Note: The PPC was originally created by Jay and Acacia. Anneli Rodriguez and Xanthus Garkaran both belong to me. Cinderella first appeared in the Harry Potter fanfiction “My Dragons, Your Phoenix, His Death Eaters” by XxX Fleur-Delacour XxX, and was recruited to the PPC by Cadmar. Lysa Arkaj first appeared in the fanfic “Mass Effect: Laus” by Faust327, and was recruited to the PPC by me. Ilraen-Aroline-Fothergill belongs to Neshomeh, who co-wrote that particular segment with me. Thane Krios is copyright Bioware and EA Games.

Interlude: Recovery

Swirling water towered above her. Suddenly, she was caught in an overpowering current. Her back stung, not enough to hurt but enough for her to know where all of the lash-marks were.

She knew this wasn’t real, it couldn’t be. The Stu was dead.

Yet there he was, sinking his hidden blade into Xanthus’ throat, laughing gleefully at Anneli’s scream of horror. She didn’t get long to look at this image as the current moved along, carrying everyone with it.

And then, there was the Stu, rounding on her, cutting through countless people. Thane, Emmeline, Seraphina, Myrin, Johnathan, everyone was there, and Cindy could only watch as they fell .

And then Heather Draconius herself appeared.

“Oh, Cinderella, I knew you were always so worthless! And you thought you could be good enough to be my second in command!”

“Yeah, really.” That was the Stu again, his words distorted by the ocean all around. “Aurora was much better about that. What did you do when you stood up to me? You allowed yourself to get whipped.”

A sickly green flash lit up the water, and then a vision of Aurora fell in front of Cindy. “Too bad you can’t defend her, either,” said Heather’s voice.

“Oh, really, turning into me.” That was the Stu. “You’re becoming a monster, Cindy, and you’ll be just like that thing.”

“You’re too weak! And you’ll bring about their downfall!” That was Heather again, as she turned to Cindy. “You’ve always been too weak, and now you’ve become a monster!”

Cindy couldn’t even muster the will to scream, the water was so intense.

“And you’ll lead to their downfall, Cindy! You’ll lead them all to their deaths!”

The ice-whip manifested again in his hands, and the whip lashed forward.

And right as the whip made contact, Cindy suddenly sat straight up in bed, a cold sweat on her forehead. As she breathed erratically, she looked to where Anneli and Xanthus were busy sleeping.

She held her hand to her chest. Eventually, when she was able to breathe normally again, she looked up, realizing something.

The casting of the Cruciatus Curse on the Stu... being tortured by the Stu... everything that had happened during the mission... that was no dream. She remembered it in vivid detail now, the hatred she felt towards the man who had tortured her and separated her from her friends and threatened to kill them, too, and all she could remember was her hatred at that moment, how her anger had bubbled over, how she had given in to the temptation she said she would never fall back on in her life. How she had physically hurt something she had hated so much.

How she had done the exact same thing that Subject 23 had attempted to do to Miranda Lawson.

She also remembered how useless she had been, being tortured there. She had wanted to be Heather’s second in command when she was fighting Voldemort. But when she had the opportunity to stand up to a Stu? She simply let herself get whipped. She let Thane do all the work for her.

She shook her head, a few tears coming to her eyes.

For all her talking about how agents of the PPC were good and better than Stus, this came as a shock. She was useless, worse than useless. Not only was she unable to save herself, but now she was becoming the equivalent of a Mary Sue. This realization horrified her to no end.

Shaking her head, Cindy moved out of bed almost immediately. She pulled on a Beauxbatons robe, and then quietly stepped out of the RC, her head hanging as she walked in the halls of the PPC.

----**----

Xanthus was woken up by someone gently shaking his shoulder. Giving an annoyed groan, he opened his eyes to see Anneli standing in front of him.

“Xanthus, did you see Cindy?”

The turian shook. “Anneli, I sleep like a rock,” he said. “Why would you wake me up at this spirits-forsaken hour in the morning just to ask me that?”

Anneli shook her head. “I mean, uh... Cindy’s not here,” she said.

Xanthus stiffened, looking at Anneli in shock. “What?” He got out of bed to see that indeed, Cindy was not in the room. The turian shook his head in disbelief.

“No...” Xanthus shook his head. “D-do you think…?”

“Maybe,” said Anneli with a shrug. “Like, that was a lot even for the average agent to take once 23 saw us.”

“That’s true. But still, this isn’t good. Where could she have gone?”

“I don’t really know, Xanthus. She didn’t even leave a note.” She shook her head. “Oh, this is bad, Xanthus. We were totally gonna talk about what happened there when she woke up this morning!”

Xanthus shook his head, grabbing a shirt and a vest from where he left his suit. “Well, we should find her,” he said. “Come on.”

