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Thread: Sometimes They Don't Come Back

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    A Leaf on the Wind
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    Default Sometimes They Don't Come Back

    **Work in Progress***

    [M]Sometimes They Don't Come Back - [Maya and Reverendstyx]

    This is an RP done with a very good friend of mine a few years ago. He's been ill and I'm trying to pull all the strings of this story together. It's heavily infused with the magical element. There's a lot of play with the timelines. When, (if) I get the chance to pull all the other posts together, it will cover past, present and future. Both characters were part of a Harry Potter RP and we expanded on that concept to create this story.

    To the casual reader, it may not make sense.
    *****

    Rated M for drugs, language, etc..

    Jessie was always known by everyone as the spunky, unpredictable and typically in trouble teen. She was different by everyone's standards. Which may be an understatement. Regardless of school's rules, she do things on her own terms. Been many an explosion in science class, "Just to see what will happen." Jess always had energy to spare and curiosity that knew no bounds. If there's a remote chance something can be done, she was the the one to find out. Danger is not in her vocabulary. Emergency room is.


    Born in Spain, she had practically lived on the beach from the day she was born. It was her home. Where she felt most comfortable. Any place without an ocean view is a place she didn't belong. A risk taker and free spirit, almost anything can happen once Jessie got involved.


    Jessie was a nomadic soul with no real home. Born in Spain but raised all over the world. She always chose the road less traveled. Against the advice or approval of two wealthy, professional parents, Jess avoided the usual career path of the medically inclined and followed her passion..surfing. Which would never lead her anywhere according to the never-ending argument of her father. Oh but he was wrong. So very, very wrong.




    Name: Jessie Randal
    Age: 24
    Hair: Blonde
    Eyes: Hazel
    Build: 5'6", slender/muscular
    Nationality: Mutt..Spanish citizenship
    Occupation: Surfing pro/coach
    Place of Residence: Mundaka, Spain and San Diego, California
    Nicknames: Jess, Water Devil


    Jess was almost an alumni of Justine Sienna High School in Napa, California right up until her very last year when the Randal's moved to Costa Rica. She never set another foot in a school. Hated being stuck in class. They should have known better than pull her from a place where the ocean was too far away to skip school only to smack her down on the edge of surfing nirvana. Whether threat of grounding or bodily harm, she never got past enrollment at the new school. Jessie forged her own path. Molded her own future. Became the only thing she ever aspired to be..magic on the water. She entered contests and won. Went pro and never looked back.

    No, her parent's were not happy with her decisions. They could complain all they want that Jessie wasn't working in some hospital office waving a scalpel or fixing aortic valves. She always saved a huge portion of her prize money, invested wisely and lived comfortably wherever she roamed. Even supported her own favorite causes..like saving the reefs and protecting the oceans from pollution. Very eco friendly. Most of her time was spent doing some gnarly tricks off a bodacious killer wave. She'd had always been a bit of a free spirit. Medical professionals might label her as ADHD. They'd be wrong. She's too highly focused to be afflicted with such.

    History wise, a couple of years after leaving California, she met a guy and got married. ..and divorced. He wanted to settle down and pop out a couple of rugrats in some landlocked state of the U.S. She wanted to go to Australia for the Rip Curl Pro. Their paths, which had paralleled so well at first, soon split wide open.

    At 24, she was still competing off and on. Not every weekend as she had for six years. Last year Jess took a nasty spill while challenging some of the most dangerous waves in the world.. Cyclops Beach in Australia. The Cyclops won. She spent two months in the hospital recovering from serious head and internal injuries. Three in the Alfred Intensive Care hospital in Australia. It took several more months of physical therapy back in the States before she came close to resembling the firecracker she'd once been. It was widely published her stellar surfing career was over. Those articles helped fuel her drive to prove them all wrong. Within three months she was surfing again. ..but the daredevil trait that spawned all those coveted titles had started to wither. Call it growing up..call it a brush with death..whatever you will, there's finally a desire for more than sleeping in a different hotel at a different beach while being surrounded by strangers who know her name. As to what she's wanting now, that's yet to be discovered. She doesn't travel as much. Jess splits her time between Spain and California teaching her tricks to a next generation and taking it easy. Though she won't admit it, her body has yet to fully recover from slamming against the rocks thanks to Mother Nature.

    Any regrets? A few. Seems a waste to dwell on them. Plenty of what ifs. What if she had finished school? What if she'd obtained a medical degree? What if she'd never left Costa Rica? What if she'd never divorced? Where would she be now? Happily married with kids she'd guess. Jess wasn't one to live in the past..she stayed in the moment. Milking life for all it's worth. Believing very much in the inner workings of Karma and Fate and their pull on our lives.



    ______________________________

    "Mr. Blackstone, you really need to relax."

    "Ok, you know, Zen Buddhist monks have tried to teach me to be meditative and calm, and they pretty much all failed. You telling me that my... My..."

    "You're not helping her like this."

    "And you're not helping her at all!"


    He wasn't sure which one of them came up with the idea for a haunted corridor in the castle, but he was pretty sure that most of the hard work was going to be his to do. He had found a nice stretch of corridor to work with, tampered with the torches that lit the corridor so that they flickered, made sure that the heating vents were closed, and then he'd gone to work applying his "art."

    "The condition is progressive. If she had come straight to us when she first received the wound, it would have been healed without a scar."

    "Well then, go in, cut out the scar, and heal it after its gone."

    "Mr. Blackstone, we aren't muggles. We don't cut into our patients."

