Wonderland Minus the Alice

Taking the offered hand, as she attempted to look everywhere at once. It did seem however beyond the initial size and general mass of the cylinder that made up the stairwell, there wasn't a great deal to look at. Just a lot of cement, and dim lights set into the wall. Then there was the super secure train car, and never had she been so attentive as she listened to Orion's instructions. A hand was placed briefly on Jay's arm, and a look of thanks was shot to Hayden as she passed the three of them and headed toward the front of the train. No time to lament, no time to complain. This was a state she was beginning to enjoy, too busy to think about anything else.

Or more she was, until the train got started along the tracks. Then all she had was the dark tracks to watch as they sped along into the perpetual void in their tunnel that went the gods only knew where. Well to the other two, that should have been enough, she tried very hard to make it enough, but in the end it wasn't. In the end tears welled up again, and she curled up on the conductors chair in her small room separated by a glass door from the rest of the train. Sobbing didn't follow, she was eons past that kind of crying. No this time they just fell in thin translucent lines down her cheeks as she went over the last weeks events all over again. The proposal, the job offer, the 24 hour bug Aiden came down with, the crash, the explosion, the firefight when they were at the academy itself.

What the hell was going on? No one called out of the darkness with an easy answer, figured.

You were right, there was no answer, not from the darkness, and not from the console itself for an extended period of time. Just the darkness that the singular light affixed to the front of the car barely seemed able to penetrate. In fact, to some minds it was like you were speeding into the gaping maw of an unknown beast whose only desire was to swallow the car and you along with it. It was only a span of roughly two hours though, the ride never once jarring, or anything other then the smooth trip that Orion had said it should be. When it did finally come to a smooth, almost silent stop, it was to what looked like a subway platform, the only type of marking being jagged but concise lettering that seemed to have been cut into the very stone. Estcourt Station, Platform 0 Almost as if whoever had put this railway here didn't want to have to alter things from a natural state of affairs anymore than they already had. The car seemed to be in the process of powering itself down when a quiet tap sounded on the glass of the conductor's booth, Orion's cool voice carrying through clearly enough.

"There's someone to see you."

Short, and to the point, the words were uttered before the sounds of her footsteps moving away would register. There was absolute silence for a moment before the noise of the latch to the door unbarring as it was pushed open just enough to admit someone into the small booth with you. The scent rolled toward you even before his presence did, that of the sea. Of the salt of the waves but also of pure water depths that seemed to mingle and dance in the most unique of fashions. It was one that was as welcome as the touch of the hand that gently swept over the liquid track marks on your cheeks in a futile attempt to wipe all of them away in one fell swoop. Silence for what seemed an eternity and then you felt those all too familiar arms lifting you out of the chair to curl up instead against the full solidity of his chest. Not as warm as Shifters ran, temperature wise, but none the less it was like being surrounded by the warmth of the sun against sand. For several long moments he simply held you there in silence, if you though to try to speak, a finger rising to brush gently, signaling for silence. Finally, a fingertip settled beneath your chin, guiding your gaze up to meet his.

"I was actually worried about you with as long as it was taking. For a moment I thought Orion or one of the Guys might have convinced you to run off with them."

Even if there had not been his scent, the initial dead give away, or the way his hand seemed to know just where to to brush your chin to draw your gaze, even if his arms were not ones you would know in the darkest of nights, that was the voice that ever were you to be lost would always call you home. Fingers smoothed your hair back, tucking your head to rest against his neck so that he could bury his face into your hair. Though he obviously tried to hide it, you felt the shudder that told you, joke as he might, he really had been worried, though it was unlikely to be about one of the three presumably still in the outer car. Dropping back into the chair which until seconds ago had been claimed as yours, long legs stretched out, making the already small compartment seem much smaller. Settling you against his chest so you could either curl completely on his lap or let your legs drop to tangle with his, he seemed to have no intentions of moving from this position anytime soon. Or at the very least until you were ready to.

