"So..." Tempest started, " Where exactly is this place again? "

"The Neutral Territories." Val explained, "Assuming you know who he is, Mr Forkle let me love in one of the old Black Swan hideouts. This is pretty much all that's left."

The two of them we're standing outside Val's shack. Tempest much preferred the air in the Lost Cities to that of the Forbidden Cities, but Val had told her that she preferred hanging around the forests there, along with a few other things. Surprisingly, even though they didn't agree on a lot, they got along well.

"Ah yes. Mr Forkle. The king of faking deaths..." Tempest muttered.

"Or not fighting." Val pointed out, "I don't remember him ever fighting the Neverseen. At least not in person."

"Yeah, I think I'd remember that. After all, Forkle was supposedly killed at the Peace Summit. If he showed up in a fight, that would probably make them freak out."

"But even before that. He never fought the Neverseen when Sophie and Dex were kidnapped, just left them on the streets in Paris. Then, after he fixed Sophie's abilities, he didn't fight any of the people who showed up to get rid of Silveny."

"Then there's the ability restrictor he did nothing about," Tempest added, "He didn't stop Keefe from running away, or help Sophie, Fitz, and Tam when they went through the mirror, or help when Atlantis started flooding, or literally anything else."

"How'd you learn about all that?" Val asked.

" ...the ability restrictor was told to everyone. It wasn't a secret. And nor was Atlantis flooding."

"Yeah, but not many people knew about the mirror. I don't know if it's 'classified' or whatever, but I haven't heard a lot being told about it."

" ...I guess I'm special. "

"You're not the only special one. Spill."

Tempest sighed, "I don't think you want that."

"Why not? I've probably done worse than you. Just tell me."

"You'll hate me."

"You sound like Keefe."

"Then he was right about some stuff, I guess."

Val crossed her arms, "I could make you tell me."

Tempest shook her head, " I swore I wouldn't tell. I've already bent those rules to far."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Let's see. How much do you know about Greek mythology?"

Val sighed, "Point taken. Still, can you, like, show me?"

"Show you?"

"Something like that. Or only tell me a small bit of it. I don't care. I just want to know how you know so much."

Tempest rubbed her shoulder, "That'll probably make things worse."

"Can you just show me? Tell me? Whatever! You're making it worse than it needs to be."

"I'd rather not...."

"I could make you."

Tempest smirked, "Yeah right."

Val frowned, "Are you questioning my ability?"

"No, I'm questioning your will. I mean, considering your situation, I'm guess you don't want to use your ability on people."

"My situ- how do you know about that?!?"

Tempest sighed, "Yeah... I walked right into that." She met Val's confused and frustrated gaze, "You're sure you want to know?" When Val nodded, she sighed again, "Alright."

Hesitantly, she took off the cape Val had let her borrow and rolled her left sleeve up to her shoulder. By the way Val froze, she knew she'd been right. Of course, she couldn't blame her. If she saw the symbol of the Neverseen branded into someone's arm, she would freak out too.

Tempest didn't like the Neverseen. In fact, after she'd learned her brother was safe, she'd wanted to join the Black Swan. Unfortunately, her plan had been predicted, and Gisela sent someone to "help her pledge loyalty to the Neverseen" . It didn't turn out well for anyone, and it also resulted in the symbol being drawn into her shoulder by a weirdly-talented phaser. Not because she was loyal to the Neverseen, but because it was a way for them to remind her they could hurt anyone, including her brother, with ease. Remembering its existence just made her more upset.

As Val stumbled back, Tempest quickly covered the mark on her shoulder again and grabbed her shoulders, "Hey, you ok?"

It took Val a while to reply. "How... How long were you with them?"

"Longer than I wanted to be. But, if you wanted me to be specific, I joined shortly after Keefe joined and left almost a month ago."

"And you knew about those fights..."

"Because I was there. Alvar would keep me hidden, and if he had to do something I would wait for everyone to be distracted before hiding somewhere else. And I tried to discreetly help Sophie and the others, but eventually it started getting too obvious."

"You're not with them any more though."

" Correct. " she let go of Val and started walking back towards her shack, "This is why I don't show people. They start asking questions."

" Tempest! " Val called, causing Tempest to turn around.

"Yes?"

"Did this break your promise?"

Tempest thought for a bit, "I don't think so. I just swore not to tell anyone what group ideas a part of. Instead, I showed you and you figured it out. So... Maybe. Anything else?"

Val paused for a momento"...You were with the Neverseen, and still risked your life for Sophie... Thank you."

Tempest smiled, "Just... Just doing my job."

___________________

"Are you sure I can't help you any more?" Val asked.

Tempest sighed, "For the last time: I just need to get to California."

Val shrugged, "Well, if you're positive..." She put her blue pathfinder to the light, "Good luck."

Tempest smiled, "Luck is overrated. Bad luck is much more fun."

Val rolled her eyes, but she kept her smile, "That attitude is going to kill you."

" Funny. That's the... 8th time I've been told that! Surprisingly, though, I'm not dead yet. "

"Common trend, then?"

" More like an 'outstanding attribute ', but that works too. "

Val rolled her eyes again, "Still, be careful."

Tempest laughed, "No promises!"

Before Val could reply, Tempest waved and stepped into the beam of light made by the pathfinder. I'm getting closer. I can't wait for this journey to be over.

I'm back! So, I just kinda wanted to say that that whole rant about Forkle not actually doing anything is my actual opinion. I'm not going to go into detail, since that'd be a whole extra chapters worth of writing, but I do feel like Forkle has been hiding from fights for basically the entire series. Anyways, hope you liked it, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!