Reborn

"You're just a late bloomer," they said.

"One day you'll be out somewhere and you'll feel it, a tingle down your spine, and you'll blink and you'll suddenly be in a different time for a moment." They reassured her.

"Track your dreams. Sometimes it starts there. Dreams so realistic they won't let go once you're awake." Her father told her.

"Maybe we will swing by your doctors office. Just to be on the safe side." Her mother said, finally feeling her concern.

Sitting in the doctor's office was uncomfortable. They had drawn blood. Done scans. Made an appointment for a sleep study. She fidgeted on the table and heard the paper crinkling under her. Her Mother shot her a dirty look. 'Sit still.' It said. A quick rapt on the door drew their attention as the doctor entered engrossed in her chart. He sat at the desk, skimmed the chart again, then turned and smiled at them.

"You turn 16 next week?" He asked.

"Yes sir."

"And you hit puberty 4 years ago?"

"About 6 months before her 13th birthday." Her Mother supplied.

"I see. And you can't recall anything?" The doctor asked her.

"Nothing real. Nothing solid."

"But there's something?" Her doctor asked hopefully.

“No. It's nothing like my friends describe. It's more of, I’m inventing the stories, overactive imagination. My friends talk about their pasts like, it's so real for them. It's more of daydreams for me than anything.”

“Do the same scenes keep coming back?”

“Yes. but…”

“But what?”

“I can change them. That's why I know it's just my imagination. I can make them play out differently if I make different choices.”

“I see.” her doctor conceded before turning to her mother. “Have you considered the fact that she may be a new soul?”

Her heart sank. New? She couldn't be new. Her whole family were extremely old souls. They had memories of times creation! How could she be new? Her mother looked at her with wide eyes. She supposed she shouldn't really be that surprised. She had always been a disappointment after all.

After being given a list of meditation techniques and some sleep medicine to pop when she was feeling restless her doctor dismissed her. He was going to see her in 3 weeks, after her sleep study, and if nothing had come to light by then he would forward her to a ‘new’ counselor. The idea of it made her shudder. There weren't many new souls now. Generations ago it wasn't that uncommon but not anymore. She didn't know anyone who knew anyone who was new. 

Monday morning she was sitting in her homeroom. Her best friend was chattering about something but she couldn't bring herself to pay attention. She glanced at Sara and sighed. Her and Sara had been best friends since birth basically. They had always joked that their souls knew each other in every life. Gabby knew now that that was just childhood imagination. If she was new then it couldn't be possible.

"Class. Attention please." Their teacher called and all eyes turned to the front. "I'd like to introduce a new student. Her name is Rafe. She's a late transfer."

Rafe smiled at the class as she scanned the faces in front of her. She met Gabbys eyes and Gabby felt a shiver down her spine. Rafes eyebrow twitched up and Gabby broke eye contact. 

“Rafe and her brother Mike just moved to the area and I hope you all can give them a warm welcome.” the teacher continued.

***

“Did you feel that? When Rafe walked into homeroom?” Sara asked her as they found spots at lunch.

“You felt it too?” 

“Of course. She's old.” Sara insisted.

Gabby was confused. If she was new she shouldn't have been able to sense that kind of thing. 

“That's her brother.” Sara said, pointing out the boy across the room.

Gabby had just set her tray on the table and was about to sit when she glanced over at Mike. He looked up at the same time and their eyes met. Her heart fluttered and suddenly all she could see was black. Flashes of light, screams, the clash of swords. Red. Blood. She fell to her knees no longer able to support the sword that she held in her arms. A searing pain across her back and everything was black again.

Gasping for air Gabby sat up from the cot in the nurse's office. Her hands were shaking and she was drenched in sweat. She scanned the room quickly as if looking out for enemies. Her eyes settled on Mike and she instantly felt calm.

“Hello.” Mike said softly.

“What just happened?” Gabby asked, scanning the rest of the room.

She knew where she was but she couldn't stop herself from looking for hidden threats. She almost laughed at herself. Hidden threats in the school's nursing office?

“You woke up.” Mike muttered.

“Obviously. I mean before. The darkness? The war?” she muttered, trying to sort her memories.

“War?” Mike asked her, twitching his eyebrow up.

“Swords? People were screaming. It was so bright.” She pulled her legs into herself and hugged them. “I fell.”

Suddenly Mike was beside her sliding his arm across her shoulders. 

“You've never had a regression before?” he whispered to her.

She stared at him, waiting. She wasn't even sure what she was waiting for. Him to say he was joking or to explain further.

“I can't have regressions.” she snapped.

“Why not?” he asked her, a smile ghosting his lips.

“I’m new.” she said as though it was obvious.

