Not Until We Are Lost

The world is one of the most beautiful places you have seen yet. The greens are greener, the blues bluer. Everything is crisp and clean, well taken care of and high quality. The air itself smells rich with flowers. Earthy, with no hint of pollution.

There is a small town, but mostly the dwellings are scattered. The forests here are thick and filled with life. Streams and ponds. There is a lake near the little town, situated partly into the forest. There are little shops, cafes, theaters. There are no cars or other gasoline powered engines. You might see some riding bikes, but for the most part transportation is on foot or animal. Some of the smaller fae might be seen on dogs or cats, maybe even squirrels.

At first, you may not see anybody around. You are all strangers in this place, and the citizens will be wary of your purpose. The fairies will be the first to emerge, curious and cold. They will make demands on you, wanting to know how you got there, and what your intentions are. The other creatures will appear gradually.

Some wear modern clothes, but most stick to the finely made garments of the world. Fabrics are all soft, no matter if they're wool or leather or cotton.

Food here is some of the best you've ever tasted, savory and flavorful, and even the water is something to talk about. There are many sweets about. Cakes, candies, treats maybe you've never even heard of.

Nothing is particularly dangerous, though everything is inherently dangerous. The fae are wicked and clever, and like to play pranks. Some are cruel because they don't understand what cruelty is, others are cruel because it's fun for them. They may try to trick you, or trap you. If they love you, they will not want to let go.

Your weapons will not be with you, though other items might be. Nothing made of cold iron (pure iron) will make the trip. Fairies in particular, but most fae creatures in general, enjoy trinkets and baubles, they may try to trade, or steal.

The day you arrive is bright and cloudless, you can hear what sound like birds, and you can feel the presence of other animals. Everybody will get a dwelling (you choose if you are bunked with anybody, and where it's situated). You will not need money, though that doesn't mean money you have can't be used. Some fae or another might be interested in it.

please see this post for more details, and for any questions you might have.

Jack stretched out and sat straight up when her feet hit something soft and squishy. It was disorienting to feel so very warm and cozy when she'd gotten used to the dry, hard ground that was pretty damn cold at night. There was a scent of...something familiar. This was not a shifter preserve.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jack mumbled to herself as she crawled almost reluctantly out of bed. The thing begged for her to stay; the soft knit pjs weren't helping. With a soft sigh, she started looking through the small cabin. There were times she really wanted to wake up without needing to go through a new living situation. The aliens could leave her things in a bag at least.

"Nothing can be...ooooh." She paused as she saw what was waiting for her behind door number two - her closet. "Jackpot. Okay, I will forgive you for now." Her Army surplus jacket was right there. So were other things, but the jacket really was all that mattered for the moment. And the boots. Jacket and boots and jeans. Only thing that would have made it all better was a certain Hunter and weapons.

Jack took a quick shower even though she felt rather clean. Maybe because she felt clean - she didn't want to know who had gotten her to her particular state of cleanliness and attire. No. A quick shower, some quick dressing, with a little bit of snacking from the fridge - if they weren't supposed to eat it, they should have been warned dammit - Jack was ready to go.

She got as far as opening the front door to step out. There was what looked like fresh snowfall on the walk, and there were little people walking around. Actually they were dancing around, all singing the same song. They seemed to be winding down; it certainly had that end of a musical number feel to it.

"Well, shit."

"Yes!" Jack fistpumped the air as she stood in the window. "Yes! Finally! Fuckin' a!" She didn't care that she was standing in little more than a tanktop and boy's shorts. She bounced a bit longer before settling down. She'd caught a brief look out the window and got distracted.

"Shit." She knew she had more important things, but they'd ended up on a ocean side resort. How could she not be a little happy about that? Unless there were landsharks and man eating turtles. She shook that image off and continued to look around. The hunter found the letter; she'd also found some information about the resort.

