R: Ultra Evolution

Book 36: New Beginnings

8:15am, Renegades HQ

As her alarm blared, Blair shot up from being asleep, her hair rough and unkempt, her face startled and still half asleep. After taking a few moments to gain her bearings, she stumbled out of bed, falling flat on her face in the process. Having shaken off the inevitable bruises from this, she groggily wandered over to her calendar, and stared at the date for a moment, before crying out 'We move today!'

After quickly throwing on the same clothes she had worn the previous day, she dashed down the stairs, and almost ran straight through Jade in the process. 'Hold your horses missy.' 'It's the day of the move and we've not done anything yet.' Looking concerned, Jade asked 'Did you not hear?' 'Hear what?' 'We don't have a house to move to, they all blew up - major gas leak they think.'

Heartbroken, Blair's jaw dropped. 'But… what do we do then?' 'Well I suppose we'll just be stuck here, try and get Astrid's money back for her, and work on finding somewhere else to move, I hear those flats on Quayside are still available.' Jade's mischievous fibs were soon unravelled though, when Rio walked up to her, and dryly stated 'And people think changing her theme song was cruel.'

Realising that it had all been a lie, Blair just about stopped herself from bursting into tears, and instead gave Jade a somewhat playful slap. 'The next time you do that to me, I swear I'm never going to talk to you ever again.' 'I'm sorry, I just saw how you were and I couldn't resist it, I never get the chance to prank you. Unlike someone else I can think of…' she stated while still giggling and looking at Rio, drawing Blair's attention to her.

'What was that yesterday? You know I hate that song, right?' 'You don't hate the song, you just hate the fact it's a lesbian anthem. Just enjoy yourself once in a while.' Starting to wake up, she took a somewhat sympathetic tone with her friend, and told her 'Look, I've already agreed to go to Pride, I already agreed to be more… outward with Jade, but I'm not changing everything about myself.'

Looking to break the potential issue up, Jade asked Blair 'You still up for the housewarming tonight?' Surprised, Blair stated 'Yeah, I mean if you can both sort stuff without me, me and Ally are at a school taster day remember, we're not going to be back till about 4.' 'Yeah, that's totally fine, there's probably not going to be that much to sort, I suggest we leave getting all our personal stuff put away until tomorrow.' 'Sounds good to me. As long as we don't put some insane dress code'

'It's not insane, I just think a little bit of hollywood glitz could be nice. Speaking of which, I do need to unpack my cocktail dress.' 'Well I told you before, I'm not properly dressing up like that.' Frustrated, Jade remonstrated. 'C'mon, just wear something nice for once, like… like you were on our first date, you were gorgeous then.' 'Yeah, I also felt super uncomfortable dressed like that. I promise, you'll look amazing, I can just imagine you, this green strapless number, maybe one of those shawls as well'

'Not happening, I'm coming in jeans and shirt if you carry on with that' Blair snapped back, before Rio got between them. 'You know how insane you're both sounding, right? Let's be honest, we've got bigger things to be worrying about than what you're wearing, because if we don't get around there soon, then we're not going to have a house to warm. We still don't have the keys yet, remember? Let's go Jade.' Realising Rio was right, she left, putting her hand up in apology to Blair as she did.

At Ashworth

Hannah was cleaning the dishes after breakfast, when she noticed Astrid about to leave the house. 'Oh Astrid' 'Don't worry, I'll be back for him soon, I'm just putting a letter in the post.' 'I wanted to talk to you.' 'Can it wait?' 'If you're going to Phil straight after you get back, then no.' Understanding, she slipped the envelope back into her pocket, and leant on the kitchen counter, listening intently.

'I've been talking with Phil, and we're thinking that the party tonight is a great time for you to try coming out of the spell for a bit, you know, since we're all going to be there, it's going to be a great time, you don't need to worry about things. I know you were concerned about' 'Respectfully, I'm not going if that's the case.' 'Astrid, I know you're still hurting, but at some point'

'I need to go without, yeah, I get it' she responded while rolling her eyes, as Hannah folded her arms sternly. 'Right if you're going to give me Sasstrid, I'm not even going to ask you.' Shocked, she asked 'Maddy told you' 'Oh yeah, her favourite side of you. Not some obedient lap-dog who's essentially given up on life while waiting. Do you really think that the best thing you can be doing for her is this? Or do you not think she might want to come home and see you living still, be an inspiration? I know you're hurting, but this is the wrong way of showing that.'

