Reality Crisis

Carlos stayed behind until everyone was boarded onto the trucks and trailers that would take them all away from the remnants of die Festung. A few more chunks of the city had disappeared overnight. He realized once everyone and everything was loaded that he hadn't seen Harry or Murphy anywhere. A quick tracking spell was a dead end, which meant... Well, he knew damn well what it meant and it wasn't good.

He looked at the wall, which now had chunks that were taken over by prehistoric-looking plants, and then he looked at the group that was already starting to depart. He frowned.

There was no time to grieve. Not until he could do that on the move. He turned and hurried to join the group, looking for one particular familiar face. She had to still be here. He had to make sure of that. Had to touch her and hold her and possibly not let go for a good long while.

Eric wasn't leaving.

Not yet anyway.

Everyone had to be out first, and he would make sure there was nobody left lingering in the ruined city. He didn't do it for Belia. Nothing he did was for anyone but himself in a way. It was selfish but it had to be done. And he was leaving nobody to die or wither away into the nothingness.

When Belia made the announcement that they were leaving Eric wondered why she had waited so long to move the people. The signs had been there and yet the people were allowed to live on as normal. If you called this normal.

Eric could only wonder how everyone else was taking this. He was curious to know what Leeloo thought about the relocation. He hadnt seen his best friend in a few days which was too long. The bird had seen her, made sure she was alright, but he hadnt heard her voice or that laugh in far too long. He had to remedy that but for now he would wait.

He sat on the wall in the moonlight, the old familiar place of haunting that he was prone to using, and watched as the city prepared to depart. Usually it was quiet, now there was the murmur of distress and hurry on the lips of the cityborn. Who was going to protect them on their journey? They would have to rely on themselves, each other and more on the Chosen.

It seemed that this move almost was some sort of unspoken line drawn in the sand. You either protect those traveling or you let them die. There was really no choice in the matter and Eric had made his. He was saving them. All of them. And he would do as much as he could on his own if it came down to it. He could send the bird ahead to keep watch but it wouldn't do them any good if Netvore approached the group.

They would just have to do without him until everyone had evacuated die Festung for good.

All they could do now was wait. Wait to see what the future held and hope that they would all live to see the sun again come morning.

Jackson still wasn't sure whether or not he'd made the right decision. He didn't like or trust Belia, and he certainly didn't know or trust Eric Northman or Erik Lehnsherr. And yet, there were people that couldn't help who their leaders were. People who'd chosen the best they could in these dark times. People that were possibly the last on this world. In all of his travels, he'd yet to find any other signs of life. That didn't mean that they weren't there on perhaps the other side of the world, but it did no good to delve into those sorts of what ifs, did it? All that he knew was that he wanted to protect as many members of the human race as he could. Even if that meant sharing one of the safe spaces that his group had found. He just had to hope that they didn't bring trouble on their heels.

The caravan was loaded up. Spare tents were found for as many as he could manage and Belia managed to supply additional tents. Even so, some would have to sleep in the vehicles that were joining them. Others still would have to share tents where they would possibly prefer not to.

It would be a tough journey, a long journey. But in the end, it would hopefully be worth it.

He doled out jobs to those within his group as always and gave lists of jobs to each of the leaders to pass on to their people. They would have to comply in their own way but he had no interest in power struggles while on the road. If they got caught up in the dirty politics of it all, they could all perish.

Dinah still hadn't found Bruce. Upon returning to the cave, she'd found half of it missing and she'd had a long moment where she was sure he was gone. Yet, she couldn't convince herself to stop looking. Not just yet. Bruce was always on the move and it was just as likely that he'd be checking on others and helping where he was needed. If he was still here, she could only think of how he'd feel when he found part of their base of operations and the place that was as close to a home as one could get in this world-when he found it missing.

Since she'd checked Sanctuary, she headed to die Festung to see if maybe the Bat was there. He wasn't, though she was there for Belia's meeting. For the news that everyone-from die Festung to Sanctuary to New Troy-was packing up and heading to hopefully safer ground. She also managed to spot some of the people that she cared about who were still in die Festung, to confirm that they were still in this world.

She needed to find Bruce even more now, but she also needed to do what she could to prepare to leave. If she could track down Clark, perhaps she could get him to find Bruce and make sure that he didn't get left behind.

