Welcome to Gaia! ::

The open air was a relief, and Wash took in several lungfuls as they wandered around the grounds. Despite the mermaid's apparent proclivity for water, they'd turned from the beach to instead stroll through the abandoned town, a fact made apparent by the buildings passing by, distant and looming monoliths in the dense fog.

At her comment about walking, he went to offer his arm, but froze when she quite candidly asked her next question. He gave her wide eyes, blowing out a long breath involuntarily. Well, they had never said he couldn't reveal this fact, had they?

"Yeah, I'm afraid so." And he was really afraid, his glance darting awkwardly to his feet, shame almost palpable. He was afraid to his toes, and not just for the safety of the children they'd incarcerated - afraid for himself. Had he really been doing the right thing all along? How could this be justified? They - the...creatures from that other world, they understood friendship. And family and- even love, if this girl's story was to be believed. Could he look his wife in the eye, after sentencing a young girl to a life of being a tool? Just an inanimate object?

It's not so bad, a voice said tremulously, and he realized something then, something he'd never really admitted to himself. Once, his weapon had been a young girl just like Amphi. She'd been a person, or as close as the strange creatures could be to one.

And he'd treated her like, well. Like a thing.

You don't have to apologize. It's only natural, she replied, but he could sense the bitterness under the forced cheer of that thought. Sure, maybe Sally had been ok with it, maybe it had even been her choice, he didn't know - but this girl, this Amphi...

Did you want to do it? He thought suddenly, almost panicked.

Yes. It was my choice. I'm alright with it, really. She paused a moment. It was a little scary, but nothing I couldn't handle, right?

Wash finally brought his eyes upward, dragging them uncomfortably from the safety of the ground. He met those baby blues of his walking companion, and shook his head. I don't think it would be her choice, Sally. I really don't. He remained silent, steeling himself for her outrage, or accusations of betrayal. He'd deserved it, even if he couldn't have been this frank in front of the watching lab techs. Hell, they were probably still observing him somehow out here. But Wash didn't care anymore. He was the one who had to be able to live with himself when the day was over- not anyone else.

And it had finally begun to dawn on him that maybe he wasn't one of the good guys, after all.

I won't see Roch again.

Wash nearly staggered, biting his lip and looking away to hide his own, mirrored pain.

I'll never see Denise again.

But, he acknowledged with great sorrow, that had been his choice. As much as he had come to regret it, he had chosen the path set before him. They had never given her that option, and this made him angrier than anything else. If they were supposed to rely on them as their partners, the only thing between them and death more times he'd care to admit, how the hell was kidnapping and torture going to sway them to their side?

Wash suspected that some of the leadership was, well, more or less a bunch of sadistic bastards, but this made him truly, righteously angry. It was almost refreshing, and possibly the strongest emotion he'd felt in a long time. There were some lines Washington Becker firmly believed should never be crossed. They couldn't do this - he couldn't let them do this. Even if it cost him his life.

The slow, simmering anger stirred memory, even as she asked about the abandoned town.

"I have wiped out many nations, devastating their fortress walls and towers. Their cities are now deserted; their streets are in silent ruin." It sounded like a quote, and it was. Wash remembered the day he'd dutifully memorized that passage for parochial school. It seemed so long ago now. The rest of the quote continued in his head, unbidden. But no; however much I punish them, they continue their evil practices from dawn till dusk and dusk till dawn. He sighed, closing his eyes and looking sightlessly into the clouds for an answer. Had he been wrong? About the hunters, about everything? He didn't know anymore - he just didn't know.

"To tell the truth miss, I'm not sure what happened here. We've had to fight monsters here before, though - shadowy creatures, not at all like you and your friends." And that's what I'd thought my job would be about, coming here. So simple. And so wrong.

He finally looked down at her. "Is it really weakening you to be here, this much?" Wash understood now why the lab techs were being so casual about their captives. They were so weakened they couldn't even fight back. The thought made him sick. They couldn't fight, and they couldn't escape. Was weaponization a fate worse than death? Or was it the same thing?

It depends on who you ask. The comment was not comforting, and he lapsed into another uncomfortable silence.

Wash's next words came out as more of a sigh. "A wife. And a son. Something bad happened back home, something that scared me so bad I thought it'd be better to come here, that I'd get superpowers, be able to save 'em all, yenknow? Keep it from happening ever again." He shook his head. He had been pretty naive. Perhaps he still was.

"A by-product? Funny, I think that's how some 'o us see you all. No offense meant, ma'am." He gave it due consideration, before continuing. "I mean, I guess we're like, food for you, right? The fear." And there were many thrill seekers in the world, those who loved to plumb the depths of chilling horror. Were they like cattle, to the Halloweeners? He'd always thought so before, but humans didn't talk to their food like she was talking to him now.

Despite the fact that he'd only been here a handful of months...Just talking to the insightful youth made him tired. Tired of the politics, the danger. Tired of fighting. The incident at home, well. Hadn't that been an isolated thing? He'd lived with the knowledge that monsters were real all his life, and although he'd been terrified, they'd never really hurt him. No, he hadn't been physically harmed until he'd tried fighting back. Until he became the aggressor.

