(Untitled)

[walk_into_light]

Who: Allen Walker (walk_into_light), Garrus Vakarian (turian_honor), and Romana (the2nd_romana)
When: Mid-afternoon.
Where: The library.
Rating: Maybe PG.
Summary: Allen doesn't want to be alone right now - but the company he ends up with might not be so agreeable either...
Warnings: Scary/depressing mirror-stuff, Garrus-reflection's anger issues XD

Comments

[the2nd_romana]

Romana couldn't entirely resist the force of the creature's attempt to shove her aside, but she recovered what ground she lost as soon as she could, shouldering her way a few inches more in front of Allen.

Her reflection watched the exchange with empty eyes, then looked over to Allen's, her expression softening at she regarded the boy huddled in his own mirror. He'd been through a lot, too... but he'd survive, like her...

Romana waited for the turian to speak, move, something other than shove her a bit and stare. She had shifted completely into fight-or-flight mode... probably in that order, too. "Try it!" she shouted up at it at its threat--and was promptly thrown back as the creature's blow connected.

She staggered to her feet and back toward Allen as fast as she could... and stared at the image in the frame that trailed after the creature. Garrus, banging on the glass, looking for all the world like he was trying to get out and help. What was happening? She put a hand on Allen's shoulder, as much to steady herself as to reassure him.

[walk_into_light]

Allen stared after Garrus and his reflection for a long moment, utterly stunned, before snapping out of his daze and turning to Romana. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? I'm so sorry..." His hands were shaking as he reached up to touch her face, where a bruise was already forming from the blow, a trickle of blood running down from where the skin had broken with the force of it.

You are his... his son. He didn't understand - couldn't let himself, perhaps. Mana... Garrus... I can't... can't think... what's going on?!

[the2nd_romana]

She nodded. "I've had worse." She raised a hand to the wound as if to guage the seriousness of it on her own scale. Nothing grievous. She winced at the contact, though. The fact that it didn't bother her much didn't mean it didn't hurt.

She shook her head, relaxing just a little. "You don't have to apologize." She glanced back toward the door. You do not understand! Garrus had said that too... several times. Any suggestion to back off, take things slower, stop worrying was always met with You don't understand. Sometimes she wondered if anybody did.

Romana sighed. "Well, if he tries that with Ennis, he'll get a surprise," She turned back to Allen, her sardonic survivor's half smile firmly in place. "She does own somebody... and he's a very mean drunk. I think she's the only one of his 'family' left. The last Li vanished a few weeks ago, didn't she?"

[walk_into_light]

"Lenalee?" Allen bit his lip and nodded. "She's gone home. Her brother is still here, though." Dropping his hands to his sides, he glanced over at his reflection, eyes drawn to it in spite of the ache in his chest.

His son...

"Miss Romana," he said softly, watching the child in the mirror cry. "There must be important things that I don't remember... please, tell me what's going on."

[the2nd_romana]

"Her brother's not 'his'," Romana said, eyebrows arching briefly as a clearly overwhelmed expression crossed her face. This was getting ridiculous... and a little scary. An angry Garrus was enough of a handful. What was this turian going to do wandering the halls? "If anything, I think Garrus saw him as competition... anyway. This 'family' thing has been going on a long time, Allen. Garrus has always taken it on himself to become the personal guardian of the young ones in the asylum. As I understand it, you were--or will be, I'm not entirely sure--the first. Hikaru Shidou, Jacuzzi Splott, Lenalee Lee--Rinali, it was, when we first knew her--and Ennis."

Her expression darkened. "Me too, once... When I was young and stupid. He swoops in when they first arrive, establishes himself as their protector. The ones that stayed a long time, the ones I mentioned, he considered family after a while. Ennis still calls him Big Brother." She went through her trouser pockets as she talked, looking for something to cover the wound. She wasn't keen to rip a bandage from one sleeve--such a cliche. "He's very possessive. He'll do anything to keep 'his' children safe, order them not to leave their rooms for days, beat anyone he thinks is threatening them." She remembered the small war that had broken out on D-Floor her first time through. Garrus had been the neutral law officer... until Hallelujah lashed out at that first Lenalee. Then he had just scared her, swearing he'd kill Hallelujah. He needs to learn what happens when you mess with a turian's family.

"I left that 'family'," she said. "But he seems to have re-connected with you. Maybe that's why this other one was focused on just you."

