A girl with flawless, smooth dark skin laid on the ground upon a bed of orange and red and yellow and brown leaves. She wore a floral printed dress and a cream sweater. Her feet were bare and her dark hair was splayed out around her head like a halo. She held a dainty hand above her face, slender fingers moving slowly.

    A small fire was lit, but not on the ground. No, the fire sat on the air, and the girl who laid on the ground had created it with the power that she possessed.

    "Hello, Marbella, my love," a voice spoke.

    She looked up, then dropped her hand and leapt to her feet, the flames disappearing in an instant. "Darren!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. "How did college hunting go?"

    "Great," he nodded. "But...I don't think I'm going to go to college. At least, not if I get this job that I've just applied for."

    "Oh? What job is this, then?" Marbella asked, slipping on her shoes.

    "There's this organization, it's very secretive.." Darren said. "I probably shouldn't even be telling you this, but since when do I not tell you something?" He smiled and she nodded eagerly in agreement as they began to walk. "I'll be able to use my powers, actually. It's called the Fixing History Organization, or F.H.O. for short. They use magic to time travel and fix things in history that were never supposed to happen."

    "That sounds amazing!" Marbella exclaimed as they walked up to Darren's car.

    "Did you walk here?" He asked her and she shook her head. They got into the car and drove off. "Anyway..yeah. I'm really excited."

~~~

     Marbella felt terribly out of place in her flowy gown and open toed shoes and hair falling wherever it pleased. She was surrounded by people of business who had their hair pinned up or slicked back against their skulls, their clothes were form fitting and their shoes were sensible.

     "Darren, who's that man?" Marbella asked her long time boyfriend when her gaze fell upon a particularly business looking man.

    "Oh, that's President Theodore Wilson," Darren said. "He's a very, er, severe man..but he's a brilliant leader."

     "Ah.." Marbella nodded slowly, and she turned away when the president shot a look her way. She quickly grabbed the glass of wine that was nearest to her and drained it. She wasn't sure just how much she liked Darren's work atmosphere, but she just kept telling herself that it wouldn't be often that she'd have to attend parties like this one. And it was worth it. She loved him. It was worth it.

~~~

    Marbella had always like the dark. Preferred it, actually.

     After taking the pregnancy test, she'd hurried to the basement, to the very back corner where she'd crouched down amidst the shadows to calm down.

     She wasn't sure what to think. A baby? She and Darren were so young, and his career was just beginning to kick off, and they weren't married nor were they engaged to be married. She wanted children, she did.. One day. But not now, not this early in her life. It was all too soon, too fast.

     "Bella? Are you okay?" Darren knew her better than anyone. He knew exactly where to find her when she was nowhere to be found, and he knew exactly what it meant. "What's the matter, darling?"

     Marbella blinked back tears before rising to her feet and throwing herself into Darren's arms.

     "What's wrong, 'Bella?" Darren frowned.

     "I'm going to have a baby," she told him bluntly. "We're going to be parents."

     "Oh..wow." Darren said.

     She looked up at him, making out what she could of his face in the darkness of the cellar that comforted her so wonderfully. "What do you think of that?"

     "I think..I think we're very young," Darren said and he sounded as if he was choosing his words very carefully — which, to be honest, he probably was. "But I also think that there's nothing we can do to to change it, and I mean, we were going to have a baby anyway, right? One day."

     "Yeah, one day.." Marbella said softly.

     "I suppose that day is just going to come a bit sooner than previously anticipated," Darren smiled.

     Marbella smiled back. "Thank you, Darren. You always know just how to make me feel better."

~~~

     "I regret to inform you that you are not pregnant," said the doctor. "The test you took was merely a false positive."

     Marbella and Darren couldn't help but breathe sighs of relief. They were too young to have a child, still not married or engaged, and Darren was still working to get his career going. They wanted children, but not yet.

     "I'm very sorry," said the doctor.

     Marbella just noted and tried to look upset. "Thank you for your time, Dr. Keen. We really appreciate it." Marbella made to get to her feet and Darren picked up her purse for her, but the doctor spoke again.

     "That's not all, I'm afraid," Dr. Keen frowned. Darren and Marbella glanced at each other nervously. "See, when we did our initial tests and found that you were not, in fact, pregnant, we found some things that were a bit off. We ran a couple of extra tests and..."

     Darren raised his eyebrows. "And....?"

     "And...I'm afraid that you're infertile, Miss Giasson," Dr. Keen shook her head slowly with a sympathetic look etched across her face. "I'm so so sorry, but there is no chance of you ever baring a child."

     The ride home was agonizingly silent. Marbella stared into space, blankly. She twisted her hair that hung freely around her fingers until it got all tangled and she had to shake her hand rather aggressively in order to free it.

      "This doesn't mean we can never have kids," Darren reminded her optimistically. "There are plenty of options. Adoption! We can give a baby who would otherwise be abandoned a home."

      "I know," Marbella nodded slowly, but she was still so far away. She was buried deep within her mind, letting her thoughts crash down upon her like waves on a beach in a storm.. Drowning her.

     "This changes nothing, you know," Darren smiled at her. "I still love you. No matter what. And I always will. You're my everything, Bella. You know that, don't you?"

     Marbella smiled back at him. "I know. I'm just...you know. I'm not against adoption by any means, I'm just...upset. You're my whole world, you know."

     Darren smiled. "I know."

