I think I've seen this film before...

It was getting better, everything seemed to actually fall into the right places. Noa was thankful that she had found Lucas, and she was filled with gratitude over the fact that he wanted her in his life. Noa had been happy to swing by whenever it fit into his life, knowing both him and his girlfriend did have quite the busy lives. Especially with her brother being the new vice rector at the academy and having to settle into that spot. This Thursday afternoon it was just them, at least till whatever time in the evening Cecilia was off from work. Noa was curled up on the couch while catching up on her latest adventures, not that it was much more than her small adventure to Southside and the fire she had started by accident back where she lived. All with a smile on her face though, seeing no one was harmed in either of the stories told. The sun shined in through the window, warmed her skin it was almost as warm as a summer day - at least today it was, it would most likely be raining tomorrow.

The television was just white noise in the background, which she didn't mind. She was used to having music or people chatting in the background. Or that was till one thing on the tv caught her attention. Logan Brown. Her eyes flickered to the screen, and in a slightly rushed movement she got up from her seat and walked over in front of the screen to listen more carefully what was said. Most people knew the story about why this guy mattered, but most people had also forgotten a long time ago, seeing he didn't play any part in their lives ahead. Noa wished she could say the same. Noa had been protected under the whole press thing, making sure her name wasn't linked to the events. Logan had tortured people, tortured them to a point of them going insane, torn people up and left them for dead. He had played around with others like they were his little toys, and now there was evidence proving him with a chance to get out? How did that even happen? There was no such thing. Even the police had found him in the act, Noa shook her head. But who wouldn't be in complete shock of the system even considering letting a man like that out? "They got to be bloody joking," she said a little out of breath.

Noa felt the tightness in her chest, like panic wrapping her in as her eyes was glued to the screen. Then she started pacing around, with her hands running over her hair as she tried to take a deeper breath in. Really tried to not let herself fall into the rabbit hole again. "They can't do that," she lashed an arm out towards the television firstly now locking her eyes with her brother. Her mind was way ahead of her though, already knowing what would happen if he got out. "They can't-" The thought enough to knock all air out of her system, and she felt the whole world around her spinning out of control. So much for the sense of things was getting better.

Lucas had taken a rare afternoon off from work. He had put everything on pause after working his way through a busy morning schedule and then decided that, yes, this weather called for a breather. Not a ‘going for a walk in the park’-breather, like what he usually took when his new position snook up on him in an overwhelming wave, but a sofa-afternoon kind of breather. He hadn’t hesitated to call Noa as soon as he had exited the Academy to cross the courtyard and head for his car. Every moment he could spare, he would spend on her or Cecilia. It still made him smile like an excited child every time he thought about the craze of suddenly having a sister in his life. An actual sister; not a friend he had chosen to become family like he had with Victoria. It felt so oddly natural to have Noa in his life already, even though it had barely been a couple of months since he’d learnt of her existence.
Luke had practically moved into Cecilia’s house by now. He still had his central apartment but at the moment it felt like nothing more than a storage room for his messy PhD - a mess he hadn’t even gotten to clean up since finishing his thesis and handing it in after nearly two years of studying. It had been the best possible timing with his promotion; being vice principal wasn’t really doable with other things on the side. The Academy was in a right state when Alison had taken over; worse than he had imagined at least, and the two of them had taken on quite the challenge.

Noa had curled herself up in the corner of the wide sofa, showering in the low-hanging afternoon sun, and Luke had popped himself onto the other corner with a little notebook and a pen, humming to himself. He had stretched his legs over so his feet touched her legs. A git of movement had him look up from his notes with a small frown, to see what had startled her, half expecting her to be asleep on her end of the sofa, simply dreaming.
It was however not a sleeping Noa that met him; not at all, and his eyes followed her as she moved closer to the tv, shifting to the image on the screen with the young guy. Logan Young. The name seemed familiar but wasn’t enough to make him fully remember the story. Noa’s muttering voice reached him and he hummed in agreement. Some lunatic-teen, they said, and he was somehow considered for parole.
Something in her voice made him look back at her, studying her face intensely as she stared at the television. Luke pushed himself up and placed his notebook on the sofa next to where he sat.
"Noa?" He asked softly, wanting to shake her out of it. Her flimsy, out-of-breath reaction, hit him with a surge of worry right in the middle of his chest. "Noa?" He repeated, pushing himself off the sofa. She seemed to tilt slightly, before spinning around, gesturing frantically at the TV and finally locking her eyes with his. He took the last few steps towards her, extending his hand to touch her shoulder.
"Hey? Hey, what's this now?" He murmured gently, trying to project warmth and safety. He reached his other hans out to her, gesturing for her to grab it. "Breathe, Noe. You're safe here, you know that right?"

