Light and Dark

It was dark. Like a cloak had been placed over the city. The only light came from the moon and a slight window that showed the far away city lights. The wall of the balcony was cold, the air that blew through was calm and yet embracing, which was how Nico found herself.

Standing on the balcony, a black cardigan wrapped around her in efforts to keep warm, it only took five minutes before she was surrounded by warmth as she felt arms envelop her. A face pressed into the crook of her neck and a small kiss pressed under her ear.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Karolina whispered low into Nico’s ear.

“Had a few things on my mind.” Nico tilted her head to the right allowing more room for Karolina to continue her path.

In these moments it was easy to forget what pain it had cost them to get here, the fears they had to face, the loss they had to endure, they were runaways and they were family, they had each others back, even if they did have some extra gifts than the average human beings.

As Karolina held her tight, Nico embraced her warmth, feeling happier than ever every time she was even near the blonde. It was easy to forget about the world when Karolina had an arm wrapped around Nico, or a hand clasped in hers so tight that it felt as if Nico had gained another limb.

Especially when they were sat in the van all those cold nights, with Karolina’s warmth shielding Nico from the world, keeping them safe in their own small bubble of heat and comfort. The times where the two of them were surrounded by their friends at the dinner table in the hostel, Karolina sat in the chair next to Nico as the raven haired girl leaned into her.

So it wasn’t a surprised that once again when Karolina held her tightly and so close that Nico leaned into the touch and the warmth and into the deep feelings she had for Karolina, the only one who would ever see her for who she was.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” The blonde rested her chin on Nico’s shoulder.

“Nightmares again, the same one, guess it just hasn’t quite sunk in that they're not real.” Nico dropped her head for a moment as she considered the dream once more.

“Then why don’t you come back to bed and we can think about it in the morning?”

Nico turned around in Karolina’s arms, pulling herself in closer to Karolina, letting the blonde hold her. She nodded as Karolina leaned down slightly to kiss her, throwing so much love into the kiss that Nico was completely speechless as she allowed Karolina to lead her back to the safety and warmth of their bed, where Karolina could hug and hold and warm Nico up.

“Luckily I’m really good at warming you up.” Karolina had said all those nights ago and since then she had done nothing but love Nico and keep her warm.

The next morning, Nico stirred early, since having allowed Karolina to be the big spoon, she realized that the blonde was in fact still asleep, she wiggled backwards into the warmth in which her girlfriend provided.

Although, knowing that she would have to be up and awake in a few hours to continue training, she hummed with content before taking a deep breath and shifting lightly in efforts to not wake her girlfriend.

Karolina stirred slightly before Nico placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth, the blonde smiling before drifting back to sleep and Nico gradually lifted herself off the bed as she marched down the hall knocking on the individual doors to announce the time and that everyone needed to be downstairs.

Gert and Chase stumbled out at the same time, causing a growl from Old Lace that sounded exactly like a laugh, Alex at his desk running computer algorithms and Molly who had just about managed to get a coffee down her before she placed a soft hand against Old Lace’s nose and rubbed a little.

Karolina had eventually made her way down the stairs, her smile instantly brightening the room up, Chase grabbed his Fistagons and made to work on the targets that were placed precariously around the hostel.

Old Lace, Gert and Molly played a team version of hide and seek, where Gert would be attempting to see if she could find Molly by using her telepathic link with Lace and of course Molly using her super strength to make various obstacles to stop Lace in her path.

Which left Karolina and Nico, which they knew it would, they often got left alone during the training sessions, everyone knew how Karolina’s power worked, the moon, her bloodstream, her inhumane heat and of course her senses always being alert and heightened than everyone else's.

Nico’s spells and staff got her far and she’s been learning how to control the staff for a while now, learning that she could say more than just one word in order to get it to do her bidding.

The team knew that they fought well together side by side, the odd times that Xavin had seen them in action she too had agreed that even though practising every now and again was a good idea, they all worked well as a team, everyone knew what they were doing, how to help each other out and everyone knew what was expected of them and how to recover if something should happen.

It had of course been a little while since they’d had anything or anyone to fight, since defeating aliens and various werewolf curses and mind controlling witches, they thought that they had faced everything, but of course they knew that there could always come a time where they would be needed once more.

