Back on Earth (Portland Faction)

[Casey]

Arthur’s eyes widened slightly as the gun pressed under his chin. After the shock the playful persona melted away as he drew his own gun and pressed it into Aiden’s neck. He knew he’d be able to pull the trigger faster and the spot to hit so Aiden’s body would relax instead of tense. If Aiden did magically get a shot off he’d be just as dead.

“Discounting that hunt with the witch in Tulsa, people don’t change overnight. Yesterday was November 14th 2020, what was it for you?” He asked narrowing his eyes at Aiden, “Be careful boy, your temper is what got you killed last time around.”

Some of the humor returned to his voice and he added, “Yeah never did act on those pesky feelings. Was to afraid she’d kick my ass.”

“Go ahead and look in the box if you’d like,” he pressed the gun harder into Aiden’s throat as if he was daring him to make a move, “Got more beer and ‘faked’ photos. Especially one with Yuki strumming that acoustic of hers’. Teagan at her parent’s house in Seattle. Or maybe the one that we took were Aiden here scattered Mal’s ashes. Fun times.”

[Aiden]

Finally, in the brief few minutes that this had been going on, some leverage had been gained. Aiden's move had been unexpected, and now he had Art right where he wanted--in a position that was threatening enough to get some answers. The modern pistol was flat beneath Art's chin, and just when Aiden thought things were now going in their favor, he felt cold metal on the side of his neck as well. He glared at his opponent for a few seconds before cursing quietly, and slowly pulling back his gun. If this was indeed Art, then he would allow Aiden to withdraw without shooting him...hopefully. He heard Teagan gasp behind him, and he could only assume she'd been looking at the picture. And as Aiden stood there longer and longer...he was getting the sense that this was all real, in very much a sickening way.

Art's next words made Aiden's heart jump into his throat. He blinked a few times, after having taken a few steps back, and then glanced back at Teagan and Yuki, his face surely just as confused as theirs. He turned back, staring at Art a second longer before answering. "Yesterday...yesterday was September 15, 2009. We...we jumped eleven years? Was that what that light--" Aiden stopped himself as the weight of what Art had said hit him full force. "What?" he managed to get out in barely a whisper. "What do...what do you mean got me killed?"

He ignored the rest of what was said, Aiden stood nimbly by, his arms going slack, the pistol losing its target. He felt...cold, confused. The idea that he would be killed...by something as stupid as his temper....his eyes zoned out, his gaze fell to the dusty floor in front of him. Finally, he stowed the gun in his waistband, looked at Art, his face solemn. "Art...sorry," he finally mustered. It was a big change, but he'd caught the words Mal and ashes, something he still had in his room. He still wasn't at the point to spread them somewhere. And if they were in the future...he'd heard about these sort of things from other hunters. "Look, we...wrong place, wrong time. But...if we're dead...or rather...if I'm dead...what happened?" His voice was quiet, concerned...maybe a hint of fear as well, though he would deny that.

[Teagan]

November 14th, 2020? Teagan shot a look of disbelief in Yuki’s direction. Impossible! Time travel didn’t exist! Her eyes quickly searched the room, landing on a faded newspaper in the corner. Ignoring the gun faceoff to her left, she rushed to pick it up. “Art” wouldn’t aim a gun at her with two aimed at him, so she flipped to the front page and hesitantly checked the date. “That’s not possible!”

A realization dawned on her, and Teagan’s face grew ashen. Didn’t she think those same thoughts three months back when she had first met Arthur Rook? Except the subject examined happened to be the supernatural, of which she now hunted full time. Alarmed, her eyes met Aiden’s, calculating exactly what this information meant.

Art actually had feelings for her? She had only known him a week! What the heck? And Aiden’s anger resulted in his death? The cause wasn’t surprising on her end, but the fact that in this future he was dead shocked Teagan to the core. No! Aiden could handle anything! Her stomach felt like someone had used her as a punching bag. The future didn’t seem like so bright a place anymore. If Aiden was dead, Art smoked, drank and could kill a demon on demand, what had happened to cause that? Teagan suddenly remembered the first thing Art had said after they head appeared. ”That wasn’t supposed to be able to get in. Neither are ghosts for that matter.”