'Yeah, because talking always did me the world of good' she angrily responded. Hannah though, was still being stern, yet calm. 'You've never tried talking to either of us. Now we can't help you unless you try to open up, I know you see emotions as a weakness, and because of that, you don't know how to feel right now.' 'And how should I feel?' 'That's not for me to tell you. But you need to stop putting barriers up. Speak to us, we can help.'

Astrid didn't say anything though, instead walking out of the house, barging past Phil as he walked in. 'Going to guess your little heart to heart didn't go well then?' 'She's bottling everything up like she's just scared of her emotions. I really don't think you should be keeping this trance up while she's like this.' This is when Phil made an honest admission. 'You know I'm not keeping this up for me, don't you?'

'I don't know, you've been having fun with it' 'I have to pretend to have fun with it, because she specifically wanted treating like Freja, who, by the way, I only treat like that still because it helps her mental health. I want Astrid to be able to deal with her issues, I want to not be everybody's comfort blanket, most of all though I… just want Maddy back myself. It's too quiet without her, and everything feels like it revolves around me when she's not here, which is the last thing I want. I just want to enjoy a peaceful life with you, I don't want the excess. That's not who I am anymore. But I'm not releasing without consent, because while she's doing this, she's not doing something much worse.'

At the base

Freja arrived from an early shoot only to be greeted by the sight of Kris spitting out chewing gum on the floor. As she walked past, he turned his head, and with clear attitude, told her 'Sakura thought you might wanna know that Belle's in a bad way with her… whatever it was, that mental thing she has' 'Schizo' 'That's the one' he confirmed, stopping Freja talking in the process. 'She's in her bedroom, probably rocking back and forth if you want to see how she is.'

Quickly picking up on the way he was speaking, and aware of his recent attitude shift, she confronted him. 'Right what's up with you at the moment, your attitude stinks like a cow's backside.' Snapping back, he told her 'Do you not think I'm worth more than being a messenger? Not being funny, but I have survived literal CANCER, and all anyone asks me is about Astrid, when I clearly don't mean anything to her, otherwise she might have showed me anything once in a while, but no, she's more important because her best mate's not here. We all miss Maddy, what makes her special?'

Unable to resist responding, Freja told him forthrightly 'You know, you can sound like a real insensitive prick sometimes. You know that people ask you about how you are, because I had, like a 20 minute conversation with you about it just last week. And for your information, Astrid tried to talk to you the other day, and you turned your back on her while she was talking. So don't talk to me about people not caring, because I'm starting to think the only thing we should be concerned about with you is your memory.'

She then stormed away, ripping her hair tie out in the process and dashed upstairs, finding Belle lay under a pillow, using it to block her ears. So Freja tapped her on the shoulder, and as she looked up, signalled that she wanted to talk. So after some delay, Belle removed the pillow, but kept it right by her with her hand on top of it. And after greeting her with a much-appriciated hug, Freja smiled, and told her 'I heard you're not having the best day?'

Nervously, she responded 'The voices, they know. They know what we did to Lukas, they won't leave me alone. They keep telling me that I'm the same evil person I was, and I know it isn't true, I just want them gone, I want them to leave me alone!' Trying to reassure her, Freja insisted 'What we did was nothing compared to what they've done, it really doesn't even compare, it's like different levels of it. All we did was the slightest, tiniest taste of revenge, because we could have done so much more, and you stopped us doing that.'

Despite the reassurances, Belle continued to spiral. 'I'm a really awful person, I don't know why I thought I could change who I am' 'You're not awful, you're my sister' 'Why would you want a sister like me? The police, they… they're going to find out and they're going to lock me up again, they'll send me back into Young Offenders, and' Belle then hid back under her pillow, as Freja got her phone out.

At Ashworth

As Astrid was being played with by Phil, Hannah answered the call. 'Hi Freja, how can I help you?' 'It's Belle, she's having a major episode because of what we did to Lukas, and I was wondering if Astrid's around, because she did really well talking Belle out of her last one. Where is she right now?' As Hannah looked around, Phil tapped Astrid on the shoulder twice, seemingly startling her out of the spell she was under, before telling her 'Some things are more important than this.'

She then looked over confused at Hannah, who told her 'Belle's voices are back, and you were the one who helped her last time.' Understanding, Astrid walked off to get some proper clothes on, as Hannah said 'She'll be there soon, she's just getting changed.' 'Getting changed?' Freja asked, confused, before following up 'What was she wearing?' 'The same you were wearing the other night. It's very… erm… gold. And glittery. Were the gold mini shorts really necessary though? Anyway, we'll have that conversation later, she's on her way now' Hannah told her as Astrid walked out the front door, having exchanged her dancing gear for a grey rock-climbing shirt and black lycra shorts. 'Ok, thanks.'