    "So, she's just going to keep going like this? Having seizures, losing bits and pieces of her mind?"

    "Yes. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do but try to arrest the damage, Mr. Blackstone."

    Canvasses were applied to the walls. They actually matched the walls in every respect save for what had been animated into them. Morgan had spared no effort, recalling the goriest images from his favorite horror movies and had made it so they seemed to pop out almost at random. Inside the suits of armor, he had assembled psuedo-corpses to reach out and grab people. One of the final steps had come from Jessie, though. It was something she'd whipped up in Potions class. Not intentionally, of course. It was a putrid mix of chemicals that smelled like something had died. It just occurred to her that it would be funny to keep a sample of until such time came that she found a use for it.

    "Hey, Jess." he murmured, standing over her comatose body. "Sorry I've been away so long. There was just something I needed to do. Some things I needed to look into. I'm probably just running myself around in circles wishing for things that I can't have. Where's a phoenix when you need one to do some crying? Or an alchemist with a little bit of philosopher's stone?" He chuckled softly, leaning his forehead against hers. "That kinda leaves me with one alternative. I want you back, Jess. If that means sacrificing everything else in my life, then so be it."
    _____

    I can hear you.

    All of them. The doctors. Morgan. What a strange state of being. The world going on around you. Unable to move or respond. Yet all the main senses work. Could hear, touch, smell..maybe see if her eyes were open. If she could open her eyes. Guess he knew her secret now. Kind of hard to hide a grand mal seizure. Must have been worse than usual. Wasn't the first time to be in a coma. Kind of hoped the first was the last. Guess not. Morgan wasn't with her last time. Honestly, it wasn't how she wanted to be with him now. Fate is such a fickle bitch with one sick sense of humor.

    What are they doing?

    So much talk of cutting, scars, fixing her.

    Morgan, they can't fix me. I'm broken. Trust me on this.


    After magical and muggle healings of shock treatments and surgeries, medicines of all sorts, there wasn't much hope. Maybe someday. By then, she could be beyond help. Was nice he was trying so hard. Morgan touched her and she felt it. How odd. He was right there. So very close. Couldn't touch him back.

    What can't you have, Morgan? ..and there was always a phoenix at Hogwarts. Why am I even trying to have this conversation? You can't hear me. Wait..what? Sacrificing everything..Morgan don't. Whatever it is you're doing, don't do it! Damn it! If I could strangle you I would.

    He was going to leave her clueless. So close to Halloween. Should have the doctor's dress her up as the bride of Frankenstein or something. Be rather fitting. Maybe she could rise up and scare the shit out of them. Just like they'd scared half the kids and staff at Hogwarts that one time. Together there was nothing they wouldn't or couldn't do when they put their minds to it. This was bigger than both of them. The odds weren't in their favor.

    --------

    She'd come through like a whirlwind, giving him advice. Bearing an acromantula spider she'd captured in the Forbidden Forest. Like it was some sort of can of shaving cream, she turned it upside down, shook it and told it she wanted cobwebs all over the place. If it cooperated with her, she promised, it wouldn't be put to hunted out of the forest and exterminated like all of Aragog's children after they'd taken the wrong side in the war. Then she'd pushed him behind one of the armours and kissed him. Just the way he liked, long and a little forceful on her part. Like he was some sort of wave that she was mastering.

    "We know who you are, Mr. Blackstone. But the fact that you were a friend to our Dest-"

    "She prefers to be called Jess, Doctor. And let's not play coy... You barely ever spoke to her after she left school."

    "Our relationship with our daughter is none of your concern, Mr. Blackstone."

    "Doctor and Doctor Randal... Can I call you Mister and Missus? Look, Jessie is in a coma. Every time she has a seizure, she slips further from ever waking up again. You two have money and influence. So do I. What I want to ask is going to require a lot of that. Just... Please hear me out. There is nobody else in this world who cares for her as much as I do. Not her ex-husband, that's for sure. But I asked him for help, too. I've called in favors from old friends of mine, and even old enemies."

    "You can just..."

    "Wait, dear. Let's hear him out. It is for Destiny's sake."


    "Oh, but it really is frightening, Mister Blackstone. Shall I show you again?"

    "No, that's alright, Sir Nicholas." he said, smiling at the ghost and waving off his offer to take a glimpse at the slice that had ended the ghost's life. "The kids in this school are all jaded about ghosts. Jessie and I, we went on that school processional in the summer, went to see the cave of the Bell Witch, the house of Marie LaVeau, Some place that we totally ditched on in Jamaica." He would have continued, but the Gryffindor house ghost was giving him a strange look.


    "That processional was years ago, Mr. Blackstone. It went badly as I recall. Something about students disappearing and tombs being robbed by students."

    A smile crossed Morgan's face as he said this, and he reached into his pocket to pull out a little statuette of Bastet made of bronze and copper with inlays of turquoise and agate. The Egyptians called it the "Kiss of Bastet." It had a modern leather collar fitted around its neck to keep its powers from becoming troublesome.

    "The question is, why should I help you, Morg?"

    "Cut the crap, Jiao-Long. You and I both know what this means that I'm coming to you for help. You get to show all the guys that knew how I kicked your ass in school that I have to come sniveling back to you on my hands and knees. The only person who ever bested you more than once. And if it succeeds, you'll never have to hear from me again. Ever."


    "In all this fuss... I sort of neglected what I was going to wear for Halloween." he said, looking at Jessie apologetically. "Do you think it's too late to come up with something on the fly?" he asked. Fake disappearing blood began dripping from the walls, and he covered his ears against the mindsplitting howls that would soon split the air.

