In and Out of Time 7/10

Title: In and Out of Time (7/10)
Author: wonderbread9
Rating: PG-13 - R
Characters: The current cast of Kyle XY
Pairings: Kyle/Amanda, Kyle/Jessi, Implied Jessi/Josh, other pairings
Warnings: It's going to get a bit strange...AU-ish, takes place directly after Life Support©, and will include some elements of what has happened IN Third Season. So, if you haven’t yet seen Third Season, then be warned: there be spoilers ahead.

Author's Note: Bare with me, y’all. It’s going to get a bit strange. Jesus H. Christ, this took me a long ass time to write. Whew! See the AFTERWORD for more details.

Summary: “Kyle, let’s just leave,” Jessi urged. Her eyes met his, met the intense deep, swirling blue depths of his eyes with her own, but Kyle’s lips pressed into a thin, firm line and he shook his head slowly, turning back to the injured Joshua on the floor.

“No,” he said firmly, his voice laced with steel. “I want answers.”

8o8o8

She woke to a room drenched in moonlight and empty of any other life save hers. Jessi sat up immediately, her head snapping this way and that in alarm and fear. Where was he? Where was Joshua? She sat up straighter, eyes peeling away every shadow and every inch of darkness in the room, her ears straining to hear even the slightest sound of breathing or a heartbeat, but she could see nothing, detect nothing and the panic that was rising in her gut grew all the more stronger.

He was nowhere to be found in the tiny, dark, cramped space, and she was somewhere lost in the middle of an industrial wasteland. Was she still in Seattle? Was she somewhere else altogether? She had no clue, and if she stepped outside right now, would she be staring at a familiar skyline or would she be seeing something else wholly different?

Jessi stood shakily, using the cot to catch her balance before standing upright and looking around. She felt so vulnerable, so weak, so mortal in that single moment, not being able to call upon her natural abilities to assist her. She couldn’t feel the comforting flow of strength through her limps, couldn’t summon the higher brain functions that would call forth the honing of her senses—her eyes, her ears, her sense of smell and taste and even her ability to hone the entirety of her skin to feel the slightest shift of the air currents around her. All lost to her at that moment so that she was nothing more than a normal, scared girl, and while at first, she had wanted nothing more than to be plain, regular and un-extraordinary, she had grown accustomed to her power, to her agility and her higher intelligence. To have all of that lost to her now was frightening, very, very frightening.

She took a deep breath, trying to quell the panicked trail her thoughts wanted to take—where was she? Would she ever get out? Would she ever get home? Would she ever see the Tragers? Kyle?—and looked around again, trying to orient herself. There had to be a way out…somewhere.

She walked slowly to one of the warehouse’s boarded up windows and tried to pull away the ply wood that blocked her vision of the outside world, but no matter how much she pulled, the wood wouldn’t budge and eventually Jessi gave up on that plan of action. She just didn’t possess the physical strength to pry the wood from its place. She hissed in annoyance, stepped back and kicked the wall. It gave a groan of protest, but nothing more and silence settled over her once more.

“This is so not good,” Jessi mumbled to herself in frustration. It was the understatement of the year, and she muttered a few choice obscenities under her breath as she turned in a wide circle, surveying the entirety of her “prison”. There was no indication that Joshua had even been here. Nothing looked disturbed or out of place, but then again, the place was a dump and any indication of human life having ever been in a place like this had been covered over by years and years’ worth of disuse and grime.

Jessi uttered an annoyed sigh, nibbled her lip and turned on her heel to go back to the cot. It was then that she heard it: a grunt, coming from somewhere to her left, near the windows. She stopped, paused and held her breath, straining once again to hear over the night sounds. And she was rewarded with the grunt sounding again, as if someone were moving something with great effort only a short distance away from her, outside of the room. Her breathing quickened and she crossed the dirty floor of the warehouse office quietly, looking around for something hard and blunt. She picked up a fungus-eaten leg of a broken office chair and held it deftly in her hands, wielding it like an awkward sword. She eased her way over to the windows and found what her initial investigation had not: a door, so grime encrusted that it blended in with the wall around it.

She breathed deep, tried to still the panic of her heart and the trembling of her limps, positioning the chair leg over her shoulder like a batter would and waited. If it was Latnok, she would be ready. If it was Kyle, she’d apologize. If it was Joshua, she’d clobber him and try to get away. Either way, whatever, or whoever, was making their way to the door was getting ready to deal with a half-angry, half-scared teenager. Jessi just hoped she wouldn’t miss.

The grunting grew louder, and heavy footsteps echoed throughout the quiet expanse of the room. Jessi held her breath and gripped her stick. A heavy weight settled on the door and pushed, but it didn’t budge, just protested loudly like splinting wood under an immense pressure. The heavy weight settled on the door again, pushed. This time it gave a little. Jessi gripped her chair leg harder until her knuckles turned a ghostly white. She swallowed.

The heavy weight gave one last push, a more forceful one, and the door came open with a loud groan. All Jessi saw was a head lean through the threshold before she was swinging wildly.

