[B][center][h2]Avalon[/h2][/center][/b]

The sound was familiar, though it had been a long time since she heard it: The subtle, mechanical creeping of his aura reaching out, dividing itself around her and covering the floor making her realize just how accustomed she had become to being without him for so long. She swallowed a lump in her throat as it crept through the wrecked building, purring in its rolling tone, beating with an electrical impulse that tickled her leg as it passed. The sound of the human’s assimilation was expected, like a body tossed into some great amalgamation of turning gears. She took in a breath and exhaled as they took their place beside her. [i]It was a test[/i]. She didn’t need any help. They would only get in her way,.though she knew he only wanted to see if she would protest; to see how far she had separated herself from him. As soon as his new creations knelt, she stood up as commanded, looking at him and taking in the moment. Within his gaze, she could sense the connection between them returning as if the interference that existed between the worlds had dissipated. It was both welcome and wholly unsettling. 

She considered her words, though the realization of his arrival was an undeniable wave that washed through her consciousness. It was the moment for which they had worked and waited, however, finally in his presence, she couldn’t help but feel [i]shame[/i], like he had come from a place and time that she had somehow begun to forget. Her face remained stoic at first as she spoke: ‘She was here, right in this place.” The tension within her relaxed some as the words came out knowing that he would indeed be on a very narrow timeline. She could be brief and accentuate the positive in the knowledge that  he would be very pleased with the news, but also remembering the world that she had built alongside him and the rare feat she had achieved, [i]influence[/i]. “The headmaster is still fading slowly, but I have been keeping him alive... None of them have any idea what’s happening.”