“You ready?” Nico smiled at Karolina, also raising a brow in question.

Karolina smiled, they matched each other rather well, they bounced off of one another in such a way that they’d almost become one on the battlefield. Fighting side by side, stronger together, one never veering far from the other.

Nico pushed the staff into the ground, holding it in position and aiming ready for what Karolina was about to throw at her, there was a slight growl that almost sounded like mocking laughter, however, no one was laughing when a wolf managed to pin Nico down and began liking the top of her face and her cheek, Nico laughing loudly as she placed her hand into heaps of golden blonde fur, a content pur coming from said wolf.

“What did we say about kissing in the middle of the hostel?” Gert tried to hold her laugh back from the commotion that was currently being shared between Nico and the wolf.

The wolf slowly changed back to Karolina and in all her beauty, Nico hugged her once more, Karolina wrapping her arms around the shorter girl, keeping her safe in the embrace against embarrassment.

Chase walked in holding one slightly chewed up Fistagon and shook his head in shame as he returned to the workshop in attempts to fix it.

“At least we don’t have to worry about sending her outside for toilet trips like Old Lace, that could get messy.” Molly stated as Old Lace walked in beside her covered in a little mud from several angles and also appearing to be nodding in agreement to Molly’s statement.

Gert tilted her head left and right as if attempting to agree with herself. They all made it into the kitchen and dining area, Karolina reaching for the higher shelves, as she was one of the tallest, in efforts to find food and somehow find something decent and edible.

It was so domestic and familiar, if you told Nico a year ago that this is the route her life would have gone down, she’d have either laughed at you or thought you were crazy, or perhaps both, but now that she was living it...it felt like home.

Of course, they were like a family now, Karolina and Nico often being called the parents of the group, Molly was the baby of the group and Chase was like that annoying brother who was almost probably the most protective of all of them, Gert often being the older sister of the group who always had to be right but was also willing to hold her own when needed. And Alex, who was the quiet one who almost always kept himself to himself.

Each and everyone of them loved the fact that they were a family, protective of their own, eating at the dinner table together as Karolina had managed to cook something together for them all, making sure to cater to everyone’s dietary needs. The occasional movie night when they were all tired and ready to relax but not quite ready to sleep.

And then the times where each and everyone of them would slowly drift off to their allocated rooms, Chase and Gert inevitably ending up in each other’s room, Old Lace ending up on the couch outside their room, Molly curling up wherever she fell asleep, Alex on his blow up bed surrounded by technology and Karolina and Nico making it almost worldwide knowledge that they were in the same room as laughs and sometimes the odd moan could be heard coming from their door.

But that didn’t make any of them love it any less, it only made them love their lives a lot more, this was their home and they were each other's family, regardless of what happened. So it was no surprise when meal times ending in eruptions of laughter, the odd occasion food fight that Old Lace would later clean up, Nico completely wrapped up in Karolina.

The blonde had found some pasta and some beef burgers, much to Old Lace’s delight as Karolina threw her some of the meat, Nico sitting on the countertop beside Karolina as she could, the two of them sharing kisses as Karolina mixed pasta and sauce together and keeping a watchful eye that the burgers didn’t burn in the oven.

As everyone began slowly drifting into the kitchen, Karolina plated the food up, followed by a small rub on her arm from Nico, who also came down from her perch and joined the others at the table, in their silently allocated seats.

“So what are the plans, please tell me it's not training all day because I may have to actually throw something at you?” Chase asked both Nico and Alex, the joint leaders of their small group of misfits.

“I have to agree there, can we not just take one day off to just breathe and do something fun, something not life risking.” Karolina looked around to see Chase, Alex, Gert and Molly nodding in agreement.

“Sometimes we have to practise,” Nico looked at Alex and Chase before turning back to focus on Karolina “but I can agree and admit that a little break here and there is much needed.”

Everyone nodded and smiled with joy at that statement before then looking at Alex who was currently on his phone googling for something, everyone continued to eat their meals before clearing their plates up, Gert and Molly agreeing to wash them up as the others were deciding what to do and occasionally throwing their ideas into the convo.