She headed back to the cave to get the supplies that hadn't been obliterated and then she headed toward Sanctuary. Upon asking around, she discovered that at least Bruce had been spotted at the meeting held by Erik. That soothed her for the time being and made it easier to focus on shuttling supplies back and forth using her ATV and helping with the preparations for the move as she could. She just hoped that this entire area could hold it together until the next morning when they'd all head out.

After the meeting with Jackson, Lehnsherr, and Northman, Belia called together everyone staying within her walls for the announcement. Jackson had agreed to lead everyone out of this area and to an area that was hopefully safe for now. That particular area had close proximity to dead spots which would hopefully slow any potential rends in the fabric of their reality for now.

In the town meeting, she made it clear that leaving was the best option. However, she also made it clear that no one would be forced to leave. While she might want to, she couldn't force anyone to do something that they didn't want to. She just hoped that they all saw reason and that no one chose to stay behind to whatever fate awaited them within these crumbling walls.

The departure would occur the following morning, giving everyone time to pack up what they could. And hopefully to get over any insensible thoughts about staying behind.

Belia didn't have much of her own to pack. Nothing she cared about, aside from that library. Even that was not as important as it might be otherwise. There was a library very near the settlement that Jackson would lead them to. A library that was more important than she wanted it to be. If any of them were overly curious-and she was sure many would be-the text of the actual prophecy was rumored to be in that library. Were it not for the other leaders accompanying them on this trip, Belia might have made arrangements to have some of her men obtain that prophecy before anyone else could.

As such, she had larger concerns and helping Jackson lead her people to safety was the top priority.

There were too many things swirling in the vampire's mind. Thoughts that conflicted and wants that butted heads against one another. He had a duty to the people of New Troy, he needed to take care of them. Tend to the hurt, make their wounds clean and assure that they would heal correctly. Comfort those who were scared. Help to rebuild what he could, though Eric and Pam and John had that fairly well taken care of between them.

But he also wanted Dean. And Evey.

Evey, so far away in another city. The only solace he had was that he was sure Peter would contact him if something had happened to her. There wouldn't have been any hesitation, Aidan didn't think, to get to him directly. Not with a runner, not with travel over the vast distance, but with the mind-to-mind connection that the other man was capable of.

That was about the only thing keeping Aidan sane.

He was sure that she had her own loyalties. Things to tend to, she was such a fighter when it came to the health and well being of others.

And Dean... Dean had Sam to look after. Fred, the woman he'd seen at the wedding, and the general population of die Festung. Dean would also be busy, assuring that he and everybody that he cared about was safe. Aidan even spared a moment to hope that the Impala was in tact and unharmed. He knew how much Dean cared about the car, and what it meant to the family.

He had no real way to know if Dean was okay, not like he did with Evey. He just had hope in his heart and the faith that Winchesters seemed capable of surviving pretty much anything that was thrown at them. On faith alone was Aidan kept sane on this matter.

Quickly, he worked at setting a broken arm, an injury from a fall unrelated to the recent happenings in the world. Just a kid, playing, like kids do, and falling the wrong way off of a broken wall. He smiled as he finished wrapping the limb.

"You're going to be fine. But next time, let's not play in rubble, okay? I'll send your mom in."

Aidan stood and left the room. He directed the mother in as he'd promised, and motioned that he was going to take a few moments outside. He needed air. He needed space.

Bane was entirely unhappy about the turn of events. The sudden disappearances, the loss of life. Mostly he was displeased because there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing Erik could do about it. They were all helpless and useless in the face of what this world threw at them. Bane did not like feeling helpless.

It soured his mood considerably.

Talia had shown up, and that added to his feelings. He had an inherent need to protect her. He had taken her in, given her his bed, slept on the floor so that she could live in the relative comfort, he had made sure that she was fed and well. All on instinct alone. Just as he had protected her long ago in the Pit, so he would protect her now.

But how could he, in the face of the world veritably imploding on itself? What was he to do?

The large man was returning to the hut after patrolling the settlement, taking stock of what had gone missing, and what was in place of it. Trying to discover if faces were gone for good, or if they were in hiding for fear of what might come next. This was not his place to command, though he deeply wished it was. He wanted to give orders, he wanted to make arrangements.

While he was relatively happy in Sanctuary, and he would remain loyal to Erik and abide by his rules whilst there, Bane was giving serious consideration to the idea that perhaps he was not made to follow orders, only give them. He would not abandon these people while they had need of him. But once this was over, he might not remain.

