A knot had been forming in Nate's chest ever since Liam had lied about the phone call. Each fabricated truth he had created was a needle pulling thread as he stitched up the insides of Nate's body. Leaving gaping, bleeding holes as the piercing, metal object erupted into the neighbouring organs. A tearing sound exploding from the mundane action of sewing something back together. A jagged line in the fabric where two shades of reality didn't quite meet up, and the bold, dark thread standing out as evidence of what the truth could have been and all that was not to be. The thread caught. A knot formed as it got stuck behind a wall of truth. No hole quite big enough to let that thread through. To allow Nate to accept the lie. He couldn't. He couldn't do it. Liam had been in love with Eleanor from the moment he'd laid eyes on her. He had risked everything to protect her. His chances of being with her had been completely destroyed because his love for her was stronger than his need to be with her. That boy had spent years weaving a material dense enough to cover Eleanor's eyes and now...now that he finally had a chance to remove it...he...he tied a firm knot and dropped the needle. 

But then Nate looked at Eleanor. Really looked at her. Saw the way a slight smile had formed on her features. A little bit of understanding in her eyes as she looked at him. She understood. It had been what she had wanted to hear. And it broke his heart a little, to see that. Because, as much as he was flattered to be the first person she thought of when it came to caring about her, he didn't deserve that. Liam had been the one to put everything on the line for her. Not him. No...no, he was a fraud. Even if he had built their friendship up from his unstable foundations, it was becoming more unstable the more it grew. There was no solid brick to hold it down. Lies may have been a prettier fabric but...in the end, it was the truth that didn't fall apart.

"I'm gonna go check on Liam," Flynn spoke softly, giving Nate a pat on the back as he rose to leave the room. The blonde had seen the turmoil on his friend's face as he gave up the only thing he had truly ever wanted. And, as much as the guy could be an asshole, he may as well have been family. And he didn't like to see family hurt. Especially this family. The family he had built for himself. They meant more to him than anyone else in the world. Because their ties together had shown to be so much more than blood.

Nate watched as he left, praying with everything he had that Liam would be okay. That guy had carried enough burdens to amount to something weighing about the mass of a mountain. Most of them being ones that he put upon himself without even realising. He didn't deserve the hell that he had been put through. Neither of the three boys did. But they had learnt a long time ago that the universe doesn't just punish the evil.

Eleanor sent Nate a brief smile, feeling a little more settled now that more things were out in the open. She tucked her legs up underneath her on the sofa and set her mug down in her lap, holding the warm object in her hands as she gave her friend an expression that was the warmest he had seen from her in days. Like a refreshing brush of wind breaking into winter. "So...is there anything else you're willing to tell me about your abilities or are we just going to pretend that I know nothing about you so that you don't get arrested by some shady government?"

Nate laughed at that. Mostly because it was a little too close to the truth. "No...no. I'll tell you everything there is to know...you know, provided you don't tell anyone else, of course." Not that he thought that she would. He was pretty sure that, if it came down to it, he would trust Eleanor with his life. "It's not like they can punish us for something they have no idea happened." He shot her a mischievous grin, letting out a chuckle when she mumbled something about them soon to be on the run as fugitives for not following the sacred laws of mythical creatures. 

"You sure you're okay with telling me?"

"You're the one who wants to know, aren't you?"

"Well...yeah. But I don't want you guys to get in trouble for telling me."

"I'm telling you, there's no way they can possibly find out unless someone tells them. And the only people who know about it is me, you, Liam and Flynn."

"You trust me not to go off and yell your secrets from the rooftops?"

He smiled at that, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees so that he was a little closer to her. "I know you, Eleanor. You wouldn't do that."

Eleanor raised an eyebrow, lips pulling up at one corner as she placed the mug back on the coffee table in front of her, manoeuvring her legs into a cross-legged position so that she had a better position to look her friend directly in the eye. "How could you possibly know that?"

He shrugged, still smiling. "Because I do."