Karolina took Nico’s hand in hers bringing it towards her lips to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles, Nico bringing herself to rest a head on the blonde’s shoulder, Karolina’s arm finding its way around Nico, holding her close as she always did.

“Okay, well, there’s a park, there’s the movies….trying to find something that’s fun and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.” Alex looked up pushing her glasses up his face before then looking back down at his phone.

“Good luck with that, it’s LA, everything here costs your soul….for us that’s sometimes literally. For once I’m willing to put a little more money into it, we could do with something that boosts morale after everything that’s happened.” Nico placed a kiss on Karolina’s shoulder, almost punctuating her point with it.

The team began slowly standing up, all hoping into the car to begin their journey, they drove right into the middle of town, finding somewhere to park that would allow them to all discreetly get out of the car.

Alex had found a shopping center next to a movie theater and since they all had to gather some more clothes and items for the hostel. They had each been given a handful of money to spend on the items that they needed whether it was food or toiletries or clothing. Molly had agreed to third wheel Gert and Chase before going into the movie theater.

It was either that or she had to stay in the car with Alex and help babysit Old Lace, they really needed to work on a better way of hiding the deinonychus, after a while they were still surprised at the fact that a blanket had managed to keep her well hidden in the back of a truck.

So they all split their separate ways, getting the items they needed before placing blankets down in the middle of a large clearing under a tree, the sun shining brightly as they lay in their small groups on the designated blankets.
“See, why can’t it be like this all the time?” Molly said just above a whisper but still loud enough for the others to hear it.

“Because politics and world leaders say that teenagers should be stressed all the time and they do nothing to help.” Gert rambled out forgetting to breathe.

Everything had been going perfectly fine, the sun shining, birds chirping away, people laughing and chatting loudly, for a second it was easy to forget that they were runaways, that they didn’t speak to their families and that they didn’t fight mystical asshole witches, estranged aliens and murderous families.

Everything had been going perfectly fine until a loud scream broke through the comfortable sunshine silence. Karolina instantly sat up at the sound, causing Nico to look around in fear and worry, Molly also had been quieter than usual as her eyes scanned around trying to find what the cause of the sound was.

But Karolina was the only one who managed to stand up and trust her instincts to head towards the area in which the sound had come from. Her instincts that navigated her towards a woman who was on the ground, blood slowly oozing from her stomach but luckily as far as the blonde could see no major damage had been made.

Nico trailing behind her and witnessing the scene before her, the staff popping out of the top of her bag as she leaned down to check how bad the wound was, Molly’s eyes started glowing as they had a rush of footsteps from down the street and Karolina, Molly and Chase nodded at each other in unison before running towards the sound of the footsteps not knowing what they might find.

They ran so fast Karolina thought she was flying, her speed only picked up as she neared the footsteps, the wolf inside her growled with the knowledge.

“I don’t think so.” Karolina yelled as the man was about to jump over a gate ahead of them but Molly was already on it with her super strength, throwing the man backwards as he stumbled onto the floor.

“Better luck next time.” Molly smiled smugly.

Chase stumbled as he reached the two girls and the man on the floor shooting concentrated beams from the fistagons either side of the man in efforts to keep him scared. Raising an eyebrow with a look on his face that said ‘you really thought you stood a chance.’

Molly and Chase brought the man to his feet, Molly holding him up whilst Chase found some rope to tie him against a door so they could ask him questions without the fear of him running off.

“Who are you?” Molly asked as she began to pace slowly, she had to keep moving otherwise she would end up falling asleep.

“Why should I answer you?” The man spat back.

“You can either tell us the easy way or I can cast a truth spell and you’ll do it unwillingly and the hard way. I’m quite happy with either.” Nico shrugged lightly, not taking her eyes off the man.

“I don’t go by a name, we’re a group, the group doesn’t go by a name either. That way it’s hard to track us down because then you have no idea what you’re looking for.” The man smiled almost smugly until Chase aimed his fistagon at the man’s feet and shot a blast.

Gert was stood on stand by with Old Lace by her side ready to attack when the time came.

“What did you want with that woman?” Gert asked from the back of the room almost in the shadows.

“We needed a Quantum mechanic, someone who understands the rules and is willing to break a few of them.”