Once the battle with the creature was over, Michonne was up in her apartment and packing. She'd amassed a small amount of stuff since arriving in the city, but not so much that it couldn't be rolled up and fit into her bags. There was only one completely unnecessary item that she packed, and there was no way in hell that she was leaving it behind. Thankfully, it fit right on top of the clothes she placed in her backpack, the bag that held the things she was most concerned about keeping. The other two, well, those she could lose and still survive without, for the most part. It was all clothes, though normally food went in there too.

Food.

She had a few items stored, emergency rations, and she half-jogged to the kitchen to pull them out of the place where she'd hidden them. Instinct. There was a can opener, too, and this she placed in the backpack, as it would become an important key to survival. She'd learned that very quickly back home.

Michonne wanted to talk to Dean, she wanted to make him come, too. But he had Sam and Fred and his friend Aidan who he wasn't quite sure about. She didn't know if he would abandon them. Which is, if she was going to be completely honest, exactly what she was doing. But self preservation and survival was ingrained in her now so deeply that she couldn't physically do anything else. Sitting around and waiting for another fucking dragon to show up, or more things to vanish, or more people to die, none of it fit in with the way that she'd lived her life.

It did hurt her heart to be doing this. To be running. And it made her angry, too. To be so uprooted from a place that she'd made a home in again. Michonne had to pause in her retrieval of food to stifle a sob. She was glad that nobody was here to see her break down like this.

By the time Leeloo headed back toward the Chosen building, Eric was nowhere to be seen. She hadn't found anyone who needed her; thankfully, the attack on the dragon had gone better than they could have hoped for. No one was hurt -- no one at all, at least, not from Eric's assault on the dragon tonight. Even he was well. She smiled brightly at the remembrance of him, covered head to toe in dragon muck, stinking horribly -- but alive, alive, though by rights he shouldn't have been.

The remembrance of his hand on her face, just before he ran into the Chosen building, came back again to her, then, and she stopped smiling. They were close. They were very close. She loved Eric. But something about that motion felt...

She was standing at the window that was always left open, staring out into the settlement, when the door opened. She turned around, her troubled expression fading back into a brilliant smile -- and then dimming again, when she saw Evey and Peter... and the state of Peter.

Leeloo went straight to the door, and as she looked at Evey, her hands were already settling on Peter's waist. In answer, the Brit only gave Leeloo a surprisingly tender smile, mouthed "Feed him," then stepped backward into the corridor and closed the door.

That left Peter. She looked at him instead, smoothing her fingers over and over against his sides.

By the time she and Peter made it back to die Festung, the threat of the dragon was over -- though, by the looks of the carcass as they walked past by it, not by much. The potent stench of the beast turned her stomach, and she was glad she hadn't eaten recently.

She could feel her friend beside her aching to get home, aching to reach the woman who'd taken residence in so much of his heart. Evey couldn't fault him for that; she wished she were in a different city right now, herself. But there were others here that she wanted to check on -- not that she could do much if they were hurt or worse. But she still wanted to know.

With everything that they'd just been through, Evey didn't dare leave Peter until he was safely at his flat, with the woman who would take better care of him than even she could manage. And, once that was done, she headed down one floor and dropped her things off at her apartment. Then she went straight down again. Carlos first. She knocked on the door where she'd left notes before, then waited (hoped) for him to answer.

Her scanner had buzzed as River was taking a tour of die Festung. She was particularly interested in the structure being built just outside of the walls - a lot of effort was being put into constructing an amphitheater. For what? It certainly wasn't necessary for survival in a world like this.

The alert pried her attention away with little difficulty. She gaped at the announcement for a moment, then immediately walked away from the construction site to find the cause of the alert. It was two things, really. One, a familiar complication of time and space that she knew was the TARDIS, even if the readings were a bit wonky. Secondly, a binary vascular system that was wandering about in the same vicinity.

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The TARDIS faded into reality with a familiar vworp! vworp! It connected solidly with the ground and moments later the door opened, releasing The Doctor and a plume of smoke. No matter that he pulled the door inward when the sign on the TARDIS clearly indicated that the doors were meant to be opened outward. It was habit.

"Amelia! Amelia! I worked out what it was! I know what I was missing!"

