Chapter 8

   "But besides that, you're going to be learning a lot more than how to stop your darkness," Jeremy'd said.

   Lin firmly wanted to smack Jeremy by now. Nearly two months since the day she'd first met her mentor and her fellow division member, and all she had done was summon her dark in little bursts of black, then focus on putting it out. Over, and over, and mind-numbing over.

   Doing this much nothing was killing her, bit by stubborn fucking bit.

    As it was, she resisted the urge to keel over in protest as Jeremy furrowed his brow at her blanket of dark across the ceiling. All she'd done for the last two hours, even after Eric had already left, was the same thing she'd done for the last two months. Again. Lin chewed the inside of her lip, hedging a question. "So...when does this end and the more important stuff start?"

   It was almost funny, how genuinely confused Jeremy seemed by the statement. Funny, frustrating, and all around infuriating. Lin wanted to shake him. To shake him, and scream, and beg for them to please get a move on. But the only thing he seemed to be committed to was seeing how she could handle herself.

   None of it mattered to Lin. The way she saw it, they'd find out the extent of her abilties whenever she couldn't do something. As easy and truly as simple as that.

   Jeremy's earnest confusion lingered on his features even as he smiled. "Lin, this is important. It allows us to continue safely, lest we neglect it and bring harm to you. Now, pull it back."

   It took physical effort to keep for rolling her eyes in sarcastic exasperation. Lin had started to pull the darkness above her head down in strings, like winding threads, when the door to their training room opened. A man that had unknowingly saved Lin from death via boredom crossed the threshold, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's cheek. Dark-haired Li twined his fingers with Jeremy's, already off on some tangent before Jeremy absently dismissed Lin with the same lovestruck look in his eyes he always got around the Asian male.

   The barest smile pulled at her lips as Lin slipped from the room, Genevieve joining her side with a smug smile. "I thought you need saving, so I figured I'd tell Li that Jeremy missed him."

   Lin shook her head with a soft laugh. "You are the reason I bother living through lessons, Genevieve."

   The Spanish girl grinned at her, straightening further in what, knowing her, was probably pride. "Nice to hear it, Lin. I mean, why else would you bother, but it's still nice to hear."

    Olly joined the pair at the junction between the hallways all the training rooms resided on, brushing unruly ginger curls away from his eyes as his face lit with a smile. "Lin!"

   Even though it had only been two months spent here, Olly had become as close to her as Genevieve had, and Lin was immensely grateful. So grateful, in fact, she didn't have the heart to say anything about the warmth in the pit of her stomach when he grinned at her like she'd just made his day. "Hey Olly."

   Olly bumped her shoulder with his own, like she'd so often see him do to Spencer, as he strode beside her, hands in his pockets. "Same old, same old?"

   Lin just nodded in confirmation, biting back another grin. Olly never complained when Lin ranted to him about how mind numbing it was to just do the same thing on repeat for so long. If anything, he encouraged her to vent, to needle Jeremy into moving on.

   Olly snorted, rolling his eyes. "Maybe, just maybe, we need to have Li do something at this point."

   Genevieve, from Lin's other side, laughed, raising a neatly arched eyebrow. "If you haven't noticed, Olly, Li did do something today. With my help, of course. I got the big lug of shapeshifter off his ass and in there to save Lin from absolute destruction. Saved, mind you. From absolute destruction. You're welcome."

  Olly seemed to have the same outlook on this as Lin did when the two traded a conspiratorial glance.

   As much as Lin felt a prick of guilt for using Jeremy's boyfriend to weasel her way out of more training for the day, she wasn't complaining. Seeing Li always put her mentor in a good mood, and always resulted in an early end to her silent suffering, such as the one she'd just been given.

   Her smile dimmed on her face as a sound, like the hiss of dry, rustling brush, tickled her hearing. A sound that called her name in it's own way, soft and slow.

   Lin, a sound like pounding water.

             Lin, a sound like a roaring wind.
  
   Lin, a sound like crackling fire.

                Lin.

      Lin.
  
                              Lin.

