Split in Time Ch. 01

Cleopatra held up her hand to get Amy's attention, "You haven't told us what you shift into."

Amy smiled a little embarrassed, "I'm a white sabre tooth tiger." She told them. "I have a lot of Were characteristics, temper being one of them. I didn't know I was Ancient, neither did Wolfgang when he attempted to turn me and everyone I asks swears to the goddess of the moon, to Luna, that I smelt human, not something else. I didn't know so when I needed it I forced my power, my will into a change."

"But Sabre tooths were never..." Robin started to say.

"A Were race... I know... but that's what I shifted into." She told them.

"What did you think just before you shifted?" Vivian asked curious.

Amy thought for a moment, no one had asked her what she was thinking before. "Nothing... well not quite, everything felt wrong then I focused my mind on one word, 'Shift' and my will complied." She answered.

"Are you sure you didn't think Wolf or Cat." Boadicea questioned.

Amy shook her head, "No... just shift, my will took on a life of it's own or Fate stepped in and chose the form I would shift into. I just don't know, I don't know many things." She admitted.

"You think the answers to the question lie with your other mother," Guinevere surmised.

Amy nodded, "Ma and you guys..." She went to correct herself but stopped, they knew what she meant. "Well you have no clue as to what I am, about what the other half of my genetics is. We haven't figured out why my abilities are growing so diverse, I'm Ancient, I'm Were, I've learnt Elemental magic, I've never been formally trained to fight yet I can pick up any weapon and wield it like someone who has trained their entire life to use only that weapon." She explained, "We hope that my other mother will be able to answer the questions we're all thinking and will be able to answer the one question I've wanted to know... what the hell am I... I'm not Ancient and I'm not Were."

"But..." Mryddin started to say.

Amy held up her hand stopping him. "Okay... I didn't say that right..." She went thoughtful for a moment, "Wolfgang says that after I shifted, my scent changed slightly, added a hint of Were to the mix. When I came here and you told me I was Ancient, my scent changed again, Ancient now in the mix. Then when I went into the Kings men and had that experience my scent changed again, Were and Ancient were still there, but there was a new scent, stronger than the Were and Ancient scents, a scent that no-one has smelt before, or can describe."

Vivian's brow furrowed, "I... don't..."

Amy nodded, "I know... it's hard even for me to wrap my mind around sometimes. I'm Were and I'm Ancient but I'm also not. I am what I'm..." She stopped and blinked, she stood and started to pace with a kind of surprised yet confused look on her face. "I am what I'm not yet I'm not what I am." She said saying the exact words she had said on August the 3rd when she had been asked what she was.

"What is that?" Mryddin asked.

Amy stopped pacing, "It's a riddle, I said it after a great battle, when all this power was coursing through me, I am what I'm not yet I'm not what I am. I've known that phrase for years, it's taunted me for years and only now do I figure it out."

"Sometimes the most difficult answers are the ones we must work out for ourselves." Taliesin said with all the wisdom of his years.

Amy smiled, "Yeah... you like my riddles... you still haven't given me the answer to the last one I gave you." She told him as she returned to her seat. Taylor and Cleopatra had slid out of the room at one stage and returned with drinks and snacks.

"Really, what was it?" Taliesin said with a pleased smile.

She smile as she thought for a moment, "What comes without being asked and is gone without being stolen." She told him. She glanced around the room and saw that Cleopatra was about to answer. "Don't tell him the answer."

Cleopatra smiled and nodded.

"So..." Guinevere slid in before anyone else could sidetrack Amy. "What now?" She asked.

"We need to find where the divergence is, the split in time which has allowed this world to go to shit." Amy answered and everyone nodded as that did indeed seem like the first place to look.

"How... it could take us weeks... months... years even to find the divergence." Taliesin stated, he didn't even know where to start.

Amy rolled her eyes at his pessimism and dug into her pocket and pulled out a crystal globe glad and a little bemused that she had it on her, "We start with Were and Other history volumes one, two and three." She said as she showed the globe to Taliesin with a smile.