The Doctor hopped over the root of a ancient tree branch, running quickly through a patchwork of realities before he realized he was running through a patchwork of realities and was not, in fact, in the quaint front yard of a seven year old Scottish girl's English home.

"Right."

Normally he would have been content to take a curious peek around, especially since, and this was odd for him, he didn't immediately recognize the time period. Sticking his tongue out in the air he tasted a mixture of prehistoric and twenty-first century air.

Turning on a heel he walked calmly back to the TARDIS, grabbed the handle and pushed.

She wouldn't open.

The Doctor tried using his key. He tried pulling. The TARDIS still didn't budge.

"No, no. Don't do that to me now." He leaned against the TARDIS, and being alone, spoke soothingly to her, tracing his fingers along the window. She was still rebuilding, or trying to. There was so much smoke!

Something was wrong with this world and if he was going to save Amelia he would have to take a slight detour and look around in this world first.

So he started running. His converse sneakers were only barely holding up. They'd been a brilliant footwear choice, excellent for running but part of the sole on his left shoe was slightly melted. Oops. None of his clothes were his own, not really, but he could stand to be raggedy for a bit longer.

Duel circulatory system and Time Lord physiology made running a bit easier than the average human. He tried taking in every detail he passed, but new body made it harder to focus or even coordinate. Instead of running through the gates into the first sign of (collapsing) civilization he ran into them and knocked himself unconscious.

Mag stood there carefully, fingers touching gingerly over her lips as her eyes absorbed what seemed to be the rotting corpse of a very large, scaly, winged beast. What happened to it seemed gruesome, a fate that no creature should have to endure and yet she understood that it was necessary. The obvious disembowelment seemed extreme, even for such a ferocious looking creature, and the smell wafting from it was enough to make her stomach turn. The ground was coated in blood, and it seemed to not be a consistent pooling. Some of the blood was streaked across the sidewalk, there were footprints as if someone had walked through it....but who?

Had someone fought this creature and won? Had a man done this? A woman? Mag didn't understand who would want to challenge openly such a creature. It looked so mighty, like it could tear a simple human in half with it's jaws should it choose to do so. But it had been tormenting die Festung and Mag was glad that it was gone. The Chosen building was now void of its burden but did it have to end such?

With a labored breath due to the smell the ex-diva backed up a few steps still trying to process what exactly she was seeing, how it got there, and how it had ended up having succumbed to such a fate. This world was so unpredictable and she knew that, but this? She didn't understand it. Maybe she wasn't meant to. Maybe it was supposed to be beyond her level of reasoning and though she didn't like that she had no control over it.

Suddenly Mag wished for Carlos. She wished he was there to try to piece together what she was seeing.

Her eyes swirled with electricity, registering the sight of the beast as it lay there in a puddle of it's own blood. Perhaps she could show Carlos later, but how would he miss something like this? Something so massive just laying in the street left to rot? How could anyone miss it?

She hadn't been there for the initial battle and she was glad. She had been helping in another part of the City, helping people and children like usual.

She continued to step backwards slowly, taking her time to make sure her feet were touching stable ground, until she felt herself run into something gently. Instantly she closed her eyes and she held her breath.

Being incapable of death meant that one could do many things. There were no limitations to what could be done and Eric seemed to be taking full advantage of that fact. Fighting a dragon proved that Eric pushed his ability to the extreme but it wasn't like he had extensive knowledge of exactly what it was he could do. However by pushing limits and testing boundaries he figured out just what he was capable of. And Eric knew that Leeloo probably believed in him more than he did in himself, which was warming. He didn't want to let her down and he wouldn't as long as he could help it.

The night had fallen over die Festung and the aftermath of the dragon was one to revel in. Eric was just glad the thing was gone. It was still laying where he had left it, a symbol of they predictable danger that lurked in the deepest realms of this world, but it served as a beacon as well. A signal that staked claim on die Festung. They would not be pushed around by any beast. Nothing would harm them as long as the Chosen could help it. Eric wasn't going to make himself available to Belia unless it was dire but at least she could rest a bit easier that night knowing her people were safe again. How long that would last he couldn't say, but it was something.

The crow soared overhead, the silent watchman. It flew in slow circles around the broken city to keep an eye out for anyone that may need help. Eric stood in the shadow of a building below patiently as the bird surveyed the sky.

