The Black Lake

'No need to apoligise. this whole stupid thing isnt your fault..'

"I'm sorry for going behind your back though. I shouldn't have done that." He was embarrassed about apologizing for something that he was going to continue doing.

'I know why you did it. Its fine.'

He smiled up at Xander. "Thank you for not being mad at me."

'Never going to happen.'

"Aww, thank you. You're sweet."

He grinned, rolling his eyes. 'not. Besides, did you relly expect me to flip out?'

He grinned sheepishly. "Yes, you kind of freaked out when I last talked about finding a way to stay together."

'I cant help it. I dont want to.' He closed his eyes. 'I see you just... I just see you dead. ok? All the time, becasue i let you try something, because i didt try anything. either way...i dont want that to happen.'

"It's not going to happen, Xander. Just believe my lie, at least for a little bit."

'i can try.'

He smiled and quickly kissed Xander's cheek. "Thank you."

She sat by the lake, baseball cap pressed firmly over her cropped blonde hair, staring at her parchment. Ace had spent days, maybe weeks writing her notes, considering her pla n of action for her sister. There was something odd about Amaya's friend, she seemed to help yet Amaya's condition was worsening. It frustrated her, to say the least.

Oh well, she had plenty of time to figure it out.

A rare breath of fresh air was doing wonders for clearing Eagle's head. As he strolled, he closed his eyes briefly to take in a lungful, savouring the coolness of it on his tongue before he released it again. The lake was a fond haunt of his, especially as he often seemed to find Ace there.

He wasn't disappointed.

Eagle sat down beside her without ceremony, crossing his legs only to hug his knees to his chest. He gave her a simple murmured, "Hello," before he closed his eyes again, having opened them to pick his way down to the shoreline.

The soft thunk of parchment hitting grass could be heard as she lifted her eyes to his, blinking in surprise.

'Please don't tell me I'm having a delusion.' It was her only greeting, feeling too shocked to reply. She hadn't seen Eagle in so long that she couldn't distinguish if she was actually going crazy like Amaya was.

He opened his eyes again, looking over at her with an owlish expression of simple surprise at the statement. "You're perfectly sane," Eagle replied, "as far as I'm aware." He glanced her up and down, as if he'd be able to detect anything out of the ordinary through sight alone.

She nodded, before scooting over and putting an arm around his shoulder. 'You're tangible, so I'm going to take your statement as truth.' Her thin smile stretched into a large grin, sighing with her relief. 'I think it's safe to say I've missed you.'

A small smile curved across his lips as he returned the one-armed hug. "I've missed you, too," Eagle agreed easily. "it's been quiet without your thoughts as contribution. I used to enjoy silence, you know. I'm not so sure that I do anymore."

'I know what you mean. I went away with my family but they're not exactly the quiet types.' A small chuckle escaped her, still in shock that they'd encountered here again. It was strange, she'd only been here a couple of days yet here he was too.

'So what have you been doing in your absence?'

"Trying to gather my resources into a coherent whole," he said. "All of my material that I've gathered over the years, it desperately needed sorting. I suppose I became lost in it all. I discovered a few cold cases that needed attention, so I took care of those, too."

Eagle let his gaze drop to Ace, taking in the familiar sight of her. "What about you?"

'I've been working on a case of my own, one that I'm maybe a little too emotionally invested in.' She admitted, letting her head fall onto his shoulder in search of comfort. 'It's taken more than nine months and i've made little progress.'

He felt curiosity beginning to take hold of him, even though he was trying to suppress it for Ace's sake. She hadn't said he could be a part of it, and as much as Eagle itched to know, he wouldn't press. "May I ask what it's about?"

'Amaya is currently experiencing symptoms akin to someone suffering PTSD, but she has not experienced any traumatic events recently. She has bouts of paranoia and hopelessness, and she doesn't recognise her surroundings. There's signs of poisoning in her blood samples but that can't be the answer.'

She frowned, finishing her debrief. 'Basically, somebody's involved in this and I don't know who. It can't just be poison.'

"Have you ruled out the possibility of a curse?" he suggested, brow furrowing in thought. "It could be that someone placed one on her that left little to trace, in which case it would be difficult to follow up on."

Difficult, but not impossible. Eagle never called anything impossible to track; everything, even magic, left a trail. It was just a matter of finding that trail.

'We've been isolated in our absence, but we came back because I do believe it's a curse of some sort. I have no other clue right now.' She seemed frustrated, hunching her shoulders.

'I don't even know where to start regarding magical trails.'