She snapped out of her head for a second when his hand touched her shoulder, and her eyes darted from the screen over to her older brother. What was this? It was a lot. It was way more than she wanted to deal with or could deal with. She had thought this part of her story was done, and that she wouldn't have to deal with it again. Noa was sure her heart had jumped right out of her chest by now, and she was trying desperately to catch it. Her flickering blue eyes reached his hand for a second, and she only hesitated for a small second before grabbing it, just needing to ground herself again. Noa took a deeper breath in and exhaled again, looking into Luke's eyes. You're safe here, you know that right? Her lips parted as if she wanted to reply, but no words seemed to leave her mouth, as her eyes once again looked at the screen. "Not if he gets out," her voice shaking as she took a deeper breath in again, trying not to let herself spiral out of control. she started shaking her head a bit faster folding her lips, forcing her eyes off the screen. "Not if he gets out," she repeated feeling the tears running down her cheeks in silence, almost not realizing them till she tasted the salty tear on her lips. She moved her hand up to wipe them away.

"How much do you remember about that story?" She asked slightly out of breath. Noa knew most people had forgotten all about till now at least. She knew it was known they had found a girl at the crime scene where they had found Logan, but everything else had been hidden away from the public eye. "I was there. He was the guy I worked for," she closed her eyes shut for a second as she took an even deeper breath in. His voice sounding so clear in her mind's eye, he was back. ” I’ll pick them apart petal by petal,  until there’s nothing left but a withering pedicel of a stalk.” Logan already reaching her mind like a sneak attack, reminding her how dangerous it was for her to even speak of him.”That’s what I’ll do to your friends if say a word.”. Her eyes shut even tighter, trying to push him back into the box he belonged. She had spent the last month apologizing to the people she had been forced to hurt the most. Her own friends. But it was just the top of the iceberg.

Her heart was racing beyond what she could handle, and she kept trying to push Logan out of her mind. She really did try. In her seek of comfort and calmness in this chaos, Noa rushed herself closer to her brother, wrapping her arms around him, with her head against his chest trying to seek for the sound of his breathing. Trying to follow it as she was just standing there, feeling like her would was perhaps to fall apart yet again.

Lucas allowed his grib on her shoulder to tighten slightly, lowering himself in search of her flickering eyes. She so very clearly was somewhere else entirely. What the hell was happening? He gently dragged a finger across her cheek, drying off one of the fleeting tears whilst trying to find heads and tails in the whole ordeal.
Luke sent sent a look towards the television next to them, regarding the young man with widened eyes, trying to recall anything at all from the case. Logan. Truthfully, this had probably been at a time when he hadn't paid much attention to news at all. He never really had paid attention to the news when he'd been younger, even as Cecilia had tried to get him interested in the world around him, and had mainly been focusing on trying to fit into this new world of being off the streets at this point. Something dawned on him, making his eyebrows furrow as he dragged his eyes from the TV back to his littlesister. Was this not the case that Cowan had been a big part of? Zitora Cowan? "I don't - I don't remember mu-"
Her breathless, panicky voice cut him off and took his breath away with one swift movement. I was there.
"You were there?" He whispered, desperately trying to push away the wave of nausea that hit him by the thought of his sister having gone through anything like that. She wavered and he reached out to keep her steady.

"Sit down, Noe," he urged her as high-pitched panic started sneaking into his voice. He was used to dealing with Cecilia and her visions but this felt different; he knew how to handle the visions by now, how to keep her safe and how to calm her down afterwards. He didn't know his own sister that well altogether, and her shaky legs made him miserably nervous and worried. "Hey. Hey - Come. Sit down, please."
She pulled at him, pulling herself close and into his arms, snuggling her face up into his chest with such a strength he nearly took at step back. He took a shaky breath before wrapping his arms around her, putting a light pressure on her shoulders and lowering them both. "You don't have to tell me about it, it's okay. It's okay. It's in the past," he muttered softly, letting his hand go from her shoulder to the back of her head, cradling her gently and stroking her hair, as his low voice tried to calm her. "He won't get out, okay? He won't get out. I promise. He won't. We will fix it, okay?"