"Shit. It had to be something." There was a list of the amenities, and they were nice, very nice. Then there was the description of the protection barrier and the warning about not going outside its boundaries. Her nose wrinkled. "Couldn't just send us somewhere nice and relaxing? Had to send us somewhere with a wall?" She looked up at the ceiling, as if the aliens would hear and see her disdain and disgust any better.

"Fine." She started digging around again, and found clothes. Couldn't walk around the place in her next to nothings, unless she was wearing a bikini. She wouldn't do that because she really wasn't in the mood to explain the tattoos and scars. Hunting didn't always give a gal a bikini body.

Capris, sandals, and a somewhat frilly tank under the loudest Hawaiian shirt she could find, that was what she was going for. She did find a letter opener, and hoping it was pure silver, she tucked it away to go find a certain woman. She didn't like that she hadn't woken up with Kai; it felt strange not having her there, even if one might question Jack's need to find the Hunter when she reacted so happily to the surroundings.

"There better not be landsharks." She muttered as she started down the hallway. The hunter didn't have a plan, but knowing the Hunter, Jack would guess the woman would be somewhere near the wall. Walls were rarely a sign of good things, right? Jack just hoped she'd find Kai before getting too far.

Jack woke with a start.

"Dammit. What the fuck." She hadn't expected to wake up yet again in another place in another set of clothes. Just because it happened often enough, it didn't mean she had to expect it. Or like it. Even if or especially if she was now staring at her own car before her.

"That's not right." For a moment she waited for it to move as if it were humping cushions; she even waited for "God" to speak to her through braces she did not have. "Nope." Nothing came or moved, so she got out of bed and trotted over in nothing more than her underthings. A quick peek in the car and the trunk told her nothing was missing. Everything was where it should be, without being where it should be.

With a shrug, she gathered some clean clothes, hopped into a shower, and got dressed, combing her hair to leave it to airdry. She was more than happy to have her Army Surplus jacket it back. It was something of a comfort when she had the distinct feeling she was forgetting something. It wasn't until she saw some letterhead she'd snaked from the place in Electric City that she realized what was missing.

"Fuck me." The hunter was out the door as soon as she had her shoes on and her jacket pockets and other hiding places filled with the essential for someone in her line of work.

Rather than being daunted by the doors, Jack went hunting. She knocked on door after door, not caring if she interupted something or woke someone up. She got a little frustrated when she got no answer, but quickly moved on.

"No, no one by that name. Is something wrong?" A blond woman answered. Jack didn't have the same dislike for cops as some hunters did, but she just shook her head and let the cop get back to whatever cops did. Even when they weren't exactly cops.

"Nope! Go away!" Catboy yelled at her before she could even ask anything. He didn't stay in one place long enough for Jack to ask more, and the hunter wasn't sure the little dick could answer anything anyway. He didn't seem all there.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I know of anyone by that name." The blond man with curly hair smiled slightly. "Do you know you have interesting eyes? Have you been looking for this woman long?" Four eyes was a little too curious for Jack's liking, so she shook her head and excused herself. She didn't exactly have time for a chat; plus, he was probably in a state of shock - he wasn't familiar.

It took her longer than she thought, to get round one side of the hall and up another. She hadn't gotten far unfortunately, just to the room across from her own, but she wasn't going to give up. Take a break maybe, seeing as her stomach was starting to complain.

"Okay, okay, soon." She talked down to her own body before pounding on the door. "Kai! Kai, are you in there?"

Jack was not there.

But Jack's friend was. Kai knew this. She felt him roaming the island more than once. There were others, too. Things that shouldn't be. Sharing the island with her. And the Voice said to kill them all.

Kai had to fight herself from Hunting. She had to keep her distance from all of them. Hole up on a part of the island where none of them went. It wasn't really far enough for her liking, but she made sure not to roam, and kept herself calm.

First she built herself a little shelter. A small lean-to that would keep the sun off of her when she wanted, and hold back rain and wind if it came. Then it was stocking it. Food, wood, items she needed, and some she didn't. Like the pretty little rock that she found and thought Jack would like.

