undergrounds | Five Years Later...

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A lot can change in five years. Students who were at Redbright have now started their careers. People have moved out, moved in, started a new life together or apart. Some move on from the city while others return to it. But while the lives of its residents continue to grow and change, London remains as it has ever been: a focal point for magical power.

A tentative peace
The last five years have not been without conflict, both internal and external. The vampires have played with the politics of in-fighting and backstabbing. The werewolves have overthrown their leader and chosen a new alpha. The witches have suffered one scandal after another. And the fae have quietly engineered a small change here, a personal revenge there, until finally with Redbright and Hillingdon acting as neutral parties a peace agreement was reached between Circle Daybreak, the Islington Nest and the East End Pack. Their territories are still beholden to the same rules (e.g. vampires are still forbidden to enter East End territory and vice versa) but they are no longer in open conflict. Small steps, perhaps, but positive ones.

A delicate balance
The year is 2022. The balance of power in the city is now evenly split between the East End Pack, Islington Nest and Circle Daybreak, thanks largely to the rise of the werewolves and the new President Laura Roslin who simultaneously holds the post of Werewolf Representative.

Samantha Okeke lost her position as Witch Representative following allegations of corruption, and has been replaced by Diphylleia "Dee" Absin, a much more co-operative member of the Night Council. While Samantha has retained her title of Mother of Witches, there are rumours that she lost her powers during a confrontation with a powerful fae. Circle Daybreak firmly denies all such speculation.

The connections between the Redbright Institute and the Hillingdon Clan have grown stronger since the former is now perceived to be a more neutral force rather than tied to the Night Council, although Hillingdon certainly still has the less clean-cut image of the two.

Meanwhile, the Seelie and Unseelie Court have largely withdrawn from public life in the mortal realm except in isolated corners, though they claim the right to go where they please throughout the city. Consequently, there are no barriers preventing travel between the realms, which seems for now to be an acceptable compromise.

And after all, politics is the art of compromise.

Looking ahead
All in all, the vampire and fae presence in the city has reduced as the vampires move around and the fae decide that if they're invited it can't be that great a party anyway. The number of witches has recovered thanks to an amnesty allowing those who were once members of Circle Midnight to return (though the faction itself has not reappeared).

The biggest change that has been noticed first by staff at the Redbright Institute however is the increasing number of meta humans, in particular young meta humans, being discovered in the city. Often these are humans with no knowledge of the supernatural developing their powers for the first time. The reason why has yet to be discovered...

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Eames barks a laugh, sharp and sudden and unkind.

"He controls you."

There's an edge to his voice, low and harsh and it'd certainly speak to danger if he were talking to anyone else. "You can lie to yourself, but I've been twisting untruths out of honest statements for centuries. I see right fucking through you."

She flinches away from his laugh.

"You've never given anyone I've ever cared for a chance, have you?" Nancy crosses her arms over her chest, turning her eyes on Eames. "Not Cesare, not Bill, certainly never Cooper. And why is that, Eames, hmm?" She tosses her hair over her shoulder, a vain attempt to try to gain some ground.

"Are you trying to keep me safe? Or are you just a jealous old man?"

"Please, your naivety is excruciating." He shakes his head, thoroughly unbothered by the accusation. He hated them all, but for how frequently he suggested it he never actually tried to make her leave Cooper. Never tried to end her friendship with Cesare.

"You mistake a capacity for kindness for being the same as goodness, as if being nice to you makes somebody worth you." He shakes his head with a heavy sigh, "I suppose I should've expected as much, after all that's what you are, isn't it?"

"That's what I-" Nancy drops her jaw for a moment, looking at him. "If you're going to call me a whore, Eames, at least say it to my god-damned face."

"But it won't work- if you're trying to shame me. Not even Redbright herself managed that one- I know exactly what I am."

"I'm not calling you a whore." Of all people she knows, Eames is the last person who'd try to shame her. He's always been honest with her-- hell, he even helped her get higher class clients. He briefly looks offended that she'd think he would, but it passes quickly.