~~~

     It was months later that Marbella was staring at a manilla colored folder that was sitting on the kitchen table as she ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. The word 'CONFIDENTIAL' was stamped across the folder in black ink.

     "Good morning, Bella," Darren smiled, strolling into the kitchen and kissing her once on each cheek.

     "Morning," she said. "Darren... What's that folder about?"

     "Oh, just something for work," Darren said and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing too important."

     "But it says it's confidential," Marbella frowned.

     Darren laughed. "Oh, you know the F.H.O. They say everything is confidential. Just leave it, I've got to go to work." He kissed her goodbye then he was out the door in a flash.

    Marbella sighed, placing her now empty cereal bowl in the sink. She busied herself with cleaning the house up a bit. She laid down and took a short nap, but by the time she woke up it was only early afternoon.

     She had some lunch and cleaned her plate but even then it would still be a while before Darren came home, and that folder...it was just staring her down.

    She sat down at the kitchen table to read a book -- read a book, yes, that's what she told herself. But the moment she sat down at the table she pushed the book aside and picked up with folder.

    As Marbella began to read through the rather lengthy document that the F.H.O. had issued to Darren, and the further she got into it the closer and closer to the floor her jaw dropped.

~~~

     Darren came home to his wife preparing dinner, rather angrily might he add.

     "Hello, dear," Darren said cautiously.

     "You have to quit," Marbella looked up and snapped at him.

     "Excuse me?" Darren raised his eyebrows.

     "Everything they do, it's just retched!" Marbella exclaimed. "If you've read through that folder already, I don't know how you can stand to work for those damn people another second!"

     "You read the document! How could you?!" Darren widened his eyes.

     "How could I not?! You just left it there to stare me in the face!" Marbella shouted angrily.

     "I thought you'd have enough common sense not to read it! I told you to leave it alone!" Darren shook his head, grabbing his hair in fistfuls. "How could you? How could you read my confidential file?!"

     "How could you continue to work for people who stick their prisoner's in a room that drives them to complete insanity?!" Marbella narrowed her eyes accusingly.

     Darren crossed his arms. "It's not like the people they put in the White Room are particularly nice people!"

     "But they're people all the same!" Marbella yelled.

     "You're being ridiculous, Marbella!" Darren shook his head. "You are the one at fault here!"

     "I beg to fucking differ!" Marbella shot back.

     "You read my confidential file!" Darren said.

     "And you're willingly working for monsters!" Marbella yelled.

     "No, I'm working for the people who put away monsters! Who lock them behind bars for good!!" Darren screamed. "I'm working for the good people who are trying their best to fix history in all of its corruption!"

     They fought on, going back and forth, screaming into the night and accusing one another of everything under the sun until their throats were raw and sore. Only then did they storm off to bed, Marbella beating Darren to the bedroom and leaving him to sleep on the couch.

     When Darren awoke, Marbella was gone. And he wouldn't see her again for many many years...

~~~

     Marbella disappeared, did research in the back corners of the world where no one would ever find her.

     She spent her time learning how to use her magic for things like time and space travel, she learned about the corruption of history, and she worked to build a secret society. One that would fix history the right way. They would lurk in the shadows, and step in when needed and when least expected. They would one day leap out from the shadows and drag the F.H.O. down to its knees and into the ashes.

     'The Shadows...' she thought. 'No, never mind. That sounds stupid.'

~~~

     The Unkowables, which were now so much larger than they had been before about half of the Shadows -- which turned out to be a rather good name which caught on quite well, had completely relocated at last to a new hidden base where what remained of the Shadows' society wouldn't be able to find them.

     Marbella passed a room where Darren was settling in. She poked her head in. "Hey. How're you doing in here?"

     Darren looked at her angrily. "Go away."

     "Why are you being cold with me?" Marbella asked, walking into the room.

     "Why do you think?" Darren glared at her. "A more valid question is, why aren't you being cold toward me?"

     "Because...what's the point?" Marbella shook her head, laughing. "I mean, come on, Darren. Seriously. How many years has it been since we fought? Since we broke up?"

     "Since you left me without so much as a word of goodbye," Darren corrected her bitterly.

     "Darren, we're working together now," Marbella said.

     "That doesn't change anything between the two us," Darren shook his head and huffed in complete exasperation and exhaustion. He racked his brains to try and remember the last time he got a good night's sleep, but he couldn't recall a time when that was so. "You still left me, Marbella.."

     "Yes, well, I was unbelievably angry with you," Marbella nodded. "And what did we fight over? The F.H.O. An organization that you defended and I thought should be destroyed and, as it just so happens, it's the same organization that we're working together to take down."

      "What is your point exactly?" Darren raised his eyebrows.

     "I win," Marbella said.

     "Excuse me?" Darren said.

     "The fight...all those years ago," Marbella smirked. "You defended them, I said they should be destroyed. And look where we are now... I win." And with that, she sauntered from the room.