Chapter Text
Eli busied himself with the files on his desk, pointedly ignoring the piercing gaze of the ghost of Victor Vale
It was starting to get difficult.
Some nights were easier than others. He'd become quite skilled at turning out whatever useless drabble Victor decided to go on about that day, the words becoming background noise to the ever-turning cogs of Eli's restless brain. The noise was familiar. He could handle noise.
He could not handle quiet.
What had once been his solace, indicative of his success at carrying out His plan, had become his torment within the white walls of EON's prison cell.
He considered screaming at the top of his lungs, banging at the thick glass wall just to feel the electric shock coursing through his bones, leaving him writhing on the floor, thoughts muddy until his abilities kicked in and he was left hollow again.
Anything to escape the deafening silence.
Victor looked at him the same way he always used to when he got higher marks on a test, or he saw the cracks in Eli's mask he tried so hard to stuff with glue.
Like he knew something Eli didn't, and he reveled in it.
Instead of ripping out his own hair, Eli settled for returning his gaze to the file in front of him.
Nothing about the man struck him as particularly remarkable. His shaggy black hair nearly reached his shoulders, his clothes were disheveled and unwashed, and his blue eyes reflected the depths of the ocean, not pale or icy like Victor's, or clear and watery like Serena's. The man's eyes were every bit as grimy as the rest of him, and Eli considered abandoning the file just to avoid having to share a building with someone so unkempt.
He continued reading.
Julius Wynne. 36. Moved from London 18 years ago to get his degree. Divorced.
He felt Victor's presence over his shoulder, though he cast no shadow. Victor's lips pulled into a sly smirk as he examined the file. Eli would have sworn he felt warm breath ghosting over his ear if he hadn't realized how absurd of a thought it was.
Eli had to stifle a sigh of relief when Victor spoke for the first time in days.
"Julius Wynne, declared dead for two minutes after a mugging-gone-wrong resulted in a brutal stab wound. Made a miraculous recovery after being transported to the hospital. Witnesses report erratic behavior before the attack. It's almost as if he knew it was going to happen."
"How could he have known?"
Victor laughed as if he knew the secrets of the universe. Maybe he did, not that he would tell Eli either way.
"Who knows? Maybe he's done it all before,"
Eli's brows creased, "You mean like, time travel?"
Victor shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. Eli was grateful for the personal space. "You say that like it's impossible,"
"It is impossible." If Julius truly did have the ability to go back in time, he wouldn't even be an EO in the first place. It was a paradox. Victor of all people should have realized that. Not to mention the absolute blasphemy of going against God's timeline. Being an EO was bad enough, being able to alter His design was just inconceivable.
Though, Eli hadn't thought much about God in the past two years. If anything, he thought more about Victor. He tried not to let himself think about that too much.
If Victor realized what Eli meant by his statement, he didn't show it, "EOs gain their abilities based off of their last thoughts before death. It's not impossible to think someone's last thoughts were about going back in time and preventing whatever happened. Haven't you ever wanted to go back?"
Eli's response died on his tongue as the glass door in front of him slid open and an unconscious disheveled man landed at his feet.
Julius
Eli turned towards Victor to find he had moved to sitting on his cot. The smirk remained on his face as he examined his pristine nails, as black as the permanent ink stains on his hands.
Eli looked up at Stell in confusion, who ran an unsteady hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. Whatever he was doing, Eli was sure it wasn't his own decision. The board of directors likely had something to do with it, then.
Stell steeled his expression and met Eli's gaze with authority. "You wanted to prove yourself. Here's your chance."
"What?"
"Figure out his ability and you'll be permitted to work more closely on the EO cases. This is your first and only chance, Cardale."
Eli's jaw clenched at the name. Victor laughed softly.
"Turn the cameras off."
Stell's eyebrows raised so high Eli was sure they'd jump right off his face. "Excuse me?"
"If you want me to do this, then turn the cameras off."
"You're not the one with the power to make negotiations, Cardale."
"Why would he ever talk to me if he knew he was being recorded, director?"
"I don't recall saying anything about talking." Although his voice was steady, his face was pulled into a grimace. Eli stilled.
"So that's what this is? You want me to do your dirty work for you. Bet you wish you hadn't gotten rid of that mad scientist right about now." Even the thought of Dr. Haverty sent a cold chill down his spine, but he kept his voice steady.
"This isn't my decision-"
Eli scoffed. "Not your decision? Can you even call yourself a director if none of the decisions you make are actually your own? What sets you apart from an officer other than a title?"
Stell's face reminded him of a fish out of water, "I don't have to answer that."
"Because you can't." Eli searched the director's face for any signs of weakness, like a predator assessing its prey. This, at least, was familiar. He knew how to play games, how to say and do anything to make them see what he wanted them to. Stell may have been wary of him, but no one had ever truly seen through his manipulations.
He ignored the icy glare at his back and refocused on the task at hand.
Stell was a tough nut to crack, but not impossible. His righteous, do-no-harm attitude was endlessly irritating and made him much less likely to trust anything that left the mouth of a convicted serial killer, but Eli could manage. He always did.
Perhaps he could use that pacifistic nature to his advantage.
"You and I both know you don't want anyone to get hurt, and I'm sure the board of directors don't care how you do it as long as you get it done. You are the head of this operation, aren't you?"
