The Beginning of the End

He sat, in his arm chair that stood upon the grassy knoll in his Garden, next to a tea tray. Images magically brought to life flitted in front of him. Specific people. One who would see jt would think of Tony Stark and his computer as he researched. When that whisper crashed into his senses his distraction cause the images to dissipitate. He reached out, into the city, searching. It didn't take him long to find her. As he stood from his chair he willed his body across the barrier into Mortalis, through the doorway of the room she was in. He looked around the room and nodded "I suppose familiarity is helpful. Although there are far more comfortable places one could go. Not that I'm passing judgement" the concern he had been feeling over the past month drained from him as he looked at her. He often questioned the why he was so drawn to her, but was never able to achieve an answer, and yet she called and he came.

"It was somewhere that no one else had claimed already. Or at least weren't making use of anymore. I didn't have money for anything else and with the other items I'd had to pilfer, I didn't feel right claiming a nicer place. Besides, it's actually nicer than what I'm used to when I'm from."

Slipping down off the edge of the roof and into the room that only had a partial ceiling, you would in fact realize she was wearing different clothing than the last time you'd seen her. Walking over to wherecshechad stashed a few bottles of water, she offered you one kind of sheepishly.

"Sorry I don't have anything else or better to offer. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time. It shouldn't take long but I think we need to talk, Adam."

She seemed for the most part at ease up until that name drop. Once she'd uttered it, she watched you carefully from the corner of her eye, clearly intending to at least try to gauge your reaction.

He fought that reaction. The surge of emotion at that name. The Rage, Sadness, Joy, Remorse. He took a breath and had to look at the ground as he pondered a moment "I'm not sure how you know what you are implying, but very much agree that perhaps we should talk." He walked to the middle of the room and made to sit down into nothing, but wound up in a comfortable looking chair with another right next to it with a tea table between them "Please" he gestured to the other chair.

She didn't apoear comfortable with sitting, her body seeming too wound up to stay still now. But she did at least move closer with her pacing. There was a moment where she herself looked pained at your response before it was carefully schooled away.

"You've never remembered me before, so why would you now ? It's been a long time, lifetimes really since I've been allowed in Eden. You've cared well for it. You're not sure how I know ? It's simple. Once upon a time I was created for the man that you were. Every time I'm reborn, and regain my memories, I find you. Remind you of who I am. Somehow find a way to get you to believe. And then I die again. It's my punishment for the fall."

"So you're saying that your Eve. And that your the same thousands of women who have approached me through out time claiming to be the same" his words were pure curiosity as he reached down and retrieved a mug that held no liquid until it was at his lips "Tea?"

Her sigh was quiet, frustration, but also a touch of sadness evident. Nodding slightly at your question,

Yes, that I am. Granted could there have been one or two that somehow realized who you were to try claiming you for themselves ? Yes, doubtful though that it's many others than me. Kind of hard to beat out a person who was created for you. And no, it wasn't from your rib. I simply wasn't there one day and was the next. If you don't believe me, ask me a question that only I could answer."

Head tilting at your question of the beverage,

"Only if it's shared from your lips."

Such sincerity in those words, yet at the same time you'd be able to pick up on the most subtle hint of playful challenge.

By the Powers that afforded her a blush to his cheeks. He only seemed stunned for a second, but it was clear. He chuckled awkwardly and scratched his chin "Umm..hehe...maybe we can finish this conversation first....then discuss who lips will be doing the sharing" he set down the tea and took a breath "Sounds more like I met you at the wrong time then"

"You've always been awkward when it's just the two of us. It's one of the things I always find most endearing about you."

The comment was made quite factually once she had turned to begin pacing again.

"As to the beverage, I wasn't speaking anything sexual. Intimate yes but not sexual. I think that would traumatize you far too much."

Spinning around suddenly, she strode over to where you were seated. Slipping between you and the table, she climbed up until she was straddling your lap. Hands settling, folded on her stomach, she met your gaze head on.

"What do you want to know ?"

He didn't seem to mind the closeness she so suddenly wanted. He was even able to control himself enough to deny the boner that wanted to be. His voice remained level and calm though "You may remember being Eve....but do you also not remember being born?"

All that casual confidence eked away when you posed that question. Uncertain of how her words would come out on such a topic, she nodded that she did in fact not remember. Leaning in instead, she captured one of your hands and settled it to her clothed breasts.

"I try not to think too hard on the things I can't remember. Causes killer headaches."

The movement of his hand caught him off guard. He stared at her chest for a moment before returning his gaze to hers "I think perhaps you should. I have a theory and I need the evidence to prove or disprove it" he couldn't help his fingers giving that mound of flesh a squeeze. They were nice, not to large, soft and supple from what he could tell. Stop it! He had to shake himself mentally and refocus once more.

The look she gave was way when he mentioned forcing memories forward.

"What if there's a reason that I'm not remembering all of it ? A good and sound, valid reason ?"

She didn't sound fearful, simply cautious. When your fingers flexed against her breast, it was the softest of sighs. Not a bad sound, just a contented sound. Leaning in she pressed the softest of kisses to the side of your neck.

"Share minds with me. That way if something happens thatvi can't see them, you still will."

