The girl’s didn’t respond immediately, generally a good sign; it tended to mean his words were being considered and that people had not previously made up their minds. As he continued to watch the pair however he noticed that Ms. Csendes was, if possible, becoming even paler as an expression of utter shock swept across her features.

"Meredith... her last name wasn't Swift or maybe Brown?"[/color]

“How did? -No…”[/color]

The aging father’s azure eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion as he registered the waifish woman’s words, an accusation forming on his tongue almost instinctively before everything suddenly clicked and the realization doused him like ice water. He looked at the woman, no, at Maya, a second time matching every similarity she shared with Meredith, berating himself for not spotting it immediately, for deluding himself.

A swift glance at the wedding ring adorning the woman’s left hand was all the confirmation he needed; she’d called herself Csendes yes, but before that…. he suddenly found his voice again. “Maya? Maya Swift?”[/color]

It couldn’t be, but he already knew it was.

His face was answer enough. Ghost stood, brown wig hair swinging behind her. "There is no way. She was only here..." for a few years on scholarship. Ghost looked far away as she tried to do the math. She could have known this man... and come to her father later... and then she could be her father's daughter... but that would have made Zephyr older than Ghost.

Ghost looked at the man in front of her with new eyes. A long straight nose, posture like a greek statue... she had assumed that she'd gotten her height from her father, Allen, but that was where their similarities ended. Now that she was watching this man... could she see more than just Zephyr in his features?

She sat down hard and her hot chocolate lapped out of her cup and onto the black fabric that covered her knees.

This wasn't happening. Zephyr's mother... was her mother? Even worse... "His birthday isn't the same as mine. I'm older." She remembered noticing that. Ghost clung to the thin hope.

Her birthday? March 25.
Simon's? March 26.

Explain that, mister big shot man.

Wait. What?

Ghost and Mr. Smith were making big eyed surprised faces at each other and no one was bothering to explain anything.

Were they really cousins? Or... but why would it matter about their birthdays?

Katrina reached for the passport that no one was bothering about that still lay open on the table between them. Someone had to save it from the hot chocolate spill, after all. Inside, she inspected the birthday that Maya was worrying over.

Zephyr had just turned 22 at the end of March. Ghost had, too, if Katrina remembered her birthdays correctly. So, Ghost couldn't be that much older.

Katrina looked back to Mr. Smith's face, then at Ghost's, then at the picture of Zephyr from a long time ago. There was a certain something that all three had in common, maybe in the cheek bones, kind of in the shape of the eyes. Meredith Swift, a woman Katrina had never met, tied them all together somehow. Tied them together like one big happy....

Two air elementals, the same age, one went to Japan with her mom. One stayed in England with his dad.

“Born at midnight?” Katrina wondered very quietly, almost like an after thought.

A million to one chance, that’s what he’d thought. He should have known better. Life was rarely without its complications and now he found himself facing something he was entirely unprepared for. Alistair would have laughed at the bitter irony if he weren’t so shaken by the sudden revelation. He’d come expecting to deal his ungrateful runaway son and instead… instead…

"There is no way. She was only here..."[/color]

Letting his weight fall against the back rest of his chair Alistair let his eye fall closed as he tried to deal with the sudden tumult raging through his mind. He felt numb emotionally and physically, yet when he heard Maya, the lost tone in her words caused him to gift the girl a small, sympathetic smile as he finished her sentence. “…two and a half years. She was studying religion if I recall, even won a scholarship for it.”[/color]

Opening his eyes Alistair’s cobalt gaze swept up to meet Maya’s own sorrel shaded orbs as he once again took in her similarities and noted that she seemed to be doing much the same with him. A part of him wondered what she saw, whatever it was caused her to all but collapse into her seat and spill a portion of her drink. She looked truly lost, even as she futilely clung to her denials.

He had expected her words to hurt him, to kindle an old pain he’d all but forgotten because it showed how little Meredith had cared for him in the end, that she hadn’t even mentioned him to her daughter. Strangely though, all he felt was a depressed resignation… and a certain lugubrious sympathy for the pale girl before him as he listened to Sarah’s faux twin, Katrina, make the inevitable connection, her whisper carrying clearly over the natural silence which fallen across the table.

“They were indeed. I…”[/color] Alistair paused, searching for the proper words as he tried to catch honey brown eyes in his own gaze. “I don’t know what you were told you Maya. Meredith and I did not leave on the best of terms. I do know this however, if she is your mother than I… I, am your father.”[/color]

"No, you're..." She didn't know what he was, but he was not her father. She sat ramrod straight in her chair. "I have a father. His name is Allen Swift. We might share DNA, but you're not my father." Maya set her half empty (yes, she was feeling pessimistic) mug on the coffee table and stood again.