Wordlessly, Anneli nodded, finding her high-heeled shoes and pulling them on before following Xanthus out the door.

----**----

Despite an entire day of searching, they couldn’t find Cindy anywhere. They had searched high, they had searched low, but ultimately there was no sign of her. It probably didn’t help that the Ironic Overpower seemed to hate them a lot, given the amount of times that they nearly caused severe catastrophes and particularly the number of times they nearly destroyed DoSAT technology while trying to find Cindy. Xanthus was not even sure how he nearly ruined a DoSAT experiment as it related to manipulating mass effect fields, but they both decided it was not worth mentioning since they had bigger things to worry about.

At the end of the day, they returned to their RC. Anneli sat on the couch, hugging her legs to her person.

“This is bad, Xanthus,” she said. “This is totally, irreversibly, incredibly bad!”

Xanthus shook his head. “I know,” the turian said simply. “It’s... a little crazy, honestly.”

“Yeah, no shit,” said Anneli. “Well...” she shrugged. “She’ll totally have to come back eventually.”

“That she will, if she wants to sleep in a bed,” said Xanthus.

“Yep,” said Anneli. “In the meantime, I wonder how things are going with Thane.”

“I wouldn’t know,” said Xanthus. “When I went to ask for Cindy in Medical, though, one of the personnel told me that they had released Shepard and Garrus earlier today.”

Anneli nodded. “Well, that’s good, I guess,” she said. “It’s totally good when they heal canon characters.” She shook her head. “But I’m still worried about Cindy...”

“Yeah...” Xanthus shook his head, sitting at the table and looking at the mini-dragons. Tiana and Jazmine were looking at the two agents curiously, their eyes shining as if they couldn’t detect how perturbed the agents were. “It’s just—”

Right then, the door to the RC opened. Cindy walked in, looking at the two agents and the dragons. The other two blinked in surprise as she then looked sharply away from them.

Anneli promptly stood up. “Cindy, where’ve you been?” she asked.

“Out,” she replied. “I just...”

“Cindy, I thought we needed to talk,” said Xanthus, standing up. “We—”

“I’m fine,” Cindy snapped, walking past the two agents. “I’ve had a long day of running around HQ trying to get things done. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. I just want to get some sleep.”

“B-but Cindy, wouldn’t you rather—?” asked Anneli.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Cindy said more forcefully. She brushed past her partners into the bedroom, the door closing decisively behind her.

----**----

Cindy woke up early the next morning, again from a nightmare. And much like the previous day, she left the RC before Anneli or Xanthus could wake up. Anneli and Xanthus searched for her again, having about as much luck as they had before. When Cindy did return, she went straight to the room again, though this time she locked the door.

This continued for another two days.

And so, on the third day Anneli decided that her next course of action would be to visit the kids at the Nursery. A day there would help clear her mind, she was certain.

----**----

“Anneli!”

The three kids greeted their guardian with great fervor. Sorsha jumped up happily, Saim simply greeted her in his usual shy way, and Malran seemed happier than ever.

But when Anneli bent down, the three children instantly sensed something was wrong. They weren’t sure what, but she seemed more sad than usual.

Malran’s expression was the first to fall at this. “Anneli, are you all right?” he asked.

Anneli looked at the children, barely able to hide her bitter smile. “I’m... I’m fine,” she said.

Malran frowned. While Saim and Sorsha shared a look, the salarian stepped forward. “Something happened.”

“And how do you know that?” asked Anneli.

Sorsha looked at Malran. “He’s a salarian!” she piped up. “And he always knows everything!”

Anneli groaned. “Oh, darn it, I totally forgot about how you guys mature faster than everyone else,” she said, shaking her head.

“He says they’re already at huge schools when they’re sixteen,” Saim said. “I... I wanna be in huge schools when I’m that age.”

Anneli glanced at Saim curiously. “Huge schools?”

Malran shrugged. “That’s what he calls ‘university’.”

“Uni—” Anneli paused. “Oh. Oh.” The agent chuckled nervously. “We’ll see,” she said. “I didn’t go to... uh, huge schools until I was older than that.” She shook her head. “But no. It’s just.... A lot happened back home at the RC.”

Sorsha leaned forward. “Did anything bad happen?”

Anneli sighed. “It’s... yeah, it was pretty bad,” she said. “You know Cindy?”

“The one with the yellow hair, right?” asked Sorsha.

Anneli chuckled. “Yeah, that one,” she said. “Well... there was a bad man who hurt her very badly.”

At this, the three children leaned closer. “There was?” asked Saim. “Is she okay?”

Anneli nodded. “She’s fine, but....” She shook her head. “Well....” She glanced to the side. “Like, sometimes people will do bad things to others, right?” Anneli sniffled softly. “Sometimes, it doesn’t end when the bad person is stopped. Sometimes, the good person still feels hurt.”