Ghosts. As in, more than one. Teagan dropped the newspaper in her hands
and waited for the boy’s response to Aiden’s question as it silently drifted to the dusty floor.

[Yuki]

Yuki was convinced that the man...or whatever it was, was completely insane. He was implying that they had been teleported approximately nineteen years and two months into the future. So he was supposed to be Arthur in nine years? Even if that were true...calculating from Teagan's age of eighteen, assuming he is around her age, that would make him twenty-seven years old. Well..the man did look around that age. Still, that did not make him Arthur Rook. It still could have been a creature--a shapeshifter, perhaps--disguising himself as on older man, and then trying to trick them into believe he was their friend.

She sensed that Aiden and Teagan believed him, as they each fell into their own state of shock. Yuki looked at them impatiently. How could they believe him? He had obviously set them up for this. It was simply impossible, even in a world where supernatural beings existed! They had been on an ordinary hunt, trying to kill an ordinary demon. It was not a being which could use teleport people years into the future or create hallucinations to make them believe so. In addition, "Arthur" had not provided any substantial evidence. Spouting lies such as that about Aiden's death, foolish creature, as if he expected them to really believe--

Yuki's heart momentarily stopped as the man continued talking. "Especially one with Yuki strumming that acoustic of hers."

...How did he..? How could he...she didn't know him, he didn't know her...there was no way...he...he just couldn't know, no one knew about that...and no one was supposed to know.

Yuki gave him an icy scowl and stepped closer to him with her gun, warning him not to speak further of the matter. Wait, but if he knew...then... Yuki blinked in surprise, the gravity of his words sinking in. She stared blankly at him, the grip on her weapon loosening. It couldn't be...

"Maa nante koto nanda," she whispered, as her arms dropped to her side in disbelief. It couldn't be true. A surge of thoughts and questions invaded her mind. This meant...Aiden had died, and it was his temper that had gotten him killed. What had happened? Why had Arthur changed so much? ...Had Teagan died as well? Was Yuki herself alive? Yuki stood with her arms limp. She felt numbed by the information. More important than anything that had occurred within those nine years, one single thought concerned her even more: how were they going to get back to their time?

As she thought this, Aiden finally spoke and asked...Arthur... the question she was sure was on all the minds of the three hunters. Breathing deeply to calm herself down, she listened intently with both curiousity and alarm for what the response would be.

[Casey]

Arthur let Aiden back away but kept a wary eye on him. It must have been over whelming for him, all of them, to find out they were in the future. He wasn’t overjoyed either but at least he was keeping it together. Then he remember these weren’t the faction mates he had come to know. Teagan was a child practically, Aiden wasn’t nearly as depressed, and Yuki…well Yuki was about the same.

“You lasted the longest out of us,” Arthur lowered his gun and turned off the lamp, “It was your blood condition that started it but,” he sighed, “you could say technically say I killed you at the end of it all.”

Arthur hung his head at the memories and rubbed his eyes. He took a deep breath, “You chased Ariel and finally killed her dead but something in you snapped after you did.”

“You slipped into a coma dude.” He was quiet for a good minute before finishing, “After nine months and no promise of you waking up I told the doctors to pull the plug”.

“No one’s called me Art for a while now,” he said half to himself.

[Aiden]

This was no longer about the identity of the man in front of them, that, now that they knew, did look a bit like Deacon in his own way. No, now this was about his death, and the fact that in eleven short years, probably before that long, Aiden would be dead. It wasn't everyday that you were teleported into the future and you learned that you no longer existed, though that made it easier not to mess with the time flow and all that jargon. Still, it was all very Twilight Zone, and there was this feeling inside of his stomach that told him Art spoke the truth, that he might be rotting somewhere in the ground if someone wasn't smart enough to cremate him as should happen to any dignified hunter. Nine years...such a long span of time now seemed so short, but then again, it felt like yesterday when Malcolm saved him eight years, almost nine years ago.