“What the hell do you need a Quantum mechanic for?” Alex popped up from the door that had been closed. Molly had texted him when they had tied the man up, knowing that Alex would be better for this than they would be.

“Quantum Mechanics are dangerous and if you don’t follow all the rules you can quite possibly make some huge mistakes and a great deal of damage that can’t be fixed, but what on earth would you possibly have or be making that could need a Quantum mechanic to work it?” Alex explained.

“We have a time machine.”

The whole room went so silent you could hear a pin drop. Alex clenched his jaw. Every single time anyone had mentioned anything about time travel it had gone wrong. The amount of movies and tv shows where people had attempted to go back in time and had fucked something up.

If someone like this man had access to a time machine, that could mean so many problems could occur with this world, people could be dead, people wouldn’t even exist, the whole world could change within an instant and they would have no idea why.

If they were making a time machine, they had to stop them before things got out of hand, Chase nodded at Alex in his approval to keep going and that wherever his brain was taking him, it was safe to do whatever he had planned.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. If you have a time machine, it’s for all the wrong reasons, no one created a time machine for good reasons, at least no one has the motivation to keep building a time machine for the right reasons. I’m guessing you answer and report to someone.” Alex looked at the man before him, slightly bedraggled by Molly and Chase tying him up.

The man looked down to the floor, he knew it was over for him, he knew that if he answered anymore of their questions he would no longer be loyal, but deep down he knew they had to be stopped, he wasn’t willing to have the lives of thousands of people on his hands.

He looked up taking a deep inhale before slowly exhaling, preparing himself to tell them everything they needed to know, his eyes scanned around the room as if looking for the right person to confide the information to...his eyes landed on Karolina.

“There’s a group of us, you’ll know them when you see them, they dress in stolen military uniform, they have fake ID’s and some of them are like you...with powers. The leader, I suppose you could say, his sister died due to unnatural causes and ever since he has done everything in his power to build this machine in order to go back and save her. However the time machine is nearly complete, you can’t let him get his hands on a Quantum mechanic, if he does...you’re screwed.” The man almost had tears in his eyes as he spoke.

“Why are you telling us this information now?” Nico looked at him and she could see the pain in his eyes.

“Because I’ve done some bad shit in my life, I know I’m going to hell, I can’t stop that, but if I can help someone else do the thing I’ve failed to do...the right thing, then I’m going to do it.” The man nodded as he watched the group of teens looking at him.

Gert untied the rope with help from Old Lace and the group stepped back, getting themselves ready in case something happened, they couldn’t risk anyone else getting hurt.

Alex nodded, causing Chase and Molly to step away from each other, showing the man where the exit was, but Alex wanted to make sure he made his point clear.

“If you go back to grabbing that woman...you’re as good as dead. If you go back to your boss and tell him what happened here….you’re as good as dead, we clear?”

“Crystal!” The man nodded slowly before walking himself to the exit and opening the door.

The others looked around at each other, Molly looked as if she were about to fall asleep standing up as she was slightly leaning on Old Lace who was giving her support, Chase took of his fistagons and put them back in his bag, Alex walked towards the door, opening and checking left and right for any signs of anything else going on.

Nico walked over to Karolina, hugging her tightly, Karolina had run off so fast that they hadn’t had a chance to catch her as she stalked the man like he was her pray….Nico was definitely impressed with how Karolina’s wolf had acted. She smiled as she embraced her tightly, feeling her heat radiating through both their bodies and Nico couldn’t help but feel safe.

“Let’s go back home and we can decide what to do from there….I think I know who we could be up against but I have to make sure.” Alex announced as they all once more piled into the car to get back to the hostel.

----------------------------------

Once they had returned home, Alex had crowded himself around four different computers, searching archives and databases in order to find the group in which the man had described to them, Alex thought he had an idea of who they were looking for but he also wanted to make sure that he had ruled out any other option it could be before making his ultimate conclusion.

Meanwhile, Molly had fallen asleep, Old Lace snuggled into her side with Molly’s hand on the side of her snout, Chase and Gert had sat themselves down at the dinner table, the kettle currently boiling away as they were making themselves some hot drinks and Nico and Karolina sat across from them, nursing the mugs of hot liquid in which they currently had.