    _____

    Wonder if that spider is still alive? Yes, she was always up to something. Too bad Morgan shot down the idea of digging up a real corpse. Freshly buried, filled with maggots. She thought the idea was awesome. Be so much less work than making it appear real any other way. Morgan, being the sane one, probably had the right idea. Leave the dead where they lay or they'll seek revenge later. After the cat incident, they didn't need zombies following them to class. Stealing kisses from Morgan was a favorite past time. Much more interesting than any classes she was in. Might have stolen more than that if she was braver. Oh yes, she was fearless in pranks and plotting adventures but not at rounding the bases when they were alone.

    Mom? Dad? ..They're my doctors? I'm so screwed. How did this happen? Think..think...think. Oh shit, it's no use. Can't remember anything when I want to. Stupid brain. Like they're gonna help fix me. ..always wanted me under their thumb.

    There was much tension still between parents and child. Only she wasn't a child anymore. Good thing she hadn't put their names on any of her financial documents. Guess who was? Well he'd know if she died. Doubt the inheritance would match Morgan's wealth. If she passed away, he'd be expected to give a large portion of it to charities. Shouldn't be too taxing on his time. Couldn't trust her parents to do it. Sad as that fact was.

    Stop calling me Destiny! I soooo hate that name. Jess..yes! Thank you Morgan! Even though you can't hear me. So I'm talking to myself. Means I'm crazy. Always been crazy. But talking to ones self is a step beyond your run of the mill crazy. Maybe I should stop. Then I'd be bored. My nose itches..hellooooooo..little help..



    "Well, I can fix you up a great outfit in five minutes or less. Stay right there." Jess zipped outside and, just as she'd predicted, was back within five minutes holding a single leaf and a bottle of glue. "You can go as Adam. It's great! Dontcha think so? If it'd make you feel better, I'll go get three more leaves and go as Eve. Grab an apple on the way..gotta tempt you right?" The staff would go berserk. They both knew those costumes would earn them trouble within a matter minutes. All the more reason to do it.


    ______


    "There's only one way to repair the damage done to Jess's brain, and that's for it to never have been done."

    "Time travel? Your great plan is time travel?"

    "No. My great plan is not time travel. It's chronological reversal. The Department of Mysteries here in Britain has a research department devoted to the study of time. They have chambers there called hyperchronometric time chambers. You put a human being in one of those, and it will revert them as far back to when the whole of their being is a fertilized ovum, or age them to the point that they die of old age. We put Jess in one of those, and we take her back before the age she was at when the accident occurred, she would never have suffered that wound."

    "Yes, but your plan is flawed, Mr. Blackstone. Destiny has never been a careful girl. She has always taken excessive risks with her own safety. What will keep her from doing so again?"

    "I can't. I can't guarantee that. I know that Jess is a maniac. I know that. I've been part of some of her great adventures. But do you deny a patient treatment because there's a chance they'll just go out and get hurt again?"



    "I dare you. I double dare you. I double dog dare you. Miss Won't-let-me-see-her-in-a-bikini." He was suddenly quite sure of himself. He had been far less sure when she had insisted that he play a damsel-in-distress princess while she played a handsome prince. But if you want to..." Here, he started unbuttoning his shirt. "We can help each other glue them on." He knew she would back down first. Ok, just hoped she would back down first... But he was pretty sure.


    "The turning part in Jess's life was when you moved her from Hogwarts to Costa Rica. That's why we're going to revert her to the age of 16. That's why I'm going to go into that chamber with her. Nobody remembers us from Hogwarts. We can go back. Relive sixth and seventh year at the school. The teachers there would cooperate."

    "Are you seriously telling us that you think she won't remember what year it is?"

    "She won't care. What matter is it to her what the numbers on the calender are? She lives for this moment, right now."


    "There's a question on all of our minds right this moment, and I think it's this: why are you going back with her?"

    "Because Jess needs someone. To look out for her sometimes, yes, but also to encourage her, to not judge her, to approve of her. Otherwise, she ends up running away, dodging everyone, marrying a douchebag that she thinks approves of her, only to find out that he just wanted her under her thumb, and getting the head wound that has her in the coma she's in now. I'm giving up all the profits I've made from the sale of my company's assets for the chance to do this. My house, almost everything I own... I' don't know if this will do it. Somewhere down the line, the pattern might repeat. But I'm willing to take that risk without a safety net. If you send us back to Hogwarts, things can change. One more thing... We'll also need to take my cat, Scruffy."


    He'd ended up doing a last minute makeup job on himself with gelatin, paint, glue, and some torn clothes he'd scrounged up in the common room charity box. But the cleverest bits he'd done were some animated noodles he'd glued to his face, His creepy zombie face. A gory face, looking like raw meat, with copious amounts of sticky-looking blood and wiggling maggots protruding. and a dangling marshmallow eyeball hanging from his eye socket by red tendons. Licorice. As he shambled over towards Jessie, he muttered, "Brainsssss Braaaaiiinnnnssss." then he reached out, took her into his arms, peered into her ear and said, "Not many brains in here..."