“Is her heart broken?” Sorsha said innocently.

Anneli shook her head. “No,” she said, her voice a half-whisper. “But it’s still in pain. Sometimes that takes longer to go away than you’d think.” Anneli sighed, her expression falling. “I shouldn’t be talking about this in front of you.”

“But we’re worried,” Malran said immediately.

“Yeah,” added Saim. “We don’t like seeing you sad.” The quarian stepped forward. “The yellow-haired girl got hurt, but the bad guy didn’t do anything to you.”

Anneli nodded. “He didn’t,” she said. “But sometimes, when people you care about get hurt like that, it hurts you too.”

Sorsha leaned forward. “In the heart?” she asked.

Anneli nodded bitterly. “Yeah, in my heart,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Upon seeing how sad their guardian was, the kids nodded. “Well...” said Saim. “We... we’ve got this game....”

“It’s called Apples to Apples,” said Malran. “We wanted to play it with you. Maybe it’ll help you keep your mind off of that.”

Anneli nodded. “Yeah, maybe that’ll help,” she said. “Come on, let’s go play stuff.”

Wordlessly, Saim, Sorsha, and Malran led Anneli over to where the cards were. They sat down, and Malran explained the rules to Anneli.

----**----

Xanthus sat in the cafeteria, holding his face in his hands and shaking his head. He let out a soft groan, not daring to do much else.

Cindy had been difficult yet again. Xanthus was only trying to get Cindy to talk about how she felt in some attempt to help her. But she had completely brushed him off. It was truly worrying him that he was unable to get her to open her mouth about it. There was nothing left to do but sit off to the side, moping about it.

“Hello, how can I—oh, Xanthus!”

The turian looked up, blinking in surprise when he saw who was looking at him.

“Lysa?” he said.

The waitress in question smiled. “Well, this is certainly interesting,” she said. She pulled up a chair. “I’ve never seen you in the cafeteria at all!”

“I haven’t really come,” he says. “The dextro food here is shit.”

“Unfortunately,” Lysa said with a chuckle. “What’s wrong?”

Xanthus frowned. “Wha—why do you ask?” he said.

“Well, you just looked alone there,” she said. “And the way you were sitting here, moping around... that’s a look you don’t see all the time in the Citadel, but I know it when I see it.”

Xanthus shook his head. “You read expressions so well.”

Lysa shrugged. “It helps when you’re trying to be personable,” she says. “You work off the other person’s mood.”

Xanthus nodded. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk about it,” he said. “Some really bad stuff went down during our latest mission.”

“Really?” asked Lysa, leaning forward. “Like what?”

“Well...”

Xanthus proceeded to tell Lysa everything: about Subject 23, about Thane still being in HQ, about what had happened to Cindy during the mission, about how the Flowers reacted, and about how Cindy was refusing to speak about it. Xanthus found himself pausing to shake his head at a few points, but he continued talking. Lysa sat quietly throughout the whole thing.

At the end of it, Lysa simply looked at Xanthus in shock. “And that’s what’s happening there?”

Xanthus nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m worried about Cindy.”

“I can’t say I blame you there,” said Lysa, crossing her arms. She frowned at the table they were sitting at before turning her attention back to Xanthus. “That’s... I didn’t think PPC missions were that bad.”

“Usually, they’re not,” said Xanthus. “I mean, they go wrong most of the time anyway, but never that badly.”

Lysa nodded. “I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. “I’ve never seen anyone get tortured in my life, so unfortunately....”

Xanthus nodded. “You wouldn’t know how it works.”

“Pretty much,” she said. “So let me get this much straight: she cast the Cruciatus Curse on the Stu, and as you say, she was pretty angry when she did.”

“She didn’t respond to Anneli the first couple of times she tried to snap her out of it,” said Xanthus.

Lysa sat back in the chair, nodding as she looked at the turian. “Okay,” she said. “And now that she’s moping around, she’s not angry. That’s good, because it might mean she’s regretting what she did. I think you need to get to the heart of that and you’ll be good to go.”

“Possibly,” he said. “I don’t really know if that’ll fix everything.”

Lysa shrugged. “Honestly, there’s something else about this that’s annoying me slightly,” she said. “You haven’t really talked about this with Cindy. Why not?”

Xanthus shook his head. “I mentioned that when I’m in the RC she isn’t there,” he said. “When we are, she just coldly shrugs me off. She goes straight off somewhere else in the RC where there’s a door between her and the two of us. She’s taken to locking it lately, which doesn’t help.”

Lysa nodded. “Right,” she said. “Do you think maybe you should be more assertive?”

Xanthus glanced to the side. “I just don’t want it to be too much of a burden on her,” he said. “I want her to talk to me about it on her own terms.”

“Well, if you wait for that, it could very well be that you’re not going to get anything,” she said. “Maybe it’ll be better for everyone involved if you go to her and tell her that she should spill it.”