Noa took a sharper breath in, Sit down, Noe. His voice reaching her clouded mind like a knife cutting through the noise. She blinked a few times in the embrace, forcing herself to stay in the moment. Keeping her mind focused on what she could feel, hear, and smell. Noa exhaled and tried to relax herself a bit more. It wasn't okay, or maybe it was? Noa had never quite forgiven herself for what had went on in those years, they were so far back, and it seemed like forever ago. It was a sense of relief not having to explain herself, she had spent so much time explaining herself. But he didn't know who Logan was capable off, even the ones who had caught him, they didn't know what kind of monster he was. Or how good he was at making them. Noa didn't know how they were supposed to stop him from getting out. The only one she knew who might be able to do something was Evelina, and even with her, she wasn't sure how much influence she could gain to keep someone like Logan in. Last time it had taken a statement from Noa to even get him locked up at Eichen House, and now they would let him out from that place? It didn't make sense, it was sure some powerplay going on in the shadows, she didn't doubt that. Noa took a deeper breath in again, finally seeming like she was escaping the prison her own mind liked the keep her captured in, she loosened herself from his embrace again.

She breathed out and nodded to confirm she was okay, "how are we going to fix it?" Noa then asked and frowned a bit. "He is dangerous, it was a miracle last time they caught him. If someone wants him out, they are going through a great deal of trouble, it's been like - six years," she added nodding towards the couch, perhaps it was best to sit down discussing this. Noa still felt slightly out of breath but reached for the remote to turn the tv off, knowing she would only make it worse for herself to keep it on. Some might say she was lucky, Logan had never really hurt her like he had hurt so many others, or at least the physical amount of damage hadn't been that bad.

"I met Logan when I was ten," she sat down on the couch and looked at Lucas. She knew she didn't have to share anything, and yet she felt like it was nothing but a burden hanging over her shoulder to keep anything so big hidden away. It was a part of her now, and it would always be a a part of her. "I was at the playground by myself, on the swing, where I fell off. My arm was bleeding pretty badly, but I somehow managed to control it. The bleeding, I don't remember how. It was there Logan came in the picture, obviously just pretending to help, but he did. I didn't see him much till few years after that," she told and took yet another sharp breath in. "I can control the blood in people's veins.. in my own.. and he wanted that, to make people puppets," she took an even deeper breath in. Most people flinched by the mentioning of her power because it was dangerous, and the way she could use it and had used it because of Logan - made her very aware of why it was dangerous. So, she never mentioned it. Howie knew about it, but it was around that - till now. "But in reality, I was just his puppet, I've done some pretty terrible things Luke."

How are we going to fix it?
"I know some people. Cecilia knows people. They can help, Noe. They will if I ask them." And for the first time in many years, he was pretty confident in that statement. He had never had many friends on the 'right' side of the law; not with a crowd like Jack and Victoria, and definitely not at all before that, but recently his life had straightened up quite drastically. He had done most of it himself, but he felt that now he was back with Cecilia, the last little bit had been fixed, and he had started gaining a little more trust in the system. A system he had never trusted in his life. He suddenly saw a lot of people trying to do good; and trying was all any of them could in this world. Zitora and Evelina would be top of the list of people he would want to call, and worst case, even though it wouldn't be on the right side of the law at all, he knew people to call if it got to that. Anything to keep his sister safe. Anything.
She finally sat down and he never left her side for more than a few seconds at a time, placing himself next to her. He shuffled away his notebook and pens and reached for her hand as she began to tell him about her life. He had known, obviously, that her life had not been peachy. That much he had understood rather quickly. But he had not wanted to pressure her into telling him anything.

I can control the blood in people's veins.
He stared at her in horror. Quickly, he collected his facial expressions, realising she could misunderstand the look. He wasn't horrified or shocked at the prospect of her having done 'pretty horrible things'. The horror had been the knowledge that her powers had been taken advantage of in such a way that he had always feared his own would be. It made sense in a way. Him being able to control peoples nerves and his sister being able to control their blood. Such very, insanely scary abilities that could easily go wrong. That was the exact reason he had never wanted to fully explore his powers. He was content knowing he could paralyse a few nerves and even send little signals to get peoples hands cramping. But that was all. He didn't want to know how much he could potentially control. She sounded like she knew the full extend of her powers but not by choice.
"Noa," he whispered a little fearfully, reaching for her face. He gently put his hand under her chin, pushing it upwards so he could look her in the eyes and make sure she heard him. "There is a dark side to all powers and I'm sorry that this monster forced to to find yours. You've maybe heard this before, but you need to hear it again. Whatever this guy made you do, it wasn't really you, okay? It wasn't your fault."