She tilted her head to the side, smiling back at him as she narrowed her eyes slightly when catching sight of his serene expression. He was looking right at her, eyebrows raised almost as if he dared her to disagree. Which, in a way, he was. He knew that he would have to come clean about why they started their friendship in the first place, because there was no way Liam would be able to keep his feelings hidden for the rest of eternity. And he wanted to prove to her, while they were still on good terms, that he knew her. Every part of her. That she knew every part of him. That perhaps starting of the mural with a few uneven stitches still left the overall piece looking somewhat decent. 

"Alright...so, tell me then...how many people can see the future?"

Nate leaned back on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other and resting his arms behind his head as he looked up at the cieling while he thought. "I'm not entirely sure," he removed one of his hands to rub his jaw slightly, a habit of his whenever he was thinking deeply about something, "I know it's quite a lot. I'd say about thirty percent of the world's population."

Eleanor felt her eyes widen at the new information, mind racing to calculate just how much of the human population wasn't exactly...human. It was almost enough to tilt her off her axis again, the knowledge that so many people were managing to live in secrecy. That a whole group of people had managed to lie to the world for so long. She didn't...she couldn't quite understand how it was possible. Surely...surely someone must have found out. To keep something like that hidden was surely....it had to be impossible. The whole concept was unthinkable. Almost as if an entire cluster of people just shut out a part of their lives from the rest of the universe. It was like...like a coordinated organisation of... "So, do you have a leader or something?" Nate raised his eyebrows at the question, silently urging her to elaborate. "Like...like someone who tells you what do. Someone who...who makes sure that you...that you people who can see the future don't get found out."

Nate nodded, taking a sip from his mug of coffee before gently placing it back down on the coaster again. "Of sorts. It's more of a group of people who make laws and make sure that people follow them."

"Why is it so important that you stay hidden anyway?"

He frowned at that question, drawing his eyebrows together as he balanced his chin on a half-clenched fist. The question was one that he had often deliberated with himself, and, although the rule had always seemed justified in the end, there was always something bugging him. Something that told him that having a gift like his was useless if he couldn't use it to help anybody. "It's actually because we're scared of humans." He saw Eleanor's disbelief at that. He almost laughed. Seeing the future didn't exactly make them superhumans. "I mean, think about it, as much as we have gotten better at accepting people a little different from us, can you imagine the world's reaction to an entirely different species of human? Can you imagine the panic? People would be afraid of us and then...well...some might even try to hunt us and kill us for being a little different and...well, despite our enhanced abilities, there are lot more of you than there are of us."

"Enhanced abilities?"

"It's not much, really. Obviously, we can see the future but...all of our other senses are a little bit more...superior than a normal human's. Our eyesight is a little better, our hearing a little sharper than most and speed wise...we can't exactly run at the speed of light but...our reflexes do tend to be a bit sharper than others. After seeing that Fate actually exists, I'm pretty sure that comes from him. I mean...if you descended from a form of a higher being, it would make sense to have enhanced abilities, wouldn't it?"

At the mention of a higher being, Eleanor's mind automatically flashed back to Brendan. Standing in the doorway. Eyes as dark as his clothes as she slowly got used to seeing him as something she hadn't before. Something...dangerous. Something she had somehow missed about him before. Whether it be through his or her doing, she honestly couldn't tell but the...the aura around him had just seemed so threatening and it...it had hurt her because she...she couldn't see any trace of the guy she had fallen in love with. She was beginning to think that perhaps he hadn't even existed at all. 

She had to stop thinking about him.

"So...the people in charge, are they like a government?"

"...I guess. They tend to be the older members of society. They form a thing called a Counsel, spelt with an 'e' to mimic the kind of counselling that guides and helps people.  In every country, there's one person from The Counsel who is sort of seen to be 'in charge' if you get what I mean. If there are any problems people go to see the closest official to them and if...if anyone breaks the laws, then that person is the guy who deals with it. That being said...to be on the Counsel or...to even be a form of official, you have to be a pureblood."

