The Upstarts

"Hartley!" Flynn called, striding across the grass to where Clara stood on the edge of the riverbank, her face thoughtful.

"Flynn," she said, inclining her head, the gesture jarringly royal, making Flynn falter. He had buried Excalibur, saying a final farewell to his best friend, struggling to find the strength to let go of all that he had left. Despite the Annex, the Library was gone from him, along with Charlene and Judson, and he couldn't keep Clara by his side, even as he wanted to.

"How are you?" he asked, ramming his hands into his blazer pockets.

"I'll live," Clara said distantly, looking out at the river. Then she turned to face him, her brow furrowing. "What really happened back there, Flynn?" she asked him suddenly, her dark eyes questioning.

"Just what I told you," Flynn lied, not missing a beat. "Nothing else, nothing more. The magic returned to the earth. Lamia lost and we won."

Clara studied him for a moment, her brown hair billowing slightly in the faint breeze, making Flynn's breath catch in his throat. He barely knew her, yet it felt like he had always known her, a contradiction he still couldn't get his head around. But there had always been a chasm between him and Clara, a crevasse of their own creation, one he just couldn't cross.

"I came to say good-bye," he said, cutting straight to the point.

Clara smoothed down the folds of her red dress, suddenly finding it hard to face him. "Well, I guess this is it, then," she said lightly, shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun with the back of her hand.

"I suppose it is," Flynn said just as lightly.

They looked at each other for a long moment, before Flynn turned his head away, Clara looking out across the river instead, her heart in turmoil. She didn't love Flynn, but sometimes she hated him with an odium she didn't quite understand, dividing them even as it drew them together.

"I'm sorry about Cal," she said quietly, making Flynn glance up at her.

"So am I," Flynn said, suddenly pretending to become very absorbed in straightening his cravat.

Clara bit her lip, remembering the sword with a soul of its own, the memory suddenly filling her heart with venom, startling her. Then it was gone, leaving a lingering bitterness that made Clara take a step back.

Flynn glanced at her again, his brow furrowing. "You okay?" he asked, taking a step forwards.

"I'm fine," Clara snapped, "I'm not going to pop my clogs at the slightest provocation, you know."

Flynn just exhaled sharply, before rumpling up his dark hair with an agitated hand. "Well, I guess this is it, then," he said, echoing her earlier words.

"That's what I said," Clara said, rolling her eyes.

Flynn just grinned brokenly, before turning and leaving.

"Wait," Clara called, her voice cracking, making Flynn stop and turn around.

"What is it?" he asked, his own voice suddenly very strained.

"What about Eve?" Clara burst out, blushing hotly.

"What about her?"

"She - she likes you," Clara said, sounding like the words were being wrenched from her.

"But she isn't you, is she?" Flynn said simply, and before Clara could blink, he was gone.

~*~

Clara walked over to where Ezekiel, Jacob and Cassandra were waiting by Jenkins's battered station-wagon, their heads turning in unison as she approached. She raised her hand to them in a hesitant hello, but before Clara could blink, Jacob was swinging her off her feet again, whirling her around in a dizzying circle, the world becoming a blur of blue and green.

"You really have to stop doing that, Stone," Clara reprimanded, her head spinning as he set her down.

"And you really have to stop being so prim and proper," Jacob admonished, ramming his hands into his wind-breaker pockets.

"So you're alive again?" Ezekiel interjected hastily.

"Obviously," Clara snapped.

An uncomfortable silence fell, Cassandra catching Clara's eye before looking away, her face reddening.

"Oh, look, it's the upstarts," Jenkins called out as he came across the grass towards them. In his hand, he carried four white envelopes, the sight making Clara's heart sink in her chest. "Your airline tickets," he said pompously, handing the envelopes out, his gaze lingering on Clara the longest, making her shift uncomfortably on the spot.

"That's it?" Jacob said incredolously.