Finally, Art began speaking, and Aiden hung on every word. He lasted the longest...Yuki and Teagan were dead. He failed them as a faction leader, protecting them and giving them the things they needed to survive. His stomach sank lower at the thought. But his mind kept right on the words, listening carefully. Blood condition? Aiden didn't have one. What kind of blood condition would take so long to arise? He couldn't deny it, for if this really was the future, that meant he did indeed have one. But what was it? Before he could ask, Art continued on. By a technicality, Art killed him...because he chased after Ariel.

In nine years, that bitch was still alive. He recalled his most recent run in with her, his blood boiling at the memory. She was responsible for the death of Malcolm, she ruined his life. You've no idea what you're in for she had said...suddenly he felt a wave of revulsion, he wanted to remove everything that was inside of him. He chased after Ariel, snapped, due to a blood condition. Was Art seriously getting at...No way. No. He felt sick, and his eyes locked on Art's, as if a silent consensus had been made, a confirmation. Ariel brought out....demon blood in Aiden? Suddenly the coma he had played off as the result of some battle was something different. Would Aiden go full blown demon, and stop himself from hurting the others? Would they even be alive to see that?

"Please...please tell me your lying," he said, in barely a whisper. It was all making sense: the temper, those strange incidents that had been happening over the past month or so. "Arthur, tell me you're lying," he said again, this time louder. "That can't be true. It can't."

[Teagan]

So that was it then? Everyone had died? Her heart threatened to burst from her chest. No, it couldn’t be. They had trained. They had researched everything and could recite any incantation by heart. But... all for nothing? An uncontrollable fear paralyzed Teagan. The terror of her nightmares and the fears that haunted her every night for the past month were true and bigger than she had imagined. They died. All of them. Aiden, Yuki, and Teagan.

Teagan could tell from his unnaturally pale face that Aiden hadn’t taken the news well. Not that she blamed him. She briefly pondered who Ariel was, and how she had so much control over him that even after her death she still wreaked havoc in his life. His response was stuttered, reflecting an internal confliction.

”No one’s called me Art for awhile now…”

She bitterly assumed that Deacon and Jefferson must have passed as well. The weight of the news nearly knocked Teagan to the ground in disbelief, until Art muttered that last phrase and she realized they had all missed one important fact: Art was the only one left. One by one, he had watched all of his teammates fall until he stood alone. The cigarettes and drinking-they all made sense. Who could cope with all of that loss and walk away unaffected? Certainly not him, the socially-awkward kid they’d left back in Keystone who could barely stand up for himself without flustering.

Anger and sympathy tore at her heart. No one should have to live through that! Before she realized what she was doing, the girl flew at Art and wrapped her arms around his waist, enveloping him in a hug.

[Yuki]

As Yuki listened to Arthur's response, certain words stood out from the rest, and she took them in steadily, feeling slightly dizzied by the significance of the information.

"You lasted the longest..."

He had directed that towards Aiden. Which meant that everyone, herself included, had died. Yuki didn't know how to feel about any of it. She knew death was a natural process and that all things living must eventually cease to exist; it was just a cyclical process of the earth. She wasn't afraid to die, no--she was afraid of dying without any purpose, without any honor, or without having accomplished anything worthwhile. And so, she didn't exactly welcome the news with open arms. All she knew was that she didn't want to die at that young of an age, she wanted to continue breathing, continue defending, continue searching, continue living.

Her train of thought was interrupted periodically with Arthur's words. Blood condition. I killed you. Ariel. Finally killed her. Something snapped. Coma. Pulled the plug.

What blood condition was he referring to? How could Aiden’s “blood condition”kill him? Why did Arthur have to kill him? Did he have a disease that was contagious? And Ariel...who was Ariel? Why was Arthur speaking as if Aiden knew of this person already "Finally killed her..."Finally? How long had it taken Aiden in the future to defeat her? And why did he want to kill her? Was she a demon? Possibly. But Yuki sensed Ariel was more than just another supernatural being. She had, by association, indirectly caused Aiden’s death, because after he had killed her, he...snapped? He fell into a coma. How was that possible? Why had that happened?

