Cora get the growing sensation of déjà vu multiple times that morning, but tried to tune them out. Unlike most people, she did not ignore the feeling of concern completely. Cora had found her instincts were generally fairly accurate. When she felt worried, it seemed to be for a reason. But today, she wasn’t sure why. Was something wrong with Sam? Was something wrong with the diner? She ordered her food and exchanged jokes but couldn’t decide what was wrong.

"I may have cut too deep on that one..." she touched the thread. The sensation of forgetting something made her check her own threads. Had she cut something on accident? On purpose?

”I...I’m going to run to the bathroom...” she changed her mind. No use worrying Sam. She stood, turning to find the bathroom. It was just another breakfast, another day.

”I’m sure whoever it is will be remembered shortly. Hopefully it isn’t anyone who will notice.” he paused after a second, looked down sipped his coffee and offered a ”The last thing we need is… any… trouble.” he looked around again from Cora to the family with the crying baby back to his coffee. Something was off.

”All good?” he asked after a second of her looking at her own threads. She was curious about something now which made Sam curious. “Alright, not going anywhere without ya.” he smirked and hefted his coffee.

She was gone for a few moments when the car erupted through the window. Sam knew there was traffic and for some reason he had seen the car lose control when trying to avoid the traffic. He just happened to be looking that way. ”Get down!” Sam yelled to everyone and blasted a beam of ice towards the window as it caved into the restaurant. The arguing family with the baby were covered in ice and pushed out of the way when the car passed them.

Sam, however got the full brunt of vehicle. Ice coated his body as he was pinned from the car to the counter. He let out a grunt as he looked over to where Cora was moments before suddenly thrilled she had to go to the bathroom.

The driver stepped out of the vehicle shocked, “You ruined my car!” ”Got to be ****ing kidding me.” he grunted as he tried to push himself free. The smell of gas filled the air.

Cora reached a hallway, and was turning to ask a waitress what way to walk when the loud crash roared behind her. Crash seemed like an understatement for what occurred, however. There was glass, and screaming, and cold... Sam!!! Cora released her powers and focused on the one important thread. He was there, it was solid, and the cold meant others would be safe, right?

Someone to her right was yelling, and Cora turned, spotting the cooks in the kitchen. The door had been knocked off its hinges, and a large stove had been pushed back by the impact from a giant spear of ice. One of the main chefs was trying desperately to turn a valve while another was yelling they had to leave. “One spark it’ll all go up on flames! We gotta get out of here, call the fire department!”

“But Meggy is still in the walk-in! We can’t leave her behind!”

Cora wasn’t sure what made her move, but she was climbing over the stove and running toward the walk-in. The smell of gas was strong, permeating the air and making her cough. She could see the door, just in reach, when someone else yelled. “The burner is still on! Look out!”

The next thing she knew there was an explosion. As flames rushed toward her her mind momentarily registered a thought of not again....

His eye snapped open when he heard his alarm. “Heat of the moment, heat of the moment!” his heart was racing and he didn’t know why. Smacking the snooze button on his phone he went through the motions of getting out of bed starting with kissing Cora good morning.”Morning beautiful.” he smelt burning and he wiped a tear away from his eye. Sam stared at Cora for a few minutes watching her sleep before fighting the urge to stay in bed and get up.

Control training with a student

Shower with Cora

Ice slide to breakfast.

Rock pun that rocked!

Car crash.

The icemancer yelled out for Cora glad she wasn’t sitting next to him. He got another strong sense of Déjà vu and could smell gas from outside his ice armor. ”Everyone get out!” he yelled as loud as he could looking around for his girlfriend. Where was Cora?!? Some people were more than happy to listen. Sam did his best to keep an eye out for her but didn’t manage to see her. He should have just stayed in bed this morning.

Sam shifted his weight and let out a roar as he tried to force the car off of him. It had him wedged well. If it wasn’t for the ice protecting him he would have been cut into. Someone ran from the kitchen, he could feel it behind him. ”Cora!?!” there was a gruff voice behind him and he spotted a fry cook run out the front door. ”getting take out next time…” he grunted as he tried to free himself again this time pulling all the ice he had let loose to protect everyone. The car and Sam lifted as the diner top behind him broke free. That was when he felt the fire. ”Come on!”