He reached out mentally and accepted the invitation while speaking outloud "I believe there to be a very good reason. Which is what I'm attempting to prove. Come let us conduct this test, and figure out exactly when you truly came from"

There was a surprising amount of trust in how fully she opened her mind to you. No barriers, no holds barred. You would see the things she'd done, the good, the bad, and the gray. There were many she'd done that she wasn't proud of, but there were also many that she'd stand her ground on. They were all shockingly vivid, even for the mindscape. You'd also be able to tell if anything was being hidden. She wasn't doing it intentionally. There was also the wash of emotions.

The pain over seeing the you from her future aging and fading. The pain from each and everytime that the two of you had been lost to each other. But also the determination to find you. Time and time again.

He sifted through all those memories after pulling forward the one, and only, set of memories of her birth. In what was at this point and time, the future. Where she said she had come from. He found the first memories she had from all of the others. And found nothing before the age she was now. Almost as if she hadn't been there for those beginning years. "Interesting"

It was a careful shrug, Gaelic, in nature. The one place you could feel her wariness, her unease wasn't in the sense of the sharing itself, but in what you'd find. Also the reaction. Would you think her a liar ? A dilusional mad woman ? Just how far were you going to pull apart the life or lifes she believed she'd had. Your singular worded response just had her sitting there looking at you. A little on the surprised side ?

"Find your answer ? Or no ?"

"Getting there. If I may?" He didn't wait for her to respond as he held his hand out, lights appearing in the air, to many to count, but one could wager that they were the accumulated years of all her lives. They began to move and sort from the chaos they first appeared as. Once he was done there was a string of orbs, for each of her lives. "It would seem that your" he made the quotation marks with his hand " "Past" Lives aren't actually past in the sense you are thinking. You lived them yes, but they weren't true lives." The memories of her time, the future, played in her mind "This is your true time. Where you originate. You've been thrust into my timeline with no concern for where you landed. Someone truly wanted you to make it to me"

Whether you had intended them to or not, your words about them not being 'true' lives caused her to look as if you may as well have just struck her. Gracefully extracting herself from where she'd positioned on your lap, she took to her feet and after putting a bit of distance between the two of you began to pace. You could tell you still had enough of her attention to catch what you were saying but now that she was moving, she seemed to be withdrawing from you both mentally and physically. In fact, you'd find yourself firmly, but politely given the boot from her mind. Yes you, the all powerful Will Worker were kicked out without so much as a by your leave.

"I believe I already told you that. My future, -MY- time apparently needs you not aging and alive. Their message has been delivered. I'll kindly extract myself from your Garden and work on finding a way back."

"Will you finally just listen to me Eve!" His voice was intent and he stood as well "Allow me to put it into perspective" he waved his hand and the orbs created a spiral "Your time is indeed your time. You've been skipped through time like a stone upon a river. These past lives aren't past lives as you believe them to be, but merely stops in time, until you finally found the time you had intended" he separated the individual lengths by a mere space "You don't have full lifetimes except this one" he gestured to the one that was by itself, where all the rest were linked to both beginning and end "This tells me that you've met Wrinkle"

"I. Was. Listening."

Breathing slowly through now gritted teeth, she did in fact still listen, not that she had stopped. Or at the very least looked in the direction of what you were explaining.

"I'd like you to know I'm not actually stupid. Just a bit bounced around. Okay. A lot bounced around. It also means my time line is all out of whack. Or maybe I am stupid. Thank you for the lesson."

He scrubbed his face lightly "You'll have to forgive me, Time is the one thing I have no control of. Let me try to make sense of it. You came from my future, your present. You told me this. To try to change it, where I am there and able to assist. To do so you were sent backwards in time. But it would seem to me you overshot where you were intending. You still met me, but not when you needed to. And to correct that miscalculation you began skipping forward. Your timeline is exactly how it should be. What im saying" he took her hands "All of it was a gift" he looked down and sighed content in whatever decision he had just made, and images appeared behind him, images old, from lost times. Everyone of her faces appeared. He looked at her once more "I know who you are, and who you've been. I've known since the memories came back a few weeks ago. At least I had hoped"

"Most people don't have control of time. My being thrown back was a gambit and we knew it. Especially from the point I was thrown back from. Magic is so.... Different, veritably non-existent to us then. It was why when we first met and you took me to your Garden, I had to seem like a mad woman to you. Just... The colors. Being clean. But mostly ? The magic. It just felt... Amazing. It was like I was starting to become whole in a way I didn't know I hadn't been until then."

Those images caused a pained look to touch at her eyes before she finally looked away. She didn't stop you from taking her hands but didn't look back at you either.

"Every-time, something goes wrong and I die. What I saw.... This time though, it's not me. It's you. Something has changed. And I don't know how to prevent it. Whatever has transpired or is going to has set something in motion that you never make it to my time."

"You've known me over many lifetimes. And yet I've only had the chance to truly know you in this time. And I feel robbed. And you tell me that I don't make it past this time. I am invested in changing my future, but in order to do that I must understand your past, and discern what mistakes were truly made"

"It's not just you. Two men. A King with unblemished flesh the other carrying scars as a memory. Then the male with eyes like glowing, beautiful gems. A woman. Hair like the River Styx, carrying not one but two faces. A Princess yet without a crown. They fall before you. Yours prevents mine. I'm alone as I always am. That's this life though. I don't know what mistakes were made wrong in the past. Yet it's clearly what's intended."