Midnite Tempest 10-3

Raene sat up with a low groan, clutching her head and whispering to herself, "Right. Can't drink the Irishman under the table."

She looked around carefully through squinting eyes, taking in her surroundings. Liam had brought her home despite her protests yesterday that she would find a place to stay in the village. She was in the guest room of the modest farmhouse that still felt very much like home even after years of being away.

She was aware of the moisture at the corners of her eyes before she was aware that she was crying, memories flooding back to her in a cacaphony of mingling images and even sounds - overwhelming her with the sheer emotion of it all. It had made sense, coming here to mourn another lover. Except this time, it wasn't the death of the lover. It was the death of hope. Hope for a different outcome. Hope that the curse could somehow be lifted or countered.

Ninety minutes later, she stepped out of the front door in jeans and a Metallica t-shirt at least three sizes too big for her - borrowed from Liam's closet at his wife's insistence - adjusting a pair of dark sunglasses against the glaring daylight. Before she'd finished pulling the door closed, she knew he was there a few feet behind her, and she closed her eyes, remaining there with the doorknob in hand, and shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"You're here to tell me to go back to him." Her voice was even, calm, in spite of the sudden urge to just run. She wouldn't run from him though. Something he knew.

"No, I'm not." The deep baritone of his voice was gentle, soothing.

Raene turned to face him for the first time, the dark glasses concealing the mixed pain and confusion in her eyes from view. "Alright. Then, why?"

"Because I am your friend. And I will stay here and be just that until you decide that you wish to go back home. Not back to Grant. He understands the decision you made. Do not forget the similarities that the two of you share."

"I was wrong, Oz. That's not home. It's just--" his words sank home, and suddenly she was irritated. "Well, who asked him to? Who asked anyone to understand?"

"No one ever needs to be asked to understand. Your people ask because you find it hard to understand."

"I don't find it hard to understand. I find it hard to accept. I didn't ask not to die in that car, and I didn't ask to fall in love with Grant Miller."

"But you did."

"And a good hundred other things between those two events."

"You will never go back to Paragon?"

"I'm not what you said I was, Oz. I can't...I can't heal anything or help anyone - especially anyone I give a damn about. I just ruin everything I touch." She moved to sit down heavily on a small bench set near the door, shaking her head. "I always have."

Oz stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Do you want to know something?"

"Sure. Tell me something, please."

"I, like Vincent, have seen the many paths laid before Grant Miller. Nearly all of them ending in some type of tragedy. His fate, the vision he experienced was pre-ordained before you and him came to be. Do you know why he glimpsed that vision?"

"To drive him away from me? because that's what it did." She was reacting with bitterness, and she knew it.

"No."

"To prove that one of us was going to hurt the other just for loving each other."

"Raene," Oz continued, ever patient, ever the friend and guide he'd always been to her. "Grant was not supposed to know of his fate. The Weavers have wanted him gone for a long time, but he has somehow managed to evade them. This was to be his end, and he was not to know it. It was because of you that he was made aware. Grant now has the one tool that he needs to change the future."

He paused a beat for emphasis. "Knowledge. Already, he is seeking to change his fate. By doing the one thing that he knows how to do."

Raene looked up at him. "I don't understand. What would I have to do with--- That makes no sense."

"It is because you possess the ability to heal, Raene. Beyond the scope of your own imagination. You were the catalyst. Without knowing it, the bond you two shared gave him the ability to change his fate, and yours."

She reflected on the meditation she had used to help Grant, even now feeling the echo of the peace that had washed over him that evening. "So, this all happened so that he could see that the weavers had it in for him?"

"Indeed. Though he doesn't quite realize that. All that he knows, is that his future will involve nothing but loss. Thus, he seeks to change it."

"How can he do that?"

"He fights, right now."

"Wait...he fights. Vincent said something about him fighting. What's going on right now?"

"He and his brother battle the Crey."

"What?" Raene was suddenly on her feet, looking down the tiny, winding dirt road that eventually led to the village nearby. "Where?"

"That I do not know. But he will not fail."

She turned to give him a disbelieving look. "You know everything. Where are they? I have to help him."

"No, you cannot help him. I'm not here to bring you back to him, Raene."

She glared at him for a moment, a retort on her lips that died away when she saw the resolution on his face.

"You made your choice when you decided to run to Ireland. The path has broken into two. Yours, and his. I am here to help you back onto yours. Grant is already on his."

She glanced skyward with an irritated sarcasm borne of the pain she's always been so good at keeping hidden. "Right. Did my job. Time to move on."

"I am sorry. Perhaps I've come at the wrong time."

Deflated, she returned to the bench, dropping unceremoniously back onto it. "Well, if you'd have waited an hour, I could've at least bought you a drink."

"Unfortunately, I can't benefit from the more enticing components of alcohol."

She sighed, wincing at herself and the bitterness she'd poured out at him. "I'm sorry, Oz. I don't want you to go."

"I didn't say that I was leaving. I told you that I would stay until you would be ready to return. I intend to keep my word."

"You just said-- Nevermind."