Mike laughed then and shook his head at her. 

“Far from it I’m afraid.” he mumbled.

“What do you mean?” she snapped again. He was annoying.

“Spoilers.” he whispered into her ear and she sighed. 

Without fully realizing what she was doing she rested her head on Mikes shoulder and his arm tightened around her. Her mind flooded her with images of them then, in this exact position. Before a stream, on a balcony, resting against a tree, somewhere hazy and golden. 

“It's going to be ok.” Mike whispered, noticing her tension. “It always is.”

“You always say that.” she whispered back, not even knowing why.

Mike tilted her face up so she could meet his eyes. Fear clouded the bright blue. Before another word could be spoken the door flew open and Rafe came flying into the room. Rafe grabbed her hands and squeezed them. Gabby was flooded by warmth as she looked into Rafes blue eyes, clouded with concern.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“First regressions are rough.” Mike supplied before she could respond.

“First?!” Rafe snapped her attention to her brother.

Mike nodded and Gabby could see a silent communication between them before Rafe turned back to her with a bright smile. Suddenly Gabby sucked in another hard breath as more images flashed through her mind. Rafe kneeling before her, holding her hands in a hundred different places. 

“Are you ok?!” Mike asked quickly.

“She's just settling in, brother. Relax.” Rafe assured him, before standing.

“How do you two know me?” Gabby asked them before they could leave.

“We can't tell you that before you even know yourself.” Mike softly scolded her. “And by the time you learn who you are, you'll already know us.”

She rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms. Rafe laughed, Gabby didn't know if it was at her or Mike. She couldn't deny that she felt comfortable with them though, like they were old friends. Maybe they were. Before she could follow that thought any farther her mother came bursting into the room. Rafes back straightened and Gabby saw Mike trying to hide a smile that was tugging on his lips.

“Are you OK?” her mother asked, pulling her face between her hands. “The nurse said you fainted!”

“I'm fine.” she mumbled, brushing her mother off.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her she had had a regression yet. Her mother would make a huge deal about it and want to know all the details, to figure out who she was. She could barely process the flashback herself. She didn't need her mother analyzing it too. She caught Mikes eye and he smiled at her. 

“This is Mike and Rafe. They just transferred here.” Gabby said to her mother.

Her mom turned to face the two and her eyes widened. She glanced back at Gabby with a worried expression that she quickly hid.

"Everything alright?" Gabby asked her mom. 

"Of course!" Her mother told her, wearing a bright expression. "Nice to meet you two but I really should be getting her home."

Rafe just smiled and nodded at her before walking out of the room. Mike lingered, trying to catch her eye. 

"Gabby." He finally said when she wouldn't look at him.

Her head snapped up and she was immediately lost in his calm blue eyes.

"Get some sleep. It'll help." He said before following his sister.

***

That night she dreamed of Mike. They were in a candlelit room on a 4 poster bed. She had her head resting on his chest, letting the steady beat of his heart sooth her. She idly traced the lines of his bare stomach as he softly rubbed her back. She had a feeling she hadn't seen him in a long time. A bubble of happiness built in her chest and she felt like it would pop any moment.

“I’m scared, Michael.” she whispered.

“Don't be.” he whispered back, “It's going to be ok.”

“You always say that and it never is. He always finds us.”

Mike tilted her face up by her chin so she met his gaze. 

“Just let me have this please? Just tonight pretend we will be fine.” he begged, sadness shining through his blue eyes. “It's been so long.”

“A lifetime.” she said with a sad smile. “I missed you.”

“And I you, Gabrielle.” he said gently running his thumb across her cheekbone. “I looked for you.”

“I know. I didn't come. After the battle at the colony I was too tired.”

“I know.” he whispered, nudging her nose with his. “I love you Gabrielle.”

“I love you too, Michael.”

***

She was picking at her breakfast that morning when her mother came bustling into the kitchen. Gabby could feel her eyes on her but refused to look up from her food.

"Maybe you should stay home today." Her mother said softly.

"I'm fine. I promise. I just.. didn't eat enough. Probably." Gabby said before biting into a piece of toast. 

"We should have never taken you to that doctor. He just stressed you out."

"That has nothing to do with it." She snapped. "I'm going to be late."

Gabby grabbed her backpack and stormed out the front door without ever meeting her mother's gaze. 

***

"Gabby! Gabby! Gabby!" Sara called as soon as she entered the school.

"Sara! Sara! Sara!" Gabby mocked back.

"What happened yesterday?!" Sara asked as they linked arms and headed toward their lockers.

"A regression. I'm fine." 

"A regression?! Right as you looked at Mike? Was he in it?" 