                        Lin, a sound like the sugar sweet darkness that warbled in her blood, uttered by a slowly growing cacophony of voices.

      Lin.      Lin.      Lin.      Lin.      Lin.      Lin.

   Lin shook her head to rid herself of the rustle that caressed her name on a breath, biting the inside of her cheek. While Genevieve appeared to have walked on, not realizing Lin had halted in the middle of the hallway, Olly had stayed by her side.

   Lin.   Lin.   Lin.   Lin.   Lin.   Lin.   Lin.   Lin.

   Olly slipped around in front of her now, peering into her face with anxious worry. "Lin? What's wrong?"

   Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin.

   She almost couldn't hear him as the voices grew louder, shouting, screeching, calling her name with a fervor that threatened to fell her.

   A chorus that shouted, screeched, called her name in the tones of abilities, vestiges of scents assaulting her senses.

   Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. LinLinLinLinLiNLINLINLINLINLINLINLINLINLINLINLINLINLIN.

   She was dimly aware of the groan that bubbled to her lips as she shut her eyes in a desperate attempt to shake off the voices screaming in her mind.

   Olly's gaze only held concern, not bewilderment. Not fear. Was it possible he couldn't hear them? It couldn't be. They were so loud! So violent! It was impossible that he could ignore them that well if he had.

   LIN.

   The voices now drowned out Lin's thoughts instead of being drowned out themselves like they first had in the hallway the day she came to the bunker. They silenced Olly's words even as she saw him move his lips. She fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the symphony of noise only she heard. A wail of pain pierced the haze of sound, one Lin was surprised to feel the vibration of through her bones. As if Lin had voiced it herself.

   Maybe she had. At this point, she couldn't tell.

   Lin's sight felt fuzzy and everything seemed off kilter. She only just barely made out the shape of Olly kneeling in front of her, just as a wave of scent crashed over her senses. Olly... Olly smelled like peaches. Like new earth and the sensation of old papers against her skin. Like a well loved book, almost. The voices launched into a frenzy at the onslaught of information as the ginger haired male's mouth formed letters. Words. "What's wrong?" She laboriously pieced together from the way his lips formulated the actions. Then her name, in cadence with the voices screeching in her head.

   It seemed Genevieve had noticed their absence by now, as the girl's scent slammed once more into Lin's senses, a desperate wildfire of smoke and embers like it had been the day she'd first met her. Lin's vision grew increasingly hazy as another figure, one that oozed this same wildfire scent of living flame, knelt beside the one she knew vaguely as Olly.

   Make it stop, Lin begged them from her mind, curling her body in on itself. As if by doing so she could escape her own name.

   The fervent voices faltered, as if considering the request themselves. One by one, they fell away until the only words in her head were her own thoughts, a mix of fear and heady relief. Her vision cleared, shapes solidifying and no longer swimming before her. Lin lifted her head to look at the kneeling forms of Olly and Genevieve in front of her, the pair bearing almost identical looks of worried concern.

   "What happened there? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Olly's wave of questions provided a distraction. If not the perfect distraction, a damn good one.

   Lin shook her head, words scraping against the walls of her throat as she replied with a hoarseness she felt acutely, "They were screaming at me, Olly. So loud it hurt."

   Olly's worried concern morphed to confusion at her answer. Genevieve glanced over at him before slowly asking in that lyrical way of hers, "Who screamed at you, Lin?"

   Though the likelihood of having heard them was slim, given Olly's reaction, Lin had to try. She had to tell her in hopes Genevieve might know what they had belonged to, much less if they were concrete voices at all. "The voices." In a gesture reminiscent of a madwoman, one Lin knew looked crazy, she lifted a shaking finger to her temple and tapped it. Once. Twice. "In my head."

   Genevieve looked uncomfortable as she hedged softly, "Lin, there...how do I put this. There were no voices. Besides the ones here, anyway. But those were just Olly's, your's, and mine."