"Katrina, are you ready to go?" They'd gotten what they came for, right? This man was Zephyr's father and... oh. They hadn't convinced him to talk Zephyr out of his stupidity.

"We're staying outside of town." She related the address to him in the most efficient way possible. "You might not be my father, but... you are Zephyr's. If you come to call, I expect it to be on his behalf." Ghost pulled the wig from her head with one hand and offered her other hand to her young friend. It was time to get out of here.

Wow. Just. Wow.

Zephyr and Ghost were twins.

Katrina let that sink in for a moment. Then the inevitable millions of questions came flooding into her mind.

How did they get separated? Why would Ghost's mom keep it a secret? Could Ghost learn to heal like Zephyr could? Would Zephyr's hair turn white too? Was there even a tiny possibility that Katrina could also be part of the family if she looked just like Zephyr's other sister? She could only hope.

And...

Wait, ready to go?

Ghost was standing up, throwing down her brown hair wig, reaching out her hand to take Katrina away.

Bewildered, Katrina took the offered hand and let Ghost lead her out the door. Before they were all the way out of the restaurant the little illusionist leaned back in through the door and inquired, “You didn't ever know a Claire Almila did you?”

Outside the restaurant she had to hurry to keep up with Ghost's pace.

“I thought you wanted to talk to him. How come we left? What if he gets mad and doesn't want to come talk to him? How will we tell Dio?”

In truth Alistair had been expecting the denial, strangely though instead of the resentment he’d been anticipating he simply felt hollow and resigned as he watched his… daughter, rise from the table. “I suppose there is some truth in that,”[/color] He sighed almost forlornly. “but I want you to know that it wasn’t my choice, I wanted...”[/color]


Maya, it seemed, did not wish to hear any more and so Alistair trailed off as she swiftly gathered her things and collected her young charge. It wasn’t until she was half way across the room that she paused and glanced back, causing Alistair to hope, for the briefest moments, that pale girl might have changed her mind, he may as well have wished for all the tea in china; it would have been a suitable consolation for the cruel irony, having the child he’d never had a chance to know, telling him to speak with the child he’d never wanted to know.

“I’ve had years to speak with Simon, at this point I rather doubt we have anything more to say to each other”[/color] he began coolly and Maya once more started to take her leave, possibly somewhat fast than before.

“However,”[/color] he called from across the café, “I would however be quite happy to meet with you again, and should Simon also happen to be there… I will do what I can.”[/color]

He shouted after them. Not angry words, but… desperate? Ghost kept Katrina's hand tight in hers as they marched a few blocks back to where they had landed last time. "I..." Did she want to talk to Zephyr's dad? A little. And at the same time, not in the least. This whole thing was just so Ricky Lake. It couldn't be real. Ghost decided to dodge that part of Katrina's questions. "I don't know how we tell Zephyr. Maybe not at all. The fewer people that know... Not that I'm ashamed..." ...but. Was she ashamed? What had her mother gotten into? What in the world could have prompted... this?

Once they had gone a few blocks, Maya ghosted the both of them back the way they came.

"Legs down." She reminded Katrina with nothing more than efficiency once they were back at Sebastian's old manor. Now it was the X-Force's new digs, but knowing where it came from and having stayed here and helped to repair the place herself… it was hard for her to adapt to the change.

Having given the girl fair warning, Ghost dropped her off in the kitchen without bothering to change back into her solid form. "Will you check on Zephyr, please? I'm going to make sure the jet gets re-fueled." Yes, she had given the man the opportunity to visit them, but she wasn't about to wait around forever. And Ghost was not about to tell Zephyr what they had just done. Ghost wanted to do something productive with her time instead of taking a tongue lashing.

Besides, the X-Force was new. Did they even had the equipment to refuel a jet? Ghost was about to find out.

If Ghost wasn't sure how to tell Zephyr, that made it Katrina's job. Because 'maybe not at all' was not an option. Ghost and Zephyr being twins was not a secret she could keep. At least, not from Zephyr. Dio had a right to know who his family was, even if Ghost wasn't happy about it.

Why wasn't she happy about it? It wasn't like she could be in love with him or anything, because she was happily married to Sebastian. And Dio was awesome, so why wouldn't she want to be his sister? If only they could have discovered that all three of them were siblings, everything would be perfect.

Except it wasn't, because Ghost was unhappy about it and the little illusionist didn't understand why and didn't seem to want to talk about it much.

Katrina was once again left alone in the kitchen. Check on Zephyr. That was code for find him and tell him everything so Ghost didn't have to. Wasn't it?

As soon as she was solid, Katrina started her search for Dio. Maggie was quite helpful in pointing out which room she'd sent him to, and suggested that he might be laying down. That would probably have been a wise thing to do, for his headache and all. Though not nearly as wise as learning he had a twin sister.

