Sorry for the delay! Between uni and the prospect of moving house, actually important things like this keep slipping my mind :P Anyway, from here it'll get juicer, I swear!


They all looked on as Rose emptied the contents of her stomach for what felt like the hundredth time. Will was shocked there was anything left to come up.

Her entire body was convulsing with each wretch, long hair slipping through Will's fingers as he tried to hold it back. Tesla was sitting at her feet, holding the trashcan in an uncharacteristic show of gentlemanly behaviour.

Declan stood behind her, rubbing a circle between her shoulder blades as Druitt looked on, face ever so slightly creased in concern.

It had been like this for almost ten minutes now, with Rose muttering a few foul curses between lurches. Will was certain he even saw a few bright red tears slip down her cheeks but she made no response to the soft queries as to whether she was feeling any better. Rose barely even seemed to recognise the fact that she was surrounded by people.

Finally she let out a tiny sigh, body shivering as she leant back in the chair. Her eyes were closed and her face frighteningly pale with shaking lips. Will thought it was a pitiful sight. She was tough and rough and could bring Jack the Ripper to his knees with just a look but here she was, looking...

Distinctly human, she supplied weakly. It's not something I'm keen to try again, that's for sure.

Smiling, Will shifted that bit closer, squeezing her hand gently. A ghost of a smile flickered across her face and she squeezed his fingers in return.

"I should get ill more often," she half whispered, voice hoarse. "I've never heard John think so kindly of me."

Slowly she opened her eyes, chuckling softly at Druitt who shook his head, a smile just on the edge of his lips.

"You'd be the first person to wish for illness," he said, looking directly at her. Rose's lips quirked and she cocked her head. Druitt raised an eyebrow in response and Will almost fell over in shock. They were talking in their minds without even a hint of animosity.

"He's merely shocked," Rose said finally, eyes flicking to Will affectionately. "You have to remember, Will, John and I were once something akin to friends. If only for Helen's sake."

Will smiled weakly in response.

"Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy this whole 'not tearing each other apart' thing," Will said, looking to Druitt. "It just..."

"Takes some getting used to," Tesla finished, rolling his eyes. Rose chuckled again, switching her warm gaze over to Tesla where he sat by her feet.

"You're big boys," she teased softly, voice still a near croak. "I'm certain you'll find a way to deal with the shock that I'm not purely a killing machine."

"I do like your nastier side though," Tesla reasoned.

Rose merely sighed and shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak again only to shut it abruptly as she began to cough, each shudder wracking her frame making her seem smaller and more fragile to Will.

"Don't make me do that again," she wheezed as the coughs passed, glaring at them all.

"Do what?" Declan asked, moving around to look down at her, face creased with concern. That was another interesting development, Will thought. He knew he shouldn't have been shocked that the pair had a history, Declan was a bit of an old hand around the network it seemed but there was something between them that was almost tender. It was unexpected considering that Rose readily admitted it had been some time since she'd seen Helen. Plus, he kinda expected something a little more sexual between them, given Rose's history.

Suddenly Declan's gaze shifted to Will and he chuckled.

"Not once, mate," he said with a little grin.

"Not for lack of trying," Rose grumbled. Declan laughed again and shook his head. And now Will was no longer shocked.

"While your lack of sexual allure makes for riveting chatter," Tesla interjected, "I'd much rather you explain to us why the contents of what looks like three or more stomachs is now in the trash can."

"Blame Helen," Rose groused, pulling her hand free of Will's grip before trying to push up from her seat. She failed miserably, flopping back down like a wet fish. Blowing her bangs from her eyes, Rose tried again, pressing up on shaking arms until she just barely managed to stand upright.

She faltered and only thanks to Tesla's hands on her hips did she stay upright. He was still kneeling in front of her, the trash can now discarded to the side. Rose smiled kindly down at him, one hand ruffling his hair fondly.

"Help me to the window," she said softly and he rose, threading an arm around her waist in what was almost a friendly gesture. There was no sexual subtext now, nothing between them that spoke of running off to dark corners or terrorising innocent users of elevators. It was an odd shift and one that Will almost welcomed. Tesla was bad for her, he was dangerous and dark and could do just as much damage to Rose as he could do to Magnus. Hell, his feelings for Magnus would probably be enough to hurt Rose, she practically doted on Tesla!

Will started at the almost protective nature of his thoughts. Since when did he care about whether or not Rose was hurt by Tesla's always selfish and often illogical behaviour? Well, he didn't want to see anyone hurt by the egotistical vamp but this...

Shaking his head, Will merely watched as the two old friends made their way across the room to the window.

Rose wasted no time in pushing it open, sitting on the ledge and swinging her legs over the edge. Tesla stayed by her side, a hand on her shoulder to keep her from falling. Her hand reached up and covered his, leaning into the touch as she breathed deeply.

Just that small amount of sun seemed to be helping her and Will realised that this place, artificial sun included must have been designed with every single abnormal Magnus had ever come across in mind. If it could restore Rose the same way the sun on the surface could... It boggled the mind.

There was so much he should have asked Magnus, he realised suddenly. So many things that he still didn't understand. Like what exactly happened in 1899 with Worth, or how she'd managed to build this place without disrupting Hollow Earth and their interactions with the Sanctuary. Or even... he swallowed, how he ought to keep going without her.

