undergrounds | Five Years Later...

Five Years Later...

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Samantha Okeke lost her position as Witch Representative following allegations of corruption, and has been replaced by Diphylleia "Dee" Absin, a much more co-operative member of the Night Council.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Meanwhile, the Seelie and Unseelie Court have largely withdrawn from public life in the mortal realm except in isolated corners, though they claim the right to go where they please throughout the city.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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"Don't." He lifts his fork, shaking it a little in a gesture for her to stop. He'd never thought of himself as someone who looks after people and he's not about to start.

"I'm just doing what I said I would."

Nancy does something rare: she stops.

"I know. But... You know what I come from." Her eyes meet Eames' over the top of her forkful of beans.

Nancy's quiet for a few more moments, focusing on her food. Soon enough, she breaks the silence once more: "Uncle or Grandpa?" she asks softly.

Eames is happy for the quiet, eating and appreciating his food, so the question totally catches him off. He actually chokes on his mouthful of eggs and reaches for his tea to try and wash it down, coughing and patting his chest.

"What?" Don't do this to him don't make him family.

Too late. he's her dad now.

"Yeah," she says earnestly. "What would you want the baby to call you?" If she carried it to term. If she stayed away from Bill. If. so many ifs.

"What's wrong with my name?" He asks, teasing. Like this isn't suddenly uncomfortably real. Like he hasn't been avoiding acknowledging how paternal his relationship with Nancy is this whole time.

Next century he's not making any friends. He's decided.

"Nothing's wrong with it," she says, getting a bit of her old self back the more she ate. "Just how I'll explain it. I always thought it'd be fun, to have an uncle or a grandpa. but I never had those." Just Fagin.

"I want to have as much of a family for my child as I can." Her hand is back on her belly. "Uncle Eames sounds lovely, admit it."

"I suppose I'm more uncle material than grandfather," he sighs, because obviously he's not getting away from this without some kind of title. "Besides, I really don't need Arthur hearing someone call me grandpa."

The image of Eames and Arthur joining her at her bedside floats in front of her eyes. She can see them holding her child- a daughter, she thinks. They'd be all smiles, her go-to sitters. Uncles for her little girl.

Her thumb circles her belly. "We won't say it in front of him, then."

"Good. Thank you." Eames breathes a small laugh. The kid of laugh he absolutely will not have when it comes to handling a small child. "That's all I ask."

she nods. "of course."

There's a bit more silence as she eats, feeling the world at least return to a bit closer to normal. When she's done, she looks up at Eames. "what... what do we do next?"

Eames has finished a while ago, enjoying his tea. He sighs at the question and frowns, back to the real world.

"Get you a room and pick up your stuff, I guess."

She nods. That's less than she thought.

"Right. that we can do." Going back to her flat, she wasn't going to want to leave. Maybe they could put it off. Maybe.

No they had to do it today or Nancy never would.

"I don't have much, anyway."

Baby steps, he's taking this in chunks. Once they get her out of that flat, they can figure out where to go next. He's already wondering if staying in London is even a good idea for her right now, but they can talk about it later.

"I'll book a cab," he says, and stands to go get his phone from the living room. She can have a moment to gather her thoughts or whatever.

Nancy nods. Maybe she can get more to drink at her place. She's got enough of it tucked away. The thought of Eames coming with her though, seeing Bill's place after so long, and it was a mess. Eames would leave his scent and Bill would be furious, especially without her there. She wasn't supposed to even see Eames anymore.

If this failed...

She wouldn't let herself think of it, but instead gathers her jacket and takes a deep breath before joining Eames again.

"He brought the dog with him." Bill always did.

Eames isn't considering failure at this point, he just wishes he had a sleep potion on hand or something just in case.

"Good." He'd hate to have to deal with a dog, especially one that probably won't care for him in their home. He can sometimes compel them but he'd rather not. It's hard work.

Boxer's asleep, so Eames doesn't bother him. Just grabs a jacket and leads the way to the door, "let's go."

Nancy pulls her worn jacket on, jamming her hands into the pockets and following Eames out the door.

When they arrive at the flat, Nancy glances at Eames. "it's a mess," she tells him, but makes no move to get out of the car.

"Come on," he steps out and even helpfully opens Nancy's door for her. He's not having any of this stalling business. Let's get to work.

Nancy gulps, but steps out of the cab. This was it. Probably the last time she'd ever enter this place. She takes her keys out, leading him up through the main door and into her building. There is no door-man.

They've got a few flights to walk before they're up at Bill's flat. Nancy takes her time climbing each stair, until while she's nearly at the fourth floor, her knees start to buckle. "Eames- I can't do this."

"You can." He says it softly, but still absolute. There's no wiggle room. She can do it.

Eames puts an arm around her for stability, a little support. They can take a moment to just... prepare. If that's what she needs. "I've got you, okay? Every step of the way."

"Thank you," she breathes, leaning against him. "I can't do it without you." Honestly, she was going to need a babysitter. A responsible adult.

She approaches the door carefully, and puts the key in the lock like she's afraid it might shock her. It doesn't. But she doesn't turn the knob, not for a long moment. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep, shuddering breath, and opens the door.

It's exactly as she left it a few hours ago, potions ingredients all about the kitchen, broken glass and potion on the floor. The place is in quite decent condition, despite being on the very cheap end of things. But Nancy keeps a nice house. Any sort of decorating has clearly been done by her, and it's limited to a picture of the two of them here and there, maybe a throw pillow and a blanket. They lived a simple life, and that was okay. Sometimes, simple was better.

Given it was made pretty clear he wasn't welcome last time he was here, Eames can't go inside. Not unless Nancy invites him, but truthfully he's not sure he wants to anyway. It's why he doesn't ask her to invite him in, just waits in the doorway leaning against the frame. It's not like it's going to take Nancy long to gather her stuff, not if she's quick about it.

It takes her a few moments to realize Eames isn't following her in. Glancing over her shoulder, she looks at him. "You can come in, if you want." He doesn't have to. She doesn't expect it.

The bedroom is right off of their living room, Nancy's purse right by the door where she'd left it. She grabs what she knows she'll need, stuffing them into her bag. She's done this before, packed up as quick as she could, though last time it had been the middle of the night and she'd been running to her boyfriend. Now she was running away from another.

She pauses, about to leave the room and return to the living room when glances back at the unmade bed. At the small closet just beyond. Nancy's feet move her there without her permission, her hands acting of their own accord as she reached up and took one of Bill's shirts off it's hangar. Raising it to her nose, she inhaled deeply. Still smelled just like him.

She stuffs it in her bag and returns to Eames.

"I need to leave or I'll never be able to go."

He does, but only enough to close the door behind him. Eames stays there, waiting patiently until Nancy's done, and when she comes back out he nods in understanding. He wants to be out of here ASAP anyway, so he doesn't bother checking if she's sure or asking if she got everything she needs, just leads the way back down to the cab that's been waiting for them and informs the driver they'll be heading to the Angelo next.

Nancy follows Eames into the cab, clinging to her bag like it was her lifeforce. She doesn't look out the window, just looks down as they head toward Islington.

she waits until they're a few miles away before she leans against Eames. "Thank you."

"Of course," he says, putting a hand on he leg to give her a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

Eames looks out the window, watching London go by. It's still early but he feels like they've been doing this all day. But This is the hardest part, it gets... Well, more manageable from here.

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