    Dear Morgan,

    I have enclosed this note and this statuette of Bastet to you in the cage where you will be putting your kitten, Scruffy as you travel to Hogwarts at the beginning of the year. You will not remember the kitten, but that is alright, the people who greet you when you first wake up will assure you that he is, indeed, yours. He is. Morgan, by now, you will have recognized my handwriting as your own. You, Jess and Scruffy were taken to a magical facility where experiments in time are conducted. You were allowed to have nearly nine years removed from your life. Before this adventure began, you were 24. Now you are 16 again. The same is true of Jess. And Scruffy is just a kitten. This was allowed so that you could save Jessie's life. She was wounded in an accident, developed scar tissue in her brain, and began to have seizures. I leave it up to you to find incongruencies, but recall if you will that the Bastet statuette was given into the care of another student, and yet, here it is, back in your care and fitted with a collar that prevents its functioning. There are also kids around you who play the card game you invented, Eidolon. There are incongruencies between what you'll be seeing at school and what you remember. This is why. I leave it up to you to decide whether to tell Jess about this letter or not.

    Also, do not let Jess dress you up like a princess for Halloween. It was a bad idea. Be wary of April First, too.

    Morgan.


    Every time he took out the letter from himself, he wondered if he should tell Jess now, or wait. Every instinct he had said to tell her. He just wished it hadn't taken him this long to find the letter and statuette in Scruffy's cage, disguised as they were like a cat toy. He would have to just bide his time to tell her about it.

    ______

    It's always good to have people talking as if you're not there. As far as there were all concerned, she wasn't. Wasn't like she could inject her own input into the situation. Though sometimes she'd try. "I'm am not a maniac. For the record. Well..maybe I am." So some decisions weren't always safe or sane. Neither were those of the first people who flew the first plane or climbed Mt. Everest. If it wasn't so damn cold, she might climb that mountain too. Didn't like the cold.

    Double dog dare? Oh no he didn't. Now she had to put some serious thought into making him wear the itty, bitty costume. Dare she or dare she not? Even as he undid his shirt, Jessie didn't say a word to the contrary. Come on now! Morgan was stripping. What girl in their right mind would stop that? Her eyes grew wider the more buttons he loosened. Even though she'd seen him at the beach without a shirt, this was different. "Uhm.." but in the end, he was right. She wasn't going to be wearing nothing but a few scant leaves in front of everyone. "maybe we should pick something else. I don't want to share all of this." Grabbing both sides of his shirt to button him right back up. "with all of them."

    Go back to sixteen? Wow. They could really do that? Science was amazing. Couldn't fix her brain but they could give her youth back. Sixteen was a fairly good year. Much better than seventeen..or twenty..all those years after marriage and before the accident. "Morgan don't..don't give up all you've done. Not for me." Was a very unselfish move for a rather selfish person. That's what her mum would likely say anyway. 'Destiny never did anything we asked of her.' could hear it now. Funny, even though she'd heard all the planning, she'd likely not remember a word of it. If she started all over, would she get her life right this time?

    "Gaaah!, Eeew, that's gross." toying with a wiggling noodle on his cheek. "I love it." Said the Bride of Frankenstein with the jet black, beehive hair that stood a good three feet up with white streets shaped like lighting trailing from her forehead all the way to the top. Glowing green pain covered every exposed ounce of skin with plenty of scars to mimic being sewn together here and there. Two bolts emerging from her neck that spouted small sparks of electricity every few seconds. When he looked in her ear, she'd spout. "You ate them already remember?" Followed by a swat to his arm. "I expect a new brain by tomorrow." All laughter as she drug him down to the hall.

    _____

    His hand caressed her face. Morgan was a touchy sort of guy, despite the fact that he usually kept his hands to himself. At various times throughout the day, when he wasn't writing the final installments of his graphic novels, or coming up with a new card for Eidolon, he was keeping her company. He was keeping her company when he did those things, too, he was just... Doing both at the same time. "They said yes, Jess. They're going to let us do it." Spain. Great Britain, Hong Kong, America and China had all refused, and France's temporal studies department was a single guy who had accidentally frozen himself in time six years ago and had not actually been missed until someone brought it up to them.

    "The funny thing is, I get to start all over and do it again." he said, taking out his deck of Eidolon cards and shuffling. "Maybe not these cards or graphic novels, but maybe something else. Maybe I'll read one of them some day and say, "Hey! That's my name down there in bitty writing in the third page that nobody looks at. That's my art. Those are stories that I dreamed up in my head."

    "I'm going to leave them something in the mountains. I know Morgan, sneaking out to find the Secret Stash is one of his goals. I'm almost tempted to go out to Amsterdam and buy them some weed to smoke and leave it there for them to find... I still might. Is it a crime that I'm doing things to contribute to my own juvenile delinquency?" No answer, of course. And he went on as if she had given him a laugh. "Instead, I went out and bought a pensieve and bottled up a few memories for them. I... Jess, they say that you can still hear people talking when you're in a coma. I was wondering if you could remember things about your life, and let me draw them out with my wand. Maybe think about some of the times when you surfed... After you left school." For the longest time, his wand remained pressed to her temple... And then, something glowing and slvery began to pool around the tip of his wand, allowing him to pull it out and pour it into the pensieve.

    Morgan still hated fast songs. He looked no more (or less) spastic than the other guys on the floor, dancing with girls who were a lot more graceful and interesting to watch than they themselves were. "The good thing about being dressed as a Zombie is that nobody complains that you tend to dance like the living dead." he complained. The haunted hallway had been a success. During the day, enchantments kept people from seeing the modifications that they had made to it, but once the early dinner had ended, and students were shooed away so that the faculty could move the tables and bring in the surprise band, they had changed it back. One week in the planning, one long morning setting up, and then it was just gravy. Whenever there was a scream on our side the hall, he had to grin.

