"Really?" Arelyn asked Val as they say in the Healing Center , "You would do that?"

Val shrugged, but Arelyn could tell she didn't really feel that casual, "Tam's great and all, but I still can't officially come back. The Neverseen could just be hiding, and I really don't want to have to deal with them, too."

"You're not a telepath, though. Who are you gonna get to do it? Fitz?"

"Forkle. I'm sure he'd be willing to help me out a bit more if he was ready to give up one of his hideouts for my safety."

Arelyn nodded and glanced around the room again. She already knew the room extremely well, but she always felt the fresh sorrow that came with the pictures of Sophie that Elwin had kept in the room. "She was always my best patient," Elwin explained when she asked, "Seems fitting to let the memory of her stay."

"Hey," Val's voice drew her eyes away from the pictures, "Don't blame yourself. You may not be as subject to guilt as the rest of us, but that doesn't mean you should live with it."

Arelyn smiled. She'd told Val about her mother, the dream, and pretty much anything else she could think of as soon as she could talk without her voice sounding hoarse. Val had helped her clear up a few things - like guaranteeing that she knew who her father was - but some things still didn't make a ton of sense. So, lately, Val had been coming every day to both check on her and to help her sort things out.

"So..." Arelyn started to break the silence, "You're gonna ask Forkle to wipe Tam's memories of all this? Starting when?"

Val sighed, "Probably around when you showed up here. I showed up shortly after, so it may be easier to just get rid of everything?" She shrugged, " I'm no telepath, so who knows?"

"What about Elwin? Will he need to forget about this, too?"

"As much as I hate to say it, he might. That, or he'll have to promise to never mention this happening for a few hundred years."

Arelyn looked at her shoulder. It was still bandaged, but she still felt like she saw the wrapping create the symbol of her former coworkers. "And Tam will still hate me," she mumbled, "Not that he ever liked me in the first place."

"Hey, cheer up! He'll still like you better than Keefe!"

Arelyn had to laugh. Apparently the feud between Tam and Keefe was still up and running. "Why did those two even start fighting in the first place?"

"I'm pretty sure it was because Keefe didn't let him read his shadow vapor. That, or he's just upset that he's not the only sarcastic one in the group."

"The second one sounds much more believable," Arelyn grinned for a moment before her smile fell again. "Why did he save me?" She whispered, "I mean, Hazel's the type of person to help anyone out, and so would Linh. But Tam, of anyone..."

Val smiled sheepishly, "Well, I may have kind of forced him to help you."

"With your mesmerizing ability?"

"No, no, no! Not that. I would never..." She glanced away, "Never on him. The only time I've used that ability in the last year or so was to help you."

" 'That ability '? You have another?"

Val nodded, "I'm a Froster. I usually use that ability to freeze over really bad injuries."

Arelyn forced a smirk, "That doesn't seem like the best medical help."

Val shrugged, "If it works, why not use it?"

"Well, how does Elwin feel about it?"

"Like she said, it works!" Elwin called from the other room.

"Wait, you've been listening the whole time?" Arelyn asked before Val could prove her point any further.

" ....No?"

"And you're ok with possibly needing to be washed?" Arelyn continued, ignoring his obvious lie.

Elwin stepped into the room and sighed, "Do I want to? No. I'd much rather just not say anything. But I will if I have to. "

Arelyn smiled, "Thanks, Elwin."

Elwin nodded, "I have one question though. Why do you have the Neverseen symbol engraved in your arm? It looked forced."

Arelyn laughed darkly, "I'm explaining this again, huh?" She looked back at Val, "You can leave, if you'd like. I don't want you... panicking again over me." It wasn't technically a lie. She just got the idea that Val didn't want Elwin to know about her "problem".

Val shook her head, "I'll manage."

Arelyn took a deep breath, "When I was... 15 maybe, I got a letter from the Neverseen trying to recruit me. At first, I refused, but then they threatened to hurt my half brother-"

"Wait. Half brother?" Elwin interrupted, "Were your parents a bad match, or something?"

"More like they weren't married when I was born and my mother couldn't take care of me, so she left me with my dad, who hid me from his wife."

" ...alright. Continue. "

"Well, they said something along the lines of 'We kidnapped your half brother. Join us unless you want him to get hurt.' Of course I wanted to protect him, so I agreed, and to remind me of deal a Phaser drew the symbol into my shoulder."

"A Phaser? As in one who can only phase certain parts of his body at a time?" Elwin's face had paled drastically.

"Um...yeah. You've... dealt with him?"

"You could say that." Val replied, rubbing her arm.

Arelyn's eyes narrowed, "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." Val reassured her.

"You're lying. What did he do?"

"It wasn't even that bad-"

"What. Did. He. Do?"

Val sighed, "It wasn't much worse than yours-"

"He hurt you." She felt her eyes well up with tears, "That was you, wasn't it?"

"What was me?"

"Gren," she spat out the name like it was poison, "was the first Neverseen member I met in person. Gisela wrote the letter, but I met him first. After he gave me that," she pointed to her shoulder, "He told me about someone else. Another person who was more 'fun to interrogate '. Then, to give an example, he... did this."
Slowly she turned her right arm over and managed to pull up the sleeve. Four circular shaped scars marked her arm. Quickly she his the marks on her arm before it hurt Val.

"He did that to you, too?" Val asked shakily, her hand wrapping around her abdomen.

"It was you." Arelyn clarified, anger seeping into her words.

"Arelyn, calm down!" Elwin told her, placing a hand on her good shoulder.

"It was long ago." Val added, " I'm fine, really. "

Arelyn nodded, but she wasn't entirely listening. Listen here, any Neverseen telepaths who could be spying on me. She thought as Elwin went back to the other room to grab more elixers, I never liked you. I spied on you. Sometimes I even tried to sabotage your plans. Was I a good double agent? No. Not in the slightest. But you hurt my friends. And that's technically my fault as well. But I swear to you, I will hunt you all down and get rid of you all of its the last thing I do.

Hey y'all, I'm back! I was going to try to publish this yesterday, but my parents turned on Agent Carter and I got distracted. Also, more about Gren and Val can be learned in Cheshire_SK's stories Balefire and Shatter Me. Go check them out!
Anyways, hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!