Kai had no idea about the second island. She never even made it over to that side of hers to see it. She was just sure that everything she cared about was gone, and she was surrounded by the impossible. Fending for herself. Trying not to slaughter everyone she was with.

Jack mumbled softly as her body grew warm. Evan had always run a little hot, but he was burning up. The evening's activities had managed to wear her down enough that she lightly pushed on him and told him to roll away. He felt a little fluffier than normal, but she chalked that up to comforter, duvet, something that was big, fluffy and way too warm.

Moments later, her body was cool again, and she slipped back into sleep. The hunter would have stayed there, but there was noise elsewhere. She groaned softly and sat up to investigate.

"Evan. Evan, I'm going to go shoot a robber." She stood, grabbed her gun - leaving the safety on - and headed toward the sound. Hunters rarely avoided those strange bumps in the night, and even in her dazed moments, she was aware enough to know that those noises weren't exactly demons coming to get them noises. She hoped they weren't. Usually demons were quieter killers.

Jack had had every plan to threaten whatever was in the living room, but she wasn't prepared to catch what she thought was the end of a tail slipping out the door. It was too high to be a normal dog's, but then Evan hadn't had any dogs.

Rather than getting dressed or waking Evan, Jack chased after whatever she'd just seen, only to end up standing out in the hall in little more than a slip. There was nothing to be seen. She raced to the stairs, nothing. She raced to a few public windows. Nothing. There was a moving darkness, but that could have a strange shadow or her eyes playing tricks - her eyes rarely played tricks, but it could happen.

The plan was to go back to the apartment, wake Evan, and get dressed. Her gut said something had happened, and she'd fallen down on the job. She should have been more aware, more prepared. Jack returned to the apartment only to find that the door was closed. She tried the door, soon sighing at how very locked it was. It wasn't her night. She could have pounded on the damn door to wake Evan, but she didn't want to draw attention. Also something said Evan may not be that much help.

Rather than try anything more, she grabbed up a pair of shoes that were sitting out to be shined and made her way down to the street to head home. She'd have to explain her current state of undress to Kai, and she was already working on a story should she get stopped by the police. At least she had a decent weapon with her just in case that moving darkness decided to attack.

"This just isn't my night." Jack sighed, moving quickly as her ankle would allow. Her final destination - home.

Jobs weren't exactly abundant in this time for women. Jack had found something that she seemed to enjoy. Kai didn't really get the appeal, but there were stories that Jack laughed at, and though Kai was a little suspicious, she trusted Jack. She trusted her friend and mentor to not do something that she didn't want to be doing, and to be honest about what was going on.

Kai had found a job teaching little girls ballet. It was something she could do, and a thing that she loved. She felt really lucky. It also gave her access to a dance studio. She was able to fill empty time with the empty space and the freedom to just dance, to move to the music in her head.

There was a lot of empty space.

Since being here on this world, Kai had encountered nothing that triggered the voice in her head telling her to kill. To throw herself in the path of danger to save the innocent. Nothing out in the general public, anyway. There were those with the group that she felt the need to end, but she was conflicted about that. They were monsters, that much she knew. But did monsters who were with them, who could be on their side, warrant death? All Kai knew was that there weren't nightly hunts. There wasn't a compass to guide her to move at all times. There was no confusion in her head. No being at odds with herself and the new purpose she'd found herself filled with.

It was like her life was hers again. As if she'd been granted a wish that she'd never voiced. She knew, intellectually, that it couldn't be seen as all bad. She'd met Jack, after all. And Eleni, and Max. Nothing there was bad at all.

But the freedom.

The YWCA wasn't a bad place to stay, either. She hadn't really known what to think of it when it had been found, she hadn't known, for one, that there was a women's version, she'd thought it was all one place. And she'd thought that place was really a refuge for the poor and homeless. But here, in this time, it was different. It was cozy-ish and clean. That was important. And safe. That was also important.