“But I don’t want to seem—”

“Insensitive?” Lysa shrugged. “It’s honestly going to be pretty painful for her whether or not she tells you on her own terms, I think.” The waitress gestured with her hand. “And since she’s avoided you for so long.... You don’t know what’ll happen, Xanthus. If I were you, I wouldn’t wait any longer.”

Xanthus nodded. “Okay,” he said. He stood up quickly. “I think I better go find her and talk to her.”

“Indeed,” said Lysa. “Just be careful.”

 “I’ll do my best,” he said. “And thank you.”

With that, he walked out of the cafeteria, intending to get Anneli from the Nursery.

----**----

The door to the RC opened, and in walked Anneli and Xanthus. They were quite surprised to find Cindy sitting on the couch. Anneli visibly stiffened upon seeing her partner. They exchanged glances, Cindy’s muscles tightening ever so slightly.

Before Cindy could stand up, Xanthus rushed to her bedroom door and locked it with his omni-tool.

Anneli was knocked out of her brief confusion by this. Clearing her throat, she looked to Cindy.

“We need to talk,” Anneli stated. “We need to talk about what happened on that mission.”

Cindy shrank into the couch slightly, looking up in fear. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Xanthus shook his head. “Cindy, you’ve told us that every time we try to talk about the mission.” Here Xanthus paused. When he spoke again, his voice was considerably softer. “And it’s worrying us to death that you’re not saying a thing.”

“You shouldn’t worry,” said Cindy. “I’m not talking about it. That’s how I’m coping with it.”

Anneli shook her head. “Yeah, well, we’re not coping with it,” she replied. “And, like, I hate to break it to you, but sooner or later you’re going to have to stop burying it all the time.”

Xanthus shook his head as he and Anneli stepped forward. They then knelt by Cinderella where she sat on the couch, looking at Cindy expectantly.

“Cindy, just talk to us,” Anneli pleaded.

“I don’t want to talk about any of it,” she said, glancing to the side as she huddled in on herself. “What else is there to say?”

Xanthus nodded. “Look, Cindy...” he said, kneeling next to the bed. “We’re just trying to understand what’s going through your head after everything that happened.”

“You wouldn’t,” the witch replied. “I know you couldn’t help me, but....” She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to look at Xanthus. “Just leave me alone.”

The turian frowned. “Try us,” he said.

“Cindy, we’re trying to help you,” said Anneli.

At this, Cindy turned to Anneli, a small frown settling on the witch’s face. “Then why don’t you give me some damn space?” she asked forcefully. “All you’ve been doing since we got back from killing Subject 23 is asking me about the damn Cruciatus Curse and how I cast it and how the Stu tortured me and everything!”

“Yeah, because you won’t—”

“Did it ever cross your minds that I don’t want to think about it?” asked Cindy.

Cindy closed her eyes, which were watering rapidly. She shook her head, getting up from the couch. “I want space, so I can forget about it,” she said.

“Cindy, just—”

“Not another word, Xanthus,” said Cindy as she turned to the door of the RC. “Just leave me alone!”

Without another word, Cindy stomped the rest of the way to the door. She opened the door by punching the holographic panel and walked right out.

This left Anneli and Xanthus stunned, watching as if frozen in place as Cindy walked away.

Xanthus buried his face in his hands.

“Damn it...” he muttered, shaking his head and turning towards his bedroom. “Just, damn it....”

----**----

Cindy sat on a bench in the middle of a rather sprawling courtyard. It was grassy, with only a couple of paths leading back into HQ. The horses there paid her no mind as she sniffled quietly.

The witch had never seen this part of HQ before. Normally, she’d question the sanity of going to such an unknown place to wind down, but at the moment it was far enough away from her RC that she failed to care. She held her tissue up to her nose, blowing it softly while looking at the horses that were all around her.

She sat there when she heard the distinct sound of hooves clopping against the path behind her. She paid no attention, figuring one of the horses had just wandered onto the path. As long as—

<Hello,> said a voice.  Or rather, a non-voice—it skipped her ears.  <I haven't seen you here before.>

Cindy started in surprise, nearly dropping her tissue as she looked around. When her gaze fell behind her, she found herself looking at the oddest horse she had ever seen. She found something quite strange about his blue fur, the fact that he had an extra pair of eyes, the fact that there was a blade at the end of his tail, and just how human he looked at the front. She blinked, before turning away.

“I... I guess that was you that was talking in my head just now?” she asked.

<Oh, I apologize if I startled you,> the creature said, walking around to the front of the bench.  The extra eyes moved constantly, surveying the entire area, but the main two, huge and green, fixated on Cindy.  He tilted his head.  <Are you all right? I am sorry—please do not let me bother you. I was only surprised to meet someone else here.>

Cindy nodded, glancing to the ground. “It’s fine,” she said. She paused for a few seconds. “I’ve never seen anything like you around here. What are you?”