   Lin resolutely shook her her head in what she knew to be futile opposition to the sane, for sane was something she wasn't sure applied to her anymore after what had just occured, and lifted a shaking hand to her temple in an effort to make Genevieve understand. She tapped the slight hollow in her pale skin once, twice, thrice, in a gesture reminiscent of a madwoman. "The voices in my head."

   Olly blinked, the same earnest confusion that had been on Jeremy's face now residing on this redhaired boy's. "The voices in your-"

   The Spanish girl had recoiled slightly, seemingly startled, taken aback by her answer. Enough that there was the smallest stutter to her normally graceful words when Genevieve interrupted Olly to say, "I- we -are going to take you upstairs to Dr. Locke."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   After two months, Spencer hadn't had much luck in keeping Olly away from Lin for long. Try as he might, it seemed his redhaired friend would always be found right back at the side of his harbringer of doom within the hour.

   This would kill him. Perhaps would kill both of them, granted enough time. Spencer with frustration, Olly with...he didn't want to think of that, he found. Then again, Spencer never wanted to consider Olly's death as a legitimate possible outcome of future events. The thought made him sick to his stomach to ponder.

   Spencer fought back rising nausea on his way to once again attempt to pry Olly from Lin's side, if indeed that were where he was to be found that day. He was willing to bet it was. Anything else seemed unlikely, unless he'd had to go to the bathroom. He turned the hall corner leading to the training facilities and almost ran smack into Genevieve, Olly, and lo and behold, why was he not surprised, Lin.

   What did surprise him was the fact the two were practically dragging her suspended between them, glancing anxiously at Lin as if checking she hadn't kicked the bucket in the process. Feeling a little callous but not in the least guilty, Spencer placed himself unabashedly in the path of the trio with a tilt of his head. "What's wrong with her? Has Big Bertha gone on a cuisine streak and she got into the cooking wine?"

   Genevieve turned a glare at him, the full force of her disapproval focused solely on his face. Maybe that had been a little rude, borderline accusing Lin of being a bidding alcoholic. Rude, but sure as hell entertaining. "Move, Spence," Vi snapped at him, evidently on edge.

   Spencer slanted his head in surprise. Almost nothing well and truly rattled this fire manipulator. She'd always seemed almost impervious to these kinds of things. So what had her so riled? "What happened?" He asked again, this time truly curious.

   Vi sighed, as if seeing Spencer wasn't going to move, and glanced over at Olly, obviously expecting him to say something before she smacked Spencer off the end of the earth herself for the inconveniences he delivered right on their doorsteps.

   An expectation rightly filled by the peacemaker Olly was. "She started screaming out of the blue. Fell to her knees, the whole nine yards. When she stopped, she said something about voices. In her head. Vi came up with the idea of taking her upstairs to get checked out by Locke if there really are voices in her head."

   "Voices in her head," Spencer repeated in question, knowing the skepticism he felt must have been plain as day on his face.

   Olly huffed a laugh, looking like he wished the answer was different as he replied heavily, "Voices in her head."

   Spencer, intriuged, if also a little creeped out to be honest, studied the girl almost limp between his best friend and ex, oil spill strands hanging damp with sweat about her face in a tangled mess. As if she'd just come out of a battle. Had she, in her own way? What had the voices in her head done to her?

   Spencer found the brief wash of concern almost repulsive. What did it matter? He shouldn't care about his girl's wellbeing. He should be worried for the fact that he was supposed to be keeping Olly away from her, and here they both were, obviously not apart like he'd tried to plan.

   Nothing ever seemed to go as planned, he mused absently.

   Spencer sighed to himself, motioning Genevieve away from the girl's side. Genevieve peeled away without argument, knowing Spencer and Olly were more likely to be able to make the journey upstairs with less trouble than she.

   The smell of sweat clung to Lin, he noticed as he slung her arm over his shoulders, threaded an arm around her waist. The warmth she gave off did strange things to his resolve, and Spencer tried as hard as he could to shove it from his mind. He really did. Try hard, that was.

   Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, that strange feeling seemed inclined to hide in the darkest recesses of his mind, where he didn't dare reach without being outfitted in mental armor he didn't have time to equip right then.