"There is only volumes one and two here." He said itching to take the globe and read what had gone on in her universe. He willed a globe into his hand, it had this universes Were and Other history volume one and two stored in it.

She nodded, "Yeah... shortly after the signing of the Human and Non Human bill of rights by the world leaders you decided to write volume three, a large part of it dedicated to my deeds. You've also started on volume four which has some of my daughters deeds in it." She offered him the globe after she willed it to change colour so that she would know which globe was hers.

Taliesin took the globe from her and willed a small black dome onto the table. It, like the globes in his hands was a piece of Atlantian technology that made even super computers of the 31st century seem like a primitive piece of technology. He sat both globes on top of the thought controlled computer and willed it to do a cross reference on Were and Other history volumes one and two. He willed a third globe into his hand and copied volume three onto it. He closed his eyes and let what was on the globe to fill his mind, absorbing the knowledge it contained.

He opened his eyes and turned to Amy in surprise.

"What?" Mryddin asked.

"No Ancient... not everything we've done combined in our entire existence... measures up to what she has done virtually alone in a decade." He explained.

Mryddin snatched the globe from his hand and held it like Taliesin had. He held it for several moments then turned to Amy and looked at her in awe. "She got the middle east to stop fighting, permanently." He tossed the globe on. "She got humans and Were and Others to work together, she adverted the genocide we all bore witness to."

Taliesin nodded, "Although the genocide we saw happened a lot earlier than the one she stopped." He added and Mryddin nodded in agreement.

"When did it happen?" Amy asked curious.

"About six years before you meet Wolfgang." Mryddin answered.

Amy thought for a moment, "That means that whatever happened or didn't happen directly contributes to the problems I managed to avert."

Everyone nodded.

Taliesin sighed as three discrepancies were highlighted, the first one he dismissed but the other two were likely candidates. "We have our answer, Ghan never started the first gathering, which meant the improved relations among the Alphas never happened, which in turn meant the borders weren't solidified.

Amy closed her eyes pained. "No solid borders means the raids and constant bickering never stopped, which would lead the humans to try to eradicate us not knowing that we out number them and that a war with us would be their own destruction. There aren't enough humans to take out us Were."

Taylor nodded, "And they didn't expect us to head to ground and do what we do best... hide... which is why this has gone on for so long."

Amy chewed her thumbnail thinking. "How the fuck am I meant to fix this? Twenty years... almost a whole generation prejudiced against each other."

"Bring humans and non humans back together." Arthur said for the first time getting into this discussion. "Rebuild this world the way it should have been built to begin with."

Amy stared at him as if he had grown another head in mere moments, "Are you out of your mind? Do you know how hard it was the first time, and that was without twenty years of prejudice to cut through. It took a global mass protest to ram home the point that humans were not the masters of this world. The damage was limited to one battle and even that left its scars all over Harrisburg."

Everyone glanced to each other, they knew what she was talking about and how difficult this was going to be. "Where do we start?" Vivian asked.

Amy sighed, resigned to the plan of action before her but not liking it, knowing it could take years for her to correct this world. "Where I started the last time... with the Alphas." She told them. "But before we get to the Alphas we have to get my daughters, Cass, Becky, Shannon, Susan and Mayhem."

"Why are all those others so important, I can understand your daughters but the others?" Cleopatra asked just as the globe got to her.

"Cass and Shannon are the soul mates of two powerful Alphas, Roberto and Greyhawk. Becky is the mate to another Alpha Terri." Amy explained.

"Not to mention that Cass, Shannon and Becky with Amy wrote the bill of rights for humans and non humans." Taliesin jumped in, "Those three are important for stability among the Alphas."

"What about Mayhem?" Arthur asked.

"An Alpha and the soul mate of one of my daughters." Amy explained as she knew it wouldn't be in volume three. She looked at the screens and saw that a third discrepancy was highlighted. "Taliesin what's the other discrepancy."

Taliesin glanced to the screens then back to Amy, "One of your myths isn't one of ours." He answered.

"Which one?" She asked with a sense of foreboding.