The blonde teen knocked gently on the door, which wasn't quite closed all the way, and peeked inside when it swung open slightly.

“Dio? Are you awake?”

There are a vast number of hangover remedies in the world; few however can trump a good nights rest. Maggie, the X factors resident mother figure, had seemingly been all too aware of this as she had gently yet firmly guided the querulous elemental to a shower, fresh clothes and then a bed. Each of these had been accepted, if not warmly, than at least with no audible level of complaint.

Zephyr, for his part, had been in little shape to do more than place one foot in front of the other as he followed the mercifully quiet woman throughout the manor. Under other circumstances the hessian might have appreciated the estates design and the views it offered, possibly even inquire as to how it had fallen into the hands of such a… unconventional, group. As it was however he simply found himself wandering listlessly down the halls and all but collapsing as soon as he caught site of the bed.

His dreams, such as they were, filled his mind with vivid yet delible images of scattered skies polluted with ebony missiles which were impossible to evade, leaving phantom wounds in their wake which bled crimson sand and no matter how much he caught and replaced more always seemed to slip through his fingers…

Snapping back to consciousness a lingering sense of panic caused Zephyr’s breath to catch in his throat as his eyes darted across the darkened room searching for any hint of what his dreams had left him. The mind can be a fickle thing however and within seconds the memory of his dream had vanished, taking the panic with it and the elemental was simply left contemplating what could have woken him.

“Dio? Are you awake?”[/color]

Ah, he knew that voice; it had been behind the jet which had nearly killed him. No, that wasn’t fair, it had been an accident and in any case he had… got better. There was little point in dwelling on it now; it wasn’t as though Katrina would be doing it again.

Giving an audible sigh he turned onto his back and shielded his eyes as he glanced at the narrow crack of light escaping the door. “Apparently, yes. Come in if you must but close the door and don’t turn on the light.”

Yay! Dio was awake! Still hurting, from the sound of it, but awake. That was fine, she could be excited and quiet at the same time.

The teen illusionist sneaked through the door way and closed the door carefully behind herself, then tiptoed over to the bed by the dim light that managed to make it's way around the edges of the thick curtains in the window.

She hit the edge of the bed, then climbed up and wriggled her way under the sheets until she was sharing the corner of Zephyr's pillow.

“Are you feeling better at all?” She asked softly. That wasn't really what she had come up here to say, though. She wriggled her toes in anticipation, because bouncing the bed seemed like a bad idea. Finally she couldn't hold it in any more.

She spoke quickly all in a rush, but still quietly so it wouldn't hurt his head, “Ghosty and I found out something exciting, kind of by accident, but it's really cool, only it would be cooler if I could be your sister, too. So we went to this cafe and talked to your dad, and Ghosty looks just like your mom I guess and somehow we figured it out that her mom lived in England when she was a student and met your dad, but it didn't work out, except for kind of, but anyway, you and Ghosty are long lost twins!”

Oops, the last couple of words might have gotten a little too loud. The little blonde adjusted her volume back to a whisper.

“Isn't that cool?” Spontaneously Katrina reached around Zephyr and gave him a quick hug. Congratulations, you're a brother!

Even with the dim lighting of the room and weariness dulling his thoughts Katrina’s excitement was all too evident. The gamine all but shivered with anxious energy as she crossed the hard wood floor on less than silent feet before eagerly slipping into his bed in a manner more reminiscent of an eight year old than the budding sixteen she nearly was.

When Katrina managed to make herself comfortable in the bed she’d all but draped herself across him and the elemental was fairly certain the only reason she hadn’t attempted to hug him was because she couldn’t keep arms still long enough. While such behavior wasn’t truly appropriate, in his current condition the elemental found he couldn’t really summon the energy to care. It wasn’t as though the ingénues mother would walk in and begin making accusations after all. He’d be lucky if he stayed awake long enough to hear everything his pseudo sister had to say.

He fended her off her initial question about his health easily enough, a short noncommittal answer which made no mention of his throbbing head or aching ribs but was punctuated with a stifled yawn.

Then, whatever had been failing to hold the blonde gamines excitement in check finally gave way completely as the girl’s voice went from a whisper to something just below a shriek as she shared what had transpired in the past few hours. Any thought of sleep immediately vanished from Zephyrs mind, replaced by a host of new and largely unwanted emotions as he tried to process what he was hearing.

Anger, surprise and disbelief each took a rapid turn as Katrina told her story, with confusion mounting at each change. They’d met his Father? How? Ghost looked like his mother? That couldn’t be right.. And- and how could Ghost be his sister? There was no resemblance between them, or even her and his father. Why had they even talked to his father? All the man had ever done was…

He was broken from his thoughts when a petite pair of arms abruptly wrapped around his midsection and Katrina’s face buried itself next to his as she whispered meaningless congratulations he was suddenly in no mood to hear.