There was a shout. The chair leg met the wall with a jarring force that reverberated through Jessi’s arms. A strong arm circled her waist. The chair leg was wrestled from her grip and she was carried bodily to the cot and dumped unceremoniously on it before she knew what happened. She looked up and met Joshua’s dangerously angry gaze. He was breathing hard and gripping the stick in his hand like he meant to do her harm. Jessi thrust her chin forward, defiance burning in her eyes.

It was a tense few moments; their eyes were locked and Joshua’s jaw clenched causing his neck to bulge and a vein to twitch incessantly at his temple. He breathed; she breathed, and then he looked away, breaking the spell.

“I got you food,” he growled, going back to the fallen bag of groceries that he’d dropped ducking her hastily planned assault. Jessi watched him like a caged animal, eyes still burning anger. He stooped to pick up the fruits that had escaped from the grocery bag and rolled a little ways across the floor. But it was as he was reaching for a stray orange that Jessi looked up and saw the door was still opened wide. Thoughts flew across her mind as she glanced from Joshua’s crouched figure and back to the door.

She breathed.

Her muscles tensed, and time seemed to slow to a standstill.

And then she was up, moving, as lightning quick as she possibly could, bolting towards the door. Joshua yelled and reached for her, but when his hand tried to grasp her wrist and jerk her back, it closed on empty air. Instinct drove her, fear pushed her and adrenaline sent her rushing down the rickety steps of the abandoned, rotting warehouse like the devil himself was on her trail. She ran, feeling her heart beating wildly in her chest, her breath wheezing from her lungs and her muscles screaming. She came to the last few steps of the stairwell and leaped, hearing the thundering, heavy boots of Joshua as he chased after her.

She exploded out of a doorway, slamming open the old, rusting exit and bolting between rows and rows of conveyor belts, some still with old car parts hanging from their chains like rotted corpses of steel and wires. She could see moonlight trickling in faintly from dirt encrusted windows and could see, just up a head, the faint outline of a door.

“Jessi!” came Joshua’s shout from behind. Fear leapt into her throat. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She could hear him and when she glanced back, saw him barreling like a freight train towards her. She gave a cry of alarm, turned back towards the doors and prayed that they would open.

She had to keep going. She had to get away. She had to—

Her hands met resistance, but the force of her body slamming into the ancient slab of metal thrust it open with a raw, torturous sound that left her wincing. The cool rush of evening air was a shock to her skin and the wave of night sounds that crashed over her senses and nearly overloaded them was a joy to feel. Her mind immediately sprang to action and she could feel the minute pulse of electric pulses run faster and faster and faster from every nerve-ending in her body, straight to her brain. She felt a surge of power in her limps that filled her desperate muscles and nearly made her cry out in triumph. She could feel the shift and sway of air currents around her as she cut through the thin veil of molecules and particles that floated invisible and unseen in the air. She could taste a far off rainstorm only miles out from Seattle with her tongue. If she looked up, she could cut through the pollution in the air with her eyes and see the stars.

But most importantly, she could feel the wave, the pulse and the energy, even from such a great distance, of the one person on the planet that mattered more to her than life itself: Kyle. In her mind’s eye, she could see him; she could feel the air of indecision around him as he stood on a street corner, looking this way and that, face creased in a troubled, puzzled frown.

Had Joshua been right? Had her disappearance truly spurred Kyle away from his family, away from his home, away from…Amanda, all for her? Was he out there looking for her even now, as she escaped and ran full tilt towards him?

She wanted to laugh out loud, scream to the night air that she was free, but she knew that this freedom could be taken away. She knew from past experiences that freedom was an ephemeral thing. Danger was still behind her, Joshua still lurked and she had a—

There was a jerk on her right hand that jarred her forward abruptly before jerking her back and making her breath catch in her throat. She was tugged, spun and as the world reeled around her, she caught from the corner of her eye, the familiar face of a war torn veteran. Joshua’s piercing brown eyes chilled her to the bone. She balled up a fist, swung swiftly and connected with soft flesh. Joshua uttered a muffled cry of pain before Jessi kneed him, hard, in the gut. He went down, but did not release her.

“Let me go,” Jessi growled, angrily, reaching to pry his fingers from her wrist.

“Not on your life,” Joshua growled back in pain. She pulled; he jerked her forward and she landed on all fours in front of him. She had only a split second to gasp as Joshua’s free hand immediately flew to his wrist—

She looked up, could see the cold pinpricks of stars watching in their far, distant places, and formed one single thought in her mind that she hoped and prayed would get sent:

—Joshua pressed a button on the small watch that was strapped securely to his skin—

KYLE

—and he and Jessi disappeared with only the disturbance of once still air and packed earth the only tell-tale of their being there.

8o8o8

The night wind brought whispers of animal sounds and insects’ song to Kyle’s ears as he stood underneath the glaring light of a street lamp, on the corner of some Seattle street, hoping that something, anything, would show him which way to go or what to do. He was lost, but not in the sense of direction—he knew that if he tweaked his vision just so, he could see his own fading heat signature of where he had come from. He was lost because nothing in his highly, advanced brain could tell him, map out logically in his head, where he should begin in finding Jessi. When Amanda had been taken, finding her—while it took some doing, and with Jessi’s help (Kyle felt a pang at that)—had not been as difficult as finding Jessi was now. He had—at that time—been given a clue, a subtle hint of Amanda’s whereabouts.

