Safety and Singularity

It was nothing more than a hut at the edge of a rocky beach—a lonely little place with no bed, no chimney—but they were safe. Safe thanks to the same woman who, hours before, had been trying to kill them. The same girl who was now sleeping on the floor against the curved wall.

"We owe her…"

Christian pursed his lips, looking unsure. He had just suggested that they run for it while the girl was still asleep, for once feeling like maybe he was the sensible one. "James, if you haven't noticed, she's a bit—" He cut off his sentence and twirled a finger at the side of his head.

James's face grew more stubborn, his frown deepening. "We owe her," he said again with an air of finality. "Besides… there's something else going on here. This is not the same person we were dealing with a few hours ago."

"Not the same—James, she was in the middle of trying to kill us and then her face went all wonky and she started pulling that 'come with me if you want to live' weirdness."

"I'm telling you, she's not the same person. I don't understand it either, but…" He looked to the redhead with an expression of mingled pity and confusion. "I bet he could explain it… if we could just find him…"

Christian sighed, quite uncharacteristically pinching the bridge of his nose as though he had a headache. "We've tried to find him. I miss him as much as you do, but for all we know, after they took us away—"

"Not him." James ignored Christian's bewildered stare. "The white-haired man."

"Not him again… James, you're obsessed."

"I know. It's just… he's in all those books. I keep having… dreams… flashes… somehow he ties all of this together, I just know it." He sighed softly, sitting down on the floor and placing his head between his knees. "I dunno, maybe if Rory were here…"

"But she's not. It's just you, me, and the crazy lady. We'll have to think of something without her and hope she catches up."

"Don't call her that," James said dully, face still hidden. "It's not her fault. Someone's done something to her, I can feel it."

Christian's face lit up at that and he punched James lightly in the arm. James lifted his head to scowl at the gesture. "That's it! They hurt her, right? So you can make with the healer-y powers, make the crazy go away, she'll be all better and she can help us find Rory and go home!"

James shook his head. "It's not that simple. This isn't something I can heal. It's almost like…" His voice became distant. "Like some serious breach of Nature has happened with her. It's not like the people you hear about who live at the health institutes who just think they're other people. She is literally different people."

The older boy's face was screwed up in concentration, trying to wrap his head around what James had just said. "That makes no sense. How can she be different people at the same time?"

Words and thoughts were now echoing in James's head, and he buried his face in his hands trying to sort them out. "Not really… different people I guess…" ~Tried to create Singularity… ~ went horribly wrong… ~ dangerous… "There are… different hers."

"What, like alternate universes and stuff?"

"Exactly." James was now rubbing his temples. "I think… I think they were trying to make her like the people in that weird book. The one I was reading when Rory woke up."

"But why would—?" Christian cut off as the woman was now stirring. "Hey, lady!"

James silently gave thanks for the fact that he'd left the 'crazy' part out this time.

"It's Garnet. Just call me Garnet, okay?" The flame-colored eyes closed for a moment as she rubbed them groggily. "Didn’t you guys sleep?"

James and Christian exchanged a brief glance. As a matter of fact, they hadn't slept at all, not entirely sure if they could trust her.

Garnet grinned a little. "Aw, c'mon, it's not like I was gonna murder you in your sleep or something. I saved you guys, right? And whoever was after you, looks like they didn't follow."

Before James could stop him, Christian spoke up. "Er… well actually you were the one who was after us." James groaned and hid his face again as the woman's jaw dropped.

"You're—you're serious, aren't you?" Christian nodded. "Oh no… oh no…" She rocked back and forth for a moment or so, then suddenly burst into tears.

Christian gave a desperate glance toward James with a quick-do-something-I-don't-know-what-to-do-when-girls-cry sort of expression. But James was still too occupied with trying to become invisible to notice.

"I am—so—so sorry," she said between sobs. "I thought it was kind of weird that I couldn't remember how I got to you. I just… I just forget things sometimes. And then people tell me I've done something awful! I used to think they were lying, but it's happened so many times now…"

James had finally uncovered his face and now moved to Garnet's side as she fell into a fit of tears. "It isn’t your fault," he said consolingly, though he winced a little as his hand touched her shoulder—somehow it had set off another explosion of stray thoughts. He removed his hand and tried to shake them away. Something was very, very strange about this girl.

"You know, someone told me I blew up a universe before? A whole universe! I just keep thinking, who would do such a thing? All those people… but apparently I did, and I can't even remember why!"

