Echoes in Time

In plain sight...

"How LONG, Simon!?!?" She paced the floor, her hands speaking almost as much as her mouth.

Simon looked at her mutely ashamed.  Nothing had prepared him for this. In all the years, all the hiding, all the secrets, nothing had prepared him for how he felt now.  He couldn't actually speak.

She turned to the other scared looking man. "Grant? For God's SAKE, at least be honest now. You said you wanted to talk, so TALK!!!"

Grant looked at Simon and nodded. "She's right. We've kept her in the dark long enough." He looked over at Elli. "Im so sorry, Elli. You weren't meant to find out like this. It was meant to be a bit more..." he paused, rubbing his face with his hands. Suddenly, she saw him for who - they were, and quite frankly, she wasn't sure she liked it.  "It was to be more controlled."

He sighed and stood up.

Elli was now standing deliberately alone.  Hugging herself tightly, crying softly. If learning Loki was a God, that Mobius and the TVA were an actual thing, this? This was the icing on the terrifying cake.  The two men whom she relied on most in her life, liars from the word go. 

Grant walked over and hugged her tightly.  For a moment she stiffened, but despite her deep mistrust, that one simple gesture crumbled all her walls. Their friendship, no matter what it was based on, ran deeper than anything she was now facing.  She relaxed into his strong arms, and he stroked her hair. Grant's hugs, along with Simon's, had always been a warm blanket of platonic love.

Without releasing her, he spoke.

"Well, the thing is, Elli, the TVA wanted to keep you safe. We were sent to look after you. When it was the right moment, you were... how can I put this... the right age, we were to bring you here. So you would begin to remember on your own.  The village, the people.... Loki." He sounded, if nothing else, sad. 

"They told us you had an important role to play. You would help us win him back when we needed him most. Get him to join us, fight the fight as it were. We could only hope he would be ready when you were."

"What do you mean 'ready'?" She narrowed her eyes. "Is there something ELSE I should know?"  Simon and Grant looked at each other.

Simon nodded.  "Come here, Elli-wellie." he held out his arms, and she moved from her safety net with Grant to his. "The thing is, you... you are not who you think you are."

"WHAT?" Her voice was almost inaudible.

"Tell me something, what's your earliest memory?"

"What? My what?" She barely spoke, her mind in turmoil. "I...I dont...wait...I was standing at a doorway... I think I was maybe six? I was waving goodb......" She stopped, and somewhere deep in her mind, that door opened.

"Oh. My. God." She looked at them both. "No. No.no.no.no.no." she pushed Simon away and stood up, the tsunami of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. "No... just no..."  her face white, her eyes wide, she gasped for breath.

Simon leapt up and was just in time as she collapsed into his arms, in a dead faint.

"Elli.... Elli... wake up, lovie. You're ok. it's us, it's Simon and Grant. Come on, lovie..."

His voice called her back from the black void she currently floated in. Slowly, she felt herself 'land' again. She covered her eyes and spoke softly.

"Oh, Si, I had the most horrible dream. You and Grant... told me I was a Viking and you were...." she uncovered them as looked up. "Oh Jesus Christ!"

Simon helped her sit up. "Come on, pet, sit up. I know it's a lot to take in. I wish there had been some other way..."

They held hands as she rried to make sense enough to speak.

"Mobius... he tried to tell me there was something. He gave me a sealed file."

The two men exchanged another look. This time of relief. Mobius, it seemed, was on their side after all.

"That's good. I take it you haven't read it then, given your reaction?" Grant knelt by her side.  Elli shook her head. "Ok, well, you want us to tell you more, or do you want to read?" He stroked her hand. "The thing to remember in all this? We've looked after you your entire life. You just didn't know it. We love you, Elli. Like...." and he paused, looking at Simon, who nodded. "Like our own sister."

Elli looked at them. There was NOTHING they could show or tell her that would be ANY more wild and unbelievable. "I loved - love - you both too.  Who else would put up with me?" She managed a weak smile. "I think I'd rather hear it from my Big Brothers, please?"

Simon grinned. "That's my little Shieldmaiden right there." He held one hand, Grant the other, and they walked out onto the balcony.  It was bathed in the warm evening sunlight. Golden and oddly comforting. Sitting at the little table, they all took five minutes to centre themselves.

Elli spoke first.  "I have questions."

"Of course you do Ells, go on..."

"Were my memories real? Was my life real?" She looked at them, fearing they'd think her crazy.

"Yes. Yes, everything you did from then on was real. Your mum and dad? Adoptive parents, but parents nonetheless. They loved you with all their hearts. Like you were theirs. You WERE their daughter Elli. They just didn't create your life."

"I see. Did they... did they know? About... me?" She had no idea how to put into words the sea of emotions in her head.

"Yes.  They worked for the TVA, too.  They volunteered when you were brought in. Took one look at you, and they vowed to protect you and raise you... and to love you."

"But Mum..." The word seemed suddenly awkward, "Mum told me all about "our" Norse ancestry. Encouraged me to research. Gave me a love of history."

"But Elli, you ARE history, sweet cheeks!"