<An Andalite,> he said with pride, <from the Animorphs continuum.  My name is Ilraen-Aroline-Fothergill.  What is yours?>

“Cinderella,” she replied. “Most people call me Cindy though. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of an Andalite before. Is it some kind of alien species?”

The blue-furred creature... smiled was the only word for it, though he expressed it with his eyes and a certain tilt to his deer-like ears. <From a certain perspective. Andalites are not native to Earth, which is usually what humans mean by it. Most people call me Ilraen,> he added.

“I see.” Cindy nodded slowly as she looked out. “You know, if someone had told me when I was still at Beauxbatons that aliens existed, I wouldn’t have believed them. And yet, here I am.”

<Ah, you are from the Harry Potter continuum?> Ilraen asked, momentarily swinging both stalk eyes toward her. <My partner and I have been on several missions there. Never to Beauxbatons, though.>

Cindy perked up, looking at Ilraen with a surprised expression. “Really?” she said. “And you’ve never been to Beauxbatons?” She glanced to the side. “For shame. Beauxbatons is pretty nice.”

<Well, there would have to be a bad crossover taking place there for us to go, so perhaps it is for the best,> he replied, sounding amused. <Still, it is always good to visit new places.>

“You don’t say.” Cindy looked up at the sky. “I’ve gone to various places all over the galaxy in my missions. It’s nice.” Her expression fell slightly as she glanced away. “Well, to a certain point, anyway.”

Ilraen picked up one forehoof and put it down. He looked at the tissue in Cindy's hand and brought his main eyes back to her face with a querying expression.

Cindy blinked, glancing to the side. “Well, uh, you know what I mean. Relatively speaking. If I’m heading somewhere where it’s not a mission again.” She closed her eyes. “I’d like the peace and quiet, I guess. It would give me space to think about some things that happened recently.”

<This is a good place for thinking.> He raised that hoof again, but didn't put it down. <Shall I leave you to it?>

“I don’t know,” said Cindy with a slight amount of hesitation. “I rarely get to meet other agents, but at the same time....” She shook her head. “No. Stay a little. Please.”

<All right.> He nodded and settled into a more relaxed posture, hands clasped in front of him.

Cindy nodded. “So... you’re in Implausible Crossovers, huh?” she asked. “It must be weird work, going in there and untangling multiple continua at once.”

<Weird?> He tilted his head, looking thoughtful. <I suppose it might seem so.  In addition to the situations faced by other departments, we must be prepared to face the warping of two or more realities simultaneously. Yet, the answer is always to be well-versed in the canons involved. If we are not, we are assigned help.> He shrugged. <It is not strange to me. It is all I know.>

In reply, Cindy simply shrugged. “I guess I have a tough time seeing crossover missions that way,” she said. “Ever since I first set foot here, I’ve been part of Floaters. It’s a strange experience in and of itself, though a lot of the time we find ourselves killing Stus.” She chuckled. “You’d think we’d get more missions that don’t fall into the DMS’ workload, but there you have it.”

<Perhaps you should transfer to the DMS, and then Upstairs would send you everything but Sues,> Ilraen said with a twinkle in his eye.

Cindy chuckled bitterly. “That would be the day,” she said, a hard edge in her voice. “Maybe we’ll get less threatening Sues while we’re at it. Maybe even stop sending us Stus entirely. That would be nice.” She placed her hands on the bench, looking directly at Ilraen. “Or something,” she added as her gaze turned away from him. “It would be nice if I didn’t have to deal with what happened in my last mission.”

The area was silent for a few seconds. Cindy looked over to Ilraen, but found that he was standing exactly where he had been the entire conversation. His expression had shifted to a rather curious one. Cindy waited for some form of speech from him, but this didn’t come. He just shifted a hoof slightly, as if waiting for her to continue.

She exhaled softly, feeling her earlier mood return. It was not quite as intense, however, and somehow, she felt more comfortable. Ilraen was not asking any questions, after all, and she found the silence inviting.

She nodded. “Well... my last mission didn’t go so well. It went terribly, as a matter of fact.” She paused, letting the silence settle in again. When Ilraen said nothing, she continued. “We were sent to kill this particularly bad Gary Stu in the Mass Effect continuum. Had superpowers in a continuum without them, horribly derailed a character, engaged in character bashing, the usual. And you’d think a mission like that would go off without a problem.”

She scoffed bitterly. “You’d think,” she said. “Except that the Stu saw past the SEP field and... and....” Cindy hesitated, glancing over at Ilraen. She was once again met with silence and now a concerned expression, which she took as her cue to continue. “Well, he managed to kidnap me as his prisoner and everything. I got tortured, he told us he knew about the PPC....” She sniffled, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent some more tears from falling.