Somehow sleep had found her, Morpheus was a craft old fox, a secret military subway was nothing for him to bypass to find one exhausted young woman. Oblivion was welcomed, this seemed as safe a place as any, and there had been no sight of mysterious notes reminding her that this was, in the end, all her fault. It wasn't the stopping of the car, but the tap on the door that woke her stiffly from her slumber, grey eyes blinking blearily in Orion's direction as she gave an update and walked away. It wasn't until his scent hit her nose that Star's news registered in the conscious bits of her still bleary awareness. Knowing all to well she would make a shit soldier, her training nonexistent. How had she missed that fact up to this point? For someone that claimed to be self-sufficient, she was turning out to be pretty poorly prepared.

As frail as she knew it made her, that sinking spinning feeling that the world was spiraling into a black hole evaporated under his touch. Despite the fact that it spoke more honestly then any declaration of love could have, her head turned into that tender graze of fingers. Deep down she knew that there was a part of her that would go forever weak in the knees at his touch, no matter what transpired between them, and she was resigned to the fact that it just wasn't in her to make it through the day that she could. At the promise of stormy grey impacted by devastating Mediterranean blue, there was no defense.

"Silly Aidan, I would never leave you for someone else... There's no finding you another girl patient enough to put up with you." The words were spoken after a long pause, after he had tucked her against him and settled into the chair with her on his lap. She flashed him a small but impish grin as she sat up, pulling out a cigarette and turning her head out of habit to the flame he always seemed to manifest out of nowhere, the whole thing so second nature she barely seemed to notice how fluid it would seem from an outside source. Bowing her head for a moment she shook her head, it was almost funny; no that she was here, there were no tears left to fall. Just the memory of them, too dry, too set to be able to just be brushed away. Not even by hands as gentle as his always were. "I owe you a story, and I want you to know that I only had the best intentions in not telling you. A cold comfort now." A drag was taken from her cigarette, and she gave a soft humorless laugh. "I've apparently made one hell of an enemy in my spare time."

Few moments were given, precious that they were in which all he did was hold you, or so it seemed because you never saw the split second look that he shared with Orion through the window. A look that was anything but your usually calm, joking boyfriend. One that turned his eyes into something more befitting of Braden, the one Brother who always had seemed to have the short fuse temper. The Sibling that was always the quickest to throw themselves into something dangerous and potentially deadly. The entire ballgame had been changed though, not only when they had the audacity to go after you, but when they'd went after his brothers as well. The Big Bad as they'd been referred to might have thought it a time saver to go for the two for one deal, but oh had they been wrong. In the process, they'd awoken something within the eldest Quad that was anything but normal, anything but rational. It would have been easy enough to over look if he himself had been the target of the violence, of the emotional trauma that was being induced, but no, you'd went after those he considered his. Those that were beneath his vow of protection, even if it had never officially been given. In that heartbeat of time, his eyes had no longer been those of a young male, but rather those that belonged to a Man, more notably so to the oldest Son of the King of Seas himself. Obviously understanding the unspoken words, Orion had simply nodded, her form disappearing from sight, in a there one moment and utterly gone the next type fashion.

Thus by the time you had sat yourself back up, he had one of his usual, slow smiles and a tongue of flame already rising for your newest coffin nail. It was playful, light hear-ted. A very much needed difference from what you had been experiencing lately. In a way it was a reminder of everything that had come before, of times where you hadn't been naive per say, but less jaded. Less eyes wide open to the harsher things of the world. Your initial words gained you a teasing lick that swept from your jaw upwards only to stop just below your eye. Tracing that same path with the pad of his thumb, you obviously got the first few drags off of the cigarette yet you found his fingers moving delicately to your jaw, cupping it enough so that when you had that next lungful of smoke, it was his lips rather than the open air that took it from you. Not quite a kiss, but hopefully enough of a distraction leading towards one that would have you missing his reaction towards your secondary string of words.

He already knew the story that you hadn't told him, at least as much of it as Orion was in possession of, which considering her sources was a rather impressively large amount of it. He had been angry, infuriated at first actually, until the aforementioned Mage had lit him up like a veritable Christmas tree. It was a good thing he was in possession of the gift of language that he was, otherwise he likely would have missed half of the tirade with as many languages as Orion had been going back and forth between. It seemed it was what happened when the woman was well and truly pissed off, in a way almost as if she wasn't even aware that the switches were happening. Her points had been valid though, ones that were more of sense then straight balls to the walls action, which woo wee was surprising when it came to the Hollower. So now all it showed as was a minor tick in the line of his jaw before he nodded slowly as if not trusting what words might come from his mouth.