The theories ran through Yuki's mind so much she felt light-headed. They were in the future. They had to be. As counter-intuitive as it was for her to believe, she knew time traveling would explain her doubts. But she wished they didn't. It was obvious that this future held little for her or the other two hunters. Aiden and Teagan looked devastated by the news. Yuki wasn't sure what to think, all she knew was that there was a suffocating weight pressing down on her lungs, causing her limbs to feel light and weak. Aiden demanded for Arthur to tell him everything he had said was a lie. Yuki looked away, knowing well that this was the truth. This was reality.

Suddenly, Teagan embraced Arthur, and Yuki turned her head quickly, both alarmed by the girl's quick reaction and moved by the actual action. She felt pity towards Arthur, no one should have to go through that many deaths, only to end up alone. Looking down at the floor, she bit her lip. She had dozens of question she wanted to ask, but a lump at her throat blocked them from being spoken.

With an uneasy lock on Arthur's eyes, Yuki asked the first question that she was able to--a difficult one, nonetheless, for it weighed heavily on her mind.

"Arthur...how did the Yuki in this time plane die?"

[Casey]

Arthur opened his mouth when suddenly he felt something around his waist. His eyes widened and his first instinct was to get whatever it was away from him. Looking down he saw Teagan and his whole body relaxed. He pulled her closer with one strong arm and set his chin on her head and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. It was selfish but he thought he’d never be able to hug his teenage friend again for years. While Teagan had never become anything more than that they had always been each other’s confidants and allies. He’d missed her but somehow having her this close just made him miss her more.

Keeping his arm securely around Teagan’s shoulders Arthur opened his eyes and looked at Aiden, “Why would I lie? Ain’t much more serious than death. I’m sure I have the hospital records somewhere around here if you wanna see.”

He loosened his grip on Teagan slightly so that she knew she could leave if she wanted to. His lips turned up a bit at Yuki’s question. This plane she had said. Heck that was part of the reason he was so loose with everything he was saying. The fact they were here meant they changed the past. If this had happened before they would have said something. Aiden would have fought to stop everyone’s death’s but he’d been just as shocked as everyone else at the news.

“You moved to start the Tennessee faction after,” He stopped himself and glanced down, involuntarily gripping Teagan’s shoulder like she would disappear, “anyway you and your faction got on the bad side of a demon. The very bad side. You were getting them to escape it’s latest attempt to, ya know, kill everyone. You got them out but,” Arthur’s face grew dark and he looked away, “that bastard locked blocked the door so you were trapped with the demon. He said he was protecting everyone since the demon was only after you. Aiden had a long talk with him. Simplicity and I shared a few words as well.” The way he stressed talk and words made it apparent that he was thinly veiling what actually became of the mutinous faction member.

[Teagan]

When Art stiffened at her embrace, she wondered briefly if she had acted too impulsively. In retrospect, approaching someone who had wielded a gun aimed at her teammate’s head a moment earlier wasn’t the brightest ide-suddenly he relaxed and drew her closer to him. The intensity of Art’s response surprised Teagan. She found herself nearly crushed into him, a very strong arm locking her into place. Catching a whiff of smoke lingering on his shirt, she didn’t protest when he answered Aiden and Yuki without letting her go.

A mutinous faction member? Teagan frowned in disgust. No way would she ever expect either of her faction mates to pull something like that. Factions consisted of people you could trust, and in a world where anyone could be a demon or other creature, it was a luxury. To betray that…Teagan could vividly image what exactly Aiden, Art, and…Simplicity –who was that and was there any relation to this Ariel? - talked about.

Wait-but shouldn’t she have been there too? Teagan knew for certain that if anything happened to Yuki, she and Aiden wouldn’t rest until the terror no longer polluted the air with its breathe. Why hadn’t she been there? Unless another prank went wrong, she had gone first.

She stepped away from Art so that she could look him in the eye. “You didn’t mention me helping you and Aiden. I…I died before that, didn’t I?” A sinking feeling in her stomach told her she already knew the answer.

[Yuki]

Betrayed? Yuki stared back blankly at Arthur. How could she have let someone into her faction who would betray her in that manner? Surely she would have had more of a sense of judgement. Pathetic. Though she somewhat understood the reasoning behind the actions of this so-called "mutinous faction member," she would have killed the demon before it hurt anyone. She would have lured it away and exorcised it. She would never have let anyone around her, especially members as important as that of her own faction, be killed because of her.