In Gateshead

With Blair and Ally away, it was up to Rio and Jade to get the essentials set up in the new house. As they were moving Jade and Blair's bed into position, Rio joked 'We should really give Ally this room, let's face it she'll need the room for her trophy cabinet when she's winning all these Dragon Duels events.' Smiling, Jade told her 'Let's not get carried away, it's only the UK qualifier that she won. The European one's going to be way more difficult, and she needs Top 2 in that to advance to the World level.'

'Come on Jade, let's dream a little.' 'Oh I am doing, I'm just imagining her bringing home the trophy and how proud she'd be, and then if one of us can bring home the World Championship' 'You heard that's in Japan this year didn't you? Tokyo Dome, and this time they're not restricting the capacity for any of the days, they're expecting 50k crowds every single day.' 'Well that's if they survive the lawsuit.'

Surprised, Rio asked 'Didn't you know? They dropped the lawsuit, in exchange for a public apology and Hannah getting Michael's place on the board. They're also going to crown an Interim Young-Gun Champion to face Maddy whenever she returns. I might throw my hat into the ring for that.' 'Go for it, you've improved a ton, I don't know why you're not in the big events more honestly. I'd go for it but obviously I'm a little busy. You got Blair's instructions by the way?' Producing a lengthy list, Jade smiled. 'She's got it all planned out where everything's going. Not that I'm going to pay any attention, you know, just live a little, put things wherever feels right.'

While they continued to move everything, Rio brought up a tense subject. 'About earlier with you and Blair' 'What about it, I don't think I said anything wrong.' 'It's not that you said anything wrong, it's just… don't you feel like you're pushing her a little hard? Blair's naturally awkward anyway, she's just going to take time, I don't think she feels comfortable in her own skin, or at least not in that way.'

Accepting Rio was probably right, Jade whined 'I just want everything to be perfect though. I've dreamt of having something like this for so long, I just…' 'I totally get it, you want a little bit of Hollywood glamour, you want it to feel like you're dancing with the stars, feel like a princess, it's what you dream of. But you've also got to see that you're going to push Blair away if you keep this up, because let's be honest, we wouldn't love B as much if she wasn't such an awkward mess.'

Jade smiled, and sat on the bed while talking about 'I love her stupid faults, I love how over-organised she is, how she can't cook, she's overprotective of Ally to the point of being a helicopter parent, she hates being called Lesbian even though let's be honest she'd never go for a guy, and how she'll bite your head off if you dare ever call her an American.' 'Exactly, why would you want her to suddenly change? She isn't perfect, but why would we want her to be?' 'I suppose I should just let her find it in her own time.'

Chirton Park, North Shields

As Belle and Freja waited, the twin continued to try and talk down the voices. 'You don't have to listen to those voices Belle, just tell them and yourself that they're wrong.' 'I keep trying, do you not think I've tried that before? That people suggested that before?' 'I dunno, all I know is I've not suggested it. Did the voices hate you for turning on us and being part of them?' 'I mean no, but that was different, I was doing what I had to'

'And you did just the same there. If you hadn't have done that, Rhydian could have come after us wanting to know where Maddy was, he could have done anything, what we did there scared him off, told him that if he even tries anything, we can do whatever we like to him, and we're not holding back this time. If we can do that to Lukas, imagine what we could do to him? He's running scared and as long as that's the case, we're keeping Maddy safe. And you're involved in that.'

Right on time, Astrid then honed into view, ready to provide reinforcements as she sat between them. 'So I heard you're struggling a bit?' 'Yeah, it's getting better I think, it's just the voices, they keep reminding me of what we've done.' Looking her in the eyes, Astrid admitted 'We've all done things we're not proud of in order to get revenge, in order to cope, in order to live. But the thing is, we had to do those things. We all have our reasons for doing what we do, and who is anybody else to judge us?'

Belle appeared confused at this, but Astrid then reached her point. 'Same goes for those nagging voices in your head, the only voices that have the right to tell you what to do are the ones that can honestly say that they wouldn't have done the same thing. Your voices can say all they like, you just need to remember that you were keeping your friends safe, and showing that you're going to protect people who matter to you, and those voices, if they were real, they would have done the exact same thing.'