    "An hour flies by every second in the chamber. We have it set to go backwards, naturally, and have calculated the time it will take to revert her to the proper age. We're ready for you."

    "Alright. Thank you, Mr. Ramirez, for all your help."


    "No, man... Thank you. Some of the things you wrote really inspired me when I was in school."

    The glass door to the chamber closed, and the two adults and Morgan's large, furry persian cat began to grow younger. Moment by moment, the time washed away from them.

    FINALLY a slow song. He liked the slow ones. All he had to do was hold her and avoid stepping on her feet. But he knew that she must hate them. "I cherish you." he murmured next to her ear. "You've made my life extraordinary." He knew that Jess was far from being as fickle as she'd like others to believe she was, but she still blushed when he made declarations of this sort. And squirmed. "Tomorrow is sunday... Would you like to sneak out to the mountains while we're supposed to be out on Hogsmeade weekend?"

    Of course, it had long since occurred to him that the Hogsmeade weekends were like an open invitation to sneak out with your broom and find someplace to do things you shouldn't, but he was content to just take his time with Jess. After all, if the letter was to be believed, And he planned to tell her all about it on the way.
    _____

    Morgan was such a good guy. She really didn't deserve him. Bet Mom had told him that too. Why bother? Why waste all this time? Go find someone who won't get both of them killed just to jump off a cliff in Acapulco or worse. For everything bad her parents could possibly think of Jess might go and do, she'd come up with something even more dangerous. Stupid is what they'd say. Everything was stupid. Destiny was stupid..mental..you name it. Morgan didn't mind what hair brained ideas she came up with. He's also the only one with the ability to point out when an action might not be in her best interest and have her listen. Because he always offered an alternative instead of putting a solid foot down to forbid the plan's execution. She's never been receptive to the word NO. He was the only who seemed to catch onto that fact.

    He touched her and talked to her. Was so sweet. He was always so sweet. Why didn't she go to find him instead of traipsing all over the world in search of the next big thing? Why did she marry that goofball? Those were her thoughts as he told of his success in finding someone to help them. If she could, Jess would have smiled about hiding a secret stash for his own self to find. Juvenile delinquent indeed. Yes, she would have loved to laughed about the idea. She could indeed hear him. Every word. If she could touch him, she would. ..comfort him..thank him for all he's done. But she couldn't. However, the memories, those she was capable of providing. Letting him lift moments that she truly wanted to be reminded of should all be lost when they return to their youth.


    Of course Jess had a thing for fast songs. Kept trying to convince Morgan it didn't matter how he danced, just move..that's all he had to do. Be crazy! Let it go! Was harder for him to do than her. "You really shouldn't insult the dead like that.." Waiting to get swatted for poking fun. So he had two left feet? There was no one else she wanted to dance with. When there was a huge crowd meandering down the hall, she'd drag him out to hide just on the other side and watch the reactions as the kids went through. Some screamed bloody murder, others laughed..a few got frisky. "Is there no place sacred from snogging? Helloooo...blood dripping down the walls. Nothing romantic about it." Lifting those bright green lashes to peer over at Morgan. Maybe snogging wasn't such a bad idea afterall.


    Returning to the great hall with Morgan now wearing some of her glowing green makeup around his mouth and cheeks. Surely no one would figure out why. As they danced to the slow song, her world was almost perfect. She was glowing..literally because of the makeup..but yes, if those cheeks weren't painted over, she'd be a lovely crimson as he whispered in her ear. Felt like Valentine's day instead of Halloween. "Oh shush...you." What was the right response to words like that? Thank you seemed so ..wrong. Shush wasn't much better. Jess couldn't explain it; but for some reason at that moment, she feared losing him. Was a very real feeling that left her feeling sick to her stomach. Causing her to hold him closer, not wanting to let go. "Yes, let's sneak out. Hogsmeade is pretty boring." Been there, done that. She was always up for a little adventure.
    _______

    "My name is Morgan Blackstone, I am 24 years old, a successful businessman, creator of fantasy collectible card games and graphic novels, and tomorrow, August 30th, I will cease to exist. There's a woman in my life... I don't know if you could really call her my girlfriend... She's more like my own personal hurricane." Morgan was narrating into a mirror, because he didn't know how else to tell the story. "Her name is Jessie Randal, and we only just reconnected after having not seen each other in eight years. After so long, it's not like we could pick up right where we left off, much as we might want to, and much as the attraction was still there after all this time. She's a surfing instructor, and overall enthusiast in extreme sports things. Also a far more adventurous soul than I will ever be."

    "I'm sure that you were hoping for a stash of marijuana or something. The sort of thing legends tell about this cave. That this is where kids come to get baked and drunk. I'm not going to be one to rain on my own parade, since I know that that was what I was hoping for eight years ago when Jess and I flew into this cave to get out of the rain, and didn't find anything but a cloud of bats. Just don't let the teachers see your eyes or smell you."

    There were a variety of Jess kisses, all of which Morgan was a great fan of. There was the Victory kiss, which was a quick, hard smack on the lips and an equally hard-and-fast hug. She did that whenever she was feeling particularly proud of herself, whether it be after an experiment in Potions class that exploded, or a good ride on a surfboard, or even just a perfect slide down the bannister. There were the Flirt kiss and the Tease kiss. A small kiss in either case, distinguished by whether the look she gave him was a come-hither look or a 'Yeah, what are you going to do about it,' look. There was the Whirlwind kiss, which Morgan just equated to being swept away because she would come on so fast and they'd both be dizzy afterward.

