Freefall

To the Inevitable Storm

Atlas was quiet and on guard, calmly taking in the scene around the two of them as she stared out at choppy grey waves. Turned out his and Jasper's super secret meeting spot was a small public beach on Lake Michigan, if you could call it that. In truth it was a tiny strip of sand along the water- hardly enough to really be a beach, but she didn't voice her skepticism. Didn't really matter what it was called, either way... She had never really been all that fond of them. She couldn't swim, and had no desire to try to learn, and what else was she supposed to do? Lay out and get a tan? Yeah, right. Not with scars like hers.

Not a bad place to meet someone, though, she guessed. Knowing Atlas and the fact that Jasper was his brother, this spot probably meant something to them. She wondered what made the little patch of grass they sat on so special, what conversations they must have had there. Not really her business, sure... But she couldn't help but wonder.

His hand tightened on hers ever so slightly, pulling her from her thoughts. Nothing about the quiet scene had changed so far, but maybe he could smell him nearby or something.

Swallowing hard and trying her hardest to stay calm, she moved her gaze to Atlas. At this point, she could read him pretty well, and she figured gauging his reactions was probably safer than trusting her own judgment of the situation. For now, anyways. She still thought he was too optimistic, but ever since the two of them had left the hotel... He was taking this seriously. His guard was up, ready for anything... And he was quiet.

She didn't like it.

Still, true to the warning, a man that had Atlas' curls, only longer and a lot less tame stood above her companion, seeming to be careful not to look at her. He had a bit of a beard, and his dark eyes were rimmed with pretty intense dark circles, trained immediately and suspiciously on his brother. She wondered if he always looked that tired, or if he had been up worrying about Atlas while the two of them adjusted to their new realities. The familiar weight of guilt settled in her stomach, but she stayed quiet.

"Talk," Jasper sighed, finally, sitting himself down on the opposite side of Atlas that she was on, leaving a bit of space between the two of them.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking! How are you doing?" Atlas greeted sarcastically, digging both of their graves, probably.

"Atlas," Evan and Jasper both started to scold him, somehow using the same exasperated tone in unison. Evan cleared her throat awkwardly and looked down at her and Atlas' hands, still joined together. She was terrified of what Jasper thought about that, but she didn't have the strength to let him go. Not at the moment.

"See, you two are going to get along great when we figure out all this dumb shit," Atlas tried to smooth things over, but she heard his brother's groan next to him.

"Will you stop fucking around? The only dumb shit I see here is you. What is going on?" Jasper demanded, and she could hear the rising stress in his tone, how he fought to control his volume. This conversation wasn't one that would take well to being overheard.

"You remember that story dad always told us about how he became a vampire?"

Jasper was quiet after that- for a long time. She wasn't sure what that meant, but it had to be something big. When she finally looked back up at the other man, he was still looking at Atlas like he had grown a second head.

And then he looked at her.

"You're not... No. Atlas, I can't just-"

"Lyn confirmed it."

"Fuck," Jasper groaned again, gathering two fistfuls of his hair before looking back out at the lake, sighing before going quiet again. It was the same agonizing feeling as watching Atlas toss her fate around in his own mind that first day they'd met... God, that felt like years ago, now.