Comments | taxonomites: 006. [ voice & location: sanctuary for all ] and you give yourself away, with or without you.

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006. [ voice & location: sanctuary for all ] and you give yourself away, with or without you.

Oct 17, 2009 21:10

It was rare for Helen Magnus to actually fall asleep. As Will had so brilliantly put it: she kept an eye on the ranch. Fatigue did catch up to the Victorian woman eventually. It led her falling asleep on the couch in her office. Merely a cat nap. Perhaps it would have been longer if it the dreams she had were truly happy ones.

( cut for tl;dr/spoilers. warning: may induce heartbreak. )

helen magnus, { john druitt, { ashley magnus, { winifred burkle, { bruce banner

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[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 18 2009, 05:00:46 UTC

Nightmares were nothing new for John. He had been having them for the better part of a century, and even in his recovered healthy, they plagued him. They had subsided drastically since Helen had allowed him residence in her Sanctuary. The accommodations were still on shaky terms, at best, but he was simply lingering on the edge of what Helen felt comfortable with ( ... )

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 18 2009, 05:27:58 UTC

Helen looked up at John. She was clearly trying to stop sobbing now. Hold it all in, bottle it up. She had done so with James's death. When she thought her father had died. She could do the same about Ashley. Couldn't she?

Except both James and Ashley were dead because of her mistakes. And the head of the Tokyo Sanctuary. And New Deli. And Moscow. And Clara Griffin.

"John." She let out a sob as she said his name. "Ashley... she..."

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 18 2009, 15:55:41 UTC

He entered her room slowly. For as much as he wanted to comfort her, John was still unsure about what his place was in this home. He reached her side just as she let out his name.

"I know." He said, knowing that the words would be too much. "I know, Helen. I don't know what this place is or what it does to people, but could it be a lie?" He could feel it in his bones. It was as much the truth as anything else unbelievable in their lives. He was grasping at straws, trying to give Helen hope.

One hand tentatively moved to rest on her back. There was an awkwardness in his show of comfort. To part of him, this was second nature, but he wasn't ever sure when he had overstep his boundaries.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 19 2009, 01:37:12 UTC

"She's dead!" Helen yelled at the top of her lungs. She needed to express it. To let it all out. "She's dead because I failed! I failed to protect her, for God sakes, John! I can ... I can protect every Abnormal in the world but not my daughter!"

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 20 2009, 00:13:39 UTC

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Sense, woman!" John had not raised his voice to this point since he'd entered Taxon. "If she was meant to be dead, do you think she'd exist at all here?" It made enough sense to him. Maybe that was why they were here, to change the wrongs in their lives, to save her.

"In all your years, are you so blind to the possibility of more than your mind gives you?" He released her and turned his back, walking around the room. "Damnit, Helen, I've seen it to. That world is not one I'd wish to return to, but here, here we have a chance. We can make the difference."

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 20 2009, 01:46:34 UTC

"And what if she's no longer here?!" Helen countered, the anger quickly raising in her own voice. "What if our conditions here are related to those back home?! Ashley could be dead here and no one would ever know it except us!"

At the moment she wasn't thinking sense or even logic. That base had crumbled when Ashley threw herself onto the EM shield. Her world wasn't the same knowing her daughter was dead.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 20 2009, 12:29:04 UTC

"If the case proves to be dire, then we find a solution." John's voice had lowered, though the firmness remained. "Death is not the end. Not for you, for me, so who's to say it would be for her, hmm?" John refused to think that there was a final answer to any problem, especially when it came to the few people in this world that he cared about.

He stepped closer to her. "You aren't thinking clearly, and you shouldn't. This is your daughter." He swallowed the offending possessive word our and continued, "But I will not let you give up."

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 20 2009, 18:22:33 UTC

Helen shook for a moment before lowering her head into John's shirt and feeling what was left of her angered resolve disappear as he pointed out the obvious. She should be looking at this like John was. It only made sense. Logical sense at that.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 21 2009, 01:34:45 UTC

John was shocked that she would bring herself so close to him. At first, he wondered if he should respect the space she had craved for so long. But after several moments of debate, John wrapped both arms around her and held her against him tightly. Damned be the consequences if she hated him for it later. She was in need and he hated to see her like this. His cheek rested against her hair. There were no words because there was no need for them.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 21 2009, 01:47:45 UTC

Helen shut her eyes and forced herself to imagine she wasn't there. They were both back in London. Both still in Oxford. They weren't in her Sanctuary, in Taxon, and she had no reason to fear that his abnormality may claim him again. It made things so much easier at the moment. Even if when she opened her eyes she knew it would be different.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 24 2009, 05:24:45 UTC

"There will be penance for these wrong doings, Helen." He spoke quietly as he held her closer than he had in over a century. "Somehow." He was losing confidence in his voice the longer he went on.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 24 2009, 05:34:58 UTC

"Penance?" Helen asked as she looked up at him. How could John think about penance, retribution... all of those things? They would hardly bring Ashley back. None of those things could do any good to any of them, perhaps besides tip the scale of the war in their favor. Helen had managed to keep her Sanctuaries but not her daughter. It was hardly fair.

"It won't bring her back, John!"

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 25 2009, 00:24:58 UTC

He held onto her lightly, though his grip tightened as he spoke.

"What would you have me do? Sit and idle away while you run the numbers. I am not a patient man, Helen, and I will not dilly dally when there are actions that could be taken."

His words were harsh, but there was pain in his expression. It was all he knew to do. It wouldn't help - even he recognized that, but taking action was the only help he could offer. It was all he could hope to do for any of them.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] notanemptymotto October 25 2009, 09:28:33 UTC

"Actions to be taken to do what?" Helen insisted. "Revenge? Going out and killing people? There's no one here to kill, John! Ashley has to be here! But even then... even if Ashley is here... she won't be when we all leave this place!"

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ] redeemedripper October 26 2009, 16:38:17 UTC

John pulled away from her roughly and paced the room. "And what if this is the place for change? Hmm? What if this is why we are here? There are forces in this world, Helen Magnus, that neither you, nor I can understand - and perhaps these events are not happening heedlessly." He stopped and turned to face her.

"There may be no one to answer for these deeds, but I will not be content with assuming that is the case. If there are guilty parties in this place, I will find them, and I will question them. And when there is nothing more for them to give me, they will pay. No innocent blood shall be spilled, but I make no promise for the guilty."

He knew it would only lead to more fighting, but she couldn't see that this was what he needed to do. John walked past her, making his way out of her quarters, and presumably back to his own. In fact, John planned to forgo his bed in lieu of the rooftop. A bit of air would do him some good.

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