<I am sorry,> Ilraen said softly. <It must have been terrible for you.>

“It... it was,” she said. “I have to admit, it was a more implausible method of torture, but... it still hurt.” She shook her head. “But if you can believe it, that wasn’t even the worst thing that happened in the mission.” She paused. “See, I had to enlist the help of a canon to get out of that. When I got out of there and rejoined my partners, I...”

She took a deep breath to calm herself. She released this breath, opening her eyes and looking at the field in front of her. “I cast the Cruciatus Curse on the Stu while we were charging him.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, Ilraen. He knew about the PPC, and he said he was planning on killing everyone here that I knew, and I had resented what he did to get his way, and he... well....” She sniffled.

“And the worst part?” she went on. “I... I didn’t even feel any regret when I used that Forbidden Curse on him. Much like he was going in there without any regret, trying to kill a canon character he hated. I...” She took another deep breath. “In some ways, maybe I’m no better than that Stu for losing it like that.”

The Andalite shifted uncomfortably. <We all have our moments of anger, Agent Cindy. They stain our honor, but they cannot take it away unless we let them. You sound as though you do regret the incident now. That is good. It is right to feel shame when we fail—it is what makes us learn what to avoid in the future. Sues, however, do not feel shame, and do not learn from their mistakes. We do.>

Cindy sighed. “I’m not so sure about that,” she said. “I myself was recruited from a Suefic where I was literally one of the Sue’s best friends. I even had some things off of the standard Potter Sue checklist to my credit.” She shrugged. “Not enough to be charged as a Sue, but I was close.”

Ilraen regarded her a moment. <Agent Cindy, I do not know you well, but your presence here in the PPC speaks well for you. Someone had enough faith in you to bring you here. I can see why. Your concern does you great credit. I believe that you will strive not to repeat the actions that so trouble you now, as I myself am striving. We have this in common.>

“I’m less sure of my concern,” she said. “What if it’s not enough? What then?” She shrugged. “I don’t know if you could relate to that, Ilraen. No offense, but you don’t strike me as the kind of person who would lose it the way I did. You’re too... mild-mannered, I think.”

Ilraen laughed, an odd thing when it happened in soundless telepathy. <What is that expression—ah, 'It is the quiet ones you must watch out for.'> He sighed, and his humor faded. <You have trusted me with your demon, so I will trust you with mine. That is fair.

<You see, I struggle with discipline. There have been several occasions when I have lost my temper, perhaps my sanity, and struck out without thinking. On the worst of these occasions, I killed someone. A canon character.> He squeezed all four eyes shut in pain at the admission.

Cindy’s eyes shot open. “W-wha—?” she cried, the shock evident on her face. “You... you killed a canon character?”

<I thought he was a replacement. No, I was certain—in spite of an unusual CAD reading that should have made me hesitate. I was so angry that I did not give it proper thought. I only found out my mistake after he was dead. It is pure good luck that we were able to put things right again.> He shook his head. <That was more than a year ago, and it still makes me feel sick to think about it.>

Cindy nodded. “I’ll say.” she said. “I... Merlin...” She blinked, still trying to process what Ilraen had told her. “I guess we do have a lot more in common than your disposition would say.”

<We are all in this together, Cindy. Headquarters has a strange way of making allies out of even those who would be the bitterest of enemies in other circumstances.>

“So I see. I...” Cindy sighed. “I guess that makes me feel a little better, knowing there’s someone else around these parts who knows how I feel.” She looked over to Ilraen, shifting her position at the bench to get closer to Ilraen. “Do you think you’ve been successful with keeping yourself in check?”

He thought about it, gazing at some point over Cindy’s shoulder, before answering. <It is difficult to say. I have not truly been tested yet since the last time, but I have worked hard to teach myself control. There are certain rituals among my people, things that give our lives balance. I have been coming here to practice them—this place is far more hospitable than my response center. There are fewer opportunities for the Ironic Overpower to strike.> He cast a baleful look upward, one ear aslant.

“Don’t say that too loudly,” said Cindy. “The Ironic Overpower might’ve heard you.”

<We shall see what we shall see.> He shrugged. <I am doing my best. That must count for something.>

“I think so too,” she said, smiling. She turned to look at Ilraen. “Thank you, Ilraen. I needed that.”

He smiled. <You are welcome, Cindy. I find it very helpful to discuss painful matters. I am pleased that I could be the ears you needed.>

Cindy nodded, looking ahead of her. Her expression then violently shifted into a frown. “Oh, goodness,” she said. “I just realized something. Here I am spilling my heart out to a stranger, and yet I’ve been avoiding saying all that to my partners for the past three days or so!”