But here…

Now…

There was no innocuous phone left behind with a sinister image embedded within. When the strange man took Jessi, he’d left nothing but empty air behind and Kyle’s shattered hope that maybe life was going to return to some semblance of normal. But no, it just got stranger and stranger—first Jessi and then Josh—and with Jessi gone there was no one to buffer that strangeness against, no one to be a constant in his life that didn’t change, no matter the swaying of life’s tides. Kyle stood at street’s edge, blue eyes combing the darkness as cars drove past and random passersby avoided his strange, still figure on the sidewalk. The night wore on, but like a cruel mistress, revealed none of its secrets to him, and he knew couldn’t stand on the corner forever like a human statue for the world to see and gawk at. He had to move, he had to do something, but it felt like there was nothing he could do.

He could hear Lori’s words echo at the back of his mind. He could see Amanda’s confused, angry, hurt stare as he rushed away from the hospital. He could see Josh’s still prone form in the hospital bed and not know, for once in his short existence, how to fix the monumentous problem. All these puzzles, the huge, chaotic conundrum that his life had become, swirled in his mind like a dizzying topsy-turvy whirl and there was no one here to help him put it to rights, no one to understand or help him begin to put the pieces back together. He couldn’t talk to Nicole; she was worried about Josh, and Steven and Andy and Lori too.

He couldn’t risk them in this. His only recourse was to turn on his heel and go back, back to the place where all this started. He had to find the quiet spot that Jessi had sought out for solitude. He had to search every blade of grass, every disturbed leaf and wind-tossed shrub. Nothing would go untouched, uninvestigated or overlooked.

And maybe…

Just maybe…

He’d find a clue. He’d have a hint. Something, anything to bring order and sense to a world that suddenly become much stranger and much scarier than he could have ever possibly imagined. He had to—

And then he felt it, an overwhelming sense of danger, fear, panic and hope crash over him like a tidal wave. The feeling was intense and his eyes immediately flew to the sky, to the stars, where his vision shifted and the world went sideways for a split second—

KYLE

—before the world returned to rights again and he could catch his breath. Somewhere, in this city, Jessi was calling his name. Somewhere, her essence was reaching out to his. He could feel it, in that split second, just like a few days ago, when the strange man took her. And, just like before, power surged in his muscles and his legs and feet propelled him forward.

He knew where to go.

He knew where to find her.

8o8o8

The world around her was nearly empty when Amanda stepped outside of the hospital. The only souls that were wandering the hospital grounds were night nurses and residents who were catching a breath of fresh air much like her. Amanda breathed deep and let out a huge gust of air before looking left and right, seeking out the white BMW that was her mother’s automobile, hoping against hope that somehow her mother could magically appear within the span of the few moments that she’d called her. She knew it was a false hope, but that didn’t stop her from being disappointed when she didn’t see the familiar, sleek vehicle pull up to the curb or her mother’s stern, but much welcomed face peeking from the driver’s window. Amanda sighed, shoved her hands deep in her pockets and prepared herself for a long wait.

It would’ve been safer waiting for her mother within the walls of the hospital, but for some reason she had a feeling that she had overstayed her welcome, even if it was a silly feeling to have. After all, the Tragers could use all the support they could get at this time of need, but for some reason, she just felt like an outsider looking in on a family unit that shared so many experiences and secrets that it was just too intrusive for her to stick around. She knew that it all somehow dealt with Kyle and Jessi, but she just didn’t know how and the suspense of ever finding out was killing her. Even so, she knew that blowing up at Kyle like she’d been doing for the last few days was not winning her any brownie points in the ‘Kyle-eventually-confiding-in-her’ department. It was just that any mention of Jessi immediately set her on edge and ever since she’d walked in on Kyle and Jessi kissing, she’d been unwillingly tossed on a swinging, emotional pendulum of ‘should-I-be-with-Kyle-should-I-let-him-go’; it was tiring and exhausting and making her all the more cranky and unpleasant to be with.

She knew that Kyle wasn’t like Charlie and that what he had done probably had a good explanation, but ‘good explanations’ aside, she couldn’t believe that he would betray her like that, no matter what his reasons and it was that betrayal that kept her from just biting the bullet and telling him that she so desperately wanted him back and wanted them to return to what semblance of normalcy they’d had before Jessi had ever come along.

“Penny for your thoughts?” came the inquisitive question from behind. Amanda gave a start and turned, her eyes settling on a scruffy looking young man. He was clearly not a doctor with the growth of five o’clock shadow adorning his chin and the mischievous glint to his brown eyes. He looked a few years older than her, probably a college freshman, but he was smiling and didn’t seem at all threatening. Then again, the world as she had come to know it was not always as it seemed.

“Why would you care?” she asked, cautiously. The young man’s smile never dimmed and he came to stand beside her, hands shoved deeply in his pockets.

“You just looked like you were in deep thought,” the young man replied and shrugged. “I figure…somebody you care about’s here in the hospital and you’re worried.”

Amanda allowed a small smile to split her lips. “Something like that.”

“So.” The young man looked thoughtful. “Who is it?”

“Who’s what?” Amanda asked, frowning. The young man grinned.

