AN: 1… I apologize in advance.

Chapter 49: Slender

I'm counting down the seconds until it will be 48 hours since I could sense Lea. It feels like forever; far too long

I'm surprised it lasted this long. I estimated a few hours delay for the connection to repair, I know it is, but this is taking far too long. Something is wrong. Very wrong, and I hate not knowing. Where's Lea? Where's my Proxy?

Jack and Jeffery long since fell asleep. Jeffery is sprawled on the couch, but Jack is curled on the rug. He said something about being more comfortable that way.

I can't sleep. I pace restlessly. I need Lea here, with me, before I break. I keep imagining what could be happening to her, like waking nightmares. I thought I could see through her, feel the pain.

The experience left me shaking, and I didn't even get all of it.

It's been almost 48 hours. Two days. Almost two days. I need Lea. This is the longest I've ever gone without checking on her.

I recall for a moment how calm she's been this whole time. She never even batted an eye, not at my appearance or the killing. Not at The Organization, Jack, or Jeffery. She's been in control this whole time.

And what she can do. She can't tell, but I can see. The potential is staggering. If she gets too worked up, she walks through the dimensions. Mine and the world, just like I do. She did it once when Jack said something. I knew then what was happening.

The strange part was she used my space as a foothold. She stepped into my gray-scape world and out again like it was nothing.

So Lea's different. Very different.

I'm not sure I like the implications of the skill. It seems like there has to be a catch. You don't just get powers; it's a trade-off. But what will the trade-off be?

I'm scared of what might happen. I'm terrified for Lea, and for myself.

The connection has been slow to repair, but it's happening. I can almost reach her. It seems only inches away. The feeling is killing me, sending my mind spinning.

We're both pushing at the barriers, straining towards each other.

I cease all movement to attempt to speed the process, boosting the energy. The barrier slips, and the connection reforms in a rush of violent emotion and senses. It freezes me in place for a moment as relief becomes overwhelming.

Lea doesn't speak, but she seems different. Different, like something happened. Something, like the world is unraveling.

I vanish instantly, making a beeline towards her, but at the same moment she moves towards me, stepping into the gray world between us. I stop there, the gray landscape blurred all around me.

Lea's here, somewhere, in this world. I can hear her, feel the vibrations. I head towards the sound. I just need to see. I just need to see her.

Why is the connection so fuzzy? It's like she's not completely open to the communication, almost blocking me. The sense of touch I get from her is almost nonexistent. I can barely trace the signal.

I stop, my chest constricted, to get my bearings. I fing the right direction and start going that way. It's so hard to see here I almost trip and go stumbling forwards.

Lea does trip. I feel her hit the ground. It sends a shock of pain through her; much more painful than it should be.

"Lea?" I call, "Lea?!"

She doesn't reply, but she's close. Just barely out of sight.

I sense her pushing herself off the ground, gasping once with pain.

That's it. I do the reverse of what I normally do; use the material world as a foothold and teleport inside my dimension. The landing is hard, making me bend my knees slightly to absorb the impact.

Lea seems to materialize before me, just rises out of the ground.

I stare at her.

Lea is crying, really crying. There are tears running down her face, over the red marks. There are bright red marks on her skin, welts. Her clothes are ripped, cuts traced onto her flesh. I can see the deep cut on her side. The bandage has been cut off, and the lesion looks burned; like someone seared the edges. Not an inch of her body has been spared.

I can't speak. Someone tortured Lea. Tortured her, and let her go, to come back to me. They sent her back.

Lea holds her hands towards me, palms up. I see that her forearms have been cut repeatedly.

"I'm sorry," Lea says, choking on her own sobs, "they broke me." She dissolves into tears, sobs wracking her whole body. Tears mix with blood and streak her face with red.

I swallow hard, watching her. I step forward, "Lea,"

"They broke me," She says between sobs, "there's no hope now." She starts to sink to the ground, wiping at the tears on her face.

I feel a lump in my throat, getting in the way of my breathing. I catch her before her knees give way, catching her and pulling her close to me.