Nico’s hand had found its way into Karolina’s and the two of them managed to wrap themselves in each other, Karolina’s arm coming to wrap itself around Nico and Nico resting her head on Karolina’s shoulder as they both held each other’s hand.

What happened was insane and Nico could only be impressed at the fact that Karolina had gotten to the man before anyone else, that she had sensed something wasn’t quite right, even though Nico would say that Karolina was the epitome of a golden retriever, she was always impressed with how Karolina being a wolf was essentially one of the greatest things in her life.

Nico had found Karolina’s wolf cute and adorable at first but after seeing the blonde golden wolf biting into someone and throwing them across a room, Nico knew that even though Karolina was one of the most kind hearted people she knew, the blonde could also be fearsome and ruthless.

Sometimes Nico didn’t know whether to be scared or turned on when she showed that side of her. But either way Nico was glad that it had been her that Karolina had first showed her ‘powers’ to. But she also knew that there were things that Karolina didn’t know about herself that she still wanted to know and Nico was determined to help her find the answers she was looking for, but most importantly she would always be beside Karolina, her beautiful, incredible and loving girlfriend.

Chase and Gert were talking about something, or more like arguing about it, for what seemed like the third time today, which meant that Nico could talk to Karolina without Chase and Gert having something embarrassing to say about the situation.

“You know...what you did was pretty impressive.” Nico said no louder than a whisper into Karolina’s ear which made the blonde smirk at the shorter woman.

“Oh really? I was just doing my job.” Karolina pulled Nico in closer to her planting a kiss on top of Nico’s head.

“I mean, everything you do is pretty impressive but...wow, I’m…” Nico could barely function.

She had always thought that Karolina was impressive and she never failed to amaze and surprise Nico with the things she did, whether it was showing her extra strength, keeping her warm, even when she was simply sat down beside like right now, she was impressed that Karolina even existed.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Karolina smiled as Nico’s eyes widened.

“I’m not...I’m not flus...no, I’m not flustered.” Nico shook her head slightly in attempt to clear her head of the thoughts she had currently flying through her mind.

“You’re all red and pink, you’re cute though, you’re all hot and bothered, I can sense it.” Karolina could feel the emotions dripping from Nico even though the shorter girl constantly denied having feelings.

“You and your wolfy senses.” Nico laughed a little which caused Karolina to smile.

“You love them.” Karolina took a sip of her coffee.

She was right, Nico loved the fact that Karolina could basically tell what she was feeling before she had admitted it to herself, even before she knew about the whole wolf senses she knew how Nico was feeling without the shorter girl uttering a word. Of course that never stopped them from talking to one another about why they were feeling that way.

But Nico loved the way that Karolina made her feel, the way that Karolina and her wolf self were protective over her, the warmth, the love, the caring of it all. Granted on some nights things would get heated and Nico would be completely at the mercy of Karolina, the blonde always knowing what to say or do to push her buttons and Nico was a hot and flustered mess beneath Karolina and her onslaught and Nico...she loved it.

She loved how the blonde made her feel in every way shape and form, she loved being under the blonde allowing herself to be open to Karolina, she loved the way that blonde was open to her and was always waiting for when Nico needed to get something of her chest, she loved the way that Karolina’s arms and hands always found their way around Nico holding her securely, she loved the way that Karolina believed in everyone and never stopped trying.

She also loved the way that Karolina sounded, her raspy voice always bringing Nico back to reality, but she also loved the way that the blonde looked at her with nothing but love and adoration. Exactly how she was looking at her right now, a smile as wide as it could possibly be, a smile that was reserved only for Nico, her thumb rubbing gently over Nico’s knuckles as she brought her hand to her lips to softly place a kiss there.

“I love you.” Karolina said just under a whisper as Nico looked up at her.

“I love you too.” Nico placed a kiss to the corner of Karolina’s lips.

Just as things were becoming a comfortable silence, Gert’s head resting on Chase’s shoulder as he sipped at his coffee, Molly and Old Lace coming back to join them after Molly stretched a few of her muscles and sat down beside them, Alex walked in with his laptop and Nico swore to god that if he had a powerpoint presentation cued up for them she was going to fall fast asleep on Karolina’s shoulder.

“I know who we’re up against and it isn’t going to be pretty and none of you are going to like it.”