“Who’s in the hospital?” he clarified. Amanda’s small smile turned embarrassed.

“Right,” she replied, her cheeks turning pink. “A friend. He got hurt pretty badly and the doctor’s have him recovering up there.”

“Well,” the young began in an apologetic tone, “sorry to hear that. I hope he feels better.”

“Thanks,” Amanda replied, another smile spreading across her lips. “And you? Who are you here for?”

“My dad,” the young man explained matter-of-factly. “He got into a minor scrape. He’s just getting patched up right now.”

“Oh,” Amanda said, at a loss. “I hope he does better next time.”

“I do too,” the young man replied with a twinkle in his eye. “I’m sorry, I never got your name. Mine’s Nathaniel. Nathaniel Harrison, but most people call me ‘Nate’.”

Amanda held out her hand. “Amanda. Amanda Bloom, and it’s nice to meet you, Nate.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” he replied, flirtatiously, causing another rush of color to darken Amanda’s cheeks. He took her hand, shook it warmly and held it for a few seconds more before releasing it. “I hope to see you around. Well…Not the hospital.”

“I guess so,” Amanda replied, glancing away quickly from the intensity of Nate’s dark, dark brown eyes. She missed the wicked smile that cut across his features, and when she looked up, he was already turning towards the hospital with a purposeful look on his face.

“Well, I gotta go,” he replied, “but I really, really do hope I see you around.” He winked and Amanda grinned before he left, walking back into the hospital and leaving Amanda to her solitude once more.

That was interesting, Amanda thought, feeling the lingering warmth of Nate’s hand along her palm. She looked at her palm for a moment, feeling a grin want to tug at her lips, but she beat the feeling back. She didn’t have time to devote her attention to some random guy that thought she was cute. There was the issue of Kyle to deal with and an ailing Josh in the hospital and the fact that Kyle was out God-only-knew-where in the city with, or trying to find, Jessi. Amanda uttered a sigh of long suffering and looked for her mother, who was still nowhere to be seen.

Amanda pulled her hands from her pockets and crossed her arms over her chest as a night breeze blew by and the sound of crickets reached her ears.

Without warning, her vision immediately went black as a bag was hastily jerked over her head and the world went topsy-turvy as someone grabbed her around her arms and hoisted her in the air. She uttered a terrified scream, kicked and fought as adrenaline pumped through her and fear washed over her.

There was a muffled cry of pain as her flailing heel landed in soft flesh, but nothing more. She felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck and then her world went dark.

8o8o8

It felt like someone had sucker punched her in the gut and Jessi landed with a painful thud on the hard, dirty floor of the warehouse office as she and Joshua materialized out of thin air. She coughed, gagging on stomach bile that didn’t want to erupt, as Joshua swiftly crossed the expanse of the office and roughly slammed the office’s door shut. It groaned, shook then stilled, and he turned back to her with a murderous glint in his eye.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Joshua growled. Jessi coughed one last time and struggled to stand.

“Getting away from you,” she gasped as a wash of dizziness overcame her and nearly sent her to the floor again. Joshua crossed the room quickly and tried gathering her in his arms, but she shoved him away. Instead, she leaned on the room’s dilapidated desk for support.

“You could’ve ruined everything,” Joshua hissed angrily. “Don’t you get that? The future is at stake and you want to run off playing “Rambina”. If something had gone wrong, where would I have been then? You’re essential, Jessi.”

“You don’t have a right to keep me,” Jessi hissed back, just as angry. “I’m not your prisoner, and your future doesn’t concern me.”

“It concerns everybody,” Joshua roared suddenly. “Don’t you get it?! Don’t you see?! I’m trying to save everyone!”

“And if my disappearance still makes your future happen?” Jessi snarled. “What then? You said I disappeared after Kyle told Amanda everything. Well, doesn’t this kidnapping still line up with me leaving?”

“No, no, it doesn’t,” Joshua protested. “And I’m not going to argue the point with you anymore. Next time you try a stunt like that, I’m tying you up and keeping you tied up until all of this is over.”

“You can’t—“

The sound of metal suddenly twisting like an animal being ripped apart filled the air and Joshua whirled, a gun almost magically appearing in his hand. He turned and pointed it at the door, his body tense and his senses strained.

“What did you do?” he asked in a tense whisper, but Jessi said nothing, her eyes trained on the door. The twisting sound came again, louder this time, and echoed back and forth around them.

“Someone’s here,” Joshua whispered, stepping away from the door and reaching for Jessi. He grabbed her and jerked her close, his grip nearly bone crushing.

“You’re hurting me,” Jessi hissed in pain, wishing once again that she had her strength back. Any other time, she would’ve dropped a guy Joshua’s size without breaking a sweat, but here and now, she was helpless to do much of anything. She was just a small figured girl to Joshua’s battle hardened prowess.

