Network: International Updates Who: Hyperion/Cooper and Genevieve/Adelaide When: Sunday, January 28, early morning (UK time) What: While on their proper honeymoon in Tahiti, Gen and Coop check their messages and realize things aren't so good at home. They call to get updated on it all. Warnings: References to trauma Public/Private: Private
Cooper had turned on his phone at Gen's insistence, she had a feeling and it hadn't gone away in hours. It had turned out to be right, he had a handful of voicemails, though nothing from Emilia. He tried her first, and he got her voicemail. He knew the next person to call, Hyperion. He'd know if Emilia was alright, save him the heart attack he was giving himself, while Gen went about contacting Adelaide.
As he heard the rings, he silently prayed that everyone was alright. He knew it was useless, he had heard Hyperion's voice in that voicemail. Something bad had happened. "Hype, it's Cooper," he said, as soon as he heard noise on the other end of the phone.
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By the time morning came, Hyperion closely resembled an early-stage zombie. His skin was pale, dark bags under his eyes from crying briefly and spending the rest of the time forcing the emotions back, not to mention the lack of sleep. Several people had told him to go home and sleep, but he couldn't. He couldn't go sleep in their bed not knowing where she was, if she was okay. He had at least stopped by the flat to make sure the cats were good and load up on caffeine, and then he'd gone back out, searching for any clues he could.
He'd found her phone in the rubble, but she hadn't been among the dead or injured. He'd seen Persephone, relieved that she was all right, but he'd also seen Ewan and Phillip's bodies. There wasn't even a small part of him that was okay. But he kept pushing on, knowing he had to find her.
He jumped when the phone rang, his heart racing, and he sighed when he saw Coop's name on the screen. "Yeah... yeah. Are you coming home? I need you here, mate. Bloody fucking hell. The Leaky exploded and Zahara's missing and Phillip and Ewan are dead. There are so many dead. You've got to get home." He probably wasn't doing a good job explaining anything, but his brain was fuzzy and he was jittery from lack of sleep and nerves.
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Hazel eyes grew wide, and he was stunned speechless for a moment. He wasn't usually at a loss for words, but that had been a lot of information. An explosion, ZJ was missing, and his brother, as well as brother-in-law, had passed. "Hyperion," he breathed after a moment. "What do you mean it exploded? How is she missing? Have they ch-" he cut himself off from the rest of that question, he didn't want to ask if they had checked the rubble. That would mean she had been dead under the rubble. "We're coming home," he said confidently, his eyes lifting to meet Gen's gaze. "Gen's on the phone with Adelaide now, I've just got to arrange a portkey." Which would take far too much time.
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"She was there. She was supposed to take soup to Addi but she never made it there. I found her phone in the rubble, but she wasn't there. She wasn't there, Coop. I have to find her." He sounded desperate, scattered. "I'll make a call, get the portkey expedited for you," he promised. Because he needed his best mate here. Fitz had called wanting to help, but he had the kids and their mum was at the hospital with her sister, who'd been injured in the explosion, so there wasn't much Fitz could do.
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"We'll find her, I promise. Are there any leads? Have you gone home?" It was a stupid question, but he had to ask. There was the chance that she was maybe at home waiting, he hadn't thought to check. He knew it was ridiculous, if her phone was in the wreck, but she wasn't, she was somewhere. "What caused it?" Cooper was doing his best to think rationally about this. He knew he needed to get Hyperion off the phone, so he could get that portkey for them, but he wanted to ask an important question, he wanted to ask Hyperion who would have it out for him so bad they'd blow up a place to kill his brothers, and take his fiance.
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"Yeah, yeah checked on the cats. They're fine. No leads yet. There was so much going on no one saw anything." No one that he'd talked to yet, but there were so many people to talk to, and not all of them were medically sound to talk to him yet. "Fucking bad boiler," he growled at the question. The ministry had been firm that that's what the cause was, and he hadn't heard any murmurings from anyone who would know otherwise, so for now he was content to believe it. It was hard to stomach that it was just a coincidence that he'd lost his brother, brother-in-law, and fiance, though he still hadn't accepted that Zahara was lost for good. He would find her; by the gods, he would.