<Oh.> His ears swiveled anxiously. <I'm sure they are worried about you, after that mission.>

“I’ve got no doubt about that.” Her frown disappeared, replaced by a more serene expression. “They’re good friends, you know. They... I didn’t want to address my issues, thinking they wouldn’t understand. But given what’s happened here...” She nodded. “I think I need to just tell them.” With this, she stepped off the bench, turning to look at Ilraen. “I can’t thank you enough for listening, Ilraen.”

<It is enough to know that I could help in some way,> he assured her, inclining his head. <Would you like me to walk with you to the door?> He gestured down one of the paths leading back to HQ proper.

Cindy nodded. “Sure,” she said. “Lead the way.”

The path meandered through the open grass, past the herd of horses grazing off to the left. Ilraen waved at Alice, the honey-colored meara at their head, and she tossed her mane in return. It was odd, having such a natural place in the middle of Headquarters. Was that a real sky above, or something fabricated, like the ceiling of Hogwarts' great hall? Impossible to tell. Still, it was a pleasant walk, for all that it ended at an incongruous blank gray wall with a blank gray opening in it.

<Here you are,> Ilraen said. <I will stay and finish my run, but I hope we will meet again. You can find me here, or at Response Center 999.>

Cindy nodded. “I hope we’ll meet again, too,” she says. “I’m at RC 2183. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be assigned to the same mission one of these days.”

<Perhaps, although I understand my partner has complained about the number of co-assignments we've had lately. Then again, my partner has complained about the number of co-assignments we've had lately.> His eyes smiled.

“You get them a lot, then,” she said. “Well, here’s hoping.” She nodded. “Thank you again, Ilraen.”

With that, she stepped into the gray opening, and once again was walking through the halls of HQ.

----**----

Xanthus and Anneli both sat on the couch, the dismay on their faces apparent. Jazmine rested on Anneli’s shoulder, looking at the other two agents as Tiana mewled sadly on Xanthus’ lap. Nobody had said a word since Cindy had left the RC in a huff. In a way, there was nothing much that they could say. They’d glance at each other every so often, wanting to say something, but not being able to say it. And so, they would go back to thinking about Cindy’s having left the RC.

And then, after what felt like an eternity, the two agents heard the door open. They watched as Cindy entered, her head hanging.

“I... I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s been a long three days. I’ve had almost no sleep, I’ve wanted to keep myself from thinking about what I did, and, well....”

Xanthus nodded, looking to the witch. “And...?” he asked.

Cindy nodded. “Well, I think I need to tell you what I’ve been feeling,” she said. “Here goes.”

And so, Cindy poured out her heart to her two partners. She told them everything. She told them about her guilt over using the Cruciatus Curse, about her nightmare, about the torture, about how useless she felt, about her conversation with Ilraen, everything. By the end of it, she was crying again, shaking her head softly as she sniffled.

“And that’s why I was avoiding you,” she said.

Xanthus shook his head. “Oh, Cindy,” he said softly, placing a talon on her shoulder. “You should’ve said something earlier.”

“I know, but...” She shook her head. “I thought that if I told you I thought I was becoming... well....”

Anneli shook her head. “Like, we wouldn’t have believed that,” she said. “We wouldn’t think you’re becoming anything like a Stu, and especially not 23.”

“Really?” Cindy asked, sounding more relieved than surprised. “Why not?”

“Because you recognize that you did something wrong,” said Xanthus as he pulled a chair up and sat next to Cindy. “23 tried to justify his bad behavior, but you’re sitting here beating yourself up about it.”

The witch nodded. “That’s one of the things Ilraen mentioned,” she said. “I was worried that my concern wasn’t going to be enough when it came down to it.”

Cindy’s two partners nodded. “I see,” said Anneli. “Well, Cindy, I’m going to tell you right now that you’ve been one of the best partners any agent could ask for.” Anneli smiled softly. “And you’ve totally been a good friend. You’ve gotten us out of a lot of situations that I don’t think most of us would on our own. I mean, in that fight with that one District 9 Stu? We totally couldn’t have gotten him to fall up if you hadn’t casted that thing to keep all the furniture from falling on you!”

“And with Alex Bewes,” said Xanthus. “I swear we never would’ve gotten him if you hadn’t cast that spell!”

“Yeah,” Anneli said. “You’ve had our backs, you’ve been with us through a lot....” She shook her head. “Honestly, we were more frightened for your well-being when we found we couldn’t get back together with you last mission.”

“Yeah,” said Xanthus. “And otherwise, you’re a good girl. We don’t think you’ll ever cross that threshhold where you’re doing wrong things all the time.”

Cindy nodded, gripping the hands of her two partners. “I should’ve just told you everything. I’m sorry.”

Xanthus nodded. “It’s fine,” he said. He glanced down at the floor. “Honestly, Cindy, I have to admit something: if you had gotten killed by that Stu, I never would’ve forgiven myself. Here we are, you know? Safe and sound, and, well, you know.”