The older man said nothing, only stood like a statue with the gun pointed at the door. He breathed and Jessi felt her heart beating wildly in her chest. For a few seconds, silence fell over the world around them and Jessi began to think that maybe she’d imagined the twisting sound of metal. Maybe it had just been wishful thinking. Maybe it was just the old bones of this place finally giving way in some distant part of the building and the both of them—Jessi and Joshua—were over reacting. Maybe…

Maybe…

But maybe didn’t explain the door suddenly flying open with a loud bang and Kyle standing there, his blue eyes blazing in the darkness, his chest heaving and his fists clenched at his sides. For a split second, Jessi thought it was a dream. That somehow, Joshua had knocked her unconscious and this was just her mind’s attempt at making her feel better. But then Kyle spoke, and she knew then that this was no dream:

“Jessi, are you alright?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes wide with surprise. Joshua’s gun shook and Jessi could feel the slight tremble rush through the older man’s tall frame. Was it fear? Was it anger? She couldn’t tell, but when looked at him, she saw his jaw clench shut so tightly that it looked like it was going to break and the fire suddenly igniting in his eyes.

And that was when she remembered: dear God, the dampening field!

“Kyle, get out!” she shouted before Joshua pushed her and she landed on the cot with a cry of alarm. She looked up quickly and saw Joshua rushing at Kyle with the force of a freight train, barreling down on the teenage boy with every ounce of anger, hurt and pain that lay coiled in every muscle and cell of his body; it was frightening to see: Kyle attempting to defend himself with the superhuman strength that he’d always trusted his body to have and Joshua tearing down that feeble belief with a swift punch to Kyle’s jaw that sent the boy sprawling to the ground.

“I should kill you right now,” Joshua growled, venomous rage lacing every word he spoke. “I should destroy you before you become a danger to us all. I should stop you before there’s nothing left but smoking ashes and devastation.”

Kyle looked up and met his burning gaze, pain throbbing at his jaw and confusion clouding his thoughts. How had this man blocked his punches? How had this man felled Kyle with one simple punch? It was unfathomable, impossible, but then again, the man had managed to kidnap Jessi. And what, exactly, was this man going on about?

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Kyle began, getting unsteadily to his feet, “but you are going to let Jessi go.”

The man chuckled darkly. “Not on your life.”

And rushed at Kyle again, fists at the ready, and all Kyle could do was duck and dodge as best he could, not understanding how his strength had failed him. How he had suddenly become—in the span of a few seconds—a mere, mortal teenaged boy. What was going on?

Jessi watched the two of them scuffle, Kyle taking hit after hit from Joshua’s unrelenting assault, but she couldn’t just let Kyle lose. She couldn’t let Joshua take out his anger on a Kyle that had yet to do the things that the older man accused him of. Jessi immediately rose from the cot, shifting out of the way of the two scuffling fighters and looking around for anything that could possibly end this fight once and for all. She looked left and then right, finally spotting the fungus eaten chair leg that she had used early, and immediately went for it, ducking a wildly aimed punched from Joshua and a flailing block from Kyle. She grabbed the chair leg with sure fingers, turned and rushed over to where Joshua was bent over a heaving, bloodied Kyle, his fist pulled back to deliver a final blow.

“Joshua!” Jessi shouted. The man immediately turned to her call and was met with a punishing blow from the chair leg that slammed into his jaw with a sickening, wet crunch that sent him sprawling to the floor. Joshua groaned and struggled to move, but by that time, Jessi had the chair leg pressed painfully into his cheek, holding him against the dirty, warehouse floor.

“You alright, Kyle?” she asked, and Kyle staggered to his feet, gingerly touching his bloodied lip and rapidly swelling eye.

“Fine,” he struggled out, rotating his jaw to get some feeling back into it. He’d never experienced pain quite like this before, and was still trying to fathom why his healing ability wasn’t working. What was going on here? Jessi gave him the once over despite his answer, making sure that he was fine. When she was satisfied, she turned back to a heavily breathing Joshua, who was struggling to get up from the floor. She pressed the chair leg harder into his jaw.

“That’s enough, Jessi,” Kyle said, taking hold of her shoulder and tugging on her slightly. She stared from him to the older man on the floor and back again before nodding reluctantly and stepping back, retreating to a safe distance, after pressing her chair leg into Joshua’s cheek one last time. Joshua rolled over into a seated position, and glared hatefully at Kyle.

“You’ve ruined it, Jessi,” Joshua growled from the floor. “You’ve ruined everything.”

“No, no, that’s not true,” Jessi growled back, gripping the chair leg tighter until her knuckles turned white. “You don’t know anything.”

“Don’t I?” Joshua hissed.

“Jessi, what is he talking about?” Kyle asked, alarm and confusion coloring his tone. She turned to him, her look pleading.

“Kyle, let’s just leave,” Jessi begged urgently. Her eyes met his, met the intense deep, swirling blue depths of his eyes with her own, but Kyle’s lips pressed into a thin, firm line and he shook his head slowly, turning back to the injured Joshua on the floor.

“No,” he said firmly, his voice laced with steel. “I want answers.” He advanced on Joshua and the other’s breathing grew ragged, fire burning in his eyes.

“Why did you take Jessi?” Kyle questioned, but Joshua only laughed a mirthless, pain-filled sound, his eyes still burning hatred for the young man before him that had not yet turned into a monster.

“Answer me!” Kyle cried forcefully, but the only answer he got was Joshua’s growl and a contemptuous shot of spit at his feet.

“I don’t owe you anything,” Joshua hissed.

