The Shape Of Things To Come

[Black Widow]

Hellfire - The White Tower

They were not making much progress, but they had stopped trying to kill each other and they were at least talking. Haleigh felt a bit like she was trying to talk to someone with little to no interest in listening, but she didn‘t want to give up on him. She told him there was no mystery what Elena wanted, and she tried to warn him that letting her guide him towards Malice’s mode of operation would end with Malice’s mode of demise. He didn’t respond, but that was okay. If he wasn’t quick to refute her then it meant he might be considering what she said.

Then she told him the truth, that there used to be nothing she wanted more than him, but that now that she had these children, they had taken the top spot on the list, and she had felt that way since they had been conceived. Before they got to see them as teenagers, before she even saw them as melted little gummy bears on the sonogram this morning, they had become her top priority. The mention of the sonogram seemed to have an impact, and he asked to see it. Some part of her wanted to show him their son, as he existed right now, the precious little thing that he was, but she didn’t give in to that just yet. She told him, in no uncertain terms, that she would kill him, or anyone, or everyone if that was what it took to keep him safe.

Maybe that was a bit extreme, but there had never been a time where she hadn’t been honest with him, and this was no different. He told her that he didn’t want to hurt her children, that he wanted to be better and didn’t know how. She did understand him. In their world, for all their lives, they killed anything that they thought needed to be killed, and if something was weak they let it die without a second of remorse. This was the first time ever that Haleigh had wanted to protect something she knew was inherently vulnerable and would be that way for a long time. This was the first time Haleigh had ever made herself vulnerable, and felt that she was. Sure, if she died she’d just come back, but not with her children. That was what had scared her about the poison the other day, and that was what scared her about the way he’d been acting since he found out about her daughter.

She told him she needed space, and it was the truth. She needed time to think without having to find he answer. She could tell he didn’t like hearing that, but he admitted that he thought it might be over already, that he loved Elena, which Haleigh knew, and that he thought Haleigh loved Alek, which she knew he actually knew but wasn’t ready to accept. There was, however, something he was ready to accept. This fucked up future had taught him that his kids had needs that superseded his own. His need to be Number One just wasn’t as important as making sure his son didn’t grow up an orphan raised by his sister, and his daughter didn’t grow up an orphan raised by their Knight. He agreed to give her the divorce, and asked her if she willing to see it through despite the changes it would mean, or what that would even look like.

”I don’t know, Cameron. I just know that our open marriage isn’t going to work the way it used to, and I know that we CAN’T keep fighting towards this outcome.”

 

[Prophet]

The White Tower

Haleigh: "I don't know, Cameron. I jsut know that our open marriage isn't going to work the way it used to, and I know that we CAN'T keep fighting towards this outcome."

"We can't keep fighting in general. I have no plans to leave Hellfire, and neither do you. And after how badly we both fucked things up in the last few weeks, if we have any hope of protecting these kids, we have to come up with a plan that protects not just them, but us."

:: These children would destabilize The Inner Circle in a way that would be irreparable if not dealt with carefully. He had no interest in leaving Hellfire, and knowing that, he only felt a little bad about thinking of his future children as pieces on the chessboard. But it would be their reality just as it was his. The White Queen being the mother of both The White and Red King's children would give Haleigh a level of protection that the others would not have. It would cement all three of them in ways that called back to the very Kings and Queens they had killed to seize power for themselves. Nobody wanted history to repeat itself. They had been messy enough, they needed to gain a sense of refinement and control, which would be a task in and of itself. The three of them had no choice but to work together, because if they didn't..if one of them fell, the other two would follow, and they would find themselves in the very future they were working against. ::

:: He exhaled. ::

"I'm sorry if that sounds cold...uncaring. That i'm more concerned with Hellfire than my kids..but I can't turn it off. I just can't. It's all that I know...and being a father, meeting Carolina, knowing I am about to have a son...it makes me want as much power as I can possibly get....I just want to-"

:: The White King closed his eyes for a minute because he felt something...an energy. It was his son. All of this. Was his unborn son warning his parents, which made him woozy. How could he possibly have enough sentience...enough power to do something like this? And before long, he was linked. Not with thoughts, not with a voice, but a feeling. ::

"Haleigh."

:: He grabbed her hands and interlocked their fingers. ::

"This was all him. This was Logan. I can feel him..."

:: Cameron began to channel what he was feeling into his wife as the two locked eyes, fulling feeling the presence of their son from right where he was - his mother's womb. ::

"I--my....Haleigh, how can he do this? How..it's...incredible..."

:: The White King's eyes began to water, which shocked even him. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried. It had been decades. He had never had a reason to. But this was a moment he would never forget. ::

"I think I can get us out of here. He's..."showing" me. Crazy at that sounds...our boy is fucking showing me..."

 

[Black Widow]

Hellfire - The White Tower

They finally agreed on something, that they couldn’t keep fighting. Cameron mentioned wanting to come up with a plan to protect not just the kids, but themselves as well. He tried to justify that, worried that it sounded like he cared more about Hellfire than his kids, but Haleigh shook her head.

”Cameron, I get wanting to secure power. We can only protect the kids if we are strong enough to do so. And in the long term? One day we’re going to pass Hellfire down to them. I don’t know about you, but I want my kids to inherit an empire, and not one that’s been decimated. I want them to have what WE have, a strong, tight knit network of people who will watch their backs and join them in taking over the world, so NOBODY will have the ability to threaten or oppress them.”

She replied, the words out of her own mouth things she would have never believed she’d say. It must have been surreal for him to hear her too, because he went quiet, closing his eyes. Then he called her name, and seized her hands, interlocking their fingers. Even in their strange, astral type form, it made her feel something. It made her want to take a moment, just one, and marvel with him. It made her want to say, look at what we made together, that beautiful boy, a brazen little fiend, but he was their brazen little fiend, and she wanted to raise him to be the best thing they ever did together. Even if they didn’t make it as a couple, their son could still be the best of both of them.

Cameron told her that this was Logan’s doing, and that he could feel him. Cameron opened his eyes, locking with hers. He asked her how this could be happening, but she couldn’t answer that. This was his forte, not hers. All she knew was that their son was strong, and it gave her a sense of pride. She could see Cameron’s eyes tearing up, and she realized he was connecting with his son as more than a theoretical concept. He told her that Logan was showing the him the way back.

”Good, because I’m ready to prevent this hell from happening to us. Take us back to reality, Stud.”

She said, squeezing his hands gently.