A furious Theo watched Hera leave the room, "Let me help her!" 

The Director held him back and frowned. "She will be fine with Jean and Ivy. We need to talk about what just happened here, Theo."

Zeke, who had been hiding in the background, went to leave when he was frozen to the spot. "You too, Zeke. I know you aren't telling me something about her." 

Zeke turned with an apologetic smile. "Too soon, my friend. They weren't ready to know."

 Both men frowned at the cryptic message.

"What are you talking about now? Why can't you explain properly?" The forced separation from Hera already annoyed Theo, and Zeke's antics were only exasperating him further.

He begrudgingly shut up after the Director's stern look. "Zeke, I need you to tell me what you see. Hera is my daughter, and I want to protect her."

Zeke chuckled, and his eyes lit up. "No. Not just your daughter. Your children. Your offspring. Your descendants." Zeke's expression was whimsical. "She is a bright star, you know. Brighter than any other I have seen. But not just one star. No. Two stars in one. A Stellar collision!"

When Theo looked over at the Director, he expected a confused expression matching his own but instead saw some recognition in his eyes. Joseph swallowed nervously before encouraging Zeke further. "Go on..."

"I've already said too much, my friend. Too much knowledge can be dangerous. You know this better than anyone. I must go." Zeke smiled tightly and left the room, much to Theos' dismay.

"What was that?" Theo was irked by the lack of clarity, but the Director seemed to know more than he was letting on.

"I think I understand, but when Zeke is ready, he will tell us. There must be a good reason he is playing coy with me..." They stood in silence for a few moments before one broke the silence with a regretful sigh.

"I want you to know that I respect you, sir, and you're the closest thing I have to a father..." Theo cringed at the silence he received back. "But, I want to spend time with Hera. To continue training as we have been and to be a friend to her if she needs me."

The older man scoffed and looked pointedly at Theo. "You want to be friends with my daughter? Is that all?"

The heat that crept up Theos' neck betrayed him, "I... I don't know yet. But I will let her make her own choices..."

The Director sighed and put his hand on Theos shoulder. "I would never have put her in your care to start with if I didn't trust you. You are an excellent trainer and a good man, and if that's what she wants, then that's up to her. I've missed so much time being her dad, and I'm not going to fuck it up by trying to control her now." 

Theo swallowed the lump forming in his throat from his words and smiled at his less-than-professional language. "Thank you... I assumed you thought something was up, and that's why you wanted me to give her space."

"Sometimes, a bit of space can bring clarity, Theo. A greater appreciation even." He smiled knowingly. "Is there 'something up' that I need to know?" He raised his eyebrows, and Theo choked a laugh back before shaking his head. "No, sir."

"Well, head to the observatory then for the debrief." Before Theo could interrupt, the Director added, "You have twenty minutes. Then I expect you to be there." Theo mumbled a thank you before heading to the person he needed to see. Zeke's stellar collision. Theo rolled his eyes, smiling to himself. He could hardly understand Zeke most of the time, but he listened to him nonetheless. He was always right in the end when Theo figured out what the hell he was talking about.

...

When he reached her room, he approached a pacing Jean. "What is it?" The pacing was always a bad sign with Jean, and Theo's heart dropped at her stricken face when she looked up. "Ivy healed her body, but she won't wake up." Theo stopped her pacing with a gentle grip on her shoulders.

"Remember last time she used her powers to an extreme? She was out for a week. Maybe she just used too much energy, and now she needs rest. Right?"

"Can't you feel something weird about this? That wasn't her ability Theo... And she was muttering things on the way here too. Something about a voice and she kept saying, 'They did this.' She passed out before I could get anything else from her." Theo blew out a breath and started pacing himself.

"What am I supposed to do? We need to be at the observatory in twenty minutes for the debrief."

"Go in there, and I don't know, try to wake her up," Jean whispered harshly as two Evolved walked past. Their heads turned towards Jean, but her scowl had them darting away briskly.

Theo sighed and used a placating gesture with his hands to calm her rising anxiety. "Okay, I might be in there a while, so don't miss the debrief."

Jean looked nervous, "What are you planning?" She already had an idea in her mind, and she didn't like it one bit. Her anxiety rose sharply when he confirmed her suspicions. "If I can't wake her up, then I'll try to find her in the subconscious."

"Fucking hell Theo, you know how dangerous that can be!" Theo had already opened the door and left Jean stressing in the hallway. He gave her a slight nod before closing the door and heading over to a very still Hera. She looked so pale, and her lips held a bluish hue. He sat next to her and threaded his hands under her nape. 

He gently pushed a surge of energy through her brain stem to the hypothalamus, encouraging it to regulate her body temperature. Colour returned to Hera's cheeks almost immediately, and her lips turned a rosy pink. This time, he sent more power into the thalamus, trying to bring Hera back into consciousness, but he felt a strange resistance. 

"Hera. Please wake up, or your dad's going to kill me." He rested his forehead on hers and sent energy out once more. Again he sensed a resistance and even a slight frustrated push against him. His eyes snapped open, searching her face for consciousness, and he frowned. "What are you doing in there?" 

