aeons_crackshot | Aftermath

She'd been too drunk to dream the night they came in, but there's no alcohol to drown out the memory tonight.

The earth shakes, and the world is full of the terrible sound of buildings being ripped apart and the air screaming as if in agony.

The wall of white fire chases them, hunting down its prey, and Annabelle knows that no matter how hard they try, they cannot run fast enough....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

leadinghome

And Connor can feel something bothering her. No specifics, that would need an indiscretion, just the general feeling, but that is enough to bring him over, knocking lightly on the door.

From:

aeons_crackshot

The sound of the knocking wakes her instantly, breaking the grip of the nightmare.

She swings out of bed, and walks, pajama-clad, to the door. "Connor?" she says, surprised, as she opens the door.

From:

leadinghome

"Hi." A bit sheepish. "You... were having a nightmare?"

From:

aeons_crackshot

"Sort of," Annabelle replies, faintly sheepish herself. She stands back to allow Connor to come in.

"Yesterday was.....bad, very bad, she says quietly.

From:

leadinghome

Connor steps in, turning to her, curious. "How bad?" He will gently tug the woman into his arms after she closes the door.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle's not entirely sure where to even start with what happened yesterday.

"Well, it started with a device being used to mind-control every citizen in Chicago and got much worse from there..."

From:

leadinghome

Starting at the beginning is a good idea. "Okay, and I am guessing you went there to help."

From:

aeons_crackshot

"I did," Annabelle says with a nod. "Tanya Adams' world is in the middle of World War Three. Which would be bad enough if they didn't have at least one very powerful psychic with no morals worth mentioning."

Annabelle sighs. "The U.S. had already barely managed to stop a similar mind control device in Washington D.C., and the Soviets had put another one in Chicago."

Her expression is grim, "It was rather handy for them to have that many extra bodies to keep us away from the even more powerful version they were building in Chicago...."

From:

leadinghome

He makes a face, nodding... mind-controlled drones, your own people fighting against you.

What is it with all worlds seeming to have a Mark or someone similar? If not in powers, in ideas and intentions... "Gotcha... go on."

From:

aeons_crackshot

Human nature, possibly.

"Tanya and I were helping thin things out a bit so the army could blow the thing sky high," she continues.

"It was a damn bloody mess, but we managed it," she says with a pained expression. There were so many innocent people that she had no choice but to put holes in, and the nagging pressure of the Device on her mind wore on her nerves.

Her expression turns a bit distant, "And then somebody high up in the Soviet military ordered them to drop a nuclear bomb on Chicago..." she says, voice cracking a bit.

From:

leadinghome

Jaw hanging.

No, he has no words, at all.

"Shit!" Well, besides that.

From:

aeons_crackshot

That was Annabelle's thought at the time too, more or less.

Annabelle keeps talking, voice distant. It's possible that she's forgotten when and where she is. "You run, even though you know you can't escape. The air screams and the world is full of fire...." she shudders a little.

From:

leadinghome

Connor frowns and holds her closer, tighter, to remind her she is not there anymore.

She is safe now.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"It was only 20 feet away when the Door showed up," she continues. "I suspect the two of us are the only ones who got out alive...."

"He killed his own soldiers. Men, women, children, on purpose....I don't....I don't understand how anyone could do that." she whispers, voice cracking.

From:

leadinghome

"Someone who does not care about anything, or anyone." Connor sighs, stroking Annabelle's hair.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"I suppose," Annabelle says with a sigh. She leans into Connor's touch.

It's comforting, being held like this.

"I couldn't save them," she says quietly. "It's not....why just the two of us, why?"

From:

leadinghome

"Why not? Anabelle, you can not blame yourself for not stopping a nuke... nobody could do it, hell, I doubt the eleven of us would be able to do it. You were lucky, far enough to not be hit, and I am sure lost of people are right now having another drink because they had JUST moved out of range too."

From:

aeons_crackshot

No fair using logic, Connor.

"Only because this place showed up when the fire and shock-wave was still 20 feet away," Annabelle replies with a shake of her head. Why were just the two of them snatched out of the hands of certain death? Why them and not someone's mother, someone's child....

From:

leadinghome

"Annabelle. You did not kill them by surviving." His voice is calm, but firm. "There was nothing anyone could have done, and it is not your fault a madman destroyed a city. Blaming yourself, you are only hurting yourself, and not helping anyone who needs your help."

From:

aeons_crackshot

"I know that, in my head," Annabelle replies, putting her head on Connor's shoulder. "I just can't make myself believe it in here," she replies with a sigh, putting one hand over her heart.

Annabelle's used to pulling off the impossible and saving people, you see.

From:

leadinghome

"Well, it helps if you start with taking a stand for yourself." He lifts her face up, looking into Annabelle's eyes. "When you heart tries to take the leap from 'I wish I could have helped more' to 'I am a bad person for not doing it', you have to stop yourself. Put your foot down and repeat to yourself, you did not sacrifice anyone to live, you did not kill any innocents to escape a goddamn nuclear explosion."

"You escaped because Milliways showed up. If you had tried to grab someone else and pull along, you think would would have made it, or would have just been blown to ash?"

"Your feelings hurt because you are a good person, Annabelle. But you can not let the hurting feed itself."

From:

aeons_crackshot

There are tears in her eyes when Connor lifts her face up.

"It was just the two of us down there," Annabelle says quietly. "If there had been other people there I would have gotten them through the door." Even if that meant that she didn't make it out.

One hand cups Connor's face, "I hate feeling small, helpless and afraid," she says with a sad smile. "Did I ever tell you what happened to me when I was 12?" It's not as random a question as it may appear on the surface.

From:

leadinghome

"No, but I can guess the general lines." He leans close and kisses her forehead. "How do you think we felt when we realized how bad we screwed up the world?"

"Well, most of us?" Connor takes Annabelle over to the bed so they can sit down. "Tell me."

From:

aeons_crackshot

"Much the same as I felt the other day, I would imagine" Annabelle says with a sad smile.

She sits down on the bed without thinking about it. "I don't know if I told you that I grew up in the circus," Annabelle says with a small smile. "My mother was an acrobat, my father was a contortionist, and I was involved in nearly every act at one point or another growing up."