darker_london | Visions of Dystopia (Deirdre, Flynn)

Deirdre wasn't always the world's most intuitive person around. She was a demon and sometimes she went too far with things and didn't notice, or didn't go far enough in trying to reassure people because she had trouble censoring herself or gauging their reactions. She could read when her friends were distressed, however, even in someone as non-expressive as Flynn.

"What's wrong?" Deirdre was sitting on their bed, watching as Flynn sat in the corner trying to read. He looked at her and instead of asking her what she meant, he simply arched one eyebrow. "What's with the cloud of doom here?"

"Have you read anything Bentley said lately?" Flynn asked, setting his book across his lap.

"Who the fuck is Bentley?!" Deirdre looked completely lost now.

Flynn had to laugh. Deirdre was adorable. "He's the boy who helped rescue Mara from those crazy angel people? He has visions and he lives at the hospital?"

"Ooohhhhh!" Deirdre nodded. "Paula talks about him. He stares at my rack whenever I see him. I call him Boobly so...that'd be why...with the name."

Flynn shook his head in amusement. There really was no one like Deirdre. Still...this wasn't a happy time and the expression slid from his face in moments. "Well...Boobly had a vision. Of...some not so nice things."

"Oh god....yeah, Thomas was saying that to Spectre! I remember now..." Deirdre looked down at her baby bump and she gave it a stern look. "Stop stealing mummy's memories, you tiny things! That's not fair!" Deirdre looked back up at Flynn, who was watching her, dumbfounded. "What did he see?!" There was an edge to her voice now.

Flynn looked down at his hands and he laced his fingers together over top of the book in his lap. "He saw...lots of things. What can happen if we don't stop what the Templar are doing now. If we don't get Peter back, I guess."

"Well we will get Peter back!" Deirdre yelled, probably too loudly. They would get her Peter back. She would accept no other option. "We have to."

"Yeah. We do." Flynn lifted his eyes to meet hers and he shook his head. "Deirdre, the things Bentley saw. What they do to Spectre and little Anna. They put them on these...crosses or whatever. For people to stare at. As proof of God and the church and their filthy lies. Bentley didn't mention you but I didn't ask..."

Flynn wasn't telling the entire story and Deirdre knew it. "What did he mention, Flynn? Who? You?"

Flynn sighed and he let his face fall into his hands. "Yeah. Me. Me and....Ardal."

Deirdre blinked. Flynn hardly ever called Quinn by 'Ardal' anymore. Quinn had legally changed his name after going by that since he was sixteen. If Flynn was calling him 'Ardal', he was so distressed he was forgetting to use Quinn's new name. "Flynn... What did Bentley see?"

Flynn groaned, and he pulled his hands down so he could see Deirdre oven the tops of his fingers. His mouth was still obstructed so he moved his hands to the side so he could speak. "The Templar don't exactly condone homosexual relationships. If they ran things...people like Quinny and I...we would be hunted and sent to be 'purified' is how he put it. And if we 'sinned' again...well. You know."

Deirdre nodded. She did know. Her friend Robert had been given a heretic's farewell. The Templar disposed of their 'trash' the same way Mary the Bloody Tudor had. "Fire."

"Yeah. That's...not what would happen to us. Apparently. We hide because...well, we're good at it. And then Bentley said I snap Ardal's neck. I just don't understand! I would never kill him! I love him!"

Deirdre frowned and she stood from the bed, even though it was a slight struggle to get up. Once there, she moved across the room so she could sit on the floor at Flynn's feet. He gave her a strange look and a tiny smile. "What are you doing down there?"

"Being cute." Deirdre leaned her head against Flynn's knees and she smiled when Flynn started to run his fingers through her hair. "Flynn, what was happening when you...I mean, in the visions, when-"

"I don't know," Flynn admitted. "I didn't ask. Just the thought of it-"

"Maybe..." Deirdre lifted her head and she smiled at him. "Maybe you were saving him? It's horrible, but maybe that's what you were doing. We know what happens when the Templar get ahold of you. It's messed up. Maybe you were saving him from that?"

"Maybe." Flynn and Quinn had been through a lot together. More than most couples ever would. And never once had he had the urge to kill Quinn to keep him from the pain they were experiencing.

...except...

Flynn's face crumpled and Deirdre looked up at him with worry in her eyes. "Flynn? What? What's wrong?"

"I just remembered...shit." Flynn clenched his fists and he shook his head. "When Quinn was...you know. When he couldn't think? I was feeding him some apple and he choked. And for a moment...I almost let him die. I didn't cause it, but I almost didn't save him. I knew he would hate being like that and at the time there didn't seem to be any way out. I would have let him go, but he looked so scared and I couldn't..."

"Oh, honey." Deirdre took Flynn's fists into her hands and she kissed them. "You saved him because he was scared of dying, even if he couldn't comprehend that on any real level. It was an instinct. Wouldn't you save him from dying a terrible death at the hands of the Templar."

"I don't know," Flynn admitted quietly.

"Well." Deirdre kissed his hands again. "Let's hope you never have to. Come on. We're going to buy a movie on this mickeyficky telly thing and we're going to order room service and you're going to cuddle me the entire time."

Flynn smiled, and though he still seemed troubled, it was okay to be both with Deirdre. "You don't think I'm an arse for almost letting Quinn die?"

"No. I'd like to meet a single other person who wouldn't have done the same. And then I'd kick 'em in the nads. Come on, beauty queen. I don't want to get hairy palms from cuddling myself!!"

Flynn snorted and he stood so he could help Deirdre up. "You're so delicate."

"Screw you, Northy!" But Deirdre giggled and she allowed herself to be helped up. Underneath it all, they were both terrified. The world as they knew it could change. They were not, however, powerless to stop it. Not yet. They simply had to hope that when the time came, the people they loved did the right thing.