"For you, yes," Flynn said, appearing out of nowhere, Eve at his side. "It's not fair or safe to involve you in this life any longer," he added, glancing at Clara, who looked away, struggling with the sudden jealousy that had reared its head within her at the sight of Eve beside him.

"A life that would have been ours, if destiny had worked out a little differently," Ezekiel almost challenged as he shook Flynn's hand.

"I think not," Flynn said, smiling patronizingly.

"So we're going back to our old lives, then," Jacob said, almost crushing his envelope out of existence, "knowing that magic is real."

"It's time to face the world, troops," Flynn said stiffly, sidestepping Jacob's statement, offering his hand to Cassandra instead.

"But the world is so big," Cassandra snapped, ignoring his outstretched hand. "What happens if we can't move on?"

"And what happens if we don't have a home to go back to?" Clara asked, stepping forwards. "The Serpent Brotherhood blew up my apartment, and as for going back to my day job, that's pie in the sky as far as I'm concerned."

Flynn tugged on his cravat, looking awkward, something like doubt starting to stir in him.

"You can't do this to us, Flynn," Cassandra said earnestly, turning the full battery of her big blue eyes on him. "You can't send us away."

"No, you can't," Ezekiel chimed in, "it's bad form, man."

"And anyways, it's not up to you to decide," Jacob said, "it was the Library who chose us, not you."

"You can't deny us," Clara said quietly, her words striking Flynn through the heart like a sword, turning his doubt into a full blown storm.

~*~

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" Jenkins asked in an angry undertone, making Flynn flinch. After returning from Buckingham Palace, Flynn had entrusted the Crown to Jenkins's possession, as well as the knowledge of what had happened, knowing there was no point in hiding the truth of who Clara really was, not when Jenkins already knew.

But now Flynn was getting cold feet. He had made the decision to send Clara and the others away but now he didn't know what to do even as he knew what he should do. Guinevere had said the Library had tried to save Clara from herself, Jenkins adding weight to her words with his own, saying Clara had been brought into the fold for a reason, that they had to accept its decree, but now Jenkins was backtracking, doing the opposite, exiling Clara from the Annex, confusing Flynn even further.

"I don't know what to do," Flynn admitted reluctantly, ramming his hands into his blazer pockets again.

"What?" Jenkins exclaimed, his eyes beginning to bulge dangerously.

"I don't know what to do!" Flynn snapped.

"Can't handle a bit of emotional blackmail, can we?" Jenkins said scathingly. "Letting the upstarts upset you, hmmm?"

"The Library allowed Clara through its doors," Flynn hissed, "knowing full well what she was. It made her my responsibility" -

- "More like it made you Clara's responsibility," Jenkins retorted. "Remember, she's the one that saved that rather padded posterior of yours."

Flynn turned away from Jenkins. "You said the Library brought Clara into the fold for a reason, that we just had to accept its decree," he snapped, flinging his hands up into the air, "because you knew all along what she was, what she was capable of. But you never said anything, you just stood back and let her sacrifice herself" –

- "Because unlike you, I don't pretend to understand the Library," Jenkins said coldly. "It had its own agenda in regard to Clara, and all I did was submit to its will. We are just the Library's puppets, Flynn, a row of marionettes it manipulates for its own amusement" –

- "But Guinevere said the Library was trying to save Clara" –

- "Not out of the goodness of its heart, though," Jenkins retorted. "It just used her as its instrument" –

"And the others, aren't they the Library's instruments as well?" Flynn retorted. "They were dragged into this debacle for a reason, Jenkins - it's – it's not just about Clara. She helped find the Crown, and she helped get it back, but she didn't do it on her own. She was sent a letter the same as the others, and she was on the Serpent Brotherhood's hit-list the same as the others. If we cut out the conundrum of Guinevere, Clara is no different from Ezekiel, Jacob and Cassandra, they're all" –

"Librarians?" Jenkins finished for him.

Oh, I hear us coming round
Oh, I feel it
Upstarts are on their way...