Her eyes locked with his as he gently put his hand under her chin. She could feel her heart skip serval beats ahead, but there was no judgement. Lucas wasn't the first one to tell her that it wasn't her fault, and she truly tried to believe that, but she also knew some of the choices that had been made was her ultimatums and now she had done it - that was her fault. The lengths she had gone to make sure that Logan wouldn't hurt anymore of her friends, how badly she had hurt them so he wouldn't. The damage she had left behind, and not just her own mess. Logan could have used his memory manipulation, he could have made her trust him without even lifting a finger, and yet, his own twisted way of making her do his bitting was just cruel. Because she had to live with the choices she had made while being a part of his game. "I - I will try to keep that in mind," she whispered a little unsure. Noa didn't agree fully to the statement that was clear. If it wasn't for the fact that she had spoken to Zadkiel after and they had talked it out, and she even had talked to Echo, she would have been in an even worse state. There was something comforting in knowing that him and Cecilia knew some people, but the thing that comforted her most at this moment, was just having him around.  Noa found comfort in the fact that there was a handful of people who now knew what really had been happening around her. But she also knew if it came to getting Logan back in his cell, she would have to face him again and she wasn't sure how she would handle that. "But it will be fine?" Noa asked, even though she knew he couldn't promise it. There was no way he could see how everything would go, or what moves Logan had up his sleeve. Logan wasn't a person you just messed with, but she also didn't know what kind of people Cecilia and Lucas knew, however, she could trust them. So she did. She put all her trust in him.

Her heartbeat slowed down and her eyes slowly refocused. Lucas drew in a sharp breath of relief, letting her take her time to break free of the panic that clouded her mind. A panic he knew well enough and had dealt with more than once; but a feeling he never seemed to get used to seeing in others. He nodded gently as she repeated his words, promising she’d try to keep in mind that it wasn’t her fault. Words she might not believe now, but hopefully would one day in the future.
His head spun in circles trying to figure out what to do. He didn’t want to pry and push her to tell him more but also knew that calling Zitora potentially would mean ripping an unhealed wound open. Same with involving the police. He gave her yet another nod, locking his electric blue eyes with hers. “It will,” he replied convincingly. He believed it. The kid was young and had seemingly done enough horrifying things to be lock away for the rest of his life. They did however need to find out who wanted him released. “I can call Cecilia’s friend and see if she’s around, would you want that? She’s a lawyer,” he tried softly, tilting his head at her as he studied her face intensely for any reactions to his question. He would stop pushing if she showed more signs of panic.

He had not really spoken to Zitora since him and Cecilia had gone back together; truthfully only really because of Maeve and the ongoing case of her disappearance that still lay as a dull shadow over everyone. He knew she most probably had a lot to do, also helping Ethan dealing with it, and there somehow hadn’t exactly been a good moment to properly talk to her after everything. There had been more important things to do. It didn’t change the fact that Cecilia trusted Zitora with her life, and in turn Lucas trusted her to have some or any words of wisdom for the case of this Logan. “It’s better to call her sooner than later Noe, if this guy is already making headlines on the TV.” Lucas knew how fast a court case could go when it went public like that, and obviously this was a high profile case.
He gently pus pressure on her hand, still keeping his eyes locked on her in search of any red flags. It was still a little shocking to him that she could manipulate blood. A sincerely dangerous ability that was hard to control - an ability that would make most people corrupt with the power that would come with it or die trying to control it. His brows furrowed at the thought of his little sister having managed to learn it all on her own.

It will. Noa took a sharper breath in and nodded to him. Taking in his confidence in it would be okay. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deeper breath in. Then she opened her eyes again and breathed out. "Go call her," she nodded a bit to that she was okay, at least overall she was managing whatever had happened. "I need to call Howie, he most be losing his mind," she mumbled as well, looking around the room scanning in almost for her phone. Returning her eyes to his as she felt the pus pressure on her hand, letting her eyes return to his. "I'll be okay. Go call Zitora... I will call Howie, telling him we are dealing with it," she licked her lips a little bit and nodded, as she kept repeating those words in her mind. She just needed to call Howie, and then it would be fine. It had to be fine. Noa knew or didn't know know Zitora, but she had seen and looked at the case before. And she had to have some fate in that Zitora could keep Logan from getting released. She needed to believe that. Noa took a deeper breath in and exhaled again moving her head to once again let her eyes search for her phone, finally finding it, leaning to the side to grab it. Quickly texting Howie that she was alright, before answering the next incoming call, moving up from her seat to go to the closest window talking to Howie. She dried her tears away from her cheeks with the back of her hand. Catching Howie up on Lucas' idea about calling Zitora and all, giving Lucas time to call Zitora as well. Or at least try.