"No. I'm still kind of processing it."

"Oh come on. You never talk about your regressions." Sara pouted.

"They're too mixed up." Gabby lied smoothly.

Sara just shrugged and started chatting about the latest gossip. Gabby barely paid attention as they made their way to their home room. Right before they were about to enter she felt the hair's on the back of her neck stand up. When she looked back she saw Mike and Rafe. Mike was leaning beside her as Rafe dug in her locker. He looked annoyed before his eyes suddenly found her then his whole face softened. Gabby felt her cheeks turn red as she remembered last night's dream.

"Gab!" Sara's voice pulled her back.

"What? Sorry."

"I'd be distracted too if he looked at me that way." Sara sighed. 

Gabby turned and saw the siblings walking toward them.

"We'll talk about it later." Rafe snapped at her brother before breezing by them into the homeroom. 

"Sleep well?" Mike asked Gabby, making her cheeks burn more.

He smiled at Sara then winked at Gabby before heading to his own homeroom. Could he know? There's no way he could know. Unless that wasn't a dream. Could it have been a memory? 

Mike met up with her after the second period. He fell into step beside her easily and she grinned at him. They were just about to turn into the hallway when she saw Robbie's arm slash out. Something black seemed to be pulsing around the boy and the compass in his hand smoothly sliced into the girl's neck. Before Gabby's mind could fully register what happened, Mike grabbed her and pulled her back around the corner. Using his body he pinned her to the wall and slowly glanced around the corner. She could hear screams and footsteps as people rushed from the hall. She opened her mouth to ask Mike if he knew what was going on but before she could make a sound Mike slammed his hand over her mouth. Breathing hard his eyes met hers and she was suddenly swallowed by darkness.

Her eyes flew open again with a gasp as she was slammed against a tree. She was met with Mike's soft blue eyes once again. He looked different, his sandy hair was longer and disheveled, he had a cut across his cheek. He was wearing a silk shirt that was torn. She reached up and softly pushed against his chest causing him to lighten up the pressure he was using to hold her to the tree. She knew she was going to have scratches all over her back from the bark digging into it through the soft cloth of her dress. 

With one hand on her waist and the other still covering her mouth she watched Mike's eyes frantically scan the trees. He let out a low breath and dropped his hand from her mouth. She slowly reached up and ran her thumb lightly over the cut on his cheek.

“Michael.” she whispered.

A ghost of a smile crossed his mouth before his eyes widened in fear. She heard it too. Hard horse beats heading toward them. Her heart began to race. He had found them. Mike dragged her from the tree and pushed her.

“GABRIELLE, RUN.” He screamed as he turned toward the black horse.

She did. She ran as hard and as fast as she could, ignoring Mikes screams and what it meant when they were silenced. She ran but it wasn't enough. She heard the horse approaching. All she saw was black fur and red eyes before there was a searing pain through the top of her head.

She was still running when she opened her eyes. This time through the school hallways toward an exit. She sighed out in relief when she saw Mike gripping her hand and pulling her along. He was ok.

“Michael! What happened?” she yelled over the crowd.

“Robbie's a shade.” Mike responded, giving her a confused look.

She realized she called him Michael but didn't have time to dwell as they cleared the doors and ran into the woods behind the school. Robbie was a shade. She had known Robbie her whole life. How could he be a shade? She remembered the pulsing black aura that had surrounded Robbie. She should have known then. That's the last sign of a shade. She didn't have any classes with Robbie and hadn't spent time with him lately but he would have been moody lately. Isolating himself and snapping on everyone for everything until this. An unforgivable act of violence that allowed the shade to shred his soul and consume his body. 

They didn't know a lot about shades. Didn't know how they came to be. They just knew once someone became one their original soul was gone, the memories remained in the body but the chance for reincarnation was gone and they had to be stopped immediately upon rising otherwise the damage they could inflict could be catastrophic.

Mike pulled her behind a tree and pushed his body against hers. She gasped at the familiarity of the position.

“We've been here before, haven't we?” she whispered to him. 

Mike's eyes snapped to her, searching. 

“Do you… you remember that?” he whispered back.

“When you pushed me into the wall and covered my mouth at the school it pulled me back.” 

“You never did know when to keep your mouth shut.” he said with a soft laugh.

“Who are we, Mike?” she asked and when he stayed silent, “You made me run. That's not going to happen again.”

She was really pissed off about that and didn't understand why. Mike just smiled at the fire burning in her eyes. 

“We don't have to worry about that. He's not here.” he assured her, running his thumb across her cheek bone.

It pissed her off more that the action and his words calmed her. 

“Who's not here, Mike?”

“You'll remember. Soon.”