"The one about Lupa." He told her.

She watched him for several moments, "But Lupa isn't a myth, he is a real person who..." She suddenly trailed off what she was saying, her mind whirled as she started to pace again. She understood why she and Rhiannon didn't exist in this world, no Lupa meant no Wildheart as it was his soul that Luna had created. After his first death and subsequent unveiling as her son she had hidden him in the body of a wolf, one of her creatures, to keep him safe. To keep the gods from using him for their own purposes while he was growing into his powers and safe from their games. The only goddess she couldn't keep her son safe from was the goddess of Fate, no one could escape her or her games.

No Lupa meant no friendship with Ghan, no friendship with Ghan meant no first Alpha gathering as it was Lupa who gave him the idea, no first Alpha gathering meant no border solidification, no border solidification meant genocide for this world. Not to mention no Lupa meant no Wildheart, no Wildheart meant no Rhiannon, no Rhiannon meant no her and nothing Fate could do could correct that. All she could do was drag Amy here to correct this but since this universe was not hers she would not be allowed to stay in it once the problem was fixed.

"A person who what?" Taliesin prompted.

Amy stopped pacing and blinked for a moment before she suddenly snatched her globe back to keep that myth to herself. She had suddenly felt this overwhelming need to keep Lupa a secret even though she knew deep down that she wouldn't be able to keep him a secret for long.

Everyone frowned at her actions but no one reacted or commented on it, as they all felt 'compelled' to do things that defied all reason. They normally chalked it up to the goddess of Fate and left it be.

"So when do we start?" Vivian asked telling her in the same sentence that Amy would not be forced to do this alone, that they would all help her no matter what.

Amy glanced down at her power suit and realised that it was not the best thing to wear in rescue missions and stuff. "As soon as I change. I'll just go to my room." She told them before she left the room. Mryddin followed her to see which room she considered to be hers. He smiled as he watched her head to an empty room amongst the rooms in the north wing. She stopped at her room and turned to him.

He willed a name plate into his hand with her name on it. He slid it into the slot on the door and went to give her the key for the room. She smiled as her hand slid down the length of golden rope that looped around her neck, hugging her neck firmly, until she came to the figure eight at the end, her fingers found the hidden panel and tugged it free, exposing an ancient looking skeleton key. She reached out and unlocked the door with her key.

"Amy..." He said to get her attention before she walked in. She turned to him and waited, "We all do things for reasons that we can't explain, no Ancient will question you about this Lupa, obviously we are not meant to know him."

"That's not the whole reason..." She told him. "Vivian's my grandma... I love her to bits... but I don't want her to know that her soul mate doesn't exist in this universe, that she is destined to be alone for the rest of time."

"Ah..." he said gently as he nodded. "I see... I think... I'll keep it to myself."

She nodded her thanks and walked into the room to change.

~ Elsewhere in North America. ~

Keira kept low as she rummaged through the rubble of buildings, looking for anything that she could use. At nineteen she was tall and very thin having missed meals. Her green eyes were weary as her eyes darted around what was left of the small ruined town that was now a part of the waste lands. Her blond hair was dirty and dreadlocked in places, tied back with a piece of braided flax. Her clothes were patched and several sizes too big for her, they like her body and hair were covered with dirt, a testament to the hard life she lived scrounging for food and sleeping in hollows. She paused and listened for several moments but as the sound didn't reappear she dismissed it. She lifted a panel and found a tin can. She checked to see if it was whole, it was so she stuffed it into her bag then looked around for more. She found another six cans. She didn't really care what was in them, even dog food was preferable to not eating.

She heard something approaching and slid back into the rubble hoping no one had noticed her movements. Her scruffy appearance helped her blend into the shadows and if she remained still no one would notice her. She held still, trying to not even breathe, it wasn't safe to wander the wastes, she had to avoid both sides of the war that had been raging for almost the last twenty years.

