I See You

Compilation

I didn't have an answer for her, and still don't as I "wake up".

"Fucking A!" I yell, startling more than half the room's occupants.

Groans and exclamations boom though the room in a cacophony of noise.

I roar, Missy returning to me at that very moment, and leap off the bed. I'm dizzy, and nauseous, but I don't let that stop me from stumbling over to Remedy Kenetic and hauling her up by the shirt.

"Take me... Back... Take me back- NOW!!!" I yell at her, shaking her like a rag doll.

"Mys! Let her go, Mys! Get off her Mystic!" People yell at me from all directions, and I feel more than a few hand dragging me backwards as Venus cradles her mate.

If it were under any other circumstances, I would be hurting because I caused indirect pain on one of my best friends. Under these circumstances, though, Missy's Bast nature has almost completely taken me over. I can't feel her emotions the way I've always felt them because Missy feels betrayed. I feel betrayed. We understand, but that doesn't mean we don't feel it.

Pairing our feelings of betrayal with the pain of having to leave our mate and pain of regaining consciousness makes us almost out of control.

That's a lie. We are already out of control. We've been out of control since we discovered our mysterious mate.

And it's only going to get worse the more she slips way.

"Take..." I try to start but Missy pulled her power back and my body is so out of breath, so I can't speak very well. "Take... take me... back...I have to get... back..."

"I can't! I don't know how it happened in the first place!" Kenetic coughs, still rubbing over the area around her collarbone I had gripped in my fists minutes before.

"...I need to go back!" I protest, my voice dangerously close to sounding like I'm begging.

Basts don't beg. Missy suddenly speaks up for the first time since she reentered our body, singularly. Basts never beg, we take. We demand, we even ask, but we never ever beg. We will never beg anyone for anything.

We don't beg. We asked, and were answered, but we will never beg.

I straighten out, pulling myself together. I was born to complete this task, and now I realize how the ripple effect works.

The future is always changing and rearranging. Its continuously creating and recreating possible outcomes in response to our actions.

I most likely was somehow going to go on a mission to save Kaitlyn and collect valuable people. I have no idea why or how, but I now realize something big is happening.

And damn it, we're at the center of it. Go figure.

"Mys?"
"Mystic!"
"Hey Mystic?"
"...maybe Missy took over?"
"Mystic Ezmahrelda Quincy!"

The last one definitely has my attention. I turn and glare at Star. "You. Did. Not. Just. Say. My. Middle. Name!"

She rolls her eyes, seemingly pissed off, but it's not really directed at me. "Do you want a rundown before we get our shit together or what?"

I look at her surprised.

She rolls her eyes again, a smirk on her lips, "I don't have to be an Empath to know when you want to do some things, Mys. I know you in every way... well almost every way, there's a few ways I never want to know about."

I scrunch up my face in the 'ew' formation before turning to survey the room.

The only ones here besides me are Star, a Mystic elder, Venus, Kenetic, and an irritated nurse, who is impatiently waiting to inspect Kenetic vitals to make sure everything's alright with her (her irritation lies in Venus who glares at her any time she steps forward and Venus's feline- hisses).

The gist is that nothing happened really. Greenlin and Teegan have been lovey dovey with their mates, ("Where do they the girls get all that is excited energy?" Star wonders momentarily, "I swear, they are everywhere!") Raegan had continued to be his usual odd self (Star seems to think he jealous his mate isn't his twin's mate), Selene and Jay had been disappearing for hours on end (Star found them babysitting some little kids, and left them alone), and Aidan is fine (that's it, fine. Nothing else. Probably not a story best left for private).

For the two weeks we'd been in the illusion, only four days had passed in reality.

("Don't ask, you can't calculate it, we've tried," Kenetic snaps at my confused expression. Jeez girl, I'm confused, and math isn't my best subject anyway, so why would I ask?)

"...Alright, so it won't take long to get our stuff together, so we can leave around noonish." Star turns to the elder who is observing everything. "Is that okay? Is noon okay to leave?"

"Yes," he nods to her, before turning to me, "And if you don't mind, I'd like to privately speak with you."

I nod, and lead him into the hallway.

Minutes- hell, maybe even an hour or two (I don't know I was trying to process what the elder told me)- later, Raegan finds me still standing there after the elder left gives me a smile, but something seems off about it. "Everyone's ready when you are, we're waiting on you!"

I roll my eyes, pushing him out of my way. When I enter the room where all our stuff and supplies are, I'm almost knocked over by Aidan and his hug. After him, Selene hugs me, as well as the twins. Being as I don't know them yet, it was weird for me, but they didn't seem affected by me not attempting to return the hug, as I was trapped between the two girls.

"Okay, let's go, we're wasting time," I announce in a commanding tone, once all the hugs were said and done. "We have to get home as soon as possible."

The elder Mystic in the room nods, agreeing, "Just remember what I told you." His eyes soften as he turns to Kenetic, "Take care, young one, you would make your mother proud."

Kenetic looks less stoic, leans over and surprisingly hugs the elder.

Wow I didn't know she knew how to hug.

Hush you, I mentally say shaking my head.

Soon the twins (the female set) has led us away from the magnificent caves and Mystics, explaining that if we wanted to go back, we'd need a bear to lead us. Otherwise we'd be repelled away by an unseen force, and would most likely get lost deep in the woods. That's not a good place to be at night alone or even in pairs, as things tend to go thump in the night, bumps being too tame for what's really out there.

I didn't pry further, as it's unlikely I like the answer.

For the first few hours there's not much talking going on. Star and Aidan are walking side by side, but not touching, in front of me (I'm curious, but right now is not the time to ask what happened with them). Off to the right Jay has his arm around Selene, and they occasionally glance at one another with little adoring smiles. Venus, who still doesn't forgive me, and Kenetic are somewhere behind me, as well as Raegan. Teegan, Greenlin, and their mates lead the way.

By nightfall, everyone is exhausted. We all set up camp, no one complaining, ate our dinner and quietly retired to bed.

The next morning, it took cleaning up and erasing our very existence from the area to realize something.

At the same time, I'm listening to a voice mail on my phone, from just minutes ago.

I fumble for my phone, accidentally hit the speaker button and end up dropping it anyway.

"...THEY TOOK HER!!!! I DON'T KNOW HOW, BUT THE TOOK HER!!!!! KSOYLK SAYS THERE HAS TO BE A TRAITOR!! ARE YOU STILL THERE??!! THEY TOOK YOUR MATE AND ATTACKED THE STREAK HOUSE! WE TRIED OUR BEST..."

Everyone is shocked, looking around at each other. My body is frozen, mind bland, and my emotions swirl and mix.

Finally, I look up, and before anyone can even think to stop me, I attack.

(A/N: EDITED)