Winters and the Beast

Heart

This was perhaps the most human, and level, Heisenberg's speech had ever been. It was creepy, Ethan decided, and just when he opened his mouth to change the subject back to the task at hand, Karl ended his statement with, "One day you'll believe me, Winters."

There was that hurt again, Ethan thought. Now he really did feel like an asshole. He cringed, at himself, and made a mental note to try a new tactic next time. He could, right? Villain era and all. He could respond by not picking a fight about Karl's intentions. It seemed to be the only thing the man didn't want to fight about, actually. He would argue with the bricks on the wall for not fulfilling aesthetic obligations, probably, but his intentions with Ethan and Rose were off limits.

"I hope so," Ethan said lamely before taking a breath. Perhaps out of the residual guilt for his words, he stepped into Heisenberg's personal space this time, putting his palm on the other man's shoulder. Heisenberg instinctively moved again, wrapping his hand around Ethan's waist. At this, both Karl and Ethan's gazes shifted to the two Roma men who were watching the fire on the hill nearby.

The two young men stared back, and then suddenly became very busy loading wood onto the flames and stoking the embers. Ethan made a disgusted noise, and Karl chuckled, before putting his other palm on Ethan's chest.

"You got this," he said cheerfully, and Ethan once more closed his eyes.

Liminal space, he commanded.

When he opened his eyes, Eveline was the first thing he noticed. The sky was red, the space around him was twisted and dark. But Eveline was front and center on the hill, jeering at him. Ethan realized that even though he was alone here--no Karl in front of him, holding him as though they would ballroom dance, he could feel the warmth on his chest. Karl's other hand on his side, sliding around to his back. It was both thrilling and absolutely terrifying, but he couldn't focus on physical sensations, what with the maniacal child on the ledge nearby yelling about how he was an idiot.

Ethan put his own hand over his chest, and nodded--he immediately felt the sensation of...well, pulling. It was Karl, magnetizing the artificial heart's valves and chambers. Ethan could almost hear the clicking of machinery inside him, as though he were a mold-filled tin man. He felt sharp pains every time the metal shifted slightly, and his face immediately twisted. The magnetic pull eased.

"No, keep going," he said through ground teeth. Eveline was pacing. Her anger was causing thunder to rumble, lightning to appear around them. This happened in his dreams often enough that he could ignore it. "Heisenberg," he said after another wave of dizzying pain, "Don't stop."

Fantastic, he thought to himself as he was pitched forward with new sensations of pain, feeling the metal heat up--Karl was trying to burn the connections, he realized--that sentence was probably going to be held against him for the rest of his life.

Suddenly something interrupted Eveline's stream of insults. In a flash of lightning, the blond girl appeared. She was in an airy dress, reminding Ethan of a more-awkward Tinkerbell or other fairy as he tried to focus on whatever the fuck it was he was supposed to be doing. Now she stepped down the hill, ignoring Eveline completely. "You have the strength!"

Her voice was as light and strange as her look, and yet the daintiness somehow drowned out Eveline. She approached Ethan with a wide smile. "You can do it, Ethan!" she cheered, and stepped beside him, her pale hand slipping over his own, which was over Heisenberg's, though he couldn't see it.

Her voice and manner were steady where Eveline's was chaos. Ethan's blue eyes moved between the two of them as Eveline began to circle, moving closer. The blond instructed him with a reassuring tone. "Close your eyes. Think of your body. Listen to it. It will tell you what it needs."