Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was almost clockwork, now, as fast - if not faster - than using a key. The tools slid through the lock, and click, it was no longer locked. His face was drawn, worn with knowledge he couldn't share and a loneliness he couldn't shake, even with two gorgeous men in his life. The door gave way, as it had before, and he let himself in, eyes downcast as he turned to lock it once more.

Lucas carried a fresh bouquet of flowers - the brightest and richest he could find, like Autumn herself - and a small package of fresh fish for the lady Rosalinde. He hadn't been asked to come, and insofar as he knew, Autumn had let him go and...he was trying to return the favor. He just...didn't want it to be over, like this. He didn't want her gone.

He exhaled, shoulders slumped, and turned around.

The bouquet dropped, the fish package following suit, bouncing harmlessly by his feet. Lucas found himself staring in disbelief, his brows furrowed and lifted over eyes that would give meaning to the term 'kicked puppy,' thinking, this was it -- this was the madness. It was setting in and he was hallucinating seeing his friend and maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he could see her, maybe madness was a welcome --

But she cried out, and startled his heart back into beating, forced air back into his lungs, just in time for her to collide with him.

She was real. In his arms, and she was REAL--

Lucas uttered a strangled cry in return, arms twining tight and immediate around her, holding his friend so close and dear that they'd probably both ache with the effort but he was unable to do any less. His vision swam and became unfocused as his eyes filled with tears, the likes of wish fell unabashedly from his long lashes. "Autumn?!" he croaked, constantly rearranging how he was holding her as though to make sure she was real and whole. "Jesus ******** -- you're here? You're back? Oh my <******** god Princess--!"

He hiccuped, and finally settled in having his arms fully supported around her back, face nestled in her hair and pressing a kiss to her temple. "No, no no, I -- I wont -- accept -- apologies, you're -- I thought you were -- dead -- " it was hard to speak through his tears and relief, " -- ******** -- missed you so much -- are -- are you OKAY? Are you -- ********. ********." The last word was said weakly, wide eyed and unblinking as if it might all just disappear and he'd be left alone again.

He listened because there was nothing else he could do, other than crying his eyes out uselessly. Thorne had been involved - which was bad ******** news, it seemed he hadn't escaped after all - and he'd have to check on him. But as she spun her tale, told him about the fae - the trick of the name - something came over him. Lucas' expression went from relief to confusion, and on the heels of that, a dread that left his stomach feeling hollow.

"Princess," his voice was quiet, raw with tears but frayed with something more. "Princess, I think -- I think I might be in trouble."

Swallowing hard, he took her hand and lead her to the couch, sitting down and taking both of her hands. His own - even the prosthetic - had a fine tremor.

And he opened the floodgates and told her everything. The aches, the appearance of Lady, the transformation in his hand. Autumn's disappearance, Zac trying to help him, his 'memories' coming that weren't real, that there were more than him - Eve to be named. That Aleksy had called him a wolf. That Lady had called him a werewolf, said they were all just pawns of The Enemy. And that he had...said The Enemy out loud to her. He didn't know if just saying the name was enough, and by the tightness at the corners of his eyes, there was a likelihood that he believed it to be so.

By the time he was done, his hands were shaking in earnest, the reality of this actually happening becoming too much. His throat was dried and he looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Princess," he said softly, almost faintly, "on a scale of harmless mistake to 'please chain me up in that hellhole and never let me free,' how ******** am I?"

He watched her with the face of a man who knew well he'd ******** up horribly. Lucas couldn't have dared to guess what it all meant, what was happening, especially when her clothes came flying off, but he felt like he didn't deserve to ask. It was a fumbling catch of the salve thrown at him, obediently folding his sleeves up and doing as he was instructed. "My -- my prosthetics, too?" he asked, almost meekly. This was more than he could rationalize, and he was falling back into soldier mode: when told to jump, only ask how high.

"If it has me," he said, standing up to follow her, smelling of whatever was in the stuff he'd spread on his skin and false bits alike, "you promise me you'll take me there and you'll leave me somewhere I can't be found."

He paused. "That, or you'll take me home. I have a service gun." Lucas felt his throat tighten, his skin flushed. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. I wont be the lynch pin that makes everything you've been through...for nothing."

But he was following, because he was more lost than he began, wishing he could tell two certain people he was sorry he ******** up so bad.

Lucas was beginning to wonder if he should say his good byes, but Autumn snapped at him and he winced, nodding his understanding. He fumbled for his phone, and started to tap out a text to Eve, but stopped. What was he supposed to say? As they all but traversed over the expanse of Ashdown, he had time to think, but still no answers. And he was running out of time.

"If I don't come back, make sure to -- get in touch with Eve? Her card is at my place, by the telephone, if you don't know her..." He knew the women would figure out what was good and right. God, how did he ******** this up so badly? His pursuit of answers, obviously. Aleksy had warned him the place would kill him if he tried to make sense of it. Maybe he wasn't wrong, after all.

Thorne was already involved. Rylan...didn't need to be. It was enough.

He smiled at her, a sad expression full of apology as he extended his prosthetic hand to her. If something happened -- at least that arm could be dislodged and removed easier than the real one. Lucas wanted to spare her any more torture, and here they were...

"I'm sorry...for everything." Just in case. It needed to be said.

Autumn's house was strange in the otherworld. It was cool, light, airy--grey flowers swayed gently with an imperceptible breeze--and outside, rain fell thick and fast. Occasionally lightning flashed across the sky. Yet for all the sky's melodrama, it was bright as a cool spring day inside the otherworld answer to Autumn's home.

(Peace,) something whispers. (Peaceful. This is what you wanted. A peaceful quiet life.)

(peace)

Something THUDs against the exterior door. That something thuds again, and again, and again--grabs the doorknob and shakes it--and then it says, "please let me in. Please. Please."

And he was there. Lucas looked around the place he'd heard so much of. He was there. It was almost peaceful, the desaturated colors and rain almost soothing --

-- peaceful.

The pounding made him physically jump, wide eyes finding Autumn, remembering why they were there. He was still in possession of his faculties and Autumn wasn't swinging the bat at him, so that -- that was good, right?

He drew in a sharp breath, putting a hand on Autumn's shoulder, just letting her know he was there. She had the bat, she knew this place - he was a stranger, and while he wanted to push her back, he wouldn't yet. Not unless there was a reason.

She didn't even have time to think as Autumn pushed them both back away from the door. Autumn turned, ever so slowly, to glance over her shoulder at Lucas. Her voice was little more than a whisper against the silence.

"Don't trust it. Do not. ********. Trust it," she hissed, trembling. Her speeches aside, Autumn wasn't a soldier. She wasn't a fighter.

She was afraid.

"Think. Think with me for a second. Why the goddamn ******** does that thing," she pointed to the door, "know your name. And know you're here."