Reaching Salvation: Post-Acer

Heidi sighed, rubbing her face to try to calm herself down. "I hate you sometimes. You're too calm. It hurts to keep things bottled up, doesn't it? Well, here, I'm trying to give you an excuse to let it out. Because after...after this, I can't see how you are possibly alright," she muttered. Shit. He'd gone and calmed her down again. He was too good at that.

"I dunno, Heidi. I manage to go on, always have. I... Someday I might let it all out, but it's usually the wrong time," Tom replied, rubbing his cheek somewhat ruefully, though he was immensely glad to have calmed Heidi down. For some reason he tended to get frightened when Heidi turned violent or erratic. It worried him when he didn't understand what she was doing.

Heidi frowned, reaching up and gently touching Tom's cheek, using her Flow to stop any of the internal bleeding that would cause bruises. She didn't really believe him, but she supposed she would since she'd hurt him. "Promise?"

"I promise," Tom replied after a second's hesitation. He wasn't really sure if there was ever going to be a right time to let it all out, but he didn't think it was a good idea to say that to Heidi. He idly wondered if he should tell her what was on his mind, opening his mouth to start, but closing it again as he decided against it. Right after Eithne's death really wasn't a good time.

Heidi raised an eyebrow as she noticed Tom opening his mouth. "If you're going to say something, spit it out," she sighed, glancing over at Eithne's body. Perhaps they should bury him while they were here...though she wasn't quite sure what to do with the other body.

"Heidi... you know how Shima could see the future, right?" Tom began, testing the waters first before he broke his big news.

Heidi twinged a little at the mention of Shima's name, though nodded all the same. "Yeah, I know...what about it?"

"Well, I uh, saw a few of his visions when he lived in my head, and I, um... I think I die in this battle," Tom finally managed to get out straight, his voice strangely calm at the end of his statement.

Heidi remained silent, abruptly sitting on the ground, holding her head in her hands. No, no, no, no, no. Tom wasn't allowed to die. He was not allowed to die. "Why didn't you...why didn't you say anything? You could've gone off with the teleported, or, or, or--" she cut herself off, realizing that she was starting to panic. She didn't want to be alone...

"Because even if I knew one-hundred percent that I would die if I stayed, it still wouldn't compare to running away and maybe living while knowing I might have led to everyone I care about's deaths," Tom explained with a kind of apologetic sadness. "Look, it's not for certain that it's this next battle, but I thought you deserved to know."

Heidi bit her lip, unsteadily pushing herself to her feet and hugging Tom tightly. "You're so stupid..." she muttered. She was trying to act brave for Tom's sake, but she was terrified. If she lost both Tom and Eithne, who would be there for her anymore? She'd be alone.

"I know," Tom replied with a sigh, hugging her back. He himself was scared of dying, so terrified that he couldn't sleep in fact. His mind was often preoccupied by the question of who would actually give a shit if he died, and he frequently came to the conclusion that Heidi would be the only person his death would actually bother. "Like I said, it may not be this battle, I only think it's this one because I looked pretty young in his vision."

Heidi choked a little, tensing. Even if it wasn't this battle, it wasn't like Tom would have years to live. "You said that you weren't gonna die anytime soon..." she whimpered, a bit upset that Tom had lied to her, though it had probably been a good idea nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Heidi. I thought you might lose it if I told you right there and needless to say I didn't want to push you over the edge. I wasn't even planning on telling you now, but I thought you deserved to know," Tom explained guiltily, looking a bit ashamed of his actions though he firmly believed that he had made the right call.

Heidi whimpered, starting to feel rather sick to her stomach. It was too soon, it was all too soon. Why was everyone leaving her behind? First Eithne dies, and then Tom decides he's gonna kick the bucket too. How was that fair? She breathed in sharply, pulling away from Tom and rocking back on her heels. "You're not gonna die, not any time soon," she decided firmly. Shima had to be lying. After all, there was no trusting him. He had probably shown Tom the visions to screw him up. They weren't true.

"Well I hope you're right," Tom replied passively, stating the obvious. He himself often wondered if Shima had given him that vision just to fuck him up, or if, since Shima would have gotten the vision so long ago, that Tom had done something to cause it to change. Still though, he couldn't help but worry.

Heidi frowned, shaking a little out of fear, though she was fairly certain that Tom wouldn't notice. "We should...we should bury Eithne," she said quietly after a moment. "Oh, I wonder if Amelia knows..." Remembering this, she shifted uncomfortably, not really wanting to tell her that Eithne was dead.

"Don't worry, I'll tell her," Tom replied quickly, wanting to be of some use to Heidi in this difficult time for her. "...Though maybe we should tell her before we bury him."

"Yeah..." Heidi agreed quietly, chewing on her lip. "Do you know where she is?"

"Not a fucking clue, t'be honest," Tom chuckled ruefully. "I'll see if I can find her, but it's difficult to do when I'm not familiar with someone's Flow."

Nathan frowned from above the ground. Tom was too busy playing the nice guy, going around and trying to be Mr morality. There was a reason Tom would never be able to beat him. For all his strength and confidence he lacked any sort of murderous intent. If Nathan went fully darkness and lost control Tom would try to capture him, maybe try and find a way to break him out of it. What would happen then if Joey - or Percival to be correct - or Paul weren't around. The only time the huge Irishman had ever shown a killing edge was when Shima's trigger had been in control.

He gnashed his teeth and relayed his orders to the Illuminati. They would begin preparing for war.

Once he was finished digging the grave, Paul looked up in the sky towards Nathan and shook his head. The man needed to learn the politics of people; one didn't go around doing whatever without expecting consiquences. Different people would behave differently, act differently, decide things differently, and pouting up in the sky wasn't gonna help one bit.

The sun hung in the middle of the sky, looming over the village with a sense of foreboding, despite the bright and warm light it was giving off. With Nathan and Luke leaving the temperature on its own, there was only a slight chill in the air, which could usually be ignored if one were to stand in a sunny spot.

Kira had retreated to one of these sunny spots, not quite sure what to do. Defenses and fighting were not really her style, and besides, she didn't want to start putting up walls when Tom was going to be moving the earth around. She shivered a bit, looking up at the blue sky. This was horrible, the waiting. It would make the fighting so much more tolerable if there was less waiting before it.

Heidi had left Tom to his own devices, feeling a bit sick to her stomach. She wasn't quite sure if that was the pregnancy or the dread talking. If Tom died too, then who would she have left? Erika and Simon didn't seem to need her anymore. Her circle of friends was slowly shrinking. She let out a soft sigh as she walked into her house, and sitting down at the table. It was too empty. Rather than look around, she rested her head on the table, trying to pretend that everything was still happy.

Paul wiped the sweat off his brow, walking back into the village from the encampment. He had spent the last hour working on more ammunition for his gun, hoping to make at least enough munitions for an extra mag or two, finding just enough for a spare mag. His current destination was Heidi's house.

Heidi opened the door, her eyes narrowing at Paul. Of all people, he had to be the one to come get her. "I don't want to talk to you," she hissed, before slamming the door shut once more and retreating back to the table, feeling even worse than she had before.