While appreciating the advice, Belle still appeared troubled. 'Do you think anyone will say anything?' 'What - about what we did? Hell nah' Freja immediately reacted, before Astrid explained 'If Rhydian says anything, we can have him sent back to jail in a heartbeat, plus the only evidence is a sleeping bag, because either Lukas got out or he got fried. As for him, if he did get out, the last thing he's going to want to do is face us down again. He'll be keeping way away from us. As for your voices, I've got something to show you.'

Astrid then swung her rucksack onto one arm, before gently sliding it off onto the ground, unzipping it and unveiling a longbow. 'Erm… are you allowed that out here?' 'Totally, it's not a weapon, and I've shot arrows into the trees here before, nobody questions it. Ever since I was about 4 or 5, this has been something that has always inspired me, always helped me in troubled times.'

Loading an arrow and then taking aim at a tree, she explained 'See, when you're taking aim like this, suddenly the world around you stops. Nothing else matters, it's just you and the target. I'm willing to bet anything that if you tried this, you'd suddenly not be thinking about those voices. You just visualise where the target is, and then you take a breath, and you shoot' she grinned, while turning her head and releasing the arrow a few moments later, with it hitting a notch on a distant tree trunk.

'That looked incredible' Freja beamed with gleaming eyes, while Belle looked shocked. 'I know that looked fancy, but the thing is, once you've got it lined up, it doesn't really matter where you look as long as you know your arms aren't going to move. Just keep your heart steady, keep your arms solid, and the arrow will go exactly where you want it to.' 'You're sounding like a Scottish bloke from this TV show I watched when I was a kid… I think Maddy was on it' a suspicious Belle mentioned, only to have a second longbow dumped on her. 'Give it a go.'

'Err ok?' Belle murmured as she picked up the bow with trepidation. 'So the bow is already strung for you, I'll load the arrow and you can watch me do it.' As she did, the three of them continued to discuss Astrid's archery skills. 'So I take it you were a natural at this?' Freja sarcastically asked, only to be surprised when she was informed 'I was terrible when I first did it. It took probably about a month of practicing every day to get the hang of keeping a steady hand, about six-eight months before I learned how to properly aim, and I don't even know how long it took me to learn how to string an arrow.'

Belle then sarcastically quipped 'Do all kids up in Alta do things like this for fun?' 'Oh it was nothing to do with fun, it was for food. We grew up with not a lot of money and basically no shops, almost everything we ate was stuff we could hunt, Reindeer, Puffins, Moose, and if we were particularly lucky, Polar Bears, that meat would do us days. My mumma's an incredible shot, she would usually do the hunting and leave me to forage, but eventually she taught me how to hunt for myself. Then we'd skin them, cut them up, salt them and store them away.'

'If that's the case, how do you have so much money you don't use?' 'Some's money I earned from duelling I don't use, also there's a trust fund, my father apparently set it up when I was conceived.' 'You ever met him?' Firing another arrow into the tree, she shook her head. 'Never. All I know is that he left before I was born. Funny how the subject turned from you though Belle. See, what you do with this is you pick it up, pull the string back, and then I find it helps to close one eye.'

'Which one?' 'Your non-dominant one. So like me, I'm a right-handed shot, but I'm left-eye dominant. So I close my right eye, line up the arrow below my left eye, and make sure the target's in the middle of my eyeline. Then, I let the arrow fly.' As she did, it landed right above the previous arrow, as Freja applauded her. 'What a shot that was.' This meant it was Belle's turn to have a go.

Slowly, she lifted the bow, as Astrid asked her 'Which eye are you?' 'I'm left-handed and left-eye dominant.' After confirming this, she lined up her shot, and took a nervous breath, almost resting the butt of the arrow on her cheek, before pulling the string right back, and launching it with force, almost throwing herself to the ground in the process. When she looked up, the arrow had grazed the tree trunk and landed in the duck pond nearby.

As Astrid gave her a hand up, Belle was clearly a frustrated figure, just staring at the arrow as she took her hair out of its tight high bun, unwrapping it and letting it down. 'You know, for a first attempt that was pretty good. I think you would have hit the target if you'd just released the arrow normally, but you were trying to throw it into the target like it's a javelin. Do you see what I mean about it clearing your head though?'

Smiling at last, Belle acknowledged 'I can't lie, it's been really helpful, I feel a tonne lighter getting rid of those voices.' 'Just come down here every so often when you need it, the voices can't reach you if you're not switched on to them. And if that doesn't work, the trance is always an option.' Starting to reverse her feelings on the situation, Freja responded 'But don't get as obsessed as some of us if you do.'

