No Place Like Home

A New Hope

Seamus

Seamus entered his apartment the same day Ashlynn had left, and felt the strangest sense of deja vu. "Ashlynn? What are you - Ash!" Ashlynn collapsed entirely, falling into a familiar sleep that Seamus had seen once before. He struggled to lift her onto the bed and then just stood there for a long moment. What had happened? Ashlynn had gone home. Seamus had seen it. He had watched her leave, then sank to the floor of her apartment, sitting there for who knew how long. She was gone, and he felt it as poignantly as though she had died. Except that she hadn't. And here she was again, waiting for him when he returned. Seamus had no idea what he was meant to feel, but as he watched her sleeping form, he knew that this was where she should be. Here, with him. This was right. Whatever had happened, they would work it out together. But this was where they needed to be. And if Ash decided to return home once more, Seamus would follow. It was where he belonged.

Ash awoke some 13 hours later, in the middle of a video Seamus was filming. He had sat by her for a while, but when it became clear she was not going to wake up anytime soon, he decided he had better record the video that had been due yesterday. "Ello there! How ya doing? Sorry about the different setup today. My bed's a mess, I had to move the camera. So today we're going to be discussing - " Ash groaned and sat up.

"Wha - What happened? What time is it?"

"Sleeping Beauty awakes! Deja vu, much?" He watched her eyes focus on him as she slowly remembered what had happened. "You were out for almost 13 hours. What did you do? And why did you come back?" He saw when it hit her. When she remembered whatever must have happened to send her back here. Her eyes filled with tears. "Hey, hey, Ash, no, don't cry, it's ok, Ash." But it wasn't ok. So clearly it wasn't. Seamus walked over and sat down next to her, holding her, stroking her hair, murmuring her name. He didn't know how long they stayed there, but eventually she calmed down enough to tell him what had happened.

"They died. In the fire. There were no survivors. They all died. I just thought - because they were supers - I just assumed - they always seemed so invincible, like nothing could ever hurt them - but they - they died. They died while I ran."

"There was nothing you could have done, Ash. You barely made it out yourself. There was no way you could have saved them."

"But I ran. I just ran, while they were dying, I ran."

"You can't blame yourself for this."

"But I might have saved them. I could have, I could have - "

"What would they want, Ash? Would they really want you to die trying to save them? Or would they want you to survive, to live on?"

"I - I - " The tears came again.

"You're her now, Ash. With me. We'll make it work. You can start over. You have a life here. You can work through this. We can work through this. Together. Stay with me, Ash."

And so she did.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Seamus Gorman. One morning, Seamus walked past the London School of Arts on his way to the coffee shop down the street. As he passed by, Seamus glanced through the windows and was surprised to see a pretty girl with blue eyes and strawberry-blonde hair sitting inside, eyes closed, swaying slightly as if dancing, and painting a masterpiece. There was something different about this girl, he knew there was, but he couldn't quite place what. Perhaps it was the strange feeling of familiarity, as if Seamus had met the girl before or had perhaps been looking for her. Every morning after that, Seamus walked past the school to the coffee shop down the street, fascinated by the girl and her artwork, never realizing just how far he was falling for her. Most of a year passed in this manner before Seamus finally made contact with the girl. She had just seemed to perfect to touch. As if she would disappear just as he got close. And maybe she would. It seemed a very real possibility. But it was still a dream come true when they finally kissed.

But like all good things, it couldn't seem to last. The girl had a dream, a purpose, and Seamus promised to help her achieve it. No matter that it meant he would never see her again. It was her dream, and who was Seamus to stand in the way of it? And when she finally did achieve it, Seamus couldn't even say goodbye.

But when she returned, cracked and broken, he was there. He put her back together piece by piece, and, though she would never truly be the same again, Seamus would stand by her and they would face their ghosts together. Because he couldn't let her go. He knew in his heart they belonged together. Their music sang in harmony, if one knew to listen for it. Whatever happened, they would make it work. Together.