Riding high off of a night filled with teaching and an evening alone in the studio moving to sounds that wouldn't be invented for another fifty years at least, Kai left the building and started toward the place she'd come to think of as home. She wanted to get back to Jack, tell her about the day she'd had. Discuss what they might have for dinner - late dinner - ask about how the job was going. Maybe curl up and listen to the radio putting out tunes of this era. This was what she was looking forward to.

She was stopped, however. Not by anything she could see, but by the voice. The urging of it. It struck her so hard and so suddenly, a fullness where there had been only silence for so long, that she gasped and dropped her dance bag onto the sidewalk, clutching her stomach in shock, eyes moving through the shadows around her, looking, seeking. What was it? What was it? Where was it?

Kai's senses were turned up as high as they could go, and had been since the alien had appeared in the circle in the big man's living room. Though the voice wasn't there, wasn't telling her that it needed to be killed and how to do it, all the instinct she'd learned because of it, and at Jack's tutelage couldn't be ignored, that instinct was geared to full throttle.

So when her awareness recentered itself and she realized that they were no longer in the house at all, Kai went into overdrive. She'd been sitting, like one would do in a diner booth, but she didn't stay that way. In a beat, Kai was standing, the table knocked back, and she was ready to fight. There were lots of things in the room that had that voice talking, the same things, Kai knew, that had been in the house with her. Not quite friends, definitely not enemies. It took a lot to keep herself from lunging at any of them, especially with the way she was feeling. Already on edge, she wanted to fight.

It didn't even occur to her to look at herself and see the calf length, full skirted dress that she was wearing, or the wrist length gloves, and heels. Ridiculous getup for fighting in. Kai's brain only dimly registered the lack of color. Her eyes darting here and there, brain moving too fast to process any of it.

Eventually, Piotr decided that enough socializing had gone on. People knew that their friends and loved ones were here with them, and that was a good thing. They could catch up further later, however. If he didn't interrupt, the meeting would go on far longer than anybody wanted it to. He'd provided some snacks, but no actual food. There would be a need for actual food at some point.

He cleared his throat to get the attention of everybody present.

"We are all here right now for the same purpose." Piotr's voice wasn't loud, but it was demanding. His accent cut through everything else easily. The edges of it were sharp, the middles heavy. He wouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "All of us were brought to this place, world or dimension, and we have all been seeking answers since we woke up. It is time to share what we have found."

He smiled a little at Mary, at Cas, then at Rob, still not giving up his position.

"I will do this in the most orderly manner that I can, so we can get the information and compare notes as needed."

Piotr turned to Castiel, who had spoken up first.

Piotr was anxious to get everything rolling. While putting the meeting off had given extra time to round up others who might need to be in on it, it meant a delay of information that he wasn't truly comfortable with. He'd managed to play it off with everybody that he'd encountered, making as if this wasn't as big a deal as it really was to him. Inside, Piotr had been twitchy. Anything could happen at any time. They were all dealing with the unknown. There were too many variables, the risk was far too high. Lingering only swayed things away from their favor.

It was very domestic, the way he readied for the guests. He didn't let Max lift a finger. It was the only way he could keep himself from stewing, really. To move, work. Put plates together. Ready beverages. Create a spread that Martha Stewart would have been proud of.

He even dressed up.

Black suit, crisp white shirt, black tie, shiny black shoes, hair combed impeccably, guns tucked away in their holsters under his arms and hidden carefully by the jacket of his expensive outfit. Not a lick of metal showing anywhere to give him away, and that was more a throwback to the long nights of watching a mark than anything else. Piotr didn't have any good reason for it now, but it felt right.

When there was nothing left to do, he leaned against the arm of the couch and worried his lip between his teeth. There wasn't a watch to check on his wrist, so he glanced every few minutes at the clock on the wall, ticking away in its hideous orange and purple motif, strange detached bunny ears the hands, a mangled face grinning behind them. It was disturbing at best, though Piotr didn't really see the image, just the minutes.

The doorbell rang and he opened it, taking up the entire doorway. He smiled at the first guests and stood aside to allow them in. He made motions toward the table of snacks and directed them toward the kitchen for drinks. Every single newcomer got the same treatment. Max still not allowed to do anything that might have taken even an iota of the control out of the Russian's hands. They weren't military people, those who were showing up, they weren't highly trained like he was, but he would be damned if he wasn't in command of everything.