Kyle could feel anger bubbling inside him like the raging activity of a volcano ready to burst and spew forth lava. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides and he could feel the muscles of his legs tract and contract as he moved forward, body tense, jaw taut and straining, wanting very much in that moment to—

“He said he did it to save the world,” came Jessi’s voice from behind. Kyle’s chest constricted, tightened and then relaxed at the faltering, uncertain tone of her voice. Joshua’s eyes widened in horror.

“Jessi, no,” the older man protested.

“What?” Kyle asked, ignoring Joshua’s protest, turning to Jessi with a puzzled look. “What are you talking about?”

Her brown eyes were shining and watery in the moonlight as her lips trembled and she struggled to speak.

“Jessi?” Kyle’s breathing grew heavy, his heart beat speeding up quickly in anticipation. What had her kidnapper done? What had he said to her that would put her in such a state? Jessi hesitated for a moment longer, looking from Kyle to Joshua then back again before breaking down and finally saying, “Kyle, I’m so sorry.”

The bottom dropped out from under him and panic swept aside any anger or fury that Kyle had felt a moment ago. He walked slowly to Jessi and held out his arms, his look one of nothing but concern.

“Jessi, what happened?”

“It’s not what has happened,” she replied, quietly, “It’s what’s going to happen. Amanda—“

“Amanda,” Kyle cut in, eyes going suddenly very wide in alarm. “What’s going to happen to Amanda? Jessi, you have to tell me.”

“Don’t do this, Jessi,” Joshua begged, struggling to stand. “Don’t. You’ll ruin everything. Everything.”

Jessi looked from one to the other, trembling, eyes shining with tears, her mouth opening and closing in indecision.

“Jessi, look at me,” Kyle commanded gently, taking her shoulders in his hands and forcing her vision to see him and only him. “Tell me what’s going to happen. Tell me everything.”

“You’re going to destroy the world, Kyle,” she replied, quietly. “You’re going to destroy everything.”

Kyle’s face drained of all color.

“But I would never do that,” he said in disbelief. “I would never—“

“It was Latnok,” Jessi continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “It will be Latnok. They’re going to kill Amanda.”

“What?” Kyle whispered in horror. “Latnok—“

He felt like he’d been sucker punched in the gut, like all the oxygen in the room had suddenly been sucked away and he was left gasping, dying a slow, agonizing death. Amanda? Latnok was going to kill Amanda? How? Why? When?

His grip on Jessi’s shoulders tightened and he voiced his panicked thoughts aloud. Jessi shook her head, hesitant, eyes darting back to Joshua one last time before saying, “A few days maybe. I don’t know, but her life is in danger. He told me that they killed her, will kill her, and that you’ll destroy the world because of it.”

“How could he know that?” Kyle protested. “How could he possibly know that?”

“He says he’s from the future,” Jessi replied with a helpless shrug. “He’s says he came back to stop it all from happening.”

“But time travel is impossible,” Kyle said, more to himself than aloud. He looked up, met Jessi’s unwavering gaze again. “Jessi…You know I would never do that.”

“Never say never,” Joshua retorted bitterly behind them. “You did, you will. You’ll destroy everything.”

Kyle turned to him, fiery determination igniting his eyes. “No, I won’t. I wouldn’t.”

“Sure,” Joshua mocked, bitterly. “Sure, you wouldn’t because you’re Kyle and you can fix everything. You can help everyone. You can do everything. You can make decisions for other people when they can’t make decisions for themselves. Isn’t that right?”

“I don’t know who you are,” Kyle replied vehemently, “but you don’t know me.”

“Sure I do.” Joshua smirked in an angry, vicious sort of way. “Latnok kills Amanda—“

“No!” Kyle protested, but Joshua continued undeterred.

“Cassidy kills Amanda—“

“Joshua, stop it,” Jessi cut in sharply, advancing on the older man, but his smirk only got wider as Kyle protested more violently, “No!”

“And you get pissed off,” Joshua growled, “and you destroy the world.”

“I said stop it!” Jessi hissed, raising the chair leg threateningly. The older man exhaled a painful hiss through clenched teeth.

“Jessi, please,” Kyle called quietly from behind. She turned quickly, lowering the chair leg and saw the devastated look that covered Kyle’s features. She shook her head and went to him, wanting so desperately to touch him, but not sure if her touch could comfort the suddenly distraught young man.

“It’s not true what he said,” Jessi replied, her tone uncompromising. “I don’t believe him and you shouldn’t either. Besides, you know what may happen now, so we have a chance to stop it.”

“Jessi—”

“No, Kyle, we have a chance to stop it,” she interrupted in a firm voice. She turned back to Josh, tossing the chair leg to the ground and glaring at him.

“The future is only what we make of it,” she said. “And we’re going to make it different.”

8o8o8

“Where is she?!” Nicole jumped with a start at the nearly hysterical demand. She turned and saw Carol Bloom coming towards her from down the hospital hallway, her face pinched in anger and fear.

“Where’s my daughter?” Carol screeched when Nicole didn’t answer.

“What are you talking about, Carol?” Stephen stepped in front of his puzzled wife, shielding her from Carol Bloom’s barrage of emotion.