Eric waited for Leeloo, to see if she would come. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't. He had kept her from Peter for quite a while and Eric had felt the bond they had kindled. Eric couldn't steal Leeloo away from that any more than he could something precious from someone that deserved it. What Leeloo did was her own business and Eric wouldn't stop her. Couldn't stop her, but he would respect her decisions and thus keep their friendship as close as he could to his heart.

Overhead the bird noticed a small glow coming from a building nearby. It seemed like a fire. It burned hot and bright against the night and curiously Eric stepped through the shadows. Now clean he moved with more determination to the source of the blaze. They didn't need a fire to get out of control here if it could be prevented, but he wouldn't take away someone's attempt at warmth, either.

He followed the bird and rounded a corner, the bright orange light dancing off of the crumbled bricks of the structure. He stopped to wait, to listen.

Most people didn't return to the building after the dragon started using the roof for a bed. Which meant that Sam had no way of knowing where his wife, his brother, or Cas were. Buildings and people had disappeared. Entire chunks of the city that had been a safe haven for them. It didn't sit well and he was fighting off panic as he looked.

He couldn't help but think that things had been too good before this had happened. Perhaps he'd gotten complacent. Perhaps he'd forgotten who he was for a little while. Forgotten that Winchesters weren't supposed to get happy endings. Particularly not the Winchester who had brought on the apocalypse and done so many things that were unconscionable. It didn't matter what his original intentions had been. As he'd once told Dean, it wasn't the road to Heaven that was paved with good intentions.

He finally decided to check some of the likely haunts for Fred and Dean, starting with the garage. If his brother was anywhere, it would be making sure that the Impala hadn't been swallowed up by one of the holes in reality.

The morning came fresh and new to the land of Gondor, but there was no brightness for her in the sunrise. Éowyn lay in her bed of healing with her heart afire. The window did not face east, toward which the Captains had ridden to hopeless battle not two days ago. The dominion of The Witch-King was broken, but there was yet Sauron the Deceiver and his ally the White Wizard in his great spire at Isengard. Yet, here she lay, a shieldmaiden, useless as such despite her title, despite the new title she'd earned for her deeds on Pelennor Field. At length, she rose and firmly requested of her nurses to be given raiment - and an audience with the Warden of the Houses of Healing. She would not lie useless a moment longer, while the men rode to whatever end lay before them.

The Warden insisted she return to her bed, from which it was clear he would have her lie for another 7 days yet. But she knew the truth: that she was healed well enough to stand, all but her shield-arm, which although broken, was mending in its sling. And she knew another truth: that it was not always better to be healed, and that a death on the battlefield was better by far than a death of shame in a bed, far away from the fields of glory. When the Warden could not be turned, she again firmly requested that he bring her to a man of higher authority - and this was Faramir, the new Steward of Gondor.

Into the field she went with the Warden, as he led her to the one she requested. But before her eyes came a dark shifting, and where the grass had been green, now it turned brown. The world of Middle Earth faded away and a new one replaced it - this one nearly as dark as the lands of Mordor itself. No man stood with her, here, and she was alone without a weapon. The day was older than the morning had been, and in the distance she saw a long wall. She headed for it.

By the by, she passed through what was clearly the site of some small battle. Old blood coated the side of one of the trees and across a nearby trunk, broken now. To her delight, a sword lay where it had apparently fallen. It was dirty, but the blade was still sharp enough. Éowyn had just seized on it, when she heard a roar in the distance.

She started running toward it.

Long after the sun went down over that shivering, half-eaten settlement the first day after the breaking, Leeloo finally stopped... and sat... and closed her eyes (just for a little bit, just for a while). When she opened them again, it was to the brightness of the new morning, and the warmth of a jacket that was too large for her. She lifted her head and found Eric sitting close by her, one leg crooked, one stretched out, and his arm thrown casually over that raised knee. She sat up, rubbed at her eyes, and then gave him a big smile. "Morning," she said, her voice rough from sleep. She was tired, yet, tired and worn, but her friend was there, and it was clear he'd been there for a good portion of the night. She might not have needed the protection, but it'd been given without her asking, and she felt warmed by it. Friends were good.

There was much to do. Sometime later, she looked up and found that she'd managed to separate herself from Eric. She was certain he was still all right, but after seeing people disappear from existence before, she couldn't help the jump of her heart when she looked and he wasn't near. Concern for die Festung was beginning to worry her to distraction. She was glad to put in her hand here at Sanctuary, but she'd met many good people in die Festung, both Chosen and native alike. It didn't seem right that she wasn't there. But as fate would have it, Eric came stalking purposefully around the corner of the building where she'd been carefully salvaging, something strange in his eyes. The next hour, they were already well on their way back to die Festung.