She had asked her parents how the war had started but they couldn't tell her. They simply didn't know; when the war begun they were living in the mountains near the town where she had been born. Both didn't really like to live with people from either side of the battle lines. She rarely thought about her life before her parents had saved her life. She still had nightmares every now and again and she had the scars to remind her of the brutality of the war and of the loss of her birth parents.

She heard the crunch of booted feet, sliding further back into the shadows of the growing darkness, silently begging the fates that they didn't have a dog with them if they were human. She watched as the squad of people walked out of the forest and across the wastes. One was leading a dog, her worst nightmare as they were trained to react to any scent that wasn't a part of the group, trained also to go berserk if in the presence of a Were. The dog bared his lips exposing his teeth, growling and alerting the squad that someone was nearby. She suddenly felt very foolish for coming out to the wastes, even the canned food she had found was not worth it if it cost her her life.

Shit.She got ready to run as the mand with the dog unclipped the lead.

The dog took off in the opposite direction, moving away from her.

Double shit.Keira added hoping she wasn't going to be caught in the middle of a fight between Were and Humans. She started to move keeping low and making short quick movements stopping frequently to make sure none of the squad had spotted her. Ducking instinctively as a beam of light skimmed over the upturned car she had been using for cover. She waited for long moments holding perfectly still. The clink of nails on metal above her head alerted her to the fact that she was not alone and in serious danger, the dagger that was always in easy reach was in her hands in moments as her head slowly glanced up to be met with a dog's face. The dog sniffed at her for long moments trying to figure out her scent so that he could react accordingly.

The dog decided to let his masters figure her out and howled to draw attention to him. Keira was up and slit the dog's throat, killing the poor animal instantly. Then she ran. There were shouts behind her as she dodged and weaved through the rubble.

She got to the tree line going in the most direct route she could find, sliding over cars and hurtling objects that were in her way. There were several shots forcing her to duck behind a tree for cover. She winced as she felt burning in her right arm and cursed her foolishness but didn't stop to tend her newest of wounds. She used the tree she had been hiding behind as a spring board and ran into the forest.

She stopped running an hour later when she felt safe, she sat against a tree and panted slightly, her arm had begun to throb painfully reminding her she had to see if it was a graze or if she would have to dig out a bullet. She felt her right arm, the sleeve was soaked with blood. She never remembered fainting.

Ghan approached the woman carefully. He had been out hunting deer at the waste lands, the dog had picked up his scent but had quickly turned in favour of another closer, less threatening, scent than his. He had stuck around to see what would happen. Then when the girl took flight he had followed her. As he approached the woman the scent of blood became stronger. He knelt and looked her over.

He saw the amount of blood she had lost and sighed,questions would have to wait she needed to be seen to,he said to himself. He scooped her up carefully and frowned, she was far too light for his liking. He carried her through the forest and towards his home.

"Picking up strays again." A woman said, stepping out from behind a tree and into a broken beam of moon light. Her skin was a very light brown, she was tall and lean and predatory in her movements, her violet eyes were piercing, her brown hair fell in long thick waves down her body and stopped just before arse. She was dressed simply like him in a pair of hand woven pants, with a close knit jumper, heavy boots encased her feet yet made no sound when she moved. Her face was gorgeous, almost alien in it's perfection.

He glared at her as she had startled him. "Yes... please go ahead and get Blast."

Crystal sighed. "Okay... I see you failed in your hunt," she said clearly; a hint of silver could be seen as she spoke. For as long as he knew her she had had a tongue piercing, along with others piercings some he could see and others that he truly never wanted to know about. She had explained once a long time ago it had been considered custom for her kind, although technically they would have used gold not silver as silver was toxic to them... but she was a freak and never conformed to what they considered true and when she had the chance she swapped all the gold for silver. It had ticked her 'father' off something royally but she hadn't cared.

He growled at her in response.

"Don't growl at me... you know if it came to a fight I would kick your arse into next week and back again before you could even blink." She said, before suddenly she was gone.

He took a deep breath and started to walk again, he had known Crystal for at least two thousand years. She was in a word... complicated, but they were good friends and she was a good second. She was also a tracker which helped them as she could hunt down anything she set her mind to.