Near the base

As Rio was on her way to pick up the missing order of plates, Rio phoned Blair up to talk to her like she had Jade. 'Hey B' 'Hey Ri' 'How did the taster day go?' After a slight pause, Blair responded 'It was ok. Ally enjoyed herself, but I'm not sure. But we'll talk more about that later, how's the set-up going?' 'Yeah, not bad, I'm just on my way to the base to see if those plates I ordered are there.' 'Were they not at the new place?' 'No, they're showing delivered but there's no sign of them. So I'm presuming they were delivered to the base.' 'Ok, well we're on our way back now, we're about 20 minutes away so we'll see you when we get back, k?'

This was when Rio approached the other topic. 'Look, I wanted to talk about earlier with the stuff between you and Jade' 'I know, I was being totally unreasonable earlier, but I just feel uncomfortable doing that' 'And we don't want you to be uncomfortable. We want you to enjoy the party as much as anybody, but you know how important it is to Jade to be considered respectable, and you know the baggage that she carries.'

'I know, and I know that if I can do this for her, it would start to help her move on from what she had to do to make ends meet, but I just can't, it took everything I had just to wear one on our date night' 'Yeah, and you heard what everybody thought of it, they thought you looked amazing.' 'I know, but I just feel awkward, pretending that I can just pull it off effortlessly like everybody else, pretending that I'm like them.'

Blair was then greeted with hysterical laughter over the phone. 'Trust me, nobody is ever going to think you're just like everybody else. You are Blair Flannigan, and you are unique as all heck. You don't need to wear a t-shirt and jeans to tell people who you are, and what are people going to say anyway, like they'd be able to pull it off better than you can!' 'I know…' Blair quietly said, before terminating the call, as Rio wondered 'I hope she's ok.'

Around 15 minutes away from Rio, Blair came off the phone and immediately rang up Belle. 'Hi, I'm feeling much better now, thanks for checking up on' 'Sorry, I didn't know anything was wrong, I've been out with Ally all day. Why, are you ok?' 'Yeah, I had a bit of a wobble, but I'm alright now thanks. How's little 'un?' 'Yeah, good, listen, I was wondering if you happened to have Astrid nearby?'

Looking over at her, Belle responded 'Yeah, she's literally stood right next to me.' 'Would I be able to talk to her for a minute?' Surprised, Belle looked at her again, and told her 'Blair wants to talk to you 'trid.' Also curious. Astrid consented, and had the phone handed over. 'Is this the first time we've ever been on the phone to each other?' 'Probably, look, I needed to talk to you about the party later.'

'Don't worry, I'll be there.' 'Do you know what you're wearing yet?' 'I've got ideas, but I'm not sure yet, I've got a nice white number in the wardrobe so I might use that.' This was when Blair reached her point. 'You know htat we kind of dress similar at times, shirt and joggers or jeans.' 'Speak for yourself, I think I've worn jeans twice since I moved here.' 'You get my point though.' 'Oh yeah, I do.'

'How do you… do you ever feel awkward when you're wearing "girly" things?' Immediately understanding what she was trying to say, Astrid sweetly told her 'Don't feel awkward for being beautiful. I know when I'm wearing something like that, I understand that people will find me attractive, that people will turn their heads. But you also need to remember that you're still the same person. I think you just need to look at yourself and work out why you're uncomfortable with doing that, then do something about it. But don't feel awkward, you deserve to feel beautiful as well.'

Back at the base

As Rio arrived, Jodi went to say hello to her, only to see that it was clear she was otherwise preoccupied, as she started rooting through the post-storage corner, while complaining to herself. 'And this is why I should update my shipping address, because things come and nobody tells me anything. You would think by now that people would let me know when things arrive.' Eager to help, Jodi hastened over to her. 'What is it you need?' Stuttering, she responded 'P…Pap… Paper Pl… P…PP… Paper Plates, my god, some advice, never try and say "Paper Plates" when you're looking for them.'

Surprised, Jodi asked 'Have you checked the office? I know I was putting some paperwork on the desk the other day, and I saw that you had a parcel in there. No idea who's put it there, they should really be putting everything here to be sorted out, but nothing t'do with me anyway.' 'Thanks, also well done for not calling it my desk, that's really getting on my nerves' 'Well it isn't your desk is it, it's Maddy's desk, you're just looking after it for her. You had any thoughts on how long you're staying on yet?' Shaking her head while putting parcels back, she responded 'Jacking it in, aside from that, not a clue.'