James ignored Christian's desperate gaze. He knew it would be more sensible to run now, before she turned again, but how could they just leave her here? "It's not your fault," he said again. "I don't know who, I don't know what, but someone's done something to you. Somehow it's made you… split, I guess."

The sobbing stopped at once and Garnet stared off into space for a moment. When she spoke her voice was hollow, but more confident than before. "No… not split… converged." She stood up so swiftly that the boys fell, startled, into the wall. Christian quickly moved away, closer to the door. The fire in her eyes had relit—James knew immediately that she had switched gears again, and watched her closely, trying to make sure she was still their ally.

"Those assholes!" She roared with rage, clutching the sides of her head. "They made me do it! They made me do it and they knew something might go wrong, those stupid hooded freaks!" If I ever get my hands on that slimy excuse for a—GRAAAAHHHH!"

"Wait, so you can remember what they—what happened!?"

"Never mind that," she snapped. "That's between me and them. What we need to do now is get you guys back on your own turf."

"Hey guys…"

"You wouldn't happen to know where our friend Rory is, would you? We lost her back there when you were chasing us."

"What, the purple-eyed girl the Wisen have been after? No, come to think of it, I'm not sure where she went. But she's probably back where you left her, so if I can get you home—"

"Guys," Christian interrupted, more insistently this time. He was peeking out of the little door, looking concerned. "Hate to break up the party, but someone's coming."

Garnet flew to the door, shoving Christian out of the way to get a look. "Great. Just great." She pulled something out of her pocket that made a slight jolting sound, and put it away before either of the boys could see what it was. "Quick, there's your gateway home." She was pointing at the wall behind them, which suddenly wasn't a wall at all, but a hole through which they could see a familiar cave full of crystals. "Make sure to close it behind you so he can't follow." The boys exchanged a glanced behind her, but before they could ask: "Wipe your hand across it. You're both Named, you ought to have enough juice in you for the thing to seal itself from there."

Christian didn't have to be asked twice, but James hesitated. "What about you?"

"No time to argue. Run. Close the gate behind you. I'll deal with Faceless. GO!" She shoved James through and the opening disappeared—presumably Christian's doing as James was still frozen.

The boys were now left with solid stone in front of them, no trace of the gateway left. After a few moments, James finally seemed to unfreeze. "Do you suppose she'll be alright?"

Christian shrugged. "Always has before, hasn't she?"

***

Garnet stepped out of the tiny hut, staring at the empty space where a man's face should be on the hooded figure before her. Her gaze was cold, and though she could not see them, she could feel equally cold eyes upon her from somewhere in the blackness.

"Where did you send them?"

"Send who?"

A dark chuckle issued from the hood. "Don't play this game with me, Athena. Where did you send them?"

Garnet felt a little twinge, but otherwise seemed to ignore the fact that he had used her Name. "How about I answer your question with a question. Fuck you."

There was a pause as though the hooded man wanted to point out that 'fuck you' was not, in fact, a question, but he opted to remain silent.

"Well, Wiseass, what d'you want? You came yourself, so this isn't just some retrieval trip, is it?"

There was a twitch from underneath the robes. "Once, just once, could you call me by my proper title?"

"Wise Man? Hell no, that title's a load of shit. If you're so wise, why do I give you such trouble?"

"That's not the—" He cut off and something like a growl came from under the hood.

"Mmhmm. That's what I thought. So back to my question then. Why are you here? Or if you'd rather: how the hell are you planning on fixing what you assholes did to me."

The Wise Man smiled, though he knew Garnet couldn't see it. "Actually, those two questions have the same answer. We think we may have found a solutio—"

It was Garnet's turn to fume. Hoisting him up by the front of his robes, she swung him around and slammed him back against the wall of the hut. The fact that he didn't flinch only served to anger her more. "You think? You think? Look where your little theories have already gotten me. You really think I'm gonna gamble on something you think will work?"

The man spread his arms in a questioning gesture. "Tell me, Athena, what do you really have to lose?" He took Garnet's hesitation as a chance to move. Releasing himself from her grip, he handed her a slip of paper. "These are the locations and timestamps of the remaining instances of you we have located. Eliminate them—every last one—and we believe that will make you whole once more."

Garnet's interest was quickly replaced by a suspicious glare. "This idea wouldn't happen to have come from Daddy Dearest, would it?"

"No, actually, this one was mine."

She grumbled, pocketing the slip of paper. "Like that's much better. You'd better hope this works."

"Good luck, then. Oh, and Garnet—do make sure to keep the list safe from yourself this time. We went to a great deal of trouble…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She rolled her eyes, and in the space of a blink the Wise Man was gone.