    The kiss that Morgan liked best was the Peek-a-boo kiss. Usually, she would straddle his lap on one of the benches in the courtyard, kiss him for twenty to thirty seconds in a hungry, passionate sort of way, and then draw back to look in his eyes. Back before he caught on, he used to ask her, "What?" when she drew away, but as time went on, he began guessing that she might be measuring some sort of reaction that she saw in his eyes, but since he'd never actually seen his own face after a kiss, he guessed she could also be trying to gauge if he was beginning to suffer brain damage from the kisses. He was pretty sure that his expression was fairly dopey.

    Her expression, of course, was what made it so worth it. That intensity, the depths to her that he didn't think anyone else really got to see of her. And he always wanted to see more of her, because there was always more to see.

    The kisses that they'd shared off in the broom closet three floors away were definitely of the Whirlwind variety. They were panting and it was like a sauna in that closet, and every few seconds, it seemed like another couple were rattling the doorknob, trying to open the door. It was too bad that many of them were too dense to figure out that the resistance they felt from the other side was Jessie pressing Morgan against the door and kissing the living daylights out of him.

    When the dance finally ended, they were actually nowhere near the Great Hall. By the time the night ended for them, and they made the way to their individual towers, it was nearly three. And he was wearing even more of her makeup.


    "Things were actually going pretty well. On our fourth date, I asked Jess if she would come with me to New Jersey so that we could ger a picture of the two of us posed like Jay and Silent Bob in front of the Quick Stop where they filmed Clerks. Which we did. The picture is under the pensieve. Don't look for it just this moment, it can wait. That's when she had the first seizure. Well, the first seizure I was aware of. I only know a little bit about how it happened... After the seizure, I bought all the surfing magazines with articles in them about the accident. You wiped out pretty bad, Jess." Images of the photographs from the article splash across the surface of the memories in the pensieve. "You were the best then, Jess, and you'll be the best again if that's what you want."

    "I learned a long time ago that you love your freedom, so I'm not going to ask you to do one single thing different, except to please let me be there with you."

    _____

    Jessie had it bad for Morgan. She had it bad when they were first at Hogwarts. She had it bad when he walked back into her life after all those years. She had it bad now that they were back together at Hogwarts again. Time could not change that. Some elements of being a teenager again were confusing. Deja vu was a recurring problem. But there were no seizures. She didn't remember having them. Or being forced to leave Hogwarts and Morgan. Or travelling the world surfing. Or the accident which set this path on it's course. The past was almost completely gone. With the exceptions of memories in the form of dreams dredged up from the far reaches of her mind that no amount of rewinding could erase. When they were together, all those little blips caused from the experiment were forgotten. They were kids. Sweethearts..boyfriend/girlfriend..whatever the term. She adored him. Enjoyed proving that fact in a variety of ways. All which he seemed to enjoy. Didn't know he was cataloging them though. He could write a book on all her quirks and idiosyncracies. She'd read it as if seeing herself for the first time.

    He might very well see himself for the first time if looking through her eyes. A boy surrounded by scandal when they'd met. Watched like a hawk for fear he'd lead her astray. Yet he was the one who grounded her. Kept her from getting squashed or swallowed in the very literal world that wanted to destroy a wild spirit. With Morgan, there was always a reason to smile or laugh. They were a team. If she had an idea, he'd make it happen. The architect. There was no challenge she laid in his lap he couldn't solve. No place they couldn't go. No limits. That's how she saw him anyway. The magic man who made it all happen. There were so many times Jess looked upon him in awe. Knowing one day he'd be a force to reckon with..if he wanted.

    ~~

    Jess felt like an intruder into someone else's life while watching the message stream through the pensieve. Surely the guy wasn't really Morgan. They couldn't be talking about HER Morgan or herself. Wasn't possible. They'd been returned to their youth? Wasn't possible. Her only response would be to shake her head no..no..no. She'd had a surfing accident? Why would she have been there anyway? Was suicide to surf those waves. Everyone knew that. Looking to Morgan for clarity. "I wouldn't do that. It's not true. Seriously..is it a joke?" Suddenly very uncomfortable.

    ____

    "Jess, your parents told me that they would lighten up on you. I'm not sure if they're keeping their end of the bargain, but then, it's not like I am, either. They said one owl a week, tops. Pretty much everyone the two of you knew in any way was part of this. Morgan, your new kitten, Scruffy... You never actually knew him as a kitten. You rescued him from a few students at Tian Shi in your seventh year of school. That's because you both ended up leaving Hogwarts in your seventh year. Jess, your parents dragged you away to another school in Costa Rica. A private school. From what I've heard, it was right on the beach, and every day in potions class, you would look out the window at the surf. Finally, you just blew up a cauldron full of potion that you were working on, gave the teachers the finger, left, and never looked back. Morgan, you tried to get sent to the same school, but the old rumors caught up with you, and they refused you right off the bat. You... I went back to Tian Shi with a chip on my shoulder. I was going to kick the ass of every single jagoff that got in my face, and I was going to do it Jess style." Old Morgan had a bit of a grin on his face as he said that. "You did, too."