It was an uncomfortable line of thought, and he was relieved when she changed the subject.

"Yeah, there were some o' those big bird things, but I think this place was abandoned long before that. I might even have somethin' to do with this God-awful fog." He then asked something, almost impulsively. "Do you believe in God, Miss Amphi?" Of course, she probably didn't. He wondered if they even had a sense of religion, over there. His own faith had become a delicate, shaken thing, lately - there hadn't been any scripture passages about demons having kids. The image of Amphi standing next to forked tailed devils whilst being lectured about being home by nine o'clock just seemed incredibly incongruous.

He winced at her admission of her youth - a twang of guilt twisting his gut- but at her question about mermaids, he had to stifle a laugh. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, ma'am, I hate to be the one to tell ya this, but, well. They have kid's movies about mermaids now." Wash added hastily, "Prolly not proper ones, mind you, just pretty girls with long flowing hair and clamshell bras and other such getup. Beautiful singing voices, that sort of thing."

Singing...huh. "Do mermaids really sing? I know yous said you wasn't on the swim team, but maybe your school has, like. Music class? Chorus?" Wash added, as an afterthought, "we don't get much into extracurricular around here, but our Jerry has a sort of music club. It's kinda nice to know some of us have talents that don't involve, well." Killing, he finished internally.

"No, no, I mean -" he tried to think of something comforting to say. "It wasn't you. Don't apologize. Can't hold you responsible for all the world's troubles." Is that what this was, really? Did it boil down to a lot of hate, misplaced blame? Bigotry lived off trauma, and it wouldn't surprise him if a lot of the things they'd believed up until now were just plain wrong. "I wish I could heal, that sounds like a super power to me. Healing anythin' is better than fighting. Any day." After all, he had joined up to protect people, not bring the fight to someone else's doorstep.

And they weren't meant to kill. That cemented something in Wash, confirmed some of his niggling suspicions. He let the words continue to wash over him. That was interesting- their world created by FEAR. He sort of knew that already, but put into this context... Had they created their own demons? A sobering thought.

He nodded at her mention of Poesidon. Sure, he vaguely recognized that from history courses over the years. He even chuckled at her reaction about the mermaid thing - until her admission that their numbers had lessened. That an innocent film could devastate a population, well, that was a little crazy. Maybe instead of fighting, the hunters should just start producing kid's movies. That drew out another guffaw, one he quickly choked back. Cael dressed as Donald Duck. It would certainly be fitting.

"Sailors are still pretty superstitious and all. It's us land-lovers that tend to turn everything silly," he said reassuringly.

Wash couldn't help but smile as she told him about their music club, and how she played the harp. Smart and talented. Her parents must be proud. And the mention of the other sports- that sounded an awful lot like their own high school athletics programs - was really something. Fuel for thought.

"Ha! I sing too, although I don't play anythin'. Was in choir since I was little." Wash's smile faltered a little at her mention of prom. They had prom? Well, he thought to himself. Prom WAS pretty terrifying, for a 17 year old kid.

"Prom, huh? Sounds a lot like when I was growing up." A lot of things about the girl reminded her of his own childhood.

Wash found himself shrugging at her comment, too. "Well, us hunters are supposed to be more about fightin', but some of our talents lie in, well." He wasn't sure how to put it without pissing off Sally, so he decided a picture might be worth a thousand words. Stepping a little ways away from Amphi, he summoned his 'weapon'. Sally formed on his arm, a welcome and surprisingly comforting weight. He didn't know it, but he'd come to rely on her alot as of late. She was his only company.

"See?" Wash showed her the gleaming shield, and imagined the runes that graced her surface glowed a little brighter today. He could almost hear her making a pleased hum in his head. "Not all of us have weapons meant to, well. Hurt people. And even the ones that do- they're not all bad. I think you'd like some of 'em, even."

He shifted so that Sally was on the arm opposite of the girl. He didn't want to frighten her- he honestly wasn't sure what the affect of seeing what she might become would be, but he imagined it might not be pleasant. Wash listened attentively to her tales about how FEAR worked, and her prom experience. Glitter bombs, eh? That must have been hell, the stuff never came out - a fact he well remembered from his wife's holiday decorations.

At her request, he grinned again- a big, warm and open smile. Sing? It was such a silly request, but also very sweet. He tried to think of an appropriate song- something light hearted and fun, but his mind kept going back to that movie. The Little Mermaid. Well, why not? He knew all of the songs by heart, as his little sister had given them a Blu-ray copy of the film for Denise's baby shower.

He took in a deep breath, and began to sing, slowly at first because he had to remember the lyrics, but as he went he got more confident, even adopting the ridiculous fake accent of Sebastian. His mind was elsewhere, however, as he sang the cheerful little diddy. A different world. In a well worn armchair, Daniel on his knee, he sang even as the toddler chuckled and clapped his hands, screaming incoherently for more.

"The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else's lake..."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess so..." He turned back to look at the labs, then glanced over his shoulder at the abandoned town wistfully.

He offered his his arm one final time, and then began the short walk back to the facility.