   Transporting Lin was a slow, ardorous process, filled with resituation and constant wellfare checks, mostly initiated by Olly.

   Halfway there, Lin, who had been mostly silent up until then, began to whimper slightly, fawn pelt eyes squeezed shut. Against what, Spencer didn't know. Maybe the voices in her head had made another appearance. Maybe something else was wrong.

   Spencer didn't bother to ask. He only quickened his pace, practically dragging the slight girl and forcing Olly to speed up to keep even with him so as not to drop their cargo hanging between them.

   Spencer shouldered open the door of the infirmary, guiding the trio trough the maze of beds and borrowed medical equipment until reaching yet another door on the opposite side of the room. He and Olly carried Lin up the flight of stairs, and the latter was puffing slightly when they reached the top.

   Carrying pounds of weapons was one thing. A live being prone to random thrashing, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

   The stairs emerged directly into Dr. Locke's office, and an adjoining room for the saq'ur in need of medical attention their healers couldn't cure by themselves.

   The older man then sat hunched over his desk, focused on some medical report or other. At the squeak of door hinges from the stair, he bustled to the door leading to the rest of the hospital and turned the lock after attaching a 'Ass Deep in Work, Disturb Only for Emergencies' sign to the front of his door.

   Spencer found himself smiling. He'd gotten the old doctor that for last Christmas as thanks for fixing up a particularly nasty wound. The one across his stomach that might or might not have turned his shoes the color they were.

   Dr. Locke seemed like the kind of man you would find in a retirement home out west. Heavy and long bearded, shrewd eyed and deft fingered. Almost like a squat, portly Merlin. A fitting likeness, in Spencer's opinion. The man was a medical wizard, and like a grandfather to Spencer himself.

   Locke hurriedly directed the trio into the adjoining room, peering at Spencer. "Where's the problem," the man demands, unable to see any traces of blood on the girl.

   Spencer takes time to compose his answer as he helps Olly set her on the bed before carefully answering with an explanation instead. "I don't think it's physical, sir. Olly said she told him of voices in her head."

   Locke looked briefly alarmed, an expression Spencer wasn't used to seeing on the man older than both her and Orias combined. Which, come to think of it, wasn't actually that old.

   Locke approached Lin like one might a poisonous snake, and a thought crossed Spencer's mind. Would Locke know what to do? He was used to bloody clothes and open wounds. Not rambling complaints of non-existent voices.

   Unfortunately, it seemed like Spencer might have been correct. Locke looked up at the concerned face of Olly, the careful, cultivated calm of
Spencer's own expression before stumbling over the words, "Leave her with me. I'll...I'll see if there's anything I can do."

   Olly looked as if he was about to protest but Spencer shook his head, subtly indicating the shaking and trembling black haired girl who had curled in on herself on the bed. Locke was her best hope for a remedy right now. Olly had to see that.

   Olly bit his lip, but nodded with a soft sigh. He would leave. Only because he saw no other choice. It was a risk for them to stay, even in this hidden room. Because while it might have been warded, it was only lightly so, and wouldn't block their scents for long.

   Spencer turned to leave and had almost reached the outside when he'd heard Olly's quiet words. He turned ever so slightly to catch them, and catch sight of his brother. Olly sat on the edge of the bed, green eyes glimmering with unconcealed worry as he watched Lin for a brief moment.

   "Dr. Locke will take care of you. He'll fix it. He's good with that kind of stuff. The human fix it stuff." Olly started up, but not before he hesitated. He leaned forward, and pressed a chaste kiss to Lin's forehead, out of sight of Locke, and what he must have thought was out of sight  of Spencer.

  Spencer's blood chilled in his veins. He'd failed. It was so much worse than he'd thought. So much worse.

   Because not only had Spencer failed to keep Lin from Olly for Olly's own protection physically, but he'd failed in keeping her away from him emotionally as well.

    Because Spencer knew that look. Knew it from the way Vi and Xavier stared at each other. Knew it from the way Orias used to look at Lili.

   His best friend was in love with the person who would herald his death.

                       Shit.