The day felt sluggish. Things that should have been normal seemed like they took enormous effort for Cora. Choosing where to go for breakfast made her stomach give a lurch she didn't understand, and when she went to the bathroom, she turned toward the kitchen without understanding why.

The car crashed, the gas line was busted. Cora found herself running toward a freezer, scrambling over appliances without questioning where her instincts were going. Just get in there...

The second the freezer door shut, a loud explosion almost threw her into the employee who had yelled at her appearance. The girl was screaming, dropping the bucket of cheese she had been carrying. Cora pushed her energy into the threads linking her and Sam. He was there, she was there. She left them visible, reaching up and touching the cold door.

Explosion, gas, car accident...and a thread she never should have cut. Was this why she didn't want to leave this morning? Why did it all feel so familiar?

"What do we do? Should we wait here? What about-"

"I can't hear what's happening out there, please, be quiet!" Cora yelled back. The girl clamped her mouth shut and Cora reached for the handle, trying to feel if there was a remaining fire or if Sam was handling that too.

He would, wouldn't he? He took care of the car? But, what if he wasn't okay?

"Does the kitchen have a fire suppression system? How long does it take to activate?"

The kitchen erupted int flames as he brushed past the heavy swinging door and he looked around for any thermal images of his girlfriend or anyone else. All he could feel was fire. ”Anyone in here!” Sam yelled trying not to inhale too much smoke. He started coughing and sealed his airways to his ice armor giving him a little bit of time to clear out whatever was in his lungs.

Looking to the biggest sorce of the fire he shot a beam of cold then went to town on the rest of the kitchen. Snow covered the walls and water covered the floors that was when he noticed the thread wrapped around his wrist and he let out a sigh of relief. The sigh of relief also told him that something was up with his ribs. He coughed a little and followed the thread back to the freezer door.

”Ah thank god she’s brilliant.” he said as he banged on the door twice then pulled the handle. Making note to remember he couldn’t feel people inside walk in freezers. Thankfully her thread lead him. ”You two alright?” he asked trying to feel for any other danger. A car and a kitchen fire. He must have pissed someone off.

It felt like ages until Sam opened the door. Cora floundered momentarily, wanting to grab him in a hug and also not wanting to grab hold of the ice armor. Or injuries. She was already analyzing him to note where he could be hurt just by how he carried himself.

"We're fine. What about everyone else?" Cars, explosions. The girl...Meggy?, was already on a beeline straight for the outside world. That left just Cora and Sam.

And lingering smoke. Cora went to ask what was happening, then realized there still wasn't much clean air. She coughed and yanked her shirt up to cover her nose.

With the door open and Cora in front of him his ice armor started to melt a little he was just glad she was alright. Well both of them, though Sam was much more attached to Cora. The icemancer held up the wrist that was tethered to her, ”All took off. Was worried for a minute till I saw this.” he said his body still protected from the smoke.

”Not even a thank you...” his tethered hand reached out for Cora’s hand. When he grabbed onto her hand the ice around it receded back up his arm leaving bare skin. ”You continue to impress me.” he said crouching and guiding her out of the smoke filled kitchen pushing the swinging door open. ”Walk in freezer... did you know it protect you?” he asked. Ignoring the smoking car.

”Can’t believe you suggested this place.” Sam said trying to laugh but realizing he too was running short on oxygen. That and his rib was acting up. Was it a cracked rib this time? He was moving alright and it only hurt when he tried to inhale.

”Gonna write one hell of a review, go on I got to get the driver that started all this.” he said as he stopped short of the door and went back to the smoking car. He almost forgot the driver.

Cora wanted to respond more to Sam's statements, but she lacked ice armor to protect her lungs. Instead she went for good-old-fashion holding her breathe and trying to breathe through her shirt. Out of the kitchen, she took smaller breathes until she was sure she wouldn't break into a hacking cough. Sam already looked rough and she didn't want to add to his worries.

She did manage to feel the flinch and the way he was moving. He must have hurt something.

"Next time maybe we can order in...or cook. I think we need a change of scenery after this."

Sam moved to check the driver, and Cora moved to look out the window. The street was filled with cops and arriving first responders. Everyone had moved to a safe distance, which seemed smart. Cora looked down at her threads, tracing the spiderweb connections in her mind. There was a temporary flicker of color from the kitchen staff she helped, a flutter of grey from another direction, and she turned, looking to see how Sam was doing.

She started to look back at the grey thread. Was it darkening? But where did it go...