"Yes, I've come at the wrong time. That doesn't mean I'm going to leave."

"Let me know when the right one is, will you? I've had bad timing problems all my life. I actually thought I had it right this time."

"It wasn't timing, this time."

"You should see it through my eyes."

"This was going to happen, regardless. If anything, timing is the reason that both you and Grant Miller will continue to live on."

"That's also not such a great deal from my view. I've been living on borrowed time for way too long. And again, everyone I care about is either dead or out of reach."

"Really?" Oz looked at her, a flash of hurt in his expression for a moment, though concealed it expertly before Raene looked up at him.

"Except you," she began slowly. "I don't understand why you're here. Every time we fought, I just figured you came back because of what you said...about--" She stopped herself with a deep sigh, smirking. "I've been stupid again, haven't I?"

He closed his eyes, tilting his face toward the sky. "The last time that my Father and I spoke. He told me about my Mother. Throughout my upbringing, he would remind me of her better traits. Her kindness, her honesty, her intelligence. But when I was older, he told me about her fears. The fears she had while carrying me. Of losing me, passing away during pregnancy. Losing my father because he was a Gatebreaker. Several times, my Mother left my father. Using her career as a Journalist to carry her across the United States."

He opened his eyes and looked back to Raene. "He told me that he never regretted searching for her. And that the only regret that he ever had, was leaving her the one time that he did. Because when he did, my Mother was taken from us."

"It sounds like he loved her very much."

"Yes. They were soulbound."

"Where is your father now?"

Oz touched his heart, meeting her gaze. "Here."

She smiled warmly, nodding her understanding. She understood loss all too well and carried her own loved ones close to her heart.

"I am the last of my people."

"No, you're not," she told him softly. "There's a destiny for you in those countless possible futures that changes that."

"Perhaps."

"I've never met anyone so..." she trailed off, searching the air around them for the right word and becoming frustrated when it refused to present itself. "I don't know. Good? Stubborn?" She grinned, and then they both chuckled.

"Yes, I've been called that before."

"You? No!" Raene teased with mock surprise. "I just mean...if there's anyone who should be leaving progeny behind them in this world, it should be someone like you. Someone who is capable of making such a huge difference. Someone with a rich heritage and strong bloodline."

"I intend to carry on the legacy of my people. But right now, that is not what is most important to me."

"If you say me, I'm gonna hit you square in the chest. And..." She shook her head. "...it may not hurt you, but it'll probably kill my hand."

"Then you may as well get it over with," he replied, holding out his arms and waiting as she stood. She opened her fist as she reached him to bring the palm of her hand lightly against his chest, the dark lenses hiding the tears already brimming in her her eyes. He took her hand, pulling her into him regardless of any protest she might present, wrapping his arms around her as she squeezed her eyes shut tight to keep from breaking apart.

"I am here."

She leaned her cheek against his chest, clinging as dark-stained tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. "Why? I'm hopeless."

"No, on the contrary. You are filled with hope. It is whether or not you choose to acknowledge it."

"If I am, I don't know where I put it." She half-laughed, half-sobbed at herself. "All my life, I've been failing someone, somewhere, Oz. Rheinaullt. My parents. My sister. Grant. I'll just fail you too, you know."

"You will never fail me, Raene. You cannot."

"Have I ever told you that this unflagging confidence can be annoying?" She looked up at him with a smirk.

"Yes, I believe you have, actually. More than once, even. It's not like that's ever stopped me."

She laughed a little. "I believe that. So, you think you can out-stubborn me? I've been known to drown sorrows for a while, you know. Besides, if you're not leaving, why should I go back?"

"I know you will return. It's only a matter of time, and I am willing to wait. Paragon is your home, Raene."

"No, it's not, Oz. I tried to make it my home, yes, but look at how quickly I fucked that up. You're the only thing left there for me. I've never stayed so long in one place anyway. Now, I remember why."

"You have friends there, a family. You're quick to leave that all behind because of what's happened. But I won't let you. But even then. You mentioned it before. I am the last of my people, would that not make me truly alone? Yet I am going to forge a new destiny, carry on. Why should you not?"

"You're stronger than me."

"Wrong. I am as strong as those around me."

"So, standing here, you're now weak as a kitten. Cuz...people who live in this house?" She tipped her head to whisper conspiritorially. "They're drunks."

He chuckled. "I am strong because I am with you. I always have been."

"Oz...you were strong when I met you. Had nothing to do with me. In fact, if I remember correctly..." she added, teasing him again as she smiled warmly. "You kept storming off in a huff. I was so frustrated with you for that."

He shook his head, smirking. "Yes, I have no doubt that you were. You weren't the only one."

She took a step back, slipping a hand into his with a nod. "Yeah, but I was the cutest."

"If that is the word you would like to use, yes," he replied, grinning.

"Well, I'd go for sexiest, smartest, or most powerful," she laughed, "but with those traits, I have to lose out to Sabrina, Vincent, and Micaela."

"Again, that is all a matter of opinion. Now then, I believe you were on your way to a Pub, no? Why don't you introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh that should be fun..."