Before they could discuss this further though, Jana approached them from behind. 'Hey Rio, could I borrow you for a minute?' 'Look I'm sorry Jana, but I am super busy with the move and I'm behind schedule, so if you need to talk, you can do it here, Jodi can be trusted anyway.' 'Well it's not like I have any friends to discuss it with anyway. Well apart from Freja, but she couldn't be less interested in the gossip right now.'

'Ok, well it's just there's something that's been bugging me for weeks. A few days before she tried to… I don't want to use the word' 'I get you, when she did the thing.' 'Yeah, a few days before that, she was at Dan's grave, and I saw her use Primal Eolas to leave, which is weird because her powers were supposed to be totally drained. So I don't know if you know what's going on there, I know it's not the best time, but it's been burning in my mind for ages.'

This was when Rio told her the situation. 'I never intended on letting Maddy's wolf-self be drained like that, because that is part of her identity, and it was partly my fault she was shere, I was her veep, I should have been able to see the situation when she was too deep. So I sacrificed my own Barian powers instead, all they've ever done is hurt people. So now I can use my powers for something good, I can use them to help someone important to me, important to us.'

Jana was completely shocked by this revelation, but her reaction quickly changed to a satisfied smile. 'I'm glad that Maddy had you, and I'm glad we've all got you as a leader.' 'Well don't enjoy it for too long, as soon as everything's settled again, I'm done. The only reason I'm not done now is Blair refused to be anything more than Co-Interim because she doesn't do public speaking.' Surprised, Jana murmured 'Doesn't stop her normally in duelling' 'Tell me about it… but maybe wait until I've got these plates back there.' As she left, Jana shouted 'Thank you!', and Rio turned, smiling in response as the doors slid shut.

In Gateshead

Blair and Ally returned from the taster day, finding Jade on her own in the kitchen, singing along to some deafening party music. 'Hey guys, how was the taster day?' 'PARDON!?' Blair screamed in response, making Jade turn her music down. 'Sorry, I was asking how the day went?' Grinning, Ally stated 'It was cool', before running off to explore the new house. Meanwhile, Blair looked less convinced.

'You don't look too sure.' 'It wasn't bad, but it just felt really restrained and restrictive, and I'm not sure if it's right for her, she really needs somewhere where she doesn't feel boxed in, she has enough of that with us.' 'Well we've got time yet, so we'll continue looking, I spoke to Hannah and she's told me about a few places that specialise in Autism, so we can always look at them, and next time I might be able to come with you.'

As they kissed, Ally ran back down the stairs, and shouted 'Ew, get a room!', making them laugh. 'You decided which bedroom you're having yet?' 'Yeah, it's the best room ever. What cooking?' Proud of the work she'd done, Jade announced 'We've got Pizza, we've got Russian Salads, Kebabs, Steamed Rice, and I heard that if you're really really good and help me out in here while Blair moves the rest of the furniture, Rio's going to make that Mud Pie that you like.' Immediately, Ally jumped to it, eager to help, as Blair set about moving everything into her preferred places.

At Ashworth

As Astrid was getting ready for the party, she was eager to continue her new role. 'Phil, need to ask you something.' From the next room, he responded 'Go on.' 'When we come back from the party, can I finally dance on my own for you? Like we discussed the other day?' Sensing the opportunity to prove a point, he responded 'We could come to a deal on that. If you go without the trance at the party, then you can.'

'What - completely? I don't know, I really don't think that's a good idea, can there not be some kind of middle ground there?' Surprisingly, he relented immediately. 'Fine, a light one, almost one you can't feel. But that's the closest I'm coming to relenting.' 'Ok, deal.' As she continued getting ready, Hannah looked unimpressed in the next room, until Phil hollered her over to the other side. 'She's going without it tonight.' 'But you just said' 'I said "Almost one you can't feel". That's so she doesn't notice. If we're weaning her off this, she has to not realise. Trust me on this one.' Sighing, she nodded. 'We'll see how this goes.'

In Gateshead

Jade and Rio were just finishing off in the kitchen, Rio wearing a light blue faux wrap dress with a pink sash stripe and a thin pink ribbon around the waist, while Jade was her slimline black number, when Blair walked down the stairs, wearing a navy blue full-length bodycon, surprising Jade and delighting Rio in equal regard. 'What made you change your mind?' the Amer-Iranian asked as her girlfriend approached her. 'Honestly, I spoke to Rio, and then I spoke to Astrid, and it made me just realise that I never really tried doing something different, so me and Ally popped into the boutique on the way back, really not my kind of place, it's a bit too… girly, but I found this and wanted to give it a go. Do you think it looks alright?'