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Cooper's heart sank hearing that Hyperion had been home, he had run out of ideas. His eyes closed as he heard what had caused it, and not one ounce of Cooper believed it. A soft hiss left him, but he nodded his head. "Alright, hang up with me. Call and get us a portkey. I'll pack up our shit. I'll call you as soon as I land. We'll go back, we'll look for something, we'll talk to everyone. You know I'll beat skulls in for you. We'll find her, Hype. Just.... Make a list of people that might stage something like this just to get at you? It can't hurt." Just in case.
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"I will. I will. It's... I've been working on the list. Been at the office pouring over all my files. 'Bout time I can start waking up my contacts." After everything last night, there'd been too much to do, too much chaos, and he'd known he had to wait until morning. He just prayed that he wasn't too late, that Zahara was okay. "I'll text you after I make that call. Get your arse home, Coop." He ended the call and then immediately phoned his contact in the international travel department, stressing the importance of getting a portkey from Tahiti as soon as possible. When that was done, he sent Coop a text that read simply: 32 minutes and the coordinates for where to pick up the portkey.
Genevieve hadn't been able to shake that uneasy feeling she'd had all day, and she didn't think it was just because of the whole babies thing. There was no reason for her to have any sort of feeling like this--she didn't have the Sight or anything like that--something just felt wrong. And when she and Coop had finally agreed to check their phones, they'd both realized that her feeling of unease was justified.
As Coop made his own calls, Gen called Addi. Her sister didn't answer the first call, and so she did the mental math, trying to figure out what time it was back home--a bit too early for Addi to be up on a normal Sunday, she thought. Still, she called again, hoping that the two calls in a row would get Addi to answer.
"'lo?" a groggy voice answered on the third ring this time, and Gen blew out a breath.
"Addi, it's Vieve. I'm sorry to wake you, I know it's really early there, but we just checked our phones and got all the messages. What is going on?! Are you okay? Is the Peanut okay?" she asked in a flurry of questions, feeling guilty for it but there was no way around it. She was half a world away, and it made her anxious to not be able to be there for her sister right now.
"Mon dieu, Vieve," Addi groaned softly, nowhere near awake enough yet for that ramble of questions. "Not okay. I mean, I'm okay, Peanut's okay, but we're not." She yawned loudly, realizing she probably wasn't making any sense, and pushed herself up in bed. Dora had set her up in a bedroom downstairs, so she at least wasn't worried about waking the twins with the phone call.
"Addi, what happened?" Gen repeated firmly, a little less kindly than she might have otherwise, but she needed to know what was going on.
Addi rubbed a hand over her eyes and by sheer force of will got her brain working enough to answer her sister a little more thoroughly. "There was an explosion at the Leaky. A lot of people died. Vieveโฆ Phillip died." It hurt her to say it out loud, and her eyes welled up with tears again as her free hand moved down to cover her bump protectively. "Zee's missing. Iโฆ I've been sick, and it was just too much. I was triggered into early labor, but Dora called Blaise and he summoned a healer from the continent, and he was able to stop it, so we're okay, physically. But Vieveโฆ" she broke off on a soft sob. "I'm not okay." She really needed to not cry; the Healer had stressed how important it was that she stay as calm as possible, especially in the immediate aftermath, though he was hesitant to prescribe her anything to force calm upon her, not wanting to cause damage to her growing baby.
"Merde, Adelaide," Gen breathed, her eyes stinging with tears as they met Coop's gaze then. He looked as upset as she felt, and she could only imagine what Hyperion was telling him. "We'll be home as soon as we can, I promise. Where are you now?"
Something in her loosened at Vieve's promise; she knew she would feel better with her sister around. "At Dora's. I was here whenโฆ when Hype came to tell her. Fuck, Ewan died too, Vieve. Dora's husband? Everything's a bleeding mess right now." Addi rubbed her hand over her forehead, a dull ache starting to pulse there. "The Healer said I'm not allowed to go anywhere for at least a few days; he was worried travel might push me back into early labor, and she's not viable yet. I can't lose her, Vieve. I can't," she whispered almost desperately.
"You won't lose her. Have Mum and Papa been called yet?" Gen asked.
Addi shook her head even though Genevieve couldn't see her. "No, it was so chaotic, and I-"
"Don't worry about a thing," Gen interrupted her. "I'll take care of it when I get home. It won't be long. Go back to sleep chaton. Je t'amie."
Addi yawned again, nodding. "Je t'amie," she echoed, setting the phone back down after the call ended. It might not be so easy to fall back asleep, but she would try.