    Younger Morgan watched his older self with a cross between disbelief and confusion, then turned to look at Jess, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the Bastet statuette. "I found this three days ago. With a note from... Him." Older Morgan. It was the same statuette they had stolen, then returned. "I was planning on telling you when we reached the cave, because I was pretty sure they'd obliviate us if they knew we knew what was going on. Apparently, so was he." Which was why the second set of information to the younger pair. Morgan reached down and lifted up the pensieve. As promised, there was a picture there in a plastic baggie. Jess, with her long blonde hair wearing a wifebeater, yellow windbreaker and stocking cap. Morgan in a green and black trench coat, backwards baseball hat, and holding a cigarette. Posing. You could see the attitude in Jess, she was mugging it up, while Morgan was stolid and Zen-like.

    And there were a few joints there, as well. Seems he made that trip to Amsterdam after all.

    "Anyway, you're probably bored of talking-head Morgan. You probably would like to hear from talking-head Jess."


    ______

    Was a lot of information for her to take in. She kept looking to him. Probing with her eyes..was he believing all of this? Didn't seem possible. They'd both just had almost ten years wiped off their lives. Listening as the old Morgan told of her past/future existence. Been a bit distracted at first because, let's face it, Morgan was cute now and only got better with age in her opinion. There was so much she found hard to believe. At the mention of blowing up a cauldron, Jess snickered then outright laughed, shaking her head. Oh yeah, that was something she'd do. Quitting school? Wow..how many times had she wanted to do so now? Plenty. There was one good reason to stay. She was watching him right then. Absorbing in the knowledge he'd gone back to that school and put the beat down on a few deserving people. Maybe she wasn't the best influence on him; but, being brave enough to take on those bullies was a good thing for him. She was clearly proud from the way way her eyes shone as they fixated his own. "Teach them."

    Moving on to the next set of information and that bastette. Brought up some fond memories didn't it? At least there wasn't a throng of cats anymore. She'd reach out to touch it, rolling the statue around in her palm. "So this is real?" Talk about the Twilight Zone. Scooting every closer to him, lifting the picture for both to see. "You should smile more..." How often did she tell him so? He was so hot when he smiled. The joints were a different matter. Dare they? Maybe they should wait until the message was over. The next speaker was a total shock? "Me?"

    "Me? No! No..I don't have anything to saaa... HI!" As the camera panned around her way, she'd force a smile only after clearly scowling at Morgan on the other side. Jess was many things but she hated those many things to be caught on tape. Just like getting compliments, being filmed brought out a shy side. "Uhm, hi Jess..it's ..Jess. You're probably thinking this whole thing is crazy right? Yeah, me too. If I don't do this, I'll die. Body can only take so much punishment. The seizures are getting worse and somedays I can't even remember my own name. If you and Morgan are seeing this, then he's the genius I've always believed him to be." Glancing over the camera. "You need to close your ears a minute..you too little Morg. Jess..come here." Motioning for her to come closer. Trying to whisper so no one else would hear. "Don't let him go this time. Life is much better with him in it." Stepping out from in front of the camera whether Morgan liked it or not. "Ok, I'm done. Didn't you promise me something if I taped that for you?...Hmmm.." They would only see the camera shake then lay flat while giggling commenced in the background as she attacked him with the dreaded Fingers of Doom! Which meant tickling until he fought his way out of it or gave her whatever reward was promised to do the taping in the first place.

    ____


    "You grow up pretty hot." He whispered to Jess, holding up the baggie of sticky that Old Morgan left behind for them. He didn't know what to do with a joint, but right now, things were so weird that he almost kinda needed to. If only because he secretly also wanted to. He took out a rolled paper stick and stuck it between his lips, then used his wand to light it up. Now, the only advice you ever hear a would-be stoner getting on TV or in the movies is 'Don't Inhale' which sounds pretty stupid to someone who has never smoked anything before. Of course you have to inhale, otherwise how is the smoke supposed to get into your lungs? His coughing fit happened to coincide with Jess jumping on future Morgan. Well, actually on her own mental image of Future Morgan, because she was in a coma. Still, he held out the joint to Jess, as Morgan returned, rather like some sort of A&E Narrator.

    "Unfortunately, I can't tell you two where to go from here. That's something you get to decide for yourselves. A brand new world awaits you, filled with adventure and pokemon." Here, he was making a joke that Morgan would get, even if Jess might not. "You'll probably come up with cool things to do on your own. However, in the interests of contributing to my own juvenile delinquency, I left you guys a present. Well, a few actually. I thought you'd like to look back on some of our fondest memories and revel in the coolness. This is kinda like a montage of them, for all that pensieve's aren't made to do montages."

    The footage that followed showed Jess in their darkest and brightest moments. Morgan beaten and down on his knees in front of Jiao-Long. Jess being told to pay attention when the beach was calling to her right outside the classroom. Morgan getting kicked in the face as he was held still by two of Jiao-Long's cronies. Jess being told that she would never get anywhere with her rotten attitude. And then they were fighting back. Morgan with his fists, Jess with her exploding cauldron. Morgan taking on nearly his whole school one at a time or sometimes in pairs or trios. Jess hitting the beach with her surfboard and never looking back. Morgan resting his bloodied hand on the desk of his Resident Advisor at school. Morgan drawing, Jess surfing. It went on for about five minutes before coming to the part where Jess and Morgan met up again in London. The shyness. And Morgan asking her out. Then, before letting her turn away, pulling her in for a kiss. Then the stream of memories ended.

    Morgan motioned his wand above the silvery memory-stuff and drew it back onto the bottle it came from. After he did that, he turned the pensieve over, and looked for the secret present Morgan left. Then he ran his hands over the boulder that the pensieve had rested upon. Which wasn't really a boulder, as it turned out. Just a slipcover he had painted to look like a rock. Underneath it... A vast treasure trove. Well, to Morgan's smoke-blurred eyes, it was. Actually just a couple of racing brooms that were considerably faster than their own, and some sundry items to keep them amused.