Jade didn't speak, but admired the way she looked, and walked over, before plonking a huge kiss on her girlfriend's lips. 'I'm going to take that to mean I look ok then.' The door then went, and Rio walked past them, telling Blair 'Blue is really your colour' as she passed, opening the door to Gary and Alex. 'Hey I didn't even know you guys were coming.' Beaming, Alex told Rio 'Jade sent Dad his own personal invite, and he invited me to come as his plus one. Drake sent his apologies by the way, he's supervising the renovations at his place, thanks to the money you gave him he's managed to get his house almost totally done, they're just finishing the work off in the next couple of weeks.'

'That's awesome' Rio grinned, filled with pride at what she had done for him. 'So once again, I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for him, and wanted you to know that… it means a lot. You're incredible.' 'It's nothing, I promise.' 'How are you doing anyway?' 'Yeah, not bad, still have the odd speech thing but for the most part it's ok.' 'And you're looking after yourself?' 'Don't have much choice' she quipped in return while gesturing over to Blair and Jade, who were walking over, with Blair telling them 'Come on in, we've got what I'm required by my girlfriend to call "nibbles".'

After they walked in, they looked around the ground floor, and appeared impressed. 'You've really levelled up guys, this place is great.' Blair then explained 'They're newbuilds, we'd had our eye on them from the moment that we first saw them being built. Never thought we'd have a bid on one accepted though.' 'It just shows that you never know if you don't try' Alex winked to Rio while still conversing with Blair.

As they continued talking, Jade was on hand to greet other guests, with Jana arriving next in the same outfit she wore to her Renegades initiation, then Freja and Belle; the former in a cheetah-print one-piece and the latter pairing a white blouse with a black blazer, then Donny, sporting a dark red suit and giving Rio a swift peck on the cheek on his way past, making her blush, something not unnoticed by Belle, who walked over and asked 'So am I booking the chapel?', almost earning her a swipe back, and then Dakota and Denny, which appeared to surprise Jade.

'Hey I didn't think you'd come.' 'Well I'm not going to miss a party' Dakota joked, before adding 'No, Denny really wanted to come, I did tell him that it might get a bit noisy, but I think he just wanted to see Ally.' Denny then moaned 'Sis, you're making it sound like I didn't want to come otherwise, I told you it would be fun because Jade's hosting it, and she's crazy.' As Jade burst into laughter at this, she gave him a gentle hug as Ally rushed down, and they wandered off together.

A few minutes later, Jodi arrived, using make-up to disguise her burns, and then Isla and her Dad, and after them, Calley, much to Blair's chagrin. But as the party food went down a storm, there were still a trio of guests who they were waiting for. That was, until nearly of an hour after the first guests arrived, there was a hard knock on the door, followed by some quite loud arguing about how early they should have left.

As Blair opened the door, Phil, Hannah and Astrid were there, with Phil in a purple waistcoat with a silver back, Hannah wearing an emerald green dress with two-inch heels, and Astrid in a fitted white dress paired with tights and white shoes, her glowing blonde hair in two braids. Immediately, Hannah was highly apologetic. 'I'm sorry about being late, the babysitter never turned up, so we had to take Sky over to Phil's parents, because of the time we'll probably stop over at the base for tonight and then drive back first thing tomorrow. You look amazing.' 'Thanks, so do all of you.'

While the party was in full flow, Blair approached Astrid as she was laughing with Ally. 'Nice pad you've got here.' 'Look, I just wanted to thank you. Not just for the money, but for the advice you gave me earlier.' 'It's not a problem' she responded calmly and kindly. 'You look fantastic by the way.' 'Thanks, but not nearly as good as you.' Astrid just laughed to herself and turning away, whispered 'It's nice of you to say.'

Before she could move away though, Hannah appeared near her. 'I've got a little bone to pick with you two.' As they both looked over nervously though, her mouth just opened up into a large smile. 'Neither of you told me what happened in your duel. After the cameras went off that is. I've been looking online, and there's absolutely nothing about it, in fact there's not a huge amount about the duel even.'

Astrid looked at Blair, who nodded, and then told the story. 'So we kept going even when someone very rudely, I might add, switched all the lights off. And we kept duelling, and kept duelling, and kept duelling. Until this old guy comes in, says he's the "owner of the building", and told us to leave. We'd been duelling for 114 minutes, and we were on 3900 Life points each. And I'm not being funny, but I don't care about this stupid "curfew" they talked about, you don't stop someone painting because their art took too long.'