Yuki bit her lip in thought. In this future, she had started her own faction. If hunters were needed across the nation, it must've meant that matters concerning the supernatural only worsened as time went on. She wondered why that may have occured, and what on earth she had done to anger the demon that had wanted to kill her. In the end, it had accomplished its goal. Yuki hoped that at the very least, she had vanquished the filthy creature before she ceased to exist. And after...Arthur and Aiden had killed the faction member? Rightly so, she would hope that such a dangerous threat to humanity was wiped off the face of this planet. But...where had Teagan been?

A moment after Arthur finished, Teagan asked the same question, and arrived to the same assumed conclusion--the girl had died before her. Yuki looked over at Arthur, whose arms were locked around Teagan. The girl appeared scared. Arthur...he had been there to experience everyone's death. He must've felt devasted by the loss of so many people, and Yuki imagined that retelling each story was not a pleasant one. Without a word, she nodded, showing she understood how she had died, and continued to listen to the man in front of her.

[Aiden]

His mind vaguely retained the information that kept coming, it was stuck on his revelation. Did he really have demon blood in him? How was that even possible? Wouldn't Malcolm or Jefferson have told him this when they were bringing him into the world of hunting...or did they not know? How could he even test himself and see if he did? Still, there were too many things that started clicking, like the incidents when he was chasing after Ariel, where he played it off as bouts of strength and adrenaline. No one could do that naturally. His eyes scanned the open air, his mouth slightly agape as Art told him that he wasn't lying. The girls hadn't gotten the hint, it was only Art and Aiden that knew now...but how long into the future would it be before things got worse?

Another part of his brain was screaming at him about the whole Ariel thing. So far, Aiden's past had remained untold to Yuki and Teagan, but now, surely with his reaction, they would ask who this person was. Aiden knew he had to start preparing himself for telling a story that always bothered him, even with his rough exterior, this could always strike a nerve inside of him. How would they take it? He didn't want their pity, that was for sure, though he knew thats what he would get.

He perked up at the story about Yuki's death, and even then, without having experienced it, he felt anger bubble up inside of him. A mutinous faction member? Damn right Aiden would "talk" to him. Yuki and Teagan meant more to him than they probably realized, not to mention they were causing Aiden to find out who he really was, in a way. He was refining himself, and they were the cause for that, in a good way. He knew that knowing this now, he would try and prevent that in the future should Tennessee still be created.

Of course Teagan wanted to know how she went out, she was the only one left, and as she stood there in Art's grasp, Aiden couldn't help but feel a little frustrated as he was brought back into the moment. "Look, guys, we need to figure out how we got here, and what's going on. Art, why are you holed up in here anyway? What happened on the outside in those eleven years?"

[Casey]

“Like we would have let you help,” Arthur half kidded. Teagan had been the little sister of Portland, the closest they had to innocent, even if she was an imp. No, they would have rather locked her in the trunk then get a hit in on the a-hole that got Yuki killed. Only reason they didn’t lock up Simplicity was that she’d rip the trunk open.

“Had to ask, didn’t ya?” he said with a weak smile, “Yeah, about three months before Yuki. You’d moved to San Diego, only got to visit you once or twice there. While you never said it you headed the faction there,” he paused again as he moved into the darker details, “A coven was trying to raise something and using children as sacrifices. You interrupted the witches as the others got the kids out. Someone caught on to what you were doing but it was too late, the kids were safe and the time window closed.”

He gentle set his hand under her chin and raised it slightly so she had to look him in the eyes, “You saved them Teagan, you saved everyone.”

Arthur let his weathered hand drop back to his side and looked over at Aiden.
“Always the one to get back on topic,” the smirk reappeared on his face, “I’ll tell ya, but you won’t like it.”

He walked over to the window and checked through the slits in the boards. The sky was an eerie blood red, just as it had been for a while now. Once he was sure there was nothing around he walked back to the group.