There were so many faces that he didn't recognize, and still no sign of the one that he was still seeking. Rayne was not with any of the others that showed up. Piotr couldn't help the worry he felt for his charge. The strange woman who he'd met in Malden, what felt like a hundred years ago now. He didn't ask after her, knowing that if any of these people knew her, she would have been here. He'd been careful to set the time of the meeting right after sunset to accommodate her and any others that might be like her. If she was here, by some strange chance, and had not been informed of the meeting, and hadn't come looking for him, if she had, in fact, decided to keep herself secret, then she had a reason for it, and it wasn't Piotr's place to draw attention to her. The hope of that was beyond slim, however, and he knew it. She wasn't here, he just had to admit it.

He let everybody mingle for almost an hour, to make sure that all the people that had been told had a change to show up. That and it was obvious that some of them had been looking for each other for a while, and they were just now discovering one another. He couldn't bring himself to break that up. He knew how he would have felt if he'd found his friend. He wouldn't have been able to focus on anything else but making sure that she was alright.

Finally, he stood in the center of the living room, his eyes skating over the seating, knowing that there wasn't enough for everybody and regretting it, and cleared his throat to get the attention of the assembled.

"We are all here right now for the same purpose." Piotr's voice wasn't loud, but it was demanding. His accent cut through everything else easily. The edges of it were sharp, the middles heavy. He wouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "All of us were brought to this place, world or dimension, and we have all been seeking answers since we woke up. It is time to share what we have found."

He smiled a little at Mary, at Cas, then at Rob, still not giving up his position.

Max had stayed the night, and he had settled in to watch some strange movie that was a mix of Freddie, Jason, and Easter Bunny Charlie Brown. He wasn't sure if it worked, but it had managed to knock Eleni out. Rather than move her too much, he'd pulled the trench coat, that he'd taken off earlier, and covered her with it. He'd even wrapped an arm around her and snuggled in to the couch himself.

The p.i. didn't go to sleep immediately, his ears ever listening for the imminent vampduck attack. Mallard with fangs? Count Duckula? He smirked to himself as he came up with weird names and phrases. The zombunnies hadn't shown up, but he wasn't doubting the Stark kid that she had seen those. Ducks with fangs would take care of that bit of disbelief.

He was also further along in believing her about her parentage. The weapon she'd just thrown together in her basement or wherever she'd done it was a good sign. She was wicked smart as some might say, and he didn't think a Stark would be known for idiocy. Not a normal one anyway.

So, there Max dozed, wondering if he'd ever get to sleep comfortable in a bed again. He would have continued to do so if something, movement near by perhaps, hadn't woken him. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but something or someone was in the house. It was too dark to see, but that didn't give him any hint to the time. Nothing close by was helpful, not without him signalling that he was awake. He just hoped that the vampducks didn't know a few undead monkeys who could open doors.

Eleni had fallen asleep in a chair beside Isaac's bed in the hospital, so it wasn't a surprise when she woke up somewhere uncomfortable. What was a surprise was the cool breeze playing across her face. Once her eyes were open, it was a whole lot harder to mistake the moonlight for the hospital's fluorescent lights. She sat up, trying to get her bearings on the second time in as many days that she'd woken up somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. She seemed to be curled up on a bench which was sitting on a patio outside of a moderately sized house that she didn't recognize in the slightest.

She didn't know what was going on, but she knew that this was already getting old. There was an edge of panic when she looked around and realized that Isaac wasn't anywhere to be seen. As soon as she found him again, she wasn't going back to sleep until she passed out from exhaustion.

There was no room for 'if.' She would find him. She had to.