“Don’t you “Carol” me, Trager,” the woman hissed venomously, her body visibly trembling from the strain of holding back the full tumult of her emotions. The flickering light of hysterics glimmered in her blue eyes and she looked from Nicole to Stephen and then around them at Lori and the nurses and doctors that were passing their small group a long the hall.

“Where is Amanda?” Carol cried, her voice a watery struggle. “She was supposed to meet me outside. She was supposed to and now she’s gone. Where is she?”

“She left a while ago,” Nicole replied, puzzled, meeting Stephen’s troubled gaze with her own. “We haven’t seen her.”

“You haven’t seen her?” Carol echoed in disbelief. Her voice rose an octave. “You haven’t seen her?!! My baby is out there somewhere and neither of you had the decency to make sure she was alright—?”

“No, hold on a minute—”

“Excuse me,” came the sharp reprimand from a passing nurse, cutting off Stephen before he could begin his own tirade, “but either you all keep it down or I’m going to have to ask you to leave. There are patients trying to recover on this hall.”

Carol Bloom turned a venomous glare on the nurse. “I don’t care who’s trying to recover on this hall! They’ve got my baby!”

“What?!” Stephen cried in disbelief. “Are you insane, Carol? We don’t have Amanda anywhere.”

“Oh, but I bet that boy does,” she growled, her voice dripping with disdain. “I knew I should’ve never let her consort with you people, especially Kyle. Now, she’s God-only-knows-where!”

“Ma’am, I am going to have to ask you to leave,” the nurse tried again, trying to keep the hysterical Carol Bloom from getting any louder. She signaled to two hospital security guards, who marched over immediately with equal glares of no-nonsense.

Carol glared at the nurse, at the security guards and finally aimed a heated, wrathful glare at the Tragers.

“If my daughter isn’t home by nine o’clock tonight,” Carol hissed. “There is going to be hell to pay.” Then turned on her heel and marched from the waiting area with the two guards on her heels. The nurse smiled at the apologetically before starting after the guards and making sure that Carol Bloom was off hospital grounds.

“What the hell was that all about?” Stephen asked his wife, puzzledly watching the retreating nurse’s back.

“I don’t know,” Nicole started, and turned to Lori who was fixing both of her parents with an equal stare of concern, “but something’s clearly happened to Amanda.” Nicole went over to Lori and looked her daughter square in the eye.

“Do you know anything about this?” She asked and Lori shrugged helplessly.

“I don’t know anything,” she replied, truthfully. She turned to her father who was wearing a skeptical look. “I’m serious. I talked to Kyle. That was it.”

“And where is he now?” Stephen asked in a stern voice. Lori shut her mouth and looked away.

“Lori,” Stephen said warningly.

“I told him to go after Jessi,” Lori mumbled under her breath.

“What?” Nicole asked, hoping that she hadn’t heard what she thought she had.

“I told him to go after Jessi,” Lori said again, louder this time. At both her parents’ long-suffering looks, she quickly added, “Well, no one else would be able to do it. Kyle is Jessi’s only hope.”

“And if this were Latnok’s doing?” Stephen asked severely. “What if Kyle is in just as much danger as Jessi? Now, we don’t know what’s happening either of them! And if Amanda had heard? She’s in danger too. Probably gone after him!”

“I’m sorry,” Lori protested, looking back and forth between them. “I just want Jessi home.”

“Okay, okay,” Nicole said in a calming placating tone. “Okay, Stephen, you stay here and take care of Josh and Andy. I’m going to take Lori—”

“Mom, I said I was sorry,” Lori protested again. Nicole held up her hands in a surrendering gesture.

“I know, Lori,” she replied firmly. “But I’d feel safer if you were home and I could watch you. We don’t know what’s going on yet. So, I’m taking you home. Get your things.”

Lori rolled her eyes and stood, grabbing her coat and purse as Nicole turned to Stephen and said to him, “Please be careful. Watch Josh and Andy, and if anything changes—”

“I’ll call,” Stephen replied, gathering his wife in a tight embrace and kissing her hard on the forehead. “You be careful too.”

“I will,” Nicole said, gathering her own coat and purse and leaving the hospital waiting area with Lori in tow. The ride home was uneventful with a tense silence between mother and daughter. Nicole hadn’t wanted to leave Josh or Stephen alone at the hospital, and she certainly didn’t want to take Lori away from her younger brother, but what with Jessi disappearing, Josh being sick and now Kyle and Amanda, she needed to be in a place where there was hardly any distraction, a place where she could think everything out logically and come up with a plan.

But it was as she was pulling into the drive way of her family’s home that two things happened at once. First Lori turned to her and protested loudly, “I wasn’t trying to get anyone hurt, Mom. I was just trying to help. Kyle’s the only one that can find and save Jessi, and you know it. So, if I’m grounded, fine. Just as long as Jessi comes home.”

It was as Nicole was turning to her, a stern retort rising in her throat, that the second thing happened. A bloodied, battered hand slammed against the driver side window causing both Nicole and Lori to scream in terror and surprise.

“Oh my god, Mom,” Lori screeched, “you hit someone!”

“Just-Just calm down,” Nicole told her daughter, her voice trembling. Her heart was beating wildly and her adrenaline was pumping and she was quite close to hysterics herself. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the car door.