The witch nodded, not saying anything for a few seconds. She looked over at Xanthus, a small smile appearing on her face. “I feel better now,” she said. “After having said that, anyway.”

“I’ll bet,” said Anneli. “Just, tell us stuff in the future, okay? We can totally help you if you just speak up.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” said Cindy.

And with a warm smile on Anneli’s face, the subject was dropped.

----**----

The three agents found themselves sitting in FicPsych quietly. In the small room that was there, Dr. Freedenberg and Thane Krios both stood to the side. The drell held his hands behind his back, looking pensive as ever.

Dr. Freedenberg tapped his pen against a clipboard. “So we’ve done experiments on Mr. Krios here,” he began.

“I guess you didn’t have any luck, if we’re sitting here,” Cindy replied.

“We did, actually,” said Thane.

“And we’ve come to a conclusion, based on some neuralyzer tests I conducted on him,” said Dr. Freedenberg. “Cinderella, at what point was Thane neuralyzed?”

“Around when I escaped from the Normandy via portal,” she said. “Why?”

“I believe that you neuralyzed him too early,” the doctor replied. “When we neuralyzed him after having him perform some simple tasks, we found that the effects were similar to what normal people would experience when neuralyzed.”

Xanthus frowned. “So seeing Cindy again brought the memories rushing forward again,” he said.

“It did,” said Thane. “When I saw Cinderella when you were attempting to kill the Stu, the memories simply flowed in.” He paused. “It was much like a river.”

“Okay,” said Cindy. “So if we neuralyze him and make sure he doesn’t see us again, we’ll be all right?”

“Yes,” said Dr. Freedenberg.

Anneli nodded. “Well, that’s good,” said Anneli. “So we won’t have to worry about that. Awesome.” She then smiled, looking at the FicPsych doctor. “Like, is there anything else?”

“Not that I am aware of,” Thane said impassively. “I assume I shall take my leave of you now.”

“I believe so,” said Dr. Freedenberg. The three agents stood up, looking at Thane. “You have been extraordinarily cooperative, Mr. Krios. Thank you.”

Thane simply nodded. “It has been a very... interesting experience,” Thane said. “I do not believe I will forget this.”

“Not that you can remember,” said Xanthus with a shrug.

Thane’s lips curled into a smirk. “Indeed,” he said. He then turned to Cinderella. “Be well, Cinderella. May Arashu watch over you.”

Cindy nodded, holding her hand out to Thane. “Good luck on your suicide mission,” she said. “I think you’ll need it.”

And with this, the three agents closed their eyes as a neuralyzer flash went off.

“Right, Thane Krios,” said Dr. Freedenberg as he set the neuralyzer down. “You know nothing about the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, or about the agents of the PPC. You have also never heard of anyone by the name of Subject 23, or Cinderella.”

Anneli opened a portal next to the drell. “If you take this, it will lead you back to the Normandy SR-2,” she said. “Shepard will need your assistance.”

Wordlessly, the drell walked through the portal. He was impassive as ever, to the point that Cinderella felt a small pang in her heart. Thane sat down at his table in Life Support, and then the portal closed behind him.

Anneli pocketed the RA in her bag of holding. “Well, one thing’s for sure, we’re never leaving the spare RA at the RC again,” she said.

“You can say that again,” said Xanthus with a nod. “Is that all we need to be here for?”

“I believe so,” said Dr. Freedenberg. His gaze turned on Cindy. “Is everything all right at the RC? I understand that missions like this can be tense for the agents.”

The witch turned to face her friends ever so briefly. There they were, having her back in everything. This fact alone made Cinderella quite happy, but knowing that they didn’t hate her for anything she had done...

“You know, Doctor,” she said, “I think everything’s going to be all right.”

----**----

A/N: And that’s that, folks. So this interlude was pretty... well, unhappy at points. That’s all that can be said about that, really.

I’d like to take this time to thank Neshomeh for co-writing Cindy’s conversation with Ilraen, and also for doubling as a beta-reader. I can’t really talk about how honored I am that she was willing to co-write with me, because words would fail me if I tried. All I’ll say is that Nesh is super awesome.

Next time? We get three pieces of bleepfic in a row. So first up?

We have what I suspect is most likely a trollfic. Stay updated, and I’ll see you guys next time!

-Herr Wozzeck

Neshomeh’s Note: Thanks to Herr for inviting me to do this. It was a fun chance to explore a wise side of Ilraen we haven’t really seen before (mainly because it didn’t exist yet), not to mention his sense of humor. I also like that we used the courtyard for that scene. I don’t think anyone’s ever actually visited it in a story before.

Herr is far too complimentary, especially given how long I took to declare the piece beta’d to my satisfaction. I think the work we both put in paid off, though, so I hope you all enjoyed it.