The redheaded Stark was just starting to notice the Jack O'Lanterns glittering on the patio when she spotted the glimmer of tiny eyes off the side of the patio. She could just barely make out the white shape of what looked to be a small family of bunnies peering at her from the side of the patio. She shifted forward in her seat to get a better look, moving slowly so she didn't scare them away. She couldn't see them very well, but bunnies were harmless, weren't they? Why strike terror into their hearts if she didn't have to?

Jack didn't seem to mind their new sleeping situation. Kai had apologized and tried to explain, but Jack had taken it as if it were nothing. Although being in the same bed as the dancer did put a naughty smile on the hunter's lips. It had been all too amusing.

Dancing had made Kai less likely to worry about her body, and Jack had never been one to be overly if at all prudish. Her body was what it was; she was proud of it, all the tattoos, scars, and scratches. They were her, and thankfully Kai didn't seem that squeamish about it either. They had a small routine as far as who used what when, but changing and such in front of the other wasn't a huge concern.

They tended to keep similar hours, and Jack was more than willing to help Kai and her voices when she wasn't trying to plot a way to relieve a certain artifact hunter of a particular artifact. They'd been sharing the king size bed for a few nights; it was the only one left in the Holiday Inn. The sleep had been good enough, and on one or two occasions, Jack had felt Kai snuggled close, or found herself snuggled in. It wasn't platonic, but it wasn't anything "indecent."

The night had been quiet, and they'd laughed at a couple who were louder than necessary. They'd fallen a sleep like normal, but some time in the early morning before the sun rose, Jack awoke to a very unsettled and very unhappy Kai. Something was wrong.

"Kai? Honey?" Jack's voice was soft, but she didn't reach out for the woman, not yet. She'd seen the Hunter fighting, and Jack really didn't want to see who was better.

The trip hadn't been that long, and Kai was actually curious. Very curious. Just when Jack thought they had gotten to the end of Kai's questions, the hunter with a small h found herself answering more questions. Somewhere along the way Jack finally looked at the dancer to pass the fuck out already; they hadn't exactly slept since they started this trip. Thankfully, the dancer didn't argue; of course, she didn't seem to like having to sleep in the passenger's seat. At least the car was clean, very clean.

The trip ended with the two bunking down in one of the lesser establishments. One some level Jack did wish that she hadn't brought the woman along with her, but then, she really couldn't leave Kai behind. If Kai really was as lost as she claimed, then she did need help. Kai needed a great deal of help, and Jack would be letting down her own family history and her own personal history.

Jack led the dancer out of the old building that was their current lodging; it was dinner. It'd taken a little while to explain that this was what a hunter on the road had to deal with on a regular basis. Live on what was available. She''d slept most of the previous day after taking a very long shower. A very long wonderful shower, even if the towels did have that very used look to them.

"So, heard anything since we got here?" Jack didn't bring up the feeling that something just wasn't right about the people in Electric City. No, something wasn't right at all. She thought she'd figured it out, but she was considering going strongly against her gut on this one. She may have been suffering form a major lack of sleep, as if she hadn't worked on less.

Kai was exhausted. She still didn't understand the specifics of what she did, the thing that seemed to come natural to her. She hadn't been able to get all the information from Z before they'd had to part ways. Just the gist of it. She would have loved to mine the other woman's brain for the smallest details, even though that would have taken forever with the note writing. All she knew, really, when it came down to it, was that she needed to just follow her instincts. Her instincts would keep her safe.

Plus, if she did that, then the voice didn't haunt her quite as much.

Despite being a dancer, despite being in perfect shape, the hunting wore her down. She thought it was probably more an emotional thing than a physical thing. She wasn't used to fighting, let alone fighting to live, and she wasn't at all used to killing things. Kai wasn't even sure she was okay with killing things, even if they were technically monsters.

She tried really hard to just kill the things that were actively attacking or stalking humans. At least she could rationalize that to herself. Those things were hurting people, or intending to hurt people. Those things she was sure deserved to die.

There was a bit of blood on her shirt, she noticed, as she washed her hands in a fountain. The shirt would have to be thrown out. Kai sighed heavily and dried her hands on her pants, then sat on the edge of the fountain to think a little.