Blair then laughed, and admitted 'I think we could have duelled for 114 hours, and we still wouldn't have had a result. As for the coverage, we both agreed to do it with minimal press coverage and no television, we wanted it to be one of these tape trader duels like the old days, try and recapture the magic. And honestly, it might have been one of our best duels ever. Helps when you have such an amazing dance partner though.' Astrid concurred, telling her rival 'It's always more fun when it's against you.'

While this cheery conversation was lighting up the room, Jade and Rio were catching up with Gary. 'So yeah, Savannah's now in the process of moving to Battle Creek, she's got a job there working as a cashier while training to be a nail technician.' 'Heard anything from the other one yet?' Jade asked, but he shook his head. 'She was in contact a few weeks ago after some more money, I think she's still living with her mother, no idea where, I don't think they're still in Michigan though. But as long as she's with her mother, it's her responsibility. I don't think America will ever change as long as she's got that back-up.'

As they continued to muse about this, Hannah was catching up with Jodi. 'Honestly, my sight isn't that big a thing to me. I've got about vision in my left eye, about in my right, but my right eye isn't anything to do with the fire, the doctors said it's just a genetic weakness.' 'I'm so sorry all this has happened' 'It's fine, I found ways to manage. Quite honestly I'm more disappointed about being replaced with Phil, I could do everything Astrid does'

'He's not replacing you, he's trying to stop her doing this. Between us, she isn't even under the trance tonight, he told her it was being reduced and then abandoned it altogether. And if you want to do these things for Phil, just go and ask him, I'm sure he'd love you to. Don't forget, he chose you as his first recruit.' 'I know, but it feels like I've been forgotten by him' 'Trust me, he hasn't, and he never will.' As they discussed this, there was a knock on the door.

As Blair answered the door, she saw someone in a black hoodie walking down the thin tiled path, with a large bunch of flowers and some chocolates sat on the doorstep. 'Hey, you don't have to leave immediately, at least let me thank you' Blair insisted, but as she went to turn away, something caught her eye - the faintest of patterns, suggesting the hoodie was inside out. Eager to confirm her suspicions, she ran after the mystery individual, who went to run away, only to be spun around as they swung around the gate post, shocking them both.

'Maddy?' The young alpha didn't speak, but instead went to run away again, before quickly realising Blair wasn't letting go of her arm. 'Come in.' 'No' she responded heavily, but Blair wouldn't give up. 'Look, if you're scared of people seeing you, you can come in the back door, it's just Jade in the kitchen there. I just want to talk to you, I haven't heard anything from you in ages.'

A few minutes later, Maddy was in the kitchen, with Blair and Jade by her side. 'I just wanted to see that you're ok, we've all been thinking about you.' 'Thanks' she quietly responded, her hood still up and her head firmly fixed on the floor. 'I heard Astrid's made the same mistake I did.' 'Yeah, she's under a trance from Phil, but he's doing his best to try and discourage her from it.' 'Bet he is' she huffed in response.

'In other news, Freja and Belle are back on terms, Lydia left, to be honest you've probably been told all of this' 'Astrid told me nothing about what's going on, she said it's to keep me safe, whatever that means. I heard you were moving house and Astrid sent me an invite, I don't think she expected me to come. And I don't want her to know that I've been here either, she can't know any of this.'

'Why?' A concerned Jade asked, with an equally surprising answer forthcoming after a few seconds. 'She'll try and pressure me into coming back. And I don't want to, because I know I'm not ready to come home, but I'd do it for her so she doesn't have to do what she's doing. Because she doesn't think she has anyone when I'm not here.' 'What's with the inside-out' 'I didn't want anybody to see me. But I can't come back now. Maybe sometime.'

After a few more minutes of sticking around to learn some of the recent goings-on from them, Maddy determined it was time to leave. Before she did though, Jade passed her a small package herself. 'It's not much, but please at least take this. If nothing else this will probably be the nicest meal you've had in a while, it's nothing too fancy but' 'Thank you' she quietly stated. She and Jade flashed their eyes at each other in acknowledgement, and she and Blair shared a momentary stare, before she left out of the backdoor. What none of them were aware of was Rio had seen all of this, and was stood nearby, on the phone to Emma. 'You were right Emma, she did come. I think it's time.'

Next time: Astrid and Emma team up to visit the mental retreat, leading to some difficult truths as Maddy confronts the past. R: Ultra Evolution Book 37: Breaching the Veil