There sprawled in a groaning, bloodied heap was Mark, Lori’s boyfriend.

Lori, looking over her mother’s shoulder, hissed in disbelief. “Oh dear God.”

8o8o8

He hoped he found somewhere safe.

He wanted to be somewhere safe, but he couldn’t pull his mind back from the nightmare of Cassidy’s hands closing around his throat and the painful punches and kicks that were aimed at his unprotected body. And in the back, floating in a tank of glowing pink water, was a figure that looked remarkably like someone he knew. Someone that he had thought—while pretty damn smart for the average bear—was a normal kid like he had been. Boy, was he ever wrong.

Mark woke with a shudder and sigh to the gentle ministrations of a soft hand smoothing back the skin of his scalp and the smell of orange and tangerine shower soap. He would’ve smiled, but even thinking about the action hurt his already throbbing muscles. So, he settled for opening his eyes and being greeted with the smiling face of Lori.

“Lori,” he whispered, and paid for that simple action with a sharp jolt of pain rushing to his brain.

“Shh,” she whispered, kissing his forehead. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Mark shut his eyes, feeling himself want to float back a long the soothing rivers of unconsciousness, where darkness promised him the sweet rest of peace: no dreams, no nightmares, just blissful silence. Blissful ignor—

His eyes snapped open and lifted himself up to a sitting position whose movements sent shockwave after shockwave of pain through his system, threatening to undue him. But before he could allow darkness to take him, he choked out, “Cassidy…Latnok…hurt Kyle…Amanda…kidnapped.”

And then he was collapsing in on himself, exhausted. Lori stared at his unconscious form in shock.

“Oh crap,” she muttered to herself as her mother came in bearing a bowl full of water and washcloths.

“What is it?” Nicole asked, seeing the troubled look that covered Lori’s face, and feeling the familiar rise of panic that had been threatening to overtake her all evening.

“I think Mark’s a member of Latnok,” Lori replied.

“What?” Nicole cried in alarm.

“And…they’ve kidnapped Amanda.”

Nicole froze, her eyes going wide.

“Oh crap.”

8o8o8

It was the soft whisper of her name that made Andy turn, meeting Josh’s piercing gaze from where he lay across the room on his hospital bed. She swallowed, feeling a crushing weight settle upon her chest, and rose from the chair that one of the nurses had brought in earlier for her to sit in and keep watch. She approached Josh’s bed slowly, memories surfacing quickly of only a few short hours ago and Josh’s mental freak out. She didn’t know what to make of it, what to make of him at that moment, and so desperately wanted answers.

“You okay?” she asked softly, coming to sit beside him and run her fingers lightly through his hair. He couldn’t move much—the hospital staff placed restraints on him so that he couldn’t escape again—but she could tell by the way he closed his eyes and the way his body stilled for the one second that her touch had an effect on him. She smiled slightly and met his gaze when his eyes opened and he stared at her intensely.

“Help me,” he asked, his voice firm. She frowned.

“Do you need food?” she asked, puzzled. “Water?” She rose to fetch him the glass of water that the nurse had brought him and set on his tray, but froze when he called her name.

“Andy, no!” he protested and struggled to sit up. The restraints tightened and slumped back down on his bed with a low growl of frustration.

“What is it?” she asked, feeling fear rise once again through her body. “What’s wrong, Josh?”

“Everything,” Josh growled, shaking his head furiously. “Everything is wrong, and I have to fix it, but I can’t…I can’t…” He lifted one of his arms and shook it; the restraint gave a dull metal ring. “Please, Andy, help me.”

“Josh, you know that I can’t do that,” she replied, her voice tearful. “You’ll get in trouble. I’ll get in trouble and I won’t be able to see you. They’ll kick me out. Not to mention what my Moms’ll do if they find out.”

“This is much bigger than that!” He hissed loudly, winced at the look of hurt that crossed her features and repeated much softer, “This is much bigger than that. Please, Andy, you don’t understand.”

“You’re right,” she growled, anger and fear forming a deadly mixture in her mind, “I don’t understand. I don’t understand why my boyfriend is having a major freak out and why his family is keeping secrets from me. I don’t understand why you want to me to help you do something so damn illegal without giving me some kind of answer that isn’t vague and all mysterious. Seriously, it was cute in the beginning. The mysteriousness gave you an edge, but now…now…Josh, I don’t think I—”

“You want answers?” Josh interrupted, lifting himself up once more from his bed, straining against the restraints that bound him. “Well, I can’t give them to you right now, Andy. I can’t tell you that everything is going to be alright. But what I can tell you is that if you help me, if you take these things off of me, I can make damn sure that everything turns out okay.”

“How?” Andy asked, pursing her lips. “How?”

“By changing the future,” Josh replied simply. Andy looked away from him and pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh, and for a moment, Josh thought that she wouldn’t help, that she would turn away and leave, but no… Any sighed one last time, looked up—and with determination burning in her eyes—walked over to bed and started to take apart the restraints.

“I am so going to be dead for this,” she muttered to herself. When he didn’t respond, Andy looked up and met Josh’s serious gaze.

“Not if I can help it,” he replied.