Stell's expression faltered. Gotcha.
Eli had to put a considerable effort into keeping his expression neutral. His voice slipped into a practiced smoothness he hoped Stell wasn't intelligent enough to see through.
"I have quite a way with words. Let me talk to him alone for five minutes, and I'll get you all the answers you need. What harm could I do in that short a time?"
Stell narrowed his eyes, "I'm not very interested in finding out."
Eli arched a perfect eyebrow, "So you'd rather he be hurt over a crime you're not even sure he committed? I'm sure you've seen my record, director. I'm not the merciful type. Rest assured he will talk one way or another. I'm just trying to make this easier on your conscience."
"Why would you want to-" The words died on his tongue when Julius began to stir. Eli's grin nearly split his face.
"It's your decision, director."
Stell's eyes flickered between Eli and the man on the floor. Every emotion clearly written on his face in neon ink. Eli nearly laughed when he finally dropped his shoulders in defeat.
"Five minutes, Cardale."
The glass wall turned solid once again, and Eli waited for the camera's blinking lights to shut off before he moved towards the man on the floor.
Julius, if the file was correct.
Eli wasn't sure how accurate Ghost Victor's prediction had been, but he intended to find out, if only to satisfy his own curiosity.
When the man's eyes finally opened, Eli flashed his award-winning smile and held out a hand.
"Eli Ever. Pleased to meet you." The man hesitantly took his hand and allowed Eli to haul him to his feet.
"Julius." His eyes flickered to the file on the desk, "Though it seems you already knew that."
Shit.
Eli laughed and waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, they throw files in here every so often for me to look over. Something about not wanting me to go stir-crazy. You can look if you want."
Julius shook his head. "No, I've already seen all I need to." He made his way to the cot and sat down. Eli had to stifle a laugh as Victor had to leap out of the way to avoid being sat on, not that he would have felt it anyway.
He raised a questioning eyebrow, "You have?"
Julius nodded. "I've been here before. In this cell. With you."
Victor's laugh reverberated through his bones.
Eli couldn't keep the breathlessness from his voice when he said, "Time travel."
Julius' eyebrows raised. It seemed he wasn't expecting Eli to figure it out so soon. Maybe the previous Eli never had.
Julius gave a curt nod, "Yes, and I need your help."
"My help? With what?" Eli wasn't sure what he could do to help a time traveler in this situation, but he found himself leaning toward the grimy man regardless. His voice carried a slight accent.
"It seems the past is not so easy to change. Although I've been given the ability to go back in time, my efforts to change the outcome have proven fruitless. Every time I try, something happens to knock everything back on course. I've begun to think it impossible."
Eli sure had been hearing the word 'impossible' a lot lately.
"What does this have to do with me?" Eli would have been lying if he said he wasn't curious. He was still lying when he said it wasn't anything more than that.
Julius looked at him with the sort of broken hope that made Eli want to retch the minuscule contents of his stomach onto the padded floor. "I can't do anything to change the past, but maybe someone else can."
Eli could have asked why he believed that, but instead he said, "And what if I don't?"
Julius' blue eyes turned grim, "Then you die."
Of all the seemingly impossible things he'd heard today, the notion that he could die was the most absurd. He had seen with his own eyes what trying to kill him ended with. He'd watched as Dr. Haverty broke apart his ribcage to carve out his heart. How each time he placed one aside a new one grew in its place. He'd died over and over again on that operating table, and each time he'd come back. He always came back.
Eli Ever could never die.
He rolled his eyes and shifted his weight to mask the rapping of his heart at his ribcage, "Me dying is more impossible than you changing the past. Trust me, I've tried."
The man's gaze hardened. "Sydney Clarke. You recognize the name, don't you?"
Eli struggled to keep his breaths steady. "Yes."
"Two years from now, you will be shot to death by Sydney Clarke in the reconstructed lab of Dr. Haverty." He spoke the words as if they were practiced—like he had said them all before, perhaps many times.
Eli felt the breath leave his lungs. "What do you want me to do?"
For the first time since meeting Eli, Julius smiled. A gesture that should have served as a comfort only sent a cold chill down Eli's spine. "Go back and fix what you broke."
Eli didn't need to ask what he meant by that.
He heard Victor's dark laugh from behind him, "I should be insulted he's giving you the credit for my work."
Fuck off.
Eli refocused himself on the conversation. He thought about the past fifteen years. The fighting, the betrayals, the prison cells, the murders. One murder.
He thought about Lockland.
Could he really go back to that after everything he'd been through? Did he even want to?
He thought about Angie. How long had it been? Her name hardly crossed his mind anymore; he wasn't even sure if he remembered what her face looked like. If he could save her...
He thought about Victor.
We could be heroes.
Could they? Was there a world in which things could have been different? A world where they could work together? Or were they always destined to be on opposing sides, their relationship made of nothing but blood and knives and a hatred so intense it burned their insides.
The Victor he knew was dead. Even the ghost that haunted the four walls of his prison cell was nothing but a remnant of the cheap imitation of Victor wearing his skin. Victor Vale no longer existed, he hadn't existed for a long time.
But he could.
Without thinking, Eli clasped his hand in Julius'.
The world went dark.
First, Eli was cold. Then, he was so, so warm.