She understood what they were about to do. She just didn't know how they were going to do it.

When exactly Eric became die Festung's personal body guard he wasn't quite sure. But things seemed to come back to him full circle. If it wasn't chasing away Netvore or harmful beasts from the walls it was....a dragon?

A dragon.

If he remembered correctly, Eric was sure it was supposed to be some kind of good-hearted Prince Charming or brave Knight that went to fight the dragon. Eric was neither of those. Not by a long stretch of the imagination. And why Belia had reached out to him to fight the dragon in her city he wasn't sure either. There were far more capable people in this world that could be utilized for slaying a dragon.

Eric didn't feel any ties to die Festung in the least. Sure he had a small apartment that Belia had kindly granted him upon first arrival but he never used it. It was now just an empty room void of everything but the jungle of dust bunnies. He did watch over the city from time to time, but not because Belia had asked. She hadnt. He wanted to.

But this was different. A dragon.

Eric looked up at the guard of Belia's that had approached him on the leader's behalf and nodded slowly at the man. "I'll do it," Eric said softy before looking away. His mind raced over every movie he had seen in his previous life, trying to recall exactly how one killed a dragon.

Eric wondered what Leeloo would make of all of this. Because if Eric did go fight the dragon there would be blood. Not his of course, but it would end badly for someone.

He had to find her and tell her. She had to know and she had to be safe at all costs.

Overhead the Crow soared to die Festung so that Eric could get a good look at his new opponent. There it was, perched happily upon the Chosen building in the middle of die Festung. The same building roof that Eric had dropped one of the City-born.

This was going to be one hell of a fight but Eric would be ready. And he wasn't doing it for Belia. Or die Festung. He was doing it for Leeloo. Always for her.

It was just like the first cataclysm. Buildings disappearing, bringing people on the street nearby with them. Not to mention the people inside. The casualties were huge. And given the tiny population on this world, Belia wasn't sure that their race could survive much more.

On a more personal level, she was blocking out memories of that first disaster and all it had claimed of hers. A husband, children, a life that was so alien to her that it must have been someone else living it. Belia Ohorek certainly wasn't that woman anymore.

No, she'd bartered away much in the way of her humanity and beliefs in fighting tooth and nail to ensure that her people survived. She had no regrets but that didn't mean that she particularly enjoyed what she'd become. Or what had become of her life.

She spent as little time as possible musing on such thoughts and instead went into action. The cities they'd all built in this area were no longer secure. Once the reality started ripping apart, they would have to move on and find a more stable spot and hope that the tears didn't catch up with them again. All the while knowing that it was just a matter of time. They could buy themselves days or weeks, possibly even months, if they moved fast enough.

She sent out messengers to Sanctuary and New Troy and even requested that the Superboy try to find Jackson. If anyone could help them find a new home, it would be Jackson.

And then she waited.

Dinah couldn't remember when she'd last slept. Ever since people and buildings disappeared, she'd been running. A day, possibly longer? There'd been some night hours in there, she knew that. Not that it mattered. Her muscles were weary but she couldn't stop until she figured out who else was missing, or until she found those who were gone. The hut that she'd once shared with Enigma was gone. Enigma and Damon were nowhere to be found.

Neither was Bruce but the cave was still there and Dinah just had to hope that he was out helping. Of course, it was what he'd be doing if he was still here. She just had to hold onto the hope that he wasn't gone too.

She hadn't been able to bring herself to visit die Festung yet. She was helping as she could in Sanctuary and keeping an eye out for anyone that she knew. She also needed to find Kate, who'd gotten here just before things went crazy. Again. Then again, when weren't things falling apart?

They all needed to do something bigger right now. They couldn't keep putting out fires. They had to find out the source and put a stop to whatever was eating away at this world once and for all.

And then what? Then what, indeed. Could they find a way home? Or would they stay and help rebuild? Dinah wasn't sure she could leave even if they did find a way home. She certainly couldn't turn her back on these people who needed help, even if she might be needed at home too.

It wasn't a decision she had to make just yet though. Perhaps not ever. So for now, she searched and hoped.