"What you are, love, is a victim." It's definitely an insult, practically a slur with the venom in it, "for all that brilliance and strength you've got in you, it's like you can't fucking wait for someone to use you up and beat you down."

That's the tragedy of it; she's so fucking brilliant and she's never been able to see it. And now here they are.

Nancy's upper lip curls back slightly at the word victim. She wasn't a victim- she always fought back when she could. She could give Bill hell when she wanted- granted he only had to take her in his arms and choke her out in a matter of seconds to end it, but she could.

"That's what I expect. It's no better'n I deserve."

Eames throws his hands up, exasperated and disbelieving. He feels like they've had one version of this conversation or another a million times over.

"What is so wrong with you that this is what you deserve?" Because he doesn't understand how anyone could believe they deserve this shit, "because the woman I know is smart and quick and brimming with untapped potential and so unflinchingly kind it makes me want to question your intelligence sometimes. Not some animal that needs to be kept in line."

His words tug at something deep inside her, and the tip of her nose starts to sting. Nancy blinks back tears- those are some of the nicest things anyone's ever said about her. But she shakes her head.

"I'm broken, dirty- I'm a liar- I don't listen sometimes, stubborn and unruly. Mouthy- God- Fagin once said if I used my mouth as much as my cunt we'd all be bloody rich-" She has to laugh at the memory now, remembering the laughter the comment had created- "and I'm selfish as they come."

"That old bastard really fucked you up if you believe all that." He can't disagree she's mouthy and stubborn when she wants to be, but as frustrating as that is it's hardly bad. And he'd laugh at the idea that she's so selfish when he's seen the lengths she'd go to for other people. The way she bends over backwards to help people she barely even knows.

He'd march to the den and kill Fagin all over again right now if he could.

But he's not going to argue with her, not now. It'd take so much longer to make her see otherwise and he doesn't have the time. They can't see eachother anymore? Fine.

"You deserve a good life, and I really hope you get that," he backs up and starts turning to leave, "especially since it's going to be real fucking short with him."

"Then he fucked me up! This isn't anything new!" Eames knew what Fagin had done to her over the course of her life. Even dead, he'd poisoned everything he touched and it still continued to wither.

"I never expected to live this long," she tells Eames, remembering one of their first conversations, when she'd revealed that thought to him. She'd had to have just turned nineteen. "And after so long without him, every day I get with him is a gift." Bill would kill her one day. In her heart of hearts, she knew it.

But at least it would be him.

There's not much else for him to say, Eames could stand here and tell Nancy how amazing she is again and again but it wouldn't change a thing.

Eames just shakes his head, disappointment clear on his face as he turns and walks away.

Nancy would only be amazing if one person told her. If Bill took her aside and looked into her bright green eyes and told her he thought she was amazing. Maybe then she'd believe it. But until then, she knew she was trash.

"Eames- wait-" she wants to hug him again, but she stops herself again, her hand closing around the envelope that held all of Nancy Viola Bellerose's information. Slowly, with a trembling hand, she holds it out to him, not even sure if he'll deign to turn back around.

Either way, by the time Bill gets home, Nancy's already going to be drunk.

He almost doesn't stop, but Eames does with an annoyed sigh. When he he turns and sees the envelope in her hand, he doesn't come back any closer to take it, eyeing the thing with a frown.

"What is it?"

"An old life." Everything he'd given her to start her life as a real person.

"I thought you might want it back." She doesn't realize how badly her voice is starting to shake. She doesn't want him to go.

Eames shakes his head, he wants no part of it. If she wants to bury that name then she can be the one who burns it too.

"Let Bill destroy it," he says, turning again to leave, "he's already destroyed the rest of you."

He won't stop again this time.

A deep, racking sob tears itself through Nancy's chest, up and out her full lips. She doesn't say anything, doesn't move toward him. Instead, as the door shuts, her knees buckle, sending her cascading down to the floor, the envelope falling uselessly beside her.

Five Years Later...

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