After a few more tries, he reluctantly realized he would need to enter the subconscious and remove whatever barrier kept her asleep. He gently lay next to her on the bed and lifted her head, so it rested under his chin. He wrapped his arms around her and started the process, immediately groaning in pain. 

It was like trying to fit an elephant through a keyhole he imagined. 

He used more energy than he wanted to and forced his mind into her own. 

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a meadow. A dark forest surrounded the peripheral. Shadowy figures lined the trees and turned to mist when their forms encroached on the light green grass. 

Wildflowers: ox-eye daisies, yarrow, and primrose swayed in a gentle breeze. Next to a large alabaster birdbath in the centre of the field sat a little girl with raven locks.

Theo slowly approached the girl and kneeled a few feet behind her. "I can hear you in my dreams." The girl stated. She looked over and smiled at him before a solemn look came over her lovely face. 

Theo saw her multicoloured blue-hazel eyes and knew the child who sat before him. "Why are you hiding in here, Hera?" The little girl jumped up and paced around the birdbath gesturing to the waters inside. 

"It's safer here for us."

"Who is 'us'?" Theo's voice stayed even but worryingly noticed the meadow shrinking around them. The shadows reached hungrily out of the forest. 

"Juno says they can't protect me enough out there. Only here. So I need to stay with them."

"Juno? Is that who pushed Joel away?"

"He wanted me to die, but Juno stopped him. It wasn't me, but it is me." She paced and stomped, causing dents in the grass. "I don't know what I am..." Tears trickled down her cheeks.

"You are the most powerful being I have ever met, and you are going to save all of us. I just know it." Theo edged closer, careful not to startle her, but she didn't seem to care.

"I can't save anyone. I just break things." She plopped her body down hard, and star fished in the grass. "Let's just stay here together; me, Juno, and you. I like you. You should stay with me too."

The meadow was looking less inviting, and the skies were darkening overhead. Theo used another tactic to try to bring Hera back. "But what about all the children in the community? Who will protect them if you hide here?" A small gasp escaped her tiny mouth before she cried out in pain, ageing slightly before his eyes. 

"Stop trying to trick me, Theo!" A stubborn twelve-year-old Hera cried out. "You and Jean can help them. I'll just ruin everything!"

Theo just managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the dramatic tweenager before him.

"Hera, can you stop catastrophizing? You have come so far in your training. You know that. It's who you are; you are Evolved, so start acting like it!"

Hera did not refrain from rolling her eyes and began mimicking his words back at him, much to Theos frustration. 

"Are you seriously going to make me go back and tell your father that you chose to die instead of making up for all the time you lost?" He knew he hit a nerve as she curled over in pain, ageing up one last time. Soon the familiar face of Hera looked into Theos eyes pleadingly.

"I don't know what to do anymore. There are too many voices telling me what to do. I don't even know my own voice anymore..." She watched helplessly as the shadows raced towards them now. 

"Look at me, Hera," He cradled her face in his hands and gently brushed a thumb across her wet cheeks. "Wake up, and we can figure this all out together. You can't hide from the world here. You'll die." Hera was fearful as she looked over her shoulder into the birdbath, observing her reflection. Theo moved beside her and did the same. 

"Beautiful." He murmured sleepily. Soon, he realised he would be too weak to return to his own body. "We need to go before it's too late." She nodded before wiping away her tears and clasping his hand in hers. She climbed up onto the edge of the birdbath gesturing for him to do the same. 

They stood facing each other and shared a look before Hera wrapped her arms around him, pulling him off balance and down into the dark waters below. He immediately held his breath, but Hera shook her head at him with a slight smirk. Then, she leaned against him and whispered ethereally in his ears, "Wake up now," blinking out of existence. 

His arms fell to his sides, missing the closeness of her body, and he took tentative breaths under the water. The last shimmers of light from above dwindled as the shadows reached the bath. Their grotesque, clawed limbs reached down towards Theo as he looked around desperately for a way to wake up. 

He willed himself out of the black depths but felt himself slowly succumbing to sleep curled in the depths of Hera's mind. He pictured her serious face peering up at him, and he wished he had been able to tell her how he felt. But, instead, sleep pulled at his lids. 

As he felt his body being dragged to the surface, another grip took his hand and yanked. 

Hard.

 He felt Hera's lips smash into his with bruising fierceness and felt her energy pull him out of her consciousness. His eyes flew open only to be obscured by Hera's flushed face. Her eyes were wildly darting across his body.

 "Are you okay?" She whispered harshly.

 He responded by lifting his lips to meet hers. His lips were oddly sore from the last kiss, so he moved slowly, carefully guiding Hera down on top of him. He brushed her hair behind her ears, and she pulled back, breathing heavily, their legs still intertwined and chests were touching. An awkward throat-clearing by the door had Hera jumping half across the room, burning with embarrassment. 

Jean looked more than a little bit sheepish before saying, "Sorry, but we are running late now..."

Theo stood quickly and grabbed her hand, heading to the observatory with Jean behind them, whispering a smug, "I knew it".