[walk_into_light]

It was a lot to take in, and Allen pondered it in silence for a few, long moments, staring at the ground to avoid looking at his reflection. "Probably," he said finally, softly. "But I... I don't think he means to be that way. I'm sure that he really is just trying to do what he says - to keep people he cares about safe - but he doesn't know how to do it the right way."

The right way... He remembers Mana, walking ahead of him to give him something to follow, but always looking back to make sure he wasn't stumbling, and stopping to help him if he did. That was the right way, and certainly it wasn't how Garrus was going about things, but the intent was there; the feeling was there, and that was what mattered in the end, right?

[the2nd_romana]

Romana looked away. She'd made those same excuses for years. Silly old Brax, he doesn't mean to keep things from me, he just doesn't want me to worry. He's not trying to run things behind my back, he's just making sure I have time to focus on the reform efforts, helping me out when he can. It's comforting, even--I have such a good friend in him. He only ever tries to keep me safe. It was the biggest mistake of her career, and she'd made it over and over. And had cost her virtually everything.

Her expression hardened. "Silly old Romana... we never mean to fall for the lies, do we?" Shaking herself out of this mood swing, Romana turned back to Allen. "I won't argue the point," she said, with artificial disinterest. She wanted to tell him exactly what that kind of thinking could get a person. Warn him explicitly, tell him what had happened to her... but that would make her sound bitter (which, admittedly, she was) and a little mad (which she wasn't). She gave the boy's shoulder a light squeeze. "Just... mind his actions more than his words. That's the only way you'll know for sure."

She frowned. Talking of Garrus... "Did you see what was in the mirror?" she asked.

[walk_into_light]

Glad for the distraction from the doubts now infusing his mind, Allen nodded. "It was Garrus - the real one," he said softly. "What do you think that means? What are these reflections?" It was a question he'd been asking himself over and over since this whole thing started, and one he hadn't come any closer to answering despite the events thus far and what he'd heard from others.

It was odd, but for a moment he almost wanted Kanda to be here again. Just to make it feel a bit more normal - like a mission, even. But he hadn't heard from Kanda in a long time, and anyway even if he were still in the asylum there wasn't much of a chance he'd stick around anywhere where Allen was, and why was he wishing for that stupid jerk's presence anyway? This has to be driving me crazy, he thought to himself, a little amused.

[the2nd_romana]

Romana shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe... Maybe they're moments, not dreams. Rufus was younger, you're younger. I'm..."

She looked back to her own reflection. "I'm... It's not by much, but I know..." Rassilon, that face, that expression. That wasn't a face she was used to seeing in any mirror. She was Gallifrey's President--former President, now, but in her hearts she considered that a technicality. She no longer held the title, but she still acted as President. She couldn't afford to show emotions. Especially not those, guilt, grief, uncertainty. It was a sign of weakness. Weakness wasn't allowed.

"That's not me anymore. During the war, maybe, when Leela... but not now."

[walk_into_light]

Allen nodded, understanding the expression on her face, the slight tightness in her voice. "It's hard, isn't it?" he said softly. "To look at yourself, how you used to be. Maybe that was the point. ...But then, I don't think they're all like this, so maybe it's more... things from our hearts that we'd rather keep hidden? After all, I'd be guessing but I don't think Garrus has ever looked like that."

It was the closest he could come to explaining - not only their younger reflections, seemingly taken deliberately from their most painful times, but also the Garrus-who-was-not-Garrus, the brief glimpse of Nia's reflection with a strange suit and hard, cold eyes, the way Lavi had spoken of his as though he were frightened of it. Somehow they see into our hearts and pull out the worst for all to view? But... why?

[the2nd_romana]

Hard to look at...? "Just a bit." Romana kept her expression--her true expression--stony. As she did, the pain in her reflection's eyes deepened. "That was ... not a good day."

She was guessing, of course, but she was fairly sure that was it. When Leela lost her sight, that had been one of the most emotional moments of the war for her. Watching her bodyguard--her only real friend, as it turned out--listen to the diagnosis and promptly decide that Surgeon Master Elbon was just another big silly Time Lord with a lot of big silly words that held no real value for sensible people. Watching her turn to Romana and ask her to set him straight. Having to tell her Elbon was right...

And Allen was saying something important. Something about the reflections. She turned away from her reflection and toward the boy, grateful for an excuse to do so. "I don't think he has either," she said. "But maybe he will. Maybe it's a projection... a likely future. Something he's on the way to becoming."