    _____

    "I did, didn't I? Though I'm not sure I like the hair." Might do something a little shorter. Sassier. Who knows. That was still years away. As far as the joints, Jess would snatch the bag with a wicked little grin after Morgan started his own. "I watched Stoner do this a hundred times at least." Rolling her own little joint like a pro. Which was a dead giveaway Stoner wasn't the only one getting stoned back then. "No, no..don't cough. Inhale then hold your breath. Especially when it gets to the cough point..just keep holding. Like this." Accepting his joint, taking a nice, long draw then holding for five seconds or so before slowing letting the smoke dance out of her mouth only to inhale a portion of the smoke right back up her nose. "See.." voice cracking already..and giggling. Wouldn't be long before she'd be feeling too damn good. Still watching the 'movie' play out before them. "Oh she liked you. I mean I liked you...I mean I LIKE you..this is really confusing."

    The montage played, Jess' smile grew. Could be the pot at work. "I don't like those boys." looking ready to help the young Morgan out with the boys who held him for the beatdown. "Damn, I'm a little devil aren't I?" Blew up half the lab with that cauldron. Now she was plotting doing the same at Hogwarts. Safety first of course. Have to make sure no one got hurt. "Wow, look at you! Kickin' ass and takin' names." Wrapping her arms around his neck to give him a kiss on the cheek. So very proud of his accomplishments. Somewhat proud of her own. One thing resonated more than any other. "Can't believe I didn't go find you." Right now, she couldn't imagine ever walking away and not looking back. Seemed so un-Jess like. The buried treasure would surely keep them busy. No one would be able to catch her on the Quidditch field. Be a bit unfair..so what. "You know, if we surfed on these..." Typical Jess.
    _____

    "Stoner?" he asked, peering at her while trying to blink the smoke out of his eyes. "Why is it that all of your old boyfriends had butch, somewhat violent-sounding nicknames?" he asked, looking at her with a suspicious expression on his face. "What was the one before him called? Bruiser? Mauler? You didn't give me a nickname like that, did you?" he asked, starting to work on his own joint. They had talked about doing this a lot. In America, when they went to the White Castle, in Jamaica when they'd avoided the ghost tours to spend time on the beach, and quite often on the tour boat bobbing in the Bermuda Triangle. He had hated that boat. He followed her directions, inhaling and exhaling as she directed.

    Aside from an instance in the dim past where his illicit lover had given him wine, Morgan hadn't really experienced altered states of consciousness. At first, the sense of slipping into highness was disturbing, and he struggled briefly against it, but then it was relaxing, and everything began to seem really funny. A large, mellow smile crossed his face, and he tugged Jessie closer. Long after the montage of memories had ended, he looked at her and said, "She probably didn't know any better where I'd be than I knew where she would... Rotten luck. But sometimes the stories that you think are going to end so epically, they just don't get to have a happy ending." he mused. "That's what kinda gets me about them. They did all this stuff that each of us wanted to do... But all they really wanted was to be us."

    He reached out and touched her face. "Before I get too stoned for you to believe me, Jess... I love you." He felt silly and happy and buzzy, and he wanted to laugh for no apparent reason, but he didn't. "So now we're going to have to come up with new stuff to do, I guess." And then she brought up broom-surfing and he groaned, remembering his promise to show her how to do it. "Alright, alright... I'll show you. But not today. You're going to be too baked. We probably shouldn't even ride back to the school, but I can't be bothered to make the walk."

    ____


    "Who said he was a boyfriend?" Morgan had never been around the type of folks found bumming on the beach. Nobody had a real name. Whatever nickname seemed more fitting is what stuck like glue. Stoner had his own gifts. Those gifts were transferred to others and here they were years later partaking of them as well. Dismissing the other boyfriend's name with a wave of her hand. "Doesn't matter now what his name was. Do you want your own nickname? How bout Golden Boy..Tubesteak." giggling at that one. "Killer..Slick Willy..Ducky." Could go on and on. "My favorite is to just call you mine. If something better comes up, we can switch."

    Why were the giggles part of getting high? Even when nothing funny was going on. A fly, a rock, a blade of grass..hilarious! He wouldn't have to tug to hard to pull her to his side. Snuggling right up with her head on his shoulder. "..but they were us. Until they got split up." Then they became lost individuals. Jess spent all those years searching for her soul. "So we should be us." snickering. "This is really confusing. Us, them, them, us.." For a moment their eyes met, hazed and somewhat dilated. She managed to keep a straight face as he spoke. Brows raising, eyes widening.."You do?" Hadn't expected those words. Got this sort of cheesy, half grin with cheeks that turned a bright shade of red. Never good with compliments or being sentimental. "Ditto.." was pretty good for her. In time she might be able to say it outright.

    Yes, they would come up with plenty of new things to do together. Neither ever lacked ideas. Such as broom surfing. She'd agree right now was not the appropriate time to learn. "Right..I really don't want to see the nurse today.." And explain being strung out while going too fast surfing on a broom. Stupid things to do alone made only worse by combining them. "So why don't we stay right here a bit longer?.. I like it and it's..hey...you got 3 eyes.." Trying to point at each on while having a giggle fit.
    Last edited by Maya; 03-28-2017 at 08:51 PM.

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