“The good news is at the end of it all we won,” Arthur pulled up a chair and sat backwards in it. He noticed his last cigarette had been abandoned so he grabbed another from his jacket on the table. Inhaling the smoke he started in on the story, “What we won, I’m not sure I want it. Hell on earth for years and then we, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, drove them back down. Most of them anyway. Still got plenty reeking havoc. Plenty of them would want to rip my head off, I can tell you that. Even without the demons, you got the ghosts from the dead, the monster that took advantage of the distraction, vamps are back in force, Twilight didn’t help with that one. Werewolves are as common as blue eyes, kinda gave up on hunting them. Some of the shifters teamed up with us toward the end with the weres. Aren’t as picky about allies in these times. Anyways, it’s the humans you need to look out for the most.” Arthur let the last part trail off.

“I’m holed up because public appearances aren’t a good idea.”

“I got a couple ideas about how you got here but we need the sun to set before I can test them,” he leaned back, “So any more questions? Lottery numbers? Play off winners?”

[Teagan]

Teagan listened closer to Art’s words than she had ever done anywhere else in her life. The past few weeks, death and the fear of dying had been her closest companions, daily infiltrating her thoughts. Of course if she could find out how she died, she would want to. That way she could stop worrying about it until a day she could prevent it. And get the first full nights rest in weeks.

She held her breath and unconsciously tensed as he began. San Diego? She headed a faction in San Diego? A small trickle of pride appeared. So Teagan wouldn’t always be such a screw up…and knew more than someone else on a subject she was currently flunking. Her thoughts snapped back to Art, noting the change in tone. Predictable. She pissed off one of the most easily angered antagonists in the supernatural realm. Her gaze fell as she waited for the story to continue. How had she lost the fight? Did the coven use hex bags or another form of their voodoo to subdue her?

Art gently lifted her chin, forcing her to reluctantly make eye contact, and reminded her exactly of the one thing she hadn’t thought of. The job of the Hunter focused on ridding the world of evil and saving lives. Teagan had been so caught up in focusing on how she died that the thought of why had never crossed her mind. If she could save one life, death would be worth it. A small burden lifted from her shoulders. She hadn’t saved just one; she’d saved more…and kids, at that.

The lone hunter took a seat with another cigarette after checking the window and revealed the state of what sounded like an apocalyptic world. How could they consider this a fight won? If Teagan knew anything, werewolves waltzing down the street were generally a bad thing.

“What’s wrong with the humans?” Teagan asked when given the chance, subconsciously rubbing her arm. If creatures were as abundant as Art described, humanity’s numbers had to have dwindled. The question was how far they had fallen.

[Yuki]

As she listened to Arthur, Yuki felt something--anger or resentment, she wasn't sure exactly which--escalate in her. Why hadn't they prevented Teagan from dying? Why hadn't they protected her? Why hadn't they protected each other? Why had she failed to defend her teammates?Even if they were alive at this moment, the ones of this future, the ones in the future of the Arthur before her, were dead.

She looked away at the end of Arthur's tale. It had been a month and half or so since she and Aiden had found Teagan after being nearly killed by a shtriga. Yuki felt as if everything had been in vain--rescuing Teagan, defeating the beings they had hunted, defending the innocent. Were there efforts wasted? In the end, it was as if none of it had mattered. The world was terrorized by the supernatural. Had none of their feats made a difference in the future? The planet now appeared much more unsafe, dangerous even.

But...why? There had to be a trigger. Yuki had never heard of an influx appearance of the supernatural, especially to such a degree which caused the uprising of so many factions and the deaths of several hunters. She was about to ask Arthur what the catalyst to the situation had been, but Teagan voiced the same question as her. Though spoken in a much less verbally adequate manner, it captured the same basic concept.

And then there was the matter of why they were there. I got a couple ideas about how you got here, but we need the sun to set before I can test them.” That was what Arthur had said. It was much too vague. Mendokusai, she thought to herself. The entire situation didn't make sense. She wanted to know what had caused the appearance of so many supernatural creatures. She wanted to ask Aiden who Ariel was. She wanted to ask know how Arthur had managed to stay alive for so long. She wanted to know they had been transported to the future, and more importantly, how to get back.

"Though I am unsure whether you mean that metaphorically or literally, what ideas do you refer to?" Yuki asked Arthur impatiently.