His father knew he was alive. The man easily had enough influence to make his sons current life, if not a living hell, then at least a passable purgatory, and that was only if the old bastard went through official channels. Still, it had been five years, the man might not even care about him anymore, but he couldn’t count on that.

Barely keeping his curse to a murmur Zephyr wrested himself from Katrina’s embrace with a curt motion as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and drew himself into a sitting position. He needed to think clearly right now and he also needed to be alone.

“Get out.”

The words were clipped and decidedly cold as he refused to look at the girl who appeared bent on trying to destroy his life a second time.

He swore at her, then shoved her away. Shoved.

Alarmed, Katrina scampered backward on the bed until she hit the headboard while Zephyr gave the covers a treatment similar to what he'd just done to her then sat up at the other end of the bed.

The little illusionist sat in shocked silence. There was something wrong here.

Then he ordered her out. He all but pointed at the door. He words were brusque and his tone frigid. Katrina didn't understand at all.

“But... I... What's wrong?”

Her instinct was to try and hug him again, but his posture was not all inviting of such a gesture. She remained curled where she was at the head of the bed.

She wasn’t leaving, was she deaf? He hadn’t yelled by any means but nor had he whispered, yet the girl just sat there as though he’d spoken in German. He glared at her over his shoulder and saw that she was practically cowering at the far corner of the bed and for some reason this only fueled his anger. She had to have heard him and she clearly knew something was wrong, however instead of doing what she’d been told she simply sat there like a frightened puppy and had the gall to ask him what was wrong.

He didn’t have time for this, there were too many calls he needed to make and he had no idea how much leeway he had to work with, but when Katrina continued to look at him as though he’d been the one to ruin her life he felt what little patience he’d managed to hold onto finally snap and he whirled round to face her fully before speaking in a low furious tone.

“Wrong? What’s wrong? Where the hell do you want me to start?” He hissed. “How about when you damn near killed me with a jet you shouldn’t even have been flying. I don’t even know how I stayed in one piece let alone kept breathing. Fuck, I can’t even tell if I’ve healed properly yet you saw fit to drag my broken body halfway across the world instead of taking me to the nearest hospital. How could you possibly think that was a good decision?”

“Then when we finally do land you leave me with people you’ve never met and go track down my father. A man I’ve spent the past five years avoiding because he made the first seventeen nothing more than a prison sentence.” He paused as a thought occurred to him and his anger seemed to double.

“You even knew I hated him, I told you in Romania yet you still went to see him. What the bloody hell were you hoping how to achieve? Are you trying to ruin my life? Because you’ve made a damn good start, now get out!”

The last two words rose almost to a shout as the elemental swept out his arm and used the surrounding air to grasp Katrina around the waist, lifting her from the bed and all but throwing her into the hall along with the sheets which seemed to have tangled around her. At the last moment her momentum came to a sudden stop and she fell to the floor instead of colliding with the wall as the door slammed behind her.

The same door cracked open again five seconds later as a sudden unnatural pressure coalesced around Katrina’s back pocket, causing her phone to slip free and fly out from beneath the sheets and into the darkened room before the door slammed a second time.

That hurt.

Not the flying, nor the landing. It was the words that hit her like a knife to the heart, a knife twisted so cruelly by someone she thought of as a brother.

But he wasn't her brother. He was Ghost's and it seemed like neither of them even cared.

It wasn't fair.

Tears slid down her face and she cocooned herself in the sheets. She heard the door open, and looked up, thinking maybe he'd realized that...

...he needed to borrow her phone.

Her melancholy morphed quickly into ire.

If he could be a cantankerous curmudgeon, then so could she. The diminutive conjuror stood, wrapped the sheet around her, an aegis of cotton, and strode over to the door. She pulled it open and put her foot in the way of the oak panel so he couldn't slam it a third time. She was reserving that honor for herself.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe you are ruining your own life by pushing away anyone who cares about you?”

“You let your younger sister think you're dead, you find out you have a twin and don't even go and talk to her, your dad has been looking for you all this time and you ignore that, too, and claim he doesn't give a shit about you, and I only ever get to see you by accident.”

The tears she thought she had put back in their cages seemed to have escaped without her permission again. They were making a clean get away down her chin and into the knot of sheet she had clenched in her fist.

“You make it really hard for anyone to love you, you know that?”

Now it was her turn to slam the door. Naturally it wasn't as loud as when he had done it with his magic air maneuvers, but she made it louder by imagining about thirty equally heavy oaken doors slamming shut at the same time.