Eleanor felt her eyebrows crease at that, lips pressing into a thoughtful expression as she thought over his words. "What do you mean by pureblood? Is it like...like both your parents can see the future too, or something?"

Nate nodded, slightly relieved that she was understanding most of what he told her. He wasn't all that great at explaining things, especially when it was the knowledge that had been drilled into him from the day he had been able to comprehend what his parents were saying. It always felt a little weird to think that there were people who didn't know this kind of stuff. How his little world kept itself hidden was a mystery even to him sometimes. "Yeah. Exactly like that."

He watched as her lips pulled into a frown, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him and, knowing her, he knew exactly what she was going to say next. And it made him want to dance and scream around the world in joy, because an outsider from their world, someone who had barely been introduced to their customs saw the error in the way that they worked. "Isn't that a bit...prejudiced?"

Nate laughed a little nodding his head in confirmation of her statement. "The people who run things are very...old, shall we say. They don't exactly understand equality. They're convinced that purebloods are better than everyone else and refuse to let anyone who isn't a pureblood on their Counsel."

Eleanor rolled her eyes, snorting slightly. "They sound like a bunch of assholes."

He laughed again, the conversation he had had previously with his father resounding around and around in his head like some kind of mantra to remind him of what kind of messed up society he was living in. "They really are a bunch of prejudiced asshats."

The amount of conviction intertwined in his words made Eleanor laugh, really studying his facial expression as he said them. Jaw clenched slightly as he continued to nod in affirmation to his declaration. His actions made her think that perhaps this was something that bothered him and, imagining what The Counsel could possibly think of normal people like her, she couldn't help but agree with him. "So...are there any other kind of laws you have to follow?"

He seemed grateful for the change of subject, the ghost that had been hiding in his eyes evaporating as he moved onto something that he was a little more confident with. He couldn't argue with facts. He couldn't get upset about laws that he had no reason to disagree with. It wasn't as if The Counsel was completely unreasonable. They had good policies. They just didn't carry them out all too well. 

"Yeah...most of them are pretty obvious. They're basically like normal human laws. I mean...of course they've been altered slightly like...if you have a vision of someone putting a code into a bank, then you're not allowed to use that to your advantage and rob it." He looked up from where he had been glancing down at the carpet, the sound of his voice almost robotic as he recited the things he had been taught since he was a kid. From the nod of her head, she appeared to be following. "There's obviously the normal things like don't murder and stuff. If anyone disobeys these laws then there are government officials in the police force and other things like the secret service that can sort out any seer criminals in a way that they can be put behind bars separately."

"In like...a special prison or something?"

"Something along those lines. I've never actually been to one but I'm pretty sure it's a major, major high security. I'm pretty sure it has cells made of a kind of metal that does a seer's head in so much that they can't even begin to have visions."

"That sounds...awful."

"They'd probably be able to escape otherwise. They'd be bound to have a vision of something that could help them escape."

Eleanor tried to imagine someone stuck in a cell, probably in immense pain as they were assaulted by a headache akin to having someone thrashing their head against the wall constantly. Perhaps she was overdoing the dramatics slightly but it still sounded...terrifying. She tried to picture herself having some form of ability, only to have it stripped away as a pulsing echoed around her head. But...the criminals were there for a reason. Maybe they deserved it. Briefly, she felt her mind wandering towards the concept of how long a seer's sentence would be. But she decided to keep her mouth shut; she had learnt enough about them to have a steady understanding of the kind of world that they lived in. Enough to keep her grip on reality, at least. It was probably best to only take in so much information at once. Besides...she didn't really have any say in a world she wasn't part of, did she?

"Thank you for telling me all this."

"Don't worry about it."

"And I...I don't blame you for keeping this from me. It...it seems to me like you had your reasons. I'm not...I'm not mad."

He smiled.

"I was kind of hoping you'd say that."