "Clever woman was a step ahead of me all along." He sighed regretfully. "I'll have to remedy my earlier mistake now."

Jessie drew herself up in Robin's arms and he glanced down in time to see a pale light spreading over her body. When she spoke her voice was firm and strong, but only a whisper of sound.

"Let go."

Robin didn't even question her, simply set her down on her feet. The light radiated outward and swallowed everyone. It even shattered the window above and captured Gabriel. When the light retreated back into Jessie they were no longer in the underwater base. They were in her mind. Broken branches lay strewn across the floor like the severed arms of some great being. The doors of Jessie's mind still hung broken and bruised. They seemed to glare accusingly at Gabriel. The crystal in the center of the room glowed a bright bloody red swirled with dangerous looking black lines.