Reunion (Lainey and Eli)

She smirked at his lack of response, a certain cruelty entering her eyes. It would have looked entirely alien to the little girl Eli would have remembered; young Elaine Patterson had been a kind, curious little girl.

"Nothing to say?" she queried loftily. "You come in here, claiming to be my brother, with nothing more than a couple names as evidence, and then you become speechless at the mention of kidnap. Can you guess who it was that kidnapped me? How about what they did to me? Or what happened to me afterwards, when I got away and I had no one?

"You come in here and expect me to believe you, without question or suspicion... Even if you knew me before; even if - if you are my brother, it's been twelve years and I assure you," Lainey leaned in closer, tone turning bitter, "a whole lot of shit can happen to a person in twelve years."

Eli felt light-headed. All the memories of his childhood swarmed back into his mind. This wasn't the Elaine that he knew. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't quite sure that he even wanted to know this Elaine. He sat there for what seemed like an hour, though he couldn't have been listening to her for more than a minute or so.

"You want evidence?" He was not going to let her get to him, no matter how horrible her story was, he was not going to feel sorry for her. He took off his jacket, so the burn marks on his arms were exposed. He gestured to them, "And this is the shit that happened during the twelve years you weren't there for me. When Mom was taking you to the goddamn carnival, Dad was trying to burn the magic out of me."

"I am so sorry about what happened to you, but don't you DARE blame me for loving a world where people accepted me, where I was treated like I had a gift and not a disease! Maybe our parents loved you but they sure as hell didn't love me, and there was NO WAY I could go back to a home like that."

"Burn marks?" Lainey scoffed. "Maybe they could serve as proof of your identity if I actually remembered my brother having burns! I don't, so if you're him, you sure as hell never showed them to me! Besides, brother," she sneered, "I'm younger than you, don't you remember? What the hell could I have done?"

The redhead let out a scornful laugh. "You're not sorry about what happened to me. You don't even know what happened to me! Oh, such an accepting lot, full of good, upright people who rip a nine-year-old from her home to use as a lab rat! Absolutely outstanding people. How could I be so sorely mistaken?"

"Of course I didn't show them to you! Do you really think I would teach my six-year-old sister to hate her parents? You worshipped them. My childhood sucked but I wasn't going to go and ruin yours."

He looked at her for a second, puzzled. "That's impossible, why would they ever be interested in.... Oh my god, that man, the man who you- they said they would come back but I thought-" He remembered that day, the day they took him away.

They were just about to leave and Lainey ran after them, but one of the wizards stopped her. Then he suddenly collapsed, and the last look he had of her... she seemed to be glowing. But he figured that it was just his vision going fuzzy, or general delirium... Then one of the men said that they were, "Coming back for that one." Eli had thought they were talking about setting up a court case, or maybe they were going to report their parents to social services or... something, anything other than kidnapping.

"Ellie, what did they do to you?"

Lainey froze, face paling. Damn her temper, always making her say things she didn't mean to!


She shook her head, partly in refusal to answer and partly to shake off the memory. "Forget it," she muttered, then gritted her teeth. "It's just Lainey."

"No, it's not 'just Lainey'. Your name is Elaine Patterson, and you're going to tell me what happened to you," he looked into her green eyes that were full of pain, even though he knew she was trying to hide it, "So I can kill the bastards that did it."

Maybe the old Elaine was in there somewhere, deep inside this tormented soul of a sister.

What happened to her...


The memories flickered across her mind as she gazed at him, a painful yearning twisting at her heart even though she did her best to shut it off.


Lainey wrapped her arms around her middle. She took a slow step back from the man; from Eli.


"That hasn't been my name for years," Lainey finally responded, throat constricting with emotion. "I can't..." She shook her head. "When I find them again, I'll kill them, myself. I just... I can't do this.

"My big brother can't protect me, anymore. You... have been dead to me for years," Lainey said slowly, tone soft. "The little girl you knew - she's gone. So just... don't." Giving a wan smile, she turned and walked away, taking a slow, deep breaths as she went.

He stared at her in anticipation, waiting for her to say something, anything, just to end the uncertainty. Finally her words broke through the silence.

At first, he wasn't sure how to respond. Did he let her go, just like that? She was an adult after all, and she could make her own decisions. Then again... she was never all that good at decision-making from what he remembered.

She started to walk away, and with every step Eli's level of panic rose.

"Lainey! Wait, please!" He called after her, somehow not able to move his feet, "You give this up, and we lose each other for another twelve years. That's not going to happen. Ever. Even if Mom and Dad are gone..."

"I know you've been waiting like I have. Waiting for us to finally find each other again. I never thought it would happen, but it has!"

"You're still my sister. I still love you. No matter what."

Lainey's feet slowed of their volition, bringing her to a stop. A lump formed in her throat.

"I've been thinking of this moment," she murmured quietly, "imagined it, over and over. I never thought about 'what next', though... Because there is no 'what next'. All the love in world cannot change the fact that I hate magic. It... wizards... have taken everything good from me...

"I'm not the sort of person you want for a sister, Eli. I'm not -" Lainey's hands clenched and unclenched. "I'm not a good person."

I don't want to lose you, again, was what she really wanted to say. I've missed you. You have always been my brother. I still love you, too. No matter what.

She didn't, though. Lainey was the leader of an order whose mission was to see the downfall of wizards and their kind. It was just... too late.

And it broke her heart.

Eli leaned his head back in exasperation. Why was she being so difficult?

"Elaine, you never listen! I DON'T CARE." Eli noticed a strand of bright red hair had fallen in front of her face. He had always been able to spot that hair from a distance, bobbing up and down as she walked with a childish skip in her step.

He let out a deep sigh, leaning on a table with one hand, "Maybe... maybe you're right. Maybe it would be best if we went our separate ways."

He laughed aloud to himself, "Mum and Dad would be so proud of their little girl. Shunning her only brother just because he knows how to pull a rabbit out of a hat."

He looked towards Lainey, grinning, "I can do more than that, you know. I know how to turn a bear into a sofa. That's how I passed my Transfiguration final."

He laughed again, "Oh but I shouldn't be talking about that in front of you, now should I? Yes, that magic is the work of the devil. I'd best be careful or Daddy'll come after me with a pitchfork."

The smile fell off of Eli's face, "Hate it all you want, but magic very well may have saved my life, in more ways than one."

"It's not about making them proud."

And it wasn't. It was about Lainey. It was about revenge. It was about doing the impossible: turning back time so that everything could be undone, so that she could be that nine-year-old again. It was about feeling happy and safe.

"Even that was a lie," she murmured to herself, remembering his burns. Her hand unconsciously rubbed at the sleeve covering her left arm. "Now, we're both scarred."

Her gaze focused upon him, intent and solemn. "That little girl," Lainey told him, "she thought it was wonderful. And she worshiped you." Her thumb pressed against the inside of her wrist, against the scars that should have been there, but weren't. Because magic had saved her life. What if that wizard hadn't interfered that night? What if she had succeeded?

She'd thought she had hurt enough already, then.

"Remember that little girl," Lainey whispered hoarsely, tone almost pleading. Turning, she really did leave this time, back behind the bar and through the kitchen beyond it, grabbing her purse along the way.

Lainey dug her phone out of her pocket with a shaking hand as she reached the alley behind the pub. The other clung to her pocket knife. Hitting speed dial, she waited as it rang.

"F-Frank?" she sobbed into the phone. "Frank, please - I need you. I... I want to kill myself."