So many lost opportunities, so many answers that died with her. For the first time since Rosie and her merry band of Source Blood boys rocked up on the doorstep Will started to choke up. Magnus was gone. Really, truly gone. Dead. Lost. Kaput. He'd never again have to complain about the thousands of cups of tea or the archaic paper work system (which he had to admit had lessened significantly) or even put up with her answering questions with secret smiles and the patented Magnus 'twinkle' in her eye.

Gone.

Magnus couldn't be gone. She shouldn't be gone. She was Magnus.

"She's not gone."

It was as if the room suddenly held its breath and Will felt his heart jump into his throat. He needed her to be alive. He just did...

"Or at least, she's not dead," Rose amended, shifting to face the others a little better. Will watched as Tesla stiffened by her side, his hand now digging into her shoulder.

Will amended his earlier statement, they all needed her to be alive.

"You were wrong?" Druitt asked, voice cold and calculating.

"For the first time in my life, I shall willingly and happily admit that I am, in fact, wholly and unashamedly wrong," she replied, voice low.

"Helen is very much alive."

"Why isn't she jumping for joy?" Declan asked. His face was creased with concern once more only now Will couldn't focus on him. Bolting up, he took a deep breath.

"We have to tell the others," he began hurriedly, plans swirling through his mind. She was alive. She was alive and that meant she wasn't dead which meant she was alive. Magnus was alive. His entire body was almost trembling with the relief. He couldn't focus on Rose and her still rather sombre expression or the thick layer of fear that had settled over the room. Magnus was alive.

"Wait for a minute, boy," Druitt said, grabbing the sleeve of Will's jacket before he could take more than a step forward.

"How?" Tesla asked, his question little more than a whisper.

"They've been watching us," Rose said darkly, leaning forward as her eyes clouded. "For so many years they've been watching us. All of us."

"Who have been watching?" Druitt asked, releasing his grip on Will in favour of walking across the room. He stopped short of Tesla and Rose by a good four foot, hands in pockets.

"I..." Rose breathed, brow furrowing. "They call themselves 'The Order of Maat'."

"'The Order of Maat'?" Declan echoed. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"He's right," Tesla said, stepping away from Rose and towards Druitt. "Do you remember back in London?"

"Yes," the other man said, his voice picking up an undercurrent of excitement. "Didn't Gregory come to blows with them once?"

"Once?" Rose echoed angrily. "Once? Gregory pursued them like a mad dog and got his arse bitten more than once for his troubles, old blighter that he was."

She took a deep breath and turned to almost glare at John.

"But Gregory's idiocy is hardly pertinent. They've been on us for... for a century. No, for... for more than a century. This... God! How did I miss this? How could I have not known? How did I not see it?"

"It's not your fault, Rose," Druitt said, voice low and urgent though Will had a distinct feeling that he was just as in the dark as everyone else as to what she was all cut up about now. "You're fallible, you miss things."

"Of course it is my fault!" she roared back, eyes blazing. "I shouldn't have missed this."

Her energy seemed to return in an instant and she was on her feet, pacing about the room with only the slightest wobble from time to time.

"They're old," she said, not really speaking to anyone in particular. "So old, older than any of you lot. And they've been watching us, all of us for years. Tracking us, following us, like prey."

"And taking Helen was their ultimate goal?" Tesla asked, sounding sceptical.

"No," came her uncertain reply. "No, I don't... The girl, Carla, she didn't know that much."

She bit her lip.

"She was... torturing. She was... being tortured almost." Rose took a deep breath. "They have Helen, they're doing something to her, something with her memories. It's a technology I've never seen before, it's... They're actually watching her memories."

For a moment no one spoke, the silence that fell not quite uncomfortable yet no one was at ease. Will felt his stomach turn at the thought of Magnus essentially being experimented on by an ancient society who had some kind of vendetta against his boss and her closest friends. It was so... so ludicrous yet so perfectly her. Only she could unknowingly incur the watchful eye of the deranged and unstable.

"Perhaps we could ask Kate?" Declan put in. "About the tech, maybe it's Praxian?"

"No," Rose replied easily. "At least, not entirely. From what I saw, it was human made. Alien in design but... this Carla felt very responsible for the creation of the device."

"Is that why you were sick?" Will asked softly. Simply thinking about what was happening to Magnus was bad enough, seeing first hand into the mind of those inflicting pain on her...

"That was a physical reaction to the barrier," Rose replied with a tiny smirk. "They'd done their homework it seems. Everything is practically built with that damn vampire resin. It's why I can't hear Helen, it's too thick, especially around her."

"They're clever," Druitt hissed.

"They're geniuses," she corrected, her tone laced with an undercurrent of fear.

"And they have her," Tesla spat, stalking away angrily. "How is it that they even knew about this place? This doesn't exactly sound like a plan that sprung up over night."

"I don't know," Rose almost bit back. "God, I just... I don't know, Nikola. I want to, I just..."

She sniffed slightly and turned away from her sometimes (but apparently no longer, Will noticed) lover.

"Well, here's a more important question," Declan put in. "How do we get her back?"