She doesn't even try to keep it together anymore. Her entire body is shaking, helpless.

I crouch to her level, on my knees so she's only a foot or so shorter than I am. I hug her, unable to speak. The close proximity to her brings unexpected warmth to both of us.

Lea puts her arms around me, pressing her face into my chest. She quiets her sobbing until I can barely detect the feeling. There are still tears on her cheeks, but now they're silent.

"What did they do to you?" I ask, rocking gently.

"Everything," She takes a shaking breath, "everything they could think of."

I feel myself getting angry, angry so that I can't think straight. I hate the people who did this. I hate them so much.

"You can't attack them," Lea says, "They'll catch you, change you. You won't come back, and then they'll do this again."

I understand then. This is a message to me. The Proxies are telling me they know exactly how to get to me. And Lea, they know how to get to Lea. They gave her hallucinogens, repeatedly simulated the connection and repeatedly snapped it. They implanted in her mind a million ways she could die, a billion ways they could kill me, and a trillion unspeakable tortures.

I can watch them all, every minuscule detail. By the third one I'm trembling. I can't see anymore, not without losing it. I know the only reason Lea's not in much more pain right now is that they needed her intact.

I focus solely on the here and now. On lea. I'm so grateful she's back, the past two days lasted forever.

And Lea's feeling less pain now. It's still there, but instead of that she's tuned into a kind of happy resonance.

I catch the feeling, and my grip around her tightens momentarily. Lea makes a little pained sound, and I shift my grip to hurt her less. She doesn't pull away. In fact, she presses closer, finding some relief in my presence.

They tortured her. They tortured her to get to me. And it worked. They could do it again. It was so simple the first time. They could waltz in, snap the connection, and take her away. I might never see her again.

I might never see her again.

The thought causes me to freeze, to choke almost. The idea of that is so destructive. It's more incentive than wounds and tortures. It creates more havoc for Lea than any other reinforcement.

We need each other, on a deeper level. The Proxies have discovered their greatest weapon without even meaning to.

I consider, for a moment, simply disappearing. I could if I wanted to; just go back to sleep. When I woke up no one would remember. I wouldn't remember.

"Don't," Lea says, "don't just leave me all alone out here. Everything would break."

She's right. Everything would simply vanish. Lea would break. Not just break, shatter into a trillion tiny fragments. There would be no going back.

"I'm not going anywhere," I promise.

She nods, rocks gently with me. In time, one two, one two. We're breathing almost as one person.

A blissful euphoric feeling arises in me. I let it sweep over me. It comes from both of us, from being together after seemingly so long apart.

After an eternity of torment, one moment of peace. And in that moment everything is defined, all the pieces come together. The puzzle is completed, the web is strung.

And Lea, with all her wounds and cuts and pain. Lea, my Proxy, who they tortured and nearly killed. She's alright, here, pressed against me, with her arms around my neck, pressing her face into my chest.

I hold her, and just let all the pain be wiped away. The contact is almost magic, the mental connection better. We can understand each other, really understand each other like this. Words are not necessary.

I just rock Lea back and forth, comforting the tears and memories. Memories that I'll never forgive them for giving her. They crammed days and weeks into fifteen hours. The kind of psychological tortures they used are too horrific to explain.

She's not going to be able to sleep for weeks, or maybe months even.

I'm overcome, again, with grief and pain, anger and pity.

Even now I can sense she's expecting this to vanish, for me to dissolve, to burst into flames, to kill her, anything.

I hold her and rock back and forth, and wish I could cry so she could see how much I care.

Lea doesn't say I word, but I can still feel her body trembling, still sense tears streaming down her cheeks.

I gather her in my arms and stand up. She clings to me, holding on to the last shred of comfort she has.

"I'm right here, Lea, it's okay. It's not happening anymore."

It's not happening anymore, I swear to you it's not. This is never going to happen again.

The sound I hear before we vanish gives me hope. I know she'll be fine because it is loud and strong and does not falter.

I can hear her heartbeat.

AN: I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry. I'm legitimately crying right now. I'm with you guys all the way.