”So either a mansion full of kids or your place that has no cooking utensils?” he said reaching into the car. Hoping that it wasn’t just a drunk. Someone could have died here. The last thing Sam needed to see actually was a drunk behind the wheel it wasn’t even five o’clock somewhere.

The door was jammed so Sam froze the door staying lower to the ground so he could see without the added smoke from the settled fires. Letting the ice do most of the work he hefted the door off and set it down gently glad he wasn’t the one doing the lifting. His rib wouldn’t have allowed it.

The man grunted and looked at him dizzily before breaking into a coughing fit. There was blood on his forehead where he smacked the steering wheel. Concussion was determined from the lump. Why didn’t the airbags go off? The man in a business suit tried to speak but was slurring his words. Sam was about to knock him out until he saw the insulin detector where his feet was. Diabetic. ”Come on. Can you move?” Sam asked trying to calm himself down and the driver.

”Cora?” he asked hefting the guy up, his legs immediately going limp. Sam winced under the armor again. ”Someone back there?” he asked curiously. Wondering why she was staring in his direction. Was it another thread?

Cora was no longer paying attention to the driver, or the car. The thread was dark, and it lead to a figure just inside the diner door.

The thread leading from the stranger to Sam was pitch black. Cora fumbled, trying to see if she could get within range to cut the thread, yell to Sam, stop this.

The driver was taking her boyfriend's attention. She had her mouth open to warn him, the yell still in the air as a gunshot fired.

An alarm clock was going off.

Cora woke up faster than she had in years and flung out an arm, catching Sam's wrist.

Why...why was she so relieved he was there? Why did it feel like she had a horrible nightmare that just kept coming back?

She was shouting something, he turned towards the driver and helped them only to feel his body go limp after a gunshot. Collapsing forward Sam’s vision went dark before he hit the rubble.

Sam was starting to hate the song from his alarm his head hurt as if someone took a baseball bat to his head when he was sleeping Bruno wouldn’t have let that happen. Sam looked over to the large ball of fur and shook his head at the snoring dog then reached for his phone.

”Cora?” the alarm kept going off. Sam looked down at her calloused hand wrapping around his wrist. He was surprised she was up this early. It was dark but he could make out her face. She had a nightmare at least he assumed. He was the one that usually woke up like that, not her. ”Hey Beautiful, Nightmare?” he asked trying to calm her before grabbing her hand. The ringtone still going off. With his free hand he hit the snooze button and turned back to Cora.

It took a moment for Cora to calm down even with the words from Sam. In her head was the resounding feeling of distress. No, they were okay. He was here, everything was fine. She felt Bruno move and floooopppp against her, the sudden weight stunning her enough to snap out of it.

"Just felt...real. What time is it? If you're up its way too early." she complained, sounding much more like herself.

She wanted to comment about the alarm clock. Something about that sound bothered her today. She considered going back to sleep to see if her mood would righten itself.

”Worst ones usually do.” he said trying to reassure her with another hand squeeze. Sam sat down on the bed next to her. It was usually him waking up in a start. Ever since they started dating the nights where he woke up ready to stab something had been dropping. Significantly.

”Early, very.” he said smirked trying to change the subject for a moment to get her mind off of the nightmare she just had. Sam found a few minutes after waking most of the nightmares were forgotten. He figured it was a defensive mechanism of some kind. He was used to the nightmares though so last nights round of them didn’t stay at the front of his mind like they were to Cora.

”Check our thread?” he asked wondering if that would help her relax a bit. ”Want to talk about it?” he asked looking at the clock. He could always reschedule the training session.

Sam reached over with his free hand and patted Bruno who was doing his best to lay on top of Cora. He was a good dog. Knew exactly what to do when someone was worked up from a nightmare.

Cora felt unusually sentimental when Sam suggested she look at their thread. It only took a second for the red string to become visible, connecting the two. It was a little weird she could see it in the dark, but maybe that's just mutant magic doing its thing. Who needed light, right?

"Just...a fight went bad. Generally I don't seem to worry about things like that but actually watching something happen to...I'll be fine. I don't want to make you late for training." Bruno's tail gave an enormous thump as if to reassure them he was more than capable of helping.

Cora felt tired, the adrenaline starting to die. She really was NOT a morning person...

"Maybe we can order in or something today? Not sure why but I don't feel like going out." she found herself saying.